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February 28, 2003
Personality Type
Okay, for those curious, I am of the rare (less than 2% of people) personality type: INFJ Confirmed now by two entirely different personality-type sorters. Here are two web pages that describe me. Now, I'm technically "moderate" in all of these areas, so as you read these realized that I "lean toward" being the person described, but I am not fully described by it.
INFJ type description by D.Keirsey
INFJ type description by J. Butt and M.M. Heiss
Here's an uncanny quote from the second of these two pages: "INFJs are generally well-suited to the "inspirational" professions such as teaching (especially in higher education) and religious leadership" um... okay. Seems pretty much on target.
Fascinating stuff. Do you know your type? Here is a free test that you can take... post your results in the comments, if you don't mind...
Posted by Andrew at 03:42 PM | Comments (3)
Morning Practical in session
Giving the last version of the 320 IMM practical... Pretty-much the last chance to pass the course for the 10 students sitting in this room right now.
Here's hoping that they all pass... I don't LIKE to see people fail this course, despite what the author of the "imm practicals are evil" page jested.
In other news, my department is apparently undergoing a re-organization. At this very moment all (well, almost all) of the tenured or tenure-track faculty (which excludes 'Visiting Professors' like myself) are in a meeting to talk about this and decide what happens as things get switched around. Interesting.
Posted by Andrew at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2003
Stiiilll coughing.
Still coughing... Worse than before... I think it might be getting a little bit better now. I want to be done with this by the weekend so that I can enjoy my free week a bit better.
For now, I'm still finishing grading, but I did have one last big 'Games@Six' night for the quarter in the future computer lab across from my office. There were about 15 or so with several folks dropping in just for the first few moments as they had to run out and get other things done. I played a new game that I just got called "Taj Mahal" with Noah, Steve, Chad, & Matt. I lost, but not as bad a Chad. Then after that I played a game of "El Grande" with Noah, Steve, & Chad... And I lost again, but again, not as bad as Chad... :) Noah and Steve were the two game winners, respectively. I did get one other new game: "Lowenherz" which is by the same guy who did Settlers of Catan, but I hear it's quite a different game. But it was a fun night... I think a lot of Zendo was being played... and at least one game each of Seafarers of Catan & Puerto Rico was played. Oh, there was also a couple of games of Frag and at least one hand of Fluxx. I think that's about it.
Today I had a meeting with the rest of the folks in Rochester who are connect with Campus Crusade for Christ... most of us are volunteers, but things are progressing well and hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we'll see some other CCC staff folks come to the area. God would certainly be able to use them here!
Made it back to campus to do more grading and to create one last version of the Intro to Multimedia practical exam to give to the last batch of folks taking it at 8am in the morning.
Now I'm at home, writing some extremely important e-mails and then off-to-bed. Have a good night.
Posted by Andrew at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2003
*Hack*
*Hack, Cough, Hack*. This is pretty unpleasant... It's been going on for about 3 weeks now and it's always just pretty much one annoying symptom at a time... I've been through the headache and the runny nose and the sore throat... now I've moved on to a persistant nagging cough. But enough about my physical distress...
It's the first day of Finals Week, and since I didn't need to teach Monday classes, I stayed at home today, and got up much later than usual for a Monday. I wouldn't call it a _productive_ day, but it has allowed me to spend a little bit of energy on things like cleaning off my desk, doing a little laundry... I went out and bought some groceries for the upcoming break week, refilled the gas in my truck, got some cash from the ATM. This is the kind of stuff that I let go until the last possible moment during the reqular quarter and it winds up bringing me down and making me feel disorganized. And the more I feel disorganized, the more it perpetuates itself. Thank God (literally) for quarter breaks. It's my chance to catch up with life.
Funny line from McDonald's commercial: Guy 1: "Parfait, S'il vous plait ?" Guy 2: "Say what?" Guy 1: "It's French, dog, don't worry 'bout it..."
Posted by Andrew at 01:14 AM | Comments (2)
February 21, 2003
it's better today
Well, the world is a better place for me today than it was last night. I'm still sick & coughing, but I did finish what I needed to last night, and I got some decent sleep, I think.
I may or may not be seeing Daredevil tonight... That's a little up in the air. What else comes out tonight? Old School? The Life of David Gale? not dying to see either of those.
Well, back to some other pre-occupations.
Posted by Andrew at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)
sigh
blah... feeling kinda down. a little innundated, a little sick, a little down-hearted, a little unmotivated.
Prayer: {Lift me up, Lord. Please give me better health and state of mind tonight as I try to finish the remaining work awaiting me. Help me to sense your presence and guiding hand. In Jesus' name... Amen.}
Posted by Andrew at 12:21 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2003
last class is over...
This afternoon was the last class of the tenth week of the RIT quarter... now it's just a matter of getting my grading done and giving some last make-up practicals... Tonight, though: Pizza & Games at the CCC meeting! Good low-key, high-quality fun!
Posted by Andrew at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2003
Last Night at Games@Six
We reached a peak crowd of about 21 or so... Games that were played (that I can remember): Frag, Princes of Florence, Zendo, Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers, Too Many Cooks, Duo, Puerto Rico, Blockbuster (aka rethemed Kohle, Kie$, and Knete), and probably some others. I thinks some threatened to play Civilization: the boardgame, but I don't think it actually happened. This was also the last "official" weekly boardgame night of the quarter, although there is likely to be one more gathering during Finals Week. I will send something to the Games@Six mailing list when I have a plan put together.
Posted by Andrew at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)
The actual numbers for the practical...
Oh, the actual number of people that will be retaking the practical is 8 out of my morning class of 32, and 13 out of my afternoon class of 34. That's about a third of the overall class... About normal. Annoying, but about normal.
Posted by Andrew at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)
evilgeekyprofessors.com
Wow! This is cool. Nice job, mysterious stranger. I could even get that URL!... how cool would that be?
Anyways, for those who read the fine print (the embedded code in the HTML). This person talks about a one-time chance at passing a practical for a course. Which isn't technically correct... Students receive an almost exact version of the practical about a week to two weeks before the practical (which they should use, but seldom to do, to prepare with). Then they get to take it once and need only a 70% score to pass... If they fail (which is common for about a quarter to a third or so of the class -- which brings me pain every time it happens -- but it still happens, no matter how much I think they're going to do 'really good this time'), then they get a whole other second chance to take it again with slightly more time but a need to achieve an 80% or better.
Typically, I have no more than one or two fail the final practical (even with all the big 'scaryness' of it), and everytime the students who have been held back due to the practical have definitely been held back for the right reasons.
Say what you want about the pass/fail practical process... I was never much in favor of it when the other multimedia faculty wanted to implement it, but now that it's in place... There isn't much that I can do about it, and all in all, I think it's a reasonably easy thing to complete if you're prepared and know what you're doing.
But without it, how would I ever have such good multimedia made about little old me. :)
Posted by Andrew at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2003
Exploding Brain clean-up in the Mac Lab
Ugh... not so good. These practicals... They can be a killer... Especially when the students decide they aren't going to practice for them and just come in and wing it. Every time... The ones that think they're 'good ones' and can do anything without thinking twice... they get nailed. It appears as though I have around 15-20 students from my morning class (of about 35) and about 10-15 from my afternoon class (again of about the same size) that are going to need to 'retake' the practical... for a second chance at being eligible to pass the course.
So let's see... those practicals were the big highlight of the day... Also earlier in the evening got to meet (as I do most Mondays) with the student leaders of RIT Campus Crusade as we plan things for upcoming weeks and spend a little time in prayer. God has assembled a great crew of students to be in the leadership roles of our little campus movement here. We're looking ahead to the next quarter with great anticipation... one of them is already wishing it were next Fall so that we can really get more new students involved and connected and growing in their relationship with Christ.
I realize that not everyone who reads this blog is Christian, nor are they necessarily even remotely in support of the things that I'm involved with through Campus Crusade, but it is a big part of who I am, so... thus... it goes on the blog. One of the main reasons why this blog is at wheeland.com and not on my work account... I do hope and pray that all of my friends would know that I sincerely wish the best for them regardless of what faith they claim. But likewise, I do want them to understand that I also believe with all of my heart that there is a place where they should be in relation to Jesus Christ. A connection and a relationship that I believe they should have. If they don't have it, it doesn't mean that I care about them and what happens in their lives ANY LESS, but I do hope that if it's something that they don't yet fully grasp that they'd feel comfortable talking to me about it.
Anyways... sorry to go all "GodStuff" on you there... See you next entry.
Posted by Andrew at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
Giving a Practical
At this very moment, I am putting 30 some students through their paces by giving them the Introduction to Multimedia Practical exam. For the most part, they do well, but I can't help but wonder about some of them as I walk around and see totally un-related stuff on their screens like Microsoft Excel documents popping up and the like. The other frustration right now is that we're in a mixed Mac OS X & Mac OS 9 atmosphere where not all of the applications work their best as the computer needs to switch back and forth between modes... the interface changes notably from one mode to the other. Poor kids. At least they get a second chance if this first practical hammers them. After two tries I usually have no more than one or two kids from each section that don't pass in the end.
Anyway, the subject of this first practical exam is a review of a website about polar bears. It's very cold up here in Rochester right now and I'm sure no one appreciates it very much. The 2nd practical that I'll be giving today has to do with hedge mazes... should be fun.
Posted by Andrew at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2003
Not a great day...
A little bit more about my day today... So, I've had a really good weekend. A distant friend from Nevada has been out visiting for a few days... A large group of us got together on Friday night for dinner and some games afterward and then on Saturday afternoon for bowling and even more games afterward. It was plenty of fun...
I've had this strange malady that has been morphing from one symptom to another over the last 2 or 3 weeks... starting as a runny nose and then stopping almost completely for last weekends trip to Hartford, CT for the CCC Winter Conference... then started up again this past week as a sore throat and that's continued on pretty much straight through until today which has turned into a headache. Not a huge one, but definitely one that was strong enough to keep me away from Church tonight. Which is really disappointing.
Tomorrow, I need to give two multimedia practical exams... which I am working on right now... I find it rather hard to get work done here at home, though... and this is always the case. But it's pretty important. I'll have to get into work tomorrow a little extra early so that I can make photocopies of the practical and get down to the lab in time.
The furnace was stupid again this weekend... but we've since had someone come out and fix it for us so we only had to spend one night in the extreme cold... let's hear it for layers of blankets!!
Alright, that's it for tonight, I think. Back to work.
Posted by Andrew at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)
Sorry... false alarm.
Sorry to get anyone overly excited. Gwieleine is not a real person... more of an example person. The kind of woman I hope to meet in my life. Those of you who pray, please pray that God would be making me into the right kind of person for her and that He'd be making her into the right kind of person for me... And most importantly that we'd actually get together!
Posted by Andrew at 08:26 PM | Comments (2)
February 14, 2003
Valentine's Day
I don't need no Cupid around here. Gwieleine, Happy Valentine's Day... I look forward to meeting you! Awww... Isn't the Google Doodle cute today?
Posted by Andrew at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2003
Interesting Article... Has very good points.
TIME.com: The Space Shuttle Must Be Stopped -- Feb. 10, 2003
Okay, I love the concept of exploring space as much as your typical Sci-Fi fan... I run the SETI@Home screen-saver... I used to have a subscription to Odyssey Magazine when I was a kid (go Ulysses 4-11!). I strongly believe that our space program must continue, but I have to agree that the Space Shuttle is a shocking waste with today's technology... I do think they should continue to use the Space Shuttles while a replacement is developed (I support the Internation Space Station), but we should not continue to plan to use them indefinitely... Well, I'll let you go ahead and read it, yourself.
Posted by Andrew at 04:25 PM | Comments (4)
February 02, 2003
Final progress...
Well, I got my inbox count down to just under 150 messages... This is good... clearly there's a lot more to go... About 20 or so of those messages represent significant work that I have to get down... the other 130 are about 20% important work... about 80% stuff I just have to get around to filing into the right mailbox folders... My old mail program (Mulberry from Cyrusoft) used to allow me to file outgoing messages and the one that I was responding to into a chosen folder right while I was clicking send... which was great... kept me much more organized... but at the moment, I'm using the Mac OS X mail client... which I really like, but it doesn't quite have all of the same great features as Mulberry... (so I just automatically just CC everything to myself which means each outgoing message needs to have two other actions just to keep it in the right storage location)... and I haven't yet gotten the gumption to give Microsoft Entourage a legitimate try (dragging my feet, actually, on that one). Well... off to bed. G'night.
Posted by Andrew at 03:43 AM | Comments (2)
You want notification?
Hey, I've just added a Notification box down below on the left so that you can tell when I put something new on here... (since it's becoming somewhat less frequent)... Just pop your e-mail in there and click add... piece of cake.
Anyway... at the moment, I'm going through old e-mail... this is a rare and special treat... My current inboxometer reading is: 264. I'll post before I go to bed with my updated number.
Posted by Andrew at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)