Would you eat this? I for one would not. But it is sorta weird sci-fi cool. They should market it as Soylent Green.
January 2008 Archives
Wow, been really busy lately and the blog has just gone by the wayside. Work, School, getting the house ready to sell are all taking most of my time. Just to update from last time,my Capstone class pretty much isn't online. It could be if I wanted it to, but the "online" projects that were available were basically just to write a research paper. That doesn't seem very exciting. The project I chose is really interesting. I am going to evaluate the IT department for the University and recommend improvements. Of course, it also involves working with a team. In my opinion, Academic Group projects just don't work. It's not like working an a real project at work, but I'll manage I suppose. I'm not terribly happy that the only choice for a project for online students was a research paper, but I like the project I got so I can't complain too much. Only one class to go after this one.
Work on the house continues. I think Elanna and I put about 20 more boxes in storage this weekend and that doesn't even count the 3 bags of clothes we donated, or the 6 bags of trash we threw away.
Well I am starting the Capstone for my Masters Degree program, though I'm not actually graduating yet. I still have one more course to take (Digital Forensics) but its not offered this semester. Through much hardship, (okay some emails and phone calls) I was able to convince the University to allow me to take the Capstone early rather than sit out a semester.
All of my other courses have been strictly online. The whole course was run through a web site. There wasn't an online section for the Capstone course when I went to enroll. I asked about this and was told by my advisor that I should enroll in the regular section and the instructor would explain to me how it worked for online students.
I get an email last week Friday telling me that I need to attend a Capstone Lab from 9-12 on Saturday or do the Lab Online by Feb 1st. I thought that was kinda short notice if you wanted to do the in-person lab but there was an online version so it didn't really matter.
Then I get an email from the Professor this Monday saying the first class will be this Saturday from 8:30-3:30. I email her back and ask how this is supposed to work for online students. She sort of ignores that question and simply says to access the online class and to attend the live session "if it all possible." I access the online class and there's not much to it other than a syllabus. Which shows 6 in-class sessions and weekly meetings. I email the professor back and ask if possibly I am in the wrong section, since I am an online student and this course looks be be structured around live face to face meetings. Again she basically ignores the question, and simply says to come on Saturday and we can work something out.
Work something out? Look I chose this degree program BECAUSE it was 100% online, not 90% online with a live capstone that would "work something out" for online students. In any case, I'll be going tomorrow, since I figure that is the quickest way to get it resolved and find out what is going on. At least I can go to the live session, eventhough it's a pain in the butt. I'd really like to know how the people who don't live in the area are supposed to take this class.
I'm back in town now after being in St. Paul all last week. I actually meant to write an entry last week while I was sitting in the airport, but the airport wireless network died and I never got back to it. St. Paul was cold but not as bad as it could have been. It was only slightly below freezing while I was there, it had been -5 the week before! That project is done now, or at least done to the point where I don't need to go back anytime soon. I actually started that project in January of 2006. Little did I know that when I was asked to come assess their network that I would end up working on it for over 2 years.
Elanna and I are continuing the slow work of getting the house ready to sell. There's nothing really wrong with the house that needs to be fixed, it's just very ....cluttered. We've already filled one storage space and I think we may need to get another one.
Well a lot has happened since the last time I wrote, holidays and all that. However, keeping with the theme of the last post I thought I'd relate this story about why you should keep track of your credit.
A few months ago some hospital in Lansing, MI sent me a bill for $341 for radiology. I called them and told them it wasn't me , and they said " Oh right, sorry." Then they sent me ANOTHER bill, to which I called them again and said, "Hey this isn't me!" to which they said "Oh right sorry again." Now the bill has shown up as a collection on my credit report! Luckily, I pay equifax to monitor my credit, since my SSN has been stolen 3 times now, all due to thefts of data. So I knew right away that it had been reported. Of course, there was very little information on my credit report as to who the debt was from, it has a partial name, an incorrect phone number, and an address for the collections agency.
Using the magic of google, I was able to match the partial name and address with the actual phone number of the collections agency and called them.
They were completely stumped as to how it got reported on my credit. The have my name and address, but another Ryan Moore's phone number, SSN, and Date of Birth. In fact the collections file had 3 notes in it saying that the bill WAS NOT MINE, and that I had called the hospital twice already to explain that.
So they are "correcting" it, but again you should watch your credit.
