Friday, April 22, 2005
Midnight Oil
I should most definitely be asleep right now...but screw that!
I spent about an hour each studying for my three midterms tomorrow. I feel like this is an adequate amount. I'm sure I've reviewed everything my teachers can possibly ask me tomorrow. I'm actually feeling very good about all three tests...my teachers aren't the greatest, and usually I walk away from class not completely understanding everything. But going through all of my notes at once in addition to reading through the textbook really does clarify a lot of things. So hooray! I'm back to learning the logic behind the formulas in lieu of just memorizing them.
So I had that internshippy thing today. Yeah...complete waste of my time. It turns out that it was a summer internship for the Southwestern Company, which is this company that sells these educational aid book things that are supposed to help parents help their kids from kindergarten through high school. My job would be (from what it sounded like) going door to door trying to sell these books for hundreds of dollars, and I'd be working on commission. It did actually seem like a good program...for a business major. The guy who was talking to me did a pretty good job of connecting the program to engineering majors ("engineers sell ideas...which is much easier if they have experience selling products") but I still think it's a stretch to say that this internship would really get me started down my career path. He also tried to sway me with all sorts of statistics of how the average first-year student makes over $8,000 in a summer. That's great...except that they expect me to work 75 hours a week. I could make eight grand doing a lot of different things if I wanted to work 75 hours a week! Whatever...I didn't mind losing that hour. At least I tried, right? My only problem with the whole thing was how I was misled in the beginning. The guy who called me on the phone made it sound like he was part of a Cal Poly-sponsored program that helped students find internships. He also was "too busy" to give me the specifics of the program over the phone. Sigh. At least I tried.
There were a couple of things that I forgot to mention yesterday...I'll get into those now.
The Cal Poly student body voted yesterday and today on two different measures proposed by ASI (our student government). One of them was an increase of the yearly ASI fee by something in the neighborhood of $40 over the next few years. The money wasn't earmarked for anything specific; there was lots of talk about how ASI would give it to campus clubs. The other measure was an increase in the yearly university union fee of about $6oo over the next five or so years. With this money, ASI would completely revamp our university union. In addition to this, a new UU-type complex would be constructed on the other side of campus. Fascinating, huh? But here's the good part: I actually had an opinion on these referenda. A strong opinion! I voted NO on both of them. I voted against the ASI fee increase simply because ASI couldn't really justify needing the money. $40 isn't a huge deal...but it all adds up, and if the money isn't needed then I don't see why we should charge students. I was even more opposed to the UU fee increase. I am quite pleased with our UU the way it is currently. Sure, I would enjoy new facilities...but the ones we have now are adequate. $600 actually is a huge deal when you consider that tuition is only about $3,500 for in-state students. Cal Poly isn't the best school out there, but when you factor in cost of attendance Cal Poly becomes a damn good value. I hardly think a student is going to choose to come to SLO because of a new UU complex. Low cost is one of the best things Cal Poly has going for it...we don't need to be increasing the cost of attendance by 17%. I also found it amusing that one of the chief arguments presented by the proponents of this measure was that the opposition's only argument was that increased fees were bad. Well DUH! Hell yeah I'd be in favor of this if it didn't cost us anything. While we're at it, why don't we hire the staff of Stanford for nothing to come down here and teach classes? I also think it would be nice if they could build a new housing complex so that I can have my own room. Really? There's a buttload of stuff that would be nice...but we just can't blow the money on it.
See? Aren't you all proud of me? Half of you are...the other half of you are grumbling into your keyboards right now because you disagree with me. But that's okay...it's the risk I take when I form opinions. Woot! One more point before I move off of this topic: ASI bugged me in the way they pushed their agenda on us. They were strictly in favor of both referenda (obviously), and they used their power to blanket the school in propaganda. All of ASI's employees - who work at a bunch of the on-campus stores - have been wearing tshirts in favor of the measures. The digital marquees on campus have displayed messages telling us all to vote yes. ASI has hosted "info sessions" on the issues. There have been campus-wide emails sent out. All the on-campus residents had "vote yes!" postcards put into out mailboxes...postage free. The opposition to the referenda hardly have the power to do any of these things. I suppose that's just straight bad luck...but I still don't think this really constitutes a fair election.
One more thing for me to talk about: Courtney has decided to quit WOW. (A big "welcome" to the readers of Courtney's blog who now read Living the SLO Life in order to keep up with Courtney's day-to-day activities.) It turns out that there are one too many people signed up to lead a band WOW group, and as Courtney had thought for a while that she wouldn't be able to do the program due to a scheduling conflict, she has last priority to get a WOW leader spot. There are other reasons behind her decision, but long story short: she's not going to continue with the training. I'm happy for her, actually. She really has been horribly busy, and dropping WOW gives her an extra three hours every week, plus the time she would spend at all of the retreats and things. She would have enjoyed being a WOW leader, but this training didn't seem to be tickling her fancy. So I'm glad that she'll have more time...maybe she won't be as overworked as she has been. (DISCLAIMER: the above paragraph is what I personally have come to understand of the situation. Do not take it as gospel. If you want Courtney's true opinions, you'll have to ask her for them.)
And it is on that note that I shall terminate this entry. Good night, and wish me luck on my midterms tomorrow.
My candle is only lit at one end,
Josh
mood: good...I am glad to understand the last four weeks' worth of education
music: "Hollywood Nocturne" by the Brian Setzer Orchestra
location: dorm
Quoted Randomness:
"By kick, I meant push gently...with a swiftly moving foot."
--Dave Bloomquist
I spent about an hour each studying for my three midterms tomorrow. I feel like this is an adequate amount. I'm sure I've reviewed everything my teachers can possibly ask me tomorrow. I'm actually feeling very good about all three tests...my teachers aren't the greatest, and usually I walk away from class not completely understanding everything. But going through all of my notes at once in addition to reading through the textbook really does clarify a lot of things. So hooray! I'm back to learning the logic behind the formulas in lieu of just memorizing them.
So I had that internshippy thing today. Yeah...complete waste of my time. It turns out that it was a summer internship for the Southwestern Company, which is this company that sells these educational aid book things that are supposed to help parents help their kids from kindergarten through high school. My job would be (from what it sounded like) going door to door trying to sell these books for hundreds of dollars, and I'd be working on commission. It did actually seem like a good program...for a business major. The guy who was talking to me did a pretty good job of connecting the program to engineering majors ("engineers sell ideas...which is much easier if they have experience selling products") but I still think it's a stretch to say that this internship would really get me started down my career path. He also tried to sway me with all sorts of statistics of how the average first-year student makes over $8,000 in a summer. That's great...except that they expect me to work 75 hours a week. I could make eight grand doing a lot of different things if I wanted to work 75 hours a week! Whatever...I didn't mind losing that hour. At least I tried, right? My only problem with the whole thing was how I was misled in the beginning. The guy who called me on the phone made it sound like he was part of a Cal Poly-sponsored program that helped students find internships. He also was "too busy" to give me the specifics of the program over the phone. Sigh. At least I tried.
There were a couple of things that I forgot to mention yesterday...I'll get into those now.
The Cal Poly student body voted yesterday and today on two different measures proposed by ASI (our student government). One of them was an increase of the yearly ASI fee by something in the neighborhood of $40 over the next few years. The money wasn't earmarked for anything specific; there was lots of talk about how ASI would give it to campus clubs. The other measure was an increase in the yearly university union fee of about $6oo over the next five or so years. With this money, ASI would completely revamp our university union. In addition to this, a new UU-type complex would be constructed on the other side of campus. Fascinating, huh? But here's the good part: I actually had an opinion on these referenda. A strong opinion! I voted NO on both of them. I voted against the ASI fee increase simply because ASI couldn't really justify needing the money. $40 isn't a huge deal...but it all adds up, and if the money isn't needed then I don't see why we should charge students. I was even more opposed to the UU fee increase. I am quite pleased with our UU the way it is currently. Sure, I would enjoy new facilities...but the ones we have now are adequate. $600 actually is a huge deal when you consider that tuition is only about $3,500 for in-state students. Cal Poly isn't the best school out there, but when you factor in cost of attendance Cal Poly becomes a damn good value. I hardly think a student is going to choose to come to SLO because of a new UU complex. Low cost is one of the best things Cal Poly has going for it...we don't need to be increasing the cost of attendance by 17%. I also found it amusing that one of the chief arguments presented by the proponents of this measure was that the opposition's only argument was that increased fees were bad. Well DUH! Hell yeah I'd be in favor of this if it didn't cost us anything. While we're at it, why don't we hire the staff of Stanford for nothing to come down here and teach classes? I also think it would be nice if they could build a new housing complex so that I can have my own room. Really? There's a buttload of stuff that would be nice...but we just can't blow the money on it.
See? Aren't you all proud of me? Half of you are...the other half of you are grumbling into your keyboards right now because you disagree with me. But that's okay...it's the risk I take when I form opinions. Woot! One more point before I move off of this topic: ASI bugged me in the way they pushed their agenda on us. They were strictly in favor of both referenda (obviously), and they used their power to blanket the school in propaganda. All of ASI's employees - who work at a bunch of the on-campus stores - have been wearing tshirts in favor of the measures. The digital marquees on campus have displayed messages telling us all to vote yes. ASI has hosted "info sessions" on the issues. There have been campus-wide emails sent out. All the on-campus residents had "vote yes!" postcards put into out mailboxes...postage free. The opposition to the referenda hardly have the power to do any of these things. I suppose that's just straight bad luck...but I still don't think this really constitutes a fair election.
One more thing for me to talk about: Courtney has decided to quit WOW. (A big "welcome" to the readers of Courtney's blog who now read Living the SLO Life in order to keep up with Courtney's day-to-day activities.) It turns out that there are one too many people signed up to lead a band WOW group, and as Courtney had thought for a while that she wouldn't be able to do the program due to a scheduling conflict, she has last priority to get a WOW leader spot. There are other reasons behind her decision, but long story short: she's not going to continue with the training. I'm happy for her, actually. She really has been horribly busy, and dropping WOW gives her an extra three hours every week, plus the time she would spend at all of the retreats and things. She would have enjoyed being a WOW leader, but this training didn't seem to be tickling her fancy. So I'm glad that she'll have more time...maybe she won't be as overworked as she has been. (DISCLAIMER: the above paragraph is what I personally have come to understand of the situation. Do not take it as gospel. If you want Courtney's true opinions, you'll have to ask her for them.)
And it is on that note that I shall terminate this entry. Good night, and wish me luck on my midterms tomorrow.
My candle is only lit at one end,
Josh
mood: good...I am glad to understand the last four weeks' worth of education
music: "Hollywood Nocturne" by the Brian Setzer Orchestra
location: dorm
Quoted Randomness:
"By kick, I meant push gently...with a swiftly moving foot."
--Dave Bloomquist
