Getting Noticed

A bit of interesting news about my bog. My post Confessions of a closet environmentalist is listed on Technorati.com. According to them, my blog is among "some of the best blogs on the Web" It is only one person's opinion that my post belongs on Technorati, but it is gratifying nevertheless.

The Latest News

A couple of things happened today that I am happy about. I went to the first meeting of a club that a friend and I joined. We introduced ourselves and talked about our expectations and then I had to leave. Maybe next time I will be able to stay for the after meeting socialization.

The other big event of the day was the first CPP (pension) deposit into my bank account. It is not much, just a few hundred dollars a month but it marks a milestone for me. I am now, officially a senior citizen but, as I said in my introduction at the club meeting, I don't feel like one and I certainly don't intend to act like one.

My New Laptop

My return to university has prompted me to buy a new laptop. Although I have owned one or more computers since the early eighties, it is my first new computer in more than a decade. I don't play games or do very much that needs the newest or latest computer software. The most demanding program I use is Gimp for photo editing. I use Linux on my desktop and find that it does everything that I need it to do, and it does it quite well.

I bought a Dell with Vista as the operating system. It has a dual core Centrino running at 1.67 Ghz and two gigs of ram. It uses one gig without any user programs running. I had heard about Vista and its needing a fast processor with lots of ram. I have not had any real problems with it yet, other than having to reboot it about a dozen times since I got it after installing new software and updating the system software. That is something that my Linux system does not need to do.

My new computer does run Google Earth a lot faster than my Linux desktop does. I like that feature. Oh, by the way, my desktop is a Compaq Pentium 3 running at 0.867 Ghz , with 512 megs of ram that I bought, for less than a tenth of the price of my new Dell, at a yard sale a couple of years ago.

Comments

I have found out that there is a problem with comments. I am not getting them. I am trying to get this problem fixed.

Why I Am Writing This Blog

When I decided to return to university as a mature student, I thought that writing about my experiences would be worthwhile in several ways. First of all, it is a chronicle of my experiences that I can share with others, secondly, it is a way for me to keep my family members up to date, third, it forces me to think about and process my experiences at university, and finally, it gives me a reason to write regularly.

I find it gratifying that I already have some readers who check out this blog every day. It is even more gratifying that they are not all family members. One of my daughters will be very surprised that she is not number one on the list of visitors. You know who you are.

There are readers from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Virginia, Spain, South Africa, India, Australia and several other countries. My goal is to provide all of my readers with something that will keep them interested enough to keep coming back for more. I welcome your input, so please feel free to comment on any of the posts on this blog.

Car vs bus revisited

Ones actions often have effects that are not those that were intended. I was talking to someone about not driving and taking the bus as part of my contribution to help reduce pollution and global warming. I found that talking about my conscious decision, to take the bus, made the other student think about not driving. The more people who take the bus, the more normal it will become and the less normal driving will be.

Cold bus rides

I've been taking the bus to school almost every day. If it is cooler outside the buses are quite comfortable, but if it is a hot day, the buses are cold from the air conditioning. I could use a jacket, in fact quite a few people do wear jackets on the buses on those days. Stores, too, are kept colder than they need to be for comfort. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with our expectations?

A very long week

It has been a very long week. I am still dealing with the fallout from my personal crisis. I have no regrets about dropping the course. It allows me to focus on what I need to do.

Wednesday was a very bad day for me, I felt the full, emotional impact of the events of the week before. I decided to contact others and let them know just how hard it had been for me. That made a huge difference. Wednesday could have been the day when things got worse, instead it was the day when things turned around.

I am continuing to meet interesting people. An excellent example is a woman who has spent time in the Middle East and is in university to gain knowledge and skills that will enable her to return to the country that she spent time in and work with the people there. She is learning the local language so that she will be more effective when she returns.

I was invited to go for a beer by a fellow student on Friday. Although, we decided not to go for the beer then, we did go to check out the campus clubs and joined a couple of them. The age difference between the other students and me does not seem to be any hindrance to my meeting people and socializing with them. They are curious about why I am in university now and some of the more goal oriented want to know what I am going to do with my degree when I graduate.

I am keeping up with the work, despite all of the turmoil in my life. I have written three short tests and have gotten very high marks in two of them and a very respectable mark in the third. At least, I think so, it has not been marked yet but I know I did not find it difficult

I am behind in some of my reading and will have to concentrate on that this weekend. Along with the household chores, which are always there, I will also have to spend some time dealing with my personal crisis. That makes for a busy weekend but I am taking some time to relax on Sunday. I've been invited out for dinner and I will definitely be there.

Fitting in

I am beginning to feel as if I belong here. One of my concerns about returning to university was the large age difference between the other students and me. It was an unfounded concern. Most people, here, are very accepting and encouraging. The students that I talk to are really interested in why I am at university at this stage of my life.

I had some apprehension about attending a large institution. So far, other than the walking around campus, it is easier than I thought that it would be.

I am enjoying the challenges that come from attending university. I have read quite a lot over the years, but now I have to read material at a deeper level and understand it, even if I am not particularly interested in some of the material. When I read before, I would skip over parts that were of less interest to me.

Expectations

I started attending classes, almost a week ago, with certain expectations. I had an idea that some courses were going to be hard and others easier. I was also sure which courses would be most interesting and which classes would go by very slowly. Not surprisingly, my expectations are all wrong. Well, not quite, but pretty much. Certain profs bring enthusiasm for their subject matter and a love of teaching that makes, even the less fascinating, topics interesting.

I have some larger classes that I was apprehensive about because I know that I learn better when there are fewer students in a class. Maybe I have a more positive attitude than I have had in the past, because I find the larger classes are almost as conducive to learning as the smaller ones are. Perhaps I would be more engaged and learning even better if those classes were smaller.

Car vs Bus

I drove my car to the university yesterday morning. It took me 15 minutes to drive there and 15 minutes to walk to the building where my morning class is held. I did walk a bit slowly because of an injury that I am recovering from, but driving does not save me very much time. It usually takes me about 40 minutes, door to door, to get to class by bus.

Fallout

Events in my personal life have forced me to change my course load. I have had to drop one course, so now I am down to four.

I did not take this decision lightly. My academic counselor and I talked about my options and we agreed that this is the safest one. I might have been okay with five courses, but it is better to drop the course now, than after all of my work has suffered. I have credits from my previous studies so I have some flexibility.

Life goes on

Amidst the turmoil and grief of the last few days I got some great news. Someone who is very close to me called and told me that they have decided to start a family and that she is pregnant. I am so very happy for them. Life goes on...

My First Week

I completed my first week, albeit with a major hiccup. There was a family crisis that caused me to miss classes on Friday. Otherwise it went well. I am pleased with the reception that I am getting.

Patterns are starting to emerge. We are beginning to form small groups within some of our classes. People who think alike start talking and end up spending time together. I would like to meet more people who are different, who have different ideas to contribute, who have other perspectives to offer. Relationships that would do that need to be more deliberate and cultivated. I would have to move away from what is easy and comfortable towards the difficult and unfamiliar.

I think that one of the goals for university should be to open up and experience life from different perspectives. We need to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. (The last sentence comes from something I read once but I don't remember the source.)

rough edges

Life experiences can polish our rough edges if we are resilient enough to take what comes our way, but if our life experiences are too abrasive, they chip away at our soul and roughen us up even more.

Confessions of a closet environmentalist

I have a confession to make. I am a closet environmentalist.

It is true that we are careful buyers who try to reduce our consumption at the source. We recycle almost everything that can be recycled and we compost almost everything that can be composted. We give away many of the items that we do not use any more. We do not use pesticides and we limit our use of household chemicals. But there are many things that we could do differently. We run our air conditioner too much. We drive short distances too often. We live in a house that is larger than we really need. I could go on.

I have decided to make a significant change. My university fees included a bus pass. All students pay for it whether they use it or not. I have been using mine. We have an excellent bus system and my travel time is not excessive. If I drove, I could get to the university in about 25 minutes. So far, the bus ride has been about 40 minutes or a bit more. I read or study some of that time. I could not do that if I were driving.

From my perspective it is a good deal. I reduce my green house gas production, I feel good about it and I get some more study time.

Pogo

One of my all time favourite quotes comes from Pogo "we have met the enemy and he is us."

That is quite enough for tonight, I must get to sleep.

Some reactions to my returning to university

Some of the comments that people made when they found out that I was returning to university surprised me. Most people were excited for me and encouraged me. I had expected that. What surprised me was the reaction of a very small minority who hoped that I was returning to university just for my own self fulfillment and not with the expectation that I would get a job when I graduated. Two things about that sentiment strike me as odd. First of all is the devaluation of the principle of going to university for personal satisfaction and fulfillment. I got the message that the reason one attended university was to gain marketable knowledge and skills. It was all well and good if one could find satisfaction and personal fulfillment while doing so but it was secondary to the main event. Secondly, I got the message that someone my age should not expect to find work after graduation. At least one person framed the message in a way that made it clear that I needed to be administered a healthy dose of reality. Someone wondered why I would want to go to school with a "bunch of teenagers".

My reason for returning to university now is because I can. I also need to finish the degree that I started so many years ago. That unfinished work has been calling me like a siren for almost four decades. I enjoy learning and love acquiring knowledge for its own sake. I do not believe that I need to justify my decision. I have had a couple of other students ask me why I chose to return to university now. They understood when I told them my story.

Orientation

The orientation session was worth going to. I met some nice people and found out about some of the services that are available to students. The best part was sitting around chatting after the tour finished. It was a lovely afternoon so we sat outside and enjoyed the fresh air.

Second day at university- French and Statistics

French was hard. Apparently, our text is used for the introductory French class as well as the intermediate class that I am taking. I have to get caught up on chapters one to seven. I have already started and understand the first two chapters reasonably well.

The only class of mine that has a significant number of older students is my French Class. Lest I offend anyone, they are just a bit older than most first and second year students. There are not very many, but more than there are in my other classes.

Our statistics class was scheduled for an hour and was taken up with administrative stuff for the 30 minutes, or so, that we were in class. The fun starts next Monday.

Tomorrow I am going to a get to know your university session for mature students. Maybe I will finally meet someone my own age. Yeah right.

First day at university

Today was my first day of classes after returning to university after a very long time away. Surprisingly, I was a lot more relaxed today than I remember being the first time around. Students seem to be a lot more serious than they were in 1968. I really enjoyed my first three classes and am looking forward to more.

Tomorrow I get to experience French and Statistics. I was placed in an intermediate French class after writing a placement test this summer but I haven't studied French formally for a long time. I've been brushing up on my French grammar to get back into the groove. French is the class that I am most apprehensive about.

Thoughts on family birthdays in August

I am always fascinated by the number of ways that people can find to sort themselves into in-groups and out-groups.

Many of the members of my family and my wife's family celebrate their birthdays in August. Three of my wife's siblings were born within a few days of each other early in August so they are all Leos. Most of the rest of the family members who have birthdays in August are also Leos. That leaves out those who were born later in August and are Virgos. Their birthdays rarely get mentioned in family gatherings while those of the Leos are frequently celebrated as something special.

Happy birthday to all those Leos and Virgos. Or, should I exclude those Virgos who were born in September?