Politics

Politics.  I hate it.  I have never understood, appreciated, or been interested in politics at any level.  However, the election is coming up soon and I feel that it is my responsibility to exercise my right to vote.  I have never affiliated with a political party before which at this stage is beneficial because I'm not swayed one way or another based on blind loyalty to one party or another.

One issue that I see recurring on news and campaigns is taxation.  One side claims that I should pay more taxes while the other side is telling me that rich people should give me a break and pay some of my share for me.  Both candidates are saying that their system of taxation is fair so who am I supposed to believe?

Taxation was created in the US on a percentage system.  Everyone is required to pay back a certain percentage of whatever he or she makes.  The rich pay hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars more than I pay in taxes to the government while the poor pay much less than I do.  The percentage system was put in place to account for the rich making more money than the middle and lower classes.  They already pay tons more than we pay.  If I work my butt off my whole life and earn a fortune, I don't want to be responsible for paying more than my slice of the pie.  With that system, we're going to turn into the European Union where everyone calls on Germany to bail them out.  How can we expect to keep calling upon the upper class to bail everyone else out?  If we keep taking their money, sooner or later there won't be an upper class left and who will save us then?  Whose money will we take once we exhaust all of their savings?

What I think is fair is everyone stepping up and pitching in their portion, even if this means the majority of our country (myself included) pay a little bit more.  Where that money is spent is a whole other issue.

In other news, I'm going to California on Sunday!  It is for the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and I'm quite excited about it.  It will be interesting to see how other programs are run.  Plus it will be nice to go to Monterrey for my first time.

Deflation

For my job (Yes, as a teacher.  I never though I would say those words.), I am creating modules that are computer-based for our students to complete while we are out of town.  The task is very straightforward and generally involves opening an already existing powerpoint presentation that has been used for years to teach the class, making it more interesting, record the audio of myself presenting it slide by slide, then write up a 10 question quiz at the end to make sure they understood all the material.  It's more involved and glorified than that but if you strip it all down to the bare bones, that's essentially what I'm doing.  Yes, it is straightforward.  However, it is extraordinarily more time consuming than it sounds.  For a 12 minute presentation, I put about 15-20 hours of work into it.  I have just completed my third and fourth presentations and I'm pretty satisfied with them.  They have all the information in a good powerpoint layout without too many words, sprinkled with photos, splashed with humor, narrated in a very interested and engaging tone, and takes the place of a long lecture.

It has finally come back around to me that students have completely disregarded the presentation and have just skipped to the quiz.  They can take it a few times so I imagine that they just re-take it, learning which are the right answers along the way, until they pass it.  I really shouldn't care, but the hardest part for me is all of the work that I've put into it gets completely disregarded.  I put all of my free time into making these modules as educational, interesting, engaging, and entertaining as I possibly can, and then it turns out to be for nothing.  It's a deflating feeling.

I don't like what it feels like but in time, I'll get over it.  I don't want my happiness to be dependent on what other people do or don't do.  If my students already know it all, then there's no problem with them skipping everything.  If they don't know it all, it will show up on the midterm and final exams.  I am proud of my work and I enjoyed putting forth so much effort to make what I've made.  That's far more important than whether anyone else appreciates it or not.

Kick It Up A Notch

Photo: www.infobarrel.com

In December I'm going to take a cave diving course.  I can't wait!  This is one of the types of diving that I've been looking forward to for a long long time and it just so happened that a spot opened up in a course that I only need to pay for about a third of the cost of a typical cave course.  I'm not wishing my time away between now and then but I am REALLY looking forward to it.

Looking Back

Olin Hall was pretty much my home for 4 years.  Math, Astronomy, Physics.

So here I am at 1am when, instead of sleeping, I'm here on the internet.  Often I would consider what I do on the internet at this hour wasting time by checking emails that never come, browsing music, surfing Wikipedia, updating facebook, etc.  Tonight I was about to go to bed when I ran into a facebook group that I was invited to join.  It was made for my graduating class at Denison and the idea, at least in the short term, is to update everyone on what we're doing.  It brought a wave of nostalgia crashing over me.  Sure Ohio isn't my favorite state, but boy do I love Denison University.  I have a lot of loyalty to the University of Miami, but Denison to me has a much more special place in my heart.  Since graduating, I've only been back for 2-3 days which was to visit for graduation in 2010.  I'm still in touch with a handful of people from Denison, some on a regular basis and others I'll talk to every year or so.  By and large, there's no one from Denison with whom I would consider myself in good communication.  I have a history of not keeping up with people.  My whole life I've had this issue.  However, that's not the topic of the night tonight.  Tonight, I'm simply trying to express that I miss college life.  I miss being an undergrad at Denison.  I miss the friends, the close proximity, the schedule, the opportunities, the clubs, the knowledge to gain, the scenery, the friendliness of the school and surrounding town, the professors, and really having a defined role in all of it.  My mind is just drifting through memories of my time there in no particular order.  I'm thinking of my work with the Physics department, the concerts I played, my freshman year dorm, spending time in the observatory, track meets, roommates, dining halls, classes, and then much more specific experiences.  I poured all of my effort into doing my best during those years and because I was so fiercely devoted to giving it my all, I am now all the more attached to it.  Denison will forever be my alma mater no matter where I go or what I do.