tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13382844779970269282012-02-16T08:09:31.745-08:00Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.comBlogger1021100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-31337451788873009342010-11-29T08:32:00.000-08:002010-11-29T08:32:20.215-08:00

On the list of "Most Ridiculous Things I've Ever Been Asked to Write", this takes the cake.  In management class, we watched an episode of "Undercover Boss" and had to write about the lessons White Castle can learn from their CEO's excursion.Words fail me.  But I still had to crank out 1300 of them.  This was the result. Is This The Real Life?  Is This Just Fantasy?  Reality TV and Corporate

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-66868252886170358192010-10-28T02:14:00.000-07:002010-10-28T02:14:57.915-07:00

(I'm planning to work on some new material next month that I want to collect into a book of essays for submission to a publisher.  In order to keep my writing chops up, I decided to sit down for a bit and come up with some new material for the blog.  This was just a one-draft, unrevised piece; I don't expect anyone to take it too seriously.) “Empiricism, Or: Why There Ain't No Such Thing As A

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-57230309765305549832010-10-08T15:27:00.000-07:002010-10-08T15:27:42.702-07:00

I'm no longer in a position where I can write about history for an actual history class, but that doesn't mean I don't still have a lot to say on the topic.  I wrote this in response to my friend Rob from Philadelphia, who mentioned "Imagine" on Facebook and started an interesting chain of thoughts in my head.  1980: The Year Glory Stirred From Its Slumber Dennis L. “Fox” Doucette October 8, 2010

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-39391113849246403122010-09-29T17:13:00.000-07:002010-09-29T17:13:51.207-07:00

This took me 38 minutes to write from start to finish.  Sometimes I even amaze myself. Chapter 4 of my textbook contained the background about Maslow and the Expectancy Theory. Tour de Psychobabble Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Chapter 4     For Lance Armstrong, his surviving testicular cancer and his motivation to win seven consecutive Tours de France can be explained either

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-59056599347839751042010-09-22T21:05:00.000-07:002010-09-22T21:05:43.059-07:00

There's a "networking event" on campus Friday evening.  It's mandatory for students taking Management 321 (Effective Business Writing) because someone got it in their heads that a writing course should come bundled with the college trying to do something about Nevada's 14.3% worst-in-the-nation unemployment besides tell everyone they're special. This is all well and good except for one problem;

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-26505556851181027772010-09-14T09:04:00.000-07:002010-09-14T09:04:52.807-07:00

(my Effective Business Writing professor makes us submit a hard copy of our first draft along with the finished assignment for no other reason than to penalize getting things right the first time.  This time I decided "fuck it, might as well make the first draft funny."  Enjoy.   Note that "Marty Chernov" was the fictitious person named in the assignment in the textbook.) To:    Marty Chernov

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-38833495213819091412010-09-08T07:06:00.000-07:002010-09-08T07:06:24.536-07:00

This was written for Management 323 (Organizational Behavior) after we were instructed to take a Myers-Briggs-style personality assessment and get "one friend or family member and one business associate" to report on the findings.  You can guess how I felt about this. Your Horoscope For Today: Personality Type Report     P.T. Barnum once said “There's a sucker born every minute.”  I can think

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-7822373285989292962010-08-30T23:47:00.000-07:002010-08-30T23:47:47.271-07:00

First assignment for Management 321 (Effective Business Writing): Write a memo introducing myself, my goals, and my interests.  Of course, I wouldn't be sharing if I didn't think this was inherently interesting, but in the future somehow I doubt I'll be mining much in the way of entertainment value for you the reader out of a course that bastardizes the writing process and distills it into

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-53869146603332342722010-07-01T16:58:00.000-07:002010-07-01T16:58:23.065-07:00

I often hear bandied about the "fact" that there are $600-700 trillion dollars in derivative contracts that are supposedly going to make the whole economy go boom and have us all selling pencils to each other for a nickel apiece like the stories my grandfather told me about the Great Depression (q.v. last month's history paper.)  What's interesting is how they arrive at this figure; whenever an

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-8277681176191167552010-06-29T23:36:00.000-07:002010-06-29T23:36:52.079-07:00

I have a final exam in Math 176 (Applied Calculus) tomorrow morning.  Almost exactly eleven hours from now, in fact.  If I get at least an 84 on it, I go a perfect 15-for-15 in getting A's in my classes at TMCC---a perfect score to carry forward to Nevada-Reno this fall for the start of my junior year.  I've been thinking a lot about what's been motivating and driving me recently, and it's a dish

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-34722978573827842682010-06-23T01:43:00.000-07:002010-06-23T01:43:44.573-07:00

So just for kicks I read my previous 93 scribblings calling themselves blog entries since May 27 of last year when I started this damn fool thing.  What jumps out at me is just how much of my evolution, from "devoted husband" to "lost soul in desperate need of validation" to my current status that doesn't fit neatly into quotation marks, comes through in every word.  What also jumps out at me is

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-4292983168639605062010-06-02T14:30:00.000-07:002010-06-02T14:30:07.835-07:00

Written for my Core Humanities class as the spring final.  Reading it over again, I love this irreverent writing format when I use it.  So enjoy. Question 1: On the Mexican-American War and great Americans therein. On April 25, 1846, the Mexican army slaughtered 70 innocent, defenseless Americans along the border. This wasn't over drugs or work visas like an attack of that nature would be in

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-33794992369670409802010-05-29T23:57:00.000-07:002010-05-29T23:57:12.195-07:00

I can't even fucking believe myself anymore.  It's like my mind wants to fuck everything up just so I can feel more comfortable in the role of the underdog, and truly it makes me sick to my fucking stomach to even contemplate just how much I've become my own worst enemy. And I know exactly why.  You've heard the bullshit about the kid whose mommy didn't love him enough and who didn't raise him

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-26531130903561884572010-05-13T23:51:00.000-07:002010-05-13T23:51:09.114-07:00

Lessons learned in the past 16 weeks: - I've accomplished more in the five months since my divorce than I did in five years of marriage.  I never realized just how toxic my ex-wife was because she kept me just satisfied enough not to aspire to anything better.  In the process I learned that I'm a little too easily subdued by a nice pair of tits for my own good. - Finals week taught me that I

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-19815921074151270982010-04-27T13:29:00.000-07:002010-04-27T13:29:43.206-07:00

Another college paper, this one for Core Humanities.  Stuff like this is apparently why that teacher thinks I'm in the wrong racket and should be writing for a living---of this one he said "Excellent, intelligent, and irreverent.  100%, A."  Enjoy! Art/Technology/Great Inventions Paper: American Food Or: Getting Fat On Four Dollars a Day Context     If one is to major in the humanities, one must

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-5363000543357603032010-04-06T10:32:00.000-07:002010-04-06T10:32:38.823-07:00

Spring Break and midterms have come and gone.  Time for a quick look at how in the hell I'm doing as I try to get straight A's for an entire academic year for the first time since 1987 (fourth grade!)  In order of class time: Sociology 205 (Diversity): Still don't have the grade for my research paper.  It's 100 points (out of 360), so the grade more or less hinges on this one.  Get an A on the

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-37290796606600832072010-04-04T10:22:00.000-07:002010-04-04T10:22:07.631-07:00

If you will indulge me flagrantly stepping on other people's religion, a crackpot theory about Christianity's holiest day: On Good Friday, the Romans crucified Jesus.  The Apostles buried him, then in order to drown their sorrows they got really, REALLY drunk.  Like "two-day bender" drunk.  Then Sunday morning came around and they wanted to go check up on the burial, pay their respects, make

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-19840016040932297262010-03-30T11:01:00.000-07:002010-03-30T11:01:15.606-07:00

(This was written for Sociology 205: Ethnic Groups in Contemporary Society.  Topic was "compare and contrast the adaptation strategies of the Hopi, the Amish, and the Rom/Gypsies.  How have their strategies helped to preserve their cultural identity, and have they been successful in allowing them to adapt to their position of isolation from the dominant cultures of their respective regions?"  I

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-82977607825020063922010-03-24T14:02:00.000-07:002010-03-24T14:02:28.995-07:00

(Regular readers of this space know that my Core Humanities professor ardently believes that I'm wasting my talents in accounting and that I should be a writer.  This is the most recent paper I wrote for his class---I got an A on it.  I share it here so you may make up your own mind about whether my writing is any good.  Comments are welcomed---I'd like to know what my own readership thinks!)

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-87111905272040333372010-03-22T22:53:00.000-07:002010-03-22T22:53:46.951-07:00

What an interesting day.  I could eat the shifting perspectives with a spoon. My Mondays and Wednesdays are usually polluted by a hefty dose of cognitive dissonance and boredom in the morning.  I start my day with a white-guilt diversity class, which is then immediately followed up by a US History class heavy on the "yay white people" Manifest Destiny point of view.  It's roughly akin to being a

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-55566979716983436952010-03-18T03:24:00.000-07:002010-03-18T03:24:55.704-07:00

No sooner do I say I need to do more writing than I spend six days doing exactly that---nowhere near my blog, of course.  Go figure.  Anyway, I've got a good excuse and it's high time I brought everyone up to speed.  Since the last iteration of this ran five weeks ago, the "starting a business" part has come damn near front and center in my life.  My stated primary goal remains to become a CPA by

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-37113179955764071692010-03-12T14:38:00.000-08:002010-03-12T14:38:42.763-08:00

At long last, spring break is upon me.  Seven weeks into classes, I've learned that my limit has been reached; I've already cut over 12 hours from my schedule every week as I move toward the goal of "degree, radio show, and girlfriend, and to hell with everything else".  I can now say I'm down to only 45-48 hours of work where before it wasn't unusual for me to go over sixty. I have sadly

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-60076367559916561322010-03-02T02:17:00.000-08:002010-03-02T02:17:13.989-08:00

I notice I haven't had much to report in this space of late.  This has been due to a variety of factors, and in an indulgence of my right to bloviate for its own sake, I'm going to simply recap them here. First and foremost, all the news that's fit to print is news that's been printed in this space before.  My core humanities prof continues to lean on me to develop my writing toward a career

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-56336164947922204182010-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:002010-02-20T11:03:38.324-08:00

I don't rightly recall signing up for manic depression. This week has been one of those situations where everything either goes exceptionally well or exceptionally poorly, with no middle ground and the good (and bad) subject to change with neither warning nor notice.  Some of my projects have gone perfectly.  Got an A on my first accounting project without even having to deliver a presentation,

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-2588397129425444982010-02-17T14:46:00.000-08:002010-02-17T14:46:34.505-08:00

I swear it was the nachos. Saturday morning I woke up single.  Stopped by Del Taco in the early afternoon because a day off without nachos is hardly a day off at all.  Somewhere in the dark corners of the Internet I met a girl.  Eleven hours of conversation, an overnight Valentine's date at her place that turned into a Monday morning to remember at mine, and a lot of divine intervention later,

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-44253075422346901382010-02-12T21:24:00.000-08:002010-02-12T21:24:22.980-08:00

I have fallen in love with Fridays.  Most days of the week are either astoundingly stressful (Mondays and Wednesdays), too intellectually challenging to allow me to unhook my brain for long enough to contemplate anything other than the three classes I go to on those days (Tuesdays and Thursdays, where Information Systems, Accounting, and Statistics are on the menu in one five-hour marathon of the

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-10935601546129576572010-02-10T17:02:00.000-08:002010-02-10T17:02:27.889-08:00

(first in a new series) I've been awake since 8:30 this morning.  Exclusive of time in the shower and on the bus, I've been hard at work since 8:30 this morning.  Between the fact that it's Cognitive Dissonance Day (every Monday and Wednesday features a class on white-guilt diversity and one on US History from the white man's perspective back to back, which is about as textbook a definition as

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-4497573170870341542010-02-08T01:46:00.000-08:002010-02-08T01:46:57.315-08:00

I had two dates with two different women over the weekend.  One went very well.  One went very poorly.  And by the time Sunday night faded into the wee hours of Monday morning, the first woman had sent me a message to the effect of "that was a great date, but you're not someone I want to be involved with."  The long version's a bit thornier, but most of you following this blog heard the story

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-42764789820026191632010-02-04T00:09:00.000-08:002010-02-04T00:09:38.981-08:00

Earlier today, somewhere between about three and four in the afternoon, I was sitting on campus playing a video game on the laptop and trying to make sense of a thousand external stimuli that had popped into my life all at once, trying to balance them, sort them, and get my mind to stop obsessing over them. In the past week, I've interviewed several candidates for various radio projects I'm

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-64746239264513912182010-02-02T16:05:00.000-08:002010-02-02T16:05:34.330-08:00

As readers of this blog and interested parties who care enough to ask me about it (and you lurkers who dare fly below my radar, I'm watching you! OK, not really, I don't believe in using tracking features on something not for commercial purposes---it's offensive) know, my life is a wide-open book, a sort of intentional invocation of the Truman Show's core conceit, and I make absolutely no efforts

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-86586731892193214302010-01-31T17:45:00.000-08:002010-01-31T17:45:54.464-08:00

Another weekend completes its long day's journey into night, and all I can say to that is "one down, fifteen to go, and in the metaphorical football game I'm one W closer to the playoffs." Sometimes I allow myself the indulgence of just naked unadulterated daydreaming (the daydreaming's naked, not me.  Unless you're cute, available, and don't mind a squinty-eyed introvert.  Then you can rip my

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-40968779279037793742010-01-28T12:03:00.000-08:002010-01-28T12:03:38.836-08:00

Some quick takes from the first week of school: - I may be too old for them, but hot damn, are there ever some beautiful 18/19/20-year-old girls around here! - My current schedule includes six classes, study groups for a couple of them, homework, trying to launch a radio station online, trying not to get my friends to phone in missing persons reports on me, writing my online stuff and venting

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-74315593519705538662010-01-25T23:27:00.000-08:002010-01-25T23:27:18.958-08:00

Third in a series: I love Facebook sometimes.  OK, I love Facebook most of the time.  I'll shamelessly admit this.  Not only is it leaps and bounds better than Twitter as a content delivery platform (wait, I can go to 420 characters, post links, and interact with my friends and followers in ways that Twitter just doesn't make possible?  Really?), it also leads to stuff like the events of the

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-37570561100123554882010-01-25T15:44:00.000-08:002010-01-25T15:44:39.107-08:00

OK, so there's nothing triumphant exactly about simply continuing to exist, but with a single turn of the calendar to Monday morning I have gone from almost depressingly idle (not to say I don't love video games, but...) to a renewed sense of purpose. Some highlights from Day 1 of spring semester: - I broke a record for "fastest time to a teacher saying 'Class Dismissed...not so fast there, Fox

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-6200167960410490812010-01-20T16:58:00.000-08:002010-01-20T16:58:23.039-08:00

(School starts next week. For now, I'm just indulging some dead mental pets.) During the brief denouement of my marriage, after the divorce papers were filed but before my ex-wife moved out of the house, I said the following to her: "Don't worry about me.  I already know how this story's going to end, I'd been thinking about it a few months ago when I knew damn well our marriage wasn't going to

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-23993264334900565412010-01-18T10:43:00.000-08:002010-01-18T10:43:00.061-08:00

'Tis said that an active fantasy life is a portal to escapism and a nice little acceptable break from reality for people.  It keeps us sane during the hard times and keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously during the good times.  Never has this been more on display than in recent weeks. By allowing myself the luxury of keeping real-life girls safely tucked away in my "if only" state of mind

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-42412639605733560942010-01-16T19:54:00.000-08:002010-01-16T19:54:24.350-08:00

Nothing makes me happier than the sight of a large check made out in my name.  Between the scholarships, the student loans, and last year's leftovers, I officially have enough money to survive clean through the summer (and considering next year's financial aid package, all the way through the middle of 2011) even in the worst-case scenario of me not being able to find any part-time or summer work

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-80338606484642473432010-01-12T14:07:00.000-08:002010-01-12T14:07:40.458-08:00

Y'know, for all my disdain for marketing, I sure do dabble in enough of it, don't I?  I'm the world's only one-man conglomerate, so pay attention. During the first quarter of 2010 I'm going to be phasing out the MonsterDog brand and replacing it with Mystery Ship Radio.  Why "radio"?  I have plans for the brand that involve content-delivery through podcasts and other voice-delivery systems, plus

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-15632636983199102392010-01-08T23:37:00.000-08:002010-01-20T23:57:32.975-08:00

As reported elsewhere (as in, on Facebook, and you should all be my Facebook friends), my divorce became final, official, legal, ding-dong the motherfucking witch is dead FINAL on December 30, 2009.  This means I get to file my 2009 taxes as Single, much to my benefit: - My pathetically small "earned income" (from a couple months as a tax preparer for Jackson Hewitt---bad company, don't do

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-65651947521027737552010-01-08T16:10:00.000-08:002010-01-08T16:10:36.069-08:00

I'm not sure I understand the fine art of being humble.  I could quote Barack Obama here and say "my flaw is that I'm a bit too awesome", but that's not what I mean.  It's more about the line between avoiding narcissism and letting oneself drift into low self-esteem and not taking proper credit for one's accomplishments. I don't like to boast of my victories (well, not TOO often, anyway. 

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-60740283736414943862010-01-08T10:57:00.000-08:002010-01-08T10:57:21.716-08:00

For my next trick, I'm getting everything in order so that I may continue my education at the University of Nevada, Reno this fall (why stick around when my ex-wife gave me a Get Out Of Nevada Free card when she divorced me?  Elementary, dear Data---resident tuition is dirt cheap here, while moving would cost a lot of money I don't have.  Plus, all my networking contacts are locally-based, which

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-45647134714161950542010-01-06T10:10:00.000-08:002010-01-06T10:10:41.158-08:00

In an epic oversight, I haven't actually mentioned what classes I'll be taking in this upcoming semester. Let's break this down ESPN style: Core Humanities 203: US and Nevada Constitution and History. Required by the Nevada State Board of Regents, it's the US history high school students know and love, but with a twist: the history of the state of Nevada and this state's unique laws, customs,

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-56742278893108675612010-01-04T10:34:00.000-08:002010-01-04T10:34:58.849-08:00

My ex-wife moved out on December 23.  Previous to that, there was about a two or three week stretch between when she said "I want a divorce" and when she finally left, and of that thirteen days were between the last day of finals (Dec. 10) and the aforementioned final split two days before Christmas.  As I write this, it is Monday morning, January 4.  Short version: It's been almost a month since

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-91458441822382660352009-12-31T18:05:00.000-08:002009-12-31T18:05:33.650-08:00

First draft of this appeared on Slate's Fray comments section.  I've decided to flesh this out a bit and publish it here. WHEREAS, I find myself newly single as a result of a rather sudden divorce, and; WHEREAS, the best year of my life was a direct result of adopting the adventurer/bachelor/free spirit elements of my personality front and center, and; WHEREAS, 2009 represented a sort of

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-67713448631629609692009-12-24T10:14:00.000-08:002009-12-24T10:14:21.694-08:00

Choosing a self-directed learning path when I am absolutely terrible at self-directed learning paths is proving interesting as I try to wrap my brain around the advanced algebraic and trigonometric concepts required in order to successfully gain the seven points on the assessment test needed to test into calculus.  Either I'm an idiot or I just REALLY don't do well when left to my own devices---

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-46058825004968904572009-12-16T21:31:00.000-08:002009-12-16T21:31:42.876-08:00

For those wondering: Straight A's this semester in all five classes, keeping my cumulative GPA in 24 credits taken so far at a nice, crisp 4.00.  Too bad this isn't The Sims where $1,200 magically appears in the bank account for getting an A. Got my hands on the book for Math 126 (Pre-Calculus); trying to pass a test so I won't have to take it next semester.  I have to improve on my

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-15930625911036849312009-12-13T12:54:00.000-08:002009-12-13T12:54:54.324-08:00

Followers of my Facebook (what?  You're not following Fox Doucette?  What's wrong with you?) are doubtless puzzling over a reference I made in a recent post: "The Mystery Ship sails again Dec. 23."  Allow me to elaborate because I'm in the mood to tell a few stories. The original Mystery Ship was an apartment I had in Haverhill, Massachusetts, back in my early twenties.  It was a two-bedroom in

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-31916347356532655112009-12-09T14:32:00.000-08:002009-12-09T14:32:48.223-08:00

(the following is an exercise in "what if?") Hard to believe I've been writing this for over five years now.  Back when I started, I was a 31-year-old wannabe know-it-all in an ill-advised marriage and with a life going nowhere so fast you'd have thought "Nowhere" was a stop on the Shinkansen.  Five years of college and a passed CPA exam later, I'm making more money in one year than I used to

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-67761570919314011342009-12-04T17:02:00.000-08:002009-12-04T17:19:19.609-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125985738348774753.htmlGo ahead. Click that. But if you're a conservative, a libertarian, or just someone younger than about 45 and thus in line to have your taxes raised to 90% when the bill comes due from China, I'd recommend going and getting lunch first because you're not going to want to eat anything after you read that. (then again, tossing one's cookies

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-73795061851065168642009-12-03T13:30:00.000-08:002009-12-03T13:48:20.522-08:00

It's Thursday. I'm in a hallway makin' with the written word. This will be the last time I can say that for another six weeks (at least---depending on if I get the job I've applied for, which will likely have me on a bus after class instead of sitting around like an overgrown teenage slacker!)Of course, this sort of ending always inspires a bit of reflection, so if I may be indulged, I'll write

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-46068522930339906482009-11-29T12:05:00.000-08:002009-11-29T12:19:05.895-08:00

I have a four-page paper due in Core Humanities on Tuesday. I haven't put a word to print or screen regarding it thus far. I have no intention of so doing until I'm sitting in "my office" on campus tomorrow afternoon after accounting class, which for those keeping score at home would be about 21 hours before the paper is due. I have no doubt in my mind I'll get an A.See, I may not have put pen

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-68286033977343198802009-11-25T18:37:00.000-08:002009-11-25T18:42:41.911-08:00

Got an email yesterday from the dean of business (via the Entrepreneurship Club president, her assistant) about a job offer as an auditor in a local casino. $10.50 an hour to start, hours flexible with my school schedule, a great way to pick up a few extra bucks to defray the costs of my education and give me something to do besides take naps in the afternoon. I interview next Wednesday and

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-72736252541941648962009-11-22T18:54:00.000-08:002009-11-22T18:57:48.421-08:00

I'm in an interesting position as far as my writing goes right now. Namely, my life is going too well to have anything to write about!People don't necessarily want to hear "another day, nothing much happened, life is good" over and over again. School has reached its denouement and Thursday's post is probably more than anyone reasonably cares about, this isn't a gaming blog so I'm not going to

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-20427572731694249792009-11-19T16:42:00.000-08:002009-11-19T16:59:33.620-08:00

It has become evident that as I have aged, I have become quite a fair bit sharper in mind than I ever was even five years ago. I got two major items back, one in Core Humanities, one in IS101 (the latter of which I've colloquially called "the bane of my existence"), and I got perfect scores on both.For Core Humanities, this all but clinches an A in the class, as on my last paper I'd need to get

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-44971347305373355542009-11-15T11:01:00.000-08:002009-11-15T11:10:56.137-08:00

I hate marketing people. This much you already knew about me. I've been trying to encapsulate just how I feel about the profession and how dirty it is, and I finally hit on it in a Twitter post this morning: "Marketing is like being raped in your sleep. By the time you realize you've been fucked, it's too late to get rid of unwanted product."As a business major I've met more than my share of

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-56409690141174745572009-11-08T11:54:00.000-08:002009-11-08T12:13:23.837-08:00

To hell with Guy Fawkes and to hell with V for Vendetta masks---the real meritorious date to remember in November comes up tomorrow. Specifically, we won. The Berlin Wall came down and East Germans flooded into West Germany to do with their lives what the brutal, repressive, soul-hating Communist regime wouldn't let them do---namely, make a living and be happy. They'd been doing so for 15

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-28814364791429510842009-11-06T00:20:00.000-08:002009-11-08T11:46:22.536-08:00

I have to this point resisted the urge to shamelessly categorize my fellow students and students in general but recent events have taught me that not only am I completely unsurprisingly the dumbest guy in most rooms, but when that fact brings me down there are plenty of bigger idiots on campus to make me feel better about myself. There are some truly brilliant people at my school and if there

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-77489794733572064412009-11-03T15:38:00.000-08:002009-11-03T16:03:05.549-08:00

I've gotten some new readers around here recently, so allow me some background. Those reading since at least September or so will find the first part quite familiar.Here at school, I have generally made an effort to keep to myself and try not to ruffle too many feathers. My natural introversion borders on the autism spectrum; the company of other people is something that (except for my loving

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-11962278441492998242009-11-02T14:56:00.001-08:002009-11-02T15:06:52.734-08:00

Sitting in "my office", a little third-floor table near a wall outlet under some lovely track lighting here on campus, I am about to write my third paper for Core Humanities, hoping all the while that my professor will look as kindly upon it as he has on my previous two papers for the class. However, when I say "about to write", it would be more accurate for me simply to say "about to commit to

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-49245885147912716682009-10-30T16:58:00.000-07:002009-10-30T17:04:57.402-07:00

Thankfully the last of the MS Office projects are due in IS101 next week, as I have done an absolutely miserable job on them throughout the course, possibly in the process playing myself right out of a chance at an A in the class (and making myself scramble to even earn an A-minus.) By the gods, there's 40 points of extra credit available (out of 810 total points in the class, a score of 753 is

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-12998558578959853022009-10-27T13:51:00.000-07:002009-10-27T13:59:46.865-07:00

I quote my Core Humanities professor, in his evaluation of my midterm (all 4,000 words of it): "Great work, Fox. Thoughtful, thorough, and well-written. 100% A."I worked my ass off on that paper. I put my heart and soul into it. I (to judge by the tone from about page nine onward) got a little sick of my own seriousness and decided that if the professor were as bored reading as I'd become

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-37563246916225344602009-10-26T13:51:00.001-07:002009-10-26T14:01:16.486-07:00

Sometimes foresight is 20/20. This is usually unintentional.Way back in April when I registered for fall classes, I took a look at my required classes and the times I'd need to set aside in order to get into all of them. It just so happened that Accounting is my last class on Mondays and Wednesdays and Statistics is my last class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are also the most

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-10277763802276173512009-10-19T18:04:00.000-07:002009-10-19T18:16:44.782-07:00

...well, OK, I didn't die. I ate lunch at a minute or two to two. But that would get in the way of a good title now, wouldn't it?Every once in awhile I get it in my head that I've got life pretty easy, seeing as how I go to school, go to classes, and come home, all in far less time than it'd take me under most normal circumstances if I'd just worked a full-time job.Then there's this past

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-2289795298207146872009-10-14T11:08:00.000-07:002009-10-14T11:22:10.942-07:00

I've got to take a minute to toot my own horn here. Pardon my arrogance, but I think I've earned it this time.In Nutrition class, we had a midterm exam on Monday, and the grades came out today. I scored 126 on a scale of 100. Not only did I get all the regular questions right, I also got all the extra-credit points available. Thanks in large part to extra-credit points, my grade is now +34.5

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-35573311923308222942009-10-11T19:20:00.000-07:002009-10-11T19:24:49.208-07:00

I'm going to be dropping out of the Business Plan Competition my school's currently holding. Besides the fact that my business (an accounting firm serving small business owners with reasonably-priced full-service financial advising and accounting) isn't the breakthrough innovation that the competition committee's looking for and thus stands little to no chance of earning me any prizes, there's

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-27188976007549477912009-10-06T17:24:00.000-07:002009-10-06T17:27:46.185-07:00

If I find a better means of passing the time between my last class and the evening workshops I've been attending, it will be a red-letter day for me. Sitting in a lonesome hallway, listening to Strauss when there aren't other students around, and just generally killing time because it's too far to go home and come back is a bit too lonesome and woebegone even for me. I've got to find a game or

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-4462555510161886302009-09-30T11:13:00.000-07:002009-09-30T11:18:27.144-07:00

This recent cold snap on the West Coast has led to one of my favorite times of year (and not just because October's on the horizon and October is my favorite month anyway). For the first time since March, I've hauled my winter coat out of the closet (it was 34 degrees when I left the house at 8:00 this morning!) Reaching into the pocket, I found a pen...and it writes! Since I'm chronically

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-3175050976102833142009-09-24T13:46:00.000-07:002009-09-24T13:51:02.537-07:00

This is simultaneously scary and satisfying.I have arrived in the conference room wherein the entrepreneurship club's weekly meetings are held, and I have arrived ahead of the entirety of the group. This is due to having some sudden free time on my hands as a result of completing an 85-minute statistics exam in 23 minutes. The fact that I found it so easy is a bit frightening to me...whenever

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-2056679884858018592009-09-23T11:19:00.000-07:002009-09-23T11:31:49.284-07:00

Working on some stuff in Microsoft Word this week, I've found my utter loathing of Microsoft's Office 2007 suite reinforced. Office used to be great stuff, but the interface, the bells and whistles, and the execution in 2007 were and are so thoroughly awful that I have embraced OpenOffice 3 with open arms and made my switch to the open-source model complete.For starters, MS use of XML is enough

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-62693005541309359852009-09-16T11:24:00.000-07:002009-09-16T11:46:14.565-07:00

I had a George Costanza moment this morning.Remember that Seinfeld episode arc where George decided that since his instincts always steered him wrong, he'd do the opposite of what he thought was the right thing to do, and in the process he revolutionized his life for the better? While I'm not quite ready to always choose my second guess, I was reminded of this classic piece of pop culture as I

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-31878374150710052262009-09-10T17:42:00.000-07:002009-09-10T17:52:48.953-07:00

Fifteen minutes away from an "entrepreneurship mixer" here on campus, and I've had awhile to consider just how unlikely my presence at such an event would be under any normal, non-bizarre-planetary-alignment circumstances and I've calculated the probability as "of interest largely to Zaphod Beeblebrox's ship propulsion systems", that is to say, zero when rounded to any number of decimal places

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-4651675277761877692009-09-08T17:09:00.000-07:002009-09-08T17:16:20.921-07:00

I got a great dose of the Great Unwashed this morning. An old co-worker of mine once said that the bus is great because every day it's like getting a free freakshow, and rare indeed has been the day where that has been more on display than it was this morning.The bus that takes me to school each day has a Wal-Mart about halfway up its route. For the first half of the ride, then, every welfare

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-60665544596807993592009-09-02T13:57:00.000-07:002009-09-02T14:05:14.540-07:00

Sitting on campus working on my accounting homework, because if I did it at home I'd get distracted by rodents or games, and I can't have that. Plus, missing the 2:10 bus means no sardine cans on the way home, and sardine cans rattle my nerves and put me in a foul mood for the rest of the afternoon (damn my hermit tendencies!) Anyway...I got a chance to ask a question of my accounting teacher

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-77404635542278447142009-09-02T00:51:00.000-07:002009-09-02T00:53:16.431-07:00

I've no real insight here, just pointing out that insomnia and getting up at 7:30 in the morning to catch the bus for a 9:30 class don't mix.Also, to the girl on the bus today who uses the same shampoo my wife does? Thank you, from a complete stranger, for brightening my afternoon and setting my mind to wandering around.As a final note, speaking of my wife, it was six years ago today that we

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-3613119023931538912009-08-27T09:51:00.000-07:002009-08-27T09:54:18.952-07:00

It occurs to me that in the course of stumbling around my creative outer fringes I've accumulated a fair number of places to post/publish my work. A blog's great for long-form stuff, but too many short posts and it comes off looking like I've got nothing to say.You can see where this is going, so I'll just spare you the gory details and point you at twitter.com/monsterdog5 and tell you to go

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-45981076992984059582009-08-26T11:00:00.000-07:002009-08-26T11:10:29.499-07:00

Regular readers of this item (all one of you) will notice that I'd more or less abandoned this during August---there is a simple reason for this. Playing Oblivion and Hearts of Iron 3 does not lend itself well to a blog about an aspiring accountant---I had a Gamespot blog once upon a time and probably should set about updating that.Interestingly, one of the requirements for IS101 (Information

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-57967721898848601072009-08-05T10:45:00.000-07:002009-08-05T10:51:26.180-07:00

Sometimes I wonder about this country. It seems that once our national debt bill comes due---and it will, sooner rather than later---taxes will have to go up while government services go down just to keep the Chinese from invading to take a pound of flesh for all of our bad debt (worth about as much as General Motors corporate bonds at this point) that they've bought over the years as a sort of

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-50518757357582185482009-07-29T11:54:00.000-07:002009-07-29T12:11:43.465-07:00

Some interesting news floating around the Web lately---apparently the economy has started to grow again. Slowly, but it's growth, which means that technically speaking the recession is over. Trouble is, unemployment continues to rise, the value of labor continues to fall, and all this growth means is that the stock market is back over nine thousand (keep your Internet memes to yourself), my

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-49826737930597908412009-07-22T12:05:00.000-07:002009-07-22T12:11:18.388-07:00

School starts back up on August 24. I've got my financial aid in order, my classes chosen and registered for, 15 credits just waiting for me to show up and roll, and...not a damn thing else to do for a month but play video games and sleep weird hours. Some things never change. In ten years I've gone from a 22-year-old college student with hardly a care in the world to...a 32-year-old college

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-13588179071953636802009-07-15T14:43:00.001-07:002009-07-15T14:52:07.846-07:00

When I set about to become a "CPA by forty", I figured that's far enough off in the future that I could decently get away with taking my time about it while still focusing on my goal and making a point to do everything I need to do in order to achieve it. With tomorrow marking birthday number 32, I've got eight years before the big four-oh hits and I say I either succeeded or failed.Happily,

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-39844978650161492672009-07-08T12:09:00.000-07:002009-07-08T12:14:11.736-07:00

Interesting to see what living on one income and a bunch of student loans has done for the house's expectations of what constitutes an acceptable standard of living; right now we're paying almost $900 for a spacious two-bedroom apartment, which is really more than we need, but when our household income was close to fifty grand, we could afford to splurge a little.Now that the household income's

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-29237836478073107202009-07-01T16:42:00.000-07:002009-07-01T16:44:55.279-07:00

Until August 24 I am effectively like a schoolkid on summer vacation. What's interesting about this is the sense of urgency (seriously) that it gives to what is otherwise an idle pastime, namely sitting around playing video games all day. I've galvanized myself behind actually doing something with my gaming time, which is interesting to say the least. That's not to say I don't have

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-72858381337038489412009-06-29T09:56:00.000-07:002009-06-29T10:04:30.934-07:00

I've covered some of this territory before, but with two months of completely idle time to fill before I have more class stuff to talk about (fall classes start August 24), I might as well lay out my theories on the financial/housing market collapse and gigantic oil price spikes.This view won't win me any friends among the soccer-mom crowd but I firmly believe that this catastrophic recession (

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-11306284133879940652009-06-25T17:16:00.000-07:002009-06-25T17:28:38.409-07:00

It took me about 70 minutes (just long enough to miss the 5:10 bus and ensure another half-hour on campus before going home for the next two months), but I've finished writing my Marketing final. It kicked my ass up and down the field of battle, but thankfully I've accumulated so many points in the previous set of assignments that it may not matter; the worst I can do in that class is an A-minus

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-19828632744228704732009-06-25T08:50:00.000-07:002009-06-25T09:01:06.338-07:00

I turned in my fourth and final paper today for my core humanities/anthropology/history class this morning. I also turned in an extra-credit piece that is to my writing what the clear-plastic box is to Penn and Teller's magic show---the reveal that blows the doors off the audience's expectations of other practitioners of the craft. Because the class today was little more than "turn in the paper

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-45847508225972592562009-06-24T21:20:00.000-07:002009-06-24T21:22:56.884-07:00

Didn't have any time to blog during class time, that should tell you something. I need at least a C on my last Humanities paper, at least a B- on my Music paper, and I could flunk the Marketing final, and I'd still get straight A's. I worked my ass off and I'm simultaneously proud of myself and completely and utterly amazed at just what I could accomplish. One day left, no pressure, just gotta

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-73375367128074092172009-06-23T16:04:00.000-07:002009-06-23T16:11:20.808-07:00

One thing I can say about summer classes; the workload gets intense when I have three classes, three final papers, a full-bore final exam, and barely enough time to catch my breath by the time I've done the work and have to get to each of those given classes on time while still finding time for lunch, errands, and popping a couple of Tylenol for the stress headaches. I've greatly enjoyed this

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-18000855462626532942009-06-22T12:04:00.000-07:002009-06-22T12:14:04.036-07:00

I'm particularly proud of the following paper, which got me an A in Core Humanities, so I'll post it in its entirety here:Nicomachean Ethics as Argument Against Democracy Winston Churchill once said that “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute chat with the average voter.” Democracy itself relies heavily upon a moral discipline and sense of reasonable expectation from government

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-29324399801778567722009-06-18T20:00:00.000-07:002009-06-18T20:02:04.162-07:00

A short post today largely on account of I feel like total crap:Today in marketing class half the class looked like they were ready to fall asleep, to the point where the teacher pointed this fact out and gave us a 15-minute break and told everyone to get some coffee.Said I, at the end of the break: "Look. I'm sick, I've been on this campus since 8:00 this morning, and I'm alive and alert. You

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-54088065023383935632009-06-17T15:43:00.000-07:002009-06-17T15:49:57.452-07:00

I stated at an earlier point that I would consider anything better than a C+ a moral victory on my core humanities paper. Well, apparently a moral victory was setting the bar too low. I got an A on the paper, with the professor considering my perspective original and fresh (is that what words they're using to describe bullshit these days?) Apparently by boiling Greek tragedy down to cheap

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-77705145711389771602009-06-16T16:30:00.000-07:002009-06-16T16:34:28.010-07:00

I have to this point continually amazed myself with my abilities, although I still have yet to see my performance on that Core Humanities paper I turned in last week---since I'll be spending the bulk of tomorrow writing the next paper, I'd like to know what worked and what didn't on the last one so that I can effectively vary up my strategy if necessary. Still, as of this very moment in time I

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-46674683199989674462009-06-15T14:22:00.000-07:002009-06-15T14:48:38.540-07:00

As a small aside, I got a perfect 100% on my Music Appreciation essay, which keeps my record A+ perfect in the class so far. I rock. Now then, for our feature presentation of the evening:I've had a fair bit of time in my life to think about what kind of parent I want to be someday (or even, for that matter, whether or not I even want to be a parent at all). My dad was 35 when I was born and at

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-13028992493397779682009-06-11T10:35:00.000-07:002009-06-11T10:47:05.742-07:00

I continue to be amazed at the depth of discussion that comes out of Core Humanities every morning. I'm polytheistic and have a very dim moral view of Christianity, while a couple of my classmates are strongly Christian and put the religion at the center of their own morality. You can imagine how this goes when we're discussing Edward Gibbon's view that Christianity was behind the bulk of the

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-47457599295342183442009-06-10T14:39:00.000-07:002009-06-10T14:46:55.096-07:00

I have two papers due tomorrow, one in Core Humanities/Anthropology, the other in Music Appreciation. Each paper had its own reasons why I sucked at it. In the music case, it involved me writing 800 words to answer a question ("what is your taste in music and why?") that is good for, at most, a 25-word reply. I had to drag the crap out of it and I don't like how it turned out, but I'm not

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-30294517305328700982009-06-09T16:06:00.000-07:002009-06-09T16:28:00.271-07:00

Those who know me know that I have a distaste for marketing and advertising and the people who find the career option attractive. The distaste could be expressed with certain words..."frothing hatred" maybe or "jihad worthy of al-Qaeda" or maybe "kill 'em all and let the gods sort 'em out." Taking a class in marketing has done absolutely nothing to dispel this view of the marketer's profession-

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-76767045006315701162009-06-08T14:51:00.000-07:002009-06-08T21:50:47.594-07:00

En route across the quad to music class (where the professor generously provided a pop quiz with a maximum possible score of 120 on 100-point scale thanks to two gimme extra-credit questions) I was just about blinded by some brilliant sunlight---the first time Reno's seen full sun in the afternoon in ten days. My main thought (besides "crap, I forgot my hat today") was "this would be a very bad

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-67150082629267123962009-06-04T14:42:00.000-07:002009-06-04T14:48:08.033-07:00

My Music Appreciation teacher called in sick today, so that means I had seven hours to do something that I'd budgeted three hours for, and I finished the three-hour task in about 75 minutes. Suffice to say it's a good thing I've got a game installed on this laptop. If I didn't have a laptop with me for these long stretches of downtime I'm pretty sure I'd go nuts.Next week won't be this easy,

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-91887582222216226832009-06-03T10:42:00.001-07:002009-06-03T10:55:28.811-07:00

I haven't really gone into just why I've embarked on the path toward becoming a certified public accountant. It's not just because I have a deep, abiding love of doing lower arithmetic for more money than the skill set ought to be worth, since any third-grader who's good at math has the minimum skill set required to do accounting. I have a nearly religious-fanatic level of zeal for making sure

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-46423452756896768882009-06-02T14:35:00.000-07:002009-06-02T14:49:03.644-07:00

Yesterday I got my excess-funds distribution check from the school controller's office and took it to the bank. In the process, I learned a few valuable lessons about my end goal in life, which I'll summarize because my brain is a little too fried from marketing research, Gregorian chant, and Greek drama (not for the same class) to write any more coherently than that:The University of

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338284477997026928.post-77621176049147140762009-06-01T16:27:00.000-07:002009-06-01T16:34:53.979-07:00

In the past nine years I haven't had much of an opportunity to drive myself crazy in the interim between turning in a paper and getting it back with a grade. I'm not sure it's a good feeling now any more than it was in my early twenties my first time through college (when I was in high school I frankly didn't give a damn, so that doesn't count).One thing that IS always a thrill and hasn't

Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18232314177797311854noreply@blogger.com1