UNDO IT

UNDO IT

Yeah, right. I'm sorry but there's no undoing this one. The planetary features like global climate change that we've been discovering lately are not the type of things that we can just 'undo.' As if we were accidentally added a few too many sentences on greenhouse gases to our global Microsoft Word document or something. "Oops! Guess we'll just have to undo that! Now let's go get a cup of coffee while we wait for the planetary computer to process our request for the next several million years."

I think it's great that somebody's got a petition to stop producing so many greenhouse emissions, but handing out false hope isn't doing anybody any good. And global climate change isn't so bad anyway, unless you happen to be an arctic or antarctic species. Bummer, Mr. Polar Bear. Sorry we didn't plan our industrial revolution better, but after all, we're only humans.

Gloating Over Broken Code

Hi, my name is Cody and I am a web designer.

This is where you would say "Hi, Cody" and then I would tell you the rest of the story, but this is the internet, so you don't say anything and I've already written the story. The times they are a'changin.

Ok, so I just finished my classes and am feeling rather giddy and free at the moment, and so in the absence of other juicy blog fodder, I'm going to diatribe on another school's website and relate it to Evergreen website. Forgive me, non-webby readers. This is going to eat five to ten minutes of your precious day, and it might even make you laugh, even if you don't understand it (or perhaps because...).

Bucknell has a lovely site, don't they? So beautiful, with it's flowing flash animation and all the pretty colors, and what fabulous functionality! (There are printer-friendly buttons, and font-size increase buttons, and icons galore, oh my!)

But let's get real.

I do very much like the design. It feels nice. I really enjoy all the graphics breaking out of their boxes (refer to the steeple-type thing on the front page for reference). And, everything seems to be done for a reason! Yay! Three cheers for deliberate design! I am particularly fond of all the widgets (like the search box--that is a widget) on the page conforming to the look/feel of the page itself. Good unity--something we seem to struggle with here at Evergreen for a number of rather trivial reasons.

Lots of nifty search features at Bucknell, like a searchable faculty/staff/student directory, multiple options for site search, etc. But the site search results page is ugly ugly! Lots of searches points to an abundance of database-driven webapps underlying the site.

People, people, everywhere. This is good. Love. People love people, it's true. Evergreen's web site needs more people. We don't have enough of our freaky hippie culturally appropriated dreadlocks on the web yet.

Something interesting we have not yet adopted: as you migrate through Bucknell's "top level" pages like admission/aid, campus life, etc., the menu on the left changes (it's what I enjoy calling "contextual"). This seems useful. And then... Click on something like course catalog on the left side menu and it pops down a big list of pretty much everything related to the catalog. This nested menu functionality is sorta equivalent to some things we have now, but it is much more accessible and elegant.

Next, breadcrumbs are lovely, but they mean developing a solid, relatively static information architecture upon which they are based. This could be valuable for Evergreen but is it applicable to our electrified, wiry-haired almalgamation of a site? Can we cram all our site's content into a relatively rigid and highly hierarchical information architecture? (Evergrog say hierarchy bad!) This would require a serious effort to strip out the administrative stuff (which is int-RA-net material, anyway) from the real web site stuff. This is a black hole-type discussion, and we're not going to cross that event horizon.

Ok, I think i'll stop there.

But one last thing before I let you escape.

For all its pretty flair and nifty info architecture, I took a look at the code and was struck by a few little flukes... the layout is table-based! (who cares, you say?! I do!) Even stranger, the document type is declared as "xhtml 1.0 strict", but this is wishful thinking since xhtml 1.0 forbids layout tables. Hmm... So I plugged in the address of the Bucknell homepage into the HTML Validator.

There are no less than four hundred seventeen validation errors, on a single, small page that is mostly images. Yikes. Count'em: that 417 errors on one little page.

So Evergreen is still one-upping them in at least one, very important department (we only have 60 errors and soon we will have none), and this makes me happy. Three cheers for schadenfreude!

There's Something About the Winter

Wanderlust has struck again.

I am going to Vancouver to ring in the new year with those silly Canadians. And it looks like plans are in the works for Costa Rica in the late spring/early summer. How lovely. Really, I am quite excited. And perhaps I will finally be able to post some more glorious entries in this webjournal like the ones I posted last time I was in that country...

Time will tell.

In the mean(time), check out travelzoo for some very interesting deals on airfare. How's about a ticket to Stockholm, Sweden from Newark, NJ for $99? I say yes, yes, yes.

Take a Hike, Busdriver!

Too much adrenaline right now. I am seeing red. I just got ditched by a busdriver. (S)he was idling at the bus stop out in front of the school, waiting to leave. I was running across the courtyard toward the bus, in plain sight of the driver's seat. Normally, they wait for any such running persons to arrive before they take off, but this one decided to jet when I was about halfway there. I started running as fast as I could but there was no way for me to get to the bus before it hit the road, so I helplessly watched it pull away, out of breath and extremely pissed off at that asshole busdriver.

And because it is Sunday and now I have to wait half an hour for the next bus, instead of the usual fifteen minutes. Fortunately I have a blog on which to rant, and that will help kill some time.

It would have taken me fifteen seconds to reach the bus if you would've had the courtesy to wait instead of leaving me panting in your exhaust cloud, you sorry excuse for a busdriver! What's the problem with waiting another fifteen seconds for a rushing student? The buses are never on time anyway! Fifteen seconds of your time, which I help pay for, or half an hour of mine. I am always a model busrider! I am courteous and warm and friendly to all you busdrivers and half of you treat me like shit. Were you trying to teach me a lesson, you pompous jerk?

Most of the time I really love the bus, but sometimes I really want to fire the damn drivers.

I wish this adrenaline would go away...

cis-1,2-dimethoxy-3,4,9-tri[1,1-diphenylethyl]cycloundecane

That nonsense in the title of this post isn't just gibberish, really. It's the name of some organic compound, and a relatively simple one at that. It isn't important which one, just that you catch a glimpse of this highly structured and colossally complex universe of understanding (and misunderstanding) we call organic chemistry. Welcome to a place where there is a reason for everything anyone has ever witnessed, and just about everything imaginable makes sense to somebody. The catch? Well, when you're thinking about everything, there's a lot you need to keep in mind just to scratch the surface of what's actually worth examining. There are layers of rules so densely packed that trying to navigate them is like swimming through cooling jello. Must keep moving! Can't stop! Will get stuck! Urrgh!!!

There are rules, and then there are rules. Sometimes they are laws, and sometimes they are theories. The difference? Laws are less interesting? No matter. Laws, theories, principles, etc. They're all rules. There are rules why electrons behave like electrons. Rules why certain compounds are purple, others are green, and others are colorless. Or why some things are transparent and some are opaque, or why some things smell and other things don't. There are rules that explain why the sky is blue (this is more in the realm of physics but anybody who tries to tell you that chemistry isn't physics is very likely a politician or a lawyer). There are rules that describe how quantum mechanics explains why we will never know anything for certain. And now, observe how we are approaching philosophy. See those fuzzy edges? They are all over the place. If you're not careful you might walk right through one and fall into some other discipline! So now you have not only that cooling jello to swim through, but wormholes and logic traps to deal with as well. Yikes!

I am lucky I have a good built-in visualization system. My attention span may be lacking but at least I can imagine why an Iodine atom has an easier time than a Fluorine atom when executing a back-side attack on a halogenated Carbon atom–it's bigger and fuzzier, of course. This is helpful knowledge when dealing with substitution reactions. But wait a minute. What is this nonsense about atoms "attacking?" Am I going to see a bad TV series on Fox News about this frightening new development in the ongoing war on terror? I can almost hear the made-for-TV voice proclaiming later that evening... "Stay tuned for When atoms attack, part 19!"

Atoms don't really "attack" one another! And what the hell does "fuzzy" mean when you're talking about something less than 1/1,000,000,000 of a millimeter in diameter?! No wonder nobody understands this stuff! It requires the assembly of an entirely new thought process capable of constructing accurate images of things no one has ever or will ever see, using only the highly arcane and non-intuitive (though very logical) sets of rules discussed above. On top of this challenge, there are literally an infinite number of possibilities to deal with, which means that every rule has to be understood in terms of every single other rule. It's like learning a language, but instead of describing life as perceived by you or I, this language talks about the underpinnings of the most fantastically complex system that has ever existed, and it describes every process, every particle, every little wiggle of every little atom, absolutely everything, in excruciating detail. Does your brain hurt yet?

This is what I spend my Monday and Wednesday nights, and every other Saturday, contemplating. Funny thing is, I haven't lost my mind yet. Actually, I kind of like it. Maybe I am an intellectual masochist. Sounds like potential for a support group, but that could get ugly. Can you imagine?

"Hello, my name is Cody and I am an intellectual masochist. My pain of choice is optimistic nihilism, but organic chemistry is just as good."

"Hi Cody"

Hmm.

So if you like it when your brain hurts, and you think a career or hobby mixing shit up, boiling it, freezing it, filtering it, etc., thereby creating absolutely anything and finally explaining the process in excruciating detail might be for you, then consider organic chemistry. Or, if you want to spend billions of dollars in grant money doing things that should be impossible, consider physical chemistry. Oh, did I mention that psychedelic drugs are a popular pasttime of organic chemists? I think it's because they are the only people on the planet with the means and knowledge to synthesize the crazy shit they like to take, but any good chemist will tell you that every reaction goes in both directions simultaneously. Curiouser and curiouser...

Just do yourself a favor and don't sign up for an all-day lab on Saturday. Trust me. There's strong support group potential there, too.

Blog Me This

Ozma the cat is sitting in my lap because she is cold. Cats like this one are primarily practical creatures who care little for the virtues of companionship but have no problem using you for your nice warm lap. This is why I like dogs, because they don't save their love for a chilly day. But now she's purring and kneading my shirt with her very sharp claws, and for some reason I find this comforting. Call me co-dependent, if you want. I'm not going to argue.

Now that that cat and I have warmed up, let's breach the real issue at hand. Blogs are such a strange phenomenon. I am constantly torn between wanting to maximize the content of my blog and wanting to forget about it entirely. And this vicious cycle of not posting for weeks and then feeling even less like posting because I feel compelled to apologize for not posting but I don't even know if anyone's reading this damn thing besides my parents and since I'm not in Costa Rica anymore what interesting thing can I possibly say for anybody who is still reading this thing after all? Do you know what I mean!? No??? Well, that's alright. I can't expect you to know, but at least you can begin to see the psychology (or is that psychosis?) at work here.

Three days after posting that last demanding entry on this blog, I went to visit a good friend of mine. Over a smoke, she somewhat sheepishly told me that she was still reading my blog. I felt immediately guilty–a valuable reaction, I think, because now I am posting this, which is perhaps one of the most heartfelt posts I've made since re-entering the country three months ago. Hearing her very gentle reply to my hawkish last post generated a feeling in me I that I can accurately describe as self-loathing. I took a look at myself and saw a bitter writer, sniping all you readers with a demand that you declare your support for this venture of mine that is, in all honesty, ultimately selfish. Not a pretty picture, I must say.

I hope you enjoy this blog, really. I want people to enjoy it. But although I do appreciate support, it's clearly not your responsibility as a reader to maintain my happiness as a blogger. I am sorry for whining, readers! If you are still here, then I thank you for looking past that rather offensive post (I would have been put off by it, anyway) and maintaining your faith that I might actually post something worth reading again one of these days.

So from now on, for the sake of everyone who enjoys this blog, myself included, I am just going to assume that my parents are not the only people on the planet who read it, and if I decide to stop posting for some reason (e.g. I can't think of anything worthwhile to post!), I'll tell the truth and not attempt to convince myself or any of you that I'm not posting because I don't have an audience. Ignorance is bliss, after all, and self-enforced ignorance brings no less bliss than the more spontaneous variety. So even if I really don't have an audience, I will refuse to admit it and thereby create my own happiness! (A worthwhile goal on it's own merit.)

That's all for this evening. Stay tuned for more details about school and winter and hippies and bars and cats and rain and mushrooms and pot and sodium streetlights casting eerie twig-shadows from leafless trees into my room while I sleep. Sound interesting? Oh, good. I knew you'd like it.

Overdue

It's been a long time, blog readers. I am fairly certain there are very few of you, and that is part of the reason. I have also been busy with school, another part of the reason. And I am developing several other digital projects right now so I have not been as intent to spend my free time in front of the computer. But I will at least post a brief update that I hope will satiate you somewhat.

Mostly I am working on web development, but the most promising project I've contributed to recently involves what we are calling "NatureLink Cards"--little devices to be attached to clothing and other retail items that detail a connection to nature the customer might not otherwise realize. They were my professor's idea, and she asked me to design them. I made a few prototypes, and they're a huge hit. She showed them to the National Science Foundation, a company interested in producing them with its clothing, etc., and now she plans of touting them to her colleagues. So that's a success.

My database class is sort of an ordeal. The course material is good but the instructor is not so hot. The worse part is that the instructor is my advisor for my contract so I am not in a very good position to critique her style. I wouldn't know where to begin, anyway. She's just sort of scatterbrained and unclear about her expectations, both of me as a lab assistant and the students. She took on this class as a favor to PLU, and it's obvious that she has neither the time, resources, nor interest in making it a worthwhile class. She's looking at it as an opportunity to begin developing a future course for researchers. I'm looking at it as a liability. I am learning a good amount about databases, but some of the things she has me doing feel absolutely pointless. I don't like work for work's sake. I am making an attempt to turn this into something valuable, though, by taking the time to build a database to describe the study I did in Costa Rica. That will be cool.

Fall is in full swing here. Leaves are falling like big floppy raindrops. It's much colder than I would like it to be. My favorite sweater has developed a threadbare hole in the elbow. Damn. I need to purchase some warm clothing from Goodwill. Screw shopping at Nordstrom, I'd rather be in the tropics, where I don't have to wear big bulky clothing or turn on the heat, ever. But hey, we deal.

Speaking of leaving the country, the possibility of doing so has never been more enticing before in my life. I completely lost faith in the system that runs our country when the popular vote and the electoral vote went to the most outrageously unfit president we've had in the last quarter-century. What is the problem here, people? Should we welcome the fucking apocalypse with open arms?! I've got to get the hell out of here. It's clear I think much to hard about what's really going on to belong here. Maybe somewhere else I could become part of some opposition that actually made a difference. Here I feel like a little fish getting swept along with the rest of the school straight into the mouth of that big shark that nobody seems to see except me and a few of my buddies, thinking "Escape! Escape! Escape while you still can!"

Need to get an MS first, I think, or at least line up an MS overseas. The gears are spinning.

So there's an update for you. If you'd like to encourage more posting, I highly suggest posting comments and letting me know you exist.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

Well hello again. After an extended absence, I am back, although I can't promise it won't be a while before I have the time to really keep this blog up-to-date again. School has officially begun, and I am swamped. But this is a good thing. I'm studying database design and organic chemistry this quarter, and working on web and interface design for the Evergreen web site and also for the Canopy Database Project, run by a former professor of mine, Nalini Nadkarni.

So, rest assured I am still alive. Hopefully so are all of you.

Big changes are happening on the Evergreen campus as the library undergoes remodeling, the food service rolls over to a new provider (this means all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner!), and a whole new batch of freshmen arrive to exploit the system in ingenious new ways (think all-you-can-fit-in-your-backpack lunch and dinner). Somehow, we will make it through the winter with power drills deafening us in our workspaces and seemingly endless journeys up and down the stairs (the computer center has moved to the top of the library building and the sluggish, stinky elevators are more infuriating than useful). But we persevere. I think a break in tuition might be warranted, though.

I have some good photos to post once I sort through them. So visit again, and leave me your comments. I like an interactive audience.