Recently my sister (and my sister-in-law) headed off for college. Since I’m a bit of a technology enthusiast they both sort of inquired about what to take to college concerning computers and software. I volunteered to call both of their schools to chat with their IT people and some current students in order to determine what (if anything) they might “require” in the way of software (and, subsequently, hardware). I was delighted to find that each of them (at their respective schools and in their respective majors) could happily use free/libre operating systems and software for their studies. While not … Continue reading →

My youngest sister recently left for college. She’ll be headed a couple hundred miles away to learn new things with new people in a new place. None of this is particularly rare. It seems more and more people are going to college these days, despite the economic downturn, in part because so many jobs now “require” some amount of college to even apply. The big hope is that spending the money on additional education beyond college will pay off in the long run monetarily (beyond simply the benefit of gaining more knowledge). I’m a big believer that college is worth … Continue reading →

Last time I hit you with some general advice about going to college. Mostly though I talked about my experience of being on both sides of the divide (student/teacher) and empathizing with the difficulties of seemingly abandoning your former life (family, friends, jobs, familiar environments, etc.) to attend college somewhere else with people you don’t know and professors you’ve never heard of in fields you are either too (or completely “un-“) certain about. It’s a challenging shift for anyone. So I have some advice based on my own time as a student as well as my time as a grad … Continue reading →

I have two sisters starting college this year and it got me thinking about the college “experience” (as it is often called). I’m not talking about Animal House-esque behavior (necessarily), but more about the act of getting out of your comfort zone. Going to college brings up a lot of new things for most students. It may be the first time you’re living away from your parents. It’s probably the first time you’ll be left to your own devices for whatever free time you have while not in class. You’re likely in a new town. You’ll have to make new … Continue reading →

I’m going to sort of reveal my age here, but I really don’t understand how most of the young people on college campuses can stand having terrible sounding ear buds in their ears all day pumping low quality digitized music into their ears. They listen while walking, talking, studying, reading, eating, ordering, exercising, partying, playing and some even sleeping. The small portion when they’re in class (if they actually take them out) they’re giving their ears a much-needed break. Simply put, I can’t understand how you can exist in the world with constant noise going on in your head. How … Continue reading →

Another warning for students as we head full-steam into the end of another semester. Today I’m going to talk about easy ways to embarrass yourself. No, this has nothing to do with that bar and that song at the end of the night and that tradition and the prevalence of cell phone cameras. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with your roommate. It doesn’t even have anything to do with that awkward conversation you tried to have with your lab partner in that required science class. This is about something I’m going to call the “syllabus minimum.” What is … Continue reading →

Large classes are an amazing thing. I’m so astounded that over four hundred students can remain silent for any period of time and for any reason. It’s not that I don’t think that they have self control (though some people just don’t), but rather that there is always someone who feels that they need to be doing something else at some point in a group that big. Statistically speaking it is likely that every time we meet it is someones birthday. The point is, there is always somebody who can justify some reason to not follow the rules. However, when … Continue reading →