Blog Status

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At this time the DisturbingThoughts.net address for this blog is being utilized to facilitate movement to a new blogging platform and therefore is not current.

To access the current blog and to subscribe to it’s feeds, please see http://icurtis.me.

Report of Unused Courses

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Last night I wrote out a report on what courses actually apply to my degree. This particular blog entry is a bit different, it is a quick list of courses that were successfully transferred but that do not apply to the degree.

 

Java Programming – CPCC – Summer 2005
Introduction to Computer Science I – UNCC – Spring 2007
Introduction to Computer Science II – UNCC – Fall 2005
Computer Utilization in C++ – UNCC – Fall 2005
Data Structures – FSU – Fall 2009
C++ Programming – CPCC – Spring 2005
C# Programming – CPCC – Fall 2008
Ceramics Wheel I – UNCC – Fall 2006
Ceramics Wheel II – UNCC – Spring 2007
Creative Writing II – CPCC – Spring 2008
Deductive Logic – UNCC – Fall 2004
Global and Intercultural Connections – UNCC – Fall 2005
Internet Protocols – CPCC – Fall 2005
Major Figures in Philosophy: Plato – UNCC – Spring 2005
Web Based Application Development – UNCC – Fall 2005
US History I – CPCC – Fall 2008
Introduction to Ethics – Gaston – Spring 2004

 

This list is only courses that Fayetteville decided to be nice enough to actually transfer and does not include courses that were completed after my Associates degrees were issued. It also does not include “Digital Photography” from UNC-Chapel Hill, as I opted to not have that transcript transmitted (before any admissions officers freak out, I submitted a statement of enrollment instead, since it was only one course).

As I near the completion of my undergraduate career and must fill out my final Academic Progress Report I have decided to utilize the degree audit features in Banner and work with it and other documentation to create a detailed picture of where all of my credits have come from for the degree. I have accumulated almost 180 credit hours at this point and not all are used in this degree, but quite a few do manage to find a home somewhere or other in the program of study. Spaces where there were multiple courses that could be assigned I entered the course that was selected by Banner to fill the position. I must say, I am a little sad filling out the form that goes with this audit for my last advising session as an undergraduate. Its almost like leaving high school all over again, once the degree is issued none of these courses will matter by themselves, they loose their identity and just become part of the degree. For this particular list of courses I looked back in my records in GITI and pulled semesters that classes were taken (since FSU doesn’t keep that info when transferring) and found myself reflecting on my experiences in the courses, especially those that I took in person, although there were some memorable online courses as well (primarily in the summer of 2004). The end is near. 

 

University College Requirements

UNIV 110 – University Studies (2):

Waived for students entering with 30+ Credit Hours

PHIL 110 – Critical Thinking (3):

Waived for students Entering with 60+ Credit Hours

ENGL 110 – English Composition I (3):

Creative Writing 1 – CPCC – Summer 2007

ENGL 120 – English Composition II (3):

Writing in Academic Communication – UNCC – Fall 2004

SPEE 200 – Introduction to Communication (3):

Interpersonal Communication – Gaston – Spring 2004

MATH 123 – College Algebra (3):

College Algebra – Gaston – Spring 2008

Math Elective (3-4):

Discreet Structures – UNCC – Fall 2005

Natural Sciences (8):

Descriptive Astronomy – Gaston – Spring 2008
General Physics I – UNCC – Fall 2004

History and Social Sciences (3):

General Anthropology – CPCC – Summer 2004

Humanities and Fine Arts (3):

Art Appreciation – CPCC – Summer 2004

Restricted Electives (9):

Art History II – Gaston – Fall 2008
Introduction to Microeconomics – UNCC – Spring 2005
Introduction to Literature – Gaston – Fall 2008

Physical Education (2):

Personal Health & Wellness – CPCC – Summer 2008

 

Psychology Major Requirements

PSYC 210 – General Psychology (3):

General Psychology – Gaston – Fall 2003

PSYC 233 – Statistics for Psychology (4):

FSU - Summer 2009

PSYC 320 – Theories of Learning (3):

FSU – Spring 2010

PSYC 331 – Developmental Psychology (3):

FSU – Spring 2010

PSYC 352 – Research Methodology (4):

FSU – Spring 2010

PSYC 360 – Social Psychology (3):

Social Psychology – Gaston – Fall 2003

PSYC 370 – Introduction to Biopsychology (3):

FSU – Summer 2010

PSYC 400 – History and Systems of Psychology (3):

FSU – In Progress

PSYC 422 – Abnormal Psychology (3):

Abnormal Psychology – UNCC – Fall 2004

Elective Group 1 [310, 342, 381] (3):

Theories of Personality (PSYC 310) – FSU – Spring 2009

Elective Group 2 [343, 430] (3):

Sex and Gender (PSYC 430) – FSU – Summer 2010

Elective Group 3 [420, 421] (3):

Sensation & Perception (PSYC 420) – FSU – Spring 2010

Computer Competency (3):

Introduction to Business Computing – UNCC – Spring 2005

Psychology Electives [PSYC 300+] (9):

Behavior Modification (PSYC 380) – FSU – Summer 2010
Child Psychopathology (PSYC 381) – FSU – In Progress
Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 421) – FSU – Spring 2009

 

Sociology Minor

SOCI 210 – Introduction to Sociology (3):

Introduction to Sociology – Gaston – In Progress

SOCI 340 – Crime & Delinquency (3):

Not Yet Started

SOCI 350 – History of Sociological Thought (3):

Not Yet Started

SOCI 412 – Race and Ethnic Relations (3):

Not Yet Started

Sociology Electives (6):

Sociology of the Family – CPCC – Summer 2004
Introduction to SPSS  (SOCI 333) – FSU – Not Yet Started

University Free Electives

University Free Electives (9):

Principles of Accounting I – UNCC – Spring 2005
Drawing I – Gaston – Fall 2007
Drawing II – Gaston – Spring 2008

Organizing Apps

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IMG_0015 IMG_0016

IMG_0017 IMG_0018

Maybe there is something wrong with me, I can’t manage to get my apps organized into a sensible way. Anyone want to offer some suggestions? I’ve tried dragging my apps around and I just can’t get them into a sensible arrangement and I hate the iOS folder grouping stuff.

What to do after graduation?

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I am coming to the end of my undergraduate career. In 2 weeks I will start the last 4 classes toward my major, completing my Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree. I have made a small change to my degree program that will result in me graduating in spring though, I have added a Sociology minor. I can not at this time rationally explain why I have done this, but honestly, its too late to back out now. I am rather glad I have another semester to go, as it gives me time to gather letters of recommendation, take the GRE and various other little tasks that need to be done.

I have several options for what to do after graduation in May.

  1. Master of Arts in Academic Psychology, East Carolina University – continuing on my same academic track as I am on now, except focusing more on theory than application, but would still be a good start for me. I would be qualified to teach in community college psychology programs as well as limited counseling roles. This program is completely online.
  2. Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology, UNC-Charlotte – this is my second choice option, but it is becoming my first choice. It would put me at the same school as Chris and put me back in an actual classroom. It is in some ways better than the options at ECU. I would be more directly in the program that I want to be in.
  3. Master of Arts in Library and Information Sciences, UNC-Greensboro – basically a masters degree for becoming a librarian. Its a relaxes sort of thing. The classes are a combination of on-campus at UNC-Charlotte as well as online.
  4. Master of Liberal Arts in Liberal Studies, UNC-Greensboro – this option is sort of a fall-back if I can’t get into the other programs. It is a curriculum of world cultures and a variety of artsy-fartsy (thanks Mrs. Hersey for that phrase) related programs.
  5. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art: Concentration Unknown, UNC-Charlotte – This option is one that I would love to consider more seriously than I currently feel that I can. To seriously think about my future career I have to move forward with options 1 or 2. This program will put be on track to a creative future, but I’m not sure its one that I can convince myself to live with. It would be a lot of work for not a lot of benefit in the end, but in some ways I wonder if I would be happier in this path. This program would also place me as on the same campus as Chris. This idea is quickly finding its way to the #3 spot and not #5.

There are so many factors to consider and I don’t really know where to begin. I know I have to make a decision soon, as graduation is in May and I need to be prepared for applying to the programs starting in January/February 2011. I want to do something that matters, but at the same time it has to be something I can stick with and something that ultimately will make me happy and perhaps reveal truly who I am.

GITI v3 Module Preparedness

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So far not a lot has been done on GITI v3. Chris has taken charge of the new back-end, most notably, giving me a sane framework to work from. It’s like having a really stripped down version of .NET, except it runs on PHP (so far it handles my database calls a lot more efficiently). I have not yet picked a menu system or even decided exactly what v3 will look like. Many of my readers will likely recall a lot of the really goofy early designs for v2. So far I’m not doing any better than that for v3 and honestly, I was hoping for some of Chris’ brilliance to pop out in the form of a really cool menu system. Guess I’m just going to have to locate one that can be modified to work in GITI. 

Anyway, the point of this post isn’t the GITI problems, its to point out the readiness status of modules for the new version.

Education – first module to be added to v2 and will be the first module I try to convert for v3 as well. Without it, GITI just isn’t GITI. It should be easy enough to audit the code and make it compatible with v3 and just bring it over for the most part. There are some additions that need to be made such as making it support the idea of multiple academic careers. As I am planning to soon be a graduate student, this addition means a lot to me.

Schedule – I think at this point its safe to call this module “trouble”. I believe the intention for this module is to rewrite it before moving it into v3. This is the type of rewrite that involves throwing out the book and starting from a new concept. The module is severely limited in what it does and in many ways is too one dimensional.

ToDo List – v3 will be the demise of the traditional TODO module that was nothing more than a glorified notepad with dates attached. The ToDo List module is in its infancy in v2, but should be easy enough to mature into a functioning module for version 3. Chris has taken a liking to this module, mostly because he wants to have the ability to assign todo items across users. I suspect I will regret letting him take on that module as it will give him much power over how that works, but I’m willing to see what he does with it.

Footwear Collection – This module is mostly feature complete in itself. There are a few tweaks that need to be made, but otherwise the module is good to upgrade and transfer. Not shocked, its Chris’ module.

Status – I really want to see this module develop more, so I will be working on it before it is scheduled to be moved. I like the general function of it, but I want to see more power from it. I want more ways to be able to update my status when away from the Interface, and I want tagging ability to have discretion over destinations, in some ways I want to be able to utilize it a bit as a journal, say if an update is tagged as #PVT. It would also be cool to make something more robust as far as management, perhaps the ability to cancel a status by sending a follow up message to the system commanding it to remove the previous entry.

Library – this is the abandoned wasteland of GITI. I often fail to remember to enter things in it and in general do not find it useful. If I did not believe it was possible to have it be useful, I would likely remove the module, but I see it as having potential and having a purpose. I will be working on expanding the module to be more useful to all of its users. I have been promising some people a better version of library for a while now. I also have to make sure that I include some type of adaptive CSV or plain text bulk input, as some users have other lists which need to be converted to the GITI Library system. A lot of users could benefit from check-in/check-out functionality, which I seem to have misplaced since the old code.

Cookbook – This module will be moved to v3 almost as it is now. Its not complete, but its complete enough to be fully functional. The module will eventually improved, but it is a low priority in the v3 upgrade.

Journal, Address Book, Keychain – These three are pretty much feature complete and other than an update for their current level of usefulness they are ready to be upgraded. Keychain is likely to receive an additional feature set upgrade and application counterpart soon after v3 is completed.

System Modules: Item Journal, Tags – Item Journal al is called upon by numerous modules and thus, it is important that it is ready. Tags was nothing more than experimental in GITI v2, having no real use or purpose, but some GITI items did receive tags. My plan is to ask Chris to work with me on integrating these two modules into the framework in some way, perhaps as part of his grand plan for things to allow all modules to call them with minimal difficulty.

 

I originally wanted to have things at least partially functional by 10 days from now, in time for the new semester, but things have gotten behind and will likely have to be worked on throughout the semester. If its great and ready by Christmas I will be happier than if its rushed and kind of lame and works by convocation.

Currently there is a bit of anger between my father and grandfather (mother’s side) because of some issues over the proper use of gift tomatoes that were given by my uncle. My uncle offered to let both my father and grandfather pick tomatoes from his garden since he has gotten all of them that he wants for the year. My father has been grabbing a few tomatoes each week, primarily for use as his breakfast each morning. My grandfather had been mostly ignoring them because he has his own garden. At some point my grandfather began selling his own tomatoes to a local restaurant. Today he ran out of tomatoes and went into my uncle’s garden, picking all of the rest of the remaining tomatoes to sell to the restaurant, with no compensation to my uncle.

Does my grandfather's use of the tomatoes violate an implied license on the proper use of the tomatoes?

A Real Post About iPod

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The previous blog entry was composed and published from the iPod itself, and thus, is a very minimal entry.

The first thing I noticed about the iPod was that Apple doesn’t seem to want users to get to their products. It took Chris and I several minutes to get the device out of its plastic shell. Second, perhaps the most annoying aspect of the device, is it must connect to iTunes. I didn’t love being asked for my billing information upon first connecting the device, but I went with it.

After getting everything going I started looking for apps. I tried to recall every app that I had seen that I had thought was interesting over time. I remembered a few. I’m trying new things and working towards determining what my functional level with this device is going to be. I have already deleted one app from my device, AIM. I have decided to replace it with Meebo, which seems to be a lot less annoying and a bit more useful.

Currently installed applications include:

  • Blackboard Mobile Learn – an app for accessing the Blackboard server at Fayetteville. Will greatly improve my connectivity with my courses this fall.
  • Twitter – duh, an app to interact with Twitter. Post things, read posts, reply.
  • Flickr – not very useful for me as I don’t upload on the go, but in general is pretty sweet for reviewing my photostream
  • MyRadar – National Weather Service radar images, nice for checking out what clouds are doing
  • Kindle – Amazon Kindle reader
  • Meebo – Multi-network instant message client, since Purple doesn’t travel yet.
  • BlogWriter – a minimalistic blogging tool. Only does one account, but I think its pretty neat for simple stuff.
  • Bookmarks – delicious bookmark app. Doesn’t work with Safari at all, but isn’t too bad, as it keeps all of my links with me.
  • Google – Google search, Google Apps
  • Nikon Learn and Explore – Photo glossary as well as general info for most Nikon cameras. Nice substitute for some of the manuals.
  • SiriusXM – listen to web-based XM streams on the go
  • UPS – Track packages, schedule pickup
  • BodyFitness – workout guide and personal exercise journal
  • Battery – the iOS battery meter sucks, so have to use this.

photo

 

The only thing about the device that makes me feel limited is the design of the touch system. It only seems to respond to human touch, so a normal stylus will not work, I am going to have to obtain a special stylus for such things. There are some things that seem missing, such as an IR port, but otherwise, I’m pretty happy with the device.

iPod Touchiness

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Due to a very kind friend I now have an iPod Touch. I have spent a few days with it and I must say that I love it. It is much different than what I expected. It is so much more than a music player and even beyond a PDA. The device is so versatile. The main reason I like it is all of the apps. I have downloaded apps for Twitter, flickr, NWS radar, UPS tracking, Kindle, and the Blackboard Learning Suite. Oh, and one for blogging, which I am currently using. In so many cases it can replace a laptop for basic tasks, and it stays out of the way most of the time. I was a little skeptical of getting the device at first because it is an Apple and I had before sworn to never use one of their devices. So far I am hooked. I do find myself wanting a Bluetooth keyboard or stylus input.

One thing I don't understand is why people have so many typos on these devices.

Canning Produce

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Home Made Vegetable Soup

A few days ago my uncle went on vacation and told me to keep an eye on his garden, to harvest anything that was ready. Well, there was more vegetables ready for picking than I thought there would be, so some preserving techniques were required, this is the result, eleven jars of home made vegetable soup. Chris and I picked, Chris juiced the tomatoes and I sliced the okra and corn.

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