At some point the Associate in General Education disappeared from my "programs" list at Gaston College. With the letter I just received I wonder if perhaps something was done to cause problems for that degree as well. It was already complete when I turned in the documentation, I was just waiting for a semester to end so I could receive it. At last notice, it was done and I just have to go pick it up on September 15th. It's sudden disappearance from WebAdvisor makes me a little nervous, I'm waiting for my record to fall apart.
I suppose it could be gone because it just isn't "active" anymore...
Today in the mail I received a fun little notice from Gaston College:
| August 25, 2008 Dear Student: Our records indicate that you did not complete the required course work indicated on your Petition for Graduation form for your degree. This deficiency in your record prohibits you from receiving your degree at this time. However, we invite you to take this Fall 2008 semester to complete your requirements for graduation. If you feel an error has been made in the computation of your academic work, please contact the office of Records and Registration at 704-922-6232. Sincerely, Lynn Dellinger |
First of all, "Dear Student:"... if I really cared about the degree much, I might be a little more freaked at this point than "Dear Student:" would be good enough for. Next, I have two degrees outstanding, which one? (btw, adding another to the record soon). Finally, umm.. "what requirement?". The letter is a little vague.
I called the registrar's office and asked what was up. First of all, I was asked for my name, and not my student ID number, then I heard some papers rustling, followed by being told what was missing. So for once, personal service. I found out I was missing HIS-131 (duh!) on my Associate of Arts. This is of course due to the part where Gaston can not yet see CPCC's registration records to be able to know that I am registered for it. Next, I seem to be in the wrong literature course. I stated on my Petition for Graduation that I would be taking ENG-231... well, my plans changed, and I'm in ENG-131 instead. 131 is a much wider course that doesn't use as much Shakespeare.
The registrar had a solution to both problems for me, first, remember to send a transcript from CPCC at the end of the semester for HIS-131 (I also sent a copy of my schedule to them earlier). For the literature course, it is a little more difficult. I have to seek approval of my dean for a "course substitution". Not happy about that, but I guess I have to. The courses are identical in effect on the degree, with the exception of after a petition has been filed apparently.
Tomorrow I get to apply to enter the Associate in Fine Arts degree program, get the authorization of a dean to change courses and check with the registrar to make sure they haven't shredded my degree petition.
Last time I grew herbs in an AeroGarden I didn't have the ability to take macro pics, but now I do. Here are a few of them:
Purple Basil Chives 
Mint Thyme
Dill
Today I went shopping for supplies for my sculpture project. I first went to Hobby Lobby, where I was originally in search of "Sculptamould". I found none. After a bit of browsing and amusing myself with looking at electric trains, model truck kits (btw, if anyone sees an F350 kit, please let me know), drawing supplies and a variety of other things, I ran into the 5/8" dowels that I am going to use to make my staff. My staff will be over 6ft tall and supported by a really cool stand. After picking up my rods I found something else I liked, a mould for a face... I know I can integrate that into the project. I debated on getting some plaster of Paris, decided not to get it, until I saw the mould, then I changed my mind. Also picked up some paints and other odds and ends. Headed off to Lowe's after that. I had to pick up a metal rod for my ceramics project, its similar to my staff project, except its called a "garden totem". I got some rebar, since I thought the green metal garden stakes that the instructor originally recommended were too wimpy. At Lowe's I also picked up the stuff I needed to make my stand for my staff.
Tomorrow I get to go in and start working on both projects. I'm feeling overwhelmed, but excited as well. Sculpture is a whole new world for me.
Monday was my first real day in the studios at Gaston College and I found myself in a familiar, but yet totally strange environment. First of all, there is a huge age range in the studios. The youngest student is 18, she just graduated from high school and is starting a degree in art education. There are also some people who are about my age, a few of us anyway. Then there are the middle-aged types, they decline to give their age. Finally, there are the people who are in the class under the North Carolina laws for free tuition for senior citizens. I love having such a range of people, it makes for a more interesting class.
After the people, I noticed the equipment. There are fewer kilns at Gaston, mostly because it is a smaller department. There are also some things I didn't expect. Someone finally figured out the solution to mixing dry mix... it isn't a 6ft wooden paddle, it is a cement mixer. It mixes clay dry mix very well. The studio is overall more clean than the studio at UNCC. It is a little more home feeling as well. There is plenty of space, but we are all very obviously in the studio together. I love the fact that the wheels aren't lined up against the walls, they are in a circle off in the corner (with a few spares in other places). Ceramics is very social at Gaston.
In general, I love the studio and am looking forward to learning some handbuilding techniques this semester.
After spending many hours pouring over lists of artists, I selected one to discuss for my Art History II course. I selected Eddie Kent, a British potter. http://www.pots-n-things.co.uk/
I like his style, it is very simple, but at the same time has a lot of expression. His glazes are also very simple and highlight the features of the piece instead of trying to cover them up.
- ART 115 (Art History II)- Everything seems to be OK. We are doing an introduction assignment at the moment, I have to pick an artist that has a K at the beginning of their last name to discuss, and I'm still working on that. This evening our syllabus was recalled (to be reissued Monday), because the bookstore and the instructor didn't agree on text, and now everyone has the wrong text, and the instructor is going to adapt the course to what we have.
- ART 281 (Sculpture I) - REALLY PERKY Instructor. We will be working on making our own personal staffs, or at the very least the head of a staff and its stand. I have no idea what objects represent me, so I'm having a hard time with this project so far, but a sketch is due Monday.
- ART 288C (Ceramics Studio) - Same PERKY instructor as Sculpture. There is a similar project for this course, it is a personal totem, or micro-garden totem... whatever that means. The instructor and I have discussed how I want to work with the course. Because I have had no formal handbuilding instruction, the instructor wishes for me to work at the same pace ask her ceramics 1 (handbuilding) course until I am ready to break off and do my own thing. I think she wants me to get a feel for the studio. On Monday we will be making CLAY!
- CSC 153 (C# Programming) - I have completed the first two assignments, and will likely work through some of the others this weekend. The course is self-paced, so I will mostly use it to fill gaps between the other courses. The instructor is a complete nerd which makes the course even more of a fun event.
- ENG 131 (Literature) - This course is being taught by Wiki. I don't know how I feel about this, but I think it could be interesting. Our first assignment is pretty much to read the first part of one of the books for the course, and be prepared to talk about it. We aren't doing much yet. This instructor likes to do a lot of integrating of multimedia, so I will have to storyboard an idea for a short (60 second) film about the book we are reading and things like that. There was also something about selecting music to put behind Robert Frost poems and such. Nothing really accomplished in the course yet, but it is promising.
- HIS 131 (American History I) - So far it is dry and boring. It has mostly been reading so far except for the instructor's video introduction. The instructor plans to use video and podcasts to teach the course in addition to the text, so this may be very interesting. The course structure looks to be laid in such a way that it will be a very interactive course. There are a lot of papers in the course, but it doesn't seem like it will be something that will totally destroy me like my high school AH course did. I have completed my "orientation quiz" as well as submitted my paper introducing my goals for the course. Nothing else is due and the course structure isn't really apparent as far as assignments, so I may just have to pick out some key words and get to reading and just kind of go with what I can at first until I get a grasp on what will be expected on the quizzes. I suspect the textbook website may be of some help for the preparations though.
I thought 6 courses would be a lot to deal with, but so far I can summarize them all and look back up at the summaries and ask myself "Is that all?". This might turn out to be a very fun and productive semester. None of my instructors seem to be too normal about anything, with the exception of maybe Art History, and well.. that's just the way that things go sometimes. I'll sweat through it and be glad every day of the course that my instructor is not Dr. James Frakes.
- Woke up
- Had enjoyable time in sculpture
- I think I will enjoy my new sculpture/ceramics instructor
- I came home
- Went hiking at Crowders Mountain
- Reached Pinnacle
- Returned
- Exhausted
- Sleep
In the last few days I've been working with an individual at my old high school on some problems related to the DNS of the schools domain name. Today one of the emails included the following line:
"I know this goes beyond the scope of your contract with us, so I just wanted to let you know that I do appreciate the help!!!"
Its funny in so many ways. There is no contract first of all. I do what I do because I for some reason still care about the school. Second, my only relationship now with the school is that I am the reseller handling the registration for the domain through Enom.
This person has no idea what she is doing when it comes to the domain name, or the web presence of the school in general.
In June she received a email telling her that her hosting provider needed her to change DNS servers for the domain because they were changing "platforms" and their robot picked up that the domain didn't transition. After receiving the email she contacted hosting support, and they told her the domain was registered with Enom. Enom promptly informed her that she had to deal with PCFIRE Domain Services (thats me 
) to get the change made, since she didn't have web access to the domain. Funny thing here is that she DID and unfortunately still DOES have access to the domain from the web console. She tried emailing me at an address that dropped her directly to SPAM and she called me in a panic trying to get things working. I checked my voicemail 2 days later. I was given very little information about the change that was needed, so I decided to blindly make the change for her and let the burden of DNS rest completely on her. I warned her several times that there may be unpredictable side effects from doing the change.
I received no reply from her. A few days ago, another panicked email. One of the instructors couldn't get to their web page because it wasn't where it was supposed to be. She emailed me to see if maybe it had something to do with the change she ordered. Hmm.... you think it just might? I checked out the website and discovered that it didn't seem to matter about the external hosting, so I mimicked her existing redirect configuration (domain is on external hosting, just to be redirected) and replied asking if everything was ok. She was extremely happy. Funny thing is... all I did was move the servers back to where they were before June's little game.
I suspect I will have to deal with her again in a few days when she finds out that e-mail is not functional for the domain. Apparently Enom stores the domain's host informations, but not its MX (email) records. I do not remember the server addresses and the email provider doesn't list them publicly, so I seriously hope when she emails me about that, she is able to provide me with the MX records for the domain. Email was something else she was warned about in June, but I suppose she was just worried about the web presence and not student email, which wouldn't be relevant until August 25th, in 5 days.
