A few brief updates:
My buddy phrogg and his band The Lime Daddies kick even more ass than I imagined! Gina and I got to catch their act at Chief's Wings and Firewater in Greenville earlier this month, and a good time was had by all. If you haven't checked them out already, I highly recommend doing so.
___
In other news, classes are going well so far. An abbreviated rundown:
Introduction to Political Science, taught by Dr. Timothy Dale. Dr. Dale is a newbie professor, freshly graduated from Notre Dame. He's kind of a dork, but he certainly knows his stuff. This is basically a class that teaches you the questions that political scientists are trying to answer.
Spanish 101, taught by Mr. Douglas Jackson. Granted, I've taken this course twice before: once at Erskine College way back in 1998 (which I failed), and again back in 2005 here at Upstate (when I made a D.) What can I say? Foreign languages are NOT my forte. But I need two semesters of it to graduate, and I figured I'd better know what happened in the FIRST semester before I attempt a SECOND one, right? Thankfully, "Douglas" (as he insists on being called) is a good professor, so for once I can say that my school made a good call when they stole him from Greenville Tech this year. Truth be told, he looks and acts a lot like Carlos Mencia, so this class, while still not my favorite, is at least enjoyable this time around. Who knows? I might actually learn something this time.
Political Behavior, which is also taught by Dr. Timothy Dale. A course designed exclusively for the true political geek, since it primarily deals with campaigns and elections (and the reams and reams of campaign regulations and polling data that it entails). It's all good, though...while reviewing THAT many polls at a time would make most mortals go cross-eyed, I'm one of those rare people who've been hip-deep in the campaign game since I was 12. So I actually kind of enjoy this kind of stuff. Also, we're expected to follow a particular race during this mid-term election and submit a paper at the end of the semester outlining everything that happened and why it happened during the course of the campaign. (I've picked the Texas 22nd Congressional district to follow--Tom Delay's old district. It's devolved into a fascinating political sideshow this year, to say the least.)
Introduction to Non-Western Civilizations, taught by Dr. Kenneth Bradley. He's definitely an old-school--he's been teaching for 40 years. He's one of those professors who has a script and sticks to it. Sure, he's not the most exciting guy in the world, but at least he's easy to follow. I should do pretty well with him.
And finally, The American President, taught by Dr. John Grummel. He's a professor who's been kicking around the circuit for a while now, finally landing at Upstate this year. Funny thing about this class: the main project for this semester is going to be running a mock presidential election. There are three candidates (one Republican, one Democrat, and one independent), each with his or her own press secretary, campaign manager, and Party chairman. Through sheer luck of the draw, guess which role I landed?
The Republican candidate for President. BWA HA HA HA HAAA!!!
It's all good, though. I'm running as Harold Richard "Ricky" Geddings, Jr., real estate developer and current Republican governor of Hawai'i. He's also a pro-choice environmentalist who's fully committed to public education. Yes, the "real" Republicans in the class are going to have a duck when they hear about this guy, but who cares? I can do that, I'm the candidate.
All in all, this should be a fun semester.
___
Gina and I will be in DC this weekend, attending a protest demanding justice for the Cuban Five. Yeah, yeah...this is quickly becoming an annual event: we were there last September 24th as well, voicing our opposition to the Iraq War. Oh, well. Somebody has to speak out against the injustice in the world...why not me? It's not like this trip is costing me much of anything. Lucky for me, Gina has an uncle who lives in DC.
___
And finally, I've run into a spot of financial trouble again. This time around, the cable and electric companies are threatening "service interruptions" if I don't pay them something this week. So....I'll just have to give them a little something (enough to get them off my back, at least) when I get paid this Thursday. The good news is, Gina just started a $9 per hour job at Westgate Mall, so we should start doing a better job of keeping up with our bills in the future.
I mention this, since SG has also told me--twice--that my payment cannot be processed. So, if I suddenly "go grey" without any further explanation, y'all will know what's going on. I'll be back as soon as I get my budget balanced again, so please don't delete me off your friends list in the meantime, okay?
Thank you all. And as always, stay tuned...
My buddy phrogg and his band The Lime Daddies kick even more ass than I imagined! Gina and I got to catch their act at Chief's Wings and Firewater in Greenville earlier this month, and a good time was had by all. If you haven't checked them out already, I highly recommend doing so.
___
In other news, classes are going well so far. An abbreviated rundown:
Introduction to Political Science, taught by Dr. Timothy Dale. Dr. Dale is a newbie professor, freshly graduated from Notre Dame. He's kind of a dork, but he certainly knows his stuff. This is basically a class that teaches you the questions that political scientists are trying to answer.
Spanish 101, taught by Mr. Douglas Jackson. Granted, I've taken this course twice before: once at Erskine College way back in 1998 (which I failed), and again back in 2005 here at Upstate (when I made a D.) What can I say? Foreign languages are NOT my forte. But I need two semesters of it to graduate, and I figured I'd better know what happened in the FIRST semester before I attempt a SECOND one, right? Thankfully, "Douglas" (as he insists on being called) is a good professor, so for once I can say that my school made a good call when they stole him from Greenville Tech this year. Truth be told, he looks and acts a lot like Carlos Mencia, so this class, while still not my favorite, is at least enjoyable this time around. Who knows? I might actually learn something this time.
Political Behavior, which is also taught by Dr. Timothy Dale. A course designed exclusively for the true political geek, since it primarily deals with campaigns and elections (and the reams and reams of campaign regulations and polling data that it entails). It's all good, though...while reviewing THAT many polls at a time would make most mortals go cross-eyed, I'm one of those rare people who've been hip-deep in the campaign game since I was 12. So I actually kind of enjoy this kind of stuff. Also, we're expected to follow a particular race during this mid-term election and submit a paper at the end of the semester outlining everything that happened and why it happened during the course of the campaign. (I've picked the Texas 22nd Congressional district to follow--Tom Delay's old district. It's devolved into a fascinating political sideshow this year, to say the least.)
Introduction to Non-Western Civilizations, taught by Dr. Kenneth Bradley. He's definitely an old-school--he's been teaching for 40 years. He's one of those professors who has a script and sticks to it. Sure, he's not the most exciting guy in the world, but at least he's easy to follow. I should do pretty well with him.
And finally, The American President, taught by Dr. John Grummel. He's a professor who's been kicking around the circuit for a while now, finally landing at Upstate this year. Funny thing about this class: the main project for this semester is going to be running a mock presidential election. There are three candidates (one Republican, one Democrat, and one independent), each with his or her own press secretary, campaign manager, and Party chairman. Through sheer luck of the draw, guess which role I landed?
The Republican candidate for President. BWA HA HA HA HAAA!!!
It's all good, though. I'm running as Harold Richard "Ricky" Geddings, Jr., real estate developer and current Republican governor of Hawai'i. He's also a pro-choice environmentalist who's fully committed to public education. Yes, the "real" Republicans in the class are going to have a duck when they hear about this guy, but who cares? I can do that, I'm the candidate.
All in all, this should be a fun semester.
___
Gina and I will be in DC this weekend, attending a protest demanding justice for the Cuban Five. Yeah, yeah...this is quickly becoming an annual event: we were there last September 24th as well, voicing our opposition to the Iraq War. Oh, well. Somebody has to speak out against the injustice in the world...why not me? It's not like this trip is costing me much of anything. Lucky for me, Gina has an uncle who lives in DC.
___
And finally, I've run into a spot of financial trouble again. This time around, the cable and electric companies are threatening "service interruptions" if I don't pay them something this week. So....I'll just have to give them a little something (enough to get them off my back, at least) when I get paid this Thursday. The good news is, Gina just started a $9 per hour job at Westgate Mall, so we should start doing a better job of keeping up with our bills in the future.
I mention this, since SG has also told me--twice--that my payment cannot be processed. So, if I suddenly "go grey" without any further explanation, y'all will know what's going on. I'll be back as soon as I get my budget balanced again, so please don't delete me off your friends list in the meantime, okay?
Thank you all. And as always, stay tuned...
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
"Pro-choice, environmentalist, committed to public education". It's so ironic, because in the earlier GOP that would have fallen right in line with the party. My wife's father was an ardent Repub from Iowa "back in the day" and he believed all those things...
I hate those service interruption bills- get 'em all the time.
Political Science?! *shudder* better you than me dear!