Been a while...

It's been a while since I had the time or the brain to write something.  Mostly the brain.  I don't know what it is, but when the degrees go up, my IQ points go down.  Any extended amount of time over 100F and I will probably have to return my National Honor Society pin.  We're going on 3 weeks now, this may be my last post EVER.

It didn't help that during this recent chunk of "too damn" (in answer to the question "How hot is it?") I was finishing up my math class at KU.  Most of my brain cells went toward completing the square and remembering the quadratic formula.

Emily Sings the Quadratic Formula

Yeah.  I sang it when it came time to use it. Kind of like I sang the Preamble to the Constitution when I had to get up and recite it in class in 7th grade.

We the people...

 Anyway... I ramble.

I'm working up a new website, sort of a "one stop shop" for ocean sailing news and information, videos, photos, blog posts etc.  Trying to drum up interest in the sport here in the heartland.  As a matter of fact, I've gone and bought the URL "HeartlandOceanRacing" and made a logo and everything:

I'm pretty excited about it, there will be more info as Drew and I figure out just how to make it work.  I welcome any input.

That's it for now.  Supposed to hit 106F today, I'd better go find my pin.

Do The Math

I'm going back to school to finally earn my bachelor's degree.  It'll take me a while, I get one free class per term by virtue of being a University of Kansas employee, and I'm not interested in incurring any more debt, so I'm looking at about 6 years.  I can handle that.

What I cannot handle is this- When I started my math class this summer, I went to the bookstore and found out that a new math book would be $111. I didn't buy it, I got a $40 used book. Turns out the used book doesn't have the access code for the online portion of the class, so I have to get that separately. OK- fine.

As recommended by the math department, I went to the bookstore on campus to purchase my access code. They do not have the separate access code in stock, but I could purchase the package of access code + new book for $111.

I have already purchased a used book for $40. I can’t see any reason to have two books, so I looked online, to purchase it from MyMathLab directly. $95.80. NINETY FIVE DOLLARS AND EIGHTY CENTS.

This is ridiculous. What possible reason is there for the code to cost that much, beyond the fact that MML can charge it? What if I don’t pay? What if I choose to NOT do the MathLab portions of Math 101 for the rest of my class? How badly would my grade suffer?

I'm guessing it would suffer quite a bit. ( actually- it turns out I'd lose 13% of my grade) So I'm stuck having to drop $95 on a stupid access code for a class that will be over in a month. I was furious to the point of tears.

Welcome to the world of "Why Students are $50,000+ In Debt When They Graduate."  My "free" class (for which I really am grateful) would have cost me over $250 if I hadn't been able to borrow a graphing calculator.  ($119 at the bookstore, for the cheap one at that!)  As it stands I'm down $135.

Why is this accepted?  Why is it ok for textbook companies to charge exorbitant prices, and then more often than not, not allow a decent return rate?  I can't tell you how many times I've tried to return a college text only to be told the edition had changed, the prof decided not to use it again, or just flat out "no." 

And this brings me to another point.  Part of my job is to educate people on the 3 Rs of sustainability- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  By purchasing a used book, instead of a new one, I felt I was upholding the "Reuse" part of all of that.  But, to put it bluntly, I got screwed.  I tried to save money, I tried to do the right thing ecologically, and I was smacked for it. 

What does that say about the sustainability movement?  To me it says "We'll pay you lip service, but we're not going to cut into our profits to save the environment or anything else."

Richard Branson quoted Gro Brundtland (the first female PM of Norway, and one of The Elders) recently, while at the Rio+20 Summit:

“We must break away from our sectoral ways of viewing economy and ecology. We must learn to accept the fact that environmental considerations and economic growth are parts of a unified management of our planet. The one is dependent on the other.”

I'm pretty sure what I experienced today was the opposite of what Brundtland has been advocating.  And that's a problem.

 Richard Branson and Gro Brundtland at the Rio+20 Summit. 

June, 2012

One Degree of Separation

Other than my husband, my best friend is Drew.  We met in college, a hundred years ago, and have remained close ever since.

Drew graduated from college yesterday, and I couldn't be prouder of him.  I know it was difficult to go back after all these years, and he did it with a complete focus change- he was a history major originally, who went in to retail management.  Now he's the proud owner of a shiny new CIS degree, and is ready to wield it with a vengeance.

I'm also trying to get my degree, finally, I've mentioned it before.  I've always wanted to, but it wasn't ever a necessity until I moved to Kansas.  Well, more specifically- until I moved to Lawrence, KS, home of the University of Kansas and a pretty nice place to live.   Seems there's a glut of degree holders in the area, and those of us without... well...

It's very frustrating, why would anyone NEED a degree to do what I do? (executive/administrative assistant/secretary- not what I do now, but to be honest- IMO my current job doesn't need a degree either) If I did have a degree, I doubt I'd be a secretary. I'd be doing something IN MY FIELD. I don't know anybody who has a 4 year degree in secretary.  I have students right now who are graduating in a week who have NO clue what they're going to do and NO job prospects. But they're going to be able to go out and get a job that pays more than I get, simply because they have the paper.  It makes me question the value of a college degree.

So why am I proud of Drew?  Because I know he's going to USE his degree in the manner it's supposed to be used- as the starting point, not the end point.  That's my plan too, to use what I learn as a jumping off point in a career I choose, not just a job I can get.


Anyway- off to sign up for Algebra.  ;)

Pacific Vortex, More Than Clive Cussler Ever Imagined

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/

This.

This is why I want to get a degree in Environmental Studies, and this is why I want to apply it to the Volvo Ocean Race.

The "Great Pacific Gyre" or "Plastic Island" or "Trash Island."

I've facilitated the gathering, sorting, baling and reselling of over a million pounds of recyclable material in my time here at KU Recycling. That's about 702 tons of bottles, cans, paper, cardboard, plastic... stuff. The Great Pacific Gyre contains about 58 tons of stuff, but consider this: Most of the garbage patch is not visible to the naked eye because it contains particles almost too small to see.

Ponder that. 58 tons of stuff so small it can barely be seen.

Now- you might think "Big whoop. If the stuff is so tiny, what's the problem?" Well, think about what a whale eats. Think about what seabirds eat. Think about what would happen to you if you ingested tiny bits of plastic every time you ate. Plastic you can't digest, plastic that may still be outgassing. You'd eventually be killed by it, right? Well, so are the whales, so are the birds, so are the fish, so are the plants... This island is a killer.

So I guess what I'm really trying to do is stop a killer.