There are only a few weeks left in this semester. I don't know if I feel encouraged or terrified by that. Before the end of this semester, I need to have a Tillich term paper (20 pgs), a paper on Eliot (10 pgs), a thesis paper worth reading (20 pgs), an essay over the Online Disinhibition Effect (10 pgs + Powerpoint presentation), and an analysis of letters from soldiers in the Civil War (15-20 pgs). So far I have drafts of all of these. I have partial drafts of all of these. I have deeply, deeply flawed partial drafts of all of these. Except the Eliot paper.

I can do this, though. Tomorrow, I'm going to get a lot of good work done on my Tillich paper. Anything I can get to the professor by this Wednesday will be given back to me with suggestions and criticism before I have to send in the final version. I need to gather further materials on the Tillich, Civil War, and Eliot papers. This is going to be a helluva week, I think. I'll definitely need to hit a few libraries and maybe a bookstore. Of course, classes are in session on Monday and Tuesday. That's not so bad. I usually have Thursday and Friday off anyway, but the addition of Wednesday this week will be, in the indelible words of Bill S. Preston, Esq. and "Ted" Theodore Logan, most excellent.

Shortly after I finish this post, I will be putting a link to it on what I think of as my "real" blog. When I have lots of time, I write posts that might be described as "eloquent" but really stand up to "loquacious" much better. My point, though, is that I put more care into my posts when I have time to focus on them. I like my writing style. I've heard other people say nice things about my writing style. Lately, between school work and keeping up with this blog, my other blog has started to show signs of neglect. Single line entries and quiz results are the signs of a busy life outside the Interkajigger. Someone has finally asked, in varyingly numerous words, "what gives." So I will post a link. No one reads this, of whom I'm aware. I know always to write for the lurkers--that people see my words whether they comment or not--but I never know if this is being lost to cyberspace. Maybe a crosslink will help save this little class blog from oblivion.

Happy Thanksgiving, all you lurkers. I do not imagine I will write here again before the holiday.


swing is a word

Okay, so I got my thesis drafted. Now I wait for feedback.
I have to complete a draft of my Cyberlit term paper. I have all my research done, but drafting it turned into a greater challenge than I expected. I'm sick. I have this post-nasal drip thing happening that is turning my throat into a little miniature Death Valley. (It's like there's a desert in my mouth, and everyone's dying!) Don't even ask about how my breath smells right now. My point, though, is that I have a very hard time writing when I'm sick. I get a little done, and then I have to sleep for a couple of days. It's like I start to feel my sickness more as I type on a computer. Now that I think about it, blogging right now is probably a very bad idea. I should devote this little bit of writing strength to my paper.

Everyone should go read A Softer World at www.asofterworld.com.
It is most excellent.


the human heart is a dense, fibrous muscle and is best served with Pinot Noir

I feel like I'm dying. Or at least my brain is dying. Or it just wants to die.

Last Thursday, I found out that I have a "complete first draft" of my senior thesis due on Monday. Evidently I was in possession of this information all semester, but I had to go looking through my campus email's "deleted" folder to find it. I am still not quite sure how it got deleted in the first place.

At any rate, I've been doing research for two days. I have a little more to do, then I can start writing. Hopefully I can get twenty pages hammered out by Monday. Hopefully I can get the rest of this weekend's homework done with it. My head hurts.

I need to go read Paul Tillich. He is not part of my thesis paper, but I need to write emails about him in the next two days. I would go back to reading for my thesis, but I fear that such nearness to the subject matter at this point would engender a terrible aversion. I don't want to hate my books. I want to sleep for a few weeks. Tonight's study break will be seeing Chicken Little with my college sweetheart. Hopefully, that will let my brain decompress for a while.

More later.


the sky is falling!

This has been an exciting weekend, so I'm just going to take it from the top...

On Friday, I went to a Halloween party. Due to a little mix up earlier that day, I was without a costume, so I was given a funny nametag. It was cute. A good time was had by most.

Saturday morning, I got up early because Saturday is the day I do a big workout. Unfortunately, I broke my toe during said workout. Later, I went home to clean house and prepare for my mother's 50th Birthday party that evening. The dog got out three times. I managed to chase it down twice, once with shoes and once barefoot. My toe was pretty upset about that one. We had friends up from Texas and many good folks from my parents' Unitarian church showed up. Because I'm a terrible son, I went out to get a present just before the party started. On the way, I picked up my girlfriend so I could show her off to everyone. That was neato. The party went until the late evening and included the world's only 5-hour game of charades. My uncle and cousin even came in from the West Coast to make the night extra special. THAT was a great surprise. Please pardon the expression, but my mom lost her shit when she saw them. My uncle seriously wondered if she was going to faint.

Sunday morning, I slept in. I shared my room with one of the folks from Texas, and when we got up, everyone had already gone to church. We're heathens, I guess. I checked out my toe, and it looked like it was covered in purple dye. The color has faded a little, but it's still pretty swollen. Before my cousin had to leave for the airport, we all gathered again for brunch. The nice thing about brunch is that you can have cheese pizza and German chocolate cake on the same plate. Then my cousin left. Then the friends from out of town left. The church friends had already dispersed to fulfill their own private existences. My uncle is in town until early tomorrow morning, which means I should say goodbye to him now. I certainly won't see him again before he leaves.

That was my weekend. My toe is still broken. My mother had a wonderful birthday celebration and just adores my girlfriend. My cousin is getting married soon. My uncle can still burp the alphabet.


okay this is a movie. five words.

Project Proposal

I tried to post this last night, but blogger decided to eat the post once I had fully composed it. I was so exhausted and frustrated by the end that I just went to bed. Sometimes I think that the true wonder of technology is that we manage to get anything done with it. At any rate, here are my project notes.

Title
Ethics of Online Communication: The Impact of Anonymity

Purpose
I intend to explore the impact of anonymity (or at least presumed anonymity) on internet rhetors. People communicate in many different ways, and familiarity between individuals greatly influences how we communicate. In cyberspace, we see an arena of tremendous anonymity, an arena in which the ethics of communication may need to be considered in new ways.

Principle Question
How does anonymity affect the ways in which people communicate with each other online?

Why?
As a studying philosopher and rhetorician, I take great interest in this topic. The dynamics of communication fascinate me.

Connection to Discussion Leader Topic
One of the many ways people communicate with each other online is through satire, whether as coordinated fake news sites or brief snide remarks. Would internet satire be as ascerbic if accountability was easier to come by?

Main Components
The primary topic of my research will be the dynamics of how individuals communicate via message board services and immediate chatting. Secondarily, I will consider the composition of emails as rhetorical constructs. This project will probably take shape as a large presentation.

Preliminary Timeline
Proposal 10-24-05
First Draft 11-14-05
Final Project 12-05-05

Questions and Concerns
My primary concern at this point is having enough time to produce quality work as I juggle my other classes and outside obligations. In the project itself, I have no idea how much or how deeply research has been conducted in this field. I'd rather not end up doing a "Miss Manners" kind of presentation on conduct, but I'm a little scared that that is what I'll end up with.

Sources
"Anonymity." Virtual Justice Institute of British Columbia. 2004 <http://www.jibc.bc.ca/virtualJIBC/online/online/ano.htm>.

"Anonymous Communications on the Internet." American Association for teh Advancemnt of Science. 2003 <http://www.aaas.org/spp/anon/>.

Hayen, Elizabeth. "SEX Online." University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Counseling Services 19 Oct. 2005 ≶http://www.uwec.edu/counsel/pubs/pornographyOnline.htm>.

Identification, please. Communication and Control in an Online Learning Environment. Ed. Daniel Anderson. KAIROS. <http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/~wiley/kairos/identities.html>.

Kabay, M. E. Anonymity and Pseudonymity in Cyberspace: Deindividuation, Incivility and Lawlessness Versus Freedom and Privacy. 8 Mar. 1998 <http://www2.norwich.edu/mkabay/overviews/anonpseudo.htm>.

Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous. 12 Mar. 2000 <http://www.aa-intergroup.org/index.html>.

Suler, J. "The Online Disinhibition Effect." The Psychology of Cyberspace. Jun. 2001. Aug. 2004 <http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/disinhibit.html>.

Thibodeau, Patrick. "Scientists Back Anonymous Web Messaging." CNN.com 5 Jul. 1999 ≶http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9907/05/anon.idg/>

Tor: An Anonymous Intenet Communication System. 21 Oct. 2005 <http://tor.eff.org/>.

Winter, Metta. "Online Communication Hides Human Nature--or Exposes It?" ALS News May 2004 <http://www.cals.cornell.edu/Online_Communication.cfm>.

Recommended Criteria for Evauation
This project will probably be best judged on presentation and quality of research.

Ugh... I'm so tired. I just called a friend of mine to cancel our GRE study session. It was cool. She's in the regatta this weekend and had other things to take care of.

This is my week to lead the discussion in the cyberlit discussion groups. I think it went all right. I was a little surprised at how few people know about parody on the internet. There was a time when laughter was my only use for the interweb. It's still my dad's only use for it. I was really psyched to get to link everyone to nuklearpower.com. I sent the owner of the site a message telling him that we were coming to study his site, and he very kindly gave us a welcome in his Thursday rant. That was pretty cool. I hope the cyberlit students noticed it.

So, the interkajigger is kind of dominating my week. I've been emailing back and forth with all kinds of people in the hope that all my letters of appraisal will make it to the proper Rhodes secretary on time next week. I spent most of yesterday just trying to get all the necessary application materials together. Frankly, I'm pretty tired of the whole process. Until this point, it has all seemed rather thrown together at the last minute. I'm not sure why, but I have yet to be contacted by anyone (at all) from my university during any part of this process. I hear second hand that I should probably schedule this appointment or call about that interview, then I go do it myself. I'm not even sure the dean's secretary has my number, though I've given it to both of them several times. I don't realy blame anyone for this. People get busy (I stand as exhibit A). It's just a little tiring.

Yesterday I went to Walgreen's to get ten passport photos as part of the Rhodes application process. One of the highlights of my week was the look on the woman's face when I asked for so many. I almost wanted to play up whatever kooky idea she was thinking. ("Do you make passports here? How many do you think most international spies carry? Do you know the quickest route to Paraguay?")

I keep thinking that I have never put so much effort into anything with so little promise of return. Going through this process, it's almost like they don't want anyone to actually apply. I'm feeling a lot of frustration. So, I turn to the intertron. Webcomics, cartoon clips, reading my friends' blogs--it's all nice and relaxing. That, and free movie night was pretty cool.


quiet down. we're in a church.

Stress is the mind-killer

This week was about a lot of things for me. Interviews, recommendation letters, borrowed books, a new karate student, and even a wedding announcement all made their way into my overextended brain meats. (Don't worry, I'm not getting married.) More than anything else, this week was about car trouble.

I drive a '94 Nissan Sentra. If any of you ever get a chance, buy a Sentra with a standard transmission. The transmissions on these cars are built like... well... really well constructed transmissions. They're extraordinarily cool machines. Unfortunately, the engine is the only thing that works perfectly in my car. The seat belts, turn signal, frame, engine mounts, engine cradle, engine light, steering column, rack and pinion, alignment, oil pan, automatic windows, and door locks all have what I like to call "quirks" that range in severity from annoying to potentially life-threatening.

Dad and I took it to a shop a couple of days ago to see if the frame could be fixed. Happily, the mechanic offered to warp the engine cradle and monkey around with one of the mounts in such a way that would compensate for the bent frame. He did, and the gears shift much more smoothely now that my engine doesn't float around every time I push my clutch pedal. The downside to this little fix is that the boys at the shop dropped my driver's side front window down into the door, and now I can't get it back into what experts call the "closed" position.

So, we took my little car to another shop, our usual mechanic this time. He pointed out the alignment and steering column problems but fixed the window post haste. He put a temporary fix on the steering column that we're supposed to replace next week. The alignment will have to wait until then as well. The poor Sentra has a wicked leftward pull.

For now, though, my car is back. It handles pretty well, and I probably won't die in it. Probably. Oh well. Semper advenio, I guess.


I can't believe I made a fart joke