One thing that I promised myself would be different about this blog is that I was going to update the thing. Well, an update was due, and an update you shall have.

First on the agenda: college. Yes, it’s back to school time across America, and unfortunately, I am not immune to it. As of today, I’ve been to all my classes (with one exception…read on), so I can talk about them now. Here they are, in no particular order:

• English: English is my favorite subject, and grammar is what I’m good at. So it would seem that an English class where the focus is grammar would be right up my alley. We’ll see. The professor has a European accent that I can’t place just yet, and from what I hear, most people who have him don’t like him very much. I haven’t made up my mind just yet, but I plan on doing what I always do in my English classes: let my writing do the talking. It’s worked for me so far; the lowest grade I’ve ever earned in a college English class was a 96.

• Psychology: I think this is going to be my favorite class when I look back on this semester. The material seems really interesting, and the professor is awesome. You know a class is good when you find yourself actually wanting to do the reading.

• Chemistry: On the other hand, this may turn out to be my least favorite subject at semester’s end. I hatehatehate science, and I have a feeling this is going to be HARD. However, the professor is really good, and makes things seem interesting enough. I am not, however, looking forward to almost three hours of lab. Shoot me.

• Non-verbal Communication: I took this class because the name sounded interesting. After the first class (today), I have a feeling that I was right. I learned quite a bit already; I’m looking forward to this one.

• Karate: Yes, that’s right. Nassau requires its students to take PE classes, and this is the first one I’ve signed up for. I was supposed to have it from 1100-1215 today, but for whatever reason, I had it in my head that the class started at 1200. So today when I checked my schedule at 1115 right before I left, and realized that I was already fifteen minutes late, I was not very happy. I was even less happy when I got to school at 1135, and then spent the next twenty-five minutes looking for a parking spot. And I found one…not just any parking spot, but a parking spot on the other side of campus. At this point I saw no point in going to class—if it hadn’t ended yet, I didn’t want to disturb what was going on—so I instead found the professor, explained the situation, found out he didn’t take attendance today, got a syllabus, and went on my way. I guess I’ll see how this one goes come Monday.

Overall I’m pretty happy with my schedule for the fall; I don’t love school, but it’s something that needs to be done, so I’ll deal. Blah.

Speaking of school…as of yesterday I’ve decided that I want to major in English, and then teach it in some high school once I graduate. Hooray for knowing what you want to do with yourself.
Moving on! Apple today announced a whole slew of new…stuff, for lack of a better term. There’s no shortage of coverage on the web, but I’m adding my own thoughts here, because, well, you won’t find them anywhere else.

• iPod nano: I knew that this one was coming, but what it turned out to be pleasantly surprised me. I was never a fan of the iPod Mini; I thought it was ugly and not much value for the money. The nano fixes at least the cosmetic part of that problem. In a word, this thing is sleek. It’s everything an iPod on a diet should be. The Mini sold stupidly well in spite of my problems with it; the nano kicks the Mini’s ass in several aspects, and I see no reason why it won’t do the same in terms of sales. And hey, they killed the Mini. Everybody wins.

• The ROKR: I can’t say as many nice things about this, on the other hand. I always pictured the mythical iPhone as being a thing of beauty, and this simply isn’t. I know function is more important than form, but come on. Motorola makes the RAZR; this should have looked at least as nice. The concept is sound, however, and I’m sure that in the future there will be a product worthy of the Apple tag.

• iTunes 5: I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, some of the new features are useful enough. (NOTE: I hate Apple for letting you put lyrics in the song’s tag, because now I’m going to want lyrics for all of my songs, which is going to be no small feat. I have a LOT of songs, although not as many as some people.) On the other hand, Apple’s interface guidelines must be crying right now. I’m sure it looks nice enough on the Mac, but the Windows version? Ugly. I suppose I need to give it some more time, but there was nothing wrong with the iTunes 4.x UI. “Streamlined interface” is a fancy buzzword for UGLY these days. In spite of my feelings about the new look, I’m sure that in a week’s time I’ll be making use of all the new features and wonder how I lived without them. But still—it’s ugly. There’s no getting around that.

I am now going to end this post because it’s longer than anything I’ve written for one of my blogs in the past two years or so. I should think about saving something for the next update, which will hopefully be reasonably soon. To my four or so readers: tune in next time for more. And to my one reader who means the world to me: I love you.

Posted on 7 September 2005 | Comment [2]