The Desert of My Dreams

Happy Thanksgiving! It’s time for Basted in Blood!

For the record, I do have a hair dryer.

Why is my Metafilter paper being mirrored here?

Hmmm.

That is . . . what’s in your Wolverine Access Backpack?

Wolverine Access, the University of Michigan’s course registration (and so much more) system, has a pre-registration feature called the Backpack (an unfortunate name and a terrible metaphor). It’s a way to speed through registration once registration opens up. This strategy can be crucial for highly sought after classes, which isn’t really a problem at SI since we’re a small school and there is usually enough room for everyone (well, you may not get your preferred section but you’ll get the classes that you want).

So, my last registration appointment (the time when I can login to the system and actually register) in my master’s program is going to be next Monday at 4:15 p.m.

Here is what I’m planning on taking next semester:

SI 688 - Fundamentals of Human Behavior [to finish up my HCI requirements]
SI 614 - Networks: Theory & Application [should be challenging, super interesting, and very relevant to my thesis]
ARCH 531 - Networked Cities [my cognate, should be very interesting]

I’m also continuing my thesis, which counts as a fourth class. Well, I’m continuing my thesis pending my advisor’s approval, which I don’t think is a problem being that we haven’t had any “difficult conversations” yet.

I’m in the market for a new digital camera. I’m mainly wanting a new one for my Dubai trip and because my current digicam is kind of falling apart. I currently have a Canon PowerShot S40 (4 mega pixels). I really love this camera and I’m looking for something similar — except smaller in physical size (and hopefully one that can take both rechargable and regular batteries . . . if that is possible). I don’t know much about cameras but I’ve hated the few Olympus cameras I’ve played with (lighting was always an issue). I’ve always had Canon cameras mostly because I grew up seeing my dad only use a Canon camera. I could be persuaded to buy a Nikon but it might be a tough sell.

Any ideas?

That means everyone should go back and retake my Sarah quiz so that Google can understand that querying Noor should result in this here blog being number one . . . Yahoo already figured it out.

You are Black and White

You feel deeply misunderstood and under constant scrutiny. You only wish people would accept you for who you are.
Which Sarah McLachlan Song Are You?
Created by Noor

I just finished putting together what is likely to be the most important three and a half pages of my life. I find those essays about my life and my future to be pretty draining and I’m just glad that I finally have something in paper. While working on this ultra important essay, I finally realized how everything in my life has led to my writing this essay and that thing that I want to do with my life (and why I wrote this essay) is exactly what I was meant to do with my life. As I was writing those three and a half pages, I kept wondering, “Why did it take me so long to figure this out?!?” It just seems so crystal clear right now.

It’s too soon for me to even accurately assess the quality of said three and a half pages. The good news is that I have a couple of people who have graciously agreed to check it out for me.

Well, I think I scared one of those people with the length of said essay because not only is it three and a half pages . . . it is three and a half pages single spaced.

So I’m still working on finetuning a few last things in my portfolio but I think I’ve got a portfolio page that I’m sort of happy with . . . but I need some feedback.

What do you think?

Is it easy to use? Can you find things easier? Does it look good?

I’m worried about too much white space (and the thumbnails for the papers are kind of bland).

Hmmm.

I just got back from seeing Dar Williams at the Ark. I still don’t get Ann Arbor’s fascination with the Ark (my high school’s auditorium could seat more people in a less dumpy atomsphere) but Dar was fabulous. She did a lot of new stuff, which I didn’t know but enjoyed nonetheless, and covered the familiar favorites such as Spring Street, Mercy of the Fallen, Iowa, The Ocean, The Beauty of the Rain, As Cool As I Am, Are You Out There, and After All (my personal favorite of the whole night).

This was my second time seeing Dar and she’s simply one of my favorite live performers. You can totally tell that she’s having fun on stage; she enjoys what she’s doing and it totally comes through in a very sincere laid back way. She’s just awesome.

Her opening act, Girlyman, were pretty good, too (despite the unfortunate name).

There’s something about (good) live music that’s envigorating, refreshing, and awakening. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that I needed this concert tonight, this weekend, this week, this semester. For a few hours, I was able to forget about everything and simply enjoy the best music I’ve heard in a long, long time.

If I had time, I’d go to tomorrow night’s show but I do have ten hours of interviews that need to be transcribed!

I’m teaching my students Dreamweaver this week. I asked them today if any of them had created a web page before and a couple of them said, “Oh yeah, we did it in eighth grade.”

Noor: “Eighth grade?!? When was that?”
Students: “2000″

My students were in eighth grade in 2000.