Arranged Delirium

...or a Dork, depending upon how you view things. Thanks to The Other Dr. Fee for sending this along. Do you think she’s trying to tell me something?

As a graduate student, I promised myself that I would never be one of those professor’s that was always so busy they were always working and never seemed to have time for anyone. With practice, I’ve learned that any professor (today) that is actively doing their job will be considerably overextended. The result is that I am always running from meeting to class, or trying to fit student consultation in between various other things. But with the addition of baby #2, I find myself running late more than usual (which is saying something because I’m typically running late - that’s OK: time is cyclical, right?).

I do feel bad about being late for class though, and I usually do everything in my power to avoid it. And, I have a number of students who are similarly respectful. But I also have others that are chronically late. Anyway, The Other Dr. Fee sent me this link to a NYU professor and his response to a specific student situation. It’s funny, and I appreciate much of what he’s saying - even if he’s clearly a jerk.

LOL. Gizmodo actually interviewed the Panera Bread iMac Man (see my post from last month). Apparently, he uses an iLugger...and he has two level 80 characters.

(...and this is one reason why I don’t want people taking my picture - you never know how it might get used!)

From Gizmodo
Step one: bring your iMac to a Panera Bread.
Step two: play WoW on it.
Step three: be old.
Step four: win the unconditional respect of the entire internet, forever.
UPDATE: This appears to be a habit.

Yes, I play World of Warcraft. No, I’m not as bad as this guy. (Make sure to read the steps below the image.)  I’m younger for one thing, and I have more hair. It is funny though - and I thank my colleague CH for sending along the link. I really think the Panera Bread iMac Man needs a laptop though, and I think a fund for such a purpose would be a worthwhile social endeavor.

I’ve abandoned all broadcast television for good. The process began years ago when I became a disciple of TiVo, and realized that there was no reason why I should ever watch anything at any specific time again. I also realized that I could avoid commercials - which I abhor. (I actually enjoy some commercials - just not during programming.)

More recently however, I’ve eschewed all forms of broadcast TV by ending my DirectTV subscription. Essentially at this point, I get all of my television via Netflix and AppleTV. I was inittially quite surprised at the quality of the performance of video streaming over broadband - it’s very good (especially if you have 3 mbps or better). Netflix also has a robust selection of content available via streaming, so all’s good there. With AppleTV you can run anything you get from iTunes. Add in Boxee and you’ve got access to even more content. (Although no Hulu - which is sad. And stupid.)

In the end, I went from paying about $60/month for DirectTV and Netflix to an $18/month Netflix expense. With that kind of savings I could buy a series each month on iTunes, own the content, and still come out ahead. Of course, I could never watch that much TV - so I stand to save a lot of money. The only real loss is live sports programming; but I haven’t given up hope for finding a solution for watching Ohio State football. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably invest more to buy a Mac Mini and install Plex on it - which would give me added features and content - but it would have cost me more too. Meh.

If you are interested in moving to Internet video and leaving your cable/dish subscription behind, Forbes has published a very readable article on the topic, and I’m more than happy to answer questions if you leave one in the comments section…