Back To School

Dr. Gary North told me I should blog about my college experience.  I'm thinking I just need to get back into blogging.  I like dumping my thoughts out through my fingers onto a screen.  It's therapeutic. 


To those who visit my blog (all one of you), I apologize for my absence.  Not that I'm going to become a frequent blogger like I used to, but I would like to become a more frequent blogger.

So I am a student again.  I must say after being out of the academic world for over a decade, it's quite the culture shock to be a student.  Suddenly format and context matter again. They have this thing called "APA" formatting.  It basically means you have to jump on one leg, while sacrificing you firstborn to ensure you are not plagiarizing anyone, including yourself.  Still unsure of how I can plagiarize myself, but they say it can happen. 

Apparently I'm not very good at it, because after completing 2 classes and a handful of papers, my professors still are telling me I'm doing it wrong.  I asked my latest prof to help me understand what I'm doing wrong.  He said, and I quote "When doing any scholarly paper, you must cite any data which is not common knowledge. Common knowledge is defined as any data which would not be known by the common man,"  

Any data not known by the common man?!?! WTF?  First off, how do you define the 'common knowledge'?  Even more perplexing, how do you define 'common man'?  Spend 10 minutes on facebook and you can quickly figure out that 'knowledge' is in short order in our country.  Is that where I should go to learn the knowledge level of the 'common man'? So anything the average high school graduate, that says 'like' every other word, can't write, can barely read, and can't do basic addition without a calculator I have to cite?  Or am I being too negative?  I'm in college, I would expect the 'common' level of 'knowledge' to be above that of say your average high schooler.  What a bunch of SUBJECTIVE hogwash.

Yes, I am my usual wise ass self, even in college.  I think part of my problem is I've spent many years studying various topics, get this, FOR FUN.  And so my personal knowledge level is above that of what a professor would define as 'common knowledge'.  So when I am writing my college papers, quite often I'm not referencing anyone.  Do I cite myself?  How does one go about citing himself?  "In the paper I am currently writing, pulled from the chaotic annals of my mind, I thought bla...."  (OBrien, 2013).

Probably wouldn't go over well.  The two Prof's I've had so far didn't seem real big on sense of humors.   But some of the students and I are having a blast.  I even stumped my first professor.  Really, I did.  We were having an exchange on a discussion board and I was just fielding what to me were logical questions to her statements.  The conversation ended with her stating simply, "I'm not qualified to continue this discussion."

I must say that floored me.  Not qualified?  Aren't you the person with a Doctorate?  I don't even have an AA.  Not qualified?  Really?  Who's teaching who here?  

The good news is, that while I suck at formatting to a standard that I will never use outside of college (I'm okay with that), I'm still getting A's (two of them so far).  Let us hope the trend lasts.

And I'm engaging the students, who aren't as stiff as the Prof's.  With any luck I can open some eyes to a way of thinking not taught by the liberals who run my school.  They are sharper than the Prof's anyway (at least some of them).  It's an online school so some of the students are on the other side of the planet.  Talk about gaining perspective.

So, 5 more credits and I have my Associates Degree in Technical studies (with a focus on Nuclear Power).  Then it's on to a BS in Electro-Mechanical Technology.  The college administrators keep trying to convince me to get a BS in Nuclear Power.  My training in the Navy apparently qualifies for many credits in the field.  Why would I pursue a degree in a field I'm never ever ever..  did I say NEVER going back into?  I'm not going to school to get a piece of paper, I want to actually learn something.  What a novel thought that is.  So, after much debate they gave up and I'm pursing the degree I want. 

This should take me.. oh about 3 years.  Hey, I'm only taking one class at a time.  I thought about taking more, but I have quickly discovered that working full time as a Project Manager, while taking care of my wife and three kids doesn't leave much time for school.  In fact, just the one class took enough of my time for Patty to tell me she feels like a stranger.  "I know I had a husband" she likes to say.  So, I'll follow the turtles example, Slow and Steady.

What else is new?  We are debt free, completely debt free.  I can't begin to express how good that feels.  Maybe how I got out of debt should be my next blog post. 

To celebrate we are spending our new found wealth on a family vacation.  26 day road trip around the western half of America.  In fact we are going to make a complete loop around Utah, only touching it briefly at the Four Corner.  

Remember I mentioned the juggling act of my life.  Well, my boss was reluctant to allow me so much time off at once.  I had to lay out in grave detail how my job was going to be accomplished while I was gone.  I split up the critical logistical tasks of my day-to-day work among 4 people.  Put all my strategic projects on hold and had my presentation.  Lucky for me he said yes.  There are still things I know are going to be missed, but I'm confident the plant will survive the month.

It feels good to be blogging again.  "Poets, Priests and Politicians...  have words to thank for their position...  Words that scream for your submission... and no one's jamming their transmission..." 

My mind is already racing to the next topic so before I start another chaotic tangent of non-sense, I bid you adieu.