In preparation for school finishing up, I put in an application to my guild for another raiding position. The latest WoW patch brought in a new dungeon, so I'm looking forward to participating in some first-attempt strategies and a long line of failures before making any progress! This'll be the first time I've actually done a dungeon that someone doesn't already know how to do... ANYWAY!

I was accepted this morning into a primary healing position! (Last time, I was technically only a backup that kept getting called up because there wasn't enough primary healers.) So, as a result, I shall be doing scheduled raids Friday and Saturday nights from 10pm to 1am. And since I know people are all the time going to be asking me to do stuff during those times, I've taken the liberty to look up a Google Calendar widget for my blog! Tada! There it is on the right, showcasing my happy raid times. (Actually, just the dates. You have to click to see the times.)

Maybe I'll use Google Calendar more often now?

UPDATE 1: Alas, the Google Calendar plug-in is broken. It seems to be wreaking much havok with is very hacked together CSS for the hidden window that popped up when one clicked on an event. Clearly, the plug-in is no longer in use! Good riddence. (Until I can fix it?)

UPDATE 2: Iaian7 managed to troubleshoot the problem in about 10 seconds, thereby solving the insane CSS problem and making me look STUPID. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!

Due to lack of homework, I've managed to find a creative outlet to pour my free time into... TW recently created a version of the Myst Theme in 8-bit. (You know, like the old NES sound effects?!) This afternoon, he approached me with the idea to actually put his theme to the intro video from the original Myst. I had already been playing around with After Effects for a project (that is still currently secret), so I figured, hey! Why not? It'll help me learn the ropes of a video editing program, which is something I've wanted to do since forever!

Behold! The culmination of 3 hours of work (plus whatever TW put in):

So after I saw the finish production, I thought it might be neat to break it up into the individual parts and show people how Myst is put together and why it took 3 hours to put the video together. Basically, Myst (and Riven) is put together with a massive collection of still images, videos, and sounds, and the videos are placed on the still images wherever they're needed. Very rarely is there a full movie playing. It's mostly little windows playing in certain areas of the screen. Wanna see?! I know you do:

So there you are, folks! Be sure to rate them both! And, dare I say? Watch for more of these videos in the future! (That is, if TW keeps on making the music. Otherwise it's just a video everyone's already seen a hundred times.)

I've hit a crossroads. Actually, it appears that I came to one the day I transferred to a Computer Science major, but I was able to ignore it while I took a parcel of general education classes. Now that I've emerged from my first semester (and World Changers) without a problem, I've revisited the crossroads, only this time I have to make a choice! Bummer. College can just never be simple, can it? It's harder to plan and pay than it is to actually take the classes. Anyway, the choice?

Do I continue Computer Science or not? Economics is out of it. That never seemed to be an issue with my advisor, so that will continue to be my second major. The problem lies with the mathematics courses for Computer Science. See, when I was at Ivy Tech, they apparently didn't bother to cover everything necessary to advance me from Algebra to Calculus. Not even close. My placement test when I transferred was dismal and I had a feeling there'd be a problem. Basically, what it boils down to is this:

I take a math class during the summer to prepare myself for Calculus. I don't need to transfer anything, because it's not a prerequisite, but this is just so I'm mentally prepared for Calculus. Sadly, my university doesn't offer anything during the summer, so I would have to go back to Ivy Tech. (Always a scary idea.) Once I do that, I take Calculus I in the fall at IWU, then Calculus II the next semester and so forth and so on. No problem, right? The catch is that I can graduate very quickly, thanks to the points I carried from Ivy Tech. My credits aren't a problem. The problem lies in the scheduling of the math classes. If I do Computer Science, I will take lots of heavy math classes. One per semester. There are 6 classes, so I'd be pinned up in school for almost an extra year JUST taking math classes, even if I start now. I can't avoid them if I stay with Computer Science.

My other choice: Computer Information Systems. Less theoretical stuff. No math. At all. If I did CIS, I wouldn't have to take another math class unless it was General Statistics for Economics. (Which is recommended, but not required.) What's the difference between Computer Science and CIS? I'm not really sure. In fact, let me show you how close the two programs actually are:

Core Courses for Computer Information Systems:

CIS-117: Essential Foundations for Computing
CIS-125: Introduction to Computer Science I
CIS-126: Introduction to Computer Science II
CIS-221: Data Structures
CIS-222: Object Oriented Programming
CIS-225: Systems Analysis
CIS-236: Machine Structures and Programming
CIS-336: Programming Languages
CIS-382: Database Programming Development
CIS-480: Applied Software Development Project
CIS-490: Senior Seminar

(The bold is a class that is not in Computer Science.) That's all I'd have to take for CIS. The remainder of the required hours would be filled up using Economics classes, thanks to an "independent track" option for CIS. Basically, with CIS, you take the core classes listed above and then specialize in either Business, Communications, Graphics, or Mathematics. The math specialization is pretty much Computer Science except for 2 missing classes, so anyone who takes CIS Math Track should probably just pick CS entirely. Okay, that's CIS. Here's CS:

Core Courses for Computer Science:

CIS-117: Essential Foundations for Computing
CIS-125: Introduction to Computer Science I
CIS-126: Introduction to Computer Science II
CIS-221: Data Structures
CIS-222: Object Oriented Programming
CIS-225: Systems Analysis
CIS-236: Machine Structures and Programming
CIS-320: Introduction to Software Engineering
CIS-325: Analysis of Algorithms
CIS-336: Programming Languages
CIS-385: Theory of Computation
CIS-425: Operating Systems
CIS-480: Applied Software Development Project
CIS-490: Senior Seminar

(Again, the bold are classes not in Computer Information Systems.) This, however, is just the core of each major. As you can see, there is little difference. CS does, though, clearly go in the direction of theory and algorithms and the whole "why does it work?" instead of a "how does it work?" focus. To be honest, I'm not even sure I care why a computer works. I've definitely always been interested in how they work! But let's not forget the required math classes for CS:

Computer Science Mathematics and Physics Cognate:

PHY-230: Electronics
MAT-253: Calculus I
MAT-254: Calculus II
MAT-280: Linear Algebra
MAT-353: Differential Equations
MAT-373: Numerical Analysis

These are required. It's not a specialization option like CIS offers... I either do these or I don't get a degree in Computer Science. The problem is that I'm not prepared for MAT-253. I can sign up for it, but I won't understand a bit of it. But even if I were to miraculously understand Calc 1 this Fall, I would still have a massive schedule overflow simply because I have to take each math class separately.

What's at stake? (I know I'm repeating a lot, but I'm thinking it through as I write this.) Time. Lots of time at school. Time at school means lots of extra tuition fees. So while I'm potentially wasting time, I'm also racking up a pretty impressive student loan during that time. Time I could have been graduated and making money in a job somewhere using my CIS/Economics majors. Why would I sacrifice the extra time and money? Is Computer Science really something I want to do? It looks almost identical to the less demanding CIS program, except for the math and theoretical classes.

Do I care about theory? Right now? No. Would I care if I actually got into it? Who knows? If I dropped CS for CIS, would that be the "lazy" way out? It almost feels like I was set on getting a degree in CS and then found out that it's hard, so I decided to take something easy. Almost. Not only is it more a scheduling problem than a skill problem, but, at the same time, I don't really know why I picked CS to begin with. Probably because I had always assumed CIS was just a "I know how to plug in a monitor" degree, but having looked at it, I see it's just as complex as CS in its own right. It just lacks the classes that explain WHY a computer works, but it still delivers on programming and the basic HOW a computer works. Get it?

Also, I might add that since the two are so vastly similar, I could always do CIS first and get out into the working world as soon as possible, and then go back later for Computer Science, since it would almost literally be "okay, I'm here for the math now!" I mean, it's not like CIS is a completely different direction! In fact, it's far more like a degree for a position halfway to Computer Science, and if I ever wanted to go all the way up to CS, I would just pick up where I left off.

So therein lies my crossroads dilemma.

Yesterday, it was raining. Just barely. It was more like ice balls. Then it actually hailed. Not because it was a huge storm, but because it was so cold. This morning, it was raining snow. It wasn't raining water drops and it wasn't actually floating around like snow, but it wasn't quite ice, so it wasn't hail. It was snow balls. Not even sleet, either, because it wasn't rainy enough. And now? It's raining ice again, which I guess is hail. Once again, not because it's storming, but because it's COLD.

You know I'm really not feeling the whole global warming thing this year?

I just wanted to say, "GUESS WHAT?"

(You ask, "What?")

I've been in a pickle. See, I was schooling myself in computer networking. It's not really a degree, but rather a "concentration" that bundles an unknown "Associates Degree in Microsoft Networking" with Microsoft and CompTIA certifications. It was okay, but it soon got very old. To be honest, there was a lot of just plain old memorization and a lot of "this is what [networking component] should do, but it doesn't always, and here are ways it can differ" and a lot of "when troubleshooting [networking component], you should always try this first, but it won't always work, so just be a good troubleshooter." In other words, I quickly realized there's a theoretical science behind networking, but in practical application? Everything you know should be suspended because each network is basically a wad of cables and a lot of prayer. That's not the life for me. I want strict rules. Give me something like Mathematics and I'll eat it up! Perfect, ultimate IF/THEN rules that never change from equation to equation. Addition is addition, multiplaction is multiplication. When it gets complicated, it's still just addition and multiplication.

So I decided to transfer to a university that offered Computer Science: Indiana Wesleyan University. Not exactly what I expected, but I quickly realized the vastly different approach to programming from networking. I mean, the intoductory class was nothing I haven't already learned, but I like it all the same once the professor started giving us more freedom in our programs. There were problems, of course, but it was always something like "oops, I forgot a semicolon!" and nothing like in networking where you do everything you're supposed to and it just doesn't work because it doesn't want to. I can't stand that!

And then I met the love of my life. Macroeconomics. It was perfect in every way. It was as logical as math and programming! Once you learned a rule and took it to the next step to make it more complicated, it still made sense. If you made a mistake, you could rest assured that you were the one in error and that it wasn't some complicated relative unknown variable like the rainy weather that was breaking all the rules. It was heaven. My first class of the day at 7:50am and I was wide awake and taking it all in: "Oh, so that's why Obama is pursuing that terrible plan!" "I see, so when they print money, it artificially lowers interest rates on savings and that's why we get asset bubbles!" "Woah, so that's why a recession happens?" "Why can't the government take this class and solve all our problems right now?!" Great revelations such as these made it all the more attractive.

And thus came my pickle: Do I do what is probably the smart thing and stay with a major in Computer Science? Do I bundle my lifetime hobby with a degree so I can work on something I already know so very well? Or do I switch to Economics? Do I advance a relatively new, although still very strong, hobby of political commentary and get a degree in something related so I then have authority in what I say? I know what jobs a Computer Science degree can get, but how does an Economics degree help me get a job, anyway? WHAT DO I DO? Well, pray, of course. Which I am still doing. But an opportunity presented itself during one of the awesome lunches my Economics professor holds before every exam!

He asked me what my major was, and I told him. Then I said, "Although, I was wanting to ask you who I would talk to about switching my major to Economics?" And he gave the perfect answer: "Well, me!" Apparently, he's the Economics program advisor, which is... Perfect. I can't say it any other way. It was always in the back of my mind that if he was the advisor, then I would have a really hard time staying with Computer Science. When it turned out that he actually was, I literally said, "Niiiice!" After that, he said they have brochures that explain what jobs an Economics major can get (mostly investment, banking or government, which is awesome) and that since I caught him before I was a Junior, I could still probably get Computer Science AND Economics done in the same time.

Woah, what? Double major? I had considered it before, but I thought it was far too weird. Programming and investment? What? I had abandoned that idea. On the one hand, it would give me two completely different sets of jobs to pick from, but, on the other, I could double major Computer Science and Mathematics and be so much more "buffed" in one job area. Apparently, though, he's had several CS/Econ majors before. I knew he was trying to prove a point when he changed his tone and asked why I picked Computer Science. I knew it was a trick question, but I just went for it and explained to him that I was in computer networking, but it's so unpredictable and I went with CS because it's far more rule-based and if something doesn't work, it's not something out of your control. And he, also, literally said, "Aha! That's why you like Economics so much, too! It's the logic!" At that point, I knew what I was gonna do.

Well, relatively speaking. I'm still praying about it. Seriously, with something that's literally going to impact the rest of my natural life, I need some divine help here! I think I've got a green light. I'm excited and can't wait until the Fall. I figure the only thing that could hold me back is money. I still haven't formed an opinion on loans. I'm usually of the opinion that loans should be avoided at all costs... But since I'm paying for college myself, I have to take all the government aid I can get. FAFSA and Stafford loans. It makes me unhappy, but is there any other choice? On the bright side, since Indiana has such a nice grant, I don't have to draw so much on loans. With my estimates, I can live at home for a year after I graduate and be able to pay back my loans if that's all I did. Is that Biblical? I don't know. Bill Gothard doesn't seem to think so, but the Israelites got their law from God Himself and in that law were several things about helping alleviate loans that people couldn't pay back. I mean, these laws were for paying back loans, not preventing loans. He obviously allowed for loans and debt if they were planned wisely.

So I don't know. I guess I'll wait and see how it all unfolds. But, to be honest, it's not like I have any other alternatives if I can't go to school. I do so well in the academic setting, too. I love it there! I'm expecting all As again this semester, too. Maybe some Bs. We'll see. It's not like I want a bunch of As to show off... If I don't get an A, that proves to me that I didn't work hard enough. Oh well. We'll see after Wednesday! My final final! (Hah... Final final. I made a funny!)

But, indeed. My plan for the future: Double major in Computer Science and Economics. Hopefully, I'll be able to use these skills to either work at a university (my personal choice would be, of course, IWU) or maybe even a bank. Maybe I could write banking software? That would be awesome. Maybe CS/Econ is a good thing, after all! Totally different, yet so very similar.

Language warning if you link to the article to see for yourself, but suffice it to say that David Axelrod, the man known as Obama's puppeteer speechwriter, has decided to take it upon himself to declare the Tea Party movement as "misdirected" because, after all, Obama has given 95% of the country a tax cut! I mean, honestly! How could anyone be so misled as to think that protesting tax cuts is a good thing? After all, isn't that what Republicans want at all costs?

First, the mistake that the liberals make is that the Tea Parties are a strictly Republican idea. They're wrong. I'm a Republican. Actually, scratch that. I was a Republican. I am not a Republican as of right now. I don't stand for the ideas of Democrats and I don't stand for the ideas of the Republicans. I've never been a party member, but I have thought (up until this election) that the Republicans are the best vehicle for Conservatism. That is no longer the case. I am a Conservative. I am not a Republican. The Tea Parties, I would say, are anti-government, not anti-Democrat. We don't like what's happening, period. We don't want Democrats and we don't want Republicans. Period. We're ticked off at the federal government as a whole. Period. There's no partisanship here. This is not a bad thing considering that the federal government has burst through the confines of the United States Constitution on just about every level. We want our Constitution back. The government fired the CEO of a private company? Really? That should terrify you! If it doesn't, you are WHACKED. The government is supposed to guarantee private property, not interfere in ANY way.

Second, is Axelrod really so stupid as to assume that we're stupid enough to not realize what they're doing? A trillion dollar bail out that nobody wanted that is doing absolutely nothing to help our economy, coupled with tax cuts? Is Axelrod the only one who doesn't see the disaster that such huge deficit spending is going to cause? Oh, no worries! We'll just print a ton of money that we really don't have the assets to back up and it'll all be okay! Except for the ghastly high inflation we're going to have in about a year, right? Yeah. Except for that.

See, we don't mind the tax cuts. We would prefer tax cuts across the board. The key is "95%". The upper 5% are getting crushed by taxes. (Darn those capitalist pigs, right?) We want tax cuts for EVERYONE and we want government spending to STOP so that we actually have a surplus? You know... That thing that has to happen so we make money so we can actually pay off the debts we have already? The government may have cut taxes for the majority of people. (Personally, I don't see those cuts anywhere.) But it won't matter! In a year or two, we'll have inflation that will take the place of the tax cuts. We have to pay for high spending somewhere, people. That's a fact. You have to pay for it in high taxes, high interest rates, or high inflation. You will ALWAYS pay for it. Some ways are natural (high taxes and interest rates) and some aren't natural (high inflation). If you have inflation, that won't actually ever take care of the problem.

Anyway, before I get carried away with another economics lesson (it may be too late), I'm gonna stop and just say: Axel-face, my man. We appreciate the tax cuts. Really, we do. You're right when you say it's what we "Reaganites" have always wanted. But, see, we're not stupid. We realize that tax cuts without everything else that should accompany tax cuts is not a tax cut in the long run. In the long run, the federal government is DESTROYING the country's economy. All the government cares about is fixing things today, but we citizens are smart enough to look toward the horizon and see what's going to happen tomorrow. The government has stepped far out of the Constitutional boundaries with huge power grabs like with Government General Motors. We all know what it's trying and we've had it. You and your ilk have been pulling this crap since Carter and we're DONE.

And you know what else? It ain't personal. See, the Republicans are just the same way. They betrayed everything they stood for by reaching across the aisle to the liberals who have nothing but themselves in mind. The Republican party is equally as stupid to realize that this bipartisan plan is not going to work. It cost us a vital election. We would have had the election on a silver platter if McCain was as solid a conservative as Palin. So now, with the government swelling to engulf our entire lives and with the economy falling apart around us, we blame Republicans. We blame Democrats. We blame everyone in the government right now and we want you ALL to get out! We want the small federal government of old!

Thankfully, the Constitution guarantees us the right to criticize you. So call off your Homeland Security peons.

Thank you, and good night.

Why haven't I been writing? Well, quick answer: School. Which, I might add, will be done next Wednesday, so I can get back to my good ol' political blogging routine that I know everyone misses terribly! Did you hear about how the Department of Homeland Security warned everyone about the "danger" of us crazy right-wing conservative extremists gathering together for Tea Parties on April 15? (That's the word they used: Extremist.) I would have attended one myself, but I was busy with school. Since when was it a national security threat for Americans to protest the government? I must have missed the memo sent out between the last anti-Iraq War protest and the Tea Parties. What everyone misses, though, is the fact that we're not just upset with Democrats. We're upset with Republicans. We're upset with government, period.

So just because I'm silent doesn't mean I'm not watching what your precious Obamessiah is doing to our country. I just don't like to dwell on commentary when I should be studying for classes, but I do keep up on events! But again, my last final is on Wednesday and I can come roaring back to the spotlight of your Internet lives! Heck yeah!

I might not have been blogging, but I've definitely been writing. If I wasn't writing so much, I'd probably have the time to blog. As such, I think I'll make a page where you can read all the papers I've written for this semester! Won't that be exciting?! Maybe for my Mom. No, but seriously. They're some good papers. Mostly about religion, since I have all the mandatory Wesleyan Church classes this semester. I really lay into some of the things we're supposed to analyze and respond to. (If I'm not tearing apart a liberal, I can at least tear apart some of the common incorrect beliefs of the teenagers coming out of public high schools these days, right?)

I'll announce it once I find the time to get them posted. Maybe I can dig up some of the relevant papers I wrote during my stay at Ivy Tech, since there were a few papers that required me to analyze something stupid and I told them exactly what I thought. I mean, academically, these papers are rock solid. They usually manage to land me perfect scores. The lowest score I've had on a paper was about 97%. An A+ no matter how to look at it. Yes, sir! The folks may not like the content I present, but there's no doubt I know my stuff, eh?