Fun with Shag Carpets
You know what’s great?
Shag carpeting in college student housing. What freaking genius thought of that? “In these houses will live members of the messiest demographic aside from children (though some of them will have children and bring them with them). Let’s put carpeting that catches EVERY LITTLE THING in EVERY SINGLE ROOM! BRILLIANT!”
Morons.
On the upside, I discovered $3.27 in change in one apartment today. I also vacuumed up what looked like five years’ worth of shedding from a large dog.
Police raids are fun, but the van is getting old
Well, work was interesting (for a change) today. We were cleaning this end apartment in one of the buildings on South Hill Terrace after lunch. I was vacuuming upstairs and I had to go empty the little vacuum bag. There’s this dumpster right outside the building we were in, so I go outside and empty the bag in there. As I’m out there, these five police cars drive up and park right in front of the building (their sirens weren’t on or anything, but they pulled in there like they were in a hurry).
One of the policemen walks up to me and goes, “do you know your neighbor?” pointing to the apartment next to the one we were in. I’m like, “hey, man, I just work for the university as a custodian,” so he leaves me alone and I go back into our apartment. We just keep cleaning for about fifteen minutes. Then one of the policemen comes in and tells us that we’re going to have to leave “for our safety.”
Yeah.
So we go sit in the van for the rest of the day.
My guess is that it had something to do with drugs, what do you guys think?
Follow-up to yesterday
So this working alone thing?
AWESOME.
I can listen to as much music as I want and sing along with it, I can dance, I can clean in whatever order I want, and I can do things MY way.
I love this. This makes this job so much better.
This Just In: The U of I Actually Helped Me Find Meaning in My Life (But Not Really)
Yay, my anosmia has a use!
Today we were driving around South Hill Terrace (for who knows what reason—god knows we weren’t cleaning) and Roy and Alice start to talk about this apartment that apparently hasn’t been cleaned in over two years because of a horrible stench inside of it that nobody can stand long enough to get the stench out.
We drive up to the apartment and we all get out to check out the stinky place. We all go in and within two minutes everybody else has a headache from the smell and has to leave. I’m standing in there going “this isn’t a problem at all!”
So Alice decides that if I don’t mind, I can work alone to clean the apartment until the smell is gotten rid of. This apartment, by the way, is pretty damn gross—the carpet is all covered in dirt and leaves, the oven is completely covered in who knows what (both inside and outside), there are cobwebs in the sink and cabinets and on the railing, the light coverings are all yellow, there are dead moths, bees, ants, spiders, and other miscellaneous bugs everywhere.
But I will be happy to work alone. It will get me out of the terrible drudgery of working with the guy who thinks he’s god’s gift to the world just because he can clean a toilet.
Random crap
Hahaha, my supervisor’s hilarious. There are three of us under her supervision, me and two guys. Today we started in a new apartment and she was assigning us to different places to start cleaning. She told me that I would be cleaning the cabinets and the oven hood, and one of the guys (he’s worked there awhile and knows her well, so he was obviously just messing around) goes, “isn’t that reinforcing the female stereotype that they belong in the kitchen?” Without missing a beat she goes, “women belong in the kitchen…” and then handed him a toilet brush “…men belong in the toilet.” It was the perfect comeback with the perfect timing. We all laughed for like an hour.
Oh, and here’s something else that made me laugh. I was updating my Facebook today and noticed that, in my “favorite music” list, Dethklok fit alphabetically between Deep Forest and Enya. Dethklok is metal. Deep Forest and Enya are about as new age as you can get.
That’s hilarious.
I FINALLY have a job for the summer
Good captain Christ, I’m working at the University of Idaho.
And guess what? It sucks. Why? Because it’s the U of I.
This is what I do:
-wash doors
-wash/scrub oven hoods
-wash cabinets
-sit in the van
-do absolutely nothing because they can’t find the keys to the next apartment we’re supposed to clean
Yup. Exactly as I expected.
At least I finally got a damn job.
It’s a good thing I enjoy this.
So it’s like 3 in the morning and I’m finally done with that damn Stat 422 project. So I shall now show you the basic results, minus all the fancy math and such.
Go!
The Number of Classes Offered by Each College
Agricultural and Life Sciences: 522
Art and Architecture: 209
Business and Economics: 188
Education: 606
Engineering: 647
Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences: 1,419
Natural Resources: 344
Science: 591
TOTAL: 4,526 classes offered
Percentage of Classes that Require Prerequisites, by College (estimated and actual, respectively)
Agricultural and Life Sciences: 25%, 21.6%
Art and Architecture: 25%, 24.9% (holy crap, I was so close!)
Business and Economics: 57.1%, 53.2%
Education: 21.7%, 15%
Engineering: 33%, 32.8% (pretty close here)
Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences: 16.7%, 11.7%
Natural Resources: 15.4%, 11.9%
Science: 36%, 36.5%
TOTAL: 25.1%, 21.8%
Percentage of Classes that Require Prerequisites Outside of the Department, by College (estimated and actual, respectively)
Agricultural and Life Sciences: 5%, 9%
Art and Architecture: 12.5%, 1.9% (haha, wow, that’s way off)
Business and Economics: 0%, 17% (this is even worse!)
Education: 8.7%, 3%
Engineering: 20.8%, 14.8%
Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences: 1.9%, 1%
Natural Resources: 7.7%, 7%
Science: 13.6%, 11.2%
TOTAL: 10%, 6.7%
So here are the final results!
The proportion of University of Idaho courses that require prerequisites was estimated to be 25.14% with a variance of .000858935 and a bound of .0586, or 5.86%.
The proportion of University of Idaho courses that require prerequisites outside of the field of the course in question was estimated to be 10.04% with a variance of .000960987 and a bound of .0619 or 6.19%.
With the bounds in place, the results of these estimates basically tell us that a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of courses offered by the University of Idaho that require prerequisites is between 19.28% and 31%, and that a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of courses offered by the University of Idaho that require prerequisites outside of the field of the course in question is between 3.85% and 16.23%.
Yay!
Dear University of Idaho:
I think I should send this to the president of the University. I think it makes reasonable demands (except possibly for number 5). Humorous parts that would not be included in the actual letter are in italics.
This is a list compiled by a member of your Student Body who, upon hearing faculty, staff, and other students complain about the University, and being fed up herself, decided to create this petition in hopes you will listen to the pleas of your employees and students. Thank you.
Declaration of New Organization and Order
and
Calling of Attention to Major and Minor Inconveniences
We the Associated Students and General Employees of the University of Idaho petition the University to:
01. Create a uniform template to which all department websites must adhere.
We declare that there should be a sense of uniformity to the department websites to a) lessen confusion over hard to navigate and confusing web pages, b) create for each department a resource to which students can turn to grow informed of each department’s specific requirements and general goals, and c) allow for a thorough covering of all topics a department website should cover.
Said topics should include but are not limited to:
a) What programs the department offers (be they Bachelor’s, Master’s, minors, etc.)
b) Links to each program’s specific website, which should all also be uniform in nature
c) The email addresses of the important figures in the departments
d) The general department requirements
e) Information about the faculty and staff employed in the department
f) A list of courses offered
02. Offer, if there is offered a minor and a Master’s and/or a PhD program in a specific discipline, the Bachelor’s program as well.
We declare that if further education degrees at and above a Master’s degree are offered in a specific discipline, the Bachelor’s degree should be offered as well, to those seeking either more than a minor or those looking to go straight through a program at the University.
03. Have the University Bookstore order enough books for the classes offered.
We declare that the University Bookstore should order at minimum as many books per class as the maximum number of students in the class. Having students left without books on the first day of classes due to the fact that the bookstore was “out” is unacceptable.
If, however, this is not possible for some reason, we declare that students seeking books that the University Bookstore is currently out of should be put on a mailing list by the bookstore, through which they will be immediately notified when the shipment of books arrives, thus preventing multiple inconvenient trips to the bookstore to check whether or not the books have arrived (or, at the very least, keep the University Bookstore website’s textbook stock information up to date).
04. Fix the Brink Hall situation
And by “fix the Brink Hall situation” I mean either,
a) move all the offices out of the building and just abandon it;
b) knock the damn thing down; or
c) equip all students with handheld GPS devices, as nearly 2/3 of students who enter Brink hall are either never found, are found but are lying in a fetal position after dying from thirst/hunger/suicide from not being able to find the exit, or finally get free after wandering around aimlessly for at least half an hour before ending up where they were supposed to be by accident and are told by a Brink resident where the secret “open sesame” door is to get back out.
05. Offer employees free and total access to the University of Idaho Recreation Center.
We declare that all full-time employees should receive free and total access at all times of business to the Recreation Center. Both the University and the individual employees themselves would reap the benefits of accessible exercise opportunities.
06. Provide every student and professor with a map of the TLC.
We declare that the layout of the TLC warrants the expense of printing thousands of maps for the teaching community and the student body. Both students and professors alike would benefit from and appreciate a map of the building, and it would help to lessen anxieties about finding classes on the first day of the semester. Failing this, just go find the M. C. Escher-turned-architect who designed the building and beat the hell out of him for us.
07. Cease selling apparel at the University Bookstore that promotes drinking.
We declare that the apparel promoting drinking and poor drinking habits (such as the “I’m a Vandal, Beer Me!” apparel) should not be endorsed and sold by the University Bookstore. While we appreciate the liberal attitudes the University often attempts to adopt, we feel that this apparel promotes poor drinking habits and therefore feel it is not in the best interests of the University to make light of, encourage, or profit from the exploitation of poor college drinking habits.
08. Put up the correct spring and fall schedules on the Class Schedules website.
We declare that the Registrar’s office should be organized enough to list the correct semester and the correct classes for that semester on the Class Schedules website. It is unacceptable to encourage students to plan their schedules off of this website and then to change it so close to actual registration due to such a glaring error such as putting up the last spring semester’s schedule instead of the current one.
09. Put scales in the locker rooms at the Rec Center.
Seriously, just buy two freaking scales and throw ’em in the locker rooms. People will be happy.
10. Supply all dormitories and each wing of Wallace with bins for recycling.
We declare that the University of Idaho should take steps to promote recycling by implementing “recycling centers” in all of the dorms. While we recognized that the University is already making an effort to increase campus recycling, we think the effort should extend into the dorms, as we know of many students who hoard their recycling in their rooms only to have nowhere convenient to drop it off. We would be happy to further discuss the logistics of this operation in further detail with whomever you deem in charge of the plan.
Ha.
In much, much lighter news,
HAPPY MILLARD FILLMORE APPRECIATION WEEK!!
And more so,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MILLARD FILLMORE!!
I shall now commence with the run of Fillmore Facts, following last year’s success (oh, and don’t worry. I’m totally making a Flash.)
Fillmore Fact: Millard had the highest number of votes that has ever been accrued by any third party candidate (both prior and since) when he ran in the 1856 election.
Stay tuned for more!
Claudia channels Ansel Adams (or fails to, rather)
Yeah. I took these over the summer. I’m just uploading them now. Dork.
And yeah, I know they suck. What do you want, I’m horrible at photography!
A trippy picture of ivy. I call it, “A Trippy Picture of Ivy”
“The Moon and I“—I was lucky to catch it like this.
“Kibbie Rising“—or setting, actually.
“Grass of Leaves“—the ivy up the wall of the Ag Sci building.
Comments? Suggestions? Tacos?
U of I: the FEMA of universities
You know how I picked on the Honors Society in yesterday’s blog? Well, I’ve realized that it was a rather unfair thing to do. Therefore, I am extending my complaining to two other parts of the U of I. Enjoy.
My main complaint is with the websites. Mainly, the complete disorganization of every single department website. It is ridiculous. There is no consistency from website to website, and 90% of them are no help whatsoever. The English Department’s is entirely disorganized, the Philosophy Department’s was down for about half the semester, and the Statistics Department’s must be the most basic and unhelpful website yet. The only true thorough website I could find was the Psychology Department’s.
The next complaint has to do with whatever idiot made the layout for the summer scheduling. I’ve complained about this on here before, I think, but really…it deserves it again. What kind of moron makes it so that the first session and the second session overlap by about 10 friggin’ days? I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if any classes were offered at times other than 11:30-1:20 and 1:30-3:20, but they’re not! My god, how hard do they have to think to come up with this crap?
“Hey guys, let’s just sit down here and think of the most inconvenient and utterly moronic scheduling system we can, just to confuse and frustrate the student body!”
“Haha, yeah! And after we’re done we can all go down to One World Café and get lattes!”
“OMG!”
Why such incompetence? Why such useless confusion? They need someone who can organize things and make things run efficiently. They need me. I should totally try to get a job here.
Oh wait, last complaint (for now): the heating system in Wallace. I don’t know about you guys on the other floors, but my heating kicked off about two months ago, so it now remains a nice average 56 degrees in my room. Honestly, this is Idaho, people. You’d think the University here would realize that it doesn’t matter if it’s “spring”—it’s not gonna start getting nice and warm till around May, and even then there’s a possibility of snow (it snowed a year or so ago in May, if I recall).
Blog 334: in which the honors society gets it
I have a bone to pick with the U of I Honors Society. A big bone. And it’s not sexual.
So here’s a criterion for staying in the Honors Society once you’re admitted: you must take at least one honors class every other semester. No big deal, right? I mean, what are the odds of not finding an honors class that pertains to either my major or one of my three minors?
Well apparently, these odds are pretty damn big. There’s not a single honors class in any of my fields—that’s FOUR SEPARATE FIELDS—and I find that ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. I find the idea of one honors class per year very reasonable, mind you. Where the reason flies out of the window, though, lies in the fact that there are only, say, six honors classes in total offered every semester. Two of these are 101 classes, meaning that, for people like me, they’ve either been taken or would be a total waste of time. The rest are in microbiology and/or math or they’re upper division courses that, apparently, can’t be taken by freshmen and sophomores.
Please. Come on, U of I. These are ridiculous restrictions for some of us (specifically, those of us who put our major’s priorities over non-related dribble that is needed to stay in an honor’s society).
Basically, it’s either get out in three years or stay in the honors society.
I think you know what I pick.
So unless my minors or my circumstances change, I’ll be “kicked out” of the U of I Honors Society by next fall.
They’re…they’re Cheetos™…they’re, they’re…they’re Cheetos™…
“In heaven there are no Cheetos™,
We won’t be able to eat those.
We’ll have to resort to Fritos™,
Our friends will have eaten all our Cheetos™!”
Sing to the melody of “The Beer Song”.
Only band geek clarinets (a.k.a. Maggie and myself) will truly understand the caliber of this song.
Sadness is no more marching band
Man, now I need to find a new outlet for my craziness, dorkiness, and insanity.
Also, now what am I supposed to blow??
Ha-ha!
So I found this piece of paper as I was walking on campus today. On the top was written
“Chronology of the 20th Century”. Below was this numbered list. I am not making this up:
1. Cars (not the movie, that’s later)
2. WWI
3. People get depressed
4. Some other stuff happens
5. WWII
6. Dead Presidents (not the band, that’s later)
7. Bush “wins”
8. 9/11
9. Today
10. Nuclear war/Bush assassinated (sometime late 2009)
I’m hoping this person was being funny when they wrote this. It looked like legitimate college-aged handwriting, so it can’t be from, say, a fourth-grader.
I weep for the future, especially if I’m in it. And especially if the latter part of item number 10 doesn’t occur.
Just ahead of the curve!!
“Just ahead of the curve!!” has nothing to do with anything!!
It’s double exclamation point day!!
Okay, that’s done. Anyway, I’m having trouble typing cause my butt hurts. Not that I type with my butt or anything.
More marching today. At least we didn’t have to sit in the end-zone (is that what it’s called?) like we did at WSU.
Tippytap.
WSU!
Huttah!
The band marched “Queen” halftime at WSU today! We were pretty good. I think. Now I know that I can march with very shaky knees. And while suppressing my impulse to vomit.
Hehe.
Eigenblogger 
