Jobified 2
I’m starting a job tomorrow, and realized yesterday that I don’t know who I’m reporting to first. Guess the old standby will do and report to my direct supervisor!
That is all!
August 10th, 2008
August 7th, 2008
Jobified
Well, good news has arrived. I have been offered a job and have accepted it.
About a month ago, I was contacted by the CEO of TicketNetwork, a maker of software for secondary market ticket sellers that’s based in Vernon. He was looking for a video editor.
Well, fast forward a month and I have a job! All in all, roughly three months isn’t a bad amount of time to wait. Sure, it would have been nice to have one right out of school, but it wasn’t like I wasn’t doing anything in the mean time. Between helping my parents at their store, and moving said store (see this category for more), it’s been a busy almost three months so far.
So, I’m happy that I finally have a job, and one that’s doing work in the field I studied for seven years. I look forward to starting on Monday!
July 27th, 2008
The Sick Middlefield Brother and Sister
If you get the Courant, it’d today’s top story. If not, the story is also here. Basic premise is that a brother and sister from Middlefield left their dead mother’s body to rot in their Middlefield home for eight years, and visited her body bi-yearly for the entire time. I might have normally written about it, anyway, since its a crazy story in itself, except that there’s a personal component to it.
In December 2005, Diane and John Simmeck Jr., the brother and sister, were portraying themselves as poor and homeless to the congregation of the Church of the Nazarene in Keene, NH. The family (bro, sis, and mother while still alived) had lived in NH for a few years after the mother divorced her the kid’s father in 1996, so there was a residence connection in NH.
Well, my father’s aunt and uncle (my great-aunt and uncle), the good people that they are, hosted the brother and sister in their home for a year. My dad’s aunt and uncle are pretty poor themselves, so they essentially ended up being used by the two. In December 2006, the Simmeck siblings got kicked out of the house because John stole some tools and gutted the house to the point it was structurally unsound.
I knew all about that part of the story, since my family learned about it at Christmas that month. But nobody knew everything, apparently.
Truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction.
June 29th, 2008
Writing at Poligazette
I’ve had Poligazette in my blogroll (right ->) for a while, and they’ve become one of my favorite blogs. Now I have even better news! I have been accepted as a writer at the site. What does this mean for Dymersion?
Not much. It’s easy for me to say this since I’ve always set a one-post-a-day goal here. If I’d been posting more regularly, it’d be a problem. But, with one a day, that makes it easy to post some entries here, and some there.
Not to say things won’t change in the future. But, for now, Dymersion is here to stay, content and all. So, take a look at Poligazette. It’s a great blog with writers who have a diverse range of viewpoints on politics.
Now, off to make a film!
May 21st, 2008
Graduation Redux
Well now that I’ve officially become an alum of ECSU, I suppose it’s time to briefly describe my actual graduation.
I say briefly because, to be honest, it won’t be the most memorable day of my life.
First, I only got three hours of sleep, so the entire day is one big blur that I can’t remember well.
Then, the actual graduation was laden with audio issues! The initial speakers made the person’s voice sound like an alien, and the replacement ones brought up (my old department to the rescue!) were better, but kept getting this pulse sound through them for the rest of the event.
So, a graduation with long gaps in people talking, audio issues, and little sleep combined to be kind of sucky.
The speakers were good, though, and that beach ball was a laugh, if a little disrespectful at times. I thought it worked to break up the long wait on the speaker replacements, but not so much when the speakers were talking!
Oh well. There will be other events to remember.
May 18th, 2008
Graduation
I’ll post more about it later, but damn, it’s something to have gotten to this day. I’m so excited, I can’t get back to sleep!
Blast!
I’m trying for a few more minutes…
More later, and probably pictures, too.
April 26th, 2008
Busy Week
And indeed it was, and you might have noticed no posts since Wednesday.
That’s because on Thursday I had classes, then had to finish editing a package, do an editorial for News 22, and finally set up for our celebrity edition of Eastern Expedition.
You may be thinking, “Celebrity, you say? What celebrity goes to a college game show?” Anyone ever watch Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as a kid? Remember the house band Rockapella? Well, three of its original members (including that era Rockapella’s lead man Sean Altman) have formed a new group since then called the Groovebarbers. They came to play the show, and give a bit of a performance.
It was a pretty awesome show, and destined to be long. It was the first time we nearly ran out of tape for both shows. That’s never happened as long as I can remember. Ought to be fun for those editing it, though! Haha…
My friend Adam came up on Thursday to see the news, and then to guest host one of the two shows we taped on Friday. After the shows, we went down to the local pub and had a couple drinks. It was a good time.
Then today was boring. Slept in late, and then watched some Stargate, but not much else.
I’m happy that this week is over, but how quickly it went is now only showcasing to me how quickly this semester, year, and my college career is coming to an end. I really don’t want it to end, but I do know the time is coming to move on.
And we move on and on…
April 9th, 2008
20/20
I would like to take a moment to quote that oft-quoted quote: “Hindsight is 20/20.”
In this case, it’s about college choices. Lets go back to the beginning:
In my Freshman year, my first ever political science teacher made the suggestion that I consider double majoring in the subject along with communications. I did consider it for a little while, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was more work than I was willing to put myself through. I reasoned that if failed to live up to the major, that would suck. Plus, at the time, I had a goal of getting out of college in four years, a goal I have now more or less achieved (knock on wood Spring semester classes!). So since halfway through my Sophomore year, political science has been my minor.
Fast forward three and a half years to tonight. I took a break in my studies for my Communication Theory class, and waltzed over to the student information website, which displays all sorts of details about my history at college, including what classes I’ve taken.
Well, I already knew I’d completed most of my requirements, except that lagging Writing Portfolio, which was handed in on Tuesday; it’s just waiting for a grade. The “Degree Evaluation” program is a wonder; it lets you know what you’ve done, what still needs to be done, and all the classes you’ve taken.
On the other hand, it’s not perfect. For example, some classes that are clearly part of my communication major are not listed under that section. It says I have 36 credits done; it’s more like 48. For some reason, it counts some of them only under electives, even though in other sections of the DE, it double dips on the counting.
For my political science minor, some classes are listed as completing General Education Requirements, because apparently those classes are not exclusive to the minor you’re taking, like the major ones are. Still, a couple classes are still not listed in the minor section. Well, I decided to count up all the minor-related classes I’ve taken, including the ones counted as GERs.
It turns out that at this point in time I am one class short of completing the political science major. I have all of the following requirements completed:
- The two introductory courses, American Government and Politics and International Relations.
- The five political science electives (I actually have six).
- Three “skills courses.”
The only course I don’t have is the “Political Research Methods” course.
That sort of sucks. Three and a half years after deciding not to double major, I have almost all the requirements to do it. At this point, I’m unsure if changing the minor into a major would affect much. According to the website, six of the 36 credits can be used to satisfy GERs. Currently, six of my credits do this. However, the website does have discrepancies in other areas, including stating in the introductory paragraph that four skills courses are required compared to the three used elsewhere, and an initial statement of requiring 36 credits for the minor, then saying 24 in the very next sentence.
There’s another problem I currently have. I believe that in most majors at my school, a C or better is required to avoid needing to re-take a class. In one of my skills courses, I didn’t do so hot, so I might of had to re-take it, had I double majored.
All that aside, there are three possible options, depending on certain circumstances:
- Assuming that I didn’t have to substitute any GERs, and that I didn’t have to re-take the skills course, I could see if the Research Methods course is offered during the summer. Of course, this would require $900 I just don’t have and already used for my internship last summer; money gone to waste for never seeing my adviser in person.
- Take another semester. This might be my preferred option between this and the first, since it would cost less for me if I got financial aid. Not having filled out a FAFSA this year might makes things difficult, though. Still, assuming I could get financial aid, I would get the chance to be part of the TV club for one more semester. On the other hand, getting financial aid would also mean having to take at least 12 credits, and I’m not sure if I could actually find any courses at this point. Everybody’s already registered. So, while #2 is the preferred option, it’s highly unachievable at this late in the game.
- Do nothing, and graduate in May. Of all three options, this is probably the one I like the most, yet the one I’m most torn about. I’m happy to move on from the academic side of things, but don’t want to leave the club, which is what’s appealing about option #2. Still, between not having $900, and the unlikeliness of getting financial aid, #3 is the most realistic option at this point.
If I had foreseen three and a half years ago that at this point in my college career, I’d be one course away from getting two degrees this May, I probably would have gone for it. It would have required significantly more work, but I think I could have done it.
Yet, here I am, with 20/20 hindsight hitting me hard. Still, I’m not very disappointed about my decision to go with a minor back then instead of a major. Since halfway through my Sophomore year of high school, I felt pretty confident I knew where my future lie. And in the almost six and a half years since then, I haven’t felt wrong about it once. On the other hand, the thought of knowing I could have gotten two degrees in May will live with me for a long time.
Here’s to the future…
April 8th, 2008
Productivity
Well, I know one sign that my cold/allergies/upper respiratory infection is more or less gone. More productivity!
Last week and the week before were pretty much marked by a general unwillingness to do stuff. Sure, I got stuff done - a rough draft of a PSA I’m working on for a competition, among other things - but the two weeks just felt like a real lull. I was tired, fatigued, and felt burnt out every night.
Compare to this week. I shot a package yesterday, got the VOs done today, got halfway done with a video resume last night, more or less completed major work on the PSA today, handed in my writing portfolio today. Heck, I even sat through two hours of a class that I took last semester, just because I wanted to hear critiques of the PSA (a member of the team is working on it for the class).
Then I came back here, wrote readers, a VO, and an intro and tag and emailed them, changed my sheets, and folded my clothes. I’d claim reading 98 blog posts in my productivity list, but I actually just skimmed through a lot of them, and only read ones that got my attention. Can’t win them all, I guess.
I don’t know what it is. Some of it is that I know I needed to get some stuff done. Like the Writing Portfolio. It’s a school requirement that everybody has to do, major independent. With my trip to Vegas coming up, that’d be a whole week gone without doing it. Then I’d come back and be caught up with planning for the next Eastern Expedition. Under the circumstances, I guess this is the best week to do it.
Stuff to get done:
1) Finish editing the package, including capturing the VOs (tomorrow)
2) Finish editing the video resume, and get some opinions on it.
3) Do a one-over of my resume for next week, and make a generalized cover letter.
4) Prepare for phone interview.
5) Get letter from gastro doctor (tomorrow I hope).
6) Pack for Vegas (Friday & the weekend)
Quite a bit to before Monday, but I know it’ll get done.
March 29th, 2008
Less Sniffles and Future Plans
I’d continue maintaining that my lack of posting here was due to my sickness, and although it’s partially true, I could at least get a few words in, I think.
In any case, the first part of my entry title is true. They always say that sickness or medical injuries get worse before they get better, and so that seems to be the case here. Yesterday, I could barely speak, mostly likely due to my throat being blocked up from phlegm (I love that word). I’ve been able to clear some of it out, via both the physiological way (love those throat muscles) and the medicinal way (I love Robitussin CF so much). The result is that I can speak closer to my normal pitch again, rather than sounding like some kind of tenor.
I’m still hacking like a lifetime smoker, but that’s usually the case with this allergy/sinus/cold/whatever I get at this time of year, so I know what to expect. I’m hopeful that on this day next weekend, I’ll be able to report that all is back to normal with my health (as normal as it can be for someone with asthma and Crohn’s). Perhaps I can make that report before then. We shall see.
It’s important that I get better, for as I noted in my last entry, I will be attending the back-to-back (and actually slightly overlapping) National Association of Broadcasters and Broadcast Education Association conventions in Las Vegas, NV in mid-April. For those who don’t know, the NAB convention, one of the biggest in the world, is the place for everybody who is anybody in broadcasting to come and show all their latest and greatest stuff. I’m talking mobile control rooms perfectly built into RVs, news helicopters (they actually have some there), video cameras, audio equipment, and so much more. There’s also video servers, routers, amplifiers; you name it, somebody is showing it off there. There are also training sessions for Avid, Apple, Adobe, and other major video products.
BEA is maybe a bit more boring for someone my age, and who holds more of an interest in the technical side of things, but it is interesting none-the-less. There are more training sessions, discussion panels, demonstrations of papers by both students and professors, radio and video festivals (alas none of my school’s entries won anything), and most importantly to me, a career fair. So, it is a lot more academic in nature, but we’re students, right? So, nothing wrong with that.
Finally, there are some side events that take place at the same time. The one that I definitely plan to attend is the Final Cut Pro Users Group meeting. Affiliate groups from all around the country come out to hear from the big boys in video production (Adobe, Apple, etc) on what is new and great in their products. More fun, though, are raffle prizes! When I last went to the meeting (April, 2005), I won a Steady Tracker. It’s a kind of handheld version of a SteadyCam device, that allows one to make moving shots with ease and without shakiness. There were two available, a lighter version and a heavier version, and guess who got the latter one. Ooh, the envy eminating through the audience was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife. Then, the next year, one of the attending members won a very nice video camera. I’m talking a camera worth about $5000. So, that’ll be fun.
But, alas! I digress from the true purpose of this part of my entry. It is important that I get better, so I can feel good when I go, so I can bring all of you updates! That’s right. Foregoing any terrible circumstances to its operation, I will be bringing along my laptop. I hope to bring everyone some daily updates as to what I’ve seen, along with plenty of pictures! However, I cannot commit to that entirely, since I’m not sure of our entire itinerary, which really is probably not going to be made until we get there. Sure, there will be a few things planned out, but outside planned meetings, it’ll all probably be up-in-the-air. So, I’ll do my best to bring you what I can, but do I promise something everyday? Well, given my past track record, I cannot do that. But, expect several entries at least!
Well, I have to get ready for a shoot I’m doing in an hour, so I’m off. I wanted to do a pre-review of WordPress 2.5, given what I’ve seen so far from their site, but it must wait! Until next time…
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