Situational verisimilitude

So Dan calls me up, and tells me there's a show happening tonight. Cool, I say. What is it. It's a poetry slam. Cool, I like those. It's on a boat. Okay, that's weird. Wasn't expecting that. So we go to it. We get there. It seems to be some kind of birthday party for someone. The boat was smaller than I thought it would be. The gathering was a bit smaller than I thought it would be, too. But you know, new friends, cool. Some of the folks there had instruments and were playing. There was actually a lot more music than there was poetry read. But that's fine. One poem was about battleships in desert, and something about pastries. No, I don't drink, thanks. So, you're into meditation? Yes. What do you know about aroma therapy? Well, not much directly, but that can certainly be a useful technique for some people. You were at KUCI? I used to do a show there. Oh, cool. Foot bath? That sounds interesting. Yeah, I've looked into alternative health stuff, actually, I've interviewed several people from various alternative health fields on my podcast. Would you be interested in coming on sometime? Cool. Hey, have you heard of this author? Check him out, I think you’d dig him. I’ve got a lot of resources on my website. Yeah, give me your email. I’m on Facebook, I’m on Google+, I’m on Skype. What kind of keyboard do you play? Yeah, let’s keep in touch.

Yes, it is a cartoon! ☺

TimTom from Romain SEGAUD on Vimeo.

Peace,

Dave Roel.

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much.

- Bessie A. Stanley

Pressure per unit area vs. deformation per unit length

So we're getting to the point in the semester when stress starts to get to us. Do you know the origin of the concept of stress? Hans Selye was an endocrinologist who developed much of the way we conceive of stress today. He was the first to study and describe the physical effects of stress. Selye was fluent in at least five languages, and chose the word "stress" to describe the process he was observing. It is said that, much later, he came to realize that, in his rough facility with English, he had made a bad choice. He was unaware that the word stress was used in physics, in dealing with elasticity. When a force, or stress, is applied to a surface, deformation, or strain, results. Selye realized that he had mixed the terms, and what he had called stress should rightly have been called strain. The term has stuck.

Stress should properly be considered as the pressure put on something; strain is the deformation that results. Stress comes to us (speaking on a mental/emotional level, not physical) in the forms of our obligations, responsibilities, our jobs, our schoolwork, or relationships, friends and family, unexpected emergencies, etc. Stress can affect us in many ways, and can have a negative effect on our health. It's important to remember it's not the pressure that hits us—it's whether that pressure bends us out of shape. Stress isn't the problem—strain is. Stress is a trigger for growth. As long as the stress is handled gradually, our mind and bodies can adapt to it, and grow stronger as a result. It's when the stress happens too quickly that we don't accommodate it, and we get strain. The system under strain breaks down.

We all need to learn how to manage our stress, to prevent it from becoming strain. Breathing exercises, physical exercise, meditation, yoga, massage, journaling, healthy eating, calming music, a trip to a favorite environment, etc. All good techniques for unwinding and decompressing. ☺

Peace,

Dave Roel.

Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.

- Stephen R. Covey

Dave in computer class

"Let's learn Word!"

Okay...

"Let's get started!"

What the heck is that?!?!?!?

"...and the Word start screen opens."
What the heck is that? Start screen? Since when does Word have a start screen?

"You can open other documents here..."

Dang, this is different. Weird. I'm not used to it. This is new and makes me uncomfortable. It's not 2002 anymore.

(Forty minutes later)

Okay, that was boring.

I can do all this. I just probably don't know it where I can pass a test on it. (Unconscious competence.)

(I write using Google Docs, anyway...)

But I guess I'll need it for future employment.

Wonder what the test will be like.

Hot Technologies. Maybe I'm crazy, but won't everything on this be invalid in about two years? Five at the most. Yelp, Wordle, The Cloud... In five years, they will be but memories....

Ergonomics. There’s a subject we’ll need to know, in this high tech world. If we are spending large amounts of time sitting at a desk, probably at a computer, doing office work or schoolwork, it is possible that injuries can come about. Carpal tunnel, aches or pain from the spine, lower back, or neck can develop from long hours of sitting at a desk. If that makes up the bulk of a student's daily activity of attending school or studying, that can be a concern.

I found a cool article that talked about the Aeron chair. It's a crazy design. The seat is a polyester mesh, no padding, just a plastic network, stretched over a frame. Weird. I'd like to try it out.

☺

Peace,

Dave Roel.

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

- Kahlil Gibran

I get into conversations

I get into conversations with people. No, there's no Microsoft Word on these computers. I think the computers over there have it. You can just use Google Drive. No, you don't need the @ symbol in front. No, I think you have to be registered in a class in order to use that room. Yeah, that would be a good idea. I'd use it. Probably really expensive, tho. I think you need an ID card to do that. I think you can get one at the student center. Oh, someone is taking chemistry. What are those flash cards? Good idea, I should do that. Redox reactions? What are those? Oh, we just call them chemical equations. Hey, funny shirt. What's that button? Oh, you like them? I haven't heard too much of their stuff. Yeah, I'll have to check them out. Oh really, no, I missed that. No, I don't get to too many shows these days. I used to go to ska shows. Is ska still a thing? Hey, what are you reading? Oh, you're into that stuff? Oh yeah, I've read him. He's one of my favorites, actually. No, I've never heard of him. Yeah, I've heard of him, I haven't read him. Have you ever heard of this guy? Yeah, check him out, I think you'll dig him. There's a lot of information on YouTube and a lot of websites. Go to my web page, I have a list of recommended books I like. Yeah, I'm on Facebook and Google+, add me. Yeah, catch you later. ☺

Peace,

Dave Roel.

There's more truth in a bigger view.

- Ken Wilber (on the reason for community)

A conspiracy of raisins

Everything people post on Facebook is incredibly hyped to an amazing degree. Not everything is the best ever, the saddest ever, something you will be amazed by.

Fullerton is certainly a very pretty campus. Pretty trees.

People sure like Superman shirts.

People still take notes, with pen and on paper. Why not record the lecture? Assuming the teacher allows it. If you need to write it down to remember it, the recording will let you do that. And you get the benefit of being able to rewind, to catch what you missed. Do people still say rewind?

Love teachers who use the tech. Powerpoint slides, Word docs, web pages. Whatever can be utilized. There’s really no excuse not to.

It’d be great if the files were made available to students, too.

For stuff that doesn’t get shared, and you have to write it down, snap a pic.

Really cold some early mornings. Glad to get in to a classroom. I can feel my toes and ears get warm. Nice.

Hey, they cut down the bike racks next to the pool. A lot of people used those. I didn’t, but I hope they just went somewhere else. In fact, I need to find a bike rack closer to my actual classroom, but I keep forgetting to look around.

It’s nice to see people playing music and singing on the school grounds. Always makes me smile.

Get to know others around you. It’s always helpful for every class. Two heads are better than one.

Cartoon! ☺

Reach from Luke Randall on Vimeo.

Peace,

Dave Roel.

Five percent of the people think. Ten percent of the people think they think. And the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.

- Unknown

Welcome to the Fullerton College Student Blogger, Blog!

Hello and welcome to FC's student blog. Here you'll get to follow four current FC students as they share their day-to-day life as a student at the college and outside of the college. You'll have the opportunity to follow them all semester long and read about how they make it work as a student.We hope you enjoy the blog and get a sense of what it's like to be a college student at Fullerton College!

-Administrator