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Ahhhh college, how I missed thee. It's been a hectic last few weeks of moving into my apartment and getting back into the school groove, but I've enjoyed the first week and a half of classes in my senior year of college. I still have my Masters degree to get, but its' sad knowing this will by my last fall of my undergraduate career. It's gone by so incredibly fast, and I still haven't done so many things I keep meaning to do.
For the first time I actually looked forward to all of my classes, since I got to pick them all out since all I have left is electives pretty much. I'm taking two graduate courses in computer architecture, a class in advanced calculus for my math minor, a really cool class on Social and Legal Issues in Computing where we debate online privacy, pirating, online decency laws, ethics, and all sorts of interesting topics related to computers and technology. Sorta like the stuff I write on here about sometimes (ie the DMCA/DeCSS and mp3 downloading). And finally social dance, which is the first non-science/math related course I've ever taken in college. I like dance a lot, and we get to learn a lot of cool ballroom dances (currently doing foxtrot) so that I signed up for it even if it is ridiculously early in the morning at 8:30. Not to mention it has more girls in that one class than in my last 3 semesters combined.
The apartment is also really cool, even if my roommate is a little crazy (in a good way, really!). I'm still not sure how I feel about apartment life, as I love the large kitchen so I can cook and being able to sprawl out on the floor to do homework. But I don't like having to leave an hour early to make sure I get on campus in time instead of walking out the door 5 minutes before class starts. And I do miss the easy social interaction of the dorms, though I've already been really busy this semester.
Today was also a voting day for many across the country, and there were several primaries and non-partisan elections out here in Alachua. And as a great example of why even just one vote can count, the people of Alachua county defeated a 1/4 cent sales tax increase (to pay for health insurance for the poor so they wouldn't have to spend millions of tax payer dollars going to emergency rooms) by just 4 votes out of 32,458 cast. Most of the people I voted for won, and it's sorta nice to know that since I live in Florida my vote counts so much more than everyone else's due to our stupid electoral college voting system.
And speaking of politics, I've really got to say I disagree with all the firestorm over Bush's remarks that the war on terror might not be winnable. Because it really can't, not in a true sense anyways. You can't make everyone in the world decide not to ever use terror tactics ever again. It just can't be done. You can make it hard to do, you can try to keep it disorganized and small and lessen the threat, but much like the war on drugs, it's something that is impossible to "win" in the typical sense.
And I still don't understand why a moderate party isn't formed that takes the middle road on everything. Most people aren't hard left or hard right, and I think it could gain a lot of support. Meanwhile you've got this crazy thing on the GOP website about how rich Kerry is while completely ignoring that there is nothing wrong with being wealthy, and also how rich Bush and Co is, not to mention how they got that money. I mean come on.
And now I have to finish some calc homework. If I don't get blown away by Hurricane Frances then I might actually update sometime next week again.
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