Blog of kaiyen

So, I’m one of those people that like to save money by buying in bulk.  This means I go to costco, I look for the “buy 2 get 8 free” deals on soda at Safeway, etc.

When it comes to photography, over the past few years I have accumulated quite the stockpile of film, all of which I found at good prices.  Right now, as rough estimates, I have:

• 100′ plus some rolls of Tri-X
• 100′ of Efke 25
• 100′ of Efke 50
• 100′ of Delta 100
• At least 10 rolls of Astia
• At least 15 rolls of Velvia 50 (original)
• 10 rolls of Provia 120
• 12 or so rolls of Tri-X 120

The problem is that I now want to try some new film.  Now, there are some gaps in what I have which means I need to buy some stuff (I don’t have a good slow or medium speed film in medium format so I can justify that, nor do I have any medium format IR film).  But the real issue is if I want to try something.  I can’t try out the brand new, apparently-amazing T-Max 400 film if I have 20+ rolls of Tri-X, the same speed, ready to go.

Sigh.

So my wife and I have been looking for a more fuel efficient car.  She has taken a nursing job which will require her to drive about 150 miles one-way twice a week (and stay at location for 3-4 days).  Our current car, a 2005 Mazda 3s, gets an almost constant 27mpg per tank (note that current 3’s get slightly better mileage - the first generation 5-door 3s came only with a 4 speed automatic and the bigger 2.3 liter engine).  It’s shockingly consistent, actually.  But with cars out there that can get anywhere from 45-55mpg according to some reports, we thought it might be worthwhile to look at them considering the cost of gas (about $4.00/gallon for regular right now in this part of CA, though that’s new - it was $4.50 like 3 weeks ago).

The results of our research are actually quite interesting.  It turns out that if you’re current car gets anywhere near 30mpg and you don’t have a huge down-payment ready, you’re not going to save nearly enough.

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So I’ve had the TomTom One GPS unit (link is for the latest version - mine is the original one) for a while now.  I bought it technically for getting around to and from weddings.  I was worried when I first got it because it used the European mapping information, rather than the US-based one that, for instance, Google utilizes.

Now, we all know that GPS units are getting more and more common as built-in systems in cars.  However, if you look at costs, it makes a lot of sense to get a system separately.  You can get a great system for $250-$500, depending on the features you want.  Or you can spend $2000 on an integrated system for your car.  I know that a system built into the audio system, etc is nice, but I also like setting everything up in my home before leaving, even for a multi-point trip, then having it ready.  Something to think about.

There are a lot of things I like about the TomTom One, many of which have been taken out of the 3rd edition which really bothers me.  Overall, if you’re looking for a solid, easy to use, easy to configure GPS unit that is very affordable (~$200), the One is a good deal.  I am getting a more expensive (~$450) Garmin soon and will compare the two eventually.  See more for the details.

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At a glance

• Workload:  Light
  
• Teaching Style:  Interactive (kind of)
• Interest in students: High
• Relevance to outside world:  Low

Overall Professor Rating: 2.5

Overall Course Rating: 2

Marketing 551 is a hard class for the SCU program.  Many have described it as an undergraduate-level course and I would agree, even as someone without any background in the marketing side of things.  So it’s not easy to review a course that is so basic in the concepts it covers.  In addition, the other professors that teach 551, during the year, have less than stellar reviews.

The Review

This is the latest of my reviews on the professors I’ve had while an MBA student at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. There are lots of sites out there that provide feedback and rates - ratemyprofessor is the most notable. The SantaClaraMBA Yahoo group also has a big database of comments and lots of additional information in its message archive. That database can be a bit hard to wade through, and the comments are short and often just link to other threads, which are themselves pretty short and superficial. Only here can I write as much as I want

I review professors from a variety of perspectives.  First, I explain the context(s) under which I took the class.  Time of year, time of day, etc.  Then I talk about the quality of the class and the professor, and finally about the professor as a person.  After all, we are trying to learn about our interactions with people, so knowing that side of a teacher is critical, too.  So these would be interactions outside the classroom, etc.  I also just write whatever it is that I think is relevant or will be helpful to others.  That is my overall goal.

This is the first review I’ve done of a course I’ve just completed.  So at least its fresh :-).

The facts

I took 551 this summer 2008, Tuesday and Thursday, from 5:30-7:30.  It was the first of two classes on those evenings - 4 straight hours of class.  And it was also the first class after a day at work.  Summer classes are always hard to take, and hard to review, I think.  The classes are longer, with a break, and some faculty modify their course material for the short, 7 week term, others don’t.  But that’s when I took the course, so that’s that.

Them’s the facts. Now read on for the review.

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This is a pet peeve of mine.  Entirely a pet peeve, and in no way am I suggesting that others should do what I want just because I’m picky.  I say this in particular because the most recent time this happened and the direct motivation for this post has to do with a call to my wife…

A lot of times, quite reasonably, I call someone and get their voicemail.  As I am leaving them the message, they call me back. So now they have a partial message from me, my phone is buzzing because I either have call waiting or I’ve answered the person and it’s telling me I’m still on the other line, and I feel stupid (personal thing, I know) overall.  I get flustered, too, when I have to switch gears from being in message-leaving mode to talking mode.  I’m not a phone person, in case you can’t tell.

When I miss a call, I wait a few minutes to see if that person will leave me a message.  It’s just how I prefer to do it.  Gives that person a chance to leave a detailed message, and me a chance to get all the information before responding.

eh.

Just finished watching Misty May and Kerri Walsh crush the chinese in beach volleyball.  Walsh thanked the president for his inspirational words or something to that effect.

What the heck was that about?

So those of us in in the Law Technology department, which has thus far been spread out so far that my office is actually of-campus (I can’t even access my own servers without using VPN), is finally moving onto campus.  Now, mind you, we will still be spread out over 2 building and 4 spaces (no comment on how I feel about that), but at least we’re finally moving.  By next week this building will be an empty shell.

Good riddance.

At a glance (please read review, as “at a glance” it’s hard to rate professor Palmer)

• Workload:  Moderate
  
• Teaching Style:  Interactive
• Interest in students:  Moderate
• Relevance to outside world:  Low

Overall Professor Rating: 2

Overall Course Rating: 2.5

It is incredibly hard to summarize a review on Professor DR Palmer (who is different than Professor David R. Palmer, by the way).  His style is very off-the-cuff, his lectures meandering, and his attention span rather short.  At the same time, he’s the kind of person with whom I’d love to sit down over a couple cups of coffee.  But that doesn’t make for a good professor, really.  The course, too, is hard to rate.  The subject matter is really quite interesting from a research and practical perspective, but the way it was taught, by DR Palmer, made for a lower rating.

The Review

This is the latest of my reviews on the professors I’ve had while an MBA student at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. There are lots of sites out there that provide feedback and rates - ratemyprofessor is the most notable. The SantaClaraMBA Yahoo group also has a big database of comments and lots of additional information in its message archive. That database can be a bit hard to wade through, and the comments are short and often just link to other threads, which are themselves pretty short and superficial. Only here can I write as much as I want

I review professors from a variety of perspectives.  First, I explain the context(s) under which I took the class.  Time of year, time of day, etc.  Then I talk about the quality of the class and the professor, and finally about the professor as a person.  After all, we are trying to learn about our interactions with people, so knowing that side of a teacher is critical, too.  So these would be interactions outside the classroom, etc.  I also just write whatever it is that I think is relevant or will be helpful to others.  That is my overall goal.

I’m also reviewing them in reverse order of when I had them for class.  This is mostly so that I am reviewing those whom I remember the best sooner.  This also means that at some point I might skip a few professors I took a year ago or just stop outright out of concern that I will not be able to provide a proper review (the downside of these longer reviews is that I do, after all, have a responsibility to do a good job at them). As of this writing, which is summer quarter 2008, I’m now going back to Fall 2007, so it’s a ways back.

The facts

I took Management 503 - Organizational Theory - back in Fall of 2007.  I have no idea what time I took it or what days of the week :-).  The course is loosely based on how companies are organized, how communications are handled within such structures, etc.  This is one of the required courses in the management track - basically, you need this and 501 and you can take everything else.  Interestingly, I have seen few of my 503 classmates in my other classes.  This is weird because one would think most people would get 503 out of the way relatively early in their coursework (as I did - my third quarter), and I should therefore run into them again later.  So far, I don’t think I have, though.

Them’s the facts. Now read on for the review.

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I am on the phone right _now_  doing a dance with my HMO and trying to get referrals.  Basically, I haven’t been to one particular sub-clinic with my provider for 3 years.  I just haven’t needed to.  So now I need to get a referral from my primary card doctor, at the main clinic, for a referral.  Not just for an appointment or office visit, but a consult.  So my primary care doctor has sent over referrals for office visits twice, not consults.  So I have asked the sub-clinic to just call up my primary care doctor (they are all in the same group, right?) and tell them exactly what they need.  Sorry, they aren’t allowed to do that.

Actually, the words were “sorry, we can’t do that.”  Why the heck not?

In the meantime, the main reason why I need to go to the sub-clinic now after all these years is that I need something from them without which my quality of life is substantially decreased.  But I can’t get that until the consult.

Great.

I’m pretty level-headed - I can understand that bureacracy exists (there is actually some very interesting research on it from way before the real bureacracies of the world existed), but this is ridiculous.  I’m not the medical expert here, nor the one that works with their systems.  So why am I the one doing the juggling between the two offices?

Russian novelist, former dissident, Solzhenitsyn dead - CNN.com

This was yesterday’s news, but it’s still worth noting. Solzhenitsyn’s absence from the world is noted, and should be felt by many for so many reasons.

First Halberstam, now Solzhenitzyn. I feel the weight of their passings.