Major League Soccer kicks off tonight! Check it out tonight at 8:30 CT on ESPN2. Last year’s expansion success story the Seattle Sounders take on this year’s new boys, the Philadelphia Union. Will it be any good? Only one way to find out.
This morning I finished a draft of my questions for my prelim exam. From the way I understand it, for each category (one major field, two minor fields) I give my committee three questions. The committee members then write questions of their own, and on the day of my written exam I receive a document that has three questions in each area. Some of the questions are mine, some are theirs, and some are a mix of mine and theirs.
Overall, I think I did a pretty good job crafting questions that wouldn’t be too easy or too hard. I did, however, twice rely on the stock and somewhat cheesy “you’re teaching a class, what works would you assign and why” question. It’s an easy default, yet as I was mulling over how to approach these questions I realized why so many people use it—it’s functional. I don’t have high hopes for publishing groundbreaking works of theoretical or literary analysis, but I can reasonably expect to teach a lit class or two in the coming years. In order to teach it well, I need to pick a good set of texts, both primary and critical, that speak to the burning issues of the day. While the preliminary exam’s purpose is to ensure you can write and speak authoritatively in a few areas, it’s better if the work you do can then be rolled into something more productive than exam answers. For example, it’s better to write an essay that can be massaged into a conference paper or syllabus rather than just answer an exam question.
It’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out. In each category I have questions I hope I’m asked, but I’m curious to see how the committee members approach these topics too.
The bulb on our big screen DLP television blew out again a few days ago. This is annoying. We bought the TV five or so years ago when plasma and LCD were significantly more expensive. The first bulb blew out this past December, and we knew that occasional bulb replacement was the trade-off for the cheaper price tag. At over $100 per bulb you expect the bulb to last more than three months though, don’t you.
Well, some Googling revealed that the Toshiba model we purchased has gained notoriety in recent years for frequently blowing bulbs. To cut their losses, Toshiba stopped making the bulbs, leaving tons of customers out in the cold. A class action lawsuit ensued, yet we registered our television and never received any word of it and it is, allegedly, closed to new complaints. The company who makes the only replacement bulbs recognizes the problem and put a 180-day warranty on their bulbs. This is a nice commitment to quality, but we don’t want to be without television for close to two weeks (how long it takes to claim the warranty, have it shipped, inspected, and replaced) every few months.
To make a long story short, it looks like we’re in the market for a new television sometime in the next few months. And we’re not very happy about it.
On the other hand, we decided that it was time to break down and get Directv’s DVR receiver on our upstairs television. While overall I think I prefer Directv to Dish network based on the programming, Directv does try to nickle-and-dime you. They give you a lousy remote that needs a clear line of sight but sell an RF one that works from anywhere for $50; Dish allows you to connect two televisions to the same DVR unit so you can enjoy the feature in more than one room in the house, whereas Directv charges you a one-time $99 fee for the receiver upgrade.
Worse, Directv charges you another $20 for shipping gives no instructions on how to set up a second receiver beyond the line in the manual that says, “If, like most people, you had your system installed professionally you shouldn’t have a problem.” Installation is another $50.
So why is this listed under a thumbs up icon? Because yesterday the planets must have been in alignment. After a little Googling I found instructions on what you needed to complete the installation and, in a minor miracle, I found a satellite multiswitch at Menards (of all places) during an errand we were already on. Best But had the DVR in stock, and at home I went into the basement, stripped an unused coaxial cable from the current install, ran it to the upstairs unit, and mounted the switch. I hooked up the cable according to how I thought it should work and presto! everything was up and running at the first time of asking.
That never happens to this multi-thumbed moron, so I was quite pleased. So pleased in fact that I finally tackled the nest of cords behind our entertainment unit, labeling each one before plugging them into power strips properly mounted to the wall. It was a brazen display of competence and adequacy, and I felt quite satisfied, thank you very much.
Current Mood: I Should Probably Go Back to Reading, Huh? | 