School is going swimmingly but RA life is sucking it up.  Some things are just really getting on my nerves and all I can think is that it’s over in 45 days.  Redundant and pointless things just never do well with me and it seems like this job is full of them.  Don’t get me wrong, I have some cool residents and we manage to have fun on the floor without causing too much trouble and duty really isn’t all that bad,  but having to do programs that no one cares about, having to obtain a faculty mentor that I would find useful but will be of little to no benefit to my residents, having to request travel twice when I want to leave for a night, having to do 4 seperate bulletin boards when I know most residents don’t care about the one in their suite let alone the ones in the other suites is really starting to get old.  I have no problem working to keep an orderly floor and I get along well with my more social residents but the job just starts to eat away at you I think.  At least it does me.  Maybe I’m just not cut out for the boring tedium that is RA life.  If all I had to do was get to know my floor and keep them happy, entertained, good little residents than life would be great.  As it is we have had far less incidents and prorations than other areas so I feel fairly confident that I’m holding up that end of the bargain. It’s just the rest I suppose.   Hopefully I can make it through the next 45 days without going crazy.  Wish me luck!

John

Was this over before
Before it ever began
Your Kiss
Your calls
Your crutch
Like the devils got your hand
This was over before
Before it ever began
Your Lips
Your Lies
Your Lust
Like the devils in your hands

My stance on the whole issue is quite simply, let the woman die.  Terri has been in a permanent vegitative state for over 15 years.   Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been in this situation before so I really have no experience with it, but there comes a point when you have to let go.   You have to let yourself realize that even though that person may be your mother/father/aunt/uncle/grandparent/spouse/etc. that you can’t think of just yourself.  Terri’s family only wants what is best for them.  They believe that it is in her best interest and that a cure will be found.   <side rant> Although great strides have been made recently in this area using stem cells and the like, it is VERY hard to do the amount of research that needs to be done to find a cure that will work in the near future.  How can they when people, I will not mention names, mix their religious views into important decisions regarding this research? </side rant>  Anyway, it has been 15 years and nothing has worked.  Brain scans show that the activity is FAR less than a healty brain.  What is best for Terri is to just let her go.  People are fighting in order to force a person to stay alive that will never recover from the effects the initial brain damage and what has happened to her body over the past 15.  I just don’t get it.

The issue really centers around her husband only offering what Terri told him.  He says that she mentioned that she would never want to be kept this way if anything were to happen.  There is no living-will to back up this argument but several courts have sided with Terri’s husband in the past and aren’t changing their minds.  Here is my little take on this.  If I EVER go into a permanent vegitative state I hope my loved ones will let me go.  Whether or not some livejournal post will bear any legal weight if this is my only mention of it I do no know. I know that my family will have a bit more common sense than the Schiavo family does.  When I first read about this story I kind of thought Terri’s husband was kind of an ass for wanting to pull the feeding tube.  The more I read about it the more I realized that her family is simply forcing her to stay alive just to keep her around.  I realize that we as humans play god everyday but staving off death with surgery, medicine, and the like, but in a case where someone is never going to recover from their injuries and is just going to live out the rest of their life laying in a hospital bed, is it really right to play god?  I think you know my answer by now!

John

I thought you said forever
Over and over
The sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

The Fringe Benefits

   Today I actually got mail!  It was from a girl who’s name didn’t ring a bell right away but the address was in Watterson.  At first I thought it odd that someone in Watterson would send me a card, and second I thought it to be rather dumb that they would put two stamps on it to mail down a few flights of stairs.  Anyway, as I open it I see this.

     

I love people that do this.  It gives me that warm and tingly feeling inside!  I’ve dealt with problems far worse than these two and I’ve not gotten a thing for it, well, other than a normal paycheck.   It’s nice to know that there are people out there that really appreciate what other do for them.

Soccer game tonight!

     I know it’s been a long two weeks for us but it’s time to get back into the swing of things and play out the four games remaining of this session.  After these four there won’t be any indoor until October!  So, if you think you might go through withdrawls over the summer and into next semester you better get your fix while you can!

My Letter to OCDN

    So I walked into class the other day and was rather upset at the fact that there were most likely 100+ little leaflets advertising for the Off Campus Meal Plan.  I hate it when groups or companies put shit up and then don’t take it down.  Or in this case litter the entire classroom with these leaflets and then letting some janitor clean up the mess.  This is not their job.  I ended up writing them a nasty little leter.  The contents are found below!

To Whom it May Concern:

John R. Keippel III

That’s all for now.  I have work to do around the room and then a meeting and a soccer game!  Laters!

John

This weekend I got well over 90% of what was on my to do list done.  Normally I would have gotten almost nothing done and just slacked off all weekend.  But this weekend was different.  I started Friday by finishing off the code behind for one of a few ITSA pages I’m working on.  That was exciting.  Hopefully since this weekend was so productive I will be able to finish those up quickly.  Later that evening I finished assignments for 279 and 260.  On Saturday I went out to lunch with the Boss Lady to Panera.  That was rather yummy.  After that I came back to my room and started reading Neuromancer for my 125 class.  I made it through only 8 pages before I felt sleepy.  So I took a nap for about 2 hours until 6pm when food was delivered for all of us boring RA’s that stayed in Watterson.  I hung out with some people downstairs for a while before returning to my room to finish up what I needed to read.  At this point on any other weekend I would have called it quits, but for some reason I didn’t!  I just kept going and managed to get a few journal entries done for 125.  The rest of the evening I spent getting Program 3 all setup for 279.  I had planned on getting up early on Sunday to hopefully get a chunk of programming done but I slept until noon.  At that point I did a few more journal entries and then headed out to my aunts for Easter.  Relaxing was done there by playing some Mario Party until Kandi arrived on her way back into town to pick me up.  We then headed back to her place where we played with her teeny tiny puppy and watched Crazy Beautiful and half of Save the Last Dance.  At that point I knew it was time to get back to work and headed home.  And that leads me to now.  I just finished up Program 3 which is a spell checker.  It works like a charm!  I quickly ported that over to the Unix machines and sent it off.  Done and Done!

I really should be sleeping now as I have class in 4 hours but I am not really tired at all.  So I’m typing away here in my little livejournal as I try to figure out why I’m not in bed.  Scott and I are pondering together as he is the only other person crazy enough to actually be up at this hour.  My giant yawn just now tells me it’s at least time to go lay in bed.  So I shall!  Night!

John

It’s so nice when I’m almost all alone on my floor.  I can actually get things done!  All of my neighbors are gone so I have the door open with the music up a little.  Not so much as to rock the entire room, but more than usual.  I’ve gotten nearly all of my small assignments done.  Around 55 pages in a book I’m reading for class have been read, and I even have my program almost all done.  Just a little more tinkering and thought as to how to correctly parse the thing and I’ll be golden. 

This weekend I’ve also come to grips with the fact that everything happens for some mysterious reasons.  There’s no reason to think about what could have been or how you could have changed anything.  You can’t.  The only thing you can do is what you feel is right and hope everything works out the way you hope it will.  I think I’ve done just that and therefore have no regrets about anything at this point in my life.  I wouldn’t go back and change a thing. 

John

I was wrong
For you I was so wrong
…
but you gotta admit
It’s time to move on

Just about the dorkiest thing ever.  First ever TLD Competition!
_______________________________
SK8BALL X: dot com
rayray58842: dot info
SK8BALL X: dot org
rayray58842: dot biz
SK8BALL X: dot net
rayray58842: dot edu
SK8BALL X: dot name
rayray58842: dot tv
SK8BALL X: dot nl
rayray58842: dot gov
SK8BALL X: dot uk
rayray58842: dot am
rayray58842: dot youareslow
SK8BALL X: dot biz
SK8BALL X: motherfucker
SK8BALL X: fuck
rayray58842: rayray58842: dot biz
rayray58842: you lose!
SK8BALL X: dot tv
SK8BALL X: fuuuuuck
rayray58842: just be done
SK8BALL X: ok i losea
SK8BALL X: the record is at 12 domain extensions
rayray58842: TLD’s
SK8BALL X: oh shit
rayray58842: ?
SK8BALL X: no one said .us
———————————————–

I win!

John

sSQL = “SELECT headLine, message, datePosted FROM (SELECT * FROM announcements WHERE DATEPART(’yyyy’, datePosted) =” & year & “)”

Yup, that is what I struggled with for WAY too long.  The Microsoft Development Network site failed to mention that yyyy had to be ‘yyyy’.  Stupid Microsoft!
Needless to say I was a VERY happy man once that statement worked the way it was supposed to.

If you are on campus here at ISU or are so interested in seeing this site you’ll take the time to VPN in the link is here.  Keep in mind that the only links that work are the years.  The rest will take you no where.  Enjoy!

John

—-
** EDIT ** - Apparently that link doesn’t work yet.  I have to tinker a bit more. Sorry
—-

And you’re in pieces
As your world becomes a rainstorm
You’ve got no shelter I’m a thousand miles away
You’ll survive the day

And thus it is official!

———————————————————-

March 24, 2005

Paul Obiazi
Smith/Jefferson Resident Hall Coordinator

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to inform you that I will not be returning as a resident assistant in August 2005.  It is in my best interests to move off campus in order to find a full time job and thus I will not meet the requirements to continue working as a resident assistant.  My resignation will be effective May 15^th, 2005.     

Sincerely,

John R. Keippel III

Resident Assistant Smith 4

———————————————————-

The end is near.  Apartment life here I come!

John