Day: May 22, 2013

1109. Redstone Wednesday

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Okay, 10 minutes to totally nerd out.

I am struggling with Redstone. A central part of Minecraft building, The low lying red rock represents ‘Craft’s form of electricity. As with all electricity, redstone is best applied in circuits to move and activate objects. I am using redstone to power hidden doors, and that is where my struggles begin.

Redstone circuits, like electric ones, have two basic states–on and off. The circuit I’m building is set to on as a default and I need to turn it off from in front of the circuit barrier and behind it. This is made difficult by the limited number of switch options employed by the game. I can use a button, a switch, or a pressure plate. The fourth option, called a Block Updater Switch, is not really an option for this particular endeavor.

So, I am presented with a challenge–be it a juvenile and largely meaningless one. Still, I am fully engaged in the challenge and will update you on my progress as the puzzle is slowly unraveled.

 

Some Thoughts:

  1.  I’m not quite sure if Michael Strahan crossed over or sold out. The co-star of Live! with Kelly & Michael was once the cream of the NFL crop and a hero to thousands of inner city kids. Now he is the hero of middle-class white moms.
  2. Mattress Firm is making particular use of the primacy effect in their ‘8 yr mistake’ commercial. By first establishing the 8 yr time frame, you are immediately persuaded that a mattress can only last 8 yrs. furthermore, you are persuaded that the purchase is an 8 yr commitment–much like American marriages.
  3. You do something long enough you start to think you’re good enough at it–regardless of if you actually are good at it.
  4. I want another shot at owning a business. The last business, djmalik.com, was a single proprietor operation that denied me the opportunity to manage staff. Staff would be a great challenge to experience in a non-acedemic setting.
  5. Dear Overstock.com: ‘Saved thousands’ and ‘got me an engagement ring’ don’t really work in the same commercial let alone the same sentence. Please reconsider your marketing strategy.

1108. Bear Witness

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I remember how I felt the first time I experienced how drugs can tear people apart. It was more than just  the destruction of a physical individual but the tearing down of morals, family, societal bonds and taboos. People are inherently animals. This I know now in a visceral way. We wear the heavy cloak of civility but beneath we are flesh, bone, desire, hate, and pure reptilian instinct.

The most difficult thing I’ve had to bear witness to in my brief stint as a drug rehab counselor was a girl who was sold by her mother for meth–to her uncle. She was a beautiful girl with eyes that held mirth and life beyond what I could have imagined someone facing that trauma could have. Her resilience reminds me that my own children, who face immeasurably less drama, will still love and be loved long after the cold kiss of fatherhood fades.
Some Thoughts:
1. There is a clear distinction between knowing you’ve had unsuccessful semesters and actually reading it in the words of developmental students. I clearly and utterly failed one class, but if I look through the nearly obscene negativity in their comments I can see a clear path to being more successful. The key there is to be more present as an instructor and more aware of organization and time management–things that I harp on every week on this blog. Have I improved? Psychologically if not actually. I know how to be better to a certain extent, but I have not been better. This summer is about rising to the challenge and proving to myself what I am and am not capable of achieving. Do the comments hurt? I don’t think I could be a feeling person if they didn’t hurt like hell.
2. Family requires endurance.
3. I still cannot figure out what the key is to my being organized.