Ready for the next semester

Well, it seems that grades are finally in, it sure does take them long enough! I am very happy with my grades this semester. I really wanted to do well, coming to a new school and all, and my GPA for this semester is my highest ever! So it feels like I am getting off on the right foot. I do have quite a bit of work to do over the break though, hopefully I will get some of it done before my girlfriend flies out here to visit. I am not used to having such a long winter break, its kind of nice but is also kind of boring if you don't have anywhere to go! Its been nice just hanging out with some of my friends who are in similar situations, stuck in Butte, far away from family and close friends.

One thing I have had plenty of time to do is read! The book I am reading now "33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed To Ask" (pictured to the left) reminds me of a famous quote - "those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it". It basically takes some "myths" of American history, and debunks them with more factual accounts than some of the summaries we see in popular culture. Stuff like "Was the "Wild West" really so wild?" (turns out it wasn't) and "Did capitalism cause the Great Depression?" (much more complex than that - The Federal Reserve had its hand in some of the disaster) I like this book because it takes the controversial stance that some of the things you learn in public schools may be propaganda. This is hard for some people to wrap their heads around, but its easy to see where the conflict of interest could come from. I have read several books in this vein by a few different authors, and I enjoy them throughly. I may be slightly biased though, as I was able to meet several of the authors when I was attending the Von Mises Institute this summer.

Semester is over!

Well, I hope you all are enjoying your winter break, I know that mine was much needed. I am looking forward to my classes for next semester, even though I have to take a reduced course load. I am also looking forward to doing more video projects, you can watch my most recently completed one here, about the Legion Oasis Center here in Butte. It was a project we did for my Video Editing class this semester, my first "documentary". Other than a few audio issues, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Now onto some fun stuff. 2009 is coming to a close, and its time to get the "best of" lists going. I am going to skip the list and just share with you my favorite band/album of the year.

BEST ALBUM OF 2009

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

I haven't actually given though whole album a listen, but I have been listening to a large number of remixes of the singles off the album. My absolute favorite is Lisztomania, followed by 1901 and Fences. All the songs have great remix packages, one of my favorites is the Alex Metric remix of Lisztomania (The Yuksek and Classixx mixes are also great) If you would like to sample or download some Phoenix tracks, I will share with you one of my favorite websites for downloading free music (completely legal too)

Phoenix tracks on RCRD LBL

So there you have it, Have a safe and enjoyable Christmas break everyone! My girlfriend is coming to visit from the East Coast, so I am really looking forward to this break, I haven't seen her since August! I plan to spend some time in Bigfork and Spokane, not sure if she is going to get the "Butte Experience" this time around. If not this time, then next time I'm sure. Happy Holidays!

Sights and Sounds

I was reading this article today while doing my daily web browsing, and I thought it would be a good read for some Tech students. The article profiles a grad student at Duke who is trying to stay out of debt and get an education, something very difficult to do these days. While living in a van in Butte may not be practical, the general idea of embracing a more frugal lifestyle is a lesson I think many of us could learn from.

From Pinched (Salon.com)

It would be nice. A middle-class family might think it would be nice to have an in-ground swimming pool. A millionaire might think it would be nice to have a yacht. The billionaire, a private jet. Someone, somewhere might think it would be nice to have food to feed her family tonight. Someone, somewhere might think it would be nice to live in a van in order to afford to go to a wonderful school. I could begin satisfying my desires and buying comforts, but I've learned to appreciate what little I have instead of longing for what I do not.

In other news, I got to check out the Washoe Theater last night for a screening of the disaster flick, 2012. The movie wasn't that great, but I was pretty impressed by the theater. The ornate design of the interior that was designed in the 1930's gave the building an air of elegance. It is really cool to see places like this preserved, not to mention the cheap prices for movies and snacks!

Crunch Time

It took a while for me to figure out just how to do it, but I am finally registered for classes next semester. Most of the process was self explanatory, but of course I needed a little help from my new advisor, Chad Okrusch. The part of the process that was especially irritating was trying to figure out what classes are available. The web interface for browsing classes is counter-intuitive to say the least! Seems like that may be a good project for TC - Solutions, who I now am doing some part time work for. I am pretty excited about that, it seems like since I've arrived here in Butte all I've been doing is working on web pages and videos.

Speaking of videos, if anyone is going to be at the screening of G.I Joe on Thursday, I believe they will get a chance to preview the video that Adam Hawks and I produced for the Montana Tech Youtube contest. Our video took first prize, the proceeds of which I will be using to buy Christmas presents for my loved ones back home in Connecticut. I may have to revisit this thought once finals are over, but as of right now I am considering this first semester a great success.

And now to a topic that is a little more somber and serious that doesn't get enough attention.

Obama sends 30,000 to Afghanistan

What happened to the anti-war movement? War is a constant drain on our economic well being, and when Bush was in office, there was a large contingent of people actively protesting that fact. It seems that once one of the "teams" get their guy in office, they balk on criticizing his actions. The military budget is spiraling out of control, and we don't have any money to pay for it. We end up borrowing quite a bit to finance this war, and we will get nothing for it in return. It would make me very happy to see the military-industrial complex finally take a back seat instead of running our country into the ground. I don't know if Obama is going to have the courage it takes to say no to his military advisors, he certainly hasn't done much to shut down the war machine up to this point. In 1961, Eisenhower warned the country what would happen if we couldn't control the military industrial complex, it seems that no one important paid any attention.