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Last week was the first week of "Fall" Semester. Hah! We're under an Excessive Heat Warning, which is expected to last until tomorrow evening. (The low last night at the airport was 80F.) I've decided to skip my weekend grocery run; even a short walk, laden as heavily as I would be on the way back, sounds like a bad idea in this heat. I'll grab some stuff on the way home from work tomorrow evening. (One of my classes runs MW 6-7:15 PM, so I won't get home until after the :fingers crossed: heat breaks.)
The semester has begun with a certain amount of disarray. In my calculus class, I rely on an online system for homework assignments, which has been revamped to integrate it into other university systems, and the revamping resulted in some confusion. A dozen or so of my students have had trouble accessing the system. We think we've got it straightened out, but we'll see.
Yesterday was the departmental beginning-of-semester party at a local park. I couldn't go; AT&T is upgrading the IPS links in my area, and had a tech coming out to my place at roughly the time of the party. They said he'd probably need about an hour, but it actually took closer to three. Part of the problem was, probably, my own ignorance. The tech needed to run fiber almost the length of my house, from the phone box to my computer room. He wasn't enthused about using the attic, so we spent a while checking closets for access to the crawlspace. Finally he pointed to a door in the laundry room and asked what it was; I told him it led to the basement.... He was chagrined at not thinking to ask about basements; I was chagrined for not realizing that a house with a basement isn't going to have much in the way of crawlspace. Anyway, he eventually got it all hooked up, and my internet service is noticeably faster now.
I've seen several posts by cybersecurity gurus pointing out that standard-model 6-or-8-or-10 character passwords are a) not very secure and b) hard to remember; often, they suggest the use of pass-phrases instead. I'm pleased to note that one of my credit card companies now allows and recommends this usage - the first of the entities I need passwords for to have made the switch.
My Kindle is definitely kaput. (The warranty expired at the beginning of this month....) It's settled into a permanent state of BSoD - stuck about 20% of the way into a reboot. I'd trot over to Best Buy to deal with it today, but see above, under Heat, Excessive....
Gah. Not exactly a great week. Must work on making it better.
The semester has begun with a certain amount of disarray. In my calculus class, I rely on an online system for homework assignments, which has been revamped to integrate it into other university systems, and the revamping resulted in some confusion. A dozen or so of my students have had trouble accessing the system. We think we've got it straightened out, but we'll see.
Yesterday was the departmental beginning-of-semester party at a local park. I couldn't go; AT&T is upgrading the IPS links in my area, and had a tech coming out to my place at roughly the time of the party. They said he'd probably need about an hour, but it actually took closer to three. Part of the problem was, probably, my own ignorance. The tech needed to run fiber almost the length of my house, from the phone box to my computer room. He wasn't enthused about using the attic, so we spent a while checking closets for access to the crawlspace. Finally he pointed to a door in the laundry room and asked what it was; I told him it led to the basement.... He was chagrined at not thinking to ask about basements; I was chagrined for not realizing that a house with a basement isn't going to have much in the way of crawlspace. Anyway, he eventually got it all hooked up, and my internet service is noticeably faster now.
I've seen several posts by cybersecurity gurus pointing out that standard-model 6-or-8-or-10 character passwords are a) not very secure and b) hard to remember; often, they suggest the use of pass-phrases instead. I'm pleased to note that one of my credit card companies now allows and recommends this usage - the first of the entities I need passwords for to have made the switch.
My Kindle is definitely kaput. (The warranty expired at the beginning of this month....) It's settled into a permanent state of BSoD - stuck about 20% of the way into a reboot. I'd trot over to Best Buy to deal with it today, but see above, under Heat, Excessive....
Gah. Not exactly a great week. Must work on making it better.
