I’ve seen this story floating around the web for a few years and, recently, I’ve seen it posted – in its entirety – as a status update on Facebook.

Here’s the story I’m talking about: Violinist Joshua Bell playing incognito in a subway station.

If you don’t want to read the whole thing (it’s not that long), I’ll summarize it here for you: Famed musician Joshua Bell, who’s concert seats sell for $100, played a famous and difficult piece on his violin in a subway station. He played for free, of course. Passersby tossed coins into his violin case. A few people stopped to listen, but most people just went about their business. One young child was enamored with the performance, but his terrible, terrible mommy whisked him away to catch their train. The morals of the story were summed up thusly:

[I]n a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

I guess the take-away lesson here is that we’re supposed to think, “Damn, I need to slow down and cherish stuff like music, even if I’m busy.”

But…um…I don’t care if Patrick Stewart is reciting Shakespeare, if I’m in a metro station, I got places to go and appointments to keep. My boss isn’t gonna care if I missed my train because I just HAD to listen to a street performer.

Obviously, if someone asked me if I’d rather pay $100 or nothing to listen to Bell play his set, I’d choose the latter. But maybe not. I mean, the subway station probably had bad acoustics, no seating, and lots of errant noises drowning out the virtuoso. Visiting a concert hall, on the other hand, is an experience in and of itself – regardless of who’s playing. I’ll also be guaranteed a good seat, excellent acoustics, and I won’t be in anyone’s way. I also would have set the time aside for such a concert, as opposed to being at a station, where I am almost certainly on my way to an appointment (why else would I be there?).

And here’s another thing: When I’ve been at bus, train, and subway stations, it behooves me to shut out most of the din around me. True, the street performer over in the corner over there mightbe a famed instrumentalist plucking out an amazing piece of art. But, statistically speaking, it’s probably just a so-so musician banging out an annoying tune for money. More often than not, street musicians have been an annoyance to me, and, if I was wealthier, I might be inclined to offer them fifty bucks to pack up and leave.

And besides the musicians, there’s also the noise of the other people, the bombardment of advertisements, and the frustration of trying to make heads-or-tails out of the schedules and maps. Truly, I’m better off blocking out most of the crap around me, even if it means discounting a world-class performance. I guess that’s just the collateral damage. I’d rather block out 100 things, knowing full well 99 of them are obnoxious attention-grabbers – even though I might miss out on that one piece of beauty – than to let in everything and try to figure out if any of it is worth anything. ‘Cause, especially at a subway station, I can almost guarantee it’s not.

Now, if I was three years old, and I didn’t care about anything and my mom was taking care of things like buying the ticket and checking the schedules, then, sure, I’d stop and listen.

My employer reimburses much of my college tuition. To receive reimbursement, however, I need to submit some paperwork, including official documentation of my grade(s) from the previous semester.

This past week, then, I visited Hamline’s website and logged in to their Student Services page. From there, I selected “Student Records” and then “Final Grades.” After selecting the appropriate semester, a page came up displaying my student information. This included the subject, course number, and course title of the class I just completed. Under the column named “Attempted” it showed a 4.0. Under the column named “Earned” it likewise showed a 4.0. This is typical, since I get all A’s.

However, under the column named “Final Grade,” all it showed was an asterisk. Why was that? I didn’t know. Maybe there is a hold on my account. So I backed out of that page and went to “View Holds.” That page opened quickly and simply said: “No holds exist on your record.” So then I thought maybe I still needed to fill out a course evaluation, but when I went to that page, it showed the time for doing that was closed. So why not display my grade?

So I called the good folks in the Accounts department. The woman who answered the phone explained that I must not have completed a course evaluation.

“Yeah,” I said, “That’s what I thought. But it looks like that option is closed now.”

She said yes, it is closed. When I asked how I could do the evaluation, she said I couldn’t. So then I asked how I get my grade, and she said that, if a student does not perform an evaluation, the grades get held for 10 days “as kind of a slap on the wrist” for not doing it. She then explained that, since grades were released on December 27th, mine will be released on January 6th.

Um…

So, I might be wrong here, but I thought that, in order to get a grade, all I had to do was show up for every class, turn in every assignment, participate in class, and pay thousands of dollars. I’ve done all that, so Hamline’s policy is downright stupid and, if any other college has the same policy, they’re equally stupid. Not giving me my grade after completing everything the syllabus and the billing department said I had to complete is ridiculous. It’s tantamount to a waiter not giving me my dessert because I didn’t fill out the restaurant’s comment card. I paid for that god-damned dessert, so he better do his job. I paid for that grade, so Hamline better give me the grade on the agreed-upon date. If I wanted a slap on the wrist, I would enroll in a 1950s elementary school.

This is especially egregious since my GPA is displayed right there and I can see that I have an A. This is the kind of petty mindfucking that makes me nauseous.

And here’s another idea: How about not closing down the course evaluation option so fast? According to the woman I spoke with, course evaluations were due by December 20th. My final paper was due at 5:00 on December 19th. This gave me exactly 31 hours from the time my class finished until the deadline for filling out an evaluation. Sorry I was busy with working fulltime, owning a home, being a father and a husband…but maybe they can give me a little more leeway here.

And who uses an asterisk without a corresponding footnote?

Anyway, I called up my transcript, and my grade was listed there, so I will just turn that in to my employer.

Also, I’m never filling out a class evaluation at Hamline ever again until they remove their corporal punishment policy.

Monday, 31 December 2012

This is the end, my friends.

I know no one likes to read about other people’s illnesses, so I’ll spare you the details from the last few days. Today we were all at 90% (or so), so we actually got some stuff accomplished around the house. Most noticeably, I got to cross off one more item on our “to do” list on the fridge thanks to Jennifer’s diligence with one project this afternoon. She also made significant headway on another item on the list. Our Saturn also got its much-needed and much-delayed oil change today and, despite the cold, I took the kids to the park and we bought snacks at the local Super America (where I fortuitously found a penny, messing up much of what I wrote earlier). That was Isla’s first time leaving the house in eight days! This evening, I left town for the first time since last Tuesday to attend a New Year’s Eve party. And, well, like a typical family with a seven- and a two-year old, we only lasted until about 9:30. So there you have it…that’s how we spent the last ~0.3% of 2012.

Above: Isla barely getting enough blood to her cheeks to keep them alive.

I’m pretty sure I’ll keep blogging here…just not gonna do it every day. My hope is that I spend about an hour thinking about my blog and then another hour actually writing the blog each week, instead of zero minutes thinking about it, and about four or five hours writing it each week (like I do now). My hope is that I’ll both have more time for other endeavors and improve the content of what’s here. Of course, that’s all predicated on the idea that people read this. So, if you do read this, even only occasionally, please leave a comment. It gives me the encouragement to continue.

Thanks for reading. See you in 2013.

Saturday, 29 December 2012

From the “The only constant is change” department:

I’ve talked several times here about my decision to keep track of how much money I’ve found during the year. And, well, now it’s time to take an inventory. I suppose there’s a really tiny chance that I find some money lying on the sidewalk sometime in the next 48 hours but, with snow covering anything, it seems unlikely. I’ve also often found money in the hallways at work and at school but, of course, I won’t be attending either anymore this year, so those options are out. And I suppose I might go to a store in the next couple of days but…I’m gonna try my darndest not to. So, I’m not likely to find a penny on the floor of any store.

That being said, I found $17.93 this year. I haven’t found anything since a measly penny I found back on the 11th and, ever since, I’ve been hoping for just a little more to put me over the $18 mark but, again, that seems unlikely now.

December marks my least successful month, in terms of money found. I only found twenty-one cents all month, down from my previous low of 37 cents (a dubious record I set last month). Winter months are harder, since I stay home more, and it gets darker earlier.

You may recall that, early on in the year, I was gunning to double my haul from last year. Last year I found $13.68, so while I’ve clearly bested that, I’m not likely to find the remaining ~$10 I need to double it in the short time remaining this year.

Anyway, that’s it for the money-finding this year. I’ll keep track again next year, ’cause I think it’s so much fun. And, as always, I’ll keep you posted if anything interesting turns up.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

 On the other hand, a list I will not be maintaining next year is my list of books I’ve read. Well, at least not the online version. Don’t get me wrong, I have no intention of not keeping track on my own lists here on my computer. But this Word Press version on my blog is annoying to have to update. The resulting list is kind of a mess, too. It’s also redundant. So, from now on, I’ll stick to my Excel version exclusively.

This year, as you can see from the list, I read 75 books. This only includes actual books (not magazines or brochures) that are 48 pages or longer. It also only includes books that I’ve never read before. I know Owen and I read at least four books that I had read before (including, most recently, the very enjoyable The Triumph of the Swan), but I didn’t list any book I had already read.

This was, indeed, a perfect year to publicly list the books I read. For one thing, I read for a variety of reasons – books I needed to read to review, books I had to read for class, those I read (or listened to) for fun, and those that I read to my children. Secondly, this was a record-setting year. Back in 2000, I read 71 books, and that was my zenith until I broke that record earlier this year (I wrote about that here).

There are still over 24 hours left in the year, but I doubt I’ll be adding to the 2012 list. I have an audio book I’m listening to in my car and, even though I’m nearly done with it, I don’t expect to listen to anymore of it until the next time I drive to work…which won’t be until 2013. Also, I have a few books I’m working through the old-fashioned way (i.e., reading them), but I don’t think I’ll be able to polish off any of them as soon as tomorrow. So, all those will likely go towards 2013’s tally.

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

Isla continued her sickness today, and both Owen and Jennifer claimed to be falling victim to the same bug. For the first eight hours or so, I felt pretty good. A friend of mine, Grant, came over to assist me with some computer issues.

As you may know, I volunteer as editor of The Minnesota Atheist, which is the newsletter of, appropriately enough, the Minnesota Atheists. A few days ago, Jennifer updated our computer which has since left it operating better than it has in over two years. The problem, though, is that I need Mac’s Pages to create the newsletter. I thought I had a back-up copy of this program but, if so, I can’t find it. I found a trial version, which I promptly installed. But for some odd reason, I couldn’t paste into Pages from Word. So, I put out an urgent call for assistance, and by 2:00, Grant was here making everything all better.

At 3:20, I went to the dentist’s office for my six-month check-up. It seems like a stupid time to go, I know, but I wanted to get my second cleaning in during this calendar year and, well, this was a good day since I didn’t have to go to work and was able to go whenever they were open.

By 6:00 this evening, I could tell that I was getting sick, too. This should be a great next few days.

Thursday, 27 December 2012

Yep, still sick.

I had a fever that alternately gave me the chills and hot flashes. Jennifer and Owen were also sick, and though Isla appears to be getting better, she’s still firmly rooted in the “sick” camp.

So there’s not much to write about today. I updated this blog, forced myself to work on the newsletter, and read a book for a while. This afternoon, I took a 2+ hour nap.

In the evening, after Isla had fallen asleep, the rest of us started watching the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was actually better than I was expecting. Jennifer lasted to about the halfway point, then decided to turn in for the night. Owen and I stayed up and watched the rest. After that, I asked him if he wanted to go to bed. Typical for our kids, he said no, so I told him to just sit there and relax. I worked on the newsletter a little more and then, about 20 minutes later, told him we were heading off to bed.

Oh, and by the way, here’s the wood robot that was waiting for the kids on Xmas morning…

Friday, 28 December 2012

Another sick day.

On the one hand, this is a great time to be sick, because I’m home from work anyway. On the other hand, it’s a lousy time, because I had all these starry-eyed plans.

For one thing, I planned to brew some root beer during my time off, and at the moment, it looks like that’s not happening. For another thing, Owen and Jennifer had planned a play date yesterday with some friends. That had to be cancelled. And today, Jennifer was going to spend the day at her parents’ house and then leave Owen there for two nights. But that, too, has been cancelled.

Meanwhile, Isla is at about 90%. Which is good, I guess. However…it’s extremely difficult to be in a house with healthy kids when Jennifer and I are sick. They’re not exactly filled with compassion, and they don’t limit their normal non-stop requesting. Isla didn’t even go down for a nap today, and she spent a good chunk of time today thrashing about and crying over extremely trivial things (even for a two-year old). I guess she doesn’t like it when her parents can’t cater to her. I think she’s a bit stir crazy, too.

All in all, a pretty shitty week off of work.

My wish for this holiday season is to get to enjoy the last three days of the year like I want to.