Lock and load or rock enroll

Patience is in short supply today. At least, my stock is limited.


Having enrolled in East Tennessee State University, the opportunity to take classes based upon interest in the core material or just because they might provide some fun is something I’m looking forward to. Enrolled status does not allow me to register for classes, however, until at least after 1500 tomorrow. I guess they want to make sure that the paying students have a chance at filling the class slots before those of us who seek neither grades nor credit and thus pay nothing to audit the classes.

The last time I set foot on a college campus with intent to study was nearly forty years ago. Agnew had resigned but Nixon was hanging on by some unplumbed depth of stubbornness as his impeachment became ever more likely. Computers were huge masses of technology, using punch cards for programming and operation coding. Hand-held calculators were just beginning to replace slide rules in every day work and study situations. There was an internet of sorts but it was not accessible to average people and would not be for another 20 years or so. Exams were hand written in “blue books.” Class notes were the ones students scribbled down in lectures and then tried to decipher when trying to study.

Things have changed markedly and we are about to find out just how much.

There are no hard copy catalogues of courses to prowl though in hopes of finding a class. There are, apparently, no long lines of disgruntled and hungry students, clutching a stack of punch cards, inching forward to sign up for a course that will not be available when they reach the front of the line and encounter a equally disgruntled secretary who has no desire to be pulling the extra work of accepting or refusing, filing or spindling and mutilating those punch cards. Invariably the class sections that filled up first were the ones needed most desperately by the most undergrads.

Instead of long lines, we’re dealing with an overloaded computer network as hundreds of students try to simultaneously access the same files I want to access. At least I can do this from the comfort of our home.

I’m not sure, yet, what a “d2l” file is but apparently each class section has one that I may need to access. I may or may not be given an internet account ending in “.edu.” I’m wading through a lot of online material trying to figure out what I’m going to be dealing with. “d2l” apparently allows interchange of information between students and instructors, is used for handing in assignments electronically, such things as that. It also seems as if it can be used to hold group study sessions in some chat format. I’ve never dealt with chat systems except when necessary for computer repairs or service. But things may change.

Not being concerned with a degree, I guess that I won’t have to meet with “my academic advisor.” That was always a most unwelcome chore. My particular “advisor” had an office in what had once been a luxury dormitory for the children of the wealthy who chose not to enter a “Greek” house. Her office was a half hour’s hike from the center of campus and the College of Education. Infallibly, she scheduled vacations around registration and pre-registration. In three years under her guidance, I saw her twice. Each time she tried to convince me to declare for an additional major in education – something I had discarded as a goal by my second week as a freshman. Fortunately, her secretary understood the plight of the allied health students who wandered into her outer office twice a year and was quite willing to either forge her boss's signature or to allow us to forge it. In fact, the last time I actually managed to meet with her and have her sign off on my schedule – which cost me a missed lunch and annoyed my clinical instructor that day when she had to pick up the slack that her assigned students would not be available to complete- the principle secretary in the College of Education looked at the signature and accused me of forging it. She refused to accept the punch card. When I cycled back to the head of the line she still refused to accept it. I might still be there but for the woman handling the m-z line, who reached over, grabbed my card and accepted it for my final set of classes on that campus. I won’t miss having an academic advisor.

I intend to sign up for two courses which will dovetail in time. One is a serious course, “History of the Holocaust. I’m curious to see how this is presented in a university that has less than 20 identified Jews – including Gloria & me. I also plan to enroll in a course on Crime Scene Investigation. I’ve handled some forensic samples when dealing with local crimes at various small hospitals. And I’ve done a fair amount of forensic drug screening, confirmation, and certification. However, I’ve only had to testify as to what evidence I dealt with a few times. This course will be primarily for the fun of learning something new.

I’m really quite anxious to complete the registration process. The chance to go back to school at little expense is really a good thing. I think it will be fun for both of us. Gloria is excited about learning new jewelry skills.

Tonight’s dinner is filling the house with good smells. I’ve got beef short ribs braising in a red wine & beef base with onions and button mushrooms. We’ll serve it over brown rice tonight.

We’ve had no rain today. The creek is falling slowly. Still high and fast but much more clear in appearance.