So many times, PowerPoint presentations are done extremely poorly. Too much "flash and bang" with different effects for page-change, audio, riot of colors, text effects; All of these make for a poor presentation. Ugh.
Unfortunately for me, one of the assignments
for my biology class this term was to create and deliver a PowerPoint
presentation in class. We've been subjected
presented with several of these already in class, so I got to see some
of what the other students were doing, and how they did it. Suffice to
say that most of them were... Let's just call them "interesting", in
order to be polite.
I opted to present mine this past Thursday,
which was the first week after spring break. I figured that I'd be
able to spend some time during break to get it put together, since I
already had a good idea of what I would do: Pandemic Flu
(the other end of that link has a PDF of the presentation, originally created on a Mac and exported to PDF... Cool!)
So,
I got up and gave my presentation. The teacher (Ph.D in biology) asked
several tough and pointed questions about my presentation, which he
hadn't done for the others that I've seen so far. Yes, I had the
answers, and for one I indicated that I'd go over that point later in
the presentation. One of my classmates (another one headed for medical
school) commented that she though it was cool that I didn't just read
off my slides, but rather talked about them and referred to the points
on them.
The presentation is worth 50 points on the grade. As instructor and I exchanged places, I saw that he'd noted "50" on the top of the first page of the printed copy that was required. Not bad, if I say so myself.
Good news: I finally have info in hand about a pair of paramedic license classes that I have available to me, to choose from. Both start in September and both are a total of about 950 hours. One is scheduled for about 9 months, the other is scheduled to go about 19 months. There are pluses and minuses to each one, and I'm pretty torn about which one would be better.
Not so great news: That means that I have to come up with $2000 in less than six months. Normally, not too bad, but we're saving a butt-load of money for a BIG VACATION in December. The trick is going to be squirreling away money for class and not impinging on the vacation savings.
Not
co great news #2 : I don't know if I'll be able to get time out of
paramedic class to go on the honeymoon/vacation in December. If not, I
guess that I'll be waiting another year. Confound it.
Note to self, for next term.
Scheduling classes for the first slot of the day (7:40 start time) is not a good idea. Work tends to spew over, and getting the youngsters ready for their school day gets in the way, too. However, the 9:25 start time is great.
Yesterday, I got a tattoo. Yes, syncopal ol' me got inked. It's nothing ginormous, but it's not exactly what I would call "small" either. It's about 2 square inches, maybe a little more, on the inner aspect of my left forearm, just distal to the elbow joint.
It's a simple, black "classical" labyrinth. I've been kicking around getting a tattoo for the better part of 15 years, seriously for the last 10 or so. In that time, I've gone through several iterations of what I thought I would want, but nothing was ever important or signifigant enough to me that I was willing to permanently emblazon it on my body. However, the labyrinth design is emblematical of a journey, often spiritual in nature, and almost always turning "inward" to examine one's own soul or spirit. Being that I've been in that sort of mode (being inward, spiritual journey or examination) for most of my life, I decided that it was suitable.
The artist, Ryein (sp?) came recommended by one of my wife's coworkers, who has several pieces by him and has known him "since way back when". The work that she just had done by him was nice, which was a big selling point.
We went in to the shop the other day, and Kristen spoke with Ryein briefly to get a feel for if she was really going to get one, after talking about it for more than a dozen years. (Me getting ink was actually an after-thought, not exactly a main focus of the trip in)
(update: 16 MAR 2007) I've discovered, though, that it's not only decorative, but practical for me, as an "always available" meditation aid. I work with a couple of people who, frankly, test my ability to be civil, particularly when they're having one of those days. This little bit of art is a handy grounding point as I visually "walk" the labyrinth.
I've also discovered that tattoos are like potato chips. Once you have one, you want more. I guess that it's better than booze or drugs, at least. Not in that tattoos are less expensive, but the safety and social ramifications are much less potentially damaging. :)
