Will’s View

Ahh, today was the first day of Uni for 2007, and gosh-darn it was a cracker!

For starters, we found out today that the Melbourne University Staff email system has been out of commission for the last two or three days. So all the people who have been trying to email lecturers about tutorials, pre-requisites, or even subject and course issues have had massive problems. I can only imagine the panic that has taken hold of many a first-year’s heart.

There was the usual dose of wide-eyed first-years wandering around trying to find lecture theatres and occasionally stumbling into the wrong one; a large queue at student administration and all faculty offices; and the very apprehensive feeling that takes over all later-year students. That feeling that suggests we had better enjoy the easy time at the beginning of semester, especially important for those of us involved in honours projects and the like.

I was a little thrown today when I walked into a Control Systems lecture, and was expected to actually absorb new material. I was under the impression that there was an informal agreement between lecturers and students along the lines that the lecturer uses the first lecture primarily for administrative issues and information about the course, and in return the students actually turn up to the first lecture. Needless to say I was far from impressed, the first week is meant to be a nice gentle introduction into uni, where we all have time to buy those text books that we deem essential and organise how we are going to organise the coming semester. I’m sure there’s a rant there somewhere, but I have plenty more to write about now, so maybe later.

For those of you who don’t know, this year I’m undertaking my final year project (basically an honours project). This subject has been around for years, yet there still seems to be a last-minute rush for people to find a project they actually want to do, even to the extent that for one project we have the equivalent of a ‘group interview’! What is this world coming to?

And do NOT get me started on the lines at the bookshop!

--> Ahh, today was the first day of Uni for 2007, and gosh-darn it was a cracker! For starters, we found out today that the Melbourne University Staff email system has been out of commission for the last two or three days. So all the people who have been trying to email lecturers about tutorials, pre-requisites, or even subject and course issues have had massive problems. I can only imagine the panic that has taken hold of many a (More...)

I need to vent, I’ve been stuffed around by a certain university over the last couple of days and feel the need to share.

I went online a couple of days ago to try and check on my enrolment status. Now this happens every year, my course plan doesn’t get approved because of some glitch (read lazy programmer not thinking of enough test cases) in the program that manages enrolment. Usually all it takes is a couple of days and it is automatically approved by the course advisor, no worries. But this time it took a little longer than usual, so I thought I’d go see the course advisor and have a little tête-à-tête.

Being the somewhat organised person I am, I went into the computer labs early to print out my course plan that has been a work in progress for the last couple of years. But on arriving, alas my account had “expired”, so I trudged up to the systems administrator to see what had gone wrong this time.

There requires a bit of explanation here, by way of back story (which may not be accurate or objective): A long long time ago in a lovely, happy, left wing world, the computer science department was a small part of the larger Engineering Faculty, and everyone got along fine and everyone had ECR (engineering computer resources) accounts. Then one day the big giant of Melbourne Uni Private came along and decided to build a lovely new building, only problem was that MUP went belly-up, and the building got left to Computer Science and Information Technology. So now they were a whole department of their own, separated from the larger parent of the Engineering Faculty. And as happens between a newly separated child, there started some belt-tightening and budget cutting, and the Computer Science department decided that their students no-longer needed to have ECR accounts.

So, to resume my day from hell, I went and asked what had gone wrong now. The lovely tech behind the desk informed me that he couldn’t re-enstate my account because I didn’t have the new student ID card for this year (”trifling detail!”, thought I) but I somehow managed to convince the tech that I was re-enrolled. So the tech gave it a go, and it turns out that I am on the CS ban list, because I do Computer Science, and therefore couldn’t be given an ECR account. This is true, I do do Computer Science, but I also do Engineering, it’s one of these funny things called a double degree, so-named because I do two degrees. This didn’t seem to have much effect on the tech, who suggested I go see someone in CS. Great.

So I turn up to my meeting with the course supervisor empty-handed and more than a little peeved. I then proceed to step through my course with the course advisor, who then thought I was doing fine, and would gladly accept my course plan. After accepting the course plan (rigourously checking all my pre-requisites were in order), the course advisor suddenly let escape a faint “Oh!”. Needless to say, I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about this expression of surprise, and after enquiring I was told that my enrolment hadn’t been accepted yet.

What I understand is that events prior to this proceeded roughly thus: I re-enroled on the first day of re-enrolment; My course plan wasn’t accepted because of a bug in the program which means that it doesn’t deal well with full-year subjects; My problem wasn’t forwarded to a course supervisor (reason unknown); Because my problem wasn’t fixed, my enrolment was then promptly lost in the system, and was therefore reduced to provisional enrolment. Sigh.

After a panicked call to the people who deal with enrolments (after all, my course supervisor had just accepted a course plan for a student who was only provisionally enrolled!) all was ostensibly sorted, and I was able to continue on my way. But, I still needed my Victorian Public Transport Concession Card (gives me cheap public transport). These are usually handily sent out at the beginning of the year, and all we need to do is take them to get verified. Only problem was that they have an expiry date very close to the beginning of semester, and it wouldn’t reach me in time if it were mailed in the next day (which, by itself was unlikely).

Thus the next chapter begins, wherein I have to wait in line for a new student card and a new Concession Card. Ahh, I love this time of year!

Ranting online really is cathartic!

--> I need to vent, I’ve been stuffed around by a certain university over the last couple of days and feel the need to share. I went online a couple of days ago to try and check on my enrolment status. Now this happens every year, my course plan doesn’t get approved because of some glitch (read lazy programmer not thinking of enough test cases) in the program that manages enrolment. Usually all it takes is a couple of (More...)

Waiting unsuspectingly at a train platform in the city a couple of days ago, watching the people and trains go by, I was most surprised to see a train driver smoking on the train. It’s not as if this were at an outdoor station like North Melbourne, but it was in fact Melbourne Central station, which is at least a hundred metres underground! Imagine my dismay! Here was someone who is seen as a beacon of morality in a sprawling storm of wayward souls, blatantly breaking health and safety laws just to get a nicotine fix!

I’m sure that there were extenuating circumstances, no doubt due to the recent spate of cancellations/delays due to the defective Siemens trains, but that is still not good enough! They demand that passengers don’t smoke, consume alcohol, or even put their feet on seats whilst in their trains, yet one of their employees has the nerve to smoke while driving! And imagine the dire consequences if the driver had been distracted and dropped the cigarette! There is a large-enough scope for error already, without giving bad luck a head-start!

--> Waiting unsuspectingly at a train platform in the city a couple of days ago, watching the people and trains go by, I was most surprised to see a train driver smoking on the train. It’s not as if this were at an outdoor station like North Melbourne, but it was in fact Melbourne Central station, which is at least a hundred metres underground! Imagine my dismay! Here was someone who is seen as a beacon of morality in (More...)

Kneeling in front of the toilet today at about 1 in the afternoon, I had the revelation that Exit Mold is the best bathroom cleaner around.

Let me explain: I have recently moved house, so in grand flatting tradition we had the final clean-up today. It was most entertaining, lots of vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing and dusting. Somehow, in the furore, I got landed with helping clean the bathroom. I don’t mind cleaning the odd bathroom when I don’t think that I have something more important to do, such as sleep or eat, but this was a real mission! During this cleaning frenzy, the more traditional cleaners such as Spray and Wipe and Ajax were taken, so I was stuck with the old Exit Mould.

This stuff rocks! It has bleach and some ammonia compounds and all kinds of great stuff. And it’s one of those products that you know is working because it stinks. I’m not talking a lovely ‘clean and fresh’ odour, but rather a membrane-dissolving, ammonia-laden stink that permeates every pore. And I don’t think it plays nice with other cleaning products either, because as soon as you mix it with something else like shower cleaner the smell gains more momentum, and a slight hint of chlorine.

The rest of the clean-up went okay, reasonably uneventful, and hopefully there’s a happy ending when we get our bond back…hurray!

--> Kneeling in front of the toilet today at about 1 in the afternoon, I had the revelation that Exit Mold is the best bathroom cleaner around. Let me explain: I have recently moved house, so in grand flatting tradition we had the final clean-up today. It was most entertaining, lots of vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing and dusting. Somehow, in the furore, I got landed with helping clean the bathroom. I don’t mind cleaning the odd bathroom when I don’t (More...)

I have begun to think that one of my purposes in life is to ask odd things of customer services representatives, and thereby provide entertainment for them. I don’t think that I’m any different than anyone else, or that I have particularly high expectations of people or companies. Maybe it’s just that I don’t mind looking like an idiot.

Example: I have a close friend who wants to open a bookstore at some stage in the future. It’s a long-term goal, but serious enough to deserve encouraging. So having thought about it for some time I decided on buying a book about opening a bookstore (ironic, I know, but just wait - it gets better). The logical thing - as far as i figured - was to go down to the bookstore and ask them if they had a book on opening a bookstore, but being a member of whatever generation it is that we belong to these days I let my fingers do the walking. Grabbing the yellow pages I turned to the bookstore section and started dialling (note that the irony hadn’t quite struck me yet):

Unsuspecting Salesperson:Hello [Name of Bookshop], how can I help you?
Me: Hi there, I was after a book about how to start or run a bookshop.
Salesperson (stifling a laugh):A what?
Me:A book on opening a bookshop.
Salesperson (after a fit of laughter): I’m sure I can tell you the answer to that one without even looking at the database. No. It just wouldn’t make any kinda sense now would it? It would be like KFC selling the recipe to their famous chicken.
Me: Hmmm, I never really thought about it like that…Thanks.
Salesperson (still stifling a laugh):No worries, good luck with that!

Suffice to say that after about the third or fourth of these calls I started to get a little down, and had to rely on other means.

Example 2: Today I spent about an hour wandering around Melbourne city trying to find a lid for my drink bottle. Stupid I (now) know, but I’m somewhat attached to this drink bottle, and have always thought it better to fix something than buy a new one. I didn’t think this a big ask, and it would have been incredibly straight forward if the store from which the bottle was originally bought hadn’t since gone under. I have since learned however that all different brands of metal drink bottles have different sized lids, with different pitch angles on the thread and all sorts of annoying things like that. But I did have the satisfaction of putting a condescending/pitying smile on several salespeople…where do I get these ideas?

--> I have begun to think that one of my purposes in life is to ask odd things of customer services representatives, and thereby provide entertainment for them. I don’t think that I’m any different than anyone else, or that I have particularly high expectations of people or companies. Maybe it’s just that I don’t mind looking like an idiot. Example: I have a close friend who wants to open a bookstore at some stage in the future. It’s (More...)