Back in my day you were lucky to have AOL and a unix email address

I’ve finished my first week of grad school without too much drama. I’m pursuing an MBA online through UTDallas right now. Currently I’m taking two courses one is statistics and the other is a project management course. Both are interesting enough and I can already see how both will be useful if I adequately absorb the teaching. I was pleasantly surprised by how smoothly the online interface runs. I have taken a couple of online courses before that were not supported with a campus wide approach. The professor’s tried hard but it usually looked like a “My First Website” website with default colored links to and directions on how to use yahoo groups or chat. UTDallas is using a package called WebCT 6.0 Campus Edition and this is the first time I’ve been exposed to it. It has a couple of quirks but it seems to meet my generations online expectations. Clean useful interface without any unnecessary spinning flaming logos. Multimedia seems to be used where it’s appropriate but not overdone.



In the two classes I’m attending the lecture is recorded and downloadable or it can be streamed from the server. I like this aspect of online classes the most. Mainly because of my knack for falling asleep in most of my classes as an undergrad. It’s a little harder to rewind a live lecture compared to a pre-recorded one. I’ve also started loading the lectures onto my ipod so I can listen to them while I’m driving. I’m not trying be an ubergeek but it makes sense and I actually learn more in 15 minute increments.



In my project management class we have 5 people who have to collaborate on a project. We had our first meeting this morning at 8:00 PM CST or 5:00 AM my time. One person is in Washington state, two in Texas, one on his way to Afghanistan and myself. We meet in a virtual wiz-bangy meeting room where we can chat by typing, one person at a time can talk (disappointed we could hold a fluid conversation), we can use a virtual white board or share programs on our computers. I can do a walkthrough of a website and everybody else can see what I’m doing. People have been doing this stuff for a while but it costs around $40 - $80 an hour using Webex. I was impressed that our school offers this stuff for free. Of course there is the whole tuition thing.



So far I’m enjoying it but I definitely see it eating up a lot of my time. I’ll try to keep everyone updated.

Happy Holidays Y'all

As with my Christmas cards this post is running a little late. The past month has been very relaxing and truly enjoyable. After we celebrated Thanks Giving we got to see Qatar finally host the Asian Games they had been talking about for the past 3+ years. Most people quietly expected an implosion but I was pleasantly surprised in how well the games were pulled off. I did hear some grumbling about the lack of local volunteers and the marathon wasn’t exactly done in a professional manner (9:00 am start, 4 loop course and only 9 participants). Ironically it rained most of the time. Who would have expected a barren country to get a monsoon during the most important event in its history? Before it was all over, we left for the states and read about the ending online.



We left on December 11th on KLM. After making this trip 7 times and numerous ones to Europe under different conditions and with different airlines these are my recommendations. If you fly business, use BA because the seats fold flat. If you travel economy use BA and Qatar Airways because QA has Audio Video on demand. It can be more expensive then just flying BA though. If you are flying with a young child and are trying to stretch the vacation dollar use KLM. You don’t switch airports and it doesn’t matter that the entertainment stinks because you are going to worry about your child the whole time anyways. It may even be better so you won’t be tempted to turn to the movie and look like a jerk to your wife. I base these off my airplane priorities which are to survive the 24 hours with out going mad, mainly by turning off my brain as much as possible. Sleep and movies usually do the trick for me.



So what about flying with a child? Two words “Game Face”. If you are going 8,000 miles with a kid you better prepare yourself for 24 hours of patience and zero relaxation. Your sleep routine is a subset of theirs and movies usually don’t play into the equation. I had it easy because Kara and I tag teamed during the flight. Since Kara is coming back by herself it will be more of a challenge but I know she’ll be able to do it. Game face also means being prepared. 3/4s of the stuff we bring in carry on luggage is for Emma. Some people call it obsessive but I think they would prefer it to a screaming kid in their ear. Doing those two things kept Emma comfortable and the people on the plane pleasantly mostly oblivious to the young passenger. She cried now and then but never screaming.



When we got to Houston it wasn’t a big “Woo Hoo we’re in Texas” since I was in Dallas only 3 months earlier. It didn’t help that when we started driving I realized that I had lost my Aggie Ring somewhere between here and Amsterdam. I got a sick this can’t be happening feeling in my stomach. Well it did and I had to be a big boy and eventually come to terms with it. I had told Kara a while ago I prayed that if I ever treated the ring like an Idol that God would take it from me. I know that sounds a little extreme but I had been convicted that at times I was a little to prideful of the hunk of gold on my right hand. Sometimes answered prayers hurt. I’m giving it a year to surface before I’ll consider purchasing another one.



Time in Houston was pretty relaxing. Kara and I spent 3 days in Galveston at a hotel next to the ocean. Of course you couldn’t tell it was next to the ocean because of all the fog but that really didn’t matter much. We completed our Christmas shopping and absorbed the American commercialized Christmas experience. We even took a picture of Emma with Santa. We haven’t solidified our position on what we are going to tell her about Santa yet. 2 hours in line with no crying but as soon as she sits on his lap she starts bawling. We got a great picture of her with a terrified look on her face. Memories. San Antonio was great as well, the highlight of the trip was going to the buckhorn museum where we exposed Emma and her cousins to enough dead animals for a life time. They had a Texas Ranger museum but my dad was concerned that he didn’t see Walker or Trevet anywhere. We gave both sets of parents web cams so that Emma could practice her video conferencing skills and they can see her moving more then once every 6 months.



When I tried the web cams out with a conversation with my mom it was strange to see the house I had just been in and know that it was 8000 miles away. This trip has been a bit of geographical and reality mind bender for me. I enjoyed the relaxed three weeks in Texas more this time then ever before and I was a little uneasy about my return. I talked to Kara about missing Texas as she drove me to the airport. Qatar actually seemed a little distant for me. Part of it maybe the fact that I sporadically checked my email so I didn’t feel in the loop while I was gone. My perspective was also pretty skewed though because I spent the whole time sleeping in and eating out. The other could be since I relaxed so much I was putting small roots back into the Texas dirt. I could just be analyzing this to death as well. So when I got back I had a slight case of the blues which haven’t been helped by being here alone without Kara and Emma. As I’ve eased back into work it’s getting better. I also think about some of the places that I still want to visit and become more comfortable with the current situation. I guess for the first time I’m really feeling the emotional cost of living so far from your “home”. Alright enough Debbie downer crap. Life is good here, you just have to put on the right lenses.



Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas