The Curmudgeon Speaks

You know those guys who add those high end sound systems to their cars. Those cars that kind of thump when they pull up beside you. Whomp, whomp, whomp …  Sad.

I am thinking the guys who think this sounds cool need some help. I am here to help. The curmudgeon is just the right guy in this case ‘cuz the old curmudgeon has long been a fan of the bass line.

I was a tuba player in high school. This was not because I was a virtuoso – it was because I was willing and the band director thought I had a tin ear. If you play notes that are consistently flat and you play the tuba, no one can really tell.

Anyway, this may have been the beginning of my special interest in bass instruments and those who play them well, I am a fan of the bass line. This is a serious matter. No whomp, whomp, whomp for me.

First, to develop an appreciation for a good bass line, you need to listen to some tunes with some quality bass. The one note bass line simply sucks.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Ain’t no sunshine (Buddy Guy with Tracy Chapman – Bring ‘Em In)
• All along the watchtower (Dave Matthew – Live from Chicago)

I notice that these are both covers. However, far better bass than the originals.

A side note (another musical pun) – I also appreciate great lyrics. Dylan is a genius. What a word man.

All I got is a red guitar, three chords, and the truth.

I would love to be able to offer such profound thoughts.

Now, good tunes are not enough. You do need to invest in some quality equipment.

Here is my latest favorite bass line toy (Outcast from Soundcast).

This thing weighs nearly 40 points. A good bass line requires some weight – large magnet in the woofer. It is about the exact size of a cream can, but that description is a throw back to my Iowa farm boy roots and of little value to even those who still live in Iowa.

What I like about this toy is that if  you like your bass line loud, this device seems to have no top end (or bottom end in this case). Imagine placing this in the middle of a parking lot and pushing the volume up button to your heart’s content. I have not found the limit. I am certain there is one, but I always back off for fear of having the neighbors call the authorities.

I am a fan of the theory that loud bass does less damage to your hearing than an amplified middle or high range. I suppose at my age I should be concerned that the shock wave offers some danger to my heart.

So be it – the heart is where you need to appreciate music.

Crank it up.

I grew up on a farm, but was never suited to being a farmer. My parents understood this and while my assistance was expected from time to time, the most important thing was that I worked somewhere. I worked at a golf course.

Cindy and I are driving from Grand Forks to San Diego for a technology conference (ISTE – the International Society for Technology in Education). The road trip sounded like a great adventure and so far this has been the case. We were somewhere in very rural Nebraska (I say this as only someone from North Dakota can) and we came across a sight that took me back. It was men’s night at the Augusta Wind Public golf course – Stapleton, NE.

Augusta Wind – get it?

My job at the Pierson golf course was to oil and rake the sand greens. Sand “greens” – not sand traps. The oil (recycled from the local gas station) creates a better texture than dry sand for putting. What caught my attention with Augusta Winds was the fairways. The greens were very green. I could not figure out where the fairways were. It all looked like rough.

We stopped to take a few photos and struck up a conversation. Perhaps they thought we were potential members. There were fairways – they had just been hayed. Really. The guy I talked with admitted the rough was rough.

We exchanged a few stories based on our golf backgrounds – the commitment to the game, not our skills.

Cindy says most of us are spoiled and forget about those guys who value something so much they build and maintain their own golf course in the middle of a field in the middle of somewhere in Nebraska.

It is fathers’ day 2012. I spent the day at the lake with my kids and grandkids. My youngest daughter gave me and the other fathers in our family a special gift – a basketball hoop. She was the best athlete in the family and I used to shoot with her on the small court we built in our backyard.

I stopped playing in 1997. Mostly because I gained too much weight after the flood and the game was starting to be hard on my joints. I am 63 now. Sixty year olds don’t play ball.

Still, it was fun to shoot in the driveway. I still like the way a jump shot feels leaving my hand. Not much elevation now. I guess there was not much elevation then either. Still feels good though – nothing but net.

There should be some truth in advertising requirement applied to political slogans. For example, what is “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” supposed to mean? At face value it might seem that the slogan is about promoting a higher rate of employment. On closer examination, it seems the slogan is more about private sector employment and less public sector employment. If one happens to be employed in the public sector (I guess this apples to me), one might take offense at the probable misrepresentation. Evidently, one way to boost the general economy is to cut jobs in certain sectors. One of these sectors is public education.

It turns out that the mantra is more about employers than employees. Perhaps the politicians should chant “Profits, Profits, Profits” – this request might better reflect a  position that generates the campaign contributions.

This may seem more like a Labor Day than a Memorial Day post, but read through to the end.

Ever thought about the expression “I have to go to work.” What I mean is whether you understand this expression in a positive or negative way.

This morning, my wife and I cut up and stacked the wood from a fallen tree. It is Memorial Day and somehow the task reminded me of my dad. I had to help with this kind of work when I was a kid. My brothers and I would go into the grove with dad to “clean things up”. I regarded the task as work – not the kind that is fun. Mostly we had to haul the branches and chunks of wood dad cut to a central location. The only fun part I remember involved those situations in which we got to throw some fuel oil on the pile and light it.

Cutting the tree up this morning was fun. I got to run the saw and the tree fell on my land. When it dries, I may even get to burn the wood. Same task, very different experience. Perhaps it is the element of control or making the decision to perform a task that differentiates one type of work from the other.

There is a connection between the two tree cutting experiences. The land I own that allows me to cut up wood was bought with money from the land on which dad and the kids used to cut wood. I remember the connection.

The NY Times is running a series on college debt. I read one article and it depressed me (a related blog post). I hope I am not contributing to the problem.

It is true that tuition costs are increasing and states are paying less and less of the costs of public education. It is true that related costs such as book are increasing. It is true that our government cannot decide how to keep the interest on student loans low – roll back health care reform or tax the rich.

It appears that online education may be part of the solution. I am not certain that instruction is less expensive, but online experiences eliminate the costs of moving to a college to obtain an education.

I still wonder about online learning. Actually, it is not the learning part that concerns me. I think some of the value in an education is the social component. A social connection is one of the better predictors of whether students stay in college or drop out. The social component is a priority for many students according to the authors of Academically Adrift (not a good thing according to these authors). The social connections are part of what you pay for long term – connections with bright, well placed people. I think they call it networking in the world of business.

It was graduation time at UND this past weekend. Some of the Instructional Design and Technology graduate students made the trip to Grand Forks. Our online courses include fairly sophisticated capabilities, but we mostly hear the students. It is an interesting experience to meet students you have interacted with in several courses. I wonder about their long term connections with the program and with our institution. I know there are practical limitations, but perhaps some combination of FTF and online would be better.

Finals being on Monday. I was heading to the coffee shop this before to have a cup before heading to my office to grade papers. I passed by University Park. Looks like they moved in some new equipment for the weekend. I see that the students will also be preparing for the challenges of next week.

I have been employed in higher education most, but not all, of my working career. For a good part of this time, I have been a department administrator. As part of this job, I filed annual reports attempting to make the best case I could regarding the performance and needs of my department. I frequently used national data to comment on the salaries awarded to members of my department. I am used to making arguments based on numbers.

ND has enjoyed a good run relative to the general state of affairs in the nation. I attribute this to the foresight of the politicians of the state who had the wisdom to bring the rains, improve the value of the Canadian dollar, and position the state on top of vast oil reserves. I wish they would apply the same wisdom to supporting the higher education institutions of the state. The Governor has already announced that we in higher education should not expect as much from the state in the future. Since the oil is here for a while, I am guessing the politicians are anticipating a dry spell or a major disagreement with our neighbors to the North.

Anyway, I thought some pictures might be a concrete way to examine the state of the state relative to the state of the nation.

According to State Master, citizens of North Dakota rank near the middle of the country in average income and are in the bottom five (a good thing) when it comes to unemployment.

These data are less impressive than information summarizing the state’s recovery from the nation’s recent economic downturn (Bureau of Economic Analysis). If you look at the numbers, it appears that ND has grown more than any other state (at least 7.1 was the largest value I could find).

You may not follow the Chronicle of Higher Education. I am with you on this lack of interest, but the organization can be a good source for data on the national scene in higher education. The Chronicle offered a recent summary of faculty pay so I thought I would check out how UND was doing. I mean good times here, poor times elsewhere – perhaps UND was gaining some ground relative to what I remember from the days in which I charted this type of thing.

Hmm – far below the median. I guess this is the North Dakota Way the politicians are constantly touting.

I enjoy coffee shops a great deal. I like coffee and for some reason I like the kind of people who like to hang out in coffee shops.

We heard the story of a barista as told to a couple of film students (typical coffee shop people) in the Everything Cafe. After making this latte, the barista described his interest in all things coffee and indicated that he was leaving this shop in a couple of days. He had this idea for a new business related to coffee. I read a lot about young folks who are involved in business startups, but I can’t say I have really met such folks. Both the barista and the film students were into such opportuntiies.

The barista was going to start a coffee roasting startup patterned after a similar venture in San Francisco. Evidently, some businesses like to offer coffee to their employees as a perk (get it) and there is an opportunity for a roaster who will provide coffee beans each morning. I can understand this – I have a fine coffee maker at home and if this machine was in a business and available to employees it would be a nice benefit for some.

The barista said that all things coffee were his passion. I respect that. I do not know enough people who seem to have “a passion”. For too many, the interest seems to be self focused and involves little beyond self promotion. I think I value those individuals who do something well and do not depend on others to recognize this accomplishment.

So, I hope you begin your day with a fine cup of coffee and I hope you are then off to work that you find to be meaningful even if no one else notices.