In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

In high school theatre, the week before opening night was filled with dress and tech rehearsals. One never knew how long these rehearsals would last, or how many times we’d have to run through a scene. The answer to the latter question was, “until it’s right” and the answer to the former was based on the answer to the latter. Affectionately, we thespians titled this week, “hell week”.The first day of school for us is next Tuesday, and for those who don’t know, I am a Data Support Specialist at an elementary school. This week has been “hell week”. I suppose the week started on Friday with the Computer Resource Specialist and I reconfiguring 40 laptops to run on the new wireless access points we were given over the summer. All in all I’ve put together a 50 slide presentation, 100 pages of graphs, given two electronic grade book trainings, and have facilitated the analysis of testing data and goals planning for the upcoming school year in multiple meetings. All this was in preparation for, or occurred, this week.

I’m tired.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that I am, according to insurance companies, a current member of that statistical group most like to have an automobile accident, I have come upon a snag in making travel arrangements for my trip out to Colorado. Rental companies are going to charge an additional $25 per day on the rental, which adds a significant cost to the car. I’m not sure if I’m willing to pay that much extra.I’m checking into some other options. We shall see if this plan lives or dies.

Yesterday my interested in going back to Colorado and Kansas for a visit quickly rushed back after being suppressed due to financial restraints. I have this desire to revisit places I’ve left. I don’t know what it is. Perhaps it’s a longing to travel into the past, or the quest to know that where I’ve been still exists. Perhaps it’s about control, the ability to travel freely and visit places of the past. Revisiting the places where I served as a missionary is certainly about control. To be able to be in those places, completely free from the limitations of travel or action imposed on missionaries, will be satisfying.Another reason to visit is because I feel I owe it to people there who helped me in so many ways. To have made the effort to visit those people and personally thanked them for what they did for me is something I’ve wanted to do. To some, I promised I’d take them out to dinner. I have every intention of doing so; however, first I need to get there.

The cost of the trip is more than $650. This includes the round-trip air fare and a car for my entire stay, as I plan to be driving quite a bit as I venture from Colorado Springs to Kansas, and perhaps a trip to Salt Lake City. Though I’ll likely have a place to stay, the trip could easily total $1,000. That’s quite a lot of money. Though I have the funds to do it, thanks to extra funds from my student loans and a little from my savings account, I’m not sure if it would be wise to spend them this way. On the other hand, as a friend told me today, “Joel, you’re 22, this is something you’ve been wanting to do, and now you can. You should go before you have more reasons to not be able to.” I can’t help but to think my friend is right.

Thinking about this trip, which I’ve mentally slotted from October 13th to the 22nd, has allowed me to fall into a state of melancholy wistfulness. To be back in those places and to take in the sights and sounds would be great. I loved the places I served. They were absolutely beautiful. To be able to freely travel about them would be wonderful. Colorado Springs is a place that I could see myself living at someday. The beauty of the ever present mountains, the briskness of the winter air, the softness of the gentle snow, are all things I miss.

How could one not miss the landscape which inspired “America the Beautiful”?

So in a somewhat odd turn of events, I received a call last night from an administrator at Mission.net. The site is a collection of mission sites and missionary profiles. It’s a great resource for keeping up with mission alumni and for general information about the site. I’ve had a profile on the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission site since 2004. The administrator, after explaining how he had my phone number and after explaining how he came across my profile, asked if I would be willing to volunteer as the Webmaster of the CCSM site on Mission.net. Now, volunteering as the webmaster of the site was something I had considered doing before my mission, but I knew I would need to wait until after I returned. By that time, someone else had volunteered. However, due to health reasons, someone else was needed. I accepted his invitation and have spent some time today making some changes to the design.I served in the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission from 2004 to 2006. I loved the area and hope to return there soon. I didn’t have the greatest of experiences as a missionary though. Through no fault of the mission, I found myself not believing in what I was doing any longer. I cherish the good times and try to represent the total of the experience and not focus on the negatives. Besides being the new Webmaster of the CCSM site on Mission.net, I am also President of the Colorado Springs Mission Facebook Group.

So here’s to new opportunities!

Perhaps it was too much change, too fast, and too complex. The ideas behind Microsoft’s Windows Vista are right; however, it seems the Microsoft team hasn’t quite got it yet. I’m writing on my grandmother’s brand new HP laptop via Vista. For the last hour I have had Internet Explorer crash four times due to a problem with Adobe Flash, I’ve been unable to access course materials from the University of Phoenix, and it seems that downloading Mozilla Firefox is banned by not allowing users to access Mozilla.org. For the last point, I call foul play and submit that it is reason enough to view Microsoft as a company not to be trusted. In short, having been available for six months now, Windows Vista just doesn’t make the cut.I’ve spent a lot of time behind a computer…a lot of time. Vista gives me a headache when I try to keep track of its tiered access levels. The proposed fixes on the Adobe forum for the Flash problem seemed more complex than they needed to be. Shouldn’t users be able to install the latest version of a program and run it without having to take notes of what permissions the program has or if you’re opening the program as an administrator? It just doesn’t make much sense. If Microsoft is trying to copy the model of installation that Linux uses, they do a horrible job at it.

The best thing about Vista is the graphics. I love Flip 3D. However, it’s rare that I’ve ever used it beyond the personal delight I get from watching my open content rotate in a 3D space. I don’t think the trade off, graphics for memory footprint or GPU processing power, is worth it. Frankly, my year old XP laptop performs just as well or better than my grandmother’s new machine.

Perhaps after a few service packs, Vista will be ready for prime time. For now, I’m seriously thinking of looking toward Linux for my next OS upgrade; that is, if I don’t get a Mac.