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The Taxman Cometh

This was the first year I’ve needed to pay taxes. I feel, slightly…republican…or something like that. It’s not that I don’t mind paying taxes, I just made a paltry amount last summer and ended up paying two Benjamin’s. That’s on top of the over $600 that was taken straight out of my paycheck for Social Security and MediCare.

I think what aggravates me the most is that I’m paying for school more or less out of my own pocket (via loans for the time being) and amount to over three times what I make per a year. Shouldn’t I be getting money from the Government, not giving money to them?

This whole education and tax thing is ass-backwards if you ask me.

Until the next April 15th, enjoy this money-related Family Guy clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT7gh-8feZg

Update: Renamed the post

[tags]family guy, stewie, brian, irs, money[/tags]

Fall Semester Locked and Loaded

My schedule for Fall 2007 has been locked in. I modified two things from my tentative schedule. I moved Digital Logic lab from 11am to 2pm so that I could take Vollyball on Tuesday/Thursday at 11am. That puts me at 16.5 credit hours, but more like 20 actual class hours. As always, I reserve the right to drop a class, which would probably be Info Systems (I’ve heard the teacher for next semester sucks).

Red October Repairs

With only 4 weeks plus one day of school left (including finals!), I’m slowly starting to shift gears back to Seattle. Of course, there’s about 2000 miles and a few days of driving between here and there (I’m taking the long way). First order of business is to get Red October in tip top shape for the journey home. There have been a few problems nagging me that I haven’t bothered to get fixed.

A stop at Mobile Mechanics on Colfax got me the information I need (it was also the best kind of information, free). I need a complete wheel alignment, to fix the rattle I need to get some welding down, and to fix the low idle speed I needed to add some BG44K to the tank.

I picked up a can of BG44K at Big O Tires on the way home and also stopped at Mountain Mechanics so see what welding would cost. At minimum, I’m looking at around $60. I called Merrill Axle & Wheel and setup an alignment appointment for Thursday morning.

A Whole Section in Diff EQ

There’s an entire section (section 4.5 for those playing the home game) dedicated to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, entitled “The Tacoma Narrows Bridge.”

Interesting.

Tentative Fall 2007 Schedule

I’ve just whipped up my tentative 2007 schedule:

  • Fluids – MWF 9am w/ recitation @ T 2pm
  • Digital Logic – MWF 10am w/ lab @ R 11am (3 hours)
  • Engineering Math II – MWF 11am
  • Information System – MWF 2pm w/ recitation @ M 1pm
  • Circuit Analysis – MWF 3pm

All classes are 50 minutes unless otherwise noted.

16 Credit Hours in total, with the option to drop fluids since it’s a dead end class (i.e. while I have to take it, no other class depends on it). Interestingly enough, most of my classes were only offered at one time, this made making my schedule relatively easy.

The end is more or less in sight. I’ve mentally broken it down into three stages: EE core classes, which I’ll start and finish next year, for the most part; LAIS classes, which I’m hoping to start taking care of in the UK next spring; and the wrap up classes, which entails senior design and few EE/LAIS classes here and there which I don’t get taken care of next year.

You can view the spreadsheet on Google Spreadsheets.

12 Hours of Uber Productivness

I’ve been pretty productive the last 24 hours or so. Here’s what I’ve accomplished:

  • Got a good start on my housing for next year…maybe even almost finalized
  • Called tech support to try and get my laptop fan fixed (it’s been really noisy of late and needs to be replaced)
  • Got an appointment setup for Red October (my car) to get some things diagnosed and fixed, including:
    1. Constant pull to the right
    2. Low idle speed (~200 RPM) with jumps to regular (~1000 RPM), bad O2 sensor?
    3. Under body rattle at lower (<800 RPM) speeds
  • Got a bunch of blog posts out of the way and cleaned up my desktop a bit

Tech support has been less then helpful. They want $75 to expedite my diagnostic. Otherwise I have to give up Apollo (my Tablet) for 3-5 business days, which can’t happen because I do all my school work on it. I can buy the part myself for $36 and change, plus shipping.

If you figure the drive down to Lone Tree and back is about 23 miles each way, I’m looking at $5 in gas for a round trip. If I do that twice (once to diagnose it, once to actually get it fixed…both while I wait), that’s $10 in gas…or almost a 1/4 of the cost of the part. Bonus: There is a Krispy Kreme in Lone Tree, which I’ve been craving since my dream yesterday.

My plan is to drive down there and turn on the charm and logic. Turn the computer on, show them the racket it makes, and get them to order the part.

Plan B is to talk with Nick Lew from SAAS and see if he’d be willing to get the part for me under warranty and have it shipped to me for a modest fee.

Plan C is to order the part my self.

Contemporary Services Corporation Are…

I was going to complete the title of this post with “Douchebags”, but I’m not sure that’s the most appropriate term. Foolish? Ill-informed? Republican? Terrorists? Okay, this getting to political. I’ll just leave it blank and you can decide what word to fill in. Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.

Shooting pictures can be a challenge sometimes. I used to run into similar situations back in high school when I was doing cinematography.

I remember I was shooting this one scene with my neighbor, Eddie, up at Eckstein Middle School. It was a Saturday, nice and sunny out. We’re in the parking lot shooting (he’s on top of the car, I’m inside basically letting the engine idle us forward). A cop comes up and starts asking us questions. Apparently, some of the parents (there are several soccer games being played on the field) thought we were video tapping cars that we wanted to steal, or something like that. Yea, it was really bizarre.

I also shot some video at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport garage complex. I was shooting the toll-booths because they look very similar to the US-Canadian border crossing booths. After a few minutes, I was asked to stop. I had got what I needed and left.

When I started getting serious about photography, I checkout some books about my legal rights. I wanted to know where I stood legally because if you know me, I like to push the boundaries. They more or less boil down to:

  • I can take pictures of anyone or anything on public property (this includes streets, sidewalks, and public parks)
  • Anything really does mean anything (in public, that is): accidents, children, celebrities, criminal activities, buildings, law enforcement offices, etc
  • Private parties, absent a court order, have no right to confiscate my film. Taking or attempting to take my film can constitute a criminal offense against me (such as theft and coercion)
  • The same applies for law enforcement, unless they are arresting me (which I hope doesn’t happen)

As always, I am not a lawyer (IANAL), so consult your attorney of choice before doing something rash. All the information above is taken from an excellent pamphlet put out by Bert P. Krages, who happens to be photography as well as a lawyer: The Photographers Rights. I keep this in my camera bag at all times and would suggest you do as well.

This brings me to EDays. From last year, I know that there are certain restrictions on how I shoot (i.e. flash or no-flash) and when I can shoot. That’s fine and all. This year, the CSC (Contemporary Services Corporation) Event Staff Supervisor comes up to me to make sure I know the deal. I say yes. Then he adds something to the effect of, “If you don’t follow these rules, I will have to confiscate your camera.”

As I noted above, confiscating or attempting to confiscate my camera/film is a no-no. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it because I was here already and I didn’t want to get kicked out before the concert even started. I was going to talk to him after the concert, but I couldn’t find him and I was dead tired.

So I did the next best thing, I sent an email to Mike Smith, Branch Manager for CSC Denver, Colorado:

From: Andrew Ferguson
Re: CSC photography equipment confiscation policy

Mr. Mike Smith,

My name is Andrew Ferguson. I’m a student at the Colorado School of Mines. I also happen to take photographs. On Friday, March 30, 2007, The Colorado School of Mines hosted a concert with Flogging Molly and Single File.

I was a volunteer photography at that event with a full access press pass. Before the concert, the Contemporary Services Corporation* Event Staff Supervisor for that event talked to me to make sure I knew the rules about only photographing the first three songs of each band and to not use the flash. I informed him that I did. He then preceded to tell me that if I were to break those rules, he would have to confiscate my camera.

I have read a few books on a photographers legal rights and talked to a few friends I have who are lawyers. It is my understanding that private citizens, absent a court order, are not allowed to take my equipment for any reason. Furthermore, taking my equipment, directly or indirectly, by threatening to use force or call a law enforcement agency can constitute criminal offenses such as theft and coercion.

I regret that I did not obtain the supervisors name, however, his blue jacket had the number 202 on it and identified him as the CSC Event Staff Supervisor.

The purpose of my email is to find out what CSC’s official policy on the matter of photography equipment confiscation is.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, my contact information is below.

Thank you for your time,

Andrew Ferguson
//my email address//
206-948-1701

We’ll see how that goes.

Note:
* If you don’t know who CSC is, they’re pretty much the Halliburton of event security. The minions wear bright yellow jackets and try to look tough. You’ll probably see them on TV if your watching a sports game.

EDays

I’m more or less still recovering from EDays (I only had 13 hours of sleep over the three days). I also have pictures and stories, so please be patient as I sort them all out.

I have over 2 gigs of photos which I’m currently going through and uploading (the first batch is already en route to Flickr).

Not the Greatest Start

EDay’s isn’t off to the greatest start. It started snowing at 1am today, I ended up vomiting, the Fireworks have been postponed indefinitely (but won’t be happening this weekend for sure), and it’s still snowing and cold. It’s supposed to be spring!