I was there ...

VOLS Sign

One of the things I loved most about Neyland Stadium when I was a student at UT was the VOLS sign that anchored the south end zone overlooking the Tennessee River. According to Biddingforgood.com, which is auctioning the sign, "In 1976, when the southeast upperdeck was completed in Neyland Stadium, creating a horseshoe shape, the VOLS sign was installed... an orange background with white letters that soon became an icon for Tennesee fans. The letters remained there and were unchanged until 1998 when the jumbotron was first installed for the 1999 season." If I were flush I'd love to have them.

Wikipedia and the intellectual challenge

I work in a university library and I've noticed on several occasions students using Wikipedia while in the library. Aside from some of the challenges over credibility caused by it being open to anyone to edit, I don't really have a problem with Wikipedia. I liken it to using a standard encyclopedia (e.g. World Book, Britannica). Wikipedia has potential value for background information but it really bothers me that college students may rely on it as their only source for information, especially because they're college students. The whole point of college is to learn to think more critically or analytically about things. It's about drilling down into a topic or issue and learning how to really pick it apart or understand it further. You just can't get that with a general encyclopedia. More importantly, if you as a college student are paying for access to higher learning why wouldn't you take advantage of it. You can get Wikipedia for free; you can't get a quality education for that! Additionally, a lot is made about getting healthy and living an active lifestyle. Some people take that as far as purchasing gym memberships or access to trainers. They're paying for a service that challenges them physically. So why if you're paying for a service that challenges you intellectually would you not take advantage of it!

For more reading:

"Wikipedia: Academic Use." Wikipedia. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Young, Jeffrey R. "Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation." The Chronicle Of Higher Education. 12 June 2006. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Are you kidding me??!!!

High Resolution Nasal Passage Action

SUMMER FUN - Sea Movies from http://vimeo.com/apeel on Vimeo.

Sign me up!

Price of a wave

I surfed yesterday morning at the L-shaped lot with a couple library buddies. Who would have thought that there'd be multiple surfing librarians in the same town! It was pretty rad if I say so myself. The waves had cleaned up quite a bit with Hurricane Irene moving up the coast but I'd say it was probably 3-4 feet on the good sets. Conditions were clean with slight offshores although with a new moon and a full tide around 8am I was a bit skeptical heading down to the beach. Meeting up Jimmy Half Step and Melvil Dewey in the parking lot I coughed up $4.0 for parking. It's a shame that parking is $2.0 per hour at WB now. I have more to say on that issue but that's for another day. This day was all about surfing with fellow librarians on what turned out to be really fun conditions. I had brought my trusty Allison "Bird Dog" w/me and I ended up catching more than my fair share of waves. After about 1.5 hours I decided I'd catch one in to the beach. The tide was starting to change and the sets were becoming more infrequent. However, one came up and I caught a beautiful right that was my longest of the morning. It seemed to go on for quite some time and keep popping up a beautiful glassy thigh-waist high wave as I cruised along. As I peeled down the line a few youngsters noticed me and smiled at me in way that suggested excitement and fear that I might plow them over. Unfortunately, the wave finally closed out and I turned with the water to shore. It was a great wave and a beautiful one to end my day surfing. And it was worth way more to me than $4.0 ever would.