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Myers-Briggs Revisited

MyersBriggsTypesDecades after first taking the Myers-Briggs personality profile, I thought I’d try it again, just to make sure I still had a personality.

For years, when anyone would ask, I would tell them I am an ENTJ. Some, like myself, who haven’t studied these things extensively, would nod and move on. Others would give me a slightly puzzled expression, as if to say, “I’m not so sure about that.” I have had several occasions where a friend would assume I was an ENFP or an ENFJ. When I corrected them, I would get the same “whatever you want to think” vote of no-confidence. Continue reading “Myers-Briggs Revisited”

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Asteroids, Dinosaurs, and Jesus

I was helping Josh wind down for bedtime a few nights ago, and the following conversation ensued:

J: I still have one big question about Jesus.

C: Go ahead, shoot.

J: Well, it’s something I can’t quite figure out. If Jesus sent the asteroid to wipe out the dinosaurs, how long until he sends the asteroid to wipe us out? Continue reading “Asteroids, Dinosaurs, and Jesus”

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Josh’s Morning Routine

When Josh is getting ready for a school day, I can only imagine how he processes his to do list.

“Lets see, I have to

A. Bug Joe
B. Bug Amy
C. Bug Lauryn
D. Change underwear
E. Get dressed
F. Put on socks AND shoes
G. Brush teeth

Wow, that’s a lot. Time to prioritize. A-C are non-negotiables, but that’s going to leave me pressed. D is optional, so I’ll put that off til next week. I can manage to squeeze in E and F as long as I leave out the sock part. If I just run my toothbrush under the faucet, that might just leave me enough time for another round of A-C. This should work.”

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My response to Andrew Rosenthal’s commentary: “With Zimmerman, the Scandal is What’s Legal”–New York Times

Trayvon Martin photo
Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

I’ve spent the last few days doing what I imagine a lot of people have been doing: thinking about the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. I didn’t automatically expect a particular verdict; ever since Rodney King, O.J. Simpson, William Kennedy Smith, Casey Anthony . . . (the list goes on), I’ve realized that sitting on a jury and following the parameters established by legal definitions is a very different task than reading news accounts and following gut instincts. Continue reading “My response to Andrew Rosenthal’s commentary: “With Zimmerman, the Scandal is What’s Legal”–New York Times”

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The Solitary Leaker – NYTimes.com

Still not sure what I think about Edward Snowden. First, he blows everything we say about needing a college degree to get a good job–he didn’t even finish high school and yet landed a position that gave him access to highly classified information. Second, I’m not sure whether to see him as a whistleblowing hero or a traitor. Ever since 9/11, we seem to be saying that we’re willing to trade some personal freedoms for greater national security, and yet when we see what that looks like in real life, we understandably don’t like it. I thought David Brooks wrote an insightful column on Snowden a few days ago in The New York Times: The Solitary Leaker – NYTimes.com.

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Bathing Tips from Josh

I was sitting on the couch the other day with Josh, scratching his back.

“You have soft skin.”

“I know.”

“Do I have soft skin?”

(feels my arm.) “No, your skin is very rough.”

“What can I do about it?”

“Do what I do–take a lot of baths. I take, uh, . . . 3 baths a week. But DON’T use shampo0.”

“If I don’t use shampoo, what should I use?”

“Water and toys–that works for me.”

Hmm, that explains the ring around the tub. My theory is that the layer of dirt on him has an SPF rating of 100, which protects him from harmful UV damage. So I guess the motto is “bathe less, live longer.”

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“Beam me up, Scotty, if you remember how”

computer nerdOK, so I had my first “synchronous” session with my online class two nights ago. This is when you all log in together at the same time, using a service such as Adobe Connect Meeting. The description that follows is an illustration of the phrase, “pride goeth before a fall,” since I consider myself somewhat tech-savvy.

The meeting was to begin at 9:00 pm, so at 8:45 I got set up and logged in. No one was there yet, so I dashed to the fridge for a soft drink and went back. 8:50–still no one, not even my cohost for the session. 8:55–still no one, so I sent out a quick email reminder. 9:00–room empty. What was going on? As I stared at my screen, it suddenly hit me–I had logged into the PRACTICE session I’d had a week ago to become familiar with the software. I frantically logged out and logged back into the right session, and there everybody was. I felt like the stereotypical freshman who reads his schedule incorrectly and ends up in the wrong room.

To make matters worse, my connection wasn’t good, so I kept getting booted out. Jennifer, my cohost and one of our reference librarians, dutifully kept everything going smoothly as chat messages appeared at the bottom of the screen: “Is Dr. Gobin back yet?” “I think he was for a minute.”

“YES, I’m here,” I practically shouted into my microphone, which had turned off during the reboot. It was like a bad episode from The Twilight Zone, where I was trapped in a parallel universe and nobody could see or hear me.

I may be being a little melodramatic–the evening went fine overall–but I did wonder why I was having connection problems especially since I was using a wired connection. I discovered the reason the next morning as I went to reconnect the yellow cable to my Wii console. I had in fact unplugged the wrong end of the yellow cable, meaning I was plugged into nowhere the night before and had been using our wi-fi connection without realizing it. This from a guy who does actually know how to program a VCR (what’s a VCR, you ask).

I will never again feel smug when a student asks me how to save a file.