Thing to do before you come visit

Meg and I have been talking to some of you who are planning to come visit sometime in the next year. We're really looking forward to seeing you and can't wait for you to get here. That being said, I've come up with a list of things you need to do before you get here to make your stay easier.

1. Call your credit card/bank and tell them you're coming.
Let them know when you are coming over so they won't put a hold on your card when it's suddenly used on the other side of the world.

2. Unlock your phone.
If you have an AT&T or T-Mobile phone, go into the store and ask them to unlock it for you. I think they will do this with every phone except the iPhone. When you get here we'll give you a local SIM card that you can use while you're here so you won't have to pay the crazy international fees.
If you have verizon or sprint then your phone will probably not work here, and if it does it will be crazy expensive. Let us know if you need to borrow a phone and we'll see if we can work something out. It might not be the most fashionable of phones, but we'll make sure it works.

3. TBD
I'm sure we'll come up with other things, and we'll let each of you know closer to when you're coming.

Routines and Work Space

I've been having a difficult time getting into a routine here, and I think the biggest problem is that I have no designated "work space" like I did in the states. Hopefully that will change soon, as we are finally settled in with internet.
Of course I also haven't had to actually DO anything yet, so work space has not been at the top of my to-do list. That will change pretty soon as school is ramping up (my professors took last week, the third week of class, off to go to a conference in Hamburg) and I'm applying for some jobs. If I do get some work-at-home type jobs then I'll have to reconsider my work area.

I've thought at length about what my favorite work area would be, and luckily Meg and I both agree it would be more a library than a study. I would like it to have chairs for reading, and possibly a partner's desk so two people can work at once. Meg and I found a very nice antique partner's desk in Paducah before we left, but where we found one we can find another.

Flowers and Slow cookers

Meg and I spent the day planting bulbs at the Sunshine Childern's Home with the Dublin Central Rotary club. It was nice to get out of town, and when we were done we traveled to the end of the Luas green line to have a look around. I hope we can go back some weekend to hike around the hills.

When I lived out at the lake I became a big fan of slow cookers. I figured out how to make a pretty good mexican chicken and rice with some frozen chicken breast, rice, hot sauce and taco seasoning. Meg, on the other hand, can make some really good pot roast in one. This is why the first thing we got for our kitchen here was, yep, a slow cooker.

Apparently they are not as well known here as they are in the states, as none of the department stores carried them, and the first ones we saw were in a family-owned store. The Blacks ended up ordering one for us on Amazon.uk, and I think it is bigger than the ones we had stateside.

Waiting for a collapse?

The State of Ireland seems to be in a sharp decline, as this week they bought up another failing bank and upped the expected bill of the other financial entities they bought in the past year to over €50 BILLION. Of course this is an insane amount of money that the government does not have, and, since they are taking out so much in loans, the interest rates on those loans are getting higher and higher.
There is even speculation that they will have to go to the IMF to get some cash, and those loans come with strings attached.
Here in Ireland people are calling for the heads of Dáil members to be put on pikes around the city, as a warring for those who will fill their seats next.
Wednesday of this week a man driving a cement truck with the phrase "Toxic Bank Anglo" painted on the side ran up to the gates of the parliament. Many people that day called him a hero.

Settling in.

It’s the first day of our third week in Ireland, and we have settled in as much as we can. Everything we need is either here now or on order (internet gets hooked up Monday, my mobile sometime next week too) and Tuesday we both start classes. We both have class on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, meaning we both have four day weekends. We’ve already started planning trips out of the city. We get pretty good deals on bus tickets with the “Student Travel Card”, and con go pretty much anywhere in the country in an afternoon.
Meg is at a Rotary function at a four star hotel this weekend, so I have the apartment to myself. The more I re-arrange and find places for things the more I realize how big it is. We still have some things to buy (like a wifi router, a slow cooker, and a mixing bowl) but those are not too big of deals, the problem is finding them cheap. I might have to start looking on amazon if I can’t find a router or slow cooker in any of the stores here.
Also, I should have the first (and maybe second) videos up sometime Monday afternoon, once we get the internet hooked up. Starbucks (where we are getting internet currently) has a very slow upload link, and it will take around 6 hours to upload a 4 minute video.

Dublin days 1 and 2

Today is our third day in Dublin, and we got off to a late start. Luckily the last two days have been full days.
We were picked up from the airport by Kelley, a MSU alum that is getting her doctorate at University College Dublin and a friend of Megs.


Her car is very small.
She has an extra room she is letting us use for a few days until we find a place of our own.

Yesterday, Friday, we started looking at apartments. The first two, one in Temple Bar and another north of Trinity, were very nice, while the other two, on Bachelor's Walk, were more run-down. Luckily we had some free time to spend looking at Trinity and Grafton Street.
I rather like the main gates of Trinity, and in fact much of the older architecture in the college. The newer buildings are much more utilitarian in design, which is a shame as they clash with the old style.
I also like this globe, if only because when you run up and push on it, it spins! We got a lot done, including getting a Starbucks MyRewards card, which gets us wifi at any Starbucks so we can check email and apartment listings throughout the day.



We also go to see this busker, who had pigions landing on him all day long.

Gadgets Abroad

I am a firm believer in the use of technology to make our lives simpler. Digital cameras are smaller and don't require you to carry around film. iPods let you have your entire music and video library in your hand. To that effect, I have chosen the gadgets to take to Ireland very carefully. Some of these gadgets overlap in function, but my excuse for bringing so many is that I will be gone an entire year, and may not be able to afford a replacement if one should break.
Also, as part of the MSU Study Abroad Office Video Blog scholarship, I will have to produce a certain number of videos throughout the first semester, meaning I will need a primary video camera and a backup. So the list is as of now:

Panasonic HDD video camera: As part of the video blog scholarship they gave me a video camera! Standard definition video that can record to the built in hard drive (for around 55 hours) or directly to an SD card, for around an hour a GB. One quirk of the camera is that it must be plugged in to an external power source (like a wall plug) to show up as a drive, meaning it has to be plugged in to get anything off of it. The easy way around this is to just put everything on the SD card and transfer it to the computer through a card reader.

Samsung point and shoot camera: a pretty decent still camera I've had for a few years, sadly it has a proprietary USB/power connection so I have to take those cords too.

iPods: a 30GB video and Meg's old 40GB clickwheel are loaded with videos and music, in fact I only have a gig or two of music on my computer now.

Computer: Unibody macbook, the old powerbook is incapable of doing video editing at any reasonable pace.

iPhone: I don't use this as a phone, but have been using it as an ipod touch with a video camera and microphone (for Skype). I won't be using it over there either, as we are getting some phones through 3 (three.ie) since Skype to Skype calls are free on their network. This way we can get the cheap-o free on contract phones and still be able to call friends and family back home.

Backup drive: a Time Machine backup drive that should hold complete backups of both our computers.

Miscellaneous -
7-in-1 card reader: For the SD card from the video camera and for whatever else comes around.
Plug adaptors: three US to UK/Ireland plug adaptors and one "universal" plug for when we travel.
Headphones: travel and studio
Gorrillapods: Bendy tripods for the cameras.



Of course this seems like a lot, but in total all this weighs around 20lbs pounds in a pack, and some of these things (like the tripods) are going over in a suitcase.

Meg's gadget list is a lot shorter, consisting of laptop, kindle, ipod touch and a camera. Lucky her.

Ireland in 3 days.

Packing for a year is not all that difficult. we will be there through all four seasons, so winter, spring summer and fall clothes are all going to be packed anyway. According to this chart at wikipedia the record high for the city is 83˚F, so I’m not even worried about taking shorts. It looks like it’s going to be light jacket weather for most of the year, and then either heavy coats or jeans and t-shirts.

So far both bags are packed, each at around 45lbs. Sadly, I still have another 7-10lbs to pack, meaning I must be very careful with the weight distribution. Or I could just not pack everything I have out.

Study abroad

In 7 days I am boarding a plane with my wife and traveling to Dublin, Ireland, where over the next 13 months she will be getting her Master’s degree from Trinity College, Dublin.
I, likewise, will be taking classes to finish my Master’s degree, but from Dublin City University.
I will be regularly updating this blog with videos I will create as part of a scholarship from the MSU study abroad office, but for the next week I’ll focus on what I’m taking, and what I’m leaving behind.

Wedding Photobooth

Here are all the pictures taken in the wedding photobooth!



The software came from this website, and it worked out great. Thank you all for coming to the wedding, we had a blast!

Short film shot and edited on an iphone

Pretty good, of course this guy is also a professional. I'm just glad that people can finally create content on phones, and not just consume it.
Apple of My Eye- an iPhone 4 film on Vimeo

Online defamation and Murray State

I’ve spent the last few weeks staring at back issues of the Murray State News, (not for fun, honestly, I need them for my master’s project so I can graduate). In the more recent issues, particularly the one from April 16, 2010, there is an article “Online defamation of professors questioned” which raises some very good points that students may not realize, including the fact that posts on facebook and twitter, if public, are considered publishing.

I got rather uneasy when I first read the article back in April and I’m still uneasy when I read it. I got downright queasy when I read the News staff editorial that week, “Carelessness of student body can cripple University's reputation”. It seems to be more than anything trying to drum up support for a new university policy concerning online defamation, which is (a.) not needed and (b.) has a high potential for abuse.

The university does not need a policy regarding defamation because we already have laws protecting people from defamatory remarks. Professors (and in fact, students) are protected from slander by law. If anyone says something defamatory about anyone, they have legal recourse. Likewise, students (and, also, professors) can then use the truth as a defense in court and against SLAPP suites.
SLAPP suites bring me to my next concern, which is that, since the university will be circumventing the courts in this matter, due process may be lost in the move. Depending on how this new policy is written (and at this point I’m sure it’s going to be written sooner rather than later) it may demand that any professor can demand any post be taken down until it’s reviewed.
Will first amendment protections be included in the policy? Will Murray State just go ahead and block RateMyProfessor.Com?

There was a third, smaller rumbling in my gullet while I was reading the words of professors interviewed for the story, one I couldn’t quite place until later. After reading through it again I realized that these were not men cowering in fear of the power these faceless students have over their online popularity, these were the words of men sharpening their swords, bracing for the coming battle. But whom would they be fighting? Hopefully not the very students that take their classes! Oh, well, then... good luck with that.

Thoughts on USA/England match

I wonder how many news stories will lead off with "It's not easy being Green"?
Also, Howard should get a statue made of him. Not a giant statue, something more life sized. Maybe one of those butter statues they have at the Iowa state fair.

Wonder if apple approves....

Concerning ATT's new data plans:
When Apple introduced the iPad 3G it promoted a "breakthrough deal with ATT". $15 for 250MB and $30 for unlimited on a month-to-month basis.
Now, six months after it was announced, and one month after the iPad 3G shipped, ATT seems to be reneging on the deal. They've jacked up the price per GB (Old: $30 for 5GB. New: $25 for 2GB).
This has got to be another thorn in the foot of Apple. ATT, something Apple can't control, is taking away from the user exerience. They've had a year to implement tethering (something the iPhone, to great applause, learned to do last year) and now are wanting to charge users another $20 a month to use the same 2GB they get for $30.

Let me explain that a different way: for $30 an ATT user gets 2GB of data from their device. For another $20 they can hook that phone to a computer and surf the internet through their phone. If they do this, they use that same 2GB. When that 2GB is exhausted, they have to pay $10 more for another GB.

Meanwhile, in Ireland (on Meteor), you can get 10GB for €15. Coupled with a cheap voice/text plan, you get it for €25 ($30) total. I hate American cell phone plans.

How I spent my "today"

Today I spent a good six hours on a TV shoot for a show that will most likely never be shown here in the states, but will draw a few million people on BBC1.

I'm not sure how much I should talk about, only that it's Wallace and Grommet's new show "Wallace and Grommet's World of Inventions", where the claymation pair feature interesting inventions by interesting inventors from around the world.
The segment that was filmed today focused on a local inventor from the turn of the century, Nathan B Stubblefield, who came up with a primitive form of wireless telephony in the 1890s.

The host for today's segment and some other "on location" shots is this guy, who is pretty awesome and very humble. In fact, all the crew was very nice. They could have easily done this in a field in England, but came to western Kentucky to film a bunch of locals putting copper rods in the ground. It was a great way to spend the day, and I feel that Ruger will be featured pretty heavily in the episode.

So much going wrong at once.

Let's see. We have the largest ecological disaster in the history of the planet happening right now, along with a bomb in Times Square and Nashville is now a mermaid paradise.
If I wasn't busy with finals and a cumulative project I would use this time to analyze how newsites are covering each event. Sadly, I don't have that sort of time anymore.

And that "largest ecological disaster" line is only because the TVA coal ash spill from christmas 2008 released only a little over 1 billion gallons of toxic, mildly radioactive gunk into the Tennessee River (don't eat the fish) and THAT was labeled the "worst ecological disaster" and so far, as of today, BP says the oil spill is only 2.7 million (at a rate of 210,000 gallons a day, other estimates put it as high as 12.2 million) but covers 50x150 square miles.

Federal Work Study

TL, DR - I've been given almost $3,000 from Uncle Sam to work at MSU, but MSU is only going to pay me $2,500. If you are in the FWS program please do the math yourself and figure out if they are holding anything back.


I'm in the Federal Work Study program at MSU, and as the year draws to a close I've noticed that these numbers don't add up.

Total Authorized Available: $2,994.25
Total Work Study Earned: $2,001.00
Remaining Work Study Balance: $993.25
Remaining Percentage of Work: 33.17
Total Hours Remaining to Work: 137.0
as of Mar 12, 2010

That's for last pay period, so as of tomorrow it should look like this.

Total Authorized Available: $2,994.25
Total Work Study Earned: $2,145.00
Remaining Work Study Balance: $819.25
Total Hours Remaining to Work: 113

I've been authorized by the Financial Aid Office to work for 12 hours a week, and classes end in 3 weeks, and finals are over in 4, so at most I can work 48 more hours, leaving a total of 65 hours that I won't be able to work. At the end of those 48 hours I will earn $348, only $2,493 of the promised $3,000. That 65, at minimum wage, comes out to $471.25. Of course that still leaves about $30 unaccounted for, but I’m ok with that.

I noticed some discrepancies earlier this year, but I didn't sit down and do the math until today, but I still can't figure out how they are dividing up the money.

If they, the people in the financial aid office, simply divided the award amount ($2,994.25) by the amount of full weeks from the start of school, Aug. 19, to the final Friday of finals week, May 7, (38 weeks)the amount of money per week comes out to $78.95. Again divided by minimum wage (7.25) that comes out to working 10.889 hours a week. Since that is an hour less than what they told me to work then they were expecting some weeks I would not be able to work. So therefore we take out the 3 weeks of winter break (Dec. 19 to Jan. 10) and the 1 week of spring break we are left with 34 weeks, and at $88.07 a week we get 12.15 work hours a week, paid for by Uncle Sam.

But I don't work 12.15, I work 12, and get $87 for it. 87*34=2,958. That's still more than I will currently be getting. I didn't work the first full week of classes (I hadn't found this job yet) but that would still come out to $2,871. Now let’s do all the calculations again but start with $2,871.
Total Authorized Available: $2,871
Total Work Study Earned: $2,145.00
Remaining Work Study Balance: $729
Total Hours Remaining to Work: 100.55

We still have 4 weeks left in the semester, taking another $348, but still leaving $381 unclaimed dollars for 52.55 unworked hours.

I've been told by bosses around campus that they don't have the money to pay students, that they are getting less money from the government to pay students, that they have to have matching funds to pay students, etc. so they are cutting hours. It's a good cost cutting measure, but some students rely on these jobs so they don't have to go out and find ones at WalMart or McD's.
If you are getting FWS funds, sit down with a calculator and double check the numbers available to you on MyGate. If you find something go down to the office and ask them about it. It's probably too late in the semester to do anything, but be sure to check next semester as well, and make sure they don't pull this again.

New guerrilla marketing campaign idea

A buddy of mine posted pictures on Facebook recently of Westburo Baptist Church (the single-family church from Kansas that protests soldier's funerals) protesting something in Charleston, and that's what made me revist an idea I had last week, when a similar family was holding up offensive signs on a street corner in Murray.

When I drove by these people holding signs last Sunday I mistakenly read one as "God hates fangs", a saying from True Blood. Once I realized my mistake I thought "Wouldn't it be cool if someone made a God Hates Fangs sign and went out there and stood with them?"
And that's the basis of the idea. In True Blood there is the "Fellowship of the Sun", an anti-vampire church. Since season 3 starts soon, my idea is to have HBO print up a bunch of FotS placards, send them to town ahead of WBC, and have a bunch of True Blood fans drown out the disrespectful asshats. Season 3 gets promoted and HBO is seen as providing a civil service. Win-win.

My 2¢ on the space shuttles

I know I'm a little late on this, but over the past weeks there has been talk of NASA's new budget.
A part of that new budget is the long in the making retirement of the space shuttles. And really, that's a good thing. They are starting to be unsafe and hard to maintain.
What I question is that they are being mothballed.
Now I'm not sure that this will completely work, but is there a serious reason why we don't launch them one last time and just leave them docked to the ISS?

Of course in my mind the ISS connects together like a K'NEX or LEGO set, so I don't see much problem with each shuttle carrying a connector to attach to yet another shuttle to the station. It would greatly increase the work space on the ISS, and since they aren't coming down ever again we can even put solar cells on the underside of each shuttle to supply more power.

2-10-10

2-10-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

It's a hat on a dog.

2-9-10

2-9-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Murray got an additional 5-6 inches of snow today, creating a very pleasant winter wonderland.

2-8-10

2-8-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

10 PM shot, 8 seconds long.

2-7-10

2-7-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Some of my home-made cider at the super bowl party.

2-6-10

2-6-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Matty usually doesn't carry around branches, so I'm sure he has a good reason for brandishing them against his girlfriend's sister.

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2-4-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Ahh, Fazoli's. There is nothing else quite as greasy.

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2-3-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

This is the first time I have ever noticed a sidewalk sweeper on campus.

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2-2-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Goodbye, snow.

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2-1-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Finally got that shot.

1-31-10

1-31-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Meg made me a snow man yesterday, and with it being 12 degrees outside right now, I'm expecting it to stick around.

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1-30-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

My friend Tyler Frank molded this mermaid on the quad last night, and dyed it with food coloring. Of course the food coloring immediately froze, so we expect her to be there for a while.

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1-29-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Same location as yesterday, but this time the clouds of the snowacalypse '10 were rolling in, so the lighting poor. If there had been snow on the ground like there was supposed to be by this time it would have been a much different shot.
In other news it's 11 pm and there's around 4 inches on the ground, with snow continuing until 10 tomorrow morning.

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1-28-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

A picture I took with my phone from one of the top floors of Faculty hall, of the new science buildings. Tomorrow I'm taking a real camera and tripod and will try and get a better shot.

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1-27-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The corner of 16th and Farmer, where once stood the University Barber Shop, and next to it the pike house. I'm guessing it will soon be more MSU parking, once they clear out the remaining building on the lot.

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1-26-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

A unicycle in the early morning on campus.

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1-25-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

This may look like I'm multitasking, but it's all part of one big project.

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1-24-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Mr. Soap is not amused.

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1-23-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

I wish I had my camera with me so I could have gotten a better picture, but this is a Tyrannosaurus Rex sculpture in a field off of I-24 outside of Paducah, KY.

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1-22-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The newer label of Amber Bock on the left, with the old label on the right.

I know they switched labels a while ago, but I found this in the very back of the beer fridge and thought people might like to see it again. I for one miss the old label, it had a great "old time" feel that is lost on the new one.

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1-21-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Two weeks after starting a Mr. Beer brew, this is the first time I've actually tried it and...
It's kinda citrus-y but not very strong - flavor or proof wise.

Here it is in a glass. My next brew should be much darker, and after that I will brew some more cider.

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1-20-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

I've only been in class for a week and a half, and already my bag is getting cluttered. If you click through to flickr I've tagged everything.

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1-19-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

I made a chicken enchilada casserole for dinner tonight, something I've wanted to try for a while. It turned out alright, as I only made it a single layer tall (the directions called for two layers) and with red beans instead of pinto beans. Next time I might try black beans.

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1-18-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Long exposure light photography is hard.

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1-17-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The choir of 1st Presbyterian Church, Murray, KY. Led by Todd Hill and accompanied by Kayla Dunn.

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1-16-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Meg's ring hand.

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1-15-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The Olive is the latest name for the bar/restaurant located at 15th and Olive in Murray, KY. I first remember it as a daycare center, then as the restaurant 15th and Olive, then as Vitello's, and now, "est. 2010", as The Olive.

Pic of the Day 1-14-10

Today is a little different. As I was walking to class I noticed they were tearing down the old University Barber Shop, which has sense moved out to five points. I stopped to take some pictures and ended up taking video of the final wall coming down.

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1-13-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The sky was very blue today.

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1-12-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

This is Angel, my grandparent's persian cat. I'm watching her while they are on vacation for the next month or so.

Pic of the Day 1-11-10

1-11-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The statue of Rainy Wells at Murray State, with the last of the snowfall. Today was the first day of class for many students, but mine start tomorrow.

Pic of the Day 1-10-10

Pic of the Day 1-10-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The soundboard at First Pres Murray.
January 10, 2010

Pic of the Day 1-9-10

1-9-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Wine+Cheese+Snowmen napkins.

Pic of the Day 1-8-10

1-8-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

After two weeks my first Mr. Beer brew is ready to be bottled, and now to wait another two weeks before trying it out.

Pic of the Day 1-7-10

1-7-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Ruger is a two-year-old Great Pyrenees that loves to play in the snow, which is what I did most of the day.

Pic of the Day 1-3-10

1-3-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Summer Kirkpatrick's entry in Breezy Point's guestbook.
January 3, 2010

Pic of the Day 1-2-10

1-2-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

Josh and Caroline playing with lights.

Pic of the Day 1-1-10

1-1-10, originally uploaded by morndry.

The view of the sunset from the balcony of Breezy Point in Montreat, NC.
January 1, 2010

Picture a day

I'm taking an idea from Bruce Reyes-Chow and Heather Scott and post a picture a day. I need to do something with this blog and this might also help me be more creative with my camera. I'll also go back and find some pictures from the start of the year.