Look ma, I Blogged two weeks in a row!

That's right, two weeks in a row. It's a new record for me. It's now one week after what turned out to be the worst flood the Region remembers. I finally started cleaning our basement. It's not too bad, and from what I can tell we haven't lost anything of value, but we were way over do for a cleaning. During this whole flooding mess Purdue Calumet opened a day, and in some cases two days before other institutions in the area. Why? Was it to maintain normalcy for the students' benefit? If that's the reason, it failed miserably. Regardless of what the ultimate goal is, a large majority of PUC students still commute to school. With most of the major roads in the area under water, this was no easy task. Add to this the flooded basements and in some cases whole houses that they had to deal with, and school being open was just one more hassle everyone had to deal with. I know as an instructor that it's hard when you fall unexpectedly behind in the curriculum. I understand that days of the school closing mean salaried employees who are paid not to work. But (This may shock some people) sometimes money's not the most important driver. Maybe there was a good reason for doing what he did, but if I were the Chancellor, I would have waited at least until 80/94 opened. It would have been easier on the students faculty and staff. 

In other flood related news, my friend who owns Critical Effect, the local game store, is feeling the secondary effects of disaster. a small but vital bridge, or the roadway in front of the bridge, suffered severe damage in the flood. The store sits very near though is thankfully a few feet higher than the bridge and they received no damage. However, the city is worried about the gas and electric lines that ran across the bridge and under the road. Until they give the all clear, he has been ordered to remain closed. Does insurance cover revenue loss when there is no direct damage?

I bring this up because I feel bad for my friend and his wife. Though this is not their only source of income, they have worked hard to be fairly successful, and a week or more of lost revenue can't be good for anyone in small business. But I also have a more selfish reason. I realized today that gaming has become an important part of what makes me who I am. (Those who didn't already know this can feel free to make their geek jokes now, I'm not bothered by them anyway.) The few hours a week I spend gaming provides me with an escape from the weekly stresses I deal with. Painting my miniature armies gives me a creative outlet, though I'm not all that good at it. It's also kind of nice to do something that's not IT related all the time, and to talk to people whose lives don't revolve around IT and in most cases don't know much about IT. Maybe that's a techie sin, I don't know. I have (or had,) other hobbies too (also non-computer related in most cases), but life has gotten in the way of a lot of them. It's hard for me in my current situation to leave work at work, and school has become ingrained in some way in most of my life, so it's nice to still have an outlet from both. 

BTW, Chris, if you read this, get in touch with me in a more direct method. We haven't talked in too long, and I don't have any good contact information on you.