«  Mon.08.28.2000  » 11:39 pm EDT        68°F (20°C) in Ann Arbor I have so much I want to say in this update. Please try to bear with me. First of all, I can't believe the absolute arrogance displayed to me today by Dr. Bill Hosford, my academic advisor in the Materials Science Department. I went to his office to retrieve my late-withdrawal form, and he told me that he refused to sign it because I didn't follow the rules laid down by the College of Engineering. These rules, mind you, are only supposed to apply when you turn the form in to the CoE records office, not when you go to your advisor for his/her support. Yet, he felt the need to take the rules and make them his own, and use that twisted line of reasoning as justification for refusing to do anything on it! Furthermore, in the worst display of behavior I have ever seen out of an "educator," he refused to accept Prof. Howard's explanation as to why she gave her support to the late-withdrawal petition! She had put on the form that Political Science 111 isn't a required course for an MSE major; but in the Gospel According to Hosford, it IS required by simple virtue of being a humanities/social science course. Who the fuck is he to determine what humanities/social science courses are required for me? That's one of the few areas where I have some control over what I can take. In any case, he is overstepping his boundaries here, and I will see to it that somebody lays the smack down if necessary. The fucking bastard could have told me long before a week had passed, but no -- he expected me to guess when something was done. Now I need to write him a letter, similar to the one I wrote to Prof. Howard a month ago, and let him know I'm getting pissed off at this process without telling him off directly. He's not the only person in the hierarchy of the CoE who displays such haughty arrogance. Sometimes I wonder if the administrators, advisors, and staff over at the Lurie Engineering Center are more worried about upholding the CoE's reputation and enforcing the rules than they are about actually helping students. There is zero compassion over there -- you fuck up, and they rejoice in it. "We can throw another fuck-up out of here! WOO HOO!" All I have to say to the incoming freshmen in CoE is this: You'd better make sure you get at least a 2.5, or the people at Lurie will ride your ass so hard you'll want to leave. Personally, I can't wait to get the hell out; I should be doing something else with my life. I've had the idea of engineering as a major planted in my head by others, anyway; I don't think I've ever really been into it as much as I need to be to succeed. I should seek a transfer to LS&A or something; at least that way, I might salvage graduating in five years. I can only hope now that I'll have this whole process out of the way by next Wednesday, when classes start. If I switch some classes, and have to miss the first several class meetings because of academic bureaucracy, I'll just have another few Political Science 111s waiting to happen. I just wish these people would actually be reasonable; that they'd act like they're actually here to help me (like Howard did, though probably not to the best of her ability); and that they would lose the attitude that they're God's fucking gift to the College of Engineering. I've complained before, in the hallowed history of this page, about "hospital bitches" and how they like to act like they're God's gift to shuttle drivers; honestly, I think these people at CoE who think they're God's gift to engineering students are worse. Fortunately, I don't have to deal with them often. It took 25 minutes to remember what I was going to say next. Yeah, it's Tuesday just after midnight now, but I'm not going to change the date. Washtenaw Glass, the University's window contractor, was out here today to remove my air conditioner. I hope I'm not going to be too sorry about that for the next couple weeks. AccuWeather.com, the official weather report of Larry's Phat Page, claims it's going to be 88° Thursday. All I can say is this: Without an A/C here, it better not be 88°. I have been shifting my sleep time lately. All summer, I was in a go-to-bed-at-5am, get-up-at-noon mode. Now, I'm shifting to a more normal routine; I think I'll try to be in bed by about 1:30 am tonight.