randomosity

I seem to have been posting much on the subject of note-taking as of late. It’s the seasonal thing.
What I suddenly realized amongst my plaudits for techniques and for tools was a gem of a concept that Geoffrey and I have been ruminating over for the past year or so: TiddlyWiki. In case you have missed the Tiddly thing, it is a tiny, entirely self-contained information storage mechanism that uses a wiki-style of interlinked and tagged entries. Unlike the more traditional wiki’s, it is entirely local. While this poses some backup and access issues, it also means that you don’t need an internet connection to edit data, it is blazing fast and very secure. Its extremely easy to use and if you think about what is going on, its an amazing concept.
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Last week I pointed readers to the excellent article by Dustin Wax comparing note-taking methodologies and weighing the pros and cons of a couple techniques. I was not personally aware of the Cornell method. I am however a big fan of Microsoft OneNote for organization not just of notes, but of research materials of all kinds. I use blogs, wikis and OneNote together to manage my data and happened upon a Cornell template for One Note users this morning.
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The 2007-2008 Wilson series of lectures in Canadian History kicked off at McMaster University today. John Weaver, the acting Wilson Chair in Canadian History, has attracted an exciting list of speakers for the coming year. Lou Pauly spoke on ’Globalization, Political Authority and the Prevention of Systemic Financial Crises.’ He followed Angela Graham who, less than 24 hours prior to her doctoral defense, provided an engaging look at Canadian Foreign Policy towards the People’s Republic China between the Second World War and recognition in 1970.

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I attended a lively and effervescent talk by Marianne P. Fedunkiw at the History of health and Medicine Unit. Dr. Fedunkiw presented her work with the diary/scrapbook of Dr. Dorothea Maude, a rather atypical English medical doctor during the early twentieth century. Dr. Maude was active in the Balkan Wars of 1912-14 and then during the First World War in this same area. The talk today was on the topic of the challenges that arise from using diaries as a historical source.

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I threw this link into an aside, and then thought better of it. It might get lost there, and this latest post from the consistently pragmatic Dustin Wax on Taking Better Notes has a plethora of great tips. He also introduces the Cornell System for notetaking which I find quite intriguing and well worth a look.
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The tentative title for post this was how to get ahead by really trying, but I thought this might actually sounds a little too preachy. Without making this too much of a habit (stealing from another’s hard work), Dustin Wax has compiled a great set of suggestions on how to ‘Make this your best Semester Yet‘. I previously noted his excellent article on how to put a wiki to personal use and he has taken some time to assemble a set of thoughtful and powerful reminders on how to tackle the semester.
I draw particular attention to his suggestions to ‘know your professor’ and ’speak up’. These are oft overlooked aspects of the learning environment, but crucial ones. This list reminds us all (I have a student hat on myself as well as TA) that your education calls for strategy and operates at a variety of levels. Ones that I sure which someone highlighted for me at the outset, as opposed to having discover on my own. Even if only a couple of these remind or instruct, they can make a huge difference on your effectiveness this semester.

Its just not my month/week/day for utilities. First it was the night of water and now in the midst of our best blizzard yet this year I seem to have lost half an electrical circuit in my house. If it was a full circuit and involved a fuse…that’d be resolvable by a mere layman such as myself, but it seems to defy logic. I have four electrical circuits for my lights and receptacles. I have mixed and matched fuses and figured out where all the circuits seem to be, but it seems that half a circuit is out. Unfortunately it is my office and full washroom (yes, the one that supplied the carwash that was my carport - and yes, I cannot rule out some connection) so that took out my network and the media centre remains offline now. I ran electrical into one node so I could get the hub and router back online, but the rest is off until I get some more light.

I was oh so logical with the fuses and the like, but I just can;t figure it. Am also used more used to the magnetic breakers from Guelph. Resetting breakers seemed much more simple, but these fuses…they all are functional and yet I can’t seem to get the bloody circuit to reset. Oh well…until the morning…the cold wind is howling.

Just back from a great weekend away at my first fencing tournament. The Mac bus headed off on Friday and we were in Kingston just before midenight. Short nights sleep and we were on the bus at 6 the next morning. I got to fence Epee after all and we had a great time. Didn’t move past the first round, but got some good experience. Sunday I warmed up with foilists and then was alternate for the Sabre C team. The team did great against three A teams and came close to winning the last match. All in all a great weekend.

…and all too fast (maybe not). Clearly I have evolved away from being a last minute writer, however the task of writing to deadlines has gone in the opposite direction. Deadlines are now cut-off points when it is simply time to say “can’t ruminate over this any longer and just have done with it.” “Stop trying to make it perfect, but use every last minute to try and make it so.” Anyway, the proposal is nearly ready to put to bed and then hopefully head off on the research trail.