The System Is Down

For much of the last year, I have done nothing but sing the praises of YACCS comments for weblogs. I have been quite proud of the fact that I was one of the rather fortunate few who was able to sign up for it before they closed it to new subscribers. From all that I had seen, YACCS seemed to be the most reliable...having the fewest failures, as far as I could tell.

Now, my faith is shattered. For nearly a week now, my comments (as well as those of Nathan Lundblad) have been completely inoperable. The YACCS website has a lame little explanation about how the server failed and how service won't be restored until September 8. September 8! That's like a total of eleven days without comments. How are you people supposed to respond to my miniature works of genius?

I realize that since the comments are free, I have very little recourse. It's not like I can fire off an angry e-mail that says "stupid lousy free commenting service that I don't pay for! You've just lost yourself a customer!" That's kind of like letting somebody wash your car for free and then complaining that they didn't vacuum. So...I guess I'll just have to wait until September 8.

At any rate, school started last week...on August 25. It seems like it's going to be a pretty irritating semester for me. I'm taking several classes that require several different interviews and observations. Also, I'm supposed to start student teaching soon. That has sort of hit a snag for the moment, however. As I have said before, I am trying to get my assignment in South Pasadena Unified. However, they are taking their time assigning me and say that they won't know for certain until Friday who my master teacher will be (incidentally, school starts tomorrow for them). I have spoken to my professor at CSUN and he told me that it will be ok if I miss the first two days of school because of this...but much more than that would be bad. If they don't give me one by Friday, I'll have to make arrangements for another district...and hopefully that can happen right quick.

But, as I said, I've got a pretty full school schedule, although you wouldn't know it from this week. Monday was a holiday, so there were no classes then. Tuesday I only had one class, because one of my Tuesday classes is a seminar that meets every other week. And today I went to my Special Education class only to discover that it had been cancelled because of professor illness. So, after making the thirty minute drive from Montrose to Northridge, parking my car and then walking the half mile or so to my class, I had to turn around and come back home.

When I got home, I turned on the television and watched the last ninety minutes of the gubernatorial debate on KTLA. Honestly, none of them really impressed me. It sounds as if Peter Ueberroth is philosophically closest to me but he seems to lack charisma. Of course, he has more charisma than does Gray Davis...but then so does a bowl of Grape Nuts. I was amused that Arnold Schwarzenegger is so confident of his chances for victory that he did not feel it necessary to attend. Instead, he felt it more appropriate to visit Cal State Long Beach and have people throw eggs at him. His refusal to participate in the debate reeks of hubris...but I'm guessing that he'll still be elected because of the sheer force of his popularity and outsider status.

But that's enough political discussion...particularly since you will be unable to respond until my comments are fixed on September 8.