Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Homer, We Hardly Knew Ye
So last year Ithaca College raided the piggie bank set aside for funding the construction of a much needed H&S building so that they could create this new online super system called Homer. First it took the campus a little while to get used to the idea that we would no longer have our outdated SIS system. Meanwhile, no one seemed to get the connection between a system named after the blind bard and a school called Ithaca. But the registrar knew how to solve the problem. They printed out signs depicting Simpsons characters which had the desired effect of exciting the student body about using Homer.
Meanwhile, I didn't care. Homer was advertised as being so simple to use that even Joe Tempesta could do it. I knew there might be some bugs the first time around, but I was going to be in Barcelona, and thus out of the reach of the system. And I was right, none of the first go-round glitches ruined my Barcelona experiance. Though I did have to officially sign up for London classes on Homer, it was only a formality seeing as how spots had been reserved for all the students in there classes as part of the registration process. All in all, Homer and I avoided one another for an entire year.
However, the present is a different story, the countdown is over and the Homer Crisis has begun. Because Homer has told Ithaca College that I have been a drop-out for the past year (because I wasn't on campus), I don't get to sign up for classes until April 9th, along with all the other freshman. A wiley trick, I must admit, but I bested Homer on that front. I've been talking to all my old Profs from on the home campus. Little does Homer know that I have seats reserved for me in all my classes next semester. Granted history classes are slim pickings because Joe Tempesta and Prof Brown have been put out to stud, and other Profs have decided to take sabaticles, however my tenuous plan to work on tutorials takes me out of the class rat-race for 6 competitive credits.
I am not the only one Homer went after though. Maliciously, He decided to schedule my friends Meg and Lee Boo to sign up for classes (they DO need to deal with the rat race) at times neither of them can get near a computer. But the humans have fought back against Homer once again with the power of team-work. Lee Boo will sign up for Meg and Meg for Lyss. Humanity refuses to fall to our greek digital overlord.
Homer would not go unavenged, some poor sap had the terrible idea to connect Skynet (I mean Homer) to the housing selection system. Fear abounded as to what trechery Homer would unleash on our desperate housing search. The mortal imagination is not dark enough to fathom the Machiavellian machinations of Homer.
First it did away with the merritocracy that had previously ruled housing selection. The old system (fairly) provided a better housing number to students who had more credits. Granted this favored students who had gone to high-schools with more AP classes, but there are slight problems in even the best systems. Now Homer allows housing preference to go to students who have been ON CAMPUS longer. Not only does this hurt the ambitious study-abroad-er like myself, but it also screws the pooch for transfer students. I ask you, why a transfer senior should ever get stuck in the Boot with a freshman? Somethings are just wrong. Next Homer did away with the superlatively efficient system of signing oneself up for housing. The old system used to be that if you wanted to live somewhere, you showed up at the right time and wrote your name right in the room where you wanted to live. The system provided for minimal confusion, AND the ability to cheat the system like I did to live in Emerson. It had its problems but it's better to have the devil you know than Homer. Now Homer decides where you live. One person must tell the leviathin their party's housing prefference (I note that someone could easily put someone in a flat against their will, but Homer loves such sinister behavior). This also means that a single person can only sign up for a single. And all singles suck. The old system meant that two strangers could meet up on paper an co-habit the room of their dreams, but no longer. Homer won't have it. I now have to live like a freshman.
Using Homer is, itself, an act of hateful blastphemy. I deplore the system, and urge all my fellow human being to break off the shackles the System has imposed upon us. I have a dream that one day we all will be free!
-Tim
Meanwhile, I didn't care. Homer was advertised as being so simple to use that even Joe Tempesta could do it. I knew there might be some bugs the first time around, but I was going to be in Barcelona, and thus out of the reach of the system. And I was right, none of the first go-round glitches ruined my Barcelona experiance. Though I did have to officially sign up for London classes on Homer, it was only a formality seeing as how spots had been reserved for all the students in there classes as part of the registration process. All in all, Homer and I avoided one another for an entire year.
However, the present is a different story, the countdown is over and the Homer Crisis has begun. Because Homer has told Ithaca College that I have been a drop-out for the past year (because I wasn't on campus), I don't get to sign up for classes until April 9th, along with all the other freshman. A wiley trick, I must admit, but I bested Homer on that front. I've been talking to all my old Profs from on the home campus. Little does Homer know that I have seats reserved for me in all my classes next semester. Granted history classes are slim pickings because Joe Tempesta and Prof Brown have been put out to stud, and other Profs have decided to take sabaticles, however my tenuous plan to work on tutorials takes me out of the class rat-race for 6 competitive credits.
I am not the only one Homer went after though. Maliciously, He decided to schedule my friends Meg and Lee Boo to sign up for classes (they DO need to deal with the rat race) at times neither of them can get near a computer. But the humans have fought back against Homer once again with the power of team-work. Lee Boo will sign up for Meg and Meg for Lyss. Humanity refuses to fall to our greek digital overlord.
Homer would not go unavenged, some poor sap had the terrible idea to connect Skynet (I mean Homer) to the housing selection system. Fear abounded as to what trechery Homer would unleash on our desperate housing search. The mortal imagination is not dark enough to fathom the Machiavellian machinations of Homer.
First it did away with the merritocracy that had previously ruled housing selection. The old system (fairly) provided a better housing number to students who had more credits. Granted this favored students who had gone to high-schools with more AP classes, but there are slight problems in even the best systems. Now Homer allows housing preference to go to students who have been ON CAMPUS longer. Not only does this hurt the ambitious study-abroad-er like myself, but it also screws the pooch for transfer students. I ask you, why a transfer senior should ever get stuck in the Boot with a freshman? Somethings are just wrong. Next Homer did away with the superlatively efficient system of signing oneself up for housing. The old system used to be that if you wanted to live somewhere, you showed up at the right time and wrote your name right in the room where you wanted to live. The system provided for minimal confusion, AND the ability to cheat the system like I did to live in Emerson. It had its problems but it's better to have the devil you know than Homer. Now Homer decides where you live. One person must tell the leviathin their party's housing prefference (I note that someone could easily put someone in a flat against their will, but Homer loves such sinister behavior). This also means that a single person can only sign up for a single. And all singles suck. The old system meant that two strangers could meet up on paper an co-habit the room of their dreams, but no longer. Homer won't have it. I now have to live like a freshman.
Using Homer is, itself, an act of hateful blastphemy. I deplore the system, and urge all my fellow human being to break off the shackles the System has imposed upon us. I have a dream that one day we all will be free!
-Tim
# posted by Mr Tim @ 11:41 AM 
