Yay! I just got done grading all my students’ portfolios. They are due Tuesday by midnight, so I got them done pretty early.

I was impressed by some of the students’ revisions. I had one student go from a D grade all the way up to a B.

On the flip side, I had a few students who went the entire semester but just did not write the papers or fix the problems and they failed. In fact I had 9 students fail this semester (out of 27). Crazy. I don’t get it. Of those 9, 3 were ones who stayed all semester (rather than the 6 who just stopped coming).

My teaching percentages are about the same though. I’ve been tracking it since I started at UVU. It is about as easy to fail my class as it is to get an A, percentage-wise. The main difference is in whether students are willing to re-vise (I hyphenate that purposefully to enphasize the re-visioning that they often need to do from one draft to the next).

So, I’m going to have some very happy students, and some who will have to take the class all over again. Yuck!

Tis the season . . . to get ripped off if you are not careful.

I speak specifically of the extended warranties offered at pretty much every retailer for various electronic or other items.

These are RIP OFFS. Do NOT waste your money on them; the cashiers may say that it covers physical damage, including even being run over by a car, but that is a LIE!

Why are these such a waste of money?

First of all, the manufacturer’s warranty has to expire before you can even use the extended one.

Second, they only cover certain kinds of damage. For example, we bought a Nintendo DS for one of the kids a couple years ago at FYE. I got the extended warranty because the kids play rough with those. Recently, the hinge broke, causing the entire unit to fail (some wires got pulled out). I contacted the warranty people (Bankers Warranty group, I’m talking about you) since the manufacturer’s warranty had expired. They denied the claim because they only cover mechanical failures. They didn’t deem this to be mechanical – hinges are apparently not part of the mechanics of the device – go figure. I got my law firm involved and they decided to give another look at it. They just denied the claim again – even with pictures and my lawyer breathing down their neck. I’m waiting for a call back from the attorney to see what I can do next, but this post is a good place to start.

Now, looking at the reason for the denial, if there is a mechanical breakdown, one that would be covered, it would happen during the manufacturer’s part of the warranty. So, basically, you are paying these scams like Bankers Warranty Group to tell you to contact your manufacturer.

Third, the stores make A LOT of money on these things – commissions. So the cashiers – untrained salespeople – will tell you just about anything to get you to buy it. I am VERY disappointed in FYE – they should be ashamed of the lies they tell their cashiers. They are not alone though, I get the same rigmarole from WalMart, Target, Shopko, Best Buy, and so forth. Capitalism at its best worst!

Fourth, if you used a credit card to purchase the item, the credit card company may already be giving you an extended warranty.

Fifth, products are fairly reliable now. You have better odds in Vegas than in needing to use the extended part of the warranty.

Sixth, the cost of the warranty is usually close to or more than the cost for a repair in the first place. And, worse, about half of the cost of the extended warranty is the commission on the item! So, a huge percentage of that money for the warranty isn’t even going to cover eventual breakdowns – can you see why salespeople would lie and warranty groups (hello again Bankers Warranty Group – ) would defraud consumers?

Seventh, you’ll probably want an updated version of the item by the time you need it anyway, especially with electronics.

Now, to be fair, some people believe that there are some cases when extended warranties make sense (however, these people agree that purchasing extended warranties doesn’t usually make sense).

When it comes down to it, make sure you know what the fine print says is covered or not (regardless of what the cashier says) before plucking down your cash.

Tags: Shopping

Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought it would be fun to try out a historical novel as a break from all the fantasy I’ve been reading. I’ve enjoyed the last several that I got from my Grandma, so I opened this one and started reading, not even really knowing anything about the author nor having read anything from Ms. Allende before. And, I can say that the book was enjoyable and engaging.

It is written in typical romance style (romance the culture, not the genre), with strong descriptions, beautiful prose, troubled characters, and meandering story lines. Not that the last is bad, it is just different from the typically straight-forward approach of American writing.

I felt that some things were just drawn out or left unexplained for too long – for example, the true story of the death of the grandfather – but I kept reading because of the interesting characters. I wasn’t really surprised by the plot twists (in fact, I saw the husband thing and her future lover thing coming long before), but, then, I was more interested in how the various characters would handle it.

I wanted more with Severo at the end, but this is not really his story.

The book is divided into 3 sections, with no other chaptering, so it felt rather long at times. However, there were scene breaks that let me feel like I could put the book down.

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Last Friday, I got to see the new movie twice!

Once for work and once with the family.

I thought the script was handled quite well. The story was told well and condensed enough to keep the action moving (as opposed to the interminable amount of camping time done in the book). The acting was great. These 3 kids have really grown up and become fine actors. I could have done without the “Harry and Hermione kiss” – the same effect could have been created with more of an eye toward younger audiences, and just plain old propriety. The dancing scene was fun, but kind of silly. It felt thrown into the movie. Finally, I felt like the entire setup for all the deaths didn’t work well. Dobby’s death should have had me bawling (like in the book). Instead, the deaths didn’t build on each other. The danger level didn’t feel like it increased as we went along. In general, though, I thought the film stood on its own and was enjoyable in its own right.

Heidi and I have loved the TV series, Chuck, ever since it aired 4 years ago. Part of the charm is the character named John Casey, played by Adam Baldwin. The character is similar in some respects to the part Baldwin played on another of my favorite shows: Firefly (and subsequently on the movie version, Serenity).

This 4th season, they been bringing in some big names for cameos and small parts. From Brandon Routh last season to Timothy Dalton and Linda Hamilton this season, it has been lots of fun.

Well, yesterday’s episode had an appearance by Summer Glau (who also had a part in Firefly). And seeing her and Adam together again was totally awesome! They really feed off each other in a great way.

Mr. Monster by Dan Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I liked this one even more than the first. Partly this was because the supernatural element ran through the entire thing, so it didn’t feel like a genre shift right in the middle. But, also because the tension was ratcheted up several more notches in this one.

I thought that Dan did a great job of plotting this one and keeping the story moving the entire time. I didn’t want to put the book down (indeed, I read it in two nights).

John Cleaver got a little more sociopathic (which made me identify with him less), but I could still commiserate with his teen angst and family issues.

I kind of knew who the "new" serial killer in town was, but I was not expecting the why and how.

I also liked the way Dan left it hanging for the next book in the series. Very cool!

So, if you like to be thrilled and shocked, then this book will raise your blood pressure and leave you gasping.

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Best Android Apps by Mike Hendrickson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fairly useful book for me (which is why I bought it rather than just skimming).

Unfortunately, with something like this, it is out-dated even before it is published. I was hoping there was a corresponding website to go with the book, but that was never mentioned.

They do have some good recommendations. I would have liked them to arrange it a bit differently instead of having basically just 2 sections (one for winners of a best apps competition and one for the ones they tried out arranged as certain types of apps).

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Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! So much happened in this book that I’m not sure I can keep it all straight or even make a coherent review. But, I can say that this book had humor, emotion (I got teary-eyed in the middle several times), and lots and lots of movement toward plot resolutions.

We got to see point of view from just about every character, including Aviendha. The only one that I wanted but didn’t get was Loial. I hope he shows up in the last book.

While I didn’t like Egwene or Elayne in this book as much, Rand was finally enjoyable. And Matt and Perrin were also pretty interesting.

I liked how their paths started crossing again and that some plotlines were getting resolved already.

Definitely a good read.

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Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For getting information out about APA style, it does its job.

For the authors be willing to update and fix their own style errors in the first printing, they get 5 stars.

APA is not the easiest or most understandable style out there, but it is what I am supposed to be teaching my students. So, I thought I should actually buy it.

I skimmed more than I read it, but it seems well organized and provides some examples that should be helpful.

I do applaud them for trying to put more online and leaving the not-likely-to-change stuff in the book.

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