Back to School!

Someday I'll have time to write a real blog post. I hope.

Classes started last week. I am taking:

Victorian literature - with one of my favorite professors. It seems pretty good so far. Lots of reading.

Literary History (the earliest one, though, so pre-1660, I think) - Pretty boring so far. It's with the professor that is probably the most popular in the department. I was really looking forward to taking this class with him, but a week into the class I haven't figured out why he has such a great reputation. He seems to know his stuff.

Advanced Seminar (which is on Kafka) - The professor's name is Anne Jamison, and I had heard great things about her, too. She looks so much like Anne (Roger's wife), that every class I try to decide whether they look enough alike to be closely related or not.

She's great! She said the bookstore on campus operates on some kind of ponzi scheme, and that they're not a real bookstore anyway, they're a sweatshirt and teddy bear store, so she ordered our books through a local bookshop in Salt Lake somewhere. And gave us the ISBNs for our books so that we can order them online if we prefer. And, so that we're not using WebCT (which is very regulated and sucks), she set up a LiveJournal group for our class. So we have discussions there.

International Tourism - Meets my international requirement (which my AA did not, since I didn't get it in UT). I am taking it online. It sounded SUPER when I read the syllabus, but so far I am totally disappointed--it is so much about fixing poverty and sustainability.

Thanks, I'm not really interested in that. I am heartless, and I don't want one world community. I don't think everyone's opinions are valid, and I don't think we should make economic decisions based on spiritual and emotional values. Our text actually suggested that. (I do think sex trafficking is wrong, so at least when we get to that chapter I'll be on the same page as everyone else.)

So far, we've had to watch little videos where they show the world spinning from space and have us listen to quotes about how there are no boundaries and because we all evolved together since the Big Bang, we need to love each other. And not increase global warming. We have readings and lectures, and movies, and discussions, and quizzes, and projects, and it just seems like an awful lot of work. I hope the tone of the class changes a little! Half of the last lesson was actually about knowing ourselves so that we can be aware of how we act other places. It seemed more interesting and more practical, so we'll see.

I still have my Folklore class, which I started last semester. I am transcribing my interview that I did with J's dad, and I'll be preparing the manuscript for publication. So. That will be fun.

On Friday I finally got the results for my Italian test. I needed a 120/190 to demonstrate "advanced proficiency" and buy credits instead of taking another Italian class for the language requirement. I got a 172/190! So I'll be buying that class instead of taking it.

This semester I am trying to take TRAX instead of driving up. (It's already been pretty exciting; TRAX always is, right?) The idea is that this way I will avoid buying a parking permit and lots of gas, and also have extra time to study (/work on whatever!) during my commutes. My classes are all on Tues/Thurs, so it's working out pretty well so far. The disadvantages are: less Glenn, and less Dr. Laura. I can live with that, I guess.

T-Mobile Text Scam! Revealed on the train!

I got a text today, at 6:24pm, from 5000 that read:

"ApplicationCenter / This is an automated message from Transwest Credit Union.Your ATM card has been suspended.To reactivate call urgent at 1-888-400-6825."

I thought it was a little weird that it came from 5000, since usually texts not from phone numbers are from T-Mobile, acknowledging payment or whatever.

Still, I only have 2 ATM cards.  My main bank is Key Bank, and they are fantastic.  But they really have no reason to suspend my account.  And if they were thinking about it, they would call me first.  I got a call from them when I was back east last year, because I was using my debit card far from Utah and they wanted to make sure I knew about it.  So I let them know I was on vacation and they put a note in my account.

My other ATM card is for WaMu (now Chase.)  I opened an account with them because I wanted a savings account with them (they promised an unheard of interest rate for a regular savings account), and they said I needed a free checking account to start a savings account.  But that account has like $5 in it, so it's nothing to worry about.

And anyway, neither of those banks are Trans-whatever, so I didn't worry about it.  I figured it was a scam and forgot all about it.  That was at 6:24pm today.

Just now I got off of TRAX, where we had an amazing conversation.

TRAX was packed.  People had been waiting at the transfer stop for like 30 minutes, and finally a University train came.  "What are you guys all coming from?" I asked one of the guys near me, and he told me they were coming from a Jazz game.  And then he started talking to his friend.  

He said he'd signed up and they gave him a $20 gift card.  He used it to buy a hat.  He still had to pay $15 towards the hat, but that was what he had used it for, anyway.  And then he got this text.  He read off a free number, and his friend tried to call it, on speakerphone.  "ALL CIRCUITS ARE BUSY" the line said, and it disconnected.

"It's probably because I'm not calling from your phone," the friend said.

"Oh.  Yeah," the guy realized.  "Well, when I called earlier, the first thing it asked me for was my credit card number, and I was like oh, no, you are not getting that, and I hung up."

And then he said something about Transwest.

"Hey!  Wait!  I got that too," I told him. 

"You did?  You got the text too?"

"Yeah!" I remembered, and I pulled my phone out to bring up the message.

"It said your ATM card was suspended?" he confirmed.

"Yeah!" I said.

"I got that too," another girl near us announced.

And it became a whole conversation among the eight people seated across from each other and me standing in the aisle near them.

"Did you all sign up at the Transwest booth too??" the guy asked us.

"Huh?  No.  I wasn't even at the game."  The other girl shook her head.

"I am so relieved.  I signed up at the Transwest booth at the game... you know how they'll give you things if you sign up for a credit card...  Well, they gave me a $20 gift card, and I got this hat that I'm wearing."  He lifted the bill a bit, to show us.  "And then all of the sudden I got this text during the game!"

The other girl nodded.  I didn't, because I don't sign up for credit cards to get free stuff.  Ever.

"I never sign up for anything," I said.  (I don't.)

"I always sign up for those.  You know, you get a blanket at the U games.  Or one time!  One time I signed up for a credit card to get a free pizza," he continued.

We all kind of laughed.

"What time did you guys get the message?"  I asked.

"8:30," the guy said.  "I couldn't even pay attention to the game after that.  I was so worried!  My buddy asked me the score, and I was like [he made a blank face, staring off]"

"6:30," the other girl said.

"I got mine at 6:24."

And then we kind of talked about how it came from 5000, which seemed like an official number.  And we talked about how I never put my phone number on anything, and I don't have Transwest, so it's definitely a scam.  

But the fact remained that although three of us had gotten us, several people around us had not.

"Do you guys have T-Mobile?  Is this a T-Mobile thing?" I asked them.

"I have T-Mobile," the girl said.

"I have T-Mobile too," the guy said, holding his phone up.

"I have Verizon and I didn't get it," another girl near us said, "It must be a T-Mobile thing."  

"Mine is Verizon too, and I didn't get it either," another guy said.  And that settled things.

"You guys, I was so worried!  I'm so glad you guys got it too!  I was like, I signed up for a credit card and now I have a time share!"

The guys who were originally talking about it got off at the next stop.  The rest of us kept talking about it for a few more stops.  We talked about how crazy it was that they could hack the customer list, or whatever happened.  We talked about how this couple got a call years after they were married, where someone told them they had won a vacation, and they said there was no catch, but they wanted to know if he was 25.  He wasn't.  So they wanted his parents' phone number.  And he said no.  He was like, "I'm 23, and you want to talk to my parents?  Why?"

It was a pretty funny conversation.

And then we all got off the train a couple stops later.  "Have a good one!" the guy said to me as I was getting off.  

"I dunno," I said seriously.  "I hear my debit card has been suspended..."

And our half of the train chuckled.

[N.B. Photo lovingly stolen from here, because I thought it was fantastic.]

Photo from my bus ride.

I went to Provo for a New Year's Party. I took two trains and a bus to get there. It took a long time. And at night, the bus from Sandy to Provo doesn't come often at all. And I was really feeling annoyed with UTA going NOWHERE, until my bus came.

And then, the bus driver started doing flips in the front of the bus, and waiting in the stupid snow for an hour and a half was totally worth it.

Tickets must be purchased before boarding.

I saw something kind of funny on the train a couple days ago.

A police got on the train to check tickets, and it was a really full train. He made a big announcement, "Does everyone on here have a fare? There's no way I'm going to get all the way back there, so let's do this: If you don't have a fare, raise your hand and I'll come to you. Raise your hand if you don't have a fare."

He checked a dozen or so people that were right by the front, and then got off at the next stop.

A couple stops later he got back on our car again and went farther back. He said the same thing though, "Who does not have a ticket? Just raise your hand..."

It was amusing to pretty much everyone on the train. Usually they just say "Tickets?" and that's it.

Fishing for Men: A Train Story

As we passed Murray this morning, an older white gentleman got on my TRAX train.


He wore a t-shirt and jeans, and he was carrying a fishing pole. He sat next to an African man, diagonal from me.


"Those are some nice boots," Old Guy told the man next to him. The boots were olive colored, and had stylish sewing, and chains and different stuff on them.


"What?" the African man asked.


"What's your name?" Old Guy asked him.


"Serg."


"Sergio? Mucho gusto. I'm talking to you in Spanish. Where are you from?"


Serg smiled. "Haiti. I am from Haiti."


Old guy, "How do you spell that?"


Serg thought about for a minute. "Haich, aay, eye, tee." The old guy nodded.


And then Serg told Old Guy that he speaks French. Old Guy got excited about it. "You speak French? That's good. I speak nothing. I speak a little bit of Spanish and a little bit of English. See, I lived in Los Angeles for 40 years. There are no Americans there, only Mexicans." [At this point, I grinned at the guy sitting across from me, and he grinned back. We knew that their conversation would be interesting. I scrambled for my moleskine.]


Old Guy showed Serg[io] his fishing pole. "I'm going fishing." Serg nodded.


Then Old Guy asked Serg, "Are you married?" "No. I am a student." "Oh."

"How old are you?"


"Thirty-five."


"Do you have any kids?"



"No."


Old guy was shocked. "And you're thirty-five?! You've got to get busy. God commanded!"


He kept going. "You can keep going to school too, there's a lot of help out there for people. You need to get busy having kids, though. See, you and your wife are two. [His wife that he...doesn't have...] Two times two is four. So to multiply and replenish the earth, you need to have four kids." Serg kept listening.


"You need four kids. And quando tienes quatro hijos, when you have four kids, God wants you to take care of them until they're eight years old. See, they're God's angels. When they're eight years old, then get 'em baptized in the Mormon Church, and he'll take care of them after that."


Fascinating.


"All God asks is that you take care of your four kids until they're eight years old. They're God's angels, he'll take care of them after that. And if you take care of them, God will take care of you. All you gotta do is take care of them 'til they're eight. That's what Jesus says."


"That's his only commandment. Multiply and replenish the Earth, and once you have four kids, take care of them 'til they're eight. That's all He commands."


I don't know how much of that Serg followed, but he was listening, anyway.


Old guy stood up and extended his fishing pole down the aisle of the train. "I'm a fisher of men!" he exclaimed. And then, as the train pulled up to the next station he said he had to get off. He said something to someone else near him about how he could witness that the other guy was getting off too. I didn't really follow that.


"Hasta luego," Serg told Old Guy [Go Serg!], and Old Guy shouted back "Hasta luego!"