Tag: Latin

Wiki Power

Since this has been the longest contiguous time that I have spent unemployed, I’ve been a little caught off guard by the amount of record-keeping I’ve had to do as I dug further into the job search process. I mean, I’ve been looking in two different states, in several different sectors, and also contemplating school options. On top of that, my note-keeping skills have never been very good.

Usually, when I’m researching something, I stick to one topic at hand and pursue it until it’s complete. Then I can keep track of the entire thing without taking a single note. This has usually worked so well for me that, when I was writing papers, it was actually counterproductive to take notes. When I sat down to actually do the writing, no matter what notes I actually had to hand, what I wrote would take end up pulling on something else that I had read entirely. I usually had to go back and find my references after I wrote the paper. But with the job search, not so much – I’m going everywhere, and I can’t remember when I applied for what. Plus I have all these leads to follow up on, and it’s hard to keep track of what stage each one is at.

So the toss up has been that, since I started looking for work, my productivity plummeted. It took hours to get started each morning, because I dreaded dredging up in my mind where I was last when I left off. Finally, I gave up. If I’m going to take notes this thoroughly, I need a database. So I tracked down WikiDPad, which Howard Tayler uses.

Basically, it’s a downloadable program which allows you to created interlinking notes using wiki-style formatting. In other words, it’s an offline wiki (very convenient that, since I don’t have any desire to share my snarky job search notes with the whole world via the Internet. The system isn’t perfect. I probably just need some more time learning the hidden tricks for proper formatting, but there is a noticeable lack of style buttons and drag-and-drop linking.

Nevertheless, using a wiki to keep track of research notes has made an amazing difference. It makes it so much easier to treat the job search process just like another job. Now when it’s time to get to work, I can sit down and fiddle with the database for the first hour instead of wasting time trolling CareerBuilder for low-hanging fruit.

Actually, I got so excited about using wikis to produce interlinking documents, that I tried to use WikiDPad to set up that Latin textbook series I’m playing with in the off hours. It didn’t quite work. The formatting issues were just a little beyond me for the complexity of what I’m trying to build there. So for the textbook project, I’m using MediaWiki. You can find it at https://neumatikos.net/ilovelatin. Be warned, though: It is very much a work in progress, and I need serious training in the areas of layout and formatting. But it’s a start!

Gathering Ambrosia

Richard Hobson gives me permission to write this sort of thing:

A few weeks ago, my mother sent me a personality test. A real one – not one of those quizilla things. It turns out that I am an INFJ on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: An introverted, intuitive, feeling, judging type (In this case, “judging” refers to the act of making a decision, or defining something, rather than the act of condeming). We are rare birds, quite literally – INFJs are approximately 1-2% of the human population. If you have 100 friends, and I am one of them, then you might have one other friend who has a similar personality to mine, and if you know who that other person is, I really wish you’d introduce them to me because it’s getting a little bit weird over here being the only one.

The Personality Page has a list of potential career options for INFJs, starting with clergy, then teaching. Next, if you skip over the medical options which are nulled by my aversion to cutting and poking people, there comes psychology, psychiatry, and counseling, which are options I had actually at one time considered. So it seems I have been unwittingly working my way down the list. Continue reading “Gathering Ambrosia”

In which I tell you everything

Latina mortua lingua est,
Ut mortua potest esse:
Necavit omnes Romanos,
Atque necat me!		 (Latin is a dead language,
Dead as it can be:
It killed off all the Romans,
And now it’s killing me!)

The rumors of my death, unfortunately, have not been so greatly exaggerated as one could have wished. As you may recall, I was offered a job about a year ago to teach Latin at a classical school in Concord, North Carolina. This was very odd because, well, several reasons:

  • Though I love teaching, I had never taught in a classroom setting, nor had I been trained in any way to do so.
  • Though I had decided I wanted to try teaching, Latin was the furthest thing from my mind. I had applied to teach English.
  • Of all the positions to offer me, Latin was the least likely. I like languages, but I had never studied any with the diligence that produces proficiency. In other words, I didn’t know what I was talking about.

Nevertheless, the school and I endeavored upon a noble experiment, based in necessity: I needed a job, and I was interested in teaching. They needed a Latin teacher, and they were willing to try me, apparently because I sounded pretty good on paper.

About a month ago, I learned with the finality that the experiment was to be considered a failure. Contracts at our school are offered on an annual basis with no guarantee as to future years. I was not to be offered a new one. Continue reading “In which I tell you everything”