No shuttle today...

Becky, Bethany and Sarah decided to ride with me on the train today. I hopped off at the Med Center for the shuttle to the main UCD campus, while they continued downtown to meet Becky's cousin. Upon my arrival at the main entrance to the UCD Hospital I noticed a carnival of sorts on the front lawn adjacent to the shuttle stop. The line of sign toting picketers indicated this was not a day in the park for families and relatives. Indeed, the service workers, including the shuttle drivers and shuttle maintenance workers, had decided to walk off the job. My mode of transport would be unavailable until further notice.

Now I sit in bowels of the the Med Center, in the cafeteria. The workers are affecting a slow down so food is only served at intermittent intervals, which means the room is empty except for a brief rush every couple of hours. At least the wireless network connects me to the Internet, so I can read, study and cancel my appointments at UC Davis. I will probably need to drive to Davis until the strike ends.

I am beginning to develop learning models that work with calculators and the computer-based network. It's like a time warp back to the dawn of the personal computer age. Programming the TI-83 Calculator is like writing code of the Timex Sinclair or the reverse Polish HP Electronic Slide Rule. My research colleague, Kevin, has truly created masterpieces with Tinker Toys. His models are quite usable and they generate a wealth of useful data. Students are quite familiar with calculators, so it doesn't take them long to begin working with the models. Development takes quite a bit of time, so I'm hoping to help him along a bit.

All for now, Scot