Rankings

I really don't understand how the Google search rankings work. I know that it has something to do with how many times you are linked to and such, but that doesn't seem to make sense. I know that there are at least 4 people who link to my page who are also ranked on the Google system, yet when I use the link:lingwhatics.blogspot.com search it only comes up with a blogsnow.com page. So, if somebody wants to inform me how this works and what not that would be great, and what my blog is ranked now since I can't download the GoogleBar because I don't have a PC at my disposal, which incidentally would probably be where it would be if I had one.

On other topics, I have been told that I will be missed when I leave here in December. This makes me sad that I'm going, but of course it can't change the fact that I can't do what I want to here. I have really enjoyed living on 8 Schäffer this year. It is about a billion billion times better than living in the condo last year. I have had the opportunity to meet lots of people, even those who don't live on my floor. Most of them are people I would never have got to know in the university setting because I don't go out of my way to meet new people. That is partially how I am, possibly my fault, and partially that the opportunity wouldn't arise if I didn't live here.

Though, I can say for sure that I will not miss Edmonton or the Linguistics department for that matter. The city will not be missed because I haven't connected with anything that is here. Don't read that wrong, I don't mean people, I mean the place. As I said in the last paragraph, I have connected to lots of people, but they are all mobile entities who mostly don't belong here. (Of course, belong in the sense of originate or will stay here when they are finished with the university.) The southside is quite nice as it has Whyte Avenue and all that goes along with that. It has The Mall, which to be honest n'est pas grand chose. It has many stores but in my opinion a mall is a mall is a mall, regardless of how big it is. (Keeping in mind that bigger is not necessarily better.)

The linguistics department is a good one, but it appeared better than it is because I happened to come in a year when most of the professors were here, that is not on sabbatical, and many classes were offered. I managed to take six classes in the department last year, but this year there were only really four or five to take including the two honours classes that were required for my program. The guidance provided to me by the undergrad advisor was not stellar, I much more enjoyed the help that I received from the two advisors at the U of C Linguistics department.

Overall, my experience at the U of A has been rewarding, though not in the ways that I had anticipated when I applied to come here. I have managed to gain many friends and to learn about many topics, some of them even of interest to me. However, I will not be disappointed to be back in engineering next year because I have found that it is what I want to be doing. The most important thing I have learned so far in my three and a half years of university is that you should pursue what fascinates you and if you are fascinated by what you are doing then it won't seem like you are working as hard, though you probably will be learning more than you can imagine.

Song: Stuart and the Ave - Green Day, Vertigo - U2, Ahead by a Century - The Tragically Hip

Book: Same as below (I know it seems to be taking a long time, but I think I will be done my paper tomorrow and I will be able to read a bunch tomorrow night and Friday, then I can do my other paper.)

[Note: This was supposed to be posted last night but Blogger didn't seem to want to post it.]