seattlejo.com

My college drives me crazy with its lack of services available to  evening students
Some quarters are worse then others, this quarter we’ve seen an improvement in   availability of food in the cafeteria, but I’ve also run into a new  problem. Lack of hours at the Distance Learning Center.  In the 10 quarters over  5 years that I’ve attended North Seattle Community College  I’ve taken 6 distances classes.  This quarters class is a little different and requires an on campus test.  The test is occurring on the night that I’m in my other  (10 credit ) class so I began to initiate a proctor today, a week out , as required by the course. I contacted the distance learning office to be informed that their services are only available on Monday-Friday 8:30-3:30 for testing, and that their office is only available until 5.

What do they expect of a non traditional student? I’m honestly asking. Is it expected that students will take time off of work? Is it expected that employers will be “flexible” and let people take time off randomly?

Last quarter I let my frustrations boil up and I wrote a letter to the President Ronald H. LaFayette. I never got a response, not even a simple form response of “thanks for your letter” It’s annoying, but shows the service I’ve come to expect from North.

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I am a full time evening and weekend student  who has come to feel more and more slighted by the thoughtless discrimination of available resources available on the weekends. I understand that the school markets itself to  students attempting to complete their degrees in the evening and I’m delighted to find many of my evening classes full to capacity. (We have to bring extra chairs in for at least one) Even at capacity the evening students still only register as  25%  of the student body, so I do understand curtailed hours. However in the past four years this has only gotten more frustrating.

I work full time, Monday through Friday 8am -5pm. I get off of work and  rush to campus as fast as possible. Services that are available at this time are the much mart and coffee bar.  Cafeteria =Closed Bookstore =Closed. Luckily I haven’t run out of paper or pens or needed any other materials mid class.  For food, the munch mart suffices as long as i like processed items. Of course, after you make your purchase at the munch mart do you huddle in front of the munch mart and eat before returning to class? Sprint to the next lounge? Huddle in the cold outside? It’s not suitable to bring food in to the labs.  In 2003 I was at least able to arrive to campus at 5:45 and grab a quick cup of soup in the cafeteria.  In 2007 thats a processed cup of soup from campbells.

This quarter I was grateful to find a Saturday class I thought it was a great use of the campus  resources and my time. With class four evenings a week already, the only other way I could add a class would be weekend or distance learning. I chose the Saturday class. Had I know that there would be less resources available, I might have reconsidered my decision. My class starts at 8:30. The munch mart opens at noon. The lounges? Not open. The cafeteria area  and access to the only ATM machine on campus? Not open. Since I do participate in the campuses trip reduction efforts (and pay $10 a quarter for that ) and do not drive to campus I arrive at 8am  to a closed cold campus where I get to wait until my professor arrives.  Doesn’t that seem a bit ridiculous that even a lounge isn’t open in the building that is holding classes?    There is a great new lounge area thats been built, not accessible for my Saturday morning class though.

The reason that I’m writing now is that this morning I found a different  circumstance when I arrived on campus. A good portion of the building I’m in is rented out to Sea Scouts and Traffic school One one hand this is fantastic because I believe that these rooms should be used if possible. After all arent they wasted resources other wise. On the other hand   they did move us out of our room, tried to schedule their sessions in the room they we were relocated too violating the Washington Administrative Code.. WAC 132F-136-02 Limitation of use to school activities. Under section 8  (8) Use of space shall not interfere with regularly scheduled classes or activities..

To further my frustration, the coffee bar was open this morning, as was the cafeteria building.. As if this group garners more respect and earns the access to more services  then students who are paying  tuition  for their courses. Logically I know this is just about numbers, and that they’ve paid for use of our space.

Emotionally it feels like the school could care less about evening and weekend students. I pay for resources that are not available to me. I get no support  from basic services during the time that I am here. (Reasonably due to timing I will never make it into the Wellness Center.)  There is no student government anymore. There is no student news paper anymore. There isn’t even basic communication to the students about things as simple as the clock problem that exists. When I mentioned being frustrated to staff I’ve been brushed off.

 New students bring in new money, but at this point I wouldn’t recommend to anyone that they come to this campus. At least Central has closer resources available that are off campus.

What I’d like to see? Short term, simply opening the lounge on Saturday mornings at least  before the class of the day is reasonable .Long term? I’d like to see more communication to the students, I think North needs to build a more virtual  campus.  The Polaris online was a start . Newsletters via email, discussions groups online. Get the students connected, but transcend  date/time/location somehow. Have events  that happen later in the evening, or over the weekend. Reactivate NorthSpeaks.com. Talk to the evening students and see what it would take to have us involved. And above all, value and respect us, and show it.

I’m thrilled with how well yesterdays snowy commute went. Buses from my neighborhood were running late but by planning ahead I caught a bus   early then I normally do  and made  it in to work early.
The buses were prepared with chains, and I even saw a snowplow as we headed down 85th!

Fantastic job!

Now that I’ve shared my bus tip with you. Let me also share with you some suggestions to make your trip and your fellow riders trips more pleasant.

1. Sit in your seat. Not in the seat next to you, not on the railing and not on your girlfriends lap. That sort of business might be fun for you two, but for the rest of us? Annoying.
2. If you are sitting in an aisle seat and the bus begins to fill up, scootch in so someone else can sit.  Seriously, just turning your legs and letting them climb over you is guaranteed to get your feet stepped on.
3. If you are sitting in an aisle seat and the person next to you wants to get up, get up , let them move, then sit down again. Again don’t just turn your legs so they have to climb on you.
4. Be pleasant but not too chatty. We ride with the same people day in and day out. It’s nice to nod and smile occasionally and even a brief conversation  is fine, but don’t get all bent out of shape if the person next to you doesn’t want to talk. We all have our off days.
5. If you are sitting and others are stuck standing, considering offering your seat. Particularly if there are people who are older, younger, frailer, tireder then you. Seriously. They may just turn you down and say thank you,  they may take your seat. Either way you have done the right thing.
6. Stuck standing? Consider where your bag is. I tend to drop my to my side or hold it in front of me, or set it between my feet. The problem with a back pack is that you never know how far it extends back, and you will hit someone without realizing it.

For your patience I’ll reward you with a crazy bus story from a few weeks ago.

I ride the 48 bus to pick up a 16 to go to school . Tonight the bus was kind of crowded with college students and University employees heading home. As we neared 1 stop before mine, a cluster of students were debating to get off or not. While they debated, the driver paused and there was a person waiting out side the bus at the stop to get on.  The students decided not to get off and the driver closed the door and drove off without picking up the waiting person.

Confused people shouted “He was waiting for the bus ” The driver paid no mind.

I pulled the cord and got off at the next stop, with another small throng of people. The person who’d been missed before was running up the sidewalk  Next to me stood another person waiting to board the bus. I stepped forward and said to the driver “That guy is almost here, he’s run to catch up with you. ” The driver slammed his door shut and took off like a bat out of hell.

The girl who’d been waiting to get on just looked bewildered. The guy said “damnit!” and kept walking towards his destination.

So whats with the guy and the driver? Did the guy stiff on his fare last time? Is this his exboyfriend? I’m just boggled by the whole situation.

I’m frustrated. When I changed my class schedule for this quarter I decided to sell the books that I had from last quarter. In the past I’ve used half.com/ ebay  and had no problem . i make the sale, the money is deposited in my account, I ship the books. I can set shipping costs and I get paid before  I ship the books.

This time I sold my books through Amazon.   And it was a mistake. The books sold quickly and i shipped them each out the next day. Amazon compensates $3.99 for shipping for each. My cost ? $15.00 to ship each. These are big heavy text books so this is no surprise. And it’s my choice to ship quicker.

So the books go out and I  wait. Since i’m a new seller I have to wait until the 10th to get paid. I set up my account and wait. Of course I didnt put in my bank information yet as i was toying with the idea of doing  Gift Certificates for payment. On the 8th I go and add my bank information.   On the 10th i log in  to transfer the funds and it now says I have to wait till the  24th.  I try to switch over to Gift Certificates to get paid right away.  Only it doesnt work. It still tells me i need to wait.

An email to customer service says its the fact that I added the bank information that is making me wait another 14 days.  We’ll see what happens on the14th. So far I’m frustrated it shouldnt take 24 days to get payment for 3 books that already cost me $45 out of pocket to ship.

By nature I’m a non driver. I’ve never held a drivers liscence and though I’ve held a permit twice, I can count the number of times I’ve driven without having to take off my socks.

Of course this means that I get to know the transit system fairly well, and consider myself a super user. I’ve commuted cross county lines, I’ve commuted across the water, and even arranged a vacation via ferry before.

My latest trick? Real time bus information via text message. In the morning i can send a text message to see when the bus will be at my intersection. Going home, I can check all the buses at a particular intersection to see if I’ll catch a connecting bus. It helps me to know when my buses are running late, or early , and help me to inform other passengers when they ask “Has this bus been by?”

Hows it work you ask?

First you need a cell phone with text messaging. Please be aware that everyones cell phone plan is different so you may see charges for this. My cell phone plan gives me free messaging and I’m grateful.

Second, you need to be able to send emails via text message. Not all phones have this feature, and I’m not sure why or why not. I know my phone and my boyfriends phone allow us two, but my 15 year olds phone does not. The email address is sms@mybus.org

Third, you need the stop number you are checking for, and your bus numbe if desired. The bus number is easy, the stop number is more difficult. To get the bus number navigate to the my bus website here http://mybus.org/
Enter your route number in, then locate your stop number.

For me, I entered the 44 route, then the stop at 15th ave and NE Campus Way. At the top of the page it reads

This Metro location is number 5905

So to check when the 44 is going to be at 15th ave and NE Campus Way I send a text message of 44@5905 to the email address of sms@mybus.org

It returns a response to me of

15NECamp
Ballard 11:22
HuskySdm 11:27
Ballard 11:37
HuskySdm 11:43

This means that a bus to Ballard will be by at 11:22 and 11:37 , and a bus to Husky Stadium will be by at 11:27 and 11:43

If I’m looking for all of the buses at a particular stop, I just send @5905 that returns to me

15NECAMP
{48 UDistrct 9:05}
{44 HuskySdm 9:10}
{271 UDistrct 9:10}
{46 UDistrct 9:11}
{48 RainerAv 9:05}
{65 UDistrct 9:14}
{556e Nrthgate 9:19}
{44 Ballard 9:21}
{44 HuskySdm 9:14}
{68 UDistrct 9:20}
{540e UDistrct 9:07}
{48 UDistrct 9:10}
{25 ChdrnHsp 9:02}
{49 Downtown 9:00}
{70 UDistrct 8:59}
{48e HuskySdm 8*59}
{48 ClmbaCty 9:08}

Why do i use this?

I like knowing when the buses will be there. I also use it to check a partciular stop to see if I’ll make a connection. For example, If I was trying to catch a 48 to a 44 I can look at the list above and see that the 48 will arrive at the stop at 9:05 and the 44 will be there at 9:10. So If thats the connection i wanted to make, I’d make it.

Does it always work?

Nope. Sometimes the bus system stops responding and sometimes the bus falls off the map and just doesn’t show up. Last night when a 5 ditched out between Northgate and NSCC it just stopped showing up in the response. In the meantime it left me waiting for a 75 instead.

The photos came from Justin Baeder at Flicker and from Vsanda at Flickr

Well I’ve gone and done it, I’ve hit 100 yelp reviews. My review of Brasa was saved to be number 100. A celebratory evening, celebrating 6 years with Aron seemed appropriate for my 100th review