Book Scam - How Colleges Rip Off Students

This quarter, I needed but three books.  Two out of the three still have an abundance of used ones, cutting the cost considerably and thereby proportionally increasing my joy according the funds left in my meager student bank account.  However, there is one book that has no used versions.  This book happens to be eighty some odd dollars before tax, foiled.

I believe the greater part of this cost comes not from the book itself, but from the fact that they package it with a study guide and, CD-ROM? Come-on folks, why don't you
throw in a audio tape, video, regular CD, computer program, 3-D glasses, water
bottle with emblem, personalized highlighter, ear phones, Vivrin tablets,
did I miss anything???  Oh yes, a laptop computer which has the book, CD,
CD-ROM, tape, video, computer program, 3-D software, ear phones, and an
IV of caffeine built in.  Then they could just retail the "book" for like $2299
before tax and shipping, and because they can't put something like that on
the shelf, it should only take 4-6 weeks to reach you so buy early!:)

My point is this.  I think universities and book producers have a serious scam goin' on
here.  Why do they come out with a new edition every year? Did the
gravitational pull of the moon and sun align so as to change all current Physics
theories?  Must we re-evaluate all of our thinking? I didn't hear about
that happening in the news but I did notice that the only thing that changed
in my new eighty dollar book was problem 11-29. It said find the amount of
“force” on the block at point A.  Now it says find the amount of “Force” on
the block at point A.  Wow, I'm glad they put out a new edition, I never
would have got 11-29 which may have thrown me so far off into perilous
disillusionment that I would nere understood Physics again!!??

And what about the term wholesale?  After a quarter of clearly
painstakingly marking where all the important points in your book are, they
buy it back for 4 bucks.  That’s two slices at Pizza Roma.  If I recycled
the thing I'd feel more rewarded.  "They must have a new edition" is the
common reply to your obvious cynical look of despair at the word "four
bucks, its wholesale son".  You mean its a buck a pound!!?? 

AND DONT CALL ME SON!@#@!#$#$%%(&^%!!

Even though they're using that edition for two
more years at PLU and don't have a single copy, you know, with shippin’
costs all the way to Tacoma (29 cents bulk book rate), labor(these old people VOLUNTEER to rip us off, thank you), and a resale value of $49.50, well, we have to
make a profit you know.

I had a teacher who was using the ninth edition!!
This author was kicking out a new one as fast as federal regulators allow
and my teacher said by the time he finds the typo that warranted this "new"
edition they've put out another one!  And God forbid we'd use the eighth
edition, heaven sakes!  This is a University!  If were going to charge
you 2.99 for old humbao and Husky dogs then darn it were going to use the
ninth edition!  I once heard of a class that used the same book twice,
but I wasn't in it and I think it was summer A and B terms anyways and I'm
not sure that counts.  So, alas, each year our rainforests are depleted, to
make the authors richer, to make the publishers richer, to make our
schools richer and to let us know that, even with an education, in the
end..

were only worth a buck a pound.

a student about to go buy books, sigh.

Pleasant, a poem.

Pleasant


I awoke at 6:15, she was already waiting.

I rose, dragged myself to the kitchen, 1 ½ cups.

She ate while I dressed, I stared at the bed.

My hair uncombed, I readied the leash.

Somewhere a bird chirped.

We left in the early morning stillness,

nary a soul in sight.

The leash uncoils and retracts, uncoil, retract, out, in.

She pees.

The bird chirps again.

I remember the bed.

Uncoil, retract, out, in.

She sniffs, endlessly, there’s no end.

Dogs never bore with sniffing, it’s what they do.

They also go on the grass.

I look to see if anyone else is around.

She walks off, uncoil, retract, out, in, she sniffs.

I hold my nose, stoop down, and use a bag to pick it up.

There is a bag, sturdy grocery bag, plastic,

between my hand and the stuff.

Its not enough, it will never be enough.

The dog watches me pick it up.

We walk back, done for the morning.

The dog sniffs, I carry the bag.

I guess its not tied tightly enough, I sniff.

Pleasant.

The Chives

chives.
dredge the chives
for our whole lives we have made the chives.
And now its time to dredge.
The chives are full of treasures untol'
So dredge, o young man dredge

There are many foolish and stupid chaps
Who delight in saving disk space
when a new month rolls around perhaps
Their old mail they erase

But we, the keepers of the chives
have kept the chives for our whole lives
and now we dredge the chives most exuberantly
and find our old tresures most abundantly
For us, there is no need for creativity
For we can dredge the chives
So dredge, o round man, dredge.

Joshua Burgner

Missing Pieces

An essay I wrote in 2001.

Missing Pieces
by David L. Miller
Copyright 2001

I loved this winter in California, the leaves changed colors,
it was cloudy and cool, rained a lot, windy and cold some days.
It was like being back on the UW campus, walking to class,
looking up through the huge trees at the clouds racing by,
looking east at the snowy Cascades, west at the snowy Olympics,
water all around shimmering,

Rainier dominating my southern view, a monument to solidarity and strength.

Sailboats, rowing teams, ferries, and thousands of people running, walking, and bicycling everywhere.
Green grass, green trees, green bushes.
People playing frisbee, flying kites, canoeing.
Skateboarders and street rats asking for spare change on University Ave.

The space needle looking like its floating in the clouds, or possibly a flying saucer inspecting the city.

The cold air in the morning coming in off the Puget Sound, its 40 degrees out; then your hit with this blast that’s 10-20 degrees colder.....*Bam* right in the face, your skin tightens, goose bumps appear on your arms, the clouds move a little faster overhead, like they are trying desperately to reach some warmer climate.
You wish them well and notice how alive you feel, cold, but alive.

All your senses are in use now, the wind, the air, the rain, the cold.
People, buses, bikes, cars racing by.
Nature all around, in constant motion, never a dull moment.

You smell some diesel exhaust, some fresh cut grass, a hint of salt from the ocean air.
The sound of a car horn in the distance, the trees swish and sway,
a seagull cries as it alights from one body of water to the next.

It's hilly in the Northwest, you must work to get anywhere.
Your legs are pumping, your heart is pumping, your backpack with books
and projects strains at your shoulders as you climb another hill or flight of stairs.
Everything around you tells you that you are.
Every sense is keyed, everything that can happen happens.
This is what I miss of the Northwest.

This is why, even though SoCal may grow on me and I may be comfortable and happy;
it can’t make me feel like I did in the Northwest.
It doesn’t have the ability to entertain all my sense at the same time in such a pleasant and even comforting way.
It can never make me feel so......alive.

I want it to rain, I want a 520 car wash, I want my umbrella to occasionally turn inside out. I want to watch clouds pass overhead at upwards of 100 mph, I want to see those pesky Canadian Geese flying and pooping everywhere. I want to see people biking to work in weather that reminds you of a special you saw on Indonesian Typhoons. I want to wear boots, and jeans, and a big jacket, and a hat, every-stinking-day. I want it to rain every day for 93 days straight. I want to look out the window where I used to work in Redmond and be able to see the Salmon going to Lake Sammamish. I could see Salmon migrating from where I worked!

Only in the Northwest, only there.

Professional Photographer

Our friend, Gina Emerson took these photos while we were in Portland Oregon in September visiting family. We went to the Rose Gardens late in the day to take advantage of the soft light. These are just a few of the shots I "stole" from Gina's blog for your viewing pleasure. Thanks Gina!

More videos of Aelis Jewel

Here are a couple low resolution videos I took of Aelis in the past few weeks with my cell phone. In the first she is toddling around the back yard, in the second she is pushing a shopping cart at Target.







There is also a video of Aelis on Youtube wrestling with a playmate over a book, you can see that by clicking HERE:or copying and pasting this into your web browser--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WloFBhlMCM

Happy Birthday Aelis!