Um... see if you can see the logic behind this one.

Problem: You need an approved Letter of Permission which lists the courses you would like to take at another University to go toward your degree yet you need to meet with an Advisor to discuss/approve the courses you would take, only the Advisor needs the approved Letter of Permission first.

What a crappy day thus far. I thought the system at the University of Manitoba (UofM, or to the students: UM?) would work like this:

Morgan goes and meets with an advisor to discuss his Religious Studies degree standing. Once it is determined what types of courses he is missing, as he is only missing 4, he can look at what courses McMaster University (Mac) has to offer, meet back at a later date with the advisor to review/approve the courses, and let the system take over the rest. I am such an idealist. Here's how it works in the real world:

You won't be meeting with an advisor today. You'll have to meet with one next Monday. You'll have to defeat the purpose of seeing the advisor and blindly choose courses from Mac, where they will be submitted to the Faculty of Arts, magically accepted/rejected, and then the accepted list will be sent to both yourself and Mac. The advisor will need the Letter of Permission to have been processed first before they can discuss the courses you would like to take at Mac. And it more than likely will not be processed by next Monday. There is a $40 charge to submit a Letter of Permission.

Solar System Defences: Breached
Someone with a Philosophy degree and mean streak thought this one up. Oh, and there a Satanist in the Campus Computing Department. I went to the Comp.Sci. computer arena (I swear it is that huge), to find it was under construction. The whole place. So where did all the lovely SUN Workstations go? I don't know. It's not like they got moved to another location for use, no, that could be construed as constructive. So I remembered there was another computing room across campus, but it had Macs. Oh well, I can still post this article, right. Nope.

Planetary Defences: Breached
The room had two signs on the main entrance doors, which were locked. The first one read Microcomputing Center. Two things ran though my mind. Either one, this room has micro-computers which means if you were to compare them to regular computers you would find these new highly advanced microcomputers were the first public wave of quantum computers. Alas, no. As indicated by the wonderful Letter of Permission system, there is no way that could possibly be true. Thus I am forced to conclude that these computers have been specifically designated as micro because the rest of the campus computers are still archaic systems that take up the size of a room, and run at around 2 Mhz. This could explain many other things I'd encountered while taking Comp.Sci. courses. The second sign reads: Not for public use. These are for booked classroom use only. Please obtain the key from the Administrator's office. Riiiight.

Last Bastion of Defence: Backdoor unlocked
The Faculty of Management's LAN. It interfaces with the rest of the University but is entirely run by professionals hired by the faculty. I took a management course last term, so I can use it. Yes I could, if, I had previously registered with the faculty's LAN Admin IN PERSON. What kind of a stupid system is that? Like those poor guys don't have anything better to do with their time than babysit the whole faculty's user ids? Gah!

From the Ashes...
I have survived the anihilation of computing services and blindly wallowed into one of 13 libraries on campus, to find... a computer. Not under construction. For the public. AND I can log in. I think I shall continue to get things under way for taking courses at Mac. After all, they haven't screwed me yet but I've witnessed some of their levels of competancy so it will only be a matter of time. Perhaps they won't be able to bend me over in time before I finish my courses! Of course with the amount of headway being made, I probably won't be taking courses until Jan 2003. Not a biggie. I'm young. It's just a few more courses, I'd be able to graduate by the end of 2003. Of course, that's the idealist speaking...