It's Officially Official!

I am a graduate! Commencement was last night. It was a rough commute thanks to the first major storm of the season, but we made it there and back safely. There were times that I questioned why did I go down there, but it was worth it when I heard how excited Elijah was when I walked across the stage. I was proud that my little man appreciated the significance of going to school and earning a degree. It took forever to get home, but we made it!

I'm Done!

I officially finished school! Yippee! Everything was due Monday, but since I was traveling, I finished on Saturday night. It feels weird to be done. I still feel like I'm on break. I just don't know what to do on the weekends now. Maybe I can get a life again . . .

Two Days . . .

Two days and I am done! I can't believe it is almost here. Now I just have to buckle down and finish some stuff. The only thing that puts the pressure on is that I'm going on a business trip again. Today is my key day to wrap up because tomorrow and Monday will be tight. Wish me luck!

The Last Week

It's official - my last week of school. I can't believe that two years ago I was just starting my program and here I am finishing. I'm so excited, but I'm also so unmotivated!

Happy Birthday to my cousin Marc. I hope you had a great day!

Less than 10 Days!

In less than 10 days I will be DONE with school! I am so excited, I can't believe it is almost here! I finished my final project -- with a little stress of course! Now it's just postings, homework and some quizzes. In some ways this two years went by fast and in other ways it seems like a lifetime ago.

Elijah is doing well in swim class. He made some great strides in his last class. He also tested in karate and has officially earned his yellow belt. He is very excited about it. School for him seems to be going well. He said he likes wearing a uniform.

Not much else going on. I have some business trips in the near future. It's almost October, can you believe it?

Enjoy your weekend.

Another Crazy Week

It was another crazy week at work. The month is going way to fast. The last several months have gone too fast. What is with 2007?

The only good thing is that it gets me closer to being done with school. Yippee! This weekend I have to finish a big project. It seems odd that it is due at the end of week four (of six), but on the other hand, it will be done and just leave quizzes, homework and postings for the next two weeks.

Not much is going on. I found out that my car will be built the first week of October. I have no idea how long it will take to get it after that.

Elijah is enjoying school. So far so good! Enjoy your weekend!

Motivation

Tomorrow wraps up week three of my last class (aka half way done). Anyway, the only thing that stinks is the homework. This week I have to complete 58 problems, but only 30 are graded. WTF? During the entire six weeks, I have to do 160 problems, but only 86 count toward my grade. Why waste my time? Combine that with my almost-done-itis and I'm really lacking motivation to finish the work. UGH!

It's Getting Close

Graduation stuff came in the mail today! I can't believe it is almost here! I had to fill out the graduation application and order my cap and gown. I'm excited, but I'm also wondering what am I going to do when I'm done. Will I really have a lot more time? I guess I will see if a few weeks! Yahoo!

The First Week

Elijah finished his first week of school and seemed to really like it! We'll see how the next week goes -- the full week.

Still waiting on grades from the last class. Who knows when that will happen. I'm irritated, but over it at the same time.

Yesterday was a crazy day. It went so fast that I felt like I lost the day. Hopefully today won't be the same. Work is still crazy. I hope it becomes manageable soon. I don't know how much more I can take!

Enjoy what is left of the weekend!

Two Days

Two days until Elijah starts school. Part of me is excited and the other part of me is sad. I can't believe how fast the last several years have gone by.

I was finally able to finish my tax class. It feels good to be done. I can't believe I am now in my last class. It seems surreal. That is until I get a letter from the company that has my student loans. They didn't waste any time to let me know that I'll be paying back loans next April.

Thanks to all the rain we had not too long ago, the mosquitoes are running rapid. I don't know if it was a mosquito or a spider, but something bit me and my foot swelled up like a balloon. It's getting better, but not completely back to normal.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Tired

Well, so far I can get into the system for school. The bad news, all my previous work has been wiped out. So I'm hoping that the professor knows all the grades because my sanity could not handle redoing all those quizzes! He gave us until tomorrow to finish the course. There goes that break I was supposed to be on!

I took the day off today. Originally it was because Elijah's summer camp ended yesterday. Now I realize that I did it to keep me sane. Yesterday I worked 14 hours and still have work to do. I'm trying to figure out how I can squeeze in some time to go in today.

Tuesday is the big day: Boy starts school. I'm starting to freak out a little. This is going to be tougher than I thought -- I figured since he's been in daycare since he was 3 months old that this would not be much different. It is.

If you pray, say one for me please. I need strength to keep putting up with the massive volume at work. I need strength to finish this class and my last class, and I need some strength to send my sunshine to school on Tuesdays. Thank you.

What happend to August?

Can someone please tell me what happened to August. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to June and July and here I am thinking the end of August already? I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

They restored the old version of the system we use as school. I came up at 5 p.m. today, however I still cannot get in. I guess the passwords were reset and the one they told me should work doesn't. I'm about over it.

Elijah had orientation at school today. I think that is putting me into midlife crisis mode. We were sent home with a nice big manila envelope with policies, procedures and a list of things I have to volunteer for. I'm already signed up to work a lunch - thank goodness I had already requested the day off.

Not much else is going on. Work is still psycho busy. I've almost reached my saturation point.

Just in case you were wondering . . .

They still don't have the system up yet for school. WTF. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Work is psycho again. I don't know how much more I can take. I'm actually debating going back to caffeine. Let me remind you that it is has been 11 years since I have had caffeine. The last time I was this desperate was when Elijah was born and he had his days and nights mixed up.

If you pray, say one for me. I need some strength. Thank you.

Twelve Days Later

It's been twelve days since the university took down our online platform and it is still not up. A note posted at 11 p.m. on Friday said that they decided to go back to the old platform. Two days later the old platform is still not up. They are offering us the option to finish the class with the new deadlines that the instructors will notify us of after the system is back up, or drop the class and retake it at no additional charges. Since I was on the last week of class, I don't think I am going to drop it.

This experience has taught me that they were not adequately prepared for this, and did not seem to have a good plan to handle the situation. That is disappointing, but I hope they learn from it and will be better prepared next time. The fact of the matter is, you should never assume that an upgrade will run smoothly. I don't think anyone expected it to be this bad, but just simple planning of doing this while we were on break, could have cut this inconvenience down from 12 days to 5 days.

I just keep telling myself that I'm almost done.

It's almost humorous now

If you can believe it, the system is still down. Who know when I will get to finish this class and actually start my next class. Do you think it is divine that it worked out this way? I'm beginning to wonder if I am meant to finish this degree.

Work still sucks. The volume does not appear to be slowing down at all. I worked another 12+ hour day and will need to be there bright and early tomorrow morning.

Elijah received his teach assignment in the mail. We get to go meet her next week. I can't believe he starts school in less than two weeks. Where did summer go? Where did 2007 go?

Time Warp or Twilight Zone

So I finally got an email from my instructor last night saying that he will accept assignments until Sunday night (instead of last night since the lovely system has been down). Sounds good except what about the class that starts today? Well, he sent an email that the system should be up at 6 p.m. today, if not, he'll let us know where to go from here.

I emailed my academic advisor last night to ask her if she knew if they were setting up new dates, or was it up to the instructors. She emails me this morning what was posted on the website (gee thanks, I would have never found that). So I respond that I need to know if I'm juggling two classes this week, or is everything getting pushed. No response yet. Thanks for the help.

Surprise, surprise . . . the system was not up at 6 p.m. and still is not up. My head hurts. This has been a nightmare. A bit of advice . . . if you are going to school online and they say they are going to do an upgrade and the system will only be down for a few days -- do not pass go, do not collect $200, run now and avoid the Christmas rush.

Is it the last day of class?

I sure would like to know the answer to that question. Today is supposed to be the last day of class, but Blackboard (the program we use) is still down. They keep telling us that we will have time to make up the assignments and won't be penalized, but I just want to get the class done. I took today off work in order to finish. Needless to say this day -- actually this weekend, has been frustrating. I called the university and they were in a mandatory meeting. I guess it was to discuss the problem. Hey, maybe someone should have anticipated these problems in advance and waited until our break to do this. What an idea.

So at this point, I don't know if they will just push everything forward a week -- putting me at finishing a week later. If they will push everything forward and cancel the break -- so we will make up the week and stay on schedule, or just have us finish one class and start another at the same time -- creating a big burden on me.

Still Not Fixed

Just a follow up on the system I log into for school. I can now log in, but I get this message:

"We are currently experiencing severe response time problems with Blackboard and are working diligently to resolve the problems. We ask for your patience.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience this outage is causing students and faculty."

I can't get into the discussion board, the area to submit assignments, or any of the important areas I need to access for the class. I hope there was a critical reason behind them doing this upgrade during the last week of class.

Who knows when I'll get in - I guess I'm on my own. Hope for the best.

Time Flies

August is moving about even faster than July. Where does the time go? This is my last weekend of this class. The last class starts on Tuesday. It's hard to believe that almost two years of graduate school is close to an end. I'm starting to feel the pressure of the last time I graduated: what now? Do I want to stay where I am? Could I move out of state? What do I want to be when I grow up? Ugh . . . the pressure! :-)

Speaking of school. I'm still scratching my head on the methodology behind this one. About two weeks ago they posted a note that they were going to upgrade the system we use to participate in class, submit assignments, get grades, etc. Now we will be on break starting August 28, but for some reason they decided to do this upgrade on August 14 and keep the system down until 6 p.m. yesterday. My first thought is why wouldn't they just wait until we are on break? It would seem to be easier because then if there is a problem (I know we all like to think that there won't be problems, but I've been through enough system upgrades to know that there is always some sort of problem), it wouldn't interfere with our studies. Well, as my cynical mind thought, there was a problem. Now the system is still down and they expect us to be able to get back on at 6 p.m. tonight. There was also a note that our instructor would extend our assignments. That sounds great, but class ends on MONDAY. Do you think we can get an extension on ending the class and postpone starting the new one? Whoever approved this upgrade during the last week of classes needs to get their head examined. What was the big rush that couldn't wait two weeks?

Work was psychotic again. I spent the last three days working 12 hour shifts. It will look nice on the paycheck, but I am tired. I also missed saying goodbye to my brother-in-law because of it. He and his wife are off to new ventures in Houston. I didn't see them often when they were here in Michigan, but it seems strange that they will be so far away.

Not much else is going on. Less than three weeks until Elijah starts school. Orientation is less than two weeks away. His karate instructor said that he will be testing for yellow belt in September. He is also going to start taking swim lessons. Needless to say I think September is going to be busy between me finishing school and Elijah getting used to school.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Crazy Week

It was another crazy week! On a lighter note, I received my LAST schoolbook in the mail. I can't believe I'm in the home stretch!

This week was some rainy weather, which makes for good sleeping -- unless you need to get to work! Then it makes for a tough morning.

On Tuesday night some jerk in a big truck hit our mailbox. We know it's a big truck because they failed to realize that they left their mirror behind at the scene. Of course our "pleasant" (facecious) mail lady will not deliver our mail, so we are stuck going to the post office to pick it up. I will take a week to get the parts.

Thursday night I was graced with an obscene phone call. Either he truly did mean to call someone else or was really dumb because his number popped up on caller id.

Friday night Elijah was messing with the tape dispenser and knocked it off the counter onto his foot. I had to take him to urgent care because I couldn't tell if he broke one of his toes. I felt so bad for him, but it ended up he didn't break anything. Thank God!

Today we went to a birthday party were they had a portable petting zoo there. That was fun.

Trying to stay motivated to finish this class. One more week and then I start the last class. I can't wait!!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!