Saturday January 3rd (day 3) was spent at Jonah's house, attempting to help him organize his room. Jonah has a problem. Something that requires a 12 step program of sorts...if he would ever admit that he has this problem.
Jonah is addicted to electronics.
In the 7 years we've been together (yes, 7 years. And we've somehow managed not to mame or murder each other yet..go figure.) he's had at least 10 different cell phones...that I can remember. The boy has this serious need for old VCR's...video cameras...and wires galore. It took about 2 hours, but we sifted through this huge BIN of wires...there must have been at least 1,000 different wires (cables, plugs, USB...you name it, it was in there.) that we organized.
I guess you can count that as my workout for the day. More of an exercise in patience than anything.
We ended up coming back to my house and going out for pizza. For those of you who aren't from the great windy city, this is where we went. http://www.giordanos.com/
In the words of Rachel Ray; Delish! Saturday night is my cheat night...I allow myself to have "one good meal..." and believe me, this was. We finished it off by splitting this AWESOME hot fudge sundae covered with crushed Oreos. Oh my god it was awesome. (There's no better date than sitting in the parking lot eating ice cream when it's 25 outside!)
Unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow (Boo...I know. I haven't mastered that independently wealthy thing quite yet...but no worries...I'm working on it!) so I'm hanging around the house doing some laundry and getting things in order once again. Damn...I hate returning to real life!
On a side note...I went to my new gym for the first time on Friday. It's really cute. The whole gym is based on racquetball..with at least 15 different courts. The Glass Court (the name of the gym) is directly in the middle of the building, and all of the cardio machines face it. I'm not sure how you actually get a game in the glass court, but I'm thinking it's some sort of privilege to play in there. Enough about that..let me tell you about the cardio machines.
I'm in LOVE with them! They have built in TV's, and you simply have to supply your own headphones, and you're set! I did 30 mins on the treadmill, and another 30 mins on the elliptical, all while watching "What not to Wear." Genius I say, freaking genius. (I've only done 60 mins of straight cardio one other time in my life...and I thought I was going to DIE! Oh television, I do appreciate thee in times of need!) So I start at the gym tomorrow morning before work...and am hoping the pre-work crowd isn't too crazy. I guess I'll get there at 6:30...workout for an hour...start my shower/dressing routine @ 7:30 and try to leave by 8:20ish. I'm sure I'll have to adjust things as needed...but I have a feeling the patrons of this gym are generally an older crowd, and come later in the day. Here's hopin!
Oh yeah, one more thing before I go. I had an epiphany in the shower the other day (I too do some of my best thinking in there...weird.) and thought to myself, "Self? Wouldn't it be awesome if you only had to drive out to class ONE night a week vs TWO?" So I logged onto my school site to see if by chance they offered both of my classes on one night.
THEY DID!!
So now I only go to class on Wednesdays...which is going to be a killer day. I'm going to get up at 4:30 to be to work by 6am. Leave work at 2:30 for my 4:15 class. I'll have class from 4:15-6:55 and then my other class from 7:05-9:45. It's going to be a LONG day, but I'll only have to drive out there once a week, which will save me bucko bucks on gas. (Not to mention my sanity!)
Yay for shower epiphany's!
Alright kids...my washer just stopped, so it's time to tend to laundry. Yippee.
Have a good one!
(PS..I will have new pics soon...but I apparently fried my USB ports when my basement flooded...so they'll be up soon...I promise. Look at me...I'm writing to an audience as if somebody actually reads this!)
Showing posts with label GRAD SCHOOL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GRAD SCHOOL. Show all posts
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday was a good day.
That's right folks. I, Miss Kelly, got accepted into the Graduate Program @ Northeastern Illinois University! All of those months of studying for those crazy tests paid off! Needless to say, I was thrilled to walk in from the ridiculous snowstorms to see some good news awaiting my return!
I also got to see my grades for my first semester:
STRAIGHT A'S!
I'm off to a much better start that I was @ NIU. I believe I failed two classes my first semester there? Talk about a bunch of slacker 18 year olds! Oh well...those were some of the best times of my life. Well worth the wasted $$!
I am now officially one step closer to being out of cubicle hell FOREVER! The thought is SO exciting, I can't even begin to put it into words. Especially these days. We received an e-mail from HR last Friday letting us know that we would be required to take unpaid time off the week after Christmas. Doesn't that just put a candy cane in your stocking?
So...I'm going to have nothing but free time from December 24th until I take my happy ass back to work January 5th. That's 12 whole days without that place. Despite the fact that I won't be paid for two of those days, I'm thrilled. I haven't had a full week off in something crazy like 4 years. I'm long overdue.
Well, I'm off to do my favorite thing now that I'm on Christmas break: nothing.
Friday, December 5, 2008
So I should be working on my take home final right now.
And I will be.
Soon.
I promise.
But some news first.
I PASSED THE ILLINOIS TEST OF BASIC SKILLS!!!! WHOO HOO!!! =)
The testing center was posting scores at 5pm today, but I just couldn't wait. Being the impatient type (surprise surprise) I logged onto the site, hoping they'd let us early birds cheat. And they were. But you needed your id # they issued during registration to obtain the results. So I logged into my e-mail, and they had sent me the scores already. (Yeah, at like 12:30 this afternoon. I'm glad I didn't check then...I would have been COMPLETELY unproductive for the rest of the afternoon!)
So I open the e-mail, and it tells you your score (out of 300) and what a passing score is (240). I got a 268. And passed! I let out this little scream in the office and yelled out "I PASSED MY TEST!" to which my co-workers started clapping, though most of them had no idea what I was talking about. They're pretty much used to me shouting out obscenities and other fouled mouth expletives at random times throughout the workday...nothing should surprise them now.
I've overcome the hardest obstacle thus far. Phew.
Now, I wait.
Soon.
I promise.
But some news first.
I PASSED THE ILLINOIS TEST OF BASIC SKILLS!!!! WHOO HOO!!! =)
The testing center was posting scores at 5pm today, but I just couldn't wait. Being the impatient type (surprise surprise) I logged onto the site, hoping they'd let us early birds cheat. And they were. But you needed your id # they issued during registration to obtain the results. So I logged into my e-mail, and they had sent me the scores already. (Yeah, at like 12:30 this afternoon. I'm glad I didn't check then...I would have been COMPLETELY unproductive for the rest of the afternoon!)
So I open the e-mail, and it tells you your score (out of 300) and what a passing score is (240). I got a 268. And passed! I let out this little scream in the office and yelled out "I PASSED MY TEST!" to which my co-workers started clapping, though most of them had no idea what I was talking about. They're pretty much used to me shouting out obscenities and other fouled mouth expletives at random times throughout the workday...nothing should surprise them now.
I've overcome the hardest obstacle thus far. Phew.
Now, I wait.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
..and thus it begins...
***As we all know, I'm not the greatest at posting in a timely manner; therefore it's now Tuesday September 2nd...and I'm just finishing this post from last week. Suprise Surprise.***
Somebody needs to come with a song that's the complete opposite of that old 80's (I think) song "School's out for Summer." I can hear it now. "Weeeeeel-come back to Hell!" You see where I'm going with that.
So, I made it through my first day of school. In order to make it to class on time, I had to change my work hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. My normal hours are 9-5:30pm, which I'll still be working M, Th & F. Tuesday's I'm here from 6-2:30pm, and Weds 8-4:30pm. I woke up at 4:30am yesterday. 4:30. That time shouldn't exist. Even the owls and the roosters don't acknowledge a time that early. They heard my alarm clock go off and quietly giggled to themselves.
6am in the cube farm is a whole different experience than 9am. It's eerily quiet. Not a soul in sight. Half of the lights are still off. It's WEIRD. To be honest, I could totally get used to that. I say that now, when it's 80 degrees outside and Summer. Getting up and cleaning snow off the car at 4:30am in the dark and freezing cold? Not so much.
I left work at 2:30, and had NO traffic whatsoever. I parked and looked at the clock; 50 mins total to get there. Not bad at all. After me semi-er dash to the bathroom, I sought out the info desk in hopes of getting my ID picture taken. Alas, the damned machine was still down. (It's the same one they use here at work...no surprises!) So, I had 40mins to kill before class. Being the nerd that I am, I sat outside on a bench and started reading the textbook. Geek, I know. It was actually pretty interesting...all about design. Words are purty!
Class began promptly at 4:15pm, with a whopping 9 students. The class is called Media Technology for Educators...and it looks like a lot of fun. The only thing intimidating about it is that it's primarily Mac based, but she gave us a decent tutorial of it, and I feel ok about it. Only a couple of the students are already teachers, so that makes me feel a bit more at ease. I think it should be a good class...and I'm definitely looking forward to it. (Plus, she's giving us one day off a month...LOVE this lady!)
Wednesday's class; Cultural Pluralism in the classroom. Basically it means teaching beyond the color line. I get to class, wait. More students walk in. Wait some more. Prof. is late. We wait. Finally a woman walks into the class, and tells us that the Dr. Addison had an ER, and won't be able to make it to class. "So, I'm going to hand out the syllabus, set you up in your groups, see if there are any questions, and then you're free to leave." Needless to say there was an excited giggle throughout the room. Nothing like getting out of your 3-hour class 2.5 hours early! =)
So she handed out the syllabus, and divided us into our workgroups for the semester. We simply counted off by 4's, and assembled into our groups according to our #. I was a #4, and as I walked to the corner with the other 4's, I couldn't help but start laughing to myself...as the other two girls in the group did as well. We were all redheads, all wearing black. The woman filling in for Dr. Addison looked at us, laughed and said "You girls could be a singing group!" Honest to god, it was so weird. That was like 1/2 the population of redheads in the entire world, right there in that classroom at that time. Bizarre.
The first week of classes went over rather well...as do most first weeks. It's definitely going to be a doozy of a fall. I registered for the GRE yesterday, and plan on taking that November 22nd. I spoke with Sarah, and she quelled my fears about it a bit. I mean, I'm still definitely going to study, but I feel a bit more confident about it. I also need to register for the Illinois Test of Basic Skills...which she also said was really pretty easy. Luckily this test is only $80, compared to the $140 that blasted GRE was. Once I can finish these tests, and Angie's wedding is over, life should be relatively calm.
At least as calm as my life could ever be considered.
Somebody needs to come with a song that's the complete opposite of that old 80's (I think) song "School's out for Summer." I can hear it now. "Weeeeeel-come back to Hell!" You see where I'm going with that.
So, I made it through my first day of school. In order to make it to class on time, I had to change my work hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. My normal hours are 9-5:30pm, which I'll still be working M, Th & F. Tuesday's I'm here from 6-2:30pm, and Weds 8-4:30pm. I woke up at 4:30am yesterday. 4:30. That time shouldn't exist. Even the owls and the roosters don't acknowledge a time that early. They heard my alarm clock go off and quietly giggled to themselves.
6am in the cube farm is a whole different experience than 9am. It's eerily quiet. Not a soul in sight. Half of the lights are still off. It's WEIRD. To be honest, I could totally get used to that. I say that now, when it's 80 degrees outside and Summer. Getting up and cleaning snow off the car at 4:30am in the dark and freezing cold? Not so much.
I left work at 2:30, and had NO traffic whatsoever. I parked and looked at the clock; 50 mins total to get there. Not bad at all. After me semi-er dash to the bathroom, I sought out the info desk in hopes of getting my ID picture taken. Alas, the damned machine was still down. (It's the same one they use here at work...no surprises!) So, I had 40mins to kill before class. Being the nerd that I am, I sat outside on a bench and started reading the textbook. Geek, I know. It was actually pretty interesting...all about design. Words are purty!
Class began promptly at 4:15pm, with a whopping 9 students. The class is called Media Technology for Educators...and it looks like a lot of fun. The only thing intimidating about it is that it's primarily Mac based, but she gave us a decent tutorial of it, and I feel ok about it. Only a couple of the students are already teachers, so that makes me feel a bit more at ease. I think it should be a good class...and I'm definitely looking forward to it. (Plus, she's giving us one day off a month...LOVE this lady!)
Wednesday's class; Cultural Pluralism in the classroom. Basically it means teaching beyond the color line. I get to class, wait. More students walk in. Wait some more. Prof. is late. We wait. Finally a woman walks into the class, and tells us that the Dr. Addison had an ER, and won't be able to make it to class. "So, I'm going to hand out the syllabus, set you up in your groups, see if there are any questions, and then you're free to leave." Needless to say there was an excited giggle throughout the room. Nothing like getting out of your 3-hour class 2.5 hours early! =)
So she handed out the syllabus, and divided us into our workgroups for the semester. We simply counted off by 4's, and assembled into our groups according to our #. I was a #4, and as I walked to the corner with the other 4's, I couldn't help but start laughing to myself...as the other two girls in the group did as well. We were all redheads, all wearing black. The woman filling in for Dr. Addison looked at us, laughed and said "You girls could be a singing group!" Honest to god, it was so weird. That was like 1/2 the population of redheads in the entire world, right there in that classroom at that time. Bizarre.
The first week of classes went over rather well...as do most first weeks. It's definitely going to be a doozy of a fall. I registered for the GRE yesterday, and plan on taking that November 22nd. I spoke with Sarah, and she quelled my fears about it a bit. I mean, I'm still definitely going to study, but I feel a bit more confident about it. I also need to register for the Illinois Test of Basic Skills...which she also said was really pretty easy. Luckily this test is only $80, compared to the $140 that blasted GRE was. Once I can finish these tests, and Angie's wedding is over, life should be relatively calm.
At least as calm as my life could ever be considered.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Drumroll please....
I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!!!
That's right kids! I came home Friday evening to find a large packet from NEIU sitting on the kitchen counter....needless to say I ripped into it and let out a little yelp of excitement when I saw the word "Congratulations!" And then I called everybody in my phone book...which is pretty standard practice...or so I assume.
The rest of the evening is a blur...as is Saturday. Celebration came fast and fierce!
Oh well...I'm pretty sure that's the reason beer was invented. (And Jaeger bombs? Perhaps...)
I did it kids. I got in.
I start next month.
Holy Crap!
The rest of the evening is a blur...as is Saturday. Celebration came fast and fierce!
Oh well...I'm pretty sure that's the reason beer was invented. (And Jaeger bombs? Perhaps...)
I did it kids. I got in.
I start next month.
Holy Crap!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Shoot me. Please.
If I honestly have to sit here and stare at this fucking monitor any longer, I'm going to scream. If I have to answer one more phone call with my sweeter that molasses voice, I think I'm going to go looney tunes and start running around the hallways like an escapee from "Cuckoo's Nest" without my straight jacket. I just can't comprehend how people can sit here, day in and day out...clickity clickity clackity on their keyboards, doing this mind numbing drivel. I just don't get it.
I for one know that the millisecond I leave the cell for the day, and see sunshine, a bit of my soul begins to return. With each step closer to the car, I can feel...a sense of something...wait, is that my conscience returning? No, couldn't be.
Let's stop sending convicted criminals to prison. Make them get a desk job. In a cube. I guarantee it's 1000x worse than dropping the soap...even in Attica. They'll come out on the straight and narrow...fully rehabilitated. I guarantee it.
Just some of my "I'm irritated today" thoughts from the cube farm for ya.
Please, pray for my acceptance into grad school.
Please?
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