I've wanted to update for a while -- either here or on mySpace. I've especially been inspired by Erica & Christina, not that I have the time to think about any one thing long enough to come up with anything so insightful or entertaining.
It doesn't help that I'm having issues setting up my cookies on my Firefox at home. And at work, they've announced that 3% of the company is going to be layed off. Blogging about that from work... doesn't give me a warm fuzzy. They're going to inform people by the end of August. I don't know if it matters, but at least I've got steady work for another year or so & I'm one of the few that has quite a bit of knowledge about what I'm doing -- not that I feel that confident.
Work is still a challenge -- mostly just with one person I work with. He is just so abrasive. I've been avoiding asking him questions lately, even though I should have long ago, just so I don't have to deal with him. Thank goodness there's a cube wall between us.
Classes are still going. I'm on my last one (for now). I'll be done in less than 3 weeks -- maybe even 2 if I'm ready to take the final early. I've got a project due in 1.5 weeks -- the day before my sister flys back out to school in AZ. Mind you, she got here yesterday, the first day that I started really thinking about the project. *sigh*
As soon as she leaves, Tim's family comes out to visit for 2 weeks from Kansas. I'm crazy looking forward to that. I love his family so much. I really hope that I get my exam out of the way before they're here. Then I won't have to worry about studying for my final while they're here.
I should really get going and be off to work. I'd be there by now if I didn't feel like updating so much, not that it's really anything that much. Mostly, I'm overwhelmed by life yet again (still?) and don't give myself time to sit down and figure out my priorities. At least last night was somewhat relaxing, watching my sister play video games and then watching So You Think You Can Dance last night. I even remembered to vote this week. :)
Only a few more hours until I'm done work for the week. Then I'll have the weekend to relax and get stressed over my project. The joys of my life. I'm almost through. Then I can get my life back in order. :D
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
Astigma-who?
I am a pure astigmatic. I'm rare, apparently.
I had a very much overdue eye examination today. Apparently, being an astigmatic means that my primary issue with my eyes is astigmatism; most people have it as a secondary problem. On top of that, my ability to focus on something 16-18" away is "off the charts" -- no wonder I can study for such long periods.
On top of doing well on today's exam (:P), I got my hair cut. Nothing major. Just a trim, to clean it up a bit. It snowed this week, so it's too early for my summer cut. I got it blown dry & was informed that my hair was "different. ...poofy." It's a rarity this gets done -- I find it a waste of time. Ah well, pretty hair for today without hairspray.
Speaking of exams, I did rather well on my final exam: I got a 73. Compared to a 41 on the midterm... Yeah. I found out yesterday that I got a B in the course & will be able to get my $$$ back. So psyched.
To continue on the theme of random paragraphs, I had a blast at dance last night. The local J&J was last night and since I'm in advanced, I couldn't participate. Ah well, it was fun to watch & make my sister laugh at my whilst she was competing. :D I love her too much to not be obnoxious. Anyway, I woke up quite sore this morning, in a good way. I need to wake up like that more often. To feel like I actually exerted energy. 'cause then maybe it would mean that I'm losing weight. Things that make you go hmm...
I had a very much overdue eye examination today. Apparently, being an astigmatic means that my primary issue with my eyes is astigmatism; most people have it as a secondary problem. On top of that, my ability to focus on something 16-18" away is "off the charts" -- no wonder I can study for such long periods.
On top of doing well on today's exam (:P), I got my hair cut. Nothing major. Just a trim, to clean it up a bit. It snowed this week, so it's too early for my summer cut. I got it blown dry & was informed that my hair was "different. ...poofy." It's a rarity this gets done -- I find it a waste of time. Ah well, pretty hair for today without hairspray.
Speaking of exams, I did rather well on my final exam: I got a 73. Compared to a 41 on the midterm... Yeah. I found out yesterday that I got a B in the course & will be able to get my $$$ back. So psyched.
To continue on the theme of random paragraphs, I had a blast at dance last night. The local J&J was last night and since I'm in advanced, I couldn't participate. Ah well, it was fun to watch & make my sister laugh at my whilst she was competing. :D I love her too much to not be obnoxious. Anyway, I woke up quite sore this morning, in a good way. I need to wake up like that more often. To feel like I actually exerted energy. 'cause then maybe it would mean that I'm losing weight. Things that make you go hmm...
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Rollercoaster.
Life is a rollercoaster.
It especially has been over the last week. I was all sorts of confused & didn't know what was going to happen. It seemed out of control, even when I tried oh so hard to make things work.
If you didn't know, I've been doing grad school part time. Before you get your hopes up, it's just a graduate certificate, not a MS degree. It consists of taking 5 classes, on the topic of digital signal processing. So far, I've gotten 2 A's, and I'm waiting for my grade for the class I recently completed. Two classes left and, BAM, a graduate certificate. Oh, by the way, if I'm so inclined, I can directly apply these 5 classes to a MS degree, which only leaves 6 classes left for me to take. Mind you I said "if."
Last week, I was frantically calling people. Last class, we had only 8 students -- WPI barely breaks even for holding the course. One of my classmates wasn't going to be allowed by his management to take the class, but luckily one of my former classmates was stepping up to the plate again. Okay, we're back to 8 students. The catch is that WPI administrators that we worked with promised the rest of WPI that "it wouldn't happen again" -- meaning only having 8 students. Luckily, we recruited one more student to bump the class up to 9.
Thursday night, we get an email saying that the class will actually be run. Relief. It made my weekend much more relaxing knowing that the class was happening.
Okay, Monday this week. I put my official tuition assistance request in. I run off to another facility that the company has to meet with the people I work with. I come back with about an hour and a half before the class & I find that my functional manager has rejected my request. He won't pay for it. He doesn't have it in his budget. Mind you, he gave me verbal confirmation earlier in the year that I could take 3 classes this year. I was not thrilled & didn't hide it as well as I could have. He said he was sorry, too bad it didn't feel like he meant it at all. Back down to 8 students in the class. No wait! Only 7 because someone else in the class is in my department. Oh yeah, and the fact that 7 other students in this company were getting screwed "wasn't his responsibility."
The WPI rep that's been coordinating everything gets here. I told her that 2 of us didn't have funding. She freaked out 'cause there was no way the class could run. The other 7 students in the class weren't happy 'cause at least half of them are pursuing degrees & this would put them a semester behind. I had given up on the whole situation. They decided to rally together & write a letter (email) to all of our functional managers explaining the situation to try & get money. Oh, and it also got sent to one of the presidents of the company as well (we have a lot of them).
I saw the letter first thing Tuesday morning. The letter was really good, explaining the situation. A couple of things were flat out wrong. But that last paragraph, oh boy. I find out afterwards that it was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek thing, but it more came across as an ultimatum. So we're freaking out 'cause it got sent to so many people in the company. A while later there's an email from the guy who sent the email saying that the president called him into the office ASAP & said that he wouldn't stop until they found money for us.
Wednesday was day 2 of the President's Tour in the company at my facility. Afterwards, I went up to the president who helped us out to thank him. There's something wrong with the system, and he realized it. He's trying to get it fixed so we won't have the issue next time around, in all of 10 weeks. He's really cool. He's very real, not fake. I liked that. :) When we were joking around about how we didn't start our homework 'cause we didn't know if the class would run, he immediately responded with, "Do your homework! And make sure you get an A." Made me smile. And it felt better to hear directly from him that the class would run.
Yesterday afternoon my functional finally came by to let me know that they found the money for us to take the class. I had to resubmit the tuition assistance request. He's supposed to approve it. He hasn't yet. Today I've got a meeting with his boss. We'll be getting an explanation about why he made his original decision, where he stole the money from, and he wants to "enlist our help" to be ready for the next round. Not sure what that last part means, but I'm feeling better about the situation as a whole. I even started my homework last night. :)
The whole situation felt like a rollercoaster.
No, the class isn't going to run. Okay, now it is. Just joking, it's not. Through the grapevine, it is running. For definite it's running.
I gave up on the class quite a few times. It wasn't until I gave up & left it to God that things happened. When I finally left it to God, things didn't seem as out of control. Amazing how He can teach you so much through experiences...
It especially has been over the last week. I was all sorts of confused & didn't know what was going to happen. It seemed out of control, even when I tried oh so hard to make things work.
If you didn't know, I've been doing grad school part time. Before you get your hopes up, it's just a graduate certificate, not a MS degree. It consists of taking 5 classes, on the topic of digital signal processing. So far, I've gotten 2 A's, and I'm waiting for my grade for the class I recently completed. Two classes left and, BAM, a graduate certificate. Oh, by the way, if I'm so inclined, I can directly apply these 5 classes to a MS degree, which only leaves 6 classes left for me to take. Mind you I said "if."
Last week, I was frantically calling people. Last class, we had only 8 students -- WPI barely breaks even for holding the course. One of my classmates wasn't going to be allowed by his management to take the class, but luckily one of my former classmates was stepping up to the plate again. Okay, we're back to 8 students. The catch is that WPI administrators that we worked with promised the rest of WPI that "it wouldn't happen again" -- meaning only having 8 students. Luckily, we recruited one more student to bump the class up to 9.
Thursday night, we get an email saying that the class will actually be run. Relief. It made my weekend much more relaxing knowing that the class was happening.
Okay, Monday this week. I put my official tuition assistance request in. I run off to another facility that the company has to meet with the people I work with. I come back with about an hour and a half before the class & I find that my functional manager has rejected my request. He won't pay for it. He doesn't have it in his budget. Mind you, he gave me verbal confirmation earlier in the year that I could take 3 classes this year. I was not thrilled & didn't hide it as well as I could have. He said he was sorry, too bad it didn't feel like he meant it at all. Back down to 8 students in the class. No wait! Only 7 because someone else in the class is in my department. Oh yeah, and the fact that 7 other students in this company were getting screwed "wasn't his responsibility."
The WPI rep that's been coordinating everything gets here. I told her that 2 of us didn't have funding. She freaked out 'cause there was no way the class could run. The other 7 students in the class weren't happy 'cause at least half of them are pursuing degrees & this would put them a semester behind. I had given up on the whole situation. They decided to rally together & write a letter (email) to all of our functional managers explaining the situation to try & get money. Oh, and it also got sent to one of the presidents of the company as well (we have a lot of them).
I saw the letter first thing Tuesday morning. The letter was really good, explaining the situation. A couple of things were flat out wrong. But that last paragraph, oh boy. I find out afterwards that it was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek thing, but it more came across as an ultimatum. So we're freaking out 'cause it got sent to so many people in the company. A while later there's an email from the guy who sent the email saying that the president called him into the office ASAP & said that he wouldn't stop until they found money for us.
Wednesday was day 2 of the President's Tour in the company at my facility. Afterwards, I went up to the president who helped us out to thank him. There's something wrong with the system, and he realized it. He's trying to get it fixed so we won't have the issue next time around, in all of 10 weeks. He's really cool. He's very real, not fake. I liked that. :) When we were joking around about how we didn't start our homework 'cause we didn't know if the class would run, he immediately responded with, "Do your homework!
Yesterday afternoon my functional finally came by to let me know that they found the money for us to take the class. I had to resubmit the tuition assistance request. He's supposed to approve it. He hasn't yet. Today I've got a meeting with his boss. We'll be getting an explanation about why he made his original decision, where he stole the money from, and he wants to "enlist our help" to be ready for the next round. Not sure what that last part means, but I'm feeling better about the situation as a whole. I even started my homework last night. :)
The whole situation felt like a rollercoaster.
No, the class isn't going to run. Okay, now it is. Just joking, it's not. Through the grapevine, it is running. For definite it's running.
I gave up on the class quite a few times. It wasn't until I gave up & left it to God that things happened. When I finally left it to God, things didn't seem as out of control. Amazing how He can teach you so much through experiences...
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Distracted by Life.
My life has been interesting as of late. By interesting, I mean really full. Luckily, my life is going to slow down a bit now that the high schoolers on the FIRST team have finished building their robot, as of late Monday night.
Pretty sexy, eh? Well, I have yet to find out. The kids haven't had a chance to test it as a full system yet, only subsystems. Their competition is coming up in a mere week & the robot is out of their hands. Fortunately, someone else will be running the show & not me, for once. There is quite a bit of tension between the software & mechanical groups, with one particularly negative software student that will still be with the team for 2 years.
Anyway, I'm not going to much of the competition. It's Thursday through Saturday, but I'll only be going Saturday. Conveniently, I have a final for my class with a horrid professor the Monday after the competition. As this is the case, on Thursday I'll be working, studying & seeing the wonderful man in my life. Friday, I'm taking the day off from work so I can study. Saturday, I'm going to the competition & taking part in the team festivities afterwards at Ground Round. It will be a good & much needed break from studying. The difficult part will be parting ways with my boyfriend afterwards.
The good thing is that I'll get to see my boyfriend here & there starting Thursday night of next week. I'll also get to see him this weekend 'cause I'm finally getting to go out dancing this Saturday, which happens to be all of a half hour from his parents' house. I find it a rather good excuse to convince him to visit his parents so we can hang out with his younger brother & fiancee. I look forward to both weekends, but I fear that I won't get enough work done. Hopefully I can get enough done ahead of time so I can lose track of time while with him.
Okay, so with being mostly done with the robot, I can finally dance more, as I mentioned briefly. I'll still have grad school, which is a lot of work, but now I can get my regular homework schedule back. I'll be going to Boston Tea Party at the end of the month, for free 'cause I won a local J&J at the end of last year with my wonderful friend Kevin. With the event only being a month away, I've taken a look in the mirror & at a scale. When I went to the doctor for a physical for the first time in a couple years, I was told that I was a bit overweight, but not in the obese category yet. Well, FIRST season means I don't dance as frequently or eat as well as I should, so since then, I've put on even more weight. With BTP coming, I'm a bit more worried about my weight & how I look 'cause I'll be seeing people I haven't seen in quite a long time. The first step is dancing more. I'd like to go at least twice a week 'cause it's a blast. The other part is that I'm hoping to go to the YMCA & swim at least every other day to start getting my weight down. I don't really want to have to buy new clothes that actually wear well on me for BTP, but if I have to, I will.
So, robots are practically done for now. Grad school continues. Bring back the dancing & bring in the swimming. My last Bible study is tonight & I'm sad that it will be ending. My friend Geoffrey from Cali is doing a 400 mile walk to raise funds for children in Kenya, so I've been helping him out with that quite a bit & have been spending way too much time on mySpace to do so.
I'm supposed to be working, but I've been so distracted by everything in my life that I've had a lot of trouble getting up in the morning & staying focused while I'm here -- as if you couldn't tell.
Pretty sexy, eh? Well, I have yet to find out. The kids haven't had a chance to test it as a full system yet, only subsystems. Their competition is coming up in a mere week & the robot is out of their hands. Fortunately, someone else will be running the show & not me, for once. There is quite a bit of tension between the software & mechanical groups, with one particularly negative software student that will still be with the team for 2 years.
Anyway, I'm not going to much of the competition. It's Thursday through Saturday, but I'll only be going Saturday. Conveniently, I have a final for my class with a horrid professor the Monday after the competition. As this is the case, on Thursday I'll be working, studying & seeing the wonderful man in my life. Friday, I'm taking the day off from work so I can study. Saturday, I'm going to the competition & taking part in the team festivities afterwards at Ground Round. It will be a good & much needed break from studying. The difficult part will be parting ways with my boyfriend afterwards.
The good thing is that I'll get to see my boyfriend here & there starting Thursday night of next week. I'll also get to see him this weekend 'cause I'm finally getting to go out dancing this Saturday, which happens to be all of a half hour from his parents' house. I find it a rather good excuse to convince him to visit his parents so we can hang out with his younger brother & fiancee. I look forward to both weekends, but I fear that I won't get enough work done. Hopefully I can get enough done ahead of time so I can lose track of time while with him.
Okay, so with being mostly done with the robot, I can finally dance more, as I mentioned briefly. I'll still have grad school, which is a lot of work, but now I can get my regular homework schedule back. I'll be going to Boston Tea Party at the end of the month, for free 'cause I won a local J&J at the end of last year with my wonderful friend Kevin. With the event only being a month away, I've taken a look in the mirror & at a scale. When I went to the doctor for a physical for the first time in a couple years, I was told that I was a bit overweight, but not in the obese category yet. Well, FIRST season means I don't dance as frequently or eat as well as I should, so since then, I've put on even more weight. With BTP coming, I'm a bit more worried about my weight & how I look 'cause I'll be seeing people I haven't seen in quite a long time. The first step is dancing more. I'd like to go at least twice a week 'cause it's a blast. The other part is that I'm hoping to go to the YMCA & swim at least every other day to start getting my weight down. I don't really want to have to buy new clothes that actually wear well on me for BTP, but if I have to, I will.
So, robots are practically done for now. Grad school continues. Bring back the dancing & bring in the swimming. My last Bible study is tonight & I'm sad that it will be ending. My friend Geoffrey from Cali is doing a 400 mile walk to raise funds for children in Kenya, so I've been helping him out with that quite a bit & have been spending way too much time on mySpace to do so.
I'm supposed to be working, but I've been so distracted by everything in my life that I've had a lot of trouble getting up in the morning & staying focused while I'm here -- as if you couldn't tell.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
