While my dream of obtaining a PhD by 30 will not come to pass, I can happily say that I will have started my PhD before I'm 30...exactly 7 days before I turn 30 in fact! March 2, 2009 I start my PhD in Education specialising in curriculum, instruction and assessment from Walden University. The courses are taken online with several residencies required at certain milestones. The program is such an amazing fit into my current position and for my goals down the road.
I AM SO INSANELY EXCITED!
It pays to wait until the right program is found. I've searched in vain for a program that leaped out, grabbed me by the shoulders and said "Here I am!"...until I found this one. Will this take a lot of work and sleepless nights? Oh my God yes. However, I believe that doing a program that inspires you is what keeps you going through the darker times of exhaustion and frustration in that will occur in any quality program.
30 November 2008
11 November 2008
Halloween Party
I love Halloween, most likely because the only requirements for the holiday is to enjoy yourself and step out of the box. Nobody cares on Halloween if somebody sticks a box on their head, punches two holes through it for the eyes, then puts "Free Mammograms" on top with a thick pen; however, this activity is not suggested for any point in time other than Halloween.
This year's fun and games involved a contest of setting up the creepiest Halloween scene based on the props available. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of everybody's costume. This was greatly impacted by the amount of beer and cocktails present.
Below are the pictures that were captured.
Another fun thing we did was write a story throughout the evening - each line added having to include a word pulled from the pumpkin. It's a very strange story that must be shared. This story developed across several hours of drinking and involved many authors...one line at a time.
It was a dark and stormy night. The clouds swam like souless beasts on their hellish rounds. The large man, with his haunted eyes, prowled the yard outside the house. As he raised his goblet to his lips...and screamed as the eyes of the glowing pumpkins met his. He had a stormy surprise in his pants. The banshee grappled his haunted trousers. A woman would have to be drugged to be interested in that! But this woman had mixed up just the right batch in her groovy cauldron. And so she spoke the incantation and began her twisted ritual. As she pulled out her silvery dagger, he realized that she was a witch. He then wished to share the grave with the children of the dead. The witch stabbed with her dagger, and he began bleeding profusely. She shrieked and said "get the hell away from me!" Meanwhile, Wolfman had a surprise in store that he was planning. His latent homosexuality wasn't the only skeleton in his closet.
The Very Weird and Scary End.
This year's fun and games involved a contest of setting up the creepiest Halloween scene based on the props available. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of everybody's costume. This was greatly impacted by the amount of beer and cocktails present.
Below are the pictures that were captured.
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| Halloween Party |
Another fun thing we did was write a story throughout the evening - each line added having to include a word pulled from the pumpkin. It's a very strange story that must be shared. This story developed across several hours of drinking and involved many authors...one line at a time.
It was a dark and stormy night. The clouds swam like souless beasts on their hellish rounds. The large man, with his haunted eyes, prowled the yard outside the house. As he raised his goblet to his lips...and screamed as the eyes of the glowing pumpkins met his. He had a stormy surprise in his pants. The banshee grappled his haunted trousers. A woman would have to be drugged to be interested in that! But this woman had mixed up just the right batch in her groovy cauldron. And so she spoke the incantation and began her twisted ritual. As she pulled out her silvery dagger, he realized that she was a witch. He then wished to share the grave with the children of the dead. The witch stabbed with her dagger, and he began bleeding profusely. She shrieked and said "get the hell away from me!" Meanwhile, Wolfman had a surprise in store that he was planning. His latent homosexuality wasn't the only skeleton in his closet.
The Very Weird and Scary End.
10 November 2008
Beating the Monday Blues
Feeling physically much better than last week, I was remiss to see that while my mood was positive for making something healthy and special for lunch, there's nothing in the house. No bread means no breakfast because my mind cannot register eggs without breakfast and my mind also cannot register breakfast with no eggs except for biscuits and gravy. My supplemented breakfast of some sort of greenish sludge that supposed to be insanely good for me helped for a mere hour before the need for lunch. Unfortunately, the cupboards are bare. There's dinner items, but nothing that I could really eat for lunch. My lunches are pretty light...in fact, you could call me the woman of many light lunches. I'm the classic user of elevensies, lunch, onsies, mid afternoon snack and tea.
I don't care for Mondays a whole lot because it's the day that I feel like I need to get a TONNE done in order to have a good week. No productivity on Monday means the week is trashed. This is possibly due to high expectations each week, but it's the best way for me to get that much done and not die throughout the week. Thus, I am happy to report that I have fulfilled lunch without wasting money or fat cells on fast food, or time going to the grocery store...via wine and chocolate.
There is some level of guilt for popping open the $25 bottle of zinfandel from our Kentucky wine trip to Equus Run just to have for a no-name lunch on a no-name day, but it's really good, and I console myself that it is now a special day due to the appreciation that will be bestowed on the wine. Besides, with the dark chocolate specifically noted to match well with the zin, aand my new German smoked Basil cheese (sorry, honi, all gone), life couldn't get much better. Unless of course I was sitting on a mountaintop surrounded by flowers and goats on a nice summer day.
I don't care for Mondays a whole lot because it's the day that I feel like I need to get a TONNE done in order to have a good week. No productivity on Monday means the week is trashed. This is possibly due to high expectations each week, but it's the best way for me to get that much done and not die throughout the week. Thus, I am happy to report that I have fulfilled lunch without wasting money or fat cells on fast food, or time going to the grocery store...via wine and chocolate.
There is some level of guilt for popping open the $25 bottle of zinfandel from our Kentucky wine trip to Equus Run just to have for a no-name lunch on a no-name day, but it's really good, and I console myself that it is now a special day due to the appreciation that will be bestowed on the wine. Besides, with the dark chocolate specifically noted to match well with the zin, aand my new German smoked Basil cheese (sorry, honi, all gone), life couldn't get much better. Unless of course I was sitting on a mountaintop surrounded by flowers and goats on a nice summer day.
07 November 2008
Jobs to Careers to Specialities
I'll have to admit, as the country in general seems to be in a mild panic over the economy, I've often thought, "I wonder why it hasn't impacted us." Granted the investment end has taken a bit of a beating, and my nose is stuck to the markets more instead of the previous spot checking, but overall, we've been extrodinarily fortunate in the sense that we have job security. After reading an article in the New York Times this morning that provided figures of 1+ million jobs disappearing this year alone, any person in any job would be motivated to pause and consider their own position.
However, I think there is an obvious answer that Peter Weddle points out so well. Specialised positions aren't threatened. In fact, these "privileged workers" seem to be soaring up. This explains how Eric's specialties in the software architecting world don't seem impacted, and how my efforts in the instructional design of online studies don't seem affected. In fact, the demand for work in each of fields is in higher demand.
So, concerned about your job? This technological world doesn't allow for any excuses to not become specialised if you are motivated at all. Don't ditch your career or field, just become an expert in it, or even better, specialise in a specific point within your field.
I believe that while our economy is experiencing a recession, it is easy to blame the economy for how the career methodology has changed. There is no ladder anymore. Go where you want. Just as Peter says, it's an opportunity that each of has that was not there in the days of career ladders. We just need to recognise it and grab our seat in this special and chased class of workers that is completely free to join!
However, I think there is an obvious answer that Peter Weddle points out so well. Specialised positions aren't threatened. In fact, these "privileged workers" seem to be soaring up. This explains how Eric's specialties in the software architecting world don't seem impacted, and how my efforts in the instructional design of online studies don't seem affected. In fact, the demand for work in each of fields is in higher demand.
So, concerned about your job? This technological world doesn't allow for any excuses to not become specialised if you are motivated at all. Don't ditch your career or field, just become an expert in it, or even better, specialise in a specific point within your field.
I believe that while our economy is experiencing a recession, it is easy to blame the economy for how the career methodology has changed. There is no ladder anymore. Go where you want. Just as Peter says, it's an opportunity that each of has that was not there in the days of career ladders. We just need to recognise it and grab our seat in this special and chased class of workers that is completely free to join!
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