Diary 10/29

I am essentially done with my hot topic project. We had our final Skype this evening. Our presentation is Monday. One group down two to go!

BTW, I have not received grades for either my end-user nor expert guide assignments. I have new assignments due in both classes on the 9th. I'd love to know how I scored prior to submitting the next one.

I also have not heard a word from anyone in my other two groups since FT weekend. Hmmmm...

I just sent an email to the database group to remind them of our next deadline.

I have faith in my White Paper group so I shall not bug them just yet ;oD

299

Diary 10/24

Fall is upon us. Like truly falling upon us in the form of rain, wet snow, leaves... We did not have much summer weather but I'm already nostalgic for heat and sun.

It is almost November which means the semester is more than half way over. We have around five weeks to go YEAH! This means that at the end of this semester cohort 9 is 1/3 done with the classes needed to earn our Masters. Time has not flown, yet.

In two weeks I will be registering for Fall classes. I am waitng to see what WISE courses are offered and eyeballing Tomer's Digital Libraries and Biagini's Resources for Young Adults.

I am told Biagini is hard and gives tons of work but I still might take the class...

297

Diary 10/22

I'm feeling overwhelmed again. Sigh... I have to supply reams information for two critical reports at work this week, my work day has started at 7 am for the last week in my effort to keep up, this is ruining my normal morning gym activity. I feel bloated. ARG! I'm still tired from FT weekend.

I have DB's to submit then reply to, I have to start working on my white paper, I'm confused about the retrieval papers citing format and still cannot find two of the answers. I was looking forward to thanksgiving but reviewing the syllabus I don't see much of a break built in which means I'll be working straight through the holiday just to stay current.

I keep telling myself that all of this stress will be worth it in the end. But, will it? Will I get the job I want? Will the economy be good enough by the summer of 2011, when I graduate, to guarantee me the job and salary I require? I wonder and wonder...

295

Diary 10/20

The work continues. All of us in the white paper group decided to do individual papers. We've already done our individual synopsis of the interviews. We now have to edit that down into 1500 words and move on... That is basically one group down and two to go.

My hot topics group, except one person, met during FT weekend. I think we have it all together. I happened to get another good team :o) All that is left is making the PPT and coming up with a DB conversation for the group.

My organizing and retrieving group is another issue. Initially before we met, we seemed to mesh but, once we met during FT weekend I could tell there were some uncomfortable, aggressive vibes. I ignored the two people who I felt were causing the feelings and continued as I started, leading the group. I think we can get a good product out of this team but some of these people are not ones I will work with in the future.

In a nutshell, I would really like this semester to be over and all my pre-requisites to be complete. Hopefully, after this semester time will fly. Graduation seems so far away at this point...

294

Diary 10/17

This morning I do not have any classes until 11:30 but am on campus because I commute with a group. I am getting tons of work done for my paying job that I have, sadly, neglected in my effort to prepare for FT weekend and stay on schedule with assignments. I am very happy about that! At times I feel guilty about neglecting certain areas of my life/work but then I push that aside in my quest for straight A's.

Thus far this FT weekend has been painless. Though I complained about the extra work one teacher sent last minute, I enjoyed the class discussions that resulted due to those assignments. Class flew by.

I was happier than I thought I would be at seeing my fellow cohort 9 students. There was even one person that I was not particularly fond of this summer that is trying to be more pleasant and I am returning the favor.

I found out from a veteran MLIS student that the "all cohort meetings" are not mandatory. Yipee! Due to this, I've been able to go to the gym in my hotel and get the necessary hours of sleep.

The list of positives this time goes on and on...

292

Diary 10/15

We are in Pittsburgh. We checked in to the hotel. I worked out for an hour and then checked my email. What did I find? Another two assignments due by Friday for my Management class. I was/am so outdone! Why would a teacher give more work the day before students are supposed to commute hours, from all over the world, to get to campus? Thankfully we left the evening before and I was able to print the assignments out this evening. I still have not finished annotating my dang blagg bibliographies. I had given myself a deadline of Thursday to finish the annotations but now I've been forced to extend the time to Friday. I hate not meeting self imposed deadlines!

I really hope this weekend flys by. I'm ready to go home already...

290

Diary 10/14

FT weekend is fast approaching. We leave Thursday evening. Thankfully classes do not start until Friday afternoon so we can take some time to see Pittsburgh, sit down to a meal and get a good night of rest before all H E L L ( that's right, I said hell and I mean it!) breaks loose.

Just yesterday as I was congratulating myself on my efficiency then, a teacher sent a last minute assignment that she wants completed for class discussion during FT weekend!!!!!

At the beginning of this week, the only plan I had for the days leading up to FT weekend was working on my portion of the hot topics project. All good plans as they say... With the tight schedule my white paper group cannot find time to meet so I had to work on that project and email it to the group. That took a day away from my HT project. The teachers last minute assignment took another day.

I am now on the wire with only 1/2 of the HT work I promised complete. Which means my job (the one that pays my living) will be neglected Thursday as I cram.

Sometimes I do not know what I was thinking when I signed up for this program...

289

Diary 10/12

Oh my... I did better on my test than I thought. Not an A but nowhere near an F either. Imagine my surprise :oO Even though I received a reasonable grade, I hope the next test is not nearly as hard. I was cross eyed after that test and it left a bad taste in my mouth for that type of class. I want to take more of Tomers classes. I really enjoyed Intro to Information Technology and I learned quite a bit (without tests). I hear that this semester that class has tests. Why at this point of our education do we need to be tested? Is not the work we do enough of a guage? I'm just wondering...

286

Diary 10/07

Last Sunday I took a test for Tomer's class it took me five hours and I'm still not confident that I passed it. That test was so hard I could not believe it. You would think that since this is the first time for tests in this class that they would be more lenient and get harder as they saw students were able to handle to content. But no! They really, I think, went overboard. One answer would have four parts but be worth one point. ONE POINT! I was not pleased. I am not a test taker. The best thing would have been to give the option of taking the test or doing a research paper. I bet many of us would have chosen the latter. I had not taken a test prior to that one in around 20 years. Hopefully the next test I will be better prepared. I really want an A in these classes.

282

Diary 10/03

I could honestly call this post nightmare by the lake!

I have been having a heck of a time. My computer went crazy on Thursday. A new fangled virus grabbed it and was copying files as fast as it could.

Me being no slouch in the computer department went immediately to Google and tried to find the fix. Every link I clicked the virus re-directed me to a vacation web site. I was pissed. I kept persevering until I found sites that the virus hadn't corrupted. when the virus saw that I was not giving up, it took control of my mouse. I manually took control back and downloaded two virus destroyers simultaneously killing it (so I thought). This whole process took at least 3 hours. Wiped out I went to bed.

The next day, Friday, I did not access my computer until that evening. When I tried to go into Gmail I was unable to access the site. I ran my virus software again and found 12 malware on my computer (down from over 300 the evening before so not bad). I tried to destroy them but they blocked all of my software. Frustrated and again wiped out, this time unvictorious, I went to bed.

Today, Saturday, I woke up at 5 am determined to get into Gmail. I copied the error code my virus software gave me into Google and got to work. The virus, re-directed me over and over again from sites that could help. I finally found a back door and was able to destroy the final 12 malware. In the process of looking for the solution I found a microsoft fix-it program that I ran for giggles. The total time it took today to fix the problem 7 hours. And guess what? I now find that the virus somehow disabled my task manager!

More fun for me on Sunday. It's not like I have to study for a test or anything...Sigh.