Daily Twaddle

School is out until April 7th - whoop whoop! I can’t believe how much stress I feel over school. I feel physically sick. But when clients breathe down my neck, or I get audited, or a job falls through… not worries at all! Weird.

I’m still working two weekdays at the coffee shop. And wow. Now I see why the owners have such a high turnover of employees! It’s ssssoooooo boring without any homework to do!

I decided to just enjoy the time to myself… to think. I spaced out for a couple of hours actually. I debated whether or not I would mind becoming a vampire. If I could be like the vampires in Stephenie Meyer’s novel, I think it might be cool. But if I could never bask in the sunlight - it would suck. I’m still on the fence about the whole idea.

Then I fantasized about being able to fly. That would be awesome. And wouldn’t it be cool if I owned a real-life light saber! Heck yes, it would.

Then I noticed my eyelids starting to droop. I play the classical station at work because it helps my study. Usually it’s symphony hall or sirius pops. I wished that the radio wasn’t so far away so I could switch to some death metal.

I started to feel real relaxed… wishing I could just curl up and nap - just for a few minutes. What the hell? Why was I so tired? I’m not usually this tired, even with the classical music playing. Then the music became clear… it was a classical version of rock-a-bye-baby! Can you believe it? ha ha

So, I promptly visited the library after work to check out a new book to read. I chose Maximum Ride by James Patterson. It’s not as good as Meyer’s novels (a little young for me) but it keeps my interest and consciousness.

Oh yes! I rock!

I had to write a research paper about a current issue in the changing IT industry from a business perspective. I chose to write about how companies can build user trust by applying specific design, content, and security features.

The research was killing me until I said hello to my little friend: Zotero (which I already talked about in another post). Of course, I was nervous about my grade, but I met all the minimum requirements like page length, credible resources, grammar, etc. I just didn’t know if met the big picture - proper tone, audience, topic, thesis statement…

My professor said I met all the criteria, I chose an appropriate topic, and I made a good argument. Sweet!

I love A’s.

Firefox introduced a “Campus Edition” of their browser for scholars and students. This version combines the most popular add-ons for students into one easy download.

Since I already had Firefox, I just downloaded the extensions suggested for students. And… I found one of the most useful computer features I’ve ever used as a student! Zotero! This extension helps me collect, manage, and cite my research sources. It rocks! I save so much time in my research by clicking a button instead of writing an entire bibliography.

This video explains Zotero’s useful features:

I just about peed my pants when I saw this video! Hilarious!

This sign is located outside the Health Building at the University of Montana.

Erected in 1969.

Why are things like this still funny?

During my trip to California, I cleared out all my old boxes that my parents graciously stored for me over the years. I only kept a third of my collection (I have no idea why I still had some of that stuff). And my friend Gabby showed up just as I opened all kinds of little boxes with pictures, posters, and keepsakes. She reminded me of their fleeting significance, we had a laugh, then I trashed them.

I flipped through my yearbook, holy crap - I was so skinny! Jeesh. And I can’t remember most of the people that signed my yearbook. What a shame. Was Shane on the water polo team? It sure looked like him swimming next to Nathan. I didn’t know that.

Then I turned to my tall flags team photos. Good times! I loved tall flags. Did I tell you that they cut the University squad the same year I signed up for school. Oh well. But I did have a flag in stuffed behind one of my boxes. I did some twirls and tosses before I packed it away again (heck-yes…I saved it).

I can’t remember much about school, but I know I laughed alot. At things that were probably not that funny.

Let me walk you through my thoughts on choosing a major for my bachelor’s degree…

When I first tossed around the idea of returning to college to finish my degree, I decided to go to an online school since I live in the boonies of Montana. I found a great school that offered a “web application degree” - right up my alley.

Then, Roch decided to return to school with me and wouldn’t it be fun to go to a traditional university together? Yes, well, the University of Montana didn’t have the degree I wanted, so I settled with international business since I planned on learning French anyway. But… international business is not an option on it’s own, so I had to ad marketing. Marketing sounded easier than Accounting. Notice how I kept drifting from what I really want to do?

Then I looked into Montana State’s programs and they offered a Graphic Design degree. Cool, I would love to add that to my repituare. But unfortunately, I needed to pay for four years of school - even after the one year I spent at UofM. I didn’t have that kind of cash just lying around. Plus, it was a “fine arts” degree and I don’t know that I could have appreciated the beauty of a mangled piece of rusty steel. I’m not the artsy-type. The worst part is after I would have taken the basic art classes, I would have submitted my portfolio with only a 60% chance of getting accepted into the program. Shenanigans!

Okay, I reconsidered my original idea of the online school. Well, they dropped the Web Application degree in favor of a Software Architecture degree. Interesting. The courses looked crappy to me, so I chose the general IT program because I could pick from any of the tech courses. But guess what? I chose almost all the courses from the Software Architecture program!

That is my new degree of choice - Software Architecture from an online university. I wonder if I’ll want to keep working freelance or get a job with a company when I’m done? Who knows? I do know that I should be able to finish my degree two years from now. That will be so exciting.

♪Marching down the avenue… Few more days and I’ll be through… I won’t have to look at you… so, I’ll be glad and so will you.♪

My English portfolio is due today - which I’m polishing up. My math final takes place tomorrow and my french final takes place Wednesday night. I used the phrase “takes place” instead of “is” because I’m trying to eliminate my need for the “to be” verb. I’m actually stalling because I don’t feel like writing any more English papers.

My computer at home (I’m at school right now) has an automatic spell-check when I’m filling out online forms. That’s Firefox, by the way. So, I don’t know if my spelling is correct. I don’t like living in the unknown-spelling world.

I’m way excited about the end of this semester. I plan on drinking heavily after my last final.

That is all. Carry on. Jenn - out.

p.s. I hate speaker phones.

I just turned in my final English paper! It’s such a relief. I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve got a week and a half until my final English portfolio is due. I’ll make some major revisions to each of my papers for that.

French exams are over. Hurray! We have one quiz tomorrow and then the final on May 9th. Oh… happy day. I’m feeling such relief.

We’re moving out of our apartment about three days after our last final exam. We’ll be packing like crazy! Living in a fifth wheel will be hard. I’ll miss my big giant couch. But I sure won’t miss the rent payment!

The summer is going to be awesome. I look forward to relaxing and enjoying the sun. I miss putting my feet in the sand.

I just finished my second math midterm. Oh my gosh, I think I’m going to throw up. I get so nervous when I take a test. My palms sweat and my hands shake. Not together of course. It would be weird to shake my own hand. Let me rephrase… my hands become unsteady with twitchiness.

One problem screwed me. Dang it! Stupid pie. I hate math pie. I got the extra credit right using i (non-real number). But I think the i stands for imaginary number. I can’t confirm that - but I’m sure you don’t care. So, I should get 100% on the test. I hope so. Otherwise my nausia is all in vain! Woe-ez me.

I got an A on my French exam - hurray! I screwed up on a couple of the indirect pronouns and the future tense of one of the verbs. But I got a 95%. Not too shabby. I can’t wait until school is over!