Last week I went home to SJ to attend the CNIE conference. It’s been a few years since I’ve been home so I spent an extra few days in the city and crashed at my mum’s place.

CNIE 2010 was special for me this year. It’s not the first time a paper I’ve been associated with has been presented at a conference, but it was the first time that I was involved in the presentation. Needless to say I was a bundle of nerves and Dr. D might have expressed some concern thet I’d become a babbling idiot during the presentation. I may have babbled a bit, but I certainly didn’t go off the rails and both Dr. D and N should have nothing to worry about career wise. Well, at least not due to being associated with me at this time.

Eating and exercising was a real challenge at home. Once the convention was over it wasn’t as difficult since I mostly ate at mum’s. Eating out can be a veritable mine field. Sometimes the healthy options can be filled with hidden fat, calories, sugar, etc. I decided that if I was going to go overboard on a meal or two then I’d best enjoy myself.  And with that decided, all was right with the world. Lobster stuffed cheesy mushroom caps found their way onto my plate.

I think this attitude really helped keep me on track while I was away from home. Rather than going overboard all the time, or denying myself constantly, I had the special splurge meals and the standard lifestyle change type meals. When all was said and done I returned home 0.8lbs lighter. I likely would have lost more weight over the time I was gone if I’d been less indulgent. But I think the important thing is that I continued to lose weight and still managed to do the social eating (lunches, trips to restaurants, etc.) that would have easily derailed me in the past.

The FedEx tracking site tells me that my Adobe eLearning suite is somewhere in the city. Actually, it told me it was out for delivery this am and back at the FedEx depot this afternoon. Drew was home all day and says no delivery attempt was made and that the doorbell never rang. Boo-urns! I was really looking forward to installing it this weekend. At least I know I’ll have it before I head into my Flash level 1 and 2 classes over the upcoming weekends…

I must be crazy.

I’ve registered for three classes this semester. Obviously I’ve learned nothing from my experience last semester and am doomed to repeat the experience. Panic. Stress. Too many papers. Not enough me time.

I’m still deluded enough to think that school is the perfect way to spend my time while Drew’s away (And back. Then away again). What better way to fill up my time than to work through a bunch of 4th year classes like a maniac? Since I no longer need to complete a degree in order to convince the powers that be that I have a clue what I’m doing in the workplace, I need to tell myself something to motivate me through ’til completion. 

If that weren’t enough, I’ve signed myself up for two back-to-back weekend classes at the college I used to work at. Bye-bye Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I might as well get used to the loss immediately so I don’t feel like it’s snuck up on me while I wasn’t paying attention this semester.

Why did I think I could manage this? Well, for starters the weekend classes are running over the first two weekends of my university courses. I figure that’s the only time that my work load will be low enough for me to give up an entire weekend. I won’t have any papers due and I’m delusional enough to think I’ll get my reading and weekly assignments done during the work week.

Secondly, for the first time in years I don’t work in a job where I have to work crazy OT hours in order to pull-off a project committment at the last minute. No more mad dash heroics that, in reality, benefits my employer greatly and me least of all.

And, of course, it wouldn’t hurt for me to get a better understanding of some of the software I use now. At the moment I stumble my way through editing existing Flash files. What I’d really like to be able to do is develop basic interactions on my own without having to spend hours digging through help files and watching tutorials. Since I just spent a minor fortune and gifted myself with a (student) copy of Adobe’s eLearning Suite I better get off my tush and start taking classes to ensure I can do more than just flounder around in Flash and Photoshop. If all goes well, I’ll take a class in Illustrator through work next month as well. 

Just call me crazy.

School starts back up next week. I’m a glutton for punishment and have registered for three classes again this semester. On the bright side it looks like I won’t have to write exams for my two 4th year classes. Lots of large papers to write but I prefer those over exams any day.

I was excited to see that I’m taking yet another class (this will be #3) from my favourite Psych prof. I know we’re supposed to vary the profs we take classes with in order to be exposed to different points of view but since the profs aren’t listed when I enroll in my classes it’s a bit of a crap shoot as to which section & prof I’m assigned to each semester. That said, I really enjoy the way this prof runs his classes, delivers very detailed and specific personal feedback, and challenges me to think through arguements in class and in my papers. I’m thrilled to be spending another 13 weeks under his wing.

I have only good things to say on the work front. I’ve been working in my new position (new employer as well) for five months now and love what I’m doing. We’re a small team who mesh well and the immediate leadership is awesome. I especially love the opportunity to contribute fully to my team and continue to hone my eLearning development and instuctional design skills. I don’t fell like I have a job anymore. I have a career I can feel passionate about and it feels wonderful!

Haven’t been blogging a lot lately. It’s getting close to the end of the winter semester at school so I’m frantically trying to finish assignments and prep for exams in two weeks. I’ve a nice solid A in my Mil Psych course pre-exam and feeling pretty confident about the subject matter. Wish I could say the same about my other two classes. Stats and Experimental Psych are somewhere in the realm of B going into exams. I’m hoping I don’t mangle the exams in those two classes. I have an extra few weeks before I need to start worrying about them though. Only bright side about the courses.

There’s a lot of subject matter and new systems to learn at work so I’m pretty busy there. The overall environment is very different from the college but in a good way. Everyone seems more relaxed and laid back. Kinda like our office was when we got into giggle fits back in the day. Oddly enough, for a government office, there seems to be a lot less politics here. Then again, everything is still so shiny and new.

One thing I have noticed off the bat is that there’s more opportunity for me to do the things I enjoy and to offer input. It’s nice to be heard and appreciated 🙂

And everyone talks like the 12 month probation period is just a quick formality to walk through. My new boss is already talking about upcoming raises in Sept. and April! Raises always make a girl happy.

I do miss my former co-workers. We had talked about getting together for drinks or dinner after it was all over but I haven’t heard anything yet. Maybe it’s all still too soon. Then again, Dr. D and Big Momma R do no where I live so there’s no excuse for not dropping by for a beer on the back patio some day. They just can’t come in the house. Tornado puppies have done quite a number on it lately *sigh* That goes for everyone, you too D.

Last thought of the night surrounds my glasses. Now that I have my new prescription I’m thinking about taking my old frames in to get new lenses put in them. Over the years I’ve learned that you can never have too many spare pairs of glasses. I just need to check out the pricing before I commit to anything. Considering what we paid for these frames, I think it’d be a shame not to reuse them. I couldn’t get new lenses put in them when I got my new glasses because I needed them to see so I could drive while I waited for the new ones to arrive. At the time an old weaker prescription was better than no glasses at all…

Weather is beautiful. Think I’ll go enjoy dinner on the deck before I tackle more homework. Hope everyone else is taking the time to enjoy the evening as well.