It’s a few days into the new year and I’m already suffering from blogging gaps. This is why I’d never be as crazy dedicated as Dawn was and sign up for the 365 days of blogging. Just wouldn’t happen in this household. Although since I started blogging part-time from my iPhone I have noticed that I’m blogging more frequently.

On Friday I was back at mcpyper’s place for another screening of Breakout of the Masala Kid. This, of course, was required because someone who shall remain nameless Loxley didn’t appear on Thursday night for the original screening. We traipsed to Montana’s for dinner and embarrassed the teenager (mcpyper’s son) for the duration. Poor schmuck was under the delusion that four adults would act maturely in public!

Saturday saw me drive half-way across the city in order to see my “niece” and “nephew” from Winnipeg.  They were up visiting their dad in Calgary and were in Edmonton to catch the train back home. Once again I was out for dinner. I’m seeing a trend here.  If I’m not being fed by my friends and neighbours, strangers are cooking my meals. Perhaps I should start eating something other than soup and sandwhiches when Drew’s gone and I’m at home. I just don’t see the point in cooking for one. Then again, I did have soup and salad for dinner last night. Even at restaurants I’m apparently stuck in a mini-rut.  After dinner I took some video of the kids and their messages for Drew. Today I’ll convert them so he can watch them on his laptop and burn them to disk with my horrific home movie/messages.

This morning I met the kid’s dad and step-mom for breakfast before heading out grocery shopping. I needed some more soup and luncheon meat you see. And gas. And I finally broke down and filled my prescription for my epi-pen. Since I’m allergic to peanuts and my previous epi-pen is expired I had to buy a new one. It’s my least favourite prescription to fill.  They’ve risen another 10$ in price this year and aren’t covered by my health insurance.  It’s not the cost that bothers me so much as the waste. I’ve been lucky and haven’t needed to use one in years. However, since the epi-pens expire after a year, the old ones have to be thrown out and replaced by a new one.  We’ve probably trashed (well, returned to the pharmacy) hundreds of $$ over the years. Of course, the minute I don’t have one on me will be the day I end up accidentally injesting something peanut related. As I twittered earlier today, I’d hate to see the day when my life depends on whether or not I can afford to pay for the epi-pen. I suspect I’ll be going hungry for a while if that ever happens.

Drew is calling this evening.  Yippee!  I’m trying to contain my glee by making bad home movies to send to him in the next package. When I’m tired of that I’ll go back to finishing my pre-reading for the Psych class that starts Monday. I was hoping to get through at least half of the readings during my time off, but only managed to get through 1/8th of them. Not good.  I spent too much time away from the house this holiday season. I have a horrible feeling that I might fall behind if I can’t finish at least two more chapters this evening. Perhaps it’s not too late to put in for some vacation.

As much as I want to see my co-workers again, I’m dreading going back to work tomorrow. The dogs will likely tear the house apart while I’m gone and I’m not looking forward to coming home to a mess every day until they settle back down into the “mom’s gotta work” routine. Usually they’re pretty decent on work days and only act out on weekends but after this much time at home, I’m sure they’ll misbehave for a day or two.

Despite being off work this week so I can study and complete my exams I’m still receiving lists of “emergency” issues to deal with.  I’d tell you how I really feel about the situation but I’m trying to clean up my language these days.

As for today’s exam – I read the textbook and readings, studied all the guides, did the practice quizzes… and spent the 3 hour exam guessing at the answers. I recognized NOTHING on my exam. Ok, so it wasn’t that bad but it certainly felt like it when I was writing it.  This is not a good sign. The essay questions didn’t seem to be based on past papers or the contents of the quizzes and study guide questions. Usually I exit the exams with a certainty that I passed – even if I don’t think I did that well on it.  No such reaction after today’s exam. Here’s hoping I at least squeaked out 50% so I don’t have to retake the Enviro Chem class.

We spent the evening at the pre-deployment briefing for Drew’s tour. From my perspective it felt like a complete waste of time. I know that their services are valuable for some members and families but ours isn’t one of them. I work full time and we have no children. Most, if not all, of the services offer nothing that I can or would ever make use of. Having been through similar briefings in the past, I didn’t learn anything new at this one.

The fact that the briefing was made mandatory – as opposed to optional – made it seem patronizing. I was insulted that I’m not considered to be adult enough, or intelligent enough, to determine whether or not I need to attend a meeting outlining the available services. Too bad they didn’t have a 360 review and didn’t  solicit feedback from those who attended.  I met a few others who also felt the briefing was a waste of their precious time. I think they might have been surprised at any feedback they received. Of course, first they would have to be open to receiving feedback from those they are supposedly serving…

I certainly could have used those two plus hours studying for my next exam.

We seem to be getting a handle on things at work and I think we might survive into the new semester without the mass panic that preceded the last one.

Ummm. Hold on.  I need to go find some wood to knock on.

Much better.

Whatever it brings, tomorrow is my last day at work for a whole week.  Yippee!  I’m taking time off.  Ummm. Never mind the temporary animation and apparent loss of sanity.  I’m taking a week off so I can write my finals for the classes I took this past semester.  They seem to be earlier this year than they were last year. Not that I’m complaining – or, to be honest and factually correct, I’m not complaining as loudly as I normally do – I get an extra week off school before the next semester starts.  Whee! No more pencils or books until early January. Don’t worry.  I’ve stocked up on cool school supplies to meet my crazy addictions needs for the upcoming torture session semester.

Guess it’s a good thing Drew is working all weekend.  I need to study for exams sometime…

A long time ago in a company far, far away I developed technical and customer service oriented training programs.  Had a nice spiffy title – Instructional Designer – and spent a lot of time doing on-site program analysis before settling down and scribbling planning like mad. My boss described me as a gut instinct developer.  From the beginning I could apply the theory without actually knowing the ins and outs of the language associated with the field.  Despite falling into ID after way too much time in the tech support/training worlds, I really enjoyed learning about the field and developing my skills.  I even suffered through completed years of classes at the local university to increase my knowledge of theory and learn the language.  I have a nice pretty certification to show for it.

My ego (and boss) liked to think I was good at what I did.  I built a reputation for delivering a solid product. It also didn’t hurt that I loved to travel.

Somewhere along the way, I discovered that I wasn’t getting all my needs met at zee giant corporation and accepted a position in a support role at a local college.  The downside of this was that, without significant formal education, I would need to complete a few degrees in order to return to the type of work I’d done – and loved – in the past.  Ergo, the return to university and constant whining that appears on my blog of late.  For now I help implement and support eLearning programs.  IDs do the heavy lifting and I help make their vision a reality.

Sometimes their visions appear as kaleidoscopes.  It can take weeks to put all the pieces together.

The bright side is that once completed we can replicate the original course (manually) in a matter of hours.  This turned out to be a good thing when late this afternoon we discovered that the LMS the course was developed in wasn’t compatible with the LMS the course was going to be delivered in.  EEP!  No quick replication through backup restores could save us.  Thankfully all the heavy lifting had been completed last week and the manual rebuild of the site in the new LMS was completed in 3 hours.  Yay!

Life, and work, is so much easier when you have a plan mapped out and can follow it.

Anyone who knows me knows that I can be a bit of a loud mouth schnook when it comes to speaking up for things I believe in. I’ve never really learned the knack of picking the right hill to die on. Today Dr. D and I learned that we’d been hand picked to participate in the not so hush hush project that could bring about real change in our daily lives and the future. I’m honoured that the powers that be think I’ve got something worthwhile to bring to the table. Tech skills come inhandy finally And being an online undergrad student it should come as no surprise that I’m seen as an advocate for students. Will be interestig to see how this all plays out over the next little while. Keep your fingers crossed.