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  • Is there a Dr. in the house?

    February 6th, 2009 she Posted in Friends & Family, Learning & Education 2 Comments »

    Have to get this out of the way before I get so swamped with homework this weekend and forget.  Dr. D is wonderful.  Sick as a dog with a nasty migraine and he still made it into work to provide feedback on my research proposal. Great feedback all – even if he did make me try to define variables aloud despite knowing it would just result in my rambling on like a maniac and beginning to question everything I thought I knew.

    So, while I try to dig myself out of the homework hole I find myself in, I hope Dr. D is beginning to feel better and has a wonderful weekend.

    Now, back to typing like a mad woman and muttering gibberish and threats under my breath…

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    taking a break

    February 4th, 2009 she Posted in Learning & Education, Random Burbling 2 Comments »

    Spent a huge chunk of today in waiting rooms in between being poked and prodded.  End result – the vampires have their million pints of blood and I have a new family doctor. Start the parade. He seems nice enough and since he was willing to take me on I think I’m gonna keep him. Considering how hard it appears to get a family doctor in this town that seems to be a good idea at this point.

    Since returning home I’ve spent the bulk of my afternoon and early evening writing papers.  Upside: I’ve finished one of two papers due this weekend. Downside: It’s the one due on Saturday; not the one due Friday. I’ve still got a bit more to do before I’m going to consider this paper in the bag and move on to the next one.  Hopefully after an hour on the treadmill I’ll be ready to head back to it and finish it off.  Can’t afford to do much more procrastination at this point.

    All this work in the home office reminds me that I have a really crappy office chair since Loxley killed the last one. I have never found a suitable replacement – never having been all that fond of the original chair – and so I use a folding card table chair in the office.  It’s uncomfortable as all get out. The plan was to keep a horrible chair in the office so I’d have to avoid spending all day working. It forces me to get up and take breaks. Of course since I’m always waiting until the last minute to actually sit down and write the plan doesn’t usually play out as formulated.  Instead, I’m working my way to needing a good, long soak in the jacuzzi tub to recover from my paper writing.

    And since I’m supposed to be going out to dinner with R&R Friday evening I’ll likely be in similar shape tomorrow night after finishing the paper for my MilPsych class. That’s it then. I’m off to take a short break to exercise then back to the salt mines to work on the second paper.  If I can complete 50% of it tonight, I should be in great shape to have it submitted before I toddle off to dinner with R&R Friday evening.

    Hmmm. I wonder if I can convince them to come to karaoke after dinner?  It has been a while since they’ve come out to sing…

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    Positive procrastination

    February 2nd, 2009 she Posted in Learning & Education No Comments »

    I have two papers due this week and in true form I am currently avoiding beginning either paper. All is not lost though. I also have a statistics assignment due at the beginning of next week so I spent this evening completing readings from my Stats class and working on practice exercises. I should feel guilty about not working on my papers but it’s hard to do so when you’re busy doing other homework assignments instead.

    That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

    After far too many weeks on hiatus “Chuck” returns to TV tonight. Down side of the return is that it’s supposed to be presented in 3D. Me, I have no 3D glasses to use while watching. Granted with my one freaky eye I’ve never actually managed to see 3D TV or movies properly even when wearing the silly glasses. I’m hoping the episode won’t look to weird for those of us who’ll be watching with “normal” prescription glasses on.

    Work was pretty good today. New boss continues to inspire confidence – in me at least – and today was a lot more relaxed than the final days of last weeks.

    I’ve got Wednesday off this week to make it through the doctor’s tests. And the remainder of the day will be spent working in my papers. So goes the plan.

    I skipped my exercise routine over the weekend due to all the wild partying, assignments, and long hours at work. Tonight I’m back on the treadmill and trying to start again. Baby steps to the elevator and all that nonsense.

    Wiarton Willy may have seen his shadow today but that’s old news. More importantly, it’s now two days into Tuesday. Friday is just around the corner. Only a few months left to go…

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    The homework gods are conspiring against me

    January 18th, 2009 she Posted in Learning & Education No Comments »

    Something is wrong with my hands. I can type relatively well – all be it a lot slower than normal – but I can’t seem to grip a pen. My thumb starts trembling and my hand shakes. This is a real problem since I’m trying to write notes and answer my stats questions – both which require me to be able to write. Not good. Not good at all.

    I have no idea why this is happening today. I had no problems yesterday and aside from the crazy trembling when I try to write or type there doesn’t seem to be anything else wrong with my hands. There’s no pain. No swelling. No feeling of cramping. Just uncontrolable shaking. It doesn’t seem to be related to the problem I had with the muscle/tendon of my left hand a few weeks ago.

    I’d be lying if I didn’t say this is freaking me out. I’m going to keep trying to write in the hopes that this is something temporary. As far as I’m aware there’s no Parkinson’s or Huntington’s in my family history for me to be concerned about.

    Hoping this passes soon and I can start writing legible answers to my homework assignments. At the moment they look little better than chicken scratches.

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    I need another weekend

    January 11th, 2009 she Posted in Learning & Education, Random Burbling 2 Comments »

    To recover from this one!

    Yesterday evening I spent a huge chunk of time working through the first units of my Experimental Design and Statistics in the Social Sciences (Stats) courses. Today I need to finish those off and finish reading the articles for my Military Psychology class.  What fun names Psychology courses have.  Yeah.  I’m reaching for a bright side.  Cut me some slack.

    The course instructor for my Stats class appears to be pretty responsive.  When my course pack arrived, there was a notice inside indicating that I’d need a calculator.  No other mention of it anywhere in the course calendar or manuals. I sent him an email last night asking if there was a particular model of calculator or specific functions I need to have access to in order to complete the course activities and he had a response for me this afternoon.  Considering it’s a Sunday that’s not a bad turn around time at all.  I wasn’t even expecting him to see the email I’d sent until tomorrow.

    Turns out I don’t need anything fancy in the calculator department.  I can tell you that that’s a huge relief considering some of the graphing calculators on the market can cost hundreds of dollars and seem far outside of the budget range at the moment.  Getting the news that a basic 10$ calculator with square  rooting functions will do was welcome. A quick search of my office turned up a little solar powered Casio calculator that meets the requirements. Since I don’t recall ever seeing this before I’m going to assume it’s Drew’s.  It seems to me that he had one for his Management courses when he completed his diploma program a few years back. Which reminds me, I wonder what he did with his diploma?

    This morning I had full intentions to do chores around the house and then go grocery shopping before I dove back into my school work.  Then I looked outside the window.  A mini-blizzard was taking place so I decided that I didn’t need milk all that badly and had enough food in the fridge and freezer to survive a few more days before heading out for groceries.  I certainly won’t starve in the meantime.  I’ll just need to use canned or frozen veggies instead of fresh ones if I decide to cook again. If I don’t want to cook there’s lots of types of soup to choose from.

    I did get the chores on my list completed.  The cupboards were cleaned out and re-organized. Dishes and laundry are done. Garbage is gathered and out (so the dogs don’t get into it).  I’m actually pretty impressed with what I managed to accomplish considering how icky I feel.

    Next up – soaking in the jacuzzi. I figured I’ve earned it and my hot water tank is certainly large enough to handle it so soon after dishes.

    Then I’ll get back to studying.  That should take me through until the evening when I hope, thanks to some newly acquired melatonin, I’ll get a full night’s sleep.

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