Long Post Is Looooooong!
Man, this post has been a long time coming!
I've not really written anything much since the summer, for a variety of reasons. And yet, I do actually have some things to talk about. So, because I couldn't get my act together enough to post regularly, you get one giant infodump post. You're excited, right? =D
Okay, first up. School. That's always a fun topic, right? =P Well, I was somewhat busy this semester. Although, I feel like the emotional load was heavier than the workload. I had that Statistics class, which besides being time consuming, made me feel like crap. I struggled a lot with that one, and having to spend so much time being unable to figure out the assignments always makes me feel stupid. And I really hate that. But I did expect that, going in. I knew it'd be hard. And my professor in this class was...well. He wasn't the worst I've had, not by a long shot. But he could have done better. He wouldn't always give all the information we needed about things like tests, and would sometimes either change his mind, or simply contradict himself, without every really clarifying things. The midterm was the most confusing. First, he posts one list of requirements. I'm surprised by them, so I send him a message, kinda hoping he'll change his mind about part of it. (He initially indicated that we couldn't use Excel, which we'd been using to solve problems thus far.) He responds back, saying that of course we can use Excel. And then there was the back and forth about the browser, webcam, etc. Mostly little things that all piled up. I wonder if this was his first time teaching this class online. That was kind of the feeling that I got; like he didn't really know how to handle it. He was nice enough, though. So points for that!
But, surprisingly, I also had some trouble with my Communications class. The material itself wasn't bad (and was kinda interesting, sometimes), but I had issues with my professor. Or her teaching method, I should say. Whenever she talked with us, either en masse or one-on-one, she was very nice and helpful. But she based a large portion of our homework on personal experiences. Like, she'd want multiple, specific examples from our own lives of each thing she was trying to teach us. And I often felt that I didn't have experiences that matched; either not enough (at best) or not any (at worst). It made the homework take much longer than it should have, since I was having to try to BS something that would still get me points. Not to mention making me feel like crap, because who doesn't love having their loneliness and lack of relationships rubbed in their face? =P And hell, I actually had to redo one assignment, because I got a really crappy grade, because I didn't have any experiences that suited what she was asking for. I mean, on the one hand, I'm very grateful that she did let me try again (and I got a better score), but I'm also a bit pissed that I had to do extra work, due to her teaching methods.
And I had another possibly new-to-online-classes professor; the guy teaching my IS class. Like Stat.Prof, he was perfectly friendly and helpful when I emailed him directly with homework questions. But he was absolute crap about getting stuff posted to Canvas. Like seriously, this guy might have been the worst I've seen, in that regard. Hell, finals week came, and we were still missing something like six grades, which hadn't been posted yet. Usually, most classes will either have all the grades up by finals week, or maybe only be missing one or two, especially if they were due shortly before. But not this guy. Six! Seriously! That stretched back to almost halfway through the semester! And the thing was, he never really talked about it. If he'd posted messages to the class, giving some kind of excuse, I'd not have been quite so mad. But he posted nothing. I don't need specifics, if it's something personal. But he should have posted something to acknowledge the problem. Oh, and? This guy also never posted a class evaluation for us to fill out. Seriously. I don't think I've ever had that happen before; they always do an eval! I honestly wonder if it was on purpose; he could see from the message boards that the class was pissed at the lack of grades and the lack of response about the grades. He probably figured we'd all rake him over the coals.
My only other class was Digital Marketing, which I actually kind of enjoyed. There looked like there was a lot of material at first, but I actually managed to work through the entire course load within the first month or two. The only tests we had were Google Certification tests, and those could be taken any time. So, it worked out really well, actually. And I found the material interesting, honestly. More so than I'd expected to. It was kinda fun learning more about how search engines work, how they rank, etc. And social media, too. You always see ads in search results or on social media, but you never really think much about them. How they decide which ad to show to which person, when and where. Stuff like that. It was neat.
Oh, well, technically I did have one more 'class', but that was the whole internship thingy. Basically, I was able to earn credit hours toward my degree (three, I think) just by working. Yeah. =D Just by going to the job that I already have and would already be working, I got credit. All I had to do was fill out a couple of question sheets, talking about what I did and what I learned. Pretty sweet.
I also got registered for my Spring classes. I forget off the top of my head what all I picked, but it was basically okay. There was at least one class I had to scramble to find an elective to fill, but I got some of the ones I wanted. We'll see how it goes, though. One thing I'm a bit concerned/annoyed about is that, according to the Bursar's office, I own something like $1,100, after my financial aid. Now, this would suck anyway, but dude. In the Fall semester, I took five classes, and owed $800 something. Maybe $860 or so. But this time, I'm only taking four classes, and somehow I owe something like $200 more? How the fuck does that work? I emailed the Bursar's office with questions, but, of course, they're already gone for the holidays. So I won't get an answer until sometime after the first of the year. Lovely.
Oh, and one last school thing. Grades! I got my grades last week, and thankfully I got all As, and a 'Pass' in the internship class. I'm super grateful and relieved, because I was worried at least a little about almost all of them, this time! Statistics was just hard, Communications was also tricky, plus there were a couple of grades that were late, the grades in IS were so far behind that I had no bloody idea how I was doing. I think the only one I wasn't really that worried over was Marketing. I was able to add things up, and I was pretty sure I did well in that one.
So finals was a couple of weeks ago, which meant that I decided to take last week for my vacation. Awesome, right? Yeah, not so much. See, on Tuesday of finals week, I hurt my back. No idea what I did, but it hurt like crazy. Little everyday things like sitting in a chair or walking, bending over at all, getting into and out of chairs...pretty much everything other than lying down hurt. =/ So, I spent my vacation in bed, watching a lot of TV. I went to the chiropractor, who confirmed that it was the same disk that gave me trouble some years ago. And so while he started treating that, I went to my GP for meds. She gave me some steroids to help with the inflammation, and a muscle relaxer to use as needed. So far I've only taken it once, and I may not take more. She said I couldn't take it and go to work, and work is when I'd need it. If I can only take it at home, I can always just lie down, and that usually helps anyway. But we'll see. So far, I think the steroids are helping. I just hope the pain doesn't come back when I finish my dose. I'll still be going to Doc (our Chiropractor) for a while (I assume), but still. I worry, because that's what I do.
Well, I guess I did get a couple of things done on my vacation. I finished my Christmas shopping. I mostly just needed to get stuff for Rich, and it was all online. So I got my orders placed, though one of them didn't go as planned. I placed my order, for two items. I get a few emails a couple of days later. One saying that one of my items had shipped, and a couple more saying that I was getting a refund for part of the charge. I assume that the second item went out of stock, but I thought it was weird that they didn't send an email saying so. Or asking if I wanted to wait, for that matter. Granted, this time they were right; it was a Christmas gift, so if it's going to be a few weeks, I can't wait. But I would think that most stores would at least send you a form email saying that your item was out of stock, and so we've refunded that part of your purchase price. But, either way, I got my refund and so I went and ordered him something else. That last item hasn't come yet, but hopefully it will soon.
I also got my license plate renewed. Fun, huh? I should have done it earlier, but I had an epic case of stupid. For some reason, I thought I'd have to actually go in to the DMV, so I was planning to do so during my vacation. It's not until partway through the week that I remembered that I've done it online for the last few years, and that all I have to do is get my insurance info, go to the SOS website and fill out the form. Easy peasy. So I did that, and the sticker should be coming in the mail soon. ^^;; I have no idea why I thought I had to actually go in to do it. Geez.
That's about it, though. Well, I got my hair done, but that's it. I watched so much Netflix. x_x I swear...it's kind of a double edged sword, I guess. On the one hand, if I had to be hurt, I'm glad it was during a time I could stay at home in bed, rather than having to work. But still...part of me's a little aggravated that I didn't get to do anything fun during my vacation. =(
And now, tonight I'm back at work. It's early yet, but so far so good. I'm a little sore, but if it stays like this, I should be able to get through the shift without too much trouble.
...Good lord, that was long! XD
I've not really written anything much since the summer, for a variety of reasons. And yet, I do actually have some things to talk about. So, because I couldn't get my act together enough to post regularly, you get one giant infodump post. You're excited, right? =D
Okay, first up. School. That's always a fun topic, right? =P Well, I was somewhat busy this semester. Although, I feel like the emotional load was heavier than the workload. I had that Statistics class, which besides being time consuming, made me feel like crap. I struggled a lot with that one, and having to spend so much time being unable to figure out the assignments always makes me feel stupid. And I really hate that. But I did expect that, going in. I knew it'd be hard. And my professor in this class was...well. He wasn't the worst I've had, not by a long shot. But he could have done better. He wouldn't always give all the information we needed about things like tests, and would sometimes either change his mind, or simply contradict himself, without every really clarifying things. The midterm was the most confusing. First, he posts one list of requirements. I'm surprised by them, so I send him a message, kinda hoping he'll change his mind about part of it. (He initially indicated that we couldn't use Excel, which we'd been using to solve problems thus far.) He responds back, saying that of course we can use Excel. And then there was the back and forth about the browser, webcam, etc. Mostly little things that all piled up. I wonder if this was his first time teaching this class online. That was kind of the feeling that I got; like he didn't really know how to handle it. He was nice enough, though. So points for that!
But, surprisingly, I also had some trouble with my Communications class. The material itself wasn't bad (and was kinda interesting, sometimes), but I had issues with my professor. Or her teaching method, I should say. Whenever she talked with us, either en masse or one-on-one, she was very nice and helpful. But she based a large portion of our homework on personal experiences. Like, she'd want multiple, specific examples from our own lives of each thing she was trying to teach us. And I often felt that I didn't have experiences that matched; either not enough (at best) or not any (at worst). It made the homework take much longer than it should have, since I was having to try to BS something that would still get me points. Not to mention making me feel like crap, because who doesn't love having their loneliness and lack of relationships rubbed in their face? =P And hell, I actually had to redo one assignment, because I got a really crappy grade, because I didn't have any experiences that suited what she was asking for. I mean, on the one hand, I'm very grateful that she did let me try again (and I got a better score), but I'm also a bit pissed that I had to do extra work, due to her teaching methods.
And I had another possibly new-to-online-classes professor; the guy teaching my IS class. Like Stat.Prof, he was perfectly friendly and helpful when I emailed him directly with homework questions. But he was absolute crap about getting stuff posted to Canvas. Like seriously, this guy might have been the worst I've seen, in that regard. Hell, finals week came, and we were still missing something like six grades, which hadn't been posted yet. Usually, most classes will either have all the grades up by finals week, or maybe only be missing one or two, especially if they were due shortly before. But not this guy. Six! Seriously! That stretched back to almost halfway through the semester! And the thing was, he never really talked about it. If he'd posted messages to the class, giving some kind of excuse, I'd not have been quite so mad. But he posted nothing. I don't need specifics, if it's something personal. But he should have posted something to acknowledge the problem. Oh, and? This guy also never posted a class evaluation for us to fill out. Seriously. I don't think I've ever had that happen before; they always do an eval! I honestly wonder if it was on purpose; he could see from the message boards that the class was pissed at the lack of grades and the lack of response about the grades. He probably figured we'd all rake him over the coals.
My only other class was Digital Marketing, which I actually kind of enjoyed. There looked like there was a lot of material at first, but I actually managed to work through the entire course load within the first month or two. The only tests we had were Google Certification tests, and those could be taken any time. So, it worked out really well, actually. And I found the material interesting, honestly. More so than I'd expected to. It was kinda fun learning more about how search engines work, how they rank, etc. And social media, too. You always see ads in search results or on social media, but you never really think much about them. How they decide which ad to show to which person, when and where. Stuff like that. It was neat.
Oh, well, technically I did have one more 'class', but that was the whole internship thingy. Basically, I was able to earn credit hours toward my degree (three, I think) just by working. Yeah. =D Just by going to the job that I already have and would already be working, I got credit. All I had to do was fill out a couple of question sheets, talking about what I did and what I learned. Pretty sweet.
I also got registered for my Spring classes. I forget off the top of my head what all I picked, but it was basically okay. There was at least one class I had to scramble to find an elective to fill, but I got some of the ones I wanted. We'll see how it goes, though. One thing I'm a bit concerned/annoyed about is that, according to the Bursar's office, I own something like $1,100, after my financial aid. Now, this would suck anyway, but dude. In the Fall semester, I took five classes, and owed $800 something. Maybe $860 or so. But this time, I'm only taking four classes, and somehow I owe something like $200 more? How the fuck does that work? I emailed the Bursar's office with questions, but, of course, they're already gone for the holidays. So I won't get an answer until sometime after the first of the year. Lovely.
Oh, and one last school thing. Grades! I got my grades last week, and thankfully I got all As, and a 'Pass' in the internship class. I'm super grateful and relieved, because I was worried at least a little about almost all of them, this time! Statistics was just hard, Communications was also tricky, plus there were a couple of grades that were late, the grades in IS were so far behind that I had no bloody idea how I was doing. I think the only one I wasn't really that worried over was Marketing. I was able to add things up, and I was pretty sure I did well in that one.
So finals was a couple of weeks ago, which meant that I decided to take last week for my vacation. Awesome, right? Yeah, not so much. See, on Tuesday of finals week, I hurt my back. No idea what I did, but it hurt like crazy. Little everyday things like sitting in a chair or walking, bending over at all, getting into and out of chairs...pretty much everything other than lying down hurt. =/ So, I spent my vacation in bed, watching a lot of TV. I went to the chiropractor, who confirmed that it was the same disk that gave me trouble some years ago. And so while he started treating that, I went to my GP for meds. She gave me some steroids to help with the inflammation, and a muscle relaxer to use as needed. So far I've only taken it once, and I may not take more. She said I couldn't take it and go to work, and work is when I'd need it. If I can only take it at home, I can always just lie down, and that usually helps anyway. But we'll see. So far, I think the steroids are helping. I just hope the pain doesn't come back when I finish my dose. I'll still be going to Doc (our Chiropractor) for a while (I assume), but still. I worry, because that's what I do.
Well, I guess I did get a couple of things done on my vacation. I finished my Christmas shopping. I mostly just needed to get stuff for Rich, and it was all online. So I got my orders placed, though one of them didn't go as planned. I placed my order, for two items. I get a few emails a couple of days later. One saying that one of my items had shipped, and a couple more saying that I was getting a refund for part of the charge. I assume that the second item went out of stock, but I thought it was weird that they didn't send an email saying so. Or asking if I wanted to wait, for that matter. Granted, this time they were right; it was a Christmas gift, so if it's going to be a few weeks, I can't wait. But I would think that most stores would at least send you a form email saying that your item was out of stock, and so we've refunded that part of your purchase price. But, either way, I got my refund and so I went and ordered him something else. That last item hasn't come yet, but hopefully it will soon.
I also got my license plate renewed. Fun, huh? I should have done it earlier, but I had an epic case of stupid. For some reason, I thought I'd have to actually go in to the DMV, so I was planning to do so during my vacation. It's not until partway through the week that I remembered that I've done it online for the last few years, and that all I have to do is get my insurance info, go to the SOS website and fill out the form. Easy peasy. So I did that, and the sticker should be coming in the mail soon. ^^;; I have no idea why I thought I had to actually go in to do it. Geez.
That's about it, though. Well, I got my hair done, but that's it. I watched so much Netflix. x_x I swear...it's kind of a double edged sword, I guess. On the one hand, if I had to be hurt, I'm glad it was during a time I could stay at home in bed, rather than having to work. But still...part of me's a little aggravated that I didn't get to do anything fun during my vacation. =(
And now, tonight I'm back at work. It's early yet, but so far so good. I'm a little sore, but if it stays like this, I should be able to get through the shift without too much trouble.
...Good lord, that was long! XD