Thursday, January 15, 2009

So we are rounding the end of week one. So far so good, all my classes seem completely do-able, and I know I can get really good grades in all of them if I really work hard, which I fully intend to do. Waking up is becoming easier, seeing as we are going to sleep earlier. Tomorrow, I have one class at aims, then I am done for the day. I want to get some good reading in, and maybe lots of The West Wing, which is the most amazing show ever and everyone who reads this needs to watch it. 

I really want to start a book club. I want an outlet that isn't school related. I think it would be super cool to do with anyone, so if you are interested, let me know. We will read whatever we want, at whatever pace we want. It's completely up to us. 

Andy is doing really well so far being back at UNC. It's like he never left, except this time he wants to do well, which makes all the difference. I have a good feeling that we both will succeed this semester. 

As far as everything else, we are doing well. I have already leaned a lot in just this first week and I look forward to 15 more weeks of fun education. Well only 14 weeks cause one of which is spring break. 

Speaking of, I am so excited. I am going to Oregon, I already have my plane tickets. While I am there, Toni (the one from high school) and I will be road tripping up the coast to washington and we will see Seattle and Port Angelus and all that jazz. if I get my passport we will also be making a trip to canada. Then, we will head back down and my friend Megan, who I met freshman year, wants to hang out so we will probably drive down to Corvallis, where she goes to college, and see the campus and all that fun stuff. Also with Toni, her boyfriend will be flying us to Astoria, which is an island off the coast of Oregon where The Goonies was filmed. Apparently they have the best fish and chips. We will see. 

So thats the plan basically. I am super excited even tho it is still 9 weeks away. 

Also exciting, for me at least, is that I ordered some stuff online that I will be getting soon. These things include some boots, some pants and a new shirt. I am excited for these new things as well. 

So that is how things are going so far!

Second Day of School

Today is my second day of school. Yesterday was my first, but I only had one class. Today, I have class from 9:30am-7:00pm. Thats a long time. So we woke up this morning, a little late, and took a shower, got ready and headed out. We drove to class because it is freezing outside, and I guess we were a little late because there was absolutely no parking. We ended up parking on the other side of campus and walking to class, which made us 15 min late to our first classes. I walked to my classroom as fast as I could to find out.... My lab was canceled because we haven't had the class yet. So I really didn't have to be here till 12:30. I was a little mad. The least my professor could have done was email us so we didn't come to class 3 hour early for no reason. So here I am, two hours later, still in the computer lab waiting for class to start. I was about to go back home and sleep, but andy has the car keys. So I have been wasting time here.

So far, my second day of school isn't going so well.

But it has just begun, I have another 8 hours to go.

Kill me now. please. anyone? please?

jess

The eve of my last first day of college.

So school starts tomorrow. I am a little bit terrified. I have my bag all packed, my pencils sharpened and my clothes in the washer. All I need is to wake up on time to go to my first class at 9:10 am. This sounds like an easy task, but for the last week, Andy and I have set alarms to wake up at 8:00 am and still every morning, we have woken up later than 11 am. This is a problem. 

On the buying new things front, we got a new vacuum. I really like this one. It actually sucks. Which is a favorable quality in a vacuum. After vacuuming the front room, the container was full of cat hair. It goes to show how badly our other vacuums didn't suck. 

Also today, I got the most unexpected surprise from my parents. They called and told me that they were 10 minutes from Greeley and that they were coming by. It was great to see them, and lucky that I was able to hang out. We went out to dinner and then they headed back down to parker. 

Other than that, I am just getting ready for school to start and hoping that this will be a good semester. 

Also, I need to go to metro to submit my stuff so I can take my correspondence course so I can graduate. I would be mad if that didn't go through in time. I think we are gonna go down to Denver tomorrow to do that...

Anyway, I will keep you updated on how my first day goes. Luckily it's only my history class. Tuesday will be my first big day. I have class straight through from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm. We'll see how that goes. 

Keep reading, I swear this will get interesting eventually. 

Sending my love to Grandpa for a speedy recovery!

jess

Kitchen Aid Mixers, and Plane Tickets

I got the greatest deal yesterday. We found a $350 Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for only $150. Of course we bought it. I am so excited to use it!! I have wanted one of these for a long time. 

We also made curtains yesterday, and hung them in our living room. We also rearranged the room, it looks pretty awesome. 

I also just bought my plane ticket to Portland for spring break. I am going to see Toni, the one from high school, and we are going on a road trip. I am leaving Monday March 16th, and coming back Saturday March 21st. 

I am super excited for all of these things! 

Update on the Job

The job working at Platte Valley Elementary seemed too good to be true. Sadly, this has been the case. I am the preferred candidate for the position, but unfortunately, my school schedule doesn't give me the availability to work M-F 10-noon. In order to get the position, all I would have to do is move around my entire last semester schedule. While this seems simple, it really is not. I am going to graduate in may, and in order to do so, I am already taking classes at 3 different educational institutions. Even if I were to switch around my schedule, I would have to take summer classes, because the classes I need to move are offered at the same time. So it is impossible to make my schedule work for this position. 

While this makes me very sad, I know that my job right now is to graduate and to get my degree. This position, while incredibly great, gets in the way of the job I have been working on for the last 3.5 years. For that reason, I must call Don Beard, who in fact does not have a beard, and respectfully decline his offer for the position, and ask him, respectfully, to consider me for positions in the future, including a teaching position I will be looking for in a few months. 

So I guess the search is back on. 

Resumes and Interviews

I quit the Olive Garden in January of last year. I quit because I began working at the dinner theatre up here and I didn't have enough hours to stay at Olive Garden. I worked at the theatre from January until March, when the show ended, and even though I was promised a job with the next show, I found myself jobless. This is March. I began my seemingly endless job search which has lasted 9 months now. I think it may be the end of my searching. 

In late November, I was bored one night and decided to look online for small schools that could be hiring teachers for the fall of 2009, that I could go to when I receive my Alternative License*( see below for explanation) to get hired. I need to work near Greeley, and I figured smaller schools would be more likely to hire slightly unqualified teachers (see below). In the midst of this search, I found a small school east of Greeley, in a tiny town called Kersey. Platte Valley Elementary School. I was searching their employment page and saw that they were looking for a teaching assistant, a position that doesn't require a degree, but is in a classroom. I applied. The application was ridiculous and took about 2 hours to complete, and I kind of cast it out of my mind.

This afternoon, while eating lunch at the Olive Garden, I got a phone call from Donald Beard, the principle at Platte Valley Elementary. I spoke with him and now I have a meeting with him tomorrow at 10 am. 

Shortly after my conversation with him, I decided that I should probably write up a resume. This is something I have never done. Long story short, I think it's a good resume. 

I am really excited about this job interview tomorrow. I will post about how it goes. 

Wish me luck!

* Alternative License program explanation:

Because I didn't want to be in college until I die, I have decided to pursue an alternative way to get the same thing done. I found out about an alternative license program through the Colorado Department of Education. With this program, I apply for a temporary license and upon acceptance I can look for a job, but the hiring school has to agree to mentor me for 1 year while I teach and earn money. At the end of the 1 year, if I pass the program, I will receive my 3 year license, which is the traditional license awarded to first time teachers. This will mean that I will be a real teacher. 

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Welcome to the new year. I can't believe it's 2009. This year has held such anticipation for me and I can't believe it is here. When I started college at UNC, 2009 is what they told me would be the end, but for me it was an eternity away and I could only imagine how my life would be in 2009. To be honest, it is nothing like I expected. Thats not to say that it isn't better. I have (almost) everything I could have ever wished for. I am independent financially from anyone, which I think is a huge accomplishment. I am living with the love of my life, and our 3 children (cats) named Jackson, Franklin and Teddy. I have an apartment, and a car and computer, and a 42" plasma screen tv. The one thing I am without, and have been for exactly 1 year now, is a job. But I am hopeful that our new president will change things and maybe help me out. As of today, I am happier than I had every thought possible. 

Seeing as this is the first blog, I will give you an overview of what I intend to write in this, so that you can make the decision now whether to continue reading. I am going through a seemingly endless search for a job, the application process for my alternative teaching license so that I can teach in the fall, taking 18 credits at 3 different colleges, and going through all the hustle and bustle of getting to the finish line. Graduation. I will probably talk about other things in my life, to be forewarned, and I have a tendency to get off topic, so I will try to reign it in if I am drifting into left field. 

Anyhoo, check back for updates. 

Jess