2014/2015

So it's just a few hours from the end of 2014 and the start of 2015.

Typically by this point on the last day of the year I'm pretty down on myself as it seems everyone in the world has someone to celebrate the new year with and I'm someone's 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 10th wheel.  It's funny how pretty much every holiday has been marketed as a day to spend with your special someone and if you don't have someone or you don't have great plans you must be doing something wrong.

I guess that could also go for me.  There are just a few short weeks left of "freedom" for me before I start my next 2 years of classes.  By the time I graduate with my second Master's degree I will be almost 40 years old and hoping to break into a world that is probably more a "young person's" field.  So should I have figured out this sooner and tried to do some learning on my own before now?  I did I do something wrong 5-10 years ago?

Maybe...maybe not.

But what I do know is that 2014 was an interesting year for me.  I don't tend to post a lot about what goes on with me personally because I don't want to be one of "those" people who is constantly talking about what is going right for them or wrong for them and wanting to hear from their friends.

Through the first half of 2014 I continued to battle with severe anemia.  This struggle, which in total lasted for over a year, involved a series of iron IVs.  I had 12 weeks of iron IVs followed by a month off and testing to see how my iron was doing.  It wasn't so good, so I had another 10 weeks of iron IVs followed by a month off and more testing...and still no good.  Yet another 10 weeks of iron IVs and a month off...and my iron was good enough to be supplemented with pills and testing every 3 months to keep tabs on my iron levels.  My next test will be mid-January.

By the way, if you thought the number of iron IVs I had was bad, just think that each week the nurses were putting these IVs into the back of my hand as that was the only good location to find a vein.  It severely limited what I could do for the hour-long treatment and also limited use of my hand at the end of the day because it would get pretty bruised.

Also in 2014 I had surgery that took me out of work for 3 weeks.  It was done to also aid in my iron issue.  But for 3 weeks I wasn't allowed to lift much of anything.  Not even my niece, who insisted every chance she could, to be in my lap.  I couldn't work.  I was still in classes from my first Master's degree so I had ample time to complete my reading and then some.

And I graduated.  It was kind of like a huge process with many stages.  I'm not just talking about the completion of classes but rather a completion of the whole program.  We had graduation in May, though for most of my classmates we still had another class and an exam to get through.  But since we had enough credits by the time applications were due we were allowed to walk in the May exercises.  So, we walk Memorial Day weekend across a stage built in the gym because the weather was terrible.  Then a couple weeks later we start our last class.  The end of July we finish that class and have a couple weeks off.  Then we take our comprehensive exam (which is basically a huge paper).  Then we wait...and wait....to find out if we pass.  And then there is more waiting as our degrees don't get sent physically until September.

And then I decided to do it all over again with the IMC degree.

So what does 2015 hold in store for me?

I'm not sure.  I know there are more classes in my future.  More stress too.  More time to be thankful for the weekends or days that I am granted between classes when I can do something "fun" for a change.  More interesting conversations with my niece (who will be 3 in April).  Crazyness with my sister too!

Good bye 2014!  Thank you for everything!  And hello 2015!  I look forward to see what you have for me!

Writing it out

So, if you don't know this already about me, I am also very active in my church.  Several times a year I lead the worship service, which includes preparing and giving a sermon.  Since I started my first Master's degree, I stopped writing out my sermons.  I always know what I'm going to say.  I have some stuff written out, especially if I am quoting something or providing information I want to keep accurate.  But for the most part, nothing is written out.

What happened was that I had a particular sermon to give right after I had finished my very first graduate-level final paper.  The paper was a "modified literature review" that was 12 pages long (including the title page and references), in APA style which I was severely struggling with.  I had written some shorter papers through that first 8-week course as well as graduate-level forum postings.  So to be very honest, I was tired of writing.  And with only a few days between the end of one course and the start of the next, I wanted to not have to write anything again until it was a requirement.

I am currently preparing a sermon to be delivered at two locations on Sunday, January 4, 2015.  So this time around, I am writing it all out.  It has been several months since my last graduate-level paper and a few weeks before the start of my next graduate class journey.  There are also a number of other reasons why I am writing it all out.  But mostly because a sermon is something I share like I talk.  It does not have to be full of APA references or proper grammar (though that second thing helps).  It does not have to sound like a graduate research paper or something with a hypothesis and research questions.  I am not sure how I will feel about writing out my next sermon once classes are going for me again.  But at least for this one, I'm taking the time to write my words to be sure I cover everything I want to cover.

A Hobbit Marathon

So, while there won't be many chances where I can take an entire day and do something completely fun (at least while classes are in session), I took a vacation day from work to attend a semi-local screening of all 3 Hobbit movies, including the new one about 24 hours before it was officially released in theaters.

I say semi-local because I drove myself to Danbury, about a 45 minute drive from home to benefit from the IMAX experience and the comfortable seating in the IMAX theater. (The other local IMAX theater does not have comfortable seats.)

Now, don't worry, I won't spoil anything about the movie.  Though I will say, you pretty much know what will happen if you've read the book.  At least most stuff you'd know.

I first have to say a huge THANK YOU to AMC Theatres for their hospitality.  Everyone attending the marathon was given a special lanyard with a card that indicated one was there for the marathon (and which acted as our pass in and out of the theater area) as well as a poster.  The folks at the concession stand were very patient when at certain times (aka when one movie ended and we were on break before the next one) they would be swarmed with close to a hundred people wanting refills of popcorn, soda, or actual food made like chicken tenders and fries.  There was trivia between the 2nd and 3rd movies which was fun (though I didn't win anything).  And we even had a little kid (he couldn't have been more than 7) who treated us to his version of "Blunt The Knives."

Things I learned During the Marathon....

1) It was apparently a special Hobbit Holiday because there were an awful lot of kids in the theater, some with parents and others without.  Though I took a vacation day from work, it did not seem like it was appropriate to skip a school day to attend a movie marathon so it must've been a school holiday, right? ;-)

2) Having someone with a quiet voice trying to ask trivia questions while the end credits are still playing loudly is a BAAAAD idea.  Use someone with a louder voice.  Or wait until the credits are done.

3) Napkins make good tissues in a pinch.

4) The best time to spend the money and buy a large soda is during a marathon.  Because refills are free.  So you don't have to keep buying drinks as you alternate food.  (Unless you want to try sneaking in food and drink.)

5) Theater lights make for bad reading lights.  Or homework lights if you're the kids who were in the row in front of me doing their homework.

6) Peter Jackson addressed something that has been bugging me for several Middle Earth-based movies, as I'm sure it has been bugging others, whether he realized it or not.  (I won't say what it is.  If you see the movie and you think you know what I'm talking about, feel free to comment!)

7) M&M's make for a good distraction as they're thrown across an aisle in the theater...as a mother learned when she threw some at her daughter and daughter's friend who chose to sit in 2 seats off to the right-side of where we were seated.  (They were getting a little noisy towards the end.)

8) Lee Pace has the ability to play someone that you both really dislike because of his attitude but also really like and want to root on.


I obviously don't want to say much else because I don't want to give anything away.  Maybe after a few weeks I'll write more on the actual movie.  But I wanted to share some of this stuff now while I could.

IRB

IRB stands for the Institutional Review Board.  It's basically a board that ensures any research done using people is done properly, ethically, and all that.  Prior to starting my last Master's program, all students had to take an IRB course (online) before we got to our Research Methods class.  While we did not do any actual research, we did have to know about it and be certified in the event that a project would provide us the opportunity to do research.  The certification lasts two years.

Well, my two years is up but for the new program I am taking, I again have "winter homework" of completing IRB training.  Since I was already registered with the site used, I have to take a refresher course, which is nice.  And I'm glad that I saved all my notes from the last time so it's a little easier.

So that is what I will be doing with my lunch breaks for the next couple weeks.

Hopefully the answers will come a little easier this time around!

Are you crazy?

I worked hard from the end of August 2012 to the middle of August 2014 to earn my Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership and Communication. About halfway through my first year I began wondering if maybe I should have made the decision to go with the other Master's Degree option at Marist, Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC).  I was already committed to the program I was in so I decided I would finish that program, wait a year, then apply to the next.

I waited about 3 weeks after receiving the news I had passed my comprehensive exam (a.k.a. the last piece of my Master's program) before deciding to apply to the IMC program to start in Spring 2015.

And I got accepted.

So am I crazy?

Quite possibly.

But I'm also excited to be given the opportunity to learn a lot more about this field that has burst onto the scene.

So I created this blog, which I will hopefully be better about updating, to write about my experience as a second time grad student.  Plus I think I should be more "social" with this new graduate program so I figured it was a good time to start a new blog.  Even if no one else reads the words but me, it will be a great way for me to be able to view my continuing educational journey.