What I've been up to...

Wow, time has really flown by since my last post! Let's see what I've been doing.

Work: Too much. We were already short staffed, and then another person quit. Fortunately we'll have a new intern start in a couple of weeks. Until then, I'll be just trying to keep my head above water.

School: My class this semester hasn't been terribly demanding. In fact, the class that I'm taking is down right easy. This is a wonderful thing considering my crazy work schedule. I'm taking the final exam this week, then starting a summer class in early June.

PE Exam: Getting ready to reapply for the October exam date. Then I'll start the stressing out and studying all over again.

Knitting: Mostly socks. Don't really have the attention span for larger projects at the moment. I had some big plans for the state fair, but I'm not sure how much I'll actually get done.

Gardening: We have planted several cool weather crops already. The garden is filling up with tiny radishes, spinach, kale, chard, peas, onions, carrots, and lettuce. Loving the opportunity to go get my hands dirty for non-construction related reasons.

Vermicomposting: My worms are doing exactly what worms are supposed to do. They've been eating, pooping, and making more worms. I've just started filling up my next tier with food scraps and allowing the lower tier to finish decomposing. The worms should start slowly migrating to the upper tier and leave the finished compost behind. These guys have been thankfully low maintenance.

Geocaching: Greg and I have been getting outside to collect a few geocaches a couple of times a week. We're really having fun and getting some exercise at the same time! We're even doing some biking again.

So, as you can see, there hasn't been much time for blogging. Oh well, you all understand, right? ;)

So Much for That Plan...

And the PE countdown is gone. I knew this was a real possibility, but I was really hoping it wouldn't happen. My application to take the PE in April was denied. Thanks to an unfortunate technicality, I'm one month short of the professional experience requirement to take the exam.

I'm bummed, but I'm making the best of it. My grad school has been really great about getting me signed up for a class at the last minute. And I'll just apply for the October exam date this fall.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

I'm typically a very honest person, with one exception. I shamelessly lie to myself on a constant basis.

I'm about 2 weeks away from finishing classes this semester. I've handled the course load pretty well this semester. My husband has even commented that I'm much more sane than I was last semester. Even though things have been going well, I'm really excited for the semester to end. I keep telling myself that as soon as I'm done with classes for the semester, things will get easier.

But they won't.

I've put off studying for the PE until next semester, when I plan to dedicate several hours each day to studying. This will be a much bigger time commitment than my class work, much more stressful, and have much higher stakes. SIGH...

But after the PE in April, things will get easier.

That's another lie I keep telling myself. That's actually about the time that the construction season will be in the full summer swing. And after that I'll start school again in August.

But after I finish my Master's degree, things will get easier...

Midterm Madness

I recently completed my midterm exams for both of this semester's classes. That means it will be all downhill from here! I feel like I'm handling the course load pretty well. It's been far less stressful than last semester. Which brings me to my next dilemma... What the heck should I do next semester?? I suppose my options include 2 classes, 1 class, or no classes.

2 classes - I can start by ruling this one out. The aforementioned PE Exam makes that impossible. Even I have limits.

1 class - This is the option that I feel myself wanting to choose. I like making progress. I like knowing that every semester I'm stepping closer toward the finish line. I've already promised my own mind that I'll graduate in May 2013. But I also know that the PE Exam is critically important, and I don't want to jeopardize my chances for success on this exam.

No classes - This is the most responsible choice. I could devote my efforts toward studying for the PE without the added burden of more coursework. I've already checked with my advisor, and he doesn't think it would be a problem to put things on hold for a semester.

I suppose now that I've written it out, my decision seems obvious. There is no point in stretching myself beyond my limits just because of my own hesitation to take a break. I could always "double up" in some future semester to make up for it, and still meet my anticipated graduation date. I've got to focus on the PE in the spring, and then I can get back to this Master's degree business next fall.

Back to School

It's that time of year again. Fair warning - I might have to go MIA from the blog again. I'm working a lot after a coworker left this summer, and now I'm taking 6 credits during the fall semester. I'm not complaining (yet). I'm just forseeing some busy months ahead.

Sacrifices

Hello friends! I'm back. First I must confess. I actually thought I was exaggerating a bit when I said I may not be posting again until May. Well, it's late May already and I have no idea where the time has gone.

Last year I made the decision to pursue a Master's degree while staying on at my full-time job. A Master's degree has been an inevitable step in my career path for a while, and I finally decided to get it over with. All of my colleagues have one, and I assured my boss that it was part of my plan when I hired on 3 years ago.

So I took one class last fall, and started my way down the road toward a Master's of Engineering in Geotechnics. I'll admit that I've been trudging down that road and not exactly enjoying the journey. Sure, I've celebrated some accomplishments, and learned some new (questionably useful) things in my chosen field. When it's done I know that I'll have an even bigger sense of accomplishment. And I'll have earned a great deal of respect from the people I work with. Those things make me feel like a bit of sacrifice now will pay off later. Someday I'll look back and laugh at how reluctant I was to do something good for myself.

I spent the past semester devoting a ton of time to making it through two classes toward my Master's degree. It was a struggle, but now I'm finished for the summer. I wound up with good grades in both classes. By burdening myself with two classes at once, I shaved a full six months off of my expected graduation date. All in all, I think it was worth it.

In fact, I'm currently signed up to take two classes again in the fall, even though I've said that I would never do it again. I'll probably complain about the workload, again. My husband will remind me that it was my choice to do this, again. I probably won't have much time for blogging, again. But when December rolls around, I'll probably feel like it was all worth it, again. Because at that point I'll be 15 credits into my Master's program. Halfway there! And the road will be downhill the rest of the way.

Hanging in there...

As my lack of blog-posting suggests, I have been swamped lately. Even though work has been pretty slow, I've been putting in a lot of hours in an attempt to make us not-so-slow. Plus I'm taking 6 credits of online classes this semester. Perhaps I'll get a chance to post again in May...

Accordion Effect

Ah, yes. The dreaded accordion effect. To those of you who aren't racing fans (or don't have husbands who are racing fans) I shall explain. The accordion effect usually happens when a race car driver suddenly slows down more than the driver behind him or her was expecting. This results in even more sudden braking, cars bunching up, and shredded carbon fiber. All because of one foot that landed heavily on a brake pedal.

My life has been experiencing this lately. The culprit was a single work project. I won't bore you with the details of it, but it did require some major investments of evenings and weekends on my part. As a result, I fell a little bit behind on everything in my life, and felt pretty drained. Since I was feeling drained, all I wanted to do was make myself happy, so I dedicated a whole bunch more time to knitting pretty things. So I fell even further behind with the not-so-fun things like school assignments, online training for work, housework, etc. Then before I had the chance to motivate myself to do some of those not-so-fun things, I got sick. It started as just a head cold, but it has managed to drag out into a great big pain in the tookus.

So now that I've basically recovered from the cold, I have a huge, accordion-shaped pile of stuff to do that I'm just not excited about doing. Wish me luck!