Winter FUN and Winter FAIL!

Winter FUN:
Ryan and I spent a perfect long weekend over Valentine's day up at his family's cabin in Pequot Lakes, MN. It was so nice to just be away from everything with my Love and a little gin! :) We exchanged Valentine's gifts: Ryan really outdid himself when he presented me with a beautiful necklace from Tiffany's!! I've never had jewelry this nice and I can't wait to wear it every day! We spent some time in Nisswa for the Winter Jubilee (Pirate themed!!!), ice fished, watched movies, played PS3 and Monopoly, did some shopping, and stuffed our faces with Rafferty's. All in all it was awesome.

Winter FAIL:
I had to get back to Rochester on Tuesday for a Staff Development Day (I was presenting a session so it was doubly important that I got back...). We left the Cabin on Monday morning so I could get back to Worthington to pick up my car and then drive the 2.5 hours back to Rochester before it got dark. We were executing the plan perfectly when a "ground-blizzard" picked op and turned Interstate 90 into a sheet of ice! I was uncomfortably driving 40 MPH on the interstate allowing for everyone and their grannies to pass me, when I noticed one semi behind me creeping up awful fast and begin to lose his back-end. I steered onto the shoulder to avoid a catastrophe but decided that enough was enough. I found the closest hotel and got a room for the night. Longer story short: I made it back to Rochester for my presentation with both myself AND Stella in one piece. Moral of the story: Long term relationships are WAY easier in California. :)

Busy busy busy...

Just an update: I'm busy!

Teaching 15 face-to-face credits on top of TAKING 10 doctoral credits 1.5 hours away was a bad call. Not that I'm freaking out or anything because I'm totally not, but I need to make a mental note that I should be teaching as many credits as possible ONLINE! Although online teaching requires more "busy" work, I'm not required to hole-up on campus (aside from office hours of course...) for significant chunks of my day.

I'm hoping for some schedule changes for Spring 2010 - more online teaching. We'll see what my lowly standing in my department will yield me in terms of that. :)

New Toys, New Schedule, New Perspective

New Perspective Bit

I'll admit that I'm a spaz. I'm a stereotypical first-born child with Type-A Personality. I want what I want WHEN I want. Patience is not a virtue I endorse nor do I believe that delaying gratification makes you a "better" person. Delay until I'm dead? No thanks. That being said, I'm going to TRY (I might and likely will fail miserably...) to function better when things don't go my way. Not only do I have double-whammy threats to my future cardiovascular health (bad genes and the worst of all personality types), but I also really want to make sure that I don't make the upcoming school year worse on our long-distance relationship situation. He's got another year there and I'm here. That's the way it is. I won't get to see him when I want to. We're both super busy. That's it. That's the way it is. Summer was awesome and now it's not summer anymore. That's the way it is. Whining and worrying and catastrophizing and over-thinking isn't going to expedite the ideal situation. So...wish me luck on this new endeavor. I'm going to need it.

New Toys Bit

I got a new TV, new laptop, and a new phone!!!! The TV (32" LG) has been on my list for a long time and I am very happy to finally be a member of the 21st century. The iPhone was kind of on the list for a while. It has, thus far, been pretty nice having my work email and calendar updated in a portable fashion. Now (and maybe this isn't the best thing) I'll always know where I need to be and when I need to be there which will probably be a life-saver this fall... Also, my new laptop (a Sony Vaio...it's red) is pretty effing sweet. My old one was the victim of an unfortunate accident (the perpetrator will remain unnamed) and the power cable got ripped out of the motherboard. I called a few places for repair estimates and got laughed at a few times...so I took the money I would have spent to repair a two-year old laptop and put it toward the new one. Needless to say, but I really enjoyed spending my first "summer-class" paycheck. Now I return to reality and spend the other two paying off my credit cards! It will be an amazing feeling to have $0 in credit card debt.

New Schedule Bit

The new perspective I need to take will likely make my first semester/year as a full time instructor AND a full time doctoral student bearable. I simply can't let myself get stressed out over things that I have no control over...I'll have PLENTY of things I do have control over to stress out about. Here's my schedule this year: Monday I have class in Mankato. Tuesday I teach all day at RCTC. Wednesday I have class in Mankato. Thursday I teach all day AND have class in Mankato. Fridays I have "off", but I use that term loosely. I don't think I'll have much time to greet myself coming and going. I'll have all the usual work I have during the school year PLUS three classes worth of doctoral level work! Some would call me crazy and I'm starting to think they're right. However, I can't really say "no thanks" to a free doctorate degree. I love my job.

One year...

Ryan and I celebrated one year "officially" together this past weekend! I was surprised with beautiful flowers at work and when he came to visit, he surprised me again with tickets to a musical! We saw A Musical of Musicals: The Musical at the Rochester Civic Theater and I was 100% impressed by the local talent. We had such a nice night, sitting front row, just laughing at the ridiculous spoof of musicals. After the play we headed to Newt's and split a yummy burger. Friday and Saturday we pretty much just chilled around my place...although we DID spend a bit of time shopping for a new TV! I can not wait until I'm back from Michigan so I can actually go buy it! One of my favorite parts of the weekend was the few hours we spent outside on a blanket both working on our respective projects. I need to finish my second grad class from the summer and he needs to work on his thesis. He had to leave this morning and I am a little bummed about it. I won't get to see him this weekend (stupid MI) and he has two friends' bachelor parties the next two weekends. I'm sure we'll budget the time, but it's quickly becoming the "work" year and I know that means our time together will be limited to weekends. On top of that, we're both going to be crazy busy this year: He's finishing his master's thesis and I'm starting a graduate program in Mankato.

Anyway...this has been the best year of my life and I'm looking forward to many more! I can't even describe how nice it is to finally have Ryan in my life. I've been waiting for him for a long time.

Back at it...

For those of you keeping track, my summer officially ended on Monday. I am NOT complaining...that would be asinine. I had just shy of 2 months off. I'm actually feeling pretty good about being back in work mode. I'm finishing up some work for the two random graduate classes I'm taking through MSU-Mankato (Civil Liberties and Social Problems) and feel very productive in my office at work. Once I'm done with most of that, I can get to work revising my lectures for my fall classes at RCTC. In the meantime, I'm teaching two sections of General Psychology.

My plan with the money I'm making from these extra credits: Pay off debt! The advice I'm getting from my home-owner friends is going to help, as is (I hope) the advice from the Financial Planner I'm meeting with on Tuesday.

All this is in preparation for the upcoming fall semester (and subsequent 5 semesters!) when I'll be both teaching AND earning an Ed.D full time. I'm pretty excited, but am pretty confident that I'm going to lose my mind - although some would argue that I already have! :)

Well...back to work!

A few days of bliss...

Ryan and I just returned from a few glorious days at his family's cabin up north. Let me tell you that starting your day looking out over the lake with coffee and a good read (for me...Harry Potter) doesn't lose out to anything. Anything. I was telling Ryan that I could live in that area with zero question. Maybe in a few years...there IS a MNSCU school up there... Hrm...???

Anyway...we went on a couple canoe excursions and got attacked by dragonflies when we attempted a "shortcut" through the lily pads (Tsetse Flies!?). Bad call. Other than that, we caught some fish (and released some fish...so don't worry!), had a fire, made S'mores, watched movies, went in to town for some shopping and Rafferty's, and just generally enjoyed each other's company. For me, that was the best part. :)

Pictures up soon...I need to get my laptop fixed. :(

Best Week Ever!

This has been the best week EVER!!! Here's what went down:

1. I got offered a second summer class to teach at RCTC! Barring any further class cancellations, I will be teaching 8 credits this summer netting me close to $10 grand in additional income. Whether I teach one or (hopefully!) two, I'm buying myself a new TV and a Wii.
   
2. I got accepted into Minnesota State University Mankato's doctoral program in Educational Leadership! I will start my doctorate (it's an Ed.D, not a Ph.D program...) this fall!! Although my career in academia is still very much in its infancy, I am discovering that I love pretty much everything about education BUT the discipline I teach. Don't get me wrong...I adore psychology and love it when I can really get a student thinking differently about something, but the responsibilities I get most excited about at work are those OUTSIDE the classroom. I love working on program/curriculum development and assessement stuff. I really see myself moving in to administration at some level and/or consulting with colleges on their assessment programs. Also, the Ed.D will allow me to teach in an education department at a 4-year school. Lastly, there's nothing saying that I need to change careers at all. I can continue teaching psychology as long as I want (please give me tenure!!)...which is something I do want to continue. Long story short, this degree will open up some additional opportunities that I am very much interested in for the future. I may or may not take advantage of those opportunities, but they're there.
3. The weather has been beautiful and I've been out on my bike bunches.
4. I get to go to DBQ this weekend and see all my friends and family.

Peace out!