Back from the dead!

The semester has finally ended. I would insert a "thank God" here, but since I'm not good with the great big floating parent in the sky idea, I suppose it would not apply. Nevertheless, I am now free to spend my time in whatever way I see fit. At this moment, this means sitting on the couch with Jazz, who is patiently awaiting the moment when this computer will shut down and I can finally pay her the amount of attention that she considers appropriate. FYI, she really likes a lot of attention.

The semester threw me a couple of curve balls. First, there was the business that I was building with a fellow student. We spent so much time on it that I decided about four hours of sleep was sufficient. I was wrong incidentally. Then, when I got bronchitis (most likely a result of my sleep schedule) we decided to stop the business plans for a while. Then my business partner fell off the face of the Earth, and then he just decided not to call me any more. This kind of sucked, especially because in the middle of it I had knee surgery. As a result of the surgery, I have a new appreciation for my good health, a new motivation to move someplace warm, with less rain than we have here (arthritis is no fun) and a realization that Vicadin makes me a bit bitchy. I recovered from the surgery in time to catch up my school work and finish the semester (I got an A and an A minus).

On the positive side, I learned a hell of a lot about myself and what I want from my future. The cool thing about getting a bit older is that when gigantic wastes of time present themselves, it's quite a bit easier to say no. One of my classes (the A minus class) was just awful. It was for my Management of Information Systems degree, and it was a foundation course I was required to take because I have no formal computer background. Unfortunately, it was an undergraduate weed-out class, basically designed so that students would do badly and decide not to go into that field. One main professor wrote the syllabus, and his students taught each of the sections. I think the greatest thing I learned was how to communicate with people that are only comfortable a) writing code and b) playing video games in their mother's basements. Seriously. My instructor would clearly rather have been boiled in oil than to explain the slides he read to us every week. He was a nice guy, but I needed a teacher. When I asked him questions, I generally got this deer in the headlights look - he was one of those guys to whom code just made sense the first time. He couldn't answer my questions, because he'd personally never had any questions.

So. I will find a way to proceed while getting what I need. Armed with the right information, I'm generally successful. I was having a conversation with my advisor the other night, and she suggested that instead of the dual MPA/MIS degree, that I get a phD in Public Admin with a focus in MIS. I could feel my ego inflating. (It's just like feeling your arteries hardening, but completely different.) Anyway, I am going to start investigating this possibility next week. I'm not at all worried about the class work, but I am worried about how I would handle the financial parts of it. I would have to function on about half of my current income. Which might suck tremendously. Will revamp your computer processes for food...

In other news, my right knee has now begun to hurt in much the same manner as my left knee did before the surgery. Good health insurance is insanely cool. Also, if I am headed for knee replacement of one or both knees, then I will finally fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming RoboRJ. (Alternatively, I could become the LesBionic Woman, but I don't look a thing like Lindsay Wagner.) It's been raining a lot here lately too, which may be adding to my difficulties. It makes me think of Arizona, to which I will be travelling soon - I'm pretty sure I'll be OK there, at least for the weekend!!

Dude. That's enough for now, I think... I look forward to blogging more often. It's time to play the guitar a little bit, now. My fall back career has always been rock star, so I'm going to work on that for a few minutes. Night, y'all.