Mind The Gap

Just got the MIS paper that I wrote earlier tonight back. I got a 100%!!!!

Here’s a copy of the paper in a .doc file (use MS Word, MS Word Viewer, or Open Office to view it).

Wow, school has been really rough the last week or so. Due to my failure to recognize that my online accounting class does not get a spring break, I had to make up a week’s worth of assignments and a test very quickly, and then proceed to the final exam and class project. Tonight I threw together a term paper for my MIS class, and by or before Thursday night I need to take an exam for business ethics. Ick…

Putting on the Ritz last Sunday was fairly lame. All for a good cause, and definitely a magnificient effort. The things that conspired most heavily to make my experience less than top notch were mostly beyond the control of the event organizers. The band was decent, but either their singer or their sound system was having some issues, everything sounded all slurry. The event is set up with tables on either side of the main pedestrian traffic areas, and the patrons schlepp up and down those aisleways to eat and drink stuff. I’m all for working off goodies as you eat them, but it’s not so much fun to do in a place that’s loud, crowded, and has slippery floors, when you are wearing heels. I knew I should have gone with the boots. Before long, Ryan’s knee was hurting, and my feet were absolutely screaming, so we booked it and headed for home. It was something new to do, and we did it, but will likely not do it again any time soon.

Ok, so tonight after I finished an accounting test, I decided to go out. Ryan and I met up with Suzi Tattuzi and her friend Bryan at Romano’s, then wandered the mall a bit, went to Brownstones’ lounge and found it crowded, found Nappy’s closed, and then decided on Panama Joe’s.

After a brief scuffle with this detestable woman at the restroom (she was the rudest I’ve seen in a while, and I used to work security at a club, so I’ve seen some solid rudeness), we managed to settle into the evening. I actually developed a fanclub, due mostly to my purse. (I’ve added a picture to this post for reference.)

A fairly friendly lady was so impressed by the thing, that she kept bringing other people over to see it (her boyfriend, her friend, etc). After a while, she came back, bought me a shot, and sat and talked with me for a while, which was amusing. By that point I had shown the purse to at least 3 people that she had brought over. They practically ambushed me as I left the ladies’ room one time. In any event it was amusing, and postworthy, I thought.

So now, imbued with a fairly healthy buzz, I’m going to eat some dinner and go to bed. Good night all.

Today I discovered that when two of my classes had spring break, I mistakenly assumed the third class did as well. It’s an online class, and so it operates on a different schedule, I’m not sure what I was thinking. I missed a chapter’s worth of homework and discussion assignments, and one test. The professor very kindly has allowed me until Saturday to make up the work, so I did all the homework tonight after I got out of my business ethics class, and will take the test tomorrow after work.

Work is going ok, the new guy is still doing good. I get stressed sometimes because of people not meeting deadlines for work (sometimes that people is me), or deadlines insanely moving, occasionally with me knowing about it…Those things are fairly rare, so all in all it’s good. School is a bit much, but the semester is creeping closer to its end. The online class (Financial Accounting) actually ends this Saturday, so I’m in a crunch to get everything done in time, but at least it’s almost over.

I have a paper due next Tuesday for my MIS class, and I haven’t started it yet, but I did previously do a lot of research for a presentation on the matter, so on Sunday after I finish the accounting project and final (due on Saturday) I’ll sit down and try to write the paper…Then I have to study for and take my Business Ethics midterm by the following Thursday. (Busy week.) I like the MIS class quite a bit, some of the lectures are really very boring (like the one explaining what RAM is, and the one explaining what a database is) but others (like the one on systems security approaches) are very interesting. All in all it’s quite worthwhile.

The business ethics class, however, is a somewhat different story. The instructor also teaches at two other schools, and so it’s fairly obvious this class is not his top priority. Shortly after the term started he changed the class to being half in a classroom, and half online, which wasn’t so bad in itself, but it was a bit irksome in principle…I didn’t sign up for an online class. The other oddity is that the class is supposed to start at 6 (right after work for me) and since he couldn’t make it to the school from his other teaching engagement in time, he decided to start holding the class at 7:30…This was irksome both in principle and in reality, as 7:30 falls right in the middle of my evening, and leaves me no time to accomplish anything before or after class. I suppose the fact that he’s never answered any of my emails (nor those of most other people in the class I’ve spoken to) is also anomalous.

The content itself is even more loathsome…We have yet to hear a lecture applying the instructor’s philosophical theory to any business situation…Mostly it’s all roundabout discussion of what he believes about things, and so far those beliefs seem to be fairly narrow, and the professor isn’t very interested in having discussion of anything other than his views. (The purpose of people is to procreate, and that it’s selfish and wrong of people to decide not to have children, etc.) Bah! There is just something that bothers me about the fact that my money (and also the money of my parents who contribute to my tuition expenses) is spent on something like this, which just feels like an utter joke. I was so excited about taking this class, and so coming to it to find that it’s not a priority of the instructor, and to so far be unable to tie any thing from the text directly to anything in the lectures is a disappointment.

Sigh…

I had a new employee start today, the first employee that’s ever been hired specifically to work for me, so that was cool. On a couple of occasions (in various positions I’ve held) I’ve been offered other employees who needed a place to be, and I had a place, so the person got a shot at trying to fit that spot, and I got to take a chance at molding them to fit the spot. Results varied.

In any event, this new person is the first person I’ve ever been involved in selecting, who was hired specifically because he had a skill set that met the needs of the position. It’s pleasant because I don’t have the gnawing fear that they won’t be able to, or will be unwilling to, do the job.

As it turns out, the fellow seems to be quite well suited to the job, with the analytical skills and patience that are required to coordinate the tech support services requested by the user community at my workplace. He even did the necessary research to troubleshoot one of his own problems with our work order software this afternoon.

I’m rather pleased, and hope he continues in the manner he displayed today. It will be a nice feeling to have the weight of this particular facet of my job removed from my shoulders, and I’m excited to see how he can improve the processes, or can support the effort so that I or others can work to improve them.

Stressor #423, fading, and possibly will be checked off altogether, soon. Yeay!

Stressor #424 was created today, Ryan needs to decide about some fairly invasive dental work that should likely be done, a bone graft to his jaw, and he’s a bit bummed about it.

This weekend Ryan and I packed up and headed out of town to visit the Renaissance Festival in Tampa, spend a little time in Ybor, and check out MOSI. A picture of my favorite souvenir is to the left.

Click here to read more about the trip and see pictures of things more interesting than my hand!

Click here if you’d care to see what Ryan had to say about the trip.

Ryan and I go out to my hometown pretty much every Saturday, and wander around checking out stuff (plus eating some real barbecue).

Each week on the way from Trenton (where I’m from) to Chiefland (slightly larger small town next door) we pass this field with a picnic table in it. The table is one of the plan wooden variety, and is way out in the middle of this huge field, and there are no visible roads or trails leading up to the table, so whoever uses it must just hike through the tall grass to get to it. Even with those questions unanswered (and perhaps more so because they are unanswered) I find this moderately absurd location for a picnic table to be utterly charming. It looks pretty, and it’s sort of humorous, in a whimsical way, I suppose. I finally remembered to take my camera, and so I took a few pictures.

First up, I found out today that you can actually adopt a penguin. This may be one of the coolest things ever.

Also, not long ago I started a project to customize and fully subvert a Strawberry Shortcake doll for a friend of Ryan’s as a gift. She’s a cool chick, and I liked the idea, so I put it on my list, and finally some months later, got around to it. I bought a strawberry shortcake doll, and also something called a ‘Bratz’ doll, which came with sufficiently punkish clothing. I searched the aisles of the store to find a doll with a decent outfit that had the same color skin as Strawberry. Here are some pictures of the packaging for both dolls.

I started off by popping the heads off both dolls, and switching Strawberry’s head to the other doll’s body. Then the real customizations started. I spent a few hours painstakingly drawing on lots of tattoos, and tonight I re-worked the face and hair to appropriately reflect what would likely result if Strawberry landed on the other side of adolescence and fell in with the ‘wrong crowd’ for a while.

Here are some pictures of the finished custom doll. The first is just after the head-swap, but before the vandalism. There are lots of little tattoos all around, but I’ve only included close-ups of the most significant piece, a tribal-esque piece covering the entire right arm.

After the makeover

Armpiece (right arm)


I still have some fairly significant effort to put in to customize all the doll’s packaging and get her back in there to present as a gift, but that part should be fun (and also a good opportunity to emblazon my name somewhere)….I’ll have to make sure to include some of my business cards with the gift so that she can hand them out if anyone admires the doll.

I got this from one of the programmers at my job. Thanks Alan!

http://firepages.com.au/

Here are some pictures I found of the zombie ponies, before they were zombies. Tonight Ryan and I ransacked a craft store to get the supplies I’ll need to make the graveyard set for them. The weirdest coffee table in this city will be finished before long!

Here they are in their original color, with the factory paint removed (mostly) and their hair braided up, all ready to be taken apart and dyed a more appropriate shade of green, cartoon zombie green, that is.

And here they are after being dyed (I put a slight teal wash over the original green) spread out to dry before they were reassembled and custom painted.