That's it!

I have decided that I absolutely positively hate grad school. I want it over... now.


I am only about half way done with a paper that is due tomorrow.... and I haven't even started the presentation that I have tomorrow... at least they are both on the same topic.


And my professor wrote a journal article on my topic... so now I have to be accurate too!

Life is CRAZY!

Life has been pretty crazy around here. I will try to give you some of the updates.

I am still working at TCCW 20 hrs a week. I am basically done with my internship, although I still have an assignment that I could work on, but frankly, I don't have the time. I am now working with United Way for my training class. I am on a team with 3 other people to develop 3 trainings for them. I also am working at a place called MAHLE (pronouced Molly) for six sigma... they make car stuffs.

Last Friday a group of us went to a corn maze (maize maze) near Murfreesboro. It was fun, it was nice to really see the stars again. We managed to conquer it.

This is a picture of a picture of the corn maze, we got lost in those letters at the top for a while.Jayson and me, he doesn't always dress in a sweater vest and scarf and glasses... just for special occasions.

Here's the whole group. From left to right, Andrew, Jaclyn, me, Jayson, Scott, and Daniel.

On Monday I went to that "Get Motivated" seminar, which most of you already heard about through email. That seminar pretty much put me at exhausted with lots of work to get done yet that night. I had a selection test the next day and a six sigma assignment due. I tried as hard as I could, but I didn't make it past 1:30 before I was forced to go to sleep. I didn't have six sigma done, and I had barely studied. I got up at 6:30 and started on six sigma, I quickly realized that this assignment was going to take much more time than anticipated. So I had to choose between studying for selection and doing six sigma. I chose selection. I ended up submitting homework for six sig that was all guesses without doing any of the actual analyses required. I got to class still very distraught on handing in something that was all guesses because I don't think I have ever done that before in my life. Then the teacher announced that because many students couldn't get the required software to work on their computers we would get a couple extra days on the assignment. I WIN! I couldn't believe how lucky I was. He gave us until 11pm tonight... and guess what time I submitted it... 10:50pm. I am a great procrastinator. I also submitted the homework for next tuesday though, so maybe I'm not that bad.

One reason for my delay in doing six sigma is my nap turned to 15 hours of sleep that I got last night. So I was wiped out after a long day of work, which came after the long day of test studying, test taking, and six sigma freaking outing, and that came after the start at 5 am day..... so I was tired. I watched the Grey's Anatomy that I had missed online and then decided to take an hour long nap before starting six sigma. Well I fell asleep around 6pm, woke up around 8:45pm when my phone rang, talked/mumbled on the phone for 15 minutes and then decided just to go back to sleep. I didn't set an alarm because surely I would wake up early, right? Not so much, I fell asleep and next thing I knew it was 9:15am. So I got about 15 hours of sleep.

Thats about all I can think of right now.....

Snow Day!

So the end of this last week was pretty interesting. On Wednesday evening we received this email from "MTSU Alerts":

"On Wednesday, October 8, 2008, several campus e-mail clients received general but threatening e-mails. The author of the threat indicated that the unspecific action would take place on October 9. An Investigation is being conducted to locate the sender. Please report any suspicious activity to Campus Police.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the MTSU Police Department at 615-898-2424 or Crimestoppers at 615-893-7867."

Not really too big of deal. We get emails like this for everything. If someone gets looked at wrong, you can expect you to receive an email like this, therefore, I didn't think much of it.

Then on Thursday we got this email from the President of MTSU:

"A credible threat to our campus has been made. As a result, as of noon today, classes will be cancelled for the remainder of the week. Campus Police, in cooperation with local and state law enforcement officials, are actively investigating the situation, which involves a series of threatening emails and suspicious fires.

During this time, campus security will be increased. University offices will maintain normal business hours and other campus events will go on as scheduled. Following our regularly scheduled fall break, classes will resume on Wednesday, October 15. Employees are encouraged to report any unusual or suspicious activity to Campus Police. More information will be provided on the MTSU home page as details become available."

Apparently the "suspicious fires" consisted of all the burners of a stove in the dorms being turned on and a paper towel thrown on them, a towel on fire was thrown into a stairwell, and the third was just a pulled fire alarm. (this is all things that I just heard from other people so I am not completely sure of the accuracy)

What this email meant for me: My selection class that starts at 1pm was canceled, this meant that my validation project that was due on next Thursday is now postponed probably until the following Tuesday. This was very good for me since I haven't started on the project and it is a bunch of statistical goodness that I will need some time to figure out. It also meant that the practicum presentations that were scheduled for that evening had to be postponed, so it opened up my evening. This also meant that our fall break was extended. We don't have classes on Monday or Tuesday for fall break so it added to that.

So it was a pretty good situation for me, and it felt just like a snow day.

Thursday evening we received this email:

"Middle Tennessee State University Campus Police and Murfreesboro Fire Department have placed MTSU student Justin J. Davis under arrest in connection with threatening e-mails and dorm fires.

Davis, 19, was brought to the MTSU Police Department as a possible witness Thursday afternoon. He was later developed as a suspect after speaking with investigators. Investigators are working with Davis to establish a motive for the e-mails and fires. At this time, investigators believe Davis, a freshman majoring in the university’s pre-professional dental hygiene program, was working alone.

MTSU and MFD have filed multiple charges against Davis, including one count of terrorism and three counts of arson.

University officials expressed relief that no students, faculty or staff were injured as a result of this security incident. They also thanked local, state and federal law enforcement agencies for their excellent teamwork in the case.

Classes will still be cancelled tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 10, and students will be expected to return to class on Wednesday, Oct. 15, after the scheduled fall break. University offices will maintain normal business hours Friday and for the duration of fall break.

Employees and students are encouraged to report any unusual or suspicious activity to Campus Police."

So he pretty much ruined his life. But hey, I got out of school for it!

This MN girl has hit her max.

I am done with the hot... I need some nice cool fall days now. Not the really cold stuff, but I cannot deal with this high 80's low 90's and always at least 70% humidity anymore! I have not been conditioned for this! It is the middle of September! Start acting like it!

Update on My Life

Well I am back in classes... for like 3 weeks now. Things are already psycho, but I guess I should have seen that coming since I had 4 chapters that were supposed to be read for the first day of class (notice I said "supposed to be" I am still trying to catch up from that laziness). I am in three classes which is equivalent to 9 credits. They are Training, Selection, and Six Sigma. They all require quite a bit of work, so I am struggling to stay afloat already. The good thing is I really enjoy all of my classes, it is great to actually want to go to a class, and I learn a lot too. I feel a bit more confident now about the idea of getting a real job in less than a year.

I have another thesis. I am trying to work on that too, but with everything else it has been hard to fit it into my schedule. I am working with the professor that I should have worked with in the first place and actually the person that I indicated that I would like to work with in my statement of interest for grad school applications. He is probably the best researcher this school has, so I am pretty excited to work with him. Anyone that could get me back on track at this point would be him. He was also my research methods teacher so he has already seen me cry, so at least he is used to it if it happens again.

I am still working 20 hours at TCCW. I am really enjoying that job now because I am getting my own projects and developing my own curricula. This job is really giving me great experiences.

I am also still working for BT&A. Unfortunately due to the fact that days are still only 24 hours long, I haven't been able to focus as much attention on this job as I would want. I am still getting stuff done, but it just takes me a bit longer than it probably should.

Other than that I live in a great new place with a great new roommate and I have great new friends.... so essentially everything is great.

For Sale:

As I have been unpacking I have found some items I no longer want.

- One Brett Favre Number 4 Green Jersey
- One Brett Favre Number 4 Pink Jersey
- "Brett Favre Passing Through the Years" picture with pictures from childhood, high school, college, Falcons, and Packers
- Bear in recognition of the '98 Packers with Favre and 4 stitched on the back
- "Favre" book written by Brett and Bonita Favre (Brett's mom)
- 10 year super bowl anniversary poster with Brett Favre pictured twice
- Ticket stub for December 21, 2006 game versus the Minnesota Vikings. Section 118, Row 57, Seat 10. Picture of Brett Favre on ticket
- Yellow towel given out at the December 21st game reading "4 the Love of the Game"
- Number 4 beer bottle koozie that looks like a mini jersey
- The Marshfield News-Herald Sports section from Friday, March 11, 2005 with an article about Favre entitled, "Hallelujah! Brett's coming back" Includes a large color picture of Favre.
- Prilosec OTC ad featuring Brett Favre indicating he is on day 7 of his prilosec treatment
- Picture of Brett Favre eating cheese


Ahhhh nevermind, all that stuff would probably make a pretty fire.

Homeful

I have a home again! Today is move in day and we just got back from setting up water and electric and getting our keys. And it is only 9:30, can you believe it! Hopefully I can get all my stuff moved in so I can work on settling in.