It's been a while

Well it has been quite some time since my last post and a lot has happened and it mostly school related.

I took comps and found out yesterday that I passed.
I submitted to IRB and was approved for my thesis.
I went to New Orleans for SIOP, which was great.
I collected data for my thesis.
I cleaned my room.
My town got slaughtered by a tornado.

All in all things are wrapping up nicely. All I have to do at this point is enter the rest of my data (I am about half done), analyze the data, and write it all up in a fancy little document called a thesis. As far as class goes.... I am essentially done. We ran out of things to talk about so Thursday is my last class.... probably of my life, weird. I am busy at TCCW. I am the lead on a pretty huge project and so it is a bit stressful. I am taking another test sometime in May or June. This is the PHR certification test. Since I passed comps, it doesn't really matter if I pass this one or not. I would still like to since being certified would hopefully help me get a job, and the bugger was pretty expensive so I would rather it not be a waste.

It's come to this...

I lit the stress candle Heidi gave me for Christmas... let's hope it gets me to the end.

Pop Quiz!

I had to buy a packet of articles from the bookstore for my OD class. All it is is a bunch of copies of articles... so printed paper.

How much do you think this cost?
And here is a picture with a shot glass to reference (I figured everyone would know the relative size of a shot glass :))The person who guesses the closest without going over wins free babysitting from me when I return to where you live! Or if you don't have kids I will buy you a candy bar.

Last First Day of School Ever

Tomorrow is my last first day of school. It is pretty exciting stuff. I only have Organizational Development and Change (OD). OD is the area of I/O that I am most interested in and I would love to work in this area when I grow up... So I am looking forward to the class, but a little nervous about it because of the horror stories I heard from the people last year, but I am optimistic.

Unfortunately, and as I could have predicted, I have not gotten much done on my thesis. You would think the fear of not graduating would motivate me, but it hasn't. Oh well, I still think I can pull it off.

Alright I have to go finish up the homework that was assigned for the FIRST day of class... lame.

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.

DONE!!!

I am officially done with my first year of grad school! Yay! I pulled my last all-nighter of the semester last night starting/finishing my Performance Appraisal exam. I proctored a test for my GA, entered the grades, and now I have nothing to do! Its a really really bizarre feeling. But no worries, I got an email from Job analysis/performance appraisal teacher saying I have to summarize our JA report for TCCW before our meeting with them on the 18th since I was the group leader. I have plenty of time, but if is still another thing to do.

Class starts again on the 12th. I just have one class, research methods which is sure to be a bore. And I need to get a practicum for the summer sometime too. We will see how that works out.

I know who I want to work for...

SIOP was amazing. I met lots of great people and learned a lot too. I also knew more people than I expected to, which is mostly because a lot of people came who are either currently at MSU or were there at one point. The thing is that the I/O world, while it is quite large, is really small one, so knowing the small group that I did before the conference helped immensely. I went to the Master's Consortium on Wednesday and attended a talk by a former MSU student who got his Bachelors at MSU and then went on to a different school for his MA. He works as an external consultant for Kenexa, which is one of the most amazing companies ever. It is the number two I/O employer (Bank of America is number one) and there are firms around the globe. It is an organization that provides companies with hiring and retention solutions. I could go on and on about it, but that would probably bore you, just know that I think this company is amazing! The question of the weekend was Ph.D vs MA. I got lots of advice and switched my mind about 30 times a day. I still haven't decided, but at least I know now what each option means and what I could expect from each. At least I have time to decide, and right now I am too busy to think about it anyway.
Another reason SIOP was great, was that for four days I didn't have to explain what I/O is to anyone! It was great. Also, the focus of the conference was obviously on I/O which is refreshing since I feel like my Master's program is primarily focused on HR, which is quite disappointing. I am still happy with the program I am in, I just wish I would have known how strong of a HR focus that it has.... I do not want to do HR.
Unfortunately, after that sample of freedom at SIOP, now I have to somehow get through the rest of the semester. It is going to be rough. I am basically done with all my classes. Since all we have is projects and tests left my teachers let us cancel the rest of our classes (except for pre-prac, lame!). Here is a quick list of what I need to get done (in the order which they need to be accomplished):
1) Stats assignement 4
2) Review peers' lit reviews
3) Stats test 4
4) Pre-practicum article presentation
5) Stats assignement 5*
6) Final version of Lit review (and 1-page case for why my study is worth it; due weeks ago)
7) Compensation project
8) Compensation final
9) Pre-practicum self-assessment paper
10) Job Analysis report
11) Job Analysis take home final
12) Stats take home final due*
13) Breathe
*Depending on my grades for assignment and test 4, I might not have to do these (cross your fingers)
It doesn't seem so bad just looking at the list, but each of those things take up a lot of time. This week alone my group and I have worked about 10 hours on our Compensation system. Pair that with going to class and 20 hours of work, and there is not much time left. But thats what I signed up for right? I plan to get a large chunk of my stats assignment done tomorrow... we'll see how that goes, stats always takes much longer than planned.
Then we have the I/O spring social on Saturday... which is great and all, but who really has time for that... oh right all the 2nd years and professors... great. We will all get together and grill out and eat and socialize, but I foresee most of the 1st years ducking out early for the reasons stated above.