Not much.

The job hunt has started, I'm finally getting moving on applications and financial aid for continuing my coursework, and I spent yesterday getting my kid signed up for classes at the community college and respraining my wrist.

The last is my own stupid fault, and also a perfect example of my screwy pain response in that I injured it around 5pm, and didn't notice until after 10. We got her signed up for three classes, a Math class which she needs for the degree program she wants and which is also a prereq for the Chemistry class she wants to take (which will also count towards the degree), and two practical Art classes. The 2D Design class had been cancelled, presumably because too few folks had signed up for it, but 3D Design was still there, as well as Ceramics I, both degree requirements, and both in the evening. I'd have liked her to do a fourth class so she'd be full time, but she's leary of doing that, so I figure this course load should get her into more of a routine, and by next semester she will be able to take four classes, and more of them regular classroom type classes. She has to have two english classes, two art history classes, and a social studies class, as well as the dread First Year Experience, which we've put off until her second semester. She has already taken a single class for two semesters, so it's not like she has no clue, though I should ask around and see if one of the FYE instructors has a special emphasis on "how to study", something my kid was never taught and would actually like to learn, with more info than just sit down at a desk with your books for at least X hours a day.  She needs to know what to do when she's at the desk.

But after a few hours of dealing with the financial end of things, we got her registered, and hit the book store to get her stuff. There is nothing right now for 3D, since they have a new instructor and don't know yet whether that teacher wants to use the kit that the previous one did. I'm checking Amazon to see if I can get the math book cheaper, since usually you can. And then there was the stuff for Ceramics... A set of clay working tools (a whopping $11!!) and 25 pounds of clay. And trying to carry that was what did me in. Instead of carrying it to the car, we should have driven the car to the clay. Oh well, I'll pick up a new wrist brace today and in a week or two I'll be as good (or bad) as usual. There's a reason I haven't been applying for jobs with a significant physical component.

Killing time...

Graduation occured and I managed a straight A semester, including in Business Law, which is almost unheard of. I really wish I could have looked at that final exam to see what I got right/wrong, since I didn't feel that confident when I walked out. Maybe he had to curve things again. Apparently my section did so badly on the second exam that he added 14 points to everyone's grade to bring them back up to the norm. It was a 250 point exam and I had 236 before he added the points. (I wonder if that's why he gave people 14, so I didn't end up with better than 100%?)

Whatever the reason, I'm not complaining, and it's kind of nice to know that my Diploma, even if it is for my fifth college degree, and only an Associate's, will be Summa Cum Laude. I should have gone into student services after the grades came out (which was after the graduation ceremony) and asked if I could get a gold tassel to replace the silver one I was given for the ceremony since they had to base the ceremony notes on what you had as of the end of the previous semester when I was off Summa by .01 on my GPA.

And now I need to get my FAFSA in order, apply to Post for their MS in Accounting and their Certificate in Forensic Accounting, and find a job.

Not necessarily in that order.

At least I'm starting to get some real house cleaning done since my right shoulder is starting to feel better (yay, new PT practice), and the left one is almost back to where it should have been if I hadn't had half the cartilage wear out. I'm also trying to finish at least a few of the (far too many) cross stitch and embroidery kits I've picked up over the years, so I'm also doing a ton of Netflixing (OK, a  lot of it was actually on Hulu or Xfinity), catching up on shows I haven't watched all year and stuff I'd never watched. I made it through 10 seasons of Supernatural in about 2 weeks, I've caught up on Grimm and Castle (the last minute of the finale was very poorly done), watched the first series of Happy Valley, and I'm now watching Sleepy Hollow. I am very sad that we only have 5 more episodes of Hell on Wheels, but at least, for once, I'm watching something essentially real time. Now can they just get Season 2 of the Librarians up somewhere?

Eight days....

to Graduation.

I've got five exams left, three tomorrow (and algebra is the only one I'm worrying about), and two accounting exams Monday night. Then two days to work on resumes and cover letters and start job hunting. Joy.

A quick update

Which is all I have time or energy for right now.

The semester is in full swing. Thankfully two of the classes cover similar topics and are pretty easy, but they help me fill the business/finance/economics credits necessary to eventually sit the CPA exam, and they'll get me a Certificate in Customer Service which might help me land some sort of job paying better than minimum if I can't find something in accounting or book-keeping right away. I swear that no one reads the actual bullet points on a resume anymore if they see a job title they think they know. (Which reminds me, I need to completely revamp my resume, removing as many dates as possible and trying out the functional format instead of the chronological one.)

Math is easier than I'd hoped for, which is good, which leaves Intermediate Accounting II (so far not too bad, ask me again after the exam in two weeks), Federal Taxation (so far a refresher from working for HRB all those years ago, and take home exams, God bless the prof), and Business Law II, which will be a bear for the exams and grades, but is an incredibly entertaining class.

My idiot, insane harasser in WI dropped me from his latest suit, with prejudice, because one of the other defendents hired a lawyer. I'm sure there's some logic there, but I don't know what. I can only imagine that his pea-brain realized that if one of the "dim girls" hired a real pit-bull legal type, the other might too?  Who knows, and I don't really care, it's one less bit of stress and time suck for right now. Though I did have some nice options for a counterclaim if he'd continued. Maybe if I get a decent job this summer I'll consider going after him anyway.  (A girl can dream, no?)

So it's off to finish this week's Accounting homework and get caught up on my law reading while doing some spring cleaning. I have found I do more housework while studying since it's a good way to procrastinate. :)

My how time flies.

It's been a very busy two months.  I've survived school thus far, but now that we're in the second half of the semester, the work for a lot of the classes is picking up.

I also was on the ballot for the local Representative Town Meeting, and without doing a single bit of campaigning, came in 4th of 9, and the top 7 get seats.  The Republicans swept pretty much everything, even in areas of town which never, ever go Republican.  I guess the average voter is getting really pissed at how the Dems are running the state right now.

So, I'll probably be really quiet until closer to Christmas and the end of the semester, unless something really interesting comes up that just demands that I blog about it.  My guess is that that is very unlikely.

One week down...

and fourteen more to go (more or less).

I have survived my first week of a 19 credit semester. So far it looks like my MWF classes will be easy, and not horribly time consuming.  I do indeed seem to have most of the background for Human Biology, so at least I already have the basic framework to hang everything on.  Macroeconomics is being taught the same way as Micro was, and I already know what the project is, so I'll probably try to get that mostly done in the next week or so.  And Business Computer Applications doesn't look like it should take much time outside of class either.

And then there is TTH....

Principles of Marketing will be a fair bit of reading, but at least as a "mature student", much of what they are talking about isn't totally new. Principles of Management will have more reading than that, and I don't know as much about it.  And Business Law? We've been warned to expect lots of reading, and flash cards, study groups, and alcohol are all recommended.

I don't think I'm going to get that much recreational reading done between now and December 21st.

Time to prep

So, school news first.
On Monday I was able to check the grade for Finance, and since I managed to get an A on the final, that was an A for the entire course.  I got an email from my Accounting prof to let me know that I had been given a 95 on the project (a few minor issues, but as he said at the last class, if anyone got everything right about it, they should be up teaching the class rather than taking it), and a 92 on the final (which meant I got to drop the exam with the 87), for an average of 95 something, and another A.  I finished the Quickbooks review, took the exam, and when I checked it Tuesday morning, I'd alsso managed an A in that class.  That left Statistics, but I had to wait until after the last day of class to see the uploaded grade in the unofficial online transcript.  Sadly, that was only an A-. Awwww.

Now I get to concentrate on prepping the house for surgery and getting younger child through her Geometry, Algebra II, and some grammar before the start of school in the fall. I was able to get an unofficial copy of her high school transcript, and they've double counted some stuff, and not given credit for other stuff, but when I added in her home school stuff, she's not doing too badly, and if we get through all the stuff for the summer, she'll be in great shape for next year.

I need to do a fair bit of work to get the house ready for surgery, and of course now that classes are done and I don't have anything else to procrastinate from, it's much harder to find the will power.  Typical. I tried the pain med I was given for pre-op, and I'm not taking that one ever again. The nausea and headache were/are terrible, and there's no real pain relief.

I've got an appointment with elder child and her ortho in a little bit to see if her upper spine curve is behaving, or if it's why she's having so many shoulder and neck issues lately.  If it's the problem, I hope we can still use Children's.

And we're getting there....

Also known as 4 down, 1 to go.  I just took the last Finance exam, and feel pretty good about it. I only needed a 78 to get an A in the overall course. There were 20 questions and there was only 1 that I totally guessed on, and two or three that I wasn't completely comfortable with.  So, fingers crossing and all that.

We made it to New Jersey yesterday afternoon, later than I'd planned, but not too bad, and that was in spite of the best laid plans of New Jersey signage.  Their road signs and what the GPS thinks things are called don't seem to match in the Piscataway area.  However, having to pull over when it looked like we'd screwed up for a third time was actuallly a Good Thing, as just as I pulled over to the break down lane a large piece of scrap metal went careening through were the car would have been, and while I think we would have survived it, I don't think the driver's side of my car would have. So there was that.

And then the hotel turned out to be at the beginning of a major remodel, and lots of stuff had issues. But being polite but a little loud and very unhappy got many things fixed. The staff are great, but it seems that upper-upper management isn't giving them much to work with.  So I'd probably avoid the Hotel Suomerset Bridgewater until later in 2016 after they've sorted it out and reopened as a Crown Plaza.

My daughter got her makeup and costume on and I got her dropped off and checked in to the Steampunk World's Fair, and went back to the hotel, (which was when I was polite upset and got a new room), moved some of our stuff, and then went and had a half price G&T.  I felt much, much better after that.  I picked the kid up around 10 after the dinner with the band and heard all about her photo with them, and her selfies with them, and meeting all sorts of people she knows from the tumblr group.

Today I got her dropped off fairly early for the meet-and-greet, and she wasn't planning on coming back before the concert is over, which will be around midnight.  So I'm going to head down shortly, as soon as it hits 5, for another G&T and some dinner.

And then it's going over the last three chapters of QuickBooks, so I can (hopefully) take the test in the morning while kid's over at the fair, and then we'll head home sometime late afternoon/early evening. Even if I don't get the test done until Monday (it closes Monday at 23:59), after that it's all over for the summer.

School, that is. My school. I still have to work with younger child on her math, and get the house and stuff ready for surgery on the 4th. I want to not have to worry if I do wake up in an immobilizer, and then if it goes as planned, everything will be fine too.

Slowly, slowly...

Two finals down, and one more tonight, leaving just two. I'll take one online tomorrow and try to get the other out on Saturday, but I've got until Monday evening for that one.

I spent a busy morning today getting my car its oil & lube, tire rotation, and a new cabin air filter.  Then I spent an exciting hour at the DMV getting my new license. Lord but CT is expensive. $72 for six years. The photo doesn't hide the pudge, but at least I look like I'm alive, rather than something that was poorly embalmed a few months back. And then over to the outpatient lab center for my pre-op workup of blood and an EKG.  I had to fill out a full H&P, again.  It would be so much easier for me if the hospital would just give me a print out of my last one with spaces for changes.  Really, I haven't had any new surgeries since the last one done there.  I suppose I should be happy that (at least so far) they've only asked me to fill it out once. For one of the last two surgeries I gave up when it happened a fourth time, and just wrote in big letters "SEE PHYSICIAN'S COPY!!". I had done one for the surgeon, one for the OR, one for anesthesia, and I don't remember who the last one was for.  They never got back to me to complain, so I have to wonder if anyone even looked at it.

I had the pre-op with the surgeon yesterday. Apparently what radiology calls tears is, in my case, more like fraying hems. So if it turns out to really be that I won't be immoblized for weeks, and will be able to use my elbow and wrist pretty much from day one. On the other hand she may get in there and find it looks very, very different. I'll only know for sure when I wake up and find out whether I'm in a sling or immobilized in lots of black strapping.

So, back to last minute studying and notecard creation.....

The end is nigh!

At least of the semester.

I'm finished with microeconomics. I got a 95 on the last test (it would have been higher but I reversed two numbers, though at least I remembered what they were) so my average for the semester is over a 93 for the A, and I don't need to do the take home cumulative final to get one of the earlier test grades dropped.

Last night saw the accounting company financials presentations, and my group didn't do too badly; we went over the last test after handing in the answer sheet so know I missed 4 out of 42. I'm kicking myself because one of the answers was obvious if I'd read the question one more time. It was one of those where you are given a fair bit of extraneous data, and I didn't get rid of quite enough.  But I've also got the trial balance project completely done, as well as the school's accreditation exam, so all I've got to do is show up next week after doing some (relatively thorough review) and I may not even have to take the cumulative final in this class either.

So.  All that's left is going over the last three chapters of Quickbooks for the online exam which opens on the 12th, finish the last chapter and it's homework in Principles of Finance, and review for the online exam, which opens on the 12th, and study like mad for the Statistics final on the 14th. At least class tomorrow night will be completely review.

On the 15th I drive down to the Steampunk World's Fair with my eldest, and other than chauferring her (which may not be too necessary as the hotel we're staying at is a satelite Con hotel so there may be at least some limited shuttle service) I should be able to sleep.  Especially as I'm going to ask my doctor at the pre-op appointment on the 13th for some decent pain meds. 6 hours broken sleep a night is getting ... interesting. And not in a good way.

Surgery it is.

I got the MRI report today, and was ludicrously happy for reading such a crappy report. It's just that finally I've got some solid evidence explaining why everything hurts the way it does. It's not just "all in my head", or "You're over-reacting", or (my father's favorite) "hypersensitive". I'd love to see how cranky he would be if his ribs had hurt like mine have 24/7 for the past 25 years. I'd love to see it, but not have to deal with it, mind you.

I haven't torn my rotator cuff tendons, which is, I suppose, a good thing. I have pretty much destroyed everything they attach too though. It sounds like there essentially nothing left of the posterior glenoid labrum, and tears in the superior and anterior. The only thing still intact (maybe) is the inferior quarter.

Aren't I special?

So they're calling the insurance, and once they get approval, I'll get a call for scheduling.  We're going to have to push this off into very late May or early June, and it's a good thing I hadn't signed up for any summer semester classes yet. This will probably put getting my accounting BS/BA off by a semester, though I may be able to catch up later, but we need to fix this, and it's only going to get worse, so...

I need to fill out the paperwork to see if the state will label me "disabled", at least for the short term, because there is no way I'm going to be able to start a job if I'm going to be out for six to eight weeks right after starting.

But hopefully, I'll stop needing to muffle my screams in public when I move the wrong way and less pain is always good.  It was a little disconcerting to have the surgeon start out by saying that they'd be planning on arthroscopic, but might have to switch to open.  That's always a given, but usually not so large a chance that they say it up front like that.

So off to do some accounting homework.  I've got three of my tests back, with a 94, an 88, and a 93, though I'm contesting one of the missed questions on that last one.  It was on quickbooks, and supposedly the correct answer for how to export a report to excel was to open the report window and then hit the "Export" Button.  The problem is, that there is no "Export" button; there is an "Excel" button with a drop down menu, and neither of those if "Export" either. I'd answered to go into the report and hit the "Excel" button.  So I've asked him to look at it. I wonder if the test question which is from a test bank, is based on an earlier version of QuickBooks, and hasn't been updated?