So, there is one of two possibilities. Either 1) Karma is finally repaying me for all the crap I've been through in the last few years, or 2) This is just the good that's happening before a huge storm of bad. Either way, the last two weeks at least have been, as the Captain put it, The Golden Age of Brad as a result of my returning to college for graduate school.
It all started last Tuesday when my top choice school offered me the summer internship I had applied for there. Saturday night there was a girl involved, and I'll leave it at that...
And then yesterday was the annual 1st Year Graduate Student Case Study Competition. Basically, we were put into pairs and at noon on Thursday given a case study that involved a hypothetical situation or crisis to be resolved at a fictional college. We had until the next day to put together a presentation utilizing relevant theory and practices for how we would respond to the situation in the case study. My partner and I worked on our presentation for about 5 hours on Thursday, and were surprised at how quickly we were able to pull it together. We met again yesterday in the early afternoon to go through things one more time and get the final presentation ready, and by the time we presented at 3:00 were supremely confident in the product we had put together.
And we were confident for good reason... we ended up winning the competition, which included a $250 prize for each of us to be used for professional development (which works for me since I'm spending like $500 to attend a conference in Orlando this spring).
So as I began this post... either things are truly looking up, or this is all just the calm before the storm...
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Hooking Myself Up
As John "Hannibal" Smith would say... "I love it when a plan comes together."
On Tuesday I was awoken by cell phone, and I picked it up in time to receive a summer internship offer from my #1 choice school. After a week of scouring the internship listings and contacting schools to set up interviews, two weeks of phone interviews, and week of waiting for the "official" date and time offers could be made, I am all set. I will be spending my summer at Binghamton University in New York state, training and supervising their summer orientation leaders. Rock.
Yesterday I went to the international student and study abroad office for their passport fair, getting myself hooked up for my trip to Mexico this spring. It took about an hour worth of waiting in lines and filling out forms, but I got it all taken care of in a one-shot deal, which would not have happened if I had to go get pictures taken, and then go to the post office, and make sure I had everything done correctly. I guess we'll see in 8-10 weeks if the study abroad office dotted all their "i"s and crossed all their "t"s.
Right now I am in the process of applying for professional development funds for my conference trip to Orlando in April. I've also got to get home and do my taxes so that I can apply for financial aid again, which will include a $500 grant for my trip to Mexico. There are two academic case study competitions going on next week with monetary prizes, so hopefully I can put all this graduate schooling to good work for some more immediate gain...
All in all, things are coming up Brad.
On Tuesday I was awoken by cell phone, and I picked it up in time to receive a summer internship offer from my #1 choice school. After a week of scouring the internship listings and contacting schools to set up interviews, two weeks of phone interviews, and week of waiting for the "official" date and time offers could be made, I am all set. I will be spending my summer at Binghamton University in New York state, training and supervising their summer orientation leaders. Rock.
Yesterday I went to the international student and study abroad office for their passport fair, getting myself hooked up for my trip to Mexico this spring. It took about an hour worth of waiting in lines and filling out forms, but I got it all taken care of in a one-shot deal, which would not have happened if I had to go get pictures taken, and then go to the post office, and make sure I had everything done correctly. I guess we'll see in 8-10 weeks if the study abroad office dotted all their "i"s and crossed all their "t"s.
Right now I am in the process of applying for professional development funds for my conference trip to Orlando in April. I've also got to get home and do my taxes so that I can apply for financial aid again, which will include a $500 grant for my trip to Mexico. There are two academic case study competitions going on next week with monetary prizes, so hopefully I can put all this graduate schooling to good work for some more immediate gain...
All in all, things are coming up Brad.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
The Blunken Drog Entry
Sitting on the floor of The Captain’s new apartment in Hot-Lanta, we’re coming to you live and direct. As the title of this post alludes to, we’ve since finished a case of beer while sitting on the floor of his as yet unfurnished apartment. The furniture is supposed to arrive on Tuesday. Just like the medical staff, tractor beam, and photon torpedoes. For those of you not catching the reference, just move on.
Right now it’s “cold” in Atlanta, which means like 45 degrees. In Grand Rapids, GVSU shut down all activities and programs for the day since the entire campus and surrounding area is in a state of emergency given the blizzard that is occurring around them. I wonder if I’ll be able to get home tomorrow or not…
The Captain’s move to Atlanta brings up a lot of memories for me related to the tremendous failure that was the North Carolina experience. Successful only in so much as it pushed me forward into my current state of being in graduate school, the point of the affair was to reinforce the inherent difficulty involved in moving cross-country for a job you’re not entirely sure of. To quote a Panic! at the Dicso song, “It’s not so pleasant and it’s not so conventional, it sure as Hell ain’t normal but we deal, we deal”, one has to try to roll with the punches that life throws at you.
As a qualifier for anyone who is confused by this post, I’m coming to you thanks to the grateful sponsorship of a case of Ice House beer, which is almost twice the alcohol content of a normal beer.
These things are all true…
As an aside… you know what you get when you buy a folding chair from Target for $20? You get $20 worth of promise that said product is designed to support a 200+ pound individual. I’m not so confident in this lounge chair’s ability to meet the strict quality control standards of The Captain and myself.
I’m almost out of battery power, so I’ll end this post and retire for the evening on the $6 inflatable pool mattress I bought at Meijer before the trip down.
Right now it’s “cold” in Atlanta, which means like 45 degrees. In Grand Rapids, GVSU shut down all activities and programs for the day since the entire campus and surrounding area is in a state of emergency given the blizzard that is occurring around them. I wonder if I’ll be able to get home tomorrow or not…
The Captain’s move to Atlanta brings up a lot of memories for me related to the tremendous failure that was the North Carolina experience. Successful only in so much as it pushed me forward into my current state of being in graduate school, the point of the affair was to reinforce the inherent difficulty involved in moving cross-country for a job you’re not entirely sure of. To quote a Panic! at the Dicso song, “It’s not so pleasant and it’s not so conventional, it sure as Hell ain’t normal but we deal, we deal”, one has to try to roll with the punches that life throws at you.
As a qualifier for anyone who is confused by this post, I’m coming to you thanks to the grateful sponsorship of a case of Ice House beer, which is almost twice the alcohol content of a normal beer.
These things are all true…
As an aside… you know what you get when you buy a folding chair from Target for $20? You get $20 worth of promise that said product is designed to support a 200+ pound individual. I’m not so confident in this lounge chair’s ability to meet the strict quality control standards of The Captain and myself.
I’m almost out of battery power, so I’ll end this post and retire for the evening on the $6 inflatable pool mattress I bought at Meijer before the trip down.
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