Completed: My last group paper

Since I'm not planning on taking classes again any time in the near future, I can say with some confidence that my last group paper is now finished! Yay! It is actually due right about now but we turned it in awhile ago and I think it went really well; the group seemed to work well together. Who knows what kind of grade we'll get though - my professor grades tough.

With that paper complete, I'm basically finished with that class entirely, although I do still have a short lecture and some short readings to do this week. My other class, though, is a different story. I'm still way way behind.

Assignment extension?

I emailed my one professor last week and asked him if it would be possible to get an extension on our big final project that is due May 1st and he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I am incredibly frustrated by it but it's pretty typical of the professors in my program - teaching seems to be the lowest thing on most of their priority lists. Seriously, I had only a handful of professors in three years of grad school who seemed to enjoy teaching and who seemed to want their students to learn. Those that teach via distance format seem to be by far the worst. So, I'm not sure if my professor is ignoring me or somehow didn't get the email or what? He did respond to another student's question in the meantime so I know he's been online to see it. I guess I have to email him again and risk being a nuisance.

Paper done

After all my griping and paper woes, it's officially turned in. On time, too. I think it was actually a really good paper but I don't think it satisfies the assignment specs too well. But, do I care? Not too much. It's not my fault that I could not access the database. Therefore, the paper is a lot more theoretical than I intended. But still good. But probably will get a poor grade. Anyway, it kind of feels like my final assignment for that class, because even though I still have a group paper due in two weeks, I really only have to do a third of that assignment.

A lot of bitching about school

So I have a paper due tomorrow. It is supposed to be a comparison of a commercial database as found on two different vendors. So, consider it perhaps like comparing shopping at Best Buy the store compared to BestBuy.com... do they carry the same products? Are the products in the same areas? Are the prices the same? If you look for CDs by Lionel Richie, do you get the same results at the store as you do online? Etc... etc...

Now imagine, if you will, that you had to write this paper except you weren't allowed in the Best Buy store. Oh, you could check the Web site all you wanted but nope, you couldn't go in-store. It would make some actual comparisons pretty difficult, wouldn't it? It's hard to determine if those products are in the same place or if the Lionel Richie CDs are the same if you can't actually look in the store. And this, my friends, is the problem with my paper.

I was assigned a database to investigate (Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstract) and have no problem accessing it the one way. However, the other way, I'm not allowed to access. Seems the student account to this vendor is limited and one of the limits is that students cannot access Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstract. Great. And I discovered this yesterday after I had done every other part of my paper. All that was left was for me to conduct the same searches in this other product and see how my results differed and then draw some conclusions. Except nope. Did I mention that our professor ASSIGNED these databases? So she assigned me a database that was not accessible and then expects me to write a paper explaining how it is different... I'm so annoyed about it all. Then, when she finally got back to me, she made it seem like it was my fault that this database wasn't accessible. Have I mentioned how much I dislike this woman? (Oh right, here and here and here) She basically implied that had I not waited until the last minute to do my homework, the database might have been accessible then. Or that I could have been given another database. Which actually, Saturday afternoon when the paper is due Monday at 11:55pm is NOT the last minute at all!! Especially since I did have a lot of it done already.

So, her solution was to have me search a similar database - one that students can access - in the same product and make my conclusions. In my example, that would be like me going to Circuit City instead to compare it to BestBuy.com. Actually, it would be more like me going to OfficeMax, where some of the items overlap but a lot of them are completely different. It's like comparing apples and oranges, like the saying says. (Maybe I'll use that in my paper!) All the searches I already did that I was going to replicate... useless. It's very frustrating and I've spent a good part of today kind of blocked as to what the hell I'm going to write instead. At LEAST she sent me an extra email and told me not to panic and that she would take it all into consideration with her grading but still... I am panicked and unhappy. The other thing that upsets me is that I was so sure this was going to be an awesome paper. And now I know it's going to suck.

I'm dreaming of a White.... Easter?

So yes, we've been deluged by snow here in Cleveland. It's kind of insane that we have way more snow now than we did at Christmas. The poor Indians have had five baseball games cancelled this weekend, although two of those were makeup games to begin with. Personally, I'm not affected too much since I would be busily in front of the computer working on my paper regardless of the weather, but we did cancel our plans to have Easter brunch with some relatives. My brother got about 18 inches of snow at his house and it was still snowing there, which is where we were going to meet up before heading here for brunch. Instead, I went here with just my parents. The snow finally seems to have stopped here at my house, but I wonder how the other areas of town are doing. We are not in the "Snow Belt".

Anyway, I'm honestly kind of relieved to not go since this paper I have due tomorrow is turning out to be a mess. (see other post today) Thank God she gave us a one-day extension or I would be screwed.

Bogged down by school work

I have SO much homework to do in the next month that I'm not really sure how I plan to continue job searching, let alone actually interviewing. I already have a trip to New Jersey planned and if I make it to the next round of the Durham place, that will also be in April. Ugh ugh ugh. The best part is that come May 2nd, I will have to be done with it all. But before then, I have two huge papers to write. Oh yeah and I have to build a digital library. AHHH!

I got my latest grade from my one class and AGAIN my professor pissed me off. This paper was on a commercial database produced by the company CSA. That is its name. If you go to its Web site, you will see no mention of any other name. However, my professor changed it to this: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA). No, it does not go by the long name! Perhaps it once did but it does not any longer so don't correct my paper with incorrect information! It reminds me of my friend Carrie who decided she wanted to go by Carolyn suddenly. It took me a long time to adjust to it but I granted her wish and called her by the name she wanted to be called, not by her old name!! I didn't correct her and say, "No you're name is Carrie. I don't care what you might have changed it to." Anyway, what pisses me off is that my professor does crap like this every time she grades a paper. I find it enfuriating!!

All praise OhioLink

Now OhioLink is well-known in the field as one of the best Library Consortia around. See, they are even mentioned in that dictionary entry I linked to... But, I had never tried it for myself. Until today. I was debating about whether I should spend the money to buy the books required for this course or not... when it hit me that I have OhioLink at my disposal and could probably get them from any library in the entire state in just a couple of days. And so I ordered them online! By myself! Without having to talk to someone at the library! And they should be delivered to my local branch in 3-5 days! And, the best part is that I'll be able to renew them up to four times so I'll have them throughout the semester. And then, I looked for a couple movies that I want to see that none of the libraries around here have in their collections. And requested them too!

I have no idea why I didn't think of any of this earlier. Duh.

Happenings of the last few days...

I was really bummed this weekend as I was unable to access my email for all of Sunday and all of Monday. It seemed to be a systemwide syr.edu problem because I could not access any syr.edu Web pages at all, including WebCT, which houses online classes. And, yes, the first day of class was Monday. At times like that, it makes me realize that I depend too much on my email system for not only did that limit my ability to communicate with others but, since I put all the jobs I want to apply for in an email folder and since I put all the Web sites that I use to check for jobs on WebCT, I could not access that stuff either. When I was at school and relying heavily on computer labs, it was just super convenient to put information where it is always accessible no matter what computer I'm using. Maybe now that I'm basically using only one computer, I should save stuff to a more static location.

I am currently registered for two classes for this semester but I only need one to count towards the Certificate program I'm pursuing. I am leaning towards dropping out of both, though, just because my current transient situation is so less than ideal for learning. For gosh sakes, my computer is located on a TV tray!! The one class I'm in - Human Interaction with Computers - seems pretty easy, though, so I may stick with it. Is that a horrible reason to stay in a class?

My email situation was a perfect excuse not to apply for jobs, though, and that is what I did - took a couple days off from that fruitless activity. Ironically, that doesn't stop the rejection letters from coming. I got one yesterday and another one today, neither place wanting to even waste their time interviewing me. How wonderful it is to be loved!

Ten things I do not miss about Syracuse

In no particular order...

1.) The weather
2.) My apparently hard-of-hearing downstairs neighbor who took to talking on the phone so loudly that I could hear her through the floor and also played music and watched television at similarly loud decibels
3.) Taking online courses with professors/instructors whose classes are approximately 450th on their list of priorities (although technically I have two more classes to take and that might not be over for me)
4.) All the plumbing in my apartment, from the leaky kitchen faucet to the corroded bathtub faucet to the occasionally running toilet
5.) The Library & Information Science program in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University
6.) The Library & Information Science program faculty (save a select couple of professors)
7.) The job market
8.) Bad drivers, as my car was hit three times in two years (in other words, three times more than it had ever been hit before moving to Syracuse)
9.) The stress and tension of having to write papers, read all the assignments and keep up with classes as a full-time student
10.) Paying a deposit on bottles and cans and then ultimately trying to get the deposit back via recycling

It was much easier to come up with things I don't miss, although I still struggled coming up with ten. Plus, I'll admit that some of them are definitely not unique to Syracuse and could happen anywhere. They were, however, reminiscent of my Syracuse experience!

Ten things I miss about Syracuse

1.) Brian
2.) Catherine
3.) Curtis
4.) John
5.) Mark
6.) Hanging out at Taps with my friends (many of the above-mentioned ones)
7.) The fact that you can pretty much drive anywhere in the city in less than twenty minutes
8.) The I-Lab (well, I spent a LOT of time there and I suspect I will never have two monitor screens at once like that ever again)
9.) Carousel Center (even though I rarely went there, it is a NICE mall!)
10.) How you can get $5 pizzas just about everywhere

Yep, that's about it. Not even three weeks removed and these are the things that come to mind. It's not a particularly compelling list, is it? Two years of my life and that's the best I can come up with? I tried to think of something regarding S.U. and the school, but the best I could do was #8, which is on campus. I also had 'My friends' as an item grouped together at first and then realized that I needed to give each of them a number in order to get to ten items. Yikes. And, not to say that I only had five friends there, but I would say that those five were definitely my closest friends. Plus Dan, but since he told me he was only my friend and only hung out with me (just the two of us alone sometimes) due to "social obligation," I would pretty much say that he successfully extracted himself from the list of things I miss as well as put himself at the top of the list of "Ass Holes I Know" during one five-minute conversation.

Besides them, Megan gets an honorable mention because although she was my good friend and I do miss her a lot, she's been gone since December so at this time, I am more used to missing her. If that makes sense.

Dilemma of the week

My current quandry involves whether or not I should participate in graduation activities this weekend. On the 'no' side: Well, I already have my diploma. It costs like $60 to rent the required cap & gown get-up. Umm, I pretty much hate every faculty & staff member at this school by now and have zero desire to hear any of them speak, let alone have one of them presumably butcher the pronunciation of my name. On the 'yes' side: I have some good friends here that I will never see together in one place ever again probably and this would be a last opportunity for good-byes and pictures and all that. And that's about it, I guess.

You know how graduation ceremonies go... family is there and you really don't have a whole lot of time to spend with friends. It could very well make me feel even lonelier when the crowds part and I'm left there alone. I guess I do wonder if I would regret not participating if I choose not to... There is an in-between option that involves attending the ceremony and seeing my friends but not actually participating.

Whatever I decide, I have to basically do so by tomorrow at 5pm, I think, which is when they stop passing out the caps & gowns.

My weekend

I have done absolutely nothing today except bake some cookies, sleep and watch a few Lost episodes. I'm way behind on that show and decided to start watching all the eps from this season a few days ago. Umm, that's kind of a big mistake considering I still have a huge assignment due and that show is mega addictive. Anyway, today I didn't feel that well and haven't entirely had a day off in weeks so I felt I was due. Plus, it's not really a total day off since I'm finishing up all the assignments for my one class. Each student had to post on the class (677) blog seven times during the semester, picking out and critiquing a digitization project each time. I had one left to go and had put it off, put it off, put it off. But I finally just did it. That blog is kind of interesting and a good time waster if you are interested at all in seeing digitized collections of things from all over the world, although I would say the majority of them are from museums and universities. My recommendation, also, is to just click on the links and not read all the garbage that my classmates write on the blog. As has happened with all my classes this semester, students seem to not know when to shut up. My other online class (631) has had nearly 2,500 posts on its bulletin board. That's a lot.

Now I have to post the bulletin board for the 677 class one final time and then all I will have left to do is this one final project. The presentation part of it is due tomorrow but I really want to get the presentation and the paper parts done by Monday so I can start focusing on other things (like graduation and moving!). I already got the grade for my third class (676), which wrapped up on Monday.

In other news, I now supposedly have that interview this coming Tuesday. We'll see if the phone call comes this time. Also, go Cavs!

A new way to blog

Maybe from now on I will just post my horoscope for the day and talk about how close or how far off it was... ha ha. It's just that the one for today couldn't have been closer to the truth:

Today your creative impulses could seem totally blocked, dear Cancer. You might be trying to reach a deadline, whether it's one of your own or one imposed by someone else. You feel the need to get some work done, but your muse seems to have gone on vacation. If your deadline is official, phone whoever's in charge and ask for an extension. If you force yourself to work today, you won't be happy with the results.

That was so true. I struggled to get some homework done, barely got anything accomplished so my muse was definitely gone. If it's ever around in the first place, that is. Luckily, my deadlines were self-imposed so I have some time to get things done next week. Instead of being productive, I watched the Cavs win (yay!) and also watched Walk the Line. Enjoyable, both of them!

I've got personality...

In class on Monday night, our professor had us take this personality test. It's an offshoot of the Myers-Briggs test and it was called the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. I guess the idea is that you take this, are given a personality type and then can help choose the best career path for your type. So, I scored as an INFJ. She had small blurbs for us to read about ourselves in class but I was not that impressed that it fit me. So, yesterday I poked around on the Internet a little and found another, very similar test that I took and, what do you know, tested as an INFJ again. Okay, so I'm an INFJ. From there, I found a site that explains that type in much greater detail and I think it is really me! What I liked best is that the INFJ type is apparently quite rare, with less than 2% of the population fitting into this category.

Back to school

Last week was spring break and I guess I took advantage of it and did absolutely NOTHING during the whole week. I had an assignment due last Sunday and once I got that done, I decided the best use of my time would be to watch a lot of movies, read, drink alcohol almost every day and basically do nothing. It was actually a really nice break but kind of stupid on my part. I have a lot of homework due this next week or so and should have been trying to get ahead, right? I did manage to apply for a couple jobs over this past weekend, though, including what I really might call my dream job at NBC Universal. I want that job so badly!!

It's official...

I got my diploma in the mail yesterday!! I have to say that it was pretty cool to see my name on it and the whole 'Masters of Library and Information Science' on it.

Even if I am pursuing further education and am so bogged down by school...

Yay for me!

Busy bee

I haven't checked in here in over a week and well, that's because I'm bogged down with homework. And more homework. This is my hell week of the semester, with major assignments due in every class... luckily, it's come early this year and I really don't see any big problems for the rest of the semester. Things are spaced out well from here on out.

I am probably farther along with the assignments than I typically would be (since I am a top-notch procrastinator) but still have a bit to do, particularly for the 1-hour presentation I have Monday night. I hope to get a paper written tonight (it's actually written; it just needs to be reread/edited/improved) and another part of my PowerPoint presentation for my classification class done tonight and then the weekend will be spent finishing up that latter assignment and going crazy on the 1-hour presentation.

I've spent copious amounts of time on campus this week, taking advantage of the high-speed Internet access there, although I did decide on MSN dial-up service here at home. MSN offers 3 months free... and since I'll probably be moving in 3 months, it works out perfectly! Today, there has been major winds. leaving thousands and thousands of people in Syracuse without power - yep, I was one of them. My power went out at about 8:30am and, from my calculations, didn't come back on until about 5pm. I wonder what that means for my refrigerated items - luckily, I haven't been to the grocery store in weeks so there are few items in the refrigerator.

As if that wasn't enough drama, I've been highly distracted by a certain person who I have realized that I have a major crush on. There are self-help books for everything and I wonder if there is one entitled "How to get Over a Crush" or something like that because although I do subscribe to the theory that some crushes can be rather harmless and actually good for a person (say, for instance, my crush on Tom Cavanagh), this particular one that I find myself in the middle of is VERRRRY bad for me. Ugh.

Oh, and on top of that, I got rejected from two jobs this past week, too.

I know what I did last summer

In doing a post for one of my online classes, I found this link to a Library of Congress bulletin from October that has a story about the internship program I was in last summer. So here's the link to it. There is a picture of all of us interns, although I am barely visible in it. Tall people in the back, just like grade school.

Busy busy

I have no idea what I have been up to this past week but here I sit on a Sunday, having spent hours and hours in the computer lab to try to catch up on all my homework for the week. While I did manage to get the minimum assignments and postings for my two online courses completed today (the week ends on Sundays for these classes), I did NOT do all the reading that I am supposed to be doing. And I haven't even started the readings for my class that meets tomorrow night. Oy. I can't believe how far behind I already am in my classes and it's only the third week of school. Luckily, one benefit of not having a job is that I have free time.

I did apply for a couple jobs this past week, which I guess is what accounts for me being so behind on homework. Job-searching is more important to me than homework right now. However, I have not heard a thing from any of the jobs I have applied for so that is pretty frustrating. But it takes time, they say.

This week: more job stuff and maybe not only get caught up in my work but get ahead!?! Crazy thought.

First Day of School

Yes, today is the first day of classes for the Spring Semester. I successfully registered for three classes on Sunday morning, although I probably only will take two and will end up dropping one soon. After looking at who else is in my classes (just about the first thing I always do once the classes are loaded into my WebCT account), I am about 99.99% certain that I will in fact drop the class I'd been planning to drop. Way too many annoying people in there. However, there still raises the question about whether or not I should stay in the on-campus 'Digital Libraries' course. It's required for this certificiate program and it's better to get it out of the way as soon as possible but by taking it this semester, it means I must basically remain in Syracuse until May (or if I were to get a job elsewhere, I would have to figure something out with the professor to finish the course elsewhere... or just drop the course without a refund... yes, there are some options).