sunflowery's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All About Work, School, and Computers So I went to my first class last night and it was good. On Mondays, I work from 7:30 to 4:30 so I can get on the road and beat all the 5:00 traffic to school. It worked great! I had time to get a quick bite and eat it in the school parking lot. I still made it to the classroom a half hour early. I was able to scope the classroom and grab a good seat. (which I ended up moving away from in order to sit closer to an outlet because my computer battery died half way through class!) Anyway, last night's class was a mandatory computer usage course. It was helpful. They prof showed up how to self-enroll, how to use our student email acct and how to submit classwork electronically. I was hoping he could help me figure out what was wrong with my Microsoft Office. It wasn't letting me register or get in. It kept saying the product key was invalid. We both played with it a bit but nothing helped. I resigned myself to waiting for the morning to call the bookstore where I bought it. (By the way, have I said how much I love my laptop? Because I do. Love it. So much!) We also were instructed to install Adaware or Spybot and to check for spyware regularly. I have it on our PC at home, but not on my laptop. I installed Spybot and ran it and it found about a dozen spyware programs already! So removed those and ran the virus program and am good to go. The prof said that spyware can slow down a computer to the point that it won't even function properly. So it's a good reminder to download one of those programs and run them regularly. I met all the people I will be spending the next year and a half in class with. There are 12 of us. There are 9 women and 3 men. And we will all take the same class at the same time throughout this entire program. We are called a cohort. I kind of like that name. It sounds like we are in cahoots. As though we were a gang planning some nepharious activity. Heh. Monday is my first actual, real class. Concepts of Communication. My first real assignment is due that day. I need to get a magazine so I can pull an ad from it and then write 2 pages describing what the ad is saying outright and what it's implying. I also need to get a binder and some folders, a mouse, a couple of 3.5 floppies , a VCR videotape and a flash drive. Good thing my tax time overtime paycheck comes this week. I love me some school supply shopping. We were told last night to expect lots and lots of work. These classes are semester courses shortened to 4-6 week incriments. Yikes! Looks like homework is my new freetime activity for the next year and a half. I did call the bookstore this morning and they said the only other time that has happened was when someone already had an Office program installed on their computer. Apparently it won't run 2 applications of the same product. I said I didn't think I had an Office on there as the computer store had tried to sell me one. But when I went to add/remove programs, there it was...Office Standard. So I removed it and the Office Pro works fine now. So, huh. I should have known enough to check that in the first place. But live and learn. So, it looks like we may just pass up the condo and wait until I graduate. It's a 52 mile drive from that home to my work which translates into over 500 miles a week, 2,000 miles a month and 24,000 miles a year...just driving to and from work. That doesn't include trips to school, to the bariatric clinic, running errands or anything else like that. Also, we can use the time to save some money, pay some bills and get our credit in better shape. Also, we can use part of my 401K for a down payment or for closing costs and if we wait, we can build that up a little more so we don't have to make big payments. Plus, I am still stuck on the fact that if anything happened to Bob I would be more than an hour away. I can't get that out of my head. Right now he is right down the road. 5 minutes/2 miles from where I work. Even if he fell and just needed me to come and help him up, it's no problem for me to run home, help him, make sure he's OK and get back to work before anyone misses me. The sad thing is the realtor called today and left a message on my machine saying the builder would switch out the carpet with Pergo and paint with no problems. There are no pet restrictions of any kind and we could plant shrubs or put up a privacy fence in our "yard" without any problem whatsoever. Nice. Wish it was here. And we could afford it. The Prima Donna in my office is leaving! She got a job with another department in Big Bank Co. Her last day is May 13th. I cannot wait. She has never been a team player and acts as though the rules apply to everyone but her. She's nice enough as a person, but I've never enjoyed working with her because of her attitude and work ethic. Of course, they could hire someone twice as bad to take her place, but I hope not. Spaeking of work, my immediate supervisor got some bad news over the weekend. Her father died a year ago this past Christmas of a brain tumor. He had beaten prostate cancer several years before and been cancer free for about 5 or 6 years before he was diagnosed with the brain tumor. Then he died in about 3 months. Well, my super was visiting her mother who didn't feel well. They took her to the hospital and while she had a kidney stone and UTI, they also found she has Leukemia. So, my super is there with her now while they run more tests. What a blow. She just lost her dad to cancer and now her mom is going through it. We hope it's something that can be treated and triumphed over. You can still help me to help the March of Dimes. Here's the lowdown: This Sunday, May 1st, I will be walking a 7-10 mile walk for the March of Dimes, because we are all about the babies. We will walk rain or shine and we walk for people like these families. We will be using our feet to give premature babies a hand. Today in the U.S., 1 in every 8 babies will be born prematurely. Some of them won't survive, and others will have health problems that could last a lifetime. The funds we raise in WalkAmerica support research that saves babies' lives. The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. Here's how you can help me to help The March of Dimes: 12:29 p.m. - Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2005 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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