The beginning and the end of a phase in life

This past week was the beginning of a new school year, which marks the concluding year of the 2-year Higher Education Student Affairs master's program at IU.

This semester load wise is fairly relaxed. I have two classes: a required course on environments and cultures and an elective course on Gender, Education, and Development based out of the history of education department. The first course, which will be referenced as GAP or Environments in posts to come, has a large research project that concludes with a presentation on my birthday. The positive about it being on my birthday is that when it is done, I should be done with classes for the semester and can enjoy the rest of the day :-) The class is currently in the process of defining groups and then defining topics within the group. Though I currently am part of a group and really hope that it will remain this way, there is the potential next week that groups will be asked to mix-up a little in order to even out group sizes.

As far as Gender, Education, and Development, aka gender or history, the understanding of this course is still out there to be analyzed. Definitely need to get into some readings and get a fill for the class to see how it is going to progress. There is several assignments throughout the course of the semester with a group project due at the end.

That is the update on the new school year.

Other quick notes: I finally got setup with internet and cable access, after a long ordeal and three different installation appointments. So far the service is good and channel options and equipment at this price is better than Insight last year. Interested to see, how much I am actually going to have to pay the first two months. The first month of cable was suppose to already be free with the package deal and supposedly, I am getting the second month free as well after all the trouble I had to go through. $130 savings potential :-)

More to come soon.

****Movie Suggestions Needed****

Last weekend, I signed up for NetFlix, 2 free weeks of movie rentals. I know many of you have suggested movies in the past that I need to watch, but my brain has not retained that information. So please comment with any past or new movie suggestions that you have. I have about a week left. We will see how many movies I can watch btwn now and then.

Update: Still no internet but hopefully by this time tomorrow the tech will be back at my apartment and able to hook it up. More to come this weekend.

In Bloomington...No Internet

Just thought I would make a quick update. I am safely in Bloomington. I arrived on Wednesday evening, sometime after 8 pm. The only catastrophe that I have found thus far is two cans of sprite exploded in the boxes and leaked all over the floor. Still working on getting the box imprints off of the floor and need to mop the entire kitchen again.

Thursday was spent putting everything up and plugging everything back in. Nothing to stressful. Yesterday, I spent at HESA orientation and then at IU Freshman/Transfer Orientation Training, which I will be working Sunday and Monday.

Today has turned out to be a very disappointing day. I woke early awaiting the arrival of the AT&T installer. He arrived at 8:45 am not bad, but proceeded to have issues with installing my internet and cable. Apparently the setup the install incorrectly in the computer and when he called to get that fixed, they could not resolved that I could even get service. He has installed service with others in the complex so its not that but the system is a mess. So who knows when I will actually be getting internet and cable service in the apartment. :-( I was not excited especially after getting up early on my Saturday. I tried Insight but they couldnt setup service til next Saturday as well so hopefully this will get squared away and by sometme late next week I will have service.

That is the quick update. Once I get service at home, I will post again. Stay cool!

Summer is Over and School is Here

Well, the weather does not show signs of the end of summer, but the beginning of school and work does show evidence that summer is winding down and fall is approaching. Most of my things are packed up except the computer. By this time tomorrow, I hope to be at my friends L&J's with a fully packed car ready to head to Bloomington on Wednesday evening. It has been wonderful to be back in Kentucky this summer. I apologize to anyone that I was not able to see and for those I did not see enough. Summer went by a lot faster than planned, and I was not able to accomplish all that was planned. I still had a ton of fun with everyone that I was able to hangout with.

From Wednesday until sometime Saturday, there will be no internet at my place of residence so that is why you will not hear from me.

Enjoy the rest of your week and I will catch you all from the land of Hoosiers shortly.

Accident w/ No Injuries - "Move It"

Found the above link on WKYT. Apparently as of July 1 if you have an accident on the interstate and no one is injured, it is law now to move your car off to the side of the road and call police. This is to keep traffic moving and reduce the risk of secondary accidents due to traffic congestion. Look for the new signs in your area soon.

I'm Drained

Wow, this has been one crazy and insane day. It began by being awakened at 7:45 am with the cleaning crew in the dorm. I am so glad that the cleaning crew did not start before eight while I was in college. Even though I was usually up by 8, it would have been nightmarish. Today was worse because they were cleaning all the rooms to prepare for the beginning of the school year, including the other room attached to my bathroom and the bathroom. So I gave up trying to sleep anymore and got up.

Then the rest of the day included accomplishing a dozed things, none of which were really related to the other.

:-( Paid a credit card bill from savings, except I couldn't do it online and I didn't have 75% of the info I needed to take care of it. Thankfully the credit card company was very helpful and actually contacted the back to get the necessary info, plus he waived the fee for paying via phone. It was a nice jester especially since I couldn't pay via savings online.

:-) Scheduled for internet and TV hookup for Aug 18 back in Bloomington. :-( I will be in town a couple days prior to getting internet access, so that is what happened if I forget to mention it again next week.

Hoping that the internet and TV service is of good quality. I don't know how many of you have heard about the new AT&T U-Verse, but its basically a TV and internet package through AT&T. It actually is a pretty nice deal compared to Insight. I get a DVR receiver and a regular receiver for my 2 TVs, plus internet hookup. 190 channels, I believe, which includes the new Big Ten Network (I am pretty sure). Insight is not carrying that channel yet. All for $74 plus taxes and such I am sure.

I was paying right around that last year for Insight with one receiver, no DVR, and fewer channels. Not that I necessarily need that many channels but still. I will report later on the service and setup. Supposedly a 5 to 8 hr setup, but thats probably quote for a house. I just have a 2-bedroom apt.

Straightened up the room and tried to get things organized for the very soon approaching departure back to Indiana.

Had the key lock on my room door changed so I had to figure out about getting a new key to my room. Thankfully, I was hear when the guy changed it and so I new that it happened. It would have been quite fun to come in this evening to a door that I couldn't get into.

Trying to get details about helping with IU orientation and registration upon returning next week. I was asked to go fill out papers on campus asap :-|. We will see what happens with that.

The rest of the day was working on my internship project. The final project is putting together a resource guide for Bellarmine and all of the universities in Kentucky. It is coming quite along but still needs some work. We will see the status of the summer hopefully tomorrow.

Also been trying to figure out how to attend additional autocross events this fall, not having a ton of luck at that one.

Well that is the random happenings of my life today.

Completed Harry Potter

Thanks to a dear friend, I got my hands on a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was an enjoyable leisure read before schools starts in a few weeks. Now I must get back to the tasks at hand.

Departing Kentucky in about 1.5 weeks. It is hard to believe that the summer is coming quickly to an end. Hopefully, I can get a few last things completed and see a few more people before I depart Kentucky. Don't worry though, I will be hopefully returning at least thrice between now and mid-October.