Grammar…Grammar

One of my classes this semester is Foundations of English II. This class is a mandatory for me since I was not able to opt out of it when I took my start up test. I never realized how difficult grammar really was. I’ve been struggling with this class and it is frustrating.

Half way mark….

I am going into my fifth week for the summer semester and I am hanging on with my bare hands. So far this semester we have discussed subjects and verbs, modifiers, connectors, adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases. I didn’t have trouble with subjects and verbs, but the other areas are really confusing to me. I guess what confuses me is certain things in one form of a sentence can be something completely different in another form of a sentence. I guess what I am trying to say is, nothing is consistent in the English grammar.

Any Suggestions…… 

I was wondering if anyone has used the tutor that is provided for online students. Also, if someone might suggest helpful books, I am open for anything ideas that might help me.

Skydiving?

Thrill Seeker…

This week my little brother came into town from Ohio to visit. It has been over two years since we have seen one another. His Birthday was this past Monday so we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant here in town. He turned 23 on his birthday and it was nice to be able spend his birthday with him.

Happy Birthday!!

Even though we are 7 years apart we have become close here in the last couple of years. We have learned that we have several things in common, one of them being we both want to go Skydiving. And that is what we did….

Rush...Rush

On Sunday we woke up and headed on out to Deland, Florida. It is one of many Skydiving business located throughout Florida. We tried to get there early, before the afternoon Florida rains arrived. Once we got there we have to sign in and watch a video. The video was a little scary as they pointed out that you could die due to faulty equipment. They weren't going to stop me there. We then had to sign waiver after waiver. I didn't even bother to read the waivers because it was sign or not go. Once that was finished then we had to wait our turn.

Gear up and get ready for takeoff.

I wanted my jump to be recorded so I had the camera man following me around. Everyone there was very nice! My instructor told me if I want to do barrel rolls when we jump, that I would have to do exactly what I was told. I was all about adding extra excitement to my jump. While we were on the plane I was able to watch out the windows as we climb altitude. We had to reach 14,000 feet before jumping.

Wahoo!!

Here we go….. My little brother went first. I could see fear all over his face. I love you sis, he yells just before jumping. I'm next, 1...2...3 jump. We did five or more barrel rolls and side spins. Wow, what a thrill. I wasn't scared one bit. Then once we finished flipping around I was able to look around and see the scenery. What a site it was too! The winds are so strong that my face was making all kinds of weird moves. I will say I was only able to take short breathes due to the pressure on my chest, but other than that it was great!! We were probably in the air for 8-10 minutes by plane before we jumped. The actual dive is only about a minute, but the memory will last a lifetime! This was by far one of my best experiences and the fact that I got to share it with my brother made it even better!

The Break is Over ...

My break was great, but it is time to get my nose back into the books. I decided to take three classes this semester. This decision was made after speaking with the Student Coordinator in regards to how many classes I need to take in order to graduate by spring of 2009.

The Lucky number

I think three classes is a lot on top of working a full-time job and trying to maintain balance in my personal life. However, I won’t really know if it’s too much until I give it a shot.

School...School….School 

I decided to start with English II, Intro to Business and Sociology. I asked Christine who is the Student Services Coordinator what classes she thought might fit well together and these were her recommendations. I'll keep you posted. Wish me luck!

Any advice on English II, Business or Sociology? Should I look out for anything in particular? Any study tips? I can use all the help I can get. Have you ever used Rasmussen’s Smart Thinking service? Did you like it? I haven’t used it yet.

Picking Next Semester’s Classes

Break time, what a relief…..
I have never been more thrilled about a two week break! I don’t have any major plans, just going to hangout with my friends and relax a little.

Decisions… Decisions
Although, I can’t really relax until I have decided on which courses to take next semester. I know for sure that I am going to be taking English Composition II. It is a must take class and I need to get it out of the way. 

Thank goodness for Student Coordinators
Not sure if anyone utilizes the student service coordinator, but I decided to contact her to see if she had any recommendations. You know, like what classes are good together and how many classes should I take? This was probably the best step I have made all week. She had all kinds of ideas and suggestions for me. The other great thing was I was able to communicate through email. I am the type of person who comes up with questions after the fact. I was able to email her all of my questions (several questions) and not feel as if I was a bother. 

Friends…Got to love them!
Being a new student I have many concerns and questions. Have you ever heard the saying “Which way do I go George”? Well that is the way I feel with going back to school. There is so much to take in and learn. I am fortunate enough to have great friends and family around to help me get through this. 

Do you have support at home helping you go through school? Hopefully you do, but if not, think of me as your support. Post a comment or send me an email directly if you ever have a question or would like to chat. I know what you’re going through and I might be able to help.

The new Job

The new job is going great!! I have been working on getting settled in and getting familiar with the vehicles and the banks programs. The position is the same as my last job, but different manufacture. I am defiantly more relaxed and excited about my new beginnings!

Hooray for it being slow

Due to the fact that we are a brand new dealer, the volume has been a little down. I believe our official Grand Opening is next month. The good thing with the store being slow means that I have more time to do my homework. One of my requests when my company offered me the director’s position at this store was for me to able to do homework during my down time. This has been very helpful and I truly appreciate them! The sad part is I know we will not stay this slow forever, but I am going to take advantage of it as long as possible.

Won’t always be like this, I’ll take advantage

I manage the finance department that now only consists of me and one other person. This can make things difficult because when he is out I have to cover the whole store. Unfortunately that happened during the last week of my spring semester. I thought I was going to panic for sure, however I have found the instructors to be very helpful and understanding. Everyone at school was very friendly and eager to assist me with my problem during the last week of classes.

Wish me luck

I am signing up for a whopping 3 classes next semester. I’m very nervous. Will I be able to handle so many classes at once? Will I go crazy? If any of you out there work and have taken a few classes at the same time, please let me know how you did. Your advice is always appreciated.

Taking Vacation While Attending School

     I’m not sure what everyone else thinks about when thinking of going back to college, but one if my biggest concerns was; how am I going to be able to take vacations. We all know that school has breaks throughout the year, however if anyone works a fulltime job you know taking a vacation at a certain time is not easy. Especially for me because I work most holidays, which is when everyone else has off and plans vacations.
     In the beginning of May my best friends from high school were coming to Florida to visit. I had not seen them in over two years. I had to figure out a plan to get school work done before leaving. Of course this took some extra work on my part, but work and vacation go hand-in-hand. I was freaking out a little because I was under the gun to get things done. For me going back to school means I have to do my best and try my hardest to ace every class. The jobs I am interested in require a high GPA, since everyone wants to get in the pharmaceutical field.  In doing so it is going to require me to turn in well done homework assignments, read my assignments and study hard.
     The plan for me was to use my time wisely. I also have a boyfriend who I wanted to spend a little time with before heading down on vacation, so the pressure was on.  I always believe if there is a will there is a way. In class we have a Discussion post due in the beginning of the week and then an assignment at the end of the week. I wanted to get all of ahead a week of school work done before leaving and have a least an evening to spend with my boyfriend.  And that is exactly what I did. I spent my normal day off reading the chapters for the week, doing my discussion and the assignment. I dedicated my whole day to do nothing, but school work. Unfortunately I did not get it all done; therefore I spent the next couple of evenings working to get it finished before I left. I also worked on completing my discussion post for the following week. I was going to be returning on Tuesday night and my discussion post was due on Wednesday. I did not want to stress about having to get that done after a long stressful day of returning to work. Also while I was away I spent my down time reading the chapters for the following week so when I was ready I could jump right into my assignment.
     I learned that a little pre-planning and hard-work can allow you to take a nice vacation, be worry free of school work and have an easy week once you return. It worked out so well that I am doing it again in June!   

Changing Jobs

The stress got to me, so I had to change jobs

I am a Finance Director for a high volume (meaning super busy) local car dealership. Since I have started school, I found my job has become very demanding. It has probably always been this way, but I never noticed it before. Now, that I am going back to school I’ve found time my time to be very precious. 

Stressful…

I found myself becoming very stressed-out and having difficulties performing well at school and work. Being that I did not want to drop school or fail, I needed to find a solution and find it fast. I have been at my current job for four years. I am a dedicated employee who is always willing to take on new challenges and perform at my best. So I figured why not ask for help.

It’s ok to ask for help… or to say you are overwhelmed

I few weeks into my maximized stress levels; I decided to go to the man who hired me in the fist place. I explained my situation to him and expressed my concerns with school and work. I was so nervous not knowing what his response was going to be. He stated that he understood and had an idea.

Then…

He was appreciative of the fact that I went to him with my concerns instead of letting things fester until I decided to leave the company. He has another director’s position opening in a smaller store. It will be less stress and I will be able to focus on school. I’ve been at the new dealership for a week now and what a change!

Share your story

I would love to hear your stories… is work too stressful? If so, did you do anything about it? Or, are you worried that the combination of school and work is going to be too stressful? I look forward to hearing from you… I like knowing I’m not alone out here.

Computer Problems

      The last thing I expected to have problems with was my computer. I have only had my computer for a year and nine months and I have never had any problems with it until one day I came home to work on an assignment that was due. I will tell you there is nothing more aggravating than being unable to work on something without it freezing up on you. That night I had to go to my boyfriend’s house and use his computer.

I love calling customer service, I love calling customer service…

      The next day I called the customer service center where I purchased my computer. They had me on the phone for hours trying to discover where the problem was coming from. Did I mention the call center was in India?

      Well, of course it is, where else would it be? Unfortunately, the customer service rep was unable to find the problem so he said he had to re-configure my computer all over again. I did not realize what this really meant, but I found out afterwards that he wiped everything off and I mean everything off my computer. Luckily, I have all my photos and music backup to an external hard drive. However, the one thing that he wiped from my computer that I truly needed was Microsoft Office. The representative said that he was going to have to send the software for Microsoft to me and it would take 8-10 days. Wow…what do I do now?

Still waiting, and waiting and more waiting on my computer software

      It has been a week and I still do not have the software on my computer. However, I have still been doing my homework and discussion post. It has definitely been difficult because I have to borrow people’s computers when I can or use Microsoft at work when it is slow. The great thing is that I can access Rasmussen Portal from any computer, any time. Therefore, once I finish typing up my assignments I can log onto any computer and upload my assignments from my jump drive right into the Angel system for Rasmussen. I am also sure that if I told my teacher that she would understand, but I would hate to fall behind for any reason.

Ok, a catastrophe was averted

      If I take in account all the hurtles I have had to jump through… this goes to show you that there are always work-arounds for anything. Through borrowing, pleading and some frustration, my assignments were turned in on time! New computers do not always equal reliable computers.

How is Rasmussen helping me be successful? What tools do they offer?

I’ve been hearing this question from a lot from people considering going back to school, so I thought to take the second to answer these questions. Since I just started the program, I’ve had a chance to experience Rasmussen’s service and here are some of my thoughts.

Accessibility

Rasmussen is available to all students 24/7. I can locate their website from any computer just by logging to the portal and my class.

Communications

While taking my classes via the Rasmussen Portal there are several tools in place to assist me. They have internal email which is called Angel mail. I can use this to contact any fellow students, teachers and administrative staff. Therefore all of my questions get answered quickly. Rasmussen is really big on student communication so this helps me learn by getting others input on the topic of the assignments in place. I thought by taking online courses I would miss the student involvement, but I haven’t! I feel as if I already know the other students in the class and we chat all the time.

Library

Rasmussen also has tools such as the library to help students with their assignments. I was a little nervous about navigating through the library to find information needed for my assignments, but I found it to be very easy. There are all types of information available in the library such as articles, journals, books and videos. I was amazed at the amount of useful information available in the library.

Free Tutoring

And when you have trouble with a class because it’s challenging Rasmussen, offers tutors to all students to help them get through it. I have not used a tutor yet, but it is relieving to know that if and when I need one, it is available.

Email me if you have any questions about these services or in general. I’m here to help answer any questions you might have. Remember, I’m not Rasmussen staff, so I might have to ask you to speak to one of them at the schools, but I can share my experience with you. 

What do I hope to get out of school?

I hope to get a lot out of Rasmussen College. The obvious is I am going to earn a degree. I figured I would start with my two year degree in Marketing and Sales. However I don’t want to stop there. I then would like to earn my Bachelors degree in Marketing.

As for most people they like to call a degree “a piece of paper”, however for me it is much more. In my opinion most high school grads go on to college because that is what is expected of them. “The American Way”, I did not do that because I had to get a job to help support my family.

I have been out in the real world working hard to become someone. Over time I have realized that college will make me an even better someone. I am going to succeed at the highest standards, by this I am not going to have a piece of paper, but I am going to walk with my shoulders high, carry a wealth of knowledge and be a better person. This is also going to make me stronger for my future family. I will be able to help better my children lives and encourage them to attend college as well.

When I am finished with earning my degree I will be able to start a new life, with a new attitude and work in a field of choice.

Have you considered going back to school?  Or are you already enrolled, if so, why did you go back? I’d love to hear your stories…do tell.