I've written here before about my educational (mis)adventures. To recap, I started taking evening and online classes when I was working for an employer that provided tuition remission. In August, I left that job and started a full-time graduate program in speech-language pathology. I successfully completed my first of five semesters in December, and I'll go back for my second semester next week. Before doing that, I thought it would be interesting (and potentially useful to other people who are considering going back to school) to write about some of my impressions.
Favorite part: My program, like many, starts students in clinic first semester. My weekly clients were hands down the best part of the program. I looked forward to seeing them and was thrilled when I saw their progress. I also felt like I learned a lot in this process--when you see the same clients every week, you have a chance to reflect on what went well in a session and what needs improvement. Then you can adjust accordingly. In spite of the various ways I'm unhappy with the grad school experience, the fact that I enjoyed my clients so much makes me cautiously optimistic that I'm making a good career change for me.
Least favorite part: Barely having a spare moment to myself all semester. I spent two years taking classes on top of working a full-time job. It never occurred to me that I would be busier as "just" a student, but I was, by quite a lot. Getting to spend time with friends took great feats of planning. Hobbies were put on hold, as I worked through most evenings and weekends. The worst part was mid-semester when I caught a monster cold that hung on for weeks. I started to feel very nostalgic for sick leave at that point. I only took one full day off from school during that time, and I spent nearly the whole day working from home when what I really needed was sleep. Was all this work necessary or helpful to the learning experience? Absolutely not. Unfortunately, some of the architects of this program seem to believe that misery in grad school is a rite of passage we all have to go through.
Best thing about being a nontraditional student: Years of "adulting" have given me very good time management skills. Unlike many of my younger classmates, I pulled zero all-nighters all semester (and I don't intend to pull any in subsequent semesters).
Worst thing about being a nontraditional student: I miss income. I miss free time after coming home from work. I miss being around people closer to my own age. I miss feeling competent in a career, instead of feeling like I'm starting out at the bottom again. All of these adjustments have been harder than I anticipated.
Advice to other nontraditional students: I chose my program because they offered me funding. This might still prove to be the correct decision--after all, who wants to pay more in tuition than they have to? And in the end, it's always easier to see the problems where you are than the problems you would have faced somewhere else.
However, for people who find themselves deciding between two or more funding packages (or people comparing two or more programs with roughly equivalent tuition), here are some things to consider: Which program typically has more nontraditional students? You might have an easier time making friends with fellow students whose lives are more like yours. Also, programs with more nontraditional students may do a better job scheduling classes to be convenient for people who aren't 22 and living on campus (I'm thinking grumpily about the number of evening classes I'll have next semester, in addition to two Saturday all-day sessions. Grrr.). Also, this may sound obvious, but think about what the program specializes in. I'm going to be deliberately vague here, but my program has a specialty that I certainly don't object to, but that I'm also not planning to incorporate heavily into my future career. I figured I could put up with it for the sake of receiving funding. And again, that may prove to be the best decision in the end...but at the moment, I feel like something I'll probably never use again is taking up an awful lot of my time.
One semester down, four to go!
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Saturday, January 5, 2019
The Shutdown
When Scott and I took a walk on the National Mall yesterday, I noticed something interesting: numerous kites stuck in trees.
Maybe they've always been there. Maybe the bare trees of winter showcase kites to their best advantage. But the first thought that occurred to me was that maybe the person or people who ordinarily remove kites from trees are not currently working due to the government shutdown.
In an area where I'm spoiled for choices in activities, quite a few options are closed right now, namely the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo. At this point, even the public restrooms on the National Mall are closed.
I feel terrible for the people who are either having to hold out waiting for back pay or who likely will never get paid at all for the duration of this shutdown. As someone who has worked both for the federal government and for a center that relied heavily on government contracts, I feel I can imagine the worries some people have right now. It's not easy to have your livelihood in the hands of people who don't care and are happy to make you a pawn in their power struggles. I'm sure for anyone who knows me, it will come as no surprise that I'm against the border wall, and have been since the first time I heard the idea. Giving financial insecurity to countless federal employees and contractors is not making me warm up to it.
At this point, it's hard to see when or how this shutdown will end. I hope it will be before this already bad situation becomes financially ruinous for too many people.
Maybe they've always been there. Maybe the bare trees of winter showcase kites to their best advantage. But the first thought that occurred to me was that maybe the person or people who ordinarily remove kites from trees are not currently working due to the government shutdown.
In an area where I'm spoiled for choices in activities, quite a few options are closed right now, namely the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo. At this point, even the public restrooms on the National Mall are closed.
I feel terrible for the people who are either having to hold out waiting for back pay or who likely will never get paid at all for the duration of this shutdown. As someone who has worked both for the federal government and for a center that relied heavily on government contracts, I feel I can imagine the worries some people have right now. It's not easy to have your livelihood in the hands of people who don't care and are happy to make you a pawn in their power struggles. I'm sure for anyone who knows me, it will come as no surprise that I'm against the border wall, and have been since the first time I heard the idea. Giving financial insecurity to countless federal employees and contractors is not making me warm up to it.
At this point, it's hard to see when or how this shutdown will end. I hope it will be before this already bad situation becomes financially ruinous for too many people.
Friday, January 4, 2019
North Carolina Beach Pictures, December 2019
We went to North Carolina for Christmas, and made our usual trek to the North Carolina coast. It really is the perfect time of year to visit the beach--no crowds and no sunburns! Here are a few pictures from the trip.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
12 Days Of Cheese
Out of all of the holiday sales and specials that we have to choose from, the one I'm most excited about these days is the 12 Days of Cheese at Whole Foods. I'm not sure when they started it, but I became aware of it a couple years ago, and I've eagerly anticipated it each December since then.
For the uninitiated, the 12 Days of Cheese is when Whole Foods marks a different cheese 50% off for twelve days. They distribute a cheese schedule ahead of time, so you know what you'll find each day. Like all sales, I'm sure the intent is just to get people in the store with the hopes that they will buy more than just the cheese...but you get to decide that!
In years past, at least in the Whole Foods near me, you had to search for the half price cheese. This year, they displaced the half price cheeses prominently. The good part of this was that I spent less time looking for them; the bad part was that a couple days when I went to Whole Foods, they had sold out of the half price cheese. I decided that on days when I was really interested in the half price cheese, I needed to go there early to make sure I could get it. Fortunately for me, by the time the 12 Days of Cheese rolled around this year, my semester was winding down, so I had more free time to go on cheese runs.
This year, I managed to buy cheese on 6 of the 12 days. This might seem like an excessive amount of cheese for two people, but (a) you can buy small amounts of some of the cheeses, (b) most cheese lasts a while in the fridge, and (c) for me, there is no such thing as an excessive amount of cheese. Every year for New Year's Eve, I make an appetizer dinner, and I was very happy to have pre-bought all the cheese I wanted for it. "Fancy" cheese is one of my vices at the moment, and I'm happy to be able to combine it with my love of bargains.
For the uninitiated, the 12 Days of Cheese is when Whole Foods marks a different cheese 50% off for twelve days. They distribute a cheese schedule ahead of time, so you know what you'll find each day. Like all sales, I'm sure the intent is just to get people in the store with the hopes that they will buy more than just the cheese...but you get to decide that!
In years past, at least in the Whole Foods near me, you had to search for the half price cheese. This year, they displaced the half price cheeses prominently. The good part of this was that I spent less time looking for them; the bad part was that a couple days when I went to Whole Foods, they had sold out of the half price cheese. I decided that on days when I was really interested in the half price cheese, I needed to go there early to make sure I could get it. Fortunately for me, by the time the 12 Days of Cheese rolled around this year, my semester was winding down, so I had more free time to go on cheese runs.
This year, I managed to buy cheese on 6 of the 12 days. This might seem like an excessive amount of cheese for two people, but (a) you can buy small amounts of some of the cheeses, (b) most cheese lasts a while in the fridge, and (c) for me, there is no such thing as an excessive amount of cheese. Every year for New Year's Eve, I make an appetizer dinner, and I was very happy to have pre-bought all the cheese I wanted for it. "Fancy" cheese is one of my vices at the moment, and I'm happy to be able to combine it with my love of bargains.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
How Creepy Is Too Creepy?
I saw something today that I haven't stopped thinking about. It was the sort of scene most women will be all too familiar with--a man paying an inordinate amount of attention to a woman he doesn't know but without crossing any lines that would make his behavior illegal.
I was in line at the supermarket. A woman who appeared to be in her mid- to late twenties got in line behind me. A man who appeared to be in his late fifties to early sixties got in line behind her. As a side note, I notice he was munching a handful of corn chips, in what was apparently a rather liberal interpretation of what constitutes a free sample. Anyway, I digress. I overheard the corn chip-munching man start a conversation with the woman behind me. He started by commenting that she must really like corn nuts, which is an innocent enough--if somewhat bizarre--conversation starter. She replied that they were for her boyfriend, which in my mind was a pretty clear signal for him to back off. Nevertheless, he persisted.
I don't remember what else he said, except that the conversation somehow escalated to him asking her what area she lived in, at which point she referenced her boyfriend again. At that point, it was my turn to pay for my groceries, and I didn't hear what happened next.
For me, it was when he started trying to find out where she lived that turned this conversation from weird into creepy. And since the woman in question alluded to her boyfriend twice in the conversation, I think she probably found the conversation creepy, too. Referencing a boyfriend or husband is a tactic I've used in similar situations. But I was left wondering what, if anything, to do. The man in question was being creepy, but hadn't come close to crossing any legal lines. It didn't seem like a situation for calling the police or store security. We were in a crowded supermarket in broad daylight, which probably provided some safety. I briefly considered waiting for the woman to finish paying for her groceries and offer to walk with her wherever she needed to go, but wasn't sure if that would be welcome.
Truthfully, when I reflect on my own experiences of this sort, I'm not sure what I would even want from well-intentioned strangers in this sort of situation. When I've been in similar situations, I've been very focused on determining whether the situation is likely to escalate in any way and make my escape. It's never occurred to me that a bystander could come to my rescue in any way. But when I think about it, I realize that it shouldn't be that way. After all, an inordinate amount of attention from a stranger would be far less unnerving if we felt like someone had our backs.
So right now, I'm looking for ideas. Was I correct to not intercede? Should I have waited for the woman and offered to walk somewhere with her? Butted in on the conversation to take some of the heat off the woman behind me in line? There has been discussion recently of how to intercede in situations that are clearly more dangerous, but since low-level creepy incidents are unfortunately a large part of many women's lives, I think we need rules for bystanders in those, too.
I was in line at the supermarket. A woman who appeared to be in her mid- to late twenties got in line behind me. A man who appeared to be in his late fifties to early sixties got in line behind her. As a side note, I notice he was munching a handful of corn chips, in what was apparently a rather liberal interpretation of what constitutes a free sample. Anyway, I digress. I overheard the corn chip-munching man start a conversation with the woman behind me. He started by commenting that she must really like corn nuts, which is an innocent enough--if somewhat bizarre--conversation starter. She replied that they were for her boyfriend, which in my mind was a pretty clear signal for him to back off. Nevertheless, he persisted.
I don't remember what else he said, except that the conversation somehow escalated to him asking her what area she lived in, at which point she referenced her boyfriend again. At that point, it was my turn to pay for my groceries, and I didn't hear what happened next.
For me, it was when he started trying to find out where she lived that turned this conversation from weird into creepy. And since the woman in question alluded to her boyfriend twice in the conversation, I think she probably found the conversation creepy, too. Referencing a boyfriend or husband is a tactic I've used in similar situations. But I was left wondering what, if anything, to do. The man in question was being creepy, but hadn't come close to crossing any legal lines. It didn't seem like a situation for calling the police or store security. We were in a crowded supermarket in broad daylight, which probably provided some safety. I briefly considered waiting for the woman to finish paying for her groceries and offer to walk with her wherever she needed to go, but wasn't sure if that would be welcome.
Truthfully, when I reflect on my own experiences of this sort, I'm not sure what I would even want from well-intentioned strangers in this sort of situation. When I've been in similar situations, I've been very focused on determining whether the situation is likely to escalate in any way and make my escape. It's never occurred to me that a bystander could come to my rescue in any way. But when I think about it, I realize that it shouldn't be that way. After all, an inordinate amount of attention from a stranger would be far less unnerving if we felt like someone had our backs.
So right now, I'm looking for ideas. Was I correct to not intercede? Should I have waited for the woman and offered to walk somewhere with her? Butted in on the conversation to take some of the heat off the woman behind me in line? There has been discussion recently of how to intercede in situations that are clearly more dangerous, but since low-level creepy incidents are unfortunately a large part of many women's lives, I think we need rules for bystanders in those, too.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Shouldn't We Move Past This As A Society?
Nope, not a political rant today. At least I don't think it's tied up on politics in any way...
What I'm going to complain about is group assignments in educational settings. It has been the bane of my existence since I was in 4th grade. I still remember the assistant principal of my elementary school coming into my class and explaining the concept of "cooperative learning." Back then, it was more structured. Each group was supposed to divide into rolls: leader, recorder, reporter, and maybe some other stuff I've forgotten. I think even as a kid, I was hoping and expecting it to be a passing fad, but the concept has had a distressing amount of staying power.
In my experience, there has been a lot less group work in higher ed. But in my K-12 years, I heard various excuses for group work. One thing I heard a lot was that it was a way for students who were doing better to help students who were lagging behind, which always made me wonder how that was fair to the students who were doing well. Another excuse was that eventually, we would all be in jobs that required massive amounts of group work, and we needed to get used to working together.
Well. I can't speak for everyone's jobs, of course, but I can speak to the ones I've had. Some of my jobs, like teaching, have actually required little to no group work. Other jobs I've had involved completing tasks or projects in teams, but really in those situations, we were usually working individually on portions of projects that would all be put together in the end. So we weren't putting up with each others neuroses and idiosyncrasies on a daily basis. Also, it's worth pointing out that everyone was getting paid for their teamwork efforts. Personally, I will put up with a lot more when money is involved.
What inspired this particular rant is that I had a considerable amount of group work in one of my classes this semester, which, I'm happy to report, ended yesterday with the presentation of the last project. Even under the best circumstances, this amount of group work would have been challenging, but the person I worked with turned out to be a complete nightmare. She consistently waited until right before projects were due to do any work, and then second-guessed (and sometimes deleted) work I'd already done. Then she would waste time agonizing over what other students in the class were doing and messing around with formatting. She would then be miffed that I didn't want to match her amount of time engaged in useless behaviors that masquerade as "working." In principle, it's supposed to be faster to complete projects with another person, but I'm convinced I would have finished all of the projects much faster on my own.
I understand that some people work better in groups as individuals. But those of us who work better individually shouldn't be forced into that model, and people should stop talking about how beneficial group work is for us in the long run. The fastest way for this nonsense to go away is for educators to stop forcing group work on everyone. Can we finally take that step as a society?
What I'm going to complain about is group assignments in educational settings. It has been the bane of my existence since I was in 4th grade. I still remember the assistant principal of my elementary school coming into my class and explaining the concept of "cooperative learning." Back then, it was more structured. Each group was supposed to divide into rolls: leader, recorder, reporter, and maybe some other stuff I've forgotten. I think even as a kid, I was hoping and expecting it to be a passing fad, but the concept has had a distressing amount of staying power.
In my experience, there has been a lot less group work in higher ed. But in my K-12 years, I heard various excuses for group work. One thing I heard a lot was that it was a way for students who were doing better to help students who were lagging behind, which always made me wonder how that was fair to the students who were doing well. Another excuse was that eventually, we would all be in jobs that required massive amounts of group work, and we needed to get used to working together.
Well. I can't speak for everyone's jobs, of course, but I can speak to the ones I've had. Some of my jobs, like teaching, have actually required little to no group work. Other jobs I've had involved completing tasks or projects in teams, but really in those situations, we were usually working individually on portions of projects that would all be put together in the end. So we weren't putting up with each others neuroses and idiosyncrasies on a daily basis. Also, it's worth pointing out that everyone was getting paid for their teamwork efforts. Personally, I will put up with a lot more when money is involved.
What inspired this particular rant is that I had a considerable amount of group work in one of my classes this semester, which, I'm happy to report, ended yesterday with the presentation of the last project. Even under the best circumstances, this amount of group work would have been challenging, but the person I worked with turned out to be a complete nightmare. She consistently waited until right before projects were due to do any work, and then second-guessed (and sometimes deleted) work I'd already done. Then she would waste time agonizing over what other students in the class were doing and messing around with formatting. She would then be miffed that I didn't want to match her amount of time engaged in useless behaviors that masquerade as "working." In principle, it's supposed to be faster to complete projects with another person, but I'm convinced I would have finished all of the projects much faster on my own.
I understand that some people work better in groups as individuals. But those of us who work better individually shouldn't be forced into that model, and people should stop talking about how beneficial group work is for us in the long run. The fastest way for this nonsense to go away is for educators to stop forcing group work on everyone. Can we finally take that step as a society?
Saturday, December 1, 2018
A Bridge Too Far
I had been feeling regretful recently about my lack of both time and material to update my blog. The time is still a problem (still two weeks left in my semester!), but I now have some (completely unwelcome) material: There. Is. A. Centipede. In. My. Home.
My building is unfortunately home to various unwelcome critters. I've written here before about the rodent problem. Laila usually keeps the mice at bay (she killed her sixth mouse a few weeks ago!). However, the flip side of having a cat take care of the rodents is that her food attracts roaches, another one of the unwelcome critters. In general--if I must live in a building with infestation problems--I'm okay with this trade off. As gross as roaches are, I prefer them to the mice.
However, a centipede is another matter entirely. Centipedes have always given me the creeps. They run really fast, and I've hear their bites are painful. They also just look awful. Years ago, in another apartment, one somehow got into my closet light fixture and died there. It was illuminated every time I turned the light on. I took it as an omen that I needed to move.
Anyway, this current centipede is on the wall in the closet that holds my washer and dryer. It's high enough up and wedged enough into the corner that it would be difficult to kill. I'm afraid of I go after it with a broom, it'll just fall down and run off someplace (or worse, somehow fall on me). At the moment it's hanging out and moving its antennae menacingly when I try to do laundry. I don't like seeing it there, but I know if it disappears, I'll worry about where else it might show up.
I'm hoping for less revolting material next time I write here. Anyone got any great tips for dealing with centipedes that somehow get inside?
My building is unfortunately home to various unwelcome critters. I've written here before about the rodent problem. Laila usually keeps the mice at bay (she killed her sixth mouse a few weeks ago!). However, the flip side of having a cat take care of the rodents is that her food attracts roaches, another one of the unwelcome critters. In general--if I must live in a building with infestation problems--I'm okay with this trade off. As gross as roaches are, I prefer them to the mice.
However, a centipede is another matter entirely. Centipedes have always given me the creeps. They run really fast, and I've hear their bites are painful. They also just look awful. Years ago, in another apartment, one somehow got into my closet light fixture and died there. It was illuminated every time I turned the light on. I took it as an omen that I needed to move.
Anyway, this current centipede is on the wall in the closet that holds my washer and dryer. It's high enough up and wedged enough into the corner that it would be difficult to kill. I'm afraid of I go after it with a broom, it'll just fall down and run off someplace (or worse, somehow fall on me). At the moment it's hanging out and moving its antennae menacingly when I try to do laundry. I don't like seeing it there, but I know if it disappears, I'll worry about where else it might show up.
I'm hoping for less revolting material next time I write here. Anyone got any great tips for dealing with centipedes that somehow get inside?
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