While watching the news this morning (my usual MSNBC), this pops up as a story. Seriously. Have we run out of news that there’s nothing to talk about? Its like over the weekend when they were dissecting Obama’s scratching hand gesture, the commentators on MSNBC noted that they had run out of things to talk about that they were blowing up the stupidest smallest things. Hence why I linked FoxNews.

But, back to the bear. At this point, I’d like to bring in the expert commentary of my old roommate, Rob Somers. I sent him a text message with the above picture and said something similar to MSNBC running out of news.

And his reply?
Its Tickles the Bear! good to see him out for a light jog around town again. lol

And on that note? I’m done with my finals. Two weeks of vacation from school till I have to worry about classes again…

So just when you thought you had your last graduation post from me about ten days back, even more shit hit the fan. Really.

For folks that aren’t familiar with UCF and might read this, when you’re a business major there’s one class you have to take in your last semester called Capstone. You can’t register for it like a normal class. When class registration opens up for you at your normal appointment time, you need to file your intent to graduate after registering for classes. Then, a few weeks later on a specific day, you have either an early registration time (9am) or a regular registration time (4pm). You register for it, and that’s that.

For me, my regular registration was on March 27th, and that meant my Capstone registration was at 4pm. I was on campus yesterday when I was supposed to register, so I went to the business computer lab. It was a stone’s throw away from the Undergrad Advising Office, so if I had to, I could throw a stone at them for messing something up. I sign onto the lab computer and go through all of the motions. And then, as I click “finish” on my registration?

Error: Department Consent Required. You must obtain permission to take this class. If you have a permission number, click Return to Step 1, click the class link, enter the number and resubmit

Seriously? You’ve got to be kidding me.

My friend Jennifer who was trying to get into the same section as I was, she had the same error message. So seeing we were both trying to register at the same time, we went over to the office and tell them what’s going on. I call our friend Nick and he got the same error message. While we’re at the office, an advisor whom I know took a little time out of her day and pushed back an appointment to try to help me (thank you Lisa, if you ever stumble across this), and her thought was that it was because I’m a double degree. She was the fourth advisor to go over my twin audits and said the same thing everyone else said: I’m good to go. Oh really? Geez. So why can’t I register?

Seeing I knew of two other folks with the same error, I went back to the lab and I printed up the error message and I wrote down the section number that I was trying to register for and handed it to the Peer Advisor. “Make a photocopy of this. There are three people getting this same message for this section. You might want to look into it.” Sure, I was a bit snarky with that, but I’m sorry: I’ve been waiting for three weeks for this registration and I’ve been given three different go aheads. I wasn’t going to take it.

So I went in and took my Ethics final after ranting for a good half hour and studying with Jennifer and Cory for it. And after getting out, I got a text from Jennifer that she had forwarded me an e-mail from an advisor:

There appears to be a problem with the discussion section you have selected, as we have attempted to enroll you in the class numbers you had attempted this afternoon and are receiving the error Department Consent Required. Only one student has been able to enroll in this specific lab section. Your information has been sent to our department scheduler for review. I would recommend trying again in the morning after 9am to see if any results have changed since it was after 5pm that she received the email.

Well, that being said, I feel like the paper I made the Peer Advisor take might have been an additional stone in their problem wall. It helped alleviate my concerns of other students registering and locking me out of the class.

So this morning, at about 9:30, I logged back on and attempted to re-register. Success. And hopefully this is the very last problem that I have to deal with from the college at all.

I can now succinctly and clearly say that I will be done and walking August 2nd. No matter what.

As I wrote my entry from yesterday, I started to think about the fact that this semester will very shortly be over. And with 17 credit hours–the most I’ve ever taken in one shot–I feel a bit relieved. Its been stressful juggling 5 classes for me. I haven’t juggled this many since I took 14 credit hours my freshman semester, and then it was Comp I, Intro to Engineering, LEAD Lab, Chemistry, and Calculus. Then again, as a freshman, Calculus and Chemistry wasn’t a combination that I should have taken.

But just something for y’all to follow me with next week as I sporatically post, here’s my final exam schedule:

MONDAY: Studying all day, taking my Ethics final when I feel comfortable enough.
TUESDAY: Studying all day, taking my International Business final when I feel comfortable enough. Tuesday night, I would have a Recruitment and Selection final, but I took that early as allowed.
WEDNESDAY: “Free Day.” Not really, but I’ll be studying all day for my Compensation Final on Thursday.
THURSDAY: 1pm seated Compensation final.
FRIDAY: Whenever I’ve read it and am done, I have a Training & Development final.

And with that all said and done? I’ll be done for the semester… Of course, Monday I also register for my final class at UCF, and then classes start back up second week of May, but that’s a post for another time…

So on Tuesday night, I received another e-mail about my graduation. This time, it was from the College of Arts and Humanities, where my English degree is classified under. According to them? I hadn’t met with my advisor yet.

Wait, what? What are you talking about? I did that on Friday, March 28th before meeting with my business advisor. This was something that I wanted out of the way and done with. So I e-mailed back, and when I woke up yesterday morning, I got a response that I needed to meet with a CAHSA advisor, not my major advisor. Damn it. I made that appointment for that afternoon.

So after another thirty minute wait, I got a third check off on my degree audit. Why? Because they needed it for THEIR records as well. While I understand their need, the disruption to me and my schedule wasn’t much appreciated.

At least, though, its done with, and I can leave this weekend to parts not too far unknown or far away… More on that tomorrow…

…is getting up early the next day.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been juggling a completely horrendous schedule that has me up till 2-3am and then waking up at 7:30am and running a fully normal day. Thusly, its no wonder that I’ve been drinking as much energy drinks as I’ve been finding around me and looking for other alternatives…

Normally this rant would include a complete disclosure of what my week looks like, but I’m waiting till Monday to make a fairly big announcement for myself and Sarah. A few friends have heard it in real life, and I’m making sure that its expressed to those whom I care about before I just go blabbing it openly online to whomever might stumble across this blog.

Still, with my lack of sleep, its no wonder that just now after watching my Countdown from last night? That I passed out on the bed for two hours.

Naps? You are my friends…

Last night when I was shopping at the Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market where I used to work, I was going to buy a 4-pack of my usual Amp Sugar Free Tall Boys that I’ve switched to after the fallout that I had a few weeks ago from too many sugared energy drinks… And then, I saw something that had half the caffeine at half the cost.

If you haven’t heard yet, Aquafina has four new fitness/flavored water types out. I had actually tried one of them a few weeks back when I tried the Peach fiber one, but last night I decided it was time to try some caffinated water. Yup, caffeine in water. And personally? I can tell you that its nothing to toot your horn at. The caffeine boost is minimal at best. The flavor from the water isn’t too bad, but there’s not much reason to get it. Well, I guess there is seeing its only $2.50 for a 6-pack. Not too bad price-wise.

Then again, seeing Starbucks is giving away some samples of their new Pikes Place roast of coffee today (Source: MSNBC.com), well, that’s enough to energize me to action… Even if that action was just to post it on HeyItsFree.net… Man, I should really write my post and plug Goob there, seeing I haven’t posted about that site or on that site in ages. I can only wait till things quiet down for me…

And with a final exam tonight? I’ll need all of the caffeine I can get…

Because of Wooster’s birthday, my cat superceded the post that I could have made on Tuesday. And then yesterday I decided to mix it up with the CD review instead, so here’s the post that could have been on Tuesday because that’s when it all finalized.

On Tuesday, it was made official. I had my final sign off and instructions.

I will be walking at commencement two times on August 2, 2008. I will be walking for a Bachelors of Arts in English: Creative Writing and I will be walking for a Bachelors of Science in Management: Human Resources. I started at UCF on August 20, 2001, and now? I’ll finally be done. Seven years straight of college, and even after it all? I have a great story of university bureaucracy to share.

Before filing either of my intent to graduates, I got e-mails from both colleges with the instructions. The ones for each college varied, but were still pretty simple:
Business:
1) Register for classes.
2) File intent.
3) Register for Capstone when it opens.

Arts & Sciences:
1) File intent.
2) Meet with Advisor.
3) Register for last classes.

For my English degree, I had finished my last classes for that back in 2005/2006’s school year, so I was long over and done with it. I met with my advisor for that college on March 28th, and albeit even being thirty minutes late to my own appointment, I was in and out of her office in five minutes with a “You’re good to go.”

Well, the Business office wasn’t as fun.

A few days before, I had confirmed the steps that I wrote above with an acquaintance of mine that works in the Business office. I was ensured that I wouldn’t need to talk to an advisor at all.

And then, I filed my intent and I got automated e-mails from both colleges telling me to come in and make appointments. So I called up the Business College and the Peer Advisor couldn’t help me. Her answer? “Well, if you got an e-mail, you need to come in.” I kept insisting that it was just a generic automated e-mail, and all she could tell me was that I needed to come in then. Great.

That may not sound like a bad thing ,but the problem is as follows: the Business College’s Undergraduate Affairs Office is not a place you want to go around registration time. If you wait two hours, that’s a short wait time. No joke.

I went by on March 31st around noon and was told to try back after 2pm when everyone came back from lunch. There were about eight folks waiting then. When I came back around 1:40 that afternoon? Another acquaintance of mine was working and he told me that I was better off coming the next morning a half an hour before they opened. And the same eight people were still waiting, with another two to three joining them. Just. Great.

On April 1st, I arrived at about 8:40am at the office, and even though their doors didn’t open till 9am, there were already four other people waiting ahead of me in line. And when they came out to do a sign in at 8:55am, it was the acquaintance that told me I wouldn’t need to speak with an advisor. Shocked to see me, when I told her my ordeal about how someone told me that I needed to see someone, her response to me was that I probably didn’t need to see someone at all.

Ten minutes later, those suspicions were confirmed when I was checked in and given a copy of my degree audit. The only things I was missing according to the university were Capstone (which is the final course every business student takes) and one restricted elective (which I was already registered in for summer term). And then, I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And just before 10am, I finally got to see an advisor. And it was another in-and-out the door in five minutes. A few scribbles on my audit of what I neded to take and what I hadn’t yet taken, and that was that.

When I got home? I stapled it to the wall in front of my desk. It’s a nice reminder of how close to being done I really am…

With one of my 5 classes I’m in being completely online, I find myself behind a computer a lot for homework. There’s been an on-going issue in this course with people missing quizzes. Today’s quiz actually closed at 1am this morning because it was open till March 28, 2008 at 12:59am. Usually, however, they close at midnight, meaning it would have closed on March 27, 2008 at 11:59pm.

So, very sadly when I opened my course’s e-mail program inside, I have this message from a fellow classmate:

Subject: Quiz 7
Sent: March 28, 2008 9:07 AM
From: ******* ******
To: All Section Instructors
CC: All Students

Quiz 7 states it’s over march 28 by 12:59 am but it won’t let me take it. It showing as if I missed it or something, but it still within the deadline. Can you please help

I feel sorry for her… Not because she missed the quiz but because she can’t tell time.

And this isn’t the first time I’ve received a stupid e-mail in this class… Nope. There have been a few deadline changes like that, and people who had waited to the last minute or hadn’t looked at the time on the day have sent out other messages like that. And each and every time, they complain and whine on the message board about how it should be reopened because they missed it. The fact of the matter is? In a number of this teacher’s lectures as well as on the board itself, they’ve stated that they cannot reopen ANYTHING at all, because it would remove everyone else’s grades from the system. So, we get down to the ethics of “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one/few.” And even still, because you’re the one/few, you feel screwed.

But hey, no use crying about it online. You’re better off drowning your sorrows with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. It understands you…

As I mentioned yesterday, I have interesting study habits that I can trace back to my freshman year here at UCF.

Back then amidst my roommate Rob singing Vanessa Carlton like a pirate, he got me hooked on a few things: Good Will Hunting, biscuits and gravy, and having a bowl of Ramen while you study.

Whenever he’d sit down to turn on one of his movies–that I usually had to leave halfway through for class–like Cider House Rules, Toy Story, or The Legend of Bagger Vance, he was usually working on his screenplay called “Adam.” Ironic that he was living with a guy of the same name, but he started it before me. A prelude to meeting me, it was his subconscious setting him up, I’d say. But whenever he sat down to work on his old laptop there, he’d head over to the microwave and pop in a bowl of ramen. It was the all purpose work food.

As I started to work on my papers and assignments, I’d be waiting with a bowl of ramen right after him. He’d have his in, and then mine would go into the microwave. I couldn’t focus for some reason or another without having a bowl of ramen. The aroma of his made me hungry, and it just became that staple for me. Even after he and I weren’t roommates, there was something about sitting down with that warm bowl of ramen that just begged writing and work from me.

Even to this day, I keep a 6 pack of ramen in the closet. Whenever I sit down and things just don’t come out? It’s a nice safety to keep around to know that I’ve got that fuel if I need it.

So, seeing I haven’t had an open response entry in a while and things have been quiet, I’ll ask the question:
What special vices do you have that help you study or focus?

Let’s keep that answer legal, clean, and legit, folks… I’ve already done enough of the cursing in the past few days… Haha! Have a great day and will catch you tomorrow…

If you thought the first time I talked about these might have been the last? Believe me, folks, it far from won’t be. The introduction a week or so back was only the beginning…

First of all, I should get into what the chai tea latte is. Classically, its really just the brewed tea and frothed milk, as commented on here. But, at the same time whenever you go to any shop, you don’t get that at all. What you normally get is some form of concentrate and frothed/steamed milk. I’ve seen them in different forms: there’s the pump syrup that you see at some shops, powders at others, and some its a carton concentrate. Its not bad, but some of them are better than others. For me personally, I like the Barnies one better than I do the Starbucks one. I couldn’t tell you why, I just do. And when it comes to campus, I liked the Java City one better than the Starbucks one.

Until Tuesday.

See, I have a fairly regular studying routine. I grab a soy chai latte at the library, head to the 5th floor, and hit the books. Its one of those things that helps me to study and focus (more on that tomorrow). Puts me in the frameset that I can do it. Well, on Tuesday, the steamers were down at the Java City, so I just studied with some water. I was having issues focusing and so I grabbed a quick lower carb and sugar snack at Subway, and then headed back. And I walked by Joffrey’s Coffee in the union. One of the first coffee shops on campus that I visited when I first started here at in 2001, I figured I’d give them a try. They’re usually fairly slow, and I’ve never had a chai from them, so it was worth a shot.

By far, I have to say that they have the best one on campus: its smooth, well mixed, good flavor, and fast and hot and right without me having to keep an eagle eye on them. Its also the cheapest one (even if by only 16 cents), and their large appears to be larger than the other large that I was getting from Java City, even if it is the same 20oz. Its the powder concentrate spiced chai, and the girl didn’t ask me for whipped cream at all. When I told her that she was the first person to not do that? She laughed and said “Who’d want whipped cream on a chai?”

My sentiments exactly.

This morning starts off a week about how well I can work it in so many ways. And networking is just working yourself to the fullest of your extent. For me, I’m faced with 4 tests, one that I’ve lined up for every day from now until Thursday, a group paper due on Thursday too, and a group meeting on Thursday in one of my classes. Its one thing after another each and every day this week. And to top it all off, this morning is another career fair on campus, so I’ll be donning my superhero outfit (shirt, tie, khakis, sweater) and rocking it better than Mr. Roger’s in his ‘hood. Its something that has to be done.

Just like how last night at 11pm at night, I brewed a pot of coffee. Three cups later around 3am, I found my way to bed. Same thing this morning at 7:15am when my alarm went off, and when I finally dragged myself out of bed 15 minutes later, there was another pot of coffee waiting for me. Three cups later this morning, I’ll find myself in the shower and mentally set to do battle with my day’s dragons.

Our world is like that. There are no breaks, no rest for the weary, no sleep for the wicked, and no bellys to rub except for the cat laying on his back in my lap. Yes, Wooster is draped across my arms, begging for a belly scratching.

We all need to lay back and have a belly scratching from time to time, but its all about the world sufficing that need and giving us that rub. He’s looking around waiting for his, and I just want to lay back and get one of my own.

I’ve got a few weeks till I get my break, though. Through the goodness of friends in my 7M3 family, I’ll be seeing the band’s Orlando shows on February 22nd and 23rd. And if you’re in Orlando, you might want to pick up their newest album, Day & Nightdriving from Park Ave CDs here in town. See, I got this e-mail the other day, and it mentions a nice little special about mid-way or so down where if you buy the CD, you get a free ticket to their House of Blues show on February 23rd. And with the opening act being Big 10-4, it’ll definitely be a good show. Or at least in my book.

I’d better get back to studying for ethics. That, and I’ve got a belly sitting in my face that I have to rub.

I’ve come across a chief problem of mine this semester right next to motivation to get up and get things done… And this chief problem has a name: Friday and Monday.

See, I have 4 day weekends every week out of the semester. And while on Friday and Monday I have lists of homework that build up that I could easily get done in a few hours? It takes me almost all day to get them done, just because I simply feel like having that time off.

Don’t get me wrong, by the time Sarah comes home around 6:45, I’ll have everything done that I could get done and I need to get done, but I could have had it done much much earlier.

I think they call this thing “time management”? Ah well, I call it cuddling with my cats and enjoying my day…

Well folks, back again. To my friends over on my LJ aggregation, my apologies for the friends list swarm you faced. I had no idea that would happen, but I guess because it finally got synced and the feed read right after all of the tries yesterday, well, it went berzerker.

The thing about my courses that I like is that every single class has a group, pretty much. I’ve already said that, I know, but even still, it started to sink more in last night when we picked them out in one of the classes. See, last Thursday, two of the folks in one of my classes recognized me from other classes. So we decided then and there that any classes we were in, we’d try to get into the same teams, just to lessen the number of folks we had to worry about over the semester for each of us. So in three of my classes, I have one member the same, and in two of those, I have two team member cross-overs. Can’t complain right there.

I’m all about teams. I enjoy teams. Matter of fact, I have one of two roles that I almost always take when I’m in teams:
[1] Dictatorial to a Degree - Yup, supreme command and control, making sure that everything is running smoothly and going from point to point and being on everyone. I like to be in that control because I feel like then I can make sure that things go smoothly. And because I have a high standard of the end result, well, it’ll make sure that as a whole everyone will grade well.
[2] Wallflower - The guy who you never see, gets everything in on time, and takes little to no leadership role.

Extreme leadership positions, I know. It’s something that I’m working on because neither extreme really is an ideal position to be in. Slowly, I’m relinquishing the reigns. The ride is just as nice most of the time, if you ask me. So readers, the question of the hour is … What leadership role(s) do you take in group settings?

And again, if you need to register to comment, click here and make an account. And if it doesn’t send you a password, drop me an e-mail, and I’ll see to it that you get one.

I’d write more, but I got a call from a friend, so I’m going to meet them on campus… When I come back later, a discussion of observation and reading the fine print even when you’re given none.

Each and every week, I end up with a pretty laid back schedule, if you ask me. For my classes, they’re all evening, so I can putter away all day at little projects, homework, readings, and other things, and then at night bunker down for the bulk of the coursework and the lectures. So let’s go day by day at what I end up taking…

———————————————
Tuesday
MAN4320 - Recruitment and Selection: One of the cores to my Human Resource Management major, this course focuses on the all important job description in terms of finding the person/job fit. You know when you read ads and you see the jobs you’re looking for? This is the course that focuses on how that’s done and what all is looked at. It looks to be fun, and the teacher has a nice laid back approach to how things are done and delivered, but wants us on the ball with it.

Wednesday
MAN4701 - Business Ethics & Society: Another one of those required classes for students to empart on them the societal responsibilities and forces of the surrounding world. As a whole, its not bad and is a lot of historical references and examples. Its one of those classes that you have to slug through and “just get done.” But if you’re a history guy like me, well, it’s golden.

Thursday
MAN4330 - Compensation Administration: Fancy course title, no? Well, this course is all about how you get paid, why you get paid, and what you get paid. Very cool, to say the least. It looks into the value of benefits, how to figure out salaries, how the salaries and industries are relative, and just how to keep everything all in line. Its another one of those steps in the process of hiring, but the whole course focuses on how the salaries work. Nice.

MAN4350 - Training and Development: Yes, I have an afternoon class and an evening class on Thursdays. And this course takes the final part of the hiring and acquirement process of business and new employees. But, its the most important part, seeing we’re focusing on imparting the knowledge of the organization to the “minions” of the organization. Okay, not the “minions,” but I just like that word.

Online Course
GEB3356 - International Business: The lectures for this class are videotaped, so I can watch them on my own time sometime after Tuesday and Thursday afternoons when they’re available online. And it’s fairly informative and fun to watch and follow along with. I can’t describe it, I just enjoy it. But the course is all about how business is in a global focus and how the worldwide market works. I did a bit of reading on this in my own free time a year or so back. I enjoy it. I just do.
———————————————

And that’s about it. A fairly diverse offering of classes. It keeps me busy, to say the least. I’ve been doing a lot of reading to stay ahead of the lectures/PowerPoint slides for each class, and with everything involved, well, I’m on the ball. Feeling good about being ahead of myself.

I didn’t really mention that there’s a group project for each class, but I’m a management major and that’s all we do: team building. You can have fun with that. Me? With 5 different classes and 5 different groups of 5 individuals each? Well, it’ll get a bit overwhelming, I think. We’ll see, eh?