So Excited

Tomorrow, Mom and Brian will be here (assuming all travel happens safely, timely, etc. knock-on-wood). :) Woot! 

On the schedule - Brian and I are running the Turkey Trot on Thursday. Thanksgiving dinner at my house with Chanda and her mom joining us. Friday who knows what followed by board games at the Garton's house. Saturday who know what. Sunday they all go home and I start cramming in homework that I have been putting off to grocery shop and vacuum. Oh, and there will be some LOTR watching going on. 

On the menu - 2 turkey breasts (4 actually...heh boobies). Mom/Aunt Net/Granny's dressing recipe. Mashed taters. Gravy. Cranberry sauce I am making. Broccoli cheese casserole. Pumpkin pie. 

Wah Hoo!

Long Time, No Post

I've been busy with school, running and school. Plus I am volunteering for the Go Red for Women Luncheon in The Quad Cities, so that takes some time, too.

I did make it to Houston last weekend and managed to not take a single picture. I'll have to wait for Erin to post the ones she took.

I did, however, get myself a spiffy new t-shirt from my godmother, Linda. She's in a band called the Mydolls and they are working on setting up a Girls Rock Camp in Houston. This is one of the shirts they are selling to promote/raise money for it.

Kinda Cruddy Day...

...that ended up being OK. I was tired, cranky and just feeling sorry for myself. Feeling a little lonely lately and really not doing well with the whole calm-assertive thing with the dog. I am more worry-nervous. So we practiced today. We just walked a mile before dinner and me going to class. That was nice. I just practiced breathing and tried to be zen about it. And I have been working on practicing commands with Miner...even if I don't need him to sit, I make him sit. So, whenever there was a house with nice flower beds, I made him sit, and I just kind of studdied what they had in the flower bed and how it was edged and all. It was actually relaxing.

I am very much in a knowing what I need to do to feel better but not getting off my ass and doing it sort of period right now. Eh.

Class was good. We talked about our StrengthsFinder results. I'll post more about that some other time.

It's Summer All Right

High in Iowa City today? 95-degrees! And I want to go to Houston in August, why?

Class is good. I am sure I will be worn out by Thursday. More later.

Getting Excited!!

Saturday, I drop Miner off at the doggie spa. Then it's the last class of this intersession. And THEN, on Sunday I get to go see Holly and Chris and Ruby!!! :) Seriously, I am so excited to see them.

New Toy, 1st Weekend of Class

Last weekend, I bought a new weed eater. The old one was gas powered and heavy and frankly, I hate it because it was an anniversary gift I didn't ask for or want 2.5 years ago. So I need to get the details on it and put it on Craig's list. The new one is under 7 lbs. and powered by an 18 volt rechargeable battery. It is great! Very quiet and easy to use. So much so, that I think I will get the leaf blower that uses the same batteries. Thank you Black & Decker for making things that short people with poor upper body strength can use.

This was the first weekend of my intersession class. I am taking "Maximizing Team Performance." I need to think of a project topic. We have the choice of working in a group or working alone. Honestly, I think if I can't pick a good topic on my own, I might just work in a group. I need to think of something along the lines of teamwork that I'd like to learn more about. This is a fun class so far.

Grad School Math

88.17% = A

Wah-Hoo!!

FINALLY our grades were posted for my statistics class. Before any kind of a curve, I have an 88%! It's official, I am no longer conditionally admitted...I'm a full-fledged MBA student.

In and Out of Crying a Lot

I'm a cry baby. We all know this. We have known this for a very long time. Lately, it's just been the eyes welling up sad sort of cry. Not the sobs of 6 to 12 months ago.

Aside from the crying in the bathroom on Saturday, it was a good class. We talked a lot about self-awareness. The whole idea of what you can and cannot control. Which I have to say, I am all about the serenity prayer these days...well, I have been for the longest time, but really in the last two years. When things were really bad, I would just say that over and over to myself in the car on my way home from work. It helped remind me that I can't control other people or their actions. I can only control myself and my reactions. Sometimes that's easier said than done.

It was interesting to see how other people in the class handled that. I don't want to judge...there are some people who clearly "got it" and others that you can tell are still in the full on wanting to control what someone else does. Don't get me wrong, I try to control other people, but I know better. I'm still not to the point where I never try to - no one is perfect. I do catch myself sooner than I used to.

We also talked about responsibility and integrity. I liked the idea that we choose what we are responsible for. That I am responsible for the things that I think are important to me. That I can choose not to be responsible for something that isn't important to me.

I left class Saturday afternoon feeling pretty good. It's about knowing who you are and what you value and choosing to do something about it.

rough spot in class

I had a hard time not crying in class today. One of our assignments is to interview 4 people for our final paper. We need to ask 2 people from our personal lives and 2 people from our professional lives to share with us our 2 greatest strengths and 2 greatest weaknesses as a leader. As people were asking questions about it in class, i got so choked up, because everyone was talking about interviewing their spouses. Luckily the instructor gave us a break right after that discussion. I cried in the bathroom. I don't know if I was more sad that I don't have a spouse to interview or that I realized that I don't know if I have friends that have seen me in a leadership role in the last 4 years.

I'm trying not to beat myself up that 5 years ago, I knew who I was. I knew what I wanted out of life. I had many friends who lived near me and more just 4 hours away. I feel really alone right now.

The 2nd Half...and 360-feedback

I did the other half of Miner's nails after class. Success! He expects treats afterwards which is helpful in getting him to be still.

For this MBA class, we had to do a 360-feedback assessment type thing. Not sure if any of you have ever had to do one. Anyway, you rank yourself on your leadership skills, and then you as your peers, managers, direct reports, etc. to rate you as well. We got the report back today. I just did an initial glance (we are going further in depth tomorrow) and I was a little surprised that I rated myself higher in a few categories than my 'observers.' So that's good and will help me know where to improve. A lot of the things were around communicating a clear vision about what we are doing, staying consistent and following through...all of which I would say are pretty accurate. There were also some very nice comments.

gifts - talents

For class this weekend, we needed to prep by filling out this worksheet asking about our gifts/talents, values and passions. I'm alright with the values and the passions, but I had a heck of a time coming up with at least 15 gifts - talents. The worksheet suggested thinking about "people say you are so good at WHAT?" and answer the what.

Here's all I could come up with:
stitchin'
gardening
public speaking
learning
organizing
planning
making lasagna
making people laugh
entertaining
trying new things
crafts/projects
empathizing/caring for others

I know there are more, but it's hard to be positive when you aren't feeling great.

Thanksgiving, etc.

Mom and Brian came to town for Thanksgiving this year. Dad stayed back in TX to go deer hunting. We made a couple of turkey breasts and all the sides. My friend Vonda joined us. She made 2 pumpkin pies, rolls and cranberry sauce. Vonda left a whole pie plus 2 pieces with us. Guess what I had for breakfast, afternoon snack and late night snack?


Movies watched from Wed-Friday: the extended versions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Snatch and The Usual Suspects.
Miner and Brian in full-on relax mode:


Mom and Brian helped me pick out a new sofa on Friday. They both left Saturday morning. Saturday, I did more shopping, went out for sushi with friends for Sarah's birthday, and then out to see Mommy's Little Monster. It's been snowing since I left the bar last night! Today, I stayed inside and organized my closets and cleaned my office.

I also checked grades for my statistics class that ended last month. They aren't all posted, but the grades for the final exam were. I got an A on the exam! Woot!

Reflective Paper #1

I think I mentioned that I am in a Leadership & Personal Development course in my MBA program. Last weekend was our first two sessions. I really enjoyed it. Shawna mentioned that she thought it was interesting that I wasn in a personal development class at the same time I am goign through a divorce. She's right...it's strange, poetic, thought provoking, all those things.

Anyway, one of the assignments is to complete a three to five page paper reflecting on our first weekend of class. The instructor made the comment that any of us who blog should think about it like a blog entry. So, I thought I'd at least get started on laying out the heavy hitters from the weekend.

1. Surprise, surprise...we did Enneagram assessments and I am a type two "helper, giver." Say that surprise, surprise as if you were Gomer Pyle. My ears did perk up when we talked about things a type two does when they are under stress and things a type two does when they are trying to become more "self actualized" (I think that was the term she used.)

2. We did this Lego exercise where you couldn't see what your team mates were building, but you all had the same pieces and could talk. The goal was for everyone to have the same thing when it was finished. 4 of the 5 of our team were spot on, but one guy was 90-degrees off. All I could keep thinking was, "where did we go wrong?" Our 'status checks' to see if everyone was on the same page were not as effective as we thought. One contribution I made was to take a little 1X1 piece that had an eye on it and put a little 'roof' piece on top of it. Sort of made it look like a one-eyed guy with a hat. I shared that idea with the group and at least a couple of the guys did the same, and we got a little farther along and someone said, "oh, I took that off." I was proud of myself for sticking up for my idea...so we kept it.

3. It's challenging to do all this self examination and focus in on how this effects me as a leader. My tendency has been to focus in on what did I do wrong in my marriage...

4. A week or two ago, my mom was talking with me about "bossy" and how when I was in pre-school, she worried to my teacher that I was too bossy. Mom said that Ms. Gonzalez said, "Amy's a leader, she's not bossy." I wonder about that. We talked a lot about the difference between a manager and a leader in class. I think bossy is more manager than leader...but maybe not?

OK, that's enough for now.

The Magic of the Internet

Something very different about graduate school and my undergrad experience is what a difference 8 years makes when it comes to technology. And I'm just talking about the internet. Yesterday, my stats instructor posted the solution to the final exam on the course web site. I am pretty sure there is only one 5-pointer that I missed with very little hope of partial credit and two 5-pointers that I think will get some partial credit. Which all adds up to me feeling pretty good that my 'conditional' acceptance shouldn't be an issue any more. Unfortunately, I won't know my final grade for the course for at least another week.

FINISHED!!

I finished my final in 2 hours (we had 2.5). Not too bad, I was well prepard and my notes from class were well organized (it was open book). So, to celebrate that and the fact that I didn't die on my first quality run day...I am having a small bowl of slow churned peppermint ice cream with a little hershey's special dark syrup on top. Happy Happy...I'm going to top it all off with the 2nd disc from Pride and Prejudice (A&E version...mmm, Colin Firth) and then go to bed. (I know, it's 9 but I am all hopped up on diet coke).

"You can't stop me"

OK, so for a guy who has only ever been in academia, the guy teaching my statistics class is actually quite good. As he's lecturing he will define something to be true (what normal distribution is, for example) and says, "I'm defining this...you can't stop me." Maybe it's a "you have to be there" kind of thing, but it happens nearly every class and always elicits giggles from the class.

"Look, people, this isn't junior high, OK?"

...was what the guy teaching my statistics class said when he was talking about our grades last night. Meaning, the complete grade for the course will be on a curve. As far as the mid-term goes, I got a 43 out of 60 - which incedentally was the median. And I got an 85% on the group project we turned in 3 weeks ago and have 95% or better on the three homework assignments. Though, the 4th one we turned in yesterday I am still not too sure about. But whatever, in general, I am still feeling good about the class and not freaking out.

So Confused

We covered some new stuff in class last week that isn't in the text book. Which sucks, because I have to rely on my notes for making sure I understand this stuff. So, I sent an email to the prof. and his response got me even more confused! So, I asked some more questions. His response to that one started with, "Take a deep breath." Damn, how's he know that I need to be reminded of that?!

Dag Nab It

Still no midterm grades posted.