First Days of School

Financial Accounting
We meet in the science building. I smelled agar as I started up the stairs to my classroom. Ah, memories.

The nearest bathroom is only one stall (well, more like a little powder room).

The class is so diverse, that mine was not the only name the professor initially mispronounced.

I forgot to bring a calculator. But since we do homework in class and in groups, it turned out to be a non-issue.

I am very glad that I took accounting at the local JC in preparation for this, and that I read the first chapter of the text prior to class. I would be closer to lost if I had not done these things.

As the professor summarized the different types of accounting, I realized that managerial accounting is the one I don't like. I'll be trying to take that in the springtime to get it out of the way.

Globalization, Innovation, and Sustainability
Or as I call it, Globalization, something something

We meet in a large…lecture hall implies acoustics conducive to learning, and that it is not. There is a stage and a microphone and tons of seating, though.

We watched video clips pulled from You Tube: Steve Jobs unveiling the first Mac commercial. (It was 1984, and I didn't believe it was him at first – he had long black hair and he wasn't wearing a black mock turtleneck.) Steve Ballmer in a Microsoft commercial for Windows 1.0(!), and another clip where he is pumping up the crowd, running around on stage, getting himself winded. (He loves him some Microsoft.) An old Nightline show about the design company IDEO. Cool stuff.

There are two Ghanaians in my class, one of whom could tell I was Ewe by my name.

We have group projects in this class. The professor divided us up. Then – horror of horrors – he took our pictures. In groups of ~5. With name placards that he had us make moments before. Because he can't remember the names of his siblings, let alone anyone else. I have no doubt that I blinked, and that he'll ask me to squint if he's trying to remember who I am.

Look what I did!

It was an old bench that my mom was going to throw away. I've watched enough HGTV to think that I could change it up.

Naturally, I thought of taking "Before" pictures after I had sanded down one side. It was a dark walnut? color, and the cushion was a medium dark green. I believe the piece came from my grandparent's house.

The paint (and primer) were the same as what I used for our downstairs bathroom. I added a 1" layer of foam to new batting for the cushion. And the fabric was one of my many impulse buys from JoAnn's Fabric Store. (Now that I know the basics of using my sewing machine, a fabric store is a dangerous place for me to be.)

Now I'm Ready

I knew about the origination fee the bank would charge for my Stafford loan. What I didn't know was that they would take it out of my disbursment.

So the school got $22.92 less than what I thought it would get. Ugh.

Plus, the school had no record the payment I made in person. Turns out that when I wrote my check, what I wrote in long-hand did not match the dollar amount. (I get a bit confused writing such large sums.) So they didn't post the payment. However, the cashier's office would be open until 6:30pm that day...

So I went to school and re-paid my portion, adding the $22.92. It was all to the good.

And since I was on campus, and the library was open, I got my student body card. I only had to have my picture taken once - my eyes stayed open on the first try. Nice.

Now I'm ready for school. I've ready the first two chapters of my Financial Accounting text; I know where I'm going to park and where my classrooms are; and I've found a microwave to heat dinner and a place to sit while I eat it. All I'm missing is a box of Frosted Miniwheats.

Campus Safety

The first day of school is tommorrow, and my school email inbox is quickly filling up with reminders and inforamation - bookstore hours, upcoming volleyball game, the potential good that comes from moving into Division II, and campus safety.

The campus safety email included two flyers - one is about basic campus safety (walk in groups, avoid dark places, including parking lots, etc.).

The other flyer is titled "Active Shooter Response: A Strategy for Survival". A welcome to a post VA Tech world.

Mo' Money, Mo' Money, Mo' Money

An extra $88.47 if you want to pay your fees online using a credit card?!?!

I am so not at the jc anymore.

Permit Recieved!

Via FedEx. Really? Wouldn't the US Postal Service have been cheaper for everyone involved? Plus, FedEx envelope is tyvek, not the cardboard used for documents. Whaddup Buttercup?

School Expenses

I got an email from the CSU bookstore indicating that my parking permit has been shipped. I guess they had a change of heart and decided not to charge tax. However, it still costs $10 to ship a laminated piece of paper meant to hang from my rear view mirror.

I read in the paper this morning that there is a lawsuit against the school for the 20% increase that was instituted last month (this on top of the 10% that was instituted in May). Also at issue is the $140 per unit that some graduate students (i.e., me) would have to pay in addition to the fees.

I asked the school why it shows 'no charges' when I look online. Turns out that they haven't determined them yet, but I should be able to see what I owe next week. I'm not quite sure what they're waiting for (do these types of lawsuits really resolve themselves so quickly?) but I don't mind. So long as I can pay before the September deadline is alright with me. It's not like I'm eager to be that much poorer.

Summatime

Just a little bit of what I've been doing,

On the home front
My mom has ejected me from the office, which I had taken over when I moved in. Now my office and library things are either in my room or at off-site storage. Forces me to be neater. There's no room to let my shredding pile up, which I guess is okay.

I started going a local small group, and was surprised to see people I knew there. One couple regularly saves my seat in church, while I often park next to another. I met a third couple who live down the street and remember when my brother delivered newspapers. It is likely that once school starts, I may not be able to attend regularly. But for now, it's a nice opportunity to discuss the weekend's sermon.

On the school front
I've been accepted into the MBA program as CSU East Bay (i.e., Hayward), where I'll be specializing in Information Technology Management. I've got my classes, signed up for the writing assessment, and bought my parking permit. (The rate went from $60 to $95. I ordered it online, where ~$10 for shipping and ~$9 for tax were added. Highway Robbery. I better not hear of any CSU administrators getting raises like the UC ones.) All that's left for me to do is get books and pay my fees. Unfortunately the online system says I have no charges, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to pay my fees. JC this ain't.

On the job front
I've gotten a little more SQL programming experience, programming queries against our new database and exporting the results to excel. But I'd like to get out of and away from the insurance industry and into something more tech-y. The economy + my eclectic work history + my very junior level of programming skills and experience makes my job search especially challenging.

I did, however, interview for technical support/qa position. Though I didn't get the job, the people were kind and the VP I talked to recommended that I keep them in mind. It was an encouraging experience.

Ah Yea - Vacay
I was able to visit my dad in Massachusetts this summer. I rented a car and we drove down to the DC area to visit my uncle. He had a 4th of July Crab Feed. My first crab feed ever! Mmm Mmm Good. Even the eggs (which my uncle insisted I eat) weren't that bad. They remind me of liver.

Saw a lot of Florida license plates in Massachusetts. What's the opposite of a snowbird?

An English friend has told me that Worcester is essentially pronounced the way New Englanders say it - wors-ter. New England accent optional, of course.

I haven't seen most of my cousins in years, so it was exciting to see two of them. One came to the crab feed, and like a lost puppy dog, I think I followed her around half the time, I was so excited to see her. (Just call me dorkalicious.) I went to the other's home. She has two adorable sons, one of whom was not ashamed to try to eat all of the plantain off of my dinner plate. The plantain on his own plate he didn't much care for, but my plate…only a 3 year old, eh?

We were set to pick up another cousin and bring her back to Massachusetts with us. We'd pick up her luggage one day, then go back the next morning to get her and continue homeward.

We became thoroughly lost on our way to pick up the luggage. The street we were going to (Madison, I think it was called) was actually a circle, where buildings on one side were on N Madison, and those on another side were on S Madison. The building numbers are only progressive for their respective side. So we were looking for 10 N Madison, but only saw 225. (Oh, yeah, once we got into the circle, there were no 'North' or 'South' signs to be seen. And there were at least 4 streets leading up to or away from the circle. And the person who gave us the address neglected to mention that they were on N Madison (vs. simply 'Madison'), so we didn't put that information in on Mapquest when we pulled up the map before we left the house.)

We were on the right street. We were in the correct general location. But one turn and I couldn't get back to where we were. At one point we passed by Walter Reed Medical Center, a cool but sobering verification that we were no longer in the correct state. It took asking for directions 4 times before we made it to our destination.

Of course, we had slow downs going home, hitting crazy traffic in New York. Not in the city streets, but on the freeway. And I thought 580 East on a Friday afternoon was bad!

Did you know that the gas stations at the rest stops on the New Jersey turnpike are by law full service? Since my rental had Jersey plates, the service men were confused by my confusion. The New Jersey rest stops are second or tied with Maryland in their niceness. California should take notes.

Etcetera
I actually saw movies in the theatre, which is rare. Star Trek was awesome. Up was excellent. Wolverine was a'ight. And thanks to HBO, I got to see the Incredible Hulk (excellent). Seriously, I want to be Uhura, and am bummed that there's no way that I could ever be so fiercely sexy and intelligent and ambitious. I know. One outta three ain't bad.

And since the last Harry Potter book finally came out in paperback, I can now say I know what everyone else who read the book found out 3 or so years ago. I finished it in a weekend and may actually try to see the movies in the theatres to see how they work it out. Fabulous stuff.

Until next time,

I almost drove a Porsche

My church co-sponsors a local outreach called Serve the City. There is a BBQ every Monday night, where people can come eat, kids can play, and families can get free clothes. Families can also sign up on a 'needs' list. Our church collects food and other materials (e.g., diapers), and, once a month, delivers items to the families who've signed up. Collection is on the first weekend of the month, while sorting and delivery is on the following Saturday. We use the coordinator's driveway to the sort items.

'Can you drive a stick shift?' She asked me.

'Yep'

'Do you mind moving this one out of the way?' (Another volunteer and I had already moved two other cars out of the way.)

'Sure. You know you're letting me drive a Porsche, right?'

It took me 3 minutes to figure out how to move the seat so that I could reach the pedals.

{What is with Reverse being right next for First Gear? Are all German cars like this, or just Porsche? I am sooo missing the logic of this gear shift arrangement}

I couldn't move the car backwards. Not to mention my nervousness due to a) driving someone else's Porsche, b) the line of food next to the driver's side that I would need to not hit, and c) the increasing number of people arriving to help sort.

So the owner moved her car.

Missed it by that much.

Finally!

After a string of 98's I finally got a 100 on a stats test. Very exciting. Next up – linear correlation and a take home test. And three more tests after that. The semester ends in a month, so it's rapid-fire from here on out.

I'm doing some SQL at work now – stealing code to write queries to export data to Excel. I have to guess what some of the tables house (even after looking at the contents, it's still not always immediately clear), and I'm to always sure what a field means, but I think I've been doing alright. (That is, no one's told me that I'm way off yet.) Still, I'm emailing a lot of questions & observations. No doubt driving several people batty.

Here's hoping that summer will be like it is right now – mid 90's with a bit of humidity in the air. Not to hot that it's excruciating miserable to be outside for more than 5 minutes, and cool enough at night where one can close the window. Unless you live near an ocean, where the sound of the waves are you're lullaby. Then you would never close the window, except in a torrential downpour.

The Stats Class

It's been a month since I've been in my statistics class.

Getting into the class was drama enough. I tend to do things in my own time, so when I tried to register, the class was closed. You mean I have to be one of those poor souls crowding the teacher at break time, begging for an add card?

First day of class: The teacher says that he will add 10 people, based on their priority number. Fortunately, the classroom is a computer lab, so I was able to get my priority number off of the school website just as the sign up sheet came to me.

Second class: The teacher calls roll, as well as the names of the people he will add. I hear the mispronunciation of my name. Relief. Now, all I have to do is bring proof of my priority number to the next class, and he would give me the add card so that can register online.

That's right. I attended 3 class sessions before I could register. And I couldn't buy a parking permit until after I had registered, which I couldn't do until I got the add number. Making sure you have enough $1 bills for parking is a little like having enough quarters for doing laundry. However, I did learn that if the machine is broken, security will give you a day pass thingy for free.

I was intending to sign up for Math 41, Statistics for Business & Social Science Majors, for which the calculus class I took is a pre-requisite. But I added into Math 44, which only requires some sort of Algebra as a pre-req. I double-checked the catalog – the days and times for all of the Math 41 and Math 44 classes are the same. Weird.

Anyway, I got an 'A' on my first test, and we are rolling along in probability. We just started doing the Normal Probability Distribution, aka the Bell Curve. The mean of the curve is 0, which happens to also be the maximum of the curve. That is to say, the slope of the tangent line at that point is zero. Or at least, that's what was running through my head as the teacher was teaching. The only reference he made to calculus was that the formula for the curve is derived via calculus. But he also said to think of the probabilities in terms of areas. I was really excited by my flicker of an almost understanding of the basics of how calculus and normal probability distribution are related. Because I'm a nerd. And that's how I roll.

25 Random Facts

Those of you who are on Facebook may have seen this coming, or have already been tagged. It's the new phenomenon, just like pomegranate is the new cranberry.

1. I worked at a hotel gift shop when I was in high school. One evening, about 3 minutes before closing time, Corey Feldman walked in and bought a pack of Zig Zags (papers for rolling tobacco). I accidentally turned the lights out on him – I didn't know he was wandering the shop after he made his purchase.

2. Drove to Reno one night on a whim with some friends. It's the only time I've been there.

3. I didn't skip a grade! I spent 3 weeks in 6th grade before being promoted to the 7th.

4. In 4th grade, as a new student at a new school, I wrote and performed a one woman show called "This is a Way to Get Fat" for the annual school talent show. I spoke in a funny accent, and used a metal bowl and some saltines as props. I got a lot of laughs.

5. I'm fascinated by the business of Hollywood – how movies are produced, who has a shingle where, who's slated to be in what next. I would love to see how a movie is made from the germ of an idea to the national and international premieres.

6. My first job out of college was at a crime lab. Yes, the techniques of CSI are mostly real. And no, county or city crime labs do not have near enough money for all of the fancy gadgets and machines. Nor can DNA be extracted and examined in less than 24 hrs.

7. I clip out articles from the newspaper, and get cantankerous when someone messes with the newspaper before I've finished with it (e.g., leaving the sections all scattered and out of order).

8. I would love to tour the houses where they filmed Sense & Sensibility (the Ang Lee version), Pride & Prejudice (both the Colin Firth, and Kiera Knightly versions), and Jane Eyre (most recent BBC production). The English countryside looks so scenic & beautiful in those films!

9. The moon is one of my favorites. Regardless of the phase, I marvel at its beauty. Unfortunately, I usually can't marvel for very long because I tend to be driving when I see the moon.

10. I do not like the sound of fountains or water features; they are wasteful cacophony. There are people who drink from mud holes, and we're shooting clear water 30 feet into the air in 50 degree weather!?

11. I once started crying at Wal-Mart, because I didn't have enough money to buy all of the things I wanted to give to some of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. (Our neighbors belong to a church that sent some of their members down to help in the aftermath; they were taking donations.) About two days later, a woman from my church gave me $50 because she felt I needed it. That's how good God is.

12. I like tools. Don't know what half of them do, or how ¾ of them work, but they sure are pretty.

13. One cannot have too much Sam Cooke.

14. People who define black people by what we can or can not do limit us more than The Man ever will. Who's more effective at quashing a black boy's dream of being a champion NHL hockey player? The people at ice rink or the black comedian who declares that 'black people don't play hockey'?

15. The first time I cut my hair 'boy short' (think of the model Alex Wek, or the images of African school girls), was the first time I truly felt beautiful and sexy, comfortable in my skin.

16. I have a little bit of arthritis in my lower back, and in my knees.

17. Curt Henke taught me how to die with grace.

18. I drive a stick-shift. Despite having driven one since I was 16, I still grind the gears from time to time.

19. I have a hard time finding pants that fit.

20. I'm older than I look and sound.

21. I'm not a fan of bio-fuels. Unless the bio is some byproduct (e.g., corn husks & cobs) that could not be used for human or animal consumption.

22. The Corn Refiners Council is doing a good job with those high fructose corn syrup (hfcs) ads. The ads claim that there is no problem with it, when used in "moderation". However, I don't believe most products that contain hfcs use it in moderation. So we should still watch out for it.

23. I like the sound of ocean waves crashing against the shore. I like the smell of the Pacific, and am a bit unnerved by the lack of smell of the Atlantic.

24. I think I'm at my best, work-wise, from 10am to ~3pm. With about an hour and a half lunch. I can stay up late if I'm doing something meaningful, and I get up early to go to work (I'd rather get in early and get our early). But I am neither a morning person nor a night owl.

25. I don't think filling your house w/energy efficient light bulbs will negate the energy drain from your humongous flat screen tv. Sorry Charlie.

(I know, I know. One of these days, I'm going to have to do one that is not about me, but are truly random facts.)

Edem's Year in Review

Because it's the new year, and I haven't written anything in a while, I thought I'd recap some of the things that happened to me in 2008.

I had applied to two business schools – McCombs at the University of Texas, Austin, and San Diego State. I got into neither. But I still want an MBA, so I'm taking Calculus & Stats to brush up and applying to Hayward. (Cal State East Bay if you must call it by its new name.) It will take longer than I hoped, and I still don't know exactly how I'm going to pay for it, but that's my plan.

I went to an orphanage in Ecuador in July. It was fabulous! My horrible Spanish. The wonderful kids. The amazing field trips. Living as a part of the Body of Christ in a real, not an abstract or theological, sense. Having an awe-inspiring godly woman share both the heartaches and the triumphs as she does God's will.

I took calculus for business & social science majors at the local junior college. I've never been good at math; even in kindergarten, I was in the 'slow' math class. So I'm super excited to have gotten A's on most of my tests.

The bulk of my job is repetitive and unfulfilling, (part of the reason I applied to business school), so I've started the process of looking for a new job. My objective is, "To help clients determine their database needs and/or implement their chosen database solutions(s)." In typical Edem fashion, I'm not quite sure what that looks like out in the working world. So I'm taking my time with this search. One of my goals is to come up with a list of potential employers, and submit my resume to some of them.

Resume writing has been rough. There was a major update that I did to an MS Access database at my last employer. I remember making copies of the database, testing different things, making new tables and links. But I can't remember the purpose of the update. So I can't really highlight on my resume, lest someone asks. I know. I'm a bonehead.

My (now former) boss left in September. All of my best bosses were analytically minded detail oriented people who saw my potential and were able to push and guide me to be better than I imagined I could be. I've lost that. Adaptation has been difficult.

I got a promotion, effective October. My job duties haven't really changed, however, I may become a database administrator for our new database.

Hoping for a good 2009,