Three Day Weekends: We Should Have More of Them!

Labor Day always used to feel like a wasted holiday. It always falls a week or two after school starts (or only a few days after school starts, for some), and it made me wish we could save it for February or some other bleak month when there are no holidays. However, this year I must say I am very grateful for the 3-day weekend, and it couldn't have come at a better time. My coursework has been very heavy lately (hence no blogging, if you've noticed). Last Thursday night, I devoted the evening to finishing up some school projects so that I could enjoy my weekend without cracking a book.

The weird thing is, I have this compulsion to check the discussion boards for my classes constantly now that we are entirely online. It's as if I'm afraid I'm going to miss something. That being said, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to stay away from my laptop...but I did! I made it all the way to Sunday morning (when I just popped in to make sure my group member had posted our project on the discussion board). Progress! I got back on this evening, but only because I felt that I had done sufficient relaxing. I visited my sister and my best friend in Texas, went shopping, took the kids to the water park, played tennis with the hubby, read a book (for pleasure!), and [insert dramatic pause here]...I slept in this morning. Heaven!

I'm trying not to think about the upcoming weeks which look to be VERY busy both at work and at school. Why ruin a moment?

I just know one thing: three day weekends are wonderful, and we should have more of them!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...Even Old Girls!

Yes, we've been working hard at summer school, but we've also been having a good time. I've enjoyed getting to know my classmates (who are all female, by the way). We've shared stories, laughs and even our stashes of dorm room snacks.

I guess this is kind of a "do-over" for me. I never found my "niche" on the college campuses I attended as an undergrad. I never found a group of friends to fit into and, honestly, at the time I wasn't worried about it (I was more worried about working and visiting boyfriend--the one who eventually became my husband).

So, here I am, 32 years old sharing late night talks, taking silly photos, working out at the gym with friends and driving to Sonic to get a free root beer float just like any regular college gal. It's actually been refreshing for me to get away for a bit, clear my head, and feel footloose-and-fancy-free without so many responsibilities to bear. I don't think about what's for dinner (because dinner is cooked for me!) or where I need to be at 8 p.m. (because I don't have to be anywhere!) or if I have anything to wear tomorrow (all my clothes are clean because it only takes one load of laundry to get it all done!). Granted, I wouldn't want to live this way forever, but I hope this experience allows me to come home rested and refreshed for a change.

A Good End to a Bad Month

October was a terrible month. It was a want-to-pull-my-hair-out-slightly-overwhelmed-and/or-exhausted kind of month. Translation: "I've never been so happy to see November!"

No matter how crappy the month may have been, I've got to admit that it ended--and November started--on a good note due to the following:

*Professor and I figured out an alternative route for the guided study classes that I am taking (the extremely time-consuming ones that I feared I would never complete).

*I came home to a SPOTLESS house that my husband had graciously cleaned on his day off. Walking into a clean home always melts the stress away. I was able to let go of all those nagging "undones" (well, all except the nagging laundry "undones").

*My sister came to visit.

*I enjoyed the yearly hayride/trick-or-treating with a trailer bed full of friends from our small town...and we were able to leave our coats and hot chocolate at home this year!

*My best friend and her son drove up from Texas like a stealth bomber and made a totally surprise visit (in coordination with my sis and hubby). It was like having a surprise birthday party except without the "growing older" part (yes, she even brought dessert!).

*Said friends and family members helped me eat all of the children's Halloween chocolate quickly so I wouldn't be tempted by it for a week. I know...it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it! Don't worry--we left plenty of Starburst and Skittles for the kids; I'm not tempted by that at all. (lol!)

*I went to see High School Muscial 3 at the theatre with the kiddos. I'm not gonna lie: I'm a fan. It was cute.

*I went for a drive in the country and enjoyed the beautiful autumn leaves.

*I relaxed.

*I got an extra hour of sleep thanks to Daylight Saving Time.

Moral of the story: there's never anything so bad that a little time with friends, family or a pillow can't improve.

So, bring it on, November...I'm ready for you.

You think COLLEGE is hard....

This came from a e-mail that is frequently forwarded on the internet. I checked out it's authenticity and it is real. One of the educators from back-in-the-day that helped write this test mentioned his students' inability to pass the it. He described how many of them were blushing and had elementary-like answers for many of the questions. Make me feel better; we're just as "dumb" now as we were back then!


------

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie," "play," and "run."
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.


Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at50 cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.



U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn,and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800,1849, 1865.


Orthography (Time, one hour) [<>
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography,etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi,dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell,rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.


Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

----

Man, this makes me feel much better about those comprehensive finals that I have coming up!!!

Book Tag

Just when you think they've run out of blog tags....they come up with a new one!

My pal, Bethany, has challenged me to the following:

*Grab the nearest book.Open the book to page 56.
*Find the fifth sentence.
*Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.
*Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
*Tag five other people to do the same.

This will be oh-so-exciting because my book is a textbook: Adobe Illustrator CS3 Revealed! Here's the quote from page 56:

"Using the Character panel, click the up and down arrows in the Kerning text box to experiment with higher and lower kerning values, then change the kerning value to -40."

Gripping, edge-of-your-seat reading material, eh? Just think: you, too, could be reading such interesting stuff every day like me!



(Oh--I'm going to break the rules and not tag anyone else on the grounds that I have already tagged too many people this year and I don't want to annoy any of my cyber pals).

Now This is What I Call a Summer Break!

For the first time all summer (my vacation to the beach not withstanding), this week has actually felt like a summer break. No homework, no work work, and lots of peace and quiet since my children have gone back to school. I'm even caught up on some of the household things I wanted to get done. I've been taking advantage of some "guilty" pleasures like listening to the radio and recreational reading! Man, I love to read, but it seems like I rarely have the chance to anymore. I've been downing books faster than a 16 ounce Dr. Pepper these days! I'm so glad I got a chance to do something that I enjoy and recharge my batteries a bit before I hit the (text)books next week.

Twas the Night Before Finals

It is the night before finals and I am staying up late studying. But I'm interrupting my regularly scheduled studying to bring you a poem I found in my filing cabinet that I had saved from my freshman year way-back-when. It's aptly titled "The Night Before Finals" (author unknown).

'Twas the night before finals,
And all through the college,
The students were praying,
For last minute knowledge.

Most were quite sleepy,
But none touched their beds,
While visions of essays
Danced in their heads.

Out of the taverns
A few were still drinking,
And hoping that liquor
Would loosen their thinking.

In my apartment,
I had been pacing,
And dreading exams,
I soon would be facing.

My roommate was speechless
Her nose in the books
And my comments to her
Drew unfriendly looks.

I drained all the coffee
And brewed a new pot,
No longer caring
That my nerves were shot.

I started at my notes,
But my thoughts were muddy,
My eyes were ablur,
I just couldn't study.

"Some pizza might help,"
I said with a shiver.
But each place I called
Refused to deliver.

I'd nearly concluded
That life was too cruel,
With futures depending
On grades had in school.

When all of the sudden,
Our door opened wide,
And Patron Saint Put It Off
Ambled inside.

His spirit was careless,
His manner was mellow,
A grin on his face as
He started to bellow:

"What kind of student
Would make such a fuss,
To toss back at teachers
What they tossed at us?"

"On Cliff Notes! On Crib Notes!
On Last Year's Exams!
On Wingit and Slingit,
And Last Minute Crams!"

His message delivered,
He vanished from sight,
But we heard him laughing
Outside in the night.

"Your teachers have pegged you,
So just do your best.
Happy Finals to all,
And to all, a good test."

Two of My Most Favorite University Resources

The library & the gym.

Lately, I've fallen in love again with reading (probably because I don't have a ton of required reading to do this semester) and I have taken full advantage of my university's library. I bet half the students only step foot in the library to look for research paper materials and never again. That's so sad! There are LOTS of great things in the library. I am a lover of nonfiction books, so there are plenty to keep me excited. I have recently fallen in love with the audio books section. It is a new section of the library so it's not very large, but it's wonderful for a long-distance commuter like myself. They have a great variety from fiction, nonfiction, history, self-help, spiritual...you name it. Study rooms are a favorite resource for me on test days, and, of course, there's also the most used resource at the library: internet access. You can even use internet access to go to the library's web page which has a ton of useful links (card catalog, check your due dates, etc.) but you can even gain access to free e-book downloads as well. Probably the best resource in the entire library is the reference librarians. Oh my gosh---they are SO helpful! When I was writing my last big paper in the fall, the reference librarian saved me hours of research trying to dig up sources and/or information. He was even so specific, he gave me page numbers of the books I was to look up!

My other favorite university resource is the wellness center (gym). I live nowhere near a gym nor would I want to shell out money for a gym membership when I have a fantastic wellness center on campus that I can use for free! It's filled with the latest cardio equipment and weight systems plus an indoor walking track, basketball court (okay, I'll never use that one), and even a rock climbing wall. How cool is that? (I've GOT to try it before I graduate). Luckily for me, I usually use the gym at noon after I get out of class and it is pretty slow at that time of the day. That means I get first dibs on selecting the channels to watch on tv!

Did I mention that all these things are FREE??? Oh yea...I'm taking advantage while I can.

SPRING BREAK

This week has been Spring Break and, though I can't say I have been overly worked at school this semester, I was looking forward to a week at home to catch up on regular, everyday, non-school things. And I even managed to work in a few fun things for myself! For instance, did you know that it can actually be fun and enjoyable to read when it's not required reading? It's true. The sad thing is that I enjoy it so much, I have three books that I have started. I have GOT to break my multi-tasking addiction!

Sianora, Alarm Clock!

So, I may have to spend my fall break doing homework and research, but--by golly--I sure do love the fact that I don't have to wake up to an alarm clock! Sweet relief!!

Free Tutition & Textbooks? Sign Me Up!

I just happened to be browsing over at one of my favorite online stores, Amazon.com, though I'm not sure why since I have absolutely no time for lesiure reading...but I digress.

Anyhoo, look what I found! Amazon is hosting a Tuition & Textbooks Sweepstakes where you can win one of these fabulous prizes:

*One Grand Prize: 1 year of tuition up to $25,000 (that'll be plenty for me, thanks!)

*50 Second-place prizes: A $1,000 Amazon.com Gift Certificate for the purchase of textbooks sold by Amazon.com

*1,000 Third-place prizes: An Amazon.com Gift Certificate for the purchase of one textbook sold by Amazon.com, up to a maximum value of $150

So, why the heck are you still reading this blog? Head on over to Amazon & sign up for the Tuition & Textbooks Sweepstakes right away!

The Electronic Backpack

Here's the problem: I have to do a lot of writing (it's the nature of my major). I have to write both in class AND at home. How do I transport works-in-progress if I'm not using a laptop? I've found a great solution: Backpack .

Backpack is a FREE program where you can basically upload your notes, papers or lists to a website (of sorts) created just for you. You can make your Backpack private or shareable (great if you are working on a group project). You can also get your Backpack to e-mail reminders to you. Backpack has a calendar option and other services which do not come with the free program, but are available with an upgrade.

I just loaded my book-in-progress for my Advanced Composition class to my very own Backpack site so that I can add to it or change it from any computer. Awesome!