It's official!

It's official, I've completed my Master's Degree. So I am now a Master of Science! I like the sound of that.

Strangely enough, my being done with my degree doesn't feel much different from being in a degree program. I think this is due to education being such a big part of my life. Working in education (going on 8 years now) I'm surrounded by the atmosphere of classes, teaching, and learning. My work life is dominated by the school calendar and school concerns. I'm sure my feelings are also due to there being a two year break for my religious mission during my undergrad and it taking me five years to complete my graduate program due to lack of funds at different times. Over the last thirty-two years I have been in school or in a degree program for about twenty-three of them.

What's more, because I work at a university I have access to classes and degree programs at a inexpensive rate (i.e. free to a certain extent) so the possibility of taking classes without having to worry about funding is always present. As I've learned more about myself and what kind of work I like to do I've considered getting a second Bachelor's in management information systems (something along the lines of database administration). I would only be able to take a couple of classes a semester (due to time and the tuition waiver policy) so it would take me quiet a while, but it's free, so why not take advantage of it.

What this ultimately means is that any time I'm not actively enrolled in classes just feels like a break between classes. It doesn't matter if it's for three months or two years. It's just a break from classes. They'll start up again in the future and I'll have homework, lectures, etc. and things will feel normal again. Granted, my definition of normal is different from others.

Tis done!

Last night I submitted my capstone project for my Master's program. It may not have been a thesis, but it was a challenge. I'm finishing my last class, which looks like it ends at the end of July, and then I'll be done. That is assuming that everything is satisfactory.

This project was really stressful for me. I had less than a month to complete it, which is a fair amount of time. The difficulty arose when I started working on one of the choices and couldn't figure out how to do it. I knew what I needed to do but just couldn't conceptualize it. I contacted my advisor after a week and a half of trying to figure it out and while I got the answers I needed, he mentioned that the time might be too short to continue that option and suggested doing the case study review. I didn't really want to do the case study review, but I conceded that it would be easier to plan.

I must have been really bad at reading instructions because I didn't see that each case study review (we had to choose three) could only be 1200 words (about two single spaced pages). My response to the first case study was over 1800 words and my second was 1600. Luckily I read the instruction again before starting on the third, so that on is closer to 1000. It didn't take long to cut the other two back to just under 1200 by chopping a couple of paragraphs and cleaning up the others. In the long run it was good. I finished up the other components of the project Monday night and spent last night just doing a final proofreading before sending it off a day early.

I will gladly and willingly acknowledge divine intervention in this case. A week and a half before the deadline I was stressed beyond breaking. At one point I was hyperventilating so bad that my fingers went numb. I just felt like I was getting pulled so many directions (I had a big project due in my class, was trying to give my family the time they needed, and was feeling pressured in my church responsibilities. Angel helped me calm down and reminded me that I had her full support. I couldn't have done this without my wife. I also took it to the Lord in prayer. I can attest that every time I started my nightly work with a prayer I was able to focus better, remember resources, and was generally vastly more productive than when I didn't. As my mother always taught me, "Pray like it's all up to the Lord than work as if it's all up to you." It works. This capstone project is proof. Ten days ago I was a wreck and was considering taking off work in order to finish it. Last night, I watched Ocean's 11 with my wife a still had time to play a game before bed after submitting it.

And the greatest blessing in regards to my Master's. No student debt. Never let it be said that God is not mindful of his children.

A learning Weekend

This week was spring break at the university and in preparation for it my boss encouraged us to take time off. I decided to take her up on that offer so Thursday and Friday found the kids out and about with their old man. Thursday we dropped Angel off at a conference I'm Salt Lake and then visiting the Natural History Museum  at the University of Utan. I remember going there as a kid and though that they would enjoy it. We spent just over 4 hours there, including eating a packed lunch in their dinning area. They had lots of stuff there for all ages and the kids did really well. Tigger was not as fond of the dinosaurs as he thought he would be. They freaked him out. But there was lots of other things that he enjoyed.

This recreation of a first people's home was one of their favorite. Kanga would tell me what the different holes were used for and what the people did where in the home. I don't know how she knew what they were used for, but she sounded very clear and assured of her statements. They played in a stream, built walls to examine erosion, enjoyed the different colored minerals, drooled over chocolate (and it's history), enjoyed looking at the sun, and put a cell together. They were very mobile and interested in all of the hands on stuff (which was very good).

The next day my dad and brother came up and we went to a local attraction, The Bear River Bird Refuge. My father had enough binoculars for everybody and we spent the afternoon watching great blue herons, coots, geese, pelicans, a cormorant, and red winged blackbirds. There were other birds as well, but we were unable to identify them. The kids weren't too sure what to think but they enjoyed themselves in the end. My dad, as a scoutmaster, has taken scouts there before - I've been twice, but that was thirteen years ago. Since then they have built a very nice visitor's center that we stopped off at first. It was well furnished and delightful to show the kids the different birds we would see.

All in all we did a lot this weekend. The kids asked if we could go to the museum again, and I hope I can take them again as they get older. As my dad said while we were looking at birds and the Kanga asked if we could go home, "You have to work them into it." I'm glad they are patient enough with their old man to let him try to "work them into" nature, science, museums, and wildlife preserves.

College memories

It gets to be late in the evening and I don't feel tired and I feel the need to stay up just because I am and not feel "the need" to go to bed. This is irrational. Don't get me wrong. If I have to get up in the morning I will make sure that I'm in bed by the time I need to be. The problem arises when it's not that time yet and I'm still up. I feel a need to fill the space. I had a roommate that would stay up to all hours watching TV. He didn't do it in our room, so I never had an issue with it, but I did start to wonder. I have always been a bit of a late owl but he was worse than me. I asked him once if he "suffered from insomnia." He replied that he didn't suffer from anything that he just slept when he was tired. I thought about that and while it did make sense, I also knew that sitting in front of a TV is not conducive to feeling tired. Once morning I woke up and noticed that he wasn't in his bed. My first thought was, "He doesn't get up early, so he must not have gone to bed yet." I was right. He stumbled into the room just as I was swinging my legs to the floor. I was still amazed. "You can't honestly tell me that you are just now going to bed." He didn't, he just collapsed on the bed and was asleep almost immediately. We had a class together that morning. We had a quiz in class. My roomie didn't make in time to take it.

Maybe the reason why I was thinking about old roommates is because we watched Monsters University this weekend. It was a good film that had some real character depth. I like the perspective on it and the way it fed into Monsters Inc - which I saw my freshman year of college. My cousin, a good friend and I would get out of class early enough to catch a matinee. We watched The One, K-Pax, Ocean's 11, and Monsters Inc on opening weekends that way. We liked Monsters Inc. so much that we went back with a larger group of friends the next day for an early showing. So we watched it twice in 24 hours. Great film. Anyway, watching Monsters University got me thinking about many of the different stereotypes about college. I think that I see through many of them because I work at one. Granted, there is plenty of things that may be accurate and I just don't see them. For the most part, I think that college is what you make it. Whatever you want to get out of it you will. 

Music

I've listened to more music this week than I have other weeks. I mentioned that my iPod touch is broken, so I cannot chose what I listen to. But if I plug in my headphones I can hit the play button on the inline remote and it will start playing my music library in alphabetical order. Even with skipping a few songs, I was surprised when I didn't even make it through the bs when mowing the lawn. In addition, my wife and I sang in the choir at church today. An arrangement by Mack Wilberg, one of the big names with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It had some wonderful harmonies and moving lines in it. We have a wonderful choir director that I also work with in Cub Scouts. It is the most relaxed choir I've ever sung in (which is a grand total of about 4), but we seem to do a good job and I feel more empowered in my singing.

I've always loved singing but have had very little formal training. I did take lessons in a youth choir from one of my friend's mom's who was doing her Ph.D. in music (and was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), but that was more to support her son then because I really wanted to sing better. I did play piano for about 6 years and then baritone/euphonium for another 6, so I know how to read music (particularly the bass cleft). My family has also been rather musically inclined, but I never had any ambition with it. I still don't, not really, but I did feel honored when our choir director asked me to be in a men's quartet for a special musical number. The song is one that her husband wrote and re-worked for four male voices. Today we met after church to practice. I felt grossly aware of my deficiencies, but was so glad to be singing with group. I wish I could sing better and am grateful for the opportunity to improve.

I guess I do have one ambition when it comes to music. I would like to learn how to play the piano again. I told my wife that after I finish my Master's program that piano lessons would be my next education experiences. My mother only took lessons as an adult, so I have no difficulties in my age and questioning if an old dog can (re)learn new tricks. I want my children to be able to listen to a song and feel the emotions because they have a love of music. I hope to instill that in them.