One down, five to go

My first semester is just about over. I only have one exam left to take, Global Economic Management, and it's next Thursday. The next week will be spent mostly by studying but knowing that I am that much closer to a much needed break is making the time studying go much smoother.

I am also glad to say that I am much more in the holiday spirit as the holidays are getting closer. Today is the first day of Chanukah and I look forward to lighting my beautiful Tree of Life Menorah that my parents got me as a house warming gift from the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in Raleigh last year. I am finally almost done with holiday shopping and most of the shopping I do have left does not bring me to the mall which makes me very happy. Plus I got to have a girl's night last night with two of my favorites, which was much needed....Wine, tofu parmigiana and laughing hysterically at the "Guidos and Guidettes" of Jersey Shore, especially "The Situation" and "Snooki", who my friends think I should dress as for Halloween next year.



"The Situation"____________"Snooki"

I also have somethings to look forward to such as the iContact holiday party next week, I got a really pretty dress that I love and cannot wait to wear. I am also looking forward to going to G105's Show Ho Ho Gram with Ryan next Friday, something I have always wanted to do. Last but not least, I am really looking forward to going to Connecticut after Christmas to see my family and friends~ especially the two new additions to our family that the storks will drop off on the 16th if not earlier.

I am no longer allowing myself to be a Scrooge.

Bah Humbug!

I have not written in so long, as my life has been complete and utter chaos! I am so ready for a break- which luckily, I will soon get, as my first semester of grad school is just about over. Truth be told, I cannot believe how quickly this semester went by. With the holidays fast approaching, I should be very excited. I only have one more actual class on Thursday night and then two finals and I can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Typically this is my favorite time of year...growing up celebrating "Christmakah" (Seth Cohen's coined phrase from The OC that I have adopted as my own as it is very appropriate)....Christmas trees and menorahs? Rock on...

This year however, is different. I cannot seem to get into the holiday spirit. I have decorated my house, watched holiday movies, gone shopping for gifts and have even force fed my ears with holiday music on XM Holly. However, with both my grandfather and dad in skilled nursing facilities, I am not looking forward to celebrating this year. Thanksgiving was really tough, even though Mom, Justin and I visited Dad before going to have Thanksgiving dinner with our neighbors, a tradition that was started about a decade ago with our other "transplant" neighbors with no family in the South...it just wasn't the same...Plus, I didn't realize until after the fact that there was no cranberry sauce with turkey dinner! Preposterous!!! That's my favorite part!!

I truly hope holiday cheer hits me soon...'til then I will be counting the days until 2010, wishing for a better year!

Sincerely,

SCROOGE

Gotta go back, back, back to school again.

Grad school started for me last Thursday. So far I have had one Econ class and one Career and Management Effectiveness class. So far everything is going well. Mondays are going to be really tough though...of course, they are already hard being right after the weekend, but now my Mondays will consist of getting up at 5:15, being at work from 7-4 and then class from 6:30-9:30 and getting home around 10- LONG DAY!!! At least half way through the semester, my Monday class changes to 6:30-7:30 which won't be quite so bad. This whole schedule is definitely going to take some getting used to though. Yesterday after work, I had to run some errands, then I went to watch my friend's softball game and later met my friend Jess at the gym (at 9:00pm). My time at the gym was spent well...Since I am still battling what seems like the never ending cough, I rode a bike for 50 minutes while reading a book for my Career class, I felt very productive. However, I didn't leave the gym until about 10:30, so by the time I got home, got ready for work and school today, I didn't get to bed until midnight! Needless to say, when my alarm went off at 5:15 this morning, I was less than thrilled...Who am I kidding? I wanted to through my alarm clock out the window.

Despite the schedule, I am actually really excited about my classes and the program. I have already been able to implement some of what I have learned to my job- I suggested an Effective Communications training course since work has been slow and the first training class was yesterday where I was able to provide feedback that I learned in class Monday night. I am looking forward to learning more that will be beneficial to iContact as well as myself as I proceed through the program.

More soon, I'm sure.

Check that off the list

Now that I finished summer school, I have a good six weeks to get things done...make some check marks on my ever-growing to do list. Last night I was able to check off passing calculus with a C or better... After checking My Pack Portal for the umpteenth time, I finally found out I managed to get a B+ which was very exciting.

Yesterday, I also got to finally go grocery shopping...It is really nice to finally have some food in my house. I also signed up for my new gym membership at Lifestyle Family Fitness, since I was recently kicked off reject island by Peak's recent closing. Now I just need to figure out how to get out of my personal trainer contract since it is now null and void, especially since my trainer has literally gone awal, I haven't heard from him in about 2 weeks. That should be a good time (getting out of my contract). Also after working out only twice at Lifestyle, I must say I am getting the better end of the deal, even with being uprooted from my gym. Lifestyle is awesome...all of the machines have their own tvs so that I don't get stuck watching the same boring thing as everyone else and all of the weight machines are in good shape and are not falling apart. I worked out for two hours last night with my friend who has been going there (and has been trying to convert me to a Lifestyle member for quite some time).

That's another thing, I started my new shift at work yesterday now that school has ended, and I feel as though I have literally gained 3 hours of my life back each day. It is so great to get out of work and have a good three hours to run errands, meet up with friends, get in a work out, cook an actual meal not not just a tv dinner, or just relax....The world is suddenly my oyster!

I still have a lot more items to check off my list in the weeks to come but I also have a couple of vacations planned to keep me sane before my three years of school take up my life.

School's Out For The Summer...

Today was my final day of Calculus class...All I have left is my final on Monday morning...I found out though that my professor is dropping our lowest test grade which wasn't too low to begin with so I should be sitting pretty right now as long as I don't screw up on the final which is 50% of my grade. Although, I don't see how I can possibly do poorly on my final when I have done well on my midterms and the professor has also said he intends to keep the final relatively simple compared to the other tests...

After class, one of my classmates and I went to the library to work on our last MAPLE assignment, and once again MAPLE's programming was as dependable as can be expected. We both came up with the same answer on one problem and it was correct for her and not for me and then another problem, I got right and she got wrong even though we had the same input....Gotta love screwy technology. Ah well, I still got an A on my homework.

So glad summer session is over and I have the rest of the summer to relax and get acclimated to my new work schedule before my MBA program starts mid August.

I like syrup, but I am sick of MAPLE

I only have two more weeks of Calculus and I am ready for it to be over. Today I had my midterm...It was on derivatives. I either did really well or absolutely terrible. I then tried to work on my homework assignment which is done on MAPLE, the online math homework submission program that NC State uses to torture math students. Every demand, parenthesis, + , -, x, /, etc. etc., etc. have to be added in a specific way (the way Maple wants it, not necessarily the way you would write it out) or the answer will not be right. Also, it tends to remember old answers so even resetting your answer does not always work. I finally got my assignment done with mere minutes to spare before starting work, when really all I want to do after this long and exhausting week is go home, get in my pjs and hibernate in my bed this weekend...No such luck, I have another busy weekend...Maybe someday I will be able to catch up on ZZzzzzzz's.

Groundhog Day

I feel like it is Groundhog day, or month rather. Today was my second day of my summer Calculus class in preparation for grad school starting in August. For the next five weeks, I have the pleasure ( and I say pleasure very sarcastically) of waking up by 5:30am to be to NC State for Calculus from 7:30am-9:40am, heading to Durham to work from 11-8 and then getting home at around 8:30 to eat dinner and go to sleep just to wake up and do the same thing again and again. On the plus side, after June 22nd, I will have a little break before my grad school classes start in August and I definitely plan to utilize that free time with trips to the beach and my trip to California to see my friend Erin...I cannot wait for Cali, it is definitely the light at the end of my very dark math tunnel. I also get to go to NY/CT and see my friends and family in June which I am looking forward to, especially since one cousin is now engaged and another is pregnant with twins! So I guess I will just tough it out...it will be worth it some day...in three years when I am done with my Masters...I HOPE!!!

(Calculus1)2+(5 weeks of 7:30-9:40am daily)2 ≠ Jessica 2

Don't get me wrong, I am extremely excited to be going to NC State for my MBA program...I just still don't understand why I need to suffer through Calculus first. I am almost done with Pre Calculus...May 8th is my last day/final exam not that I am counting the days or anything...11 more actual class periods! I then have to take Calculus I at NCSU as the only calc class offered at Wake Tech this summer is the 10 week summer session from 1-3:30 in the afternoon which I can't do because of work....Instead I get to take the 5 week summer session M-F 7:30-9:40am and then work from 11-8! I really hope getting my MBA is worth it in the end!

Have I mentioned how much I hate Calculus?!?!?!

Back from NY, back from my mini hiatus

I was in NYC last week for my first trade show, SES NY. It was a pretty busy three days of flying in, setting up the booth, and working the trade show. The trade show was different than I expected, partially because I was so used to home shows and ID trade shows where there are tactile examples of appliances, and materials (fabric, tiles, etc.) This was definitely different but very interesting. I am so glad I got to go and have the experience of being at a trade show. It was a refreshing change, but I could definitely get used to it.


I also got to go to some of my favorite places in NY like Famous Rays Pizza and H&M and I got to have dinner with my cousin one night at a really good Mexican restaurant I had never been to before called Dos Caminos on 51st and 3rd...Really good tacos. Tuesday night, I got to see my best friend Melissa, who I rarely get to see so I was excited about that too.

Another cool thing about going to NY last week was going to see the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. It was really cool to see, especially since it is a new show, although I wish there were cooler guests than Regis Philmon, and Kat Van D (who I didn't know but is a tattoo artist on LA INK).

...Another cool show I just saw was Greg Behrendt at Goodnight's Comedy Club this past weekend...For those of you who do not know, Greg Behrendt is the author of "He's Just Not That Into You." (book/movie) and used to be a writer on Sex and The City and he also has his own show as well. I got a picture with him afterwards but I need to upload the picture later.

Mercury Rising

I ended up leaving work early on Monday which I do not like to do...however, I was not feeling well at all.  From the time I got home, (about 4:00pm) until 9:30 or so, I slept and by the time I woke up, I felt even worse...I took my temp and had a 99.7, high enough to feel lousy...I took some meds and went back to a terrible night of sleep...er, tossing and turning.  I 'woke up' around 7 or so and took my temp. again to see that it rose to 100.3...which is where it stayed for the better part of the morning, needless to say causing me to miss more work (again something I do not like to do). I had a brief moment where I started to feel better and so I took my temperature yet again, 98.9.  Still not feeling strong enough to remove myself from my comfy bed or the terrors of daytime tv, I went back to sleep and woke up maybe an hour or so later feeling absolutely terrible yet again.  At this point, I think it is safe to say that I have an unhealthy relationship with my thermometer since I took my temp yet again and had gone back up to 100.4  At this point I figured it was necessary to go to the doctor so I had my roommate drive me down to Cary to squeeze me in at my doctor's office merely minutes before they closed.  I had to see one of the other doctors in the practice who I never met before but I didn't care, I just wanted to get better...Although I knew with a flu, there wasn't much he could do, but he managed to do something alright, completely freak me out about the possibility of having an appendicitis attack!  He said that the area around my appendix was very sensitive and that if it began to cause anymore pain than it already was or if my fever rose, then I should go to the emergency room...This was not an option! I am scheduled to go to NYC and no organ is going to get in the way of that.  What do we need an appendix anyway?  Well, after my doctor visit, you could call me a bit of a hypochondriac because every 30 minutes or so, I would check my stomach to make sure there were no signs of appendicitis that my doctor showed me to check for....and I continued my unhealthy obsession with checking my temperature every hour on the hour...I did get worried when my temperature rose to 101.7, but it went down to 99.6 after some meds and it finally broke today...I still feel awful but I am determined to go back to work tomorrow...I cannot take anymore time off, or any more daytime television for that matter! 

It's official!

I received the official letter from the Dean of Graduate School at NCSU yesterday, which means... I am officially an NC State MBA student now! Now I just need to finish getting my Fafsa stuff in for student loans. I also finally feel like I got somewhere with Sears Repair Center yesterday, which quite honestly has been a painfully long and annoying process, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that just maybe, I will have a working washing machine after this Saturday.

This morning I met with my new personal trainer (or actually I had two different trainers this morning), I also had to renew my trainer contract. Ouch...my wallet seems to take one hit after another. I also need to buy a new laptop for school as my beloved MAC is no longer reliable. Plus with me going to NYC in a couple of weeks, I know I will want to shop and my hotel is two blocks from Manolo Blahnik and not too far from the 5th Ave H&M...this is dangerous!!! I am trying to figure out where I want to make sure to go during my free time in NY...I want to visit some of my favorite restaurants, but there are far too many for the time frame that I will be there...Ray's Pizza, (The real one, not one of the imposters) , Las Palabas, Republic, Le Bonne Shoppe, Pastis, and then of course there are all my favorite stores! I cannot wait!

You can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl!

My boss called a couple of my colleagues and me into a conference room today to let us know that we won a recent contest (based on our stats, attendance and product knowledge,etc.) and that we get to go on business trips...which means, I get to go to NYC in a couple of weeks! I get to work at a trade show, which will be such a great experience for me since I will be concentrating in marketing management in school. We are also supposedly getting tickets to the Jimmy Fallon show and I am a huge Jimmy Fallon fan so I am definitely excited about that. Plus the day that we get into the city, the day is ours besides the show taping so I might get to see my cousin, or go shopping, a favorite past-time in NY city...I am so psyched!

I got in!!

I found out today that I got into NC State!  I cannot believe that I already found out, especially since yesterday at my interview I was told it would be two weeks.  I am so extremely excited that I have already accepted my spot in the program, but now...I get to pay $300 to hold my spot...and so it begins.  I won't typically be writing this often, but I couldn't help but add this exciting tidbit!

Why must Girl Scout Cookies be delivered at this time of year?

It is only Day 2 of Lent, and I am already not liking the fact that I have vowed to abstain from all sweets. My coworker just delivered the boxes of Girl Scout cookies I ordered from his daughter to my desk. I got very excited to eat the peanut butter and chocolately goodness of the once upon a time called Tagalong cookie (from my Girl Scout Days), when I realized I have another 38 days to go before I can eat my Tagalongs or Samoas that I ordered. The Samoas have also had a name change...I don't understand why Girl Scouts of America has decided to change the names of all their cookies...why fix it if it ain't broke?

It is going to be a long 38 days!

My MBA Interview Continued

I had my interview this morning...so glad that is over with. I think it went pretty well. I got there very early as I was was warned that parking at NCSU is not always easy, plus I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get there. Surprisingly though, getting there and parking were both a breeze. I met with the Assistant Director of Part-time MBA admissions and she was very sweet. For the most part, I felt prepared, however, there were a few questions that I expected her to ask that she didn't. There were also some questions she did ask that I wasn't expecting. All in all though, I think it was successful...She commented on how much she enjoyed reading my essays, specifically my diversity essay. We also talked about NYC and how much she liked my pocketbook. Also, when I asked my questions toward the end of the interview, she said I had good questions. Lastly, she told me I should hear back in two weeks...I really hope I got in.

On a different note, today is the first day of lent which means no sweets for the next 40 days/ and nights....This is going to be interesting!

My MBA Interview

This is the first time I am posting a blog!  I decided to start writing since I will be starting an MBA program this fall and I will be splitting my time between school and work for the next 3 years! I know I must be crazy, but I am really hoping it will pay off in the end.  My applications are all turned in, my GMAT scores have been turned in and I have my interview with NCSU tomorrow morning.  I am a little nervous but I think it will be ok.  I would love to be admitted to the Jenkin's Business School at NCSU, I just hope my GMAT scores will be good enough!  I studied non stop for two months but have the curse of being a terrible standardized test taker- with that being said, I was very proud of my score, I just hope it will be good enough for NC State.  If not, I feel confident that I will get into the other two programs I applied to.  I will keep you all posted.  Wish me luck!