Online Learning

I am working towards my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, since I have noticed this qualification showing up more and more in the public service jobs I am applying for.

Requirements for PMP Certification:
- Four-year degree (CHECK)
- Three years leading projects (CHECK)
- 35 hours of project management training (Exam Prep Course)
- Write a 4-hour, 200 question exam (See above)

I am starting my prep course today and have no idea what to expect. I have been planning projects for over 10 years but this makes everything look so formal and standardized. I want to write the exam before they change the format in July so hopefully it isn't too difficult to learn everything quickly. My course is from 10am to 2pm weekdays, for 8 days. I am doing it online because it cost a quarter of the price of heading into a classroom. I did some training last month in a digital meeting space and it was fine. I love learning and am pretty excited to see what this is all about!

KL CGA-X

By Christine Sweeton
Part 1 
Part 2 
- Part 3:

It took his entire commute through the lava to slow his heart rate, by the time Kit arrived at his ProPod the health indicator on his wrist had finally faded. He'd seen the red light shine through his skin at the heel of his hand right after Lu had shown him the test questions. He had quickly shoved his hand into the back pocket of his jeans and tried to take a casual pose leaning against the kitchen island. “Huh, what was that, hon?” he asked.

Kit hoped Lu hadn’t sensed his instant terror from her seemingly nonchalant questions about the possible new exam material. “Ahh, I don’t really remember the tests from one exam to the next, there’s been so many since I started. But I gotta get going, it’s review week, ya know it makes em crazy,” Kit had slowed his Northern drawl even more than usual. He then tried to calm the frantic beating of his heart and appear as natural as possible as he gathered his bag and headed out the door to start his commute. “Though it is hard to look natural when your girlfriend is showing you a highly secretive intergalactic document -- with no regard to the criminal implications -- over coffee like it was the morning weather report!” Kit thought to himself as he entered his ProfPod.

TB - December 2006

Throwback Thursday - Scroll to the bottom of the month and read up. Or click on the earliest post in the month (to view the post and the comments) then keep clicking Newer Post until you finish the month.

DECEMBER 2006

This is fun and quick read - just an onslaught of small little posts, mainly about exams and studying. I remember at some point I used to have a mental rule for Always Standing that there always needed to be a picture of me showing on the home page - which means having one every 10 to 15 posts. There was a random post of pictures in this month, so many I had already started that rule. There is also an amusing comment on one of the posts where Teri is trying to get a hold of me again.

Noted Post: I liked the Carleton Karma post, I had forgotten about "viewing rooms" for watching lectures - I can't even really picture what they look like. I do remember always being behind when I took a class that taped the lectures because I always thought I could just catch up by watching them later - then procrastinated until right before the exam, leaving no time to get through them all.

This Month

This is my life for the next month:
-researching
-writing papers
-marking exams
-marking final papers
-invigilating exams

The Beginning of The End - Exam

I really only had one exam this year. (In the upper years, especially in English, they don't do exams as much.) I had an end of year test in one course, which was held on the final day of class, which seems like ages ago now. I had one exam during the exam period and it was yesterday, it went alright. So, now I'm done!!! I just have to wait for marks, which I have been checking daily....

X & Y

The past few weeks I find that I have been repeating a similar statement to my friends. I keep saying; To Z, 'Have a great time X, I will see you when I get back from Y.' At the end of this week I am going with Teri and her friend out west. We are spending the first few days driving out, Road Trip! On the way, I get to stop into Edmonton to visit Erin, Anne, and hopefully Little Brother Mike. Teri's friend lives in Vancouver so Teri and I will be staying with her and touring the city for a little over a week. We are planning on spending a bit of time in Victoria as well before we fly back to Ontario on May 10th. In the above statement I am obviously referring to this trip, but I word it a number of different ways. Y = 'Vancouver', 'Out West', 'B.C.', 'My Vacation', 'My Road Trip.' While Y is fairly random, logistically in this statement, X is dependant on Z. Obviously the location (X) I'm wishing my friend (Z) to have a great time time in is directly connected to which friend I'm talking to and where they are going. So the remaining variables for this statement are:
If Z = 'Heather', Therefore X = 'In Pittsburgh', 'With S'
If Z = 'Anna', Therefore X = 'In Mexico'
If Z = 'Taylor', Therefore X = 'In Europe', 'On Your Trip'
If Z = 'Kristen', Therefore X = 'In Europe', 'On Your Trip'
What this has made me realise is that my friends and I travel alot. It confirms that I'm really excited about my trip and have been probably talking about it with alot of my friends. This also shows that helping Taylor study for statistics last night has really made me look at the world from a more mathematics standpoint and that I'm totally lame.

Seriously - No Time

My schedule is jam packed over the next week and a half. Leading up to my trip out west I work every weekday except the Wednesday of my exam. Leading up to my exam I'm meeting with my study group everyday. I'm trying to see a bunch of my friends before I go since I really haven't seen many of them this crazy exam month and I want to visit before I leave the province for two weeks. I'm really not good at balancing school, work, and social at the best of times but now everything has been cranked up a notch. I really need to see my friends, especially those who won't be in Ottawa when I get back in May. Also, work projects are really big right now and since I have been screwing up at my job so much I really need to step it up. Of course school is first priority and exam time even more so. I don't feel overwhelmed or stressed, just busy. Really busy!

Change Of Season

Spring means...
Rain and sun and warm breezes
People out walking or playing in the streets
Sidewalks in The Glebe are even more packed on weekends
Subway gets extremely busy
Essays are due and exams are close by
Neighbours in their yards gardening and clearing out the leaves
Steph and Anna's birthdays
The temperature stays between 5 and 10 degrees
Lots of garbage shows up through the melting ice
A new drive to get in shape and lots of runners on the canal
Soon evenings will be spent sitting on patios

Mini Diary

TIME: Night
I am sleeping in Taylor's bed. I normally sleep on the couch when I stay over at TKH's apartment but since Taylor was away I slept in her bed. The bed is amazing! It is the softest, most comfortable bed in the whole world, even better than my own which I have now decided is the second most comfortable bed in the world after sleeping in Taylor's.
TIME: 7:00
The alarm goes off. I want to sleep more so I set the alarm again for 8:00 and think to myself that I can be in my own bed sleeping at 2:30.
TIME: 8:00
Wake up, pack my things, and get ready to head to work. This does include brushing my teeth with toothpaste and my finger as well as sitting on the bed staring blankly and for no reason at the clock for 6 minutes. I am thankful that it is only 6 and a half hours away from 2:30 when I can sleep.
TIME: 8:45
I arrive at work and check my e-mail. I eat a Crunchie chocolate bar for breakfast that I randomly had stashed in my desk. I read the Daily, an e-mail that updates the high level activities for the different areas of the department. I reply to and send a whole bunch of e-mails to people in preparation for the three articles that I have to write over the next week. The research stage is nearly finished. I can sleep at 2:30.
TIME: 9:30
The admin assistant tells me that I need to tell her what days and hours I intend to work in April. My boss isn't going to be in until later so I discuss the issue with the acting manager and then my editor. We decide on full days Tuesdays and Thursdays. This entire process takes much longer than it should. It is either because I'm very tired or because I work for the government, one of these things will be fixed at 2:30
TIME: 10:30
While riding the bus I do some last minute studying on the way to campus. For the most part I just daydream about 2:30 and being in my bed sleeping.
TIME: 11:00
I sit outside the class room to read my study notes again. I can't wait for this 3 hour class to be over. Then I realise that the class actually ends at 2:30 so it will even later before I get to be home in bed.
TIME: 11:35
Class starts and the midterm is handed out. I recognize all the questions and am not surprised by them. I do however not know or have forgotten about half of the answers to them. I start to fill in what I know. I am happy to hear that the midterm is for the full 2 hour lecture, we can leave when we are done, and that our 1 hour discussion group that usually starts at 1:30 is cancelled. Maybe I will get home and be sleeping by 2:30.
TIME: 12:15
I finish the midterm really quickly and I will definitely fail it. I'm glad to have at least gone to class, put the effort it, and done some studying. I will have to pick it up more in this class though. I decide to take the bus home instead of the 5 minute walk. I'm just so tired and can't wait for my 2:30 bedtime
TIME: 1:00
I have settled into bed after making it home and changing into pajamas. I call Jerrica to see how she is feeling and find out that she is working the long shift today so I won't see her until much later. I check my e-mail, Facebook, and post on my blog. I intend to probably watch an episode or two of 30 Rock online before going to sleep around 2:30.
TIME: 2:30
S-L-E-E-P-I-N-G

NeoPets

I have finished my exams. Besides work and short essay due Monday I am looking at a nice long month of free time. I'm going to go to New York City, study for the LSATs, do some Christmas shopping, visit with family and friends, relax and party, but mainly play alot of guilt free NeoPets. I have had a NeoPet account since first year, when I notice Steph and Em playing and wanted to join. It is free, and designed for 12 year old girls. (I figure at least I have the gender right.) Basically you have these little virtual pets and you play games to get points which you can use to feed them and get them presents. You can even get a pet for your pet, known as a petpet. I always 'rediscover' the site right around exams, this time thanks to Erin, and it tends to provide a lot of distraction from studying. I didn't have the luxury of any wiggle room for procrastination this time so tried to avoid playing as much as possible. But now, I'm going to NeoAway to my hearts content. Feel free to join me (my user name is Chrisbinx) we can be NeoFriends.

Not An Overload

I thought that perhaps my insane exam schedule was an overload. Even if it was I was still going to power through it since doing deferred exams later on really sucks. Out of curiosity I checked today to see if it was and turns out it actually isn't. Carleton defines an exam overload as:
3 or more examinations scheduled in 3 consecutive periods,
4 or more examinations scheduled in 5 consecutive periods,
5 or more examinations scheduled in 7 consecutive periods.
Well it turns out that I am 3 in 5 which is considered acceptable so it isn't an overload situation. I'm actually glad because if it was I would be really really tempted right now to bump one off until later since I'm super stressed about all of them. Each one is really demanding in its own way and while I have been fairly good about keeping up with my classes I don't feel prepared at all. It is all happening so fast but it will all be over soon.

41 Texts

Above is a list that I have compiled of the texts I need to know for my British Literature II course mid-term exam. (Click on the image to see the list more clearly.) There are FORTY ONE different poems, essays, and novels. I need to know them all well enough to be able to identify an excerpt from them and give the title, author and a page of written analysis of the passage's significance. Also, this is just one of three exams that I have in two days at the end of this coming week. Not fun.

Exam Schedule

I have the worst exam schedule ever!! Because I had planned my trip to New York City and The Daily Show around the two day break between classes and exams, in the hopes that I would not have an early exam, fate called my gamble. The trip would have been a go as long as I did not get an exam in the very first timeslot on the very first exam day. The bus home from NYC overnight would not get me back in time to make it. I admit that I would have been stupid to take the trip if I had any exams on the first two days but I probably would have done it anyway. Turns out that not only did I get an exam in the very first time slot, 9am the day after the taping, but also the following day I have two exams back to back, 9am and 2pm. So none in my favored 7pm timeslot, no time to study for my three exams, and no Jon Stewart!

Spelling Counts

For the first time in my university career, spelling is important on a handwritten exam. I have a midterm in one of my English courses tomorrow and I'm really worried that I'm going to bomb it because of my terrible spelling issues. I was freaking out about this and what I could do about it to my parents on the phone yesterday. My mom suggested writing down all the words I spell wrong when typing on a piece of paper beside my computer. Every time spell check identified a word, I would look carefully at it, try to fix it, and write down the correct spelling on the paper. I have spent the day typing up notes in preparation for the test and have spelt a ridiculous number of words wrong. They are all longer words and when I misspell them I screw up the vowel sounds because I have no idea how the whole vowel thing works. This list has not comforted me at all, it just made me realise how terrible my spelling really is and I fill a little hopeless faced with it. Here is a list of the words (the * are when I misspelled it more than once): decided, conservative*, defeatist, Fascism, rhythms, hypocrite, ridiculous*, doesn't, coherent*, vacation, tragedy*, strangely, voyeuristic, necessary, conscious, simultaneous, separation, conciseness**, tongue, decipher, explicitly, stupor, ambivalent, mechanization, prophetic, disastrous, impasse, caricatures, fascinated, pursuit, frustration*, diseases, philosophic, and controversy.

Maybe I Do

I went to a panel discussion tonight called "So You Want To Be A Lawyer" and it did not reassure me that I could write the LSATs well, get into a law school, be successful in law school, or even be a good lawyer. I actually went to learn more about what a lawyer does but the focus seemed to be more on preparing for and writing the LSAT or preparing for and applying to law school. Obviously I'm interesting in knowing about those things but I'm more concerned with what being a lawyer is like, what sort of specific things do they spend the day doing, what types of skills are needed to be good in law, and what type of people enjoy this job. I don't feel any better informed on whether this is something I should pursue, actually I feel a little discouraged because my marks are probably too low. Stupid engineering ruining everything.

Late Night Worries

Sometimes I think I may drink too often. Occasionally, I worry that I smoke too much pot. Right now, I'm more concerned with the fact I'm ridiculously out of shape, and not studying hard enough for my exam. Like everyone says, you have to pick your battles.

Excited For An Exam?

I have my last exam of the school year in just over an hour and a half. (I deferred it.) I'm really excited to go and write it. I don't really know why I'm so hyped up about it. Mind you I have always loved writing tests, and don't get exam stress or anything. I think it maybe because I love the material so much, and as I'm studying about it, I'm still interested in learning it. It makes me want to possibly tutor on past courses to keep up with literature I have finished studying. I don't feel super prepared for it, I feel I know the material and could do really well, but also that questions could trip me up, I might not be fully prepared, and I don't know enough. I might be excited because writing this means an end to the year. A clean cut away from a semester that was very challenging. Either way I'm looking forward to it and hope I do well.

Time Crunch

My deferred exam is two weeks earlier than I thought. I don't think I'm screwed because of this, just slightly inconvenienced. I will have to take a lighter work schedule (the week after next) to allow for studying. I have 9 lectures to watch on DVD, which means I need to start watching one a day. So much for a social life.

Back To Life

Back to cleaning my room and house.
Back to laundry.
Back to working two jobs.
Back to money stress and paying bills.
Back to writing essays and studying for exams.
Back to reality!

Close Call

I biked to school today to write an exam. Once I got there I realised that I had forgotten my bike lock. There wasn't really enough time to bike home and get it. I went in to talk to the people at the gym counter and bought a combination lock from them for $6.25. This was pretty much the last of my money for the next two weeks. The lock didn't quite work but I felt more comfortable having done something. The stress of losing a bike, again, really added to the exam anxiety. I got through it though, and felt I wrote a decent exam, I didn't rock it, but I'm proud of what I accomplished. Thankfully, when I got back outside my bike was still there.