Samantha K

Florida Pictures

Since I told you about my trip to Florida, I have to show some pictures...

This is the condos we stayed at.

Although it is not the best picture quality, I love this picture. What you see is my world.

This my son and I at Downtown Disney.

The entire family loved Coco Beach.

Lastly, I had mentioned that my son has never flown before. He did very well except he could not stop talking. Notice he has best friend, Bear, with him for security.

Welcome Week Success!!

All I have to say is congratulations to the student activities office! I had the opportunity to stop by the University Center during the Backyard BBQ. It was truly a blast! I have to honestly say that I have never had so much fun at school before. With the surf board balancer, drop tank, climbing wall, and bull riding, there was plenty to do.

I saw more smiles on Wednesday than I ever have before. Even though my particular organization did not have as much as success as we had wanted, I have learned to roll with the punches. I cannot imagine all of the work and organization that went into the Backyard BBQ but it definitely came out as a huge success.

It was a good start to the year but now the real work starts. I am taking a lot of higher level classes in Information Technology Management. This semester is not going to be a breeze. I am hoping I will do well since I am already aware it is not going to be easy.

I do want to take a moment to address another blog I read. I was truly inspired by Shahnaz’s blog: Excited, Exhausted, or Just Existing? She has a valid point that I believe everyone should ponder upon for a bit. I had to stop to think where I was on the spectrum. My husband always tells me, “Sam, You only live once.” I hate to say but my husband might be right for once. (Don’t tell him that.)

Well Deserved Vacation

    I can not wait for my vacation to Florida. I have never taken my children on a family vacation and it is about time. We are planning on staying in my parent’s condo to save money. Also, we opted out of visiting Disney World because of the astronomical prices. Instead we will be visiting Sea World and Busch Gardens which is only a fraction of the price of Disney World.

 

    The moment I am waiting for is for my son to see the ocean for the first time. I will never forget my first time. I can still remember the smells, sounds and feel of the ocean. Also, it will be his first time flying in an airplane. He is afraid of everything so it should be really interesting in the plane. I believe his sister will be able to comfort him though seeing that she has already flown to Florida before.

 

Wish me luck.....

Telling Secrets on Facebook

    I was listening to my usual radio station this morning and the morning crew was discussing how secrets are revealed on Facebook, My Space, and Twitter. I could not believe what I was hearing. There was a gentleman who stated that his girlfriend dumped him on Facebook. I was so astounded someone would do such a thing.

     I personally do not understand how people are so willing to reveal their deepest secrets on the internet for the world to see but they can’t tell anyone in person. It might be the anonymous feeling people get. I mean it is not like the computer asks questions back. Can you imagine typing into the computer and it responds with questions like: “How does that make you feel?” or “Why did that happen?”

      There should be warning on the front page of the website stating, “Please do not pour out your heart on this site. Everyone will find out very quickly even people you don’t know. Also, there is a very high chance you will have stalkers that you will never know about.”

Donating a Piece of Yourself

There has been a lot of news lately about young women selling their eggs for money to make it through college. I know it may be a strange topic but it is reality. From my understanding, each egg is sold for $10,000 and up. When I first heard about it, I thought the media was just bored and bringing up rare cases. I was wrong.

 There is a business that I will not name in the Detroit Metro area that helps young women sell their eggs. I drove by yesterday and there was a line of women all the way out of the parking lot! With the economy doing so poorly, I know times are tough but I really hope everyone clearly thought through what they were doing. There was a recent Supreme Court case in which a donor was ordered to pay child support for a child that was biologically his. I hope everyone is aware that at this time the law does not define the rights of donors.

Spending the Weekend Productively

                Every student spends their weekends studying and preparing for class the following week, right? Yeah, I know that is not necessarily a true statement but that is what I did. All weekend I have been reading and catching up with assignments from school. Deciding to spend my weekend productively has gone better than I had thought. I assumed I would be dragging myself to the pile of books on my desk but with the motivation I have mustered up I am doing pretty well.

                I started by writing a complete list of all of the assignments and tasks I wanted to accomplish. As I complete one task, I mark it off of my list and move on to the next.  I did make sure to mix up the tasks so it wouldn’t be too mundane.  For example: I read one chapter of my systems analysis textbook and then went to folding laundry. By mixing up the types of task, I have been able to stay on my toes and keep moving forward.

                Now, this does not happen all of the time but with the accelerated summer classes it was necessary. I am sure there are plenty of others who spent their weekend going to the lake or hanging out with friends. It would have been nice to put the books away for the weekend because it is summer and all but it wasn’t realistic. I know if I didn’t catch up now then I never would.

                At least I have someone to keep me company…… 

Jobs, Jobs, and More Jobs

I know there are many people out there that are out of work and I feel awful for those individuals but for some reason I keep getting offered more and more jobs. It has been like this for about a year now and I wonder when my streak will end.

 First off let me say that I do not actively seek positions. I just kind of fall in to them. For example, I was at a dinner yesterday with some friends and one of them asked if I would like to fulfill a marketing position within the company she works for. Now keep in my mind that I already work three positions and still attend school full time. I obviously declined the offer because I am not completely crazy. Then earlier today I was speaking with a good friend that works with the government in DC and he asked if I would like a job. I literally laughed at him (of course he is a good friend so he wasn’t offended.) 

I am glad that my friends feel that I am intelligent enough to be recommending me for positions but I don’t understand why. Around my closest friends, I can get pretty goofy and silly and they somehow they still think of me professionally. Also, we debate all of the time. We debate every subject under the sun from extra-terrestrials to politics. At the end of every debate though we agree to disagree and everyone is okay with that.

Wherever the good luck is coming from, I hope it doesn’t end before I graduate. If I were to be offered numerous jobs while in school and then none when I graduate, I would be very upset to say the least. Ideally, I would love to work for Google or U of M when I graduate. If I were able to work for U of M then I would be able to pursue my masters, which is my ultimate plan. Well, I guess we will see how things go from here….only 10 more months to go until graduation.

Summer I Final Grades

Since Summer I final grades are now available, I was able to see exactly how I did on my first summer semester. I have to say I was really thrown by my final grades. It is so ironic that the class you think you aced ends up with a B and the class you thought you got a low grade you get a higher one than expected.

I had a class where all of my grades were perfect except the last test which ended up being only an 85% and I got a B+ as my final grade. How is that? I asked the girl who was in my class what she got and she received an A but she only came to class twice. It is so weird but hey I am not the professor. They are the ones who are experts at calculating grades.

Either way, I am aiming to do better this semester. I love to raise my standards every semester. Since I am moving on to higher and higher level courses, it is essential. I am now enrolled in two very interesting ITM classes: Project Management and Database Management. Hopefully, I will do as well as I hope.

Project management is the direction I want to move in so I am really paying close attention in class. The best part is the class is so small that I believe I will be able to learn very easily. The professor is able to interact on a smaller scale compared to the traditional size classes.

Well, that is enough talking about doing well. I should probably be quiet and go to it. One of my favorite quotes is, “There ain’t nothing to it but to do it.”

 

Yah! Summer I is Over!!

I just completed my last final for Summer I. I am so relieved to take a short break from school even though we don’t get a full week off. Every minute of it will be delightful! I plan on going up north for the holiday weekend.

Every year, my husband and I go up to Torch Lake and live in the woods. Yes, live in the woods.  We set up camp about three miles back in the woods. There is no running water, electricity, and cell phones don’t get signals. It is an escape from reality. I enjoy it so much because it makes me value my everyday life a lot more. Right now I am complaining about school but by the time I get back I will be begging to go to class and play on the computer. It is a truly humbling experience.

Lastly, I want to wish everyone on campus a fun and safe 4^th of July weekend.

I got a kitten!

This morning my daughter started her horseback riding lessons. She loved it! Haeley, my daughter, was taught how to care for a horse as well as how to ride, which I believe to be very important. I was so thrilled watching her ride around on the horse since I know I loved it when I was younger and hope she will too.

While walking through the barn area, we saw the barn cats had kittens. Since there were too many for the barn, we were offered to take one home. I called my husband and discussed it with him because a pet is a serious responsibility. We both agreed it would be okay to add a new member to our family. Now, we have two dogs, a huge fish, and a kitten. I have never owned a cat so I am very excited.

There is one problem though. I don’t know what to name him. I am not sure if I should let my kids come up with something creative or if I should come up with the name. I honestly feel it is my job since I have named all of our pets so far. Well, I guess I should start thinking of possible names….

 

Our new kitten: Tiger

 

My dog sniffing through the door.