Kevin’s Neighborhood

Well, I did it. I'm done with my Master's Degree. It's been a long and bumpy ride, but it's over. To sum up the last couple of months, I had to fight to get this degree, and I finally won this week. It was like a video game... I had to fight the final boss, and I succeeded  (4.0 GPA FO SHNAZZY!).

Show us your favorite word, sentence or quote.

Syzygy... now write it out in cursive!

I also enjoy long words that aren't really used... like antidisestablishmentarianism. :)

So I got an e-mail and post confirmation that my candidacy form was sent in with an addition of one of my lower prerequisites in place of another class I'd have to take...

I CAN GRADUATE THIS DECEMBER!! WOO HOO!!!

It's very exciting. Also, I met with the lady last night to go over the first draft of my thesis. She starts looking at it, and then says, "You know, I think you could make this into a study and publish it. I should get you in touch with Dr. Williams and you could work on it together." Cool, huh?  She goes on to say, "Where did you go for undergrad? UCSC? Oh, your writing is very good." Sweeeeet... She makes me explain a few things and my findings, and at the end said fix a couple of those formatting issues and go to the print shop to get it bound! YAY!

So basically, I've learned in the past week that I've finished all my classes, and now I just have to finish off the semester, and I'm DONE. I'll be Master Andrea, which is very exciting. ;)

Just thought I would share! :)

I turned in my candidacy (for graduation in December) form to my advisor in July. I got an e-mail from her saying something about me not having enough credits, and when did I take EDCO 288.... which I took to mean I forgot to put one of the classes there. So I responded to her. The same day.  She sent me the same e-mail about 3 weeks ago, I responded THE SAME DAY to her in an e-mail, in which I started getting aggravated and sent my original response.  On Monday, I recieved an e-mail from the graduate studies department saying they hadn't received my candidacy form. More frustration.

I called this lady up on Monday, and she decides to tell me the real reason I'm missing 3 credits, because I wasn't told I couldn't take one class twice. I proceeded to ask her what my options are, and she said, "You have to take one more class", at which point I said, "Well that's why I sent you this form in JULY so this COULD HAVE been AVOIDED. ()&%)#(#$)@&)@*$&)*&%)^&@$@!!!

So she told me to talk to Shawn, and I did. He talked to her on Tuesday... and either I'm gonna have to sign up for a class this winter and spend a useless 1K, or she'll have to suck it up and take one of my pre req classes and make it into an upper division class. SUCK IT UP LADY.

In other news, I gave my 6 week notice on Monday. Last day = December 21st, even if I have to take another class and be done January 18th.  It really grinds my insides when people's incompetence screws me over. :-[

I haven't written in quite a while, but I decided to now. I was going to say I feel like it now, but I don't think that's the case. I just have some time, and I figured it would be interesting to go back later and read it again. Probably not the best way to start off a blog, but at least I'm honest.

We moved last weekend. From Santa Cruz to Campbell. It actually wasn't all that bad. Igor hired movers, and they did the job in record time. It probably helped that we had boxed most everything up and all they had to do was pack the truck, drive and unpack it. We're still in the process of unpacking boxes. What a pain.

I'm really happy that we moved, because now I get to see Igor everyday, which was hard before with him living with my mom during the week. The drive over 17 hasn't been too big of a deal, other than sucking off over an hour and a half of my life daily. ;) Luckily, I work 9-6, which means I don't have to wake up quite so early, and I can take my time driving over. I'm not looking forward to driving in the rain though.

I have reason to stay, my bosses have all but promised me some counseling hours/more responsibilities once I graduate in December... which would be nice to add to my resume. I just don't know how I'm gonna deal with all this driving. It's putting miles on Igor's car, and gas isn't cheap.

I met with my adviser at SJSU this week for the second half of my thesis class.  She pretty much said that it looks good, but that I should check to see what UCSC's curriculum proposal process is, so that I can model that process. Yeah, well, each department has their own process, and since I'm not actually planning to go through with it, this is going to be difficult.  I've sent e-mails to people at Stevenson, my old college at UCSC, to see if they'd be willing to share their procedures with me... hopefully they give me a positive response. I need to have a first draft done by the end of October. Luckily, I have some people to help me here at Cabrillo. I'm pretty excited about finishing in December, so I better do it!

Alright, that's about all I have for now. Maybe I'll think up more interesting stuff later. :)

Video: Share a video that makes you laugh every time you watch it.

My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed by.

Today I read his obituary. Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance, for Common Sense
has served us all so well for so many generations.

Obituary Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was Since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him, pass this on.

I can't contain it anymore...

IGOR GOT A JOB OFFER FROM YAHOO! FOR $90,000/YEAR. Sometimes I wonder why I left the Comp. Sci. field. And then I remember that I couldn't be happy doing what he does 40hrs/week. :)

Ahhh, that feels better. As you can tell, I'm pretty excited. He's been trying for a while, and he finally found a group that he really gets along with. He pretty much blew them away last week at his interviews (phone and in-person), and they blew him away by making him the $90K offer this week! We're very excited.

Looks like we'll be moving over the hill soon, somewhere between Santa Cruz where I work and Sunnyvale where he'll be. Possibly Los Gatos? We'll see. But yeah... I just couldn't hold it in anymore. :) Feel free to leave him a congrats on his or myspace, or here! :)

What movie cliché would you most like to live out in real life? 
Submitted by Wes.  

You know... that one where the guy and girl get together, get married, have 2.5 kids and live happily ever after. How cliche.

What was your worst hairstyle decision ever?

This one lady from Supercuts gave me the WORST haircut EVER a few years ago. They call it a "step cut". They basically chopped off the front of my head of hair, and left the back long. You couldn't see any long hair from the front, all you could see was this triangle of hair around my face... it was horrible and I wore my hair up for more than 4 months for it to grow back. Stupid Supercuts.