Stress

Last Thursday my son went snowboarding with some friends. The telephone rang and it was him calling to let me know he sprained his ankle pretty bad and had to be carried down the mountain by the ski rescue team. He went to the doctor the next day and found out he broke his fibula and tore some ligaments in his ankle. He's staying at my house so that I can take care of him until his leg and ankle heal. Then on Saturday I booted my computer to post to my discussion boards and the monitor went totally black. I called Dell tech support and was on the telephone with them for about four hours preforming diagnostic tests before they decided I had a defective monitor and would be replaced free of charge. The problem was that it would take three to four days for it to arrive. In the mean time I tried to find a monitor that was compatible with my tower. You would think older dell monitors would work with dell towers.....wrong! I located three different monitors and not one of them had the correct connections. Losing your access to classes is terrible but, to have it happen during finals really "bites".

Last Weeks of Term

I would just like to say that I have really enjoyed this class. I have gained so much information and insight from my classmates and my Professor. The term is nearing an end which is a good thing in respect that we have all made it this far. The last few weeks of the term always seem to be the most difficult for me as there is so much writing for final papers and studying for final exams, seems overwhelming at times. I have a paper to write in A&P II that is giving me a little trouble. There are specific sub topics that we are required to write about that I'm not sure about how I'm going to organize it. I think the best way is just to start writing and hopefully it will come together without a lot of repetition.

Catching Up

This past week has been so hectic with writing a rough draft, post draft, and an outline for A&P II I'm glad it's over. I think what takes the most time in writing a paper is all the research that needs to be done before you begin the paper. Then what you really need is a good method for organizing all the information that you plan on writing about. The best method for me is writing a short pre-draft outline, this way you get some sort of direction as to the path your paper will take. This is the first time that I have a post draft outline. I thought, "why do another outline after you already have the draft finished"? Well, I found out the post draft outline can help you see where you may have repeated yourself and it also helped me to take another look at the organization of my paper. I am thinking about re-writing my thesis statement to clarify my three main points.

Everyone, have a fantastic week and good luck on your essay!

Patti

Writing

This is one of the busiest weeks that I have had in school so far. I have rough draft and two outlines that need to be done by Tuesday's deadline. I am having somewhat of a difficult time organizing the information in my rough draft. I guess I'll just have to write it and try to revise it after I get the post outline finished. I have never done a post outline before and I'm hoping it's going to help me more with the organization of my paper. As soon as I am finished with the work for my comp class I need to start the outline for my A&P II class. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now but with some hard work and a little luck I feel confident I'll make the deadline.

My Dog Has A Problem

Here I am sitting in front of my computer trying to think of an interesting topic to write about...but my dog won't let me. She is a rottin pit (half rottwieler and half pit bull) and I call her Nakita. Here it is 11:30 P.M. and she thinks it's playtime. She keeps bringing her slimy rubber chew toy with shredded rope dangling from it for me to throw for her. It never ceases to amaze me how much energy this animal has. She's just like the little energizer bunny who keeps on going and going and going. Well, my arm is worn out and I'm getting to tired to type so I will post again later.

Being an online student is a wonderful and convenient way to learn. I worked for the same company for twenty years and when they downsized I was one of the lucky ones they let go. I say lucky now...but at first I was devastated. I knew I was going to have a lot of spare time on my hands and very shortly found myself running out of things to do, places to go , and people to see. I live in a rural part of Oregon where jobs are far and few between and the manufacturing industry was hit especially hard, so perspective job opportunities in this field were none to nil, to say the least. Oh, I forgot to mention that I worked for an international door and window manufacturing company based here in Oregon. Anyway, my son suggested I take some online courses to become a medical transcriptionist. When I contacted Kaplan University to discuss enrollment I found out that I could become a CMA, which is something that I have only dreamed about doing. Now here I am...creating a new beginning and making my dreams come true.

This blogging business is all new to me. I think I'll eventually learn to enjoy it.

This Is It

This is my new blog. I hope it works.