updates
May 1-23, 2001
5/23/2001 7:30 PM
Today I've been packing up most of my things. There's still a pretty good bit to go, and I'm already surrounded by boxes. What's more, I need to go get a couple more boxes.
I haven't seen a lot of people this week. I know that interim is always pretty quiet around here. It's just kind of lonely ending my stay in Tuscaloosa like this.
5/22/2001 11:00 PM
I'm in the process of setting something up that will make pressing on... a little more interactive for all. I don't know how long it will take, but I think that you'll enjoy the finished product.
5/22/2001 7:15 PM
It's still sinking in that my college career is finally, absolutely over. There's nothing more to do. Even when I graduated the first time I knew that I had the MBA Program ahead of me. Now I don't know what's next on the list. That's wonderful and frightening at the same time.
I took a look at my Palm yesterday. After deleting commencement, there's exactly one thing on the radar...Ricky and Tammy's wedding. Everything else is wide open. The possibilities are unlimited.
There are things that I definitely want to do during this time I'm taking off, things that I won't be able to do again in a long time. They're things that once I'm in the 9-to-5 life would be very hard to do. One of these is a little bit of travel.
Sometime in the near future I'm going to plan out a very loose itinerary of where I'd like to go during this time. I know that I'll go home some, and I'll go visit my sister and brother-in-law some, but I have ideas for other things too. Who knows? Maybe there will be a pressing on... national tour. :)
Anyway, before I can think about all that, I've got to pack up the life I've known for the past few years, and put it away for a little while. Soon enough I'll unpack it all again and start afresh in the working world.
5/21/2001 11:00 PM
Long couple of days since I last updated. To sum up: graduate Saturday, drive to Birmingham with my parents, grandparents, sister, and brother-in-law to eat dinner. Car breaks down. So I stay with my grandparents for a couple of days while it is fixed. My grandparents do not have Internet access; therefore, no updates.
But I'm back now! And I've graduated! As a result, I've modified several pages concerning my status in the program: the runner, professional page, and my résumé. Nothing fancy, but they're necessary.
5/18/2001 4:15 PM
Tonight: more packing. I went to Wal-Mart today and got some more storage bins. I'm not really looking forward to doing this, but it's got to be done...
Added an insane thought.
5/18/2001 12:35 AM
From the "Only in Alabama" file: only in Alabama would it take the possibility of losing high school football to cause a tax increase made to benefit education to pass.
5/17/2001 10:30 PM
Fast fact: today is the web's 10th birthday.
5/17/2001 12:10 AM
I have always found speechtherapy a great read. He used to have a daily part of his site, but recently changed the format to a weekly "zine". Anyway, this week's edition is really challenging; it hit me between the eyes. Check it out. From the "Small World" Department: even though he's based out of the northeast, he's friends with a guy who graduated from my high school alma mater a year before I did.
5/16/2001 12:30 PM
This morning, I noticed that my computer was turned off. This struck me as odd...I hadn't turned it off. It's happened before, though...so I pushed the power button.
The computer didn't come on.
Now I was worried. So I turned off the power strip and immediately turned it back on. Then I restarted the computer. It worked perfectly fine.
Sometimes these are fickle machines.
Now Presenting: Parting Shots 2001.
5/15/2001 2:45 PM
Added a new insane thought.
5/14/2001 10:00 PM
Man, I loved game shows growing up. Not only did they teach me a lot of useless trivia (well, not all of it was useless), they were just plain fun to watch. And what part of game shows were the best? Of course, the bonus rounds.
Being bored tonight, I did a search for game shows, and happened upon a little gem of a page that features bonus rounds from Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Dough! I especially like the Tic Tac Dough game, as the funky music that always accompanied choosing a box is included! You can even download them to play offline.
5/14/2001 11:00 AM
I think that I'm going to get some sun today. I need some.
5/13/2001 11:20 PM
Strange feeling. I have nothing that has to be done tomorrow. And I love it. I haven't had that feeling in at least a couple of years...
I think that I'm going to grab my digital camera and take some more pictures of the campus sometime this week. Eventually, I expect that I'll put some of the pictures that I've taken up on this site, but that's in the future.
Off-site work continues on Parting Shots 2001. It'll probably go live sometime later this week.
5/12/2001 3:45 PM
I've spent most of today starting packing for preparation to move at the end of the month. This is harder than you might think.
You see, I am by nature a pack rat. I keep things much longer than their useful life. That's why it's so hard for me to normally pack up and move...there's so much over so much time that's accumulated.
I'm trying to look at this move as an opportunity to simplify and to remove a lot of the things that I don't need, use, or want anymore. It also saves time and energy when it all gets unpacked again.
So far I'm up to three bags of trash and old clothes. It's a start.
5/11/2001 6:00 PM
I just got back from my first ever 9-hole round of golf (well, the first time I've ever kept score, anyway). I shot a 66. (You can stop laughing, mom.) Actually, my mom will tell you that it's an improvement from the times I've played with her. :)
5/11/2001 9:50 AM
Done.
:)
5/10/2001 11:30 PM
Tonight, I received a graduation card and present from Ginny. It was totally unexpected. Thank you so much again, Ginny.
The present was a book: The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook. There isn't a chapter titled "How to leave your friends and the life you've known for six years for the unknown future." I know. I checked.
5/10/2001 10:30 AM
This evening...the last official BCM event ever for me. There are too many "lasts" coming up for me to really want to go into. I just have to remember that there are going to be a lot of "firsts" coming up to look forward to as well.
5/9/2001 11:05 PM
As I drove home in what amounted to a flash flood this evening, I determined one of the things that I will miss least about Tuscaloosa is the quality of the roads in those types of situations. Rooster-tails galore. I don't think I topped 30 for fear of hydroplaning.
But that wasn't enough to stop my good mood. Why? I turned in my paper and took my final in database marketing. Now only one final on Friday morning stands between me and bliss. Well, at least school-related bliss.
Speaking of which, I ran into an MBA classmate of mine, who, due to his schedule and concentration, is already finished with the program. I hadn't talked to him in a while, so we chatted for a little bit before I went off to study for the aforementioned final. He told me about the job that he had accepted, and how he was glad to finally have time to do other things besides worry about the program and his schoolwork. He said, "I'm about to go watch my son's game." I know those words felt good to him.
5/9/2001 1:00 PM
Updated the runner to give a minor review of Miss Congeniality, the last movie I watched.
5/8/2001 2:20 PM
Man, my Palm's starting to look really empty. I took out all of my class-related stuff today. For now, it's just a fancy address book again. :)
Tonight: the first of two BCM study breaks in the week.
5/8/2001 12:30 AM
New introspective thought: good enough.
5/7/2001 5:30 PM
I am now finished with my take-home test! Woo-hoo! Two more to go!
This afternoon I went to the batting cages with some friends. I took a couple of turns in the cage. I told them the last time that I was going to try batting left-handed. I hadn't done that in a while. Strangely enough, I was hitting a lot better lefty than I did right-handed. Maybe that's what I should have been doing this season...
5/7/2001 11:15 AM
Okay...time to work on my take-home final. Really.
I have always been a procrastinator in school. There have only been a couple of times that I have managed to get myself to do something ahead of time. Today I'm going to try to add to that total and turn in my take-home a day ahead of schedule. Wish me luck!
5/6/2001 9:30 PM
Is it just me, or does it seem like this semester has really just flown by? I looked at my archives yesterday, which I started keeping at the beginning of the year. It's hard to imagine that it's been four full months already. That's just so much time.
Yesterday, I also looked at some of my old designs for this page, from the time that it was back on the University's engineering server. I only kept a couple of them, unfortunately; I wish I hadn't deleted the old versions. I'd like to see a progression of what the site used to look like, and if I've gotten any better at web site design. :)
5/4/2001 12:45 PM
I have this sneaking suspicion my mom's going to play golf today. :)
I think that I'm going to try to get some of my friends to play bridge tonight. It might be the last time that I get to do so for a while.
5/3/2001 3:45 PM
Today was my last day of classes.
It started just like any other day would. I got up, got something to eat, and checked my e-mail. I got ready and went to class.
At roughly 1:50 today, it was over. I got up from my seat, put all of my stuff in my bookbag that I've used for all six years, and walked out the door into the sunshine. It felt nice. It'll be even nicer next Friday at 10:30 in the morning.
To think that it's almost over causes a lot of different feelings to surface. Part of me will really miss the college life. It's a nice life for the most part. You don't have long days except for every now and then. You get to see your friends pretty much every day.
But on the other hand, you can't really do a whole lot. Money becomes a big constraint. And there's this thing called school that the people expect you to attend for some reason. Many people (including me) like going to school, but one can and usually will be burned out on it eventually.
I had a taste of the "real world" last summer. I enjoyed being able to go home at the end of the day and not have anything to worry about. I enjoyed being able to learn without having the daunting knowledge that I would be tested on it soon. And, of course, I liked the money. :) I'm ready for that again. I'm not saying that one of these days I won't be ready to go back to school. I still think that being a college teacher would be a great life. And I love the university setting.
But for now, it's time to get away for a little while.
5/2/2001 6:00 PM
Man, it sure costs a lot to be a college student these days. I'll be glad when I'm out of here. Speaking of which, countdowns: two classes, one paper, three finals, 17 days to go.
I'm going to Kindred again on Friday. The first visit seemed pretty good, and they have a need for things that I'm interested in. I haven't formally interviewed with them, however. This is just another meeting. So I don't have anything to report as far as that's concerned. Maybe I'll find out something Friday.
5/2/2001 11:00 AM
Long, long day yesterday. I finally got in bed at 3:00 in the morning from doing all the work I mentioned earlier. I had to get up at 8:00 yesterday.
I went to classes, of course (I'm now down to just three to go, seeing as one of them has been cancelled), but there were a couple of other things too.
First, I got to hear Coach Fran speak yesterday between classes. He talked about how coaching a team is a lot like managing a company. The two do have similar issues - chemistry, direction, goals.
Second, it finally came around to BCM senior night. And I talked for a little while. I had worked on my "speech" for about an hour and a half or so the night before. I'll put up the text of it when I add the new "parting shots", because after all, it's kinda part of that. It's somewhat BCM-centric, but that's okay...a lot of it is still applicable to anyone.
After the "senior night banquet", which consisted of Wings' famous wings and hamburgers, we moved into the chapel and had about a thirty-minute praise and worship time. That's how the graduates wanted to go out. It was something of an emotional time for me. I managed to hold it in when we sang my two favorite choruses, even though I realized that it would be the last time that I did it here.
Then someone had to go and request "I Can Only Imagine". It's a very simple song, but it's a very powerful, spiritual song. This one got me. Not only for the usual reasons, but also because of the finality of the moment. I realized that this may very well be the last time that I see a lot of these people. And that was enough. It was probably for the better that we had been asked to close our eyes before...
Anyway, practically the entire BCM went to TCBY afterward. I didn't get home until very late. And that's okay. There won't be many more times like that.