From One Class To Another

I did it, readers. I successfully navigated my way through a semester of college without injuring anyone, including myself, and I survived a week of intense scrutiny through these exams. I have a deep appreciation for college students in how hard they work since I feel that my high school experience did not prepare me adequately for my first kick at the university can, but I found that my real-world job experience had me much more prepared for things like deadlines and time management. Because of this, my marks in my courses have reflected this real-world experience and I'm a proud owner of a GPA slightly below 4.0. Yay Teebz!

Now before you go congratulating me on this, let me bring you up to speed as to what happened over the course of my week. I wrote an exam on Tuesday, and then scurried off to work to make some cash. Wednesday was an exact replica of Tuesday except that I wrote the exam in mid-afternoon rather than the morning before scurrying off to work. Thursday saw me write another morning exam and then sit through a training session at work. And then we got to Friday.

Friday started off with me writing the hardest of the four final exams that I had. Let me tell you that Object-Oriented Fundamentals are anything but fundamental. It was very challenging, and I like that. After the exam, it was off to a job interview for a job that I felt I was seriously underqualified for in terms of my knowledge and experience in the Information Technology field.

Surprisingly, I do well in interviews. I'm not going to say that I can chat anyone up, but I feel I have a knack for passing through the interview process because I can talk. And I like to talk. I've been told in the past that I missed my calling as a radio personality because I have the ability to change my levels of chatter. I work in a technical field, but I believe that most people operate on a different level than the techno-speak I can sometimes find myself muttering.

In any case, I felt very comfortable in the interview despite the fact that I was certainly way out of my league when it came to the technical component. I thought I answered the questions honestly and openly, and the three interviewers were very fair with their questions in terms of not throwing too much techno-speak at me. Honestly, this was a very good interview for even the most non-technical person to take because the focus was certainly on the people side of the equation at this company.

There was a proficiency exam associated with the interview, and I will be honest: gong show. I failed this one with flying colours. I like to be prepared for exams, readers, and I was honestly not prepared whatsoever after this week's set of four exams in completely unrelated subjects. Needless to say, I thought this would be the beginning of the end for me because I answer six of 20 questions confidently while leaving a number of them absolutely blank because I had no clue. Ouch.

After leaving the interview, I really thought I dropped the ball. I guess we'll find out in time, but I really needed this entry just to let you all know why nothing has been posted for a while. I've been working on stuff, but just haven't completed it to my satisfaction for me to post it. But I'm getting around to it.

As for today, I spent the vast majority of the day in mt Certification Clinic for umpiring as I was acquiring my Level II designation. I'm excited for this, and I love being out on the diamond in the summer for some laughs and fun. As much as I like playing, I actually enjoy umpiring more becuase there's better interaction with the teams. No longer are the guys in the opposing dugout your sworn enemies.

So because of all this, no real hockey post today. I just needed some time to clear my brain from all my exam stuff and umpiring stuff and interview stuff. Thanks for listening, readers. You guys keep things real, and I can't thank you enough for tuning into my diatribes on a regular basis.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!