Trip to Corpus Christi

Today I played "hooky" from the Houston madness. I drove home (130 mi) from Houston last night, then Leo and I drove to Corpus (95 mi) this afternoon. After we attended the Open House, we turned back around and drove home, and I have to be back in Houston for an 8am meeting tomorrow. Whew! But we had a blast today. The weather was absolutely beautiful, so we drove the Miata with the top down, cranked up a little bit of Joe Cocker and a little James Taylor, and had a blast. We went to the campus of Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi (TAMUCC). I'm looking at pursing a Doctorate program at their university, so we attended a Graduate School Open House on campus today. What a beautiful campus! It sits on a small island at the south end of the ocean-front drive. The campus is relatively new, so the buildings are modern and beautiful. I can't imagine how students there get work done, however, with so many fun things to do going on around them! But...we both liked the campus, and liked the program. Texas A&M is a prestigious enough institution, even though the CC campus is definitely ranked lower. Still, it seems like the doctoral programs are small, so there is not a lot of competition for placement or for aid, and I'm guessing the support is substantial just from the number of PhDs and EdDs available in the faculty ranks. The other thing that appears to be good, at first glance anyway, is the tuition. So, while I finish up with my BS and get going on my MS, I will also be pursing acceptance into an EdD program at TAMUCC. Yikes! Can it be done? Tune in later for another episode of "As Grandma Gets an Education" and see!

Beautiful Sunday

Although I can't afford to take a day off (I'm working on a long-overdue website that is difficult to develop content for), at least I can enjoy it while I work. Today is a bit overcast, but still lovely. The birds are hard a work over the water, which makes me wonder if the fishing is good. Jesse's feeder is entertaining a lot of the land-bound birds today, wrens and cardinals, grackles and bobwhites, and the ever-chattering mockingbirds. Although I can't see them from where I work, I can hear them singing and know they are busy over there. I received more of my UT paperwork yesterday. I'm expected to pay a deposit of $1,000 before class starts on April 11, another deposit of $18,500 for the Summer semester in June, then two more deposits of $18,500 for the Fall and Spring semesters. Leo tells me not to worry...we'll work something out. He says that something would have gone wrong long before now if this was not supposed to be. In his opinion, we haven't gotten this far for nothing. So, I guess I'll have to trust that he and the man upstairs are working together on this. Well...I guess I need to get back to my webpage now. Some people might think that working from a location that can be so distracting would be, well, distracting. Funny thing is, I find that I can work faster, get in [to the computer coding] deeper, and do better work when I am relaxed, comfortable, and happy. Go figure.

What a Wonderful Week!

I decided to take a Spring Break this week...what a wonderful time I've had of it! First, although I worked (and worked hard) every day this week, it was all while looking out over the bay while I worked. I saw some incredible birds, some beautiful storms blowing through, foggy mornings, sunny days, and a host of wildlife, all from my spot in the living room. Up until this week, I have probably spent less than 10 days at home since the beginning of the year. Although I had a hundred reasons to spend this week in Houston, staying home was exactly what I needed to do. Tomorrow morning, I'm headed back to the city, however, to start that life back up again. But for just a few days, "that life" was comfortably far away. I'm guessing that by morning I will be "stressing" about all of the reports, projects, questions, and activities that will be waiting for me in Houston, but just for tonight, I'm in heaven. Oh...I almost forgot my most important news. All of the pre-work is done, and I've been accepted into the Master's Program at Austin. While that is extremely exciting, and will definitely be a dream-come-true for me, it also means I have so much to get ready for! So, wish me luck, say hello to my husband for me if you see him before I do :-) and think good thoughts in my direction. Grandma is about to jump on another merry-go-round, and she's EXCITED about it!

Planning a Trip Home--FINALLY!

By our most recent calculations, it's been six weeks since I've been home. Can you believe it? Six weeks since I've seen the sun set on the water; six weeks since I've fluffed up the pillows in my own bed; six weeks since I've watched the deer feeding in the evening. So...I have a game plan this week. I'm going to go home. I took my GRE on Tuesday, with very little time allowed for preparation. I had mediocre performance in the Quantitative section (what a disappointment), but fared much better with my Verbal scores. My performance was the opposite of most test takers. I don't know what kind of grade I will receive on the Analytical (essays) section, but feel I did relatively well there as well. (As my sis says, I am definitely the queen of B.S.!) Still, poor performance and all, I am so happy to have the test behind me. Now I'm down to one final activity before beginning at the University of Texas (Austin) in mid-April...I just have to come up with $50K. Today is a full day with projects from school, ExxonMobil, and CAPS all awaiting my attention. And tonight I have my Current Issues class to attend once again. Tomorrow I'll be at Greenspoint working on some Project Management Tools all day (I like that group, and I like the tools we're developing, so I'll have a good day). Tomorrow night I HAVE to study for Saturday's exam. Saturday will be a long day, with an exam in the morning and class from 9 to 5. Saturday night Leo and I will be headed to Sis' house to work with Tyler on his history project, then when we're done there...we are going HOME! Leo and Jess have promised that we're going to have nice weather so we can sit on the pier and fish. I'm so excited! I'll stay home until Wednesday morning when I have to be back in town for a meeting. I have TONS of work that I'm taking home with me, and will put in my typical 12+ hours each day on it, but still...I will be HOME. Ah well...lunch is over now and I have work to do, so I'd better sign off and get to it.