9.26.2005

end of days, monitoring things, game on!

There’s lots to talk about, relatively speaking. I’ve started my final semester at EBC, and begun working as a computer lab monitor there in the evenings. The Otters’ season began last weekend on the road. This weekend’s the home opener; that Saturday, I’ll also be attending my first ever Penn State Nittany Lions football game in Happy Valley. You can’t imagine how excited I am about that. I’m also looking forward to watching the Pittsburgh Penguins (The NHL’s Back!!!) on tv in just a few more weeks, and watching Sidney Crosby make his way among the pros.

The end is in sight, for my programming degree. December 14th is my last day, with graduation closely following. I’m going out with a bang, language-wise, Advanced COBOL, and SQL, with Advanced Systems Analysis and Tech. Writing rounding things off. It’s not a bas schedule, but my COBOL class is and independent study course, which makes finding computer time a hassle, as only one room of computers has a compiler on it, and I don’t want to have to buy a suite of software for home, which I should at least give a little thought to, I suppose. I’m enjoying SQL, since it’s quite intuitive to code, and making charts and graphs for tech writing is fun. I’ve definitely seen my courses come together in the past year, using programs and skills from earlier courses to complete projects for later ones. It also seems that I could get a job with Erie Insurance as a COBOL programmer pretty easily. I should get a resume out to them soon, as a matter of fact.

Working as a lab monitor is going well so far. Fourteen hours a week at minimum wage. So, I’m not in it for the money, more to get experience solving computer problems, and to say that I held down a job while at school for at least one semester. As for the work itself, I’m pretty much left to my own devices, and get paid to do homework. We’ll see how that goes as time goes on, and more people are in the labs asking questions, and I’ve got bigger projects to do myself.

The Otters Season opened as well as could be expected, with a win on Friday, and a loss on Sunday. They’ve got a couple overage players too many, so the next few weeks or months will be exciting to see how the rosters shake out, and how we do with trades.

9.07.2005

sunset walk

Went for a walk with the dog as the sun was setting this evening. As I was standing at the bluff, admiring the colorful glow that remained after the orb of the sun crossed the horizon, the firefighters from the station a few blocks away drove up in their pumper. Four men got out to view the fiery sky. Shortly thereafter, a family of mom, dad, infant son and grandmother reached us. I walked Russell over and he got his head patted, and sniffed the knees of everyone. As I walked away from the bluff, another pair of women walked by, one of which asked to pet Russell. Now I just have to take Russell for a walk near a college campus or something, and I'll make all sorts of new friends. :) I've got to keep up on my walking now, I'd done quite a bit while my brother was home for the summer, and we walked together; the air and exercise perk me up after school days.