There are smiles on the faces of the people passing by
There are scars on their hearts that they hide
Faithful and fragile doubting their paths
Carry the weight of the world on their backs
I know they've got a long way to go
Yes, I know we've got a long way to go
But I know every day I'm lucky just to breathe the air I breathe
And I hope everyone can feel this love that's bustin' out of me
And sometimes I forget to forgive even me
Sometimes I stumble, that's when he carries me
Sometimes I stumble, that's when he carries me
He Carries Me by Cory Morrow
5.18.2010
5.17.2010
Drowning in a sea of acronyms...
I am a woman with a plan. Actually two plans. If one is good, two must be better!
Plan 1: Get Your Degree Dummy!
I've been languishing on the Masters' Degree front, drowning in a sea of apathy. I just don't care.
It's tragic really. I have a great thesis topic that really needs to be written. And, like all optimistic (and naive) grad students before me, I conveniently forgot about the oldest maxim in the book: If a topic hasn't been written, there is probably a reason why.
And the reason no one has written about Jefferson County? Because the records either don't exist or are in a complete shambles. And I mean a shambles. A SHAMBLES. (It needed caps. I just had to.)
At the school board, at my request for meeting records from 1985 I was directed to "one of those boxes in the hall might have them." And she didn't mean the acid-free boxes with folders and labels. She meant the moving boxes with random pieces of paper in them that were scattered down the hall. I looked through ten before I gave up.
At the clerk of the court, the poor clerk has pulled his hair out hunting for the county commission meeting minutes. To his credit, he is still looking. I have given up hope that they even exist.
Apparently, they are not real big on recordkeeping in Jefferson County.
So, I had to take a hard look at what I needed and what I wanted. I've spent three years on a two year degree and I have had enough. It's time to get my big ol' behind in gear and move on. This past Monday I emailed my advisor and I am officially off the thesis track. I have to take four more classes, pass comprehensive exams and I'm done.
And thankfully, I'm much much better at going to class and passing exams than I am at hunting through boxes of paper. If all goes as planned, I should be a Master's degree holder by this time next year. Two classes in the fall, two in the spring.
Plan 2: Learn new languages
As every good grad student also knows, it just ain't easy finding a history job, especially a non-academic one. And, odds are, any job that I do find will not be within Brion's 2-hour radius. It's time for a back up plan.
I've always been a techie little freak. XHTML and CSS are my other languages. Some people speak Spanish or German or French. I speak in, .classes and #ids.
But, in today's Web 2.0, those two languages are just not enough. It's all about dynamic content, databases and customer interaction. And to do that, you need more acronyms and more languages.
So I'm learning the new acronyms. SQL is first then PHP and maybe Java. I'm a little scared of Java frankly. I tried learning it years ago and got nowhere.
My mama bought me a book and I've installed an IDE (development environment) on my laptop and I'm on my way.
Damn it feels good to have some plans.
Plan 1: Get Your Degree Dummy!
I've been languishing on the Masters' Degree front, drowning in a sea of apathy. I just don't care.
It's tragic really. I have a great thesis topic that really needs to be written. And, like all optimistic (and naive) grad students before me, I conveniently forgot about the oldest maxim in the book: If a topic hasn't been written, there is probably a reason why.
And the reason no one has written about Jefferson County? Because the records either don't exist or are in a complete shambles. And I mean a shambles. A SHAMBLES. (It needed caps. I just had to.)
At the school board, at my request for meeting records from 1985 I was directed to "one of those boxes in the hall might have them." And she didn't mean the acid-free boxes with folders and labels. She meant the moving boxes with random pieces of paper in them that were scattered down the hall. I looked through ten before I gave up.
At the clerk of the court, the poor clerk has pulled his hair out hunting for the county commission meeting minutes. To his credit, he is still looking. I have given up hope that they even exist.
Apparently, they are not real big on recordkeeping in Jefferson County.
So, I had to take a hard look at what I needed and what I wanted. I've spent three years on a two year degree and I have had enough. It's time to get my big ol' behind in gear and move on. This past Monday I emailed my advisor and I am officially off the thesis track. I have to take four more classes, pass comprehensive exams and I'm done.
And thankfully, I'm much much better at going to class and passing exams than I am at hunting through boxes of paper. If all goes as planned, I should be a Master's degree holder by this time next year. Two classes in the fall, two in the spring.
Plan 2: Learn new languages
As every good grad student also knows, it just ain't easy finding a history job, especially a non-academic one. And, odds are, any job that I do find will not be within Brion's 2-hour radius. It's time for a back up plan.
I've always been a techie little freak. XHTML and CSS are my other languages. Some people speak Spanish or German or French. I speak in
But, in today's Web 2.0, those two languages are just not enough. It's all about dynamic content, databases and customer interaction. And to do that, you need more acronyms and more languages.
So I'm learning the new acronyms. SQL is first then PHP and maybe Java. I'm a little scared of Java frankly. I tried learning it years ago and got nowhere.
My mama bought me a book and I've installed an IDE (development environment) on my laptop and I'm on my way.
Damn it feels good to have some plans.
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