Time for a break

Well I am done with my first quarter of graduate school. I did really well in all my projects and tests despite some trials. I had to dictate a four page paper to one of the members of my stats team because she didn't understand the statistical analysis. She thought diagram was spelled with an "h"! I then went back and added in another page and reworded everything (and ran a stringent spellcheck). I also finished my 42 page business plan. I slaved over it, knowing that no one else in my class would spend even half the time that I did but the fact that I actually want to start this business sets me apart. My teacher actually wants to use my other major paper for my Entrepreneurship class as an example paper for his next class.

I can't believe how I ever used to handle semesters. The one day a week, three and a half hour classes are intense. Next quarter is worse because I have class every night of the week and days on Fridays. I also got into a Global Leadership program that will take up a lot of time next quarter. I get paired with an undergraduate student as well as a faculty mentor for the rest of the year to learn how to be a global citizen.

Despite all the work I have managed to have some fun. I went to the Clifton Turkey Raffle with Stacy and met up with a lot of the locals whom I hadn't seen in awhile. Alex hosted a murder mystery dinner party at her apartment and that was really fun. I got to play Connika Gothika, the eccentric next door novelist. It was hard to remember what every character was revealing and narrow it down to whodunit but I had a great time.

Even though I've been on duty all of break, I've stayed at home because I'm so sick of my apartment. I've been raking leaves, splitting wood, hauling rock, doing laundry, cooking food and various other chores. It's so nice to sit in a comfy chair in the sunroom and read trashy novels. I took some great pics of Max and Abbie the other night while I was out looking for deer. The sun is getting more and more sparse these days and the lighting was great.

I just had to put in this pic of Don messing around while cleaning gutters.

Dog Day

I was really restless this past Friday and couldn't concentrate on school. I decided to take the dogs out to Oatka Park to hike since it's bow season and I couldn't go out behind the house. It was a beautiful day, sunny but windy. Most of the leaves had fallen but there were still some brilliant red, yellow, and orange leaves hanging on. Previously when I'd gone to Oatka I'd always gotten lost. I think I've finally figured it out though. Within 5 minutes I'd already lost Abbie. I had her on the extendable leash and while trying to untangle her and Max I dropped it and she stood there for a second before realizing she's free when I lunged after her. I pursued her for a few seconds before realizing that me chasing her led to her running faster and Max dragging me along thinking it was a game. I finally stopped and got both of them somewhat calmed and continued on. I made it back in sight of the parking area but then decided I wanted to go find the bridge that I'd remembered from back in the day. Max was pretty tired though by that point so I decided to cut down a steep hill that led to the creek. I let Max off his leash because he bolts towards any body of water he sees. However, Abbie now decided that she wanted to be a water dog too and dragged me on down the hill so I finally let her go because I didn't want to follow her into the creek. I continued sliding though because the hillside was covered in leaves and underneath was pure mud because of the recent rain. Luckily a tree stopped my descent. Abbie plowed into the water with the leash and I had to pluck it out. Max then decided to get a log and bring it over and drop it on my flannel and sunglasses that I had set down. All in all a typical hike with the dogs ;)