Random Thoughts from a Large Head

8am Monday seems like a good time to wrap up the last week of work. 18 hours straight working on Sunday. Three hours of sleep last Thursday night. 85.5 hours on one project in the last week. Or maybe those hours after midnight count for this week. Either way, I think it is time to go home and sleep.

random

Today was day one of degree two. Tuesdays are going to be long days. Five hours at work, followed by six hours of class, with over a hundred miles of driving mixed in.

My first stop on campus was to get my student ID (hello, student discounts!). For some reason, my photo turned out bright red:

I guess glowing red blob is better than the ruddy Polish man look I had going on in my UF ID.

I left class tonight, got in my car, and realized I was grinning from ear to ear. I’m so excited about the classes I am taking and the program I am in.

I was surprised to find that my classes are full of adults. Since I am in a 3000-level course, I had expected to be surrounded by twenty-year-olds. Instead, they are the minority. It seems that EADP attracts a lot of people either returning to school to finish a degree or getting a second degree. I was surrounded by 911 operators, former military, police officers, and firemen. It is going to be neat hearing how their experiences relate to our education, especially in Disaster Response & Recovery.

I have five exams, a handful of quizzes, a term paper, and a project in my future over the next several months, and I’m looking forward to all of it.

random

But if I were to go back to college, think what a loser I’d be.
I’d walk through the quad, and think, “Oh my God…
These kids are so much younger than me.”

“If I Were to Go Back to College”, Avenue Q

It’s been almost exactly a year since I discovered that UNT offered a program in Emergency Administration and Planning. Next Tuesday, I start classes.

I’ll be taking two courses: Introduction to Emergency Management and Disaster Response & Recovery. Tuesday afternoons, I’ll venture up to Denton (about an hour north of Dallas) and knock my six hours of class out in one shot.

I’m quite excited about this. I’ve been interested in natural disasters for a long time (probably from having grown up in a hurricane state, with a grandmother in an earthquake state). This past year with its devastating tsunami and four hurricanes in Florida, has emphasized to me my desire to be part of some action helping people put their lives back together after a disaster.

I’d run off today to help if I could. But, my reality is that I have responsibilities. I have a dog and parrot and bills and a lease. So, I’m doing this the way I feel is most in line with those responsiblities. I’m going to learn more about Emergency Management, a few classes at a time. I’ll continue working full time (my bosses are uber-cool in allowing me to shift my hours to have time for class).

Some day, I may leave the world of web development, and move into this field. Or, I may decide it isn’t for me. I won’t know until I learn more.

So, that’s big.

Don’t forget:

random

Something horrible has happened. I’m not the #1 result for “leia” on google anymore. I’ve been passed by that character with the buns in those space movies and another site about that character’s metal bikini.

So! I need your help. I must be the #1 leia again. Please link to this site. Link it with just the word “leia“.

Link by copying and pasting the following on your site: <a href=”http://www.alargehead.com/randomthoughts”>leia</a>

I’ve even made a banner to help you spread the word:
*

Just be sure that’s not all you use to link here. The key is linking the word “leia” with this site.

Bloggers of the world, help me out. Please make me the #1 leia again.

* Link this image by copying and pasting the following code on your blog: <a href=”http://www.alargehead.com/randomthoughts/past/index.php?i=002654″><img src=”http://alargehead.com/images/leianotleia.gif” alt=”Make Leia the #1 Leia again.” border=”0″></a>

random

Happy 2005!

random