My certification exams were this past weekend. After reviewing the powerpoints all week, I felt prepared. The national exam was on Friday about a 2-hour drive away. Being the paranoid driver that I am, I allowed a little more than 2 1/2 hours to make the drive. I was afraid of traffic and accidents with it being a snowy Friday morning. Luckily, there was no traffic. I arrived an hour early for the test, so I have extra study time. But of course I didn't study cuz my brain hurt. I met up with some classmates, and we caught up before the test. According to the e-mail, check-in was at 8am and the test was supposed to start about 8:45am. Due to slow people and proctors, we didn't start the exam until 9:25am. 225 questions later, I handed in my exam and headed to IHOP for lunch. We had 4 hours, but I was done in a little over 2 hours. IHOP was really yummy, and cheap since I had coupons.
I returned on Saturday to take the state exam. Unlike the national exam, this one was in familiar territory. It was held at my school with my teachers at the proctors. It was more relaxing, and it went on time. This test was only 100 questions, lasting about an hour. Instead of being the typical bubble test, it was timed over a projection. Each question was on the screen for 30 seconds, and only appeared once. There was no time for second guessing, so it was a good thing that most of it had pictures. I'm thinking I did okay on both exams. However, I won't hear back for 6-8 weeks. In other words, it's either going to be a good birthday present or a bad birthday present. I'm crossing my fingers for at least one good score!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Power of 3
Most of you know that I have the big certification exam this coming weekend, so the plan was to spend all day today, tomorrow, and Thursday studying for it. After all, I didn't spend $200 for nothing. However, when I went to work yesterday, I was informed that a coworker of mine had a family emergency. She had to leave Sunday to go to Montana for the week. Because I am the new person who gets all the crappy hours, they decided to schedule me to work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, before they even asked if I could! So of course I explain that I planned to study for the exam, but they wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Finally I was able to compromise into being allowed to bring some notes with me to study when it's slow. I guess it's better than nothing.
Anyways, the day was long yesterday. Due to the weather, one doctor had to leave early afternoon. With the other doctor in surgery til 2, there was only one doctor on. Luckily the weather caused a pretty slow afternoon. Around 4:30, two clients called in to see if we had time to see their sick animals. I said yes and set one up for each doctor around 5. One decided to show up around 5;10, and the other around 5:20. The clinic closes at 6, so right away I knew that I'd be there later. However, I was thinking maybe 6:30 at the absolute latest. Boy was I off. I didn't clock out until 7:10! That's an hour and ten minutes AFTER we closed. It was retarded and annoying, but at least I got paid for it.
So it took me another ten or so minutes just to walk to Buck surrounded by drifts and find him under all the snow. 25 minutes or so later, I finally make it home. By then, I'm not even hungry due to a very intense migraine accompanied by sinus pressure. I decided to make a salad since I knew I had to eat something. During dinner, I was informed that my aunt passed away earlier that day. To make matters worse, I find out that the funeral will be sometime on Friday, the same day as my national certification exam. So not only have I not seen her since October, but I won't even be able to say goodbye at the funeral.
This morning I woke up planning to study all morning and go to work this afternoon. While eating breakfast, I am informed that my great-aunt passed away last night. I can't even remember that last time that I saw her. Once again, her funeral will either be on Friday or Saturday. Either way, I won't be able to go due to the exam. It sucks. Part of me wants to skip the exam to be with my family, but then I will be out $200 because there are absolutely no refunds. So I am forced to pick the test over my family, Now I'm just waiting for death #3 to come around, since they always seem to travel in groups of 3...
Anyways, the day was long yesterday. Due to the weather, one doctor had to leave early afternoon. With the other doctor in surgery til 2, there was only one doctor on. Luckily the weather caused a pretty slow afternoon. Around 4:30, two clients called in to see if we had time to see their sick animals. I said yes and set one up for each doctor around 5. One decided to show up around 5;10, and the other around 5:20. The clinic closes at 6, so right away I knew that I'd be there later. However, I was thinking maybe 6:30 at the absolute latest. Boy was I off. I didn't clock out until 7:10! That's an hour and ten minutes AFTER we closed. It was retarded and annoying, but at least I got paid for it.
So it took me another ten or so minutes just to walk to Buck surrounded by drifts and find him under all the snow. 25 minutes or so later, I finally make it home. By then, I'm not even hungry due to a very intense migraine accompanied by sinus pressure. I decided to make a salad since I knew I had to eat something. During dinner, I was informed that my aunt passed away earlier that day. To make matters worse, I find out that the funeral will be sometime on Friday, the same day as my national certification exam. So not only have I not seen her since October, but I won't even be able to say goodbye at the funeral.
This morning I woke up planning to study all morning and go to work this afternoon. While eating breakfast, I am informed that my great-aunt passed away last night. I can't even remember that last time that I saw her. Once again, her funeral will either be on Friday or Saturday. Either way, I won't be able to go due to the exam. It sucks. Part of me wants to skip the exam to be with my family, but then I will be out $200 because there are absolutely no refunds. So I am forced to pick the test over my family, Now I'm just waiting for death #3 to come around, since they always seem to travel in groups of 3...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Everyone's Doing the Fish
So I finally got my new cell phone yesterday! I've been waiting quite some time to get rid of the free phone I got a couple years ago. Since the 2-year contract is up this month, I went to Alltell to upgrade yesterday. I got the new LG camera phone, so I can now take pictures and all that fun stuff. I love the phone! It's so fun and light-weight and exciting! Then again, most new things are fun and exciting. I love it.
Also yesterday, I went to see Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto in concert. It was amazing! I've seen both in concert before, with the last time about a year and a half ago. I didn't recognize too many songs by Streetlight Manifesto this time around, but Reel Big Fish played a lot of their old stuff. I new every single song that they played! We had a really good spot too, not too far from the stage and just the right angle to see everyone. I have a great spot to watch Scott the dork too. It was a great concert, and of course ended with a 3-song encore.
After the concert, we went to get half-price appetizers at Applebees. It wasn't the best supper, but it tasted good and was cheap. Then we went geocaching; it was my first time. The first couple were still hidden in the snow, so we headed to a different town on the way home. I found my first geocache in Coates. It wasn't very exciting: a pack of crayons and a keychain. However, there was a hockey stick and puck just underneath the cache, so I took that as my prize instead. A couple hours and a few caches later, I made it home for [half of] a goodnight's sleep.
Also yesterday, I went to see Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto in concert. It was amazing! I've seen both in concert before, with the last time about a year and a half ago. I didn't recognize too many songs by Streetlight Manifesto this time around, but Reel Big Fish played a lot of their old stuff. I new every single song that they played! We had a really good spot too, not too far from the stage and just the right angle to see everyone. I have a great spot to watch Scott the dork too. It was a great concert, and of course ended with a 3-song encore.
After the concert, we went to get half-price appetizers at Applebees. It wasn't the best supper, but it tasted good and was cheap. Then we went geocaching; it was my first time. The first couple were still hidden in the snow, so we headed to a different town on the way home. I found my first geocache in Coates. It wasn't very exciting: a pack of crayons and a keychain. However, there was a hockey stick and puck just underneath the cache, so I took that as my prize instead. A couple hours and a few caches later, I made it home for [half of] a goodnight's sleep.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Taffy, the ADD Dog
Taffy had her annual check-up today, and she was pretty darn excited to go to work with me. She was so excited that she forgot to poop this morning, so I had no sample to bring in to have checked for parasites. It's a good thing that I work tomorrow, so it can be checked tomorrow. Anyways, once the doctor entered the room, she decided to have a little excited tinkle on the floor. I was hoping it wouldn't happen, and I thought I was safe after she said "hi" to 6 people before the doctor. Oh well, we're used to that at the clinic. She got her physical exam on the table, and all checked-out normal. She's even lost over 4 pounds since last year! She weighed in at 29.5 lbs, which is 4.2 lbs less than last January! Now she's only 2.5lbs overweight. I guess all that running around the backyard is helping her out. Luckily, she only got 2 shots this time, bordetella and lepto, and she didn't even flinch. She didn't care about her blood draws so much either, but I was told that she jumped off the countertop, aka about 4 feet up from the floor. She's kinda psycho that way. It was a good vet visit. No ear infections, no plaque/tartar on her teeth, and a decrease in weight. So looks like I have a healthy dog again. :)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Lets Play HOCKEY!
So I went to the Wild game this past Saturday, and it was a special event. We got going early that afternoon in the van; there were 7 of us total. The weather wasn't the greatest. We were lucky enough to have a nice sheet of ice falling before any snow came down to hide it. The two roomies somehow managed to create a drinking came on the way up. Every third car in ditch got one drink, as did every cop car. Snow plows got 2 drinks for safety. Why you would drink more for safety, I'm not sure. It's kinda ironic. Anyways, they had fun with it, and they were pretty fun afterwards. We saw about 37 cars in the dirch throughout the entire 1 1/2 hour drive.
Before the game, we ate at the usual location, Eagle Street. It was packed! Luckily we got there about 2 hours before the game started cuz there was a 40 min wait. Finally when we got called, we started following the hostess to our table. She was heading towards the kitchen, so I was thinking a special chef's table, which would have been pretty sweet. However, turns out there are stairs in the kitchen leading to a basement. There's more bathrooms and a complete bar in addition to the extra seating downstairs. It was so crazy! We had no idea that it existed, so it was pretty sweet. Plus, since we were that close to the kitchen, our food arrived within 10 mins of ordering. So no worries after waiting for 40 mins. We made it across the street in no time for puck drop.
The game was pretty boring at first. The entire first period wasn't very exciting. Finally during the second period we got some powerplays accompanied with goals. Not to mention, the 2 goals were within seconds of each other! It was amazing!! Although, the red wings decided to tie it up 2-2 in the third period. Sudden death overtime was uneventful other than a fight. Next up was a shoot out, aka my first LIVE shoot out!! Even though everyone in front of me stood up and I had to was a majority of it on the screen and we didn't win, it was still exciting to see my first shoot out. Now all I need to see is a live hat trick, or any hat trick for that matter. I've heard about them, but never seen one. Last chance this season will be the last home game in April. If not, there's always next season. Let's go wild!
Before the game, we ate at the usual location, Eagle Street. It was packed! Luckily we got there about 2 hours before the game started cuz there was a 40 min wait. Finally when we got called, we started following the hostess to our table. She was heading towards the kitchen, so I was thinking a special chef's table, which would have been pretty sweet. However, turns out there are stairs in the kitchen leading to a basement. There's more bathrooms and a complete bar in addition to the extra seating downstairs. It was so crazy! We had no idea that it existed, so it was pretty sweet. Plus, since we were that close to the kitchen, our food arrived within 10 mins of ordering. So no worries after waiting for 40 mins. We made it across the street in no time for puck drop.
The game was pretty boring at first. The entire first period wasn't very exciting. Finally during the second period we got some powerplays accompanied with goals. Not to mention, the 2 goals were within seconds of each other! It was amazing!! Although, the red wings decided to tie it up 2-2 in the third period. Sudden death overtime was uneventful other than a fight. Next up was a shoot out, aka my first LIVE shoot out!! Even though everyone in front of me stood up and I had to was a majority of it on the screen and we didn't win, it was still exciting to see my first shoot out. Now all I need to see is a live hat trick, or any hat trick for that matter. I've heard about them, but never seen one. Last chance this season will be the last home game in April. If not, there's always next season. Let's go wild!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
Happy new year everyone! It's a time of new beginnings and new adventures. I have a few resolutions for the new year. I suppose I can't say that I will try to post more cuz that was my resolution for last year. This year, I first plan to work out more. I recently joined a new work-out club with lots to offer. I forgot how good it makes me feel to work-out, so I am going to aim to hit the gym at least 3 times a week. My other resolution for the year is to declutter my life. I came across a book last month at the library by Peter Walsh (the guy on TLC). It helped open my eyes to see that I have too much stuff that I don't use or don't need. The plan is to get rid of clothes that I never wear, books that I never read, and so on. I have already done the first step of decluttering and got rid of 2 boxes of clothes alone! Hopefully it continues working as it should so I can declutter my room and my life. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Happy new year everyone! I hope this year is better than the last, and wish you the best in 2009.
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