'Incomplete' until I'm finished

Within the last few minutes, I've decided that it is necessary for me to request an "Incomplete" grade for my Political Science: American Government class. I feel that it is my only option in order to avoid a lower-than-satisfactory grade for both that and my English Composition II class.

I will be required to complete the remaining assignments by August 23, which gives me an additional month. I should have considered how much of a challenge it would be to complete two courses within an eight week period. I dedicated most of my efforts toward my English class, as it is the only one with deadlines for each assignment, where as the other has only one deadline for all assignments--the last day of the semester.

So I will place myself in "Financial Aid Warning" status until my Political Science assignments are completed within a month. At least I can focus the last 48 hours of the semester on my final essay for English, and have enough necessary time to complete my Political Science assignments and exams. This way, I will achieve a much better grade in both classes.

Smart academic decision.

School's in for Summer

Two of the online classes I'm taking through College of DuPage--English Composition II and Political Science: American Politics--began on May 29, and I'm already overwhelmed. Another class--History: Western Civilization until 1600--is scheduled to begin June 11. It would be smart for me to drop this class early, rather than getting a low grade.

My circumstances are different from what I expected them to be when I registered for these classes. It was assumed that business would be as slow as it had been for several months, yet that is far from the case. Every day has been extremely busy, and I've found myself staying at the office late in order to work on some assignments for class.

Another factor that does not help the situation is that this is the Summer semester, which means that a 16-week course has to fit into 8 weeks. It has become a frustrating situation. I can't devote as much time into each assignment as I would like to, and am having to settle for the mediocre work I'm able to complete before each deadline.

I have a "2 to 4 page essay" due by the end of the day, so I'd better get on it.

Extremely busy

I haven't posted in a very long time. I't's because the pace at work has tripled in speed and content, if that makes any sense. It was not expected to happen so fast, but nevertheless, it happend and I don't know how long this fire will last.

I've started gardening at home. First, with tomato plants. Then I followed up with cucumber and watermelon plants. We'll see in time if they bear any fruit...or vegetables.

Work and school. No play.

My company finally made the switch to new ownership today--finally, after many months of uncertain waiting. I was host to two auditors who had to visit my office this morning. I'm glad that part is over and I can get back to my routine...albeit under a new company name.

Last Friday, after I had done a full inventory count, I registered for my three classes at College of DuPage, which I will be taking online. I'm eager to get started. However, I have another seven weeks before classes start. That's a bunch of crap.

I'm tired of the bullshit!

In the Sunday Chicago Tribune was an article titled He's the king of small claims about a local man named Derek Monroe who has taken many company's to small claims court for cheating him in one way or another. He doesn't do it for the money, but for "the principle."

"It is about shaming the corporations into doing the right thing," he told the Tribune. "It's to show them that we as consumers are not sheep."

Monroe is doing exactly what I've wanted to do many times, but either did not have the time, the money, or the motivation to go through the bureaucracy of filing a suit. Reading the article about him, however, lit a fire under my ass.

On Monday morning I wrote a letter to Monroe telling him this. I told him that the story about him was very encouraging and that I would no longer put up with the bullshit that company's with which I do business throw at me.

After receiving the letter, he called me the next day on my cell phone. He's a very nice guy. He was excited to have received my letter, offered me some pointers on a problem I was having, and answered a few questions I had about filing small claims suits.

I'm tired of dealing with the bullshit from Drive Financial Services. I'm tired of dealing with the bullshit from Elmhurst Memorial Healtcare.

I'm tired of the bullshit!

Free school

Last night I received my award letter from the financial aid office at College of DuPage. It basically showed that I had received a Pell grant that will cover my tuition for the classes I will be taking this summer. This was exciting! I can't wait to register for classes, which, I'm told, should begin next month.

AJ was supposed to be flying up this evening to visit for the weekend. However, he was unable to leave the family this weekend. He will be trying again next weekend after the 1st of the month, which will probably be better, financially, for both of us.

A Trip to Texas

It was exactly one month ago today that I wrote my last post for this blog. I have since flown to Houston with my son, who had some minor surgery. The visit went well and, for the most part, peaceful, as Aden & Ashton weren't there screaming or crying or demanding to be fed in the middle of the night. I missed them while we were there though.

Hudson and I stayed with both Dayna's parents and my mother. It was made much easier by the car that I had rented, which was a Chevy Cobalt. The weather was much different, though, from that in Chicagoland. Dayna reported single-digit temperatures here while Houston remained suspended in the 60s and 70s during the day.

We were also able to go out on what I was hoping would be a more productive "Family History Excursion" in Tyler County. A trip to the Tyler County Heritage Village in Woodville, Texas, which was stocked with a small library of family and other historical information, was interesting, but one would need at least a day to rummage through the information available, and with no children.

After the Heritage Village we visited my Great-uncle Lee Roy Ard, who was in the Tyler County Hospital. He is very old now and, sadly, cannot be expected to be around much longer. Although I had hoped to be able to interview him regarding our family history and perhaps hear stories of the "good ol' days", but, nonetheless, I was very glad I was able to see him during my visit.

Our last stop on that day was the icing on the cake. We visited Franks Branch Cemetery in Fred, Texas, where many of my recent ancestors are buried. I had been to the cemetery before several times as my grandparents are buried there, but I had not been there since I started studying my genealogy.

Overall, it was a great day.

Am I boring or unorganized?

"...If you're bored then you're boring..." is a line in a song of which I can't recall the title or artist. But it's come to my mind several times recently and I fear it could possibly be applied to my life presently.

I've been feeling bored at work many times in recent weeks. I wonder, though, if it's really boredom that I'm experiencing, or something else. I seem to have plenty of things that I need to do, but most of these tasks I have no desire whatsoever to accomplish. Things like...

• contacting my auto finance company to settle a dispute I've been trying to settle with them for nearly a year;
• contacting my wife's health insurance company to inquire as to why they debited my account two weeks before I expected them to;
• shipping some books back to my book club for credit;
• organizing the cluster-fuck that is my desk;
• et cetera.

I also have plenty of things that I want to do as well. These are in much more abundance and have a much wider range of importance and urgency. As varied as...

• taking some required paperwork to the financial aid office at the college I'll be attending;
• continuing in the current book I'm reading;
• studing the Arab-Israeli conflict;
• writing letters about many issues to send to government officials;
• editing and updating Wikipedia articles;
• packing and mailing some film to Snapfish;
• et cetera.

So I've come to this question: if I'm feeling bored, am I boring, or just unorganized?

I don't have a problem taking care of tasks associated with my job. I usually take care of those things immediately. Business, however, hasn't been as fast as it used to be, so there is a lot of down time.

I don't mind the down time, but it has to be organized. I have to find a way, a method, to organizing and prioritizing the tasks I need to accomplish.

I found a great quote from The Quotations Page, attributed to Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), which says, "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

Have any tips or suggestions? Leave a comment!

A good Wednesday

A few very good things have already happend today. Even though I slept too late to make my 8:15 AM doctor appointment, I rescheduled it for 3:15 PM and it worked out fine. After the appointment, I dropped my prescription at Walgreen's and went home for a few minutes.

I grabbed the mail and opened an envelope from Target. I had recently applied for a Target credit card, so I expected it to be a letter stating that they could not "extend any credit to [me] at this time." I was wrong; I was shocked! Enclosed in the envelope was a Target charge card. It seems that I am moving up in the world.

An Eventful Weekend

A family visitation
After my wife, kids, and I have been living here for eleven weeks, my sister was finally able to visit Chicagoland. She and my mother flew up here last Friday morning. It was good to have family visiting again.

Unlike when my mother visited during Thanksgiving, the weather during this visit has been horrible, filled with gray, wintry skies overflowing with misty rain, sleet, ice, and flurries. A noteworthy accumulation of snow, the one winter result we did want, did not make its expected appearance.

Also due to the weather, I wasn't able to take Priscilla to see the city. It would not have been a pleasurable experience under the conditions. Her tour of Chicagoland was limited to downtown Elmhurst and the surrounding areas. Next time, hopefully, will be much different.

I finally meet Roscoe
After having received his phone number from a mutual friend, and after speaking with him many times and trying to find the opportunity to "hook up", I finally received a call from Roscoe Brown on Friday (the same day my mother and sister flew in). As soon as I saw his name on the caller ID I said, "Yessss!!"

Roscoe is a really cool guy, and he lives in a real cool part of Chicago near the lake. I hung out at his place for a little over half an hour talking until I had to leave.

Hudson and I visit Houston
Around February 5, I have to take Hudson back down to Houston for a minor surgical procedure at Texas Children's Hospital. We will probably stay down there for about a week. During that time he and I will be able to visit family and friends.

In addition, I will be able to make the Family History Research trip to Tyler County that I've long been wanting to. I plan for this to include visiting my oldest relative, whom we call Uncle Lee Roy, who can answer questions about my families history and tell some stories that are perhaps unknown or not remembered by anyone else in my family. It is necessary for me to document this priceless information before it's too late.