Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Have You Missed Me???

Last time I updated, I'd been sick for what seemed like forever.
I FINALLY got better, but then my laptop died out on me. Yup, its dead.
It will occasionally still start up, but it always insists that the date is March 31, 1979. As soon as I correct the date, the screen goes completely black. If I don't correct the date, nothing works right. Even then, it will only stay on for a short period of time, then goes black as well.
Best case scenario, I think I'm going to have to replace the motherboard. Or, at least thats what a guy at my work says - he previously worked tech support for Apple. Worst case scenario, I'm going to have to buy a new laptop. Granted, a new MacBook wouldn't be the worst thing to have happen to me, but right now, the price tag isn't exactly feasible either. I would blog from work, but they've blocked all personal blogs and social networking sights. So, I've had to resort to commandeering my grandmothers desktop.
I will have to be commandeering it a lot soon.
I have another photo show coming up at the end of June and I still have to go through a lot of photos and edit some before then. Then, I'm photographing a wedding in July that I will again have to go through and edit photos and burn them on to disc and whatnot.

So, back to the photo show. Its at the end of June, I'll announce the exact date, time and location later, but it will feature photos taken on my recent trip to London.
London was fantastic, I got to see some amazing sites, but we just did not have time to see everything that I wanted to see. I guess that only means one thing, I'm going to have to go back someday. I did love London, and a lot of the stereotypes were defied - the food was not atrocious, there were dentists offices, not everyone
had horrible teeth. Stay tuned for tales of London, and for photos of my nieces first birthday.

My other big news - I'm going to go back to school. I'm not quite 100% certain of what my ultimate goal will be, but I am heavily heavily heavily leaning towards nursing. I would have a lot of prerequisites to work through before I could apply for the nursing program, but there are a lot of opportunities in nursing, a very high demand for it, and awesome pay scale.
I just need a career that has a future in it. I don't feel that I have that where I'm at now. Yes, I'm going through career angst. Again. I'm not actively hating my job like I was a few years ago, but I'm just... dissatisfied. I don't trust that my office won't be relocated out of state in the next 5 years or so, and theres not really anywhere for me to go, not anywhere that I'd be even mildly interested in going anyways. I just don't see a career for myself where I'm at now, and I need to actively do something to improve my future options.
I know that going back to school would involve some radical lifestyle changes. I'd definitely have to cut back on my social activities and exercise A LOT of self discipline in order to focus on studying and give it the attention it needs. Namely, I'd have to cut back on going out to the pub and going out with my friends. I'd have to learn to draw boundaries with my family as to when I'm accessible to them and when I'm not.
So, I'm thinking that I'm going to start as soon as the summer semester. Its awfully short notice - only about 3 weeks, so I'm going to go in and meet with a counselor to see where I should start. I've been out of school for about 10 years, and am very out of practice. I don't know what math and writing levels I'm at, which classes I should enroll in. I'm thinking I may go for a Spanish class to start - I can enroll in beginning Spanish without having to take any sort of assessment tests, and I do seem to have an ability to pick up languages, at least thats been my experience with my travels. Bonus would be that learning Spanish would be very useful in any career setting, and that it would be beneficial to my traveling as well.
Thats another thing I'll have change with going back to school - my traveling. I think this one just might hurt the most. I'll still find ways to travel - they just may have to be on a smaller scale and will have to be timed better so that they don't interfere with class schedules and exams and what not. So, if I was going to travel on a smaller scale, I may do some trips to Mexico or Costa Rica or someplace like that where I could put that Spanish I'm learning to use.
Plus, I may have to rethink my career while in school. I'm confident that I can handle working my current job full time while taking care of all of the prerequisites and general ed requirements, but if I do end up getting into a nursing program I don't know if I could work my current job while in the program. I think the schedules would conflict. So, I'd have to find some sort of part time night job or something along those lines.
But, thats still a bit of a ways off, so I don't think I need to worry on it too much just yet.

I have decided one thing. Boys are stupid.
So, I meet a guy at the pub. We stand off to the side away from everyone else talking for about 2, maybe 2-1/2 hours. When he leaves he makes a point to shake everyones hand, but doesn't remember any of their names - except mine, and he hugs me but no one else.
I've seen him there a time or two since then, and he always hugs only me when he leaves.
So, I'm thinking thats a sign that he may have some interest, but he still hasn't asked for my number or email or anything.
Boys are stupid.

2 comments:

Jesse Harris said...

It definitely sounds like a motherboard issue to me. If you have an older G3- or G4-based Mac instead of one of the newer Intel ones, I'd recommend buying a new one and selling the old one on eBay or Craigslist for parts. If it is an Intel-based one, you may have to get Apple to do the repair. Odds are good, however, that the cost to repair could darn well be near the price for a new one.

If you go for a new one remember that Apple has a refurbished section with some killer discounts, usually in the 25% range. You can also get last-generation refurbished MacBooks from Gainsaver for really cheap.

Vanessa said...

It is an older G4 - a 2004. I got it as a refurb, but my coworker said that the known problem with that year/model didn't always get caught when going through the refurb process - he said it was some sort of graphic chip issue and the term "cold solder" was in there somewhere. I don't recall exactly what he said it was. He said that its great that mine has lasted as long as it has without any issues, but also unfortunate because its well beyond any warranty.
This blows.