Recently Laura has found that she enjoys designing themes for WordPress using a program I found a while back. Her interest piqued my interest and I have already created a few. Then a friend of ours suggested we offer inexpensive web sites using the themes we create and the WordPress software to quickly build mini sites for people. Thus, $150 Sites was born. Today we officially launch that business, and ask that if you know someone who is just getting started in business, or has a limited budget for their web site, that they check it out. We would really appreciate your support helping us build this new business. Thank you, I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Growing up in a house with two geeks for parents, it comes as no surprise that that Allyssa is going to be one as well. When I walked out of the bedroom/office for lunch today, this is what I saw, and I just had to snap a picture of it. She is just sooooo cute!
So, what was she doing? Filling up the screen with the letters a and z, and of course screwing up the windows so Laura had to move them back where she liked. Yes, this is Laura’s computer, because my brand new Dell has a bad hard drive. You can read more about that and my fun with Dell Tech support on my GrandSlambert blog.
So, while we are on the subject of Allyssa, perhaps an update is in order. As you know she is 2 years and 2 months old now. She is still on the petite side but that it is OK, she is cute. She is also very smart and can recognize most numbers and quite a few letters. Her speech is still a little hard to understand, but she can say a lot of words now. Of course, I love it when she says “I love you”, even if only mommy and daddy understand what she is saying.
Yes, she is two, and believe me she is really going through the terrible twos something fierce. She is very demanding and wants to watch Thomas the Tank Engine all day long. When she does not get to, she throws a screaming fit that you would not believe. We are still trying to figure out how to deal with that, but we know that it is a phase, and we will get through it.
Usually offering to take her to the pool stops the tantrum, but we cannot always do that. She really enjoys going to the pool and has become quite the water baby. Though the pool we have here is not the best, it is large enough that we can enjoy it, and if we go during the day when most people are at work we have it all to ourselves. Unfortunately, during the day it is in direct sun, so we try to go later in the afternoon when the pool is in the shade.
I think we might be spoiled living where we are. Wood burning fireplace, private fenced in back yard, pool and walking distance to just about everything we need. I would have been a fool to leave, and I am so glad we are staying. I just wish we had more room here but it works for now. OK, back to school for me. I just started my second block of classes and have a lot of work to do.
Finally, after a week of waiting and dreading, my grades for the first block of courses are in, and I have to say I did better then I expected. As you know, we take two courses at a time and each block lasts nine weeks. My first block consisted of GEN105, Skills for Learning in an Information Age, and ENG101, Effective Essay Writing.
The GEN105 class was basically a “how do you use the computer for online classes” type of course. Basically we read online materials in Word document or PDF form, then use a discussion forum to submit assignments and answer questions. We also use this system to discuss topics with other students. Imagine that, me having to take a class to learn how to use a computer. Of course, I aced that class!
The ENG101 course was a bit more complicated, and basically taught us how to write essays, not a skill everyone has. This course required us to write what is known as an expository essay, where you simply write about the facts and use no opinion and do not try to influence the reader in any way. Those who know me KNOW that I am an oppinionated ass and always ready to argue about any topic you can think of. Writing this essay was a lot harder then I thought, and I was certain that I would receive a poor grade. I had already missed an assignment and turned one in late because I just did not plan well. Since the final essay was one quarter of the grade, I tried my best to do well. I was surprised to see my grade was an 82%, which helped my final grade, even if it was only a B-.
With the possiblity of moving I had taken a week off from school so I did not start again until today. My next classes include CIS105, Survey of Computer Systems, and ENG102, Research Writing. So one more bird course and one more tough course. Once I get through these I start on courses geared towards education, including history and social studies, my two worst subjects. I will try to keep you updated on my progress, but just know that I am dedicated to earning my degree in Elementary Education, so will likely be here in Kansas City for the next four years.
OK, everyone can ignore the last post, because after a week of thinking abou it, and packing, I decided that I want to earn my degree in Elementary Education. Since it is not possible to earn this degree in Minnesota with online courses, we will be staying here in Kansas City. But all is not lost, I will still be working for a company in Minnesota, but will work remote rather then be in the office.
I am so grateful to Charles for working with me on this. I know that I can provide some quality work for him even if I am not in the office. I will be working part time so I still have time for school and quality time with Allyssa and Laura. It will be some long days now and I know I will get pretty tired, but I have worked out a schedule that allows me to try and keep the weekends open for anything I want to do. Let’s see how long I can stick to that schedule – starting on Thursday.
While I am on the subject of school, I finished my first block of classes on Sunday and submitted my final assignments. I should know by the end of the week what my grades will be but I think I did well in both. With the hassle of moving and planning, and a possible degree change, I was not schedule to start my next classes right away so I have the week off. I will be back to it on Monday the 29th with a computer course and another English course. The fun continues…
People used to tell me that I move too often, and they would be very correct. I have lived in more places then I can remember, and this year is turning out to be the worst for moves. We have already moved twice, once to Chicago and then to Kansas City where we are as I type this message. However, at the end of this month the Lambert clan will pack up and move again. It’s comforting to know that we will be moving back to familiar territory, closer to home. I have accepted a job in Minneapolis and will begin on June 29th up there. This comes at a good time since the previous position wasn’t working out for us.
I am going to try and make this the second to last move we make for a while. I am tired of moving and always wondering where my next paycheck is going to come from. So this time I am planning to make this job work long term. I will be working part time while I continue going to school. This will be the second to last move only because we decided to put all of our stuff in storage in Minneapolis and rent a room for a couple of months while we look for a place we can call home for a few years. The timing is perfect, with college students all gone for the summer there are lot’s of cheap rooms available. We’ll be able to save a lot of money this way with no ulitilies and cheap rent.
We originally planned to get a large enough truck to pack all the stuff here in Kansas City, then stop in Wisconsin to get the rest of our stuff in storage there and take it all with us. However, I really don’t want to have to move the stuff in Trempealeau twice, and it’s only two hours away from where we will be so we will likely wait until after Labor Day to deal with that stuff. Besides, our camping gear is there and we will be camping at Autumn Rose in Galesville, WI this September, so it will be near by. It will be nice to get all of our stuff together again, and to have a nice paying, albeit part-time, job that will likely become a full time position, if and when I want it to.
Changes at School
This move will effect the degree path I am following in school. Unfortunately, Minnesota does not allow the Elementary Education degree that the University of Phoenix offers. Though I still think it might be fun to be a teacher, reality has made this decision a lot easier. The highest paid elementary school teachers barely make $40K, and if I am already capable of making near $55K in the IT industry without a degree, think if what I could make with one! I will take a week off of school so we can move and get settled, and start back up on May 29th, with an emphasis on Information Technology, hopefully leading into a Bachelor’s Degree for System Analysis. I will keep you updated as I continue my education.
We had an early start today. Shane had plans, but he hadn’t double checked the dates. Apparently the computer he’s using had Monday listed as the start of the week rather than Sunday and that threw off his calendar. So we had some change of plans needless to say.
Since we had an early start to the day and no plans, we ended up deciding to check out Union Station. Being the train buffs we are we had decided to see the KC Rail Experience. We are not sure if we missed something of the show or not, but there didn’t seem to be much to the display. It was informative, but Allyssa doesn’t like standing in one area long enough to listen to the narration, and certainly doesn’t want to stand there while you read a display. Which is probably why it seemed a bit small to me.
There had been a slight mix up with our tickets and we were able to get into Science City as well. There was certainly a lot there for children to do, learn and see. It was more for children older than Allyssa but we still found lots to do, and she had a great time.
With the ticket mix up, we were also able to see a show in the planetarium. I liked what I saw of the show, but by then I was so tired from the early rising and walking all over Science City that I ended up dozing off and missing part of the show.
We enjoyed the day so much, we are talking about purchasing a membership to KC Union Station. If we go more than 2 times as a family the membership will pay for itself. Another reason to consider it, is that they have a Half Pint Program which is aimed towards children 3-6. While Allyssa would be a bit young for that at the moment, she is a very smart girl and won’t always be too young. Besides the Half Pint program is 1/2 price for members.
Well today we went and did a bit of shopping here. Our tax return finally made it’s appearance and naturally we went to spend some of it. We ended up at Micro Center. There we purchased a 26″ Sharp flat panel T.V.. Shane wanted to use it for both a T.V. in the bedroom and something he could use as a second monitor. While it works as a monitor, it’s not perfect. Basically the resolution is smaller than he hoped and it’s a bit too big to fit comfortably on the desk. He’s using it for now, but is likely to pick up a different monitor once the funds from his Pell grant arrive.
While we were out, we also purchased a Play Station 3. We had talked about purchasing a Blue Ray player, but of the difference in price it made more sense to pick up the PS3. While we purchased a second controller for it, we haven’t purchased any games for it yet. We decided it made more sense to get a GameFly subscription and rent the games first. We also have several PS2 games which we haven’t played since our PS2 died with a drive problem.
Besides all this, Shane recently introduced me to Mafia Wars on FaceBook. And from there I’ve also seen Vampire Wars and Pirates: Rule the Caribbean! I’ve found them to be rather addictive. As you can see we now have plenty to play around here.
