Scary thought

So I just heard from a reliable source that Grand Canyon University is going in the same direction as University of Phoenix. This is disconcerting because I specifically chose a school that isn't UOP because I wanted to earn a degree, not just pay for one. To me, it is important to actually have the skillset that piece of paper you get after graduation says you have. Maybe that is just me. I know I am in the minority in my demographic because UOP is significantly larger.

I wouldn't mind GCU going in that direction administratively speaking. Right now, GCU has screwed up with my account to the point where for one fleeting second, I had considered switching to the aforementioned diploma mill by the airport. Some of you already know GCU almost didn't award me financial aid because that department can't read the national system that shows where a student was when they received their financial aid. Now, they seem to think I owe them $3700 in back pay from last semester. Um, my financial aid more than covered tuition last semester, so what's the problem? The problem is that they went ahead and paid this amount to my accumulated student loan account. Why did they do this? I plan to find out.

This is their business office that has caused much of the problem, and financial aid has been an innocent (and inadvertent) scapegoat.

The academic advising department did me a solid though. GCU was going to have me take a 100 level communications class. I have taken a 200 level course a few years back that, while not sharing the exact same curriculum, was close enough to allow a substitution. The next step is to get my psychology class I took in 2005 count for the general psych class GCU requires. If that happens, the only gen ed I need to take is music appreciation - a class for which I have taken nothing remotely related since up until recently, it was never a requirement.

So a combination of this and the grind I have chosen to involve myself academically has gotten me feeling a little obnoxious. So the anthem for now will be Sam Kinison's rendition of "Wild Thing". Not only is this song obnoxious because Sam Kinison is the frontman, but because there are about 20 other prominent rock stars of the era. Where else will you see Stephen Pearcy and Billy Idol in the same room?

Back to School

Monday started yet another semester of school for me. After about three months of not having to do anything related to school, the work load has come as a shock. I have finally gotten myself in a position where I can take one accounting/finance course per 8-week session for the rest of my undergraduate work. This is good, because there is finally an end in sight. My classes for the next 8 weeks are financial accounting and business statistics. While I am excited about the accounting course, the statistics class seems to be a bit of a snoozer - odd considering they really do go hand in hand. The second 8 weeks of this semester will be spent in managerial accounting and some management course I have to take.

Anyway, I will be attending classes with no more than a 3 week break for the rest of my life as a student. This should get me out by December of next year. In the meantime, I need to decide what I am going to do by December of this year. GCU has just opened up degrees for their online students in Finance and Economics. I will be sitting with my HR director to go over my carreer interests to determine if I stay an accounting major, or I pick one of the other two. As many of you recall, I have been waiting for the finance major to open up since I began with GCU. I am reluctant to just up and change since i have done that so much in my life. I will do so if it serves my carrer goals. In the meantime, the classes I am taking and have taken are all required for any of the three degrees I am considering, so no time is being wasted.

This weekend should be nice. Friday, I will spend running errands with the family and going out to dinner as we do on a weekly basis. Saturday after work, I will go to Mike's place for some fun with a chainsaw (he needs to cut some of his Palo Verde down from injuries sustained during a monsoon storm) and then to play what I hope to be the entire Moving Pictures album on Rock band. After that, I am going to Nate's house for a UFC party. Sunday is the first day of football for all but two teams (a game I am watching now). I will watch the games and transfer all of the homework I have been doing at work to the proper format and submitting it. Yeah, I have enough down time at work where I have actually gotten all of my homework done. Good times.

Anyway, my brain being twisted around all this school work has put me in a mood. This week's anthem is indeed a joke, but I am putting it up anyway. I used to have a massive crush on the drummer of this band (when I was 10). I know I stated on several occasions that the vast majority of women are incapable of rocking, I have to hand it to these ladies because they can actually play their instruments. So allow me to present for your pleasure or torture - quite frankly, I don't care - Vixen and their song "Rev It Up":



In the mood for a power ballad?