Back to School, I Wish

I fianally came around to revising my graduate grades:

History 31 112 3.61 to: 43 154 3.58
MBA 54 156 2.88 75 231 3.08
Pol Sci 27 90 3.33 no change
Total 112 358 3.20 145 475 3.28

In essence, if I included all the courses with which I received a grade, it lowers my total with history slighly while raising the grade with the MBA and slightly overall.

Sun 28 Aug
The himidity reigns this weekend For some unknown reason, I have had more than usual pine for a return to school. The weather stimulates my time in State College in 1978, when I first lived alone.
It angers me to remember how much I changed majors, upset goals, and abandoned ambitions, just so I could avoid a deadend job. Well, I've been in a deadend job for eleven years, and it was an improvement over the decade earlier. I am slowly moving toward what I wanted to do, rather than allow financial domination to thwart everything in my life.
I was quite upset in September 1978 when I gave up yet another ambition; I felt so defeated. Then twice it looked as though I'd escaped deadend jobs. Meanwhile I abandoned so much, and only recently am I getting back to all the abandoned plans.

It's Over Now, It's a Summer Romance

Mon 22 Aug
Today turned out better than I'd expected. I tried a dry run on the speech today, and i emailed a warning that it would be long on Thursday. Then I called at 1 PM to confirm that I could take the final, and no one called me back. So, I intened to go straight home, but the bus came too early. Therefore, I took the wrong bus, and I stopped at Block, where I took the final. It turned out the final was on, just that no one had called me back to confirm.
Then I found a multitude of language tapes at discount. I selected Spanish on disc and Japanese on cassettes. All of these triumphs should not cover the ultimate goals I've set for this year. How do I finish this stuff? Should I get more tapes to record?

Tue 23 Aug
Despite my efforts, I could not get much done to make up the day I'm taking off tomorrow. I hope this is the third and last colonoscopy, unless my uncle tkes my mother. I've already cut down further on the meat I eat. I suspect red meat as the source of polyps. If more people would change their lifestyles, there'd be fewer of such incidents.
Tonight I glimpsed at a story I wrote -- a rather short one - in 1978. I wrtoe rather poetically, and I am tempted to place it on my site.

Fri 26 Aug
"The Professional Salesperson" is indeed one of my weaknesses. I got by last night, but the speech once again lacked reality. For the first time this summer, I have a week with nothing on the agenda ahead of me.
I took an early wrong bus tonight, so I stopped in Boarders and completed the language programs of Berlitz's French and German Today. I took Italian on Wednesday, and Spanish and Japanese on Monday.
Tongiht I looked over my transcript of my graduate course, and I discovered that I had an overall average of 3.20 for the five years I took classes for credit. If I include all the classes I took for credit, then the average goes up to 3.28.

Progeria -- early signs of senility

When Reagan was my age in 1959, he was already showing signs of progeria.
Sun 14 Aug
I just finished chapter 2 of Morrison and Boyd. I realize now what I missed the first round in 1976. The points are that energy factors govern halogenation. The problems emphasize the role of the energy of activation and the mechanisms of free radical halogenation. Other questions popped into my head as I went through the problems, twentyone years too late. The most important aspect is that I am finisheing things, instead of collecting tasks for the future.

Just when it seems it couldn't get hotter, we hit 38º today. This heat is about a month late. I stayed inside all day to avoid the stifling and enervating heat. I seem to be getting little done this summer, although my classes at Block will abate for a month. Hopefully, I can aqueeze in the tasks during the pause.

Sat 20 Aug
In 1977, I spent this entire week away from the Coal Street project in Wilkes-Barre. We went to Atlantic City on Sunday and left on Wednesday. It was Tuesday in the late afternoon, when we heard some kid on the Boardwalk yell that Elvis was dead. That was the last time I was in Atlantic City and on a vacation.
Wednesday we drove to my relatives, which is very close to my current home. We spent a few pleasant days until we returned home to the projects. I patiently waited for the time when I could return to the Wilkes-Barre Campus of Penn State. I had to wait another two weeks and a half.

I avoided bringing my diary to work, so I have nothing much written here this week. On Wednesday I spent a long day which eneded at Academy Palza with the final class of sole proprietorships. I'll still need Monday and Thursday this week, even with Wednesday no longer class night for a few weeks. I have the final tomorrow and Toastmasters on Thursday.

My adventures with Morrison and Boyd continued to chapter 3 on alkanes. I'm searching for parts I still don't understnad. Chapter 2 was a revelation this time. I could actually see the molecules as they collide, and I found myself extending the concept to other situations.
Halogenation seemed to open the concept of just how chemical reactions occur. In this case, the methane and the chlorine collide, but they need a certain amount of energy to react. It's a statistical aspect often found in physical chemistry. I also considered combustion in the same manner. Later I found out about oxygen as free radicals in nutrition. Somehow the idea of combustion as a radical process never crossed my mind in 1976.

Sun 21 Aug
I bought "Dances with Wolves" and watched it in French audio and captions. The movie is rather magnificent in its view of the Sioux (in contrast to George Custer at Little Big Horn). It is a glimpse of Amerind history. I had to switch to English the second time to understand the Sioux.

Heatwave Continued

Wed 10 Aug 23::48
We left class early tonight, but the bus never came at 9 PM, so I walked home from Morell, arriving just past 10 PM. I spent part of my lunchtime pouring over the explanations of how halogenation works with alkanes. I don't recall the details well, but more importantly, how I should have mastered the material.

Fri 12 Aug 15:42
The clash between Block and Toastmasters resolved itself when I was too crapulous to go to either. I simply left a voicemail at Block and an email at Toastmasters. I've made no progress at Toastmasters this year, and it's almost time to renew my membership.
I had a recurrence of what I wanted to do this time in 1992, mixed with what I've learned from Roberts Kiyosaki and Allen. I have expressed those thoughts in the guise of the xanthocroid George Król.
On the way to work I had this urge to get into writing from a different aspect. How about adventures in organic chemistry with the atoms' behaving like the numbers on the calendar? I could have some great adventures in more than The Story of Civilization!
Toastmasters even had an advertisement for selfpublishing in this month's magazine. Of course, having affiliations and advertisers on the internet would help reap some income as well. Ultimately the quest remains on how to proceed.

Sat 13 Aug 20:00
I've lived in the Philadelphia area for a decade plus two other summers, and I never remember a summer as hot and humid as this one. It's been weeks since the temperature dropped under 23º. Today the high reached "hot breath" at 37º, human body temperature, the second time in a week. I'll have more tomorrow.

August 2005 Begins

Mon 1 Aug 15:28
After going through the other places for books in my bedroom, I still haven't uncovered the lectures for investing. Those compdics seem to have disappeared. Meanwhile, I pulled out some of the books I want to finish soon. Overall, cutting the grass was about my only accomplishment over the weekend.
I did have a thought for class on Wednesday: Does being an enrolled agent allow for work experience toward the CPA? As an MBA, I need a year's experience toward it.

Tue 2 Aug 15:30
There is too much to do for me to catch up quickly. I still haven't finished all the invoices for today. The mornings continue warm, about 25º at 7 AM. I am consistently leaving early, and I get picked up the last third of the way. What can I get done once this second class ends in two weeks?

Thu 4 Aug 15:25
The awful truth revealed itself: An enrolled agent and a CPA are two diverse positions. The required experience for a CPA is a year in public accounting. I looked over the gleim website on an enrolled agent. Apparently they have a complete package for $279. I don't see much of a barrier with the costs, although I should lean toward using up what I've already available in resources. My expenditures on books along during tax season probably ran that high.

Sat 6 Aug
Since I began to go to classes at Block, I've been trying to put together what I want to do as the means of improving my income. To work for Black next tax season, I must take a certain amount of credits, more to be certified. I just finished the required course, and I'm going for twice as many classes as I need. I'm also taking courses online. I want to advance as quickly as possible by next year.
Block also has a path called the Enrolled Agent. It's a credential for representing clients in financial distress, particularly with overdue taxes. I am tempeted to try for it next year.
There is also another course of events I could take for another credential, known as the Certified Public Accountant. That is an elusive goal for me, one I first thought about some twentyone years ago. Both courses are independent but worthy to pursue.

Sun 7 Aug 14:10
Once again, I am going through "Empire Strikes Back", with the audio in Spanish and French. My ears are picking up the words! I have passed from avoiding translation to understanding the words themselves.

I am trying to assemble my goals for the next half decade. The capstone remains the CPA, but how can I get the experience without a degree once I pass test? I must find a way around it. It may resolve itself during my pursuit of the other goals of financial planning and real estate investing.

Alopex