Things Are Looking Up!

So, it seems that luck is on my side.  I'm going back to work Sunday night at the same place as before prior to going out on workers comp.  They backed for me and I honestly didn't think they had to because I am only a temp.  Not entirely thrilled about going back to this particular place, but a job is a job at this point and I should just be happy with that!  Yay for getting back into the swing of things!

I've also realized lately that I probably don't give myself enough credit intellectual wise.  I got down about my midterm in financial analysis because I got an 80 on it to later find out that the instructor went in and edited it to a 100.  I also was so confused on this one assignment that I had to do and found out that I got a 100 on it as well.  I beat myself up way too much about college.  I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to go for the bachelors.  I'm thinking I'm going to take a semester or two off and take some time to myself to figure out what I want/need to do.

On a more positive note, I found out that the real-estate agent that we were (are in the future) going through to find a house, has a position open for administrative assistant.  I sent her my resume.  That would be perfect for me!  She said I could decide whether I go in at 8 or 9 in the morning and it's Monday-Friday.  That would be a great start toward my career.  It would be such a blessing if I got that position!  Keeping my fingers crossed!

I hope to get back into blogging more regularly now that I'm going back to having a life and will have things to talk about!  Please hang in there people!  Give me some time to get back into the swing of things!

Spring Has Sprung

Today has been great so far and rather productive.  I cleaned my apartment like a mad women because I had the in laws over for a luncheon which consisted of turkey and ham finger sandwiches, bite size brownies, and bite sized apple pastries.  They had their tea and I had my vino.  I'm totally addicted to this tropical fruits Arbor Mist which is strange for me because I don't typically drink chardonnay.  

I've opened the windows to let in some fresh air and I have my Scentsy warmer burning vanilla bean butter cream.  It smells so wonderful.  The thing I love about these Scentsy warmers is that you can burn them any time of the year and your place will always smell great.  It literally smells like I have a cupcake factory running in my house.  I love it!

Please excuse the futon.  That is temporary.  My in laws lent us their futon until we could get a couch.  We now have a couch, but I told them that they could keep the futon here until they finish steam cleaning the carpets and painting up stairs in their house.  In the mean time, I have ample space for people to sit.  Woohoo!  The book shelf looks like a wreck.  Even though it's been a year, I'm still trying to find an appropriate home for everything.  We also have one more truck load to do and we will officially have all of our stuff over here.  THANK GOODNESS.  I know, I know.  We've been here a whole year and we still don't have all our stuff here.  Well, Jason works third shift.  Then, I had to go and get hurt.  And to be honest, I really, really, REALLY hate moving stuff.  It's such a pain in the ass!

Got my counter tops cleared off a lot better.  Jason and I have to make a trip to the transfer station because we have A LOT of cardboard.  I have a thing for buying furniture that has to be put together which results in a lot of cardboard.  I start putting it together and then forget how to read instructions and make Jason do it.  Jason is never thrilled when I make him put furniture together because then he has to figure out where I left off and if I screwed up.

More of our kitchen just because I'm that surprised on how well my cleaning and picking up skills have kicked in today.  I'm pretty lucky to have a place like this at my age.  Most people my age don't start off with a place like this.  Granted, we rent, but I'd like to think that we do pretty well for ourselves.  But anyway, Jason thinks it's too cold to have the windows open, but I wanted some fresh air in here.  So, he is upstairs pitching a manly fit like a 5 year old.

I go Monday night for my sleep study and I'm super anxious.  I don't know about having all these wires attached to me.  Oh!  I passed both of my classed with A's this semester!  That's why I'm drinking some wine today...to celebrate...yeah, we'll just go with that.  I officially have the next week off then I have one more semester left and I will officially be a college graduate!!  I'm going for my bachelors in business after that.  So, my agenda is looking pretty full.

Things That Every College Student Worries About

Prior to becoming a college student, I never quite understood why people in college got so stressed out.  Now that I'm nearly two semesters away from the completion of my associates degree, I think I'm definitely understanding.  I want my fellow college peeps to know that they're not alone when it comes to the things that they worry about when it comes to college.  Let me know if you constantly think or worry about the things I have listed below!

• Keeping your GPA as high as you possibly can.
• Deadlines (Especially when a professor wants something done that takes a week within a few days)
• How am I going to afford to pay my student loans back?
• What happens if I can't find a job in my field after college?
• Am I going for the right type of degree?
• What happens if I get my degree and I lose interest in the field?
• The dread of applying for scholarships and grants.
• Midterms and finals being such a significant part of your grade.
• Panicking over a problem that occurred right before a deadline.
• Constantly analyzing whether you interpreted the assignment correctly.
• Whether or not your work is to your professors satisfaction.
• Feeling like you could potentially ask a really stupid question.
• How will prospective jobs feel if they know I took my degree online?

Those are just some of the things that I constantly think or worry about that I can think of off the top of my head.  If you are a college student or are a former college student, please feel free to share what you constantly think/thought or worry/worried about below!

Thoughts of a College Student

If you don't already know from reading my 'About Me' section, I'm currently enrolled in the Associate of Science in Business Administration.  Provided that I attend the winter semester of 2014 and the Spring semester of 2015, I will have my associates degree in June of 2015.  That doesn't leave me very long to determine what I want to go for a bachelors in.  I know it seems like an easy decision to make, but from personal experience, it's not.  Degrees are a lot of money.  I mean, after having graduated from my associates degree, I will have an approximated accumulative debt of $25,000; that's not even the bachelors degree yet.  They say that you have to spend money to make money and while that holds true in most cases, you also have to choose the right thing to spend your money on in order to make money.

I'm going to be honest, I haven't even started filling out applications for scholarships and grants yet.  I keep thinking that I have all this time to apply when my associates degree flew right by.  I probably should seriously get on that stat.

But anyway, I take my degree online through Virginia College.  You've probably heard of them because they are a well-known accredited college.

I always thought the idea of working from home was an interesting one.  Actually, between having worked at Electrolux in one of the most difficult departments for very little pay, learning the true definition of unfairness and having the pleasure of knowing a remarkable women who decided to further her education and now makes six figures a year is what inspired me to further my own education.

See,  Jason's parents have this friend named Alison who for the most part resides up in New Hampshire where she works as a software tester for some company that I'm not sure the name of.  She had a house built in South Carolina right on one of the major lakes in South Carolina/Georgia which is known as Lake Hartwell.  Every time I walk into her house, I feel like a million bucks!  Granted, she had to work very hard to get to where she is today but she has taught me that nothing is impossible, especially when she has also experienced hardships in her life.  I thought people who were born into money were the only ones who were lucky enough to land those great paying jobs, but she has proved otherwise.  She is a women of great integrity and I love being around her positive energy, it always gives me the boost I need when I've lost some of my motivation.

For the purpose of maintaining my professionalism, I will refrain from including the specifics as to why working for Electrolux has motivated me to further my education, but I will say that one of the girls that I use to work with back in Plastics (one of the most difficult departments) told me to take the unfairness of this place as a lesson and do better with your life than this.  She insisted on reminding me on how young I was and all the potential I have.  I have always been a great communicator and most people take that as a sign of intelligence.  I do have a way with words.  I'm not being cocky; I'm just being honest.

Referring back to my statement that I made about the idea of working from home being of interest to me, I've had much success participating in classes toward my associates degree online.  By doing so, it has taught me that some chances are worth taking and that the world of uncertainty can be a beautiful thing.  Besides, if you aren't open to chances or changes, you'll never know the full extent of your potential.  Why limit yourself in such a world of unlimited potential?  Of course people will try to convince you otherwise that not everyone has the same equal opportunity, but in reality, we all come into this world the same. . .just some want it more than others and that is quite evident.  By "it", I mean success.  Success doesn't just fall into your lap.  You have to work for it and put your time in; at least if it's honest success.  By honest success, I mean people who actually work for what they want, not have it handed to them.  But anyway, that's a whole other topic for a rainy day.

Like I mentioned previously, I've had much success through taking classes online; I've never had less than a 3.80 GPA to be exact.  In my opinion, taking courses online is a lot more difficult to do than being a traditional student.  In my experience, you're really your own teacher.  I didn't do too well when I was in high school.  In fact, I was even in jeopardy of not graduating.  So, the idea of taking online courses where the environment lacks stability and positive reinforcements was an insecure thought to me.

However, I have proved to myself otherwise.  I think it's mostly due to the fact that while you're in your adolescence, you don't take your life too seriously.  Lets face it.  When you're a child, you don't have much responsibility (in most cases) and you haven't given your long-term life too much thought.  It's when you reach the early days of adulthood that you really get a swift kick in the pants, especially the day that you become completely financially responsible for yourself.  When that day comes is when you truly learn how the real world works and all the unfairness associated with it.  You also learn the two most important lessons in life: "A house wasn't built in a day" and "Money doesn't grow on trees".

Blogging has influenced me even more to want to work from home.  I LOVE blogging.  I'm one of those people who want to do something with their life that they love waking up in the morning, excited to go do.  Most people argue that to not be a real, achievable goal; I beg to differ.  

What I have learned so far with choosing what you want to do with your life is, you have to find the fine line between where the money is and always will be, and doing something that you enjoy doing.  With that being said, I love communication, I'm very passionate about business ethics, I'm a people pleaser (whether I like to admit it or not), and I love a challenge.  A challenge that I would love to accomplish is the ability to persuade people.  I'm not very good at persuading people when it comes to seeing things through my eyes.  Like for example, if my life depended on making a sale, I would undoubtedly die.

I will have the Associate of Science in Business Administration in June of 2015, but was thinking of going for a bachelors in Marketing.  Marketing has a lot to do with persuading others and keeping them persuaded for a long period of time.  I'm just a little uncertain of how stable the demand is for marketing professionals.  I read somewhere that marketing professionals are usually the first people to go when the company hits a hardship because they aren't directly tied into the companies profit unless they are a cream of the crop company.  I also read somewhere else that you won't get paid the good green unless you work for those cream of the crop companies.  Then again, I've also heard that it's who you know when it comes to getting that cream of the crop marketing job, but I really think that pertains to any job really, not just marketing.  Otherwise, you have to work your way up the career ladder like everyone else.

I find it kind of hard to believe that marketing isn't directly tied into any companies profit . . . I mean, a good portion of a companies profit is because of its marketing strategy.  Marketing is highly influential in determining the success rate of any company.

Along with the idea of working from home, I have already proved and (hopefully) continue to prove that I possess the ability to work independently successfully with no supervision whatsoever.  My GPA is solid evidence of that.

When I first started college, I was going for an Office Administration degree, but then soon came to the conclusion that having an Office Administration degree wasn't going to be versatile enough for me.  That's when I changed over to Business Administration.  While marketing is still versatile in many ways, it's a little more specific than business administration which I would think anyway that the more you continue your education, the more specific you get with what you want to ultimately end up doing anyway.

Marketing is my only thought right now, but I'm a little apprehensive.  I also dabbled in the thought of website design, but I'm just not sure.  I guess in a worst case scenario, it wouldn't hurt to continue my education to a bachelors in business administration.

I also haven't decided on whether or not I want to stop at the bachelors or shoot for the masters.  I still have plenty of time to decide on that though; that's two more additional years away.

A Personal Life Update -- Brought to you by the Face behind Note the Obvious

I haven't done a personal post yet since I've joined Blogger.  For those of you who haven't read my first post, I came from Weebly which is another type of blogging platform.  I switched over to Blogger for several reasons despite the headache of relearning another blogging platform.  People who say it's easy to use Blogger probably have either been using it for quite some time or obviously haven't attempted to completely customize their entire template themselves like I have.  Everything you see on my blog, I've done entirely by myself.  I also have a lot of time on my hands since I'm out of both work and school.

Back in September of this year, I got hurt on the job.  When I got hurt, I was learning a new job.  I had only been on the new job for probably about (3) weeks.  While most people would consider that to be too much time training, that is definitely not the case in a factory.  I work at Electrolux Major Appliance.  You may recognize the name mostly for being a vacuum cleaner brand, perhaps even a washer and dryer.  However, at the location that I work at, we manufacture refrigerators.  Since December of 2013, I have worked third shift with the lower back of the refrigerator as a assembly line worker.  The bottom back half of the refrigerator mostly deals with the main function of how your refrigerator works.

I've been with the company all together since April of 2012.  Prior to working third shift, I worked 1st shift in the plastics department where I did various jobs that contributed to making the plastic liners that are placed into the refrigerators.  For instance, when you open your refrigerator door where all your condiments are, that's the door liner and when you look into the part of the fridge that has the shelves,  that big white box inside is called the cabinet liner.  Same thing when you open your freezer; freezer door liner and freezer cabinet liner.

Here is a little refrigerator education:

Anyway, the job I did before the job I got hurt was a simple sit-down job where all I had to do was wear a latex glove on my right hand and apply a thin layer of a white substance called Flux to (3) copper joints which is a substance that is applied prior to reaching the brazing pit.  Flux helps to seal copper joints better when they are brazed.  One day, I was told that the current pay I made was the highest I could make if I stayed on the Flux job.  So, if I wanted to make more money, I would have to learn another job.  So, that's exactly what I did.

The job I was training on was a three person rotation job.  We rotated every hour.  I'm not going to bother explaining that whole job because I doubt it that you would understand all the factory terms as they apply to refrigerators.  However, basically how I got hurt was I was bending one of the copper tubes in order to put them together (as my job requires it) and my right arm just folded up in excessive pain.  Ever since then, I've been having problems with my wrist even so that I found it nearly impossible to do my job anymore or any job for that matter.  My injury to this day consists of pain that is now tolerable (though it's still pain), sporadic tingling and shaking.

I've been out on workers comp since September 18th, 2014.  It does make me nervous to be on workers comp because I am only a temp worker and I know that companies (though they can't technically get rid of you because of a work related injury) can find a way to word it, so that they can kick you to the curb employment wise.  Since I've been out, I've had to withdraw from school (which I do online) for a semester, attend various doctors appointments, go for an MRI, and participate in physical therapy.

Recently, the general doctors that I was seeing referred me to a hand specialist and I've been assigned a nurse on my claim.  It's been three weeks since they've been trying to get me an appointment.  I just now heard from the claim nurse and she had told me that I won't be able to get an appointment until February 2nd.  I was highly disappointed due to the fact that I've been out of work since September 18th and I have to wait another 2 months of pretty much doing nothing but physical therapy which is a standstill progress wise.  Just to have a consultation with the hand specialist, I have to wait about 2 months.  That's not all the other visits I have yet to schedule with them, possible tests, and maybe even a potential surgery.

I was told that workers comp is a long, drawn-out process, but being out this long for a wrist injury is a bit much.  So, I'm going to just have to play the waiting game unfortunately.  I refuse to give in because I can't have more than 3 pounds in my hand without it bothering me and pain, tingling, and shaking is still apparent.  I just can't ignore that and go back to work.  My prospective career to centered around constantly using my hands and the good Lord only knows that if I go back to work and close out my workers comp claim, I would never be able to afford the medical expenses to take care of my injury myself.

It does get a bit tough financially.  I mean, I only lose about forty bucks out of my check a week, but it's more or less when they feel like sending out the check that is the problem.  When you're working, you know that you will usually always get a check on the same day of each week.  It's a little stressful and frustrating.

On the bright side, I'm all set to go back to school January 12th for my second to last semester of my associates degree which is a little exciting.  At least I can finally do something that's productive with my life since my injury took place again; assuming of course, I don't need to have anything serious done in the near future like surgery which would temporarily force me to be out of school even longer.  I really hope that's not the case because I had a bunch of problems with taking the Fall semester off.  Also, to be honest, I'm going quite insane not being able to do anything productive.

I can't believe I'm only two semesters away from having my associates degree -- that's so nuts!  I'm not that excited though because I have every intention to go straight onto my bachelors.

Though a factory job isn't my ideal choice of employment, I really do miss the close knit family I worked with there.  We use to have so much fun.  It also bothers me a little bit (not so much the uncertainty of whether or not I have a job to return to, but if I find out I don't) having to explain that time gap to a prospective employer in the future.  Unless of course, I could just get away with telling that prospective employer that I worked for Electrolux until whenever workers comp decides to release me.  I could use the release date from workers comp as an ending date for my employment depending on how the company decides to word my removal from the company.

So, there is my current story.  It's nothing spectacular.  Most of my days have been spent here on the couch, watching t.v, and being glued to the computer.  I'm even surprised that I have anything to write about at all for the blog.  I have to say that it's quite hard to think of something to write, especially when you don't do much of anything to write about in the first place.  I think what makes it the most difficult for me is that I really can't do much.  So, it's not even a matter of me just not wanting to do anything, I just can't.