Car Shopping

My mother is buying my truck so dad and I have been looking at vehicles for me....he wants to get me something dependable, especially if I will be driving to MO and back occasionally {if I go to school at WWU}.

We spent much of today and the past few days looking for cars that fell within our range and we've test-drove many! Mitsubishi Lancers, Saturn Vues, Chevy Aveos, etc. We're looking to buy by the end of this month....hopefully it happens!

I don't really care what we get....as long as my pops is happy with it, then I'll be happy with it! I do like the mid-size SUVs and they get better gas mileage than I previously thought, but I'll take anything as long as it's a good deal! Also, rear-wheel-drive = not happenin'! It's what my truck is now and I strongly dislike it, especially during the winter!!

All of the dealerships have told us that lately, it is really hard to find a lower-mileage used vehicle for a good price; people are hanging on to their vehicles longer and whatnot, so many prices are high for used vehicles now, boooo. But it's just the economy and how it's going right now, so oh well. Can't do anything about it!

Some Things From My Time Away....

I feel like I am missing some things, but for now, here's a look at what has been going on.....

Last fall, dad and I planted a ton of perennial bulbs and here was the first one that bloomed :)

A family get-together on my mom's side. Me, Grandpa Jim, Grandma Pat, my brother Jon, and cousin Sara.

Steven was a good sport and came with :)

At Steven's Aunt and Uncles' hobby farm, this is one of their llamas, Callica. She's a sweetie!

He's so sneaky....not really!

He's going to professionally show llamas one day, he's already pretty good at it! :)


ANNNND...... STEVEN GRADUATED!!

I think he was nervous, haha.

Walking across the stage and receiving his diploma! :)

After the ceremony, it was extremely sunny out that day!

I can't believe he's done with his undergrad degree....that's crazy. I managed not to cry, but it was hard :(
Time has gone too fast these past 5 years....and since my memory tends to be like Swiss cheese, there are a lot of things I have forgotten, but I hope his next 5 years are amazing....can't wait to see where life is going to take him!

Time Got Away From Me

Whoops, sorry about the break blogging world! Just have been busy with school ending and getting stuff finalized!

I can't believe it's already June ~ where does the time go! School got out about three weeks ago now..it's definitely nice to have a break from homework and exams! I received my acceptance letter into the ASL Interpreter/Transliterator program at SPC and my transcripts are on the way to St. Kate's and WWU, so after I find out if either of those schools accept me, then I get to decide where to go :)

SPC is NOT my first choice simply because the school is poorly run. For example, since the beginning of fall semester '09, I have been placed on financial aid suspension for having an amount of credits that exceed what I need for my program. You are allowed to appeal and I did, although I did not receive the letter informing me of my suspension until the week of. I appealed, they asked for three weeks time to inform me whether or not my appeal was approved or denied, it took two and a half months. Spring semester, same dealio except I never received a response back. However, this time for Fall semester '10, I did not receive the letter until the day BEFORE appeals were due!! And they don't send out e-mails or anything, just the letter. I was mad, but since I already had the letter and just had to change some wording, it wasn't a big deal. They were due Friday and I knew financial aid closes at 3:30 on Fridays so I got there about 2 and there were a ton of people in there working except guess what - they closed at 1:30 that day. WHAT. How are they even allowed to do that when they have paperwork due in from students that day??! I was so mad! Especially because they were all in there....I ended up going to the enrollment office and sort of tweaking and ended up putting my paperwork in their mailbox.....which they probably didn't check, but if they say my paperwork was not received on time, they're going to have a tornado on their hands. AND they never said anything in their letter about closing early the day the paperwork was due. UGH. So frustrating.

So that is one of the reasons why I would like to not be at that school next year :) although, they are the cheapest.....

I have a lot to blog about but I'm finally getting sleepy so hopefully tomorrow I can post some pictures and updates :)

Spring Break 2010

Okay, so March 15th was the beginning of Steven and mine's spring break....we're been pretty lucky in having the last two spring breaks end up being the same week! Like last year, we headed to MO to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and niece :)

This time though we flew:



We've never flown together and I thought it was interesting....I'm not so sure about Steven though...haha.

I'm not the best flier. Pretty much everyone in my family loves to fly and my dad used to work for an airlines which meant flying free by stand-by so we were able to travel quite a lot growing up. Loved traveling, hated flying. And I still don't really like it. Luckily, since we left on St. Patrick's Day, Southwest had a special where everyone on the flight (21+ of course!) were given a free can of Heineken to enjoy:


Pretty sweet deal! And although it was 7 a.m., you can't let something like that go to waste! Plus it was the only drink we had on St. Patty's day.....we're good kids!

So Steven put up with my slight anxiety of flying (haaaa) and got a free beer out of the deal. Not bad, right? (By the way, Steven loves flying. Loves, loves, loves it. Of course.)

When we got there, I was so excited to see my sister P, and niece AJ waiting for us! AJ was of course a little shy at first, she just kept staring and smiling, it was so cute! :)
She saw me at Christmas and P and I skype every few weeks and she "talks" to me on the phone all of the time, but I wasn't sure if she would really remember me. And the last time she saw Steven she was just a little thing, so I was most nervous about her freaking out because he was around (he tends to scare little ones because he's 6' 7"...basically a giant to them!) but she did really good!

We had fun though, went to Purina Farms, went to P's work, went on a walk, blew bubbles, and I made two tutus for AJ - I think they turned out super cute!!

AJ and I at Purina Farms

Steven and AJ at Purina Farms

AJ looking adorable in her pink tutu

AJ's blue and green tutu

Even Teddy got in on the tutu action!

Sad to be going home :(

I don't look that nervous, do I???

Steven and I were also able to go to Anheuser-Busch for their brewery tour and had a really good time! All of those pictures are on Steven's computer though so I'll try to post them later!

It was a great short trip and I'm hoping we can go back this summer....I don't like them living so far away! :(
But we're lucky in the fact of all of these technologies to keep in touch with each other and we do get to see each other quite often, so can't complain too much! My dad heads down next weekend to see them and to run the St. Louis Half-Marathon, I'm sure he's going to have an awesome time!

Another Busy Week Done!

School has just been non-stop since spring break! It's been crazy!

This past week I had been studying for an expressive test that I took yesterday in ASL Fingerspelling and Numbers - I was nervous because the two weeks before spring break happened, our teacher was out of town in Mexico sooooo in the past four weeks, we've had class once! Not good! After spring break, we had the one class (which had a pop quiz...I did really poorly on that quiz) and then it was this week with the test, so I wasn't sure that I would be prepared for it.....but I got through it and she said I did good, so hopefully it turns out OK! I was really awkward during the test because I sign left-handed and the way she had it set up was really crappy for lefties. I sat at the end of the table, but she had that chair at an angle, so my left side was closer to the table then my right plus she had taped down the test at an angle so every-time I signed to her, my hand was in the way and I couldn't read the paper!! Plus my elbow kept hitting the table...it was just annoying. She told me that I needed to move my arm out farther because I ended up signing really close to my body so I wouldn't be hitting my elbow and so I could read what I was supposed to be signing........ummmm hello! I don't think it effected my grade though so if it's the same for our next test, I'll tell her that I want to stand or something. This coming week will be the receptive test.....hopefully that will go fine as well!

I also had a 3-4 page paper due this week for my Eastern Philosophy class. Mine turned out to be 9 pages that I wrote in under 3 hours, haha. I didn't mean for it to be that long, but the topic I had chosen to write about said to "pick several verses" and I probably over-compensated on the number I did. Oh well. She also handed back the book report papers we turned in last Thursday and I was happy to see she gave me an A! Finally! We have a test in EP next Thursday as well, so my week is going to be another crazy one.....plus I have a test in my on-line class too....joy!!

Monday in my ASL Linguistics class we were given our results of the test we took the week before break - we only have expressive tests in Linguistics and this time we video-taped it so our teacher could grade them over break. We then set-up individual meetings with him so find out what we got and go over what we did wrong. Half of the class had meetings before the other half and they were freaking us out because they kept saying that they did bad and he's a really harsh grader, ext, so the rest of us who were having meetings with him Monday before class were super nervous to meet with him! One of the ladies in our class is a CODA (child(ren) of Deaf Adults) and she received a B so everyone was expecting to do worse than her. Keep in mind that for Linguistics and Fingerspelling and Numbers, grading is different and much harder. To receive an A, the percentage is 94% and up instead of 90% and up. So getting a C or even a D might not be that bad because it would have been a B or C. Haha, that's what everyone is keeping in mind to stay positive! Anyways, I had my meeting, he showed me my grade and I almost started crying because I got a really high B. The look on my face must have been crazy because my teacher started laughing at my expression. It's just a relief to have a good grade and be doing good in that class!

Now I just have to finish my on-line homework and turn it in and I'll be done with this week's craziness. Next week will be the three tests and the week after that will be a Linguistics test. Then we start preparing for the end of the semester.....crazy! But I'm ready to be done!

I've been thinking about taking ASL 5 during summer term, but we'll see. I need to decide soon!

The School Situation

Here it is in all it's glory:

Currently I am enrolled in an American Sign Language Certificate Program through Saint Paul College. After this semester is over, I will only have two classes left to complete for the certificate requirements - so close! After I receive it, I will be able to apply for jobs that are looking for people with ASL experience, which I would love to be able to find so I can gain more experience!

If you checked out the certificate link, you might have noticed that there is also an Associates Degree in Interpretation/Transliteration that Saint Paul College offers and might be wondering why I am not in that program since I want to become an interpreter. First, I came into SPC with very little ASL skills and Deaf knowledge. In order to apply for the program, you have to complete ASL I through IV along with both a math and English class. I just completed those classes this past fall semester ('09) and applied for the program this spring; which means I would enter the interpreting/transliterating program this fall (if I get in, haha).

This is not the only interpreting program I have applied/will be applying for though......

Starting in 2012 (the year I would graduate from SPC with my associates) the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf will be implementing a new rule in which any person who wants to become a certified interpreter on a national level (so basically to take the test to become a RID registered interpreter - which is very important) needs to have at least their Bachelor's in any one subject. Right now they only require an Associates - which I would have but it would no longer be valid to take the exam. This is a great idea but for right now it's very frustrating for me as I have to figure out where I will be going to receive a Bachelor's. Yet another change of schools and paperwork to fill out.....endless paperwork....

Sigh.

But in the long run, it's a great idea. I just now have to decide if I will stay at SPC for interpreting while also attending another school for my bachelor's OR attend a school that offers a bachelor's in interpreting. While I love the instructors at SPC, I'm not a fan of how the place is run so I'm definitely leaning towards a school that offers a bachelor's in interpreting.

Here are some of my options: St. Catherine University
Columbia College Chicago
William Woods University
Gallaudet University

While St. Kate's is in my native state of Minnesota, the one major major drawback of attending school there is money. I believe it is roughly $40,000 a year to attend school there. That's a lot of dough. A LOT of dough!!! It is also an all-girl school which means that my ASL classes will most likely be even more female-dominated than they already are....which is sad. Other-wise it is close to everyone except my sister and her family and I would be able to live at home and commute to school (which I already do).

Columbia College Chicago is in (surprise!) Chicago. I've been there only once or twice and have no real collection of it. This school seems really awesome, I would not need a car, it is close enough that I would be able to go home every once-in-a-while, and I could live on campus. It's around $20,000 a year which is really great for a private college!

William Woods University is located in Fulton, MO which is about an hour and a half away from St. Louis (where my sister lives). This is also a private school and the tuition would be about $23,000 a year, but I would also have to factor in either investing in a car that is reliable or plane tickets to come home and see the family. I would definitely spend many weekends at my sister's (which they might not like...) but would probably live on-campus. My sister has a friend who graduated from this school and she speaks very highly of it.

And finally Gallaudet University, the only Deaf university in the nation. Gallaudet is located in Washington D.C. and is roughly $22,000 a year. I would live on-campus, would most likely not have a car, and would have to factor in plane ticket costs. They are extremely selective when it comes to hearing students which is one of the reasons why I am not jumping down their throat to join them - I would most likely not be accepted unless I had very strong backing from my ASL teachers here in MN. When I was younger and first learned about it, I was very adamant that this is where I wanted to go to school and I still do, I'm just being more realistic about being able to attend.

Each of these schools offer a Bach in interpreting and each have their pros and cons. I want to be able to make the best informed decision for my future in ASL and the Deaf community as well as a decision which I will be happy with. I was thinking of applying to Gallaudet for a master's later on but right now, everything is still up in the air.

There are a few other schools with ASL/Interpreting options that I am still looking into, but for now, these four I feel really strongly about.

Monday I have a meeting with Doug Bahl, one of my instructors who is very well-known in the Deaf community. I'm hoping to have positive feedback from him and to hopefully receive help in deciding the best option for my future.

If anything, I can simply stay at SPC and go to Metropolitan University for their major in Psychology or try to get into the U for one of their programs (most likely psychology, social work, geography, family and consumer science, or apparel design....I can't make up my mind but I'm pretty positive I'll also try to get my teaching certificate......argh decisions decisions!).

And one last little wrench that has been thrown into my plans........remember those last two classes I need to take for my certificate? Only one of them is being offered this summer so unless I can somehow convince them to offer both, I will be one class short of getting my certificate. Really?!?!?!? Just one more thing to figure out I guess!

A quote which I will be living by for the next few weeks:

"Courage means to keep working a relationship, to continue seeking solutions to difficult problems, and to stay focused during stressful periods." – Denis Waitley


Wish me luck!

Oops, a Bit of a Break

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've been on! Not good!
So much has happened but I'll just give out some quick highlights:

~*~ I'm now on a "leave of absence" from the restaurant and do not have to go back until the end of May.....if I go back at all (which I don't really want to...)

~*~ School has been going good, I feel like this is the first semester since being at SPC that I have actually had to work at getting good grades and sometimes it kicks me in the butt, I do like the challenge though :)

~*~ Had a dentist appointment and everything looked good! Just have to keep doing the teeth cleaning regimen!

~*~ Spring break happened last week and it was waaaaayyyy too short! Steven and I were able to purchase tickets and fly down to Missouri to visit my sister P and niece AJ.......I'll write a proper post with pictures in the next few days!

~*~ I've applied to the Interpreting/Transliterating program at SPC, now to finish the other school applications....I need to get on the ball with those!

~*~ And I recently found out that this summer, my school will not be offering the one course I need to complete my certificate. Frustrating. And it just complicates my decisions about where to go to school next year even more so.....different post about this later as well :)

Over all everything has been going pretty good! Just another manic Monday with work and classes......which reminds me, I have homework to do...... :)