Trecia

Casino Trip

Everyone has to unwind and relax at some point, especially when taking classes.  Usually during the weekend I am trying to catch up on assignments and discussion postings.  However, last weekend I went on a casino bus trip.  I went with some co-workers and a few other friends. When I go on these trips (once a year) I really don't expect to win anything, the goal is to go and have a good time and to eat some good food at the buffet.

My friend who organizes these trips understands that we will probably all lose our money, so she has a raffle on the bus on the way there and gives out 10- 15 prizes, so there are way better odds of winning the raffle than at the casino.  This year I actually did win a raffle prize, a complimentary haircut at a new salon (yes, I was excited).  Needless to say that is the only thing that I won that night.  I did come home with a $2.50 chip (yes, big winner).  Below are some pics of some of the stores, you can't really take pics inside the casino, they are paranoid about that stuff....

This is the Odysea store, honestly I can't remember what they sell, but their entrance is a huge aquarium.

 

 

 

 

 This picture is outside the ticket booth. 

 

I thought this was interesting so I decided to take a picture of it.

Let the Countdown Begin

As the end of the semester approaches all part-time grad students with fulltime jobs seem to have the same problem…how to find time to study for final exams and complete end of term projects that are extremely labor intensive.  A lot of us simply schedule our vacation or personal days around big projects and exams, yeah I know, the idea of using vacation time to do school work doesn’t excite me either.  You can usually tell the people who are taking graduate classes, because late April and early May, they are taking random half days or whole days off.

 

There are only so many hours in a day, and while there is usually enough time during the week to get weekly assignments completed, if it requires 10 or more pages with research to back it up, it won’t be happening after I come home from work.  Unless your time management skills are impeccable you are definitely going to need some time off.   

 

I am starting to get my schedule organized to see how many days I need to work on my project and papers.  Depending on what the nature of the project is, for example a paper, you can do some of the leg work before hand thus saving your time off for when you really need it. Researching can be done a few hours a night, gathering articles, making an outline etc, are all things that can be done in advance.  What I like to do is use my time for is putting everything together; I usually don’t like to write my papers in pieces, because it doesn’t flow well, so I try to do as much in one sitting as possible. 

 

If you are honest with yourself, you know exactly what you are capable of achieving in a given timeframe, given how well you have grasped the course material and understand the topics and scope of the assignment. I always like to give myself more time than I need, I would rather finish it early than turn it in late. 

Spring Time

I know that the official start of spring was March 20th, but the way the weather has been lately, it definitely didn't feel like spring.  Today though, it was 60 degrees and for the first time in a while,I didn't have to wear my heavy coat.  My co-workers were talking about that just the other day, of how we can't wait to stop wearing heavy coats and sweaters to work.  The problem is when we leave the house in the morning, it's still pretty cold, in the 30's, then it gets warm during lunch then it goes back to being cold and windy when it's time to leave work.  However, I'm now starting to see some signs that spring is starting to take root and stick around for longer than a day or two.

Below are some pictures of plants and shrubs that are making their debut, for the season.  They weren't around last week, so this is giving me some hope that warmer weather is just around the corner. 

 

However, it seems that the trees didn't get the memo that spring has arrived.

The warm weather isn't just an indication of spring, but also that the semester will soon be coming to an end.  It will be time to think about finals, papers and projects, well maybe you should start thinking about them now, I know I should...