Job Interviews

I spent Monday and Tuesday trying to do my best to finish up a prototype of my master’s project simulation to present it at our department seminar Wednesday afternoon. I was one of six presenters and had about ten minutes to explain my project to the attending faculty and other graduate students in the department. I invited Jason to come as well and he really liked the presentation. In fact he kept telling me all day that my presentation was the best one, but I think he may be just a little biased. J I did receive a lot of compliments and positive feedback on my project after the seminar, which helped make the time I’ve spent on it worth it.

Thursday I had two job interviews for instructional design positions. I decided a few weeks ago that I wouldn’t mind getting a little more formal instructional design experience before I graduate. Two interesting job postings floated through my email and I updated my resume and applied to both of them. Both positions found me worth at least interviewing and both jobs scheduled the interview for the same day. The 9:00 interview was with an e-learning corporate company called K12 Inc. located here in Provo. This company puts together curriculum packages primarily for students who are home schooled and for virtual charter schools. Their headquarters are located in Virginia, but they have a small office extension here in Provo. The position is full-time and would start in January. The interview was an hour long and pretty exhausting. I interviewed with one of their directors that had flown in from Virginia to do the interviewing. We talked for about half an hour and then he introduced me to two instructional designers in their Provo office and I talked with them as well. I think I was more excited about the job before the job interview than afterwards. It would be a good job and good experience, but I don’t know if I’m ready for a full time position on top of working to finish my project this coming semester. Depending on how things go, I may have an additional phone interview from instructional designers in Virginia. We’ll see.

The 3:00 job interview was for a part-time job for the Training Office at Student Academic and Advisement Services at BYU. This job would entail helping to develop training materials for this department. I felt a little better about this job interview even though they grilled me just as much as the other company. They said they would let me know by the end of the week whether or not they would offer me the job.

Well, in the middle of all these stressful job interviews Jason and I discovered our heater was broken and our apartment stayed at a chilly 55 degrees. Jason went into the apartment office in the morning, but they didn’t come to look at it until after 4:30 and because they said it would take a long time to replace it, they brought us a couple of space heaters for the night. The whole heater ordeal was kind of stressful and cold, but now that they have installed a brand new heater unit, I think it was worth it. This new heater actually has a thermometer on it that automatically turns itself on and off according to a set temperature –what a novel idea. Anyway, that means that it has been MUCH warmer when we wake up in the mornings and come home after a long day at school.

Crandall's Printing Press

Monday night I went with Jason on a class fieldtrip to the Crandall Printing Museum here in Provo. It was really fascinating albeit a little long. We had three very seasoned gentlemen tell us about the history of printing for two hours starting with the invention of the printing press by Johann Guttenberg around 1450 making it possible for the first bibles to be printed and distributed much more quickly than by hand copying it. I thought it was pretty cool how detailed they explained and demonstrated the process of creating and casting the molds for the individual letters of the alphabet. They explained the updates in printing presses through the years and explained the major role that the printing press played in the publishing of the Bible, “The Crisis” by Thomas Paine, The Declaration of Independence, The Book of Mormon, the updated versions of the scriptures, and the Deseret News. I learned a lot about printing, a little more about history, and gained a better appreciation for the Lord’s hand in bringing forth the scriptures and furthering His work.

Where is November going?

I'm going to attempt to make an uneventful week appear exciting. Let's see how I do.

Today we had our ward's primary program in sacrament meeting. Fortunately, as the Primary President, I wasn't in charge of it. Our primary consists of 6 children under three-years-old and we're happy if they can say "Jesus," "Joseph Smith," and “prayer.” So needless to say our primary didn't actually do anything for the primary program. The ward music chairman organized it all. It included six 2 1/2 min. talks and six musical numbers from the Children's Songbook. My only part in it included accompanying one of the couples that sang "A Child's Prayer." It turned out really well and was a nice change of pace.

Jason and I also had tithing settlement. What it really turned out to be was a chance for our Bishop to tell me how wonderful my husband is and how much he appreciates having him serve as the ward clerk. I already knew this of course, and just nodded my head and smiled while Jason sat beside me blushing. (Jason's accuracy would make me delete the part about him blushing, but it just makes the story sound better. ☺) I think he said a few nice things about me too. ☺

Friday night and Saturday morning Jason spent about nine hours taking four Korean tests for the Defense Language Institute (Military branch of language studies). They paid him to take the tests so they could "test out the test." We both thought he would enjoy doing it, but unfortunately each of the tests consisted of 58 problems of reading a passage anywhere from a paragraph to a page of Korean text and then only ONE corresponding question. Jason said he could only do about the first 14 problems and the rest were too hard for him. Not surprisingly however, he spent the rest of the allotment of time trying to read and understand the other 44 problems. It turned out to be a very frustrating and not fun experience.

To make up for it, Jason volunteered at the MTC, we watched most of the BYU v. New Mexico game, and that night we watched the movie Cheaper by the Dozen 2. It was a fun, silly movie and I think Jason laughed more than I did.

This week I also started Christmas shopping a little. This might be the earliest I've ever started Christmas shopping. I'm sure it was only by accident though because I went the mall for one thing and found a really great sale at JC Penny. Jason wasn't with me and he really doesn't like shopping, so instead of dragging him to the mall, I brought the mall to him. I just bought several things that I thought he would like so he could try it on at home. In the end we both were happy because Jason actually liked the stuff I brought home and he didn't have to make a trip to the mall. I think that by itself is like a Christmas gift to him. (Okay, so I may be exaggerating a little. ☺ )

October Ends

This is going to be short, but I just wanted to mention a few highlights from last week. Jason spent a lot of week trying to finish an ORCA grant proposal. It took him a lot longer than he thought, but he got it in by the deadline. Unfortunately that meant that he read several hundred pages of a book on Sat. and Mon. so he could take a test. Fortunately, he did really well on his test.

My sister Kristilyn had a birthday and we celebrated on Saturday by shopping at the mall. I haven't been to a mall in several months, so it was kind of fun to go with my sister. I'm not a big shopper myself, but Jason really, really dislikes it, so someone has to go. :) He was especially glad that I went shopping with my sister so that he didn't have to go. :) After several hours, we found a lot of good stuff for her, but I was enjoying her company so much that I didn't find anything to buy for myself. It was a nice break for both of us. I really enjoy talking to Kristilyn. She introduced me to California Pizza Kitchen which was really, really yummy. I hope to go back again sometime.

Homecoming

This week went by very quickly without anything too exciting to report. I had my only midterm of the semester last week. Considering the fact that it was my only midterm, I probably should have spent more time on it, especially considering it was a closed book eight page essay test. I felt kind of rushed taking it since I didn't give myself enough time, but hopefully it will turn out okay.

It was BYU homecoming this week. Receiving a distinguished alumni award for the McKay School of Education, Sister Mary Cook of the General Young Women Presidency came to speak to our college. She did a really great job and spoke about being "more fit for the Kingdom." She related a lot of her personal life and tied it together by encouraging us to develop our skills and talents so that the Lord can use us in building up the kingdom. She talked about how because of her college education, she was prepared later to serve in Mongolia with her husband and eventually help open up the missionary work there. It was very inspiring and I felt the truth of her words in the responsibility I have to develop my own gifts and talents so that "more used can I be."

My parents also came down on Friday night. We had a yummy dinner at our apartment and then went to the Homecoming Spectacular. I've gone to Homecoming Spectacular almost ever year for the last ten years and it is always fun to see what new things they put together. The men's and women's chorus put on a really fun series of number that had them dancing and acting and playing around. I think it was one of our favorite numbers.

Saturday Jason watched part of College Game Day on TV and then headed out to make his own game day. He played football at the park with some ward members and got one great interception, two sprained fingers, one bruised lip, one sore jaw, and one big headache. To make me not worry so much he only emphasized the interception when he told me about the game. I just tell him to be careful. He tells me he never gets hurt playing sports, but ever since the staples in the head incident I worry a little bit more.

I ended up going to a baby shower that morning for a childhood friend. It was fun to see all the fun baby stuff and hear the latest popular baby names. I really went to see my friend, but after greeting her in the first 5 minutes I found myself talking to strangers or forgotten acquaintances for the next hour and a half. Gotta love those showers!

Red bushes are my favorite!!!

What have we been up to?

Jason has been reading, coding, studying, learning, babysitting, and making applesauce. Every once in a while he has a little time to play.

Julie has been reading, writing, teaching, programming, cleaning, cooking, and grocery shopping. Every once in a while she has a little time to play. If you want to see what she's been programming you can go HERE.

Jason's good news for the week is that he did well on his test today and that he's doing awesome in his tennis class. Not to mention playing a little basketball and football when he gets the chance.

Julie's good news for the week is that she passed her Prospectus Defense and can now officially start working on her development project. Anyone wanting to know more about what she's doing for her project is welcome to read her 20 page paper!

In celebration we went to a corn maze and got lost! I highly recommend it.

The end of September

It hasn’t been a really exciting week, but a good week. My classes and project are going pretty well, although slower than I would like. I really enjoy teaching the Educational Psychology class for the most part and spend many hours planning and teaching. I assigned a fairly large assignment on assessment that was due on Friday, and it’s so interesting to see the differences among students in how they approach and value school. Thursday I arranged a meeting with a student that I was concerned about. She pretty much hadn’t cracked the textbook in spite of the weekly reading assignments for the past three weeks, and when I asked about the assessment assignment, she hadn’t done a thing for it and just told me she didn’t understand it. I spent almost an hour re-explaining what we had gone over in class (that she had missed) and walking her through it so she would feel capable of doing the assignment.
In contrast I talked to another one of my students after class on Friday who is a native Brazilian and still struggles with the language. She was on the verge of tears for most of our conversation as she explained how difficult the assignment was for her and how many hours she had spent trying to do it “just right.” I suggested a couple of ways she could improve it before she turned it in later that day and I’m sure spent a lot more time trying to implement what I said. I have two other native Spanish speakers as well and my heart just goes out to them in their struggles to do well in school and in taking tests, and yet they seem to be some of the most conscientious students.
Friday afternoon I was reminded of an important lesson. I walked to the library after class. On the way home from the library, I passed the McKay Building and remembered that I had left my jacket there this morning in the graduate lab. It was so hot though, so I decided I could get by without it for the weekend. Well, as I was mostly past the building I thought about it again, but again I rationally pushed the thought aside. I was so hot and tired by the time I arrived home and as I walked up the stairs, I reached for my apartment keys in my backpack. They weren’t there. It was then that I realized I had left them in my jacket pocket which was now still up on campus. As I walked all the way back up to campus and back again I was clearly reminded that I need to listen to the promptings of the spirit and that even though I may not know why at the time that I’m being prompted, I still need to listen for the blessing and benefit not only of others, but also for myself.
Friday night Jason and I picked up some dinner at Costa Vida and drove up to the look out point of Squaw Peak. We enjoyed eating dinner while overlooking the valley and then walked along the trails for a little bit until the sun set. It was so gorgeous, definitely one of the benefits of living so close to the mountains! Unfortunately our camera batteries were dead and we didn’t get a single picture.
Saturday I went to a great enrichment (now called a RS meeting ☺ ) on provident living. We had great classes on managing money and saving money on food and decorating. Later that afternoon we babysat a 9 mo. old baby while his parents went to the football game. I tried cutting Jason’s hair while we watched the BYU football game and tried to keep the 9 mo. old out of the cut hair. It was kind of funny.
Jason took our bikes in to get fixed and tried to get some homework done on Saturday. I don’t know how much he managed to get done, but he’ll have a busy week this next week. Fortunately, we did manage to play a few games of Lost Cities in which I have been the champion in recent history. ☺