Work and school have been killing me

Honestly, unless you want to see pictures of a messy workspace everyday, not much has been going on that is interesting. I've been busy at work making GIS maps, and my group project at school isn't really a group project anymore. It's the Sarah show. I have a good recap of the rest of March coming in short order, I promise.

Day 78: Back at School

I'm back to enjoying the scenery in the graduate lounge as I start studying for my midterm this week. Why is this a mural in the business lounge?

61/365: What do you want to be when you grow up?

I have been asked thsi question my whole life, and until now I never really knew how to truthfully answer it. I know I want a steady job with steady income that gives me some degree of freedom. However, I have never really known what would lead to that. Right now I can describe myself as a research analyst for an economic development organization. While it is nice, I'm not entirely sure it's what I want to do.

At work this week I told someone that I really want to be an academic the rest of my life. I have always felt the most secure and productive when doing stuff for school. The more I think about it, the more I want to give myself the Ph.D. option. I think the university will be the best place for me in the future. I was talking with Jenny about this last night and she warned me of all of the strange research assignments and weird hours. I'm the queen of strange research assignments, both in school and work, and I really love having the freedom to work at 4am if that is when I'm feeling the most productive.

Anyways, today's picture represents me giving more thought to the Ph.D. option. To get in at USF, I need to seriously increase my GMAT score. Right now, I am not Ph.D. material with my GRE score, which equates to a 500 GMAT. I need at least a 600 GMAT just to be considered, and much higher to have an actual chance of acceptance. I might as well start now instead of waiting until the last minute again.

60/365: Beer me!

I'll admit, I cheated with this. My camera died on me while I was out, so I missed getting pictures of the beer to celebrate my friend getting into a Ph.D. program.

It's beer week in Tampa next week, so this is still a good promo for a classic Tampa brewery, Cigar City Brewing.

55/365: Household upgrade

I've been complaining for a while now that our current bookshelf doesn't hold my obscene amount of books AND all of my books from school anymore, so I finally went out a bought a second bookshelf on Sunday for what I have deemed "MBA Corner". I love it so much! It fits perfectly in this random corner we have. Somehow, the living room was just pulled together with this shelf. I'm also excited to better show off my school stuff, because that's just the kind of nerd I am.

49/365: 10 Thoughts on a Quiet Monday

1. Johnny bought me new TOMS for Valentine's Day. My old pair had a hole in the toe. It's so nice to finally have a new pair. It's also perfect timing with how much the temperature dropped this weekend.

2. Florida kids are such wimps with the cold. I mean, 31 degrees this morning was cold, but all it takes is a jacket and a scarf until you can get back indoors. I love the few days a year where I get to wear hoodies and thick scarves without overheating. It doesn't happen very often, but it happened this weekend. I love it.

3. I think if it stayed 31 degrees any longer I would die though. It's almost 10:30 and it's warmed up to 55 already. I do have Florida kid syndrome sometimes.

4. Federal holidays are amazing. I've set up shop at Starbucks and I'm working through some finance review while laughing at everyone in work clothes. There is no guilt either, because I didn't take a sick day to do this.

5. The kid across from me is reading Relativity by Einstein. I really hope he has to do that for class, otherwise he may be a bigger nerd than the girl doing finance review for fun. He's taking notes, so I'm thinking it's for class. But this begs the question...what crazy professor would make someone read that?

6. My tax return is hitting my bank account this week. Of the $3100, $2800 has already been earmarked for one summer class and student loan interest. Being a responsible adult sucks sometimes. But I do have $300 for some fun. I've already decided that the majority of it will go towards some new work clothes (for example, pants. I wear black jeans that are two sizes too big to work). I might use a little upgrade my PS Elements. I'm running version 8, and I've heard great things about version 11. Does anyone have a review on V11?

7. Doing my finance reviews have reminded me that I did really enjoy the subject. I had a terrible professor who ruined the class for me, which drove me away from the track. Finance was my highest grade during the semester where I did all of my quantitative classes at one time. It makes more sense mathematically for me than accounting did. I was a math major during my first year of undergrad, and I still gravitate towards the quantitative sides of business. I think finance will be a good decision for my MS minor.

8. I want to check out the new Wawa by campus today, but I don't want to drive that far for lunch when I have pizza waiting for me back at home.

9. I'm so glad Adam was finally in an episode of Girls again. The Ray-Adam scenes were amazing, especially after how strange this season has been thus far.

10. I wish today didn't have to end. I love studying and being out and having strange hours. I'm destined for a career in academia, I swear.

11. I'm sitting in a Starbucks blogging on my Macbook. Sometimes I hate myself.

45/365: Today is Happy Couple Day, so why does it suck so much?

PhD students: Smart, but not smart enough to use correct grammar.

It took me 75 minutes to travel the 13 miles between work and school today. It usually takes longer in the rain, but not that long. I was in a bad mood by the time I got to class, but I managed to be on time because the professor wanted to Skype in while he is away for a conference in California. After 15 minutes, class was cancelled because IT couldn't get Skype up and running.

Class was cancelled after I drove all the way up to campus, and Johnny still has class tonight. On top of that, I ran into more traffic on the way home, and 6 miles took me 40 minutes to travel. That's it. I'm done. I'm just going to enjoy my wine and pinning of wedding decor for a wedding that may never happen, all alone on Valentine's Day. Am I sure I'm not single again?

41/365: I'm terrible at studying

Johnny and I tried studying today in our favorite graduate business lounge. I lasted about 20 minutes before spending the next three hours on pinterest. In my defense, I'm nearly four weeks ahead for class, so I can afford a slacker weekend right now. This is me outlining a chapter on long-term brand management.

30/365: And today I became a smart person

I took SIX hours of excel classes today, and all I got were two certificates. On the bright side, I'm on time for class for the second time all semester. That's always exciting. And I had time to eat a real dinner instead of relying on the vending machine special: pretzels and diet coke.

Only three more hours before I feel comfortable taking the Excel Certification Exam...

29/365: What's in the Bag? Edition

Standard school/work bag contents:
1. Book for Brand Management, which starts next week. I keep meaning to read the first two chapters.
2. Spring semester notebook. It's made from banana paper, which is some of the best recycled paper I've found yet.
3. My wallet. It's too big.
4. My planner/random note-taking book. It's a scary thing to look at.
5. An issue of the Economist from a couple of weeks ago. I try to be educated.
6. Randoms: Sharpie pen, highlighters, name badge, lip balms, USB, and the ever ubiquitous hair tie. I actually found two others while doing this. I was wondering where they went.

It's Resolution Time!

Crack open the champagne! The time has come to think back on the year and come up with crazy resolutions for the next. I've always been terrible about sticking to my resolutions, but I still make some anyways. Who knows, maybe this is the year things stick.

 1. I want to rekindle my love for photography and blogging, so my first goal is to finish my 365 lifestyle project. That means at least one picture and one post a day (or to catch up on the days I'm not in class for the month of January). I do need to put this new camera to good use.

2. I lost 60 pounds in 2010, but I've managed to put 50 pounds back on over the last two years. I went through huge adjustments in 2012, but the excuses have run out. I want to lose 40 pounds by my 25th birthday. I have 9 months to make the best of it. But if I fall short, I'm not going to beat myself up too much. It's a very ambitious goal, and pushing the limits of realistic weight loss. Also, when I lost the weight initially I had some aid from undiagnosed hyperthyroidism. This time around, I have no thyroid and very little metabolism control. But damnit, I can do my best instead of not trying at all. My first step is to go to the gym 15 minutes each day I'm not in class, and to add 5 minutes to that every other month.

3. A couple of years ago my parents bought me a record player for Christmas. I bought so much vinyl, but since moving away from two record stores I've stopped buying and the player has been collecting dust. It's such a beautiful piece in my living room that deserves use, so I want to buy at least one new record a month. I started this one already, getting Elliot Smith's Either/Or over the weekend. My love has been rekindled!

4. Johnny wants to go to Europe in 2014, but tuition takes up so much of my money. I need to save more if I want this to be a reality. I can probably save an extra $1000 a year if I stop buying so many impulse items and use my espresso maker at home instead of going to Starbucks before work and buying clothes every time there is a sale.

5. Finally, I want to focus more on school. I have four MBA classes left and six MS/Marketing classes before I graduate, so I need to make every grade count. And since I'm part-time now, I can put more focus on each class instead of spreading it out among four classes a semester. I'm so close to reaching the 'graduating with honors' mark...

Johnny actually studies. I take pictures.

That's an ambitious list, but I'm confident I can pull it all off. Do you have any resolutions? Are any of them major life changes? Together we can help keep each other motivated.