Today, I french braided my very own hair for the first time in my 23 years. Some might not think this a momentous ocassion, but I'm impressed with myself. It's not great, but it's not too bad, either. My aunt Koreen taught me how to french braid many moons ago. I was okay at it. I think I've only ever really done her hair and my mom's hair. It's been years since I've french braided at all - but today, I know Matt is taking me for a ride tonight, so I thought I'd try it. Have a look for yourself. Not bad for the first time, right?

Today was a pretty good day. I actually exercised, which I've been meaning to do for awhile now. I did a segment of Hip Hop Abs and then I decided to go for a bike ride. :) I also finished cataloging our movies. The exciting moment was finally learning the keyboard shortcut to move between tabs in an excel file. That may sound lame, but everyone at work always wants to know, but we've been too lazy to look it up. So for everyone who has been just as clueless and would be just as excited to learn it, here it is: Ctrl and Page Up or Page Down. Simple enough, right? However, I had a tendency to use the up or down arrow, and that didn't work so well lol. That was pretty much my day, since I had to work last night. Work wasn't too bad, either. Weird, I know. ;)

I made it....I'm done with school! Instead of one last class, I ended up with two (did I mention that Fs really are Es at UVU? because they are..)

Clinical Research was a great class. Everything was about our research projects, so we didn't even go to class most of the time. Then, we finished our final paper a week or two before the end of the semester, so that class was over. Cameron has finally posted grades, and my group got a 95% A.

Then in Infancy and Childhood Development, I had 90 something scores on the first two tests. I was worried about my paper. (I hate papers...as you all well know by now. Finding sources is the worst part.) It was due a week before the semester ended, on a Wednesday. I was supposed to work the Tuesday before, but there wasn't much work, so I got the day off. It was such a good thing, too! Bhuvan and I printed off some more articles and then went outside to read them - I got sunburned, but it's healed now... With having the whole day off, I managed to crank out a paper just over 8 pages. I figured that wouldn't be good enough since Russell had said the papers that had already been turned in and were getting As had like 13-15 sources (I think I had 8 or 9..), and he'd mentioned the paper should be 10 or more pages. Fortunately for me, he graded based off what was in the syllabus (8-10 pages). He said the length was just barely long enough. Needless to say, while I was hoping for a C, I got 100%!

He handed our papers back on the second to last class of the semester (the following Monday). He also handed out the final to be take-home. He read a sizeable list of names of people to stay after class because he had to talk to us about something. Well, my name was on that list. Bless his heart, he said that we all had high enough grades that he was waiving our final, so we didn't have to take it. (Sorry, Russell, but it's too good of news not to share! At least I didn't put it on FB.) So while I was expecting to stress over one more test then be done, I got a little graduation present. Even more anticlimactic than finishing off with a test (the final wasn't comprehensive), it felt really nice to just be done with no stress.

So I just checked UVLink, and grades are officially posted. I officially got As in both my classes this semester. Woot! However, my graduation status is still only "applied." No diploma mailed yet. That is okay though, because I know that it will be on its way!

I guess the real question is.... now what? :)

Today, my sister-in-law and I decided to go shopping! It was way fun. I spent more than I normally would (don't worry, not that much, but normally I'm good at talking myself out of stuff). However, I did not find what I was looking for. I wanted to find some bermuda/board shorts. Dang Gs - we couldn't find any that were quite long enough.



It was good to hang out though. We both got to know each other better. More girl-time will definitely be in the future. Camile enlightened me to Susie's Deals. Eclectic collection - but we found some good deals. I'm tempted to go back to Ross and get one of the dresses we saw. It looked comfy :)



I know you're just dying to know what I actually got - so I'll tell you :) I bought a brown shirt at Target. I got a heather grey long sleeved shirt for layering in the Winter, a cream shrug, and a green shrug from Susie's. Then I used a gift card to get the little sleeve socks to be worn with ballet style shoes. I'm way excited for those because I really needed them :)

Next time, hopefully Chelle and Jenn can come too! That would be way fun :)

Matt's "dream job" is apparently not going to be much of a dream. He still likes the atmosphere, being around bikes, and the people; but it isn't shaping up to be what he thought it would be. After deciding he wasn't quitting band, he asked for the Salt Lake and San Diego games off. Then he found out he can't take any Saturdays off in the summer because those are big sale days. I get that. It makes sense. Summer - best season and Saturdays - best days, but to not allow ANY Saturdays off at all?

Initially, Matt was going to train to be their accountant. Their current accountant isn't planning on retiring for at least another 10 years, but Matt was supposed to train in order to assist their current accountant. Had they done that, when the accountant was in the hospital, they wouldn't have had to do without. It sort of sounded like once he got back, Matt would start getting trained, but I don't think that has happened. Who knows if/when it will.

I'll admit, I blame myself in part for this. As if the cut in pay and three months without insurance weren't bad enough. I wish I'd never given in so quickly to tell Matt to take the job. At least with the bank he could take time off (even if it annoyed his boss sometimes) and we had insurance. I wish we hadn't given up looking for a job in Arizona so quickly. Afterall, Matt is accepted to ASU.

So we're both looking a little bit harder. Matt is moreso looking in California - but I'd still like to move to Arizona. (There are still decent and cheap houses there. We can't afford to live in California. It's only like a 5 hour drive between the two.) Next time, before he takes a job, I'm going to make sure they're fully aware of his band requirements and will allow him the weekends he needs for rehearsals and games.

Considering it has been quite awhile since I've posted, I figured I'd come up with something to let you know what's going on.

Pretty much things haven't changed. I am guessing life is going to get a lot more boring upon graduation. :) Matt is still at Monarch. He loves it. He's actually sold some stuff now, so that's good. Money is always nice. :) He's taking the summer off of school. He did finally matriculate into the Accounting program, so now he can register for school. He thought about taking a class second block this summer, but decided to drop it. His Associate's diploma finally arrived, too. It's bigger than mine was. lol

I'm still editing. It's weird working full-time hours now. I essentially worked 30 hours before, but it was split between here and the RTC. However, I don't really mind it.

As for school, tomorrow I meet with Jack to interview him for our project. The rest of my group is interviewing the other four therapists on Monday. The block ends in three weeks! I need to buckle down and write a research paper for Infant and Child Development. That and two tests are what's left for that class. Finishing up our research and finishing that paper is all we need to do for Clinical too. That should be pretty easy. We've been writing as we go - and it's a group effort. Really, the biggest thing is getting the other paper done. :p Three weeks! eek! Now I'm a little nervous. The graduation application is due Friday too. Guess I need to do that so I can be done!

Matt decided to get Bhuvan's wings clipped again. He was sick of Bhuvan's independence. When his wings are clipped, he's dependent and more sociable. Bhuvan doesn't seem too keen on this idea. He still sometimes tries to fly, and then he falls. However, he has wanted a lot more pets.

Well there's your update for a little bit. :)

This class, which I was sure was going to be the bane of my existence, I'm actually quite stoked for. Today, Cameron went over all the elements of a research paper (which we all already know - but it's nice to go over what he likes to see).

Our particular study doesn't fit the norm, though, because we're doing more of a qualitative study. (In other words, we're not gathering numeric data and having to use statistics and junk.) So Cameron is going to go over what a qualitative paper should look like next time.

After class, I was totally excited to do this study. Oh ya - we're going to see if we can't make the UVU Student Health Services intake form better. Sounds lame, right? We initially went with it because it's pretty straightforward, involves no stats, and can be easily done in the 7 1/2 weeks of the block. Oh! And since it's not a human study - we don't have to worry about IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval! After today, I decided I really like what we're doing. Not because I'm excited about intake forms, mind you. Not even because there are no stats (which is seriously a big deal to me!). Mostly, it has real-world application on lots of levels.

First of all, we're not just doing research to do research or get a grade. We're doing it to improve the Student Health Services. Plus, I can see such a task being useful if someone were to go into consulting or occupational psych. Knowing about different intake processes and what they're used for will help if any of us go into practice, especially private practice. It's not only designing an intake form, but realizing what variables affect the design of the form. For example, the Student Health Services (for therapy) is designed for short-term care. They probably get depression and stress related stuff most often. Their needs are going to be different than like a residential treatment center, where clients will be there 6 months, 1 year, 2 years - and probably with a lot more severe issues.

Mostly, I think I really like knowing that the research we're going to do can have a direct benefit somewhere. We're doing it specifically for an organization. We're not just doing research to find out about some random thing (which *can* have practical implications, but typically less directly noticeable).

Also, we'll be able to present it to Jack, who's the director of the Student Health Services, which will earn me a sweet APA reference on my vita - again, should I decide to go to graduate school. Granted, I'm still screwed if graduate school makes me do quantitative research. I think the Statistics for Behavioral Sciences classes at UVU need re-vamping. I got lucky. My teacher sounds like one of the few who even touch SPSS (statistical package for the social sciences). I was the only one in my group of four in my Research Methods class who had used it... but I didn't know what to do with the data! Then once we figured that out - we had to figure out how to interpret it!

UVU thinks students shouldn't get calculators (regular math classes, not stats) or use software to do their math. They want you to understand the methodology behind it and not start with short-cuts. I get that, but the real world uses machines - and larger sample sizes with more data.

Well that was a fun tangent. Right, so screwed if I have to get into that again. But it looks like my advanced research credit will be nicely filled.

Just wanted to share my excitement about intake forms lol.