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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The official waiting game

So for an update on the school status, since my last post about it:

I have no update. Ha, wasn't that anti climactic?

I finally received my copy of both sets of transcripts, which means the school has them too. I also received a corrected copy of my application, with my name spelled right and my major corrected. This all makes me happy.

I photocopied everything I had sent to the school so far, and attached it to a letter, explaining the mix up, just so I don't get accepted into the wrong dang program. That would suck after all of this.

Now the real waiting game begins. Applications are processed in a "timely manner" which could mean anything so now I am at the checking the mail every day, hoping to see something with a school logo on it stage. Awesome. I'll keep you posted. Send good thoughts, prayers and karma my way. I really, really want to get in.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

5 Things A Truck Owner Does Not Want To Hear

Now on a much more cheerful note than my frustration with school, I present to you a rant, by the Grown Up Teenager about the 5 things a truck owner does NOT want to hear:

1. “Can you help me move?” – Its self explanatory. Moving sucks. Moving someone else’s stuff sucks even more. Not only do you want to put wear and tear on my vehicle, you want me to take a weekend and haul your crap from point A to point B. If I like you enough and know you’re moving, I’ll volunteer to help. If I volunteer to bring my truck, that’s like offering to take my pants off. Be grateful.

2. “I’m buying a *insert big item here.* It definitely won’t fit in my *insert little car here* and delivery is sooo expensive...” You passive aggressive bugger, you. Don’t think we don’t know that you’re trying to ask to borrow my truck without asking. I see your game and you don’t play it well. The only thing that's worse than being asked to help move is being not-so-subtly hinted at.

3. “I just need to move some dirt/rocks/stones/sharp metal objects/etc.” This many only be specific to me, but I’ve also had other friends who own trucks complain about how someone else will treat their vehicle. I treat my truck quite well. It’s my baby, just like a BMW to a man in the mid life crisis. I clean it, I wash it, I love it. I don’t enjoy scratching, denting, or messing with it, even the bed. It makes me die a little inside. If you want a scratch and dent special, get your own truck!

4. “But oh my god, its so much fun to ride in the back.” Fun on the farm, yes. Illegal on the road, also yes. The one on the hook for the legality of my vehicle? Me. And the provincial police love to tool around the roads out here and bust people for messing around unsafely on the road. So don’t hassle me when I tell you that you can’t ride in the box. Its like a trunk. Would you ride in the trunk of your Civic? I didn’t think so.

5. “Do you know how much of a gas guzzler your truck is, how much emissions it gives off, how bad it is for the environment, green green green, etc.” I had to throw this one in. With going green as a big trend, people with bigger vehicles get greenies after them. I get notes on my windshield, particularly in the city. I’m down with green, but here’s how it plays out: I live on a farm. In the middle of nowhere. On a road that doesn’t get plowed until the middle of the day in the winter, and is freshly graveled every summer. The truck hauls wagons for the farm, the boat in the summer, and trailers filled with stuff. You find me a smaller vehicle, that still has seating capacity for 4 or more, that can haul that and handle rough conditions and weather and I’ll drive it.

Feel free to chime in. Even car, SUV or other vehicle owners are welcome. What peeves you off about how someone else treats your vehicle or uses you for it?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The school thang

So about that update I promised about school. Ha. This may turn into a rant. I'll do my best to keep it at a reasonable length but don't say I didn't warn you.

Now here's the situation. For the past year, all of my courses have been online (no in class schooling). I wrote my exams at the end of March. As of May 7, I didn't have marks for 2 out of 4 assignments AND the exam in one course. Turn around time is supposed to be 5 business days. After calling and e-mailing the tutor multiple times, I called the (out of province) school, to speak to someone above her. I talked to someone who said she would call me back. She never did. I called and spoke to someone above HER the next day. He promised he'd get me some marks and he did. 7 weeks after my exam, I can finally order transcripts. Awesome. I demand one for the school and one for me so I know they actually got sent out.

I now go to order a transcript from the school I attended full time before that. The internet informs me I have an outstanding fee (that no one told me about) that has to be paid before I can order documents. Fine. I log on and pay it online, which should be instant. Its not. So I now have to call my school, and ask when that will clear. Oh, it won't clear for a week but if I fax them proof of payment, they can clear it manually. Fine, I fax them. Still doesn't clear. Another phone call. Oh, well, they can clear it manually but that doesn't clear the system, so if I want a transcript, that's also manual. I've gotta fax a request. Fine. I fax it. Transcripts coming, again both to me and the school.

I receive confirmation of my application from the institution that handles all of the applications to universities in my province. My name is spelled wrong (big problem, as my photo ID won't match the name and I could conceivably be stealing someone else's spot who has my name but spelled differently) AND my major is wrong. Another long distance phone call to talk to someone, who tells me the application has already been sent to the schools like this and they can't change it. I tell them they better because the error is theirs, and I have a copy of the original form I sent in to prove it. Three more phone calls later, they've had to close the account entirely and open a new one, and they get the joy of spelling everything to me over the phone, and now I'm waiting for a paper copy of THAT.

So basically, the application process has been one big fat fail and by the time it gets sorted out, I may be bald from tearing my own hair out. Its going to be worth it, right? RIGHT? (PLEASE SAY YES, or I may truly lose my sanity)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

So I'm back...in cyberspace...I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face

I'm just kidding. You better not have a sad look on your face. If you do, it better not be about me being back. I'd be quite insulted.

Anyway, the wonderful UPS man in the ugly brown uniform delivered my laptop back to me today. I may or may not have tried to hug him, and I certainly cuddled my laptop when I got it. It's all back to normal (so far, knock on wood) and I've got a 90 day warranty on the work, so that makes me happy.

I've somewhat missed the internet universe and somewhat didn't. I missed the online community and people to talk to, but I didn't miss the drama that it sometimes brings to people who really don't deserve it. I'm hoping this forced break will teach me to spend less time online and more time with the people who are a part of my life.

In the meantime, the transfer process has been hell (an entirely separate blog entry to come, because there have been some epic fails). Work is busy because I work in agriculture and hello, its summer. Life hasn't done anything crazy so that's about all the updating I have, and the hockey game is on, and that wins over blogging. I'll be updating semi-regularly again though, so I'm back, bitches. :)