School

GO GATORS!

Since I won’t be able to join many of my friends in Miami tomorrow…

We are the boys from old Florida
F-L-O-R-I-D-A
Where the girls are the fairest,
the boys are the squarest,
of any old state down our way. (HEY!)

We are all strong for old Florida,
down where the old Gators play. (GO GATORS!)
In all kinds of weather,
we’ll all stick together. for
F-L-O-R-I-D-A!

Kick some boomer Sooner ass Gators, work’em silly!

I found out today that I passed my third and final comprehensive exam for my Masters degree (see this post for further info).  This is a huge relief and a weight off of my shoulders.  I am literally half a step away now from completing my degree, as I am about 50% done with my thesis and plan to finish it sometime in ‘09.  I’ll get back to that once January passes, but for now, I can relax and take my mind off of grad school.

2008 has been a tough year for me, as many of you know.  There’s nothing like having the rug pulled out from under you, and about nine months ago, that’s exactly what was done to me.  The flip side of not having the choice in such a decision like the end of a marriage, however, is that you can make a choice to accept it for what it is and move on.  I’ve always been a big believer that everything happens for a reason, and while its tough to follow that creed during the roughest points in one’s life, I chose to believe that with this, and it has allowed me to prosper much more had I chosen to sulk over it forever.

So, while this year in my book of life will always be marred, it was a good one in many ways as well.  Professionally, I’ve continued to grow immensely.  I love my job, love the people I work with and gain greater admiration and respect for the man I work for every day I come into the office.  I had the most incredible experience working for the Obama Campaign in South Florida, where I met so many incredible people and was fortunate to be a part of the greatest political campaign in American history.  I made more progress on my Masters degree and finally completed my comprehensive exams.  I’ve gained a renewed sense of independence, personal understanding and confidence.  I have amazing friends who were there for me through the bad times just as much as they were through the best of times, and aside from the two weeks I just suffered through earlier this month, I’ve had my health this year.

In my view, that’s a lot to be thankful for.  I’m not one to be greedy, but I have a feeling 2009 will be even better than 2008.  I should have my degree completed by the end of the year.  I’m hoping for a promotion at work that will allow me to expand my role and truly develop my professional potential.  I’m also hoping to travel a lot more, and have possibilities of trips to Israel, China and Taiwan.  I will truly do my best to embrace the fact that I will be turning 30 in June.  I will manage my money better and hopefully be a few steps closer to purchasing my condo.  I am confident I will celebrate with my fellow UF alums here in DC as the Gators claim another BCS National Title on January 8.  Finally, I will continue to be surrounded by incredible people who enhance my life and the world I live in.  If I can keep in good health, and maybe even lose a few pounds along the way, it would be a great year.  And then, of course, there are always a few surprises.

In any case, I’m excited for what’s to come, and I wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2009!

Those of you who stay in close touch with me are well aware of the shenanigans I’ve had to go through to complete the comprehensive exams for my Masters at UCF.  I won’t go into that whole story again, but as I prepare to take the final of the three exams required, I ran into another snag this morning.

The program required to take this exam, which is for a lovely course called Quantitative Methods in Political Research, is called SPSS.  Since I had changed laptops since taking the course in 2005, I purchased what I believed was the correct version about a year ago.  I did not realize until today, however, that the version I purchased, which is a student version, has limitations which may prevent me from being able to view the dataset required for the exam tomorrow.

Of course, had I been able to complete this exam when I made that trek down to Orlando earlier this month, or had the powers-that-be in my department been able to arrange I take the exam at a local university following that mess, this would not be an issue.  I am having to take this exam tomorrow at home, however, on my own laptop.  So, I’ve emailed my professor and graduate advisor asking them whether I will be using a dataset greater in size than the requirements this program allows for.  If so, I’m going to have to spend $80 tonight downloading a higher version without those limitations.

That $80 would be much better served paying off some of the bill for the new LCD TV I got for my bedroom, but such is life I suppose.  In any case, wish me luck tomorrow morning…hopefully I can pass this sucker and get past this nightmare.