Time to hibernate!

The first day of grad school is over and done with, wow what a day. It is going to be a lot different than my undergrad, but I think it should be in mostly good ways. In my specific program there are only 4 of us and we are currently huddling together for mutual protection.

When I decided to go back to school and work 80%  I knew that I would have my plate full. I put a good deal of thought into the best way to handle the heavy work load and not be working and behind the ball the entire time. While I did enjoy my undergrad I will admit that most of the time I did little other than study, and while it was tolerable for 4 years when all my peers were doing the same I'm going to strive for a little more balance this time. I'm going to do my best to see that work and study occurs on week days. Yes, that may mean some very long days during the week but I figure since I'm home by 5:00 I can get a good 3 hours a night of Masters work in and maybe another 30 min a day of text book reading on the bus and while waiting for appointments. That's 17 hrs a week at home study for my Masters (plus 6 hours a week in class) and 32 hours a week for work. I'm hoping that 23 hours a week will suffice for my Masters so that I can confine my work to 55 hours over 5 days leaving my weekends free for foster care, house work, and my own leisurely pursuits.

The other issue that I put a lot of thought into before starting was how to take care of myself. I recon that I've done pretty well in the last year when it comes to getting decent food on the table each night, but that hasn't always been the case. I have had trouble in the past with finding the time and energy to put together a proper nutritious meal every night. It tends to be one of the things that I let slip when I'm living alone and busy. So, I decided to lay up stores in order to go into hibernation over the next 8 months. Over the summer I've been making extra foods and freezing it in portion sizes. Each portion has enough food for one supper for me and one lunch for me (since I always do leftovers for lunch.) I have currently:

15 portions of Lentil soup
8 portions of Pea soup
12 portions of Chilli
5 portions of Baked Beans

I also have roughly enough refried beans frozen to make either nachos of tacos once a week for 8 months; as well as 7 half loaves of bread. (I never thaw more than half a loaf at a time because I don't eat them that quickly.)

The idea is that between the stuff I have frozen in the freezer and making doubles of my recipes on weekend I won't have to do very much cooking during the week. Meaning that I can keep my nose to the books and stay on top of my classes.

That folks is the great Graduate study hibernation plan. I certainly hope that it works out.

Just Blow Up Your Brain

I have spent the last week in a valiant effort trying to blow up my brain, seriously.  Here's how you go about doing it.  Chose a venue full of people who are generally older, more knowledgeable and more experienced than you.  Go ahead and plunk yourself (along with them) in the middle of a course which is geared towards people with twice your credentials and for which you have no preparation except perhaps a course or two . . . four years ago.  Then stay there, for one whole week.  In other words attend a conference similar to the one I was at this week (though you do have my blessing to attend one that is relevant to your occupation.)

Stretching your brain such as I described above has positive numerous effects.  Though to be entirely honest you probably won't appreciate them until you're done.

• It will show you just how much you don't know and point out where you need to focus your learning.  You'll find out first hand where you need to concentrate your efforts, be that improving a single skill or taking time to get an over view of a certain subject.  
• You'll meet a lot of smart people.  As a result of my course I am on a first name basis with two of the professors who will be teaching me during my masters (which starts in September.)  Both of them have expressed that they look forward to seeing me in their classes.  
• You'll meet people further along you're career path.  Chances are they'll also be like the second year masters students that I got to know and they will be more than happy to give you lots of advice that they wish they had known in your shoes.  
• You'll sharpen your thinking.  Usually when they start giving you complex theories it's not about the memorization, it's about making connections and analyzing what you have in front of you.  This subsequently bleeds into other areas of your life.  
• You'll be ahead of the ball.  While all of your peers are learning the basics you're moving onto more complicated materials and making connections with what you're presented.  
• You'll learn some new stuff.  I put this last because it is also the least important.  Sure you're going to walk away with some new knowledge in your brain but that is of minimal importance compared to what is listed above.  

Whether it be for school, work, or personal growth I recommend you skip ahead and take the next level of what ever interests you.  Occasionally trying to blow up your brain is good for you and life's too short to be spent taking baby steps the entire way.