Awful

Since when do security employees at airports get to determine whether a person counts as "somebody"? Fairly short and worth reading...

Link.

Seriously?

I went online to check the availability of casepacks (i.e., packets of articles) for my classes next quarter (starting a week from Wednesday). The bookstore lists them by course and section. Neither of mine is available yet, but it wasn't easy for me to determine it. As you can see in the image, they run the instructor name into the course name with no spaces, so finding your class is no easy feat. This is pretty inexcusable if you ask me. As an aside, I don't know if online textbook ordering has ever been available - certainly not since I've started school here. It would be a great feature for people who are busy, like, say, oh I don't know, students who also work full time! :P

Those of you wondering, my classes are DECS 433 S73 and MKTG 430 S72. Let me know if they are in there and I happened to miss them in this excruciating letter jumble!

For the Record

I'm NOT one of them. And I don't care if everybody else is doing it.

Absolute Baloney

So, I started school in the fall. One of the main reasons I decided to start in the fall was to maximize the way that I could leverage the tuition reimbursement benefit offered by my current employer. I just found out today that they changed the rules for this benefit halfway through my first quarter, which throws a gigantic wrench in my plans. Now, I'm going to be forced to extend my stay here by at least a quarter, which has other implications for tuition payment and student loan eligibility. Basically, in order to receive all the tuition reimbursement that I was originally thinking I could qualify for (part of why I elected to go to Kellogg and a HUGE part of why I started when I did), I'll have to pay for at least 2 quarters out of pocket because I won't qualify for loans for those quarters. Awesome. As a bonus, I won't get that money until a YEAR after I finish school, leading to extra interest accrual on my loans.

I thought the tuition benefit was really nice. Granted, it pays for only a teensy portion of my school expenses, but it's better than nothing. I know I shouldn't be complaining too much since a lot of people don't get any tuition reimbursement, but if you are making your educational plan partially planning on a benefit that gets changed without adequate notice, it sure sucks.

Thanks, employer, for putting me in this situation. Thanks for changing your policy when I was already halfway through and had fully paid for my first quarter at school, which made it impossible for me to adjust my plans accordingly. Thanks for making the change immediate and not allowing a grace period for those of us trapped in the middle, unable to react, respond, or adjust - given NO options. Thanks for making me stay in school an extra quarter, forcing me to pay two quarters out of pocket and accrue more interest on loans that were to be paid off with the reimbursement supposedly coming my way. Thanks for somehow not having my tuition reimbursement forms that were supposedly sent in months ago by our admin.

Good thing I called or else I wouldn't be getting anything at all since the forms are due March 31. It needs to be said that "employer" in this case is not my immediate employer, it is the behemoth parent company that bought us, making all of our lives SO much better! Thanks!

oh sweet sweet warmth!

It's so nice to have a warmer day again! I'm antsy to get outside and feel some sun on my face and have my sunroof open. I haven't gotten a chance to feel it yet, since I've been cooped up today, but soon...soon...
On a related note... Heath is currently in New Mexico for work, and yesterday I was a little jealous of him getting to enjoy a little reprieve from the cold while I had to slog it out up here. Guess that's not really an issue at this point.

Please let it stay warmish!!