Rest, rest....precious rest.....is what I craved this whole week. I am still trying to recover from week 3. But sleeping in until 11:30 every morning seems to be helping. :)

Well everyone should know by now that my *continuing* goal is to finish all of my assignments during the first week? Any guesses on how I did this peaceful week?? Oh, hush.....I know, I know....I will be setting the same goal for week 5. It's amazing to me that I was so *sure* that I would get everything done this week. But I tend to forget how easy it is to sleep half of the day and then go to the mall and spend money! I did, however, make several accomplishments. I did complete all of the assignments except for the Project Prospectus. The one reason I didn't do that assignment was because I haven't given ample thought to it. The revision of questions and evaluation of resources were knocked out in the beginning of the week.......and it looks like I took a mini vacation the rest of the week!

I did the revision of the essential and foundation questions on Monday......soon after I printed off the assignment. I thought since I completed that one so efficiently, it would push me to the other ones soon thereafter. Boy was I wrong. I read the instructions for Evaluating Resources I, and for some reason I was totally overwhelmed. I calmly put my instructions away until another day.... There was no way that I could even attempt to do that assignment until I felt a little less overwhelmed. I didn't have the guts to look at it Tuesday (I was too psyched for Karaoke!), but by Wednesday I knew that I couldn't put it off any longer. I *made* myself sit down and do the assignments, so that by Wednesday evening I had finished all 3 Evaluating Resources. And at that point I felt like 25 pounds of pressure was lifted off my shoulders. Those 3 assignments weren't terribly hard, but they did take quite a bit of uninterrupted time to finish. (which is hard to come by, I might add).... The process of examing different webpages was quite interesting, I must say. I have honestly never given much thought to analyzing a webpage in that way before. I definitely didn't like being a "grader" in the third evaluation. It was hard trying to decide how many points should have awarded for each section. I was like "Who am I to make this decision?" I know almost nothing.......But this week's assignments did heighten my awareness to the fact that anyone can publish anything on the WWW. (The elephant webpage was a SCREAM)

I also wanted to comment on my mailing list. I have been a little disappointed. Most of the emails I am receiving right now involve 2 woman *arguing* back and forth over some topic (which I am still unsure of). I also find it hard to determine what people are talking about. Most of the time the emails are replies to some earlier message, but there is no context given. I haven't read an email yet which really gives any insight into Augmentative Communication. And those 2 fighting women are giving me a headache!

I guess I don't really have a good excuse for not finishing my Project Prospectus. Several of this week's assignments had due dates of ongoing, which made life a little easier on us. So in a sense, I should have had less pressure to begin with. Somehow, I can always see things after the fact. You know what they say..."Hindsight is 20/20" I'm really not even sure that I should restate my goal for next week. After 4 weeks, I'm not sure it's worth it. The only real goal I have in sight is finishing this course and doing well. Should I really be concerned if I don't finish all of my assignments during the first week? I don't remember reading on the syllabus that this class was a *race*. If my best takes 2 weeks, so be it. I think I might be struggling with comparing my progress to everyone else's. I think that some people have a natural predisposition to *cranking* out their work in a speedy manner. But I am not like that. Is there something wrong with me? Why is that sometimes it feels like there is less glory to be had if you don't progress as fast as others?

I hope I haven't made this journal too personal. But some of these things are thoughts that I am struggling with on a daily basis, for one reason or another. Maybe I should do some additional postings as I think through some of these issues at hand.

Someone get me off of this Tilt-a-Whirl "life", before I toss my cookies..... I can't even begin to explain how utterly crazy my life has been this week. It has definitely been my worse week yet.....actually, I hope I won't have to endure any more like it. Why was it so crazy you ask? Well, let me tell you in a nutshell. One of my best friends, Rebekah, got married yesterday (Saturday). I was the maid of honor, and somehow my mom "agreed" to be the decorator. (Trust me, she didn't have a good week either) :) On top of all that, I had Fiona everyday from 8am-1pm. So every afternoon was spent getting ready for the wedding, yada, yada, yada.... About the middle of the week it hit me that I better get some work done. It seemed for a split second that I totally forgot about being in school. I did some rough calculations and found that I lost about 25 hours of sleep this week. The next wedding I want to go to is my own.......ha ha ha......and I don't forsee that coming any time in the near future. ;)

I could definitely *feel* the increase in content for the week. I almost dropped my jaw when I realized that we had 3 assignments this week due on the 30th. Of all of the weeks.......... My only goal for the week was to get the 3 assignments done which were due on the 30th. I knew I was going to have to sacrifice some work time this week for the wedding. However, I don't think that the content, in and of itself, was that hard. It just took time to sit down and do it. Time was definitely of the essence this week. Assignments like subscribing to the mailing list, searching the WWW, and reading were relatively easy. But the other assignments took more thought and time to complete. Some of the assignments were even *fun*! Between last week and this week, I am finally beginning to see the class take shape......

My process for the week was simple: GET IT DONE! I usually try to go in order, but the assignments due within the week were listed last. It didn't take rocket science to figure out that I should definitely get those done first. I was a little concerned about the webliography, but I made it through. I am glad that we decided on a *rough* draft, because mine is definitely rough. I didn't have as much trouble subscribing to the mailing list as I did last time. And actually the problem wasn't even my fault. The email address had changed and I didn't know it. (Thank you Mrs. McComas for saving me) After I got the correct address, things flowed smoothly. I subscribed to an Augmentative Communication mailing list, since that is what my research topic is centered around. I am still thinking about my foundation questions, although I already have about 5 or 6 done. I just need to get them posted........ASAP! I only have about 9 hours left........ Searching for my last name was a blast. I didn't know that there were so many people with my last name, plus all of the other interesting facts I ran across. Searching for my research topic was amazing. There are so many websites available. I didn't even know how to pick which ones to go to. I don't think that I have finished the other assignments yet. My goal next week is to finish the rest of this week and week 4 by Friday night. (ha ha...that's the same goal that I have had since the beginning..)

Well as I look back on the week, all I see is a dust storm....... I just cannot believe how much I had going on. It's like feast or famine in my life. The wedding was fun, but oh-so-tiring. My mom and I both need a vacation after this week. I definitely don't like it when I am constantly on the go. I knew that I had all of the weeks assignments looming over my head. It was hard to do stuff for the wedding knowing that my school life was hanging in the balance. Hopefully next week I will be living at a much slower pace...... I can't handle much more of this chaos. I NEED SLEEP! I definitely wasn't happy with the amount I got done this week, nor the time frame in which I did them. I really want to chill out next week, and get stuff done at home. I am excited about getting some peace and quiet in the near future.

The only question I can think of deals with our foundation questions. Are we going to be able to revise/polish them if we need to? I have my list of questions, but I figure that they will need some more work. I might even need some more questions. I didn't know if we would be told if we were on the right track or not.

I honestly can't believe that it is the end of another week. My life seems to be in "fast forward" motion. I always think that I don't have much of a life, but something always seems to take up most of my time. My aim this week was to finish up the 1 assignment I had left from week one and to finish *all* of the assignments for week two. Boy, am I ambitious or what?!?!? Like I said in last week's blog, I wanted to get myself on some sort of homework schedule. It was a rosy thought, but a totally unattainable in "mi vida loca!"

I was *so* apprehensive as I prepared to click on the Week 2 link for our homework assignments. I had absolutely no idea what was posted on the next page, and I was afraid to look!! I started to read them online, but I decided I better print them off first. I use the term *pleasantly surprised* very cautiously. I didn't jump up and scream "WOW, THIS IS SOOO EASY" by any stretch of the imagination. However, it wasn't quite as scary as I had expected. Most of the assignments revolved around reading articles on a related topic like the World Wide Web, the internet, email, etc... 2 of the assignments required subscribing and unsubscribing to an email list. One of the *semi-fun*(sometimes frustrating) assignments was trying to locate people through the internet. The last 4 assignments required us to respond to several prompts related to our Personal History, Values, Essential Questions, and Learning Futures. Overall, the content for the week was not overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I didn't breeze through the assignments in 2 days, but I also didn't feel like I had a massive burden hanging on my shoulders.

Oh, how did I get it all done??? I didn't. I had such expectations for myself this week, but I knew early one that I wasn't going to be on a schedule. I was just going to have to work when I had "free" time. I do have a good excuse for not finishing all of my assignments.........some good friends of ours moved back from Wisconsin this week. I spent 5 hours Sunday, 13 hours Monday, and 6 hours Tuesday at their house waiting on the moving truck and then unpacking. Let's see...that means I spent 24 hours away from home between the 3 days. That practice is not something I recommend, but sometimes duty calls. My processes this week just involved getting done all that I could. I knew I was facing a rough week, and I obviously pitched the schedule idea out of the window. I usually don't go through the assignments and pick and choose. I find it easier to just start with the first one, and muddle my way through the rest. Even though I was gone quite a bit, I did manage to finish all but the last two assignments. Pretty good, I think. And who knows?? I might be able to finish those two assignments tomorrow.....and that would mean that I would be done for the assignments for week 3 are posted. Hey, it could happen!! Oh yes, I would like to comment on assignments 1.2.3 and 1.2.4 (subscribing and unsubscribing from the mailing list.) In all honesty, I thought these 2 assignments would be the *easiest*. Well as most of you know, it was not a fun time in Milton while trying to complete them. I have never had that much trouble....at least not in a long time. I tried to subscribe using my hotmail account, but that definitely didn't work. I ended up using my Yahoo account, and it finally worked. I still to this day, don't know why my hotmail account didn't work. Mrs. McComas emailed and told me to make sure that my font was *normal*, and that I actually typed *subscribe* as the command. Even after succeeding through Yahoo, I tried my hotmail account again with Times New Roman font. Nothing. It was a very frustrating evening, but I am glad that I finally got it done. So what was supposed to be 2 *easy* processes, turned out to be 2 very *hard* processes for me. But I think I am stronger for it.. ha ha ha!

As I look back on this week, I see a *big* blurr. I feel like I have been in a whirlwind of activities, and unfortunately it is going to be worse next week. I have a big *event* next week....so be sure to tune in for saga #3. :) I think that each week I am learning to manage what time I have more wisely. After having all of the complications with the 2 assignments I mentioned, I realized that putting the assignments off is not a good thing. If I had waited until the last minute, I may have not gotten them done. But since I started semi-early, I had time to email the class and get some help. The one thing that I am not happy with is not getting *all* of my assignments done by the end of the week. In my perfect world, they would all be done by Friday. Unfortunately, my world is no where near perfect.
I have a feeling that at the end of next week I will be in the same predicament, but my goal is to finish all of my assignments by Friday starting with week #4. I know I *can* do it, it's just a matter of putting myself in the proper mindset. I have definitely figured out that procrastination is not the way to go in this class.....one could easily drown! But to no one's surprise, I survived another week in the 315 abyss. Yay for me!

Let's see if I have any questions......... I do have one about the class meeting on Tuesday. I just realized that I am not going to be home on Tuesday. I am not positive that I am going to be able to hook my laptop up. I read the *attendance policy* on the syllabus and it referred to "excessive absences." Refresh my memory please: Is there a penalty for missing class? I don't like the thought of missing, but the situation may be out of my control. Please advise me. As of now, I don't think that I have any other questions. But I have the class email address on the top of my list! I will use it in a heartbeat!! Stay tuned...............:)

Enjoy your weekend, my friends! Smiles to all!