Over two months after buying our new car, the time finally came for me to let go of my Probe. Initially, I was hesitant to sell the car at all since it had so much sentimental value- my first thought was to donate the car to charity. However, given the fact that we could use the extra money and that the car still ran well, I decided to list the car for sale on craigslist.com to see where it went. I listed the car for one week and ended up with about 6 interested people, which turned into 2 or 3 showings. After so much time and effort to keep the car clean and presentable, those 2 or 3 showing resulted in ridiculous lowball offers that I outright refused. Discouraged after one week, I decided that I would list the car once again for another week. If that didn’t result in a sale that I was happy with, I would look into other options for the car, such as donation, since I quickly learned that selling a car is quite a hassle. Plus, it was hard to see the poor Probe sitting idle in our parking lot every day.
After a few failed attempts to set up more showings with interested buyers, I received an email from a young lady named Adrienne a day or two before the ad was to expire. She was in graduate school- pursuing psychology- and was in desperate need of a car to take her to and from Oakland and Lafayette where she worked. Ironically, I also learned that she owned a Probe previously. Considering our similar interests, we exchanged a few more emails before eventually setting up a meeting with her on Saturday to show the car.
I was anxious about our meeting, yet I had a good feeling about it. On Saturday morning, I made sure that the inside of the car was dusted and that the windows that were covered in a fresh coating of pollen were clean and shiny. Eric followed as I chatted with the car on the way to our meeting place.
I was greeted by Adrienne, who test drove the car, asked a few additional questions, decided it was a good deal, and we quickly signed over all of the necessary paperwork to finalize the sale and transfer. The whole process was easier than I had envisioned and I walked away with my full asking price for the car. I left that day with a good feeling that my Probe was going to some one who would truly take care of the car just as I had done.
Bon Voyage Probe. You will be missed.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Good Reads & Good News!
Over winter break before school resumed, I decided to take up some reading- and not just any reading, but fun reading. Reading in which I could look forward to turning each page. Don’t get my wrong, psychology journal articles can be thought-provoking and interesting. But at the same time, they can be quite dry. And, since most of my time is occupied by reading these dry, heavy research reviews, the only thing that I have the opportunity to read outside of school is the occasional magazine. So during my time off, I actually read 3 books of my own choosing. It was relaxing and it was liberating (one of my selections, “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” was not only inspiring but extremely informative- either for au natural people like me who want to stop relying on artificial hormones, or for those who are struggling to start a family. It should be a required reading for all women!).
Honestly, I’ve never really fancied reading. I don’t really recall either of my parents reading to me when I was young and it certainly was not a pastime I enjoyed as a teenager. I completed my assigned reading during high school without complaint- I have fond memories of reading The Pearl, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dante's Inferno, and The Great Gatsby, just to name a few. But I was not the young person that had a random book laid out on her bedside table, or even a member of the typical family who had at least one bookshelf in their house.
Despite this, I’ve always secretly envied the person who makes time to read for fun and enjoys doing so. To get lost in some one else’s story, to relate to their thoughts and emotions, to paint a portrait in one’s mind of the details between the lines- I always found it intriguing.
So, to occupy my fascination for my newfound interest, I took myself to the bookstore to pick up a few more selections. I rarely frequent the big-box bookstores like Borders or Barnes and Noble- I just end up getting overwhelmed by too many choices and leaving empty-handed. But, on this occasion, I set aside the entire evening (Eric was at home watching a Sharks game) to comb through the shelves with a goal in mind of leaving with at least one book.
After circling both floors of the store at least twice, I visited the fiction section once again. One novel in particular that sat on the Best Seller shelf immediately caught my eye- "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff. The backside of the book spoke of a tale of a father’s addiction to his son, whose life was slipping through the cracks from drug use. It’s a story of a parent’s undying attachment to their child from the perspective of a father who is at a loss in understanding and helping his son. I held on to it while I continued browsing. I eventually settled upon a second title, a story set in the 1940s of a medical doctor who delivers his own twins and immediately learns that one twin has some sort of developmental delay. He quickly decides to give up the ailed twin, but not before his maid learns of the situation and takes the child as her own without the parents’ knowledge. The novel is a story of the twins and their parallel, yet separate lives.
As I left the bookstore that day, I realized the obvious coincidence that my 2 new reads are not far departed from my typical topics of study at school- the mental mechanisms of addiction, the fragility of the family unit, the stigma associated with mental disorders. So, there we have it. My professional interests in a nutshell unconsciously spilling over into my personal life. Go figure.
On a separate note, after nearly 2 months of editing and reviewing, my IRB thesis protocol has been approved!! It’s about time… hence the reason for my recent lack of posts here. I was getting quite nervous, as the deadline for May graduation was quickly approaching. As it turned out, I was approved on February 19, the day before the deadline- a little too close for my comfort, but I’m extremely relieved. The next step: working like mad to recruit at least 500 participants!
Honestly, I’ve never really fancied reading. I don’t really recall either of my parents reading to me when I was young and it certainly was not a pastime I enjoyed as a teenager. I completed my assigned reading during high school without complaint- I have fond memories of reading The Pearl, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dante's Inferno, and The Great Gatsby, just to name a few. But I was not the young person that had a random book laid out on her bedside table, or even a member of the typical family who had at least one bookshelf in their house.
Despite this, I’ve always secretly envied the person who makes time to read for fun and enjoys doing so. To get lost in some one else’s story, to relate to their thoughts and emotions, to paint a portrait in one’s mind of the details between the lines- I always found it intriguing.
So, to occupy my fascination for my newfound interest, I took myself to the bookstore to pick up a few more selections. I rarely frequent the big-box bookstores like Borders or Barnes and Noble- I just end up getting overwhelmed by too many choices and leaving empty-handed. But, on this occasion, I set aside the entire evening (Eric was at home watching a Sharks game) to comb through the shelves with a goal in mind of leaving with at least one book.
After circling both floors of the store at least twice, I visited the fiction section once again. One novel in particular that sat on the Best Seller shelf immediately caught my eye- "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff. The backside of the book spoke of a tale of a father’s addiction to his son, whose life was slipping through the cracks from drug use. It’s a story of a parent’s undying attachment to their child from the perspective of a father who is at a loss in understanding and helping his son. I held on to it while I continued browsing. I eventually settled upon a second title, a story set in the 1940s of a medical doctor who delivers his own twins and immediately learns that one twin has some sort of developmental delay. He quickly decides to give up the ailed twin, but not before his maid learns of the situation and takes the child as her own without the parents’ knowledge. The novel is a story of the twins and their parallel, yet separate lives.
As I left the bookstore that day, I realized the obvious coincidence that my 2 new reads are not far departed from my typical topics of study at school- the mental mechanisms of addiction, the fragility of the family unit, the stigma associated with mental disorders. So, there we have it. My professional interests in a nutshell unconsciously spilling over into my personal life. Go figure.
On a separate note, after nearly 2 months of editing and reviewing, my IRB thesis protocol has been approved!! It’s about time… hence the reason for my recent lack of posts here. I was getting quite nervous, as the deadline for May graduation was quickly approaching. As it turned out, I was approved on February 19, the day before the deadline- a little too close for my comfort, but I’m extremely relieved. The next step: working like mad to recruit at least 500 participants!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
It Begins
The two statistics courses that I am teaching this semester began this last Tuesday. I was eager to start teaching and the courses went smoothly- better than I was expecting. I gave a basic introduction to the course and a brief tutorial in SPSS (the computer program we use for statistical analyses). Surprisingly, I noticed that my 8:00am section was far more lively and asked more questions than my 10:00am section. But so far, so good! We’ll see how I feel when the SPSS tutorials start to advance and the weekly homework and quiz grading for 60 students officially begins.
Unfortunately, the various budget cuts at the state university level has forced many students to be wait-listed for the core courses that are required for their majors- even graduating seniors. Even the lecture associated with the sections that I teach has been reduced to about half its usual capacity. I couldn’t help but empathize with students who begged the head professor and myself to add them to the course, but we simply could not. The course was already completely full. I was shocked when the head professor notified me of the latest news- in a desperate last effort to enroll in the course, it seems a student created a fake email account under the professor’s name, encrypted his signature, and sent a message to all enrolled students about the lecture hall’s fire code requiring a number of students to drop the course! At least that event left one opening. How sad.
In other news, I submitted the first revision of my IRB this week (IRB research protocols typically require a few revisions before they are accepted). My advisor and I are hopeful that it will be accepted with the changes that I’ve made thus far, but I’m nervous because the deadline for approval in order to graduate in time is quickly approaching. So, my fate of graduation in May is currently looming in the hands of the IRB board, who will hopefully get back to me quickly!
I also attended a job fair this past weekend- the California Community Colleges Registry Fair. I was hesitant to go, since I technically will not be eligible for any college teaching position until I’ve obtained my degree. But I figured that I could potentially make some good contacts for the future, at the very least. So, I spent the entire day beforehand preparing my Curriculum Vitae, or CV (a longer version of a resume that includes research and teaching experience) and writing cover letters for specific districts that I was interested in. Then I dressed up in my best professional attire and I was off to the city.
The hotel conference room where the event was being held was crowded and I was really nervous at first. My nerves started to calm once I observed a few other hopefuls who waited in line ahead of me, listening in on the questions that agents were asking. One thing I noticed immediately, however, was that I was one of very few young people there- the average age of all that attended must have been about 40 or 50 years old. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place. But, I made my rounds and talked with each district’s booth that I was interested in. Not every school that I spoke with had an opening that would suit my experience (child development, psychology, statistics, or technical writing), but I did come away with two solid contacts. The first was at one of my top choice districts- Contra Costa Community College District. They were looking for part-time psychology instructors for the upcoming summer and fall terms and gave me some contact information to send in my CV and hopefully arrange for an interview. The second, from Marin County Community College District, was interested in my statistics background and asked for my resume to forward to their mathematics department. If either option became a real possibility for me, I would be thrilled!
Unfortunately, the various budget cuts at the state university level has forced many students to be wait-listed for the core courses that are required for their majors- even graduating seniors. Even the lecture associated with the sections that I teach has been reduced to about half its usual capacity. I couldn’t help but empathize with students who begged the head professor and myself to add them to the course, but we simply could not. The course was already completely full. I was shocked when the head professor notified me of the latest news- in a desperate last effort to enroll in the course, it seems a student created a fake email account under the professor’s name, encrypted his signature, and sent a message to all enrolled students about the lecture hall’s fire code requiring a number of students to drop the course! At least that event left one opening. How sad.
In other news, I submitted the first revision of my IRB this week (IRB research protocols typically require a few revisions before they are accepted). My advisor and I are hopeful that it will be accepted with the changes that I’ve made thus far, but I’m nervous because the deadline for approval in order to graduate in time is quickly approaching. So, my fate of graduation in May is currently looming in the hands of the IRB board, who will hopefully get back to me quickly!
I also attended a job fair this past weekend- the California Community Colleges Registry Fair. I was hesitant to go, since I technically will not be eligible for any college teaching position until I’ve obtained my degree. But I figured that I could potentially make some good contacts for the future, at the very least. So, I spent the entire day beforehand preparing my Curriculum Vitae, or CV (a longer version of a resume that includes research and teaching experience) and writing cover letters for specific districts that I was interested in. Then I dressed up in my best professional attire and I was off to the city.
The hotel conference room where the event was being held was crowded and I was really nervous at first. My nerves started to calm once I observed a few other hopefuls who waited in line ahead of me, listening in on the questions that agents were asking. One thing I noticed immediately, however, was that I was one of very few young people there- the average age of all that attended must have been about 40 or 50 years old. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place. But, I made my rounds and talked with each district’s booth that I was interested in. Not every school that I spoke with had an opening that would suit my experience (child development, psychology, statistics, or technical writing), but I did come away with two solid contacts. The first was at one of my top choice districts- Contra Costa Community College District. They were looking for part-time psychology instructors for the upcoming summer and fall terms and gave me some contact information to send in my CV and hopefully arrange for an interview. The second, from Marin County Community College District, was interested in my statistics background and asked for my resume to forward to their mathematics department. If either option became a real possibility for me, I would be thrilled!
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