Redemption...

In my first post I mentioned this being my shot at redemption. You might wonder what exactly I meant by that.Please let me elaborate.
When I was younger just out of the Army I enrolled at New England Institute of Technology to study Architectural Drafting. For the first couple of semesters I did ok between a part-time job and being at school full-time. I was going out with my high school sweetheart at the time who was going to University of Massachusetts in Amherst. I used to visit her on weekends or vacations whenever I could whenever I could. I believe she came up with the idea of getting an apartment close to her school. So we did. Of course the plan was that I would find a school close by and continue my studies. For one reason or another I never did get around to that plus their wasn't much that I could transfer to at that location. Paying rent and basic living expenses became the focus and so my schooling dropped from priority. After eventually falling behind in rent due to lack of work through a temporary agency we decided to both move out. Of course she went back to her parents and so did I. Unfortunately by that time my grace period for my student loans expired so I had to work to pay them in the mean time. I eventually went back to school again. For some reason it didn't work out and I dropped out again. Now student loan people were hounding me for money of course so I had to work full time to pay them.For some reason I decided to give school one more try but this time I decided to do a different major this time in Automotive/Autobody Technology(at the same school). I believe I made it through two semesters before dropping out a third time. By this time through confusion by my student loan creditors who for some reason didn't get my paperwork to defer my loan payments I was being hounded to pay back my loans of course. Shortly after my girlfriend(at the time) broke up and kicked me out our apartment. One of her complaints was that I had no goals and would end up in a dead end job. I felt like I was in between a rock and a hard place. Eventually we both moved on.
I ended up working various jobs until I'm where I'm at now. For years I partially blamed her for my past failures and for giving up on me. Can't say as I really blame her for I really didn't have a set goal in mind from the start. I lost sight I've my goal and I never found the focus again(until recently). She really wasn't wrong and she doesn't hold any of the blame. I made the decision to move and drop out originally. It was a poor decision at the time perhaps motivated by love(or lust) and not completely thinking things through.
In retrospect I can't say I total regret anything because if things had been different I would have never met my wonderful wife and have a son whom I wouldn't trade for anything. Now I'm a lot more focused on getting my degree to better my self and to perhaps set an example to my son on the importance of an education. Also to never give up your dreams. I will walk across that podium in about 4-5 years and accept my diploma and from there who knows perhaps I'll go for the next one.

Time

"You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun"
-Time, Pink Floyd(Mason,Waters,Wright,Gilmour)

I've been on a Pink Floyd kick lately. This song though tied into my Student Success course I'm taking. In the book "On Course" I've come to the chapter on Time Management(or lack of) which is covered in Chapter 4 of the book called"Mastering Self-Management". It's really opened my eyes as to how much time I waste. Either it be on the computer surfing too much (on unimportant things). Also speaks of spending time on things that don't help you towards your goal. It also touches on using calenders, action lists and tracking forms. I'm already started using my online calender at Yahoo. The book and course has been an eye opener to say the least. Very helpful especially since I haven't been to school in many years.

Outline

I'm sure this is a basic thing for those who've just completed high school and enterring but It's been 20 years for me. Though I had a basic idea on how to do an outline I needed some help or a refresher. My book on Public Speaking did show a way to set one up it was kind of complex. I found this one here to be a bit more basic and helpful from Purdue University.

Essay?.. Outline..?

For the record I'm taking two classes this semester. One is Oral Communications and the other is Student Success. Oral Communications is about public speaking. It was perhaps the one course I saw on my required classes that perhaps I feared the most. Last week we had our first practice speech that I feared like the plague. After going through I thought this wasn't too bad. I do feel like I'm learning a lot so far in the course so far. Student Success is an interesting course also taught by a soft spoken 74 year old gentlemen. The course is basically to ready yourself for college life. Setting goals, being responsible, time management etc... I'm actually finding it pretty interesting.
Toughest part of all this is doing basic stuff like doing an outline for my communications class. I haven't done an outline in perhaps over 15 years so it's been a learning experience all over again. Also for the Student Success I'm suppose to do a short 3-5 paragraph essay. I can't remember the last time I've done an essay probably around last time of my last outline.

Well I've got to get back to my studies, see you later.

Introduction

My name is Bob and at the age of 40 I decided to go back to school to get an Associates Degree. Though I'm sure I'm not alone in this venture I'm hoping this may encourage others to this themselves. I did attempt to do this at a younger age but did not complete my task. No one else was responsible but myself. What makes it perhaps more of a challenge is that now(unlike before)I'm now married with a five year old son, mortgage, car payments, and a full time job. Why now? I say why not. It's perhaps a shot at personal redemption and proof to myself that I can do it. Also I perhaps see my current job position as just that a "job". Not particularly my choice I would have chosen but it's one I've ended up with. It's physically demanding and doesn't have a whole lot of job growth. My goal is that this would open up more opportunities for me in the future. I'll be adding more details in the near future.