From http://blog.youdesignit.com.
Yesterday was April 1st, and it was no joke: my ePortfolio, a requirement for graduating with my master’s degree in Information Resources and Library Science, was due. And yes, I met the deadline and was approved, which means I can graduate now, provided I pass my final two classes.
Why did I push this deadline? I mean, other than the fact that it is a deadline? Well, let me tell you: I have had to completely redo my ePortfolio three times.
I could go into the administrative errors, the issues revolving around the fact that I was dropped and re-added to the program and did not know which requirements to follow, or my isolation in finishing a graduate degree remotely, but in reality that would be very boring. The end result is that I did the ePortfolio first under the 2005 rules, then under the 2006 rules, and finally under the 2007 rules. As each version was completely different, with a different format, different requirements, and a different server, I can safely say that that boring article I wrote about the Digital Divide in 2005? I’ve uploaded it to three different servers six times. And no poorly done first-year assignment should ever get so much attention.
So yes, I have been stressing about this requirement, about whether or not I was smarter than a chair and able to follow the changing directions and actually get the right stuff done on the right server at the right time. However, I did it and this means that May 15, 2009, I will officially graduate with a master of arts degree (and I can’t even draw).
Which just goes to show they’ll accept anyone these days. 
So, I’m looking for a job, along with about 2 million other people right now, most of them with many years of experience. Next week I have my first job interview, which is very happy-making. And I look forward to procrastinating about something other than my “paper that is due in three hours, but I can still fit in one episode of Grey’s Anatomy and finish if I hurry…”
Along with the end of school comes the beginning of student loans, so those generous people who need neither to save for college nor to pay for previous college, this link is for you:
If you need to do some online shopping at Best Buy or maybe buy a really expensive plane ticket at Expedia, if you do it through this link, they’ll throw a few pennies per transaction at my student loans (your transactions, and I say this for my “questionable” friends, remain private). It says “save” for college but it should read “pay” for college in the description. So, if you don’t have any better money-back/rewards/coupon sites to work through, click my link and send some pennies my way. Or, you could just tape a quarter to a postcard. Either way.
I am looking forward to a little “party down” for my graduation, like maybe some soup and crackers with sparking water or something. And then I’m going to watch all the back seasons of “The Biggest Loser” like it’s going out of style.
(If the above link doesn’t work, you can always paste http://www.upromise.com/guest/2043434253 into your browser.)
