Monday, June 11, 2007

Catching up

Picking up where I left off in my last post...

One other item my family had been considering was a move to warmer climate. I've lived in the midwest my whole life but the better half grew up in a warmer locale. We had often talked of moving somewhere more temperate and this transition seemed like the perfect time as our kids had not yet entered school.

The job hunt was really going nowhere so I really began to focus on the teaching option. I researched several local options as well as another city I really had an eye on: Las Vegas. Real estate in Vegas has escalated quite a bit, but is still somewhat affordable. The climate is definitely warmer than the midwest. Not to mention I've got a particular affinity for poker - expect to hear more on that topic in future posts. I thought I could possibly find a job as a dealer in one of the casinos - a flexible job to hold while in school. The better half also seemed interested, despite having never visited. A few other pro-Vegas options included an accelerated program that would allow me to begin teaching full time within one year and information I'd heard that children get full tuition paid at state schools thanks to casino revenues.

In the end, Vegas turned out to be too much turmoil all at once. Selling the house and finding jobs for two would be just too much to do at once, particularly with no local support system such as friends or family around. My career as a gambler would have to take a back seat to reality.

One local option began to stand out. The local state school was very economical. Other advantages included the ability to get started early, beginning with courses in Summer term 2007. And, through much pestering and persistence, I was able to get my course work accelerated so that student teaching would be an option in Fall 2008. This is much quicker than anticipated as early research into local schools had me looking at Fall 2009. This was an optimistic turn of events for me and really got me excited. Additionally, it looked like I would be able to continue working full time while going through all coursework up until the point I would have to student teach.

One other component of the master plan. The better half will have to abandon the role of full time parent and turn instead into full time parent and part time employee. Again, more on this topic in the future but this will prove to be a major transition for the family. And that pretty much catches you up to where we are today. There was much consternation and work involved just to get to this point but excitement is at an all time high.

One week from today, I begin what I imagine will be an arduous process. Summer semester features 3 classes, in a classroom Monday thru Thursday 6 - 9 pm plus one additional online course. Fortunately, this will only last for about 6 weeks, since the semester is so short. However, fall looks daunting as well, with 4 classes during the fall term, including two teaching clinical courses. I'm lucky to be able to get it all done so quickly though, as this program normally takes two years. So the next week will be spent working ahead on my online course and enjoying having a little bit of free time until class begins. And recovering from my immunization today :-)

Until next time.

Ace

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