Time to buckle up?

Wednesday i slept all day and all night. Thursday, i volunteered and when i got back home, i had a headache so i slept. No studying.

Friday, i went to the library in the afternoon and studied till 4:30 when they closed and then i came home and continued. Finished 2 TBR chapters plus questions. Saturday same, 2 chapters and phase 2s. I'll say i found phase 2 easier for ochem. Phase 2 for gen chem was good till i got lazy this evening so i can't focus and i did terrible on equilibrium chapters. I skipped the last question hoping to do it tomorrow or whenever.

It looks like i've decided to buckle up and keep busy. My goal was to finish phase of of bio chapters 2 and 3 but i think i may be able to push through only one chapter tonight in addition to a session of myreading lab.

NIH trip for tomorrow was cancelled. My goal is to do acid bases, hopefully finish the phase 2 bios and do a phase 2 of physics.

When i did the ochem reread with phase 2 questions, i felt confident and i still feel confident to the point of wanting to do more questions now. So, i'm thinking of setting aside an hour everyday where I'll do TPR workbook in addition to verbal.

Speaking of verbal, I need to buckle up and do the LSAT books so i can build my stamina. Since I'm doing myreading lab, i'll say i'm not being as lazy as i could be but i'm not being as hardworking as i could be either. maybe i can set the workbook for days when i off and make the verbal a daily thing as it should be.

Mistakes i'm making so far include changing answers from right to wrong, done that at least 4x today. misreading answer choices, sometimes, i say the right answer to myself and select what i think it is after skimming. Point is, i need to reach each step carefully. i've had to reason an answer out and then changed it to something else without any reason. The others have been not applying knowledge and lack of logical reasoning. i do have to say TBR questions are 70=80% logic.

Oh, and i also wasted at least 2.5hrs on the internet watching tv shows. I need to work on my weaknesses. i'm just glad i'm sitting up and doing something because i sure could be sleeping or doing something that's not of worth. I've wasted enough time already. i can't waste anymore.

Philly?

I woke up just before 5p and have done nothing related to studying. That's 5 hrs wasted on my pc. Should i add the 1.5hrs from this morning when i came in and watched NCIS?

I'm definately going to get up now, take my contacts up, finish BR chem chapter 9 and questions. I need to finish the ochem book too so i may do that but i also need to sleep and get up for the clinic tomorrow morning.

I was thinking about driving to philly afterwards. The pros, i get to be without internet access so i can invest time in studying. Cons: There's a baby, there's a mom who's trying to be my matchmaker and there's also the cost of spending almost 2hrs on the road as well as driving what's her name around when i get there? will i really get time to study?

Maybe i should make tomorrow a no pc day and just work study. Sounds like a good idea. What i need is self control and perhaps, disconnecting my internet access.

Self-control

What's the difference between being a shopaholic and a regular shopper? right now, my vision is blurred and i'm not objective. But, i just left Victoria's secret without buying a thing. i'd just spent $114+ there earlier and was on the verge of spending $116 more. Can i afford it? Yes. Do i need it? No. Why am i buying when i've a closet full of stuff i don't even wear? i'm a shopaholic and I can't help it. Pathetic? Very.

Lord I need big help. I feel like i need the stuff though.

The evil that men do

I just got news, it's unofficial, that my manager came back from vacation and they asked her to leave. I knew what goes around will come around for her but this soon? i was expecting it to happen later. We've had so many people quit on our unit it's pathetic. Staff are complaining and unhappy. Each day i pray i have a job. I was actually planning on quitting sometime this year before my evaluation.

I've been reading the book of Daniel and i was thinking about how God humbles these proud rulers. Last year, i thought Belshazzar's destruction came too soon. Looks like i'm seeing something similar manifest.

Nothing is permanent in this life. My manager was someone with great nursing skills. How to talk to people and deal with staff was a whole different issue. I feel like she worked hard and she did suck up to the administration. She was the on-call person at odd times when i'm sure no one else wanted to be on call, like during the snow emergency and on weekends. I know she put her heart into her work on the unit. I know she's saved the hospital money. She did do some unethical stuff, such as not paying people who stayed over after 7:30 to complete their work, she made us clock out after work for staff meetings and while she kept us there for 2hrs, she only paid us for 45minutes. She threatened people, she knew very well that the job market for nurses is bad and she brandished that fact around and said i'll fire you and hire someone else because i know many people who can't find a job. She was petty and flaky.

I guess there's soo much management can take. I wondered for a second if she took a minute to wonder why people were leaving our unit. But then i figured that if she's looking at it from the point of view that they're quitting because they can't do the job and i can always hire someone else, then she's likely to see herself as the major reason why people left. We've had 5 techs on nights quit, 3 on dayshift, so many nurses have quit it's not worth counting. I think the recent exodus of 5 nurses from dayshift this month, including one who's worked there for 9years did it.

Oh well, i feel relieved. Whew! exhaling....

myreadinglab frustrations

I spent the last 30+ minutes chatting with customer support and the first one,i can't find a word to describe since i don't want to use the word 'useless'. The second one was pretty much the same.

I hate that if you score less than 80% on just one practice test, the test feature is disabled. knowing this, i've always taken a test first prior to taking a practice test. I'm not sure what got into me but i took a practice first this evening and i score 70. I scored a 80 and a 90% on the remaining but that doesn't change anything because all you need is one sub-80 score. The rep told me that only instructors can make any changes and for self-study mode, there's nothing that can be done.


I find that VERY annoying. If someone signs up for this, they're pretty much signing up because they'd like to practice to improve. I want all the practice i can get and considering the practice is just a means for one to practice skills learned in the model, i don't see why that should be a determinant in taking the test.

I think the default feature should be the other way around. Tests should be available by default and for people enrolled instructor led courses, instructors should set the cuttoff limit for mastery.

What's even more annoying is that customer service can't reset it. If an instructor can do that in a course, why can't customer service reset for people not taking a course? People who take kaplan tests call and have the test reset so they can take it again. I'm fine with the fact that myreading lab tests can be taken once. I'm not fine with the fact that tests are disable even if your average practice result is greater than 80. The problem with this is that encourages skipping practice and going directly to tests because once the test is disabled, you're stuck and each time you log in, it tells you that you haven't completed the module. I just went back to the intermediate reading course and realized that i took the 2 tests and skipped the just 1 out 5 or 6 practice tests.

I'm not happy with this and i hope it changes. I can't be too pissed at them because i know this program is mainly for people enrolled in instructor led courses and it looks like that's the group pearson caters to. I do think however that if they were to cater to independents, they'll expand their market greatly for tehre are thousands of LSAT, MCAT and GRE takers out there who'd like to improve their comprehension. if the GMAT has a RC section, then add it to it. i think there are about 55000+ takers of the MCAT alone each year. Not sure how many people take the GRE each year but i'll bet it it's more than the MCAT.

I'm just ranting cuz i'm a little upset but then again, i know pearson caters to students with instructors so i'm in a class on my own.

Finally, a lexile measure

I signed up for all sections of myreading lab and in hindsight, i regret that. In my defense, i didn't know what course was right for me in the beginning and i kept choosing books to see what i wanted to do.

Anwyay, after my last blog entry i went back to myreading lab and decided to pop into the advance reading course. I've looked through this course a few weeks ago when i failed the active reading section of the intermediate course and the diagnostic wasn't there. Thing is i saw it there and i took it and i scored 1385. I had 23/25 on the questions.

I have a lot of respect for Pearson for making this feature available because i made a post on facebook asking them why it wasn't available and i got a response saying they're working on it. Indeed! i'm glad they listen to their customers. i wish I'd signed up for the intro course instead of jumping to the intermediate. Anyway, i'll work the intro course, finish the intermediate and use the reading level measures in the advance course to measure my reading level. I'm just happy i'm reading above 12th grade level.

I wish i hadn't spent all that money on that verbal mastery book. oh well, had i known?

Reading

So i thought the fundamentals of reading course was the 2nd basic course in myreading lab and that the introductory reading came before that. Turns out it's the other way around and that the fundamentals is the most basic. Come to think of it, it's pretty pathetic that i scored 20% in the main idea section of that. Anyway, while wondering why i wasn't doing well in the intermediate reading course, i decided to try that and see what it offers and that's when i realized it's a lot more advanced than the fundamental course and considering i've completed the main idea sections of the intermediate reading course, i scored 100% on the these and the supporting details in the introductory course. In fact i scored 100% on 16 of the topics and 80% on critical thinking and the rest was either a 33%, 50% or a 66% and those were a total of 6 or 7 topics. the 33% was on the active reading topic and 2 patterns of organization, time order and cause and effect. Those 2 i can learn easily, the active reading is something i need to work hard in.

I think i sorta know what to do for the active reading and i think i learned that from powerscores book. I need to anticipate when i read and pay attention to signal words- italized words, bolded word and words that define stuff and other things. I think i'll apply that to myreading lab and see how much i improved. I scored a 66% in the outlining and mapping and i think that's a hit or miss. i did that question at work and i was in a hurry to get done and do the joints.

Anyway, it's a start but i think i'll do the introductory before coming to the intermediate. I think the fundamental course was necessary because it really helped me master supporting details and how to detect the main idea. All i need to do now is learn the patterns of organization and improve on my active reading skills. Good luck to me.

Generic vs brand names

I'm not a stickler when it comes to taking brand names but i know that it's better to take brand name seasonale than generic. nsaids like advil, tylenol, and whatever else those don't matter. Although there is a significant difference between zyrtec and it's generic versions. The brand name makes me drowsy, the generics on the other don't cause any drowsiness for me.

After five years of taking ponstel, it's been shocking but it was winter quarter, right around this time that i showed up at clinicals throwing up, diarrhea and whatever else comes along and ended up at Dr Rose's exam room afterwards.

Yesterday, i tried to get it filled and none of the pharmacies around here had it. My saving grace was the walgreens almost 6miles from here and the girl tells me we have the generic. huh? i think this is new because i've always received the brand name. I went to pick it up today despite the fact that "everything" has already started but i wasn't throwing up and while it did look like i may be getting diarrhea, i took the last 2 pills i had saturday and sunday and it looks like it took care of it. Early this morning i took 400mg of ibuprofen. Figured out an nsaid is an nsaid.

Considering i'm not having the 'usual' symptoms,it's going to be hard evaluating the effectiveness of the generic drug. I just hope it makes me drowsy but since i wasn't sure of that, i took some benadryl for insurance. Now i just have to wait and pray that it doesn't have an additive effect because benadryl is enough to cause me to sleep.
oh well...

To God be the Glory

I drove right into someone today and God did the greatest thing i've ever seen before my eyes and i mean right before my 2 eyes. The car just turned and instead of me stopping, i drove even forward and the care turned even more. Now the driver shouldn't have seen me move forward so if God wasn't the car veering the car to the right, then there can't be anything else because God is the only one capable of such a thing. 2x this week, my car has escaped damage.

I praise God for such a wonderful miracle.

So much change in so little time

I went to first wednesday prayer yesterday and boy am i glad i did. it was amazing. Great service, feel the transformation already and i pray it carries on.

Concerning the email i sent to my sister, well, i trust that God will turn it into good.

i also woke up this early morning, by which i mean 2am, and i switched my insurance policy. I've been with geico since i bought my other car in 08 and i've been a faithful customer, have autopay, no claims on this current policy actually. Since i moved to suburbia, my rates shot down even with the extra $5 i pay for doing the monthly payment option and every six month renewal has come with another discount. Last december or november i get a policy renewal letter and i realize that my rate has gone up. I expected it to go down further because i don't make payments on the car anymore. So, i told myself i was going to switch and that's exactly what i did.

In retrospect, maybe i should've called Geico before buying the new coverage because the lady offered to get me a discount when i called to cancel. I just thought my rates went up because i got that pay out last september. I could be wrong. Anyway, my geico renewal was greater than $666, my progressive renewal was $461 for the same coverage. The $61 was because i made the one time payment so there's a $30 savings right there. Nevertheless, it would still be a great saving if i chose the monthly billing and paid the extra $5 each month.

If my insurance had gone up just $5 per month, i would have stayed with them but right now, it's a blessing.
To God be the glory.

Kyrie Eleison

So i write telling someone to pray and it turns out i'm the one who needs to pray. Lord help me to contemplate my actions before i act. I wrote/said some things that i regret. At that time, i felt strongly but now, i thought it over and said, i shouldn't have done anything. it might be a little now.

Kaplan or not 2

So, i debated this since my last post and i spent the morning yesterday reading posts on SDN. I spent all evening today on SDN and lying here trying to figure out if i should sign up for this course or not.
Indecisiveness is a sin!

Anyway, i clicked on a class, got the check out page and i balked. So, i'm back to square one with hours wasted that i could've used to accomplish something else. Not sure what to do now but i'm thinking i'll go back to my study plan as discussed and take an aamc at the end of this month. Depending on how i do, i'll sign up at the extra cost.

why kaplan? because most of the people who broke 40 used it. There are some who broke 40 and only used their premiere program which i had but barely used it. i may end up buying it again. Kaplan has great resources although i was a little dubious about signing up for the class because it don't look like they update their materials. The other thing was that despite my poor prep last year, i didn't think the exam was bad.

So, work through TBR, do the TPRH workbook since i completed their bio and gen chem. I need to do their physics alongside TBR cuz i think TBR is great in gen chem and ochem, the physics has definitely improved a lot but they have a different approach. I'm starting to wonder if the EK 1001s is a waste of my time. Their explanations are lousy.
Too much going on in my head.
God i hope i made the right choice.