Working and Going to School is Exhausting

Don't get me wrong.  I believe in education and would love to quit my job and be a full time student.  However, having financed a car last year, I'm stuck having to work.  When I was younger, I dreamed of getting married and being just like my mom who stayed home, took care of the house and finances, dad and me.  Well, in the 80's that was impossible.  Every household had to have two incomes if you wanted to stay afloat.  I could have done what my mother did and babysat for those moms who wanted to go out and deal with egos all day.  But when I suggested this to my then husband, I was shot down.

So here I am, all these years later and I'm STILL working full time and going to college at night.  Since I work at a University, I go to school relatively free except for activity fees and books.  The University isn't in the safest of neighborhoods and the thought of walking from class to my car at 10 p.m. is not an appealing thought.  So I'm taking online classes.  Now with someone who has the attention span of a child, taking online classes is challenging.  You have to log into class every day or every other day.  That isn't hard, I check it every few hours when I'm at work.  The hard part is posting my main topic and two answers to two other students.  I tend to procrastinate.  Plus, my online classes have went to the eight week format.

My History class requires me to read at least two chapters a week, post a main topic of at least 350 words.  My responses to the two other students must be at least 150 words.  Plus, they have done away with the final exam and have gone to the Final Authentic Assessment - basically a semester long project.  I've been keeping up so far.  But to really give it what it deserves, I need to put in four hours a night.

My other class is a Creative Writing Class.  So far I haven't been posting in class as much as I should be.  I need to catch up on those even if they will not count now.  I've scored pretty well on my CNF and the other assignments I've turned in.  I just can't seem to get to the reading and the posting like I should.  This will severely  impact my final grade because the final assessment in this class is a portfolio of everything you have done in the class.  OOOPPPSSS!!!

According to the how to be successful in online classes guide provided by the University, each class requires at least 20 hours of work each week.  Considering I'm taking two classes, that is 40 hours each week (or a second job).  Also, my house is not set up to provide me an adequate/appropriate study area for someone who is easily distracted.

Oh well, I just need to drag my lazy behind to the library after work.  The only problem with that is, by the time 4:00 rolls around, I just want to go home and veg.

My Opinion of Bobby's Burger Palace - College Park

Well, today one of my co-workers and I decided to give the new Bobby's Burger Palace a try.  Now, for anyone who has ever watched a cooking channel, you know who Bobby Flay is.  He is a Chef who has mastered the grill - in most opinions.

I have never had his food before, so this was going to be an treat and I was really excited.  The good thing about it is, it is within walking distance of my office.  We took a nice walk through the beautiful University of Maryland Campus, walked past some of our co-workers having lunch at the local Looney's Pub, and onto Bobby's Burger Palace.  Once inside, we placed our orders, found two empty seats at the counter, sat down, put the numbers in front of us and waited for our food.  I ordered the Buffalo Style Burger, and keeping within my goal of eating healthier, I ordered it as a ground turkey burger instead of beef.  Now, having watched numerous cooking shows, I was expecting a hand patty style burger, especially for $7.75.  What I received, I have in my freezer at home - only bigger.  It was the type of burger patty that is shaped and smashed by a machine.  And there was so much cheese and bun that I really didn't taste the burger - not that Turkey burgers have much flavor in the first place.

Having seen this particular Chef on several cooking channels, I was expecting much, much more.  Will I go there again?  Probably since it is so close to my office it will be a destination by default.  But compared to the other place that I had a Turkey burger recently (Busboys and Poets), it doesn't even compare.  I think I'll try Looney's Pub next week, they are also within walking distance.  Although, I really don't think it is a good idea to have a bar so close to work.  Too tempting on those days when the boss is driving me to drink.