School, Life, and Job update

It has been awhile since I updated this….again. haha. But here is something at least.

I have officially been accepted to the University of West Florida for their online B.S. in Oceanography. Most of my credits transferred, but I still have about 48 sem hours to take to complete the degree. All but two classes are available online. The other two I will have to take at a college local to me, then apply transfer it to UWF. Luckily the two classes aren’t ones I need to do my other courses, so I can still wait to get residency to take them. With the online program, they have a way to waive out-of-state fees. Turns out, it will actually be cheaper than University of Cincinnati was. Lol.

Sally has been getting along a lot better with Aestyn and the kittys. The kittys are actually able to be out and about and within a foot of her and been fine. Aestyn and Sally still don’t play much, but they do lay up on my bed together and run around together at the dog park.

I have a new job as an office assistant for a customs broker. We handle imports and exports and such and specialize in cruise ships and yachts here in port everglades. It’s a regular 8:30-5 job with an hour lunch so I have time to go home and let the puppies out and eat lunch at home which is nice and cheap. It’s a good pay with paid holidays and benefits after 90 days. It’s a small office at this location. There are only 5 of us. I work under one lady in particular and help her with a variety of tasks. Right now its been a little slow going, but I am hoping to be busier as I get trained to do more things.

I finally met with a recruiter for the coast guard, but due to time constraints it wasn’t very informative and I still have a lot to learn. Luckily with the program I am looking at, immediate residency is not as necessary. But I still want to get some info.

The car has been surviving, though the A/C is not working right. I will have to take it to get looked at this weekend. I am still working for the dive shop, but will be doing more shop work now that I have a steady job and can afford the gas. I did my first Florida dive down here a few weekends ago. The water was rough and made me sick, I only got one dive in. It wasn’t the best dive ever, but I did get to see a HUGE goliath grouper, and a ton of jelly fish everywhere.

I got to visit Tampa with the guy I have been seeing for the super bowl. It was the first super bowl game I have ever actually watched completely. Go me! Also went to the Miami Seaquarium with him the weekend before last. Its a small place but the shows were entertaining and upclose! Got a lot of great pictures. Check them out! I posted my favs on my deviant art!

Mom came to visit for a few days. That was very nice. I am finally starting to feel that homesickness everyone warned me about, but I am handling it well. Myka will be coming to visit in a few weeks!

I am going to start trying to go to meet-up groups. One of the ones I plan to start checking out is a writer’s meet-up group. There is also a photography meetup group and an outdoor meetup group I may try to start being active in, so long as the events are free or cheap.


Well that is all I can think of for now.

~Mary~

FINALLY AN UPDATE

Sorry for the delay in an update. Things hit a bit of a snare and I wasn't in the mood to update until things settled. I ended up quitting my job at Breeder Network because of moral reasons. Too telemarkety and stressful. But I only went a week really before finding my new jobs. Yes, that is pleural! I am a server part-time to start at a new restaurant called Flip Flops. Its been open for a little over a week officially so things are slow as they get advertising going. So it won't be much money until things pick up. But once they do, its a prime spot! Its right on the water with docking for boats and close to the A1A and right next to a ton of condo buildings. I already saw a manatee come up for air right off the docking area, and my coworkers are great. The dress code is wearing a tye died shirt and jeans, so its my kind of place!

My other job I am also just starting at the American Dive Center located in Coral Springs. I will be helping them revamp their website, network, plan dive trips, and help out around the shop. Its a shop that is recovering from bad previous management and in a somewhat hard location because its a little west from the ocean and hard to spot in the shopping center its located in. My job is to try and help strengthen their name and network so that when the season for diving starts, we will hopefully be busy. In return they will pay me what they can and also help me out with deals on moving along in my certifications and diving. And once I reach instructor level I will be able to be in instructor at their shop!

I also will be writing for a website called Examiner.com which, if I generate enough popularity from viewers, I can also generate income of some kind from. Though they are a little vague as to how much, its free to join so it doesn't hurt. And I get to write about dogs, because I will be officially a Dog Examiner. So I plan to have fun with it!

Well I think that is all for now!

~Mary~