In which I relate my adventures with the University.

About a month ago I had a meeting in Wisconsin Rapids with the head of my division. We are going through a reorganization (partially absorbing a spin-off company back into the parent) and we are rolling out all kinds of new services (satellite Internet, Voice over IP, etc.). The division head is redoing the organization chart for the division. In the new version, many more people are reporting directly to him so that he can get a feel for what’s going on. I was informed that I was now an “applications engineer” and that I would be taking over maintenance of several database systems. It was also hinted that my new position might require a greatly increased presence in Wisconsin Rapids.

Database work does appeal to me, but moving to Rapids doesn’t. Things just haven’t been moving in the direction that I have been happy with.

The meeting ended a little early so I drove up to Stevens Point. I stopped at UWSP to investigate my old debts there. (I was pretty sure I had paid them off but my bank had mentioned that they still showed up on my credit report.) After I lengthy chat with Accounts Receivable I had a list of my debts and payments and other information to give to any credit agency that claimed that I hadn’t paid my UWSP debts. (Turns out that there weren’t any. My credit is clean at all three major agencies.)

Since that went so well, I figured I would press my luck. I went to the admissions office and asked what I would have to do to be readmitted to UWSP. Much to my surprise I found out that I was still a student at UWSP. Okay, I was on probation, but I was a student. All I would have to do is apply for readmission (which would be free since I was still a student) and I would be in. I grabbed the forms and walked out the office.

I was on a roll. I went to Records and Registration and got a copy of my degree progress report. More good news! I was still under the same catalog. I only needed to take a single course to fulfill my general degree requirements. Very good news.

My CIS (Computer Information Systems) major was a different story. Some of the courses date back to 1990 and as one of my wiseass friends said, “They have transistors in computers now!” I went to the Math and Computing department and spoke with the department head. He took a long look at my degree progress report, shook his head a lot, scribbled on it for awhile, and handed it back to me. The end result is that I would have to take four CIS courses and a math course. Not as bad as I feared, but not as good as I had hoped either. (When I left, I only had two CIS courses remaining.)

I thought a lot about my choices in the coming weeks. Many of my friends were openly encouraging me to finish the degree. (These were mostly the people that had been teasing me about not having my degree for the past decade or so.) Some people (my mother, in particular) wanted to remain neutral so that they wouldn’t influence my decision with what they wanted. (My mother wasn’t able to hide her opinion too well though.) One person was against my returning to school but she didn’t want to discuss it. The thing is, these peoples’ opinions didn’t directly affect my decision. My decision to not go to school for the past decade has been against almost everyone’s opinion for years. I wasn’t going to change my mind now just because people thought I should. I wanted to know why people thought I should or shouldn’t return. I solicited advice and opinions and added them to my own reasons and feelings.

Eventually I decided to return to school. I can take the 6 classes in a single school year. My mom offered to loan me money if I need it. I proved that I could handle 8 hours a day in an excruciatingly boring classroom when I took the Cisco class. Waiting any longer would only make it much more difficult (relationships, family, more classes “expiring”, house or car debt, career, etc.). Now is the time to do it if I am ever going to do it.

I prepared for my registration date. I was all ready to go but my back injury struck the day before my registration date. I couldn’t move, much less get down to Stevens Point. Because I hadn’t registered for classes last semester, I had to do it in person. Was this a sign? Time would tell.

I didn’t feel like I could travel until this past Monday. I had a meeting in Wisconsin Rapids again so I got up early and stopped at UWSP first. I spent a couple of hours being shuffled around. My old advisor was retiring, a different advisor couldn’t help me, I had some problems with prerequisites, some classes had closed, etc. I ended up leaving my forms with the department head who was going to try and sort things out. I went to my meeting and spent the rest of the day in Rapids.

I made it back to Stevens Point on Tuesday. I picked up the forms and chatted with the department head. Things weren’t the greatest but they weren’t that bad either. I headed off to register. I got bounced around a little (had to get my packet from Admissions, pay a deposit at the Bursar’s, and have Accounts Receivable add me to the system before I could register) but eventually I was standing with my class schedule for fall of ’05.

I am taking two 4-credit CIS courses. If things go as planned, I will take one writing emphasis course over the “winterim” and then two CIS and one math course in the spring. That puts a little more class load in the spring than I would like, but it’s my only chance of getting out in spring.

I am not sure exactly how this will all work out, but school is going to be my primary focus. That means that I will probably be moving to Stevens Point and only working part-time (especially in the spring). I don’t know how this will go over at my current job but if worse comes to worse I probably could swing being unemployed for 9 months. (I am sure I would find some sort of job though.)

After I registered I gave Robin a call. It turned out that he was in a computer lab in the same building so we went outside to talk for awhile. So there I sat with my old college roommate across from the house that we used to rent. We were both discussing the courses that we were taking (he is getting his teaching certificate). A girl came up to Robin and vented about another girl. The girls had the same names as two of Robin’s ex’s. Deja vu, but not quite. I think I’ll be getting that feeling a lot over the next year.