Success!

I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy for the last couple of years. :)

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I did receive my Associate of Arts Degree in Psychology from Axia College of University of Phoenix, with a GPA of 3.97. Not bad, huh?

I did re-enroll this past month to pursue my Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology. So far it has been pretty good. I had a little trouble with financial aid. There was a gap between what I could get and what I had to pay. It wasn't very much though, so with a little more work I should be able to cover it.

Sorry, I haven't followed up on this blog for anyone who has stumbled upon it. I was surprised to find that it was still here. :)

Well, that's it for tonight. I will try and check back in the next couple of years to answer any questions that you may have. :)

Have a good time!

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Here's Another One For Ya!

Another program that the University of Phoenix requires us to have is a .pdf reader called Acrobat Reader. It's free too and it does it's job pretty well, but I know it's taking about three days to load on some of your computers, and you can't modify the files you are looking at. Now, for our purposes it's not really necessary to modify .pdf files, but here's a scenario for you:

You download a form that's in .pdf format. Now you gotta fill out this form and get it back to somebody quick. First, you gotta print it out (wasting ink and trees), and then you gotta fill in the info with that old tube and ink device(more ink), and then you gotta find a fax machine (ink, trees) to dial the person up and hope that they stroll by the fax machine in their office at the right time and your fax doesn't end up somewhere it shouldn't, because then you'd have to start the whole process over again.

Or you can just download this program: Foxit Reader . This program is small, so it loads fast. You just bring up your .pdf file, call up the Typewriter Tool, and enter your information directly into the document. From there you can print the document out back to a .pdf file, using CutePDF and e-mail it back to whoever needs it. That quick! Oh yeah, both those programs are free too.

Oh yeah, and you know that software suite I told you about yesterday- OpenOffice.org .
You can export your documents to .pdf in Writer. You can't do that in Microsoft Word.

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Get What You Need For Free!

Seems, I've missed my deadline again.

I spent yesterday getting caught up in both of my classes, and also getting caught up on some much needed sleep, so I'm sorry that I missed out on the post I promised. But I got a good one today.

There is a variety of software that the University of Phoenix requires you to have in order to be able to appropriately present your materials in class. Basically a big part of this requirement is Microsoft Office- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, whatever. I've got a secret for you though.

YOU DON'T NEED TO SPEND MONEY ON THIS SOFTWARE!!!

And I'm not saying steal it either. I haven't advocated that since I became old enough to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Besides, there are alternatives out there that are free and functional. The main one I want to talk about at this point is OpenOffice.org. Yeah, I know it looks like a website, but it's a software suite too! And guess what? It totally replaces Microsoft Office, and its FREE!!!

There's Writer (Word), Calc (Excel), and Impress (PowerPoint). Those are the three main ones right there. Then there's also Base (Access), and two other programs: Draw- a paint program with many more features than the one that comes with Windows, and Math- some kind of crazy scientific calculator program that I don't quite understand yet.

Did I mention you can get all this for free? NO SPYWARE! NO ADWARE! Just plain free.

So don't pay however many hundred bucks that Microsoft Office costs now. Go to the following link and download it for free.

http://www.openoffice.org/

This is not an advertisement. I don't get squat for this. I just want you to know it's out there.

Peace,

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Adsense Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I wonder if anyone ever thought of that one before. Pretty witty, huh?

I'm delirious right now- forgive me. Between school and work, and getting a new apartment I haven't been sleeping at all. I also realize that I haven't been posting here either, but guess what? Neither has anyone else. I invited all my classmates to the blog to share their experiences also, but so far I've got no bytes. (Oh, I'm pathetic.)

But guess what? Tomorrow, I have my first full day off of work it was has been nearly a month and a half. (That's right! I said a month and a half.) So hopefully I'll be able to get in here tomorrow and leave you some vital information concerning my academic endeavors.

Until then, I'm going to be counting sheep.

Peace Out!

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Tomorrow's The Big Day

December 10th- my first day of school!

Wow! It's been like ten years since I could say that. It's strange, and in many ways it feels pretty cool.

I logged into the student website tonight, and the option to Go to Class was on there. Even though I wanted to check it out, I know that I'm supposed to go over the process tomorrow with my enrollment adviser, and not much had gone right for me today- so I figure I'll just wait until tomorrow.

I've spent the last couple of days getting organized and looking over materials. I hope I'm ready!

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U of Phoenix Autobiography

My first task to complete for the University of Phoenix was to create an autobiography. So here it is:

Hello. My name is Shawn Criscito. I am 29 years old. I grew up in New Castle, Pennsylvania which is where I currently reside, but have had the opportunity to travel much of the United States and a small portion of Canada. For a time I lived in Southern California, where I had the chance to experience life in a big city and work for some large and well-known companies as an Executive Assistant and a Website Auditor. I have recently started a new job working as a Caregiver for the Lawrence County Association for Retarded Citizens, and although the job can be challenging at times, it is also a source of much joy in my life. During my childhood and adolescence I spent a great deal of time with my cousin who has Down syndrome and I believe that this experience has provided me with an alternative perception of the world, and a value system that differs from many of those around me. Don't get me wrong- I still like to have my fun, but I have found in my life that having fun at the expense of others usually carries a cost that exceeds the return. I enjoy the simple pleasures now- music, nature, and the company of good friends. I am also much of a computer geek, and find myself spending hours in front of a computer screen. Once, I tried to start my own e-business supporting the Arts in my community, but have had to put this goal on the back-burner until I find myself on more stable ground. For now, I keep a blog that documents my University of Phoenix experience. It can be found at: http://uophoenix.blogspot.com/

Naturally I find myself wanting to help others, and so I have chosen to pursue a degree in Psychology. It seems that I have always been good at listening and analyzing other people's problems, and coming up with a solution. Now, whether or not they want to follow my advice is a totally different story. There was a time in my life, however, that I found talking to an individual that really had no stake in my life to be extremely beneficial to my growth and well-being, and I only hope to be able to do the same for someone else, someday.

Thank you for your time, and I am looking forward to meeting and learning about my classmates, and professors.

Shawn

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Patiently Waiting

OK. Four more days until I start my scholastic career all over again at the University of Phoenix. I spoke with both my Finance Counselor and my Enrollment Adviser yesterday, and I'm already to go. All I have to do now is wait a little bit.

I have to write a short autobiography of myself so my classmates and professor have some idea of who I am. My computer is supposed to arrive today or tomorrow, so I think I'll wait until that gets here. I usually produce better stuff when I procrastinate a little bit anyway. :)

Then on Monday at 11:30am, my Enrollment Adviser is set to contact me a lead me through the first day of school. He's already sent me some material, so I have a pretty good idea what to look out for.

I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm a lot of things, but more than anything I'm just looking forward to doing something interesting with my life. I've tried this before and failed, but I've yet to attempt it in such a setting.

I'm just waiting to see.

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