What A Crazy Day!

Yesterday and Sunday were such crazy days for me! Let me start with Sunday. On Saturday I had my ‘welcome call’ from Kaplan University. I still had to sign my Master Promissory Note for school. Well, I had an appointment set up for Monday to speak with my enrollment person, but I guess that was not quick enough. So the Financial Aid people were to call me on Sunday.

They called about 2pm but the web site I needed to use was down, so he asked if he could call me back at like 5pm. Sure why not? In the mean time I was trying to help a friend straighten out a group she started, she needed to have a Messenger conference, with some people so I had to run that. Of course it ran over and was still going on when school called me back.

I got on the web site that I needed filled out the forms needed and submitted them. All is good. The conference wrapped up soon after and only a few minor technical issues, people not able to get in, stuff like that. I got my username and password for the Kaplan site, so I logged in and took the campus tour.

Yesterday morning I got an email from my enrollment guy at Kaplan, he wanted to call be early to get me over to academics to get me registered for classes. My original appointment was at 4:30pm, but apparently there was a meeting at that time in the academic area, so they needed to call me early. It was not an issue because I was awake. So, I was on the phone with them for a while yesterday morning.

Went to bed at 11am finally and was woken up at 1pm. School called again, it seemed that they registered me for two classes when I was to be registered for only one right now. Ugh. Got that taken care of, then the people delivering the dryer today called and let me know they would be here between 7am-11am. Which is kind of good because then I can go to bed and sleep. I have to call the kids today later.

So, it has been kind of crazy around here. I did forget to do an entry on yesterday, but you can see why! I now am awake to wait on the dryer people. Ugh. So tired! Ciao!

 

Dinner At Ruth Chris Last Night

Okay, so last night I finally got to Ruth Chris for dinner. Last week I was feeling so horrible that I could not go. I am so glad that I waited and did not try to go last week.

When you pull up to the restaurant you notice that you are in a rather industrial area, lots of businesses and office buildings. They offer complementary valet service for your car, which actually was nice.

When you walk in to let them know that you are here, they have a coat room to the left complete with a person standing there to check your coat if you wish. After you give them your name they tell you that you are all checked in and if you want you can wait in the bar.

When they seat you, your sever comes over to ask if you are _____ party. All night long they call you by name. It is a total experience. The dining room has the feeling of being in a very high end restaurant. Like the ones you see on TV and in movies.

The menu is all al a carte. Meaning everything is separate, there are no no complete dinners. There are many choices of fall kinds of things: steaks, chicken, seafood.

I got the New York Strip steak with a loaded baked potato and garlic green beans. I also got a steak house salad. The salad was so good. Very fresh ingredients and the croutons were hand made. The dressing was very good too. My steak was medium rare and cooked perfectly. My potato weighed at least a pound and was soo good. The green beans were so perfect!

Doug got a chopped salad to start with and it actually came as a  molded salad, which I have never ever seen before. He got the cowboy rib eye as his steak and it was huge! He got potatoes lynese, which is sautéed potatoes with onions. He got creamed spinach for a vegetable, which was good I had a bite.

We do have leftovers and I will show you mine. For dessert we both had crème brulee, OMG this stuff is EVIL. I would go back just for that honestly.

I enjoyed it, but high end is just not me. Not really. It is someplace that we would go to for special occasions but not like once a month. This older couple that was at the table next to us, are there weekly. After seeing how easy it was to spend over $100 on dinner I can not imagine being there weekly!

Nook Skin Pictures

This is the back of the Nook

 

This is the front view…

Nook Day 3 and Stuff

First the other stuff. This week has been totally stressful for me. I am working on getting into Kaplan, and I have been dealing with financial aid. Since Phoenix used some of my financial aid there was an issue because all of my credits will not show until the middle of my first term. So I would not be showing as a junior. I would not be getting junior level financial aid, so there were out of pocket expenses. The first financial aid person I talked to, Leslie, had told me that my out of pocket expenses would be about $1,000.

Doug and I talked about it and he said he would help me with it. Fine so the next day I had a couple of questions about the payment plan and I spoke with someone else who told me that basically Leslie lied to me. She was assuming that I would get an extra $3,000 for my junior level funding once my credits showed  up. So, actually after my Pell got boosted a bit, my out of pocket was going to be more like $1,700. I was kind of like how if my Pell went up do I owe more?!?!

As I said Leslie was assuming that I would get the extra $3,000. Which there is no reason I should not because I will be a junior and be eligible for the junior level funding. The person that I spoke to was like there is no guarantee that I would get the extra $3,000. At $1,700 Doug could not help me.

So, I was talking to my enrollment guy ( If you want to go back to school and go to Kaplan let me know, I have the BEST enrollment guy!) and telling him what was going on, he went above and beyond the call and got a financial aid supervisor to call me and explain all of this crap to me. The guy that called me explained EVERYTHING to me. From loan limits to how they calculate my loans. Stuff that everyone needs to know.

So, here is the deal, I am starting the first term at half time, because it is totally covered with the financial aid that is left. Once my credits show up I can go back to full time. So, finally with all that taken care of I am feeling better about this.

I am still loving my Nook. I have finished two books on it so far and I am enjoying using it. I am waiting on my skin still but once I get it and get it on my Nook I will show you what it looks like. I added music to my Nook too. I have checked out a book from the library and put it on my Nook, the format is a bit wonky but that happens sometimes. I am now on my third ebook.

Well, I think that is it for now. Ciao!

Nook Day 2 ( Early)

Okay so I still love my Nook, but I can not figure out how to set the time on it. I might have to take it to the Barnes & Noble store for help. In the scheme of things not all that horrible. Plus I will get free coupons and content when I go in store.

I found many free ebooks at Barnes & Noble’s web site. I also can download from area libraries who have ebook collections. I actually have a hold on a book in one of those libraries.

I have many many books on my ebook wish list of course! Now I know what I want for birthdays and Christmases now. LOL.

I am enjoying my Nook, but it does take a bit of getting used to. Does this mean that I am giving up ‘real’ books, no. I am not. But this is a nice thing to have when we travel because I can take a whole bunch of books with me and not break my back.

The e-ink screen is amazingly clear. The Nook is not backlit. That was not a mistake it is by design. It is designed that way to be easier on your eyes. I know my eyes get tired reading on my lap top.

I have a skin that is on its way, so maybe that will help me a bit with the getting used to it. The white frame distracts me a bit. We will see. When I get the skin on it I will show you guys. If you can go in to a Barnes & Noble to check one out.

Nook Day 1

Okay, so my first impression is that if you are going to get yourself a Nook, make sure that you go to the Barnes & Noble boards and read them. I did and had no issues getting into the packaging. However, it comes in a cardboard sleeve, once you get that off, there is a plastic box, the box is tough to get into but it actually holds the Nook in place and keeps it safe, so it actually is a good thing.

After you get the box open the Nook is in a cradle that literally does not allow the Nook to move on inch at all. The USB and wall plug are in a small box in the bottom of the plastic box, DO NOT THROW AWAY.

My Nook is charging, that is what they recommend for the first step, but I have already registered it, which you need a Barnes & Noble account to do. Make sure that you have a credit card associated with the account, it makes it easier.

I have a couple of pictures of my nook so far. So for the first day, I like my Nook a lot!

Nook Day!

I get my Nook from Barnes & Noble today. I am so excited! For those who have no idea what a Nook is, it is Barnes & Noble’s e-reader. I debated between the Kindle and Nook, but for the money, the Nook was my choice. Mainly because I could expand my memory on the Nook with an SD card.

Also the Nook has a color touch screen and it is a lot cheaper than the Kindle. The Kindle locks you into having to buy books from Amazon, but the Nook I can borrow ebooks from the library or other ebook sellers. I can also lend the ebooks that I have to a friend, which I liked too.

I will post later after I get it and take some pictures of it. I am also going to do a week long, day by day journal of what I like and don’t about it. So, later will be Day 1. Ciao!