I'm still here!

I don't post as much to Facebook as I used to, primarily because my library career means more to me right now than my fitness business, but I got a kick in the head this morning that maybe, just maybe, some people were following me to get the motivation to workout themselves. I'm still not planning on putting my all into the fitness business, but I will try to put up more photos, keep up with this thing, and do better at being a good example. I may stumble, though, as we are coming up on the holidays, so I'm trying to get shopping done, projects at home and work wrapped up, and we're shifting traditions a bit this year since Grandma is having a knee replacement 10 days before Christmas. This puts more of the prep work on my mom, aunt, and myself, as we will be holding Christmas at mom's instead of Grandma's, so we now get to menu plan. I'm looking forward to the challenge, and it gives me even more gratitude toward the president of the university for giving us a full 2 weeks off, paid, from the campus. I'll definitely be using them! 

As far as my workouts go - I don't have any new photos to put up yet, Lauren has introduced me to the wonderful world of lifting. My dad has always been into weights, and worked out, but he got into a slump. I proposed an idea to him - I'd get him back into working out, in exchange for using his home gym, and we'd keep each other accountable. Awesome idea, he said, let's do it! So, every Monday we do upper body, every Thursday is lower body. If we had something else going on, instead of skipping the day entirely, we moved it, and I'm proud to say we haven't missed a Monday yet. We started at the end of September, so here are my stats for a month so far:

Before

And my stats as of last night:

3 weeks later

My numbers have gone up in some areas, an I actually started out with 50 pounds for deadlifts, I just had to do the last set with 25 (so I didn't mark it right - I need to change that). The 124 for calf raises was using just my body weight. 

What I need to get into more is the second part of the program. I had decided that on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, I would do PiYo for lower body, upper body, and core/buns respectively, with Saturday changing between core and buns. I've only done one night of it a few weeks ago, and then I fell back into doing nothing as soon as I got home. What I really need to do is get my butt out of bed and do it before I even go to work in the morning. This is tough, however, when you get up to pitch blackness. Maybe I can set it up to be up by 5 on Thursday. I did so well in summer, working out before work, and I slowly fell away from it as the days got shorter, chillier, and we put the fleece blankets on the bed. And more projects hit at work. All excuses, yes, but at least daddy is helping keep me accountable! Then there's my awesome husband, who pushes me into it whether I want to or not:

Get a support team. Find a workout you love. Remember that 80% of your results come out of the kitchen. Go kill the workout. I'm right behind you all the way!

Dreams and a revelation

I gave up on a dream today. I never give up on dreams - I may allow them to change and roll with them, but for the first time in my memory, I just flat gave up.

I went into the MLIS program thinking I'd become a digital librarian. That idea evolved into becoming an archivist, which I would still like to do, but the classes taught me that my heart lies with librarianship. I love the interaction with the patrons, the questions, the feeling of absolute triumph when I locate the answer. When I worked in public libraries, I loved the little kids telling me about books they had read, were interested in, or the excitement that was etched on their faces as they picked up a hold. I have an email that I printed out and stuck in my wallet; a patron thanking me for essentially doing my job, but what I had done - in her eyes - was help her nurture her son's new found love for a book series, which turned him into a reader. I carry this email to remind myself on the bad days why it is I do this, why I get up at 6 (ok, 6:30) every day to come open up a library and wait for the questions, or the requests for help in finding something.

Today, however, that email won't help me out. I graduated in August - the 16th, to be exact - with my Masters in Library and Information Science. The concentration was in archives, but I dabbled a little in some of the digital libraries courses. I didn't particularly care for my time at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as the majority of instructors I came across seemed to not care, had a god/holier than thou complex, or were just too freaking hard to get in touch with. One instructor actually waited so long to grade anything in the class that he was way late turning grades in. The whole class wound up with a zero, and he had to appeal all our grades on our behalf, and turn them in 2 weeks late. I wound up with an A, but you can imagine the panic that ensued when I saw that 0 staring me in the face. UWM offers what is called a CAS - Certificate of Advanced Study. I may be a glutton for punishment to even consider it after cramming both a Bachelors and Masters into 4 years of hard studying, and to even think of getting it from one place I consider a bane of my existence, but they offer it in digital libraries. For a month, I considered it but told no one. For another month, I researched the cost and how many credit hours it would take to obtain this. Finally, this past Friday, I emailed my MLIS advisor with questions. She was able to answer a few, but referred the rest to this particularly snooty woman, who informed me of the following:

Chelsie,

The intent of the CAS programs, per the Graduate School catalog, is:

The Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Digital Libraries is designed to help working professionals update their knowledge and develop specialty relating to the acquisition, organization and maintenance of digital content, virtual collections and services. It will enable students to either alter the direction of a career path or to enrich, update, and strengthen their skills and their knowledge of their field.

They were not developed with new MLS graduates in mind.  That said, we've had a number of students complete CAS coursework and get the certificate.  However, you cannot reduce the number of required credits with courses taken as part of the MLIS with the exception of one three credit course so you would need 12 credits.

Alex

The two sentences I have problems with in her response are "...designed to help working professionals...." and "They were not developed with new MLS graduates in mind." Here's why: I am a working professional. I am an academic librarian for Purdue University. I get up every morning and open the library at 8 sharp, and I don't go home until 5. Also, if this program was not developed for new MLS graduates in any way, shape, or form, then who was it developed for? Librarians that have been in the field for 5+ years? Oh wait! That's me! I've been in the library field, with a degree (be it Associates, Bachelors, or MLS) since August of 2010. 

So, why am I not fighting this tooth and nail? Because the tuition for all 4 classes (only one will transfer from my MLS) is around $13,000. Since it is only for a certificate, and not a degree, I can't get financial aid. I really don't want more financial aid piled on top of the mess we have to pay back for our other degrees, and it would take forever and a second job or two to pay for it out of pocket. If I'm going to be putting money like that toward something, it will be to kill off our current debt. Then there's the whole kid thing - we'll be officially trying to expand our family in July, and if there is one thing I was adamant about during the MLIS, it's that babies and homework don't mix well. So, knowing me and the fact that if I didn't do this now, I'd never do it, I'm giving up on it. Maybe I can find some on the job training of some sort to help quench this particular thirst in me. 

After all this, though, I don't feel bad about giving up on this particular dream. I have another to fill the void, and that's to have a family of my own, spending time with my husband without homework getting in the way. Thanks for the memories, UWM. I won't miss you.