Jay had told me that I should be receiving an email on Wednesday, the 28th, to give me some initial instructions for starting the first class that everyone is required to take, Education Without Boundaries (EWB). A few days before I was to get this initial email, I started noticing that my computer was not acting normally. When I tried doing searches on my toolbar, bizarre, salesey pages came up. At first I ignored it, thinking that I must have typed something incorrectly. Then I noticed that the pages would just pop up, without me initiating anything. I mentioned that this was happening to my geek-hubby and at first he didn't pay any attention. Well after a few days, something must have finally sunk in because he took a look at my computer and freaked out. I could see his body get tense and his jaw clench.
It was bad, very bad. Apparently, despite my efforts to be extremely careful, I'd gotten a virus on my computer and it was taking over, browser by browser. First Firefox, then Chrome, and finally IE. JT tried for a solid 24 hours to scrub and scan my computer to restore it to it's original settings, but was unable to do so. Meanwhile, I tried not to show my panic in the fact that I was supposed to be, effectively, starting my graduate studies and didn't have a computer on which to do so.
While JT furiously worked on fixing Dell (I like to name inanimate objects), I'd received notification that it was "strongly encouraged" that I sit in on a conference call and watch a slide show presentation the next day, as well as in subsequent days. So much for "moving at your own pace" and "working on your own time". I was pacified by the fact that since JT is a geek (a term he's proud of), we have a few tablets and computers around the house. Unfortunately, most of the computers are Macs (for the love of dogs, why can't there be two clickers and a delete button on those things??) and ours is a house divided, Mac vs. PC.
What I realized is that each tablet, the iPad (which I call Max, girls will get the joke) and the HP Touchpad both have their respective advantages or disadvantages. It was shortly after my first conference call that JT admitted defeat and decided we needed to go out and get a new laptop PC for me. Since I'm readily averse to change and shopping (yes, despite getting a new toy, oh boy!), I reluctantly went with JT and we picked out a new computer.
I'm still getting used to it, and I'm sure we'll become fast friends, but change can be difficult. JT named this computer McKinley, claiming that he names all of his computers after places in Alaska. Personally, I'd rather have named it Denali since I think it sounds cooler, but for now we'll stick with McKinley.
In addition to my annoyance at having to jump the very next day with the conference calls for EWB, there are also a number of other conference call/webinar thingies that are "strongly suggested" over the next two weeks. Another thing that gets me, is why do I need to call in? Why can't I just watch the slide presentation and then type in the chat box to get my question answered? At one point during the initial con-call/webinar, it seemed like there were two conversations going on. I only hope that the rest of my experience with WGU is as antiquated as this. Regardless, I'm committed to playing the game, trying not to ask too may "but why...?" questions. I'm also anticipating an email from my assigned mentor. According to Facebook, a number of other people have already set up times to speak with their mentors.
* I'm reading The Personal MBA, of which the first 40 pages tell me why I shouldn't get an MBA, but then goes on to give some practical advice. I'm also reading Onward, written by the founder of Starbucks. I appreciate it when a CEO understands that although we can learn from mistakes, we can't un-do them, so it's best to move forward.