End of an Era

This past Thursday August 14, 2008,  Mack Trucks CEO announced Mack Trucks, Inc. World Headquarters in Allentown along with Mack Test Center in Allentown are moving to Greensboro, NC.  All jobs except for about 200 will leave Allentown in 2009 and 2010, including IT where I currently work.  So what does this mean for me?  I will find out next week what options I have, but it looks like I will either have to move to NC, or loose my job.   Stay tuned for more updates to come.

If we move, it probably will not be until sometime in 2009.  I am hoping I can finish my B.S. degree in April before anything happens.  Stay tuned for more info on what our future looks like.  I am taking a positive thought approach and praying this is a big blessing.  Any way you look at it though, it is an end to another era in my career.  I started in NC and worked there 8 years, then moved to Middletown PA for 5 years, and I have been in Allentown 10 years.  Where and what the next era holds…..stay tuned.

The light is getting brighter!

I finished my final exams tonight for the summer session.  What a relief.  One bright note, I was wrong about fall classes starting the next day…. I have until Saturday Free!!!!  Next session I again have three classes.  Saturday mornings (yuk) I have Quantitative business analysis (bigger yuk!).  On Tuesday’s I have Systems Analysis and Design and on Wednesdays I have Intro to Fiction.  So another full session!

This past session I had Database Analysis and Design as an online course.  That was horrible.  We had 6 assignments before the mid-term with absolutly no feedback on how we were doing until the week before mid-term exams.  I found I wasn’t doing as well as I thought.  Then no feedback after the mid-term.  A few days before the final, we got an email stating if we wanted to see our mid-term exams before the final, come to the final exam early.  What good does that do me just before taking the final!  The book was horrible.  I couldn’t understand half of what the author was talking about and when I figured out what he was talking about, I wondered why he complicated things so much!  I was glad this evening to find out the other students felt the same way I did about this class.   I have no clue what my final grade may be!

Principles of managment class I had as a hybrid.  It turned out to be a very easy class as far as subject matter.  But he had a lot of work that had to be done.  Each exam was take home and 6 questions with a minimum of two page answers per question.  Along with in class vocabulary test.  On top of that, we had to do two 6-8 page case studies for the class.  And each week we had to write an article answering some questions and then respond to two other students articles.  Also each week we had to write a few paragraphs about a case study in one of the three chapters we had assigned each week.  So a lot of work, but easy material since I have been exposed to most of that material over my career.

Finally, I had a religion class “As Jesus Speaks”  That was an extremly enjoyable Class.  Father Bob George tought the class and made it very interesting.  I was hoping for an A in that class, but will probably end up with a B or B+.  The exams were more memorizing lists and terms, but for the class, I learned a lot about critical thinking when reading the scripture.  I think I now have a whole new perspective when reading the Bible.  I will actually miss taking this class.  If you are ever taking classes at DeSales,  look for the ones taught by Father Bob!!!

So the end of the tunnel is nearing and the light is getting brighter.  I am on track to finish in April!!  I can’t wait!  I will have the entire next summer free from school!!!  Jennifer will be glad as she is getting frustrated hearing me say, no I need to do school work.