Answering some email questions

I got some email questions about work. So I decided to answer here. I also am going to put up my spreadsheet of online schools for anyone on the job hunt you can find my spreadsheet here. I have not updated the spreadsheet since August of 2007. I update it periodically. Right now there are 176 on the spreadsheet. Not all of the schools are an there, but I try to put as many as possible on the sheet. I also put a place on the sheet where you can make notes to yourself. I believe in following up so the spreadsheet can help you as a reminder.

I also highly recommend checking out Teach Online Blog that can be found here. I frequently visit that blog and it has a wealth of knowledge about life in the trenches! Now some questions.

(From the Email)

Here are a few questions I have for you that I wasn’t able to find online.

1. How do you feel about your job security? I know that I am taking a risk. Please see my post on Online Education Bubble. I am willing to take this kind of risk because I love what I do, and I think it provides a valuable service. However I know that I take a risk and do not have guaranteed income.
2. For example, when you finish teaching a 5-week course does that institution usually offer you another class or are you constantly sending out your resume to other schools? Well very few schools have five week courses. A few have five week courses, but I think by and large they are 8 weeks. Usually when you are starting up you will teach a course then have to take a term or two off while they approve you and get you into the system. Then some schools are very structured and you get the same classes term in and term out. Some schools are not, and you are constantly calling and chasing down a job from a school that you always work. At this time I am content with the workload I have and am not sending out resumes.
   
3. In other words, how loyal are online schools if you are a quality adjunct? The only honest answer here is that it depends. Perhaps you have been a loyal employee for 3 years your boss might leave. this means you have to establish a rapport with someone to continue getting a schedule. This can be difficult because you are a distance faculty member.
   
4. Are you able to stay busy in the summer? All year round? Summers are the slowest. I had a freak accident that resulted in not having 7 of my summer classes that were scheduled last year. (I gave one class up because a professor was not going to have any, they reorganized the department, three of my classes did not make, I decided to teach something else and changed my mind too late in the scheduling process so did not have any courses scheduled so I could move to a different course...I did this schedule change and gave up a class to the other faculty member BEFORE I knew about the reorganization and the classes not making...) Summer is usually slow. This summer I am loaded up...in Summer 2006 I was turning classes down. Summer 2007 was totally slow.
   
5. Are you at the point that you have to turn down work? Sometimes. I do turn down classes that I don't care for. However I have been doing this for quite a while. Thankfully I know most of my schedulers and get along with them well. They like me and know I do a good job. I continue to get classes. At some schools I get first dibs on classes because of seniority so that helps.
   
6. General school calendar? You are joking right? I have no idea. Not a clue. In general I have classes starting in January, March, June, August, October. I am hardly ever off. I work 6 to 7 days a week. (I don't mind I am a workaholic). I am usually off the month of December. Although that is not always guaranteed. I take my computer and work on holidays and weekends. I just schedule my work time so that I can maximize my vacations etc. I have good weeks and bad weeks. (A good week is when a class is in that magic time like week 2 and week 3 after the flurry of activity that is the first week, and before the anxiety that is midterm). If I have several of those at the same time that is a good week. A bad week is when midterm and final and all that grading lands at the same time.
   

The Story of Us- Part 2

My husband rented an airplane for our engagement. (Whenever I tell our engagement story, I start out with that sentence.) I swear it deserved to be a movie. He asked a vineyard if he could use one of their dormant fields and with giant plastic pieces of white table cloth he wrote out "Marry Me." Her originally planned to write "Will you marry me, IPG?" But it took him over five hours to write "Marry Me." He had the plane fly over the vineyard and I saw my message written below. It was one of the most romantic things I have ever had happen to me.

When we were dating Handsome Hubby used to buy me roses every Friday. Now I only get roses 2 or 3 times a month, but I am not complaining. The fact that he remembers and validates that I need romance in my life even though I do not consider myself a romantic is what is so amazing. Nothing better ever happen to him. He would be impossible to replace.

"Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January." Hal Borland

Summer is here! This makes it very difficult for me to get any kind of work done work or school. The siren sound of the weather calls to me. It beckons...come outside....I am powerless to the pull. This is how every day goes. Get up early. Get some work done....do something that allows me to enjoy the day. Try to go back to work later. Of course I want to be working but I can't help how much the gorgeous weather calls my name.

Booking tickets for SD's summer today. She is coming on May 29th-August 6th! WHOOO HOO! A long time this year! I am so happy.

So I was complaining to hubby. That I was kind of lonely and and tired of him working on the Jeep all weekend and I needed some single girlfriends that I can hang out with when he is busy. He laughed and said you do have one. She will be here in a few weeks for the whole summer, and she is definitely single! He was talking about SD who is I admit my best single gal in the summer.

Are you mercenary?

I didn't say a mercenary...I don't believe you are a soldier of fortune. However....mercenary the adjective?

mercenary

Function: adjective

1: serving merely for pay or sordid advantage : venal; also : greedy

If you can not say unequivocally yes to that question you might not have what it takes to get through the first few years teaching online. It is not like this great big picnic where you are the guest of honor. It is more there are 100's there to take your chicken leg if you don't want extra crispy! Since it is such a seller's market you have to ease your way in to the fray.

Why is it important to be mercenary? You have to be willing to do a lot of things for money. Some of these things are unspeakable such as babying students when it should be inappropriate. If you are not for sale, or if you don't have another way to earn income as you are developing you "portfolio" this is not the career for you.

The Online Education Bubble

I am 30 something. I would like to retire at 50 something but being part of generation y makes me think that I might not be able to afford it. Retirement is important to me so I fund my IRAs (which I plan to roll over to a Roth in 2010). I fund my 401ks and Individual 401k. My husband funds his 403 B his IRA and state retirement. Will it be enough? I hope so. Hubby will hopefully because a G-Man in which case we will have a federal retirement. I am getting off topic but I am getting there....Regardless I have at least 20 years or so more to work, before I can hang up my hat.

I decided to start work as an online adjunct so that I could get my PhD at a traditional university. Pay cash for school so I would not have any student loans. I also wanted a job I could do while I was in school that would not keep me from graduating on time. I highly recommend it as a plan for any aspiring Ph. D. students. My goal was once I finished my Ph. D. to get a tenure job at a traditional university. Period. (In fact I had wanted to do this since 2000 when I finished my Masters degree...but wanted some work experience before diving in to the Ph. D. right away)!

Anyway, I enjoy my job. I have a great income. I can travel and go and do and I am flexible and all the benefits that working from home typically provide (which you can read about here).

However...I have seen an explosion of online education lately. It seems to exponentially increase every year. I study markets (love economics), and have seen some similarities to the dotcom burst and the recent housing bubble. Can it last? If I decided that I did not want a tenure track job...and wanted to continue to keep doing what I am doing...will I have a job in 10 years? 20 years?

I am ok with the risk I am assuming by working for myself. However what will I do if it can't last? I could always get a tenure job at that time. I believe that would work. But by then I will be spoiled rotten. At that point I might have worked from home for 10 to 15 years (going on 5 now as it is)! Something I just have to consider. Also it is May meaning that school ended for me. I have roughly 5 hours a day that I have not filled up yet.

I am studying for my oral exams, but for the most part resting my noggin this month. So there won't be much Ph. D. student updates. I am studying for orals about 1-2 hours per day. I just keep rereading my answers for my written exams at this point. When I can ascertain a better way to study I will fill everyone in! :P

"I said earring you idiot!" Van Gogh's girlfriend

The story of us
In May my husband and I have been together 5 years. By and large they have been wonderful but every couple has some highs and lows. My husband and I met in October of 2002. I was engaged to someone else at the time, and he had a serious girlfriend. We had some harmless flirting then, but nothing ever materialized.

In February of 2003 we are thrown back together. My relationship at the time was rapidly deteriorating. He had broken up with his girlfriend. I had called off my engagement, but immediately began a torrid romance. It only lasted six weeks, but it was fast and furious.

By May 2003 I was dating someone else. He was handsome, and dangerous. The perfect bad for you guy. Unfortunately he was a drug dealer. I thought he was a doctor. It was an honest mistake considering he went to medical school, and worked in a hospital. Once I discovered the drugs I was out of there. Then and only then was it the perfect time for my hubby.

We had a lot of rough patches our first year. Many of them involved me not ready to be in a relationship. We had been dating about a year and a half before we got engaged.

Our engagement story is nothing less than poetic. I will continue at a later time. I want to break this up and a do a few parts. I am enjoying writing about this, and want to keep it preserved.

Wordless Wednesday....can't do it...gotta comment

Fruitcakes on the street (fruitcakes on the street)
Struttin naked through the crosswalk
In the middle of the week

Can't you feel 'em circlin', honey

A pirate looks at 10.

IPG in her natural habitat
But I had a good life all the way

I am an aweomse parent.

From the days of my misspent youth.
My parenting skills rock!

Everybody needs a little good luck charm
A little gris gris keeps you safe from harm
Who could resist?

Oooh, mexico
It sounds so simple
I just got to go
The suns so hot
I forgot to go home
I guess Ill have to go now


Know Your Ship!

I loved what they were sayin
I loved what they were playin
Carlos and Chalie

I think I got cabin fever
Somebody sound the alarm
Boat Drinks!

Tried to amend my carnivorous habits
SD's first ice sculpture.

Lately, newspaper mentioned cheap air fare
I gotta to fly to saint somewhere
I'm close to bodily harm

Paradise

There is nothing like a dream to create the future. Victor Hugo

Ok two things...

Last night I fell asleep on top of my computer. This is a common occurrence it happens about 1-2 times per week. I wake up with keyboard face, which is to say I have my keys from my keyboard mashed to my face all night so I have lines from the keyboard on my face. That is not the important part. The important part is the dream I had. I dreamt I was on my way to the lake. I actually had just gotten to the lake. I had everything, sunscreen, sunglasses, bathing suit, boat. The only thing I did not have was my baby. So the police showed up to show me this child that was screaming and crying and jumping in this jumper thing...I totally blame the jumper thing on Hubby's ex-wife (she sent me this video of this crazy baby contraption that the baby straps into and jumps and has all these interactive toys...it was adorable BUT it blew my mind). Ok but this baby was screaming in its jumper, and the police were arresting me because I forgot the baby. My baby. I kept explaining to the officers that this was a mistake that I didn't have any children; but they wouldn't listen. I woke up clammy and shaking. Nightmare! I don't do dream analysis, but I think I can figure out what it means.

Second thing is we are friends with most of the couples hubby works with. He works with the guys and I am friends with their wives. Anyway, one of his friends has started a bit of a flirtation at work with another married woman. I don't want to go into too many details, but I want them to cut it out. Nothing too serious yet, but it disgusts me. Marriage vows are sacred. They shouldn't be taken lightly. Anyway this has been bugging me so much I have felt the need to discuss it with hubby a little too much for his liking. He told me in so many words that he didn't care what they got up to...but he was tired of talking about them. Guess IPG has been talking too much once again.

Random Pics

The shuggy getting some sun!

SD (Stepdaughter) and HH (Handsome Hubby) fishing

SD and HH using the remote control boat

Shuggy says, "I hate the remote controlled boat!"

Ah yes...that would be IPG working.

Lake Pics

I kept trying to take pictures and ended up taking pics of my face. Duh!

D riding the Tube.

Handsome Hubby riding the Tube

Handsome Hubby driving the boat

First Mate

IPG on the tube (I have on a shirt so I don't get burned)

Crawfish Boil at Our House

We enjoyed a family crawfish boil two weekends ago. Well I did not partake, because I don't eat Crawfish. However Hubby ate 'em up.

Oral Exam Date Set!

June 4, 2008 at 12:00 PM CST I will be taking my Oral Examinations.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Working on Sunday

This topic was discussed at another blog, and can be found right here. I just wanted to put a personal spin on it. I don't care for working every weekend, but it is unavoidable. With what I do. I have to work the weekends. Not working on Sunday forget about it. One of my very best friends (who does not teach online) tried to convince me I did not have to work as much on Sunday as I did. I tried to listen to her with an open mind even though secretly I thought she didn't know what she was talking about because she doesn't do my job or walk in my shoes and all that.

I did an experiment over the past few weeks, and found that if I do a lot of during the week work. A LOT! I can cut my Sunday hours by 2 hours. That just isn't worth it. I find it better to get up at 4 AM on Sunday get all my work done by the time I go to church. Go do whatever I want to do then come back and finish Sunday afternoon. However this requires a commitment to NOT stay up and out all hours of the night Saturday night. If I stay out late Saturday I have to go to Church then just spend all day Sunday working.

One Sunday I worked for 19.5 hours. Some Sundays I can get away with as little as 7. But I am working every Sunday. It is just impossible. There is no way around it.

My job has a lot of perks. Setting my own hours, working from home, working in work out pants all count as perks! :) But there are some negatives too. My friend thinks she might like to do what I do. However she mentioned she didn't want to work on Sundays because of her kids. I can understand that...kind of. But that is just too bad. Nearly 100 percent of your students will turn their assignments in on Sunday and you have to be around answering email. You have to be around and grading and helping them out. I know for her time spent with her children is paramount. However I have a phrase that I use quite a bit. And it is WORK IS WORK. Whether I like it or not work comes first. It has to come first. Well that and I secretly really like to work alot.

So today. Woke up at 3 AM. Got SOME work done. Sunday School...no church today. We are going out on the boat today again so I know I gotta get my work done ASAP! I will have to work again tonight.

In Celebration of my last class ever....

Don't listen to me I am going to get a masters in Health Care from UT Austin some day! (Hubby says no, but he knows the power of my persuasion). Today was my last class as a Ph. D. student. I am doing the Last Class Dance! ;) In celebration our friends Deidre and Jason went to the lake with us! If I said we had a blast I would be severely under representing the type of weekend we had.

On Friday night they came over (they only live 3 miles from us), but they brought their dog and clothes so they could stay in the guest room. We planned to stay up late playing cards, and they might drink adult beverages. To be on the safe side they just decided to stay. We all stayed up super late playing Spades (my most favorite card game). Then I had to go to class! When I got home there was big breakfast in my honor! It was great because I felt like I totally deserved it. Also everyone had pitched in and cleaned up the horror show that was my kitchen after Friday night.

We then set out for an adventure on the lake! Actually it is a river, called the Tom Bigby River and parts of it are called the Tenn Tom because it has the Tennessee river flowing into it. I took tons of pics. (I will upload tomorrow because we are going back out Sunday. This way I can do two birds one stone and all that!)

When we got there the boat battery was dead so Hubby had to go buy one at a shop like 5 minutes away while we floated near the dock and pretended we were boating. ha! Then the guys tried kneeboarding while the girls too pictures and laughed! I laughed so hard today that my stomach physically hurts. It actually feels like I have a stomach ache. It was all worth it. But I gotta crash I am exhausted.

It was fantastic! We all had a good time! AND it was the perfect way to celebrate the end of my classes!

“It is far from easy to determine whether she (Nature) has proved to man a kind parent or a merciless stepmother” Anon

Ok it is that time of year again. Let me just tell you a bit (teeny bit) about being a stepmom on Mother's day. Let me ...phrase that right a stepmom with no children of her own. Tons of stepmom's with blogs talk about mother's day. However unlike MOST situations mine is very different. We all get along pretty well. It seems that everyone has come to terms with what is best for my stepdaughter. That really means no fighting.

Mother's day is all about the mom. I get that. I do. And I don't want to take anything away from the moms. Now that you have read that disclaimer read on.

The first year we got married. My stepdaughter didn't even call me on mother's day. It hurt my feelings! But she was 8 so I didn't really get too upset.

The second year we were married my stepdaughter didn't call me on mother's day. But my husband smart man that he is bought me my favorite flowers which is the Calla Lilly and some cards (one from him, one from my doggies, one from my stepdaughter).

Last year my stepdaughter sent me a card! It is great and I STILL have it up on my mantel. Her little brother even signed it (I am not his stepmom, but it was still super sweet.)

Now this year...hubby will do something for sure (he better). But I hope she remembers to call, and maybe I will get a card. I don't mean to sound like a whiner.

This is what I got my mom and mother-in-law for Mother's day. It is a beautiful vase by Nambe, and is on sale for 39 bucks (from 180 with free gift wrap and 2 days shipping). :) If you haven't shopped for you mom yet. My dad's birthday is the day before Mother's day and he is getting a book about Hitler...just like every year.