Catchin' Up

After a longer than expected absence...here is what's going on in the "Last Best Place". We had a major winter storm this past weekend with 8 inches here in town and 12-22 inches over in Billings. Red Lodge got nearly 4ft and the ski slopes may open early this year because of it. Now it is Wednesday evening and all of the snow is gone here in town and the temperature is supposed to be in the 50s and 60s for the remainder of the week...weird huh?

I have made the determination that universities make absolutely no sense when it comes to policy. My graduate career is progressing nicely except that I cannot transfer credit from Virginia Tech toward my MSU degree because I already (according to MSU) have the maximum of 9 transfer credits. Now, the interesting part of this is that the 9 transfer credits that I have...guess where those credits were earned...that's right, Montana State Univerity-Bozeman! Now would somebody like to explain to me how someone can transfer credits earned at a university into the SAME university!!! It is complete lunacy!!! The reasoning given to me by the department head was that those 9 credits were earned at MSU prior to my official acceptance into the department. Now, the reason I wasn't given formal entrance to the department was that the graduate committee wanted to see some more progress of my academics prior to offering me admission and suggested that I take some classes in the department where I would be studying...now those credits are TRANSFER credits!!! I am now completely convinced that graduate school is not about learning but rather a rigorous set of challenges designed to test your ability in jumping through hoops and navigating the inner workings of stupidity...anyone want to argue that point??? While I am on my soapbox about stupid university things; I got a bill from MSU for $4.00 today. The bill is for a beef ribeye card (which I do need and would love to have), but I never got the card. The best part of this...the bill was marked "Late, past due". I never got an initial notice, nor did I recieve the product that I am being billed for. I don't know who hired the accountants in Bozeman, but I think that maybe they should pay a little closer attention to detail down there.