One Crummy Day
I can feel my life as a student with five classes beginning to crumble. Thursday, in particular, was one crummy day. And to think I was feeling sorry for poor Sharon who had started her day out by forgetting to get her parking permit out of Mom’s van. She had to park far, far away. We usually park in the parking garage on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but with no parking permit, she had to park where she wouldn’t get ticketed. I, on the other hand, headed to the parking garage as usual.
It was as I was preparing to leave my car and make the trek up the hill, that I realized with absolute horror that I had forgotten my flash drive at home. And today–yes, today–was the day that I had to give a presentation for my HCA340 class. And on that flash drive was my Power Point presentation. The flash drive was in Franklin, and I was about to head into class.
I knew my only hope was Jolene, who was still safely at home sleeping in her nice, warm bed. Now you must understand that Jolene is not very friendly in the mornings; indeed, she is one whom I prefer to avoid at that time of day. Nevertheless, there was no help for it, and so with much haste, I punched her cell number into my phone. (It’s a wonder I had my cell phone; I’ve been known to forget that on occasion too!)
Amazingly enough, Jolene answered on the second ring. She graciously agreed to help me out, but I could hear the sleep in her voice, and I pled with her to not go back to sleep. I knew if she did, further disasters would entail. She was very firm about still having “ten more minutes.” I told her I was going to call Mom and tell her to make SURE she was up in ten minutes. She didn’t go for the idea at all, but I did it anyway.
So I headed into my accounting class at 8:00. I am always on pins and needles going into that class because of the dreaded pop quiz. I am always certain that “today is the day,” and then the period comes and goes, and no quiz. If I am ever a professor, I shall neither threaten to nor actually give pop quizzes. Well anyway, I entered the classroom and began to take my layers off. I draped my coat across the back of the chair, but woe unto me, I somehow caught the coat on the chair’s arm, and RIIIPPP. I plumb ripped the seam of that coat from the armpit down to its ying yang. And it’s my favorite coat!!
One of the few bright spots of the day was when I went into the computer lab after accounting to finish my presentation. I sat down next to my little friend Jill without seeing who it was, and when we realized it, we had a joyful little reunion. I told her my dilemma, and she said she would quit talking and let me concentrate. Amazingly enough, Jolene had managed to send me the correct file, and I spent the next hour finishing my presentation. I had brought a spare flash drive in with me on which to save it, but it actually had a design malfunction and would not plug into the USB drive in the front of the computer. I had to pull the computer tower out and stick the flash drive into a USB port in the back–no small hassle.
When I got to my next class (Community Health) at 11:10, we got further details for our upcoming group project. Dr. W began talking about our methods of assessments in determining the problem for our community. As you will recall, my group has decided to do our project on STDs, and based on what Dr. W was saying, I certainly did not relish the thought of marching into all of the Bowling Green high schools and conducting a survey of the sexual habits of all Bowling Green teens and whether or not they had “hit the jackpot.” In fact, the mere thought almost sent me over the edge. My stomach immediately twisted into a terrible knot, and I began scheming how I would get out of it. I talked to the prof about it after class; it turns out, we won’t actually have to do it–we just have to SAY that’s what we’ve done...for the purposes of the presentation. But I’m more confused about it now than ever, particularly so because neither of the other two members of my group were in class to help me interpret the instructions. It turns out that one of the members, Sara, had been up at 4 a.m. and had subsequently overslept, missing her first two classes. She’s in my HCA class also, so she was telling me about it then. It seems she also was not having a good day.
After leaving my Community Health class with a feeling of dread firmly implanted in my stomach, I headed to my management class. I was still stewing about the prior class when I all of a sudden heard the prof telling the entire class of about fifty students that he had met “Kris Schmucker’s sister up on the fourth floor, and my gosh, they aren’t even twins!” I had a quick chuckle with him as we went over the usual amazement people express over there being two of us. Sharon told me later that he was so amazed it wasn’t me that he missed his elevator.
At any rate, it was on this very same day that we were briefed on an upcoming project called an “elevator pitch.” Now, I had never heard of an elevator pitch prior to this miserable day. So Professor “Scott” demonstrated it. From what I can remember, it is essentially a mini-speech where you have to come up with a catchy opening phrase followed by two reasons and supporting evidence, and finally, you end it with a closing statement that restates the first sentence. This all is supposed to happen within sixty seconds–start to finish. He asked the class to give him a topic–“any topic,” he said, and “not an easy one.” So someone tossed out abortion. He proceeded to turn his back to the class while he “prepared.” It took him all of ten seconds, after which he turned around and proceeded to give his elevator pitch. I could feel my vision begin to get spotty and then fade even as an ulcer began to form.
At least we got out of the class early. I headed over to the computer lab again to quickly stick something else into my presentation that I had thought of. I found one of my Economics friends from last semester in there, and I was grateful to see a friendly face. But I had no sooner sat down and pulled my presentation up when we were invaded by some class who wanted to take possession of all the computers. My friend just left, but I was in desperate straits by this time, and I told the instructor I would be out just as soon as I could, but that I had a presentation the next period, and I absolutely needed to finish it. I made haste, finished it up, and fled the lab.
I had not read the chapter for my HCA class–the one we were about to be quizzed over. Indeed, all my time had been taken up with preparing the presentation I was about to give. Because of the aforementioned design malfunction of my flash drive, I knew I had to figure out how to get the Power Point up on the computer without using the USB drive in the front. The bad thing about the computer in this classroom is that it is in a locked cabinet, and while the professor has a key, it is a bit of a hassle to get to it. When she arrived, I tried to explain to her that I needed to access the file before the class began and why; she could tell I was a bit harried, I think, because she told me in her Russian accent, “You’re going to be fine!” Hah!
It was as I was preparing to leave my car and make the trek up the hill, that I realized with absolute horror that I had forgotten my flash drive at home. And today–yes, today–was the day that I had to give a presentation for my HCA340 class. And on that flash drive was my Power Point presentation. The flash drive was in Franklin, and I was about to head into class.
I knew my only hope was Jolene, who was still safely at home sleeping in her nice, warm bed. Now you must understand that Jolene is not very friendly in the mornings; indeed, she is one whom I prefer to avoid at that time of day. Nevertheless, there was no help for it, and so with much haste, I punched her cell number into my phone. (It’s a wonder I had my cell phone; I’ve been known to forget that on occasion too!)
Amazingly enough, Jolene answered on the second ring. She graciously agreed to help me out, but I could hear the sleep in her voice, and I pled with her to not go back to sleep. I knew if she did, further disasters would entail. She was very firm about still having “ten more minutes.” I told her I was going to call Mom and tell her to make SURE she was up in ten minutes. She didn’t go for the idea at all, but I did it anyway.
So I headed into my accounting class at 8:00. I am always on pins and needles going into that class because of the dreaded pop quiz. I am always certain that “today is the day,” and then the period comes and goes, and no quiz. If I am ever a professor, I shall neither threaten to nor actually give pop quizzes. Well anyway, I entered the classroom and began to take my layers off. I draped my coat across the back of the chair, but woe unto me, I somehow caught the coat on the chair’s arm, and RIIIPPP. I plumb ripped the seam of that coat from the armpit down to its ying yang. And it’s my favorite coat!!
One of the few bright spots of the day was when I went into the computer lab after accounting to finish my presentation. I sat down next to my little friend Jill without seeing who it was, and when we realized it, we had a joyful little reunion. I told her my dilemma, and she said she would quit talking and let me concentrate. Amazingly enough, Jolene had managed to send me the correct file, and I spent the next hour finishing my presentation. I had brought a spare flash drive in with me on which to save it, but it actually had a design malfunction and would not plug into the USB drive in the front of the computer. I had to pull the computer tower out and stick the flash drive into a USB port in the back–no small hassle.
When I got to my next class (Community Health) at 11:10, we got further details for our upcoming group project. Dr. W began talking about our methods of assessments in determining the problem for our community. As you will recall, my group has decided to do our project on STDs, and based on what Dr. W was saying, I certainly did not relish the thought of marching into all of the Bowling Green high schools and conducting a survey of the sexual habits of all Bowling Green teens and whether or not they had “hit the jackpot.” In fact, the mere thought almost sent me over the edge. My stomach immediately twisted into a terrible knot, and I began scheming how I would get out of it. I talked to the prof about it after class; it turns out, we won’t actually have to do it–we just have to SAY that’s what we’ve done...for the purposes of the presentation. But I’m more confused about it now than ever, particularly so because neither of the other two members of my group were in class to help me interpret the instructions. It turns out that one of the members, Sara, had been up at 4 a.m. and had subsequently overslept, missing her first two classes. She’s in my HCA class also, so she was telling me about it then. It seems she also was not having a good day.
After leaving my Community Health class with a feeling of dread firmly implanted in my stomach, I headed to my management class. I was still stewing about the prior class when I all of a sudden heard the prof telling the entire class of about fifty students that he had met “Kris Schmucker’s sister up on the fourth floor, and my gosh, they aren’t even twins!” I had a quick chuckle with him as we went over the usual amazement people express over there being two of us. Sharon told me later that he was so amazed it wasn’t me that he missed his elevator.
At any rate, it was on this very same day that we were briefed on an upcoming project called an “elevator pitch.” Now, I had never heard of an elevator pitch prior to this miserable day. So Professor “Scott” demonstrated it. From what I can remember, it is essentially a mini-speech where you have to come up with a catchy opening phrase followed by two reasons and supporting evidence, and finally, you end it with a closing statement that restates the first sentence. This all is supposed to happen within sixty seconds–start to finish. He asked the class to give him a topic–“any topic,” he said, and “not an easy one.” So someone tossed out abortion. He proceeded to turn his back to the class while he “prepared.” It took him all of ten seconds, after which he turned around and proceeded to give his elevator pitch. I could feel my vision begin to get spotty and then fade even as an ulcer began to form.
At least we got out of the class early. I headed over to the computer lab again to quickly stick something else into my presentation that I had thought of. I found one of my Economics friends from last semester in there, and I was grateful to see a friendly face. But I had no sooner sat down and pulled my presentation up when we were invaded by some class who wanted to take possession of all the computers. My friend just left, but I was in desperate straits by this time, and I told the instructor I would be out just as soon as I could, but that I had a presentation the next period, and I absolutely needed to finish it. I made haste, finished it up, and fled the lab.
I had not read the chapter for my HCA class–the one we were about to be quizzed over. Indeed, all my time had been taken up with preparing the presentation I was about to give. Because of the aforementioned design malfunction of my flash drive, I knew I had to figure out how to get the Power Point up on the computer without using the USB drive in the front. The bad thing about the computer in this classroom is that it is in a locked cabinet, and while the professor has a key, it is a bit of a hassle to get to it. When she arrived, I tried to explain to her that I needed to access the file before the class began and why; she could tell I was a bit harried, I think, because she told me in her Russian accent, “You’re going to be fine!” Hah!
The presentation at last came and went. We were timed on the thing, and blimey, if there wasn’t one student who kept raising his hand and interrupting me!! The presentation was on Medicare Part D and how it is supposed to work. We took the quiz. I don’t know how I did yet, but considering that I spent literally no time preparing for it–well, it could have been worse. The nice thing about her quizzes is that they are either Pass or Fail quizzes. You have to get at least 50% in order to pass (which means you can miss 50%). If you pass, one point is added to your final grade for the class. Soo... That is very nice!
It felt like a miracle when the day actually came to an end. I felt like I had run a marathon. Sharon and I went to Mom and Dad’s for supper and commiserated with Jolene about our respective terrible days. It turns out that the story behind Jolene’s emailing the file to me is another story in and of itself. It included the electricity going out just as she was going to send it, dropping her ID at school, having to be whistled at to draw her attention to it, and falling flat on her back after failing to interpret ice for what it was. But then, I shall leave that story to her as I have enough troubles of my own to keep up with.
I should just add that since that terrible day, I have received good news on both the elevator pitch and the presentation. I got a 100 on the presentation and critique of the article for the HCA class. As for the elevator pitch, I had emailed the Prof and told him to “Please tell me we will have more than ten seconds to prepare for this elevator thingy!” I had been having flashbacks of my impromptu speech when I was in high school–a total flop, it was. I also told him he should know that if we have to do it as he did it, i.e., “on the spot,” this would undoubtedly be the beginning of my first ulcer.
He wrote me back and said, “I certainly don't want to be the one responsible for everyone's ulcers, so no worries--you'll have plenty of time to prepare for the elevator pitch.”
And I’m going to bed singing the Hallelujah Chorus!
posted by Kris at 2/12/2006 09:40:00 PM
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