Tested

Well, the exam I took over two weeks ago, my Spanish final, is still sitting on someone's desk at Louisiana State University waiting to be graded.  And since this week is their spring break - I'm not holding my breath.  It would have been nice if everyone had done the right thing and cleared their in-boxes before heading off to parties or parts unknown, but hey...that's just me and my crazy thinking, right?

But thanks to modern technology and the wonders of computer-based testing I already have my grade on the test I took last Monday for Theory & Practice of Ethics.  I aced it.  This surprises me greatly, based on how I did on the sample exam I thought I'd be lucky to pass and would have been quite pleased with a respectable "C".  Of course, I've had a fair amount of practice at taking tests in the past year and it's entirely possible that I just did some damn fine guessing. Either way, it's done and I can knock off another 3 upper level credits.

And in two more weeks I'm going to take another exam, Foundations of Gerontology.  That one will have the significance of being the last 3 upper level credits I need and after that, I can finish the remaining lower level credits needed with some CLEP or Dantes exams. This is a pretty nifty milestone. I wasn't planning on completing this last upper level credit until sometime in mid-May, but I found a good reason to move it up.

A jay-oh-bee. 

Yup - I was offered a job. Not a full-time, year-round job, just about 30 hours a week, but a job nonetheless. A few weeks ago the folks at the U.S. Census Bureau advertised that they were hiring people here to do some of the prep work for the 2010 census.  Back when the 2000 Census took place, I was working full-time in the payroll department of one of the major employers on the island, but I picked up a part-time evening and weekend job knocking on doors, asking nosy questions, and filling out forms - all at a higher hourly rate than I made in my day job.  Your tax dollars at work!

So when I saw the ad - I jumped at it.  I took yet another freakin' test, completed an application, got fingerprinted, and then just about went nuts waiting for the offer.  (Note - to the peeps at the local Census office, when someone calls to follow up on their application that is a good thing, it shows the person wants the job, be nice. Sheesh!) But they finally called me and from what I've been told so far - they've modernized things a tad bit, and instead of marking in little boxes with a #2 pencil, I'll get a handheld computer with some sort of GPS.  The training starts in late April, with the actual work to start right after, and lasting 10-12 weeks.  The pay?  Again, more than I could make at any other part time job in this town. When they made the offer, the census representative went through a series of questions asking me if I was willing to interview people personally, if I was willing to work evenings and/or weekends, if I was willing and able to climb stairs and hills, had and could use my own vehicle if needed, etc., etc.  And all I kept saying was - yes, yes, yes, yes, yes....

Because truly, for that rate of pay - what can he ask that I'm going to refuse?