Changing Course

When I decided to return to school I thought it was clear that I should peruse a course of education in architecture since that is my career field. After attending half a semester I began to reconsider that decision. I found that I really enjoyed reading and writing. While browsing a course catalog I found that ISU offers several degrees in communication and Rhetorical studies. This immediately caught my interest and I began to consider changing my educational course.

If I were to change my major to Communication and Rhetorical Studies it would allow me to study something that interests me and develop skills that would be of value in my chosen field of architecture. If I were to continue with my major in Pre Architecture it would help me to improve upon my existing skills and reduce the amount of time needed to complete my Masters of Architecture. However, I cannot complete my architectural studies at ISU and, I will have to eventually need to relocate. Many of my classes would probably need to be repeated as a transfer student into a Masters of Architecture program. On the other hand by switching my major to Communication and Rhetorical studies I would be able to complete a degree while I am attending college at ISU. A degree in Communications and Rhetorical Studies would also be more portable, should I need to work in an industry other than Architecture.

Because I cannot relocate to pursue a Masters of Architecture degree until my wife completes her studies in Radiology, I feel it would be a better use of my time to change my major while attending ISU. My decision to do so will not interfere with my ability to obtain a Masters in Architecture. It will only add a year and a half to my college career. When I eventually relocate to enter an accredited architecture program, I will not have to retake any classes. I will also be able to attend full time as my wife will have re-entered the workplace as a Radiographic Technician. Returning to school has unexpectedly exposed me to a field of study that will diversify my educational background and give me an advantage in my career as a more competent communicator.

Frosty Mornings

On a typical morning my wife and I jump in the cars and rush off in our separate ways. Usually mornings are rushed but fairly uneventful. I have just about mastered the morning routine and it has become in fact routine. However, when the weather changes I acquire an additional responsibility. The task of removing frost from the windshield adds to the list of tasks that I must complete before I venture out. It’s not only the frost on the windows of my car but the frost upon the windows of my wife’s car, and my daughter’s car as well. On mornings that require the windows to be scraped, I have to determine which cars get priority. Sometimes this is determined by my understanding of everyone’s schedule. Sometimes I need to make an observation on who appears to be ready to leave the house first. Once I have made that assessment I can proceed with whether or not I need to scrape frost from the car windows at all.

Sometimes what may appear to be frost looking out from the front door, may actually just be heavy dew. I can usually determine the actual conditions as I approach the vehicle. If it is not entirely clear to me weather I’m looking at frost or dew, I will gently run a finger across the glass. Sometimes I will find that some windows are covered in frost while others are just covered with dew. Once I find frost I begin looking for something to scrape with. If the frost is light and soft just about any flat edged item will suffice. If the frost is hard, a more durable utensil will need to be used. The obvious tool of choice is of course the ice scraper, but there are others. I have found that for hard frost a semi rigid plastic spatula is far superior to any ice scraper I have ever used. Large flat Lego pieces are also very well suited to the task. I do not recommend the use of credit cards as I have found that they will in fact break in two pieces, which makes it very difficult to purchase gas and lunch later on in the day.

There is usually an area near the edge of the glass where the frost is thinner or even nonexistent. This is a good place to start. I usually start by placing the scraping tool against the glass near the top of the windshield. With deliberate motion I force the scraping device across the glass, lifting the frost from the surface. If for some reason the tool does not cut through the frost initially I will stop mid-stroke and start again. Some people will just move the tool back and forth until they grind their way down to the glass. I feel this requires more energy and just makes a mess; it also wears the edge of the tool down much quicker. I continue the process of pushing through the frost with deliberate force moving down from the top with each successive stroke. When I get to the bottom edge I have a nice pile of frost an arm’s length near the center of the window. I then move to the other side and repeat the process of cutting through the frost with deliberate, sustained strokes across the glass. After the windshield is cleared I move around the car using the same technique to clear the rest of the glass.

As winter advances frost often becomes a thicker coating of ice. Ice requires a different approach to removal. When there is ice on the widows the best place to start is with the ignition. Turning the car on and getting the heater and defroster working makes the task much easier. It does not take much heat to loosen the grip that ice can have on a window. The process for actually removing the ice is similar to removing frost, but requires a more durable tool such as the ice scraper. Ice also requires a bit of caution because if I lift a large piece of ice with the same long deliberate strokes used to scrape frost, it can actually come back across my hand and cause injury. Ice can can also pop loose and possibly hit me in the eye. With ice scraping it is safer to use shorter strokes and work your way across the glass with a little caution.

Like many people I have developed techniques for clearing the windows on my vehicles efficiently during cold weather. Using these skills is a great benefit on mornings when I have to clear the glass on three cars. While I have found that the process of anticipating and preparing for the task is still a major challenge for me, I expect that after a season of practice, anticipating the task will come without conscience thought or analysis. Clearing the frost and ice from the windows on three cars will likely become just another part of the morning routine.

Confusion and Coordination

If the concept of both the husband and wife of a large family returning to school sounds at all convenient then you have clearly not had the benefit of my experience. I have found that the challenge of returning to school offers a level of difficulty to a nontraditional student such as me, which extends beyond the obvious challenges of time management between study and work. There are even greater challenges in coordination with the other members of the family, particularly with transportation.

It would seem that careful planning would reduce the stress associated with meeting everyone’s needs within the home. However, coordinating the schedules of seven different people within a household can be nearly impossible. The odds of the various activities of five children aligning in a fashion for us to provide transportation for each of the activities are slim. In my home there are two children in high school and their class schedules do not align with each other. Since my daughter drives, my teenage son must either go to school early or stay late as needed because there are not any other transportation options for him. Both my wife and I are unavailable to transport him at his convenience due to our class schedules. The schedules my wife and I have at school and work also conflict with the needs of my three younger children who luckily attend the same school and have the same schedule. My daughter has the responsibility of getting them to school every morning except Friday when my wife is available. My wife picks up the three younger children every day except Wednesday when no one in the home including myself is available. On those days my mother in-law retrieves the children. In return for the service provided by my mother in-law, my wife periodically house sits with her elderly grandmother. When my wife has to house sit this makes her even less available and further complicates the scheduling process.

Every week we sit down as a family and schedule out all our activities and transportation needs. It can become contentious at times as individual activities have to be prioritized. Unfortunately some activities have to be skipped. My younger children often have to scrap plans to visit friends or go to movies and such because of transportation issues. At other times they have to walk or ride their bikes if it is within a reasonable distance and they can return before it gets dark. The struggle for what is most important can become heated at times. We often rely on my daughter to help with transportation of her brothers. Because we provide her with a vehicle and a gas allowance she will normally consent to helping out, however she is employed and sometimes is not available. Her brothers do not always comprehend the order of priority and can in fact become upset when their activites get moved down the list. My daughter also gets upset when time she would like to spend with friends is interrupted by the needs of her brothers. She sometimes feels like an on call taxi service.

Even with all the planning it doesn’t always work. There is the human factor to consider. If a ride is missed because someone forgot to pick someone up or a meeting runs late everything can get ugly real quick. For example I was to pick up my boys from an activity at a certain time because my wife had a planned study session with some fellow students. I was meeting with a client and the meeting ran long. My daughter had already left for work and was unavailable. My wife had to leave her activity to pick up the boys from theirs. When things don’t go as planned it can cause a lot of confusion and frustration. With both me and my wife in school coordination of the activities with our children is essential but often it’s not enough to prevent confusion and resentment.