Day 86

Good evening everyone. Today we made a recipe that I grew up with my parents making on special occasions. We maybe had it a few times a year, but whenever we did it was like "OMG!" The recipe is called Teriyaki steak. It is not made with regular teriyaki sauce, as my wife realized. She picked up the flank steaks, but picked up a bottle of teriyaki sauce. Nope, the way the marinade is made is with several ingredients mixed together, then poured over the steaks and marinaded for an entire day. Well, a few days ago, I finally got ahold of my mom. I had emailed her asking for the recipe for it again. Erin had already picked up the flank steaks and we just needed to know what to do. So her email with the recipe is saved on my blackberry.

It was really funny. Yesterday Erin went to get up to go and put the marinade together. I told her I really wanted to do it. She looked at me funny. I explained that the reason I wanted to get everything set up for this recipe is because I already don't do a whole lot when it comes to meal preperation for our family with Erin going to school to be a chef. I like to know that I have some things that I can do for us as a family. ;) I know that's probably rediculous, but hey, it's just how I was feeling. Well I got them in the marinade, and around 3 am *even though I was not really wanting to stay up that late, but ended up doing so because of working on school and watching movies with Erin*, I flipped the steaks over onto their other side in the marinade. Then around 5:15 this evening, I grilled them up. It didn't take long to cook them at all, but when I brought them in, I grabbed a few strips for myself before heading off to work. I gave Erin a bite and she went "oh my Gosh! There might not be any left for ya when you come home! ;)" I said "There better be! :P"

So in closing, school is going really well. This week we have our mid term exams, so I will be stressing less when those are successfully done and over with. Other than that, the classes themselves are going well, the financial aid is taken care of (and I'm just waiting on the funds to post to my student account), and I've got A's in both classes so far. Hopefully I still have A's after the mid term exams. My friend Melissa (one of my followers of this blog, same as I follow hers) mentioned today that she has been thinking about school. Like her, if any of you are thinking about going back to school, do it! Why must we settle for these regular paying jobs with lots of hours, and little or no benefits when we can get into a career through an associates or bachelors degree that pays well and gives you the benefits you deserve.

Erin is less than a year away from getting her bachelors degree online in Hospitality and Restaurant management. We are going to have to step up our debt pay off so that maybe she can see about getting a business loan so we can get the bakery started up officially for her. Otherwise there are numerous opportunities for someone with that type of bachelors.

Me? I'm attending with the University of Phoenix online. They recommended we all start first with an associates degree before going to a bachelors for a few reasons. 1) it takes about a year and a half or so, could be less, could be a month or two more, in order to get your associates degree. 2) once you get your associates degree in anything, within a week you can re-enroll in the bachelors program. The great part is that because you already graduated with your associates, you will then be considered alumni and you will get additional discounts in tuition and fees. So, I took them up on their advice and started with my associates. My degree plan is an Associates of Arts in Hospitality and Tourism. When I get that degree I plan on continueing to get my bachelors, but at that point I should have career possibilities openned to me just with my associates.

I'm about half way through my first term of classes. They have you go 2 classes at a time, that's a total of 6 credits, completed every 9 weeks. As soon as your round of classes end, for example if both my classes were done today, tomorrow at midnight would begin my next two classes. It's really not that hard as long as you are pro-active and keep up to date with all your posts and assignments. I'm working full time security and I have a family at home as well and yet I'm doing just fine. In fact I have A's in both classes currently. It's worth it! Plus the representatives are completely professional and very supportive. They are the most proactive college staff I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. My financial aid representative got me squared away with all the financial aid stuff in almost no time at all! My admissions advisor calls me every week or two and see how things are going. I'm going to close out this post by giving you his contact info! If you are considering going back to school, check him out! You will be glad you made the decision to go back to school. Don't wait just because you are afraid you wont be able to afford it. They can help you with everything! Trust me! College loans are debt, yes, that is true, but they are not evil. If I have any debt that I'm paying off after I graduate, I want it to only be student loans. My goal is to pay off the rest of my debt minus student loans by the time I graduate.

But just think about it, even though I will have the debt to the student loans, suddenly I will have that associates degree and then the bachelors degree and will have career possibilities opened up! I'm looking forward to making lots of money, having great benefits and living the good life. Dont wait! Here's my enrollment advisor's info.

Robert Guy

Phone: 602-713-1139 or 800-545-6042
Extention: 7131139

Email: Robert.Guy@phoenix.edu


Give him a call! I have too many friends that are working regular jobs and are as tight on money as we are and hate it just as much! All I want for each and every one of them is to live the life that we are working towards. Why should we struggle to make ends meet? Call Robert and get started today!