What I’ve Been Up To
I’ve had a very busy start to winter quarter at Ohio University. My amazing thesis advisor and great friend, Cary Frith, recently gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Grace, but while she is on maternity leave she has still been helping me with content for The Barrel Racing Blog. On top of my thesis work, I am taking two classes this quarter, classes that I need to graduate. I have to admit, that hasn’t been fun. I’m taking a course in environmental economics, and having never taken an economics course before, this is tough. I really enjoy the class and seem to understand the concepts, but switching those concepts over to algebraic equations is a whole other story!
On top of my coursework and The Barrel Racing Blog, I’ve been super busy at the Athens NEWS. With OU’s plans to cut the budget by what will probably at least be $15 million dollars for the next year, there are way more stories than I can write in a week’s time. I’ve been writing at a pace of about 2-3 stories per issue, which is a good bit of journalistic production for one student reporter. I haven’t gotten to produce any videos for the Web site lately, mainly because I’ve been too busy with other things. I need to do some more video work this quarter, though, to up my skills for the job search.
Ahhh the job search – that’s another topic. I have been spending about an hour each day browsing job sites, filling out online applications and tweaking my resume. And, I’ve been helping plan this great event for next weekend – the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s Senior Saturday – which will hopefully connect me with some more OU alumns who can help with this job hunt of mine.
As for jobs right now, I’ve been doing some work that kind of accidentally fell into my lap. I’ve turned into a web designer who can’t actually design Web sites. In my free time I’ve been putting together a WordPress site for Karr Farms, a horse farm owned by my friend Whitney. Putting together sites about horses is way more fun than anything else, so that’s been a good break from other stresses in my life.
And of course, I’ve been busy with my own horses. Naughty and I went on a jaunt to a show at Grizzle Ridge Arena last weekend, which didn’t go as well as planned but gave us something to work with. It was good getting out and running after the holiday break, even if it didn’t go as well as planned. Rena, my wonderful dog, has been enjoying the warmer weather outside, and she’s been getting completely covered in mud and sawdust and tracking it everywhere.
Three of Rena's feet after a day at the barn
