So This Is the Year 2000, Huh? Nice.

Just a reminder that this will be my last new post here on Blogger. Starting tomorrow, all new posts can be found at http://www.happiestinternship.wordpress.com/.

For once, no one can accuse me of being indecisive. After my computer crashed last week, I sorted through all of the options, did all of my research, and last night, just shy of a week later, bought a brand new Dell. Of course, I can't take all the credit for my decisiveness: I found a really great deal. So now I have a computer, printer, and, unfortunately, a much skinnier wallet than yesterday. But with 4 GB of memory and a 320 GB hard drive, my new computer doubles the power of my old one, so it's all worth it.

Now it's time for a confession: I don't have high-speed internet at home. We live out in the sticks, and high-speed's hard to come by. I guess it's not such a horrible confession, and I may have even mentioned this here before on my blog. But it makes me feel so 1990s. So with my new, fast computer and the super-fast internet I'm looking forward to once I move to Florida, I have a feeling that I'm going to be wasting a lot more time on the good ol' inter-web. And no more bumming wi-fi at the library every time I need to work on an important project or download a necessary program! (Okay, okay. Or everytime I want to watch a video of a drunk squirrel on a treadmill.)

"Ch-Ch-Changes" and To Study or Not To Study?

After a week of exploring, testing, modifying, and just plain playing around, I've decided to switch The Happiest Internship blog over to WordPress. You can find the new blog at http://www.happiestinternship.wordpress.com. WordPress had a few options that Blogger didn't, and I felt like this was a good time to make the transition. So I hope that you will all follow me over when WordPress becomes my official new home on Wednesday!

For the next two days (Monday and Tuesday) I will continue to post here on Blogger and on WordPress. All posts, going back to the beginning, will be available on WordPress, along with some new sections of the site with more information about me and the CP. Starting on Wednesday, July 22nd, my Blogger account will still be functional, but no new posts will appear: it will be all WordPress, all the time.

Got it? Good! Now on to your regularly scheduled post.

One of the last major decisions I have to make about the CP is whether or not to take a class/classes while I'm in the program. I only have limited time in Florida, and I can't get credit anyway, so I don't want to waste all of my valuable adventure time in a classroom. I can do that at home! But at the same time, I genuinely enjoy school (sometimes), and a Disney class would definitely be a unique experience. Ugh! When can I stop having to decide things?!

Above: An actual photo taken in a Disney class lecture. (Okay, maybe not.)

There are three types of classes at Disney: Collegiate Courses, Professional Development Studies, and the Exploration Series. The Collegiate Courses are designed for college credit and are a lot of work: homework, quizzes, lots of class sessions, etc. As far as I'm concerned, these are out. I don't want to take a class that could potentially stress me out while I'm at Disney, especially if I can't even get credit for it!

Professional Development classes are available for students involved in one of four areas of study--engineering, entertainment, finance, and security--and only for those students. So since I'm not enrolled in any of these majors, these are out for me, as well.

The Exploration Series, however, is kind of intriguing. They have no tests or homework, and are, according to the official website, "highly interactive and [encourage] each participant to fully experience all aspects of the 47 square miles of the Walt Disney World Resort as a learning laboratory." Sounds fun! These classes only meet once a week for 8 weeks, which means that I would still have plenty of time to get all of this done.

There are 5 classes in this series, exploring Communication Processes, Guest Service, Leadership, Marketing, and People Management at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Guest Service class sounds the most interesting to me, and seems to have the most potential for tours and all of that fun stuff. The Communication Processes one is also intriguing, as it seems to look more at behind the scenes stuff like Public Relations.

I hope that, whatever I decide, I don't regret it. (I've still got one more month to think about it: I will have to sign up for any classes within the first few days of arriving, though I'm not sure whether I do it at check-in or not.) I originally hadn't planned on taking a class, but as the summer's wearing on, I can almost feel my brain beginning to atrophy and I think I may need to challenge it just a little bit. Plus, there seems to be a common theme of regret among the blogs of former CPs who chose not to take any classes.

Most importantly, if I don't take a class, I won't get my Mousters degree! I bet you think I'm kidding, don't you? But I'm not: Exploration and Professional classes earn you a "Mousters", while taking a Collegiate course gets you your "Ducktorate." I love it, but I have to admit that this is definitely the cheesiest thing I've come across yet in the Disney CP, and that's really saying something.

The Computer Blackout Blues

At the end of a mostly good weekend, I tried to get on to my laptop to rip a CD. Nothing unusual, just wanted to put Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band onto my iPod. When I put the CD in and opened iTunes, however, my screen went all shimmery and then black. Uh oh. I tried to restart, with no luck (since when does hitting Ctl+Alt+Del twice not restart your computer? I don't know, but I'm pretty upset about it!) so eventually I had to just use the power switch to turn the thing off. Fortunately, everything looked okay when it came back on. No sooner had my desktop come up, though, than the screen went black again. After much fiddling, I discovered that random things would make the screen flash back up--jiggling the wireless toggle, crazily moving my fingers over the touchpad--but it would quickly go black again.

I've had problems with my computer in the past, but this is the first time it's been this bad. I hate to give up quickly, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out my screen is just done. So I may now be trying to buy a new computer before I leave for Florida.

Best Buy has a couple of comparatively economical options. For $399, I can get a Dell with a dual-core processor, 2 GB of memory, and a 160 GB hard drive or for $499, I can get an Asus with 3GB of memory and a 320 GB hard drive. Unfortunately, each has some downsides: the Dell has no webcam (I could buy one and mount it, but...) and, according to reviews, the graphics on the Asus leave something to be desired. Also, the extra $100 for the Asus doesn't seem like that big a deal, except that it bumps the computer up into the next highest price class for the warranties at Best Buy, something I want to invest in. So the price difference actually ends up being closer to $200. The extra GB of memory isn't worth it, but once you figure in the extra 160 GB of hard drive space and the webcam, it might be. I use my computer mostly to store music, videos, and pictures, along with the internet, email, and DVD viewing, so I don't know if I really need the extra hard drive space. I'm not doing any intense gaming or anything like that. Both of these computers have around 15.5" screens, which is another drawback--my old computer had a 14" screen, and even that was a little big for me. But now you can't really get much between the 15" and the little bitty netbooks. So I think this is one thing I'm going to have to compromise on.

I just hate thinking that I'm going to have to spend at least $500 of the money I'd saved for Florida. There's just really very little way to get around having a computer--I'll need it for school in the Spring, anyway, and I was planning to skip taking a TV, and just watch Hulu and DVDs while I'm in Florida. There's a computer lab in the apartment buildings, but I don't want to have to go down there every time I want to check Facebook. It's going to be hard enough as it is to keep in contact with every body at home! And, of course, I need to be able to update my blog frequently! :)

My old computer lasted just over 2 years. It wasn't a really cheap computer, either. It was a pretty nice HP, but I guess I just didn't take good enough care of it. It's extremely frustrating to me, too, that the 2 year warranty had just expired when the screen went out. However, they had already replaced the motherboard and the battery once, so I guess I got my money's worth out of the warranty.

If I have any tech-savvy readers who want to weigh in, please feel free to leave me a comment! Is it a mistake to go cheap and get the smaller hard drive? I'm just afraid that this one won't last long, either, and I don't want to wind up with another very expensive paperweight!

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back home, minus my luggage. I barely made my plane last night--the last flight out of Atlanta--but unfortunately my bags missed the plane, and I'll have to pick them up today. So that was sort of a pain. But otherwise, my trip was great and I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get back to real life...and planning for Disney!

After I got assigned to a roommate, we emailed each other back and forth for a few days. I was double checking some of my Disney arrival information today on the College Program website, and decided to check and see if I was still matched up for a roommate. Well, guess what. I'm not. I don't know what's going on with that. The way that the website's been, it may just be a glitch, or she may have found another roommate or whatever. I have no idea. Oh, well. So I'm signed back up, and we'll see what happens. I'm actually thinking about taking this opportunity to opt out of roommate notification all together. I'm wondering if I'll be happier waiting until I actually meet some people at check-in. Then at least I will be able to have some say in who I'm rooming with. Plus, it will add an element of surprise. And I like surprises!

I'm going to spend the next couple of days browsing the official website and the blogs, trying to figure out what my schedule will be like for my first few days at Disney. Since my mom is flying back, I will have to take her to the airport and the only direct flights are at the Sanford airport, which is about 45 minutes away from where I'll be. The flights are all early in the morning, and we'll have to figure out what day I won't have to be at training early so that I can take her and be back in plenty of time. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it.

Just one month and three days now until I'm on the road to Orlando!

Roommate Notification Part Deux: The Adventure Continues

As soon as I opened my email at work this morning, there was a shiny, purple email from the Disney College Program, saying that I had been matched with a roommate. After my frustration a couple of weeks ago finding out that roommate notification wasn't available for my arrival date, I checked back last Thursday. And, lo and behold, I was able to sign up. It said that there were currently no matches available, but that I would be notified when they had found one for me. The next morning, however, I logged back into roommate notification, and the old message about it not being an option for my arrival date was back up. What the french, toast?

This morning, however, there was that super exciting email. I quickly clicked on the link to learn the identity of my new roommate...and was taken back to the same stupid page saying that my arrival date wasn't eligible!!!

I've sent a message to tech support and housing to find out what's going on. I don't know if it's a glitch in the website, or if the housing people have made a mistake. But this roommate thing is taking on a life of its own! Check back soon for the exciting conclusion to the saga!