In the Fall of 1983, I started attending then Southwest Texas State University as a Computer Science Major with a Minor in Mathematics. I enjoyed the programming courses Pascal and Fortran, and to a lesser extent Assembly Language for the PDP-11. However, my my Computer Architecture and Design class made it clear to me that I had no interest whatsoever in how the electrons moved or what type of chip was installed, I just wanted to code. So CS was out for me. Then, as sometimes happens, I got involved with a girl and decided to focus on a life with her. While she may have been the love of my life, I was clearly not the love of hers. So, a few years later, and a another semester at SWT as a Communications major, I finally ended dropping out for good.

After I joined the Air Force, I was only one management class away from an Associates degree so I took that class at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu and got my CCAF degree. Over the next twenty-six years of my Air Force career I took classes through the University of Maryland hoping to finally finish my BS in Computer Information Systems. Unfortunately, I hit a point where the final classes I needed were only available in classroom and the closest was almost two hundred miles away in Waco, Texas. So I went back to Texas State, which may have been a mistake.

I loved my time at Southwest and I have fond memories of the college, even though I was not the ideal student and wasn't focused then. While Texas State initially said they would accept my courses from Maryland as long as I submitted the course substitution request, they rejected every single one. Effectively they turned my remaining year of study into three. Still, here I am just three weeks away from finally finishing what I started in 1983. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I actually don't really have time to dwell on it right now with so many other projects coming due. I'm sure it will hit me once that last final exam is over.

I've met some nice young people, and some real idiots who should probably consider other careers (lawn maintenance springs to mind for several of them). The problem is, most of my peers are professors and lecturers. I'm older than most of my fellow students' parents. Anyway, it feels good to have the end in sight.

This is my last week with my beloved Beetle. I’ve owned two cars in my lifetime that I really loved and I had to give up both of them. I wanted one of these Beetles for so long and I finally got one that was just the way I wanted. I really hate having to sell her, but I guess I am having to do it at the right time. I’m getting a really good price for it. She only has 7,300 miles and I bought her for my birthday in 2019.

I’m missing so many things right now. I worked so hard and now have had to give it all up.