My two-year degree program ended in mid-July, but that chapter came to a true end with a one-minute or so walk across the stage at the Royal Theatre in Victoria, B.C. for convocation on Tuesday. My classmates and I don’t actually have our BA in Professional Communication degrees in hand; apparently, like many cheques, they […]
Tag Archives: Dispatches from the dorm
Transfixed by doors & gates & paths
Beautiful gardens are part of the charm of Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. While I was there, I found myself enchanted as much by the various doors and gates throughout the gardens as by the colourful peacocks that roam the grounds. If you want to get all analytical, you could probably tie the obsession […]
Keep calm and get over the post-whatever blues
As a society, we’re not very good at transition. Women who take maternity leave from a busy job outside the home practically get whiplash switching from the day job to the dead stop, career-wise, that is the all-consuming day-and-night job of motherhood. Celebrated Olympic athletes spend years in intense training and anticipation for what is […]
Will miss this, won’t miss that
The feeling of accomplishment is sweet. The unsettled feeling of something ending is a little bittersweet. And after two years of assignments and papers and textbooks and academic readings, I’m finding my new freedom a little unreal. A classmate and I were joking that the final course of the 60 credits (shown here) in the […]
BA in Professional Communication? Check.
Two years ago, I embarked on a journey. Call it a quest, or maybe a crazy idea, and really, what the heck was I thinking?? Part bucket list, part completing something left undone in my 20s, the idea of finishing my degree had been secretly nagging me for years. Finally I realized that it wasn’t […]
Brogan vs. Kawasaki: the Twitter smackdown
(With apologies to the gentlemen named, I submitted this for a class assignment.) Few people are retweeted more often than high-profile Twitter users Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki. But which one is more successful? That depends on your measure of success. Retweetrank.com calculates that Brogan and Kawasaki lead in having their less-than-140-character bons mots shared […]
Break the bars and say ‘si’ to life
Warm weather dreaming as winter sets in reminded me that last year, I spent five days in Cuba on a quick all-inclusive vacation during Son #2’s week off university. Juggling paying work and my own school work, I didn’t have a lot of spare time but figured it could work. Between booking the trip and […]
Take time to celebrate
It’s been a little quiet around the Red Jacket Diaries these days. I’ve just finished a stretch where every spare minute and then some went into various school assignments, both team and individual. My head was down and it felt like it came up only to check the next due date — sometimes, I’ll admit, […]
Hello from Royal Roads, week 2
My second three-week residency at Royal Roads University is two-thirds done, closing last night with a class party that was all kinds of fun. Week one ended with tea at the historic Empress Hotel overlooking Victoria harbour; the photo shows me feeling a bit like Cinderella as I leave the luxury of the hotel to […]
Blogging slowdown in progress
Remember the book, Where’s Waldo? That’s what my online presence has turned into these days. Where’s Sue? I’ve been quiet on this blog, Twitter and LinkedIn for weeks because I’m gearing up for the second year of the Professional Communication program at Royal Roads University. Another three weeks in residence in Victoria, B.C. starts in […]