Whew!
Posted by samsynn on Jan 8, 2008
And that’s finally over with. Passed it. Wish I could say that I aced it, but no luck there. My score was probably about 10% lower than my average on the practice tests in fact. But it’s done - now I’m a certified PIMP PMP 
Getting nervous…
Posted by samsynn on Jan 8, 2008
I leave in about 15 minutes to grab a quick bite and then take the PMP exam. I’ve done so many practice tests and I am really confident in both my knowledge of the material and in test-taking in general. Not sure why I’m so nervous then. Couldn’t even get to sleep until about 2 am last night (this morning?) Had part of an energy drink to wake up (but not the whole thing so that I’m not too jittery).
Ugh - the test center just called as I’m typing this - they wanted to know if I can come in early for my appointment, which was scheduled for 1. Told them I could probably be a little early, but I don’t want to just rush over there or have NOTHING to eat before I take the test. Maybe McDonald’s French Fries for luck.
Doing a little bit better…
Posted by samsynn on Dec 13, 2007
So I ended up taking yesterday off of work. This let me get off of the cycle of energy drinks and I’ve been getting to sleep much better the past 2 nights. It also helped me to get a lot of cleaning done around the house. By the end of the year we’ll actually have the place to a point where we could have people over again without hiding our heads in shame.
On the PMP front, I just took a practice test (50 questions rather than a full 200 since I’m at work and don’t have that kind of time). Out of 50, I got 45 correct. That’s well above the 61% I need to pass the test (which is scheduled for the afternoon of January 
so I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’ll probably try to take another 50 question test each day - maybe some longer ones if work or time allows - until it’s all drilled into my brain.
Speaking of early January, that should be a busy time with both the test and my 15 22 minutes of fame on Jeopardy! (airing January 9th). If you’re in South Florida, you should start seeing me on commercials early next year! If you’re not, I’ll try to find the link to the page on the Jeopardy site where you can see my commercial as we get closer and it is posted on there. I have to remember to remind everyone who doesn’t read this blog when that will be (people from class, friends from out of town, family, etc.) - I figure I’ll be sending out a few massive emails that week.
This is your brain on…
Posted by samsynn on Dec 10, 2007
no, not drugs - just completely fried from the past week.
Vegas was pretty cool - only down a bit from blackjack (darn that Armenian dealer) and 3-card poker (which I don’t even know why I tried again) - well within my “allowance”. Spent part of a day at the “Star Trek Experience” at the Las Vegas Hilton (picture of me in Captain Picard’s chair on the bridge coming soon!) and geeked out pretty hard. We stayed at the Luxor - which wasn’t bad other than the crappy Internet connection and the fact you have to walk about a mile to get to a monorail station for the conference. My feet hurt so bad by the end of the first day, thanks to a lot of walking since Ryan didn’t pack anything warm (great job former weatherman!)
By the time I had finally adjusted to the time zone change it was back on the plane to SoFla. My body still hasn’t adjusted to where I can fall asleep before 2 am, although that may have to do with the energy drinks I’ve been pounding (Jolt Blue Raspberry FTW) to get through the past few days.
Speaking of the last few days - I’m just about ready to take the PMP exam, although I’ll be taking it in early January so that I have an extra year in which to earn PDUs for recertification. The cram session was very helpful - and I’m glad I was in the weekend class this semester instead of the Tuesday/Thursday class - I think we had the better instructor and group. Fortunately I didn’t get audited on my application so I can schedule it this week.
Friday night at the Mai Kai was ok - not crazy about their wine selection and we didn’t stay for the show since I had to get up early on Saturday. Saturday was exciting as Superman Tim Tebow became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy (not to mention the latkes and other yummy food at Rob & Erika’s). Finally - last night was Chanukah dinner at mom-in-law’s).
Now that I’ve caught up at work (after being out for all of last week) - can I take a nap? Please?
Countdown to “crazyweek”…
Posted by samsynn on Nov 30, 2007
Today starts my craziest week in a while (maybe since the wedding) -
- Tonight: Nan’s Holiday party for work
- Tomorrow: Final Project Management class
- Sunday: Pack for trip (and run Arena)
- Monday: Thursday: Vegas, baby!
- Next Friday: PMP Cram Session, day 1, followed by my company holiday party at Mai Kai (which I’ve actually never been to)
- Next Saturday & Sunday: PMP Cram Session (days 2 and 3), followed by Chanukah dinner at Nan’s mom’s place Sunday night.
Maybe I’ll get some sleep in there somewhere. Probably not too much though.
work, work, work…
Posted by samsynn on Nov 20, 2007
“What is… something I’m not doing much of today?”
Actually, I’ll save the Jeopardy stuff for another post, I figured I’d give an update on the job situation.
Things had gotten pretty frustrating with the current job over past few months - I was doing more report-running and less project management, working for a VP who didn’t understand the day-to-day workings of our department, and driving 45 minutes each way to do it. Each of these has gotten better thankfully. The new Sawgrass office is about 5 minutes from home, the VP quit, and my job role has increased. Not a bad month, all things considered, with a trip to Las Vegas coming up in 2 weeks!
Adding to that, I’ve (finally) joined PMI and I’m finishing up a course in Project Management. By January I should be PMP certified. It’s way overdue since I’ve been a PM for almost 5 years now. Hopefully I don’t blow the exam (since it’s about $400 to take it each time). At least now if things get rough at work I can go looking with that certification on my resume.
I’d really like to get back into the software development field (right now I’m in marketing, which is OK, but not my first choice). The next step is to start applying what I’ve learned and then maybe take a class or two in Agile Development Methodology. Not taking any more classes until I get that test passed (so that the classes will count towards recertification).
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