Time Marches On

When I looked on Hoffblog earlier today, I realized just how long it has been since I posted anything new-two and a half months, to be exact. Then it occurred to me just how much can happen in such a seemingly short amount of time. At least, this past two and a half months have been eventful. The long version would bore most people to death, even close family members, especially because they know the details already. But for the sake of documentation, I figured I should 'reconstruct the events as they happened' (if anyone ever watched the TV show "Rescue 911", that phrase would be, for good or ill, burned into the recesses of memory). Anyway, back to the present and recent past. Well, it all started in July. The day was the 22nd, to be precise, and the 'it' that I'm referring to was the shutting down of my job. Yes, like many of my fellow Americans, I found myself unemployed. It's not entirely accurate to say that it started in July, because all of us a the company had inklings in January that the business would be closing and all of us were surprised to have made it that far into the year. Well, that certainly changed things. My first thought was that I could extend my visit to Utah, which was coming up in July 29th and I was willing to pay up to $50 to extend my trip. As luck would have it, I received a credit of $1.40 to extend my trip by one week, which gave me 3 weeks in Utah to visit my family--HOORAY!!! So I flew to visit my family and Jon and 2 of his brothers came by car about a week later, owing to the fact that another Hoffman brother, Ben, was getting married. Jon and the 2 brothers, now joined by the only sister, had to return to New Jersey to help prepare for the open house for Ben and his wife, Kaylee. On a side note, congratulations to Ben and Kaylee, and to Kayle, welcome to the family. Anyway, it was a wonderful visit. I got to see Nicholas and Lorie's and Em and Steve's new houses. I got reacquainted with Isaac and Claire, and I got to meet Eli and Kate. Well worth the trip in and of itself. In short (a bit too late for that, I'm afraid), I had a great time and I think that every other month should be spent visiting my family for at least three weeks at a time.

While I was there, I learned that a cousin of mine is in school to become a medical coder. I was intrigued by the idea and after hearing Steph and Doug's point of view on employment prospects, etc, I began to consider Medical Coding as a new option. I have been looking for a change of employment scenery and this seemed like an option with merit. So after being home from Utah for 2 days, I discovered the AHIMA website, which is the accrediting body for Medical Coding and other Health Information Technology/Management careers. I also discovered that there are only 2 schools in New Jersey that are accredited by AHIMA and I was pleased to discover further that one of them was within 30 minutes of where I live. The other is in North Jersey where we used to live, which is about 2 1/2 hours from here. So, I arrived home on a Tuesday night and by Thursday evening I had applied for financial aid and applied to school. By the following Thursday, I had visited the school, been determined eligible for financial aid, registered for my classes, and was officially a college student again. What a change in such a short period of time. Now classes have started and I'm in the beginning stages of becoming a medical coder. Film at 11.

In other news, Jon, at the same time as I was working out school, got a job at a photography studio. His Job started on Monday and he has survived his first week. We also made a 1600 mile trip to North and South Carolina last week to check out 3 more grad schools. As Mom pointed out, Jon probably couldn't wait to make another long trip after having very recently having driven to Utah and back and logging over 4,400 miles in about a 9 day period. It was definitely time for another road trip. However, the trip was a fruitful venture. We decided that 2 of the 3 schools were worth pursuing, and especially the school in South Carolina. In fact, if we could just pick a school and ask them to let us in, Winthrop would be the one. Including the school near Erie that we visited in the Spring, that gives us 3 viable options. Hopefully we should know by this coming May, or sooner, where our wandering will take us next. South Carolina or bust.

Despite what it seems, this is the short version of events. I'm trying to get used to a school mindset again and having much more time on my hands than I'm used to. I haven't had this much free time since before my mission and it's definitely throwing me off. I'm not complaining, just adjusting to a totally different pace. Jon too. So, we'll see how things progress and hope that they do.

Once last, but unrelated thought--fall is in the air. It's my favorite time of year. My favorite season used to be winter, but I like fall because it's cool, but there's more daylight. I don't have anything against the cold, and if fact, I prefer it to warm weather. I'm always happy when the weather has turned cool by the time my birthday rolls around and this year it seems like that might actually be the case. I may have mentioned this before, but I feel that I should have cool weather for my birthday because it's my birthday and I love cool weather. Anyway, I suppose if I got everything I wanted, life would be easy and fabulous, I mean, I wouldn't learn anything and my growth would be stagnated. Anyway, "Happy Fall" everyone, and 'life it what happens to you when you're making other plans'.