The insanity of moving during finals week

It rarely becomes so difficult to write in my journal that I miss a day. But I’ve missed the last two days! Let me see if I can explain why.

Tuesday morning, I got to the Animal Science building on campus around 8:30 am so that I could study before grading finals. Grading finals went from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm. At that time I left the grading crew so that I could go home and help load the moving van. When I was about to leave, I turned around and smiled at everyone. They wished me luck on my internship and said goodbye. The last thing Dave said to me: “Don’t get hired!” One of the best compliments ever.

I gathered some things around the house while Karen and her mom and Rich went to Little Caesar’s to get some pizzas for the movers. Around 6:45, members of the ward started showing up to help. I thought it would go really fast, but the 14-foot truck was a tighter fit for everything than I initially thought. After putting things in and taking them out and adjusting how things fit together, we had it all ready to go around 9:00 or 9:30. The plan was to keep the mattresses in the apartment so we could sleep for the night, but that seemed like less and less of a good idea, so we grabbed a hotel in town.

By the time we were situated and Rich was in bed, it was about 11:00 pm. I studied for my finals until about 11:50 pm, at which point I went to bed. But Rich cried all night! So I got about three hours of sleep. And wouldn’t you know it—we looked out the window Wednesday morning to find thick snow coming down! Karen took me to campus and I, somehow with enough energy to be there, took my two finals. Karen’s mom picked me up from campus so we could check out of our hotel and then check out of our apartment and then hit the road.

We stopped in Ontario for the night, which was great. Unfortunately, Rich refused to sleep unless he was on top of me, so I held him until about 7:00 am, at which point he noticed he was near his mom as well, so he was okay with sleeping between us (not what he normally does). We hit the road again this morning and finally arrived in Portland around 6:00 pm. We are relieved.

And finally, a job!

I received an email at about 4:00 pm yesterday that gave details about a few recitation leader openings for some math and stats classes. If you remember, my recitation leader for Stat 3000 this last spring was Xi, and she basically attended lecture and taught a kind of TA class where she helped us with homework and reviewed lecture material. Well, so I responded to the email at about 8:00 pm, just before Karen and I left the church building to go home from our meetings. And then this morning, maybe around noon, I received an email saying that I'd been hired!

Amazing, right? I definitely didn’t see that coming. Like any normal person, I expected an interview if I was to be considered, but instead I received an email stating that I was hired. Just like that!

The original email explained that they were looking for students who are senior math or stats majors, and I told Dr. Turner (the woman in charge) that I am a transfer student and that I have only 4000 and 5000 level courses left in my major, and I said something about how I hoped my having no concrete student status didn’t disqualify me.

I mentioned to Karen the possibility of being a recitation leader on the way to the church building yesterday evening, and Karen thought it was a great idea. She said that while I’m not a senior, maybe I’d have a chance, and that it doesn’t hurt to apply. So yes, we are very excited.

Looking and training and looking some more

I finally decided on Lynda.com for my Excel training course. It’s actually a port with many courses for many programs, but it seemed to be the most user friendly and cost effective. So yeah, now I'm learning Excel.

Which is great, really. My hope is that this will substantially increase my marketability and my opportunities for employment. I need something soon. I don’t know what kind of job I should be looking for exactly, so I’m looking at anything related to healthcare or that involves using Excel. Preferably, I’ll find something that gets me into both, but either one would be awesome. McKay suggested tonight that even filing claims in a clinic would be great.

I have a job . . . for five days

I headed up to my advisor’s office this afternoon to pick her brain about undergraduate research. She was the only one there and we talked for a bit. Not too long after my arrival...

LINDA: What’s your job?

ME: I...don’t have one.

LINDA: Well then I have a job for you. It’s only a week and it pays ten bucks an hour, but we’re looking for students who can help with the math refresher course.

Of course, I was interested! She said that I can come in on Monday to get signed up for payroll and that she’ll give me a spot.

I took the math refresher course the week before spring semester started this year and it was very helpful. It’s for students who have been away from math for a while and need a reboot. It’s five hours a day for five days toward the end of August, which is a lot more than I have right now in terms of employment. And it’s math experience, which is a plus in any form. And it’ll pay for the new tires I bought at Sam’s Club today, so I’m all for it.

Basically, I'll help the professor during class when he or she takes breaks for students to work on sample exercises. I'm supposed to make myself available to answer questions and work out problems with people.

Unemployment is actually a good thing

Dr. Findley addressed the unemployment rate in my economics class:

Unemployment Rate = (# of Unemployed) / (Labor Force) x 100

However, the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) doesn't include certain categories of people among the number of unemployed workers, like full-time students, homemakers, and discouraged workers. Such discouraged workers are those who want work but have forfeited the job hunt, at least temporarily. Even the number of unemployed workers is restricted to those who have looked for employment in the past four weeks.

I didn't get the job with the math department on campus. But my economics class has taught me that being included in the unemployment rate means you haven't given up.

Probably the most casual job interview ever

The interview for the math-and-stats peer advisor position went well. I think the second question they asked me was "What kind of music do you like?", which turned into a discussion about what kind of music was best. And that's pretty much how we spent the entire 50 minutes.

There were five of them—Linda, three peer advisors, and one former peer advisor. Maybe half of the questions were personal and the others were about what I can handle job-wise. (Like, "How would you handle a very angry student?". I said something like, "The best thing to do with an angry person is to treat them with kindness. Ignore the anger and proceed with courtesy.") They were very relaxed, very friendly, and they all love their jobs. They spoke highly of the reward of seeing a student succeed in math and stats classes, of seeing the happiness they feel in getting through a subject that is so stressful for so many people.

They ended by asking me about my wife and son, and they wanted to see some pictures. The peer advisor who is being replaced was especially interested in pictures of Rich because she is pregnant right now. It was a very fun interview, they are all very fun people, and I look forward to hearing about their decision on Monday.

Somehow, I now have a job interview on April 5

So I wake up this morning and find a voicemail from Linda Skabelund, my advisor. She asked me to giver her a call on her cell phone and made the point that I should call back today.

LINDA: Hey, what're you doing?

ME: Just about to swaddle the baby!

LINDA: You're going to see an email soon about working as a peer advisor in my office. I don't know if you're interested, but it can be kind of intense. Angry parents, four-year plans, lots of laughter. You've been in here before, so you know what it's like.

ME: Yes. It seems like a...generally happy environment.

LINDA: Yes. And the email will say something about math ed majors, but you can apply if you think it's something you'd like to do. Just respond to the email and we'll set up an interview.

ME: I am definitely interested, so I will respond to the email.

LINDA: I know you said you were laid off recently and I know you're trying to take care of your family, so I want to take care of you.

ME: I really appreciate that! Thank you very much.

LINDA: Okay. And give that baby a hug for me.

I have never—repeat, NEVER—had an advisor who cares this much about her students. I'm still in shock that she called me personally to encourage me to apply for a position.

More flames, please

Calculus let out early, so I headed back to Lund Hall to talk with the math department about employment. Linda Skabelund, my advisor, had another student show me down the hall to talk to someone about getting on the list of graders for fall semester. It turns out that the list is probably not very long and I probably will have a good chance at being a grader, especially because math and stats majors are preferred over others. The only requirement is that I get an A- or better in the class I want to grade for. And then if I’m chosen, the professor and I arrange how it all works out. That’s in the fall, so it doesn’t solve my employment problem right away.

But I did tell Janice about my unemployment this morning, and another grad student overheard me. She said that a woman emailed her about tutoring a high school algebra student, and she said she'd respond with my contact info. We got on USU's website and she showed me how to sign up as a tutor. She said she had about three students, at $10 an hour (a standard rate), when she tutored. So...at least I have a few irons in the fire.

The day the earth rotated off its axis

was the day I got laid off, Karen came down with mastitis, and McKay got a job offer in Portland. Which of these things is not like the others?

We're very excited for McKay to start working for Cambia. And it sounds like they are thrilled. McKay called and wanted to know what I thought of Portland (because we both know he's probably my "in" to the industry), and I definitely approve. That's about three years out, but it'll come quickly, I'm sure. (I know nothing about Portland, by the way.) Here's hoping my career as an actuary just got a little closer.

Yes, being an actuary actually interests me

Shelley, a Utah State graduate of 2008 (or somewhere around there) visited campus today to give a presentation on what actuaries do. She works for Milliman in Salt Lake, so she’s on the consulting side of actuarial life.

She provided a printed version of her slides, which I wrote on. Here are a few of the things that were of interest to me:

• A lot of what actuaries do is math, but there is a lot more business than she personally expected. Take seriously the business classes associated with your major.
• A few sites to look into:
• SOA.org
• CASACT.org (Shelley’s strength, as opposed to the SOA)
• ActuarialOutpost.com (message boards, info about exams, etc.)
• sites.google.com/site/slactuary/home (the Salt Lake actuary club, which meets about four times a year for a lunch and a speaker; good for networking, learning)
• Shelley got her ASA in four years.
• In the consulting branch of actuary life, you can expect to work longer hours, but there are great networking opportunities and client interaction. Also, research opportunities are in great abundance.
• In Utah, you generally have to go to Salt Lake City for actuarial jobs.
• When going in for an interview, do your homework.
• What does the company specialize in?
• Look for biographies of current employees and get to know their people.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions during the interview.
• What is your typical day like?
• What kind of support do you get in studying for exams?
• Pay attention in your business classes because you need to know a lot about business.
• The #1 non-mathematical skill you need is communication.
• Writing skills are a must (technical writing is best).
• Know how to create graphs.
• Know Excel/Access/VBA.
• She uses Excel every single day. And other programs frequently.
• Be up-to-date on current events.
• The landscape changes every day. Know what laws are passed, how to give advice on them, etc.
• You can go to the state legislation website and see what bills are being discussed.
• The Future Actuary is a great publication for students who are taking the exams.
• Contingencies is another great publication, one you can probably get for free online.
• HealthCareTownHall.com is Milliman’s blog-ish thing on health care. Some of their actuaries write posts on there, so it’s good to check out.

She then went into some details about her company, Milliman, and some of the things they do (like milliman.com/mmi, which is their Milliman Medical Index—pretty cool). Overall, it was a very helpful experience. I think I probably asked ten times as many questions about becoming an actuary than everyone else combined. But she also gave us her card and said we could email her with more questions if we have any.