Eight Lives Left

Well now that I’m thoroughly grumpy and disgruntled, I guess it’s time for bed.

I got my grade for this last class, and it’s an A. Yay! That means only two more classes to go for this second master’s degree and then I’ll be done. I talk a lot about when I’ll be done, but I can’t help it. It’s been a long almost two years and I’m really burnt out on the whole higher education thing.

Here’s the info on my next class:

CS654 Security Management - Covers a variety of issues relating to the management of information system security. Topics covered include development of policies, standards and procedures, risk analysis methodologies, contingency planning and disaster recovery. Additional topics covered include legal and ethical issues, incident reporting, security auditing, computer crime, and security awareness and training. Implementation issues, potential conflicts and tradeoffs are also discussed. A project is required.

And the last class:

CS653 Network Security - Provides a brief overview of the basic elements of networking concepts, topologies and protocols necessary to understand network security issues. An in depth analysis of privacy, integrity, availability and nonrepudiation within a network environment is provided. Mechanisms for secure authentication, confidentiality and access control are discussed. The course includes concepts applied to electronic commerce scenarios (e-commerce). A project is required.

To be honest, they both sound pretty easy to me since it’s all stuff that I do on a daily basis for work. So long as I don’t end up with any asshole professors it should be smooth sailing to the end of this degree, which is February 2008. There’s only about three months left, hallelujah!

I’m already making plans for the oodles of free time I’ll have when school is over. I’m going to learn to knit and crochet, and play LotR Online, and eventually take some web design classes at the NoVA Community College. Nummy.

Clara asked what the ex-husband is in prison for. He’s in prison for trying to kill his second wife and then kidnapping his (at the time) three-year old son. He used a box cutter on her face in front of his son and then took the kid on a two-county rampage that included breaking and entering, and assaulting some old people with a sawed-off shotgun while he stole their car. I might have some of the details wrong, but that’s it, essentially. He had two trials because he committed crimes in two different counties, and each judge gave him 20 years. The second sentence was mandated to be served consecutively and not concurrently; that’s why he’s away for so long (I hope).

If you want to read about it, there’s still an article up at the St. Petersburg Times.

I will note that not everything the article says is accurate. I’ll also note that our divorce from him wasn’t finalized until March of ‘96. Yes, he was sleeping with her while we were still married. Yes, he got her pregnant before our divorce was finalized. Yes, he’s an utter shitheel.

ETA: I didn’t know he was sleeping around on me when I divorced him. I divorced him because he hit me, more than once. I didn’t find out about the extramarital stuff until he was in jail and I was talking to my in-laws.

I discovered the Escape Abuse blog through a friend’s journal. I went to check it out, and the first article I came across hit so close to home that I’m sitting here sort of flabbergasted. It describes pretty exactly some of the interactions I’ve had with people in the past, and my confusion at how thoroughly everything became entirely my fault. (Mind you, I’m not saying I was perfect, because I most assuredly was not, but I don’t believe that 100% of the blame ever belongs to just one person in a relationship, especially when it becomes rocky.)

This line in particular caught my attention:

Naive objects of such processes frequently don’t know what has hit them. They tend to get distracted by the grains of truth in their accusers’ version of their contribution to a problem, and they can easily buy into the characterization of an issue as embodying their own difficulties to the exclusion of those of the other.

I read that and had one of those aha! moments that don’t happen nearly enough. I try very hard to admit to my faults as a general rule. If I feel attacked or pushed into a corner, though, then I tend to lock down and not give anything at all. I am willing (or I try to be willing) to look at myself from someone else’s point-of-view and fix what isn’t right, IF I’m treated with respect in the process. I think L/L can attest to this facet of my personality (in the past six years there’ve been a number of rocky times and we’ve successfully navigated them all). The drama of 2005, however, was an exercise in accusation and vitriol. There was no respect left on either side at the end, which was both sad and surprising. I had thought there was real love and affection and, yes, respect there, and it turned out there wasn’t, or not enough.

That’s all very old news now, though, and so I’m not going to spend too much more time thinking about it. What’s done is done and all I can do is attempt to avoid those sorts of situations in the future. I’m definitely getting better at it. Compared to two or three years ago, my drama quotient has dropped through the floor. I consider that positive. Drama isn’t conducive to anything except co-dependent relationships and more drama.

Onwards and upwards should be my tagline now.

I’m linking to the Escape Abuse blog in my sidebar. I think it’s going to be a good resource.

There was some discussion this morning about the evil ex-husband and when exactly he was supposed to get out of prison. I went looking for his profile on the Florida Department of Corrections website and couldn’t find it for a few minutes. I about had a heart attack. I found it eventually, though. I was so relieved.

Here’s his current inmate picture:

Skeery, huh? He’s not scheduled to get out until 02/20/2037, but I have no idea when he’s up for parole. *shiver*