This is the last week of Excel with Prof. Buonaguro, and next week we start Access. I'm a little nervous, but excited at the same time. This deals with databases and records (similar to what we do in both Excel and Word; but more with Word, because it looks as if we'll be doing some merging there, too). I've done Access briefly, but this time I plan to learn it more proficiently. When you look in the classifieds, most of the office jobs today require you to have a working knowledge of most (if not all) of the Microsoft programs. I'll probably be using the Berkeley library in Newark (if allowed) to do most of my work with Access, as I'm only allowed limited use at the library in Summit and at work, there is no 'access' to Access (only the systems administrator has Access). I can't get a laptop fast enough.

This week in Business Math, we're learning about consumer rates on credit cards and mortgages and that sort of thing. Prime rates are something we need to be concerned about, especially if we plan on taking out a loan for a house or a car. If the prime rates rise above what we can comfortably afford, we can find our cars and homes repossessed, not to mentioned our credit scores would be lower (and quite possibly our credit ruined).

As it turns out, my student peer is in one my online courses (environmental biology). She is very intelligent, and she really seems to love Berkeley and the professors, as well as her fellow students. I'm hoping that we could meet one day and she could show me around the Garret Mountain campus in West Paterson, as opposed to me just interacting through the Internet. Don't get me wrong; discussion boards are great for interaction, but sometimes you just need human contact.