| Well this day went *much* better! 
Was up until 1 a.m. studying and overslept as a result so that threw me off and I was worried the day would be similar. BUT I managed to rally and spent my lunch hour putting the finishing touches on my outline and binding two copies. My study partner and I spent hours on the phone last night refining our chart and cutting down the text of our outline. It looks so good and, as many of my wonderful commenters pointed out, making it ourselves has really helped us to learn the material. After I’d bound the two copies, my study partner picked hers up and dropped off exam diskettes for me to use.
The afternoon was a very busy but productive one at work. Mid-way through the afternoon, I went to fill out my timecard for Monday and saw that my vacation balance was 7.5 hours. I thought, “That’s odd!” because I can tell you right now that not only have I used ALL my vacation for sick time, but also that I have taken “dock” time since for doctor’s appointments. So I called HR and was told that the 7.5 is a rollover balance from prior years that can be released with special permission from a supervisor. 
Soooo… yep, I called my supervisor and begged, pleaded and cajoled her into letting me use it for exams. The final answer is that I have to take the time in a full-day increment, so that means that I still can’t leave early for my first exam. However, I am now taking the whole day off prior to my four-hour closed book exam next week! Yippee!!! 
My main partner isn’t thrilled (he would have preferred two early departures over one full day but what can I do? I’m so relieved!! Next year I am praying very, very hard that my illness will be under control so that I can minimize time off and save vacation days for my exams.
Then, just when I thought my day couldn’t get better, I got a call from Chapin telling me that there was a letter from my firm in today’s mail. I was wondering what the heck it could be when he said, “What’s 12 times [$_,_ _ _]?” I was totally confused and then realized that, HOORAY, it was my annual raise letter! I got a 4.5% raise for next year. Yay!
Here’s hoping that the rest of this week and next go just as well!
