A Much Needed Update...

Well after a wise crack from my fiance' I suppose it's time for a much needed update. For those of you who don't know yet (which I believe you all do because most of you found this through facebook, and I have kept that updated far better) I did get a tentative job offer from TEC (the D.C. gig). I say tentative because even now, a month into the process, I'm still going through authorization paperwork before my formal start date of August 3rd. My formal title will be Geographer, with a working title of "project intern" until I pass my security clearance. All in all I am really happy to finally have a real job, although it is still a little bit of a bummer because Megan has one more year out in MA and will not be joining me in VA until next spring. We have decided to keep out August 2010 wedding date though so shortly after that we should be a happily married couple. Other than that I can't tell you much more about the job because I'm not sure of the specifics of my project yet, but I'll try to keep you posted with as much as I can legal share, when I know it.

In terms of this summer, things have been well. I just bought my first vehicle. It's a brand new 2009 Jeep Patriot and I absolutely love it. The timing couldn't be better either because I have 2 weeks left working for the city of Ann Arbor and then I have to make a week long trip back to OH to tie up my loose ends down there, before roadtriping to VA to find a place to live... and then back to MI for 1-2 weeks before moving to VA permanently. So those of you in the area who wanted to hang out while I was back in MI, no worries... I'm not running away quite yet. Working the pool has been fun though, although I am working both Cashier and Day Camp now so I have not had as much time to work on my thesis as I suspected. I have a few days coming up in the near future here though so hopefully I will be able to put the last few changes on it and close that chapter of my life. We'll see... wish me luck.

I suppose that's all I really have for now. Life, as always, is work and more work. I have been spending quite a bit of time with my good friends Matt and Jess, which I am very happy about. I'm still working on trying to get all of my friends recentralized in one place again, but unless I find them all jobs in DC (which is a possibility) it may have to wait a few years before we can work it out. Either way I have really enjoyed seeing them again, as often as I have been. Anyways, as I said that's about all for now. My father just finished the first summer semester at EMU yesterday so we're all going out for a beer in a few... so on that note, I hope all is well on your end, and good night for now. ~Paul

(P.S. I have noticed that there is some delicious irony to this blog by now... I called it "The Good Life..." with the intention of using this as a place to rant about the political, economic, and academic absurdities of the world yet my last few post have been personal and life for me, at least for now, is phenomenal. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I have good reason to rant again, but for the time being I will simply leave you with that...)

Definitely More of a Blessing

So I'm sitting in my hotel room just outside of D.C., and after my last post (and since my interview was today) I thought it was appropriate to update you all with another post. Despite my hesitations, everything went very well today (or so I believe) and I actually think that I could be very happy here. I even got to take a half hour and re-work some of my research thoughts with two of my potential future co-workers, and one of them mentioned that a good portion of what they do is reading, conceptualizing new ideas, and discussing ways to practically implement them in brainstorming sessions. Moreover, the goal of many of these programs is to find ways to do things (examples: incorporating time sensitive dynamic qualitative data into a quantitative GIS structure) that have never been done before, at least not well. The idea of putting my mind to use towards unprecedented work that could actively reshape the way we utilize geospatial technology is an amazing concept, and although I'm sure its a little over dramatic and idealized as well, those are the goals that these people have and are actively working to achieve. We spend most of our time in the classroom actively discussing the idealized theory of how to change the world, and then most of us leave the institution and accept positions that never really allow us to devote our time to that sort of research and exploration. Here, it seems that I could make a living trying to change things... trying to make them better. I don't know, I guess part of me had accepted that that wasn't going to happen. That I was going to end up taking an office job, or a city position somewhere that would have allowed me to make an impact on peoples lives but that wasn't necessarily going to encourage me to tackle the big questions with any sort of practical output. I'm excited by the possibilities I suppose, and its a world of possibilities that is at my fingertips and not just in the idealized philosophies that I construct on my own time and have now practical output. Anyway, there has not been an offer or anything yet so perhaps I am jumping the gun with this enthusiasm but I left today being very hopeful of the future, and after my last message I wanted to share the happy thoughts with you all as well. And most importantly, thank you to those of you who expressed your support.

Now, the waiting game...

A Blessing and a Curse...

So, God has been kind enough to bless me with a job interview... and I'm really messed up about it. It's with the Army Corps of Engineers in Alexandria, VA, and for those of you who I have kept in touch have probably just realized that it is not in Lowell, MA, where my fiancé' is and where I had every intention of going to when I finished here. I am decidedly not happy about this fact, and despite the thesis defense and a law final I believe this is the real reason I haven’t slept well in two nights and my anxiety is through the roof. Granted, I haven’t actually been offered a job yet but they are flying me out and paying for the hotel room for two nights... all before I ever even applied for a position... so I think I have a few reasons to feel good about this trip. In all honesty it could be one of the few positions that would allow me to do exactly what it is I have been studying to do the last 6 years, yet I am torn because it takes me away from my friends and family in MI and my fiancé' in MA. I'm also torn because I'm not sure exactly what I am looking for out of life yet. Some day’s I think I'm ready for the big leagues; ready to take on D.C. and to try and actually take on the world. Yet some days I miss the slow paced lifestyle of the U.P. where the bulk of my day involved enjoying nature and just trying to make it, living with the land and doing what you can to help your fellow yoopers make it through another day. Especially after the barrage of health issues I have had this year (and subsequently being forced to contemplate my mortality at the age of 24) I'm not opposed to taking a step back and working below my training if it means I can get the chance to live in the same town as my loved ones again. Anyway... I'm really messed up about this because it could be the greatest opportunity I've ever received, but I'm not sure it's what I want right now. I guess I need to wait to see if I even get an offer or not, but I have been thinking a lot about the future and this situation is really starting to weigh on me. I guess I just needed to vent...

Okay, so I lied...

Okay, so I lied in the last post. I came across something worth thinking about before the end of the semester. I was killing time before my law class today and came across this article in the CSM analyzing the "new economy". Thoughts?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0412/p13s01-usec.html

Another Short Update

Since I have received some concerns about my health since the last post (which I appreciate; thank you) I just wanted to post a quick update and let everyone know that apparently the 8 pill cocktail I was on for 10 days did the trick with my lung. Still not entirely sure what happened but I seem to be back to my semi-functional state for the time being. If I can manage to finish my thesis and successfully defend by the end of this semester without stroking out from the blood pressure, I think I'll call this whole grad school thing a success and move on with my life. While it's definitely not where I thought I would be after 6 years of college, I am somewhat excited to be heading back to Ann Arbor for this summer and working at Buhr Pool again until I find a real job. I'm seriously looking forward to a few months of mindless work after 2 years of a theory based marathon. Plus, it's looking like Megan will be back in MI for the summer as well so it will be nice to be in the same state as my fiance' again (even if she will still be 3 hours away... better than 20). Anyway, that is all for now... for those of you who enjoyed the more academic/argumentative portions of this blog I promise to be back up and running with the heavy stuff as soon as this semester is over. Actually, that's another thing I'm looking forward to this summer... reading and talking about the stuff I want to read, and not the stuff I have to read. Bring on that stockpile of quantum theory and game theory books I have been saving for a rainy day... (I know, I'm a dork... can't help it...)

"I need this like I need another hole in my" ... lung?

So, what is one to do when they are up in the middle of the night without the ability to lay down or the proper coherency to conduct real work yet? Update the blog, of course...

First thing first. The AAG conference in Vegas last week was a mixed bag. It was nice to get out of Oxford and to hang out with some of my peers. I had a number of good discussions, reminded myself why it was that I was not pursuing academia as a career anymore, and put atleast 5 resume's in the hands of potential employers (which since there were only about 9 recruitment booths at the conference, and I am not strictly GIS or some sort of engineer, I'm calling a win). That being said, Vegas as a city blows (atleast based on my minimal experience stuck on "The Strip"). However, I'm still convinced that if I could have gotten off the main drag and found some real locals then maybe the place wouldn't have been so bad (Evidence: the guy managing the 7-11 and my waitress at Denny's were cool). Getting back to The Strip though: it is the true definition of a geography of nowhere, even more so than Kuntsler's use of the phrase for the low-density suburban development of the last couple decades. Everything was fake, tacky, shallow... there was nothing that I saw that I could honestly say "this is Vegas". Everything was some sort of sales pitch, or charade' representing something real (i.e. the mini Eiffel tower, or the indoor mini-New York themed casino/mall thing). One might be able to argue that this absence of anything authentic is "Vegas" at it's purest (the pinnacle of consumerist society), however I just cannot bring myself to accept that. Something off the strip has to be worth seeing, and I intend to find it should I ever return. For now though, I'm done having hispanic families (and I do mean families... members of all ages, genders, etc.) trying to sell me prostitution... and for the record, I never once saw an Elvis, which should be a sin on behalf of the Vegas leisure planning industry (and I say that not being a fan of Elvis or his music in any way, shape, or form).

I feel like I am getting long winded without a real point here... I must be tired (either that or I am losing the fight to the pain medication. The bottom line, I guess, is that I really like places to have an authentic character to them, and Vegas (or atleast the part I saw) most certainly did not. Perhaps that is why I loved the U.P. so much. Each town up there was about as authentic as you can get... a rich history of people doing what they could to survive. It meant something to be a yooper. It did not (or atleast did not appear to) mean anything to call the Vegas strip home. Anyway, that was Vegas... Perhaps I'll write more as thoughts become more coherent. Despite my dislike of the strip there is truly something awesome (meant in the true sense of the word, and not the slang vernacular) about how we can operate such a monstrosity in the middle of what is truly a dessert.

Other than that life has continued to throw me curve balls. I'm not sure if it is something I picked up in Vegas or if I sustained some sort of injury in a mid-night seizure of some sort but I managed to pinch a nerve in my shoulder and upper back, as well as do something to my right lung so that right now I am essentially operating on just over 1 lung and cannot lay down (because of the pain). Worst case scenerio the Dr. Say's I might have popped an air sack and that I might have a slow leak in my lung... but for now we're hoping its just an infection of some sort. Anyway, so I've been trying to sleep in my broken lazyboy, which has not been working well, but does get us back to my opening line about why I am up far later than my "old man" bedtime (or so Megan likes to call it). I will try not to complain too much, but between my broken computer, the cancer scare, the hypertension and high blood pressure, and thrown lower back (again), and now the lung thing... it's been one hell of a semester. I've always been a big guy with some obvious health concerns (i.e. weight) but I have typically been really lucky with my health. I guess God decided I was due for a few problems I guess. Anyway, I will take the hand I am dealt and do what I can with it, but in case any of you thought you saw me wheezing somewhere between my apartment and my office yesterday I just want to let you know that you were right... That was all me.

Okay, enough late night personal ranting for now... I really want to say I will come back with another interesting article/stance on current events but I'm supposed to graduate in 6 weeks and it’s not looking like I'm going to make it... so you may hear from me again, or I may fall off the face of the Earth until everything is done. We'll see. The one thing I can promise you is that I am definitely interested in planning a short vacation for when I finally finish this M.A. thing, so let me know if you want in on my travel plans and I'll try to stop by to see you.

For now, (*short breath issues) I say "Good (*short breath issues) Night"

A Pause For Irish Celebration

So it’s been a little while since my last post, and to be honest, not much has really happened... at least nothing that has inspired a new rant against the world... but it’s gorgeous outside, its St. Patty's day (the mother of all great holidays), I'm on Black and Tan number 3, and I couldn't be in a better mood right now. I made a trip to Lowell/Boston last week to see my fiancé' over spring break (for those interested, we are still holding strong and happy together, despite the almost 2 years of distance. We're beating the odds, and therefore the odds and stick it...) and I now understand why she wants to keep her job out there. She has a great group of people out in Lowell and I hope that I can find work out that way so she can keep her job and we can make enough money to live. Then, I came back to Ohio just in time to catch the St. Patty's day celebration in Cincinnati on Saturday and saw some wonderful authentic Irish celebration with some of my great friends here at Miami. Things then got back into full swing and now I'm putting together my presentation for the AAG national conference in Las Vegas next week and, as before, enjoying some amazing weather over some of the greatest product Ireland has to offer. So, to change the pace of this blog some more, I just wanted to tell you all that life is good (at least for the day since I have let my anxiety subside) and I hope you all take some time to enjoy life today as well. And, I guess with that... Cheers!