Crazy Lawsuit Game

No one really calls Fort Collins, Colorado "FoCoCO" but they totally could. Some already call it "FoCo". For TBTL purposes we will call it Fort ColTENS, because listeners of the show are called Tens and Tenver is just down the road.

You don't know what TBTL is? It's only one of the greatest pop culture/news/music/life podcasts/radio shows on ye olde interwebs! Hosted by Luke Burbank, Jen "Flash" Andrews and "Japan's #1 Mixer" Sean DeTorre! It's great and pretty much the only podcast J and I listen to on a regular basis.

So J and I moved to Ft. Collins. I quit my full-time teaching job in Denver and am trying to break into the renewable energy industry up here. No, I don't know what I was thinking quitting a full time job with benefits in this economy. Seriously. I had shed a few tears over that decision but we're trying to make the best of it. My back-up plan is an evening chem course at another college. My back-up back-up plan is a server position with this restaurant chain. So there is money coming in and our rent is cheaper but it's still tight.

I'm networking and trying to get my name out there, so people know my skills and what I'm looking for and what I would be good at. It's scary in this country right now and I read in the week that salaries are at their lowest levels since the 1950s and all the record profits are due to the companies not paying their employees much and still raking in the cash. Go capitalism!

Another reason I'm bummed is I had to abandon my beautiful garden in Denver, I mean Tenver. Six tomato plants, one out of control cucumber plant, some dead pea plants and seven foot tall sunflowers. All gone. I had one lousy tomato before I moved out. Colorado and their short growing season. Nothing goes in the ground before mid-May and sometimes early June. Seriously June! This Southern boy cannot handle that. I'm used to late March and April plantings with 'maters poppin' by May or June.

I always toy with whether or not to keep this blog "professional" since it's indirectly findable via my twitter name. That's too much work though, so no super taboo subjects but not stuffy and uptight either. I still can't say y'all. I might have to skin it at the restaurant if I'm sat an especially redneck table, but otherwise I'll keep my Southernisms to myself, although I've always been against y'all for some reason. Don't worry; I still love biscuits, okra and grits, just not "y'all".

Hmmm, Ruthie wanted to know what else has been going on besides biking. Currently it's networking, applying for positions, toying with a grilled cheese cart idea, getting ready for class next week, hanging with J and the cats, light gardening, unpacking, moving furniture, and getting to know our new town of Fort Collins.

Y'all come back now; y'hear! (See, I should not say y'all cuz it only leads to phrases like that one)

Labels: Denver, Fort Collins, Foxy and Leon, job search, moving, podcast, TBTL

Hello everyone! J and I have decided to move up to Fort Collins to be closer to her school (Colorado State University, go Rams!). She had an apartment up there and would commute home on the weekends last semester. It was brutal. I missed her so much that we decided to move to Fort Collins so that we can live together!

Renewing the job search has been tough and frustrating but also promising. There are lots of great companies in Fort Collins that have open positions and I'm trying everything in my repertoire to snag an interview. Networking, social media, job fairs, industry organizations and even driving around! All are being tried and I have not lost hope! Sure I'll lose hope for a few minutes and have a micro-pity party, but then I'll find a new source of energy from Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter or even a book and feel much better and more positive!

Recently I've been enjoying racking up points on Foursquare. Sure it's a bit creepy people knowing where you are, but only your friends can see it in real time. I need more local friends too. It's sad having to zoom out to see my friends in DC and what they're up to.

Thanks for sticking around! Back to resumes and cover letters! Good thoughts!

Labels: CSU, Denver, Fort Collins, job search

So let's pretend we're in the South, probably the Deep South, say SC or AL. There is a winter storm warning predicting snow from Tues. night through Wed. evening, 6 to 12 inches. Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria! No bread, milk or water to be found in a 50 mile radius. Schools, businesses, everything closes.

Now let's pretend this is in Denver. No one cares. People ask the newbies if they're ready. Newbies inquire if they ever cancel school or close anything. Nope, only if there is 4 feet of snow in a day or something.

So yep, that's what is on the horizon for tonight. I'm not super worried. Trains don't slip and slide in the snow too much and I have warm clothing. We'll see how many students show up; some were already working on their Thursday "too much snow, live too far away" excuses.

I'm going to consider this our first "real" snowfall. There have been 2 already but both melted within hours or never really stuck much to begin with. The snow falling is really pretty though and it means the slopes are getting better and better.

No skis yet. No snow tires yet. No snow shoes yet. But hopefully soon. If someone would give J a job those things could be purchased MUCH sooner. Please? Anyone?

Labels: Denver, job search, snow

It's exams week, so campus is dead but the library is packed!

It rained today so I took the CATbus to school instead of my bicycle.

Focus is getting the new header, timing belt and water pump on Wed. or Thurs.

I'm worried about finding a job, but also excited to move on.

I bought some of these from Photojojo and can't wait to make something.

Science writing isn't horrible but I don't want to do tons of it for the rest of my life (i.e. no patent law in my future).

I love our real Christmas tree! Cut it down with my bare hands (around a saw) then J and I carried it back to the car. Great family tradition. Urban families might have to do some serious driving for this same experience, but it's worth it.

Labels: bicycle, CATbus, Focus, J, job search

Not much has been happening with the blog recently. I'm still going to keep it up though. I like it and still enjoy blogging.

Writing is coming along. I'm focusing on one chapter at a time now, so they should start being cranked out now. It's taken long enough. Also the job search will officially start. I'll work on my resume and CV this weekend so I can start sending them out and look for my first real job.

Happy Friday everyone and Merry Weekend!

Yes I'm still riding my bike into work. I haven't resorted to full face coverage yet since it is usually in the 30s-40s for the morning commute.

Labels: bicycle, job search, weekend, writing

Be sure to thank the men and women who made this country what it is! I specifically thank my Uncle who served in Vietnam and both grandfathers who served in World War II. Of course also Dr. Sean at Doc in the Box for keeping our men and women healthy on the front lines. Thank you all for selflessly serving this country.

Cynical Chris posted this link to Boston's The Big Picture blog, which, if you haven't visited please kick yourself, is a collection of unbelievable pictures from around the world. But it has inspired me to pursue research in Antarctica! I know J would like to observe penguins and seals, I could help with ice core samples or wherever a set of hands and a sharp mind is needed, and we would both love the other-worldly setting of Antarctica. I just saw that you get a medal for being below 60 degrees South for 30 days straight, so I think that means it's really tough both physically and mentally. Of course a short position would definitely help with the cats since I don't think they would like the South Pole and also wouldn't like being in some strange house for 6 months to a year. Yes I know, first things first and I have to graduate before that happens, but it would still be pretty awesome. The job search is starting to ramp up as the dissertation nears completion (no not that close yet) but I'm still just looking now, not actually applying.

So in that vein, back to writing!

Labels: Foxy and Leon, Greatest American, J, job search

It's hard for me to get into St. Paddy's Day spirit when I have to work all day and then do it again the next day, with drunken debauchery in between. I know of people who take St. Patrick's Day off so they can really enjoy it and I suppose that if you get drunk early enough and pass out early enough, it would be possible to get the hangover out of the way and still get some good refreshing sleep before work the next day. I signed Guiness' Proposition317 because I love Guiness and it would be cool to have a holiday explicitly dedicated to drinking. Yes there are others but they all fall under the guise of family or sporting events.

As I watched the post-race interviews after this weekend's first Formula 1 race, I realize how hypocritical I have been and I really need to work on my view of corporations. I can't hate all corporations. Corporations feed me, build houses, entertain me and put me to sleep at night. But what I can do is be more mindful of which corporations I choose to support. Especially if I get to realize my dream of being a paid rally driver, I will be the face for several corporations. The Australian Grand Prix winner, Lewis Hamilton, is the face of Vodafone, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Spanish bank Santander, Hugo Boss, Exxon freaking Mobil, Johnnie Walker, Bridgestone, Fed Ex and Aigo (which is an electronics company). That's alotta corporations. Here's Lewis with KISS:


See? So if I really want to compete on a local, national or international scale, I'm going to need some corporations on my side. The oil companies support all racing and all driving period, until we can make lots of cars that aren't dependent on oil. Even if I was on the inside of an oil company, I don't think I could change much all by myself.

We need corporations to be better role models. Stop giving your execs millions of dollars because they fucked over its employees the best and made the stock price go up a quarter of a point. Stop raping Mother Earth in the name of the almighty euro. You can rape her a little but you also have to help her recover otherwise there won't be anything left for your demon spawn to exploit.

I'm gonna start my bamboo farm. I'm pretty sure I can make some furniture out of it and then I need to figure out the best way to make building materials from bamboo.

Off to work and write!

Labels: environment, F1, job search

- Amy Wang, Futurama

I had a good meeting with the boss, and that coupled with me giving him my first chapter next week should propel me well into the new semester and get me the hell out of here by May. J scared the shit out of me yesterday when she mentioned that I needed to find a job and somewhere for our family to live in the coming year. I've been saying the job search starts in December for so long I had quite forgotten that it was, in fact, December.

So where to look? We had a speaker last week from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research. It was a very good talk and I was made aware of the existence of that particular Max Planck Institute. I don't believe I have yet regaled you with stories from Seth's EuroTrip '99 but I worked at a different Max Planck Institute during that summer. Gorgeous facilities and a nearly limitless budget courtesy of the German government, it's THE place to do research in Germany if not all of Western Europe. So obviously I will be applying there. Hopefully my particular areas of research will catch the eye of the advisor I would like to work for over there. Then we would just have to start learning German and looking into what it would take for us to take the cats with us.

Back on this side of the pond, I'll probably look around Orlando, Birmingham, the Pacific Northwest and maybe even the Northeast some too. We have ties to the first two cities and the other areas, neither one of us have lived there before and it would be an exciting adventure. Sorry Midwest, we're not really considering you, well, Colorado is on the list and maybe Montana but those aren't really Midwestern states. Of course, you will be the first to know when something goes down and I still see myself blogging in the future, so no worries there.

Everyone knows that 3rd world countries aren't the greatest. But J found a particular aspect of that knowledge particularly troubling recently. J just assumed that mail would arrive to any part of the world expeditiously but little did she know, that is not always the case. Once while living in the Dominican Republic, our family was astounded when we received a letter through the Dominican Postal Service from a friend in NYC that arrived in 3 days time. Un-freakin'-believable. Normally we didn't rely on the local postal service at all, instead paying for a mail service based out of Ft. Lauderdale that flew mail to a couple different places in the Caribbean.

We asked my parents if we could send them some Christmas presents through the mail and my father informed us that it usually takes 2 weeks to 3 months and that they might have to pay some taxes to customs to actually receive it. They suggested donating a toy to Toys for Tots, or keeping them when they come back in May for my graduation.

I'll start Seth's EuroTrip saga in the next few days. It'll be nice to write for pleasure instead of science writing for work. Hitler just invaded Poland in "Destined to Witness."

Labels: book, Europe, J, job search