education

Before I took engineering courses, I was interested in cars. Then I learned how everything worked, and it was good. I had numbers to back up why certain engines have different characteristics, and how a properly designed suspension works.

- As an aside - now that the Miata has new/balanced tires, it drives like a new car - smooth and quiet, even better handling than before - it is amazing how much of a difference decent tires make over the wal-mart specials that were on it before.

But on the other hand, now I look at a car, or airplane, or even the home air conditioning system, and think about heat transfer, flows, dampers, the design of fan blades, screw threads and materials... I take everything apart mentally and think 'is this the best solution - why was this designed this way' which causes mental conflict - I've sold a couple cars because their engineering wasn't optimal, in my opinion.

Now I'm taking MBA classes... I used to only have jobs and bank accounts... now all income should be seen as an investment, everything owned as an asset, each of which has a total cost of ownership... and certain products or ideas end up looking better under that mode of thinking. Like how I took out student loans, even though I had the cash, just to put it in an HSBC online savings account to have a net-interest-free loan for a year as a reserve fund while I used my real income to more quickly pay down the mortgage to get out of PMI... I mean really, what normal person thinks this way.

In some ways actually figuring out how things work is really neat, and that's what I thrive on, but on the other hand, it makes life more complicated, as I have to weigh the merits of any non-trivial purchase, I have to think about how everything fits together, rather than just accepting that the world just is a certain way.

I'm glad I don't know much about biology, else even stopping to smell the roses would be an analytical experience.

The 6 Month Theory

It seems that, whenever I or anyone I know decides to attempt to find a job, it takes 6 months until something is found/finalized.

Even though I have a few promising leads (including one that I just missed the application deadline for that I was perfectly qualified for - doh - it may be reposted though), it is only just now getting into month 3 of the search.

I'm divided on where I want to go from here.

1) Find another different tech job - something to temporarily cover expenses/investments while I finish school, even if my aim is to leave the technical side afterward. It would be same game, different scenery. Hopefully a lower stress/dependency position though.

2) Find an intro business-analyst type job - prepare to actually use this degree I'm working toward. This will undoubtedly be more learning, but would be a good longer term thing. Problems here - getting hired. I don't have any business side experience, and have been turned down for half a dozen of these kind of jobs already.

Odds are this would all be in Charlotte... though I am also wondering how to move away in a couple years... anything from the traditional route of find job in other city, put house on market, rent for 6 months while house sells. Or, take the equity from this place and outright buy something wherever I'd like to live (foreign countries included), then figure out the job market there when I arrive. The second option seems optimistic, but when you can get a nice size condo for $250k just outside the ring roads of Munich or Vienna, I tend to think of it as a possibility.

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Less of the daydreaming, more of the real life - classes start up again today. Thankfully they're less technical than the two courses I took over the summer - even though the content was interesting, the numerical precision required was really annoying. I left engineering for a reason.

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For anyone not in Charlotte - be glad you are not here - There hasn't been a day with a high under 90 degrees in over a month, most in the upper 90's. Lots of trees are starting to go dormant and lose leaves early due to lack of water. Of the years that I lived in Charlotte, only a couple have had this sustained level of heat. Usually you get cyclical variation between 90's and 80's, and at least some rain in the afternoons. I'm ready for winter again.

Vacationing

After on call and a final exam in the early part of last week, Allison and I received a subsidized trip to New York courtesy of her company.

Their summer party was held at an old du Pont family mansion on the north side of Long Island, which is now operated by NYIT as the De Seversky center (named after Alexander Prokofiev de Seversky, who was an aviator/engineer who founded the Seversky aircraft company, which later became part of Fairchild and produced the P-47 Thunderbolt in WW2. Yes, I find it odd they named the building after his hometown rather than his more formal last name.) and basically had the same feel as the Van Landingham in Charlotte, just on a grander scale.

It was nice to lounge around in low humidity 80 degree temperatures while seeing 102 displayed on the iPhone for concurrent Charlotte weather.

Back in the city, we basically just wandered around for three days. The MOMA had a display on modernist Soviet architecture, which was quite interesting, and is also the home to at least a few works from my favorite artists.  Good way to spend a rainy Friday.

Saturday Gerin/Julie and Sarah/Nathan met us for Lunch/Dinner in the East Village / Mulberry St and South Port area of NYC - with much walking/snacking along the way. Dinner was at Veselka - a Ukranian diner type place - lots of food in a similar style to that of my family's usual dishes - veal goulash, pierogies, potato pancakes, and it also spawned discussion on the application of beets in different foods.

This week - no class - and hopefully nearly finishing the bathroom.

Yes, I am that person.

Before I get to the point of the post.

Those of you who know me quite well know that I am usually really ah, frugal.

I am the type of person that watches for coupons from restaurants I might like (There have only been a couple times where Allison and I have eaten at Situl without the 1/2 off coupon) and uses the customer-tracking card at Harris Teeter regularly.

I have sold many small, outdated computer things on ebay for $9.99 or less instead of throwing them away.

I have bought and calibrated a programmable thermostat per house occupancy at different times of the day so that it is warmer during the day when no one is home, then cooler at night when we're around to save energy and money.

The least fuel efficient car in the household gets high 20's mpg.

And then, sometimes, things go a bit awry.

so, the iPhone.

It works exactly as advertised - anything you've seen on tv, online - it is really that easy, and that smooth.

As a phone it has some really neat design qualities. It requires less [virtual] button pushing to get things accomplished than any phone I've ever used (two Nokias and two Siemens previously)

But the phone is just a sideline application to what makes it worthwhile. You have the internet anywhere you go.

1) How do you get to anywhere? ... One minute later Google maps has a pushpin there and is giving directions.
2) It is cloudy, I wonder if it is going to rain? .... 10 seconds later you have an answer
3) How late is that store on the other side of town open? ... 30 seconds later you're at their webpage and looking at store hours (And this was Allison looking it up, from the passenger seat of the car, while we were driving up South Blvd)
4) I wonder what the... and wikipedia is right there.

This is really as close as any device or company has come to making the vast resources of the internet a pervasive part of everyday life, even for not-that-technical people.

Not to mention the iPod capabilities... the new GUI, flipping through the cd cases, is really slick - it even finds the cover art for albums you have MP3ified previously, or downloaded, through a non-iTunes program.

Yes, the initial cost and monthly cost are a bit high (if you have a family plan it is $20 more per month than whatever you're paying now) but for someone that is technologically aware and will actually make use of the unlimited data plan, it is almost worth it.

If you're away from a Wi-Fi connection, AT&T's Edge data service is inconsistent - most places I've been it is equivalent to any public internet connection you are used to (university lab, library, so on) - or like your home connection while you're downloading some large files - laggy but usable. However there are times inside of buildings where the speed qualifies as 'faster than dial up but that isn't saying much'

And I carry it around in a cloth sunglasses case, because the pretty pretty screen collects fingerprints and face smudges.

Those negatives aside, it is an incredibly useful device.

So I woke up got out of bed this morning and proceeded to pour orange juice over my cereal.

I need less things to do.

Progress

Well, things have improved a bit since last post. There are scheduled discussions about a new line of work. No actual changes planned yet, but it's a good first step.

Also, The upstairs bathroom is, technically, a room, again. There are walls, without holes, and a ceiling. One more day to finish/sand the edge patching and then it's on to tiling, which is another day or two, then sink/toilet installation, then lighting and we're done. (Then hardwood flooring on the main floor can begin)

The cost of the bathroom also rose by 15% last week - the old tub, which had been sitting in the driveway awaiting trash removal, fell over in a thunderstorm and dented the Miata - this is right up there with denting the BMW with my elbow while changing a tire as far as stupid ways to incur a multi-hundred dollar expense.

In summary, same now as it has ever been, lots to do, little time.

Car nerd moment, and travels.

Note to FIAT: bring this: http://www.fiat500.com/ to the US. With the 1.4 petrol engine (though the parallel twin sounds awesome). and the 500 Italia badge. Cream white exterior, same with the seats, black dash. Will pay cash.

That's exactly what I like in cars - tons of character, economical, practical. Kinda like the mini, but with a more modern style. Ok, it's a 4 wheel interpretation of my Vespa, but that's great.

Anyway.

Philadelphia - neat city - has a bit of a Chicago vibe but with more history.

Morimoto's restaurant - easily in the top 5 most interesting meals I've had. The design of the restaurant itself is incredible - very modern and calming. Melt in your mouth sushi, interesting sake flight choices and presentation, iced green tea noodles with sesame seeds and green onions were excellent, the sea bass was light and fresh - perfect.

(Others in the top 5 include Three Brothers in Milwaukee, 1789 in DC solely for the fig/port dessert, Nepenthe in Big Sur, lunch in Munich's city market on an early summer day, French Laundry is excepted - it's in a different dimension)

The main thing about Philadelphia is that it has that real city feel to it - built over time - with strong middle class and immigrant influences - it a style that can't be designed or marketed. Maybe if Charlotte can go 50 years without tearing anything down it will have some neighborhoods with the same feel. 

Anyway - it's late - time to fall asleep in the Finance book.

Travels and Updates

Going to the mountains was nice. The Laughing Seed and other good food around Asheville, finding one of the best beers I've tasted in a long time at a pizza place in downtown Waynesville (the beer was French Broad Brewery's Pilsner - that's a river btw) and I generally enjoyed being cut off from the normal world.

This weekend we're headed up to Philadelphia - going to Morimoto's restaurant with the parents as a delayed birthday thing -  should be interesting, especially as they don't like sushi. Also that's one more real city on this coast I have yet to visit, so it will be good to wander around and get acquainted with the place.

Project Bathroom - well, the plumbing updates are complete, but it still is not put back together. Things learned so far 1) Kohler makes some really heavy duty pressure balancing valves compared to Moen or other 'normal' faucets. 2) Bathtubs don't bend, well, the porcelain enameled steel ones don't anyway.

School Stuff - Economics is finished- that was a lot of work. Financial Management has started and sounds rather intersting. Learning how risk factors into how much money a business (and via the same methods individuals) makes on a given investment. Essentially, how the stock markets work and how that relates to businesses. 

Random things - I don't use AIM nearly as much as I used to, mainly a result of rarely being at home it seems. Wonder what the best way to keep updated with friends across disparate schedules is?

Project Update

The good: With the exception of the tub and toilet, the bathroom is disassembled. Those should be finished tomorrow night.

The bad: Removing 20 year old linoleum.

The ugly: Finding that the 20 year old linoleum was laminated on top of 30 year old linoleum.

I'm old(er)

Well, as of yesterday I'm numerically old(er) - 26. A surprising number of people (I think I may have had to count on more than one hand - that's a lot for a summer birthday) remembered and wished me well. The family birthday 'party' was last Saturday's dinner at Customshop- a new and very good restaurant on Elizabeth Ave then Allison's first attempt at making Sacher torte - which turned out well - a bit low profile, but still dense and dark-chocolate-y. My actual birthday was spent writing a Managerial Economics project, which is due later today and still not complete.

I'm not sure I'm taking the correct path through the mid 20's young professional life though. Typical 40 hour work week, 6 hours of class per week, another 2-4 of homework. Then there's the chosen expenses, mainly school ($9k year) and the house (even considering the number of cars I've rotated through they have not been a significant money gain or loss). The house recently has been the big one: over $2500 above mortgage spent on it in the past month alone. So, I'm essentially taking a nice paying normal job which could allow for a good life, but via choices I've made have no free time or money, and less of a social life.

I've always lived long term, am always planning the next step, always looking at the future and figuring out what it takes to get there.  There has always been a goal - it is adaptable and has changed many times over the years - and it's still probably way too idealistic, but I feel that with enough work and learning I can get pretty close. I've become rather good and efficient at fixing all of the minor technical issues that pop up in daily life, but every now and then things converge to just shut down forward progress, and that seems to be happening more frequently and the 'next step' is pushed further away.

At what age and at what step will I consider myself stable though, when can I step back and say, you know, this is a fine life I've worked toward, and be content? The current answer seems to involve 29, a real walkable city, and a dwelling where maintenance means a set monthly fee, possibly one garage space for an old Porsche.

How to get there? Looks like 3 years of running 100% to accumulate enough knowledge, degrees, money and home-investment-gains in order to make the jump. Will the payoff be worth it, or will the goal be moved forward again? Not sure.

But in the mean time I should finish this economics project.

How hard could it be?

So, most of the new bathroom was delivered today. Except they packed the wrong black accent tile (part numbers weren't even close) and forgot to deliver the floor tile.  Apparently the correct pieces and the remainder of the order will be delivered next Saturday. 

Oh well, at least the prep work can begin - rip out what's there, patch the walls, trim, repaint the ceiling, install the tub, so on. 

Onward! 

Suburbia...

Driving home, through the neighborhood, in the Miata after picking up the new sink at Lowes (had to tie down the trunk, but it fit)  I pass this couple walking their dog, wave as usual, and as I pass I hear her say 'Slow Down' - it takes me a second to process that and look down at the speedometer - 26mph. For all practical purposes I'm obeying the speed limit.  (As I tend to do - though it may be in higher revs in 2nd gear rather than a silent 4th gear and I may not slow down for turns - but still - for all practical purposes, obeying the speed limit)

So I stop, put the car in reverse, back up, and simply say that was 26 miles per hour.  She looks confused and says something about how that's still a little fast and I might run over someone's kid or pet or something.

Perhaps I could have mentioned braking distances for this particular car and how the very short stopping distance from 25mph would be pretty much identical to the stopping distance from 26mph, give or take a foot, but decide that would be too much detail for the situation and put the car in 1st gear, which I hold the rest of the way home, happy to have corrected someone's misconception, but wondering if she says that to everyone by default, or was drunk and thinking things were moving rather fast... beats me.

The oddities of living in the suburbs...

It has begun

Just ordered an entirely new bathroom. Some assembly required. 

Delivery scheduled for next Saturday morning. Probably a week or two later until we finish the work.

Before and after pictures will be posted.

Summer Mix '07

Finally got the computer set up to burn. Here's the track list.

1) Milton - In the City 
2) Aggrolites - Three Times
3) Stephen Marley - The Traffic Jam 
4) Benet - A-Town
5) Public Property - Power Trip
6) Brett Dennen - Ain't no Reason
7) Roots of Creation featuring John Brown's Body Horns - Universal Soldier
8) Hot Club of Detroit - Swing One
9) Wilco - What Light
10) Xavier Rudd - Messages
11) Kaki King - Yellowcake
12) Foxy Moon Baby - Eclectic Fanfare
13) 56 Hope Road - Carolina
14) Mooney Suzuki - 99 Percent
15) Wiseman - Slightly Stoopid
16) Nina SImone - Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter

Contact me if you would find a copy interesting.

50cc , 1000mi

50cc: a tiny volume. One seventh a 12oz can of soda. About the same as the average unmeasured shot of alcohol. Also, the displacement of the engine in the Vespa.

As I rolled into the driveway coming home from work yesterday the Vespa odometer displayed 1006 miles. While not the nice round 1000 mark, the scooter had 6mi on it when purchased last fall.

That is not in a relative sense a lot of miles, however they were all spent commuting or running other errands around the city, so it's slightly surprising how quickly that added up. Also surprising is that I only used about 11 gallons of gas to cover that distance - less than a standard single tank of gas in a car (or about half a tank of gas in the average SUV)

The Vespa is a mode of transportation that really appeals to me beyond the extremely low running costs. It's quick, but ultimately not fast, the exhuast makes a nice hum/popping sound as you roll along enjoying the breeze and the unobstructed view of the trees/houses/sky/stars/whatever.  It is a joyous mode of transportation -  you can't be in a rush because you're pretty much always going as fast as the engine can push you - there really isn't much to do but sit back and enjoy the ride.

That and I like the privacy of being behind a black helmet and highlighter yellow jacket. While I'm typically dressed pretty well when riding (the standard work uniform of fine weave pants and pressed linen shirts) it doesn't really matter, because people only see the jacket. Kids point, some adults smile, others take the cell phone away from their ear for a second to glance. While very effective from a safety standpoint the anti-style of the experience is a bonus.

To 2k and beyond.