Background
So Disney came out with an animated super hero movie from a branch of the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) and I, somehow, missed taking Xander to see it in the theaters. I mean I know what happened. It came out in November and money was a little tight so we did not get a chance to see it in theaters.
We saw the ads for the movie and I was actually pretty surprised to hear it was from the MCU. Since their disastrous (in retrospect) decision to sell the rights to most of their well-known series (Spiderman, X-Men and of course the Fantastic Four) Marvel has done a very good job of keeping their products in house...yet here was a title being made by Disney. Then of course it hit me that Disney and Marvel are pretty much joined at the hip through corporate overlords and it did not surprise me anymore.
Anyway, the movie recently came out on iTunes and we went ahead and purchased it. We watched it a bit ago, and while Xander at first was not that interested in watching, he was hooked by about the halfway point.
The Movie
So the movie is your typical origin story. Hiro (pronounced Hero of course) is an orphan tech genius. His older brother tries to harness that genius and get him to attend the local university, introducing him to all of his friends AND their mentor who is a tech genius in his own right. Hiro immediately gets to work trying to invent something new and exciting so he can get into the school and work in the same computer lab as his brother. After a ton of failures, he finds success, and on the day of his great triumph disaster strikes and his brother AND the mentor are killed in an explosion.
Disillusioned, Hiro mopes around until he meets his brothers greatest accomplishment - a medical droid named Baymax. Together they discover that the explosion that killed Hiro's brother might not have been an accident...someone was trying to steal Hiro's invention and the fire was a cover story. Turning his new friends, and the medical droid into a super hero team named the Big Hero Six they attempt to catch the person who stole the technology and killed the brother.
Add in a couple of red herrings and a (honestly) thrown together third act and you have the makings of a super hero / detective movie.
What did I think?
Actually - Loved it. It was silly and heartfelt and hit all the right notes along the way. I think that has really been Marvel's secret for the past few years. Since they sold the rights to many of their more well known series they have had to make do with lesser known teams. This (and honestly Guardians of the Galaxy - which deserves its own post) is a group I had never heard of before the movie and yet with good storytelling, stunning visuals and just the right amount of humor they have you suddenly looking for their comics.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
Yes, I took another break
Lots of changes since the last time I wrote. Let's start with the basics.
We moved..again. The house in Birmingham STILL has not sold and around Christmas it became obvious it would be another 4+ months before we had any movement on that front...and we had enough money to pay maybe 2 of those months. So we contacted the mortgage holder and are working at a DIL surrender of the house. Not the best option, but about the best we could do at this time. Anyway, with this happening there was absolutely no way we would qualify for a home loan so we let the lady who owned our house in Cookeville know. She was VERY understanding and even refunded our earnest money since we left the house in good shape.
We found a place over in a nice part of town. The house is a $300,000 house that needs about $100,000 in repairs. The owner of the house apparently picked it up on foreclosure and does not tend to the house the way he should so things need repairs...but he does not want to make repairs since renters 'do not respect' the property. Makes things difficult for us because we want to be proud of the house and we do love the size etc, but hard to be proud of the house with all the little problems with the setup.
How about us?
Paula tried as hard as she could to find work last year but by about October it was pretty clear that no one was hiring someone with no experience. Don't get me wrong, Paula was a wonderful secretary but if you are looking at places beyond law firms they want you to be a secretary AND something else....and Paula just did not have a something else.
As far as work goes, she ended up getting a seasonal job at Kohl's to get us through the Christmas season so that was a big help but after talking, and thinking and talking some more Paula started taking classes this Spring at Tech. At first she was looking to major in Accounting - why someone who hates math would choose Accounting is beyond me - but she recently changed her mind and decided on Marketing.
Anyway, she is taking 16 hours and trying to learn what it means to be a "full time student". In addition to course work she has a paid internship through the School of Business (it helps to have connections after all) where she works 7-8 hours a week and she works at Kohl's usually one day a week so she is rather busy.
Xander continues to be the bright spot in our days. He is having problems with 6th grade English and honestly with his poor reading habits that is to be expected. But he is still fun loving and kind and really an all around good kid. He still has problems understanding we can not buy him everything, but thanks to the internship and Paula's work at Kohl's we have gotten him a few little things and he is happy.
Now we get to me. ... Where do I start?
Basics first - I started my dissertation research. Ended up with about 130-135 nursing students going through the first part of the study. It went well though I have a lot of video to look through and a lot of numbers to crunch before I can call it a success. Add to that I still have to do the second half of the study and you can understand how crazy this all is.
As for the lab, things are ...weird. Dr. Soni decided to merge my lab with the Business Media Center here on campus and call us iCube. Just about everyone hates the name but we can get by. The BMC has a lot of contacts that will prove useful and a supply of interns I can use to help generate content for the lab so those are big plusses, but there is an elephant in the room.
At UAB we ran the lab as a research lab. We assisted other departments with their visualization needs on occasion but always with the understanding that we set the deadlines and they were fluid because of the research. Here, because there is no one with a PhD to be the primary investigator on grants we are trying to be a production lab...and I am not sure where I fit in that structure.
We moved..again. The house in Birmingham STILL has not sold and around Christmas it became obvious it would be another 4+ months before we had any movement on that front...and we had enough money to pay maybe 2 of those months. So we contacted the mortgage holder and are working at a DIL surrender of the house. Not the best option, but about the best we could do at this time. Anyway, with this happening there was absolutely no way we would qualify for a home loan so we let the lady who owned our house in Cookeville know. She was VERY understanding and even refunded our earnest money since we left the house in good shape.
We found a place over in a nice part of town. The house is a $300,000 house that needs about $100,000 in repairs. The owner of the house apparently picked it up on foreclosure and does not tend to the house the way he should so things need repairs...but he does not want to make repairs since renters 'do not respect' the property. Makes things difficult for us because we want to be proud of the house and we do love the size etc, but hard to be proud of the house with all the little problems with the setup.
How about us?
Paula tried as hard as she could to find work last year but by about October it was pretty clear that no one was hiring someone with no experience. Don't get me wrong, Paula was a wonderful secretary but if you are looking at places beyond law firms they want you to be a secretary AND something else....and Paula just did not have a something else.
As far as work goes, she ended up getting a seasonal job at Kohl's to get us through the Christmas season so that was a big help but after talking, and thinking and talking some more Paula started taking classes this Spring at Tech. At first she was looking to major in Accounting - why someone who hates math would choose Accounting is beyond me - but she recently changed her mind and decided on Marketing.
Anyway, she is taking 16 hours and trying to learn what it means to be a "full time student". In addition to course work she has a paid internship through the School of Business (it helps to have connections after all) where she works 7-8 hours a week and she works at Kohl's usually one day a week so she is rather busy.
Xander continues to be the bright spot in our days. He is having problems with 6th grade English and honestly with his poor reading habits that is to be expected. But he is still fun loving and kind and really an all around good kid. He still has problems understanding we can not buy him everything, but thanks to the internship and Paula's work at Kohl's we have gotten him a few little things and he is happy.
Now we get to me. ... Where do I start?
Basics first - I started my dissertation research. Ended up with about 130-135 nursing students going through the first part of the study. It went well though I have a lot of video to look through and a lot of numbers to crunch before I can call it a success. Add to that I still have to do the second half of the study and you can understand how crazy this all is.
As for the lab, things are ...weird. Dr. Soni decided to merge my lab with the Business Media Center here on campus and call us iCube. Just about everyone hates the name but we can get by. The BMC has a lot of contacts that will prove useful and a supply of interns I can use to help generate content for the lab so those are big plusses, but there is an elephant in the room.
At UAB we ran the lab as a research lab. We assisted other departments with their visualization needs on occasion but always with the understanding that we set the deadlines and they were fluid because of the research. Here, because there is no one with a PhD to be the primary investigator on grants we are trying to be a production lab...and I am not sure where I fit in that structure.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Feeling Melon-coly
For a while, one of Xander's favorite movies was "Megamind". To be quite honest, I liked the movie too. It was one of those kids movies that had enough sly humor to keep the parents entertained.
Anyway, the anti-hero of the movie had the speech eccentricity where he would mispronounce common words like school and of course the name of the city "Metro City" became "Met Rocity". I tend to recall an interview done with the person who provided the voice for Roger Rabbit where he said all memorable cartoon characters should have a speech impediment.
So, I had a long day and it has honestly been a bad year. As I have mentioned, Paula not being able to find work has put a strain on just about everything. I know she is trying but I also know how tough it is trying to support everything and keep up a happy face.
So, when I start feeling down I start thinking of Megamind - silly but anything to smile.
Anyway, the anti-hero of the movie had the speech eccentricity where he would mispronounce common words like school and of course the name of the city "Metro City" became "Met Rocity". I tend to recall an interview done with the person who provided the voice for Roger Rabbit where he said all memorable cartoon characters should have a speech impediment.
So, I had a long day and it has honestly been a bad year. As I have mentioned, Paula not being able to find work has put a strain on just about everything. I know she is trying but I also know how tough it is trying to support everything and keep up a happy face.
So, when I start feeling down I start thinking of Megamind - silly but anything to smile.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Back to School!!?
So next week Xander starts back to school - 6th grade this time.
One of the things we discovered when we moved to Tennessee was that Xander's school was 'almost' year round. It is still 9 week terms but it is set up similar to my time in Ohio State's quarter system. He gets a couple of weeks off in the fall and spring, a month for Christmas and a couple of months in summer. But it still seems sudden.
Anyway, he goes in Thursday for a couple of hours, Friday is an 'in service' day and then the following Monday he starts in earnest. Not even August and he is in school...
That is not at all what I experienced. When I was in school it seemed to always start around Labor Day. It was kind of a joke that Jeff's birthday was usually around the first day of school so no one really wanted to celebrate it.
So we took the kiddo out today to buy shoes for school and he is going through his closet making sure he has enough clothes. Luckily he gets to wear shorts until it gets too cold out so most of his summer clothes will be fine for the first few months.
This weekend we will pick up his supplies and then before you know it he will be back in school. I know he will miss his summer but I think he will have fun and it will be good to get him away from his electronics for a few hours.
One of the things we discovered when we moved to Tennessee was that Xander's school was 'almost' year round. It is still 9 week terms but it is set up similar to my time in Ohio State's quarter system. He gets a couple of weeks off in the fall and spring, a month for Christmas and a couple of months in summer. But it still seems sudden.
Anyway, he goes in Thursday for a couple of hours, Friday is an 'in service' day and then the following Monday he starts in earnest. Not even August and he is in school...
That is not at all what I experienced. When I was in school it seemed to always start around Labor Day. It was kind of a joke that Jeff's birthday was usually around the first day of school so no one really wanted to celebrate it.
So we took the kiddo out today to buy shoes for school and he is going through his closet making sure he has enough clothes. Luckily he gets to wear shorts until it gets too cold out so most of his summer clothes will be fine for the first few months.
This weekend we will pick up his supplies and then before you know it he will be back in school. I know he will miss his summer but I think he will have fun and it will be good to get him away from his electronics for a few hours.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Summer Television
It is probably a little strange but I find that I prefer summer television to the new shows in the fall. Not sure when the change happened but I fear it is irrevocable.
Summer shows just tend to be more "fun" and honestly it seems the networks are not as concerned with rating so shows are given a chance rather than yanked out of the lineup at a moments notice. So the summer is when we get to really sink our teeth into shows without fear of them being pulled after 1 or 2 episodes.
This year we have started watching a few new shows - The Musketeers on BBC, The Last Ship on TNT and Extant on CBS - in addition to the regulars we have watched for years. For the most part the production values on these shows are not up to "regular TV standards" (Extant being an exception) but overall the shows are better.
Whether it is lack of fear opening up the creators to take more changes, or a joy of seeing actors I did not recognize (how many times have you watched a procedural and know that "That Guy" is the killer because I recognize him).
Anyway, our DVR is filling up again so that is one more distraction to keep me from reading and writing my research.
Summer shows just tend to be more "fun" and honestly it seems the networks are not as concerned with rating so shows are given a chance rather than yanked out of the lineup at a moments notice. So the summer is when we get to really sink our teeth into shows without fear of them being pulled after 1 or 2 episodes.
This year we have started watching a few new shows - The Musketeers on BBC, The Last Ship on TNT and Extant on CBS - in addition to the regulars we have watched for years. For the most part the production values on these shows are not up to "regular TV standards" (Extant being an exception) but overall the shows are better.
Whether it is lack of fear opening up the creators to take more changes, or a joy of seeing actors I did not recognize (how many times have you watched a procedural and know that "That Guy" is the killer because I recognize him).
Anyway, our DVR is filling up again so that is one more distraction to keep me from reading and writing my research.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
My parents came up to help us celebrate Xander's birthday last week and while they were up my dad and I watched the 'Desolation of Smaug' i.e. the second Hobbit movie. We both had the same reaction to most of the movie and while watching it I thought that I should probably write those feelings down. So here is my review...
Against my better judgement I let Paula (and mainly Xander) convince me into going to see the second Hobbit movie before we moved from Birmingham. I think I have made my feelings on the first movie pretty clear since it was released. My disdain for it actually became a running joke at my lab. But here I was about to watch the sequel to it. Call me crazy.
As I thought would be the case after watching the first movie - this one covered from Beorn to the awakening of Smaug (meaning the last movie is almost entirely the Battle of Five Armies). If you are covering that land the areas you MUST hit are:
Once again, it is a pretty big list and Peter Jackson hits them for the most part. But once again at no point do you actually feel like there is a correlation between the movie and the book. Let's look at them one at a time
1. Gandalf leaving to address the problems with the Necromancer
In the books, everyone goes into the adventure knowing that Gandalf is leaving "at some point". That is the whole reason for Bilbo being along. There are 13 dwarves - unlucky. Bilbo is along so that there will be 14 adventurers - the "lucky number". If Gandalf is going to stick around the entire time there is no need for Bilbo because Gandalf would be the 14th member of the party. In the movie however, Gandalf has no reason to leave at the beginning and it is only after meeting with Radagast near Rivendell that he even KNOWS there is a problem with the Necromancer.
2. The dwarves getting lost in Mirkwood and being caught by the spiders
Jackson pretty much gets this but in a trend that will become evident throughout the movie, he tended to greatly condense the amount of time necessary for things to happen.
3. Bilbo's rescue of the dwarves and becoming the hero Gandalf promised
Nope. Not even close. Bilbo barely rescues the dwarves and they do the majority of the killing. Then the ELVES show up and kill the rest. Bilbo...what is he doing? Recovering his ring which Jackson is determined to show us is evil and controlling Bilbo's thoughts already. So once again, one of the "big" scenes showing Bilbo's heroism is given away reinforcing the dwarves opinion of him as a "grocer".
4. The capture by the Wood Elves and subsequent escape
Ah, the dwarves escape. In the book Bilbo searches for about 2 weeks until a big feast occurs. The dwarves load into barrels and float to Laketown while the elves sleep off their wine. In the movie, this sequence is the big action scene. Elves chasing the dwarves down, orcs lying in wait for the escaping dwarves, dwarves swinging axes and swords against both of the opponents...until Kili is injured with a Morgul arrow.
5. The arrival at Lake Town
So rather than just washing up on shore the dwarves need to be smuggled into Laketown. Jackson does this and suddenly we are in the middle of a political drama between Bard and the Master of the city. Why does this drama exist? No clue. It is never really mentioned in the book and really serves no point other than to add some excitement to the issue.
Oh and Kili? He, Fili and one of the other dwarves decide to stay in Laketown looking for a cure. Which just so happens to come up from one of the Mirkwood Elves that shows up hunting the orcs from earlier. She has the cure for the poison...despite the fact that in LotR we are told that the cure was basically "forgotten" and the fact that he knows it proves Aragorn is the heir of Isildur.
6. The finding of the hidden passage into the Lonely Mountain
So the majority of the dwarves head out of Laketown, climb a mountain, and find a hidden entrance to a secret passage that is disguised as just another part of the mountain...in a day. Not even a full day, they make it to the spot and still have daylight available. This was obviously written by someone who had never climbed a mountain.
Then Jackson decides to change the "last light of the setting sun" line to make the light be the MOONLIGHT of that day. Really...and if so wouldn't it be the last moonlight of that day. Nope. It is the FIRST moonlight. Just bizarre change for no real reason.
7. Bilbo's "talk" with Smaug.
So, with the entrance found Bilbo goes down and talks to Smaug...without his ring on. Why is he not invisible? Did he want to be fair? No way of knowing, but he takes the damn thing off so Smaug hunts him. Oh what are the dwarves doing? Why of course they come in the tunnel as well and help Bilbo escape from Smaug by reigniting the furnaces and covering the dragon in molten gold. Of course.
Oh and the "shining moment" for Bilbo in this one. You know...how he sends word via thrush to Bard that Smaug has a hole in his armor over his left breast so Bard knows where to shoot? Never happens. Turns out Bard knows about the hole from a family legend.
Now, despite all of this you would think I hated the movie...but honestly I liked it a lot more than the first one. My dad and I talked about it and we both came to the same conclusion.
The first movie had scenes from the book and then scenes of just complete craziness. But those scenes from the book were almost "familiar" and so it led to a very disjointed sense when you were watching it. You would get into a scene and then be jarred out of it the rest. This movie on the other hand, had ideas that seemed familiar but all of the scenes seemed different from the book so you avoid that jarring sense. It is kinda weird but by going FURTHER from the source material, Jackson actually made a better movie. It just wasn't the Hobbit.
Against my better judgement I let Paula (and mainly Xander) convince me into going to see the second Hobbit movie before we moved from Birmingham. I think I have made my feelings on the first movie pretty clear since it was released. My disdain for it actually became a running joke at my lab. But here I was about to watch the sequel to it. Call me crazy.
As I thought would be the case after watching the first movie - this one covered from Beorn to the awakening of Smaug (meaning the last movie is almost entirely the Battle of Five Armies). If you are covering that land the areas you MUST hit are:
- Gandalf leaving to address the problems with the Necromancer
- The dwarves getting lost in Mirkwood and being caught by the spiders
- Bilbo's rescue of the dwarves and becoming the hero Gandalf promised
- The capture by the Wood Elves and subsequent escape
- The arrival at Lake Town
- The finding of the hidden passage into the Lonely Mountain
- Bilbo's "talk" with Smaug.
Once again, it is a pretty big list and Peter Jackson hits them for the most part. But once again at no point do you actually feel like there is a correlation between the movie and the book. Let's look at them one at a time
1. Gandalf leaving to address the problems with the Necromancer
In the books, everyone goes into the adventure knowing that Gandalf is leaving "at some point". That is the whole reason for Bilbo being along. There are 13 dwarves - unlucky. Bilbo is along so that there will be 14 adventurers - the "lucky number". If Gandalf is going to stick around the entire time there is no need for Bilbo because Gandalf would be the 14th member of the party. In the movie however, Gandalf has no reason to leave at the beginning and it is only after meeting with Radagast near Rivendell that he even KNOWS there is a problem with the Necromancer.
2. The dwarves getting lost in Mirkwood and being caught by the spiders
Jackson pretty much gets this but in a trend that will become evident throughout the movie, he tended to greatly condense the amount of time necessary for things to happen.
3. Bilbo's rescue of the dwarves and becoming the hero Gandalf promised
Nope. Not even close. Bilbo barely rescues the dwarves and they do the majority of the killing. Then the ELVES show up and kill the rest. Bilbo...what is he doing? Recovering his ring which Jackson is determined to show us is evil and controlling Bilbo's thoughts already. So once again, one of the "big" scenes showing Bilbo's heroism is given away reinforcing the dwarves opinion of him as a "grocer".
4. The capture by the Wood Elves and subsequent escape
Ah, the dwarves escape. In the book Bilbo searches for about 2 weeks until a big feast occurs. The dwarves load into barrels and float to Laketown while the elves sleep off their wine. In the movie, this sequence is the big action scene. Elves chasing the dwarves down, orcs lying in wait for the escaping dwarves, dwarves swinging axes and swords against both of the opponents...until Kili is injured with a Morgul arrow.
5. The arrival at Lake Town
So rather than just washing up on shore the dwarves need to be smuggled into Laketown. Jackson does this and suddenly we are in the middle of a political drama between Bard and the Master of the city. Why does this drama exist? No clue. It is never really mentioned in the book and really serves no point other than to add some excitement to the issue.
Oh and Kili? He, Fili and one of the other dwarves decide to stay in Laketown looking for a cure. Which just so happens to come up from one of the Mirkwood Elves that shows up hunting the orcs from earlier. She has the cure for the poison...despite the fact that in LotR we are told that the cure was basically "forgotten" and the fact that he knows it proves Aragorn is the heir of Isildur.
6. The finding of the hidden passage into the Lonely Mountain
So the majority of the dwarves head out of Laketown, climb a mountain, and find a hidden entrance to a secret passage that is disguised as just another part of the mountain...in a day. Not even a full day, they make it to the spot and still have daylight available. This was obviously written by someone who had never climbed a mountain.
Then Jackson decides to change the "last light of the setting sun" line to make the light be the MOONLIGHT of that day. Really...and if so wouldn't it be the last moonlight of that day. Nope. It is the FIRST moonlight. Just bizarre change for no real reason.
7. Bilbo's "talk" with Smaug.
So, with the entrance found Bilbo goes down and talks to Smaug...without his ring on. Why is he not invisible? Did he want to be fair? No way of knowing, but he takes the damn thing off so Smaug hunts him. Oh what are the dwarves doing? Why of course they come in the tunnel as well and help Bilbo escape from Smaug by reigniting the furnaces and covering the dragon in molten gold. Of course.
Oh and the "shining moment" for Bilbo in this one. You know...how he sends word via thrush to Bard that Smaug has a hole in his armor over his left breast so Bard knows where to shoot? Never happens. Turns out Bard knows about the hole from a family legend.
Now, despite all of this you would think I hated the movie...but honestly I liked it a lot more than the first one. My dad and I talked about it and we both came to the same conclusion.
The first movie had scenes from the book and then scenes of just complete craziness. But those scenes from the book were almost "familiar" and so it led to a very disjointed sense when you were watching it. You would get into a scene and then be jarred out of it the rest. This movie on the other hand, had ideas that seemed familiar but all of the scenes seemed different from the book so you avoid that jarring sense. It is kinda weird but by going FURTHER from the source material, Jackson actually made a better movie. It just wasn't the Hobbit.
OK...now I feel better
OK. Call me crazy but I already feel a little better after getting all the stuff on the last post off my chest. Since I need to start writing soon anyway (the dissertation isn't going to write itself) I think I will try once again to get back in the game posting to this site. No guarantees, and for the most part no rhyme or reason as to what makes a post.
But I am going to try.
Was this all a big mistake?
No, not the blog - I have not done enough on here to warrant it being a "mistake". Despite my best intentions I just never can seem to free up the time to write on here as much as it might be to my benefit.
And no, not the Ph.D. Despite the time and energy commitment I have really learned a lot and I am having fun using that knowledge.
I mean, of course, the move to Tennessee. I posted to Facebook a couple of nights ago that some storms had knocked out the power for a few minutes a friend asked if i was second guessing the move...and I could not immediately say no to him. Because I had been.
I guess I should explain what has happened since the last posting - almost a year ago according to the Blog calendar (sorry about that).
Birmingham
As far back as last May I had misgivings about this whole situation - I had never had time to think and plan a move, had never really had a choice in any of my moves..and now I had a wife and son to think about, but we pushed through. I was supposed to start at Tennessee Tech in August of last year so I would be in place for the start of Fall Semester. That, unfortunately, was delayed. Dr. Soni was not able to secure my position right away and so while I knew the job was there and I would be moving, it delayed the move up until January. I spent the remaining time putting the finishing touches on my doctoral committee and finishing up my second to last semester of course work.
We cleaned and worked around the house and ended up putting it on the market around Labor Day. It is still on the market.
Paula quit her job right after Thanksgiving and my last day of work was the 15th of December. We spent the last two weeks in Birmingham packing and getting everything ready for the movers to show up and take us to...
Tennessee
After our trip up to Tennessee looking for places to live I thought we had decided that Mount Juliet was the winner. Shows what I know. To my surprise Paula thought the best place to move was to Cookeville. She argued that the ability to hopefully get by with only one car, less driving and other savings in the college town meant we could have more money on smaller paychecks which would be nice until our house sold in Birmingham. We worked with a realtor and found a house that was only about 2 miles from campus and an added bonus would rent to us until our house sold.
I started to work at Tech and discovered that nothing had been done to prepare the lab for my arrival...and the amount of red tape involved in getting started was going to be staggering. Add to that I was teaching a class for the first time, on a computer language I only had a passing familiarity with, I was taking 6 hours of coursework remote with U.A.B. AND trying to get my proposal together so I could proceed with my doctoral research.
The last 6 months I have worked to get things squared away. Most of the equipment for my lab has been purchased - with a few glaring omissions. My proposal was very well received by my dissertation committee who informed me that I had answered all of their questions and had one of the more complete proposals they have seen and turns out I am a pretty good teacher. I just cherry picked those traits my favorite teachers portrayed and the students did wonderful work. So I guess you can honestly say that despite some minor setbacks THAT portion of my life is really looking up.
So what's wrong? Everything else.
To tide us over until Paula found work she applied for Unemployment. Figured she had left her company in good terms but had to leave because her husband was relocating to a place more than 150 miles away should be a no brainer...except it was. Turns out Alabama only recognizes relocation as a rationale when the military is involved. No military, so no unemployment.
Add to that the simple fact that we live in a small town with a local university suppling lots of cheap labor and it is, perhaps, easy to understand why Paula has not had any luck finding work. She has tried hard and has been on a handful of interviews but she always loses out to someone with previous experience (or better knowledge of the hiring director). Some of the jobs she has done in the past will not even consider her because of her lack of degree. Call my silly but i would rather have someone with 4 years experience in the job than someone with a degree.
And remember what I said earlier about the state of the Birmingham house? Yep. Still unsold. We have changed realtors, we have lowered the price (more than we could afford) and have been down a few times to repaint a room the realtor did not like, clean, mow the grass etc. None of it works. People just do not like the house and I am having to keep paying for it.
So here we are - a little over 7 months in the state and we still have 1 paycheck coming in, 2 mortgage checks going out...and all the utilities/fees/etc. Needless to say my bank account is running on fumes and we have had to put more than I am comfortable with on credit. The amount we had to lower the asking price in Birmingham was basically our downpayment on the house here in Cookeville so I am not sure how we are going to come up with THAT.
As I repeatedly tell Paula IF she had qualified for unemployment or IF she had found work or IF we had sold the house in Birmingham we could get by. Not comfortably but at least enough to go out every once in a while. All three of those things being "no" however means I am just about at the breaking point and I do not see what I can do to fix it.
The problems have caused some issues, or the issues have caused some problems I am not sure which. I am stressed of course, which leads me to being frustrated and short. Xander, who is used to being a little spoiled, is getting upset that he can not get everything he wants. He says the right things at times, then turns around and asks for something.
Don't get me wrong, I love my work, I think the University has great potential and I think once we catch a break or two we will probably love it...but until those breaks happen I can not help but wonder if we would have been better off in Birmingham, with a little less opportunity for me, but work for Paula and only one mortgage check hanging over our head.
And no, not the Ph.D. Despite the time and energy commitment I have really learned a lot and I am having fun using that knowledge.
I mean, of course, the move to Tennessee. I posted to Facebook a couple of nights ago that some storms had knocked out the power for a few minutes a friend asked if i was second guessing the move...and I could not immediately say no to him. Because I had been.
I guess I should explain what has happened since the last posting - almost a year ago according to the Blog calendar (sorry about that).
Birmingham
As far back as last May I had misgivings about this whole situation - I had never had time to think and plan a move, had never really had a choice in any of my moves..and now I had a wife and son to think about, but we pushed through. I was supposed to start at Tennessee Tech in August of last year so I would be in place for the start of Fall Semester. That, unfortunately, was delayed. Dr. Soni was not able to secure my position right away and so while I knew the job was there and I would be moving, it delayed the move up until January. I spent the remaining time putting the finishing touches on my doctoral committee and finishing up my second to last semester of course work.
We cleaned and worked around the house and ended up putting it on the market around Labor Day. It is still on the market.
Paula quit her job right after Thanksgiving and my last day of work was the 15th of December. We spent the last two weeks in Birmingham packing and getting everything ready for the movers to show up and take us to...
Tennessee
After our trip up to Tennessee looking for places to live I thought we had decided that Mount Juliet was the winner. Shows what I know. To my surprise Paula thought the best place to move was to Cookeville. She argued that the ability to hopefully get by with only one car, less driving and other savings in the college town meant we could have more money on smaller paychecks which would be nice until our house sold in Birmingham. We worked with a realtor and found a house that was only about 2 miles from campus and an added bonus would rent to us until our house sold.
I started to work at Tech and discovered that nothing had been done to prepare the lab for my arrival...and the amount of red tape involved in getting started was going to be staggering. Add to that I was teaching a class for the first time, on a computer language I only had a passing familiarity with, I was taking 6 hours of coursework remote with U.A.B. AND trying to get my proposal together so I could proceed with my doctoral research.
The last 6 months I have worked to get things squared away. Most of the equipment for my lab has been purchased - with a few glaring omissions. My proposal was very well received by my dissertation committee who informed me that I had answered all of their questions and had one of the more complete proposals they have seen and turns out I am a pretty good teacher. I just cherry picked those traits my favorite teachers portrayed and the students did wonderful work. So I guess you can honestly say that despite some minor setbacks THAT portion of my life is really looking up.
So what's wrong? Everything else.
To tide us over until Paula found work she applied for Unemployment. Figured she had left her company in good terms but had to leave because her husband was relocating to a place more than 150 miles away should be a no brainer...except it was. Turns out Alabama only recognizes relocation as a rationale when the military is involved. No military, so no unemployment.
Add to that the simple fact that we live in a small town with a local university suppling lots of cheap labor and it is, perhaps, easy to understand why Paula has not had any luck finding work. She has tried hard and has been on a handful of interviews but she always loses out to someone with previous experience (or better knowledge of the hiring director). Some of the jobs she has done in the past will not even consider her because of her lack of degree. Call my silly but i would rather have someone with 4 years experience in the job than someone with a degree.
And remember what I said earlier about the state of the Birmingham house? Yep. Still unsold. We have changed realtors, we have lowered the price (more than we could afford) and have been down a few times to repaint a room the realtor did not like, clean, mow the grass etc. None of it works. People just do not like the house and I am having to keep paying for it.
So here we are - a little over 7 months in the state and we still have 1 paycheck coming in, 2 mortgage checks going out...and all the utilities/fees/etc. Needless to say my bank account is running on fumes and we have had to put more than I am comfortable with on credit. The amount we had to lower the asking price in Birmingham was basically our downpayment on the house here in Cookeville so I am not sure how we are going to come up with THAT.
As I repeatedly tell Paula IF she had qualified for unemployment or IF she had found work or IF we had sold the house in Birmingham we could get by. Not comfortably but at least enough to go out every once in a while. All three of those things being "no" however means I am just about at the breaking point and I do not see what I can do to fix it.
The problems have caused some issues, or the issues have caused some problems I am not sure which. I am stressed of course, which leads me to being frustrated and short. Xander, who is used to being a little spoiled, is getting upset that he can not get everything he wants. He says the right things at times, then turns around and asks for something.
Don't get me wrong, I love my work, I think the University has great potential and I think once we catch a break or two we will probably love it...but until those breaks happen I can not help but wonder if we would have been better off in Birmingham, with a little less opportunity for me, but work for Paula and only one mortgage check hanging over our head.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Of Cookouts and Committees
Dr. Soni had his final gathering at his house a couple of Sundays ago so Paula and I had to stop working around the house to attend. Don't get me wrong - parties at Dr. Soni's are a good time. He has lots of beverages, good food and it is nice to see everyone away from work.
The party started about 4 and until 6 it is small talk and finger foods....if you can call grilled shrimp skewers and tandoori drumsticks finger food. Dr. Roy made the drumsticks and while not as messy as they usually were (he baked them so not as wet) they were still delicious. I think I had 4. At 6 Dr. Soni's wife breaks out dinner. Now despite the fact that the finger foods were meat, dinner was vegetarian. Not exactly my tastes, but I had some Nan and rice..and another chicken leg.
By all accounts the night was a "success". Everyone had a good time and while apparently there was some tension early on about Dr. Soni's leaving, it was long forgotten by the time the food started leaving the kitchen.
If the evening had ended on that note I would have been happy. A night out, even at the "bosses house" is a rare thing. But the night was even a little more special because I came one step closer to finishing off my committee. I approached Lee Moradi (Dr. Lee) about being on my committee and he said he would be happy to be on it. Lee is the Director of Engineering Research here at UAB so he adds a little weight to the committee, plus he is another Engineering professor so it helps balance out Dr. Kerby being primarily a medical doctor.
In addition, I finally heard back from Dr. Snyder. Dr. Snyder works closely with Dr. Kerby and had been recommended to me by both Dr. Kerby and Dr. Soni so I had approached him about meeting to discuss the final 'UAB faculty' seat on my committee. Dr. Snyder agreed to meet AND I found out Dr. Kerby sent him a letter strongly advising him to accept the position on my committee.
Means one more spot to fill and I will be done with that side of things.
The party started about 4 and until 6 it is small talk and finger foods....if you can call grilled shrimp skewers and tandoori drumsticks finger food. Dr. Roy made the drumsticks and while not as messy as they usually were (he baked them so not as wet) they were still delicious. I think I had 4. At 6 Dr. Soni's wife breaks out dinner. Now despite the fact that the finger foods were meat, dinner was vegetarian. Not exactly my tastes, but I had some Nan and rice..and another chicken leg.
By all accounts the night was a "success". Everyone had a good time and while apparently there was some tension early on about Dr. Soni's leaving, it was long forgotten by the time the food started leaving the kitchen.
If the evening had ended on that note I would have been happy. A night out, even at the "bosses house" is a rare thing. But the night was even a little more special because I came one step closer to finishing off my committee. I approached Lee Moradi (Dr. Lee) about being on my committee and he said he would be happy to be on it. Lee is the Director of Engineering Research here at UAB so he adds a little weight to the committee, plus he is another Engineering professor so it helps balance out Dr. Kerby being primarily a medical doctor.
In addition, I finally heard back from Dr. Snyder. Dr. Snyder works closely with Dr. Kerby and had been recommended to me by both Dr. Kerby and Dr. Soni so I had approached him about meeting to discuss the final 'UAB faculty' seat on my committee. Dr. Snyder agreed to meet AND I found out Dr. Kerby sent him a letter strongly advising him to accept the position on my committee.
Means one more spot to fill and I will be done with that side of things.
Missing in Action
OK. You don't have to say it. I know I have been missing in action for a while..but what is a month and a half between friends. I'll tell you what, to make it up to you I will post 3-4 posts today and tomorrow..just depends on if you count this one :)
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Great News
The expected move to Tennessee has had a consequence I expected, but wanted to avoid. Namely I would have to get my doctoral oversight committee in place before the move and it would have to be staffed with professors other than Dr. Soni. Now this is not normally a big thing, but for the past 2-3 years Dr. Soni has been telling me not to worry about it and that he would have people in mind who would be able to fill out the committee and it should not be a big issue in any case.
Fast forward to today and I am trying to fill the positions and not pick too many professors who will just give me a hard time. Well today (last night really) I got the best news so far - my first choice for the chair of the committee (Dr. Jeff Kerby) told me he would be proud to fill the role. He doesn't really know what his job is any more than I do but I think Kim and the rest of the office staff downstairs will help with that.
Well 2 spots filled, 2-3 more to go.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Tennessee Trip - Day 2
So when we last left our intrepid travelers they were pulling into Nashville around 6:00 Saturday night. Well not exactly Nashville - our hotel was in Mt. Juliet which is about 20 miles east of town.
Since we got in at a decent hour we went ahead and checked into the hotel before dinner. Turns out Mt. Juliet is a rapidly growing area around Nashville and as such there was a ton of stuff right near our hotel room. We wanted to find someplace "unique", but Xander really wanted pizza. The only pizza joint we could really find was a New York style pizza place and Paula and I both dislike New York style so that was out. In the end we ended up going to a blah chain restaurant with o.k. food. Not exactly a meal to remember but there it is. Looking for a place to eat exposed us to a lot of what to expect in Mt. Juliet, and we went ahead and picked up a Apartment Guide to see if any might be open Sunday we could investigate.
After breakfast we got a "semi" early start to the day, we had a lot to do and still wanted to get to Decatur for dinner. We wanted to see how Nashville worked and explore Murfreesboro, Hermitage, Gallatin, Lebanon and Mt. Juliet.
Since we got in at a decent hour we went ahead and checked into the hotel before dinner. Turns out Mt. Juliet is a rapidly growing area around Nashville and as such there was a ton of stuff right near our hotel room. We wanted to find someplace "unique", but Xander really wanted pizza. The only pizza joint we could really find was a New York style pizza place and Paula and I both dislike New York style so that was out. In the end we ended up going to a blah chain restaurant with o.k. food. Not exactly a meal to remember but there it is. Looking for a place to eat exposed us to a lot of what to expect in Mt. Juliet, and we went ahead and picked up a Apartment Guide to see if any might be open Sunday we could investigate.
After breakfast we got a "semi" early start to the day, we had a lot to do and still wanted to get to Decatur for dinner. We wanted to see how Nashville worked and explore Murfreesboro, Hermitage, Gallatin, Lebanon and Mt. Juliet.
- Murfreesboro was o.k. The town looked like he had most of what we would want and they were some nice apartments as well. The problem with the town was location. Most of the areas we were looking at were east of Nashville, while Murfreesboro is more southern. Means my drive in would be 1:20, Paula's would be about 35 minutes. By far the longest drive times for both of us.
- Hermitage was o.k. as well. It is the closest city to Nashville that we looked at, but it is ... old. Most of the apartments were built in the 70's or 80's and so had some issues.
- Gallatin was a definite no. Hard to get to, city looked run down, just over all a bad feeling.
- Lebanon was o.k. depending on where you were looking. Apparently it is a big enough city that 3 different exits off of I-40 lead to the town and one of the exits had a nice looking development.
- Mt. Juliet was the clear winner with everyone. They had a really cool park that Xander loved, good shopping, great school districts and hopefully some apartments coming available.
After checking out the apartments (and a few housing developments) we went to downtown Nashville and got a quick feel for that. Xander was impressed by the football stadium and I liked the size of the town (though the streets did seem to remind me of north Atlanta).
So who wins? Nashville, Mt. Juliet and hopefully us.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Tennessee Trip - Day 1
Had some bumps along the way but we finally made it up for the first of our days in Tennessee.
Original plan was to get into Knoxville around 6 or 7 last night and get a good look around town before heading to the hotel. That would allow us to spend tomorrow morning investigating areas that looked promising and enjoy ourselves before getting a start over to Nashville around 2-3 this afternoon. Remember what they say about the "best laid plans"? Well yeah I remember it now.
For starters Xander had a eye checkup yesterday at 1. I had made the appointment well before we planned the trip and did not want to cancel it but really, how long can an eye checkup take? Four hours later I had my answer. Seems that UAB Eye Care does a REALLY thorough checkup. Good news is Xander's eyes are just about perfect - slight astigmatism but nothing really bad - bad news is I was planning to be almost to Knoxville by now. We started on our way and had a really pleasant drive until the second hiccup happened. Seems that unknown to me Knoxville is in the Eastern Time Zone..so there goes another hour. Anyway, we stopped north of Chattanooga and had dinner and made it in to Knoxville around 10. So no late afternoon cruise, no early investigation.
When we went to check out this morning I asked the desk clerk what a good way to spend a Saturday morning in Knoxville doing was. Surprisingly she mentioned nothing about Knoxville, instead sending us off to Pigeon Forge. Seems kind of strange that a bigger city has nothing to call its own, and this place is beginning to remind me of Huntsville. However, we drove out to Pigeon Forge and enjoyed our time. Xander got some shopping done, we played some Putt Putt and had a pleasant day only marred by Paula's sun burn.
On the way out of town we dropped through Farragut. Not like most of the nicer areas I am used to seeing this was much more spread out..but you could almost smell the money. Seemed like a nice place but not sure we would enjoy Knoxville enough to make it work.
On the drive out to Nashville we stopped by Cookeville to see the campus for Tennessee Tech. Even though the town looked a little sketchy, the campus was surprisingly nice. Traditional looking campus buildings and lots of trees etc made me feel a lot more happy about my prospects there.
Even with the stop over in Cookeville we made it into Nashville around 6. But more about that on the next post.
Original plan was to get into Knoxville around 6 or 7 last night and get a good look around town before heading to the hotel. That would allow us to spend tomorrow morning investigating areas that looked promising and enjoy ourselves before getting a start over to Nashville around 2-3 this afternoon. Remember what they say about the "best laid plans"? Well yeah I remember it now.
For starters Xander had a eye checkup yesterday at 1. I had made the appointment well before we planned the trip and did not want to cancel it but really, how long can an eye checkup take? Four hours later I had my answer. Seems that UAB Eye Care does a REALLY thorough checkup. Good news is Xander's eyes are just about perfect - slight astigmatism but nothing really bad - bad news is I was planning to be almost to Knoxville by now. We started on our way and had a really pleasant drive until the second hiccup happened. Seems that unknown to me Knoxville is in the Eastern Time Zone..so there goes another hour. Anyway, we stopped north of Chattanooga and had dinner and made it in to Knoxville around 10. So no late afternoon cruise, no early investigation.
When we went to check out this morning I asked the desk clerk what a good way to spend a Saturday morning in Knoxville doing was. Surprisingly she mentioned nothing about Knoxville, instead sending us off to Pigeon Forge. Seems kind of strange that a bigger city has nothing to call its own, and this place is beginning to remind me of Huntsville. However, we drove out to Pigeon Forge and enjoyed our time. Xander got some shopping done, we played some Putt Putt and had a pleasant day only marred by Paula's sun burn.
On the way out of town we dropped through Farragut. Not like most of the nicer areas I am used to seeing this was much more spread out..but you could almost smell the money. Seemed like a nice place but not sure we would enjoy Knoxville enough to make it work.
On the drive out to Nashville we stopped by Cookeville to see the campus for Tennessee Tech. Even though the town looked a little sketchy, the campus was surprisingly nice. Traditional looking campus buildings and lots of trees etc made me feel a lot more happy about my prospects there.
Even with the stop over in Cookeville we made it into Nashville around 6. But more about that on the next post.
Monday, May 20, 2013
I was always more into Star Wars...
OK, had to steal the title from John McClane.
Paula and I went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness over the weekend. We really needed a break after the events of the weekend so a movie seemed like a good idea. How was it? It was probably the best movie I have seen this year. Granted with this years movies, that might be damning with faint praise but it was a good movie. Were there problems with the movie? Sure. What movie doesn't have some problems? But for the most part it kept Paula and I engrossed for two and a half hours at a time we really needed to be distracted.
I meant this post to mainly be about the movie but I think I need to explain why we needed a break. It all began Saturday morning. About a year ago our hot water heater exploded causing about $30k in damages. We started noticing some similar "warning signs" last week and had the installers come out. They said the problem was with a hose that was blocking some piping, they had moved the hose and thought everything would be o.k. Well it turns out that hose was to our water softener and when it recycled water, all the pumped water caused a flood and ruined most of the ceilings in the bathroom and downstairs bedroom. This time we were lucky enough to be home so we could save the bedding, the floors and everything else, but the drywall is gone. We ended up paying a plumber to come out Saturday evening and just totally disconnect the water softener.
Sunday was difficult for different reasons. We ended up putting Buckeye to sleep Sunday afternoon. He had been a shell of his former self for the last few years and we decided to not drag it out longer than necessary. It was a very hard decision and Paula and I were both in tears, but we both felt it was the best option for him.
Anyway, after leaving the vets we decided we needed a distraction and the new Star Trek movie seemed the perfect solution.
The Good:
The cast was perfect lead by Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, and don't get me started on Benedict Cumberbatch. I have been a fan of his since I first saw the BBC version of Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery, and he was great as the bad guy in this movie
The effects were also top notch, but did not overpower the story of the movie
The Bad:
Some people (not me) are complaining about the casting of Khan. They felt it should have gone to an Indian actor. I can see their point, but I think in a part where the dialogue and intonation are so vital, you want someone with perfect English in the role...and unfortunately I can not think of an Indian actor that could pull it off.
Plot hole. OK holes. The biggest for me was the demotion/promotion of Captain Kirk. He is punished in the beginning of the movie for violating the Prime Directive and "loses" the Enterprise. He goes to a bar and is informed there that he is actually just busted down to being the Executive Officer(XO) of the Enterprise. While at the bar he is called to Star Fleet HQ and after an attack there that kills the new captain is immediately made Captain of the Enterprise again and able to pull Spock back in as his XO. What kind of punishment was THAT?
Paula and I went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness over the weekend. We really needed a break after the events of the weekend so a movie seemed like a good idea. How was it? It was probably the best movie I have seen this year. Granted with this years movies, that might be damning with faint praise but it was a good movie. Were there problems with the movie? Sure. What movie doesn't have some problems? But for the most part it kept Paula and I engrossed for two and a half hours at a time we really needed to be distracted.
I meant this post to mainly be about the movie but I think I need to explain why we needed a break. It all began Saturday morning. About a year ago our hot water heater exploded causing about $30k in damages. We started noticing some similar "warning signs" last week and had the installers come out. They said the problem was with a hose that was blocking some piping, they had moved the hose and thought everything would be o.k. Well it turns out that hose was to our water softener and when it recycled water, all the pumped water caused a flood and ruined most of the ceilings in the bathroom and downstairs bedroom. This time we were lucky enough to be home so we could save the bedding, the floors and everything else, but the drywall is gone. We ended up paying a plumber to come out Saturday evening and just totally disconnect the water softener.
Sunday was difficult for different reasons. We ended up putting Buckeye to sleep Sunday afternoon. He had been a shell of his former self for the last few years and we decided to not drag it out longer than necessary. It was a very hard decision and Paula and I were both in tears, but we both felt it was the best option for him.
Anyway, after leaving the vets we decided we needed a distraction and the new Star Trek movie seemed the perfect solution.
The Good:
The cast was perfect lead by Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, and don't get me started on Benedict Cumberbatch. I have been a fan of his since I first saw the BBC version of Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery, and he was great as the bad guy in this movie
The effects were also top notch, but did not overpower the story of the movie
The Bad:
Some people (not me) are complaining about the casting of Khan. They felt it should have gone to an Indian actor. I can see their point, but I think in a part where the dialogue and intonation are so vital, you want someone with perfect English in the role...and unfortunately I can not think of an Indian actor that could pull it off.
Plot hole. OK holes. The biggest for me was the demotion/promotion of Captain Kirk. He is punished in the beginning of the movie for violating the Prime Directive and "loses" the Enterprise. He goes to a bar and is informed there that he is actually just busted down to being the Executive Officer(XO) of the Enterprise. While at the bar he is called to Star Fleet HQ and after an attack there that kills the new captain is immediately made Captain of the Enterprise again and able to pull Spock back in as his XO. What kind of punishment was THAT?
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Am I Doing the RIGHT Thing
Once again I can't sleep and so I sit here writing into a blog that no one but me will ever read. Talk about depressing. As I look back on the last couple of weeks the common theme that keeps coming up is simple - am I doing the right thing?
My life has had its share of disappointments and stress, but things could have been a lot worse. Paula and Xander are always there to pick me up and I am not living in a car or something. So all told I have had a successful life. But through it all I really haven't had time to plan for anything or had the time to stress over details.
As a kid I was a Navy brat. We lived up and down the East Coast, but honestly it never really impacted me. Mom and Dad would come in, say we are moving to XYZ, I would pack and that would be it. Easy peasy. When I graduated college I moved to Houston, but again that was done over the course of about 2 weeks and so everything was rushed. When I moved back to Ohio, same thing. Moving to Alabama? Hired on October 4th, living here before Halloween.
That all leads us to now. I am moving my family to a city I haven't even picked out yet. On top of that I am rushed because we have to sell the house, but at the same time it is the longest period of time I have had to contemplate a move since I went away to college. What does that mean? It means all the little concerns I experience have all the time in the world to percolate into full blown fears. Are we making the right choice? Should we just stay here? Will the house sell? How will we live if it doesn't? Will I be able to get into classes easily at the new school? Will Paula be able to get a job? Will Xander like his new school? Will he make friends?
Don't get me wrong. I am excited about the opportunity that has presented itself. I hope I am up to the task - I think Corey will make sure I am before the end of the summer - but until I start there is just no way of knowing. I think someone with my temperament - a self proclaimed "jack of all trades" will be just what the lab needs to get started. But I wonder about that too. And I wonder about my coding skills, my abilities and my general lack of self confidence.
So what is the answer? I do not know. I think I am making the best decision for the long term. Is it the "safe" option? Probably not. There weren't really any safe options presented, all of them had a risk. Staying at UAB might have been the safe option, if I was sure they would continue to fund my position after Dr. Soni left. Would joining Corey have been the safe option? Maybe. I firmly believe in what he is looking to accomplish and I think they can do it, but that does not mean they will and I could not afford to work the hours required for the salary he was willing to pay. And so that leaves the option I took...open ended employment, lots of chances to do things right...all for the cost of moving from our home of the last ten years, pulling my wife from her job and my son from his friends.
So did I choose right?
My life has had its share of disappointments and stress, but things could have been a lot worse. Paula and Xander are always there to pick me up and I am not living in a car or something. So all told I have had a successful life. But through it all I really haven't had time to plan for anything or had the time to stress over details.
As a kid I was a Navy brat. We lived up and down the East Coast, but honestly it never really impacted me. Mom and Dad would come in, say we are moving to XYZ, I would pack and that would be it. Easy peasy. When I graduated college I moved to Houston, but again that was done over the course of about 2 weeks and so everything was rushed. When I moved back to Ohio, same thing. Moving to Alabama? Hired on October 4th, living here before Halloween.
That all leads us to now. I am moving my family to a city I haven't even picked out yet. On top of that I am rushed because we have to sell the house, but at the same time it is the longest period of time I have had to contemplate a move since I went away to college. What does that mean? It means all the little concerns I experience have all the time in the world to percolate into full blown fears. Are we making the right choice? Should we just stay here? Will the house sell? How will we live if it doesn't? Will I be able to get into classes easily at the new school? Will Paula be able to get a job? Will Xander like his new school? Will he make friends?
Don't get me wrong. I am excited about the opportunity that has presented itself. I hope I am up to the task - I think Corey will make sure I am before the end of the summer - but until I start there is just no way of knowing. I think someone with my temperament - a self proclaimed "jack of all trades" will be just what the lab needs to get started. But I wonder about that too. And I wonder about my coding skills, my abilities and my general lack of self confidence.
So what is the answer? I do not know. I think I am making the best decision for the long term. Is it the "safe" option? Probably not. There weren't really any safe options presented, all of them had a risk. Staying at UAB might have been the safe option, if I was sure they would continue to fund my position after Dr. Soni left. Would joining Corey have been the safe option? Maybe. I firmly believe in what he is looking to accomplish and I think they can do it, but that does not mean they will and I could not afford to work the hours required for the salary he was willing to pay. And so that leaves the option I took...open ended employment, lots of chances to do things right...all for the cost of moving from our home of the last ten years, pulling my wife from her job and my son from his friends.
So did I choose right?
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Iron Man 3
School is out for me, just waiting on grades and so my weekends, apart from housework are pretty open. I better enjoy it because summer school starts in about 3 weeks. Don't get me wrong - there is a lot of housework to get done. Especially with the move coming up.
Anyway, today, Paula, Xander and I took a break from housework to go see Iron Man 3 at the local theater. We went with one of Xander's friends, Dylan, and his dad to a early afternoon showing in 3-D. Xander really prefers to see movies in 3-D. If they are done well (which more are) 3-D adds to the enjoyment of the movie. Done poorly and it adds to the annoyance. This one was well done and I tended to enjoy the movie.
Iron Man 3 is a typical Marvel movie. It picks up at some point shortly after the events in the Avengers. Tony Stark is suffering from PTSD after the events of that movie and is afraid to sleep. During his downtime he has built a small army of Iron Man outfits. While this is going on a terrorist known only as 'The Mandarin' has emerged threatening the safety of the United States. Meanwhile, a woman (and honestly a man) from Tony's previous life as a booze hound has reentered his life. If you did not think all of those items were related, well you just having been paying attention. That is about all the plot I am going to go into but I will go into a couple of the problems I had with the movie. Both happen in the last quarter of the movie after Tony has uncovered all the myriad plots going on.
The first is the neutering of 'the Mandarin'. In the comics, Mandarin is one of Iron Man's chief villains. He was rated as the 81st best villain of all time, regardless of comic. In this movie he is a fraud. An actor hired to play a part and that just seems shortsighted. Here was a chance to give Tony a 'reuseable' villain in the same vein as Loki for Thor or Red Skull for Captain America (oh and raise your hand if you think we have seen the last of him). Instead the makers of this movie decide to make him a pawn of the real villains.
The second is the ending itself. Tony destroys all the suits, has the bomb shrapnel removed from his heart, and chucks the miniature arc reactor into the ocean. I know RDJ's contract is up after this movie, but did that mean they had to write themselves out of business. I mean I am sure Iron Man will show up in Avengers 2 but the way they ended this movie makes me wonder if there will ever be an Iron Man 4 - or if he will show up in Av3.
Anyway, today, Paula, Xander and I took a break from housework to go see Iron Man 3 at the local theater. We went with one of Xander's friends, Dylan, and his dad to a early afternoon showing in 3-D. Xander really prefers to see movies in 3-D. If they are done well (which more are) 3-D adds to the enjoyment of the movie. Done poorly and it adds to the annoyance. This one was well done and I tended to enjoy the movie.
Iron Man 3 is a typical Marvel movie. It picks up at some point shortly after the events in the Avengers. Tony Stark is suffering from PTSD after the events of that movie and is afraid to sleep. During his downtime he has built a small army of Iron Man outfits. While this is going on a terrorist known only as 'The Mandarin' has emerged threatening the safety of the United States. Meanwhile, a woman (and honestly a man) from Tony's previous life as a booze hound has reentered his life. If you did not think all of those items were related, well you just having been paying attention. That is about all the plot I am going to go into but I will go into a couple of the problems I had with the movie. Both happen in the last quarter of the movie after Tony has uncovered all the myriad plots going on.
The first is the neutering of 'the Mandarin'. In the comics, Mandarin is one of Iron Man's chief villains. He was rated as the 81st best villain of all time, regardless of comic. In this movie he is a fraud. An actor hired to play a part and that just seems shortsighted. Here was a chance to give Tony a 'reuseable' villain in the same vein as Loki for Thor or Red Skull for Captain America (oh and raise your hand if you think we have seen the last of him). Instead the makers of this movie decide to make him a pawn of the real villains.
The second is the ending itself. Tony destroys all the suits, has the bomb shrapnel removed from his heart, and chucks the miniature arc reactor into the ocean. I know RDJ's contract is up after this movie, but did that mean they had to write themselves out of business. I mean I am sure Iron Man will show up in Avengers 2 but the way they ended this movie makes me wonder if there will ever be an Iron Man 4 - or if he will show up in Av3.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Is It Even Relevant?
Can't sleep so I thought I would write. Looking over my Facebook feed my "Right Wing" friends are all making comments about a quote attributed to the President. Apparently he made the comment that he wasn't the same young Muslim Socialist he used to be. The left is basically saying "He was joking..Duh". The right for some reason seems to think that "no..he has finally admitted it and we were right all this time". My thought is - is it even relevant?
Let's take it one assertion at a time - Obama is Muslim. He said he isn't, no "records" show he is but the right believes it. But so what! One of the founding rights of the United States is Freedom of Religion. I am not a scholar on this particular topic but I do not remember reading anything that said you could not be a Muslim and the President. And hey, I get it - 12 years ago Muslim terrorists attacked the United States. But I think the key word in that statement isn't Muslim...it's terrorists! To lump all of the billions of Muslims into one group because of the actions of a minority would be the same as saying all Catholics are child molesters and all Christians are the same as the wackos from that church in Kansas that stage protests at the funerals of soldiers. One group inside your religion should not define your religion.
Second assertion, Obama is a Socialist. Once again, there is no proof to this except that the right continues to harp on it. And again I say, so what. I would argue that most Democrats believe at least a little bit in the tenets of Socialism. Obama seems to get the claim applied mostly, as far as I can tell, because of his health care initiative. Similar systems are in place around the world, and yet none of those governments are called Socialist. In fact, the most "Socialist" thing I have seen in the past 10 years was the government subsidies and bailout of the banking and auto industry that was started under Bush. That had all the earmarks of "state controlled business".
Let's take it one assertion at a time - Obama is Muslim. He said he isn't, no "records" show he is but the right believes it. But so what! One of the founding rights of the United States is Freedom of Religion. I am not a scholar on this particular topic but I do not remember reading anything that said you could not be a Muslim and the President. And hey, I get it - 12 years ago Muslim terrorists attacked the United States. But I think the key word in that statement isn't Muslim...it's terrorists! To lump all of the billions of Muslims into one group because of the actions of a minority would be the same as saying all Catholics are child molesters and all Christians are the same as the wackos from that church in Kansas that stage protests at the funerals of soldiers. One group inside your religion should not define your religion.
Second assertion, Obama is a Socialist. Once again, there is no proof to this except that the right continues to harp on it. And again I say, so what. I would argue that most Democrats believe at least a little bit in the tenets of Socialism. Obama seems to get the claim applied mostly, as far as I can tell, because of his health care initiative. Similar systems are in place around the world, and yet none of those governments are called Socialist. In fact, the most "Socialist" thing I have seen in the past 10 years was the government subsidies and bailout of the banking and auto industry that was started under Bush. That had all the earmarks of "state controlled business".
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Volunteering for Tennessee
So my lab and I had a meeting to discuss future plans a while back. Some will be staying at UAB for a while, some will be spinning off their own company, I was stuck. The lab as we currently know it is changing in the fall, but I am still a year away from my PhD. That severely limits my mobility and while I would love to stick with UAB through the end of my degree, it was beginning to look like that would not be an option. Our lab is fully funded through the end of September, but after that, no one is quite sure what will happen, but it does not look promising.
At the meeting a lifeline was offered to any who wanted it, and to everyone's surprise, I was the only one that bit. I volunteered to move to Tennessee. Seems we are starting a new lab at Tennessee Tech and while my role is not spelled out, I will pretty much be the head honcho there. It is really a great opportunity and we always knew we would probably be moving after my graduation anyway so this just moves it up a couple of years. I will be able to continue taking classes at Tennessee Tech, transfer the credit down to UAB and then finish up my dissertation research remotely and finish off the PhD.
The family will move up with me, though we are not sure if we want to live in Nashville or Knoxville. We have scheduled a weekend getaway to both cities to see which one we like more. Early money is on Nashville but that could change depending on how we like both cities.
At the meeting a lifeline was offered to any who wanted it, and to everyone's surprise, I was the only one that bit. I volunteered to move to Tennessee. Seems we are starting a new lab at Tennessee Tech and while my role is not spelled out, I will pretty much be the head honcho there. It is really a great opportunity and we always knew we would probably be moving after my graduation anyway so this just moves it up a couple of years. I will be able to continue taking classes at Tennessee Tech, transfer the credit down to UAB and then finish up my dissertation research remotely and finish off the PhD.
The family will move up with me, though we are not sure if we want to live in Nashville or Knoxville. We have scheduled a weekend getaway to both cities to see which one we like more. Early money is on Nashville but that could change depending on how we like both cities.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Up From the Ashes..
We are working on a military training project at work dealing with the training of Army Combat Medics. It is really interesting stuff, and more importantly for me, it was beginning to appear that this could actually be my research project for my PhD. Corey had even started to push me more into the administrative role in the project...things like pushing IRB approval through, monitoring the test results, that sort of thing.
The more I started looking into the project however, the more I began to realize it was not the best option. First, there is not a "control" group for the research, so we can not prove our training was particularly effective. Second, we have no way of communicating with the medics after they leave the lab to see if the training was helpful in any way. And finally, we had planned for 100 participants, and will end up with only 15-18, so we will not have any way of producing statistically relevant output. That means the wonderful papers we were supposed to write are instead going to be glorified white papers. So we will be able to explain what we did, and what we saw, but not enough to get me a PhD.
Anyway I discussed all of this with Corey this morning and over the course of the morning and afternoon we settled on a plan of action. Originally we were going to do a rather simple research project showing the effectiveness of Mixed Reality training simulations. Take 200-300 people, break them into a control group and a "Augmented training" group. The augmented group would have access to a VR training simulator that also stressed the participant. The goal of the experiment would be to have them come in a few days after training and seeing how they did and proving the Augmented training works.
I had a problem with this scenario though. Our main thrust of the research was that the stressors help improve learning aptitude and that would be lost in the VR training discussion. So, after trading ideas we changed our plan. We really have no doubt that training with VR improves your ability to learn. We are all about immersive training so we better feel that way. So in our newly revised plan, group A will get a "Field of Daises" VR simulation, group B will get a "total chaos" VR simulation. After a few days, we will test and see if our thought is correct - does learning under outside stress improve your ability to learn.
Should provide me with plenty of research material, it is meaningful for what we are doing, and actually is "doable". So here we go - Up From the Ashes, .Grow the Roses of Success
The more I started looking into the project however, the more I began to realize it was not the best option. First, there is not a "control" group for the research, so we can not prove our training was particularly effective. Second, we have no way of communicating with the medics after they leave the lab to see if the training was helpful in any way. And finally, we had planned for 100 participants, and will end up with only 15-18, so we will not have any way of producing statistically relevant output. That means the wonderful papers we were supposed to write are instead going to be glorified white papers. So we will be able to explain what we did, and what we saw, but not enough to get me a PhD.
Anyway I discussed all of this with Corey this morning and over the course of the morning and afternoon we settled on a plan of action. Originally we were going to do a rather simple research project showing the effectiveness of Mixed Reality training simulations. Take 200-300 people, break them into a control group and a "Augmented training" group. The augmented group would have access to a VR training simulator that also stressed the participant. The goal of the experiment would be to have them come in a few days after training and seeing how they did and proving the Augmented training works.
I had a problem with this scenario though. Our main thrust of the research was that the stressors help improve learning aptitude and that would be lost in the VR training discussion. So, after trading ideas we changed our plan. We really have no doubt that training with VR improves your ability to learn. We are all about immersive training so we better feel that way. So in our newly revised plan, group A will get a "Field of Daises" VR simulation, group B will get a "total chaos" VR simulation. After a few days, we will test and see if our thought is correct - does learning under outside stress improve your ability to learn.
Should provide me with plenty of research material, it is meaningful for what we are doing, and actually is "doable". So here we go - Up From the Ashes, .Grow the Roses of Success
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
That is just crazy talk
I really enjoy the show 'Castle'. I have always enjoyed Nathan Fillion as an actor dating back to his run as Caleb on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. That show deserves its own post but that will have to come later. For now we are talking about Castle.
The premise of Castle is pretty far fetched but it is lighthearted and a good diversion on a Monday night so it is tolerated. For those of you who do not watch the show Rick Castle (Fillion) is a mystery writer who, in the pilot, is suspected of murder because the crimes are very similar to his books. He helps the lead detective (Kate Beckett) solve the crime and then, in a twist everyone saw coming, strikes a deal with his buddy the mayor to get unlimited "ride along" privileges with the detectives. By applying his own logic to the crimes he is able to go from civilian nuisance to valued team member - all by solving the crimes the way he would write them given a chance.
So, I am up tonight watching a repeat of Castle when a conversation I had with Paula comes to mind. She seemed to think that I should write a book. I had a 10-15 laugh about that one. Lets be honest, any book I write would be a jumbled mess of nonsense. I have a head for trivia, and I am working on my degree..but that still has never stopped my brain from being a confused mess of random ideas.
But like every insidious idea that has ever been planted in my skull, this one, shuttled off to one side, has found some ground and threatens to grow into a crazy tree. I guess this means in addition to all of the other fun things I plan on doing with my time, I need to start figuring out what kind of book I want to write and mapping that out. While I trust my ability to write and I have a decent imagination, I would be lying if I said the thought of trying to write something did not scare me.
Here are the possible genres and my initial thoughts
Mystery
Pro: Lots of true crime to use as inspiration, make a good repeat character and you can do a series
Con: Have to come up with something no one has seen before or else you are derivative
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Pro: My personal favorite, I work in an area that could easily be considered Sci-Fi already
Con: Most fantasy is extremely derivative, have to come up with new Science AND a compelling story
Horror
Pro: Another favorite of mine
Con: I just don't think in the macabre mindset. Horror has really moved to the gory for gory sake in the last 10 years
Non-Fiction
Pro: Plenty of true life to talk about, both now and in history
Con: Lots of research and for most things all you can hope for is a rehash of someone elses story
The premise of Castle is pretty far fetched but it is lighthearted and a good diversion on a Monday night so it is tolerated. For those of you who do not watch the show Rick Castle (Fillion) is a mystery writer who, in the pilot, is suspected of murder because the crimes are very similar to his books. He helps the lead detective (Kate Beckett) solve the crime and then, in a twist everyone saw coming, strikes a deal with his buddy the mayor to get unlimited "ride along" privileges with the detectives. By applying his own logic to the crimes he is able to go from civilian nuisance to valued team member - all by solving the crimes the way he would write them given a chance.
So, I am up tonight watching a repeat of Castle when a conversation I had with Paula comes to mind. She seemed to think that I should write a book. I had a 10-15 laugh about that one. Lets be honest, any book I write would be a jumbled mess of nonsense. I have a head for trivia, and I am working on my degree..but that still has never stopped my brain from being a confused mess of random ideas.
But like every insidious idea that has ever been planted in my skull, this one, shuttled off to one side, has found some ground and threatens to grow into a crazy tree. I guess this means in addition to all of the other fun things I plan on doing with my time, I need to start figuring out what kind of book I want to write and mapping that out. While I trust my ability to write and I have a decent imagination, I would be lying if I said the thought of trying to write something did not scare me.
Here are the possible genres and my initial thoughts
Mystery
Pro: Lots of true crime to use as inspiration, make a good repeat character and you can do a series
Con: Have to come up with something no one has seen before or else you are derivative
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Pro: My personal favorite, I work in an area that could easily be considered Sci-Fi already
Con: Most fantasy is extremely derivative, have to come up with new Science AND a compelling story
Horror
Pro: Another favorite of mine
Con: I just don't think in the macabre mindset. Horror has really moved to the gory for gory sake in the last 10 years
Non-Fiction
Pro: Plenty of true life to talk about, both now and in history
Con: Lots of research and for most things all you can hope for is a rehash of someone elses story
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)