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.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
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?
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