My trusty computer finally failed me about a week and a half ago. It had been acting up bit - spontaneously ending programs and not wanting to shut down - but I didn't think too much of it. The PC and I have developed an intimate relationship over the past seven years, and the churlish desktop has been prone to intermittent fits and stutters. Yet, through the years of research, paper writing, procrastination, and emailing, the old guy hasn't let me down. I made it through Mac and now the first year of grad school without any major incident.
True, I did lose some files but at least it didn't kick the bucket during finals time. I was somewhat purturbed when it decided not boot up any more, but in the end I was forced to accept that I had pulled my last late night, scrambling to finish a paper with this computer. I mourned, but like the passing of an old pet my mourning was assuaged by the arrival of a new, energetic replacement. I purchased a new desktop and things are looking up once again.
In other news, I started an internship last week. I am now volunteering a small amount of my time at UMOS, a non-profit organization that provides services to immigrant populations. Their primary constituency is hispanic migrant farm workers, but their programs extend to the much broader immigrant community as well. They seek to provide labor force enhancement (job training, work fairs), education services (Head Start, ESL), housing (temporary and permanent), health care services, and legal services to all who seek help from them. UMOS has built a strong reputation in the area and I am excited to be a part of their work.
I was connected to UMOS through a friend of mine in the program. The organization is based in Milwaukee, but they have offices throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest as well. A new office opened in Madison earlier this Spring and I was able to contact the woman who is operating here. She's a lawyer and I met with her to interview for an internship position. It turned out to be less of an interview and more of an information session as it seemed to be assumed that I would work for them and they had things for me to do. (I suppose all non-profits would be interested by the prospect of free labor.) The woman was very nice and excited for me to get involved. It will work well for me too because the work is very flexible. I can do all my work from home and communicate with her via email and phone. This is great because it allows me to maintain my time committments at Willy Bikes without much conflict.
Unfortunately for me however, the beginning of this internship coincided with the end of the computer. A mild source of consternation, but nothing disastrous for sure. I just turned in my first memo about a grant proposal to her I am awaiting a response. I don't know how this will all progress but I am looking forward to this opportunity.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Back to Madison
After Leah's graduation from Macalester, it was back to Iowa for a little bit. Asa and I left St. Paul on the Sunday afternoon with a minivan full of Leah's possessions headed for Ames. (Mom and Dad stayed on until Monday to spend more time with Leah and dropped Aaron off at the airport. They had our other car and loaded that with some more of Leah's stuff.)
I was only back in Ames for one night as I helped Natalie move into her new apartment in Cedar Falls. She will be starting school at the University of Northern Iowa in the Fall but wanted to move up there and get settled before the semester starts. She actually has a job playing piano at a Von Maur department store. Natalie, with the help of her parents, had moved a bunch of stuff up a few days before I arrived back home. So, all that was left to us was to gather the few remaining things - the cat included - and head on up.
I was greeted by a mountain of boxes when I entered Natalie's apartment for the first time, but it was a nice little place for sure. She has a one bedroom with a balcony and even enough space to fit a piano in there. Certainly plenty of space for the little devil Dexter to roam and knock over plants. After living with her parents for over a year, Natalie is duly excited to have a place of her own. I can emphathize with this sentiment and I think she will be quite happy in her apartment and at school once everything gets settled.
Moreover, Cedar Falls isn't far from Ames, only about an 1.5 hours driving, but it's in the right direction. The town is located in the northeastern portion of the state, and conveniently for me, is directly in route to Madison. It cuts the distance considerably and will hopefully make travelling back and forth a bit easier.
I was only back in Ames for one night as I helped Natalie move into her new apartment in Cedar Falls. She will be starting school at the University of Northern Iowa in the Fall but wanted to move up there and get settled before the semester starts. She actually has a job playing piano at a Von Maur department store. Natalie, with the help of her parents, had moved a bunch of stuff up a few days before I arrived back home. So, all that was left to us was to gather the few remaining things - the cat included - and head on up.
I was greeted by a mountain of boxes when I entered Natalie's apartment for the first time, but it was a nice little place for sure. She has a one bedroom with a balcony and even enough space to fit a piano in there. Certainly plenty of space for the little devil Dexter to roam and knock over plants. After living with her parents for over a year, Natalie is duly excited to have a place of her own. I can emphathize with this sentiment and I think she will be quite happy in her apartment and at school once everything gets settled.
Moreover, Cedar Falls isn't far from Ames, only about an 1.5 hours driving, but it's in the right direction. The town is located in the northeastern portion of the state, and conveniently for me, is directly in route to Madison. It cuts the distance considerably and will hopefully make travelling back and forth a bit easier.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Leah's Graduation
Almost immediately after turning in my last final I was whisked away to the Twin Cities for my sister Leah's graduation from Macalester. My other sister, Claire, swung through Madison on her way from Chicago and we drove up to St. Paul. Though somewhat comatose/delirious from lack of sleep and hyper brain activity, I managed to stay awake and talk with Claire for most of the trip. I am sometimes derelict in communicating with my siblings throughout the year and so it was great to catch up with her.
It was odd to watch Leah walk across the stage and accept her diploma. It was definitely satisfying because she worked very hard and certainly earned the degree. But at the same time, I clearly remember her being a little freshman at Mac when I shook the President's hand and took my diploma. I don't recall exactly when, but at one point Leah told me her motivation in school was to do better than me. I like to think simply gaining academic knowledge should be motivation enough, but beating an older sibling should not be disregarded. In a family such as ours, there is always a degree of sibling rivalry and there is a certain amount of dangling achievements in front of the others. This one-up-manship is never too intense - and certainly not malicious- but it is especially fun to do to Leah because it makes her so flustered. I think Leah has perhaps the highest combination of academic aptitude and drive to perform. To her credit, she graduated with a double major and maintained a higher GPA than me and earned some sort of prize for a paper she wrote. (Still, I had a minor degree and an honors project as well ;)
On the whole, it was an excellent weekend. Definitely the way to toast finishing up my first year of grad school. All my siblings had come back from their respective domiciles (Philadelphia, Chicago, Iowa City) and my parents were up from Ames, obviously. My mom was especially pleased to have us all together. I was definitely on guard against random attacks from Mom-hugs for several hours arriving (not that I am complaining).
Whenever we all get together its a raucous time: this was no exception. There was lots of food, lots of drink, and lots of revelry. The first night we made pizza at Leah's house and drank some of my dad's home brew. The next night was grilled steak and more libations, topped off by homemade soft-serve ice cream. Dad even brought up the carbonator so we made a variety of bubbly beverages. I think Leah's roommates were somewhat overwhelmed by our family, but such is the Ritz experience.
In addition to family, I was able to hang out with a several friends who are still in the area. I hung out with my former roommate Roscoe, my friend Katie, and even unexpectedly bumped into a former teammate, Robbie, at the commencement ceremony. I was also able to see my Sociology adviser and met up with my coach, Ian Barker. I saw about everyone that I could over the weekend... fantastic.
It was odd to watch Leah walk across the stage and accept her diploma. It was definitely satisfying because she worked very hard and certainly earned the degree. But at the same time, I clearly remember her being a little freshman at Mac when I shook the President's hand and took my diploma. I don't recall exactly when, but at one point Leah told me her motivation in school was to do better than me. I like to think simply gaining academic knowledge should be motivation enough, but beating an older sibling should not be disregarded. In a family such as ours, there is always a degree of sibling rivalry and there is a certain amount of dangling achievements in front of the others. This one-up-manship is never too intense - and certainly not malicious- but it is especially fun to do to Leah because it makes her so flustered. I think Leah has perhaps the highest combination of academic aptitude and drive to perform. To her credit, she graduated with a double major and maintained a higher GPA than me and earned some sort of prize for a paper she wrote. (Still, I had a minor degree and an honors project as well ;)On the whole, it was an excellent weekend. Definitely the way to toast finishing up my first year of grad school. All my siblings had come back from their respective domiciles (Philadelphia, Chicago, Iowa City) and my parents were up from Ames, obviously. My mom was especially pleased to have us all together. I was definitely on guard against random attacks from Mom-hugs for several hours arriving (not that I am complaining).
Whenever we all get together its a raucous time: this was no exception. There was lots of food, lots of drink, and lots of revelry. The first night we made pizza at Leah's house and drank some of my dad's home brew. The next night was grilled steak and more libations, topped off by homemade soft-serve ice cream. Dad even brought up the carbonator so we made a variety of bubbly beverages. I think Leah's roommates were somewhat overwhelmed by our family, but such is the Ritz experience.
In addition to family, I was able to hang out with a several friends who are still in the area. I hung out with my former roommate Roscoe, my friend Katie, and even unexpectedly bumped into a former teammate, Robbie, at the commencement ceremony. I was also able to see my Sociology adviser and met up with my coach, Ian Barker. I saw about everyone that I could over the weekend... fantastic.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Finals Recap
Gratefully, the end of the semester has come and gone. I must admit, this semester's finals were the most challenging I've faced during my various years at school. They proved to be exceedingly trying for a variety of reasons; some internal to the course, some external to school.
Starting with internal factors, the courses were quite demanding in and of themselves and I had four (as compared to three last semester). In the last three weeks of the semester I two group projects, two presentations, two individual semester projects, and two take home finals due. All told, I submitted (or at least contributed to) about 110 pages of writing. A couple of the assignments were projects that I had been working on throughout the semester, but I had to finish them and turn them in. There were a couple of late nights and early mornings but my good friend caffeine helped me survive. The most impressive feat was Thursday night and Friday morning in which I cranked out the take home final and finished up a project for my last class. Both were due by noon on Friday and I submitted my final at 9:30 and the project at 1:30. I had emailed the professor letting him know that it would be a little late and fortunately he did not penalize me.
People say graduate school is difficult with good reason. My impression is that professors are disinclined to fail students, but they are also disinclined to give high marks. The workload is heavy and professors expect students to put forward good effort. That is, you really have to earn grades. I am not complaining, however. Everyone is confronted with the same situation and that's just the way it is.
With respect to external factors, working at the bike shop added more stress to the situation. I maintained my normal work schedule (about 20 hours a week) during finals time, which ate up a lot of potential study time. In addition, there were several student functions going on that I felt compelled to attend. I am a member of the La Follette School Student Association and we had fundraising and social events during finals week. I definitely could have skipped, but I wanted to support the group.
In the end, I am quite pleased with my performance in each of the courses - certainly better than last semester. I received the highest grade level in two classes, and next to the highest in two others. Not only did my grades turn out well, but I feel that I learned a great deal during the semester. My classes were diverse and I feel comfortable with the material in each respective topic.
Starting with internal factors, the courses were quite demanding in and of themselves and I had four (as compared to three last semester). In the last three weeks of the semester I two group projects, two presentations, two individual semester projects, and two take home finals due. All told, I submitted (or at least contributed to) about 110 pages of writing. A couple of the assignments were projects that I had been working on throughout the semester, but I had to finish them and turn them in. There were a couple of late nights and early mornings but my good friend caffeine helped me survive. The most impressive feat was Thursday night and Friday morning in which I cranked out the take home final and finished up a project for my last class. Both were due by noon on Friday and I submitted my final at 9:30 and the project at 1:30. I had emailed the professor letting him know that it would be a little late and fortunately he did not penalize me.
People say graduate school is difficult with good reason. My impression is that professors are disinclined to fail students, but they are also disinclined to give high marks. The workload is heavy and professors expect students to put forward good effort. That is, you really have to earn grades. I am not complaining, however. Everyone is confronted with the same situation and that's just the way it is.
With respect to external factors, working at the bike shop added more stress to the situation. I maintained my normal work schedule (about 20 hours a week) during finals time, which ate up a lot of potential study time. In addition, there were several student functions going on that I felt compelled to attend. I am a member of the La Follette School Student Association and we had fundraising and social events during finals week. I definitely could have skipped, but I wanted to support the group.
In the end, I am quite pleased with my performance in each of the courses - certainly better than last semester. I received the highest grade level in two classes, and next to the highest in two others. Not only did my grades turn out well, but I feel that I learned a great deal during the semester. My classes were diverse and I feel comfortable with the material in each respective topic.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Almost There
Tick, tock. Time is steadily marching down to the end of my first year of grad school. I must say that I am wholeheartedly looking forward to the end. Finals are feasting on my soul and it makes me feel dead inside. I have a Social Policy final paper due Monday as well as the final exam for my Public Management class. On Tuesday I have to turn in my final project for Statistics. Lastly, I have a final exam and a final project due on Friday for my Community Economic Analysis class. I am decent shape as far as the work load goes, but there isn't a whole lot of room for error.
On the plus side, as soon as I wrap up on Friday, I am heading off to the Twin Cities for Leah's graduation. It is hard to believe that she will be done at Mac. I am especially looking forward to the weekend because all my siblings will be back together. Claire is coming to get me from Chicago and we'll make it up late on Friday night. Aaron's flying in from Philly and Asa will have just finished up his first year at the University of Iowa. My parents will be bringing up a couple batches of home brew and everyone should be in good spirits so it will be a raucous time.
On the plus side, as soon as I wrap up on Friday, I am heading off to the Twin Cities for Leah's graduation. It is hard to believe that she will be done at Mac. I am especially looking forward to the weekend because all my siblings will be back together. Claire is coming to get me from Chicago and we'll make it up late on Friday night. Aaron's flying in from Philly and Asa will have just finished up his first year at the University of Iowa. My parents will be bringing up a couple batches of home brew and everyone should be in good spirits so it will be a raucous time.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Crazy Legs
I was duped by a friend of mine at La Follette to run in the 28th annual Crazy Legs run this past Saturday. It is an immensely popular 5 mile road run to benefit UW Athletics that winds through the central parts of Madison and the Campus, ending in Camp Randall football stadium. Everyone has said the Crazy Legs is a lot of fun. A bunch of people (18,500+ this year) and at the finish they give you beer - very novel and Wisconisn-like idea. So, when a La Follette contingent signed up and starting pestering me to join, I had little chance of refusing.
Although I love being active and playing all kinds of sports, I generally avoid such frivolous things like simply running. I can chase a soccer ball for hours, but going out and running just for the hell of it is one of the sillier things a person can do. It is long, it is monotonous, and it is painful. But, I always seem to let myself get talked into doing a race every now and again.
I put my name in a while ago, but didn't really do a whole lot of training. I have been lifting weights at the gym, playing racquetball, cycling, and playing a little soccer and so I felt confident I could finish the race just fine. I wasn't concerned with time as much as just running with friends and having a good time. We even had a big spaghetti dinner the night before to get ready. Everyone was in high spirits even though rain was in forecast.
That night, the heavens opened and it rained into the morning. I checked the forecast right before leaving for the race and it didn't look good. Rain all day. I met my friends at the race start (Capitol Square) and stood in line for our turn to take off. I was decked out in all red (even red UW cycling socks) and was feeling pretty good due to a brief respite in the rain. Just as we reached the front, however, it started to pour. Big, cold rain drops descended upon us as we headed down to the Campus.
I like to try and make this sound terrible sometimes, but the truth is that I had an enjoyable time. The rain was invigorating and it didn't stop me - nor the other 18,000 people - from having a really great time. Though it rained the whole time, I felt good throughout and finished strong across the line. Outdoor speakers pumped the 'Rocky' theme at various points and I even picked up an umbrella along the way. I wasn't fast, but that wasn't the point. Afterward, I ran off to another friends to shower and clean up before going to work. Work went fine and now I can say I am a crazy leg. I will try and get a picture and post it soon.
Although I love being active and playing all kinds of sports, I generally avoid such frivolous things like simply running. I can chase a soccer ball for hours, but going out and running just for the hell of it is one of the sillier things a person can do. It is long, it is monotonous, and it is painful. But, I always seem to let myself get talked into doing a race every now and again.
I put my name in a while ago, but didn't really do a whole lot of training. I have been lifting weights at the gym, playing racquetball, cycling, and playing a little soccer and so I felt confident I could finish the race just fine. I wasn't concerned with time as much as just running with friends and having a good time. We even had a big spaghetti dinner the night before to get ready. Everyone was in high spirits even though rain was in forecast.
That night, the heavens opened and it rained into the morning. I checked the forecast right before leaving for the race and it didn't look good. Rain all day. I met my friends at the race start (Capitol Square) and stood in line for our turn to take off. I was decked out in all red (even red UW cycling socks) and was feeling pretty good due to a brief respite in the rain. Just as we reached the front, however, it started to pour. Big, cold rain drops descended upon us as we headed down to the Campus.
I like to try and make this sound terrible sometimes, but the truth is that I had an enjoyable time. The rain was invigorating and it didn't stop me - nor the other 18,000 people - from having a really great time. Though it rained the whole time, I felt good throughout and finished strong across the line. Outdoor speakers pumped the 'Rocky' theme at various points and I even picked up an umbrella along the way. I wasn't fast, but that wasn't the point. Afterward, I ran off to another friends to shower and clean up before going to work. Work went fine and now I can say I am a crazy leg. I will try and get a picture and post it soon.
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