Electronic Anomie

The job market

2009-11-20T13:30:00.002-06:00

Similar to most people looking for jobs, it's tough out there right now. The academy is no different. I've so far applied to 8 jobs, have another 8 ready to go out next week. So far I've had 2 rejections. Luckily, the first batch were more jobs I was not 100% into. For me I think the hardest thing to deal with is the location of the school. I am worried that if I don't get a job in a place I would enjoy living, I'll be miserable. Of the two rejections so far, one was in a place I would love to live, the other was in a place I would absolutely hate to live. So why bother applying?

To be honest, there just aren't many openings this year. The economic shape of the country, and most states means budget cuts, or at least the potential for budget cuts, so no one is hiring. Last year at the Annual conference in August, there were over 150 schools conducting preliminary interviews with potential applicants. This year, there were less than 30 of them. What makes it even worse is that typically jobs require certain areas of expertise. Not only that, but it's usually two of them. This means that out of the 50 or 60 possible things you could make your academic and teaching focus in sociology, you need to find a school that just happens to match on both of yours.

In order to prepare for this, I made one of my areas quantitative methods/statistics. While it's not always the funnest thing to study, it certainly has paid off big time for me in the number of jobs I've been able to apply to.

Wish me luck, it's not very fun to not have any idea of where you will be at this time next year.

Other than that, I've been enjoying trying to become more social. For some reason, the last few years turned me into a shut-in except for in a few situations. I'm combating this by trying to hang out with new people, and spending time doing things I would normally have done by myself, like bike rides. I've met some fun new people (well, some of them aren't really new, just new to the context). As of today, November 20th, 2009, I have continued to commute by bike with little exception. All year. I dress like a ninja to avoid the cold, but it's been keeping me going. I think that in 2009 I've probably not ridden to school (on days that I went to school) less than 10 times. Six of which were on days when there was snow/ice on the ground, or it was raining really hard in the morning (I don't mind riding home in the rain, but I hate being wet all day when it pours on me in the morning).

The remaining days I didn't ride were because I had to go somewhere that I couldn't ride immediately after work (last week I had to get some stuff done on my car and I went right after class in the morning). But other than that, I think I am doing pretty good so far. I'm going to try to keep it up through as much of the winter as possible. The temp isn't really what stops me, it's the risk of slipping or not wanting to get drenched.

My band is supposed to have a bass player now. He doesn't have his own equipment, so he is borrowing ours, and he hasn't learned all the songs yet. I hope we get this taken care of, so we can just play more.

Mad Dogged by the Mail Lady

2009-10-04T11:03:00.005-06:00

Early afternoon bowling session with my friend Bo, and we get to the bowling alley to find it completely packed. Bo runs inside to see if it's actually people bowling, and I make a parking lot loop while I wait. I come to a "T" in the parking lot as a Mail lady is pulling up on the other side. She makes a left in front of me, and gives me a dirty look. This is marked as the blue circle on the map above that is at the top.

I wasn't really sure what it was about and said to myself that I just imagined it, she must've always had that scowl on her face.

I complete my loop around the lot, and pick up Bo. The place is fully packed, so we decide to try a different alley. We get to the exit (marked with the blue circle on the right), and rather than wait behind us to get out, she goes to the next parking lot, exits there and turns onto 48th headed south, so as to pass us while giving me a second dirty look.

My path in the lot is represented by the red line. Hers is represented by the green line.

There was a ton of traffic on 48th, making it hard to get out of the lot, let alone turn left (which is what we wanted to do).

Really weird.

Ok, Ok, I know, I know.

2009-09-01T10:51:00.002-06:00

I haven't had much to say in a while, or at least the desire to write about it.

Regardless, I have a few updates I guess.

I will defend my dissertation proposal in a few weeks, and hopefully get the rest of it done by xmess.

I deleted a bunch of dumb posts from here. I'm not ashamed of the posts, or anything, but having them here just made me associate the blog with that time in my life, and it kind of made me resent the blog and I tried to avoid it.

I've been riding my bike to school pretty much every day for the last 9 months. There have been maybe 5 exceptions (rain/snow/ice or some need to drive somewhere straight from campus).

I've also been looking for jobs, and trying to piece together the next step in my life. I'm not 100% sure what will happen, but I'm almost as excited about it as I was about starting grad school.

I've got several papers underway that will hopefully lead to publication. My life has been pretty uneventful for a while, but I think I just need to focus on something else. Hopefully play some music again soon, ride more, and party more.

Amelie update: she is three and a half years old now. Super sweet. She is now staying out of her kennel (for about the last 6 months) and is good for the most part.

I've got a roommate finally.

Just Chillin and Shit

2009-02-17T21:49:00.002-06:00

I have finally figured out my dissertation topic. I still need to write the damn thing, as well as the proposal which then must be approved, but I think I may have a solid idea that will yield interesting and relatively significant results. Life has been really busy, but good so far this semester. I've been able to stick with my workout routine, I've been getting a bit of work done on the dissertation (not as much as I'd like, but I can feel the momentum building behind me and making it easier to keep moving forward on it), and even though I've been bummed about the weather keeping me off of the bike as much as possible, I've managed to make a few upgrades to my bikes so that when the weather allows I'll be much more comfortable.

On my Trek hybrid, I replaced the grip shifters with thumb shifters, and replaced the stock rubber grips with some Ergon CP-1's. Today was the first time I had a chance to ride it around with the new grips and shifters, and I was stoked. The bike is already reasonable comfortable, but this addition, plus the Brooks b17 saddle I added a few weeks back has this bike on it's way to becoming the most comfortable bike period. But more than anything, I can't wait to get on the Surly again when the snow quits ruining the trails for me. The singlespeed will be cool to ride to and from school, and the mountain bike will be fun to go ride on some trails with. I am super excited to be back out riding around again whenever I feel like it.

I got a new computer, which is good because I was unable to play high definition videos on my old one. I recently picked up a cheap HD digital camcorder and a Zoom H2 handheld audio recorder. I am hoping to video and audio record some live shows and then add the good audio to the video and share it online. I'll definitely link anything I get on here.

My neighbors have been super helpful and will watch my dog on Wednesday nights when I have classes all day, so that she isn't stuck in the house ALL day. They've also taken her over there and just let her hang out while I am gone if they are home, because they say that they kind of miss having a dog, and they say she is really well behaved.

Her birthday is coming up on the 28th, and I can't believe she is going to be 3 years old already. I remember when we first got her and now she is a full grown dog. She can still steal all the space on the bed though. So I guess some things never change.

I also started to dabble in electronic music. I guess because of the difficulties I've been having with finding others to play music with, this lets me do everything myself. It's not super great or anything, but it's definitely fun, and I'm picking it up quick.

The current state of the economy has got me a little worried about finding a job, and this certainly is something I can relate to. I have actually been thinking that if I can't find a job right off the bat, I may just move to Barcelona and try to get a job driving a bus there. I've always said that half-jokingly, but if I can't get a job there is really nothing stopping me from doing it.

2009

2009-01-05T01:13:00.000-06:00

Well, I haven't had much to say since Thanksgiving, apparently. Since then, I finished a semester, made a trip back to California, came back to Lincoln, partied a bit as a part of the end of the year festivities, and leapt into a new year. I guess the long and short of it is basically that 2008 was a fucking bitch of a year. Will 2009 be any better? Perhaps, but perhaps not. I am too afraid of having another fucked up year that I want to try to avoid any possibility for disappointment, which has made me very cautious as the year starts.

What do I hope will happen this year? More than anything, I want to get my career back on course. To do that I need to get my dissertation proposal passed by summer, and my dissertation well underway by the end of next fall semester.

Secondly, I want to get myself back into shape. I made lots of progress last summer and fall, but I'm sure I've destroyed any progress over break. Either way, it is a good stress reliever, and also usually makes me feel good after a good workout.

My third thing will not happen for sure now, but I had wanted to ride the RAGBRAI this summer, but I've ended up being offered a summer teaching course during the part of summer when RAGBRAI is. This is a real bummer, but my finances seriously could not handle taking the time off, especially because that means NO teaching (no INCOME) over the summer.

I'm not 100% sure what is happening on the roommate search front. I've got a potential roommate lined up, but I will not actually believe it until I have a rent check in my hand. Hopefully I get one by the end of the month lined up, because if not I will be probably looking for a new place come March. This is unfortunate, as I really like this place, I think my neighbors are awesome, and Amelie is at home here.

Luckily I have Amelie to keep me sane. She has helped me out so much by being very well behaved and keeping me company when I come home each day.

It's already time to start another semester next monday (technically, it starts tomorrow, for me at least, so I will have go in and get things together and hopefully moving along to get me off to a rolling start this semester). The break always goes by too fast. Anyways, I am looking forward to having a location to ride my bike to tomorrow, and yes, even with the bitter cold, I still love that early AM bike ride to school.

Oh well, I guess I should go to bed.

Good luck to you in 2009.

Friends

2008-11-27T16:09:00.002-06:00

I don't have very many friends, but the few I have are rad. I made my world famous vegan lasagna, and am taking it and leftover potato leek soup over to Tamra's house to have dinner with her and Lance. Most of my other friends are visiting family, I assume. Regardless, it is really nice to enjoy a good, homecooked meal with good friends every once in a while. Unfortunately, because of the size of the lasagna pan, I won't be riding my bike over to her place. Luckily for Amelie, that means she gets to come also. Dog Party, and friends. I'm stoked.

The Turkey Holocaust Approaches

2008-11-25T18:34:00.002-06:00

Every fall I dread the holiday season. I spend a lot of time coming up with excuses to avoid participating in holiday events and gatherings. If I'm lucky, I can spend Thanksgiving at home, by myself, the way I like it. I don't really have anything against the holidays, per se, but they just aren't for me. I think of many, many awkward days spent with family, and it's just not for me. Some people might think I was antisocial, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. I like social settings, so long as I feel like I have some sort of power in them.

I've got the week (the rest of it anyways) off, and I don't want to have to do anything I don't want to. I planned on riding bikes today, but I just got sidetracked with other dumb distractions until I ran out of daylight. Tomorrow I will make up for it if possible. Let's hope the weather (namely the wind) cooperates.

Rain, again.

2008-10-06T08:16:00.001-06:00

I am normally cool with rain, but when it prevents me from riding my bike it just bums me out and makes the day seem longer. Today we have rain in the forecast, but I've still got a few things to be in a good mood about.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Racks and Racks for Days

2008-10-04T13:37:00.003-06:00

Got the Surly Nice Racks for the LHT and put them on yesterday. They're super sturdy and I'm sure I'll be able to carry lots of shit on them. The front rack is really wide, and I think it might even be wider than the one on the rear. The rear was a pretty easy install, but the front was a little difficult as it's just sort of awkward to maneuver the rack around the brake, fender, quick release, and fork to get it to fit where all the mounting points meet.

On a side note, I've had a few dates this week. Most were pretty generic, but one seems like it might be promising. We have hung out three nights this week, so I'll have to see where it goes. I went out with my friends last night and hung out with a girl I met for most of the night also. I think, however, I'd prefer the dating route instead of the hookup route. All of this activity has helped me stay focused. It doesn't take the sting away, but it definitely helps me feel a little better about myself. I actually don't want anything super serious anymore, and would like to just meet some nice ladies who like me for who I am, and who might like to do things that I like to do. Also, shout out to Bryan, who I didn't know was reading my blog. Let's chill.

Upgrades

2008-10-01T22:59:00.001-06:00

This week I made a few upgrades to the Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT). First off, I replaced the atrocious saddle that it came with, with a Brooks Champion Flyer Special:

This thing is infinitely more comfortable than what it came with. Supposedly they will eventually conform specifically to your own anatomy making them ultra comfortable. I can't wait, although so far it's been pretty damn comfortable to begin with. Ten miles was a chore on the old saddle, but 30 on this is like nothing. Now I can't blame the seat for not doing 100 miles.

I also put fenders on it so that I can ride it in the rain without getting the bottom of the Brooks all wet (which will ruin it they say). It looks pretty good with these if I do say so myself.

Next I want to get the bar tape doubled up and coated in shellac in order for it to more closely match the color of my brooks saddle.

I'm also going to put racks on it, both front and rear of the Surly Nice Rack variety. The bike is a beast and so far I have had no trouble with anything. I love riding it.

On Waiting for People to Get Their Shit Together

2008-09-15T15:04:00.002-06:00

Of all of the things in the world which annoy me to no end, perhaps there is nothing more annoying than when you are put in a situation where your success depends upon the work ethic of another person (or people). Since undertaking graduate work in Sociology, I have learned this lesson a countless number of times. Dealing with bureaucracies is bad enough, but when each level of that hierarchy is dead set on delaying their work until the last possible second, nothing but frustration can occur. In August I took my second comprehensive (or qualifying) exam in Environmental Sociology.

The fact that it is my second comp means that once it has been passed I will be done taking classes. Forever. Due to some poor planning within the graduate committee, it was decided that the graders of each comp area have 5 weeks from the start of the semester following the completion of the exam. This means that for those who took their comp in May, and those who took it with me in August, we all should know by the end of the 5th week after the fall semester started. Unfortunately, because we will have had to be registered for classes by then, some students end up in my predicament.

I am now enrolled in a course which is not a part of my Program of Studies (basically my list of classes I needed and would take that I filled out and had approved by my dissertation committee, the graduate chair of the department, and the office of graduate studies), and will be stuck in the class until I find out if I have passed or not. Because my committee has decided to wait until the last second, I have to take this extra class seriously, because if I did not pass the comp, I will be stuck in the class AND have to play catch-up. If I do pass the comp, I can drop the class, no harm, no foul. Unfortunately, because I am now in grad school purgatory, I am yet again, stuck waiting for someone else to complete their responsibilities, before I can concretely know what my next step is.

If I pass, I need to write my dissertation proposal this semester. If I fail, I need to study for the comp again, and prepare to take it in January of 2009 and hopefully complete it then.

When I am in a situation like this, it makes me really stressed out. At this stage in the Ph.D. program, I would like to minimize the amount of unnecessary work that I do as I try to complete what (assuming I have passed the comp) is my last task before becoming a Ph.D. I really needed some release, so I bought a new mountain bike. My old mountain bike is F.U.B.A.R. (which lead me to get my Trek 7200 hybrid almost 2 years ago now), and in my youth I rode mountain bikes most of the time and spent a lot of time in the mountains (Big Bear, Idyllwild, Mammoth, and the dirt hills near my boyhood home). I haven't taken it out on the trail yet, mainly because it's been raining and muddy as all hell due to the last few days of rain, but I am hoping to get it out there soon.

The new mountain bike is a 29er, which is also new to me especially off the road, but the price was right, and it is pretty cool. I will probably get shit for not buying it from a local bike shop, but I figured for the amount I'd save it was worth the hassle. Also, i've become quite handy at maintaining my bikes at home now, and so it will be quite rare that I actually need to go to the shop to get something fixed. I'm anxious to see how different a 29" wheel on a mountain bike feels on dirt compared to the 26" wheels I've always had in the past.

Under the Weather

2008-09-12T15:59:00.003-06:00

We've been having a pretty good spell of rain these last couple of weeks. We've literally had days on end of pretty consistent rainfall. In fact, it's been raining here since Wednesday night. I normally like it when it rains, but I don't like to ride my bike in the rain (at least when I'm going to work) most of the time, and so I've been forced to drive for the last two days. It literally bums me out as much as one could be bummed out. I have fallen in love with riding my bikes as much as possible. Riding to school has helped me wake up before teaching, and it helps to get the blood and oxygen flowing to my brain so that I'm not sluggish by the time I need to get to work.

I think you can tell why the consistent rain has kind of bummed me out these last few weeks. Tomorrow is the bike swap meet here in Lincoln. Even though I really wanted to go last year, me and all of my friends forgot and missed out. This year the organizers are hoping that they can double the attendance of the swap meet. I am stoked to go tomorrow, and I basically have been calling all my friends reminding them, but tomorrow I am going by myself. I'm not waiting for anyone else. A cup of coffee and a bunch of bikes and bike parts. I don't really need anything, although if I see something really cool I will buy it in a second. Honestly I'm kind of hoping to find an old cruiser or road bike just to play with.

Besides that, I came home from school today and picked up Amelie and took her to the car and we drove around listening to old reggae and rocksteady. It was rainy, but fun either way. The picture of above is the very end of our drive.

The rain really does bum me out, and it's been bumming other people out as well. Maybe everyone else being bummed out makes me happy. For whatever reason I feel like when everyone else is bummed out they might have some sort of idea of what it feels like for me lately. Sometimes in sociology classes we have looked at survey data where they have actually asked questions to people about depression by asking things like how strongly they agree to items like "most days it feels like there are clouds even when there are not," it always made me laugh. I think I understand why this question is used now.

It's not right that I want other people to feel like I have the last month or so, and being crushed is so brutal. I think I might just take Amelie and go drive around listening to reggae a little more. Sitting at home is definitely not having a positive effect on me. I'm tired of drinking with my friends, and I'm sick of sitting home by myself. If only it wasn't raining I would go ride my bike. 30 miles sounds like fun right now.

I've Neglected This Blog

2008-05-16T21:13:00.002-06:00

For a while. It's one of the activities I do that gets the backburner first, because it's usually the thing that is least necessary for me to get other things done. I'll work on it though, and hopefully get back up to several posts a week.

Most Disturbing Movies

2008-02-20T12:35:00.001-06:00

Alternativereel has a list of the 10 most disturbing movies of all time. My all time favorite (as socially unacceptable as it is) A Clockwork Orange made the list.

Energy Efficient Houses

2008-01-14T08:36:00.000-06:00

Some day I'll have the money to build or buy one. The prices are actually kind of decent, assuming I factor in the land on which it is built.

history of photography

2008-01-07T10:12:00.000-06:00

photo.net posted a story outlining the history of photography in timeline form. It's pretty legit and goes way back. You should see what you think. Picture from Jacob Riis' "how the other half lives" a study of New York City tenements in the 1930s.

New Year, New Car

2008-01-01T10:54:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year. This year really can't do much worse than the last, so I am excited about the end of the Bush era. I will make the statement here first just in case... When Jeb Bush runs for president, REMEMBER THAT HE IS JUST AS MUCH OF A DOUCHE AS W. IS.
We will have to see what kind of bullshit misleads the majority of voting Americans this year and who we end up with next. Pardon me for not being hopeful but, we seriously don't know what we're doing when the democratic process is concerned.

On a sad note, my truck became financially prohibitive to continue driving (nickel and dimed for repairs on little shit all month in december), so I traded him in and bought a new car. This time it's BRAND NEW, as in, it had 11 miles on it when I left the dealership. It's a 2008 Toyota Yaris S. Mine is black, not red like the one above, but I couldn't find a decent picture of one in black.

I'm having trouble getting used to the low height, not being able to see the front of the hood, and the center-mounted gauge cluster, but i think the gas mileage gains are pretty worthwhile. It's a sub-compact car, which is a big change coming from a 1998 fullsize chevy 1500 extended cab pick-up, but even though it's small on the outside, they made the interior pretty big compared to most other subcompacts. A friend of mine who is 6'2" or 6'3" was in the backseat behind me last night and he said he was comfortable. It's not going to move band equipment like my old truck, but I think I could get a couple speaker cabs in the backseat and amp heads and guitars in the trunk if need be.

I'm still on my first tank of gas and the engine and transmission haven't been broken in yet, so I am not sure what the mileage will be, but the Yaris is supposed to be the car with the best gas mileage that isn't a hybrid. I can't afford a hybrid, so i'll do this. It was either this or a Subaru Impreza, but the dude at the toyota dealer got my payments way down there, so it was hard to let if slip. Theres a few sources that keep up with the gas mileage on a Yaris. This forum has a thread where people post their *WORST* mpg on a tank of gas, mostly in the upper-twenties and lower-thirties. A big leap from my truck with it's 10mpg.

This other forum thread discusses decreases in MPG for some Yaris owners, but through lots of input it is determined that it's standard in terms of decreasing economy in cold weather, which may also effect my first few tanks in terms of MPG. Another one talks about cold-weather fuel formulations that they have in some places, i'm not sure if we have that here or not. This thread, and this one both discuss general info about the efficiency in the Yaris. Keeping in mind, for 2008, the EPA started doing efficiency estimates in colder temperatures and at higher altitudes which makes the ratings lower on new cars than they would have been in past years. The efficiency could be the same or better in real life.

This site and this site are databases where you can post your MPG info and info about how you drive so that the info can be used to help increase mileage. The guy whose data is up on the second one is getting a 46mpg average in a Yaris, with regular tanks over 50mpg. I think I feel like less of a hypocrite now.

Smart Ass

2007-12-18T13:33:00.000-06:00

This guy really is a smart ass. The video is kind of long, but it's so worth it.

Calvin and Hobbes

2007-12-14T13:03:00.000-06:00

One of my all time favorite comic strips ever is Calvin and Hobbes. Not only do the books make the best bathroom reading, this site has what appears to be a considerable portion of the entire Calvin and Hobbes collection. To make it even cooler and more useful, not only does it have a shit load of strips, it is searchable.

[edit: the comic strip above gets cut off here. weak.]

Darwin Awards

2007-12-10T12:54:00.000-06:00

The film is pretty good, but I'm talking about the real thing here. You know, the annual award that actually matters: people who kill themselves off in incredibly stupid ways. The 2007 winners were found naked in the middle of a road. After an intensive investigation they determined the couple had fallen off the roof of a nearby building during sex. Another one is about a guy who broke into a bear cage at zoo to share his beers with a bear. There's a ton more to read and laugh about. We can all honor these idiots for helping along Darwin's most famous idea: natural selection. I fear, however, that there are plenty more people like this who just happen to be getting away with it.

How To Win at Monopoly

2007-12-05T12:49:00.000-06:00

If you're like me, chances are you've never successfully played monopoly to completion. I suspect (but have nothing to back it up), that only one percent of those who have played monopoly have successfully completed the game. This site explains how to win at monopoly, so that the next time you play, you might want to continue to the end.
My favorite tip:
Always buy railroads, never utilities.

No More Homework

2007-12-03T12:35:00.000-06:00

This site isn't the first to point this out, but I just happened to come across it recently in my interweb travels. Essentially what it is about is how homework really shows no statistical benefit as far as learning goes. The site doesn't touch on some issues very much though, like the fact that homework provides some benefits that are non-academic, like the ability to meet deadlines, time management, among other things which these days seem to be invaluable skills. Do I think homework should be stopped as it has no academic benefit? Of course not, but this mainly comes from my attitude of "we had to do it, and so should they."

Hot Mouth Remedy

2007-12-02T00:50:00.000-06:00

I'm all about spicy foods most of the time. I put hot sauce on almost everything. But what happens when you get in over your head. I know that if you enjoy spicy foods then you will know what I'm talking about. For everyone else, it's when you order something spicy at a certain restaurant and it is much hotter than you bargained for. Well anyways. The remedy I now propose to you: Cranberry juice. It has to be the 100% juice kind, no concentrate, no cranberry "cocktail." I believe that I have just discovered this, as google searches yielded no results on this subject. I was going to post it on the message board for the show "mythbusters" who recently did an episode with one of the things looking at cures for a fiery mouth, but I can't bring myself to sign up to a message board run by a TV network. But yes, preliminary tests have suggested that Cranberry Juice seems to end the burning sensation relatively quickly and with great fanfare. Give it a try and let me know your results.

A Lot of Special Numbers

2007-11-29T12:40:00.000-06:00

I'm not much for math, but there is a lot of interesting stuff in there. This list compiles a ton of numbers and describes unique characteristics about each one. It goes from 1 to 9999. Some interesting examples:

9999 is a Kaprekar Number (a number that when squared and then the digits in the squared number are added together equal the original number)

7928 is a Friedman Number (a positive integer which can be written in some non-trivial way using its own digits, together with the symbols + - x / ^ ( ) and concatenation. For example, 25 = 5² and 126 = 21 * 6.)

2 is the only even prime number.

there is seriously some trippy math stuff in here. I can't believe someone took the time to do this.

Who Doesn't Like Knowing This Stuff

2007-11-27T21:06:00.000-06:00

I came across this bad ass site that has a "top 101 city list." Essentially it ranks cities on various characteristics. For instance, Gretna, NE is ranked #2 on the list of cities with the smallest percentage of likely homosexual households (self reported of course). 18 Nebraska counties are in the top 101 counties with the highest percentage of residents voting for Bush.

The main site lets you search for specific cities to find out general demographics and what not.