A Career?

So it's been a while since I've posted, sorry, I've been meaning to for some time now. The crux of the issue is, life is good!

Work is going well. I'm still going through a lot of training, but that will be the case for the better part of this year. I like the people I work with, though, and I'm genuinely interested in what I'm doing. That's an exciting thing to feel like you've found something you want to do... and actually getting to do it besides! The weird thing is--what I did not foresee--was the realization that this could be where I/we end up. So much of your life, particularly in academics, is the sense that you're working toward a goal, a career that you want to do. You work hard to complete a class, a semester, a year, a degree, to move on to the next step, one closer to your goal. The thought then occurred to me a few weeks ago, "What if this is it?"

Now I realize this is extremely premature and short sighted. I only just got here! Also, the truth is there are a lot of opportunities and directions I can go from here. More mini-goals exist within a varied number of career paths. Heck, I may only be here a few years and then discover something completely new, or something related but for a different organization and/or purpose. But I think what hit me was the slightest sensation of panic at being trapped, "What if I'm locked in?" I work with people who have been there 25-30 years. My reaction to these people is a subconscious mixture of respect AND horror--"you've been in the same place 30 years?" Admittedly, people do this all the time. Maybe it's a distinctly generational mindset. Perhaps the 30-year-commitment-to-one-employer thing is less likely to be the case for me and my millennial generation compadres. Who knows?

Wow, I hadn't planned on writing this when I sat down, haha. All this to say, in my typical abstract fashion, I'm extremely happy (and blessed) to be where I am; and, I'm excited to see where all of this goes. Maybe I'll be 'here' for 30 years, maybe 5. But it's not like I'm signing my life away. I don't think this is "it." There's much more to come, and probably in places and directions I could never anticipate. God only knows. Thank God for that.

- L

Snowpocalypse 2010

So we're currently under siege by a record breaking, 18-24" snow storm. We were sent home early from work today and the public schools didn't even open. I'm looking out our two-story window and the trees are so laden they look like they might fall over. I'm already antsy and bored anticipating a weekend indoors. I haven't done much beyond work all week and I'm feeling eager to get out and explore a bit. But, alas, the VW Golf will not permit it.

Which reminds me... our good friend and natural-born salesman, Jay Taylor, sold our snow beast for us last week (the GMC Jimmy). It was a great winter car but I don't know that it would have made it out here. We're missing it at the moment though. There are some advantages to being reduced to one vehicle. Insurance you say? Not so. Our insurance will actually go up now that we are both considered primary operators for our one vehicle even though I take the bus to work most days. This, unfortunately, is due to my big city driving habits that have not mixed well with small town police forces. Hence my less-than-impeccable driving record. No, the advantages of being limited to one vehicle relate mostly to gas costs and repair costs (hopefully) and licensing, etc. And, I get reimbursed for using the bus, so patience has its perks. Or maybe that's just government employment.

Well, I feel that in my boredom I've resorted to rambling so I think this is a good place to stop. Until next time.

- L

New Churches

Two words sum up the church we attended today: parking garage. McLean Bible Church is huge! We didn't know anybody in this enormous church. The worship was a little too showy for our tastes but the message was really good and it seemed theologically sound as far as we could tell. We will probably look elsewhere next week, but McLean Bible is conveniently close to our apartment so we haven't ruled it out completely.

Long story short... we miss Grace Chapel :(

We're Really Here!

So tomorrow will mark the end of our first week in Virginia. It's been an adventure to be sure. My father was here until Tuesday and my mother left today--they've been a huge help getting the apartment cleaned and organized, etc. It was hard to see them leave but I'm glad for their time here with us already. It's comforting to have your parents around--particularly in transitions. They helped us get so much done too. Of course there are a few minor things to do around the apartment yet. But these things inevitably take time.

The best thing by far about our location is our proximity to Trader Joe's (4.3 minutes). We are even closer to a public library (Court just got a library card) and about 5 minutes from one of the largest shopping centers I've seen... Tyson's Corner.

Today I tried out my bus route to work (I don't start till Tuesday)...start to finish, about 45 minutes. It involves a 9 minute walk up a large hill to the bus stop and then a ten minute wait between connecting lines to catch a different bus. It's really pretty simple and it drops me off about as close to the front door of work as possible. Today's virgin venture did involve some inquiries from those whose job it is to know the purposes of my business... note to self: always carry an ID.

So tonight, our first Friday night, we're laying low. We've been busy doing one thing or another all week but tonight is restful and I'm glad for it. We became netflix members today. I think that's a reasonable something to do when your social outlets have been diminished to about 1 or 2. I suppose we'll enjoy a movie tonight.

Right now I'm thinking about how I miss the closeness of so many friends. Not that I would even have to be with them right this minute--but I think to know that you can is a comforting thing. Still, the thought of friends makes me excited to have visitors, ahem, which then makes me excited to discover as much as I can so that I can introduce said friends to the new and exciting wonders of northern Virginia.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm glad to be here.

Back to the Blogspot

Now that we're out of Nebraska, it's time to revive the digest!

We're workin' our way to the coast! After a long and only slightly treacherous day of driving, we finally arrived in Winfield to visit Dan, Sandy, and the boys (who I lived with in grad school). We had planned to hit the road again early today, but since we arrived later than planned and had no real need to be there today, we decided to spend the day with the Kruses and leave super early tomorrow instead. We hope to arrive in time to pick my parents from their flight in Baltimore provided it's not cancelled or delayed due to weather. It has been a nice day of rest, recovery, and puzzles--a great intermission to our road trip. Joseph, however, just got sick about 5 minutes ago. We hope not to take that with us!

- L

Learning Experiences

Thanks for the encouragement! The presentation went pretty well. It was a bit smaller than I had anticipated--at least the presentation itself was.

The MPSA conference was set up over four days at the Palmer House Hilton about a block west of Millenium Park in downtown Chicago. The hotel was amazing, quite ornate, and buzzing with political scientists and professorial types wearing name tags that list their associated university in font too small to see without intrusively squinting--but everybody does, haha. I found the hotel, received my registration materials, and found my professor (Professor Kohen) without much trouble. We met for lunch at a nearby Deli to discuss the presentation before I decided to attend another panel to see how it was all done. Each session was about one hour and forty-five minutes and I believe they run 4-5 sessions per day. Within each session there were hundreds of panels each comprised of about three-to-five paper presentations grouped by topic. For example, ours was "Rebuilding Societies and Institutions after War."

So our paper was presented with a mix of other papers, each given about 10-15 minutes to inform whoever wanted to attend about the premise of their work. I discovered that this means for a panel to hold an audience of 10-12 people was pretty good. Including our chair/discussant and the other panelists presenting with us, we probably had about 10 or so people to which we presented, which made it a bit easier I must say. The chair/discussant was the person who directed the panel and had prepared comments in advance for each of the panelists. It's amazing the mix of people and papers you get even when it's all organized in this way. Even when people who attend or chair a panel have no real experience with the type of paper a presenter is doing or the region being covered, many still seem to think they can provide solid critiques and sometimes without having read the paper. It's a bit frustrating at times but Dr. Kohen had become accustomed to this and knew to take it all with a grain of salt. So when one particular audience member more or less accused us of cultural imperialism without having read the paper, (though I desperately wanted to defend ourselves) Dr. Kohen less directly responded to this critique. We did, however, gain some helpful feedback to further prepare the paper for publication.

Anyway, this has ended up longer and full of more detail than I intended. Shortly after finishing the presentation, I took the "L" back to Midway airport and headed back home. It was a ridiculously quick trip that left me missing Chicago a lot and wishing I had more time to spend there. But, as always, it is good to come home to the wife. The experience was a very good one, very educational... I would do it again.

Old Stompin' Grounds

Tonight I head back to Chicago for the Midwest Political Science Association Conference at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel near Millennium Park. It will be a brief trip as I plan on returning tomorrow evening. However, this trip will mark a first in my political science career as I will be presenting a portion of a paper I have been working on with a UNL professor and one of his former students in Virginia for the past several months. It's exciting and a bit unnerving to think I will be presenting a political science paper to professors and grad students from all over the country who will probably know much more about anything I have to say than I do. Not to mention my general fear about public speaking. Still it will be a good and growing experience I have no doubt. For those of you not dozing off already... the paper is about developing reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda. Fascinating stuff if you ask me--the kind of thing I hope to develop into a career at some point. Here goes nothin!