Consumption

To be perfectly honest, I'm really sick and tired of being poorer and living at a lower quality of life than people who are on welfare in the United States. I'm really looking forward to the time when I can get a full-time job and actually afford things that normal Americans enjoy. Here's a sampling of the things that I plan on purchasing when I actually have some cash:

• Car - Have you ever taken groceries on a bus? I have. It sucks. I've lived in a western US, sprawled out city for the last 3 years with little or no access to a car. Also, I refuse to try to commute to and from a job without private transportation. I'd really like to finance a new car, so that I could maintain my goal of not buying a used car from anyone who wasn't an aircraft mechanic and has the last name "White." I'm currently looking at the Mitsubishi Lancer, Chevrolet Cobalt, and Honda Civic as possible option. Admittedly not the most manly cars, but it's what I could afford new. And I think whatever car I get, I'm going to keep most of the stock speakers, put put a pair of massive subs in the truck, so that I can actually hear the bass lines in my music... and occasionally bump like an APX salesman.
• Computer - The computer on which I am currently typing this is pretty much crap. It literally hasn't had a battery for a year or so... like there's a prismatic empty space where the battery used to be. Also, when I upgraded this ~4 year old computer to Windows 7 (straight from XP) it became dramatically more ghetto. My graphics card is not fully compatible Windows 7... and a new one wouldn't be compatible with my hardware. Now there's about an inch on each side of my screen that's just black because everything is incompatible. Also, my SD port no longer works. I'm not savvy enough to know why or figure out how to fix it, but I can no longer upload pictures. A couple of years ago, I also landed a chair on it after leaning back and broke off a side panel. The '9' key on my keyboard clearly still works, but is only hanging on by a thread. The wireless antenna also fell off at some point, so my wireless range is limited. This computer has served me well, but I think it's coming time to retire it. I think I'll get another Sony VAIO, just to maintain compatibility with the Sony camera and Sony memory card for that camera that I already have.
• TV - I'm sure that my old roommates are glad that I left my old, busted Mitsubishi Television set that I got from DI in that apartment when I moved out, but I was honestly glad to be rid of it. That TV weighed at least 60 pounds and took up about a cubic yard of volume. The picture was starting to get snowy on many channels, and most of the time when the sound was turned up enough to be audible, there was high-pitched squeal that emanated from the speakers. At some point, I'd like to get a Philips flatscreen TV, but I don't think that time is going to be quite yet. For now I think I'll just find something that 's on sale at Sprawl-Mart, and use it... but it will certainly be a vast improvement over the crap-box that I've been using over the past 2 or so years.
• Gun(s) - Since I've been in college, I've bought exactly one gun... and that just about bankrupted me. When I actually have some cash, I'm going to have make up for lost time and pick some up. For a while now, my dad has talked about getting me either a Remington 700 or Ruger M77 in 7mm-08. Due to the recent actions by the Arizona state legislature (illegal immigration reform) and the fact that the Sturm, Ruger, and Co. plant is in Arizona, I've decided that, in the mean time I want to get the Ruger M77. Next, ever since my ward had a shooting menrichment activity up at squaw peak a couple of weeks ago, I've found a new firearm that has captivated my mind and heart. Sometime soon I will get myself a Saiga 12 (pictured below), which is essentially just an AK-47 modified to take 12-gauge shotgun shells. I've contemplated getting some sort of short-barreled "home defense" shotgun for a while, and I've decided that this is going to be it. Also, after owning a Glock 17, I don't think I'll be able to own another pistol that isn't a Glock in 9mm Parabellum. Therefore I think I'm going to get a Glock 19, which would be good for concealed carry...which brings me to my next point.
• Concealed Carry Permit - Since I turned 21 (all of 10 months ago) I haven't had the money or incentive to get a concealed carry permit. I mean, I live in Provo and spend most of my time on BYU campus where I'm very unlikely to run into trouble. Depending on where I get a job, a concealed carry permit may be a very good idea. Even if I ended up using it very little, I believe enough in the second amendment that it would be worth whatever it cost just to have it.
• Apartment - Over the past 3, or so years I've been living in apartments that range anywhere from halfway decent to disgustingly mega-ghetto. At Stadium Terrace (where I left my TV) our apartment literally had a public bathroom. There was a row of 3 sinks, and 2 legit bathroom stalls along one wall, and a vanity and 2 dorm-style showers along another. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd like to live in a slightly more refined place than that in the future. This is, however, totally dependent on where I end up finding a job. If I end up in BF, Egypt, Indiana, chances are that I'm going to be able to find something nice on my salary. If I end up in Silicon Valley, I might just have to rent a cardboard box beneath a bridge for $500/month.

Now this post kind of sounds like I'm totally covetous of filthy lucre, but that's not really what I'm going for. For the last 4 years, I've been sacrificing a lot (mostly in opportunity cost, and quite a bit in monetary costs and debt) to go to college and get a bachelor's degree; now I'm looking for some return on my investment. And even after spending to get all of these things, I still plan on trying to save at least a little bit of cash for grad school. As you can read in my previous post, I'm hoping to go to grad school for more or less free, but I'm still planning on needing some cash somewhere along the way.

So, on the net, I'm really looking forward to graduating in August and (cross your fingers) getting a real job.

Narrowing it Down... A Little.

So, over the past few weeks, there have been a couple of factors which have influenced my potential choice of graduate school. One of these is that new rankings for graduate schools was released by US News and World Report. The other is that I've been looking at the possibilities for financial assistance from the schools I had previously been interested in. This has led me to discount a few potential grad schools and to include a few that I had not previously included.

First of all, the US News and World Report Graduate School rankings for civil engineering didn't change much from the 2010 edition to the 2011 edition, but the latter was definitely more inclusive. One thing to note is that BYU was ranked #73 while Utah State was ranked #65 in the nation. This essentially took Utah State out of the ranking. If I was going to take the time and effort to try to go to Utah State, I might as well just go back to the school that I've been going to for the last 3 years.

Though the rankings were not that different, I noticed a few schools on the list that I had previously discounted, but realized that, for the given economic circumstances, I'd be willing to go to. Two that I noticed were the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. One of my employers, Dr. Hotchkiss got his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, so I'm sure that he could provide me with recommendations and contacts galore. As I looked into the University of Wisconsin, I really liked their program and the possibilities for research that they had. Though their cold and kind of liberal, I think I could deal with going to either Minnesota or Wisconsin.
As I perused the US News and World Report Rankings, I also noticed that there were about 7 schools in the top 30 in California. At the same time, I thought about how I had two sets of aunts and uncles in California, who would probably be able to help me find something in the way of jobs. Even though I hate California and everything that they stand for, I decided that these factors were too much to ignore when looking into jobs and grad schools. I guess for 3 or 4 years I could just bury my guns in my back yard and yield 3/4 of everything I make to the man in order to get a top notch graduate education. As far as schools go, the ones that I like best were UC Davis, UCLA, and UCSD, in that order. Additionally, the department chair for BYU's civil engineering department went to UC Davis and my professor for steel design and reinforced concrete design went to UCSD. Once again, recommendations galore.

Secondly, I have recently been thinking that I really don't want to pay much, if anything, for grad school. In fact, I think it would be a really good idea if a grad school paid me to go there. I'm thinking that I could apply to several schools, whether or not I was a resident and see what kind kind of financial assistance I could get as a graduate assistant doing research or teaching. As I looked into the financial assistance programs of the schools in which I've been interested, I found out that they were definitely not created equal. For students who are awarded graduate assistantships, some schools offer full tuition waivers, some offer waivers for the in-state portion of tuition, some offer waivers for the out-of-state portion, and some say "Eph you, you can't have an assistantship!" So, as I did some research, I found that there were 6 schools where I could get a full tuition waiver:

• Virginia Tech
• Oregon State (whose logo is pictured below)
  
• Washington
• Colorado*
• Wisconsin
• Notre Dame

*I don't know if CU-Boulder offers full remission of out-of-state tuition, but since I'm a Colorado resident, it really doesn't matter.

The financial assistance program with which I was least impressed was that of North Carolina State. They basically said, "We really don't like giving out money, even if you are qualified, so don't ask." At this point, I'm pretty sure that I won't be going there for graduate school.

There were also some schools that would be willing to waive the in-state portion of tuition. I would be willing to consider these schools if I was able to find a job in the state where they are located. These include:

• Arizona
• Minnesota
• UC Davis
  

The graduate school at Texas A&M is willing to waive the out-of-state portion of tuition for anyone who is awarded a graduate assistantship. Considering that the tuition at Texas A&M is fairly reasonable and that there are many other opportunities for funding, I might consider attending if they made me a good offer, but their standing has definitely dropped.

Additionally, I've found that, the more experience that I have with Purdue University, the less I like it. The university's website kind of sucks. The civil engineering department website kind of blows. Their program, though ranked #3 nationally, doesn't appeal to me as much as it once did. I couldn't figure out whether Purdue offered a full or partial tuition waiver, or if it only applied to fees. And I've just never been that big of fan of Indiana.

As it turns out, the big winners of the day are Oregon State and Wisconsin. Oregon State went from being virtually unconsidered to being near the top of the running. Wisconsin went from not being considered at all to being in the top 5, or so.