Boo Downward Shift in Aggregate Demand, Hooray Beer!

So, just in case you've been living in Outer Kreplachistan, Haiti, or the abysmal depths of the Congo for the last year or so, the United States and most of the developed world have been going through a big-A recession. Whatever you believe the cause of this recession may be, I would like to submit right now that the wallets of everyone not named Barack H. Obama are pretty tightly sealed. It's actually China that really providing the capital, but that's tertiary. My point is that trying to find any source of cash, whether it's a g-o-b, or just selling off your Earthly possessions is a bit rough. In my case, I picked a really bad time to graduate from college and actually try to find a job.

Over the course of the past few weeks, I've been trying to come up with something of a Plan B that would actually be feasible in case I don't find a job by August. Previously, the only real alternatives that I could come up with were going to graduate school right after I finish my undergraduate degree or being drastically underemployed for some period of time until I could find a real job. Long story short; both of these options suck. Practically all of the grad school application deadlines for fall semester have evaporated and I don't have the cash to wait until January and starting on a Winter/Spring semester. Not to mention that I wouldn't have any cash for school and my course sequencing would be shot. Furthermore, I shouldn't need to mention that I really don't want to work at Dick's Sporting Goods while I wait for the economy to recover.

A few days ago I thought of a new option that I hadn't particularly considered before but seems to be more and more viable with each employment rejection email that I get. Since, at this point, I could literally withdraw from all of my summer classes and still get a bachelor's degree, I am now contemplating completing officer training/candidate school (OTS) and going into the military as a engineer officer. As I previously mentioned, this is still a Plan B. If I can find a civil engineering job in the private sector that I actually want, I'll almost undoubtedly take that over going in the military. However, I turned in 6 job applications this last Saturday and got 4 rejection emails by Monday afternoon. As the title of this post implies, there's just nothing out there. That being said, there is a definite question of which branch of the military I would want to go into if it came down to that. Since the Marines doesn't have engineers, I can't swim very well, and Navy engineers are called "Seabees," (literally, I'm not making this up, see Wikipedia) it pretty much comes down to the Army or the Air Force. A Pro-Con analysis follows:

Army:

PRO:

• I would get experience with two of the things I'm most passionate about relative to engineering: bridges and blowing stuff up.
• The Army generally has more openings and therefore easier placement for an engineer officer MOS.
• Connections in the Army Corps of Engineers definitely wouldn't hurt my career aspirations after I got out.
• I like the Army's uniforms.
• The pay for a second lieutenant with less than two years in is about 10% ($3000) higher.
  

CON:

• Designing infrastructure that helps troops advance often involves being IN FRONT of the front lines. Death or dismemberment is much more likely.
  
• I'd have to be almost 20 lbs lighter than I am right now in order to make weight.
• You get thrown into basic with all the other goons, even if you're going in as an officer.
  

Air Force:

PRO:

• Both of my parents were in the Air Force; in fact, that's how they met. As such, I've been raised liking the Air Force, rooting for the AFA in football, etc.
  
• Especially now, the Air Force seems to have plenty of opportunities for engineers and others with technical backgrounds, though not as many.
• Ironically, there are people with the title "Civil Engineer" in the Air Force.
• I'd only have to drop about 5 or 10 pounds to make weight.
• Seeing as the United States hasn't really conceded air superiority since World War II, the chances of death or dismemberment are greatly reduced.
• The Air Force's OTS program is like an integration of basic training and officer training. Not quite as much getting backslapped by TIs.
  
• I already know the US Air Force song.

CON:

• The pay isn't as good, though sufficient.
• Dang, those uniforms are ugly.
• Assuming I was commissioned as an engineer, I'd probably be working on projects that I'd be somewhat less excited about, namely environmental.

As of today, I have requested more information from both the Air Force and the Army. The Air Force asked me more questions about what degree I was getting and how it could be applicable to the things I'd be doing in the military. They also sent me a, more or less, thank you email. Let me just say that I found that whole process to be very classy on their part. The Army seemed to be business as usual. I'll look through the information that they send me and see what either one has to offer. Honestly, I'd really like to choose neither, but we'll see how that goes.

Scar[r]ed Straight

So, over the last couple of days, some of my good friends/roommates went down to Cedar City for the Utah Summer Games to compete in Ultimate Frisbee. We were in the novice division, and ended up getting the silver medal in that division. We played 4 games of Ultimate on Friday, then another 2 Saturday. All of this was awesome, and now I feel like my hamstrings are going to explode out of the back of my legs. However, that's not the point of this post.

I told you that story so that I could tell you this story. As we were driving through Cedar City, we passed a stake center/seminary building right next to a high school that had a sign out in front that read, "Single Adult Dance Tonight from 9-12." Since all of our games that day ended at about 2 pm, we decided that it was at least worth taking a look, even if all of the girls were 18 years old. After we got through 8 dudes showering in a single bathroom (sequentially), had dinner, and did a couple of other things, we made our way to aforementioned stake center.

What followed may have been the single most disturbing 5-minute experience I've ever had. Let's just say that there were definitely no 18 year-old girls anywhere to be found. And let's add that there's a very important distinction between "Young Single Adults," and "Single Adults." Though this experience only lasted about 5 minutes, if that, it seemed like it unfolded over a couple of hours. I started to get a little suspicious when we walked in to the stake center and there were a couple of older people dressed nicely and conversing amongst themselves. I figured that these were merely chaperons there to supervise the goings on of the young people. As we progressed down the hall, we say more and more old people who were dressed progressively more like young people, several of which were checking us out. As we stopped for a drink of water and saw several other old people passing us and walking into the cultural hall, we all realized the distinction that we had missed and ran as fast as we could without revealing our actual intents. On a scale of 1 to disturbing, this experience was a "Hey, you're not a Catholic Priest, don't touch me there!"

What I take away from this experience is mostly that I never want to be in the situation that I saw those other people my parents' (or perhaps my grandparents in some cases) age in. "Single Adults," are just creepy and I just don't want to be a part of that. If it involves mail-ordering a bride at age 30, then so be it. (Admittedly a very much less than ideal option.) Let's just say that this experience has given me sufficient motivation to actually want to get married at some point, and to procrastinate such a decision as little as possible. You're probably not going to see me rushing out to get married tomorrow, or any time in the next couple of months, but I've decided that marriage is something that I want to work toward and to be a part of. :D

A Little Too [Personal]

Tonight as I was perusing through Yahoo!'s "News" (very little of which is actual news) I found This Article. I found the parody of a personal ad at the beginning to be H-I-larious. I will now prepare my own "checklist" parody for both your and my amusement:

Me: 21. 6'2", 220 lbs. Hanging around the Provo area for now, but looking forward to big things (and by things, I mean money) in the very near future from my prospective employment as a civil engineer.
You: 18-23, BYU graduate or prospective MRS. Maximum 5'11" and BMI 18.5-22.5. Member of the church, but not an RM. Able to show knowledge of US federal and state policies and provide documentation of voting in at least the last even-yeared election. A second amendment sister. Major: Biology, Exercise Science, Business (not Accounting), Communication Disorders, French, or Rec Management. Education majors must complete an exam demonstrating that they can "do" as opposed to only being able to "teach." Hobbies: Italian-style cooking, video games, motorcycling, fencing, and chess. Well informed in the topics of: American sports, muscle cars, Dilbert cartoon strips, contemporary science fiction, and classic '80s cinema. Poorly informed (except in the cases of mockery) in the topics of: Vampire romance novels, Britney Spears music, Schmoop Dogg (aka Adam Nicoll), The Princess Bride, ballroom dancing, and cooking with tofu. Equally comfortable wearing 6" heals and plain white tennis shoes.
If interested, please send introductory email with appropriate documentation and a full-body photo. Please also send, as soon as possible, (3) letters of recommendation ( 1 academic, 1 ecclesiastical, and 1 from moderately close male friend). Plus (2) 1000-or-less-word essays on the following topics: "How I know my parents love(d) me", and "The University of Utah Sucks because..."

Yeah, I think that should pretty much do it. If I ever met a woman like this, she would never be interested in me because: 1. I would crap my pants upon meeting her, leaving a very bad impression, and 2. Unless she was 18, and fresh out of high school, she'd already be married, which means that 3. She would definitely not be using online dating sites. The thing that I most take away from this blag is that I need to blag about BMI... :D

Omission(s)

In my recent post, "On a Scale of 1 to Evil..." I chronicled many of my qualms with BYU's Math department. Nevertheless, there are a couple of very important stories that I neglected to include in that post. So, here they are...

The math classes that I took at BYU included Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, and Ordinary Differential Equations, in that order. I had been anxiously anticipating the day of my Differential Equations final since about the second week of linear algebra, when I decided that I was going to take as little math at BYU as possible since BYU math exemplified all things evil. On the day of the final, I walked in to 111 Talmage Building with about a B in the class up to that point (the class was epicurved, so you really didn't know until the end.) I took the final and figured that I did pretty poorly, but didn't really care because I was SO excited to be done. As I ran out of the Talmage Building, I held my hands over my head and yelled out loud, "Freedom! Sweet freedom! You are mine at last!" I ran out of the Talmage Building incredibly contented to be done. I was living at the Riviera Apartments at the time, and I got about there before I realized that I had made a tragic error. In my rush to exit the Talmage Building once and for all, I had left the glasses I was wearing at the time in 111. I made my way back with my head held in shame and said as I entered that room, "Blast, freedom eludes me once more." After I had claimed my glasses, I walked out the Talmage Building once and for all, and have not entered into it again.

A few days after that sweet, sweet event I got my score for the differential equations final. This class was at least partially administered through BYU Math's incredible stupid and mostly worthless "Moodle" website. (And you see that creativity of BYU mathematicians coming up with a website name; it sounds like a name you give to a manicured French Poodle.) So, a few days after the final, Brianna Durham, who is now Brianna West, btw, Crackbook chatted me to tell me that the scores were up for both the final exam and the class. I looked on the stupid Moodle website and found that I had a score of 98 on the final. I said to myself, "Wow, that's a great score, I must have done better than I thought!" ...Then I remembered that the differential equations final was out of 200 points. Suddenly I found myself hoping that I had merely passed the class. As I scrolled down, I found that I had made like a 72, or something like that in the class overall, which was good enough for a C+. To this day, a 49 is still the lowest test score I've ever had. So, BYU Math is responsible for both my lowest overall grade (Linear Algebra: C) and my lowest test score.

BYU Math has made a lasting impression on me (and on my transcripts) in probably the worst way possible. This department has been responsible for my lowest scores in all of my school work. I haven't done any regression analysis, but I believe that the difference between my average scores and my BYU Math scores is statistically significant. I believe that sometimes people and things are but in your way to try your faith and your patience. Both several of current home teachees and BYU Math fit into that category. If it was up to me, I'd disband BYU Math, fire all of the professors and department chairs on the grounds of apostasy and start over with people who are willing to follow Gospel principles... Maybe that's why it's not up to me. :)

A Resolution

On Tuesday of this week, my roommate, Scott Manning took me longboarding up Provo Canyon. Anyone who's seen me since then knows the fate that I suffered on that tragic trip. I ended up eating it 3 time with epic road rash on my arms, hands, and face. More specifically, I didn't end up cutting up any part of face other than my nose, since on my third, and hardest fall I ended up falling right on my nose and leaving one massive gash/puncture wound. Yesterday, the wounds finally scabbed up and coincidentally started to get infected. Soon after I realized this, I made my way to the BYU Bookstore and purchased a cheap knockoff of Neosporin, which was a really good deal, but that's a story for another day. I've been carrying around that tube ever since I bought it. Needless to say, even with "Pain Relief" it still burned like H3lL. Therefore, I have decided to make the following resolution:

I solemnly proclaim that I will never again use any form of non-foot transportation that does not have brakes.

I do this because my concept of speed is based on my experience riding dirt bikes. Now 35 mph really isn't too bad on a dirt bike, when you have a pair of fully-functional disc brakes. When you're riding a longboard and have nothing for brakes except your face, 35 mph is a totally different story. With this resolution, I will no longer ride longboards, skateboards, sleds, toboggans, skis, snowboards, ice blocks, skouches, etc. I will continue, however, to ride motorcycles and bicycles, drive cars, and maybe ride a scooter or two, but anything without brakes is out.

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.