I COULDN'T Care Less

To everyone that says "I could care less." You really should be saying "I COULDN'T care less!!!!" If you could care less, then you obviously care about whatever you're talking about, even though you're making it out to be like you don't care at all.

Wow.

Mr. Noodle

My 18 month old son is a big fan of Elmo and Sesame Street. As much as he likes it, there is one scene that he really hates. It's when Elmo opens up a window and there is a guy named Mr. Noodle on the other side. I told my wife to sit still while I recorded his reaction. Check it out.



I guess I am a mean dad, but I think it's pretty funny. The guy is kind of weird looking.

Hey everyone, I am calling...

Hey everyone, I am calling you from my cell phone and anything that I say into my cell phone will actually be [automatically] put on the blog, so this is a new service I just found out about, it's called Jott and I thought it would be fun to post things that I see going on in the day, so stay tuned. listen

Powered by Jott

Edit: Unfortunately, the Jott service made my ramble a huge run-on sentence. Oh well, that was fun!

PhD Time

The time has finally come that I need to commit myself to obtaining a PhD degree. Until now, I have been working part time at L-3 Communications while getting my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. A PhD, however, is a different animal. It takes daily work just to keep any kind of momentum rolling, and mentally shifting from work tasks to research tasks makes it difficult to do either of them very well. It's time to focus on one, and I'm choosing to get the PhD done.

The next few years of my family's life is going to be an investment. It will be a time where we will be planting and nurturing our crops, without much return for the present. We will have to figure out how to get insurance for my wife because her kidney stones are apparently reason to automatically deny her any coverage for the next year. Just so you know, I really hate the insurance industry. We will need to figure out how to get by financially, keeping student loans and other debt to a minimum. We'll need to hold off getting a house for a few years, while we continue in student housing.

I often get asked the question, "Why are you getting a PhD?" The answer is not because I want to teach as a university professor, although I don't rule that possibility out. A PhD will set up to do the kinds of work as an engineer that I dream about doing. I want to someday start my own company, and a PhD is an important certification to do so. It will provide the academic training necessary to be at the leading edge of technology. When I need support from others, the PhD will be an important mark for them to trust me as an expert in my field.

I want to get to the point in my career where I am the one who gets to decide what I do. If I want to take a day off to go skiing with my kids, I want to be able to do it. I also want to use my abilities as an engineer in ways that help people who haven't been as lucky and blessed as I have been. For example, have you heard about One Laptop Per Child? I want to do stuff like that. I'm tired of all the greedy, selfish companies that take advantage of people.

I'm confident that things will work out for us as we make this transition. It's a nervous time for us, but I think we are doing the right thing.