So I was trying to find an old college transcript – a group at work needs it so they can verify some of the economics classes I took as an undergrad (and management classes as a grad student) in order to certify me as an “acquisition professional”… whoop dee doo, right? Well, maybe it’ll be worth extra money to be certified if I decide to find a job somewhere else, so why not. Anyway, searching for an old transcript – I know I kept at least 1 copy of my full education.
Of course, it’s always the very last place you look. But I must have looked through all my papers from the last 7 or 8 years getting there. Saw an photo montage of “Georgia tech crew 2001” – I was sitting 6 seat in the boat - kind of hunched over adjusting my shoes – and you could just see the mass of muscle in my shoulders and back jumping out over me. Pretty weird thinking of how all that muscle evaporated when I started racing bikes so much. And of course there’s all my old course notes from grad school when I was in france. The classes at GTL were – whatever – but then I saw my old notes from the classes I took at supelec – the French engineering university – and I just shuddered thinking about those days. Man, I really struggled in those classes. luckily, most of the concepts in computer engineering were founded in America, but the courses were all taught in French and that - well, that’s what I signed up for. I had only had 2 quarters of French before I went to france – I didn’t have to start taking courses in French right away, but I was never really good enough to speak academically. But I got by and passed and graduated. Then I saw some of my old dispatch logs from when I was a messenger in philly, found my orders from the govt to go from philly to san diego to start work, etc. saw some old resumes. Then I came across the old paperwork I was drafting up to submit a patent application with my buddy josh vose. Sadly, I never completed and filed the patent – just got too bogged down in searching for an engineering job (when I was still a messenger) and then just dropped the ball when I made the move out west. That’s something I need to pick back up, and vose is trying to get my ear for a new idea, too.
Anyway, the coup de gras, as they say was when I finally found my transcript in a folder labeled “job opportunities”. The first half of the folder had bio’s for the past 3 or 4 classes of astronauts – I was trying to find patterns in hiring. Then there was the fax paperwork for me accepting my job at spawar out here in san diego. However, immediately before the fax paperwork was a paper that I do remember scribbling down, just not exactly when. It was me doing a pro/con analysis of bike courier vs engineer written back in early 2002:
Bike Courier
Pros
Get in good biking shape
Possibly great weather
“Extreme”
Interesting people?
Feeling of “independence”
No hard interview
No dress code
Cons
Fairly low pay (shabby apt, little travel, little food)
No insurance
Dangerous job
Possibly miserable weather
Overtraining?
No good for Astronaut
No internet during day
Not using brain (remember Reid)*
Not prestigious for parents
Engineer
Pros
High pay – Good apt + food + travel
Mentally challenging
Not outside (bad weather)
Physical recovery time
Internet usage – email on downtime
Prestige for parents
Advance to Astronaut
Cons
Possible dress code
Not outside (good weather)
No physical workout
Not interesting people?
Hard interview
Commute?
*My buddy Chris Reid was musing at the time (or just before) about how he felt like he was just “spinning his wheels” collecting a paycheck at his job.
So there you have it. But there was just a bit more, written upside down (just with the page flipped around) at some later date
Future thoughts
HQT
Acting?
Helicopter?
Pilot?
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