Caipirinha? Pics? New Announcements?

What? No pictures? What a rip off!

Sounds Rad.

did you hear any crappy brazilian house music? i heard some once and i wanted to open a fucking vein. anyway, i look forward to pictures.

Yay!

ahhhhhhhh yeaaaaaah pics from your trip! pics! pics! pics!

I love you so much.

I'd be really into going to Brazil--in short order, preferably. I want something like that a lot lately. That, or Minnesota.

Did you take pictures? *hopes*

I don't want to go into debt any more than anyone else, but I can't see any way I can work and earn enough to pay for it and to live. With the savings I have left, plus working, I figure roughly that I can graduate with around 40,000 in debt. And as my savings dwindle the chances for an increased Pell contribution raise, so it could be lower in the end.

If I quit now, the chances of finding a good job with my two year degree are almost nil. The tech industry always suffers first and the worst. And generally the positions that are available are always low pay for the areas in which the companies are located, even when the economy is good. The laser tech field is just too small and specialized for companies to be located in more than just major cities. One place in San Diego offered me 33k after I was laid off from my last job. In a place like that, it's laughable. I'd be right back where I was before, making just barely enough to live and praying I don't get laid off. I can't really see a future in that direction. Plus, I really hated working in that field. It was stressful and uninteresting. But that I could get over if I was at least making good money.

No matter which way I go there's going to be a lot of risk. Big decision, my friend.

Oh, I need preaching. All I can get.

I think at the end of the road I'll have a useful enough degree that it will be worth incurring the debt. And it's not such a niche that I'll have shot my self in the foot like with my tech degree. Really, I only did that program because I didn't know what I wanted to do. It's hard to make that sort of choice at 18.

Right not I'm looking at it like my mom says: "get into a recession-proof field. People always get sick, go to jail, and eat." I figure when the economy goes to shit people will drink more too. Heh.

I definitely hear you on getting in good with the prof's and whatnot too. I'm going to be joining the fermentation club, probably the local club, and I've already started working on getting beers together to enter in various American Homebrewers Association sanctioned contests. Even applied for a fall internship at a winery south of town.

Either way I go I've got a little while to think and consider my options....

this is actually pretty good wine, that's why i wanted some. Adam just dropped off the case that i bought today.
*note to self* this pairing is not good.

Glad your conference treated you well.

My college friends are more of a mixed lot. A lot of the folks I was closest to graduated from our BA program right into our department's MA program. Unfortunately, quite a few of those people turned into real douchebags once they went on to phd school. But a couple of them are all right, and we still hang out. Hell, one thing that's cool about Helena (well, one more thing) is that I'll be close to my college roommate who's living in Seattle now. (I mean, close by Western state standards.) But yeah, I can see how people get different mileage out of different programs.

Thanks by the way.

You know: when you put it that way...

My defense really was *good.* It was a good conversation about what was missing, about big ideas that need to be thunk, and so on. You're right - I wish I had had meetings like that on a regular basis. Even just from my chair. (What meetings we DID have ended up being monologues on his part, rather then him asking pointed questions and pushing me to answer.) Anyway. It was good, and I'm glad. I think really it's the mix of going right from defense to packing again - it's just addled my brain a bit.