Keep on keepin' on...

If you're interested, I started a new individual blog to try to motivate myself to keep writing. It's separate from our long-time blog home because it focuses on subject matter related more to stuff I'm studying and am trying to stay current on until I make it to the classroom.

Stop by if you're so inclined...or looking for a cure for insomnia.

Mike

Beautiful free(er) time! I finished my six-month capstone consulting project with Portland Monthly Magazine on Thursday. Two more measly electives and I'm done with business school.

I think I'm looking forward to sleep the most.

Groupon.com

Quite possibly the coolest site I've seen in a long time. Collective bargaining power at its best! If you're outside of Portland, just go to Groupon.com and it should pull up your city.

I know my rights!
Apparently, the Finnish government has just finalized legislation making it a right for each of its 5.5 million residents to have a one mega-bit broadband connection by July 2010 and 100 mb by 2015.

I recently read that, as of the beginning of the year, the US ranks 15th in worldwide broadband adoption. I know we have a few more folks than our Finnish friends, but seriously, we've got some catching up to do!

As I sit waking up on the couch, the sound of the traffic outside is amplified by the water on the road. Yep, it's that time of the year. Last week was a bit chilly, but gorgeous. Just a few days later the forecast is rain each day with temps in the sixties. This week also marks our fifth anniversary in Oregon and, I have to confess, I am less enthusiastic about the oncoming wet season than usual. I really could've used another solid week of sunshine...

Oh, snap!

New Sufjan. This ain't your Grandpa's beat-infused jazzy folk.

I'm losing it...

Katie's been out-of-town at a workshop since Tuesday. It's always the same. The first few days, I've got enough work, school, etc to keep me busy. After about day four, I get a little loopy. By day five, I'm googling "Hilarious Pictures" to keep my morale up (see below). This is the kind of thing that keeps me sane...which is probably a sign that it's far too late.



I want my wife back.

Ch-Ch-Changes

Yep, this is going to be another one of those posts...the type where we play catch-up from being off the blogger grid for months. Not sure how much folks really blog anymore, though. Have they fallen out-of-favor with the latest facetweet thingamajig?

Well, in brief, we're good. Katie's just started her third year at her school and has already sold a few hundred tickets for her show schedule this year. She's enjoyed a jet-setting summer of seeing old friends and quality time with family.

I suppose I'm the one in the season of change these days. I'm winding down my second year at the energy firm and have decided to give in to the nagging desire to return to teaching. I've been considering the move for the last couple of years and, as I'm finishing business school, I thought it best to just knock out the Oregon licensing process as well (which is quite grueling - interestingly enough, I can teach community college before high school). So, I'm leaving my 50-60 hour work weeks at the firm and have accepted a more-manageable one-year contract with my previous employer. I've got three more classes to complete my MBA and will complete my Master's in Teaching via night courses and a stint of student teaching. I'm exhausted just writing about it.

I've been getting tons of questions from people at work regarding the "why" behind teaching. Ironically, it was an economic principle goaded me toward a return to the classroom. Technically speaking, opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative forgone as the result of making a decision. What this basically tries to discern is whether or not you are doing the best you can with your current resources (i.e. time, money, etc.) and that a more valuable opportunity is not passing you by in the meantime. After years of missing the classroom, I started seeking out seasoned male educators and begged them to talk me out of the crazy idea, only to be met with sober, balanced encouragement. I've been spending more time auditing classes and helping with productions at Katie's school, only to find the desire growing to get back in the game. While there's no shame in being an accountant, I can't shake the gut-feeling that I'm foregoing an opportunity that, for me, may be a better investment of my energies. Now the only issues is that I gotta find a way to ratchet up the embezzling during my last week if I ever want that beach house on a teacher's salary.

I'll do my best to try to blog a bit more often. I'd really like to be more consistent with that.