Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Steps & Progress
Yesterday, I issued an offer of employment to hire a new full-time researcher. That brings the staff to seven (four full time). The two current projects are proceeding. New opportunities have been coming up, for which I expect to prepare proposals.
Though I took the steps myself to get where I am today, like wandering in unfamiliar woods, it's hard to recall just how the path took shape. I have believed that circumstances are not immutable, that we can rise above or alter the conditions we are given. Somehow, along the way, I have done just that (at least for now).
I am comfortable, happy, still in love with my wife and delighted by my children. I am well on the way to paying off the remainder of our student loans, and beginning to save for retirement again.
Severe thunderstorm warning. Watch for lightning!
Though I took the steps myself to get where I am today, like wandering in unfamiliar woods, it's hard to recall just how the path took shape. I have believed that circumstances are not immutable, that we can rise above or alter the conditions we are given. Somehow, along the way, I have done just that (at least for now).
I am comfortable, happy, still in love with my wife and delighted by my children. I am well on the way to paying off the remainder of our student loans, and beginning to save for retirement again.
Severe thunderstorm warning. Watch for lightning!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Values
What is it I value? Most of all: freedom, independence, respect. I think of Emerson's urging toward self-reliance.
I cook my own food, as much as possible from scratch. I tend a garden to provide fresh fruits and vegetables. I pickle my own cucumbers and cabbage, jar my own jams.
At present, I have budgetted to pay off our remaining $30,000 in student loans within the year. We own our car and our van. Our credit cards are paid off each month.
And yet, I am not quite free. I fantasize about opening a bagel shop with my family. What is it I'm running away from?
Work provides me with respect these days. It is exhilirating to pursue my own ideas to their logical ends. Sure, part of me laments that by rights I should still be an academic, with leisure to consider odd avenues of thought, contemplate how they fit into the jigsaw puzzle of problems and solutions, without the constant worry over where our next revenues will come from when the present projects end.
But then, I am happy where I am; happier most likely than I would have been. There is something challenging and positive in the need to focus on practical applications and the short fuse of funding that keeps us just that much on edge.
Yet, I still depend on others. Both for funding and for labor. At times the need for oversight and supervision is oppressing, time consuming, exhausting. But then, I don't really wish to do it all myself. There is drudgery and tedium in getting to an end. I welcome the company along the way. And I trust and hope that my degree of involvement in their work will diminish over time.
I hope!
I cook my own food, as much as possible from scratch. I tend a garden to provide fresh fruits and vegetables. I pickle my own cucumbers and cabbage, jar my own jams.
At present, I have budgetted to pay off our remaining $30,000 in student loans within the year. We own our car and our van. Our credit cards are paid off each month.
And yet, I am not quite free. I fantasize about opening a bagel shop with my family. What is it I'm running away from?
Work provides me with respect these days. It is exhilirating to pursue my own ideas to their logical ends. Sure, part of me laments that by rights I should still be an academic, with leisure to consider odd avenues of thought, contemplate how they fit into the jigsaw puzzle of problems and solutions, without the constant worry over where our next revenues will come from when the present projects end.
But then, I am happy where I am; happier most likely than I would have been. There is something challenging and positive in the need to focus on practical applications and the short fuse of funding that keeps us just that much on edge.
Yet, I still depend on others. Both for funding and for labor. At times the need for oversight and supervision is oppressing, time consuming, exhausting. But then, I don't really wish to do it all myself. There is drudgery and tedium in getting to an end. I welcome the company along the way. And I trust and hope that my degree of involvement in their work will diminish over time.
I hope!
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