Jaded

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I've been fleet management for 17 years now. During that entire time I have heard the call for alternate fuels, been forced to spend tax dollars on half baked experiments with alternate fuel vehicles, received mandates, heard promises. At this point in time my outlook is not very optimistic. (where are the flying cars I was promised as a kid) I think I may have stumbled into some wisdom that is escaping many. There is a question Why can we not solve this problem and the simple answer is that we really don't want to.



The internal combustion engine is 100 years old (give or take a few years) we have refined it, retooled it and made it better but at its core its still ancient technology by our standards. In every other field in industry we do not rely on technology as old as the internal combustion engine. If this clip doesn't prove anything else it proves that it really does not matter who is in power until we want the problem really solved it wont be.

cleaning the stream

Roughly 10 years ago I was having a conversation with my boss. We were discussing how we were leaving the information age and entering in the blur age. Information came at us so fast and so often that it was all a blur. Since then social networks, twitter, rss feeds, blogs, and many other things have come into play. All of these things spit information at us faster than anything did 10 years ago. I got sucked into it all and while trying to get as many face book friends and twitter followers as I could I created my own information overload. So its time to clean my data stream and slow the flow.

Hyphothises vs reality

I am studding Macro Economics right now and I really enjoy the class. Many people don't realize that Economics is considered a social science and not part of the business college or the math department. The unfortunate thing is that many economists act like economics is a physical science with math and absolute laws and answers instead of theories and models that predict general behavior.

Its funny to see the kids in class argue with the instructor why he is wrong and then prove him right with their arguments. We just recently were covering consumption and the instructor stated that people make their consumption decision based on their current income and their expected future income. Many of the students could not wrap their heads around that one. One went so far as to argue that he was uncertain about his future job prospects so he was not consuming more based on his future income. Of course he just proved the point, because his future was uncertain he was making a different consumption decision.

The fun part about discussing theories and models is the outliers and discovering why they do not follow the norm, for me that is where the rubber meets the road.

Coach

Since with school and work I did not have enough to do(sarcasm) I also volunteered to be an assistant coach for Kyle's football team. This really was not in the plan for this year, and I was kind of looking forward to be a father on the sidelines for this season. (I have not done that with my boys yet Ive always been a coach) There were 50 kids in Kyle's age group which translates into 2 teams, the league had only had coaches for one. So what is a father to do when his kids team only has one coach that can be present at the game. (at least I don't have to be the head coach)


I really love coaching football helping kids learn a grow is very rewarding and there are few things that change a boy like a football season will. With school I have to miss more practices than I would like which is hard on me.

I've always heard that if you want something done ask a busy person maybe I should try to be less busy.

FAQ's

When you spend time with technology you often have to consult Frequently asked Questions (FAQ's) regularly. Since I started school I have been asked several questions over and over again so I thought I should create my own FAQ for school

Q: What are you going to get your degree in?
A: Economics

Q: Why Economics?
A: Several reasons

1. Micro and Macro economics were really fascinating to me and I wanted to study the subject further.


2. The degree fits with my current job and experience as well as anything


3. At my age MBA's are a dime a dozen so a BS in management does not really help me stand out in the job market.

Q: Why Now?

A: There are doors that will not open to me unless I have a Bachelors, and because my employer values eduction. Also I would like to finish college before my oldest starts.

Q: When do you have time to study

A: Short answer generally during the time I use to play video games. (I have found a way to mix gaming back in but I do not have time like I use to)

Q: When will you graduate?

A: If I can keep a pace of 9 hours per semester and if I take classes next summer than I will be finished Fall 2012.

Thanks for all of the encouragement and well wishes from family and friends.

Hi Ho Hi Ho its back to school I go

So realizing that it has been almost a year since I updated my blog, I decided I should either update it or eliminate it. I could not bring myself to do the latter so here I am.

I am playing a new game right now. Its called the "I think I need a bachelors degree" game I've been thinking about going back to school for a couple of years now (well, really since I started working at the U) Life just kept getting in the way. An opportunity opened up late spring and I decided I should grab it. I really want to be done before my oldest graduates from High School.

If I had really been on top of it and blogged while I was going through the process you would have been able to read all about my adventures as I started summer semester. Since I was not allow me to summarize.

A: Text books are still a rip off.
B: College kids think they are really smart... they are not... and they think they know all about the real world.... they don't
C: Discussions are far more interesting when you are the same age or older than your professor
D: I care about grades more than I did when I was in school before. This is a real irony because as my brother pointed out I could be on the C's get degrees track since it is unlikley that anyone is going to be looking at my transcripsts.
E: I really need to learn to speed read

I finished summer semester with a 3.8 and I am pretty proud of that, my GPA was never that high in my past. My kids are enjoying turning the tables and asking me if my home work is done and if I am really doing the best that I can. When I got 2 A-'s on my report card Ashley said "dad Im not going to beat you up for an A- but was that really the best you could do?"

I am finishing the 2nd week of fall semester now and I'll try to post more frequently from now on.