So, I apologize in advance for the mass email, and some of the emails pre-/post- election. I've been meaning to send everyone an update on what's going on with my life. This will be my last mass email for a little while. I'm going to re-start my blog at www.explodingcow.com/~jonah. I'll post updates there, if you still want to get email updates, etc... send me an email and I'll set something up.
I'm currently sitting at one of my favorite corners in one of my favorite cities (Leavenworth and Sutter, in San Francisco), and I figured now would be as good a time as any to finish this email.
-- School --
I just finished Autumn quarter at the University of Cincinnati. I'm a senior and I'm on track to graduate with a B.S. in Computer Engineering on June 11th (181 days, not that I'm counting). School, well, college at least, has been a long journey for me, and I'm ready for it to be complete. I've currently got a 2.8 GPA, and barring some fundamental change in the laws of mathematics, that's probably what I'll have in June. I have come to totally hate GPAs, and grades in general. I know that given that I've got a 2.8GPA I probably have very little credibility on this matter. I just think it's hard to distill my entire ability and experience into a single number, and yet I can't tell you how many companies that I've spoken to who basically slam the door when they hear that my GPA is less than 3.0. As much as there is a part of me that thinks this is just their loss because I'll find a job regardless, I also think it is fundamentally unfair. I also look around me in my classes and I know that the people that have the most skill are not often the ones that are getting the best grades. There has to be a better way to evaluate people than the grading system that we use now. Well, ten years after I started, and with seven years of attending classes under my belt. I'll graduate on June 11. I do plan on going to graduate school eventually, either to get my MBA or to continue with a graduate level engineering degree, but I'll be happy to be done with school, at least for a little while.
-- Work --
I'm currently working for a Bay Area startup called Media Monster. There's not much I can tell everyone about this at the moment, but it's exciting and I'm having a great time working with an awesome crew. I'm also working for Apple as a Campus Sales Rep at UC, not that interesting, but it's work, and it's for Apple. Next quarter I might get a bartending job to supplement my income. Life is expensive.
-- Personal --
There are a few things that I've been involved in lately that have really had a profound impact on my life.
The first is Burning Man. Burning Man is a festival that's held each year in the Nevada desert. Last year there were about 35,000+ people there. Burning Man itself is huge and no paragraph here can explain the scope of the event. There have been books written on it, but for those of you who want a greater understanding of the event you can go here: www.burningman.com. I just want to tell you about how the event has impacted me personally. To me Burning Man has been a chance to meet and connect with an amazing group of people. I was lucky enough to have the chance to be taken to Burning Man by my high school mentor, Nick DeWolf in 2003. While I was there I met up with a group of people known as the Lamplighters. Without going into too much detail, Burning Man takes place in a temporary city in the Black Rock Desert. The city exists for only the one week of the festival and the Lamplighters are charged with lighting the city every night (no matter what). Because the city is temporary there is no power grid (or at least not much of one, and certainly not one for street lamps). The Lamplighters use over 700 kerosene lanterns to light the major streets of the city. Every day all of the lanterns need to be collected, cleaned, re-wicked, re-fueled, re-lit, and hung on spires throughout the city. It is an awesome job requiring around 130 volunteers each night. These volunteers are led by "Luminaries". My first year at Burning Man I volunteered to be one of the Lamp Lighters, and this past year (2004) I was a Luminary myself, actually I was somewhat of a luminary coordinator. It was an extremely demanding but also extremely rewarding and gratifying experience. I am planning on taking on more responsibility next year, and I hope to go to Black Rock City about a month before the event to be part of the set up crew. Much of this depends on what's going on with work at the time, but we'll see. (lamplighter picture images.burningman.com/index.cgi?image=18287 )
The second is politics. I spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort in to the 2004 election. I'm in a little bit of a hibernation state right now on this, but I'm still actively involved in the College Democrats at the University of Cincinnati. Right now we are working on the 2005 mayors race in Cincinnati as well as looking forward to the 2006 midterm elections. Besides this we've got to keep up the fight for our civil liberties, and against ignorance. There is a strong possibility that Bush will nominate at least one supreme court justice and it's critical that progressives are ready and primed to fight on this one. On a side-note, Bush has nominated Alberto Gonzalez to be the next Attorney General. I'd like to say that nobody can be worse than Ashcroft, Gonzalez was the guy that called the Geneva Convention "quaint". Since I've totally lost all faith in the Senate Democrats on this issue I'm really praying that some of the Republicans (John McCain?) will have the balls to stand up and say something about this during his confirmation hearings. Part of me is just really glad that after I graduate I can move out of the pathetic, small-minded, fat, ugly, conservative city of Cincinnati to a a Blue state (any blue state) where people actually have some sort of greater world view. None the less... I will probably end up working in Cincinnati (or somewhere similar) in the run-up to the 2008 elections.
Just to head of the inevitable questions, no, I don't have a girlfriend, etc at the moment. I'm concentrating on graduating, and on getting the f*** out of Cincinnati, that's enough for now.
-- Coda --
My life is somewhat consumed with the unceasing march towards 11 June 2005. I'm planning some sort of graduation party, and since I'd never ask any friend to journey to the insipid cesspool that is Cincinnati, I want to do it somewhere else. Right now the most popular candidate is Las Vegas, although I'm open to other suggestions.
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