New Job Saves Carbon

I have been at my new job for six weeks now (and am loving it!). In my old job I had to commute 52 miles south five days a week and 52 miles back north to get home (with occasional trips to Boston, another 92 miles each way). My wife meanwhile commuted 50 miles east every morning with a return trip back each night. Together we put over 200 miles on our cars every day!

I was able to cut my carbon output in the summer by riding my Kymco Scooter which gets 75 mpg. Of course, if it was raining or after September that option was out. It works out that between the two of us we used about 45 gallons of gas a week (my car gets about 25 and hers 20).

Well with the new job I now go to almost the same place as she does (4 miles apart) so we have been driving my car and riding together almost every day. We also discovered a back road route that only takes 10 minutes more in driving but is 10 miles shorter (plus we drive slower and now get 27 mpg on my car!). Our fuel consumption has dropped to only 15 - 16 gallons a week! That's 30 gallons less and a lot less carbon.

So why this rant? Well, it's about that old idea, car pooling. What ever happened to car pooling? It works and it saves. Granted my wife an I are the perfect couple for car pooling but still, why not resurrect the program for car pooling but this time put some teeth into it. Maybe make it a state program with tax incentives? Why not offer a special speed pass/ fast lane that lets car poolers ride free on toll roads?

Car pooling is not easy, it takes effort to find someone, to coordinate every day with car use, etc. but it could make a tremendous difference.

All hands on deck!

Home projects. Two weeks ago my wife and I decided to go ahead with the planned addition of a raised deck on our house. We have been without a deck since 2004 when we tore down the old one to make room for the sunroom we built. As an interim I put a few pavers down so the grill wouldn't sink into the mud during the rains. Now, we are back at building.

I want to make it clear when I say "we are building" I really mean that. We didn't hire anyone to put the four-season sunroom on and we aren't hiring out the addition of the deck work either. All this means a lot of back-breaking work. From digging the five-foot deep post holes for the concrete pillars, mixing and pouring the concrete, to lugging the twelve-foot long 2 by 10 treated beams. Along with all this work comes the various scapes and bruises common to such labor.

So this deck is nearly complete. I can now walk on about 1/3 of it. Today I will continue the tedious process of laying the floor boards across the joists. We decided to use a hardwood called Ipe (pronounced "ee-pay") with hiddent screws. Ipe has a hardness rating of 3,600 lbs compared to treated lumber's 690 lbs. What this translates to for me is that everything is harder to do. Cutting takes longer, drilling takes longer (and wears out the blades and bits faster too). The hidden fasteners (Ipeclip) work well but using them means preparing the board with a bisquit cutter before laying the board down. In other words, it will look great but it takes a long time to get there!

Someone asked me why we don't pay someone to do this. My first response is "because we have three kids in college!" But in reality part of it is the satifaction of doing it ourselves. Yes, I ache from the work (but I am also losing a little weight and toning up). Yes, it takes longer to get it done (but I am my own boss and can make adjustments to the process as we go, like where I have to put the downspouts from the roof). I guess the real answer is that when it is done, we will have done it ourselves (or in the case of the deck, I will have done it since I worked on this one alone).

"When God closes one door, She often opens a window."

There's a lot to be said for changes. Changes force us to reevaluate the choices we have made. They cause fear, uncertainty and doubt about ourselves. They add stress to seemingly simple choices. Such was the case towards the end of April when my employer and I had a disagreement about what my role was and would be in the future resulting in my unplanned departure from their employment.

And so began my search for a new place to work. Working with my wife (and life partner) I began the process of searching for a new job. We had both agreed that it was time in my life to focus on what I wanted to do with the remaining work years. We also have three kids in college next year so the dire finances also provided framing for my efforts.

It took me one day short of one month to get an offer from a company that I believe will provide me with both requirements, doing what I want to do and a good enough pay to cover the costs. I wont be making a fortune but then I am not that interested in having a lot of money. I am interested in doing well and working well. My new job is with a manufacturing company that has been around for almost four-hundred years. I'll be leading a data warehouse effort. It means I'll be working closer to the technology than I have been in my recent jobs but that is something I wanted to do. The reflection process pointed that out to me.

I should start there any day (they have to run a drug screen and a criminal background check). Until that time I am catching up on the various projects around the house and studying for the new job.

The Big Day! UMass Gradutation

This is Staurday, May 26th, 2007 and in just a few hours I will complete a step in a jouney I began way too many years ago. Starting at 12:30pm I'll be in the stadium at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (along with several thousand others) for my college graduation. I am only 30 years late for this ceremony but as the saying goes, "better late than never." It took three and a half years of hard work, studying, attending classes, homework, and sweating the exams to get to this day. The big question as always is "was it worth it?"

As the title of my blog suggests, I have no answers only personal expereinces. So for me, yes it has been worth the effort. What it has meant is the completion of something, something that is not just recognized by me, but also by others. Will I get a new job and earn lots more money? Well, not likely (although I did just get a new job). I say this because I already had a job and was earning a pretty good wage.

Would I recommend this for anyone else to do? Yes and no. If you want to finish something you started, and do it only for you then yes. If you want to learn, really learn, and understand the work of learning then yes also.

So, it's about 9am and the house is stirring. It is occupied by my "support team." My wife and kids (and my neighbors too) who provided patience and support during my crazy hours, who gave up weekends away because I had homework. We are getting ready for the big day and I thank them all.