So I think to myself, “There seems to be a disproportionate amount of clothing lines that start with a vowel.”

Let’s see. There’s Abercrombie & Fitch, Arora, Adidas, American Eagle, Old Navy, Armani, Arizona Jean Co., ukanbeu, Arrow, U.S. Polo Association, John Ashford Essentials

On the non-vowel side there is Nike, Banana Republic, Levi’s, Calvin Klein, The North Face, City Streets, Brandini, Wrangler, Soup Diner, Haggar, Ferruche, Pierre Carde, Triumph, Cactus Clothing, Bugle Boy, Van Heusen.

That’s an 11:16 ratio.

I present this as conclusive evidence that names beginning with vowels are catchy, which may explain the rampant popularity of names such as “Agnieszka.”

I have updated all posts (2) referring to "PHD"' and replaced it with the cooler-looking (and correct) "PhD."

There'll be a lot more twists and turns before my career path is decided. Who knows where I will end up, in more ways than one.

How about Va. Tech? Or U of Michigan? Or Cornell. Berkley. Purdue. Oregon State. Or maybe we'll forsake the IE/OR thing altogether and go to grad school for a math degree. Or Stats. Or philosophy. Or music.

I was thinking about it this morning, I feel real pressure to conform to the practical. It's certainly not overt pressure, no one's ever said anything. Except...

Let me interrupt that thought with another one that only sort of relates, and that is this: mom's afraid that the further I pursue my education the longer it will take me to get married! She's so funny.

Anyway...who's to say that my place isn't as a prof somewhere whose only job is to think theoretically and who couldn't solve a real problem if it came and presented itself as blaring music in my face! That's what one of my profs said about this one school and the people they churn out. Except in a little different language.

I have certain tendencies toward the theoretical. However, I also have a desire to apply my knowledge in the field. That's why a Master's degree sort of sounds more attractive in some ways than a Doctorate.

The thing about a PhD is that your job options are so limited. A few teaching positions and a few high-level positions at huge companies.

I'm going to commit this to God. I'll talk to people about it too, but I don't think any amount of advice can make a decision like this for me. It's not a matter of right and wrong, although I'm sure there are principles that could be applied. I need to supplicate, fast, immerse myself in Him and let Him direct.

Definition of ethical dilemma: a problem in which there is no "right" answer.

Basically, a true ethical dilemma is one in which you have to choose between two (or more) imperfect solutions.

Very interesting. Should you keep the Sabbath (Sunday) or keep the Golden Rule, if you can't do both?

Tough.

Sort of reminds me of...what was that? Oh yeah.

An ethical dilemma.

We are writing one huge, cool program in C for our research project. It's going to be so cool.

I'm so glad I'm working with a programmer.

It's surprising, though, that even with my limited programming skills how much I still feel involved in the program. He takes care of the syntax, we both help with the logic, and I write in my little notebook. I like to think of it as documentation.

Wild day today.

Satisfying in parts, confusing in others. Even some awkwardness.

Where should I go to Grad School? Should I get my PhD?

Programming...

Programmers are smart.

I'm not a programmer.

I've never considered myself very good at small talk. In fact, in many situations I'm downright poor.

But when there's a situation in which it would be appropriate to initiate a conversation with someone I don't know, more often than not it seems, I initiate it.

Maybe that's not true, but it seems like it.

However, I don't initiate those kind of conversations very often.

I sort of get the feeling, from reading the psalms, that God wants what's best for us.

No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Ps. 84:11b.

When I'm insecure about my future this summer ("wouldn't it be great to have an internship at Starbucks?"), I'm simply not trusting in God's goodness. If I did, I'd realize that with Him guiding me, with Him at the controls, I can't go wrong.

I really can't go wrong.

I wonder if blogs are inherently selfish in a way. Think about it, this journal is all about me.

Yeah, yeah, it all comes down to my attitude about it.

I composed this Sunday evening sitting in the airport. I wasn't able to post it until now.


I'm watching people at the airport and I wonder what they're like, where
they're going.

Here comes a bald, bearded man carrying a red jacket and one bag. He looks like
the outdoors type, long and once lean, though the years may have added something
extra to his middle. Maybe he's a forestry instructor at a local Community
College. Or maybe he's a lumber mill foreman from the Northwest that was here
to see his children that live with their mom.

There goes a man without glasses in a suitcoat. He has a single book in his
hand. Maybe he has a sales job for a tobacco company in North Carolina and he
was just coming here to seal a deal. Or maybe he owns a small business that
makes signs.

Here's a well-dressed African-American woman in a uniform. Perhaps she is a
part of airport security, or maybe she's a pilot. I wonder if her life has been
a hard one. I wonder if her children love her. Maybe she found a Christian man
and they've been happily married for 28 years.

Here comes a couple of younger woman, one of whom is pushing a luggage cart.
They're trying to dress with style, but it comes off a little fake. I wonder if
they're college students. I wonder what they're greatest value is. Is it boys?
Clothes? Maybe it's Jesus.

There's a woman dressed in a striped blue and white sweater shirt. She's
walking tiredly, almost aimlessly, like she's been here for a while and is just
biding her time. She has sort of big hair. I wonder how many children she has.
Or if she's married. Why is she flying alone? Does she have a family waiting
eagerly to see her? Or is she working as a receptionist at a large corporation
in Portland, living alone and with not much hope of ever being happy. But maybe
she's got a great job, a supportive family, maybe she goes to church on the
weekend. And maybe going to church really means something to her. Maybe Christ
means something to her.

There's three people rushing, running by. A man and two women. I wonder what
they're rushing for. I wonder why it's important to them. Are they going home?
Vacation? Are they going to meet family?

People, thousands of people.

Ok, let's snap out of that. I'm in a sober mood, probably because I'm not
talking much right now. That tends to put a person into solemnity.

We got bumped. For only about a three hour delay we get a free ticket. Great
deal, this is a huge blessing.

Dr. Jensen curved the Manu Processes exam down quite a ways, so my 81 turned into a 90. And I'm optimistic about Work Design.

Honestly, it often happens that way. I worry myself silly thinking about my bombage of a test and it usually works itself out. I should learn a lesson, don't you think?

Worrying is a sin. If that's not a true statement, it's close.

Did I ever tell you that I stayed at school over 14 hours one day? That's scary, I'm almost living at school. At this rate, it would almost be worth it to live on or close to campus.

This from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maybe the best thing I've seen discussing/defining the Operations Research field: Operations Research Analyst

And throw this one in for good measure: Industrial Engineering

These are fields I could easily end up in.

Some of the very funniest people I know are those who are completely no-nonsense most of the time. I have this professor. All business. Treats us like adults, doesn't mess around, not the type you'd just walk up and joke with because you'd be afraid that he might not get the joke (he almost seems naive in some ways).

But when he does break from his usual demeanor and make a crack about something, it's enough to make me shake with laughter.

And he's a great teacher.

New subject. Question: when you do something embarrassing, should you get embarrassed? I've had this discussion with AHQ before, and I tend to think that in most cases when you do or say something stupid, optimally you can laugh at yourself and keep the outward signs of embarrassment to a minimum. But then, embarassment communicates something to you. It signals to you whether what you just did was appropriate or not and might give you a clue as to what you should do about it.

I've melted down with embarrassment many times. It's not fun at all.

With that being said, I'll give you two examples that happened to me today. Very embarrassing situations, but I didn't get overly embarrassed--at least outwardly--by them. No meltdowns.

1. I was wandering over to the administration building to get some paperwork difficulties straightened out. I knew the room I wanted (Human Resources, Kerr 204) but I didn't know exactly where it was. In my cloud of confusion, I didn't think particularly clearly. I went to the ground floor, saw a window that had something to do with "Payroll", went up to it, and asked if this was Human Resources, pointing out to the lady that I wanted Kerr 204.

She looked at me, smiled, and said, Kerr 204 is on the second floor. "You know, 2, second." Well, yeah. I should have known that. I just smiled, and said, oh yeah, that's it, right, thanks.

2. This was even worse. I was exulting over the fact that Jensen had curved our exam down, and without thinking it through I said something about curves being beautiful things to one of my friends, with another (hi Jenni) right there. Ouch. As soon as I said it, I realized they might not be getting what I was really meaning, so I quickly, quickly, started talking. I was embarrassed.