Holidays

So I came home this Christmas

It is good to be home every now and then

Saw family and friends

Had cheer with the near and dear

I Graduated from CSU Sacramento

That was fun

Not what I was expecting

Still has not sunk in yet

I now start working full-time at County

I am still an intern and can stay for one year

I do not know if I would like to stay there

Maybe for a couple years

I would like to experience GIS in other fields

Planing would be primo

City use would be too

I want to see what else it is used for

My knowledge is little

I know how to use it for Drainage

But how to use it in a planning sense

This I do not know

I've been applying

Have heard from none

How many applications must I send

Until I hear from one?

Maybe this is how it goes

I know my experience is next to none

So if I stay longer

Have more time there

Maybe I will hear back from more

Stay for 6 more months?

Start applying again in 6 months?

Oh what to do what to do

Coffee Shop

So it is late
Well for some maybe not
But for me it is as of late
I think most of us in University
Can relate to this feeling
Especially once we get toward the end

I swear it does not feel that long
5 years in college
Feels like I just moved up here yesterday
And now it may all end
Am I ready?

This I do not know
For part of me is not
I like going to class
Seeing familiar faces
Professors that I like

To enter the real world is scary
Being a intern has prepared me a bit
But not as much as I'll need
I am scared
I do not want to fail

I am on the hunt
Looking for jobs
Applying to jobs
Waiting and wishing
Hoping and Praying that I'll get the call

That call to come on down
Go in the game
To collect my prize
To get my just due
To start anew again

But so far nothing
Just waiting
And waiting
And worrying
Will I be wanted?

My skills are limited
I know the basics
But is that enough
Some want more
Some are vague

I hope that I will get that call
I will get that chance
That someone finds me worthy
Worthy of working for them
I hope I hope

The Casual Update...

So as of late I have not really had time to write
I write here and there but I am getting more into it
Writing is a way to release ones self
A way to put onto paper or in this case
Electronic “paper” your thoughts and feelings

I had been applying to jobs and have heard nothing yet
This is to be expected seeing as how most are public sector jobs
I expect them to take a week or two until I heard anything
But the ones that are private sector I heard nothing
Why worry right?

I figure private sector jobs would be faster in response
But again I may just be in patient in my pursuit
One must wait but I do not want to end up a college grad
With no real job prospects

I can stay at County for a bit after I graduate
But I do not want to stay forever as an intern
My job prospects there are small
There are no current offerings in my field
Though I have applied for 3 other that I may be able to do

I have sent about eight to ten applications out
Most to local or state government
Some to consultant firms
Still waiting
Waiting…waiting…waiting

I find other job prospects out of state
But they are that
Out of state
I cannot just up and move at this point in time

Would I want is the next question
Expensive to move
Renting a place on the blind
New city…well that I do not mind
But again expenses that I have no money for at the moment

I prefer to stay in state and in Northern California for the time being
Out of state job would have to be pretty interesting to me
Or it will be due to lack of prospects here
But again…
Expenses

I like to California too much
I saw a job in Honolulu
Paid moving expenses
45k-60k a year

Hawai’i
How could I pass this up?
Easy answer
Simple really
Love

If it is there in 3-4 months from now
And I still have nothing found
Then I will go for it
Paradise for a while

How can I pass it up then
2500 miles away from family
But near family I hardly know
New family to connect with
New Memories to make

Again…would I want to go?
This I do not know

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I have a surprise for Thanksgiving
It is a “small” surprise
But what first comes to mind is not that
Nor will it ever be
For the foreseeable future

But a surprise I have
One that will be a whopper
Only Me, Myself and I know what it is
It starts with a C

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So I looked at a iMac yesterday
If you buy it now
It does not come with Leopard installed
But they give you the CD to do it

Bah!
I do not want to do it myself
Why should I?
I know I know
But my dad said the same thing

So I’ll do like him and wait till it comes with it already installed
I knowing doing it yourself is not a big deal
But eh…
You never know what you can mess up

And I would want to play with it right away
Not sit and wait for hours for it to install
I like my iBook
But I want a desktop as well
Something more up to date

My iBook is great for school
And for traveling
She does me good
And I love her for that

But you know
Once you go Mac you never go back
A desktop would be nice
Got to have one of each
Laptop and Desktop

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The fight on obesity...

This fight has gotten very ridiculous
I was watching the news from yesterday
NBC Nightly News to be exact
And they had a story on how some school are banning
Now get this
Cupcakes!

This girl was making cupcakes for her class birthday party
Now when we were kids
Who did not bring in cupcakes
Or some delicious treats
But to ban them at certain schools...

I mean come on
It's only a cupcake
The line has to be drawn
And I am drawing it
------------------------
Boo yah!

Yes I agree that some foods should be limited
Yes I agree that kids are not getting the exercise they need
Yes I agree food nowadays has become this fast on the go type
But parents and knowledgeable kids must take some responsibility

Do not feed your kids McDonalds or some variant of that
I do not care how long your day may have been
It is your responsibility as a parent
To do right by your kid

Also...
Kids also need to take some responsibility
By the time you are in Middle or High school
You should know what you should or should not eat
It is not that hard to realize that fast food everyday is not good

But this is a reflection of our nation
A nation that has become lazy and fat
Lazy due to the technology we have
Fat due to the money we have

People never talk to one another anymore
No, it is so much easier to do that over the Internet
To people we do not know
To people we can be someone different with

No one does hard work anymore
Why do it when you do not have to?
When you can hire someone to do it
That seems to be the ever prevalent attitude today

We would rather sit in front of a computer or tv playing video games
Playing games that you could go outside and play
I find it absolutely absurd that one plays football or basketball video games
When you can just walk outside and play for real

Ok so I have gone off on another tangent
One that is linked in a way but is not
My gripe was with how absurd this war
War on Obesity has become

Yes we need to do more to curb the weight problem
That this country is going trough
But somethings just should not be touched
Should be left in place

For goodness sake
It is just a cupcake

And reality sets in

It has or is starting to hit me
That in a couple months
Well actually 6 weeks
I will be graduating

Now what?

That is the question that I and others ask
What am I going to do?
Where am I going to be?
Will I have a job?
God I hope so

It has been hard to find a GIS job
Most I find are out of state
In places I do not wish to go
Or are for people with way more experience

I have found some Planner positions
I am filling out an application with County
I hope the fact that I am a intern there will help me
But it is not guaranteed

Most Planner jobs I find are back in the Bay
God that would be a hella of a commute
Sac to the Bay
I'd take the train
Or live at home during the week

But I do not want to leave her up here
All by herself
I do not think I could do it
Emotionally
Mentally

So now what?
I wish I had an answer
Wish I had a clue
But for now
...?

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So an update on my life
Got my car back
My old car
My fav car
My integra

Amy's brother fixed it
Well he thinks he solved the problem
I trust his abilities
His knowledge
So far it works fine

Starts up everytime
Starts up on a dime
Do you like my ryhme?

I am sorry for that digression

Yes my integra is back with me
Oh how I missed her so
She may not be the cleanest car
Or one that would make your head turn
But she's been mine since 2001

I just cannot let go of her
So many memories
So much fun
I do not think I'll ever get rid of her

I hope she keeps working
I will call it a success come December
If nothing bad happens by then
Then success

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My golf swing has gotten bad
I was doing so great
Then all of the sudden
BAAM!!! now I am like a rookie again

I do not know why
I think it is a mental problem
I need to get to the range

Class is good and all
But maybe I am trying to hard
To hard to be the best

I shall see today if I am better
Try and figure out what is going on
Because I truly do not know why

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END

Let's be GREEN

How many of you take care of your house?
How many of you are disgusted when your house is a mess?
For those that are
Then why is it so hard to clean up our enivronment
It does not take much
Really

Is it so hard to drive a little less
To take public transportation
To carpool with people
To walk or bike instead of drive

For alot of people it apparently is

Our society has become so dependen on the automobile
I mean look at how much larger and larger people are becomming
Look at when the automobile was introduced
Then look at when obeseity started to rise
I bet you would find a interesting correlation

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I digress though from the original point
I am not here to point out reasons why people are large
I am here to adress the concern for our environment
Our Home called Earth

People people can you hear me?
The time to act is now!
The temperatures!
Thems arisin!

You cannot ignor the facts
The facts that there is more CO2 in the atmosphere than before
The fact that the temperature is warmer than it has been in centuries
The ice in the artic is shrinking and will be no more in decades to come

Do you want to see Polar Bears go extinct?
Do you want to see the current in the North Atlantic go dormant?
What do you mean dormant?

I mean is that as more fresh water ice (melting glaciers of Greenland) enters the Atlantic
The current that brings warmer water and temperatures to Europe will stop
This will cause a drastic drop in temperatures
Temporarily causing a period of frezzing
Then will come a time or warming

Becomming so warm that parts of the world will be extremely hot
It is a future that can become true if we do nothing
I emplore you to do something
Even if it is as simple as recycling
Driving less
Walking or biking

I ask you not as a Geographer
Not as a envrinmentalist
But as a fellow member of this planet

I do not care how hip this may be in the media
We do not need people who want to be hip to jump on the bandwagon
We need people who care and want to save this planet for future generations
So join us in the fight to make this planet a place for future generations to grow up in
A place where they are not batteling horrific weather conditions
A place where they are no endless summers

Lets make it a place to enjoy
A place where people can live
A place that is better than what it is today
We owe it to this planet
With out it we would be no more

We all fall

Well, it is that time of the year again
The time of year where the leaves begin to change color
Where the skied start to turn grey
A time where we wonder how will this year end

Will it end with us being single?
Will we complete what we wanted to complete?
Or will it turn out to be a complete and ragged mess?
For some it will be a success and others it will not
So where will you end up?

For me I think this year will end on a good note
I will graduate this December
I will celebrate 3.5 years with Amy
And hopefully will have found a full time job
But time shall tell

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At the moment I am still working at County
Sacramento County that is as a Student Intern
I will admit I do not think that what I do know I could do forever
Yes I could do it for a few years
But not for long term

While it is interesting
It is not what I want to do
Atleast I think

I would like to try other aspects of GIS
Instead of just dealing with water drainage and hydrology
Do not get me wrong
What I do is important
I am currently making local flood plain maps for the whole county
Which if you know how many rivers and creek we have
It is no easy task

I like the people I work with
I like learning what I have and am learning
I am grateful for the opportunity I have been presented
But it is not something I cna envision myself doing long term

I would like to try out different areas of GIS
Say with planning be it environmental or urban
I would like to try it out with transportation as well
Or work for a agency where GIS is used for a multitude of things

I have started to look for jobs with other agencies
Unfortunately the openings at County are no longer posted
But this is expected and I could not have started right away
I still have not graduated
But still I liked the idea that they were available

-------- ------ -------- ---

I have looked for jobs with the City of Sacramento
They do have some but I am lacking in some of the requirements
Like 1-2 years of experience
My internship is not long enough
But I may get lucky

I have seen a few with the State of California
Some look more promising
But again nothing is for sure

San Francisco has a planner position
But again in a city as big and competitive
It will be a tough fight

I have also seen postings for other cities in the Bay
Ones for companies here in the Sacto Area and back in the Bay
Some look good and promsing
But seeing as how I am a good 2 months from graduating
I will have to hope that other ones are posted

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School so far has been going
Not the greatest start
But two of my classes this year are not major classes
So I have to get back into the habit of not analyzing things geographically
So long since I have written in a non analytical geographic standpoint
But fear not I should get B's and A's this semester...I hope

I should atleast get an A in golf
I actually have learned alot
I was never taught by a pro
I just picked up tips from friends and family
My shots are more consistent and straighter then ever before

I want to get down to the range
But at the moment that is not possible
Soon I hope though
Amy is taking it with me too
She's not bad...but could use improvement

I know I should not judge her
She's never been the athletic type
Which some may find shocking knowing me
You may have expected me to end up with a fellow jock maybe
But no, I fell in love with someone totally opposite

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Really she is
She grew up in the city
Two to be exact
Minneapolis and San Francisco

I grew up in the suburbs
Pleasanton baby
The good old East Bay

She's full blooded Chinese
I am half
She's first generation born American
I am 4th and 7th depending what side you look at

I am hot
She's not
Well she is
And I'm not
But I thought I'd give it a shot

I played sports most of my life
She never has and probably never will
She's bilingual
I am just bi-racial

She grew up economically challenged
I grew up economically well off to a degree
She's worked since she was 14
I have worked when I chose too

She hates me humor...but she still laughs
I say she has no humor...because she makes fun of me
She's girly
I am manly

There are so many differences that I do not wish to list
But the point is that we are very different
More than people know
But in the end our differences is what drew us together
It is what makes our relationship so interesting and dynamic and fun

Form our differences we have learned so many new things
Viewed the world in different ways
Experiences new things
And through it all
We still love each other
And as long as that is what we have in common
That is all that matters to me

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Sacramento is trying to change its image
She is trying to make herself over
She is trying to become a national city if not a world city
She is in the shadow of her big sisters' San Francisco and Los Angeles

She is trying to add new residential units downtown
Trying to capture and evoke that 24 hours living that her big sisters' do
She wants to not be looked past anymore
She wants to be noticed and wanted

Sacramento for all her rich and wonderful history
Cannot escape this shadow which she stands in
The outside world has a view of her
One which it cannot shake yet

The "Cowtown"
The "Hicktown"
The Government Town
The "Sacramento"

If people only knew what was going on
If they only knew the possibilities that lurk
If they only knew the people
If they only knew the culture

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Sacramento is not this "Cowtown" anymore
She is a city that is growing fast
1.2 million people live in the region
400 some odd thousand people live here

We have the biggest urban infill project in the country going on right now
We are capital of the 5th most power economy in the world
Yes, California the state is that powerful, USA you may thank us

Sacramento is changing for what I think is the better
We are changing our image
We are adding new high rise office buildings
Adding new venues
Adding new restaurants

We are the next place to be in 5-10 years
Housing is still affordable here
We see the mistakes of other areas
And try implement corrections here

Our population is one of the most diverse in the Nation
Our mix of class is one of the most diverse in the Nation
You have middle-class living right near or next to lower-class
We have three Universities in the area

We are changing for the better
We have plans for condo towers in the downtown core
Plans to make a huge new addition to downtown (the urban infill)
We have a good regional transit and bus system

We have the NBA kings
We have the Sacramento Rivercats (AAA baseball)
We sit on the confluence of the American and mighty Sacramento Rivers
We even have the Terminator

But I digress
Sacramento is the next big thing
She is comming of age
You may look at her big sisters now
But Sacramento my friend
Will catch your eye soon