One Hundred Twenty-First Entry

I want to go to Grad School

I have been wanting to go to grad school since my job started causing me more stress and boredom than it should, and that was about five months ago(if any of you ever work for government of any kind, you will see it is a feast or famine type situation.) I haven't been too serious about it until about two months ago and started thinking more heavily about it. I think the push came when I saw Micah walking at her grad school graduation in Boston. How cool would that be to be called Dr. Toste? Pretty cool.

There are several problems with me going to grad school:

- My undergrad grades are shit.
- I have no rapport with any of my past professors.
- I have no experience in anything other than Civil Engineering, and that is not what I would like to get a Master's in.

The only viable solution I can see now is to just start over in a new field of study. Should I ever desire to do so, I have decided in four disciplines:

- Chemistry,
- Bio-Chemistry,
- Genetics (or Genetic Engineering,)
- Construction Management.

For all of these (except probably CM,) I would need to start all over. Chemistry would be ideal...did I ever tell you guys about the time I made H2 and O2 out of water and some wires and almost blew up my house? Fun stuff.

If I were to go into a new Bachelor's program, I would need to quit my job, move back home and go to school full time if I wanted to get done ASAP. And after tasting complete personal, mental and economic freedom for the first time in my life, I don't think I would enjoy living at home again. It would be OK for the first few weeks, but not for much longer. Another option would be to stay local and take my time getting my degree(s) by taking only night classes. Its not like I need to have a life for another 10 years. I've been doing fine without one 'til now.

Hmmmm....I just thought of this one...another option would be to go to grad school at Fresno State or San Diego State or some other school with weak grad programs where they wouldn't care as much about my low, low grades. I must check this out.

I want to get my Professional Engineer's License

This requires another year and two months patience and study. Like I have said countless times: I need two years engineering experience under 3 or 4 licensed engineers to qualify for the test. Jane was telling me about the 2 day exam today at work. I got a little worked up about it. Both scared and excited about it.

I, now more than ever, know that after I get my license I am getting out of here. No more Tulare, no more Central Valley, no more California (for a while anyway.) I am really going to try and get a job either up north (Washington), somewhere in the northeast (Boston, Providence, Philly), or abroad (Europe, Australia, South America). After my brief stint as roving CE, I could then settle down into heavy studying for a Masters.

The idea of being a registered CE is cool. It would be cool to be employable anywhere in the country. It is kind of like the final step on the CE ladder. I don't know that it is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but the sense of accomplishment would be with me forever.


I guess none of these things would make me truly happy. But I could sure buy a helluva lotta stuff with the huge salary that comes with all this stuff.