–

The wind sounds only in opposing straits,
The sea, beside the shore; man’s spirit rends
Its quiet only up against the ends
Of wants and oppositions, loves and hates,
Where, worked and worn by passionate debates,
And losing by the loss it apprehends,
Its flesh rocks round, and every breath it sends,
Is ravelled to a sigh. All tortured states
Suppose a straitened place. Jehovah Lord,
Make room for rest, around me! Out of sight
Now float me, of the vexing land abhorred,
Till, in deep calms of space, my soul may right
Her nature; shoot large sail on lengthening cord,
And rush exultant on the Infinite.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

What is your favorite poem?

What do you think of Browning’s sailing metaphor in this poem?

• Faxed Resume to First Environment Inc.

Thursday

• Talked to Nadine, got several leads on hunting down jobs
• Went to a Government and Non-Profit Career Fair
• Attended a Schlumberger Information Session
• Missed a CIA Information Session
• Sent resume to Ithaca Engineer for critique

Up until Thursday I thought I had plateaued. I scheduled an interview with Tangibl for April 9th, but apart from that not much else had come through. Oh, except for a phone call for a CCO position that I still need to return. Oops!

But Thursday I got lots more information and leads to follow up on. I also realized that if I want a job I’ll have to work very hard and be persistent. I need to really want a job, and not take no for an answer. That means applying to jobs multiple times and employing my creative juices to making my resume and cover letter stand out.

What was the last thing you really wanted, worked hard for, and got? How did you end up getting it?

Thanks to Chesterton House for sending out the article!

What are your thoughts about Kristoff’s arguments?

What do you think about his concerns for “Snooty Liberals”?

Early to Bed, early to rise…yeah right.

Don’t get me wrong. We’d all be way more productive if we went to bed at 10 pm and got up at 6. You’re just more awake then. I didn’t make that up.

But given the college schedule, I prefer to go to bed at 11 pm to midnight, and punch back into the land of the living at 9 am. Then, it’s out the bed to the computer to get work done, maybe grab a bowl of cereal. By noon I’m showered, out of the house, and already productive.

An awesome weekend morning involves hanging out in pajamas, cleaning, and reading a sweet book at a coffeeshop. Then, a leisurely dinner with friends and a movie. Wake up late on Sunday, go for a run, and go to evening service at church.

I wish I could say this week and weekend has existed. But it hasn’t – yet. I’m looking forward to the day it does. It may be a lot sooner than I expected!

What is your ideal sleep schedule?

How much sleep do you get?

—

My dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the loss of several of the Cornell Navs’ finest:

CC + TC

TW + OP

ET + DM

MK + VT

These promising young people have fallen prey to an institution. An institution whose goals and purposes are noble, yet whose effects on the modern man have been rather homogenizing.

I am speaking of course, of the institution of marriage. I would love to explain the potential negative effects of marriage on my friends – but I would be stealing all my material from Mr. Rock. He has, in my opinion composed one of the most vulgar, hilarious, and entertaining attacks on the institution since wedding videos.

Instead, I would like to target those couples who are not yet married, but already act like middle-aged spinsters. You know what I mean. We all know some twenty-something couples who hang out with each other all the time, watch Glee together, and go to ballets for fun. What happened to paintball and a night out with the friends? It’s a sad thing to see so many of my peers acting so unimaginatively.

I mean, just because your parents got boring when they turned 40 (Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I think you guys are still cool) doesn’t mean you have to be that way! Try being one of those cool couples that does things like opening two cereal boxes at the same time or riding your motorcycle together. And for goodness sake, don’t turn into those people in those minivan commercials. I don’t know what Toyota was thinking but I am never buying a Sienna now. My kids will just have to cram in the back of the ‘Vette.

Right now I am a happily single man – “Perfectly Lonely” as John Mayer aptly put it. Perhaps the day will come when I meet someone who will pry my fingers away from the banquet of fun that is the single life. But even if that day does come, I’m going  rock climbing or something fun like that for dates. The ballet will have to wait.

• Pre-Screening Interview with Tangibl, LLC. Next step will be flying down to Philly for an interview.
• Received an email from the Coalition for Christian Outreach detailing a staff position

Wednesday

• Received email list of preferred employers for Friday’s Career Fair

Thursday

• Looked over employer list for Career Fair
• Received email saying transportation to Career Fair was canceled due to weather.

Friday

• Applied to Roux Associates by email. Hope to hear from them soon…
• Registered online with ICF International. No current jobs matching my profile.

It’s a legendary class here at Cornell –  HADM 4430: Introduction to Wines. Its fame comes from its popularity (when else do you get credit for tasting wine?) and its failure rate (turns out wine is more complicated than most of us think!). After taking that class I can’t say to have retained much working knowledge of wine – but I did leave with a sense of what I like (Riesling, Semi-dry).

Wine is a mystery really. How is it that the juice from one fruit can produce a juice that can smell like grapefruit, mushrooms, or cat pee? Once I learned what I was tasting, I grew to prefer the fruit of the vine to the fruit of the soda machine. It’s nothing personal, but sugar does get on your nerves after a while. Wine has this effect of slowing you down, making you taste and savor. It refocuses the mind on the bigger, existential questions.

But now I’m just babbling. And when that happens I find the only cure is to get a group of my friends together and open a bottle. Would you excuse me?

So who out there enjoys a good Riesling like I do?

Do you have a fun wine memory?

]]> http://jpothen.com/2010/02/24/favorite-thing-8-wine/feed/ 2 jpothen http://jpothen.com/2010/02/22/more-of-less/ http://jpothen.com/2010/02/22/more-of-less/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:18:02 +0000 jpothen http://jpothen.com/?p=632 ]]> I looked at the instructions with dismay. “Pack light! Everything you need should fit easily in ONE carry on bag. The airplane luggage guidelines are not our constraint! We will be traveling in (2) 15 passenger vans.” Great. How am I going to fit everything I need into one little duffel bag?

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After coming back from the trip I decided I wanted to stop using facebook and twitter. I realized that for me, they were becoming a substitute for socializing. And I would be much better served by calling someone up instead of just looking at what people had posted on their wall. It was too easy. And I knew real relationships are hard.

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Living with only a duffel bag for a few weeks in Honduras was part of a “subtractive process” for me. There were no extra activities, no million things to keep track of or manage. My life was fairly simple, I had a community of people to live with – it wasn’t ideal but it was real community. When I was bored, I slept or hung out or wrote in my journal.

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One of the things that struck me from listening to Pickup Podcast was that their method is really a subtractive process. They want to help guys remove the social masks they have put up – no hiding behind routines or gimmicks or tricks. People respond to and recognize authenticity.

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So I applied the subtractive approach to my life. I asked myself what material things and commitments are cluttering up my life.

• What can I do without and still be ok?
• What parts of me are coping mechanisms that hide who I really am underneath?

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These days I try to get up two hours before class so I can pray, eat breakfast, and leisurely begin my day. I try to take more time off, and not rush around campus. It’s a learning process, but the incentives for me to keep up a slower lifestyle are huge.

What do you think about the approach of removing things (material or otherwise) from your life?

Do you find that your life has gotten “noisy” or “cluttered?” How do you deal with that?

• Interview with Tangibl was postponed due to an error with Cornell’s CCNet system.
• Signed up for All-Ivy Environmental Career Fair on Feb 26
• Submitted resume for Ecology and Environment, Inc.

Anyone got any leads on Environmental Engineering jobs for me?