Hey, I have a blog?

Uh, yeah, so that whole blogging thing... I guess I'm missing the point about regular posts.

Things here have been... quiet. I've not had a single call about a job. Not ONE SINGLE CALL. My last ego boost was being turned down for a job as a bank teller. BANK TELLER. Obviously, I'm a bit down about the whole 'job' thing.

My plan is still to go back to school using No Worker Left Behind. The only problem, and I'm not saying it really is a problem, is that using NWLB means leaving engineering. This has highlighted something else that is bothering me.

The field of engineering is dying in the US.

A Careerbuilder magazine that was sent to my house stated that engineering careers in the US are flat for the foreseeable future. This is not a surprise when you think that engineering and manufacturing are inseperably linked. Engineers design things to be manufactured. Engineers moniter, maintain, and inprove manufacturing lines that produce thos same things. As manufacturing leaves the US, so too does engineering.

This is really depressing for me, not only because it does not bode well for the future of the US, but also because I really liked the concreteness of mechanical engineering.

Does anyone see this similarly? Does anyone think I'm wrong?

Anyone?

Farewell to thee, Goatee.

I must not be very good at this blogging thing, as I haven't posted in a while. Bad me!

I haven't had much to say lately. I'm still job searching, without even the slightest success, however, now I'm pondering the 'return to the school' option. This initially reared it's ugly head as an interest in 'No Worker Left Behind' which I am still investigating, but now continues in schooling regardless of NWLB. I am waiting to hear back from U of M Dearborn on their Electrical Engineering program. I have a mechanical degree, but lately I've been thinking that's a dead end. I like being an ME, but I like the idea of having both an ME and EE degree.

That, however, is beside the point. Right now I wish to put into word a memorial to my Goatee.

My love affair with my Goatee began where most experimentation happens: college. I flirted shamelessly with my Goatee, going occationally with, occationally without it. As time wore on, and I matured, I grew closer to my Goatee, encouraged, at the time, by my then girlfriend, Rachel. Upon graduation, however, a rift opened between us. I needed to find employment, and unilaterally people said that one must be clean shaven to impress a prospective employer. Thus, saddened, but determined, I severed my relationship with my Goatee. Again, time wore on, and found myself still without work. No matter how much I yearned for my Goatee, I had to remain steadfast.

Eventually, I did find employment, and with it came new hope, and a new chance to rekindle my relationship with my Goatee, and we had been together ever since. My Goatee was with me when I met my wife, and at our wedding. My Goatee consoled me when my wife's cat, Allie, died, and reminded me of how she nuzzled my Goatee when being affectionate. My Goatee was there when I was laid off two month ago, and my wife tucked it in her neck as she, too, consoled me.

Now, however, my Goatee is gone. Again I am without employment, again, clean shaven is how I must be to impress a potential employeer, and again my Goatee is gone. Our long standing relationship is over.

At least until I find a new job, and can grow it back.