Arrived!

Posted on June 1, 2010 by cody

After a quick stop for some pizza with Katie in Southbridge, MA., I headed up to Turners Falls. As I was in the midst of trying not to get lost when I first heard the directions to the place I’m staying, I had to meander a bit when I made it into town.

I had arranged to stay in the house that we’re looking to rent a couple of rooms in and met the potential landlord/roommate, Kevin. He seems like a nice enough fellow, and from what I can tell, he’s burning the candle at both ends; two full time jobs (sheet metal manipulation and taxi cab driver). I’m gonna lean out on a ledge and wager that it’s too bad he’s breaking his body to get the job done. Continue reading →

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En Route Pros/Cons

Posted on May 30, 2010 by cody

I’m sitting on a sparsely populated 737-400 headed to Seattle for the night. Tomorrow it’s on to Boston and eventually Turners Falls, MA. for a visit to the Hallmark Institute of Photography. Observations, tours, and questions will abound.

Much to my chagrin, Heather is back in Juneau, likely just settling in for her evening of productivity. 😉 I think this is the longest time away from one another in the last year… I’ll be missin’ her for sure! Fortunately I get back on Thursday. Trust me, I’ll be counting the days!

While I zip along through the air, I can’t help but wonder what I’ll find on the east coast. Today I was asked a couple different times if I’m excited to be taking the trip to see the school and each time I respond with a relatively uninspiring, “yeah, sure…” It’s not that I’m not excited to travel and see new things, but I think the perpetual weight of deciding to go to school or not continues to press upon me and I’m feeling it.

When I get down to the bottom of the feeling, I think it’s got something to do with the fact that I’m scared.

Being the analytical dude that I am, I can rationalize just about everything… But here’s the crux; do I want to? For the purposes of this writing, I’m reduced to the pro/con approach of determining the next step of our lives.

Pros (reasons to head to HIP):
New adventure
Immersed in Photography
Increased freedom (perception)
Heather “retired”
Heather have chance to self-study
Expand photography network
School expenses paid up front (no debt)
No “work” for the year
Explore the east coast
Currently uninspiring future with UAS (perception)
New friends
Fits with family plans (easier to do now than with kids)

Cons:
Loss of income
Loss of stability
Loss of security
Drain pension/savings
Unknown future
Distraction from AG
UAS loses talent
No health insurance
Lose foothold in Juneau networks
Hard to be gone from “home”
Scary

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Goals, “Quick Trip” & Perseverance…

Posted on May 24, 2010 by cody

Just a quick update of thoughts on my mind regarding this whole adventure thing. 🙂

1) Goals that are stretching also require (for me) a hurculean effort to bring them to pass. I’m excited for them to come to pass, but I seem to often underestimate the mental energy that they require. Though I’m sure it applies to most things, in this instance, the brain bandwidth has to do with business development.

Tough game, worthy prize.

2) My “Quick Trip” is coming true next week… Airfare booked, lodging in Massachusetts arranged, tour of campus organized… A few other details coming together, but yeah, I’ll spend 22 hours getting there, less than 48 hours in state, and then another 16 hours returning to Juneau. All I can say is that I hope my standby seat lands me in a first class spot!  🙂

Anyone know of (or want to host me) on my two brief overnights (the 31st and 2nd) in Seattle?

3) Perseverance is a word I hadn’t expected to need when pursuing schooling. Maybe I was caught up in the throes of rescoping our life and rearranging priorities, but regardless, yeah, I hadn’t thought of it much.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve found myself frequently questioning my abrupt change in direction. Sure I’ve had a couple of trusted friends offer insight that suggested that my timing could be better considering the economy, but mostly I wonder about the process of getting 10 months of schooling (and various out-of-school activities) done without working. I am dead set on the reality that Heather be enabled to not work at all during my schooling in fact I’m fairly certain that I wouldn’t be able to tackle such a program without her freedom to support and encourage me. I guess it’s just my cautious mind coming back into focus as I press forward in faith towards a more significant goal of financial independence, even if only for a 10 month spell.

I’m amazed at what I’m willing to do, and looking forward to finding out what I can accomplish with proper motivation!  Look out world (and Massachusetts), here I come!

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“Quick” Trip

Posted on May 17, 2010 by cody

I’ve been trying to find a way that I can make a quick visit to the school prior to jumping in with both feet. While I expect that the facilities will be in ship-shape condition, I really am excited to get a chance to find students in the flesh to ask all of the questions bouncing around in my head.

In looking at flights, it takes a long time. As it stands, the schedule would be:

Travel to HIP — leave Sunday 8pm, arrive in Turners Falls Monday 8pm.

Return travel — leave Wednesday 1:30pm, arrive Juneau on Thursday at 9am.

I guess travelling across country takes a bit more time than just an afternoon flight down to somewhere on the west coast. Heck, if memory serves, it didn’t take 24 hours of travel to get myself over to Hawaii… hmm…

Anyhow, it’d be fun to go. It would also have some value in terms of me getting a better picture of what I’m getting myself into. The down side is that it would be around $500 that could otherwise go towards tuition!  Decisions, decisions.

Thought I’d let you know in case I wind up going so you aren’t surprised too much when I post pictures from a trip!

Hope things are well with you all!
-Cody

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Long Drive

Posted on May 10, 2010 by cody

I just realized this would be a long frickin’ drive.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not totally dense. I knew it would be a solid block of driving. No matter how you cut it, Alaska to Massachusetts is a long way to go. I had let google tell me the most direct route, and it turned out to be some 3700 miles. I didn’t think much of it because it simultaneously claimed that it would be around 3 days of drive time. No biggie, we’ve got 10’ish days to make it happen.

Continue reading →

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