It's Not Rocket Science: Week 33

As far as unemployment goes, this was a really good week. Not that I had a job offer, but apart from that it was a good week. I applied for about 22 jobs, mostly in the United States. So often I apply for jobs that seem interesting, like the kind of job I would have a great time at, then positions get canceled, or they go with someone more closely qualified. But all things considered the job search was not a highlight of my week.

I ran a whopping 103 miles, which is about where I would like to be every week. People often wonder why I run so much. It is simple really, I feel better after I run. When so many things in my life seem out of my control I can control my running. It is also a motivation with clear cut goals. I want to run specific times over specific distances. That is accomplished by running specific times over other specific distances during training. My career goals are not quite as clear cut because nobody has done either one of them. Furthermore, running is an affordable past time where as engineering is expensive. Another way to rationalize my running is to ask what other people spend their time doing? Which often turns out to be watching television or going to a bar. Both can be fun but are relatively zero sum games. So I run because I can measurably get better and I value development.

I left the new designs for the Janzen Gear hangboard at a local manufacturer and bought 20 feet of Hard Maple. Now I wait for him to call me back so that I can drop off the wood and receive 10 new hangboards.  It's real! I mean the ice axe debacle, as I am calling it, was a lesson in divesting and business. I think I learned a lot from that experience and I think the economics of this new product will show that. I figure that if I can sell 500 a year that would cover all of my expenses. Seeing as how there are more than four million rock climbers in the United States alone I don't think that's an unreasonable goal. Who knows, if I could sell 1000 a year I would quit applying to engineering jobs and buy a new computer. That being said, I haven't sold even one yet.

What else did I do? I thought about my future, specifically my future education. I guess it is not a question of will I become Dr. Isaiah Janzen it is a question of when and doctor of what?