I Live in Iowa: Week 84

Boy oh boy. I have been gushing thankfulness for my wealth recently, and it will probably continue to explode over the next month. Why? In the next month my net worth will probably swing from negative to positive for the first time since 2005. Lest I just talk about money, I feel money is a symptom of wealth not the definition of wealth. Other articles to be posted on that in the future.

I worked at work a full five days. I was not particularly productive this week. Sometimes my job engineering involves clerical or administrative work and I don't get to do the standard work that I might normally do. With my recent upgrade to Windows 7 and my desk changing locations and lingering projects from Indonesia I spent time emailing and downloading software nearly as much as I spent time solving structural problems. Thus is life.

On a related note, I sent a couple of emails this week at work where I expressed emotion. This is unusual because engineering is a rather factual, unemotional discipline. To be more specific, a few months ago when I articulated that I cared it changed my outlook on the projects I am involved in. In other words, sometimes, perhaps often, in engineering we determine that something is good enough. Well, "good enough" is often a matter of opinion. If everyone agrees, it is good enough, but when not everyone agrees that it is good enough the product suffers, at least in someone's opinion. So I expressed concern, written in emails. It reminds my of the financial emails they are always reading on the news about brokers selling bad investments. Obviously it is not like that at all. It is rather like producing B work versus A work, although to be business honest about it, B work costs $X and A work costs $10X. Anyway, it's interesting. I am learning both about the economic realities of business and my personal quality values. I will say, customers, your voice carries weight.

Running was interesting to say the least. Sunday I ran 12 miles with three Loras alumni at a modest 6:43 pace, which given my relative low state of fitness, was a task. I did not run Monday, trespassed on private property in a five mile run Tuesday, and took Wednesday off as well. The private property incident, unintentional, won't happen again. Don't worry too much I was not shot at or sent to jail. I had a massage Wednesday night and as often happens my body rebounds after such an event and by Saturday I doubled for more than 23 miles on the day. So I ran 60 miles this week, in five days of running, and I am probably going to be injured again.

Coaching was a mixed bag. I had some very nice runs and good conversations. The season, and years ahead, looks to be just fantastic! Yet the wisdom and relationships of a few force me to really wonder about the future stability of a number of individuals. These situations are so foreign to me that I have no idea what to make of them. Perhaps these things are normal? I do not know. Regardless, I am committed to the development of these individuals because once again, I care. Perhaps these issues are simply standard faire in the realm of working with young people.

Interestingly enough, November was the first month ever in the 46 months this blog has existed that I did not experience year over year growth in pageviews or visits. I seem to be leveling out in the 50-60 visits and 70-90 pageviews per day range. However, I see that as a temporary dip as I continue to develop my platform. Additionally, I have not been doing much publicity recently, and that is usually good for hundreds of hits.

Janzen Gear Hangboards are for sale!

My social life deserves a mention. I might as well be a counselor or therapist. At every turn in my life I am blessed. My life is very simple. My baggage, while heavy and regrettable, fits in one carry-on. That needs to be clarified. My sins are extremely significant and destructive.  The enormity of my transgressions is unmeasurable. Still my blessings have an abundance I can not fathom. To hear of the struggles of my friends and acquaintances intrigues and astounds me. Of the several issues that came up for the first time to me in the last week, I can not mention a single one because each one is so unique that it would be immediately obvious to several people which incident was about which person. That is another idea, are these issues unique or am I just naive? The world is a scary place.

I am here to hear. However, one of these days I will die, probably sooner rather than later in the grand scheme of things, and I will not be here any more. An article on death, and the beginning of a new mini-series tomorrow. In the meantime, how can I help?

Thank you for reading! It is always a huge compliment, that I will try to deny in person, when someone says, "I read your blog." I am so blessed. I hope that this blog is one small way that I can share the abundance and experience of my life with others.

I Live in Iowa: Week 83

I had a really great week! I am so blessed. Taking a couple hours to write down 100 things I am thankful for helped reinforce that. Obviously the highlight of the week was spending two long days with my parents and my sister. Our family is just amazing! Where to start? We are really supportive of each other. When others tells me I am too crazy, my family understands and accepts me. Of course we are great on paper too. At least six different college degrees between the four of us, capabilities in at least four languages, way more income than four people need (but nowhere near the richest 1% in this country), a diversity of experiences and careers that help each of us better understand others, and a lot of love. 

I worked three days this week. It was funny I left work around 3:30 PM Wednesday and at least 80% of the office was gone, maybe 90%. Yet, in our little group, I was the first to leave. I am getting rather proficient at what I do. I am finishing projects in hours that took days, more than a week really, 18 months ago. It is exciting. It is nice to get good at something so that I can produce results timely and effectively. 

Janzen Gear Hangboards are for sale! This is great! This is big for me because it represents yet another thing that I started and finished. Sometimes I dwell on the failures, like the ice axe, more than the successes. In fact, I am so excited to have a stack of cut boards sitting in my apartment, that even if no one buys one (unlikely) I still have one set up that I can use. It is all a process: design, production, marketing, sales, shipping. I have learned so much about business from the more or less failed money sink that is Janzen Gear that when Janzen Automotive or Janzen Aerospace or whatever my next endeavor is starts I will have a much better idea what I am doing. Alternatively, maybe I will be a 40 year company man with my present employer, at some point along the way I suppose this entrepreneurial side of me might matter.

Running, I had a great week. I had several runs that ended with me running low 6 minute miles. I also significantly upped my mileage to a whopping 72 miles. That is 31 more miles that last week. A huge increase. An asking-for-an-injury size increase. I know this and am spending the time rehabilitating and prehabilitating myself to avoid an injury. 

My family went to see Skyfall the new James Bond movie and it is good! SPOILER ALERT!! They brought back, or kept, a few of the old classic elements, like the Walther PPK, a radio, Aston Martin, the ejection seat, shaken not stirred, and a few other things (I won't tell you everything), including a person or two that set the stage for at least a decade of really good Bond movies. Personally, all of the plots recently have been somewhat realistic, and I would kind of like to see a moon base, nuclear weapons, or maybe a plausible plot of a global corn and rice crop disease. Anyway, the movie is good.

On Saturday I went to a wedding. I am very excited and happy for the newlyweds! Strangely I do have mixed emotions from my observations and I am not sure what to make of it all. Not negative at all, but they look so young! I am sure I will write more in the coming days and weeks.

I uploaded a few videos to my YouTube channel. Here is one of classic American consumerism. I have mixed emotions watching this. I have mixed emotions because I was there. 

Janzen Gear is in Business!

It took two years for the hangboard idea to become a reality, but now it exists! I have something to sell!

Janzen Gear Hangboard 0.1, 0.5 and Two 0.8s

I could say more, and I hopefully will over the next couple days, but for starters head over to Janzen Gear and check out the development blog. After you get a taste of the little bit of the first business that I tried to start, and failed, and I suppose am having some success now, head over to Etsy and buy a Janzen Gear Hangboard 0.8!

Thank you guys for reading! This is probably the first time that I have taken something from concept to product and actually have something to sell. It's exciting. This is releasing the entrepreneur in me! I'll probably shoot for the moon once I actually sell one.

Anyway, take a look, tell your friends, tell me you saw this, and go read some Janzen Gear.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 8

This week, like most weeks, had it's ups and down. Monday around 1:30 PM was a rather significant down. I learned that the person who I am currently replacing is coming back ahead of schedule. When I originally was informed about this position in December the chances of the person coming back were dubious. Fortunately, he will be returning to work and whatever issue that he may have had is clearing up. That being said. My time is limited. He returns Thursday March 31st and there will be "several" weeks of overlap when we are both working there, but the insinuation is that I have more job hunting to do. I'll get back to that.

After a rather unproductive Monday afternoon wallowing in depression I rallied to have a very productive week. In fact Thursday from 4PM to 5PM I had my most productive hour of work yet. I received a modified CAD model of a support beam that I had been working with over the last two weeks and in that one hour I imported it to ANSYS, created all of the connections between the 19 parts, applied the forces and boundary conditions, meshed the part, and ran the simulation. I was so on the ball that as I was clicking things I vividly remember having to wait for the computer to process that action before I could make the next click with my mouse. My mind was moving as fast as it ever has. Considering that I was going head to head with a 3.7 GHz quad core computer with 20GB of RAM, I'm pretty excited. There was a lot of background experience to get me to the point where I knew what to click in what order, but still my mind was just flying. At this point in my life I would consider that a 100+ dollar per hour work effectiveness. Probably more like 200+.

Friday, I did not go into work. Instead I went to an interview at John Deere in Dubuque, Iowa. They are looking for people like me and I happen to have spent most of my life around rural locations where machinery is common. I've done my share of manual labor and operating large equipment so I think I'm a good fit for the job. But after five on-site interviews and only one job offer, who knows what a feeling is worth.

As far as tackling unemployment possibly again. I am far more prepared this time. I have Janzen Gear and my book in reserve. Plus I have been saving about 50% of my pretax income in my saving account so that I can hopefully pay bills on my own for a few months in case I spend a few more months unemployed. Additionally, I'm in a better mental state now than I really have ever been. Read the last paragraph of today's post to better understand what I mean.

In investing news, I'm really getting into the stock market thing. There is just so much money to be made with the right strategy and research that to ignore that kind of opportunity I feel is ignorant. I didn't buy any stock this week. In fact I haven't for the last month. I'm saving up for the first quarter statements to come up because it seems that there is generally a 1-2 month uptick on stocks with the best quarterly earning statements. Seeing as how I don't know which stocks are among the best right now, I'm waiting until some numbers come in. Additionally, there is a company that I am interested in investing in but they recently filed a document with the SEC when I feel the need to read before I invest.

In Janzen Gear news I'm waiting on the manufacturer to finish the boards. Lead times even in a little shop two miles away from my house can be rather long. That's a good thing to learn now when I am young.

In running news I ran 84 miles including a nice 9.7 mile tempo at 5:59 pace. I had two runs in the 6:30 pace range for a total of 22 miles and a 15 mile long run. I was aiming for higher mileage but I'll take the quality running any day over extra miles. My hip is coming around really well. For the upcoming week I was aiming for 100 miles, but I think 90 would still be nice. More importantly I want to get in two tempos one at half marathon pace and one a little slower than marathon pace. I'd also like to do some strides or short hills.

In writing mode, I passed 50,000 words on my manuscript! That's a huge milestone. After probably somewhere around 100 hours of plain writing, plus more than a year of unemployment and misemployment and countless hours of research and "testing", I'm at 108 pages of single spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman text. I'm probably 90-95% done with the actual writing. However I have to do some formatting and rearranging which I am maybe 20% done with. I also need to edit it extensively before I start showing it to people and realistically I'm less than 10% done with that. (As I read what I wrote weeks ago I often edit it that's why I've done any at all.) I have not queried any agents at all yet or set up any speaking engagements, but that is all part of the plan. This is very exciting for me because I feel this has the real potential to help other new graduates dealing with unemployment. I hope this book is a resource both from a physical point of view, such as giving direction about how to get a job, and the economic influences post-2008 that are creating the mildly unique employment/unemployment patterns. Aside from all of the technical aspects I devote much of the book to maintaining and creating a positive mental attitude. For me the most important lesson that unemployment taught me was a more appropriate value system. While the values at the high end of my priorities scale did not really change, the order of my priorities and my appreciation of those factors and relationships has greatly increased, even if I still rarely show my changed disposition. In other words, I became more comfortable in my own skin, because I made changes in my head. How do you change your thinking? That's a good question! Buy my book!

2010: My Year in Review

January started with me as confident as ever about my career and my running going as well as it ever had gone. I moved out to Colorado to live with some college friends and I have to say that was an amazing three months. I met so many people. I had so many beautiful runs through the mountains. I enjoyed life. I even officially started Janzen Gear in February. However, my running took a hit as I adjusted to the altitude.

However, March came and went and I fell apart. After three months of unemployment I was totally out of money and without any interviews in that whole time, I was depressed. I was so stressed out that things were not going the way I had planned that I gave myself back pain. That was a huge life lesson about the things in my life that I value, and what is really important to me. I am guessing that it will never happen again because I have a better understanding of my own mentality.

Because of the whole money thing I packed up and went to Minnesota and worked for my uncle for six weeks in the family greenhouse. It was tough physical labor. Not what I ever expected my first job out of college would be.

In mid May I headed back west to teach rock climbing at Boy Scout camp again. It was my fourth summer at a Boy Scout camp. I had a fantastic summer. I climbed harder than I ever have before. I ran like crazy until I got a stress reaction. My friends and I had a great time. Again, it's humbling to have a master's degree in engineering and be teaching 13 year olds how to belay for a relatively small paycheck. I also attempted the Grand Teton for the first time and I led two pitches up the Casual Route on the Diamond before it rained and snowed us off. Regardless, this summer was about the relationships I have with my friends, and it was an unequivocal success. I have the best friends in the world!

I followed up the summer with a month long road trip through Utah, California, Washington and Montana and a few other states. In the psychological aspect of life I was able to spend time with two of my American friends who shared the summer of 2009 experience with me in Pakistan. In many ways it was the final chapter in my mental recovery from that experience. I also spent two days trying to climb the Nose on El Capitan solo and a day trying the Regular Northwest Face on Halfdome. The inspiration for the road trip was to do something "big" my climbing just did not pan out, I had a great time, learned a bunch, but I ended up scared and tired. So at the suggestion of my friends, on two days notice I ran the Wonderland Trail, and accomplished something "big".

Once again out of money I had the choice between staying in Colorado and making snow (physical labor) for a few months or going home in the hopes of a job offer and more Internet access to apply for more jobs. I went home, also because my grandma had a stroke this summer and my family is very important to me. I only have one family.

The last three and a half months of the year were, by my standards, uneventful. I gradually began running more miles in hopes of some good races from the 5k to the marathon in 2011. I had an interview at GE and they ended up going with someone more qualified.

By the numbers:

• I estimate from reading my own blog, that I applied to approximately 378 jobs in 2010. 
• I ran 3379.6 miles total including five 4+ hour runs and nine 100+ mile weeks. That is an average of 9.25 miles per day, every day all year. Only one personal record racing this year, 1:36 at 15 miles.
• I slept in 12 states and traveled in 22 states. 
• 11 painting started and 10 paintings finished, a record for me.

2010 was, for me, about valuing the intangible things in my life like relationships, health, freedom, and life itself more than I did when I was younger. The lessons I have learned about saving for a rainy day, starting a company, stress, communication, and other still unknown things are not all clear to me yet. I think that the lessons of 2010 will impact me for the rest of my life. I feel that events of the past year will teach me new things for years to come as I continue to mature and better understand what really happened in many situations.

Thank you all for the comments and the caring in person, on the blog, in letters, on Facebook, and in your prayers. This blog has been a great way to express myself and I plan to keep at it for years to come.

Thank you,

Isaiah Janzen

Just Do It.

I procrastinate. Monday I started working on a project that I've had in my head for over a year. I've had all this time on my hands but because I did not know where to start, I did not start. That was until I was sitting there after lunch and I decided to start working on it. Yep, it's another product, another invention that inevitably I will try to sell to someone. I am terrible at selling by the way.

I am not alone trying to do my own thing. It is certainly not my first choice, at this point in my life, but it is what it is. I am still trying to get a traditional engineering job. Experience and a salary would be huge for me right now.

The last few days here in Wisconsin have involved frozen sidewalks and roads and below zero wind chills. Not the kind of thing that makes me want to go out and run 13 miles. However, I made the choice years ago that I want to be as good as I can be. So the choice wether I will run or not is a choice that I have already made.

In the words of Yoda, "Do or do not. There is no try."

It's Not Rocket Science: Week 36

Well in the job searching aspect of life I applied for jobs. I am not sure on the exact number but I put in time and probably applied for 22 jobs or so. I sent some personal emails, the networking kind, and as often happens had no response, except for one. I inquired about a volunteer engineering position that I would actually be quite suitable for and that employer responded rather quickly. I mean it wouldn't be a paying job, but it would give me more experience directly related to engineering and it is definitely a social project that would benefit humanity, something engineering does not always do. Needless to say the prospect of doing some good in the world is highly appealing as I sit in my parents basement.

Running I had another good week. The week started with a 22 mile run and I followed that up with a strong 10km fartlek. I ran 300 meters in about a minute then 200 meters in about a minute although my jogging turned out to be a couple of seconds faster than one minute. It is the best speed workout I have had in months. Then I proceeded to feel tired and sore the last half of the week. I squeaked out 100 miles by doing a few strides Saturday after my run.

Other than that I have not been terribly busy or active. The started on my van or something having to do with the starter broke so I did no driving at all this week, no coffee shops running by lake Michigan.

Janzen Gear is dormant. The a nice part of this business venture is that I am only investing money that I have. So when things are going slower than I would like, I am the only one that gets impatient. That being said, I am so excited to get the boards machined! I have the boards cut and waiting.

I have been working on Squidoo recently. It is kind of like Wikipedia meets Amazon. Pages generally inform people, and point them in the direction of something they can buy. Do you know how to take a shower in Bolivia? It's too short to create a blog about and Wikipedia would never permit an article about how to take a shower, but it is perfect for Squidoo.

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?

It's Not Rocket Science: Week 32

In the job searching world, it was not the greatest week. I applied on the internet to a meager eight positions. I called several companies. I call the company about my interview in Cincinnati and asked when they would be making a decision. The potential employer said, "about a week" so I am anticipating two weeks or so. I have an informational interview at a local company this wednesday. I was not really keen on it but I have several connections so I figured I should go. Then after I set up the meeting I learned that they have to send someone to Puerto Rico for a few weeks and apparently, none of their employees want to go! Furthermore they also seem to have a lot of work as at least one of their non-management employees is working 50+ hours a week consistently. So I am going to inquire about a short term consulting opportunity in Puerto Rico. Who knows?!

In the make-my-own-work world it was a good week. I sought quotes for producing the hangboard and the price was good. I also made some design changes which Jeff changed for me. This week is looking like I could have 10 hangboards in my possession before the end of the week. Then there is work to be done sending several to people to test and promote and to other people to review. Then figuring out some advertising. Eventually selling them so that I can pay for another 10 to be built.

I ran 82 miles over nine runs. I had a 3.3 mile tempo at just sub 6 minute mile pace and a short 10 x 10 second hills workout. Not a glamorous week by any means, nothing I haven't done before, but it was the best week I have had since July. One step at a time.

What else did I do this week? Watched some tv, went out to coffee twice and started reading "A Man on The Moon". We went to the moon! How cool is that! Furthermore, I learned from reading the book, we should have failed, several times. I mean if we would have had a dozen astronauts die in the 60s in space, it would have been totally expected. But apparently, in space when something goes wrong your default instinct if you don't know what to do should be to do nothing. You will simply float around a little longer in most cases. In an airplane on the Earth if you do nothing you will likely fall to the ground rather quickly.

It's Not Rocket Science: Week 31

I applied for more jobs this week. Probably 14 total. I tried to apply for a few jobs that I had applied for in the past, fortunately companies don't let you apply to the same job twice.  Cold job application of the week: Bill and Malina Gates Foundation IT position that I am not really qualified for.  I had a job lead at a company in Michigan, so I called twice and talked to his secretary. Neither time did I get through to him, but I didn't name drop the person who recommended that I call. I never name dropped because the person who recommended I call I have never met.

The company in Cincinnati that I interviewed with two weeks ago Friday, that said they would contact me in one to two weeks, didn't contact me. I will give them a call this week.

In the part-time-independent-job world, which for the time being is Janzen Gear, I had a good week with an awesome prototype of the Janzen Gear hangboard. Please journey over to www.janzengear.com and check out some of the recent progress.

Running I had a great week. Nothing particularly special but 74 miles total including a three mile fartlek and an eight by mile at lactate threshold workout with full rests. There comes a point in my training when I start to feel like a runner again. That's around 70 miles a week. It is not simply not the mileage that makes me feel like a runner it's the pace and capability to run a long distance and a feeling of being in shape. However, most of those indications appear for me around 70 or more miles per week.

Additionally, I have been writing pages and pages lately. I started writing an investing series, which will likely debut after I get a job and have the chance to put the theories I have been reading about into practice. I also wrote my first sonnet Friday night. Ever since reading Shakespeare I have wanted to prove myself against rhyming iambic pentameter. Mission accomplished. I almost finished reading Charles Dickens "Hard Times" this week. It is far better than I expected. The writing is amazing. The story line is part drama part romance. It is, so far, a frightening portrait of class inequality in 19th century England.

It's Not Rocket Science: Week 4

I had a good week, because I have a great life. Sure life is stressful now and then, but as a an engineer from my past once told me, "anything you want to be good at will be stressful sometimes." However, I know I am so incredibly fortunate, spoiled, blessed, sheltered, and taken care of by my family and friends that even things that are terribly stressful for me are not nearly worth the worry I put into them. I know enough to know that I have never had a hard life. If I ever get to the point where I can not get any food, have no access to clean water, having nothing to sleep in (including a van), no family or friends to help me out, life threatening diseases, and some huge majority of the population is trying to kill me. Such as many people in other areas around the world. Until that point, life is good.

I worked a whole bunch of hours. Saturday had 230+ customers in addition to the usual watering, spacing and filling a truck. Thursday we filled five trucks. Filling trucks is about the most physically intensive thing I do at the green house. It involves lots of walking and carrying things. Each truck is probably over a mile of walking for each person that helps. Half of that mile carrying flats of plants or hanging baskets. It is constant too. In most cases moving plants or other jobs after a few trips there is a few minutes of lull. Filling trucks is quick and intensive.

Money, money, money, money. With my next paycheck (today) I'll be in the black on everything. That is to say I'll be able to pay at least a dollar more than the minimum payment on everything and pay my cell phone bill. I am living rent free right now and will be this summer, which is a huge help. The pay is less but just thinking about where I will live this summer it is more than justified. I feel that I will probably be a millionaire some day and that the relative little that I am in debt now will be an experience I smile at. In fact, in the last four weeks I have not spent any of my money. I bought one song on iTunes from a gift card I had from Christmas but besides that I have only paid my bills. A new life stage for me? No coffee, books, shoes, clothing, gear, food, and whatever else I spend my money on. Elimination of the excess in my life. I like this trend.

I finished the personal application (contacting a specific person) and official application for the position I talked about last week. Besides that I didn't apply for any more jobs. One of the companies I would like to work for just landed a huge overseas contract and is hiring. That is this week's job hunting goal.

I laid out some basic pencil sketches of two non-safety products, an ultralight tent and some mittens for running, which I might purchase the fabric for and try to make prototypes as soon as possible so that I can test them this summer. So Janzen Gear... I don't know. I just can't turn my brain off. I mean I checked the Cilogear website and blog for the first time in six weeks and then Golite and then I went to Tarp-Tent and Gossamer Gear. Next thing you know I'm not listening to the conversation around me as I try to create the lightest tent in the world. Well, I've designed it now I just need to make a prototype. Condensation will be a problem and durability but we're talking on the order of a pound for a two man tent and less than two pounds for a free standing two man tent. Unfortunately the material costs $30 a yard and needs special tape instead of stitching. The mittens are fairly simple. Like I said, I can't turn my brain off.

I ran every day this week. That makes it every day in April to make up for two day off in March that's seven days off of running in seven months. A lot of triple bogey sort of days, but four miles is four miles closer to the olympic trials than a day off. Two tempos this week both about C level.

I went to the Mayo Clinic Monday to see what was wrong with me. Again no clear problem, but it could be kidney stones. However, I just decided on my own diagnosis. I'll write about it later this week. I have most of the article already written.

In short, on a percentage scale of how my life is going, taking into consideration the stories I have heard from Africa and Asia I'd rate my life about 87%. I mean I'm aiming for 100% but just getting into the upper 90s would be nice until I have paid my personal debt and helped out those who have helped me and then I can take those risks to get the last few percent.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 13

In the world of income searching: First and foremost I took a big step. I blind carbon copy emailed a whole lot of people telling them about Janzen Gear, and asking for money. Well, it's more than just the money. I asked for other things and had a lot of responses from people in web development or networking to other possible opportunities. This was a big step for me because I do not like to ask for help. I realized that in one email I might have asked more people for help than I have ever asked in my life. It was humbling. The verdict is not in about how "successful" it was yet but things look good. If you want to invest in Janzen Gear email me.

I applied for eight different jobs, none in Colorado. It's not that I have to stay here. I just like it so much I don't want to have to vacation here I would like to weekend here. Also, I have never lived in the northwest and I wouldn't mind trying that. However, I also like the sunlight and Seattle doesn't have the greatest reputation for lots of sunny days like Denver.

I went to a Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce cocktail hour at the Bradford Washburn Mountaineering Museum. I was invited by one of the members who started his own company and was formerly one of the head people at Quest Communications. I talked to some people and was in a little bit of awe. Jefferson County is kind of a big deal. The members of the Chamber of Commerce are not little people like me. As I looked around the room I saw two things in all of the people: people who get it done, and people who are afraid of the future. Sure they acted confident, but I kept seeing stray glances of fear. Someone would look at someone else, as if he or she had something to say to that person, but not go talk to that person.

My documentary is down to 82 minutes. I have a few more places where I can edit it down. What is the big deal with length? People getting bored is the biggest concern. Then to get aired on PBS it has to be less than 56:40 for a one hour run time. To be considered a feature length film at the Vancouver Film Festival it has to be 60+ minutes, mid length 20-60 minutes and short 20 or less. To get into the Banff it seems like either feature length at 70+ minutes or short at 15- minutes. So I think I might end up leaving it at 70+ minutes but then make a short/preview of like 10 minutes or less (YouTube max length) and perhaps submit that to film festivals. The reason I have a hard time making it shorter is that I was behind the camera the whole time. It all matters to me. Also, there is no repeating of actual frames. I have two helicopter evacuations, but that's because I was around for four of them.

In my world of pure fun: I ran 71 miles had one workout and one race. Every Tuesday I've been running this 6k route as a fartlek either one minute hard one minute easy or two minutes hard two minutes easy. This week I was 19 seconds faster than last week and that week was 17 seconds faster than the week before. So I'm getting faster every week which is nice. I ran a 10k race in Denver on Saturday. My time was 38:14, because more than 37 minutes of that was on ice and snow. I just could not go faster. That is the slowest 10k I have ever raced by about three minutes. The half marathon I ran in November was much hillier and I ran faster than that twice in a row. It's no problem because I just wanted to get in a long anaerobic tempo and I did.

I toured the Colorado School of Mines Metallurgy department. They have fantastic facilities! I've been considering a Ph. D. for a long time and seeing their facilities motivates me even more to go for it. I still have not decided if becoming a doctor is what I want. It is a hard decision. On the one hand you get more respect, you learn more about research, and you publish papers; but on the other hand people treat you differently because you are a doctor, the actual opportunities that you have are very narrow to do something in the same field as your doctorate, and it would take me three or four years. 2014 is a long way away. I am not sure what I am doing tomorrow let alone the next four years. Like I said when I commit to something it's 100% so I'm taking my time to commit to PhD school. Also, long term what I want as a career is not a degree offered by any university. I want to go to Mars. Since I'm the only person at the moment, or at least the only person I have ever met, that has that goal I feel like I'm writing the book for how to do it.

Who knows? I mean if I die today I have already done so many things that it would be okay. I am past the point of "he died so young". I just do not want to waste my time. There is so much I want to do, yet all of it seems so far away sometimes.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 11

In the world of job searching: I worked kind of hard this week. Two things happened to encourage me. First, I paid my bills. Nothing is as motivating to make money as paying one credit card with another credit card. I also applied for more student loan deferment. Second, my formerly unemployed roommate got a job. Now he is a mechanical engineer and had he gotten a job at a power plant or something I would be as disappointed or motivated, but he got a job as a product development engineer at a small company working on pieces for shoes, among them running shoes. Uhh... yeah.

I checked all the websites for aerospace companies in the area, applied for half a dozen more jobs including internships. I asked about a possible part time job with the local Boy Scouts, again no go. They would like to have me in May, but that's another ten weeks away.

So It looks like I am in the lead for one of the professional blogging jobs I applied for. It seems that I will get paid by the click or visit. I proposed this because that way if I get more traffic I get more money. I am a big fan of getting paid on commission. Maybe that's why I'm not getting paid now?

I finally finished my documentary on Pakistan! Well, I finished the director's cut. That is the 2:29 long version. I know about 11 people who would want to watch a two and half hour documentary. So I'm going to work on cutting it down, and retroactively asking the "actors" for permission when I decide how much each person is in it. My goal with this documentary is to be real. I don't want to make these mountains seem dramatic or romantic or insane. I want to show it like it was. As the 2:29 version stands now it's about 99% accurate. There are a few things from the expedition I left out. Some things are not meant to be shared. However, comparing my movie to other related documentaries I have seen they really miss a lot of the personal feelings. Most mountaineering documentaries portray experienced, jaded, professional people and in mine I am the main character. Everything was new for me. I think that it all elicited a higher emotional response than my more experienced friends. I had never been to a mountain when someone died. I had never seen a helicopter evacuation. I had never had dysentery in the middle of nowhere Asia. All of these things were freaking me out! I think that in places you can see the fear on my face. In other places you can see the disassociation between the fear and the danger that everyone has up there that keeps us alive and moving.

In Janzen Gear news I borrowed a sewing machine! This means that fabric prototypes will be appearing shortly! I haven't played with it yet but I bought climbing webbing and plan to start making harnesses shortly. I also talked with several investment casting companies because after further research it seems that investment casting is the best way to go about making the head of my ice axe. As far as ice axes go, it is by far the most complicated head on the market. That probably means it's going to be more expensive. Cilogear upped the ante with backpacks, why not Janzen Gear with ice axes? (Besides I have a few ideas for crampons and carabiners... I also know more about metal than most...) I also applied to two different competitions with five digit monetary rewards which could float Janzen Gear and I through 2010.

The rest of my time was spent: running 94 miles. I was hoping to get more miles in but I had two good workouts so I'll take it. One of those was a hill workout which after grade and altitude conversions means I was doing some of my repeats at sub 5 minutes per mile effort. That is very good news although for the actual hill I was doing over 6 minute pace.

I finally got to see another friend that I worked with in the summer of 2008. However we only hung out for about 45 minutes. We went to the Frozen Dead Man Festival in Nederland. Apparently in the past some guy in Ned wanted to be frozen so when he was almost dead or dead someone put him on dry ice, he was poor and could not afford the more expensive cold chambers. Then apparently the story got out and now they have a festival complete with no parking, 1500 people, and two local brewing companies.

I did go skiing, only four runs. I did a few runs and was so dead from running that I quit at lunch and slept in the car. (I managed the ticket free. I'm not in position to spend money skiing right now. Thank you friends!)

Motivational quote of the week:

"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible." — Doug Lawson.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 10

This series ends when my current and projected income is enough to make more than the minimum payments on all of my bills and expenses.

In the world of job hunting: I heard back from several employers, mostly for the free lance writing jobs. As far as networking and applying for more engineering jobs this week was a wash. I think that engineering companies generally take a long time to make decisions and hire from "within" that is to say interns or relatives or friends. It's who you know so often that makes a difference.

I started Janzen Gear. It has a website and I registered as a sole proprietor in Colorado. So it's real. No more deliberating about doing it or not. Now it's a thing. I have a job? Well, I have a company, wether that counts as a job or not we'll see. In Janzen Gear news I'm talking with several machine shops about ice axe production and I plan on placing an order this week (with my credit card, woohoo more debt). Then I haven't figured out how to sell them exactly but I'll figure it out and start selling and advertising and making tiny bits of money. The harness has been stagnant because I do not have access to a sewing machine to make a prototype, yet. I'm also going to make Janzen Gear t-shirts. If you want to be part of the revolution stay tuned for details. They will be much cheaper than the ice axe and socially acceptable to wear around town, unlike an ice axe or climbing harness.

If anybody has an urge to invest in a start-up company, I'll take your money. We can make it formal (written on paper) and you can have input into what I do.

It was very anticlimactic actually starting Janzen Gear. It took 15 minutes on the Colorado Secretary of State website and cost only 20 dollars. The website was free and took another 15 minutes. I had always envisioned starting a company with thousands or millions of dollars and rich investors in suits at a board room signing papers and everybody smiling shaking hands. Then bells and whistles and trumpets and maybe fireworks. At which point I would take the afternoon off and buy something expensive like a new computer. Instead it took less effort than this post. It took far less effort than applying for a job.

I am really excited to see what I can do with Janzen Gear. I have known for almost a decade that I wanted to start a company and do my own thing. Now I am doing that. So the question now is: will I make succeed?

On the not stressing out about income portion of my life: I spent most of the week in uptown Sedona, Arizona. My grandparents are owners at a condo there and spend part of the winter down there where cold is below 45 degrees. It was fantastic. To answer the question in everyone's mind, "do you feel relaxed and refreshed to start working hard doing whatever it is you do?" The answer is no. 2009 was such a stressful year in my life between my thesis and Pakistan that 2010 has been a piece of cake comparatively. (That's half of cathedral rock below, it's a few hundred feet high.)

For those of you that are not familiar with Arizona it's usually pretty dry. Much of the state is a desert or very arid. Sedona is famous for it's red rocks. They are these steep (easiest routes 5.9+) towers of sandstone shades of red and orange. They have been featured in dozens of old western movies. Now the town is something of a tourist/retirement place. Which is fortunate for me because we went to several truly amazing restaurants. I had the best steak that I have ever had. I had scallops, twice.

As far as running goes it was my lowest mileage week in two months. Only a paltry 71 miles. I took a day off after I think a 46 day running streak. I only doubled once the entire week. On the other hand I PR'd at 15 miles at I think 1:36:something on a treadmill at 4500 feet. I also ran my fastest 5k in practice at 16:50 on a track at 4500 feet. Then I had a nice fartlek session. My right knee has been hurting most of the week I think a combination of hitting it mixed climbing and running three strait days on a treadmill. I don't think it is an overuse injury from bad form or bad shoes because it has been getting better every day.

Motivational quote of the week: "Everybody gets knocked down. How quick are you gonna' get up?" - The Hours, Ali in the Jungle (as seen on the newest Nike commercial). By the way Simpson on the mountain refers to Joe Simpson crawling down the mountain after Simon Yates cut the rope and he fell into a crevasse. Simon Yates still climbs extensively these days. He is rumored to even party in Katmandu from time to time.