I Decided to Go With John Deere

I was really focusing on the next 18 months to three years and I finally thought what about five or ten or twenty years? When I project several possible alternatives for my career into the future, Deere became the better option of the two. There is simply a greater diversity and volume of opportunity in the long term.

This decision was not easy. I will be sitting in the same seat, working on the same projects, and [bonus dependent] making the same money. I will have the perceived quality of being a direct employee. In other words, perhaps this move will allow my voice to be heard more.

One of the things that Deere does to encourage productivity is try to create Shareholder Value Added (SVA) which is operating profit minus cost of capital. Greatly simplified that means that they are taking more money in than spending. There are typically three ways to increase value: quality, service, and price. Deere financial and the salesmen work on the price aspect, and we have a service department that work on service. Engineers on the other hand work on quality. I feel I have some unique capabilities that can improve both the quality and communicated quality of equipment. Being a direct employee allows me to profit from those skills on a performance basis. Even though my percentage of the bottom line is honestly insignificant, I still bring some skills to the table that no one else in my division has as far as I know. At least if they do have my skills they do not have the same combination.

I was entirely comfortable where I was but to progress I must make changes. Thank you for reading and thank you all who gave me suggestions the last few days regarding this choice.

John Deere versus RFA

Rogers, Freels and Associates/Minnesota Engineering also known as RFA is my current employer. They have hired me to provide engineering services to John Deere, and last week John Deere offered me a job as a direct employee. At the risk of ruining my career with both companies, but providing a real life example to scores of others my age who will experience a similar situation, I am going to talk through it. If they do all fire me I have a year of unemployment saved up and I know that I add value in relation to structural analysis. The question stands: do I leave RFA and work for John Deere or stay where I am?

First, my midterm (1-5 years) career goals:

1. Spend time working abroad experiencing at least one other culture. I am particularly interested in China because of it's population and unique governement. However, I will go anywhere. While I was unemployed I applied to jobs in Afghanistan. I have a different risk tolerance than most Americans. You could say I seek out risk, but I digress, I have not gone BASE jumping or tired to raise a kid yet.
2. Work on difficult leading technical problems. This could happen with either company. It is more likely with John Deere if I were to transfer to the Moline Tech Center. It is most likely if I left industry and went back to school.
3. Learn more about business. For that I have applied to UD business school to get my MBA.
4. The invisible gorillia in the room that only I can see... Maybe they will let me have a leave of abscense or sabatical for six months, but realistically I plan on being unemployed again after I suffer in the wilderness. The gorilla actually trumps the first three items on the list, but I feel mentioning it at work is career suicide.

The rundown of positive and negatives for both companies:

• In order to travel and live abroad for months or years at a time, John Deere is the clear choice. However, I feel they are most likely to send someone with years of demonstrated leadership and technical experience. I feel I brag about myself enough so I'll just say that I doubt I would be their first choice for any traveling assignment. Solution: John Deere.
• As far as difficult technical problems, I feel there is a resistance in industry to embrace the most advanced tools or address the most minute details, such as understanding crack propogation in the heat affected zones of welds when the predominate stress are parellel to the weld. Tradition says the crack should propogate perpendicular to the stresses, but if the heat affected zone is soft enough might the path of least resistance be parallel to the stresses? Solution: go back to school.
• Since the actual work that I will be doing in either position for the next year or two will be exactly the same as I am doing now there is a logical question: which has better compensation? The base pay that I will receive with John Deere will actually be slightly less than with RFA. John Deere does offer more vacation days throughout the year, but only a few more. RFA has an incredibly flexible system where you can work unlimited overtime and get paid your strait hourly rate for it. You can build up hours and get a quarterly bonus or take more vacation days. You get paid for the time you put in. John Deere offers a strait salary, and overtime if you work more than 53 hours per week, and a yearly bonus, which can be significant, or it can be 0%.  Both offer similar health and dental plans, but my healthcare cost in 2011 was $0 anyway. John Deere gives life insurance, but RFA charges me less than a dollar per week. RFA has mediocre 401(k) matching, but it is vested immediately. John Deere has fantastic 401(k) matching, but you have to be there for three years before any of it vests. (Three years with no retirement benefits!) John Deere has a pension and RFA does not, but realistically I don't plan to retire. In summary the only financial benefit to joining John Deere is based on the possibility of a large yearly bonus, which depends on the company performance, and thus tractor sales in China, backhoe sales in India, combine sales in North America, and the price of grain being high enough for farmers to afford new equipment.
• The opportunity for leadership experience is strong within RFA because it is growing and expanding rapidly. I have already started helping to train new employees. At John Deere there is a long line of people ahead of me with more years of experience and more connections to management. Although there are more total positions of authority with a company of 60,000 people. Short term solution: RFA. Long term solution: Deere. Mid term solution: uh...
• People often say that one employer or another is prestigeous similar to universities. My experience with RFA and John Deere points to RFA as the more prestigeous. RFA fires people. John Deere I'm sure does fire people but I have not heard of it happening since I have been there. Once you are a Deere employee they have a hard time getting rid of you. Frankly, I feel that if you don't pull your weight after several opportunities to improve you should be out.
• The motivation for success and fear of being fired is strong when one is a contract employee. I went through a 45 week long job interview. I have not yet figured out how that motivation will translate to John Deere. Solution: get a therapist.
• I really like heat treating. I have a masters degree in heat treating steel and I've seen how powerful it is. In the division I work in now we do very little heat treating. However, our major competitior does a significant amount of heat treating. Two PhDs from my lab group (the best heat treating graduate program in the world?) work at our competitor and a friend and associate of mine from Kohler will start working there as well in the fall. Why is any of this significant? Heat treating has the ability to save tens of thousands of pounds from machines and make them last longer. The initial cost is significant, but it saves hundreds of thousands in fuel costs down the road on lighter machines. Solution: go work for the competitior.
• Job security in Dubuque is best with John Deere. It has been around 175 years and is growing. RFA offers the opportunity to relocate in the event of a staffing need change, but Deere is more stable in the microcosm that is Dubuque, Iowa. (I still can't belive I live in Iowa...) Solution: Deere.
• Does loyalty matter? RFA has been amazing to me! I do not think I have been very needy, but RFA has accomodated me very well. I despise the idea of jumping ship for the opportunity to get a bonus and marginally better job security. After all, I applied to John Deere in the first place and they did not offer me a job until over a year after that first application. Solution: RFA. 
• Finally there is the unmentioned, but subtle, difference in respect between contract employees and direct employees. It is minor and people still listen to the things that I have to say, but there is a difference in terms of which meetings you are invited to, the free jackets and shirts for working on a project, and the office gossip you are privy to. Solution: Deere.

So what am I going to do? I am not sure yet. I tried in my too subtle way to get more money out of either side to sway me, but alas my salary negotiation skills are about equal to my ability to sprint 200 meters. To be honest, I make plenty of money now, I feel greedy asking for more.

Stay tunned. 

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 12 ...The End

This was my last week at Kohler. It was bittersweet. I am very excited for my new job and all of the new experiences that I will have yet I already miss the friends I made living and working around Sheboygan.

All things considered I had a productive week. I was doing project faster than I had even two weeks ago. I am spent time teaching software to a person more senior than I. While that is not the first time I have been in that situation it was the first time I was getting paid as much as I do and he as much as he does. In other words, there was more money at stake.

I learned to weld this week! I MIG welded about two feet and by that point I was half decent. Now I had two welding experts standing over my shoulder so after every two inches they would tell me three things to change and after a mere 15 minutes I was getting the hang of it. A few things to clarify. MIG welding uses a thing that they call a squirt gun because all that is necessary is to hold it at the right angle, move it at the right speed, keep it at the best distance, and pull the trigger. They even offered me a welding job! ...for three dollars an hour in China.

Running was a recovery week. After the half marathon I did most jogging this week. I did have a track workout 10x300 meters with 100 meters recovery jog. The high school kids were stretching on the infield and I got a complement, "wow, you're really good." I smiled and they all laughed. I am such a different runner now than when I was in high school.

I went out for food and drinks multiple times this week with coworkers and family. One meal even ended in a three and a half mile jog along Lake Michigan. Good times. I might say more about my week but my thumbs are getting tired from typing on my phone.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 11

As weeks go this was a good as any. I worked a nice 40 hours. Although, one day they did not have enough computer simulation work for me so I spent the day in the "lab". We were working on competitive tear-downs, which involve hundreds of pounds of steel and copper. I had the chance to wear my lab coat which was fun for the first two hours then I got tired and slowed down. Eventually my attitude eroded a little because I felt that my talents were not being sufficiently harnessed. That being said, feelings are not fact. The most important task is often the one at hand. It was nice to see a different aspect of the factory and work with an A-frame and a chop saw, but I enjoy my desk.

The engineer who I was replacing is back and I am quite happy that he is. Several times every day I consulted him about the modeling that I was working on. He has more experience than I do and always offers valuable input. Before he came back I was an island making guesses about the accuracy of my models. Now that he is back I have someone who understands modeling well and can very accurately critique me.

Regarding my move to Dubuque, Iowa, I had an apartment picked out but someone else picked the same thing and had the deposit check in before me and thus rented the apartment before I could. So Monday April 18th, I'm starting work, but I don't have a place to live yet.

While I was unemployed I spent hundreds of hours applying value to aspects of my life outside of work. That is an important outlook to have on life. Without those things outside of work I guarantee I would be a workaholic. This brings us to the subject of running! I had a week that started on a good note, went through a bad section, and ended on a good note.

I had a nice 24 mile run Sunday, the longest training run I have had in a year and a half. Plus it was at a half decent pace. Then Tuesday a knot in my upper calf tore something in my lower calf/achilles area and I was more or less out of commission until I could massage it apart. It hurt so much! Fortunately, I did exactly the right thing and recovered soon enough to run a half marathon I paid for a few weeks ago. That race went very well. I started out with the leaders but going up a slight hill after two miles they broke away and I spent about the next nine miles running my own race. Then they were slowing down and I dropped a couple of 5:19 pace miles to move into second from third and come within nine seconds of the leader. I finished in 1:12:48 an official personal record by more than four minutes. I split 56:01 at ten miles (5:36 mile pace) and finished the last 5k in 16:47 (5:25 mile pace). I am really happy to negative split that much. I was holding back most of the race because I was afraid of going anaerobic and it was nice to let my legs turn over like that after the ten mile warmup.

I went over 53,000 words on my book and I reorganized it so that the chapters are more equal and related in terms of content. All I have left to do before submitting it to agents is edit it and add some more stuff about Reaganomics. It is a good book. I am excited. I have so much information that I consider useful from interview tips to "the exercises" to economic history. I feel it is a rather comprehensive resource for people like me in January of last year, which really could be anyone unemployed ages 16-30.

I am heavily considering buying a motorcycle. The problem is they don't sell the Honda CBR125R in the USA so I'm having a hard time finding something I am really motivated to own. I mean who needs to go over 75 miles per hour and who wants to get less than 90 miles per gallon? If you have any suggestions email me. I'm looking at used bikes exclusively and there are a number of sub 200cc starter bikes available for a 130 pound lightweight like myself. I mean Ducati starts at 700ccs! I would surely hurt myself on that without some experience.

I ended the week watching Morning Glory, which is a good movie, and writing a three sonnet series. The more sonnets I write (I'm up to five) the easier it gets. Sometimes I can even think out a ten syllable line that rhymes on the first try. It's fun to write poetry because it is an even better way to express emotions than simple writing in plain english. Who knows, maybe I will write an entire book of sonnets eventually. If you are curious to read them, sorry, they are on the romantic and emotional side and you have not earned that privilege from me. You can read my first sonnet if you want. The rest of them are similar, but I'm not the kind of guy that runs around talking about that stuff in public.

I am tired. 40 hours of work is like vacation, but when you add in the running and social events it adds up to quite a few hours.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 10

Wow, ten weeks as a real engineer! This past week was once again exciting. I made more arrangements for my new life to begin in Dubuque, Iowa. I also managed to have a productive week at Kohler.

Working at Kohler Power Systems was the best career opportunity I could possibly have had. I was able to live at home for a few more months both saving money and seeing my family. Additionally, the people I worked with and still am working with were simply fantastic! I was able to participate in a contract position for a not yet finished three months, of which I spent about two months learning how to use two new-for-me softwares (ANSYS and HyperMesh). I was basically paid to learn new software and I feel I am leaving now before they really get to use my new skills. That being said, one of the experienced engineers I was sitting next to has repeatedly said that it was worth it for them to hire me. I suppose, but I feel that the amount of work that I did for the salary that I received is out of proportion. Fortunately, feeling are not fact and I'll take the money.

Saturday I went apartment shopping in Dubuque. I found an amazing apartment! It's not finalized yet but I am hopeful that it will work out.

As far as running is concerned, I had an amazing week. After recovering from my breakthrough 14 mile tempo workout last week I managed on Wednesday to run 4 x 1600 meters in an average of 5:18 with 400 meters of rest in about 1:45-50. A nice workout but nothing special. Then Friday, after eight hours of work, and only seven of sleep, I did a 16 mile tempo in a whopping 1:35. That's a 5:57 per mile average, for 16 miles! That is the longest tempo I have had yet. Mentally it wasn't very hard either, physically it was not easy, but the pace was so slow that two minutes after I was done my breathing was back to normal. A total of 90 miles for the week with 20 of those miles in workouts, I think that is the most quality I have ever done in one week.

I am running a half marathon this Saturday which is exciting because I am quite sure that I will set a personal record regardless of how well I feel on the day. Of course the time of my race will determine how my training goes in the next few weeks as I hope to run a marathon in the next two or three months.

Other things of note? I wrote less than a thousand words on my book this week. I think that it is time to edit and rearrange the book. I think that process will add or subtract up to 3000 words from the book as I delete repeated ideas and add supplemental ideals or illustrations. I discussed two parts of the book this week with two different people. I am especially excited about one section that I call, "The Exercises". In short it is a how-to section about how to change your thinking. I feel the most significant lesson that I learned from unemployment was to solidify my priorities and value my gifts. In other words, appreciate relationships more. However, it is far more complicated than that, thus I devote many pages to that aspect.

One more thing, which I will likely blog about separately in the future is that while things seem to be working out for me really well now, I don't deserve this. Suffering through a year of unemployment does not entitle me to all of the privileges that I am beginning to enjoy. However, it does help me to appreciate those privileges more now than I had in the past. I am very happy that I was unemployed for so long after becoming a master of science. I can not think of anything, aside from a death experience in Pakistan, that has helped me appreciate my life as much. I am so fortunate, and based on the people that I know that read my blog I hope that you too realize how fortunate you are and do not take that for granted.

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!

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 7

Seven weeks! It is still surreal that I have the opportunity to go to work and get paid for doing something that I enjoy. I spent the majority of my week learning how to use HyperMesh, which is part of the HyperWorks finite element suite. This is the third finite element software that I have learned. First it took me a year (working part time) to understand Abaqus and DANTE, then it took me a month to understand ANSYS and in less than a week using HyperMesh I have made significant progress. I now feel more valuable as a finite element engineer than I ever did in graduate school. I just need CATIA and NASTRAN to round out my repertoire and I'll be more qualified than most of the tech support for all of those companies.

Secondly at work, I enjoy the people I work with. I think that is an important factor. I have never really been in a bad working situation, but I can imagine and I have heard stories. Even five minutes of socializing with my coworkers per day is a nice mental boost.

My running injury just took a ginormous (that is an actual word!) leap forward! I went to a massage therapist and had fingers and thumbs pressed into my knots to the point that I was in significant pain and the knots started to release. I continued to do my exercises and I even bought a foam roller so that I could work on rolling out my tight muscles. In total I ran about 77 miles including a 3.3 mile tempo at 5:54 pace and a 12 mile and 10 mile run at 6:55 and 6:50 pace respectively. Those are three very pleasing runs compared to the amount of pain that I was in for two weeks.

Foam Roller

In other news I started an account with mint.com at the recommendation of a friend who is traveling in Laos right now. It is pretty cool. It updates all of my account information every time that I log in so that I can see how my net worth or paying off my loans is going. I am worth negative tens of thousands of dollars. That's old news, but it's nice to see it change for the less negative. For me simply seeing the numbers helps me make the numbers a little less terrible to look at by applying money where it makes the most difference.

Additionally relating to money, I've done some reading about history and it is not that hard to make substantial profits in the stock market. From a mathematical point of view there are a number of quarterly published variables which indicate that certain stocks are worth more than the price that you have to pay for them. It's not physics, so you will not get the same reaction every time. However, it is statistics, and if you play the numbers in enough quantity for long enough, according to the history of the stock market, you will make money. I'll write more on that in the future.

I hit a deer with my van. It has a huge dent in it and I would take a picture except that it's dark out right now. I'll do a post about the six accidents I have had in the last nine years.

Finally, in news relating to the book I am writing, I passed 48,000 words and 100 pages this week. That's 100 pages of single spaced writing with only four pictures and four pages of contents and title stuff. I am very excited about how well that is going. Although, I don't have an agent, much less a publisher, and I have not done any speaking engagements yet. So I have a long way to go, but I feel I am on the right path. My goal is to have a rough draft finished in the next few weeks. I do not have too much more left to add. I am sure that things that I have written thus far could be a huge help to others in their early 20s tackling unemployment, underemployment and misemployment.

Oh and one more note along the investing lines, about a year ago I solicited investors for Janzen Gear. I had a few bites but did not reel in the kind of investor that I was looking for. I am thankful that I did not find an investor at that point in my life. I learned a lot about product costs and failure. The hangboards are a much better situation. I am able to fund the costs out of my own pocket, and thus will put all the profits back into my pocket, or rather into manufacturing more. This product has a much greater ability to generate profits from batch one (ten hangboards). The ice axe would require huge batches (hundreds and ideally thousands) and even lower profit margins (although not much lower) and required safety testing. I just did not understand all of those challenges a year ago, yet it makes a huge difference in business. Also, running this as my second job allows me to think small. I am not relying on Janzen Gear to pay my bills. It allows me to deal in smaller volumes with lower profits than the big boys. Which means a high value product for the price and the prestige of limited quantities.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 6

Six weeks! Nearly a month and a half! That is about 10% as many weeks working as I was unemployed. It is a good start. I am still in the honeymoon phase with work though, I am so excited to go to work every morning that I sometimes wake up before my alarm. That being said, I sit at my desk just about all day long and I get antsy to move around a little bit and when 4 PM rolls around I want to go running. It's not that I want to leave work, it's that I want to run. I built up so much self-esteem and positive daily attitude around the simply act of running that even now it seems as important as ever. I'm addicted to running. But I am able to feed my habit with a mere 20 minutes per day and it keeps me mostly healthy so I don't plan on changing anytime soon.

Tuesday I spent the day training how to use another finite element software, HyperMesh. After Abaqus and Ansys, it will be my third FE software. It seems to be very powerful, but my experience is limited thus far.

This week I had a breakthrough Wednesday! The simulation that I have been working on for about three weeks worked! I mean I finally got all the boundary conditions and connections and material properties right so that the results were about what I expected. At 11:30 AM CST Wednesday I was ecstatic. I was so happy that you would have had a lot of trouble bringing down my enthusiasm. The next two and a half days were some of the most productive that I have had. I was setting up simulations and running them and getting results that made sense. Much of engineering is really common sense. I set up the specifics and run the model and I expect to see results in a certain range and when I do I know that I doing most of it right.

I ran 44 miles this week which is one mile more than last week. Sunday I ran 3.3 miles and every day I ran a little bit farther until Saturday I ran almost 10 miles. I had a massage Friday and the therapist poked and prodded and pressed until I was in pain and my muscle knots started to dissipate. I felt amazing better Saturday than I had for almost two weeks. It is amazing how someone besides me can stick a finger in my hip and put me in incredible pain which releases the knots and "toxins" from my muscles. I say toxins in quotes because I'm not really sure what that refers to but I assume it is something that prohibits my muscles from functioning their best. It was a good week.

Socially I had a rather nice week as well. I had two hour long phone conversations with two friends in other time zones. I don't talk to my friends often enough and it was nice to spend some time doing that. I also went out to eat with my sister and some of our friends twice. There was a little more social interaction than that, but I would rather not give the personal details of everything that I do.

This week was so good. Considering the number of the things that I did for the first time this week if they happen again I would be thrilled. If some of those things develop into greater parts of my life I will be even more thrilled! I am so fortunate.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 5

In the working world, I did not get everything accomplished I wanted to. I did however find a new resource for software help, within the company, and that is proving to be a very successful relationship. I have been working on this one project for several weeks and I am not done with it. It is a simulation that seems to continually be more complex than I expected. It could easily be done by now had a more experienced person attacked the problem. Which means, I am beating myself up for not being awesome. I set high goals for myself spend a decent amount of time unhappy with my performance, because I fail to achieve those goals.

My running ground to a halt because I injured my hip. I believe it is a chronic muscle tear (knot) deep in my hamstring and hip. I found it, and I massaged it, and it feels broken up. That means that the knot split into several smaller knots and simply needs to be ground out a little finer and I will be as good as new. I ran a total of 43 miles for the week with 20 of that being on Sunday during my long run. It was a nice run at 6:56 pace, but the last 12 miles were with hip pain. 160 miles in nine days I am pretty sure is a nine day personal record. Yes, I know I should have stopped the run early and started resting and recovering. Unfortunately, I have a thick head sometimes and push to finish something after it is clear that the result is not worth the effort.

Socially I had a nice week. I went out to eat with a friend and I had coffee with a new friend. What does it take for me to commit to a friend? A friend who responds to my messages. I have had a number of people in the recent past not return my calls or messages. That being said I have not really checked my email in about three days or voicemail for that matter and I know there are people I want to reply to. I am being a hypocrite and a flake right now, great. Instead I'm blogging, some friend I am. Patience with me please I will call Monday or Tuesday.

I crested 40,000 words on my book. Seeing as how it is kind of a self-help book with a very specific audience, I brainstormed some speaking engagements. I haven't done anything about that yet, but once I work up the courage I'll approach the right people and show them awesomeness. Then once you get the ball rolling all you have to do is make sure that it goes the right direction.

I had a good week, really! Unfortunately, as I write this I feel useless. My project at work is going horrendously slow, my running consists of 3-4 miles per day, all the money that I "make" gets taken by people that want my money, I'm almost 25 and living at home, and my social network in Sheboygan County consists of four people near my age (one is gone every weekend, two I hardly know, and the other I hardly know plus she is pregnant). I am so happy to have all of the things that I have, like a job, the ability to run, any positive amount of money, parents with a house, and any friends, yet I naively expected more. Failing to meet expectations is failing to meet expectations no matter what the situation.

Life is, for lack of a better term, boring. The entire world is similar in that respect. Every neighborhood to somebody is their boring home neighborhood. Writing is post has made me feel better. Just writing all of this down in the last half hour has made me feel more successful and content. This is why I write this stuff down, because putting it in writing makes it a solvable or at least analyzable problem. Had I not spent the time to write this Sunday night I would have gone to bed unhappy. It is strange how my mood can change that fast. Simply thinking about the facts instead of the feelings has fostered a positive attitude in my head since I started writing tonight. Crazy!

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 4

I worked my 40 hours this week. I enjoy going to work so much. I work with a good group of people. That makes a huge difference. I am learning new software and doing computer simulations, and I like that stuff and I'm half decent at it.

Communication at work can be interesting sometimes. I had a problem this week and the fifth person I went to had the time and was actually able to solve it in 30 seconds despite the fact that we spent five minutes debating what the actual problem was. That was after approaching the first four people who could not help. Slightly amusing and rather frustrating. Educational though, it is nice to be reminded once again how critical communication is.

One of my friends works at Intel, or perhaps it's IBM. Anyway, one of the things he likes about his job is that he can point to the little icon on the front of the computer and tell a six year old that he helps make that. My job is fairly similar. I ask if people have seen those car commercials where they have  a computer model they crash. Then I tell then that I do the same thing, except on giant rectangular pieces of sheet metal. Not quite as interesting but still exciting. I get to sit at a desk and make colorful pictures all day long and socialize with a nice group of people. Colorful pictures, nice people, an engineering salary, what more could I want?

I ran 121 miles this week. That's the most I have run in one week in more than a year. I've only had four weeks in my life that I ran 120 miles or more. Included in that total was a 12.1 mile tempo at 5:58 pace, the only tempo longer than 10 miles I have ever done. I also did some short hill repeats and the usual 20 mile long run. I have also started doubling on long run days and I like that trend. On the very negative side the week ended with a possible piriformis problem or glute problem or chronic muscle tear on my right side.

Why am I possibly injured? Running at a high level requires a lot of running, to run a lot you have to do all sorts of additional work to strengthen your weaker muscles. I have been neglecting those exercises the last few weeks. Actually I have been neglecting those exercises most of 2011. I deserve to get injured. I also have not had a massage in over a year! To be a good runner you have to do A, B, and C. I am decent at doing A (running a whole lot), but I can be lazy about the B (supplementary work) and C (rest and recovery) all too often.

In other news I passed 30,000 words (70 pages in MS Word single spaced) on my book about unemployment. I also bought a domain name and started another website. I am still working on the details, but I will probably unveil it in the next 10 days. I want to do some work on Janzen Gear before I flip modes and start another tribe.

I also had a rather interesting social experience Friday night. The local FFA (Future Farmers of America) puts on a wine and cheese show every year and I went with my parents this year. I tried all sorts of wines and cheese, and I talked to a few people that were at least a little excited to talk to me. I'm going to blog about excitement to see people in the upcoming weeks. Anyway, Sargento and Sartori and a few other cheese factories are within five miles of my house and I have to say that Sartori's Aged Asiago cheese is amazing. I guess it is so rare they don't even have it on their website.

I had a good week. I hope you had a good week too. It was a week were I am not sure I "went anywhere" but I progressed in several areas that I think I might be close to making a breakthrough. Life is good.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 3

It is so exciting to wake up and have somewhere to be. Even more exciting after getting my first paycheck! That is about the highlight of the working week, getting paid for the first time. I spent most of my time trying to do a new simulation in ANSYS (a finite element program). It is still very much a learning process for me and with any learning process there are many hurdles that need to be overcome. Fortunately, hurdles can be interesting and I am certainly learning more about ANSYS.

We had a two and a half hour long meeting about some new software that we will be using, specifically I will be using. Wow, I will not tell you the name until I get to actually use it, but the demonstration was pretty powerful. It is amazing what some software is able to do. When I think about what one software is doing I suddenly realize, why isn't everyone else doing that? Curious...

I would say more about work, but to be honest many of the things I am working on are proprietary. The end result of most of my projects will be technical publications that are available to sales people so that they can certify that according to this computer model, the structures are capable of withstanding 150 MPH winds.

By the way today is Valentines Day gentlemen. That might possibly apply to you.

I ran this week. Big surprise right? In total 100 miles because I ran about 20 the last day of the week because I was just not going to be happy with 90. It's a mental game, I know, but it does help. I ran one race, two moderate workouts and one good long run.

Speaking of running a race it was... not quite as good as I hoped. That being said I was still leading at about halfway but due to about two miles of mostly snow covered trails I went sliding around and was summarily passed and beaten. I was also hoping for a personal record and the snow plus two hills put the brakes on that plan. Overall I am happy because it was a hard effort with some lactic acid build up. I feel confident in my training, but it was not the day.

What else did I do? I wrote more on my unemployment book and I am up over 25,000 words. It is going to be good. I ate supper with two of my cousins. I have am amazing family! I went out to eat with my family and paid for the meal. That is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. I am always getting taken out to eat by my elders or splitting the bill with my friends and most of the time I would prefer that I could pay myself. Finally, I took my family out to eat. I also spent most of the week recovering from my trip to St. Louis. It was a great trip but tiring.

The week ended by me going to the movie 127 Hours about Aaron Ralston who cut off his own arm in April 2003. I will write a review on that and post it later in the week. I think that of all the people I know I have spent as much or more time soloing in the backcountry than your average outdoorsman so I have a unique perspective on his ordeal.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 2

In the working world: I love engineering! It is awesome! Right now I'm still in the honeymoon phase, excited just to have a job, but I'm having a great time. I spent most of this week sorting out a license problem which basically stalled me for a few days. Then we figured thing out and I got to run some simulation and start my first simulation from scratch. Well, I don't build the parts or models in CAD but I build the mesh and simulation in ANSYS. I even worked some overtime working on a cooling problem for some residential generators. In fact, I learned that often companies build in cost reduction targets for a product at intervals after it's initial release. I'll probably write a post about that in the future but I am just stunned at how great of an idea that is. I am amazed that it took me so long to learn that.

In short, working is awesome, so far.

In the running world I ran 81 miles, a low total after four consecutive weeks of 100+ mileage. Most of that was due to "Snowpocalypse" that made running my normal double digit daily mileage or double runs far more challenging. However, I had a 20 miler at 7:03 per mile pace with a double on long run day. I would like to double every long run day and get 25-30 miles every Sunday, but my body can't hand that just yet. Then I had a tempo just over nine miles long at 5:45 pace, which means I set a personal record in the nine mile.  That was my first official marathon pace tempo. I'm not sure if I am going to run a marathon this spring, but I might. Finally, the plan is for an 8k race this weekend. Hopefully, I'll set a new personal record.

In the social world I had all sorts of fun. In chronological order I went skiing for the first time this season with a co-op student from work. We had a pretty good time. The plan is for a ski trip up to the UP (upper peninsula of Michigan) in a few weeks. Friday I ate supper with a handful of interesting women in Milwaukee.

Finally, Saturday I road tripped seven and a half hours to St. Louis, Missouri to go to the birthday party for my best friend from high school. I hadn't seen her in years and I don't work on the weekends plus I'm actually earning money now, so I drove down. It was amazing to see her. She changed my life, for the better, and helped me to understand mental and emotional things that no one else has ever helped me understand. Which is to say, she helped make me who I am. Without her I wouldn't be nearly as understanding to a number of issues. I am so happy I saw her. That has been on my to do list for a long time.

I love my life. I am so fortunate. I have everything. Well, not everything, but most of it. Why me? Why isn't all of this awesomeness given to someone who is starving or dying or was simply born in a less developed country? I guess this is asking the question: "what is my purpose in life?" I don't know. I don't know.

The Life of a Contract Engineer: Week 1

Since I like series, and especially series that end, I'm starting a new Monday series about, well, my life. I figure I'll talk about... stuff. Just read it to find out what I say.

The first week of work was great! I put in my 40 hours and it was nice. My first day was a little stressful because I felt a sense of urgency that if I wasn't awesome from hour one they were going to fire me. Strange, but that's how I felt. Fortunately, I got over than and finished my first ANSYS simulation project by 10 AM the second day. Yep, about 10 hours into a new company and using a new software I finished a simulation that has practical application to work. My ego is still huge from that.

Fortunately for the size of my ego, the rest of the week turned out to be a little more challenging. I worked on a stress analysis simulation and another steady state heat transfer simulation. My quote of the week was, "I'm not interested in how much heat goes into the heat sink [in a steady-state heat transfer problem] I want to know how much goes out of it." Steady state means that what goes in equals what goes out. That is Heat Transfer 3003 week one: steady state conduction. My bad. Fortunately, I was corrected without much fanfare.

In the 12 hours and 25 minutes of my life that I spent running last week I ran 102.2 miles for a ridiculous 7:18 average (fast for me). That included a 7974 meter tempo in a blistering 27:09 which is faster than my open 8k 27:34 personal record. Then I ran 5xmile averaging 5:16 pace over the five miles with only about 300 meters in 1:40 rest in between each mile. Also in there I had a 15 miler at sub 6:50 pace. Plus I had a 23 mile long run at the beginning of the week at a decently fast pace. That's two very solid workouts and two respectable workouts all in one week. I wasn't expecting my week of running to go that well.

Other than that I kept writing on my manuscript and I'm over 20,000 words now. What Gen Y Wants You to Know was only 5300 words so I figure that getting past 20k means I have a significant amount to talk about.

Oh and since most of you will read this Monday, I'm going skiing tonight at Sunburst. You're welcome to come just give me a call or text.