It's Not Rocket Science: Week 17

The week of July 25th to July 31st...

The last week of summer camp. The end. El fin. It's always bittersweet. No more smiling friends, no more helping 11 year olds conquer fear, no more deep conversations on the porch of my cabin, and no more training sessions trying to climb our 5.12c named "Almost". No more dishes for 70 people that I have the opportunity to do alone, no more requirements to be at 18 meals a week, no more people trying to keep me up past 11 PM, and no more pay check.

I've had this experience of getting close to some people then leaving them many times. I've come to the conclusion that many of our relationships are meant to last only a certain length of time. That is not to say that once I leave I ignore or desert my friends. It means that someone I talk to three times a day for two months I may only talk to once every other month when we move apart. Instead of beating myself up mentally about how this affects my relationships I have decided that this is how it is. I think it is important to live in the present instead of the past. It's hard and it makes me sad. On the other hand I get to meet new people in a new place who inevitably enhance my life in some way.

I ran the first three days of the week. Then I went to the doctor's office and they took an x-ray. There is my right leg. The problem that I've been struggling with for three weeks is a stress reaction in my fibula. My tibia is completely healthy as you can see by the white on the outsides of the bone and lighter gray in the middle of the bone. From about 2 inches to about 6 inches above my ankle on my fibula you can see that it is bright white the whole way through the bone as well as slightly swollen. This is a good thing. It means my body is healing itself, however it means I am far more likely to get a stress fracture, which is rather serious. Overall I am very relieved. Not since the summer of 2007 have I gone to a doctor that figured out what was wrong with me and told me how to get better. There is the proof in the picture. It's relieving to have a real physical injury. It makes sense. I can treat it.

Despite having a slower week I never had the chance to use the internet and my cell phone at the same time during business hours. Not a step in the right direction for job hunting yet I managed to get contact information of a person who might be interested in hiring someone like me. Fortunately, I sit here in Boulder on Monday morning with internet and cell phone service ready to get it done. I am very optimistic about the future. In part because I have no plans past the 11th of August. Too much planning contributed to my stress (or demons as a very respected relative of mine calls stress) earlier in the year. One month at a time I will pay my bills. I have also realized that I am comfortable moving back in with my parents after six years on my own. Living with my parents I have gotten more done and been very relaxed. It's not my first choice but I'm fine with it if it comes to that.

Unemployed, again...

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 15... The End.

In the world of job hunting: I broke down Wednesday and applied/accepted two jobs. As of Sunday I moved to Fairmont, MN to work in the family greenhouse for my uncle. Thankfully I have this opportunity. Then from the middle of May to the end of July I am working as Rock Climbing Director at Tahosa (in CO), more or less the same job I had in the summer of 08 with a slight pay increase and more days of employment. So for the near future I will be able to pay my bills.

Other than that I applied for about 20 jobs. I've hit them all up, multiple times. Scaled Composites, Black Diamond, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, SpaceX, Cascade Designs, Ball Aerospace, and Sikorsky among others. I intend to keep applying and occasionally contacting people I know at those companies because that's what I want to do.

This was a depressing week. I might have cried more this week than the last two years combined. At least cried and whimpered. Hoping, hoping, hoping, until the bills come and I realize that I must take a step down. It was so stressful. Believe me I tried to get jobs selling outdoor gear the first two weeks I was in CO but those stores are overflowing with employees.

"The real world"... that's going to get it's own post soon.

My health could have been better. I can't get to sleep because when I lay down I get that back and side pain and gurgling and it hurts to breathe. So I take 600 mg ibuprofen and eventually I fall asleep. It hurts to run so I only ran 44 miles this week with no workouts. No days off but it was the worst week I've had in more than 6 months just from a running standpoint.

I'm going to start a new series next week about my career search but as far as income negative I'm hoping to be income neutral.

This week in a word: depressing.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 14

Well, this is the end of "carefree" weeks. Next week when I can't pay my bills I will start getting phone calls and my credit will go downhill. Thus is life. What is credit anyway? Do people or institutions have credit? Such as when you work for a company or go to a school should they help you progress to your next stage of life? I would give more credit and respect to those that did. Maybe that would be integrity.

I don't mean to point the finger at everybody. I have had a lot of help from several people at many different places. Unfortunately, "help" is becoming a pretty worthless word in my vocabulary. I don't think it counts as help unless it actually contributes to accomplishing anything, and I have not accomplished anything recently.

I applied for jobs this week. I applied to be a barista at a local coffee shop. I sent a friend an article about running that he sent to several business associates with Runner's World. I applied for half a dozen jobs at Sikorsky in Connecticut. I just get the feeling that Colorado doesn't want me.

I also put together everything I have about Janzen Gear in one document. I need to smooth it out before I send it out, but it will be another incarnation of my business plan. Now for those of you that aren't in business, business plans are generally 10-20 pages long. They describe everything about the company from the management team to the advertising strategy to the production. I think they are ridiculous. I mean I think that for someone like me creating a 12 page paper about what I plan to do is unrealistic. Oh I have 14 pages right now, but a lot of that is repeated and a little is not included. The point is it's all fluff. Numbers and statistics about companies that don't really do what I do. I shouldn't compare myself to The North Face. They have hundreds of employees and I am just me. The other super frustrating thing is the value system around business plans. To have a business plan created for you it can cost upwards of $20,000. If I had $20,000 I would have a product available this fall.

There are basically three types of investors in the world. First, including most people is the group that has a few thousand that could be invested in something but they are not rich. Second, is accredited investors, people who make over $500k per year or have over 2 million. These are usually known as angel investors because they can give out tens of thousands or a few hundred thousand without a problem. Third is the group at the top. Decamillionaires and billionaires, who have so much money that they actually can't spend it all on having fun. There is always more land to buy and companies to invest in so they can spend it but seriously, what is the difference between owning 40,000 acres and 800,000 acres? Anyway, traditional angel investors are looking for high tech start up companies where they will make a lot of money when they sell the company in five years. That is not my goal. I just want to make stuff and license or sell it. My desires are so basic. I would like to get a new computer so that I do not have to use my six year old laptop with a broken battery. One of the biggest expenses would be getting an investment casting mold for about $6,000. That number is so big to me right now I just can not handle it. However, I know that out there this past week people bought Porches and Corvettes. I am sure that someone in Manhattan spent more on room and board this week than $6,000.

It's tough because most of the people I know really do not have any money to give me. Those that have a little I don't really want to take because I know that it is just that, a little and they could easily lose their income or other investments. Yet creating a 12 page business plan to show to multimillionaires while asking for less money than they spend on a single car seems ridiculous. They buy a car based on two pages of specs and a test drive. They know it will depreciate yet spend tens or hundreds of thousands on it. I just can not relate. I drive a van with over 260,000 miles and it works fine, I have no intention of getting rid of it anytime soon.

Aside from that frustration I ran this week. I ran like 63 miles. It is the first time I have been below 70 since September. Why so low? Was I doing really hard quality workouts? No. My right side decided to shut down. From the bottom of my ribs to my neck on my right side is in pain. I can't sleep unless I take all sorts of drugs. I can't lay down. Running is basically terrible. Isn't this exciting? No income and I get sick or hurt or something. I went to the doctor and they don't know what it is. Maybe pneumonia, but probably not, maybe kidney stones, that's the one my personal research is leaning towards. They took four blood samples, blood oxygen measurements, a chest x-ray, and listened to me breathe. My most recent thought, maybe it's stress. I have this way of getting depressed. Try being unemployed for more than three months sometime. What am I supposed to think that is happy? I don't have a job and I can't run as well as I want.

So I have not sent a bunch of emails that I was planning on sending this past week because honestly I didn't feel like it. If you haven't noticed, my attitude right now is not an attitude I want to pass on to people while I am asking for money, a job, or whatever.

I feel like a total failure. I have no money. Nobody wants to hire me. My running is terrible. My health is failing. It's not bad enough that I want to die. I went through that stage when I was much younger and came out of it so that I will never really want to die or commit suicide again. However, I don't really want to live either. I'm in a hole so deep that I just don't think my problems will be solved easily. I think there will be a lot more pain in my near future.

Most interesting feeling of the week: I was driving up one of the roads from Denver to Evergreen after taking my 800th milligram of ibuprofen and as I was going around the corner I thought, "This is strange the van is turning. I know I am holding the steering wheel but the van is turning and I can't really feel it."

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 12

In the world of income searching: I had a big week applying for jobs. I think I applied for 23, about 21 of those in California or Washington. The reason being a recommendation from an engineer in the local aerospace industry to check out farther west. Also because I would like to see my track season out while living at altitude and jobs that I apply for now I probably won't get until May. More jobs are becoming available as the next year graduates so there are more opportunities every week. But who knows where I'll be or what I'll be doing in a month or three months?

I am continually learning about what I want to get out of life and I developed that again this week in relation to having a job. I decided that the main reason I am paranoid about being unemployed is that I have debt. If I was simply broke without debt I would be much less stressed. Along those same lines my running and mountaineering may never pay for themselves on their own. However! as I learned with my coaching perhaps there are other avenues to create income from my adventures. Documentaries about expeditions, books about training or expeditions, lectures about that stuff, coaching, and other ways that I can provide information may prove to create income for me. That is to say I'm not going to put up a new 5.13 free route at 7000 meters on Masherbrum anytime soon and get sponsors, but then again Jon Krakuarer did very well writing a book about jugging up Everest.

In the world of Janzen Gear, contractors have taken their time to actually give me a number. All I want is a number, a price for what it would take for them to produce my ice axe. I was also turned down for one of the business competitions I applied for. I've been rejected in so many ways in the recent past that one more rejections doesn't really bug me. I am sure that the course of my professional life will be very satisfying.

In the world of my documentary I met with an experienced sponsored alpinist friend of mine and he gave me lots of good advice about what to include and how to make it short. I've been reinvigorated to make it profitable. I have cut it down to 100 minutes. The goal is less than 56 minutes, perhaps even less than 30. I know that is short but I want to hold peoples attention. As much as die hard unexperienced people or people who were there would easily watch two hours (my parents watched all eight hours with me!) I think that many people would rather less than an hour.

In the world of coaching, my only athlete was sick with pneumonia the last two weeks in the hospital. Fortunately he is better now, but needless to say I haven't been coaching. I did read a book on coaching by Renato Canova and started the Joe Vigil book. Strangely enough for a long time I have wanted to coach high school runners. Well every once in awhile the last half year or so I've considered making it more of a career. Full time running coaches are actually kind of rare. There are probably only several hundred in the US. Most are at universities coaching a college team. Only a handful make a living coaching professional athletes. I can't even think of ten coaches in the US that coach exclusively professional runners. Anyway I don't see that happening anytime soon with my mediocre personal records but perhaps some day I will have the opportunity to be there face to face with my athletes every day.

I have read about creating multiple streams of income as a way to stabilize my "portfolio" or income and I like the idea. I just have more work to do before I actually have multiple streams of income. For example: sell my documentary, license a patent, coach, and write books (or blog) all at the same time. No one would provide an entire income but together it could be enough. I am trying hard not to limit myself to one particular area of work. I have a broad set of skills from writing to sharpening cross cut saws to finite element heat treating simulations.

In the world of non-income: I ran 102 miles this week. It was perhaps one of the best weeks of running I have ever had. Not super high mileage but solid. I also had a good long run and three workouts. The first two were nothing terribly special but the last workout on Friday was just amazing. I did 20x400 meters at 10k pace and 400 meters recovery. The total of 8k of quality work was 25:16 which is nearly a minute faster than my pr (personal record). It was also done alone on an asphalt track at 5900 feet. I figure with an altitude conversion of 2 seconds per lap that puts me below 31 flat 10k pace, which is the goal. I know there was a lot of rest and some could easily argue that this is really a 5k specific workout and not 10k, but I am happy. I would like to do a few workouts of equal or slightly harder effort in the next few weeks but overall I am pleased that I am on the right track. It looks like I will be racing the 10,000 at the Kansas Relays at KU in Lawrence Kansas April 15th. I am still looking for a second track 10k this season at least nine days before or after the race in Kansas. If anyone knows of anything relatively close to Denver and close to sea level please let me know.

I bought some new clothes including a pair of jeans. After trying on several pairs it seems that I am an even 28x28 person. Unfortunately many companies don't make anything smaller than 30x30. Also, what's up with holes in jeans? I seem to tear enough holes in my pants from riding my bicycle, going over barb wire fences, crawling around on the ground, and using saws. I mean seriously, pants that come with holes in them? If I want people to see my legs I'll wear running shorts.

This is also extremely tentative but I might be able to go to Mt. Everest in 2012 and perhaps Aconcagua in early 2011. There are so many details that I need to figure out before it is confirmed. There is also the approval of a number of other people that I need before I go. I also have to figure out how to fund it all. Fortunately those are all details that I think will work out.

Honestly, I had a good week. Life takes ups and downs and this week I had more ups than downs. I hope that you had a good week as well.

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.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 9

In the income searching world: I branched out this week and applied for professional blogging and freelance jobs. I already heard back from one organization asking for a more detailed proposal. I think in total I applied for seven jobs mostly writing jobs.

In terms of my own starting a company or licensing something I put in a request for quote with mfg.com for ice axes. I also invented a harness and built an athletic tape prototype. The plan is to sew one, not weight bearing but looking weight bearing. Create a provisional patent and one page selling sheet. Then approach all the major climbing companies simontaneously. If there are no takers I'm not sure what I'll do next.

Another thing that kind of makes me laugh is when people tell me "If you can't find a job what are the rest of us supposed to do?" I am getting this exact line more than once a week. Well we are all different and knowing my friends I would expect most of them to get a job before I do. Honestly, I think I intimidate people. I think between my running and mountaineering and patents companies don't know what to do with me.

In the social and "I wish I got paid for this" realm: I finally got my weekly mileage back to 100 after four weeks around 90. There were even some decent workouts in there. In fact running in flat Gunnison and almost sea level Sedona is so easy compared to hilly Evergreen.

On Thursday I left for two days in Gunnison then a few days in Sedonna. So I am typing on my iPhone with my thumbs on an extended network right now so excuse the brevity. What I lack in words the last few days and next few days I am more than making up for in inspiration. I'm going to do a relationship post! It will have to wait until I have better internet access but it will be interesting.

While in gunnison I did a bunch of fun stuff. I stayed at my friends house and met their two roomates who both climb harder than I do and I may take a spring break climbing trip with them. They were amazed by Pakistan. They also took me ice and mixed climbing. Wow, am I weak and out of practice now... Then we had a humdinger. Like I said, much inspiration for future articles.

Saturday was filled with a harrowing drive over lizzard head pass in a snowstorm then down to Sedona, Arizona. One great thing about old people is that they can tell you things that younger people just have no idea about. Again, more inspiration for future articles.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 8

This week was kind of anticlimactic... and antiproductive. Don't let the somewhat negative tone of this post affect you. Sometimes moving forward is not easy or full of roses.

In the world of job searching: I applied for eight jobs between online forms and emailing people directly. The stories from the companies who are hiring is pretty much the same everywhere, "We didn't expect so many people to apply online. We had over 150 people apply for this position..." Ok hr, take a hint, the internet is kind of a big thing and it is really easy to apply to most places. Second, have you heard that unemployment is about 10%? Underemployment is over 17% as well. Thats more than one in four people in the US that aren't working as much as they would like. With those numbers in mind I am searching out other sources of income.

I opened up my coaching services to the world. My direct coaching experience is somewhat small but I've read more about running than a lot of coaches. I've also run more miles consistently than a number of coaches. While mileage is in itself not an indicator of ability to run fast, it does show how to set up a sustainable schedule for long term development.

I pulled the plug on the licensing deal with the Italian company. I'm going into production myself by outsourcing through mfg.com. I want to get it certified by the UIAA, and sell them. As far as incorporation and business law I've decided that if it looks like I am about to make enough to get out of the poverty line ($10,830) then I'll worry about legal stuff. I mean I guess they could throw me in jail but what would that accomplish? I'm so low you can't take any money away from me. Having so little money right now I think is a really good thing. I am not very vulnerable to losing my Ferrari or retirement savings. I've cut back on eating out, coffee, and the "entertainment" I pay for so I'm spending less money. Also, and this is a continuation of many things that I have said the past half year, I'm really really incredibly lovingly thankful for who and what I have. Every second is a blessing and I am not wasting my life. My friends are so valuable, more valuable than all the money I can imagine.

I discovered that for eight days I had an extra preposition in my resume. So I don't intend on getting called from any position I applied for in the last eight days because of that. Great isn't it?

I finally put my resume on my website. I have been considering it for a long time it just seemed like a waste of time and potential for stolen identity. However, I am who I am and I am 100% convinced that there is no one in the world that can be Isaiah Janzen. My hope is that someone will read one of my Abaqus posts and look for some consulting services or something and see my resume and contact me. Perhaps a head hunter might also come looking while he surfs the internet at work. I doubt it but it's up there in gory detail for the world to see.

Something my dad always suggested in our family was having nothing to hide. No locks on inside doors, no secrets, etc. I didn't always agree but as I get older it's like why not? I will not share the secrets of my friends and family because many things are not appropriate for conversation. Other things will not help anybody by being spoken about so I don't share everything. You see information is power. The more I have the more power I have. CEOs know their companies better than anyone else and thus make the big bucks. So in a way by providing more information I have more power. Who knows maybe someone will write a biography about me before I write an autobiography, if I live that long and do anything interesting...

I am working on building or rebuilding three websites and that is going slowly because I know what I want, and I haven't been able to make it happen yet. All three are designed to be able to provide me some sort of income. We'll see how many I actually take live. We'll also see if any of them actually make enough money to cover the cost of hosting.

In other news after weeks of delaying and procrastinating I am working on my Broad Peak documentary again. My goal is to finish it this week before I go to Arizona. Well, maybe I'll finish it in Arizona. Then after I send free copies to everyone that's in it, I'm going to start selling them on this website. I think this little experiment will do better than my paperback. Maybe even well enough to cover my cell phone bill.

Except for being able to pay all of my bills, I'm in no huge rush to join the 9-to-5 working for work's sake. I've been thinking about it. If my running steps it up two notches or I decide to go try some crazy climbing I could totally be a professional athlete. Watch for a post later this week titled "Colder than the Girls."

In the social and entertainment part of my life: I ran 91 miles this week. I had two good workouts and a nice medium long run. It snowed Monday and Tuesday then I was sick the rest of the week. All of that conspired to keep me from doing a long run (18+ miles) and getting the mileage that I wanted (95+). Whatever, it happened now I'm moving on. In the world of running you have to just put in the work, even when most of the workouts are not awesome and satisfying.

I have been helping out with this robotics high school group and I went down twice this week and had fun. One of the interesting things about this group is that they cut aluminum on wood work working machines. They just change the blade before they cut metal. I screwed up twice in one night by supervising the kids cutting metal with wood tools and once using a machine they weren't even supposed to use.

I watched Norwand with four of my friends. Basically there is a push in 1936 to get the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger. Two teams of two, one German team and one Austrian team, go up and end up in one big team. They all die. But seriously? Have you watched any movie with mountaineering where someone didn't die? I haven't released my movie yet but there is a death. We all know the risk and that is part of the experience. Anyway, the movie was in German with subtitles. It was pretty good.

Here is an oil painting I made this week titled: HACE and Frostbite

The story is that these two were the first two to come down from the summit push on Broad Peak when I was at camp three. The one on the right had really bad HACE and had a high altitude porter help her down and the one on the left had frostbitten toes and was helicoptered out two days later. To the best of my knowledge there are no photos of this because at the time there were only about five people at camp three. It's kind of an impressionist style but it was also snowing when this incident took place.

What does the future hold: I'm taking off to Arizona near the end of this week! My grandparents have a condo in Sedona Arizona and I've wanted to see it in the winter for some time. There is also one person out there I plan to search out and have a meeting.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 7

This was a life changing week. Pay attention.

In the job hunting world: the interview I had went well. Of course one of the lines I was fed was "Well, the job market isn't great for people like you with very little experience. It's also not good for old people with big salaries. It is good for people with 5-10 years of experience that are willing to work for moderate salaries."

I applied for maybe another five jobs online. I was forwarded an opportunity that begins in March in Missouri. Based on the person that I got it from this is the kind of opportunity that I might be able to turn into a job. However, it is in Missouri. Secondly, I said this was a life changing week and that directly relates to the standard 9-5 work week. More on that later.

I was provisionally conditionally offered a temporary job at the high school I have been volunteering at to do some contract work for 1-2 weeks in March. This is so new that it might not happen. However, I have a strange feeling like it will work out and I'll get some money out of it.

I had a phone call that changed my life. The one runner I am coaching now I let choose how much he wanted to pay me. Well, that number is higher than I expected. Like more than four times as much as I originally thought he would pay me. So I called him and we talked for awhile. The results of that phone call: we are going to write a book, he is going to vacation out here at some point, and I am going to start coaching online. This is very significant. Do you know that with five athletes I will have enough money to pay my basic expenses? With 30 athletes I can make more money than some of my friends. Also, not only can I coach runners I am uniquely qualified to coach another market segment. It will be announced later this week.

The advantage of online coaching is that I set my hourly schedule. In other words I can continue my near perfect time of day running schedule, spend time with my friends, and get all the work done I need to pay the bills.

I started reading a book my friend bicycling through South America recommended. I'm not even 100 pages in and it has changed my life. More on that in future weeks when I figure out things more.

Finally, I'm redesigning this website. Sorry if you liked the old layout but I want something a little more professional.

In the leisure time of my life: I had a great week! I saw a friend that I had not seen in years. I won't get into details but in short: AMAZING!! I had a new friend confess that she had been in rehab 11 times and spent 45 days in prison. Heavy stuff. I would have never guessed because I don't look at her and see any issues. But to me, it is reaffirming that I'm supposed to be out here in Colorado with these phenomenal people. In unrelated news, I had a local engineer at an aerospace company tell me in relation to a design issue, "I like the way you think." Yeah, I do like the way I think.

I ran 92 miles. 100% of that above 7000 feet. I had two workouts, one short and easy and the other was so hard hard (no it's not a typo) that I didn't finish it. Then Friday afternoon and Saturday and I had two fantastic runs. Decent paces, I felt strong, etc. In fact, after my run Saturday I was overflowing with optimism that I could not sit down.

Saturday I went to the REI garage sale at the flagship store in Denver. I wanted to buy a MSR Reactor stove. They didn't have one so I dropped $200 that I don't really have on a new pair of mountaineering boots, a backpack, headlamp, and women's gloves. I wanted another pair of gloves and as I was fishing around the bins I tried these nice insulated leather palm gloves on and they fit so well. Then I noticed the floral design on the back of the hand. Yep, women's gloves.

After the garage sale we went to the Denver Art Museum because it's free on Saturday. I finally got to see a Piet Mondrian. I think he is/was such a cool artist. I know it's just squares and lines to most but have you ever tried to paint lines and squares? It was in pretty terrible condition, which was nice because you could see the brush strokes. He must have had one of the steadiest hands ever.

Last thought of the post: I'm considering moving to Argentina for a few months.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 6

What a week.

In the career hunting world: I made an appointment with these people in Loveland about a heat treating job. I have an interview Tuesday. We'll see how it goes because it is a staffing agency and not the actual company but all of their hiring goes through this company. That was the high light of the job search. I also started mentoring at a high school robotics program. That is a lot of fun. I'll put a post up about working with high school kids soon. Also, one of the adult leaders works for a local (and global) aerospace company and that could possibly lead to a job. What exactly he does now or the fact that I would like to work at his company has not come up yet but in time hopefully it will.

I heard back from the Italian company I am trying to license my two pending patents. I sent them more information and now I wait to hear back. This company does not have a huge presence in the US so legally they only have to pay royalties on items sold in the US. That is to say I would get very little money from this company. Fortunately, money is not the point of this. It's the ride, the experience, the resume that would say something about successfully licensing my patents. It's about the free ice axes that I would get, and hopefully the trip to Italy. It's about when I have a third patent and I try to license that people are like "his first attempt went over well we should follow through with him".

I only applied for a few jobs this week, three I think. The problem now is that I have applied to most of the places I would traditionally think of working. So on the one hand I just keep checking their websites hoping they post new jobs. On the other hand I consider what other careers I am qualified for. I could work at a civil engineering firm because I know so much about steel and metal in general. I could work at a plastics company because I know more about plastic processing than 99% of people. So I did some brainstorming about other careers. I think I will start following up on those after my interview Tuesday.

It's just hard because I think of myself capable of working in the aerospace industry very well. So the fact that I have not gotten in quickly is confusing to me.

In the social and physical realm: I spent a day skiing at Copper Park. It was pretty awesome. The grooming was not 100% like in New England so we did some off-piste skiing in 12 inches of powder. My room-mate and I both wiped out because powder skiing is different than skiing on hard snow. Also, making turns at 12,000 feet is very tiring.

I ran 87 miles. I had one good tempo workout on a treadmill and one mediocre tempo workout on the roads. I was going to run 100 or a few more miles but I finally talked to a local 2:23 marathoner who is happy to find some person closer than Boulder to train with. He is also going to give some coaching advice, for free. One of the things that he reassured me about was how hard it is to transition to altitude. He said cut down the miles and stay away from the track for awhile. He said that he's seen lowlanders come up before and burn themselves out in the altitude, so he said take it easy. So for those of you wondering when my next race is, it might be more than a month. Anyway this is a very positive step in the right direction for my running. The opportunity to train with someone better. He is also a 1:06 half marathoner.

I tried to climb my first winter mountain in Colorado. First let me say I ran 17 miles Friday with 7.4 miles of that at six minutes per mile or faster pace. I drove to the Quandry Parking lot after supper and packing. I arrived at midnight. Usually I would go to sleep and wake up early and go. Well, there was a full moon. With all of the recent snow it was amazingly bright out. I could not resist the temptation to just go for it. So I dressed and headed out at 12:30. Anyway, I took the road less traveled and ended up post holing the better part of 3 hours getting to maybe 12,500 feet. At that point just before 4 AM I was tired and headed down. I got to my van at 5:44 AM and was asleep from 6-8:30.

Then I drove into Frisco and had a huge breakfast still wearing my Ragged Mountain bib and R1 Hoody. Then I drove to Aspen, I guess to scout out future climbs. But I was tired by that point and slept from 1-2:15 in the Forest Service parking lot just laying on my face in the back of my van. I never sleep on my face, I was that tired. Woke up, went for a six mile run up a canyon wall, had supper, watched a movie, went to bed at 10:30, woke up at 11:20 PM when my friends got back from the X-Games, hot tubbed for an hour and a half, then I went to bed again for the fourth time in 20 hours.

I also contacted a few of my friends in Colorado. I have maybe a dozen friends in Colorado and I have not spent any time with them, except my WPI friends, since moving out here. Based on the Facebook messages though I think in the near future I'll get to hang out with my friends. You see when I call someone my friend I mean it. I mean that in a whole bunch of years down the road we are still friends and I invite them to hang out with me.

That was my week. This is my life.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 5

In the job hunting world: it was an up and down week. I made a few phone calls. I left a few voicemails and as usual have not heard back. I did however get an invitation from a staffing agency that works, it seems primarily, for a heat treating company so this week they told me to call and schedule an interview. I went to an entrepreneurs meeting and met several people, one of whom asked for my resume and we are probably going to meet up in the near future. I contacted my two biggest leads for job opportunities in the Denver area and haven't heard back from either one of them. I only applied for like five jobs this week because I'm not finding as many new jobs that I am qualified for.

In terms of this upcoming week, I am joining a high school robotics team. Apparently they could use some help that I might be able to offer in the next several weeks. Additionally there is at least one engineer advisor for the team who works for a company I am fond of...

So while I have not netted the interview I want yet, I do have three upcoming meetings, of sorts, with people who may know people. Isn't the whole "it's not what you know but who you know" game fun?

In the rest of my life: I ran 90 miles. I was tired most of the week kind of destressing or at least trying and that entailed a lot of sleeping. I had two workouts and my first race at altitude. All three went worse than I had hoped. I did play video games but not as much as last week. I spent some time reading one of the books I bought. I did spend some money on three pitons and a water bottle with a hand holder for running. I went backcountry skiing on Monday. Round trip we were only out for five hours and two of that was driving and nice trail hiking. Still no rock, ice or alpine climbing although I think that perhaps I might get out this week or weekend and do something. In short, I could be doing all of this in just about any state.

Money. It is frustrating. I want to find a place where I can have fun making money. I think that far in the future, years down the road when I have other stressful problems that I will handle them well. This unemployment and these seemingly massive debts of mine are just another stressful challenge I have to overcome. I survived a night and snow storm at 23,050 and seven weeks in Pakistan. I finished my thesis after thinking about it just about every waking hour of the day for months. There are other somewhat stressful situations I have conquered in the past and this one is nothing terribly different. So because most of you who read this are my friends and family, thank you for supporting me because I can not do what I do alone. Of course it seems like the end of the world now but in time things will work out and I shall be where I am supposed to be. Even if that means running across the country for more than three years like Forrest Gump... (It's an option.)

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 4

This was what I will consider a good week. In the world of job hunting I filled out about 15 applications. I also made a phone call to a local staffing agency who I thought was an aerospace heat treating company and while it was kind of vague I am pretty sure they invited me in for an interview. (I realized that staffing agencies may also be hurting because fewer companies are hiring.) I think that this coming week I will make a lot more calls to several companies. People seem a lot more accommodating on the phone than in an email. However, I have not yet hit up the big three aerospace companies yet this year because I am waiting for two people to return my resume critiqued. I want to make sure that when I make the first or second impression (depending on the person and the company) that they like me!

I checked for local part time jobs in town a little but there really isn't much available. It seems that here there are lots of people that work those "part time" jobs as a career. Perhaps it is to go to the mountains more or to have less responsibility. Whatever the case it is a more competitive market than I anticipated.

Job hunting is like persistence hunting. That is hunting when you physically run down an animal. You head out looking for an animal. Then you see a heard and decide you want one specific animal. So you (and your friends) chase after it. However it might not be the right animal or easiest to catch so you set off after another animal. Eventually you figure out which one you want and keep chasing it. The problem is that when you start you don't know how long you are going to have to run. It could be ten miles, it could be a marathon it could be longer than a marathon. It is the same with job hunting: you take a few steps forward but you don't know how long until you get a job.

On the financial side of things: I bought two books and a new pair of running shoes. I also went grocery shopping and bought a mocha one morning. I did not go out to eat, which is good, and I did not buy any gear despite going to the REI flagship store in Denver. So the week was a loss but not terribly so. This coming week I have bills to pay so it will be a bigger loss.

On the "leisure time" side of thing: I ran 102 miles. 28 miles at 5000 ft the rest at 7400-8400 feet. I also had two good workouts. So in terms of running it was a good week. But running does not pay my bills. I also played too many hours of video games. What counts as too many? More than three hours in a week.

Since coming to Colorado last Sunday I have not yet climbed a mountain, gone rock or ice climbing, gone skiing, gone biking, or met up with any of my Colorado friends from 2008 and before. Kind of strange. I come here for the mountains yet I just run circles around them instead of climb up them.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 3

The view on Interstate 90 Wednesday before they closed it down for two days.

In the job hunting escapade: the week started off with me emailing several people in my WPI life that have been influential asking for introductions to people in the Denver metro area that might be looking for employees or know people looking for employees. Well I completely struck out with one of them and only hit a grounder to get on first with the other one. Not exactly the home run I was looking for. I spent the later half of the week snowed in in Minnesota away from internet access, besides my phone. So I applied for zero jobs online. However, due to the world being small I am following up with another friend for a possible introduction to a person that can probably help find me a job. As far as actually applying for jobs and such the week was more or less a wash. However, I am now in Colorado and I have thought up a few other contacts which I will pursue in the next week.

It's a scary thing. Being unemployed. In fact in the next week I am going to start searching out jobs that I can do until I land that engineering job with a fat salary. Well, a salary big enough to pay my loans. Honestly any engineering job that I could land I would be happy for. I'd even be happy with an internship right now. I'd even be happy for the next month if I could just sharpen cross cut saws or use one of my other skills. When you have a future be it another semester, a job lined up, or even just work on Monday you have this peace (and possibly ignorance) instead of this anxiety.

On a somewhat unrelated note I started coaching my first athlete, and he is going to pay me! While this is not the job I am looking for and it won't even cover one of my bills each month it is something which is better than nothing.

In the rest of my life (what is not getting me a job): I ran a meager 83 miles but had a good workout and took a day off to drive 13 hours across the country. I finally painted my political theory. Besides the 120 dollars I spent driving 1300 miles I didn't spend really any money which is always a good thing.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 2

This week was a slight improvement over last week.

Applying for jobs: I applied for eight jobs in three states: California, Arizona, and Colorado. I also did some research trying to extrapolate possible second or third degree connections I have to employers in Colorado. I figured out two connections which I shall definitely follow up on. The way I see it the chance of getting called for any one job I apply for online is very low but then again I am only looking for one job.

Another interesting piece of information I discovered while applying for jobs is that I may qualify as an engineer II in some instances. (An engineer I is basically the bottom and III is more experienced and then there are senior engineers and up the management chain and pay scale you go.) Because of my masters degree and limited experience I have very strong credentials for a new starting engineer.

Other diversions of time: I ran my weekly mileage high of 127 miles. I also had a good 15 miler in there, a tough tempo in terrible conditions, then a workout with three miles at LT pace and six 400s at goal mile pace (4:22-23).

I sold two of the four things I listed on eBay. The problem with all the stuff I have is that none of it is worth more than a few cents on eBay or I am not trying to get rid of it.

I spent a good amount of the week painting "Holden Reservoir Number One" which is a view of one of the Holden/Worcester reservoirs along some of my favorite long runs in Worcester. It's two feet by three feet and took more than twice as long as I expected. It's approximately the view in October as the leaves change color. In person the reds stand out a little more. I painted it to remind me of all the wonderful runs and bike rides I had going past that spot. Seen for the first time in public:

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 1

I'm starting a new series! A series about my unemployment (sad face). Hopefully this series won't last very long. The conditions for this series to end are employment in a position that is not seasonal and consists of a career, not simply a job. That is to say I would like to get an engineering job using my education. I will be giving an overview of the things I am actively doing to make money and the things that are taking money away from me.

So I shook my advisors hand last Friday and started unemployment. I had a good mile race the next day setting a new PR at 4:36. Then Sunday I had pretty much the worst nine hours of my life thus far. Going through US customs they asked why I went to Pakistan. Which turned into a 45 minute stop where they searched my van and found the Tzo (half Yak half Cow) horns. I had to answer many questions while the lady on my left had problems with her green card and the guy on my right (Zamir or something) was being questioned about why a middle eastern would go to graduate school in the US. It was kind of funny but kind of annoying because I did not break any laws. They eventually let me go.

Then three hours later the spare tire I was driving on blew out. It's not as hard to control a blowout as I thought it would be. So not having a spare I had to call a tow truck, at 7 AM on a Sunday. After a quite 30 mile (and $100) ride to Walmart they fixed my other tire for $10 and I was off again.

Then after two rather usual delays I did the hat trick. Going through Chicago I got to the North end and there were signs for the tollway or the freeway, well I took the free one obviously. That turned into city streets with stoplights. So I headed toward the tollway. It was $ .50 to get on from there and as I looked down to get two quarters I came up to a stop light. I had not seen the stoplight, or the car stopped at it. So as I looked up and slammed on my breaks, and screamed, it was all too late. I rear ended the other car. Who would I hit but a pregnant woman and her husband. Now I was gong pretty slow at that point like 5 mph or less because nobodies air bag went off and the damage, especially to their car, was very small. Yet the fact remains I rear ended a pregnant woman. Want to feel bad about something you did?

The next few days were pretty low key. I ran a bunch of miles. Then I started selling my stuff on eBay. I have all sorts of stuff I don't use and don't need or want so I figure I will try to get paid for it. I haven't actually gotten paid for any of it yet but my first two items are set to sell because they already have bids.

I signed up for one of those take surveys get paid things on the internet. Probably a waste of time...

I bought another 2ft by 3ft canvas and I am going to make a painting of the Worcester Reservoir #1. I figure that I can paint to make money while I am not employed. It is a one or two day investment that could possibly pay enough to pay an entire month of rent.

I did some thinking and pretty quickly decided that I will never draw unemployment pay unless I have some terrible injuries. I mean I have so many money making skills and I am smart enough to figure out some way to make money.

I only applied for like three jobs this last week but I applied for perhaps 15 the week before. I need to apply for at least 100 before I feel like I have really applied to enough places.

Also, Christmas was this week and it went well. I got some shirts, DVDs and money. Almost enough money to pay a month of rent. Of course right now I am at home so rent is free but I plan to make the trip out to Colorado in the next two weeks.