Keeping tabs…

So one of my other goals for this year is to “Apply to several stellar grad programs.” I’m looking to start in the Fall of ‘07 after another year of working and a little travel.

I’m looking at Public Policy/Public Administration, Planning, MBA, and, when I’m drinking hard alcohol, law school. Here are some of my thoughts on each. Some of you have done these programs and might want to chime in here. Some of you know me well, so feel free to chime in here as well if you think I’m going to make myself miserable.

MPP/MPA
Pros: It’s what I’ve been doing for the past seven years. If I got into a top program, I could make some great relationships with faculty and other students that could last a lifetime. A top program could also strengthen my expertise and credibility on the job front.
Cons: It’s what I’ve been doing for the past seven years. I already know most of the content and the rest I should learn by doing, rather than getting into debt / wasting two years.

Planning:
Pros: I’ve got a whole left brain / design part of me that I’ve been wanting to use and urban planning is about as close as I think my work will get to that given my other interests. MIT’s program also has a strong track in environmental policy, the head of which is kind of a guru when it comes to environmental conflict mediation.
Cons: I’m setting myself up to be a beaurocrat for the rest of my days. Planning is not very sexy and isn’t exactly in the fight. Hmm….

MBA:
Pros: I could learn how best to work with businesses for social change and learn how to run my own organization effectively.
Cons: I’d be surrounded by people who’s primary motivation is making lots of money.

Law:
Pros: Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, people take lawyers seriously. Knowing the law can show you the best places to change the law.
Cons: I have no motivation what-so-ever to actually practice law and most of the coursework seems worse than Chinese water torture.

Hmm… So I guess law is out. Planning doesn’t seem to score very highly either. MPP or MBA? hmm…

I just left the gym and my arms feel like jello…

One of my goals for this year is to “Meditate, exercise, and cook regularly.” Well today I worked out and it felt great. I “cooked” at home for 2 out of 3 meals (I say “cooked” because it was all by microwave). I haven’t meditated yet today, but I hope to get in a good 30 min sit before I go to sleep. Small steps…

I wonder about the whole working out thing. I’m not sure if I do it more because I feel great afterward or if I’m just as body image concious as anyone. It’s some of both and, hey, what’s so wrong about wanting to look good when you’re at the beach…

It’s cool as you get older as a man. Your muscles get a lot bigger when you work out because you’ve got all this testosterone running through your system. Rawr…

Here’s my workout plan. Let me know what you think.

Monday & Thursday:
Pullover / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Incline Press / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Seated Row / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Deltoid Shrug / 1 / 10 / 60 seconds
Lat Pulldown / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Preacher Curl / 2 / 10 / 60 seconds

Tuesday & Friday:
Dumbbell Lunge / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Incline Fly / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Abdominal / 1 / 10 / 60 seconds
Low back / 1 / 10 / 60 seconds
Rotary torso / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Shoulder Press / 4 / 10 / 60 seconds
Triceps Ext. / 2 / 10 / 60 seconds

Wednesday - swim
Saturday & Sunday - run & bike

Who knows? Maybe if I get really huge, I could become Governor of CA and make it a little ecotopia.

So I’ve never done the blog thing before and I’m not sure anyone will read this. Why would you? I mean, you’ve probably got better things to be doing with your time.

But if you are reading this, I might as well write something interesting.

It’s 9:00 on Sunday night and I’m alone in my attic room in Columbia, MO (MO is for Missouri, in case that looks foreign to you).

I’m writing this blog posting because I’m procrastinating from writing a paper and reading Empirical Political Analysis. I’m a little jittery from coffee and my head is just swimming with ideas from all of the stuff I’ve been thinking about recently.

Here’s a little download / insight into my daydreams:
- cooperation - http://cooperation.smartmobs.com/cs/
- web 2.0 - http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
- open source - http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php
- John Rawls - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rawls
- participatory budgeting - http://hq.unhabitat.org/cdrom/TRANSPARENCY/html/2d_7.html
- environmental governance - google it
- lots of other stuff…

I’ve also been setting goals for myself for this year. Maybe if I post them here, I can have the benefit of my friend(ster)s getting on my case if I’m off track..

Goals for 2006:
1) Meditate, exercise, and cook regularly.
2) Pay off my debts.
3) Research and write about participatory process design and relevant theory in the process of completing my bachelors.
4) Design and produce several participatory sustainable development projects in my work with AmericaSpeaks.
5) Apply to several stellar grad programs.

Ok, so I’m a geek. Any of you that know me will not be surprised by this. Your thoughts and support on these would be appreciated.

Enough procrastination… back to reading Empirical Political Analysis…