Well... it's election night. This is probably the most directly-consequential vote of my personal life, and that's because the entire grad school adventure is being funded from my 401K... which is almost entirely funded by the stock market.

I'm pretty sure that one candidate will cause more market volatility than the other.

Depending on how this election goes, it's entirely possible that things are about to get very expensive for me. I had considered pulling out a lot of money now, but that would push me into a very high tax bracket, so I chose against it.

Hopefully I chose right...

Ooof... this place has gotten quiet, huh?

Well, so the good news is... I'm not dead. Now the blog? Hmm... that one, honestly, I'm not sure.

I definitely planned on blogging more. I also planned on having more free time. I also planned on having a better time. None of those have come to be, and I've found myself without the time or the interest in blogging, to be honest.

That said, there's been more than enough worth blogging about. And I'm not ready to lay this little guy to rest just yet.

The Death of CmdJournal?

As you may recall, 'CmdJournal' is the official name of the blog software that I'm using (and writing) for this blog. I started writing it after I started blogging actually. It's most definitely a work in progress, and once-upon-a-time I planned on getting some major updates in before I started school back in August. Sadly, as the move to Michigan was complete ass, that never happened.

So I've got a blogging platform that is kind of janky.

On top of this, the client side software (the software on my computer used to interact with the blog) is written in a programming called Rust. I chose Rust because, as an electrical engineer it's becoming a pretty good language to know... and I figured I'd use CmdJournal as a vehicle for learning Rust.

Well... I guess maybe I'm not an electrical engineer anymore? I don't know. I'm getting a Data Science degree, so maybe I'm a data scientist now? Haha, I'm not sure yet, but what I do know, is that in the world of Data Science... the programming language 'Python' is king.

And, I don't really know Python. And, with my current workload, I can't imagine having time to learn Rust right now while I'm learning Python and a million Python-related tools that are used in the DS world.

All of this to say, that I don't know how much time I'll have to keep working on CmdJournal in the coming year or 2. On top of this, I think trying to keep blogging without the updates is going to make things difficult. For example, currently I can't edit a blog post that's too long, which has come to bite me in the ass several time.

Also, currently I don't have a way to easily add pictures, which has been a huge problem for a bunch of recent posts which really need pictures to do justice to the post.

Anyway, all of this to say... for now, if I am going to continue blogging I'm going to have to move to another blogging software platform. This, too, makes blogging in the near-future less likely.

So... is this goodbye?

Honestly? I don't know.

I guess we'll see.

I'm getting my ass kicked a little right now, and for all the wrong reasons.

If I can out from under this mess, maybe I can get back here and sort this out.

Fingers crossed, friends. Let's see if I can my shit together.

Last post, I was a day away from starting school. I commented that I had been slow to post, in part, because things had "been a bit of a clusterfuck". Well, we're beyond just "a bit" at this point.

Bottom Line

I'm really not sure what to say without going into it full-on, and tonight I don't think I want to write a novel. The bottom line is this: I was wrong. I was wrong about Univ. Michigan - Dearborn.

Flat out wrong.

This isn't "an extension" or "sister campus" of University of Michigan. No, this is a commuter school.

This is a high school. They take attendance like it's grade school, and threaten nonsense like "pop quizzes" if attendance drops. Yes, I'm talking about a graduate school program.

Registration has been a nightmare. I've already gotten into my first, umm, altercation?, with a teacher here. I've sat in the offices of and complained to both, the Dean of my college and Chair of the Data Science program. Within the first two days of the term.

Yes, I'm quickly making friends. 😐

And they seem to love group projects here... which... 😠

It's not all bad, but it's pretty much all bad.

One of my classes may end up one the most boring classes I've ever taken. This is the mandatory "Fundamentals of Database Systems" class. Did you just fall asleep reading that title? Yeah, that's about right.

I'm also taking an "Intelligent Systems" class that introduces some of the smaller machine-learning technologies in concert with their use in physical systems. So, honestly, this could be a super, super fun and interesting class for me. So, like I said, it's not all bad.

My third class, "Intro to Big Data", is on Mondays (tomorrow as I write this) and so it was missed last week due to Labor Day. This week will be the first class.

So...?

There's much else to talk about. School stuff, and non-school stuff. But for tonight we're keeping it short.

So... then what's the story with the Masters? Well... I'm here now, so I'm going to have to make it work. I'll explain more when I share more details later on, but my tussle with the schmuck of a teacher was with a teacher in the College of Business... so while he's a complete cunt, it's largely a reflection on the CoB and (hopefully) not the school at-large.

My experience with the College of Engineering & Computer Sciences folks... where the MSDS degree program is housed, is a mix of really positive, and slightly disappointing. But even with "slightly disappointing" it wasn't due to people acting like assholes, but rather a... ummm... an unfortunately lethargic individual or two in positions you'd want to see occupied by more energetic folks. 😐

How's that for vague? 🙂 I'll keep my lethargic friend(s) anonymous, let's not burn bridges just yet... 😉

So anyway, as of now... there's still a tiny chance I may relocate to another apartment (I have 2 more weeks to decide)... but they've fixed many of the issues and there are other fires to fight right now.

I'm here, at UMD, for the foreseeable future. There's a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny chance that I find a way out if I do something maybe a little crazy... but let's see about that too. 🙂

There are two angles I am looking into...

1. Is there an option to transfer to Ann Arbor, maybe even just for the 2nd year?
2. And also... hahah.... well, I sent an email to CUNY to ask if I can defer my starting term by one term and start in the Winter.

Pack up, move to NY, live in my car again, find a place to live again, and then try this once more. Crazy-person shit, right? Again, it's not likely...

Let's see. 🙂

Meanwhile, my stuff is still my storage pod. I've paid for another month of rent on it. I still have no knife, pan or air fryer. Or furniture.

The struggle is real. 🙂

Well, as far as blogging goes, I have not kept up well. There's been quite a few posts that I could've / should've written these past few weeks. But I haven't because, by and large, it's been a bit of a clusterfuck. But, luckily, only a bit.

As a micro catch up, I'm sitting in my apartment, although there's a tiny chance I'll be moving out in the next couple of weeks. Admittedly, it's becoming more and more tiny of a chance. But the bottom line is renting in Michigan is ass. 🙂 More details to come.

This isn't a renting blog though, is it?

So... about school, the micro catch up here is that I'm registered, but wait listed for one class and can't register for another because the school is still figuring out how to be a school apparently. More details to come. 🙂

The rest? Since I may still move, I can't get my furniture, hence I still have no furniture. The same goes for internet service. But honestly, a fucking pan and a chef's knife would be a godsend at this point. Yes, I could buy another one but: a) I don't wannna buy something shitty enough that I'd have to worry about cooking my food in and b) I don't wanna buy something good enough that I would want to use it, but then would get rid of it when I unpack my real ones - it just feels wasteful. Also, I haven't forwarded/turned-on my mail yet. And so on, and so on.

More details to come. 🙂

But but but... none of that is what matters now! No no, I had to get on tonight and write a quick post to mark the occasion. Tomorrow, friends, marks the end of the prologue. Tomorrow, friends, is the the actual start of the story (finally). Tomorrow, dear friends, is my first day as a graduate student. 😀 😀

Haha, honestly, as I type this out, I don't even remember which class it is. And, honestly, I'm too tired to go look it up.

I won't lie, I wanted to have gotten a lot more done before this point. Including catching up on some school stuff, as well as doing some solid resting (and yes, even fixing some of the stupid blog issues). These last 2 months have been a gigantic pain in the ass. And, though I'm not as prepared or set up as I would like to be... you know what? I'm pretty happy anyway. Nothing's worked out as planned, but when has it ever? Who gives a shit. I'm a fucking grad student mother fuckers! 🙂

And you know what else? Missed in the micro catch up up there, was welcoming day, which absolutely deserves it's own post. But I've already met several interesting folks, both students and faculty (also... worth a post... being older than faculty. 😂 ) and may even join a club or two. Yes yes, you know it... more detail to come 😉 ... but yeah, there's been a lot of good along the way, beyond the whining up top.

But take it all... the good, the bad, the exit, the move, the whatever... all of it, up until now, has been the prologue.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow we drop the token in the slot.

Tomorrow we put our hands on the controls, and press '1UP'.

Tomorrow the next adventure begins.

Game on.

I just signed a lease.

I don't move-in until the 24th. I have to get shit set up like insurance and utilities. But the lease, is signed.

I'm committed for the the next year. In Septempter, I'll pay the first semester's tuition. At that point, I'll be committed for the next 2 years or so.

I don't know, I'm strangely comfortable floating.

Yet, suddenly... I'm anchored.

Did I make the right choice? Choices? In any of this? I dunno. I don't. Immediately though, an ice ball settled into my stomach as soon as I clicked the 'sign' button. I'm locked in.

I won't lie... I'm worried that I'm setting myself up to repeat history... again.

I'm almost 50. 😐

Oof.... OK. So, we'll get back to positive in the next post, I hope... but for now, I'm just sharing it real-time. It's scary, it's frustrating, and I can't tell if it reeks of desperation or it's really me taking one more stab at finding some level of stability and whatever.

But I'm here. Whatever I started has officially begun.

😐