Starting to Get Ready

I've been asked by a bunch of family and friends to try to do something that will make it easier to keep in touch when I go to Jamaica for the next 2 years to serve with the Peace Corps. Hopefully this blog will help me do that and also be a way where I can try to share some of my stories for people who are interested to see them. Please feel free to respond to anything I write.

So the past few weeks have been pretty interesting for me. Last week I finally finished my masters degree at Drexel in Geotechnical Engineering (ie: playing with dirt) after 2 1/2 years of night school and long weekends. This week I celebrated my 26th birthday (thanks to Tom for making the "sacrifice" of going out in Philly with me until 2 am on a Thursday night) and also had my last day of work. That is the third job I have quit since graduating college four years ago. It is probably not an ideal situation to be in, but at least I have been able to see different parts of the country, see how different companies operate and meet a lot of good people. It was tough leaving this job because I really enjoyed working with some of the people in this last year.

Now I have the next two weeks to make sure my life is in some type of relative order before I leave for the Peace Corps. I have to move my few possessions out of my apartment in Philly back into my parents place and also make sure my parents have power over all my "finances" and such. Its fortunate that I don't own much and that Drexel has sufficiently drained most of my money over the past 2 years, so there isn't much to really take care of. Other than that, I'll pretty much be relaxing and having a two week vacation.

Next weekend, my family is coming to Philly to have a graduation/going away/birthday celebration. I'm looking forward to all the drama that usually surrounds these types of family gatherings, but hey, their family and you have to love them. The following weekend, I'll be going to Sample's wedding in Scranton PA, which will be cool to see him and his soon to be wife, and also good to see a bunch of other friends from college.

Then, the Tuesday after the wedding, its off to Miami for two days of orientation and then off to Jamaica for two months of training and two years of service. Sounds a little scary right now, but then again, its the Peace Corps and its Jamaica, things could be a lot worse.