1. Yeah, I have the same feeling...I won't add anyone that I can't pick out of a line-up. 2. Will I ever live that down? :) 3. Thanks, I try to be decisive. I don't like being wishy washy. 4. I remember that Skip was really tickled pink when I did that. Glad someone found a use for it! 5. AOGG. That's how Katie and I became friends...a common love of the BBC series and the books. That and her attempting to help me with thermodynamics. I still failed, and had to retake it the following semester. She was a lousy teacher and I was a lousy student. 6. It's been an evoluntionary process, really. Growing up, outside of remembering the experience of Earth Days at school and pestering my parents into our recycling when I was kid (something that neither of my older sisters ever did), I really wasn't a tree hugger. I also didn't pay attention to current events and/or public policy. Living in LA started to raise my awareness (being in a polluted city will do that, I suppose). What really set me off is working in the auto industry. I was becoming increasingly frustrated and embarassed at how (American) auto companies spend exhorbitant amounts of money trying to find loopholes with regulations and/or fight policy changes upstream with their overpaid lobbyists and lawyers. In my opinion, they have no sincere concern about making (even temporary financial) sacrifices for societal good, and they fight tooth and nail about something as common sense as incrementally raising CAFE standards. Well, then I ended up in my current job, where I've managed fuel cell, alternative fuel, and hybrid vehicle programs. Getting into the alt energy industry definitely made me more passionate and helped me want to make a difference-I finally found a way of being an enginerd in a way to help humanity at large. I also started to get involved with groups like the Sierra Club, Rails-to-Trails, NRDC, etc, and so I was seeing the world from a tree-hugger's perspective as well as one from the technology vantage point. And I started to read newspapers and magazines and listen to NPR, staying informed. Then I graduated with my (second) masters in alternative energy technologies last year, which, honestly, I enjoyed the coursework most of the time and it rarely felt like "work". I increasingly socially gravitate to those people that have this as a priority, so there is a sharing of information and enthusiasm there too. Although we are in the process of relocating this summer, the job I'd be doing out west would have strong ties to environmental work, just not in the transportation realm. So, long story short (too late!), yes, this is different from what I used to be like, even as an undergrad, but it is a path and direction that I am happy with.
2. Will I ever live that down? :)
3. Thanks, I try to be decisive. I don't like being wishy washy.
4. I remember that Skip was really tickled pink when I did that. Glad someone found a use for it!
5. AOGG. That's how Katie and I became friends...a common love of the BBC series and the books. That and her attempting to help me with thermodynamics. I still failed, and had to retake it the following semester. She was a lousy teacher and I was a lousy student.
6. It's been an evoluntionary process, really. Growing up, outside of remembering the experience of Earth Days at school and pestering my parents into our recycling when I was kid (something that neither of my older sisters ever did), I really wasn't a tree hugger. I also didn't pay attention to current events and/or public policy. Living in LA started to raise my awareness (being in a polluted city will do that, I suppose). What really set me off is working in the auto industry. I was becoming increasingly frustrated and embarassed at how (American) auto companies spend exhorbitant amounts of money trying to find loopholes with regulations and/or fight policy changes upstream with their overpaid lobbyists and lawyers. In my opinion, they have no sincere concern about making (even temporary financial) sacrifices for societal good, and they fight tooth and nail about something as common sense as incrementally raising CAFE standards. Well, then I ended up in my current job, where I've managed fuel cell, alternative fuel, and hybrid vehicle programs. Getting into the alt energy industry definitely made me more passionate and helped me want to make a difference-I finally found a way of being an enginerd in a way to help humanity at large. I also started to get involved with groups like the Sierra Club, Rails-to-Trails, NRDC, etc, and so I was seeing the world from a tree-hugger's perspective as well as one from the technology vantage point. And I started to read newspapers and magazines and listen to NPR, staying informed. Then I graduated with my (second) masters in alternative energy technologies last year, which, honestly, I enjoyed the coursework most of the time and it rarely felt like "work". I increasingly socially gravitate to those people that have this as a priority, so there is a sharing of information and enthusiasm there too. Although we are in the process of relocating this summer, the job I'd be doing out west would have strong ties to environmental work, just not in the transportation realm. So, long story short (too late!), yes, this is different from what I used to be like, even as an undergrad, but it is a path and direction that I am happy with.
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