CleanSlate

Well, That was misleading.

Post date: November 30th.
Previous Post Date: March 22nd.

Hmm.

I'd call that an extended hiatus. Oh, and Whiting-Turner? Nope. Backed out on that in July, went with my gut, and started working for GlobalComm Suppliers and ImportGSM. After all my worrying about settling for the right job or not, I discovered that any way I looked at it, I already knew where I wanted to work all along, it just took an 8500-mile roadtrip with my best buddy RD to start listening to myself more clearly.

In any case, I'm in the midst of the Christmas rush, business is booming, and I'm having an overall blast where I'm at for the time being. It may change, but for now I'm happy where I'm at and looking forward to bigger and better things as time goes on.

More to come.

...And the verdict is:

Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.

Somerset, New Jersey.

Now I know what I was thinking a few days ago when I accepted ("What the HELL am I doing?") but I believe some new light has been shed on the situation.

The Whiting Turner Contracting Company is, first off, quite a wonderful company. I'll have a lot of freedom, a LOT of responsibility for a starting job, and (despite being stuck in the armpit of the nation) I really am being paid pretty well- and the benefits packages include 100% healthcare, life insurace, disability, and education assistance.

So first off, I'm not settling. This is more a time for me to get some experience in a field that I really do have an affinity for, and do some other things on the side- I'm going to stay involved in a business selling GSM mobile phones wholesale and retail from now until August; I also have every intention of buying a run down home in Jersey with the intention of fixing it up to sell for substantial profit.

After originally being upset with the situation, I feel like it is a good mix- a point from which to begin, and a good stepping stone for much greater things.

Doing the math

I've been tearing myself apart for the past two months over what to do with my life next year- take a job, continue school, travel... I just haven't had a clue which direction I wanted to take. I'm the kind of person that hates to commit to a single thing, and that's how I've felt this decision has been from the get-go: 'pick your future, pick it now, and it will define the rest of your life'.

I'm starting to become a firm believer that it doesn't work like that. Whatever I choose to do next is simply a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

Right now, I'm working as a partner of sorts for a wholesale company selling high-end GSM mobile phones. I've only really been doing it for about two months, but I love being a part of a budding company, and really feel like it is going to take off with the exploding technology in the cell phone market. I just haven't been involved in the company long enough to make a decision as far as committing myself to it full time for next year, or moving on.

I've got job offers from two companies, and they are exactly the kind of jobs a typical Mechanical Engineer would want when graduating- I just haven't been able to picture committing myself to them- not to mention the fact that I want to give more of a chance to the mobile phone business.

In an effort to calm myself down over the ever impending doom of deciding what to do with the rest of my life, I took a look at my father (age 50) and thought about how he started out. He's been in his business for 26 years (he owns it), so that puts him back at age 24 when he purchased it. Before that, he worked at a historical society in his local town- simply a job that he took to get started.

And here I am, at 21, thinking if I don't jump into a business now, I'll work for someone else the rest of my life! I'm starting to finally realize that the things I do now will no doubt shape where I go in the future, but will by no means dictate what I can and can't do.

Decision time.

It's about time.

I have taken far too long to realize that I need a creative outlet for my thoughts. I have watched my close friend, Travis McMenimon, write in his weblog about things that prey on his mind- and to an extent, I've done so as well, through Techronization.

But it is time that I come to grips with the fact that I think about a whole lot more than technology. I'm at a turning point in my life, and it's high time I started to externalize my thoughts, for better or for worse.