Just Another Exciting Mississippi Night

While complaining about some coworkers, a dude I had just met told me, "They're really boring people. They'd rather stay home on a Saturday night and put a puzzle together than go out." I didn't really feel like I knew the guy well enough for him to throw his coworkers under the bus like that. Maybe we could have talked about football instead of badmouthing people I didn't know. It was an awkward moment. I've never been one to put a puzzle together, but after getting back to Mississippi, I decided I needed something to get my mind off the job hunt and all the other shit that has developed as of late. Perhaps my life is boring now because I put a puzzle together, but whatever. I went into my closet and found one that I'd be given as a Christmas gift a couple years ago. It's of Jacques-Louis David's "La Sacre de Napoléon" (The Coronation of Napoleon). This painting is one of my favorites. It's now in the Louvre, where I've seen it a few times while living in France. David originally wanted this painting to be the largest of its kind in the world, but it is just slightly too small. The largest painting is actually in an adjacent room only a couple dozen yards away. For me, the coolest part of this painting is how David painted Julius Caesar into the scene behind Napoleon. While drawing the first draft onto the canvas, David had Napoleon leaning back and crowning himself. But later, David decided to paint Napoleon crowning his wife, Josephine. Where Napoleon's head was, Caesar is watching the whole affair. When I saw the painting in person, I could stand very close to the canvas and see the faint outline of Napoleon's head faded into Caesar's face.

Day 1.

Day 2.

Putting the faces together was the easiest bit.

Day 15.

Once I got the faces together, I struggled putting all the

dark areas together, especially the curtains and carpets.

Day 19.

Here's a first- booze at a wedding

Seriously, though, I had never been to a wedding reception that served alcohol until Jack and Dea's wedding. Perhaps that's because most of the weddings I've been to have been the weddings for conservative Southern Baptists who didn't want to upset the deacons, elders, and grandparents. Even better than having alcohol, this reception had Amber Bock, one of my favorite American beers. I almost half expected there to be only light beers. After I got my first beer, one of my friends at the table asked, "Was it free?" "I don't know. I didn't stand around the bar long enough to find out whether or not the waitress expected me to pay." She didn't. It was free. I was excited.

Actually, now that I think about it, my cousin's wedding a couple years ago served alcohol. That's the only other example I can think of. I guess this is still the first Baptist wedding reception I'd attended that served alcohol. I really don't feel like rewriting this post and coming up with another title, though.

This wedding is the first time I've been able to attend a friend's wedding since graduating from undergrad (unless you count Kate and Branson's wedding in Scotland, but that wasn't their official wedding). After Mississippi College, every time a friend got married I was usually out of the country. I wasn't expecting to attend Jack's wedding because I was in DC and still couldn't get any work so that I could afford (and justify spending money on) flying back to Jackson for the weekend. As it turned out, I decided to give up on DC (more or less) and leave just before the wedding so that I could make it to the shindig just in time. I wish I had gainful employment, but it was nice to have the time to attend a friend's wedding.

The groom and yours truly.

The bride and groom dancing.

Lamppost in Narnia

The couch where I sit while looking for jobs online is next to a huge window overlooking the Virginian cul-de-sac. One late afternoon as the sun was beginning to set, I looked out the window and saw how the sunlight was filtering through the leaves and onto a street lamppost just outside the front door. This lighting reminded me of something a photography professor once asked me, "Which would make a more interesting subject for a photograph- the bark on a regular neighborhood tree, or a ruined castle?" The answer: it depends. If the lighting is right, the bark on the tree will make a much better subject than the ruined castle. It's all about the lighting. Without good lighting, a photograph will never look interesting, regardless of the subject.

Let not your hands be idle

Back porch in Northern Virginia where I've been

reading the Economist during my spare time.

My unemployment (or underemployment, depending upon how an economist would define the term) has given me unexpected free time to read. Lately, I've been reading the Economist so that I can stay sharp on international issues just in case someone calls and asks for an interview for my dream job. After I've applied for five jobs in one day, I can get frustrated. Sometimes it feels as though I'm spinning my wheels, especially after 550 job applications. Yet, I try to live according to Ecclesiastes 11. "Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks to the clouds will not reap. [...] Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." Reading the Economist in my spare time is one of my ways of sowing more seeds and pushing the plough further up the field without looking to the clouds to see if there will be rain in the forecast.

Thanks to Groupon, I actually got a sweet deal on the Economist. Normally, they would cost a few dollars for each issue without a subscription or half that with a subscription. Thanks to my online coupon, I'm paying about a dollar per issue. I feel pretty good whenever I can find a deal like that. One of the more interesting issues I read explained how human activity has affected the earth so much that the geological record will look different because of our actions. For instance, humans have built dams on most rivers so that there will be changes in the sediments going into river deltas and seas. Agriculture now covers most of the planet, so domesticated animals like cows will be more prevalent in the fossil record than other animals. There are now more trees on farms than in the actual wilderness. This drastic change in environment is bound to affect the ecosystem, for better or worse. Geologists have coined this new era as the "Anthropocene," or the "recent age of man," because it is so much different from the last age, the "Holocene," which lasted for 10,000 years. It is unclear exactly how billions of humans living fairly prosperous lives will affect the planet, but it is safe to assume that humans will have to harness available resources efficiently in order to avoid war and other calamities. These are some of the things I like to read about in my free time.

Academic Value of a Royal Wedding

Prince William and Princess Kate on their wedding day.

In the US, sports can bring a lot of publicity to a university if a team does well. For instance, no one really knew about Virginia Commonwealth University until they got into the NCAA men's basketball Final Four... and thus ruined my bracket... earlier this year. When I hear about different universities across the country, I usually associate them with how they've done in sports. Of course, a good team doesn't mean the university has good academics. Still, the exposure can help graduates from that university. Potential employers don't have to look confused and ask where a university is when they've already heard about them on ESPN, even if the team didn't do so well. For instance, no one has ever heard of Mississippi College outside of Mississippi, so no one knows if it is a good school or not. However, some people have heard of the University of Southern Mississippi because of Brett Favre, regardless of how the school has done academically (just today I heard someone who knew little about Mississippi bring up Brett Favre when hearing about USM). Some universities, like Harvard and Yale, have excellent reputations across the nation without good teams, but most universities are known better for their sports than their academics, for better or worse.

When I tell friends and potential employers that I went to the University of St Andrews, many of them know about the school because the Scots invented golf there and because the British Open is there every five years. Even though British universities don't have sports, most Americans still know about my alma mater because of sports. Those who know about the school and my Masters in International Relations often tell me, "Oh, that's a very lucrative degree." However, one of my friends recently told me that in her country no one knew about St Andrews, either for academics or sports or whatever. She had to explain that St Andrews is a Scottish university. The recent royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton changed that. Because several news reports and even a made-for-tv movie told the story about how the couple met at St Andrews while studying there, she didn't have to explain her education anymore. It helped her get traction in conversations with potential employers. While a lot of people complained about how much money the couple spent on the wedding as the British government wants to cut funding for public services, the expensive royal wedding added value to my Masters degree. Now in interviews I can now possibly stand out from other candidates because I can tell potential employers that the future king and queen attended my university. It has nothing to do with academics, but at least I don't have to explain where the university is.

More efficient, but without the jobs

Joe Heller. Green Bay Press-Gazette.

A lot of people who haven't looked for work in this economy while unemployed don't really understand what it's like for the rest of us. In one of my temping gigs, I worked with a woman in a corporation's Human Resources department. She told me about the 'good-ole'-days when there were signing bonuses; a job search would only last for a couple weeks. That seems like a fairy tale now. I know of multiple people, especially those who are overqualified with Masters degrees, who have spent years looking for stable work. Talking with this woman was comforting because we had the same experiences. She spent a while looking for work before getting hired and had multiple conversations with people who simply didn't understand what unemployment means now. I've had the same conversations over and over. People tell us, "Well, you need to do ________ or apply at ________ or talk to ________ or whatever. Then you'll get a job." Since I've applied to 500 jobs and have tried to network for a while, I can usually say, "I've already done that." Sometimes I can even say, "I've done that multiple times." The HR lady had the same conversations. These people are trying to encourage us, and they usually become frustrated with us. They tell us, "Well, you should have a job then." We say, "Nope." This experience reminds me of Job and his three friends, the 'miserable comforters.' They tell him to humble himself before God, admit his sins, and then God would restore him. He tells them that he is blameless before God, but the 'comforters' say he can't be blameless because he is suffering. In the same way, I sometimes feel as though others may think that I'm not trying to find a job hard enough because I haven't found a stable job yet. I felt great comfort that the HR lady had been through the same problems.

There are some suggestions I haven't tried, and soon I will try most of those new things in addition to what I've been doing. I pray something works out.

I recently found an article in Time about the current state of the economy. The United States is now producing the same amount of goods and services that we were making before the Great Recession began in 2007 (GDP is around $13.5 trillion). However, we are producing this amount of goods and services with 7 million fewer employers. The number of unemployed workers has doubled. This official number of unemployed doesn't include the millions who have become so discouraged that they stopped looking for work or those who (including yours truly) technically have part-time jobs but still can't support themselves. Most of the new jobs in this economy are part-time jobs that pay less than $19,000 annually. If we included the number of unemployed and under-employed and discouraged, there are around 24 million people who want a full-time job but can't find one.

Still, when I turn on the news I hear more about Donald Trump and American Idol than I do about the job market or why the government has failed so miserably to do anything about creating sustainable job growth.

When I think about the line "thy kingdom come" in the Lord's prayer, I've been thinking more and more about what employment and job hunts would look like if God's Kingdom was fully here. Praying for His Kingdom to come has a different meaning for me now.

DC Metro, How I Loathe Thee, Let Me Count the Ways

Never in my life have I had the option to choose between public transportation or driving. While growing up and studying in Mississippi, I had to drive. No one uses the bus system unless there is absolutely no other choice, and I sometimes forget that not everyone has a car (I'm still baffled that some of my European friends still don't know how to drive even though they're in their mid-20s). I heard a lot of people complain about the lack of public transportation, yet I wholeheartedly oppose the idea of bringing a significant public transportation system to Mississippi. The state is simply too rural for a large system to be efficient and cost effective. There are only 3 million people covering an area about the size of England. In Scotland, I had a love/hate relationship with public transportation. With my student discount I could get great deals on bus and train tickets, but otherwise the tickets would be horribly expensive. Taking the train might be more cost effective only if there is a heavy tax on petrol. Yet that would mean that getting from place to place would always be horribly expensive. I noticed that many Europeans don't travel across long distances as much as Americans do. For instance, while working in France my German friend told me that his home was about 6 hours away from where we were working in France, I said, "Oh, so you can drive home for the weekend with no problem." He was shocked, "Of course not. Who would drive that far?"

Before coming to DC, my brother-in-law asked me if I would take my car. I told him of course I would take the car. He thought that DC was a city like New York where everyone just used the subway system. Now that I've been in DC for a while, I've learned that most everyone drives from place to place instead of taking the metro. Those who take the metro regularly are usually college students, government interns, those who work in an office building somewhere between Dupont Circle and Union Station, and those who live within walking distance to a metro station. The metro system is also pretty good for tourists going to monuments and sports fans going to games. Yet the total number of riders is incredibly small considering the size of DC. In 2010, the metro had a daily ridership less than 600k. I'm not sure if 'ridership' means one-way trips or two-way trips, but either way that is a low number considering that the District population is 600k and the metro population is 5.4 million. Depending on how many of those 5.4 million are employed, I've figured that about a third of workers use the metro to get to and from work (I'm assuming 840k use the metro to get to and from work, which is a generous number). One third seems about right after talking to friends and family here. People choose to drive in DC for different reasons. First, the trains can be just as slow and unreliable as traffic. The metro can be especially problematic during rush hour when certain lines, like the Orange, are well beyond capacity. Since multiple lines share the same tracks, they get so crowded that they can't fit any more trains into the system. Then trains have to stop and wait for other trains to get out of the way, but then that causes more congestion. Once, I was on a train that had several more stops, but the HQ told the train to skip those stops and take everyone to the end of the line because the line behind us was too congested. Everyone who wanted to stop somewhere else at a certain time was shit out of luck. Shuttles could take them to their stop, but that takes a lot of time. Second, the metro doesn't go many places. If you don't work in one of DC's major office building districts, the metro makes no sense. There simply aren't enough lines to take people from where they actually live to where they actually work. Third, if you drive to a metro station, by the time you park and walk to the train you could have already driven at least part of the way to work. That's especailly true if the driving commute is 30 minutes or less. At least those are some of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan of the metro system.

Unlike the regular metro map, this map

shows how far the stops are from each other

and where the lines actually go.

There are some advantages to the metro. For instance, I enjoy reading on the metro. Once I get on the metro, I don't have to worry about traffic anymore. Since I get on at Greenbelt at the end of the green line, I usually can find an empty seat. The metro would also be nice if I lived much closer to a stop and had a bike since commuters can take their bikes with them (a lot of people hate the busses, but a bike is a good alternative to the bus). The metro is also good for when there isn't enough parking where I might work.

For a while I thought the biggest advantage to taking the metro was the price, especially with gasoline at $4 per gallon or higher. However, I've begun to notice how all the metro fees add up, especially during rush hour when the price gets jacked up. One night I sat down and did the math to figure out if the metro was really cheaper than driving. I calcualated the cost from my uncle's house in Maryland and from my friend's house in Virginia to a place I've done some temp work in Arlington.

From Maryland Suburb to Arlington

Metro:

Total rush hour metro fare- $10.40

Parking- $4.25

Driving to and from metro station- $6.20

One day's commuting cost- $20.85

Driving:

Driving to and from work- $10.60

Parking- $8.00

One day's commuting cost- $18.60

From Virginia Suburb to Arlington

Metro:

Total rush hour metro fare- $7.70

Parking- $4.50

Driving to and from metro station- $4.00

One day's commuting cost- $16.20

Driving:

Driving to and from work- $7.00

Parking- $8

One day's commuting cost- $15.00

In addition to being slightly slower than driving, I was amazed to find out that taking the metro is slightly more expensive than driving. That's the main reason I'm peeved about the DC metro. Yes, it's much cheaper when it's not rush hour, but I have to be at work at a certain time. There are different factors that could make driving or the metro better. For instance, the company I temped for gives its regular employees a discount on the parking garage. That would make a huge difference. Other employers, especially the federal government inside the District, gives some employees money for their metro fares. One might think that my calculations would be different if the price of gas went higher or if car maintenance was more expensive, but that's not so much the case. I still have to drive back and forth from the metro station, so higher gas prices wouldn't make the metro cheaper.

For the time being, I'll continue to use the metro if I'm commuting from Maryland because I'm not very familiar with how heavy traffic can get on certain roads. The metro is the safer bet for now. However, if I'm in Virginia, I'll probably drive to and from work depending upon where that work is.

DC driving, a dilapidated house

There are so many problems with the DC transportation system that gridlock traffic is always guaranteed. Most cities either have a good subway/metro system or a good highway system so that people can get in and out of the city. DC has a pathetic metro system and a near-non-existent highway system. When a friend first moved here, he was ridding with a coworker back to the airport. Without much warning, all traffic on the highway stopped. "Shit," the driver said. "What's wrong?" my friend asked. "It's Saturday morning." "Are they doing construction on Saturday morning?" "No. It's just Saturday morning." "But why are we stopped here?" "Because it's Saturday." "Is there a baseball game or something going on downtown?" "Nope." "Shouldn't there be less traffic today." "That doesn't mean we won't get stuck in gridlock."

While in Houston, I became accustomed to how long a driving commute would take at different hours in the day. It wasn't too difficult to figure out. There would be heavy traffic on the I-610 Loop during rush hour, but the side roads usually flowed fairly well. I didn't realize how good of a road system Houston had until I got to DC. Whereas Houston has four major highways passing through the 610 Loop and crisscrossing through the middle of downtown like a tic-tac-toe symbol (a #), DC only has one 'highway' (maybe 2, but not really) the crosses through the 495 Beltway, Highway 295. Whereas the Houston inner-city highways are at least six to eight lanes wide to handle massive loads of traffic at speeds around 60 MPH, 295 is only 4 lanes wide and has a speed limit of 45 MPH. Late at night when almost no one is on the road it is possible to go faster than the speed limit. This road doesn't cross the Potomac or have a good way for commuters to get from the 'highway' to the city center. Instead, the road continues south to the 495 Beltway and away from where people actually work and live. In order to get around Maryland, Northern Virginia, and the District- where people actually work and live- commuters on 295 have to take city streets through the District by the Nationals Park, RFK Stadium, or New York Avenue that eventually lead to another highway, I-395, that connects Arlington and Alexandria to the District but doesn't actually go through the District. Since these commuters have to take city streets instead of the highways, the city streets are incredibly clogged with bumper-to-bumper parking-lot traffic. Therefore, there are no side roads commuters can use to bypass traffic on the highways because these roads are just as clogged as the highways. Finally, whereas Houston's 610 Loop is about 5 miles from the city center, Washington's 495 Beltway is 10 miles away. This distance means that getting in, around, and through the city is much more difficult because there are no good highways where people live. If DC had an inner loop highway like Houston and Paris, then this highway would be closer to DC than Bethesda, Silver Spring, Hyattsville, Alexandria, and Falls Church. I can hardly imagine how much easier getting to and from work would be if DC had a decent highway that close to the city. Traffic on 495 and other roads would be much lighter. It would be expensive to build, but expanding the metro system isn't cheap, either.

One would assume that this pathetic road system would mean that the metro and rail system is much more popular than driving. In another blog post soon I'll write about how driving in DC is better than taking the metro for most commuters.

As I've driven back and forth between my uncle's house and the Greenbelt metro station, I've learned little tricks about getting around the city. I now know when and where to expect gridlock traffic. I now know that the 'curves' on 495 around Silver Spring will be slow, even under the best of conditions, because drivers are too scared to drive the speed limit on those tight curves. I also know my way around Northern Virginia traffic around Centreville and I-66. I know that traffic near metro stations will be much worse than anywhere else, and I've learned which lanes are the fastest. These are all tricks-of-the-trade that locals know because they use the same pathetic roads every single day. I suppose every city has them, but in DC it's perhaps a bit different because the traffic is a disaster on the best of days. Newcomers and tourists have no clue. They'll get stuck behind 18-wheelers for twice as long as they need to because all these trucks are getting off at the same exit and use the same lane so that the other lane will go much faster. I learned that trick the hard way. There are also weird rules and laws that the locals know which newcomers and tourists wouldn't. Certain roads, like I-66, become HOV only during rush hour. Some lanes are open some hours and closed others. There are signs that warn drivers, but they aren't very clear. I know what the signs say because I've seen them dozens of times and talked to friends about these weird laws. Newcomers and tourists may not understand what is going on until they get a ticket, especially during heavy rush hour traffic when they're looking at the cars and not the signs.

All of these tricks-of-the-trade remind me of an old, dilapidated house. Everything is broken in the house, but once someone lives in the house long enough he learns how to make stuff work. He leaves the hot water running for a few minutes while brushing his teeth because the water would be cold otherwise. He jiggles the doorknob before turning because it would get stuck otherwise. He knows that the light switches were installed backwards so that he has to memorize which switch goes with which light. A newcomer or guest would think everything was broken, but he thinks everything is just fine and dandy. DC reminds me of a dilapidated house that newcomers have to learn gradually.

Yet there doesn't seem to be much desire to fix the road system. It wouldn't be too difficult to widen certain highways, but no one seems to care enough to do anything because most everyone is only here for a few years. DC isn't a city where people spend their whole lives. The political situation changes every couple years, so a lot of people don't seem to put roots very deep into the ground.

All that being said, driving is usually better than taking the metro. The metro is that bad.

American Front Porch

View from my uncle's front porch in Maryland

as I filled out more job applications and watched

news reports about Osama Bin Laden's death.

This Paycheck Dedicated to Car Maintenance

My engine with a new shiny belt

in the lower righthand corner.

Last fall after getting back from Scotland and before driving up to DC, my uncle who used to do a lot of car work helped me replace the battery. That may not sound like a difficult task, but Dodge decided to make the Intrepid engine in such a way that someone who didn't know what he was doing would have to take the car into the shop in order to do something as simple as change the battery. The first time I tried to change the batter I felt like a complete idiot. I was talking to my friend on the phone and asked, "How do I change a batter?" "Easy. Just lift the hood and lift out the battery." I lifted the hood and asked, "Uh, where's the battery?" As it turns out, the battery is underneath the fender. My uncle showed me last fall how to raise the car, take off the tire, open the compartment, remove the air filter, unhook the wires, and then slide the battery out of the compartment. As he showed me how to do everything, I asked him as many questions as possible so that I could understand what everything did. I then asked him if he could put more freon into the air conditioner because it hadn't been working since I got back from Scotland. Sure. No problem. He had a bunch of cans in the garage. He showed me how to hook the cans into the hoses, but the air still wasn't cold. We thought there might be a hole in the pipes somewhere, but before we started to deal with that mess, we noticed that the belt connecting the air compressor to the engine was missing. It must have snapped off while I was driving one day. That wouldn't be as easy to fix, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I would just have to drive with the windows cracked whenever it was hot outside. Since it was getting into winter, I wasn't overlly concerned about air conditioning. The bigger problem was the other belt hooked up to the engine. It was getting dried out and cracked so that it was only a matter of time before it snapped off, too. Then the engine fan wouldn't work, and the car would overheat. I decided that if I could make it to DC without any trouble, I'd find work quickly so that I could then get the car repaired. Until then, I'd just keep an eye out on the engine. I should have been able to get a few more thousand miles on that belt. I didn't think it would take until April for me to get my first paycheck, but alas I had to make a list of stuff I needed to buy. Car maintenance was the first thing on my list. My uncle told me how much a new belt would cost, so I didn't sound like an idiot when I took the car into the shop to get the oil changed amongst other small repairs. The shop gave me a quote lower than what my uncle told me I should expect, so I agreed to get both belts replaced. I think it helped that I was able to show I knew what was wrong, what should be done, and what wasn't necessary to fix. That one trip to the shop still ate up my entire paycheck and then some, but car maintenance is always cheaper a new car.

There are a couple other problems that aren't as serious. For instance, the driver's side window doesn't work. I originally thought it was the power window motor, but I now know that's not the problem because it still works from time to time. The problem is most likely the wiring on that side of the car since I have other electrical problems there. I don't see the point in getting that fixed for now. It would take a long time or be very expensive to inspect all of the wiring, and it might not even help. It might be a little embarrassing that my window won't roll down, but I've stopped caring. Maybe someday in the future when I have the spare time and parts, I'll learn how to take everything apart and replace the wiring myself. Until then, at least my air conditioning works again.

Tornado over my Alma Mater

While growing up in Mississippi, I didn't think it was odd that we had so many tornados and figured that everyone else had the same problems. One of my most distinct memories from elementary school was during a massive thunderstorm in first grade in which several tornados passed over my school. Starting around lunchtime, all the students had to hunker down in the hallway against the walls with our heads tucked between our legs until each tornado passed. In between tornados we could sit around and socialize. It was a mix of traumatic fear while in an uncomfortable position for 30 minutes or so followed by a fun break away from our classrooms. I distinctly remember the blackness outside as if it was night even though it was in the middle of the afternoon. We stayed in the hallways until 6pm or later because the tornados wouldn't stop coming. Eventually, my mom had to drive up to the school and take my sister and me because the school wouldn't let anyone leave without a parent's permission. Teachers later told us that they counted at least 6 tornados cross over the school without touching down. Later while at Mississippi College in Clinton, I refused to go into the hallways for tornado warnings. The problem was that there would be a 'warning' if there was a tornado anywhere in Hinds County even though the county was so large that a tornado could be nowhere near us and not coming towards us. I learned to check the weather reports whenever there was a tornado warning to see where the tornado actually was. Then, I would lock the doors because the dorm's RAs wouldn't search the rooms unless the doors were unlocked. Once, there was actually a tornado in Clinton headed towards campus, but it was an incredibly weak twister that would only rip of roof shingles. The news said it was just about to cross campus, so I got up to go into the bathroom and hunker down. Then I saw the twister through the window. It was a pathetic looking thing that barely broke any tree branches. If there hadn't been a tornado siren a few minutes earlier, no one would have noticed anything was different except for a stronger gust of wind during a thunderstorm. I sat by the window and watched it cross campus. Hurricane Katrina did much more damage here, and during that storm I was outside playing football. After spending years around hurricanes and tornados, I perhaps have become desensitized to the storms, but I did learn how and when to protect myself.

The United States has a huge number of tornados between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains because of its unique geography. The Rockies clip storms and winds as they move from west to east, and then a low pressure develops and intensifies the storm. Cold air from Canada mixes with dry air in the Great Plains before colliding with the hot and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. The result is intense thunderstorms that then produce tornados. Many people don't think of places like Mississippi and Alabama or Tennessee and Kentucky as part of "Tornado Alley." Most maps would include Great Plains states from Texas and Louisiana to the Dakotas. Yet the same geography that causes tornados in the Great Plains extends over Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. Once, a friend from the Midwest was telling me about the huge thunderstorms and tornados they get. I tried to tell her that I had the same weather in Mississippi. She argued that though we got hurricanes it wasn't the same as the massive, lumbering storms rolling off the Great Plains. When I thought about it, I began to wonder if the flatness stretching from the Mississippi River across Louisiana and Texas would create the same type of geography and weather that my friend was familiar with further up north.

When I found this map from NOAA, I was surprised to see the frequency of tornados over what some have called "Dixie Alley:"

The problem with tornados in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee are all the rolling hills and forests. Over half of Mississippi is covered with this type of terrain. Unlike places like Oklahoma and Kansas where the flat terrain lets people see a tornado approaching several miles away, most people in Mississippi can't see a tornado until it is only a hundred yards away or less. That's one reason why tornado chasers do their work in the Great Plains; they aren't going to get many videos if they can't see the storm. Also, absolutely no one has a basement at home. It's not that we can't afford them while others can. The water table in the ground is too high; the ground is so moist that a basement would constantly flood with a slow trickle of water. The basement would be nice for tornados, but for the rest of the year it would be a mosquito-incubator spreading diseases. I only know of a few large buildings in Mississippi, like churches and government offices, that have a basement. I think this surprises a lot of people not from the area. News reporters from other parts of the country often speculate about whether or not someone could have survived in some of the houses they're looking at if they had gotten in the basement, but the locals know this is a silly question. Truth is that if a major tornado directly hits someone's house, there isn't much chance of surviving, even if they hunkered against a sturdy wall with their heads between their legs. Surviving a Mississippian tornado is more about luck than anything else.

Here's a video of a tornado that crossed Interstate 20 in Clinton, MS on April 15, 2011:

The tornado chasers who recorded the video didn't know exactly where they were, so they originally just said the tornado was near Jackson. After seeing a friend post this link to his facebook profile, I clicked to see what was going on in Jackson that afternoon. I thought to myself, "That movie theatre looks familiar, and so does that Applebees." Then again, there are tons of movie theatres and Applebees across the country, so this video could have been anywhere. It wasn't until I saw the Home Depot and Waffle House that I began to realize that this tornado was passing over my old apartment and around my undergrad Alma Mater. Many of the people who commented on this video were stunned that there were still people driving on the Interstate and bridge as the tornado passed over them. I wasn't surprised. First, people were still out and about because the weather around the tornado would have looked like any other thunderstorm. We can't stay at home and wait out these thunderstorms and tornado watches unless we're willing to sit out of our lives for a quarter of the year. Second, the people here probably didn't hear the telltale freight-train sound that tornados are supposed to make. Though I have grown up around tornados, I have never heard this sound even though I hear people on the news say they heard it. Maybe the terrain muffles the sound until it is too late? Third, the people on the bridge and Interstate wouldn't have seen the tornado until it was already on top of them. Those headed westbound towards Vicksburg were coming up a hill and probably didn't see the twister until it was 50 yards away, at best. By then it would be too late to pull up under the bridge and stop. This video is a prime example of what makes tornados over hilly terrain so deadly across this part of the country. I used to live in a trailer in the woods on a hill not far from where the tornado was headed, but my friend told me that the twister missed his grandparents' land and trailer. I'm amazed at how a tornado can obliterate one side of the street while leaving the other side untouched. Like I said earlier, surviving a tornado is perhaps more about luck than anything else.

A handshake is worth a thousand emails

Before I left Scotland last September, I knew that the job market would be a beast. "In this economy" has become a cliché in many of the conversations I've had with friends and family about my job search. I read reports last summer that employers had on average around 70 applicants for ever job posting, and another article said that there were 6 unemployed job seekers for every job opening. I watched CNN as the analysts talked about how many employers don't bother looking at applicants if they're not currently employed because they have to eliminate people somehow. Classmates have talked about how having a Masters degree probably hurts us because a potential employer would have to pay us more or expect us to leave once a better opportunity is available. Of course, Mississippi has never been known as an economic powerhouse. As of January 2011, the unemployment rate there was 10.7%, which was a bit lower than January 2010's 12% but still higher than the national average of 9.5%. I figured things would be better for me in Washington, DC where the unemployment rate was significantly lower. Once I got in town, though, I realized that the rate around here could be a bit skewed: if someone doesn't have work here, he or she quickly moves somewhere else because it's too expensive to live in this area. Still, I considered it my job to find a job. I've sent out 300+ applications to just about anyone who had a job posting. I applied to government agencies, government contractors, think-tanks, trade associations, lobbyist firms, community colleges, staffing agencies, NGOs, law offices, and so forth. I've applied for low-end jobs that barely require a high school degree and for positions that are probably closer to my pay grade. My primary goal is to get my foot into the door somewhere so that I can make some connections that will lead to a stable career. In all of this, I believe another blow has hit my job search: the federal government never passed a budget last year. The government contractors and agencies probably won't hire anyone new until the Republicans and Democrats on the Hill tell them how much money they'll have, at least that is what several people have told me. This standstill has been going on for months now. Not only does this legislative gridlock prevent me from finding a job, it increases the number of people looking for a job so that I have more competition. Nevertheless, I figured that as long as I'm in the metro DC area I might as well do everything I possibly can to get a job. Whereas in Mississippi I would only be able to apply for jobs via email and online databases, here I can hand deliver applications directly to the offices for which I want to work. It's always nerve racking hand delivering an application. About half of the employers I visited didn't even bother letting me into the building without an appointment. A little more than a week ago I hand delivered an application to a receptionist who was baffled that I would actually show up in person. She told me that they don't accept walk-ins because they do everything online. It's supposed to be more efficient and more in accordance to the new technology age where computers remove all but the most necessary human interaction. There was a hint of contempt in her voice. I told her that I had already applied online but wanted to hand deliver an application so that I would be able to put a face with the name. They never asked for an interview. After sending 300+ applications I've learned that applying for jobs online can be a respectable waste of time, especially in this economy. Again, I hand delivered another application to a staffing agency this past week. I already sent them an online application a couple months ago but never heard anything from them. This time they actually shook my hand and called me the next day to ask for an interview. As things look now, I'll probably start working for their clients as soon as they verify my credentials, so I could be working for government contractors, trade associations, public relations firms, lobbyists, or whomever else they find. It's not a long term solution, and I'll continue applying to as many positions as possible. Maybe I'll impress one of these employers and get hired directly. At least now I can stop applying for retail positions and receptionist jobs since this staffing agency can get me more money and better connections. Now I can concentrate on those employers who can give me a career I'd want. Hopefully, the economy will get better and the House might just decide to do its job and pass a budget that should have been passed last year. Maybe soon and very soon I can tell people that I'm doing something other than "looking for work."

Learning how to shovel snow

Last winter the area in between Baltimore and DC where I've been staying was hit with over 60 inches of snow. It was a record amount. The snow almost completely covered the fence in the backyard. However, this winter there has been very little snow, only a light dusting every now and again that hasn't cause much trouble. Even though parts of the northeast such as New York and Philadelphia have had records amount of snow recently, this area has been either too warm or too dry. After I drove back up to the DC metro area, a snowstorm came through town. Here are photos I took of my car during the storm:

Before sunset I took this photo because I thought

a lot of snow had fallen on my car.

The next morning I was surprised to see all of

this snow that fell overnight.

The plow had come through early in the morning

to push more snow towards my car.

Never had I ever shoveled snow. In Scotland I didn't have to worry about shoveling the sidewalks or a car, but this storm gave me a chance to learn. There was only about 3 or 4 inches, but it was enough to cause a lot of disruptions in the area, especially since a rain had washed the salt/grit off the road just before the snow began. More problems happened because the storm started while most everyone was still at work and wasn't prepared to drive back home on snow- and ice-covered roads. I heard about some people who had to take more than 3 hours to drive home when the commute would normally take 15 or 30 minutes. Thankfully, the snow stopped and didn't accumulate over several days.

Ringing in the New Year by interpreting Swedish assembly instructions

Since her old desk and shelves weren't big enough to handle all of her computer and camera equipment for her growing photography business, my sister wanted to buy a new desk and cabinets for her office. Thus, we all went to Ikea in Houston on New Year's Eve. I've never been to an Ikea, and there was a bunch of cool furniture I could buy when I finally get a job and a place of my own. Then again, all the assembly required after buying Ikea furniture may cause me to be happy with whatever furniture I already have once I get settled into one place. Since she asked nicely, I built the desk, cabinets, and tv stand once we got back from Ikea. It reminded me of Legos. I loved Legos when I was a kid, and my future kids will learn to love Legos, whether they like it or not. Maybe I can convince Elizabeth to play Legos with me when she gets old enough. However, I didn't quite understand the Ikea instructions as I built the tv stand. I accidently switched the front and rear pieces and didn't realize this until I was almost finished building it. I had to undo several pieces and rebuild the stand again. Once I made this mistake, I figured out how to read the Ikea instructions so that the desk and cabinets were a bit easier.

Different parts of the desk before I

put them all together.

The underbelly of the desk after I screwed

everything into place and before we

flipped it over and slid it into place.

My sister's new office after I built the cabinets.

In order to hang them, my brother-in-law's dad

came over and helped screw planks of wood inside

the cabinets so that we could screw them into the studs.

While in Houston with my sister and brother-in-law, I noticed that my niece was starting to say people's names. For instance, she has begun to say 'grandma,' or something similar, for my mom. One of my sister's friends has taught Elizabeth to call her 'favorite,' which is kinda cool. However, my niece still doesn't call me 'Mark.' I decided to teach her this word so that she might call me this before I left. She was able to say it after I said it, but she wouldn't say it unless I said it first. Maybe in a few months she'll be able to say more than she does now.

Elizabeth playing with a fire truck.

Is this enough toys?

Phoebe waiting outside.

Yours truly trying to teach Elizabeth to say 'Mark.'

Baby's First iPhone

Though I did not take many photos on Christmas day, I did take a lot of videos of my 18-month old niece, Elizabeth. After she had opened all of her presents, she decided that playing with my video camera would be more fun than her new toys, so there's a bit of video on this post from her perspective. Elizabeth also played with my sister's iPhone. She pressed the button so that it would light up, put it to her ear, and say, "Hi" before speaking gibberish.

Videos from Christmas.

Westbound and Down

Rainwater that froze onto my car as I drove

just north of Birmingham, Alabama.

Never have I ever driven in sleet or winter weather, until I drove from DC to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Whenever forecasters predicted winter weather conditions in the Deep South, I didn't bother to drive; places like Mississippi and Alabama don't keep salt or grit for the roads and bridges because it's a waste of money. It's cheaper to bunker down and endure the cold for a couple days once every couple of years. As I looked on weather maps at the snow approaching the Appalachia and Virginia, I decided that I had a small window of opportunity to get on the roads and out of Maryland/DC/Virginia before the roads got worse. My original path would have taken me along I-95 towards Richmond, Greensboro, Charlotte, and Atlanta, but my uncle told me that traffic would be frustrating in these cities. The longer route took me through the heart of the Appalachia on I-81 through Roanoke, Bristol, Knoxville, and Birmingham. These towns are much smaller and would have less traffic.

My alarm went off at 3:30 am so that I could get on the road by 4 am. My goal was to get to Mississippi in one day instead of getting a hotel somewhere along the way. A start after 4 am could mean I get caught in traffic while leaving Maryland through DC's Beltway. These roads were incredibly smooth even though the amount of traffic at this hour still surprised me. As the sunrise was over my left shoulder, I was already in the middle of the hill-like Appalachian mountains near Harrisonburg. Continuing south I listened to Oliver Twist on CD and saw the snow-covered terrain in southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee. I became more cautious as I saw the white stuff on the ground, but it appeared as if the storm had already passed through this area. The further south I went the more likely the warmer temperature would heat the precipitation into simple rain. Whenever crossing bridges I would look to see if I saw ice on them. Once I was near Knoxville the ground was brown and green again. My mom called me as I was near Chattanooga to tell me that there was a lot of freezing rain in northern Mississippi and Alabama; apparently, there had been some deaths. The sky around me looked clear, and there was little other choice than to keep going. As long as the Interstate was busy, the constant traffic and sunlight would keep the bridges warm enough to prevent ice buildup. Once I crossed the Alabama border, the weather became worse. For the first time ever I drove through white stuff, but only for a few minutes. Then the rain froze onto my car. I first noticed it on my windshield wipers. I turned the heat up and shot washer fluid constantly to keep my windshield and wipers from freezing. Everything south of Birmingham looked clear, so my goal was to keep going. Thankfully, I had no problems other than seeing ice all over my car as I drove. Once south of Birmingham and approaching Montgomery, it seemed silly to stop for the night since I was already so close; I kept driving until I was past Mobile and in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

According to Google maps, my drive from Maryland to the Mississippi Gulf Coast should have taken 17.5 hours. I did it in 16 hours with only quick stops to buy gas and snacks. The Commonwealth of Virginia recently increased the speed limit from 65 to 70 mph, so maybe that helped me get home quicker than Google predicted. It was still an exhausting drive, but at least now I know I can do it.

For the next day or so, the weather along the roads I took kept getting worse. It looks like I got out of there in the nick of time. If I had left a day later, the snow would have pounded me all the way from Maryland to northern Alabama, though this weather was probably not enough to cause much alarm, especially since I had recently seen a bunch of snow in Scotland. My Wyoming friend would probably laugh at the weather. My concern wasn't so much what kind of precipitation I faced but whether or not the roads would be clear. Still, I don't foresee myself driving through what my Wyoming friend has described.

Welcome Christmas

Ol' friend and new friends in Virginia.

Before we took this photograph I asked,

"Hey y'all, how about we do a group photo?"

Ellen: "Great!" Charles: "Ellen, keep cooking."

Oddly, she actually listened to him;

hence, she's still cooking in the photo.

After flying back into the metro DC area a week later than I expected, one of my good ol' Mississippi friends who moved to DC invited me to a Christmas party at his new townhouse in northern Virginia. A couple of my new DC friends were also there. At first I was expecting a simple movie night, but it soon developed into an elaborate 'Welcome Christmas' party. Instead of grabbing a bite to eat at a restaurant, we went to the only Super Wal-Mart in the area to buy stuff to cook. The two other guys were in charge of buying stuff for dinner, and another friend and I were in charge of buying supplies for Christmas activities. We ended up buying stuff to bake cookies, which turned out to be more expensive than if we had all gone out to eat. We did buy supplies to build gingerbread houses and paint stockings, but we ended up not having enough time to do these activities. I returned that stuff the next day. Other than watching Fred Claus, we lit advent candles and read verses to celebrate the religious side of Christmas. Only a couple of us had seen or lit advent candles in church.

Tacos para todos.

Who wants to play mama bird/baby bird?

As many people know, Christmas originated as an ancient pagan festival on which the Romans celebrated Sol Invictus, their sun god. This day was significant for pre-Christian Europe because it was the shortest day of the year. Every day in autumn would get darker and darker until December 25. According to the pagans, the 'Unconquerable Sun' was born on this day. Just when the winter couldn't be any darker, colder, and more miserable, this god enters into the world to bring light. Starting in early January the days became longer and brighter. Christians did not regularly celebrate Christ's birth or early childhood for hundreds of years. The first example of a celebration about Christ's birth and nativity came in the third century. Around this time the Christians celebrated Christ's manifestation, or Epiphany, on January 6; today the Armenian Church and some other eastern churches still celebrates Christmas in January instead of December (the Russians eat cakes in the shape of the sun on this day, which has ancient pagan roots). On this day the Roman Christians commemorated not only the birth and visit of the magi but also His baptism and childhood; the emphasized events or verses would shift depending upon geography and time. The celebration of Christ's birth on December 25 and the magis' visit on January 6 became widespread 300 years later. According to the liturgical calender, churches are not supposed to sing Christmas music before December 25 but during the two weeks of Epiphany. As Christianity became the dominant European religion after the fall of the Roman Empire, the celebration of Christmas replaced the Festival of Sol Invictus. The overlap of dates symbolizes what the Christians wanted to tell the pagan world: the world has become dark without God; at the moment when the would could not become any darker or more miserable, when God's people had been conquered and separated from their Creator, God entered the world to bring light. Christ was most likely not born on December 25; since the shepherds would not have been out with their flocks at night during the winter, Christ may have been born in the spring or summer. Notwithstanding, the choice of overlapping the Christian holiday with a pagan one sent a message to the Romans and others (source: HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms).

Not only did the Christians adopt the pagan holiday's date, they also borrowed several of the traditions, including the lighting of the advent candles. Lights had special meaning for the pagans as the days became darker before the winter solstice, and the pagans of northern Europe used an evergreen wreath with candles in order to show that life continued in winter. Though it may have been used in the Middle Ages, the advent wreath may not have become common until the 1500s or the 1800s. It probably developed in Germany. During each Sunday in Advent, the four weeks before Christmas according to the liturgical calender, churches light a candle that commemorates the events around Christ's birth. Today, the meaning of the candles change from church to church and denomination to denomination. For instance, candles can represent Hope, Preparation, Joy, Love, and Christ (in that order). I don't like these symbols. Growing up, I learned that the candles represented Prophecy, Bethlehem, Shepherds, Angels, and Christ. I like those symbols more. The Christ candle is lit on Christmas day or eve. The third candle is almost always pink; the last one is white; the others are purple.

Lighting the advent candles during the Welcome Christmas party was really cool for me, especially since a bunch of the people there had never seen advent candles (a lot of Southern Baptist churches and other denominations that don't follow a liturgical calender don't use advent candles).

The breakfast nook at my friend's new townhouse the next morning

with an awesome view of a creek at the bottom of the hill.

I didn't feel like driving back to my uncle's house in Maryland

when we were finished with the party at 2 am, so I spent the night here.