A Begining

I suppose this blog is more for myself than for any particular audience. I'm at a point in my life that I hope writing will help me sort out the thoughts in my head and find my niche. I've never been much of a journal keeper, but maybe writing a blog will keep me more motivated. My writing/communication skills could also stand some improvement. If someone out there finds it interesting then all the better.

So to start off with, I've listened to quite a few podcasts over the last couple of years and that has spurred a great deal of thinking (and cost some lost productivity at work). The great Dan Carlin, Radiolab, This American Life, Freakanomics, and more recently A Thoughtful Faith, among others have all provided insights and revelations on life that I couldn't have gained on my own. I probably have forgetten a great deal of it, but I also feel I'm a changed person. Perhaps the overriding insight is just how complicated, messy, and beautiful life is. I don't think any mortal can fully grasp the breadth and depth of this thing we call life, but I think my vision has expanded more than at any other time in my life (or at least the last ten years). I hope to express and further explore some of these ideas and see where else they lead.

One of the other issues I'm trying to figure out is what do I really want to do with my career. I have a civil engineering degree and did engineering work for a couple of years before I got laid off. Now I work for a company that aquires aerial mapping imagery, and within the next year I'll be finishing up a master's degre in Geographic Information Science and Technology from USC. What am I truly passionate about? What difference can I make? How do I seize the opportunities out there?  Many of the questions I'm asking myself have arisen from podcasts I've heard and books I've read/listened to. What am I good at? The only thing that I feel I've been consistent enough to become good at is thinking, and that only gets you so far. I live too much of my life in my own head. It's action that I need to improve upon.

I'll have to close for now, but hopefully there will be much more to come. Finding the time is the challenge. I work full-time, go to school part-time, and have a wife and four young kids. I'm swamped as it is, but I need to push and stretch myself I'm going to get where I need to be.