And life continues . . .

June 28, 2001

I have just returned from a trip across southern North Dakota, along the Missouri River. The purpose of this two-week trip was to photograph the interesting points and people along the 2001 CANDISC tour route. I shot up about 15 rolls of 36 exposure film, but feel unsatisfied. I hoped to photograph many people, less scenery. It was a challenge for me, as I am a very quiet person. Photographing strangers is always difficult. I did meet some interesting people and snap photos of them, but not to the extent I had hoped I would do so.

The purpose of this trip was to gather content for my senior thesis at UND. I am done with classes now. The thesis is all that remains, and I'm about 2/3 done with the project now. If you want to read about the project or order a copy of the finished CD-ROM, visit www.jsignal.com (site will be launched early July, 2001).

The beginning of August will see me grabbing my diploma in the Chester Fritz Auditorium. It's hard to believe I've completed a college degree already. The years flew by very quickly (and very slowly -- you know what I mean, right?)

You'll notice that this web address has an ".edu" extension. That means when I leave UND, this web site will eventually be gone. It's been a fun site. This was, after all, the first site that I spent time designing and planning before I coded it. I've gained a lot of experience playing on this site. Why, I recall a few years back I even had a webcam on this site. It was just a view out my dorm window, but it was still fairly cool. I recently purchased a domain name, www.jsignal.com. Right now, I'm using it for my thesis (as discussed above). In a few months, it will probably be my personal web site.

So, what's next? If you've been following my web entries you know I've been working hard to find some wonder-job that will make me happy until I retire. In the process, I was flown down to Minneapolis and Rochester by United Defense and IBM, respectively, for interviews. Those were fun trips to very impressive places. I really liked Rochester and hoped IBM would call me back. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

But I'm happy. At one point, I had three promising job offers in various North Dakota cities. I've accepted a job in Bismarck with an electric cooperative. I'm going to be a systems administrator at their ISP. It's not exactly scientific computing (the occupation I've been training for) but it will pay well. I'm not sure I really wanted a computer science job anyway.

The trip from which I just returned went through Bismarck and Mandan. I wasn't excited about living there before the trip but after looking around the area, I think I will like it. There are lakes, hills, parks, tons of bike paths, and all sorts of entertaining things like that in the area.

I'm also going to miss Grand Forks. My first few years here, the city did not impress me. Between the smelly beet and potato plants and the lack of interesting places to visit in the area, I was sure I'd always hate the place. But Grand Forks has been changing. The city has been cleaning up the downtown, building new facilities and stores that are of interest to me. I'm also familiar with the bike trails in the city. Grand Forks was beginning to feel like home. I guess that means it's time to move on.