Dewbert's thoughts on... » Me

Oh, hey blog.

John — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:13:33 +0000

Where to start? So much has gone on over the past 6 months, it’s hard to know where to begin. I’m going to try to make an effort to start blogging here and posting to Flickr again.

So… bullet-style for now, notables of the past 6 months (links to Flickr albums, where applicable)

Fin.

John — Mon, 30 May 2011 02:28:19 +0000

A little over a week ago, I submitted the last paper for my last seminar at Norwich University. All that’s left is the week-long residency that starts on June 12 on campus in Northfield, Vermont. On June 18, I will have a Master of Science in Information Assurance, and the longest 15 months of my life will have come to an end. As soon as I got my grade, it was like the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders. The program was not particularly difficult for me content-wise, but keeping up with the assignments and pace of the classes caused me more stress and anxiety than I realized. I’m confident that the effort will pay off, though.

I have a pretty quiet summer coming up, hopefully in contrast to last year. I’m no longer studying, not planning to get another dog, and I won’t be traveling as much. Chris and I are going to Montreal for a few days after my graduation ceremony, then to Tokyo for four days in July, thanks to an incredible fare sale that Delta was running a few days ago.

I’m looking forward to being able to read for fun again, hopefully keeping this blog up some more, gardening and refocusing on my career and some other personal goals that I have now that this school business is over with.

Long Overdue

John — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:15:16 +0000

I suck at this.

Summer/Early Fall in Review:

June:

Grover

Pride

July:

Massachusetts (photo: Heather Lariviere)

Tomatoes (and nothing else) from my Garden

City Sunsets

August:

Rehoboth Beach, DE

Boston

September:

New Orleans (photo: Chris Trott)

Outer Banks, NC (photo: Chris Trott)

October:

Pottsville/Centralia, PA (Photos: Chris Trott)

November:

It could have been worse.

Jacksonville, FL

Ongoing:

School: Doing well. Finishing up my 4th Seminar, two more to go. If all goes well, I’ll be spending a week in Northfield, VT in June 2011 for residency and commencement.
Grover: I lucked out with a great dog. Aside from some stomach issues, he’s about perfect. Low-key, fairly well-trained, and now trusted out of the crate during the day.
Work: Meh. Pretty unrewarding most days, but nothing is perfect.

That’s about all I got for now.

Introducing Grover

John — Fri, 28 May 2010 04:12:21 +0000

Grover

Meet Grover, a sweet, spunky 1 year old black and tan shepherd mix rescued from a hoarder in Mississippi. The Washington Animal Rescue League took in 70 dogs that “had been confined to a 3 ½ acre property—some inside the house, some in pens outside, and some loose in the yard,” and “were covered with mange and suffering from a variety of other medical problems, including gunshot wounds.”

Grover was one of the luckier pups. His mange wasn’t as bad as the others, and he’s obviously been somebody’s buddy in the past, since he’s trained to sit and lie down. He’s just finished treatment for heartworm, and needs to rest for a couple more weeks, but then will be good as new.

He comes home with me on Tuesday, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Chris and I are headed to New York City tomorrow to spend the long weekend relaxing and celebrating the end of my first seminar at Norwich (Straight A’s!) and my birthday. I am so looking forward to the break.

Procrastination

John — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:30:09 +0000

It’s amazing how much I can get done when I have a deadline bearing down on me. Unfortunately, none of what I did this weekend was in any way related to the 7-10,000 word paper I have due this coming Saturday at 11:59PM.

I spent much of my weekend on various home and garden projects. In addition to the grow light I devised for the Rosemary and Basil in the kitchen window, Jamie and I put up a fence around our garden plots and I replaced the blighty tomato plants in my garden with (hopefully) healthy new ones, though it appears that late blight might end up being a big problem in our area this season. I also installed a dimmer switch in the kitchen, converted a switched outlet in my bedroom to un-switched and visited the Washington Humane Society shelter. Exciting stuff, I tell you.

I’m not sure what the point of this post was, other than to not be working on stuff that I should be. So I’ll leave you with some words of wisdom from my girlfriend, Rachel Maddow. Watch it, it’s worth it.

Green Thumb, etc.

John — Mon, 03 May 2010 00:25:55 +0000

My cousin Heather started her own blog recently, which reminds me that I haven’t updated this thing in forever. I’m a bad, bad blogger.

Grad School is going well. It’s not yet as much of a time commitment as I feared, and my grades have been good. I’m wrapping up my first seminar on May 22nd, with a couple of weeks off before classes start up again in June.

The big news over the past couple of months is that I started a new assignment at work, returning to my roots at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. I had a lengthy transition from my old client, but I’ve fully moved over to FDIC as of April 15th. I have two years of experience there, so there hasn’t been too much of a learning curve. I am enjoying it so far.

I’ve also picked up a bit of a hobby recently. My friend Jamie and I got plots at the community gardens in Fort Dupont Park. Here are a few pictures, courtesy of Jamie.

So far it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve planted various kinds of tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, collard greens, green beans, catnip, cucumbers and squash, and I’ve got plenty more land to fill.

Other than that, not much else to report. A bit of travel coming up–New York City for Memorial Day Weekend and hopefully home to Southeastern Massachusetts for the 4th of July Weekend.

2009 in Review

John — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:29:51 +0000

Unsure how relevant this is a month in to 2010, but why not? Turn your volume up, hit play on the YouTube video and start reading.

January

Inauguration
Chris

February

Shmoocon
Car stolen

March

April

Suuuucked. Sucked sucked sucked.

May

June

Pride

July

Nothing to see here, move right along…

August

Rehoboth

September

South-freaking-Africa

October

Atlanta

November

Luray
Dominican Republic

December

Ch-Ch-Changes

John — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:20:40 +0000

A couple of big life changes have had me busy for the past few months… I moved into a new apartment (pictures will be updated as I unpack and get settled) and was accepted into a Masters program at Norwich University. I’m working on a year-in-review post, in case anyone still reads this.

36 Hours

John — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:22:11 +0000

It’s sort of amazing how just getting away for 36 hours can really clear your head. Just the shock to the system of suddenly being out of the doldrums of the daily routine is sometimes enough to clear the haze that can sometimes cloud your perspective on life.

One of the things I realized this weekend is that I miss writing, both for myself and for an audience. To that end, I’m relaunching this blog. Again. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m pretty sure of it this time.

Expect a mix of tech, travel, progressive politics and a fair amount of boring drivel to follow. But for now… sleep.