More Grad School, Oh Joy…Oh Rapture…

You might think that I would have said enough about grad school at this point, but there has been yet another confounding variable. Mah ho’aka, Feech also wants to go to grad school in approximately the same time frame that I do. For any who don’t know, she’s not an engineering major (she’s takin’ college algebra this fall…huzzah!) she’s majoring in speech-language pathology. Now, if we were married, it would make it somewhat more difficult to go to two different schools that are 2500 miles across the country.

Yes, I said 2500 miles…the two that we were thinking of were Georgia Tech for me and the University of Washington for her. That would leave us with a couple of options. We could get our master’s degrees at different times. (Probably hers first, since a bachelor’s in speech path is kind useless; whereas a bachelor’s in civil engineering can put food on the table.) Another option would be to choose another school that has good civil engineering and speech pathology programs. The last option that I can think of is for me to just get my master’s from the University of Washington…though I’d really rather not.

I think I’ve narrowed it down to about three or four actual options for timing and choices of schools.

Option A: Feech and I move to Seattle, Washington where she pursues a master’s degree in speech pathology. Afterward, we move to Hotlanta, Georgia, where I pursue a master’s degree in civil engineering.

Option B: We move immediately to West Lafayette, Indiana, where we pursue both of our degrees at the same time at Purdue University. Note: Purdue is ranked #2 in the nation in speech-language pathology and #7 in the nation in civil engineering grad programs according to US News and World Report. Similar cities/schools: Austin TX, U of Texas-SP #9, CE #4; Champagne IL, U of Illinois-SP #9, CE #1(tie)

Option C: We move to some awful town full of old people in Iowa where Feech pursues a degree in speech pathology from the University of Iowa and I establish state residency in order to pursue a degree in civil engineering at Iowa State University. Note: The University of Iowa in ranked #1 in the nation in speech-language pathology grad programs and ISU is ranked #41in engineering grad programs according to US News and World Report. Similar situations: Michigan: Western Michigan-SP #38; Michigan-Ann Arbor CE #9

Option D: I just suck it up, move to Washington and get my master’s from the university of Washington. It wouldn’t really be that bad, but it’s just not that impressive of a place to have a degree from.
I really don’t know what I’m going to do at this point, but I’m kind of leaning towards options A or B in all honesty. I’m thinking that Purdue would be the best school for option B since Feech never wants to step foot in Texas, I’m a big Texas A&M fan, neither of us like Illinois, and the University of Illinois doesn’t teach the sub-discipline of civil engineering that I want to go into. Though I’m still a big fan of Georgia Tech and could handle living in Washington. I guess only time will tell.

You learn something new everyday…

…but these days, most of the things I learn have to do with women.

So, basically my whole life’s experience with women thus far has been tainted.  My mom was psycho, I had no siblings, every woman that I met in both my mom’s and dad’s side of the family were…also quite strange, in one way or another.  So I have had very little experience with women who don’t scream obscenities while throwing a tub of butter across the kitchen.  And don’t get me wrong, my mom always treated me well, and bought me stuff, but she treated my dad like a three-days used tampon that had given her TSS.  (Oh joy, something else that I learned from my mom.  XP )

So, recently I’ve been learning that there are women out there who actually like men and who aren’t feminazi ballbusters trying to break down men at every turn.  I had some of my first experience with this a few weeks ago, when Feech told me how happy I made her.  In my own internal monologue I was saying, “Wait, that’s not allowed, men don’t make women happy, they just bring them money…”  Well then it hit me.  I realized that some women are actually pleasant to be around, and not like Dementors trying to steal any semblance of hope or happiness that you may have.  Then I told Feech that she’s pretty and she giggled and did all that happy girlish stuff.  But I was like, “Wait you can’t do that.  Your line is ‘D*mmit William!  Don’t f*cking bother me while I’m watching Oprah!’”  And that made revelation #2.

So, I guess that this is just where I stand.  I’m learning all of fabulous things about pleasant women that had previously been hid from my eyes.  Not that I would really ever want to complain about such a thing…