Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Things Change Pretty Quick


A little over 2 months ago I announced I was leaving Deloitte and the consulting world in order to head overseas and serve in the Peace Corps; I discussed my passion and desire to serve other people abroad, including the awesome opportunity to deliver knowledge I had acquired here in the States to the far reaches of the world.  My hope was to teach them even one thing that would allow them to grow, prosper and, hopefully, pull themselves out of the cycle of minimal sustenance and instead increase their standard of living.  

The Peace Corps was a part of a larger plan - a chance to live and work abroad, return to earn a masters degree and then, hopefully, head to Washington, D.C. to work on policy.  Several of you who know me well understand that I have always had a passion for politics and wanted to be involved on a deeper level; The Peace Corps was an opportunity to get me to that point.

Before departing for my service overseas I headed to Madison, Wisconsin to work on a Senate race for former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.  I knew I was interested in getting involved in politics upon my return so I wanted to get a taste of what would be required before I left to see if I could be successful.  Little did I know my time in Madison would turn into a full time offer to stay on the campaign.  

Over the past two months I've worked to organize several grass roots events and handle other responsibilities across the campaign.  I've developed a strong relationship with everyone involved here.  Due to this strong relationships and the work I was doing, two weeks ago I received an offer from the campaign to stay on full time through the end of the election.  While there is some uncertainty inherent in any political race, I know this is an opportunity that only comes along once in a lifetime.  As of Monday, March 19th I accepted the offer to remain on the campaign full time.  I will continue to live in Madison until the election, working out of our office here.  

This was not an easy decision, and all of you know me well enough to know I considered the Pros and Cons of the issue at least 12 different ways.  At the end of the day, however, the benefits and potential of staying here to work on the campaign outweighed my perceived benefits of ending what I had here and moving on to the Peace Corps.  While I am sure I will miss out on a fantastic personal opportunity in Georgia, the leap I will make here on the campaign will be just as huge.

Thank you to all of you I talked with over the past few days - I appreciate your help and support and it is very reassuring to have such a great group of friends and family behind me.  

For those of you I haven't had a chance to speak with yet, please don't take it personal.  I have been busy here and put in several miles this past weekend all across the state of Wisconsin so I haven't had much time to actually call everyone.


Not sure what I will do with this page now that I'm not going anymore, but we'll see.


Hope you enjoyed it,


J

Sunday, March 18, 2012

10 reasons you should come party on April 20th

Background - Bryan and Jacob put a bug in my ear about having a party before I left.  This is the result of those discussions.  It'll be April 20th from 7:00 PM until whenever we go home at Uptown Pub (3605 McKinney Avenue  Dallas, TX 75204).  


If you're reading this, you're invited.  Show up.  No need to bring anything but yourself and some friends.


April 20th.
Uptown Pub.
7:00 PM.

Now the fun part - 
10 reasons you should come party on April 20th:

10. It will be a good chance to see everyone you haven't seen in awhile.

9. You get a chance to go to Uptown Pub - seriously overlooked and overshadowed by all the douch-y bars nearby.  But it's not douch-y.  Just surrounded by douche.

8. You can do shots again, several of them, and not feel guilty.  You're just helping me train for Georgian Supras (all night drinking / social gatherings)

7. We can go to the loon afterwards and laugh at SMU undergrads (and maybe a few grad students too).  

6. You can ask fun questions about Georgian language and culture and what I'll be doing and blah blah blah blah - I know you quit listening.

5. Cougars tend to prowl around Uptown, especially Lemmon bar.  I'm not saying you're interested . . . but they probably are.

4. You can make all kinds of jokes about me going to Georgia the state (Chik fil A, sweet Tea, Deliverance, Sherman's march to the sea) instead of Georgia the country.

3. You can tell me how you really feel and NEVER have to see me again.  Seriously - Love, hate, spite - its all fair game. 
(except for you, Mom and Dad - save it for dinner the next night).

2. You can tell the stories I swore you to secrecy about.  Just know that Stalin was from Georgia, so I may learn a thing or two and come back for you.

And the number one reason you should come to the party on April 20th at Uptown Pub is . . . 

You're 26-29 years old.  You may or may not be married.  You may or may not have a kid.  You may or may not need an excuse to drink and get out of the house AND you can still be home by a reasonable hour so you can wake up the next morning and clean the garage or plant flowers or whatever it is grownups are supposed to do.  Just come say hi and have a drink.


(read #1 and realized it made me sound old.  Shit.)


In all seriousness - I would love to see everyone that could make it.


April 20th.  Uptown Pub. 7:00 PM




Saturday, March 10, 2012

Seeing Wisconsin

Note: My apologies, this is another lazy post.  15 hours on the road yesterday and another trip today means very little time to write anything extensive. Hopefully by this time next week I'll have a party invite I can send out to all of you with location, timing, reasons to come, etc.


After 8 weeks here and only a few weeks left I wanted to try to quantify exactly how many miles I had spent on the road with Gov. Thompson.  At last count it falls somewhere between 2800 and 3000.  That is a hell of a lot of time in the car.  I've been tracking cities for another (unrelated) reason, so below is what you get when you plug all of them in.  


Lake Superior.  Seriously, we were that far north.
As I've said before, I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of awesome people and had a chance to learn a lot.  Maybe someday I'll put something up about it what exactly it is we do on the road, but not tonight.  Instead I'll let you look at the map while I catch some sleep before we get on the road again tomorrow.  In the meantime just know that the point at the northern part of the map is really frigging far up there (5 hour trip, one way) and there is NOTHING up there aside from some really good people, a lot of snow (still), a lot of trees and a bunch of snowmobiles (seriously, they're everywhere, it's amazing.  They use them for daily commutes, errands, etc.  Biggest disappointment of my time in Wisconsin - no snowmobiling).



View Campaign Stops in a larger map


Hope you enjoyed it.


J

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Staging / Training / What the hell you pack for 2 years

Several of you have been asking what I plan to pack and what training will be like.  Obviously I don't know a ton about it (yet), but Peace Corps Georgia has set me up with a current in-country volunteer, Gus, who is giving me a heads up about what to expect.


Staging - Staging is April 23rd in Philly.  From what I've learned you're in your staging city for all of 48 hours and it is really just a chance to a.) meet everyone b.) make sure they have control of you so you don't miss your flight the next day and c.) give you a chance to go drink one last time on American soil to make sure it lasts you the 2 years you'll be gone.


Orientation - Once I actually get to Georgia we will be in a hotel for the first 3 days before we move into our training village of Telavi.  Apparently we get met at the airport by some of the local media, so if you hear of an international incident caused by an American make sure to turn on the news that night to see if it was me.  After the airport we head to a good restaurant to have a nice (Georgian) dinner before heading to the hotel.  I've been primed to expect the next 3 days to be filled with a lot of training covering safety, security, transportation, the culture and the host families.  Oh and shots.  Not the drinking kind, but any vaccines we may need in country that we havent already received.

More on training after the jump

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Madison vs. Austin - An objectively biased comparison

Note: I've queued up a few different posts in case I wasn't able to put a new post up due to work. After putting in 15 hours and 500 miles yesterday I decided now would be a good time to run one.  Sorry for being lazy.-JM


After I made plans to move to Madison, I kept hearing how much Madison was like Austin.  For those of you not from not familiar with the great city on Lady Bird Lake, you're missing out.  All the live music you can handle, more bars than some small european countries, killer barbecue and texmex, texas university, the Texas State Capitol; you get the idea.  And that doesn't even include the lakes, or the hiking, or the hill country just outside of town.  So needless to say, Madison had a lot to live up to before I even got here. 


Both have great reputations as judged by people who spend a lot more time writing about these things than I do (GQMens Health and Esquire), but I wanted to at least take a stab at it on my own after the greatness Madison has shown me so far.


Without further ado - Texans vs. Sconnies


Round 1: State Capitol and <more> liberal outpost than the rest of the state. 


Both of these cities have there fair share of liberals (not passing judgement - just saying).  But Madison?  Holy hell.  Blows Austin out of the water.  Austin-ites don't hold a candle to some of the people up here I have met.  But when compared to the rest of the state, Austin/Texas and Madison/Wisconsin is pretty close.  
Don't forget though, the Texas Capitol is taller.  Those 24 feet make a difference.


Round 1: Austin

Round 2: College campus


Obviously they both meet this one.  But I definitely prefer UW to texas (the university, not the state).


Round 2: Madison


Round 3:  Raunchy, reckless strips of bars (aka State Street vs. 6th Street)



Sunday, February 19, 2012

64 days left

Several of you have asked what I am planning to do before I leave for Georgia, so instead of pumping out another 1500 words on Madison politics (and having my sister send me a critique about begin insensitive to members of the public unions here in Madison) I thought I would publish my plans.  I am trying to see as many people as possible and am definitely open to any invitations people send my way, so if you have an idea, please shoot it my way.  


More after the jump (and there is a party invite too - keep reading).

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Small town politics

When I planned on starting this thing I made the goal to post at least on a regular basis, and once in the past month isn't on par with what I had in mind.  I apologize - things have gotten pretty crazy here.

What is in Madison, and what I'm up to (after the jump) - 


Cap at night on the walk home.  Beautiful.  But 24 feet shorter than the Texas Capitol.



Thursday, January 26, 2012

How the Change happens



"D
ear Uganda Invitee –

I wanted to reach out and welcome you to the Uganda class! 

 Some of you I have already been able to speak with via phone.  I wanted to give you a heads up that the Uganda class has a slight delay.  You were
originally slated to depart from the U.S. at the end of April.  We have had to push this departure four weeks - to the end of May.  This is due to an unforeseen event whereby the
exterior wall of the office in Kampala has fallen and made access to the current office unavailable and our operations unable to support an incoming class of 50 on schedule.  The
U.S. Ambassador requested PC Uganda find a new office immediately and we have just secured a new location.  (This event jeopardized other properties in the same vicinity.)

Due to this event, Uganda Staging will be May 22nd and 23rd in the U.S. with an arrival into Uganda on May 24th.  Because we have bumped you once (and feel guilty), we are offering
you the ability to join another training class earlier – IF – this will benefit you and your schedule.  There are other classes that are leaving sooner and can accommodate you." 


I received the above email from the Peace Corps just over a week ago. I didn't have an immediate inclination to leave my previous Uganda commitment, but I thought it might be a good idea to at least weigh my options.  I followed up with the program coordinator and found out that a program in eastern europe had an opening to leave at the same time as the original leave date for Uganda (late April).  After doing some additional research into languages, timeline, program options, stability, etc I decided it was time to make the switch.  

The only downside: I had to wait until the following week to accept the actual invite, as the PC had to mail the package to my parents house back in Texas.  As soon as the packet gets to my parent's house I'll post the new location here.  

Monday, January 9, 2012

Quitting your job


Quitting your job to join the peace corps may be the biggest rush you can get (legally).


Let me start at the beginning.


First, you already know I'm leaving for Uganda in April, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.  Before I leave, however, I have arranged to work on a Senate campaign in Madison for a few months.  I've been looking for an opportunity to gain political experience and when I was given this chance I immediately started arranging my schedule to allow for some time up in the Badger state.  Over the past 3 months I've met with the campaign manager, Ryan, to discuss what I could do to help and also what to expect while I am up north.  Our conversation went something along the lines of: 
********
Me: "So how can I help out when I get in town?  I'm willing to do whatever you need."


Ryan: "Have you ever sharpened pencils?  What about stapled papers together?  Taken out the trash?"


Me: "I've been at Deloitte for 3 years now - I could actually put together a college lesson plan on the best way to sharpen pencils and the optimum angle and distance from the edge of the paper which is necessary for a perfect staple.  In fact, I may have enough credits to qualify for a minor."


Ryan: "Perfect.  You'll do just fine."
*******
(I'm only partially kidding.)


Regardless, I'm looking forward to getting up to Madison in 2 weeks and learning everything I can.  It's going to be an experience, to be sure.  



But enough about what's next - I was telling you about quitting my job.  Deloitte is structured in a slightly different fashion than other companies (see image to the right), so I only actually had to go tell my regional leader Bill, a guy who is responsible for several hundred consultants, managing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of projects and reporting up to our national office what is going on.  Needless to say, Bill is in the big time.  Bill and I have met several times before and have a good relationship, but I was still nervous sending him an email I was planning to leave Deloitte.  I had applied for Grad School sponsorship from Deloitte and Bill had blessed my application - would he be mad?  Would he think I was crazy for joining the PC?  Would he laugh?  Would he try to talk me out of it?


Thankfully the most stressful part of the entire process was sending him an email asking to talk.  I sent / unsent the email 45 times (approximate) before finally sending it Thursday afternoon.  Bill quickly responded and we set up time to talk the following morning.  The actual conversation only took 10 minutes - he asked what was going on, what I planned on doing, where I would be stationed and let me know that if I ever wanted to come back to Deloitte I should just give him a call.  As of Friday I am on track to leave D by the 20th.  The plan is to drive to stay with my aunt outside of OK City Friday night, go to dinner and stay with my sister (and meet her BF) in Cedar Rapids on Saturday and then drive the last 4 hours to Madison on Sunday.  I'm currently in the process of finding a place to stay in Madison for the 90 days or so that I'll be there.  I originally was looking at extended stay hotels, but all of them ran in the 3,000$-4,000$ range, so I'm hoping to find a sub-lease from a student studying abroad since all I really need is a place to crash at night.


Anyways, time to shut down, the plane is about to land.  I'm planning on putting up my list of "stuff to make sure I get to do / people to see before I leave" sometime over the next few days so you can see where I'll be, specifically.  And eventually I'll get around to expanding on the "what is next" response several people have requested.  In the meantime, happy Sunday.