Ambition vs the Simple Life

This post has nothing to do, really, with our lives, but just a few rambling thoughts ...

Is being ambitious required? Important? Necessary?

I have been thinking about these questions lately. As we talk to friends, at this point in our lives, our future lives and ambitions seem to always come up. What do we want to do with our lives? In general, it seems like all the guys I have talked to (and often their wives) have big plans on what they are going to do that look something like this - find a job (or other money making opportunity) that makes lots and lots of money - definitely way over six figures. Hopefully being at the very top of their field.

And that is just not our goal. Really, at least the way I see it (you'd have to ask Katsu to see if he really agrees with me), I want a simple life. The way I envision Katsu's career is a job that makes enough (like 60-70k perhaps) to support us and a few kids, a job without a terribly long commute, hopefully a smallish house with a smallish mortgage (though it might be a largish mortgage to get the short commute), and reasonably hours (roughly 8-6 on almost all days or less) and a job that he somewhat enjoys.

Quite frankly, I am very happy with our life right now. I am very satisfied with the amount of money we make as graduate students (roughly 40k) and would be happy living on that, though it might get tight when we have several kids. Honestly, it's enough and more. We can save for retirement, rent a nice apartment, pay all our bills, and go on fun vacations and dates. And as our family grows our income will need to grow to, but I don't envision us "needing" 150k or more as many people we meet seem to want/expect.

I feel lucky that Katsu is home often and works roughly 9-6 and no weekends (more or less). And I have always made that the expectation. I guess when it comes down to it, I would much rather have Katsu home on weekends an evenings then make twice as much or have twice as big a house. And I don't see why that will change as we get older.

Maybe that makes us less ambitious than all our friends. But I think that being super ambitious and wanting the best education for the best job at the best company to climb your way up to the high life comes with its own costs and sacrifices. And working 80 or 100 hours a week to be the world's best researcher or professor just doesn't have its appeal to me.

Pictures of Us

Make an online slide show at onetruemedia.com

Trips

After our last trip to London ... and the unintended consequences (don't ask), I thought that I would be turned off from traveling for ever. Well, that didn't last ...

I miss traveling already and though we did have our nice Cleveland / Chicago trip, that was not enough. I want to get out of the country (and further away than Windsor!) So, here are some trips that I want to take (and possibly when):

1) Toronto - as soon as I feel like we are ready to take the baby for a longish trip (probably 2 or 3 days) this is where I want to go (maybe early next fall). It's about a five hour drive and I haven't been there since I was a kid ... Casa Loma here we come!

2) Switzerland - our goal is for summer 2008. This will be Katsu's 10 year high school reunion and you can't miss your high school reunion, right? I don't know exactly about the money aspect, but I figure it's a perfect time to travel while we're in grad school and have lots of time (of course, if I stay in grad school, we will definately have enough money.

3) Japan - probably spring 2008 or something like that. Of course, it depends a lot on when/if Katsu's parents come to visit. Right now they are planning on something like September, but if that doesn't work out, we will have to go there so they can see their grandchild. Spring, cherry blossom season would be best. Of course, we will probably need help affording plane tickets .... depending on our finances. We haven't been there for 2 years, so it will be time to see his family again.

and more for the future:

4) Italy - maybe while Sarah hopefully goes there during study abroad, but eventually sometime we have to go here!!!
5) Las Vegas - considering that my mom's whole family is from here (and Katsu hasn't met hardly any of them) and Katsu served his mission here, we are far overdue for a trip.
6) Egypt - a dream of ours
7) Jerusalem - another dream of ours
8) Morocco - especially since we didn't get there like we wanted when we were in Spain ...
9) California - we've never really been there and we always seem to have a few friends that live there (mostly in San Diego), we are definately due a trip. Maybe when we graduate ...
10) Washington / Oregon - ditto above.

and many many more but that will have to do for now.

A few thoughts while sick about Health

I seem to have come down with a cold and being pregnant I can't take any medicine so my nights are pretty miserable. I didn't go to school on Friday though we did go to the ward dinner so we wouldn't have to cook dinner. And I went to U of M's Women's Health and Fitness Day. I loved it so much last year, I just couldn't miss it.

Basically, they had a guest speaker and then three workshops, as well as breakfast and lunch. My workshops:

Heartburn - I went mostly to hear how this can be bad if you don't treat it to convince myself to finally go and talk to my doctor about it .... sometime soon. Heartburn is a big problem in my family and I've had it as long as I can remember. I don't really want to be on medication for the rest of my life, which is why I haven't broached the subject with my doctor, but getting cancer because I don't treat it just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Post Partum Depression - I figure it's best to be prepared, especially since I think depression runs a bit in my family. They didn't talk a whole bunch about PPD in specific, but I did learn that getting adequate sleep (and thus getting adequate help) after the baby comes, epsecially for the first week can help a lot. And if the baby blues last more than 5 days, talk to a doctor.

Breast Cancer Basics - Okay, so this didn't seem that useful, but I did learn all kinds of stuff about mastectomies and breast reconstruction. Hopefully, that information never comes in handy, since this cancer is not very preventable.

Overall, I love learning about good health and trying to be more healthy. Hopefully next year, I can go again and take some cool classes, maybe more exercise ones or healthy eating ones like I took last year.

The perils of being a graduate student

Oh, the one career you think would be safe - a graduate student ...

Unless it's bitter cold and ...
they don't keep the building warm enough ...
and your advisor happens to have a corner office which is especially cold ...
and a pipe freezes ...
and the weight of the water collapses your advisor's office's ceiling!



Thankfully no one is hurt, though a good part of the building flooded and was evacuated on Monday and he is banished from his office for all of the foreseeable future.

Welcome to my life.

Greetings from the North Pole

Just kidding, but it might as well be. Just thought I'd take a minute of thawing before starting dinner to show what I look like after my 20 minute walk home in very very cold Michigan. I haven't gone there personally yet (hmmm - maybe this weekend), but I bet Hell is frozen over.

It's Cold Outside

Yeah, it's cold. Really cold. Bitter cold. It had been such a lovely winter and now its week without the high getting above 20 FAHRENHEIT! Yikes. Tomorrow, the high is supposed to be like 5 degrees and the low below 0 and that is not wind chill. We are talking wind chills of 20 below!

So, unfortunately, I have cut down a bit on my walking to and from school. Seriously, I am started to get somewhat concerned about frostbite and such on a half hour walk. And Monday after working out in the morning and walking to and from school I was so exhausted I could hardly move ... maybe 1.5 hours of exercise in chilly chilly weather is too much for this pregnant woman to take. Oh, well.

We've had a nice weekend so far. Thursday night we went to the local creamery for a couple pints of delicious ice cream - Mackinaw Island Fudge and Michigan Black Bear (or something like that) and then watched hilarious Doritos commericals on line.

Friday we had a nice dinner and then went and the saw U of M's symphony band play about 7 or 8 pieces. At first, I wasn't sure how great the show would be, but they really had a nice eclectic mix from Strauss to circus music to some new modern music (which I really enjoyed). It was a lot of fun.

Today we went and finally had our first sandwich at the very famous, very good, and very expensive Zingermans. We split a $12 Reuben sandwich - but oh, is it divine. With homemade bread, homemade cheese, and heck - the best meat ever, we loved it. Then we went and checked out a soccer store. We drove down to Dundee with so much swirling snow our visibility was very very low to go buy chocolates (Russell Stover's outlet) and beef jerky (Beef Jerky Unlimited). Then, back to Ann Arbor and we finally bought a car seat, plus some other miscellaneous stuff and then back home. We are babysitting for friends tonight.

Well, that's a week in our exciting COOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLD Michigan life.

Two Good Books

I've had a dearth of good books lately, but finally read a couple that were worth sharing.

Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway - this was an excellent book, though according to my mother hard to get at her library. Its a non-fiction account of a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali and her two years spent working with a midwife there. It definately gave me an understanding of what pregnancy and childbirth and just general living is like in an African village and the challenges there. Man, I wish I could be a Peace Corps volunteer - it really sounds like such great service.

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok - this fiction story is about an Orthodox Jewish boy growing up and becoming an artist, must to the chagrin of his family and the grief he goes through for it. It was one of the most well-written books I have read in a long time - I had no idea how well a book could help you understand what being an artist is like, and describe art so powerfully without pictures. I loved it!

Back to the library again today for three books on hold - hopefully some of these are good!

CONGRATULATIONS to Katsu

After weeks of studying and studying and memorizing gazillions of citations (alright, maybe only 200 or so, but still ...) and not even taking Christmas, his birthday, or New Years Day off, Katsu has passed his PhD qualifying exams after only eight hours of written tests and a few hours of oral exams. Now, no more classes, no more tests, just lots of research, a proposal and a dissertation.

Yeah, Katsu!!!

New Christmas Traditions & Decorations

We got a really cool countdown to Christmas calendar with big pockets - a must. Each day had candy for both of us (M&M's or a package of dots or Reese's PB cups) and a scripture to read. By the time we filled it up, the calendar was so heavy, Katsu had to rig some rubber bands to get the whole thing to stay up. A favorite tradition.

We also bought a new nativity set this year and are planning on adding a piece each year as a tradition. Enjoy!