I am sitting in a massage chair in the Buffalo Airport getting a $1 massage because my flight to Boston has been delayed from 6:21 to 8:20. I am kind of irked at this even though its the first delay I can remember in a long time.
The airport is dead. Other than the beeping of a transport car someplace far off there is not another person in sight. I’m tempted to go shoot a jamiroquoi-esque video on the moving walkways with me Storm video camera.
My massage is over with, it was bad but I’m going to invest another dollar to try its counterpart chair.
I did not bring my laptop with me which I’m of course regretting, especially because of the delay but also because of Google’s free airport WiFi promotion which I want to test out.
The airport is suprisingly calming to me with nobody around. There passenger cars have just passed by though- all in the same direction towards the end of the terminal.
I am going to investigate as my second bad 3 minute massage has just ended.
So its the 15th day i’ve been living in Buffalo, NY. Seems longer (not in a bad way), but i’m starting to find my groove. My room is finally setup/settled (pictures will follow once my new camera cord comes in the mail) and I’ve found myself with enough time to finally get back to playing some video games.
I spent 22 hours on Ninja Guiden 2, it is a horrible button masher game that you do the same combo over and over again in until you win; however, I couldn’t win. After fighting through the final level that is a series of repeat battles with previously bested bosses, you enter into a special area where through a large set of doors a final battle will occur. The problem? You can’t go backwards in the game at all unless you created manual save points to restart from previous checkpoints. SO after, 22 hours invested in the game (souly to get acheivement points and see where the horrible plot was going) I found myself facing the boss of the game, ill-equipped with no means to revisit a store for power-ups. I’m sure it is not actually impossible to beat with no heath powerups or magic at one’s disposal, but after a solid hour of fighting the boss for 2 minutes then dying I gave in and mailed it back.
The good news? Civilitations is on its way.
So… I have been in Buffalo for approximately 25.5 hours and its tolerable still, this is a good sign. Why? because i’m here trying to figure out if Michael Jenkins will become Dr Jenkins, or just Dr J. for short.
I visited SUNY Buffalo, otherwise known to the locals as UB, today to meet the faculty and students in their IE/HF department. I visited labs, talked with professors and students, ate at their caf (their pizza is far supperior to Bentley’s and they have a Taco Bell on campus), among other things. Last night I also went to the hockey game to watch teh Sabres barely defeat the Bruins in OT and went to the best bar in Buffalo, which could easily hold its own in Boston, and is open until 4AM. I had an amazing meatloaf and tomotoe pannininini there.
Back on topic, the program seems great. It is intimidating, or at least the courseload of the first year and the fact that i’ll be 28 when i finish school is enough to leave me questionning, but every student in the program seemed very very happy to be there. They have plenty of intramurals which is a plus. And, other than 2 or 3 required courses I would be able to completely customize my schedule and what courses i enroll in…. but 28 years old when i’m done with school, and 4-5 years in Buffalo… that’s a long time.
I think that in my subconscious mind i’ve already made my decision but i’m not sure what it is, working and finally having money are so attractive, but as one of the professors put it today, a PhD opens up so many opportunities and puts you in a ring of contacts you can work with around the globe. Also, a major plus is that it sounds like they’ll let me do basically any research project i can come up with related to HF… not that I have one, but this leaves the door open to me at least.
I will surely continue to ponder this decision, which in my mind is basically the largest decision i’ve had to make with my life to date. It is a true fork in my life where i’m not 100% sure where either way takes me or which one i want to be on.
[ zero-gravity environment research would be cool]
I’ve been accepted into SUNY Buffalo’s Human Factors Engineering PhD program for Fall of 2008. They’ve offerred me tuition and a stipend if i become a TA (which would be pretty cool right?). I’m trying to figure out if I should accept or not since it means another 3-5 years of living in poverty and much much harsher winters which i’m already sick of from just New England winters.
The upside would be that I get a new venue of living for a while, I could continue to put off paying my student loans, and of course i’d get to do research that i’m interested in instead of just reading other people’s work. And i’d be a PhD before age 30 which i think would be an accomplishment. Ideally i’d want to continue doing freelance work if I attended but i’m not sure if that’s possible given the horrible and low-tech economy of Buffalo.
As of right now i’m accepting, the only thing that will change my mind at this point is a lucrative job offer or a job offer at a company i really want to work for. I’m also waiting to hear from UCF on their hf program but they’ve been non-responsive which is making me not like them much.