TMM: Runnup to Graduation

My dissertation adviser actually used the G-word during our last meeting. There is a strong probability that I will be finishing up this semester--or else not at all. I'm certainly scrambling to get the thesis written up (technical writing takes more time than any other sort I've tried), though I really wouldn't mind if I ad through the end of summer to get stuff finished. Either way, it means that I will likely be looking for a job soon, and possibly having to move.

That in turn brings up the perennial question, which I've had since marrying a woman whose family lives approximately 1500 miles away from my family: where will I move to? Moving to the Pacific Northwest (to be close to my side of the family) or staying here (to be close to hers) would both be nice, as I suppose would be moving to somewhere in between so that both sides are within a two-ish day drive.

I have certain states in which I really don't want to live. The four at the top of my list are New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California, especially in or near any of their major cities. Tragically, many of the jobs available for people with my background are in those four states and in the major metro areas. These are the kinds of things that I wish 18-year-old me had known when picking a field of study, or even 21-year-old me had known when choosing a graduate school program (I could have gone into electrical engineering or medical physics, for example).

Of the evil four, New York has done the most recently to antagonize me: see governor Cuomo's recent remarks, in which he essentially tells conservatives and faithful Catholics that they have no place in New York. However, it's only a matter of time before one of the others (I suspect California) ups the ante'. And depending on how much America as a whole slides under Obama and his successors, I suppose it may not really matter which state I live in 20 years from now.

Suffice it to say that I'm looking forward to graduating, but not so much to moving, especially if we have to move to LA, San Francisco-San Jose, New York City, Boston, or Chicago. God help us if we do.