not to us

Boy oh boy...these last few days have been a doozy. Last Friday, Promethius Consulting in Indianapolis offered me a job as a Drupal web developer/designer. I was very excited about working for them, because I truly love web work. I feel as though God has given me a passion for web development that greatly exceeds my passion for chemistry.

Then, yesterday Griffin Analytical Technologies offered me a very nice scientist position. At first, I was very hesitant about taking the offer. I still had the mindset that I should chose web development since I enjoy it more.

Yesterday afternoon Lindsay and I talked about the position, and we came to this basic conclusion...

If I take a web development position at this point in time, I would be essentially closing the door on any possible chemistry positions. It would be very difficult to explain that decision to future chemistry employers if I ever went back to that field, and I'm not certain that I should close that door completely right now. There was a time (a year or two ago) when I truly enjoyed some forms of chemistry. However, over the last few years my interest has been sucked out of me for reasons that I won't go into here. It may be good to see if changing to a corporate environment and working with other people could re-spark that interest. So, I started leaning towards taking the chemistry position.

On the other hand, if I did take the chemistry position, I would not be closing the door on future web development. If I find that my interest in chemistry is still waning in 6 months or a year, I can wash my hands of chemistry and go on a web job search again. In fact, I would probably be able to receive better web offers due to increased experience and knowledge.

All of these thoughts have led me to take the position with Griffin. I still feel God has called me to use web development in my life and ministry, and will likely someday lead me to it as a full-time position. However, I'm excited to see if God wants to use me in this chemistry role for the near future.

This has been a very difficult decision-making process, and I thank you for your prayers and advice. They're greatly appreciated!

I thought that I would throw in a post to update everyone of my situation.  I have told Dr. Cooks that I am without a doubt going to stop with a Master's as soon as possible.  Although he is somewhat disappointed by the decision, he affirmed that he "understands" why I'm doing it.  With that being said, I am now looking for employment as a M.S. analytical chemist.  I would definitely like to stay in the Lafayette/Indianapolis area.  Thankfully there are several possibilities for me to pursue:

Griffin Analytical

Griffin Analytical was started by graduates of my current lab, and is based in the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette.  So it would be a short drive ( :  Additionally, they do the exact kind of work that I love to do: building and testing mass spectrometers.  I'm a geek, I know.  They have several positions open, and I've heard promising things about my possibly working there as a scientist.  This would be a great job, and I think that I would really love it.

Indigo Biosystems

Indigo Biosystems is based in Carmel, IN and develops software for processing mass spectrometric data.  It was also started by a graduate of my lab.  Although the drive might be ~1 hr, I think that I would really enjoy working there.  There is a position open for a "software engineer".  If I take this position, I will have to learn some new programming languages, but that's something that I've wanted to do for awhile anyway.  This job would be an interesting mix of my likes for MS and programming.  I am admittedly not a formally educated and experienced programmer, but hopefully Indigo could look past that and I could learn quickly.  Plus, I would get to work with an old friend, Amy Tabert (who happens to read this blog regularly...Hi Amy).  Amy has forwarded my resume to the president of the company, and I look forward to hearing from them.

Prosolia

Prosolia is based in downtown Indianapolis, and was (surprise) started by people from my current lab.  They primarily sell DESI ion sources, but they are also considering commercializing a soft landing instrument (much like the one I have built here at Purdue).  I emailed a former lab member named Brian Laughlin about the possibility of working there.  He said that they may be interested in hiring me as well.  They apparently have a lot of work coming down the pike and need more people to handle it.  Although this job would not be as much strict instrument development, I think that I would still enjoy the work and the company.

So, I have a few options that I'm trying to work out right now.  I have not had any offers, but none of the doors have been shut yet.  Hopefully God will make the decision clear for me in the near future.

Hey everyone! This is my first post on the new blog. Mike really likes all of this web design stuff that he’s been learning. ( : He’s doing a good job with customizing our web adventures. I thought that I would write a post, since I’m on vacation. I don’t write much, but it’s because my life is pretty boring most of the time! ( : Not boring in a bad way, but boring because I basically do the same things all the time.

My job is absolutely wonderful. I really enjoy working with Anja and Paul and Lynne. Thank you so much for all of your prayers four months ago. This job is truly a dream! Anja is growing so fast and learning so much. She helps me read books now. I’m not exagerating, either. She has some of the books pseudo memorized. For instance, Little Blue Car has a lot of expressions like “Go!” “Woo woo” “Stop!” “Whee!” “Whew.” When I turn to any of the pages that has those expressions, Anja will say them. It really surprised me the first time she did it. She can also pick out her books from the spine of the book. We always put her books on the bookshelf like normal books, with only the spines facing out. You can ask her to get almost any book, and she can pick it out by the spine, which usually only has the words, no pictures. She is truly amazing. Anja has learned about disobeying now. ( : She will walk to a “no-no” and smile. Then, when you tell her, “Anja, no,” she will say, “No No”, shake her head, and go ahead and do whatever she’s not supposed to be doing. Since she’s only 15 mos old, it’s really challenging to figure out how to start teaching her discipline. I have started using structured time-outs that are appropriate to her age. They seem to be working. After having to sit still with no toys, she seems to stay away from whatever she was doing previously. All in all, she is just such an amazing little girl, and I’m getting all kinds of practice for the future with my own children.

Church is also amazing. I don’t know what to say other than: God is just absolutely moving and shaking! Pastor Randy has been on fire with his sermons. He’s preaching about priorities right now, and he’s using PRIORITY as an anagram. So far, we’ve learned about:

1. Putting away Pagan Idols like Convenience, Consumerism, and Instant Gratification. Things can easily slip in without us realizing what’s happening. Many times, the convenience of things (like fast food) end up making us busier than we should be. Other times, consumerism leads us away from financial responsibility. Also, we often settle for something mediocre that will give us instant gratification instead of waiting for something greater that will give us better and more-lasting delayed gratification.

2. Reducing Stress by checking our schedules, finances, words, and hearts. We really stress ourselves out by getting too busy. Pastor Randy encouraged us to search for a good balance in our schedules and, everytime we want to add something to our schedule, we should delete something first. We also need to check our finances, making sure to reduce debt, so that we can increase our giving to the kingdom. Checking our words is a big one. By learning to say “no” when we need to, we can really reduce stress. We can also help heal broken (and stressful) relationships by carefully checking our words. Lastly, we need to be checking our hearts, making sure our motives are pure.

3. Investing wisely in every part of our lives: finances, time, and children. God asks us to be good stewards, and that should be a top priority for us. I thought Pastor Randy did a great job of helping us realize that it’s about SO much more than $$. Many times, we give plenty of money to the church, but we don’t make enough time to volunteer for church activities that invest in the Kingdom and the community. Lastly, we need to realize what we are (or are not) investing in our children. What a responsibility God has given us! I’m not just talking about biological children. We, as a church, need to make sure that we are helping to raise up godly children who will influence this world for Christ. We need to make sure we are equipping parents, so they can continue to train children at home! This was really a great sermon.

4. Opening the Eyes of our Hearts to see things from a spiritual point of view. This sermon was really tailored to our congregation. Pastor Randy talked about the Hebrew people after God had freed them from Egypt. When they spent twelve spies to scope out the Promised Land, two of the spies looked at the land with Godly eyes of FAITH. Ten of the spies looked at the land with worldly eyes of NO faith. They were scared of the big hurdles that seemed impossible (giants and fortified walls.) They forgot that, with God, nothing is impossible.

Our church is going to be taking some big steps of faith by researching the possible purchase the land next door to us, as well as thinking about a new building, and new outreach opportunities. We need to look at the neighborhoods around us with spiritual eyes that say, “God wants these people to Know Him, and He wants to use us to reach them.” We can’t be scared or intimidated by earthly hurdles. Anyway, I know that was a really long recap. If you want to hear the sermons from the actual source, you can go to http://www.elstonheights.org/sermons and listen to the podcasts of the sermons.

We’re going to be demolishing our bathroom this weekend. I’ll make sure to take before, during, and after pictures, so you can see how the project turns out! ( : That’s about all for now. Thanks for reading!

We didn’t get to see each other very much this week because we had a lot of meetings for work, school, and church at night. We did get to spend Friday night together, which was nice.

Then, on Saturday night, we went out to eat with Steve and Emily Lamberson. We knew Steve from the Purdue BCM a few years back, but we hadn’t done much with him in a few years. We had such a great time! We ate at “Little Mexico 2″, which was really good. Then we went to their apartment and played games until we headed back home.

Sunday was a great day too! We got to lead a few songs with the church band…it was sweet. People seemed to really be worshipping God in spirit and truth.

On a side note, Peyton’s fleas are back. We’re going give it another try, but this time we’re gonna SATURATE our house with these “foggers.” I don’t think we used enough of them last time.

Kyle’s new girlfriend, Kim, is coming to visit this weekend. She seems really nice, and we’re excited to have her over.

Lastly….GO COLTS!!!! 4-0!!!!