more LEGO

gosh this software is the best goshdarn thing.
this is my biggest build to date, and still unfinished.  a blocky house apartment block made of little blocks, inspired by Habitat 67.  oh how wonderful it would be to actually build this in real life.
thanks for looking.

a Lego

I've been working a lot lately, but I built this.

Just a simple a-frame house, like my Gruncle Stan's old cabin near Bayfield, WI.
I didn't do a whole lot with the interior.  Just put in an upstairs.

I'm still in the US, but I've had a few chances to visit 'home' in the past 2 years.  Visits are still too few and far between, and the prospect of looking for work there gets more and more terrifying, with so many doors being closed by the powers that be everywhere I look.  I press on though.  I need to see my someone more than twice a year.

Flying away

So I had to go back to America.
It's really not a pleasant situation for me.
Between the oil price being low recently, which sort of killed any job growth in my sector, and the UK's really tough immigration policies, even in the face of skills shortages, the jobs just weren't there for me.  Sometimes almost there.  Sometimes my immigration status was the one thing standing in the way of me getting that job.
So I had to go back to the US.  Which was devastating.  Well, it still is, even 3 months later.  Back to Chicago, where it's cold and windy all the time.  Where my friends are not.  And my partner... well he's not here either.  Yes, there's an energy industry in the US... all the big hiring events are in Houston though, which is a bit difficult for me travelwise.
Nothing about this is easy or fair or right. 
But I'll keep trying.
It would be so easy to give up, to resign to a life on mom's couch, sharing space with the cats.
But I can't give up.
K needs me.
Aberdeen will need me eventually.
And I need there.  As a place.
So I look for work on both sides of the pond, visa rules be damned.
I take my online courses, even the ones that are way over my head.
And I try my best to live where I am now, knowing full well that I could be gone again in six months, a year, or maybe even tomorrow.

Pizza Parlor/Bike Shop (a pop punk kid's paradise!)

I would rather build things out of legos than do several other things.
But I have no lego.
So I use software. 

I've been working on several town buildings, mostly with shops on the bottom and apartments on top. 

This is my most recent one, and in progress now.  A bike shop and a pizza place on the bottom floor, with the pizza place extending to the first floor.  Also on the first floor is a travel agency.  The second and third floors will be an apartment with a rooftop garden.  Building itself is 16x32, but on a 32x32 plate to make room for the sidewalk.

 Bike shop section.  There's a neat little display window wedged under the stairs, with another bike.

 Pizza shop, with many toppings available in the case.  Cans of pop are on top, and the stairs lead to a dining area on the first floor.

 Entire ground floor.  There's a better view of the pizza oven here, plus a certificate on the wall.  It could be an award from Michelin, but it could also be an award from the health department.

 A look at the first floor, with the pizza place's dining area and travel shop.

A better look at the travel agency.  And window boxes!  I use these extensively.

More will come later, with the second floor apartment, and some of my past builds.

Da Update

I've been looking for work, and my dissertation's been kicking my ass.
I'm a bit stressed out at the moment, as my lease is up in the dormitory in 2 months, and I'm not sure where I'll be living after that (as in, what country).  The fear of unstable living arrangements really isn't helping with all the other stuff I've got on at the moment, but it is what it is.  I'm doing everything I can to avoid going back to Chicago, as my life is here now, and having to pack up and leave another place I've gotten settled in finally, a place where most of my friends, the man I love, the industry I want to work in, a place where I would feel comfortable continuing my education if I chose to do so in future, just doesn't seem right. 
Dissertation is hard work too; I like what I do, but it's difficult.  Finding data is the worst part.  I may have picked a bad project, but I'll feel so accomplished if I can get it all done.  Writing comes easily to me though, and reading articles!  I could just read the related literature to my topic all day.  So I may have picked a difficult project, but it's certainly interesting.  And I do really like the challenge to be honest.   
I've got some side projects in the works as well, including another blog.  I'd really love do to some sort of economics/business reporting, but I'm wondering how to make it relevant, if I can get away with doing it sort of "Daily Show"-style, and who would even be interested. 
I'll keep y'all posted.  Planning on making my first post on my other blog in Thursday, although it is geography related this time. 

Yo

So.  Sorry I've not been writing that much.  Actual coursework has gotten in the way unfortunately.

But.

I've got something I need to get off my chest.

I've been reading articles, mostly dealing with petroleum economics, for my coursework, and this seems prevalent in a lot of them.  The overuse and misuse of the words "nation", "state", and "nation-state".

Stop this.

It ain't cute.

As a geographer, it bugs the hell out of me.

Not every country is a nation.  Nations are regions that are culturally and linguistically homogeneous.  They may or may not be actually contained within the borders of a place.

States are politically governed by the same thing.  This is a more proper term for the thing you are most likely trying to refer to.

Nation-states are both politically and culturally homogeneous for the most part, and it's been argued that with the exception of North Korea, there really is no such thing as a nation-state.

Thanks.

I'm done.

Best get back to work now.

Macaroni and Cheese

I was scared to try it at the Indian Buffet, and there's a damn good reason I was.

But I did try it.

Not as bad as macaroni and cheese from a box, or the freezer case.

But as someone who used to be able to drive 20 minutes to get to Wisconsin (the macaroni and cheese capitol of the world I THINK) I can tell you that it's not nearly as good as macaroni and cheese from any hole-in-the-wall diner I've been to there.

Speaking of Wisconsin, if I open eateries here, I'm putting deep fried cheese curds on the menu.  The world can do with more deep fried cheese curds.