Moving Day!

I finally did it. After seeing many of my friends do the same, I gave into the peer pressure and moved my blog to WordPress. I also completely redesigned the blog to mark the occassion, including giving it a new name, The Ambitious Paradox.

So mosey on over to www.jasonmartinmft.com and keep in touch. You'll be glad you did... I think.;)

The Music Family

Well, we're getting back into theatre. After a hiatus of more than 8 years, it's finally a good time again to do a show, and Kari and the kids have agreed to do it too! So this weekend we auditioned for The Music Man with the United Players in Friendswood, TX. It should be fun, but I'm a little nervous about dedicating the kind of time necessary to be in a show. Aidan and Regan take up a lot of our time, and I'm worried about how they will adjust to this schedule. I guess there's no way to find out but to just jump in. So here we come! Shipoopi!

Update 5/21/08: I got a call from the director offering me the part of Marcellus (Harold Hill's sidekick). I accepted. It's a good part, and I'm really looking forward to this!

I'm Done!!!

I can't believe that it is over. After long last, I have finally finished all of my hours for full licensure. I sent my paperwork off to the State today, and I now have my Full License, meaning that I am no longer in residency and are now longer required to work under a supervisor. This allows me to officially get the promotion and raise that was approved at work, contingent upon the full license, and I can also begin to branch out and have more freedom in terms of teaching and taking clients. It also puts me on more insurance boards, meaning that I can take a MUCH wider range of insurance providers.

This essentially is what I feel has been holding me back professionally. I finally feel that the shackles have been removed, and I'm completely autonomous and legit. It feels very good.

That sneaky little viddler

I recently found this website that is essentially a blog engine designed exclusively for videos. It makes it very easy to record, upload, and even leave timed comments and tags. There's also a social networking aspect to the videos because they are so easy to interact with. Actually, that's one aspect that I didn't think I would care for, but I find that I really like it. It really can build community in a virtual world, only this seems a bit more real because there is actual video to respond to, and not just text.

Well, it's much too late, and I should have been asleep an hour ago. Tomorrow is going to be rough. I hope to post more often in the next few weeks. Here's an embed of my latest Viddler entry:

The "real life" of real life

After finishing my dissertation, I was very eager to get back to "real life", the mundane duties of life like paying bills, cleaning the kitchen, and doing laundry. I still did a little bit of that as I worked on the dissertation, but Kari bore the brunt of the burden. Over the last 10 days since I returned from my defense trip, I have entered into it much more. I've been doing laundry almost everyday (it's easier to manage that way) and cleaning the kitchen (some), and Kari turned all of the finances over to me on Monday. I have to say that I'm not hating it yet. When I get all of the finances automated, that will be even better. Anyway, I'm back to the day-to-day drudgery and loving it, for now.

Like the Phoenix rising...

So here we are at the start of a new year. So much changed for me last year, and I have decided to revive my blog as part of my New Year's resolutions. This isn't as laborious for me as it may seem. I had always wanted to return to blogging, but I felt that other things in my life had to take priority at the time. Now that most of those things are either in the past or have settled down significantly, I feel that I can devote a little time here and there to keep this up. Of course, I don't have grand visions of thousands or even hundreds of people reading whatever mundane things I write. I just want to put something out there. Do what blogging was meant to do, and if a few old friends are able to catch up with me, all the better.

So, here's a brief rundown of what Kari and I have been up to lo these many months:

1. My dissertation, which was supposed to be finished in time for a May 2006 defense, was delayed due to a problems getting it approved by MSU's internal review board. Those problems were eventually overcome once they got the right idea about the nature of the research.
2. I finished my internship at the Ingham Regional Medical Center in Lansing, MI in August.
3. The dissertation, then slated for an August defense, was delayed again for the severe difficulty I had recruiting research participants.
4. We moved to Baytown in August to live with my parents. Meanwhile, Kari and I began looking for a house.
5. I began working at the Krist Samaritan Center for Counseling and Education in Houston, TX in September 2006.
6. My colleagues at the Krist center were invaluable in helping me recruit research participants for the dissertation research.
7. Kari began working for Lyondell Chemical Company as an Internal Auditor. She took a business trip to Rotterdam, Netherlands after working there for a week. (I was a bit jealous.)
8. While working on my dissertation one day at my parents' house, I accidentally spilled some soda on my laptop computer. Three days later after the soda had dried, my laptop was fried. Thankfully, I had just backed up my dissertation and lost almost nothing. Best Buy was able to recover most of my other documents, music, video, and pictures too. But I was out a laptop and didn't know how I would continue without one.
9. Kari and I bought a house in the Clear Lake area of Houston, near NASA. We moved in on September 29, 2006.
10. A colleague of mine at the Krist Samaritan Center was able to procure an old laptop without an operating system for me to have free. I installed my own OS and it worked. I was back in business and eternally grateful to him. This allowed me to eventually complete the dissertation.
11. The dissertation, then slated for a November completion and a December defense, was delayed again due to my computer problems and my naivete in estimating how long it would take me to transcribe and code all of the interviews.
12. Kari got an offer from the benefits accounting office at Lyondell to work for them. After some deliberation, she accepted the offer and began working in the accounting office immediately after Thanksgiving 2006. No more travel is required, although she gets the same pay, benefits and status that she already had. Aidan, Regan and I are happy. Kari's happy too.
13. The dissertation was finally finished on December 22, 2006. I sent it off to my committee the next day for them to review for a January 19, 2007 defense. I haven't worked on it or my defense since then.

I am really looking forward to the new year for a number of reasons. We now own a house and are fairly settled in for a while. I like my job. The dissertation is largely behind me, and I feel that my life is really going to become more free without that hanging over my head. Of course, I'm sure we'll have our fair share of disappointments and struggles, but I'm very optimistic about the next 365 days. Now, time to begin on the right foot and clean up the house and garage. I'll post some updated pictures to my Flickr site later.