Hey. I miss having you assholes explain to me what cool shit you were learning in/doing for classes. Even if your learning is all "REAL WORLDY" and "NOT IN A SCHOOL" and shit, would you mind making me feel dumb again for like a second?

I can try and return the favor, si vous plait.

1) wtf is Branch
2) I'm learning about microeconomics so not going to cover that
3) I'm learning about urban planning, urban design, urban policy and urban energy use, which are all cool. Basically reading a lot about cities and why they are awesome. Cities are awesome.
4) I'm learning about leadership, which sounds lame and sometimes is but it's also been surprisingly worthwhile at times.
5) I'm learning about market failures and knowledge assessment, which are both just ways of framing problems that we all know and think about but for the most part haven't given names like "free-riding" and "regulatory capture". For this class I'm writing a paper about Twitter and how it helps us solve the collective action problem. I love Twitter.

1) Branch is like if comment threads were center stage instead of an article

4) Wait, is the class straight-up called "Leadership"? Are there any sciencey facts about leadership we wouldn't know?

5) I feel like I know about market failure—but what's knowledge assessment?

As for me:

- programming. It can be both more theoretical and more practical than straight engineering, and even though it gets frustrating at times (I had trouble making a list of words today), it's still fun.
- I'm also taking an online class on neural networks (sample: ipam.ucla.edu). They get used in everything from medical research to netflix recommendations, and happen to be, like, magical. You often can't know exactly why a network made a certain decision.

I'm not really learning things right now since I'm churning out law school apps. Earlier I read some and listened to a ton of talks and debates about Christianity vs. atheism and came down pretty squarely on the side of the latter, but I'm planning on practicing meditation and exploring secular Buddhism more since atheism is no fun. At work I'm learning a little about a couple chemicals' human health impacts. WILL are you working? What's up.

Just for the sake of consolidating space:

I've been spending a lot of time developing practical skills. During corps member training, I was certified in First Aid, AED use, CPR, and HAZWOPER (Hazmat response), as well as Shelter Operations. I've also been driving a box truck for the past week for about 7 hours a day. A lot of the work NCCC does falls into disaster relief, infrastructure/environmental stewardship, and community development. Working in the Utah Food Bank, I'm learning about warehouse operations and the choreography of service distribution.

Wish I had more of a chance to learn about Salt Lake City social dynamics (i.e. there's a large gay/subculture population simultaneous to Mormons), and theories of large-scale social services. For instance, in many ways large superstores like Walmart/Target/Kmart are so much better at dealing material distribution, etc, than mom & pop stores. What does that mean in a period of increasing weather impact?

I'm the physical training coordinator of my team, which means I'm responsible for planning 4 days of workouts a week. We ran my first 5K next week that runs through Salt Lake. My first! PT is pushing me to think about how to make a healthy/balanced workout routine, and I'm trying to understand how to best motivate along with it.

More personally, these past couple of months have been a lesson is taking care of myself. Since graduation, I've traveled almost constantly. I think I figured out the number of beds I've crashed in since June and I'm somewhere around 40 or 50, which either means I'm due for an STD checkup or I've been moving around. It's the latter, dont doubt me. I understand confidently that I can navigate, problem solve, and keep track of priorities while outside of comfort zones.

Zak, I really am sorry for missing your calls multiple times. I don't get a ton of free time here, but I'll try to catch you as soon as I can.

Howdy dudes - sorry Will for taking forever to respond. I'm doing great. My job is small business consulting for cleantech startups in the state of Michigan - exciting considering it's where all of manufacturing happens, so lots of action. Also just finished writing a DOE report on energy storage and electricity markets, which I was really unqualified for... but w/e, it's a startup and that's what happens... Also biking everywhere, hanging out at Eastern Market, the oldest farmers market in the country (surprise!!!), and cooking a ton. Last thing though, trying to figure out my role in capitalist society, just finished reading Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism." And reading/writing lots of poetry. Living the goodlyf

...did anyone else notice that Todd's response just kind of got cut off? :P

It sounds like you guys are doing really cool things! I'm kinda bummed that I'm not learning a whole lot in my 9-5, but I'm excited to be going back to school in the fall - for those who haven't heard, I've applied to a few law schools. Is anyone else missing classes like me?? I've been listening to Shelly Kagan's class some evenings while I cook: youtube.com and I've signed up for a few things that have caught my eye on coursera.org

PS - I WANT TO TRY TO DO FAWM AGAIN WILLIAM