So in an effort to just reach out and touch someone, I will now touch you… all.

So here’s what I’ve learned in the last week:

Money really can’t buy happiness

It’s true. Sometimes we forget this as we wallow in poverty but hot dang if I wouldn’t trade it all to be up with my ole boy mifsud or back with the family. It’s really funny to me though, I’ve been through this move to a new place curve a number of times and it always surprises me what a pain it is to establish yourself in a new place, find friends, etc. I mean every aspect of your life needs rebuilding, my basketball crowd for weekday afternoons, mountainbiking buddies for the weekends, church friends, girl friends, and on and on. In your mind you just think I’ll need new buddies, well after three or four new ones, you realize the roster is not yet filled and you have to keep looking. But don’t get the wrong idea, we’re making friends, just new ones that fill new roles, it’s just some of the old ones I’m missing is all. Other things,

Working from home stinks

So I always imagined this would be much more glamorous than it is. I sleep in my office and work in my bedroom. That’s not the bad part, it’s kind of nice to wake up and sit in my chair, work on a few things that need attention, get up, take a shower, come back keep working, get up go eat breakfast. There’s no pressure to look busy, and so I get tons more done because everything is done as I find the need to do it, there’s no time wasting mentality which I love. However, I get so bored! I am home, but I still have to work. It’s not quite like I can goof off all day and work all night, I still have to keep hours, so I end up feeling very much like a shut in, while having none of the work place social drama that normally entertains throughout the day. I speak to no one, I am absolutely alone all the live long day, which some people would love, but find myself giddily waiting for unsuspecting people to login to their gmail and snag them for a quick chat of “hey, how you doing, what are you doing today? anything new, anything old, anything!?” And it’s been a week! :) I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but still.

So that’s all the gems so far. The job is good. It’s tough, but that’s because I’m coming into it all new and am having to work my tail off to keep up with the lingo and conference calls right now. Honestly though, I got nothing to complain about, life is good, work is solid and I’m getting tons of reading in (Currently reading “Coming out of the ice - an unexpected life by Victor Herman” and it’s great, I’ll tell more about it later) and enjoying the great food of Southern California.

whew.

Like many of you, life has been crazy lately for me. Last we spoke, I was sitting in a Chicago hotel room still relatively unsure where I’d be when Friday came and I either had to use my return ticket to Hawaii or go back to Missouri, with really no idea of where I’d end up after that. So let me catch you up from there…
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So I’m sitting in a hotel room at 5 am in Chicago IL, and life is different now.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for me, finishing school, worked till the last day I was there, and spent my final weeks working with my SIFE team trying to ensure that the success I had built is sustainable, because to quote a very dear friend Steve Gibson, “there is no success without a successor” (I don’t suspect he was the originator of that, but that’s where I heard it)

So yeah, my last days were pretty introspective. I found it rather difficult to try and compartmentalize, or place feelings I have for a place whose influence permeates almost every facet of my life. From spiritual to secular, to work success and social life, Hawaii has played a huge role in where I stand today. I really wish I had time to sit on the beach and just be grateful to a place that had done so much for me. But such is my style, work till the last minute and leave wanting more. I find that takes pretty good care of me. :)

In other news, Chicago is looking really good, there’s something fantastic about riding an L train with people and have all 15 students (white kids included) staring out the windows looking at these ‘crazy buildings’ or getting nervous around black people, or hesitantly stepping on to a train/subway fearing the doors will get them. It’s like I have 15 huge children, it’s pretty fun and I have decided I am one lucky dude.

So I interview this morning with my corporate guys, and again later this week, I think my status is that if I get that job, I’ll take the return ticket to Hawaii and try and get some more stuff / rest for a week. If not, I’ll stay in Missouri and get my move on to Toronto or something of the like. I’ll certainly let you know.

But just in way of gratitude, I need to say thanks to the Tueller family, who so graciously took me in as I was living homeless on the shores of Oahu these last two weeks. I am especially grateful for the chance to be around kids again, to camp out in the back yard and have it be amazing, cook bacon over a fire on a tin can even though the stove just beyond the screen door works fine. I’m grateful for the example of family nightly scripture study, and especially for Sister Tuellers cooking. :) Further thanks go to Audi and Holli, we formed a sort of vagabond posse that looked like hippies and acted like college students, it was a nice way to spend the last two weeks of Hawaii, with some great friends. There’s one more I can think of at five am, and that’s Jared Hinton. We’ve played one on one basketball for almost 18 months, every time things got stressful, or so busy I wanted to cry, he’s been there to work it out with me on the court. We’ve played in the pouring rain, we’ve played in gale strength winds, we’ve played night games under stadium lights, and hours past that in the pitch black under the light of the moon. There have been times when that ball has saved my sanity, and Jared, thanks for being there buddy.

Anyway, there’s tons of other folks whom I love from Hawaii, professors, roomies, families, mentors, and friends, and I hope they understand that I appreciate them, and love them dearly. Here’s to Hawaii…. /me drinks a snapple

Now, standby for the next chapter in this Doan saga.

PS - pics will be up under the photo section, if they aren’t yet, here’s one for now. :)

well thanks for all the well wishing guys! I am now officially done, I just sent in my last paper, the finals are done, papers are written, I have proven I can do college. I am really excited to go do something besides school now, honestly, I think so much better on my own. Don’t get me wrong, it has been an absolute joy to have professors to work with as I’ve struggled to develop my own opinions on thinks I’ve never thought about before, but it’s a whole different ball game when I get to read a book because I’m interested in it, or write a paper because I think I have something to say, and not to satisfy a requirement.

My post grad plans are still up in the air, I suspect they will be as much for the rest of this week. The company I am talking to about working with right now is still developing the details of the position, so I am yet to get a firm commitment out of them, so the options are still vast. I’ll let you know when I know though. For now, I plan on being kicked out of my home on Friday, and living on the beach for two weeks so I can have a great ‘homeless’ story when I’m doing motivational speaking with Donald and Guy.

Besides that, all is well, much aloha to you all, and thanks for all the kind words and support. Uncle Jason, Darrell, Sarah, and Mom, you guys have been particularly terrific in throwing your support and love my way, thanks for all you do, without you guys, things would have been a lot more difficult.

Today, the 16th of April, I had my last day of classes, for maybe ever. I just had my last day of classes. It’s pretty crazy to be done, my body can’t fathom the idea of not feeling guilty when not constantly thinking about whats due in which class and when. Could be a nice change.

Here’s to the future though…. what’s next. :)

so I mentioned it in an earlier post, but I just found these great videos that were fun to go watch again. I was entertained anyway. :)
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so this week was general conference, which meant I got to cruise for a bit, having legitimate excuses to calm down and take a proverbial chill pill. So naturally me and mike wanted to live it up, so we made a movie. If you hit play, you have to commit to watching it all the way through…. or I kill you.

—- update —-
It’s a make you smile, not laugh…. so if you don’t smile while watching this, you also are unable to cry. Just fyi

This is the presentation I made on a 20 page paper I have written on homeschooling entitled ‘The homeschool advantage.’ In my paper I detail several aspects of homeschooling and make a cohesive argument for the alternative method of homeschooling. In my 6 minutes speech I was invited to give, I had substantially less wiggle room so I picked a point I thought would generate the most controversy/discussion. It kind of worked, but I guess I needed more time to build the argument. Anyway, here the piece, I’d love to hear comments, if you agree, disagree, etc. I love a challenge, so don’t just read, think about it and tell me why I’m wrong. Oh, and beware, it reads how I wanted to speak it, now how it should be written
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I remember a story my mother shared with me as a child about a young boy whose family moved to a new town and he was enrolled in a big and intimidating new school. The story, which I’ve now found to be written by Mary Schramm, Read the rest of this entry »

so it’s sunday morning, I’m up early, and figure I could use a quick post. The rest of you guys are getting worse than I am with your never posting. I seriously have been going through withdrawals lately needing online social interaction, it hones my arguing skills, so I think I’ll go find a new online community to invest some time in akin to the kcgeek community of yesteryear. :) Actually probably not, because I really don’t have the time, but it’s a nice thought… you know, having something to read when I want it.

So I’ve been anxiously trying to decide how best to spend my time post university. It’s coming up quick, something like a month and it’s go time. Options are cropping up and I’m giving myself an ulcer having convinced myself that the rest of my life hinges on this decision. I think I’m becoming used to doing that to myself. I am very excited about life after university though, I am sick of feeling like I’m floating and just a part of a four month community. Seriously imagine your life, friends, and resources getting dumped out and rebuilt every four months, it’s attractive a few times, particularly after dating goes bad with a girl and she’s stalking you, or when you realize yer friends are lame, but after a while, it gets old. I’m ready to not be in a college town, seriously.

My biggest love right now is the NCAA tourney. This month is amazing for that reason alone (Easter is normally in april so I don’t feel bad saying that) and I get a TV then both laptops all playing a different game, I feel like I am a sports god of sorts with my head moving from amazing play to amazing play to amazing finish. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Lastly, Easter, it’s easter sunday, and I miss the home traditions. I miss the million kids running around hopped up on sugar IV’s (aka peeps from Erinn) and crying as they get shafted on the easter egg hunt and we all just laugh at their misguided greed and excitement over 30 cents worth of candy. Now if you’re not from our family, I need to explain a very exciting tradition that our family does regarding the easter egg hunt. You see we used to hide candy and treats in the little plastic eggs you would go searching for and it was great, but problems arose when your children aren’t as smart as you think they are, or if you are a better hider than you gave yourself credit for, because come july, melted nastiness was getting carted around by hordes of very happy ants - a problem for the parents, and we were losing about 12% of the aggregate chocolate haul yearly, just having to be written off to loss and depreciation - problem for the kids. So mom came up with a great idea, cut out little paper eggs and write on there initials that would make them redeemable for real candy. So paper eggs were hidden everywhere, and the parents stand by their cars like proud stall owners at the bazar waiting to wheel and deal (the dealing comes when a parent is praying that the HPB egg, or Huge Peanut Butter bunny, is not found and when it is, alternative bundles are offered to the children who know they’ve got the parents right where they want them, salivating for what they’ve got). It’s a great tradition / solution and served us perfectly for many years. However like many holiday traditions, when introduced to Missouri, are altered slightly. Now, when I think back to easter, it’s with fond memories of children tired of searching the 3 acre plost of knee high grass at grampas come back arguing with people on what the letters on that paper egg really mean (theres a big difference between PB - peanut butter egg and PP - plastic pony) I think those egg hunts began turning into family swap meets though and leaving the tradition of strictly chocolate candy. I mean seriously, finding an AT egg that gets you an antique outta uncle daves truck, or the famous DS egg, a pair of dad’s old Dirty Shoes from the basement…. I mean the ability to get rid of unwanted goods is great and all, but couldn’t it wait till christmas like every other family? Leave it to us I guess. Seriously though, the dinners and the laughter are being missed right now, especially knowing you all will be getting together out there in CA for Jess’s wedding (congrats to her and Tommy) I’ll miss you family, hopefully I’ll get back to seeing you before too long. I suspect summer will hold a weekend trip for me somewhere.

so I am finding the good side of flying for the first time ever today. I sit in LAX and saw my name on the upgrade list, and being as cheap as I am went up there to get it taken off when the lady informs me “but sir, you’re a medallion member, you’re automatically put on the upgrade list for EVERY flight” “free?” I ask “of course” and so it is. The perks of flying 50,000+ miles a year, I might finally get some leg room.