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Plan A: Work for Doctors Without Borders

There is something I should have realized when the resumé lady at the Engineering Career Services Building in Madison drew out what she thought my career path would be after speaking to me for less than an hour. I should have realized that I wouldn't enjoy sitting in a cubicle or office for the rest of my working life.

What she drew, was a squiggly line. It would seem that she's right. Maybe, scary right. Perhaps if you lay her squiggly line over a map of the United States it maps out my exact, random route that I've traveled since I've been "on tour"?

I don't remember what my response was to her squiggly line. I probably let out a laugh or some sort of childish wise-crack about it as I snapped up my resume and headed out the door with no real clue as to what the "real world" would be like.

After a year of work in the "real world" I finally realized that "this" wasn't for me. This year was filled up with my childish actions and management's childish reactions. The "retirement" of a lady who had already put in 42 years with the company made me contemplate whether I wanted to "work" all those years just to be shooed out the door when I wasn't of value anymore? I looked at my work. I was bored. I was beginning to do things to see how people reacted. I was beginning to do things simply for my entertainment. I need to be challenged. So, I began looking for the next big challenge.

This is when I came up with the idea of working for Doctors without Borders. I'm definitely not a doctor, but I am an engineer and they like engineers as their logisticians. Next I needed to learn more practical skills. My book smarts are great, but it doesn't do me much good in the real world if I can't do anything with my hands. I'd get my hands dirty by unveiling Mike's Cumulative Present Program (MCPP). The first recipient would be my sister and I would build her a horse stable with my Dad's help. The horse stable was a success, and I poved to be a passable carpenter.

For quite some time I tossed around the idea of buying a fixer-upper car and fixing it up. Lack of space and tools scrapped that plan. I did some Habitat for Humanity volunteer work, but mostly, I tried to gain experience and save money through my current job.

In the middle of my 4th year I was finishing up my prep for my backup plan (Plan B), and I decided it was time to give it a shot. I applied for the Logistician position, interviewed in New York City for the position, and the interview was good and it was bad. I felt the talk I had with the interviewer went really well. The test I took, went very very poorly. I didn't have nearly as much practical knowledge as I thought I had (at least not the type they were looking for. I also was late for the interview as I was still doing my job from NYC and I was trying to put out fires all day.

To wrap it all up - I didn't get the job with Doctor's without Borders. AND - I lost my job because my arch nemesis, we'll just call her the "terminator" caught wind of me going to NYC, workign remotely, interviewing for a new job. I went without telling any superiors because I was all out of vacation, although I made it a bit of a vacation as I took in the Letterman Show and the MLB All-Star game while I was there. BUT, this freed me up for Plan B earlier than I expected (I was thinking January, 2009, but I'll take July 2008). This was a good thing too as I wasn't sure that I'd be able to just get up and quit and leave the sweet sweet secutiry of company matching 401(k), pension, health insurance, etc.

Result = Failed (Temporarily)

Plan B: Travel South America

I was never 100% sure that Doctors without Borders was something that I really wanted to do. I also knew that it was very likely that they wouldn't think that I was D's w/o B's material as well. So, I was working on a Plan B in the background.

I took 4 semesters of Spanish at MATC while I was working. I started to be a little less careless with my money. I inspected maps. Researched the best way/place to enter the continent. I analyzed crime trends for kidnapping and theft.

After D's w/o B's told me that I wasn't ready to work in the field for them. I started putting Plan B into action. However, first my parents were up for MCPP and I was taking them on a trip to the Southwestern United States' National Parks.

If ever a South American disaster were foreshadowed I think this would be it. The first major bump in my planning didn't come until the very end, but it was a pretty serious bump. First, I told everyone we could go for one last hike through the Rockies before we would catch our plane. Well, we were hiking while our plane was flying back to Milwaukee.

My solution was to rent a car and drive back to Milwaukee from Denver. Everything was going smoothly for the first hour or two and then I drove our rental van straight into a parked car. We ripped a few pieces of the body off of the van, slapped a little duct tape on her and away we went. We made it home, but should this have been enough to make me cancel my plans to wander around South America on my own? Nonsense.

Two weeks later I was in Colombia, SA loving the locals and loving the geography. A few days later, my passport, my money, my laptop, my everything (I had everything important on my back because I didn't think it was "safe" at the hostel) was stolen by two Colombian teens. To make matters worse, I started a bit of a scrum with the hoodlums only to have my right hand's small finger cut, severing two flexor tendons.

With the swift slice of a blade www.mypinkyup was born and my North American adventure began (after surgery fo course).

Result = Failed (Temporarily) - it will be a failure if I don't try again, but I don't see that happening

Plan C: Travel Where It's Safe

Those little Colombians forced my hand. I never really had a Plan C, and I don't have a Plan D if something would happen while traveling about the US and Canada (and maybe Mexico, but let's be honest here, "I'm scared").

I guess these are just a few more squiggles on the ECS lady's career map she made for me. One thing is for certain, I can't complain. I absolutely love what I'm doing. I consider it "investinting" in myself and I am extremely confident that it is going to pay off in the not-so-distant future. Until then I'm just going to keep my pinky high, and be thankful for every day and every opportunity that I have.

If you think you have a Plan D for me - feel free to submit it to me. I love a good plan. I may have enjoyed the preperation and the brain-storming involved in preparing for each plan as much as the actual execution.

Result = Currently in Progress