Prague, finally!

My public, maybe all three or four of you, may have been wondering if I actually did take any photos while in Prague, and I did.  I did it the old fashioned way, with film and old cameras.  You know, cutting edge technology, circa 1970 or so.  For those geeks who care enough to wonder or amazingly, ask, the color shots were taken with a Leica R5 with 50 Summicron, and most of the black and whites were taken with a Leica M4 with a 50 Summicron.  Little was done to the photos other than lightly correct the lightness or darkness and crop the photos.

I am not sure of the results.  I have become a lazy photographer--the newer cameras, all of which are exponentially smarter than I am accomplish the same thing with far less work and expense.  What is the deal with all this focusing and figuring out the exposure?  That said, it was still  fun to shoot 15 rolls of film.  I think that the last time that I did that was in 1998 when I went to Africa.  And I do like Leicas and that lens is one of the classic lenses of all time and when there isn't a nut loose behind the viewfinder (sorry, old camera repairman's joke) it is the sharpest lens around even though these lenses were about 50 years old.

The trip was great.  The weather was the best I have ever experienced in in Prague, and I even came back with a bit of a tan.  The beer was exceptional, and again the city proved to be a perfect walking city.  My phone said several days I walked over eight miles so that was good for an old(er) person.  All in all, roads were more or less traveled and diems sum carptus.  I couldn't have asked for a better break.

Of course, the re-entry into reality has been a bit harsh.  I heard this recently and I find it so true--the choices we get to make are the ones we don't always want to make.  I would not choose to move when I have to, but now that  this choice is made, I am making a ton of other choices.  Some are big--hmmm...just where will I live?  Some are smaller, mostly on the scale of what goes and what stays with me.  Some things need a good home that is not my home.  Some things just need to go somewhere that isn't near me.

The choices will get made and the work will get done.  And if I get tired or woebegone I will remember that was recently in Prague.

Travels

I am in Prague, and loving every moment.  It is my "My job ended, you should go to somewhere in Europe" tour.  You know, the one that any decent financial planner would suggest in this same situation. So I chose Prague.  Again, as it seems, since I think if I counted stamps on my passports correctly, this is my 8th time here.  The first time was 18 years ago, and the city is a wee bit different.  There are fewer crystal shops and a whole lot more customer service.  The beer is still cheap (about $1.25-1.50 for a pint)  and I have already had three different kinds of dumplings with more of both beer and dumplings to come.  I hope.  Dumplings are cute, right?  So if I eat enough...   Don't they always say "you are what you eat?"

Of course, my trip is total escapism.  I was a finalist (second place--BOO!) for a job I was hopeful for and that really did sting.  I liked the school, the people, and the place, but that is how it goes, right?  But that decision left me with few options and forced me to make a few decisions of my own.  I always knew this gig ended at the end of June, and that is fine.  But I was hopeful that I would leave this place for a job somewhere else, and that doesn't see likely right now.  If I was every unsure of the economic issues facing community colleges, this job market has confirmed that things are dire.  Few colleges have advertised for deans in the upper Midwest.  I am not sure, but the one in Minnesota was one of the very few available.  Schools are hiring VPs and there are a ton of president jobs, but I am not that interested in those, though I would consider a VP of Academic services somewhere, but there haven't been many in WI, MN, and Iowa, the three states I most would like to work in.

So I am going to do something I have never ever done--I am moving to an area where I want to live even though I do not have a job.  Talk about leaping without a safety net!  I am not sure about this, but my options are pretty limited.  I could stay in MI, but the openings are even scarcer here--though if you want to be a vocational dean there are more options with the state's focus on vocational programming.  Plus, I do not want to be in MI.  Nice place and all, but if I have learned nothing else, I know I need a coffee shop, a good grocery store, and at least a Chinese restaurant within five miles of where I live.  To get those three things around here, I would have to drive 39 miles, and I am still not so sure about the grocery store.

I have been keeping a list of things I do not and do want.  I want to go to a McDonalds that isn't a gas station or worse, a bait shop, too.  I want an olive bar that doesn't just involve canned black olives.  I want a restaurant that doesn't have dead things on the wall and which deep fries less than 1/4 of the menu.  I want to go where you can say the trees are pretty and the response isn't "they will make good firewood, won't they?"  I want to work at a school that when I comment on students' success or rather, the lack of it, people don't mostly respond with "well, that is students that we get."  I want to work on at a place that acknowledges the value of diversity.  It would be great to live in an area that has community education programs that are more than "Polish Cooking" or "Wine Making."   I am fine with Amazon Prime being a good friend of mine, but, boy, would it be great to live in a place where all my wardrobe didn't come from there or Tractor Supply.  Sometimes, I even want to live where all the waitresses don't call me "Honey" or "Sweetheart" and I get indifferent service with a meal that isn't breakfast or fried.

Simple things, right?  So I have picked the Twin Cities or Minneapolis-St Paul for you non-Midwesterners.  So if you know of a 1-2 bedroom apartment in a pre-war building with a parking spot, please let me know.  I don't want to live in a 137 plex if I can at all avoid it.  Small is good, urban is good.  Cheap is good, too, but I am good for a year, and I hope that I can find something in that time or at least I can sell enough plasma or my hair or something to survive.  I could sell the watch, too, but I can't have the watch and the hair.  No matter, I will be OK.  

And won't it be an adventure?