Stormy Skies

Epic sun set tonight after the storms. Here is just a peak off to the west from our second story perch. We also had at the same time tonight: bright sun, pouring rain, and the tornado siren you see here going off. What a night!

Winnie Loves Weddings too!

In an effort to keep our main blog free of wedding talk for those folks who read it for the vet stuff, politics, cars, or the benefits of forest fires, we present a new parallel blog: WinnieLovesWeddings.blogspot.com! Watch this spot as we figure out how to do this whole wedding thing and please post thoughts and comments and anything there!

We are Engaged!

Yup we finally did it! After five years, two schools, living apart, and living together we got engaged on a chilly north woods night under an amazing starry night sky. It was a spontaneous surprise for both of us! My plan (and Megan guessed too) was to wait until later this summer around our anniversary, but everything just lead right up to it and there wasn't much I could do about it. I got the ring early thanks to my Dad (who was an unwitting courier from Grand Marais), got the ring back from having the center stone set the day we left, I had it in my pocket, and the stars were out in numbers that we have not seen since nearly five years ago on the night we fell in love. And I realized that I couldn't wait a moment longer than this!

So there on the dock, with Winnie guarding us from the woods monsters, I asked Megan if she would marry me. Several times. And she said yes every time! She asked me several times too :)

We enjoyed the weekend hiding out in the woods and had every imaginable kind of weather. It was sunny and warm in the day and then fell into the 30s and it snowed. It rained and thundered and then got sunny. So we went for lots of walks and took a trip across the lake to see the roaring waterfall and got to sit around and read by the fire. Winnie went feral for a while but did real good and we gave her lots of freedom to run where she pleased.

Then it was time to come back and great the world with our news. We both had fun sitting on a swing in Grand Marais alternately calling family members and friends. And now we are "Facebook official," meaning our relationship status changed to "engaged." This is some kind of wedding 2.0 here.

We will write more later, including possibly setting up a side blog, but here is a slide show of our trip for now.

We're Back!

We left in such a hurry that we never mentioned that were leaving!

I think Winnie is looking at something in this picture. What could it be?



More later...

How much is college worth

Megan found this letter to the editor in the U's newspaper about the poor value of going to college (emphasis mine):

Despite all that I am left, like many students, with a sizable debt. I could just accept that, pay my more than $40,000 back over the next 10 years. I could think positively about my debt, as the University loan exit interviewers suggested. But then I think, is my degree really worth almost half a million dollars? What did I pay for?

Apparently not much.

On a serious note, there has been discussion on the blogsphere lately about the value of a college degree. The bottom line - "there's never been a worse time to be a college graduate. But there's never been a worse time not to be a college graduate." Cue Kevin Drum:

• 1973: high school grad makes $42K, college grad makes $55K.
  
• 2006: high school grad makes $31K, college grad makes $61K.
  

The skill premium hasn't gone up because a college degree is way more lucrative than in the past. In fact, it's only slightly more lucrative over the long term and completely stagnant among recent grads. Rather, the skill premium has gone up because the value of a high school degree has cratered.

And add to that, to gain that premium almost always requires a large amount of debt and the risk that goes along with it. In the 1970s you could get a college degree and have no debt. Good luck doing that now without money in the bank or large scholarships. Here is a graph of average wages for a college grad since 2001, and you can see the drop. 

Look on the plus side, equality in gender pay is getting closer together! But not because the women are going up, the men just keep tanking. Drat. 

Safe

Hey all, a few people have checked in to make sure I'm okay after hearing the story about the chemical leak from the school's digester. We're all fine here, and I actually didn't know anything was wrong until hearing a story about it on MPR. School is business as usual!

Big Oil, Meet Big Wind

I ran across this story about the largest wind turbine order ever and it struck me as big deal. The deal, worth $2 Billion will build 667 wind turbines in northern Texas and produce 1,000 Megawats of electricity.

To compare, the Comanche Peak Steam Electric Nuclear plant in Texas produces about 1,150 Megatats of electricity and cost $11 Billion in 1993. Or about $16 Billion in todays dollars. And this is just the beginning of an extended four part project that will be able to produce 4,000 Megawatts by 2014 for a grand total of $11 Billion.

But the bigger deal than all of this is who is funding it. The billionaire and conservative Oklahoma Oil man with just the right the name for the business, T. Boone Pickens, Jr. When the big players at the top start shifting their resources from the discovery and exploitation of new oil resources into projects like this they are not doing it for any environmentalist reasons, they are doing it for the money. And money is a far more effective motivator!

EDIT: A YouTube Bonus for anyone who has seen "There Will Be Blood"

EDIT II: T.Boone Pickens is a really interesting, and incredibly smart fellow. He has a May 6th 2008 interview that you can watch here. It is quite long.

Best quote on how he made $255 Million from $4 Million in a year.

What I did was for the first time I wrote down the steps to do this, as I did them. And I just kept doing those same ones over and over again. In the past when I made money I would forget how I did it.

He also talks about the future of American energy in great detail.

EDIT III: Ok, just one more. Boone relating a story about about the "ugliness" of wind turbines from an old man who is going to have one built on his ranch, "I tell you boon, I cant see as good as I used to, but I can see money, and those turbines look like money." Thats it, isn't it?

Of course, coming from St. Olaf I think they fit in the landscape far better than anyone gives them credit. They can be awe inspiring!