Lawrence in Nutshell

Lawrence, Kansas is a small beautiful town in the western outskirt of Kansas City and 245 miles east from Geographic Center of US, Lebanon, Kansas. The sixth largest city in the state of Kansas with the population about 90,000, the double size of Carbondale, IL. It was probably the worst time of the year to be at Kansas in the early January of 2013. It was my first job!

The iconic legendary of basketball, Naismith and University of Kansas makes Lawrence, the beautiful University town. The downtown spans across north to south that looks ancient in the flanks of Massachusset street. The Indian Palace at MA, the Chinese buffet at 23^rd street , Chillis at Iowa street along with dozens of restaurants in the downtown street makes the place lively to eat and amazes the culinary interest of the resident of Lawrence.The 23^rd west street drives all the way towards the beautiful national park and a majestic Clinton lake.

The other day we explored one of the downtown bar of lawrence where the young students were chilling in the weekend. Like most university towns, the crowd is young and vibe , the town looks inherently sporty with each bars and restaurants showing the legacy of the town, the basketball.

The other remarkable day in lawrence KS was watching the young students show in the of public schools of Kansas. It was a truly artistic performance of kids. We also visited Kansas City, that lies in the border of Missouri and Kansas city looks even more amazing and intrinsically antique. With the horses and chariot to ride,the city looks like an ancient european town.

However, the geography makes the Kansas inherently flat. The shrubs along with small trees and the flat land makes the place, aesthetically different and away from nature. The gigantic clinton lake and the national park gives some natural feelings. After living two years in Carbondale , IL where I was seeing lot of greenish and water bodies -Lakes, I missed nature a lot beside missing the majestic himalayas and terrains of Kathmandu, Nepal

The trip to Humboldt Kansas to visit my niece used to be fantastic open-wide roads with few traffic passing by. As you move more towards the south, the land is even more flat and you feel you are leaving the nature further away, perhaps miles and miles away.

Th company was small and perhaps the historic in a sense that it was my first job in US. My manager was absolutely awesome guy. The team was excellent. However, I decided to move to the Louisville , KY after living for in Lawrence, KS for 150 days. I knew it was little early but I have to move on in search of destiny – sometimes you never know that and the fate of time will decide about your decision. Thanks Lawrence, KS, you showed me the way ;) and the same L is hunting me again.......Louisville now. I am excited with the greeneries of Louisville!!, I know the lust for Kentucky Fried Chicken will never remain the same. See me in Louisville, KY!

Reminiscent of Carbondale 11/12 and Inspiring : Five L

January 5, 2013

Its been almost three weeks after my graduation. Graduating again after ten years!! After applying for more than 150 job applications, I started getting opportunities to have phone interviews. I had more than thirty interviews, each of them lasting almost an hour,  and more than dozen were in queues. Four of them were for on site interviews. 

December 15, 2012, Carbondale, SIUC

  All those on-site job interviews coincidentally started with loving – L. Alphabets in Laramie, Lawrence, Louisville, Little Rock and St. Louis. That was a co-incidence. I don't think I did biased sampling or any statistician can figure out the degree of uncertainty of other places and correlation among these L.I used first in first out (FIFO) queue the fundamental queuing theory , I accepted the offer.................., yes!!  I have my first job offer and I have decided to move to Lawrence, Kansas,  one of the best ten college town in nation,. I am excited and thrilled to move to start my first job after a long grad school.

way to Kansas, few months earlier...!

It was so painful for me to cancel all other four interviews of the next weeks. They have already booked the planes and hotels. But I just wanted to be honest and I liked the small team and the office environment that specialized on knowledge management, I got it in the first shot. I was unemployed for four days !! Gosh! It was a holiday that slugged the hiring manager's spirit. On numbers, I will be unemployed for 13 days.

Evergreen Terrace , after a heavy snow fall!!

 
The academic journey was over on December 15. I remember every days I spent at Carbondale for last 784 days (This is not an absolute measure...), Numbers are just a numbers. I will be missing Carbondale more than ever. Few weeks back to release the stress, I went to watch a movie This is 40, paul and leslie's wonderful settings navigated me towards a ten years ahead of my life. It was so much of great inner feelings yet  cunningly fishy and too much of romantic drama. Oh ! I started getting scared of future. Hmm...who invented time ? Stop the clock forever and see...This is 19.

EGIS labs, the clock tower, Evergreen Terrace Park, The Reservoir , PK's , Hanger 9, the train;s sound at midnight ',  Dancing in Cali's, the university lake,Morris Library, soccer ground, rec-center, …......my poor bike are some of entities that I will be remembering in my tributaries forever. I will miss all of you and all of my friends who were always helpful to me. I am always with you, those memories will always encircled around the tangent  that passes through the grey matter of my life everyday.The spirit of graduation day  and strong sense of confidence that I got from the SIU really helped me to mold my personal and professional goals. I salute all of them who were part of it and helped me in this transition.

My poor bike, Carbondale, IL December, 2012

Some mind-boggling memories were: Grassy Lake trip, Kentucky Cadiz Trip, Garden of Gods, SSA, Getting Lost in Little Grand Canyon, Alto Pass, winery-trip, berry picking, cultural show, dipawoli night, Giant City, driving to new york,the last new year dance at NJ , Trip to Kentucky, Scuba Diving, Summer Concerts, chalking for SSA, Julie's Sustainable Class, Hexmoor Agent Based Modeling Class, Creation museum trip to Kentucy with SSA folks, and other endless happenings at Carbondale, you all are all part of me. Eric's insatiable quest of knowledge domain!, Something I always remember forever and appreciate.I miss you all!

More than eight inch of snows in Carbondale was something I never saw in the last two years ( its very small number again...lol ), it was so much fun to play with snow in the last week of stay at carbondale, we walked all over the snow and enjoyed the kids skiing  in their boards in Carbondale reservoir.

Then driving here and there for a job interviews were even more hectic and stressful. Now I am little bit stressed with moving, arranging the logistics, needs to pack off my stuffs and move ahead.

Yep...I am a Kansas boy now. Lawrence, Kansas! Welcome to the America's top 10 college towns. I will be moving there this week. Oh! Ya at last, I went to watch a movie Jack Reacher! yesterday, I remember the words of  Tom Cruise. Why the person serve military ?

1. To maintain the family tradition

2. To be a patriot

3. To get  a job

4. To kill a people.

Let me add one more, I became military to be a pacifist! Here it ends the story of transition of being student and civilian for last two years.I will start my new blog living in “Lawrence : Navigating 360 degrees”. And this will officially complete my blog TRANSITION!!

I love you and miss you Carbondale.

January 6 2013 Evergreen Terrace Carbondale