Grants and lots of snow

So yesterday got the revisions in for the grant-so hopefully the conditional victory will turn into a full one.We got a ton of snow today, spring is a bit further away than I thought.

Got conditional approval on my grant!

So the grant for my school got conditional approval, which means that the committee that decides these things sent it back to me with a list revisions I need to make. If I make these revisions then I can get the grant. So we'll see what happens.

Closing Days of Winter?

Though there has been no snow here for 2 or three days, nearly everything is still white with snow, or it is the brown of buildings. The last few days have been overcast, the white of the sky is close to the white of the snow.

They form a massive white wall interupted only by brown spoltches- either the brown apartment buildings or the rare patch of brown has melted away. Besides the brown spots of building and ground, there are also the black streaks of road where the snow and ice have melted away. In the mornings these two are white, covered by ice , but now this layer too melts away by midmorning. A couple of weeks ago this would have been permanent. But now spring emergence makes the icy road temporary.

While the clear roads and few clear patches of ground are a sign of spring, the fact that I have to warm my hands up with a heater after half an hour of LSAT studying is another sign that we are not out of the depths.

Making Preparation for living in America

I'v still got about 6 or 7 months left in Armenia but I am making more and more preparations for returning to America. Yesterday I made an online account with the Law School Admission Council(LSAC) and registerd to take the LSAT in Septimber. I also started revising my resume for the first time September 2007, which was when I applied for Peace Corp. And I am also working for jobs to do in the year in between when I come back and start law school(Fall 2009 to Fall 2010).

But at the same time I am also getting really busy at school. I am in the midst of trying to write a grant to renovate my school's gym with much needed equipment, including lots of modern equipment that would add a lot to the school's capacity to provide health education. Things are really busy both with returning to America, and with my work in Armenia. But I like to finish strong, so I am glad that things are picking up here in Hayastan.

Great article on Obama and reading

The New York times ran this article on Obama and how books have influenced his life and work. Highly recomended read.

From the article is a list of books that have influenced him,

A Reading List That Shaped a President

Some of President-elect Barack Obama’s favored reading matter as mentioned in this article:

* The Bible
* “Parting the Waters,” Taylor Branch
* “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson
* Gandhi’s autobiography
* “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin
* “The Golden Notebook,” Doris Lessing
* Lincoln’s collected writings
* “Moby-Dick,” Herman Melville
* “Song of Solomon,” Toni Morrison
* Works of Reinhold Niebuhr
* “Gilead,” Marilynne Robinson
* Shakespeare’s tragedies


I'v read "Self-Relianace", "Team of Rivals", "Gilead", lots of the Bible, and some of Lincoln's stuff. I can see how those works influenced Obama, because they all influenced me as well.

first post in a while

I havn't posted in a while. Been busy traveling and adjusting to life in Armenia. But today I was back at school, and it was good to see all the students again. Today I helped teach a group of 4th graders how to read English and helped a friend with an application to join EarthCorps, an enviromental program in Seattle. It felt great to get back into volunteering and helping people.

Back to Armenia

I am here at the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to Paris. I had a wonderful vacation, got to spend a lot time of time with my family, friends, and girlfriend. But now it is time to go back to Armenia.