Though everyone i talk to probably knows my story these days, I won’t let that stop me from introducing my new job.

My job title is Electrical Engineer. I have just begun work for C&C Technologies and will be working on their surveying equipment known as the AUV (here is a c&c commercial that introduces the AUV).

Now that you know that, I will not be talking much about my work at C&C on this website. I have read of many people who lost their job from blogging too much about it, and though I’m not at all the type to talk bad about my current employer, the specific technology I’m working on is largely confidential. Plus, I think I’m going to love this job, and it would be easy to let sensitive info slip out while gushing about my experiences.

At least one exciting thing that I’ll be able to share is the world-travel. This year I am going overseas for C&C, and though I can’t say where yet, I am pretty excited. My friend Paul has been getting sent to Europe for work, and he reports that it’s less than awesome since he’s gone so often and for so long. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to think about it. I was in france for a month on vacation… speaking french was the hardest thing about it, and i loved the heck out of it. I would love to post photos of my travels and even of my workplace, but i’ll have to see exactly how much is “legal” to post.

If my job were aboard a ship on Star Trek, I’d be a Science officer. That’s kinda neat. Do science officers have a promotion path to captain?

This past week i’ve been in the classroom attending OSHA and maritime safety classes, getting certified to drive a truck, fight fires, administer CPR, rig cranes, survive in the ocean, and many, many more things. For each of these training sessions, i’ve actually done hands-on work, like rigging a load on a crane and signaling a crane operator, or floated around doing exercises in a training pool for a morning. After all that, and after 5 1/2 years of an engineering degree, I still know that I’m going to show up on Monday and know next to nothing. I don’t even know what my day-to-day activities are going to be. I know they are going to be changing depending on the projects i’ll be working on, and it will involve laboratory testing and researching, but before I can even get there I’ll need to get a crash-course in how the AUV works.

All in all, i’m pretty excited about my career future.

i passed the FE exam, so i’m an “engineer in training” going for professional licensure. i graduate from LSU on friday with honors, so i’ll have a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Cum Laude.

I just added a few letters to my title.

I’m now David Comeaux, EIT, B.S. in E.E.

My grandfather passed away peacefully, if not somewhat unexpectedly,
Friday with most of his immediate family near him for his final
moments. There is so much I would like to write about Papa, about how
special he is to me and how close we were – but I’m not up to the task
just yet.

Services were held all weekend with the funeral today, and I think our
family has had about 10 hours of collective sleep over the past three
days.

So, I am exhausted – emotionally and physically. But the
services, and my family, my beautiful family, and all the people who
knew and loved Papa so well, have really helped me through this very
difficult time.

If you’re reading, please keep my family in your thoughts this
Memorial Day – the world is certainly a different place without my
grandfather in it.

You can view the memorial and obituary
here,
but I’ll post the fantastic obituary written by my father, for those
who don’t care to make the jump:

Harry was a loving and devoted husband, father and
grandfather, who possessed exceptional wisdom and wit. He was born in
the Second Ward of Lafayette Parish to Cleus P. Breaux and Amy Breaux,
nee Albarado. He was a direct descendant of the pioneer Acadian,
Vincent Brault, the first member of the Brault (Breaux) family to
immigrate from France to North America, settling in the Port Royal
area of L’ Acadie (present day Nova Scotia) in 1652; and Athanase
Breau (Breaux) a native of L’ Acadie who in 1755 eluded the British
during the infamous forced deportation of the Acadian people. In
1762, Athanase migrated to Louisiana and served as a volunteer to
Spanish Governor-General Bernado de Galvez during the American
Revolutionary War against the British as a member of the Militia of
LaFourche des Chetimachas.
Harry was raised on the family farm by loving parents of modest means.
He graduated from Scott High School in 1942, and only three years
later he earned his B.S. degree in accounting from SLI (now the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette).

He worked his way through college serving as bookkeeper for the
college cafeteria and waiting on tables. Later he was the business
manager for The Vermilion, the SLI newspaper. During this time, he
was also employed part-time by the Mike Donlon Real Estate Agency.

At SLI he served as President of the Boys Club, President of Sigma
Alpha Sigma Fraternity, Secretary of the Inter-Fraternity Council, and
was a member of the Veterans Council and the Newman Club. He was also
inducted into the Blue Key National Honor Fraternity.

Notwithstanding his small physical stature, he was a talented athlete,
and earned a place on the SLI varsity boxing team, 112 pound class.
After college he continued to compete whenever possible in adult touch
football, and fast pitch softball through the Lafayette Playground and
Park Commission.

He proudly served his state and country as a member of the National
Guard of Louisiana and the National Guard of the United States;
Medical Co. 156th Infantry. He earned an Honorable Discharge with a
rank of Sergeant E-5.

Following graduation from college, and at the behest of then SLI
President, Dr. Joel L. Fletcher, he accepted an accounting position in
the college’s business office.

In 1948 he began a respected career in the private sector, initially
with Stanolind Oil & Gas Company, which later became the Pan American
Petroleum Corporation. In 1960, he joined the British American Oil
Company, which was later acquired by the Gulf Oil Corporation. In
1982, after more than two decades with the Gulf Oil Corporation, he
retired from his final assignment as a Special Projects Analyst.

Among his civic endeavors was serving as President of the PTC at
Comeaux High School, being one of the initial benefactors for the
construction of the original St. Pius X Mission Chapel (now St. Pius X
Catholic Church) where he was a parishioner for many years, and
running as an Independent candidate for a seat on the Lafayette Parish
School Board.

His interests were many and varied. He was a keen political observer
and a voracious reader who also enjoyed the great outdoors. In
addition to his career in the oil industry, he also was at one time or
another an accomplished gardener, a cattleman and a real estate
developer. He collected antique automobiles and antique farm tools.
He lived long enough to enjoy dozens of live oaks that he personally
planted and nurtured to maturity on his homesite.
Among his greatest joys in life were the relationships he enjoyed with
his family, co-employees and friends. He especially enjoyed attending
scholastic and athletic events in which his children and grandchildren
participated, and the musical performances of his son, Dana, who was
an original member of the acclaimed Cajun band, Coteau.

During his retirement, he lovingly devoted much of his time to the
care of his parents. Though in his final years he suffered from
serious health setbacks, in his typical fashion he bravely endured in
all, and in doing so inspired all who knew and loved him.

Survivors include his beloved wife of sixty years, Lula M. Breaux, nee
Meyers; one son, Lafayette attorney, Timothy D. Breaux, and his wife
Beverly of Lafayette; two grandchildren, Jessica L. Breaux of
Lafayette and Jonathan D. Breaux of Baton Rouge, as well as numerous
nephews and nieces. He was predeceased by his parents; one sister,
Dolly M. Thomas; and his beloved youngest son, Lafayette musician,
Dana P. Breaux.

Pallbearers will be Timothy D. Breaux, Jonathan D. Breaux, Ricky J.
Thomas, Dallas J. Meyers, Mark V. Winslow and Horace D. Urquhart.
Honorary pallbearers are Milton J. Meyers and Lee Roy Guillot.

His family wishes to thank his special caregivers: Dr. S. R.
Kothapalli, M.D., Dr. Gary Guidry, M.D., Dr. John J. Mickey, M.D. and
Nurse Lynn Thigpen.

Yesterday i scheduled my last semester as an undergraduate in college. By December, it will be five and a half years in an engineering curriculum. Two universities. 152 credit hours. 13 months in-the-industry work experience. 3.7 overall GPA. And what will i have to show for it? Perhaps more than just a sheet of paper.

I received my first offer for a salaried position at an engineering company today. Reading the offer was like hearing a song you’ve wanted to hear for a long, long time. It quiets, it calms, it satisfies. I took a moment to smile to myself, and recognize that I am valuable, useful, productive. I took only a moment, even though this achievement deserved a veritable shout of joy and a happy dance. By the time I actually do finish my curriculum in December, and walk onto the stage at the PMAC at LSU, with my family beaming in the audience, I hope this offer is only the first of several options for my career.

Next month, i’ll have my first anniversary of marriage. More on this later.

I’m having a strange collision of events, that, when viewed from the outside, looks a lot like adulthood.

Some background first. I love food. I have a hearty appetite for my slender build, and when confronted with an opportunity to sit down and eat delicious dinners, i will forsake any prior engagements and indulge myself. This is a trait that i have acquired through many, many years of being fed by my mother.

Momma. So the legend goes, everything she touches turns to edible gold. from magnificent wedding reception feasts to humble family gatherings to even simple snacking sandwiches, I have not found another cook who is so consistently superb. As Bob Darlington, of Midland, Texas has put it, “routine excellent”. I may be biased, but surely the hundreds of others who have had her dishes are not, and feedback is always unsolicited and positive.

In short, eating mom’s food is sublime. But then, after one has left her blessed kitchen, left to fend for himself in a world of foreign cooks and cookbooks, every dish that bears the same name as one that she has prepared will automatically be compared to hers. This is not unlike the way many people regard their mothers’ cooking. The problem is, however, that her dishes are invariably superior. It’s disheartening! To leave home, and become a hapless wanderer of culinary lands… searching in vain to find an adequate substitute, or even to come close to simulating one on your own. In fact, Desiree knew the light in which i viewed my mother’s cooking, and it intimidated her. She had a dread sense that she would never live up to mom’s track record set over the 22 years of my life. Of course, i never expect anyone to “live up to” this unachievable goal. It’s impossible anyways, as i have already revealed that i believe mom to have infallible culinary skills, which may be a distortion of reality.

So. That was the background.

Ever since i got married, i have been trying to cook food that is little more than edible, with varying degrees of success. At first, i followed a cook book exclusively for a run of about 4 disastrous recipes. Then, after that disappointing experience, we stopped with the dubious directions. For about a month, i have no idea what we ate for dinner. I think i made up a few random dishes that involved ramen noodles, frozen chicken breasts and the George Foreman grill. Last week, after it got a little cooler outside, i started to cook again. Des likes a certain chili recipe that her mom makes, so i made it. It was pretty good. I decided to try Beef Stew next. I had no recipe for that, but after some consultation with mom, i knew it would be easy because of my slow-cooker. It turned out pretty good, and everybody that had some looked like they liked it.

Yesterday, armed with one of mom’s recipes, i set out to create a Chicken Fricasée. This is one of my favorite dishes that mom makes, and a rare one at that. It yields some of the best rice and gravy that you can get from a chicken, possibly even on par with mom’s Smothered chicken. The recipe was deceptively simple, and involved a fair amount of experience-based guesswork on the seasoning, so i had a heck of a time trying to figure out if things were turning out the way they were supposed to.

Well, surprise! I actually ended up with a dish that tasted as though it came directly from mom’s kitchen! Savory, dark roux-based gravy and tender chicken, true soul food, the kind that tastes like it is just dripping with love. As usual, today, the second day, everything tasted even better, since all the ingredients got a chance to socialize and trade juices overnight. I was craving it all day at work. Coming home and serving up these leftovers made my vocal cords rumble in appreciation, just like at home.

Eating food like this is akin to being on streets paved with gold. In the past, i was just along for the ride. But now, i’m driving, and it feels so good.

Honeymoon was fantastic. Desiree uploaded the 184 photos that we took on digital camera and i will begin sorting through those so that i can tell the story in pictures and captions, as i am apt to do. It leaves less to the imagination, but works better on the instant-gratification-web.

Some people have already asked me: “So david, how’s married life?” What i say back is “Great! It’s just begun.”

What i want to say is “The familiarity of it all (apartment, girl, dogs, baton rouge, posessions) is disarming. But the rules have changed. As a result, my married life is testing the limits of human adaptability. For one, there is a completely new type of stress that has been introduced. Desiree thinks it is because our apartment, and therefore our lives, aren’t all in order yet. Boxes everywhere and things out of place, things with no place, but in the right general place. That’s how i feel right now. Out of place, but in the right general place.”

so i’m back at school… and i like it.

just walkin in my dorm building and having people recognize me and exchange greetings is good enough to make me feel like i belong here. maybe it was the exhilaration from carrying my 75+ lbs. of clothes and guitars and books and computers across campus and up 2 flights of stairs that was making my head woozy, but when i opened my door, i believe i detected more than a hint of excitement that had built up inside of me.

I think after living in this space for the past 5 months, my brain has partially associated “home” with its particular sensory stimuli. coming back to it has confirmed this pleasant transformation.

don’t get me wrong, Lafayette is where my family is, and don’t comment how i can be so traitorous to the revered family life. i just like being over here. sometimes more than home. so what.

this semester has so much possibility, because i get to start over again! and the hope of spring is exciting.

i bought my books this evening. ever notice how the classes you really don’t want to take have the most books that you are required to purchase? well ok maybe that dosen’t happen to everyone. but i think it’s ridiculous. Music Technology, a class that i would actually LOVE to purchase a textbook on, has none, and Professional Practices, the stupid english-class-wanna-be, what-does-an-engineer-do course has 3 or 4 required books. ok yes, maybe i am in an engineering curriculum and not a music major, but let me play the victim on this one.

my tastebuds are adjusting to the non-cajun cuisine. luckily, the cafeteria is still up to par on quality.

the first night is always the best. let’s see how college part 2 plays out.
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so here i be, set up, loosened up, mercer-ed up.

lotta stuff happened.
bottom line: college is gonna rock.

details: overview [ We get there late, load the stuff in the room, etc. Things are moving fast, i barely pay enough attention. we go to Wal-mart to pick up superfluous cleaning supplies and yogurt, come back, no time to eat lunch, run over and get my new laptop, quick jet back to gobble a footlong sub, say quick and strangely un-emotional (for me) goodbyes to parents, literally run to 3 different corners of the campus looking for my stupid little orientation group and in the process get all hot/sweaty/gross. things kinda slow down after that. meet some people. 25% of mercer students are named Joshua. so if i don't know somebody, i say... "you're josh, right?". it worked once or twice already. ha. Anyways, we go to this fun-looking "fun dj bash" thingy with fun jumps and a bucking bronco machine and tug of war, all the while some 47-year old with a pony tail and 2 underpowered little PA speakers is playing Nelly and DMX and Big Tymers and commenting on the crazy tug-of-war action centerstage. woot!

So i leave that crazy tug-of-war action and get to my room and meet my roomie playing his....... electric guitar (yarg!). i'm like DANGIT but i pick up my guitar and we jam for a lil while. he's good. he's real good. and i still regret not taking my guitar etc.

After that i head back over to the bash because i want to find my girlfriend. and i do after a little walk-around. she was lookin for me too. we think the same thought at the same time. it was like spock's mind meld except we're not actually melded because it wasn't really like the way spock did it. so never mind.
meld. HA! too good to pass up.

n e wayz, i discover that she's feeling that it's more like Summer camp than college, and that is disappointing. basically, until skool starts, we're going to be under a rigorous schedule because we're all freshmen and we're fresh and stuff and we're so inexperienced and we're feeble minded and it's like summer camp structure. But i believe after that passes, there will be some real college livin to get done. double woot!
oh yeah julie called! haha. twas fun. i did some more stuff, and basically i haven't seen my room mate since dinner time. which was approximately 8 hours ago. and curfew is 2am. it is now 2:21am (eastern time zone). i hope he didnt get kidnapped or eaten or lost or anything. or worse... he must've gotten locked in some girl's room somewhere and he can't make it back here in time like he probably wanted to, all prompt-like and good.
ha.
i gotta try to take a shower in this place.
you guys take it easy.
because i will. ]

*phew*

ok. this is a journal entry. i’ll try to condense it. from the top.
a lot of stuff happened. a lot of stress happened.

first, what worked:
tonight: packed all my stuff for the essentials: bed, food, clothing, and music. got it all snug. threw in some shoes and a computer. lugged it into the van.

ate my last meal: momma’s Lasagna. delish.

visited my grandmothers wednesday. Mom Mom, in the nursing home, shines through her physical feebleness with her fortitude of character. I smile just remembering. Grandmere and i have a very nice chat, and i got some pretty good stories of back in the ol bayou days, including the first dish Pop ever cooked. That was a good/sad/nostalgic/well-im-leaving day.

i got an incredibly long to-do list accomplished. very satisfied.

i sealed a deal with uncle tony regarding the design of his website. Looks like i’ll be able to pay for college after all. i just have to follow through, now.

after all was done tonight, i retreated to my very empty-feeling room and listened to some record albums, thoroughly convincing myself that i shall one day put ALL of my dad’s LPs on CD (i’ve started with the most important, the Beatles, and shall continue from there). i let me face up to the reality that yes, i’m really moving now. Stop remeniscing and start hopingit’s a gradual change. forced, but gradual. sigh. i told myself not to let the post get like this. i’m a traitor to my own cause. While we’re at it, read on further about the stress:
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