The Life of H. Ernest Chen

"Nulla Osta"

Shown above is the authorization for me to work in Italy for a year.

posted by echensf @ 11:38 PM 1 comments

Quick Trip to Boston

Myself and Jeff O. who is not a happily married man>

Many thanks to Ian L. and the wonders of Facebook for this picture. Jeff is the latest of my friends to tie the knot. He is married to an architect who is a native of Peru, but is of Japanese descent. They actually were married in a civil ceremony back in December 2008 but their reception/celebration was this past weekend. It was held at one of the art museums on the Harvard University campus. Although there was only one other Cornell friend there, it was great to see his sister, her husband and Jeff's parents, who I hadn't seen in over a decade.

Congrats, Jeff and Andrea.

posted by echensf @ 1:30 AM 0 comments

Learning Not to be a Drama Queen

It's been a few months since I've posted. Lots has happened, but well, I just have to swallow the fact that those two months of my life won't be documented. So what event occurred to get me over the hump to write again? It was a potentially expensive health care issue that was resolved. Let me explain.....

In speaking with the director of the program, I learned that my health insurance covered me from the time I got on a plane and ended when I returned to the United States. My health insurance through HRS ends on 8/31/09. I would rejoin the HRS plan upon my return on 9/1/10. Because my contract and apartment rights end at the end of June 2010, I had a two month gap where I was going to be uninsured.

I assumed that I could buy two months of COBRA and the issue solved. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that to get COBRA it has to start immediately after the end of the policy and must be continuous. Therefore, for me to be insured for July and August of 2010, I would need to start paying for COBRA in September 2009. The monthly COBRA payment is estimated to be between $450 and $500 per month just for a single person with no dependents like me.

So, I wrote to SYA to see what they could do. My pie in the sky proposal was that I forgo their insurance and see if they would be willing to pay my COBRA. What came back was an even more ideal solution. It turns out that SYA's policy allows for 60 days of the plan (it's some expat American overseas plan) to be used while on United States soil. So SYA will, instead of starting my insurance on July 1, 2009, will start the insurance on September 1, 2009, which is the day after I end my HRS insurance. The SYA insurance will end on August 31st, 2010 and I begin HRS insurance again on September 1, 2010.

WHEW. That's money in the bank! Lessons learned? First, now that I was faced with potentially having to scramble for health insurance, I can understand how crazy our patchwork system is. How can it be so hard to get insurance. It should be a fundamental human right to have health care. The second thing I acutally didn't learn, it was more a case of keeping calm and having faith that things would work out. I didn't let myself play through all the worst case scenarios and I didn't start forking over the money. And just as I have experienced in the past, things figure themselves out without me having to expend emotional energy. I guess that's having life experience.

posted by echensf @ 9:26 AM 1 comments

Officially a Facebook Believer

I am always slow to get on the bandwagon for cool things that everyone raves about. I'm about two years late to Facebook, but after reconnecting with a friend that I knew for all of 4 months back in 1988-89, I'm in the Facebook camp. Ok, ok, so I need to get an iPhone. I know, I know.

So, Shannyn Moore, welcome back into my world. To boot, because Shannyn has become a major liberal political commentator/figure in Alaska politics, she has had her OWN Air America show and has been seen on Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow (don't get me started on my man/lesbian crush on the latter). And, Shannyn now gets me two degrees of separation from one Sarah Palin since they have each other on speed dial.

Welcome back into my life, Shannyn.

posted by echensf @ 6:43 AM 0 comments

Look Out California

Gavin Newsome, age 6 and Jerry Brown, age 36, both in 1974

Both are planning on running for the Governor of California in 2010 to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is term limited. Possibly add to the mix Senator Dianne Feinstein and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaragosa and it's going to be a wild wild wild ride in the Democratic Party's primary. What fun!!!

posted by echensf @ 6:45 AM 0 comments

India/Italy, they are both five letter countries that start with I

So, I am having a "mid-life crisis" as my friend Shahana S. publically announced in her Math Department email. I realized that if I signed my contract to teach at HRS next year, I would be doing the exact same thing for the 16th year in a row (less the one year of recovery from my accident). Now there is something to be said about routine and security, but I knew I would always regret not DOING something while I had the chance.

So, I applied to teach at a high school year abroad program in India. As you know, I applied to get to India on the State Department's dime last summer and didn't get the fellowship. This time, the Mumbai attacks of late last year caused security concerns for Americans and so the program was cancelled. Therefore the organization I applied to asked if I would consider having my application considered by their European programs in either France, Italy or Spain. Sure, I said.

So last Thursday, I interviewed on the phone with the three directors in each of the countries simultaneously for an hour. The next day, I was offered the one year teaching position at the program in Italy!! Here is a link to the SYA Italy website.

In short, I teach five classes to a total of 60 or so American high school juniors and seniors who are in Italy to study the Classics, Art History and Ancient History. I get a furnished apartment from August 1st, 2009 through June 30th, 2010. So it's off to Italy I go........

Now, if you see me you should ask me what Plan B was for my "mid-life" crisis.

posted by echensf @ 6:37 AM 4 comments

Inefficient Sleep

The contraption to gather data on my sleep.

The results? I have minor sleep apnea. Not a surprise for those of you who have tried to sleep in the same room as me. What is a surprise is that I am out of REM sleep 45% of the evening. Even though I am not "staring at the walls like an insomniac" awake, my sleep is fitful and not recharging my energy batteries. I go into sleep school this upcoming to learn what possible options I might choose for addressing this medical issue.

posted by echensf @ 11:15 PM 2 comments