Feeling "Found"!
Some of you have probably only (fairly) recently found this blog. Others of you have been reading the blog for a while, checking in sometimes on a daily basis to see if there is a new post, and what else is going on.
But probably not many of you (perhaps other than me) have been here since the first ever post (which was way back in October) in which I announced the beginning of this experiment. If you don't remember, here is a small recap for you...
This year, my “not-to-miss” show has to be “Lost.” For those of you who haven't seen it or haven't heard about it, the premise is this: an airplane crash-lands on a deserted (?) island somewhere 1000s of miles off course and the survivors have to battle themselves, the island, and the monster on the island to survive. Kind of Survivor meets Gilligan's Island meets The Twilight Zone. I have to say, I am riveted to the TV for this show. Created by JJ Abrams, who is also the creator of “Alias”, it is tightly-written, suspenseful, and gripping.
I don't want the reveal; I don't want to know what the monster is in actuality, or why the paralyzed man can now walk, or whether Jack's father is dead or alive. I want to maintain the mystery.
Interesting, since my purpose in keeping this blog (as well as I can) is to dispel the mystery.
I am Director of Financial Aid here at MIT, a position I have held for the past two and 1/2 years. This is a great place to work, and I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to be a student here, but my role is to be a part of the mystery behind helping families pay for the cost of MIT. I have a wonderful group of peers and colleagues in Student Financial Services who work to make sure that we do the best we can to help families afford the expense of MIT.
But sometimes I wonder if students get lost. If they think of the financial aid process kind of like the deserted island, full of pitfalls and unseen monsters. (OK am I stretching the metaphor too far here?).
So this blog will kind of be a “what do I need to know now” guide along with my rantings and ravings on whatever subject seems to be around and about. Feel free to engage me in dialogue, although if you want your conversation with me to be private, please email me at [moneyman] at mit dot edu (expressed this way to avoid spam).
Well, a lot has happened since October! Thanks to your participation this blog has become a real two-way communication tool for me and my office, and we have learned as much from you as (I hope) you have learned from us.
But now it is time to close the book on this chapter and open a new one.
As of July 1, 2005 this blog will no longer be updated or maintained. Instead, I invite all of you to join me at the new MIT blog site at http://daniel.mitblogs.com. The new hosted service (similar to what Ben's blog has always been) allows much more flexibility and creativity. I am looking forward to playing with it. (I will be checking feedback on this blog during the month of July, but then will only check in here much less regularly).
So change your links, change your pointers, and come and hang out with me at the new location!
And thank you for helping me make this dream a reality. Hopefully you have felt a little less lost on your journey. Hopefully you've felt this process to be more like a guided journey than a deserted island. Hopefully you understand more about what we do and why we ask the things we do. And hopefully, this process and the blog has helped dispel some nervousness and anxiety.