The final three days were mainly a lot of driving with some hotel room staying. I mainly wanted to get home as quickly as I could, though the cough manifested itself at some inconvenient times, namely when I was trying to take a nap. Seattle seems like a very nice city, but it seems in some ways comparable to Atlanta, even though they are also obviously different in many ways. They're both quite pretty, and the people inside of both of them seem rather nice, but I didn't feel that connection like I did with Portland, and it is not like I talked in depth to anyone. Maybe its the architecture or something, or some intangible factor, who knows...
There was some drama with a lack of a phone connection, but I figured out how to connect to Roaming by modifying the settings on my phone...this when a call to tech support couldn't get the job done. I'm moderately proud of myself. Hooray, I'm Einstein....really. I am. :)
I've had a lot of time to think about things. Mainly, before I can go to Portland I need a sustainable career and income. And that means both Project Management and side streams. Voice Over work and maybe some other items. I'm going to get the ball rolling on that tomorrow.
I kind of went a little mad out there in the desert and the vast wilderness spaces out there. I'm going to be around people as much as possible during the next few days, and drive as little as I feel I can get away with. Got very little writing done but I need to finish my writing assignment for Push Push (both of them, Write Club and the sub plot for the script class, which is turning out to be hideously cool), I Fenris, a Review for ATL Retro, and then the script for Unfood. I'm expanding it to a feature. No, I doubt I can produce a feature, but we'll figure that out when I'm done with the script.
I feel better, more confident though it cost a lot. Fortunately, I'm getting help from my family. They are indeed very helpful to me, both in terms of material support and morale. I am glad I've occasionally been able to be there for them, and I am glad I appreciate them. It is also a reason I try to be there for others as well, because I know what it feels like when that support ISN'T there as well, at least for short durations.
Job search has several promising leads, up to three job interviews in the early part of next week if all goes well. I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Day 5 and 1rst half of Day 6
Wyoming: Despite my humor at Wyoming's expense, it is much prettier than I remembered as a child. Harsh winds make a harsh land. Lovely to see all of the windmill's. All kinds of windmills. All over the place. Lots and lots of windmills. And farms. And trucks. But mostly lots of rocks, piles of rocks and grass. I will say this for Wyoming though....I could get NPR EVERYWHERE crystal clear.
Idaho: Eastern Idaho is kinda blechier than I remembered. Western Idaho is more barren than I remembered but still absolutely lush farm country.
Utah: Say what you want about Mormons, if I wanna terraform a planet some day I'm hiring them. I've been in many western states, and Utah was greener and flusher than other places. They really did change that land. For the better in my opinion.
Oh, and I saw first bill board I'd ever seen for an adult club in Salt Lake at the edge of the state. Looks like the anti pornography campaign is having a limited effect.
Oregon: Most of it I saw in the dark. Lots of mountains. LOTS of mountains. Self serve gasoline exists only in Indian tribal areas. That's right. If you want you gambling fix or to fill your own gas tank go to the nearest reservation.
I don't need to see their library, because there is a veritable shrine to the God of Books in the middle of the city. HOLY @#$@#$$# COW! To sustain a book store of this size, the people of Portland must be among the most literate on the Earth, and you can tell, because the city WORKS. It is clean. It has a street car. It is having budget problems like everyone else, but you can sense the lack of corruption and cronyism that exists in Atlanta and even to a lesser degree that I could sense in Boulder. Boulder was very nice but you could ...feel...the occasional little petty projects here and there. Portland has homeless but they treat them well.
After reading the paper and how the police are treating the Occupy Portland folks as compared to other cities, it is OBVIOUS the people here care about others. It isn't perfect. There are still lots of homeless people but they are not shunned or herded or shamed away.
Corporations are here like everywhere else but they are TAMED and kept in their proper place. The signs are not garish and are blended in to the rest of their architecture. Religion is here but it is also TAMED and kept in its proper place. The christian who attempted to say he would pray for me was both respectful and had a tinge of not wanting to offend. I'm a Christian and while one should never be offended for one's belief's one should be ashamed at the reputation most Christians set...and here they have to because of the percentage of athiests and 'no religion' ists. Blatant abuse of society in the name of "God" is not tolerated here as it is in Atlanta.
Even hate radio was 'tame.' In the most rural parts of the state, the guy spent 5 minutes talking about the need for rational thinking courses and to be polite. Same message that is everywhere in the country about 'change agents' etc (though he obviously was one himself but whatever.)
And it has a streetcar!
The main problem I have now is that this week has been totally exhausting. I may have a solid lead, maybe even a job on day 1 upon return if an interview by phone goes well Monday....but I may not have the energy to return in 3 days. We'll see.
Regardless, I'm still pushing on to Seattle tomorrow.
I hope to have the energy to go out and mingle tonight.
Idaho: Eastern Idaho is kinda blechier than I remembered. Western Idaho is more barren than I remembered but still absolutely lush farm country.
Utah: Say what you want about Mormons, if I wanna terraform a planet some day I'm hiring them. I've been in many western states, and Utah was greener and flusher than other places. They really did change that land. For the better in my opinion.
Oh, and I saw first bill board I'd ever seen for an adult club in Salt Lake at the edge of the state. Looks like the anti pornography campaign is having a limited effect.
Oregon: Most of it I saw in the dark. Lots of mountains. LOTS of mountains. Self serve gasoline exists only in Indian tribal areas. That's right. If you want you gambling fix or to fill your own gas tank go to the nearest reservation.
I don't need to see their library, because there is a veritable shrine to the God of Books in the middle of the city. HOLY @#$@#$$# COW! To sustain a book store of this size, the people of Portland must be among the most literate on the Earth, and you can tell, because the city WORKS. It is clean. It has a street car. It is having budget problems like everyone else, but you can sense the lack of corruption and cronyism that exists in Atlanta and even to a lesser degree that I could sense in Boulder. Boulder was very nice but you could ...feel...the occasional little petty projects here and there. Portland has homeless but they treat them well.
After reading the paper and how the police are treating the Occupy Portland folks as compared to other cities, it is OBVIOUS the people here care about others. It isn't perfect. There are still lots of homeless people but they are not shunned or herded or shamed away.
Corporations are here like everywhere else but they are TAMED and kept in their proper place. The signs are not garish and are blended in to the rest of their architecture. Religion is here but it is also TAMED and kept in its proper place. The christian who attempted to say he would pray for me was both respectful and had a tinge of not wanting to offend. I'm a Christian and while one should never be offended for one's belief's one should be ashamed at the reputation most Christians set...and here they have to because of the percentage of athiests and 'no religion' ists. Blatant abuse of society in the name of "God" is not tolerated here as it is in Atlanta.
Even hate radio was 'tame.' In the most rural parts of the state, the guy spent 5 minutes talking about the need for rational thinking courses and to be polite. Same message that is everywhere in the country about 'change agents' etc (though he obviously was one himself but whatever.)
And it has a streetcar!
The main problem I have now is that this week has been totally exhausting. I may have a solid lead, maybe even a job on day 1 upon return if an interview by phone goes well Monday....but I may not have the energy to return in 3 days. We'll see.
Regardless, I'm still pushing on to Seattle tomorrow.
I hope to have the energy to go out and mingle tonight.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Day 3 (2nd half) and Day 4
I have arrived in Boulder. Let me tell you, if the character and atmosphere of the city were the qualifiers for what I was looking for, Boulder would be a very strong candidate indeed. I think the thumb nail version of what Boulder feels like is what would a city look like if the Hippies and the more benevolent Corporate Democrats came together.
My first experience with the city was a toll road that saved me thirty miles on my trip. But I didn't encounter a toll booth, I just drove into the city. I had to call my step dad and ask him to look up the max charge. Apparently they photo'd my licences and will bill me $6. I can live with that, but it seems a little sneaky...they made no bones about the fact that it was a toll road but how much they charge was ambiguous...
So the hotel I ended up picking was called The Root of the Mountain motel. It is basically a series of cabins created during the depression and kept in pretty good working order but its insanely close and within walking distance of the Pearl Street mall. And it is reasonably priced. Got into a nice conversation with the woman who checked me in about politics. She's from New Zealand. She told me to check out www.soverignman.com (or some such thing, I'll check that out later but it sounded interesting).
I was told to check out Old Chicago Pizza. It was indeed most awesome. Unfortunately due to illness I wasn't that hungry, so I only had one slice of the personal pan pizza. The pumpkin ale was...er...yeah. :) Cerveza de Calabaza no esta bien....at any rate, I ran into many interesting people at the mall. Including a guy playing a dijiourdo (that is not spelled right but my parking lasts an hour so I'm not going to look it up), a weird guitar player who had drawn a circle in the ground with tarot cards and was dressed as the Fool calling himself Ecoman who was trying to make songs to save the planet, a woman who was either on acid or (sadly more likely) schizophrenic and homeless that was politely ignored by everyone around her (I seemed to mildly freak her out by looking into her eyes, I guess she wasn't used to that), and a bunch of homeless(?) guys(vets?) who asked for my leftover pizza. One of them gave me a dufflebag belonging to Captain Howard G. Barak...I didn't ask one of them was he...since they all seemed a bit young to be captain and it seemed rude...so now I have someone's duffle bag and am not entirely sure what's appropriate to do with it...
At any rate, I decided to use the following criteria before I got wise (see below)
Women: A- This was going to be B namely because most of them were college age or stared at me like I was a Rapist until I went home and it was all dark. Very few street lights. At first I thoguht Boulder might be trying for the open skies initiative but then found out that they have outsourced streetlights to a corporation. Oh. Well that makes sense. Let me tell you, I am 6'5" and know Karate, plus I had a duffle bag I could use as a ...weapon or something. Sure I was breathing like I'd run 500 miles, but for 15 seconds I could wail on you like Frankenstein....only a Fast Angry Frankenstein and *I* was freaked out by how dark it was, I couldn't imagine how a woman on her own must feel....but the next day there were more women my age etc. So it rounds out.
Architecture: A+ Not only is it cool but there are VERY few corps in boulder, plus the ones that are here I like, like Steve Madden and Google (Google has an office in Downtown boulder, how cool is that?). Some weirdness though, like cookie cutter victorian houses...yes, that's right. Still, I like that kind of thing.
People: (Women count as people :) ) A-. Nice, friendly, helpful, open. I just didn't really 'connect' with anyone who wasn't either paid to be nice to me by serving me or that first woman I met from New Zealand. But this lack of connection is made up for by the fact that the people here are just COOL :) I like them....like the female owned groundskeeping people cleaning up outside of the library who have dogs and obviously love their job....they're like movie characters only better because they're real :)
Library: I judge a city most by its library. Boulder's library is a temple to light and knowledge. They have fish tanks and fully stocked shelves and internet kiosks and it is QUIET and there is sunlight and they have kindle functionality. In short, it is the way a library should be, and they have funding and it shows. The Decatur library used to be that way, but it is in decline.
Unfortunately, the most important qualifier...did I feel a sense of 'destiny' here?
Not really. :/ This would be a wonderful place to live, but that feeling I had before of 'meant to' in February didn't really click here.
My first experience with the city was a toll road that saved me thirty miles on my trip. But I didn't encounter a toll booth, I just drove into the city. I had to call my step dad and ask him to look up the max charge. Apparently they photo'd my licences and will bill me $6. I can live with that, but it seems a little sneaky...they made no bones about the fact that it was a toll road but how much they charge was ambiguous...
So the hotel I ended up picking was called The Root of the Mountain motel. It is basically a series of cabins created during the depression and kept in pretty good working order but its insanely close and within walking distance of the Pearl Street mall. And it is reasonably priced. Got into a nice conversation with the woman who checked me in about politics. She's from New Zealand. She told me to check out www.soverignman.com (or some such thing, I'll check that out later but it sounded interesting).
I was told to check out Old Chicago Pizza. It was indeed most awesome. Unfortunately due to illness I wasn't that hungry, so I only had one slice of the personal pan pizza. The pumpkin ale was...er...yeah. :) Cerveza de Calabaza no esta bien....at any rate, I ran into many interesting people at the mall. Including a guy playing a dijiourdo (that is not spelled right but my parking lasts an hour so I'm not going to look it up), a weird guitar player who had drawn a circle in the ground with tarot cards and was dressed as the Fool calling himself Ecoman who was trying to make songs to save the planet, a woman who was either on acid or (sadly more likely) schizophrenic and homeless that was politely ignored by everyone around her (I seemed to mildly freak her out by looking into her eyes, I guess she wasn't used to that), and a bunch of homeless(?) guys(vets?) who asked for my leftover pizza. One of them gave me a dufflebag belonging to Captain Howard G. Barak...I didn't ask one of them was he...since they all seemed a bit young to be captain and it seemed rude...so now I have someone's duffle bag and am not entirely sure what's appropriate to do with it...
At any rate, I decided to use the following criteria before I got wise (see below)
Women: A- This was going to be B namely because most of them were college age or stared at me like I was a Rapist until I went home and it was all dark. Very few street lights. At first I thoguht Boulder might be trying for the open skies initiative but then found out that they have outsourced streetlights to a corporation. Oh. Well that makes sense. Let me tell you, I am 6'5" and know Karate, plus I had a duffle bag I could use as a ...weapon or something. Sure I was breathing like I'd run 500 miles, but for 15 seconds I could wail on you like Frankenstein....only a Fast Angry Frankenstein and *I* was freaked out by how dark it was, I couldn't imagine how a woman on her own must feel....but the next day there were more women my age etc. So it rounds out.
Architecture: A+ Not only is it cool but there are VERY few corps in boulder, plus the ones that are here I like, like Steve Madden and Google (Google has an office in Downtown boulder, how cool is that?). Some weirdness though, like cookie cutter victorian houses...yes, that's right. Still, I like that kind of thing.
People: (Women count as people :) ) A-. Nice, friendly, helpful, open. I just didn't really 'connect' with anyone who wasn't either paid to be nice to me by serving me or that first woman I met from New Zealand. But this lack of connection is made up for by the fact that the people here are just COOL :) I like them....like the female owned groundskeeping people cleaning up outside of the library who have dogs and obviously love their job....they're like movie characters only better because they're real :)
Library: I judge a city most by its library. Boulder's library is a temple to light and knowledge. They have fish tanks and fully stocked shelves and internet kiosks and it is QUIET and there is sunlight and they have kindle functionality. In short, it is the way a library should be, and they have funding and it shows. The Decatur library used to be that way, but it is in decline.
Unfortunately, the most important qualifier...did I feel a sense of 'destiny' here?
Not really. :/ This would be a wonderful place to live, but that feeling I had before of 'meant to' in February didn't really click here.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
More of Day 1 and Day 2
It is Wednesday Morning and I am feeling better. Thinking you're no longer sick and no longer being sick are two different things. I should not have traveled yesterday or Tuesday but then again, maybe I would not have gone? Who knows.....what I do know is that much of the trip is simply a blur.
Strangers have been very nice, particularly the people at the two hotels I have stayed at. Rather cheap places in the middle of nowhere that happened to be where I needed to stop. I have become obsessed of late with Bedbugs but a site I found that taught me how to look for them and how to minimize the potential impact they might have has made it possible for me to get a decent night's sleep in a hotel.
There is something wrong with the fact that you can hear Glenn Beck on FM radio in Western Missouri but not NPR...
In the same stretch of country I counted no less than 5 bill boards calling for the protection of unborn children, but only 3 dedicated towards Christian causes of any kind and none of them towards living children.
Mark 10:14 Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
Mt 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
That isn't about the unborn, unless perhaps someone thinks that Christ wants to have embryo's delivered unto him? Even if you believe the unborn fall into that category, so do living children. And failure to work to protect living children while working for the unborn is criminal.
Of course, these same people argue that there are 'plenty' of such programs here or that they should be handled through the churches etc. But that's not what I saw in the billboards driving in their sacred territory. Instead what I saw was a bunch of hypocrisy.
Strangers have been very nice, particularly the people at the two hotels I have stayed at. Rather cheap places in the middle of nowhere that happened to be where I needed to stop. I have become obsessed of late with Bedbugs but a site I found that taught me how to look for them and how to minimize the potential impact they might have has made it possible for me to get a decent night's sleep in a hotel.
There is something wrong with the fact that you can hear Glenn Beck on FM radio in Western Missouri but not NPR...
In the same stretch of country I counted no less than 5 bill boards calling for the protection of unborn children, but only 3 dedicated towards Christian causes of any kind and none of them towards living children.
Mark 10:14 Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
Mt 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
That isn't about the unborn, unless perhaps someone thinks that Christ wants to have embryo's delivered unto him? Even if you believe the unborn fall into that category, so do living children. And failure to work to protect living children while working for the unborn is criminal.
Of course, these same people argue that there are 'plenty' of such programs here or that they should be handled through the churches etc. But that's not what I saw in the billboards driving in their sacred territory. Instead what I saw was a bunch of hypocrisy.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Day 1 Bad Start
So I woke this morning with a sore throat and feeling slightly week, but I think this was partly psychosomatic and also because I haven't been exercising enough. Just had a voice telephone interview for a developer position of all things. I let them know I'm not a developer but that I can use Openspan, which is a developer tool. That seems to be what they're looking for, so it might be a good fit. We'll see.
The good news is that whatever it is, seems mostly gone. The better news is that it isn't Strep, because that requires antibiotics and a doctor which I really don't want to deal with. Regardless, my hope is to be on the road in an hour and a half. It is unlikely I'll make it all the way to Colorado today but I'll keep you posted.
The good news is that whatever it is, seems mostly gone. The better news is that it isn't Strep, because that requires antibiotics and a doctor which I really don't want to deal with. Regardless, my hope is to be on the road in an hour and a half. It is unlikely I'll make it all the way to Colorado today but I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The Fork in Fate's Path
So here I stand on the edge of the most important journey I will ever take, the day before. Do I have a destiny in the west or not? Comes a time where intuition must be tested, where you have to confront the universe and say, 'Did you mean it or not'? Just because something seems sure to you at the time (in this case being last Feb) and has stayed clear doesn't mean it shall always be so.
There are elements of such a direction I find appealing and elements I don't. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I wasn't. We shall see.
But as far as *I* am concerned, one way or another it will be resolved soon.
Under normal circumstances, 40 would just be a number like any other. Had I a stable life, or hope of one in the immediate future, I would ignore it and move on, but there are no promises only hints and shadows of what might be. I am proud of my accomplishments, but they were always viewed in the light of what might yet be. Now, every foundation upon which my expectations were built has been up ended.
New friends. New problems. New dreams. New Discoveries. New talents.
Here is what I do know. As of last Friday, I had a face to face meeting with a recruiter about tech writing jobs. It was hard to make myself go. Hard to take the test. I think I have at most one tech writing job left in me here in Atlanta. So either I move or the next is permanent or I have to take a project management job.
What I can't do is take job after job hoping the 'next one' leads to something different. My spirit will not let me do that.
So we'll see what happens. I will keep seeking the best way out of the maze.
There are elements of such a direction I find appealing and elements I don't. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I wasn't. We shall see.
But as far as *I* am concerned, one way or another it will be resolved soon.
Under normal circumstances, 40 would just be a number like any other. Had I a stable life, or hope of one in the immediate future, I would ignore it and move on, but there are no promises only hints and shadows of what might be. I am proud of my accomplishments, but they were always viewed in the light of what might yet be. Now, every foundation upon which my expectations were built has been up ended.
New friends. New problems. New dreams. New Discoveries. New talents.
Here is what I do know. As of last Friday, I had a face to face meeting with a recruiter about tech writing jobs. It was hard to make myself go. Hard to take the test. I think I have at most one tech writing job left in me here in Atlanta. So either I move or the next is permanent or I have to take a project management job.
What I can't do is take job after job hoping the 'next one' leads to something different. My spirit will not let me do that.
So we'll see what happens. I will keep seeking the best way out of the maze.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)