I should probably work on updating more often so I can extrapolate a bit more on details. Noted.

The job in Palo Alto for a month turned into a job in Redwood City for one day less two weeks. Confused? Good. So was I. Let's just say I did alright, outlasted most, and ate a lot, and I mean.. *a lot* of free food. And I got a t-shirt out of it as a memento.

And now, as of this morning's interview, I have *another* job. This time in San Jose. This time a bit more difficult, with more pay, but 20+ hours a week to start, and for 1 or 2 months with a slight chance of more. I'm going to have to spend my off hours learning more about things I kind of know but am far out of practice with. Should be fun.

I got a place to stay a few weeks back. Finally. Just outside of Foster City. It's beautiful here. One stroll by the local lagoon is enough to get rid of a lot of stress. I live with 3 other people. One is a small boy who likes to stomp around at times, but I can forgive that. They are all nice. So far, so good.

So I have quite a commute ahead of me from day to day, but I'll make it work. I always do. I'm hoping something full time pops up soon, but this will help tide me over 'til then if it works out.

On the romantic front.. it's complicated. But it's fun complicated. I'll leave it that.

It rained the other day! A decent amount! Exciting! Then, you know, perfect weather followed, yadda yadda.

Miss you, mola, mola.

re: the inauguration

I got to watch most of it on the plane, thankfully, but I missed most of Obama's speech. The plane was flying over Nebraska* at the time and the satellite feed kept cutting out until it died altogether. When Obama was finished taking the oath, most people clapped. The guy in the next to me was getting overly dramatic about the satellite (at one point giving it the double finger salute) and later bothered the flight crew endlessly about his entertainment system being unresponsive while watching Pineapple Express. He was also laughing loudly seemingly every 5 minutes like he was at home in his livingroom. I had my ear buds in and managed to ignore him for the most part.

I went to the Apple store for a little while and having never dealt with the Genius Bar before, didn't realize I had to make appointment. I made one for 7, but unfortunately that was at 2:30, so I walked and sat around the mall until 3:30 and decided to come back to the hotel, rest, and maybe eat before heading back over there. I drove around for a while before heading back. I like driving, and it's nice having more of an idea of what streets connect to what, and where I can go if I make a wrong turn or get lost. (Which I often do but don't mind.)


*I wonder if I'll have anything nice to say about Nebraska in my lifetime.

So I'm in the Bay Area (Foster City, to be exact) in a hotel on my self-appointed day of rest. It's funny, when I was here three and a half months ago it was post-summer when I'm usually in decent shape, having been out and about and most likely exercising for several months. Now.. not so much. For the most part, I've been lazy and sedentary all winter, and the way I feel today after all the activity of the last two, it shows.

So far, good trip. The weather was perfect when I arrived, at almost 75 and sunny, which immediately pleased me having departed snowy, bone-chillingly cold New York early Tuesday morning. (I was on a train at 5:30 in the morning, and the platform walk to the JFK monorail was brutal.) Since then, it's been Londonesque gray and rainy, 50s during the day, 40s at night, and looks like it'll be clearing up the day after I leave Tuesday, but I'm not complaining. Yesterday, myself and my lady friend drove down the coast 100 miles to Monterey and visited the aquarium, which was honestly pretty amazing. Jellyfish are fascinating to watch, along with penguins and sharks and schools of sardines, and there was an area with a pool of bat rays they allow you reach in and touch, which I spent a lot of time at. And there was an area beyond that with a man-made tide making machine and beach, complete with sharks, fish, and birds I had a lot of fun watching. I did so much walking, felt every bit of it by the end of the day, then sped (people drive between 70 and 85mph on the freeways here) the 100 miles back up the coast and relaxed the rest of the night away until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

The battery on my Macbook Pro has had issues for a while now, and some firmware update for my DVD player Apple released a while back rendered it mostly useless, so I'm thinking of breaking up my off day and heading to the Apple store in the mall here in a bit. My applecare runs out next month, so I'd better get it taken care of. I've spent most of the winter in a room roughly one third the size of this hotel room, but when I'm here or on vacation somewhere I need to be out and kept moving or stir craziness begins to set in. Not sure what the plans are for the rest of the trip here. I may go into San Francisco this weekend on the BART so I can walk around and explore a bit. Hopefully it won't rain too much.

Ocean Beach in San Francisco on Wednesday. Really windy and the sand scratched our glasses, but otherwise part of a perfect day.

Predictably, the Olympics has helped grow my interest to exercise again, so I've been doing that about a week. (I hate being sore just about everywhere, but it'll pass.) My sleep pattern is all over the map, so I've found myself up at 2, 3, 4, 5 and yes, 6, in the morning at times watching all the Olympic festivities unfold. When I was a kid my summers were spent at YMCA day camp where I swam and played sports (and did crafts) all summer long. I miss that so much. It was so much fun. Nowadays, I swim maybe once a year, if that, and it's a shame because I used to love it. I was a fish who crawled onto land and never went back. Maybe I'll get a chance when I visit SF in a month. :) (My little voice tells me I live within 2 miles of a beautiful beach and should go.. soon.)

And I was listening to my iPod shuffle today on the drive home from the gym and Morrissey sang me an unhappy birthday. Thanks Moz. Love you too.

One of the advantages of having BBQs at Englishman's homes is you get to play cricket and football (soccer) while there.

Paris seems to be stalking me lately. I'm thinking of planning a trip there. But I miss London too, so maybe both over the course of a few weeks. We'll see..

So the rain we recieved this morning was significant enough to be measured as Biblical, and transformed what would have been a normal, boring Wednesday into one of those rare and fun work events I spend actual time hoping will come. (example: The Northeast Blackout of '03) Unfortunately, we didn't lose power for a spell (that came much later), and the boss that was supposed to be all day at a.. wait for it.. water park, came in, but for about an hour and a half, things were quite cool. Water came from the sky in torrents until we were quickly inundated by a flash flood. The parking lot turned into a kiddie pool, the street a river, stalling, stopping, then completely flooding passing vehicles. All in no time at all. Several of us saw orange flashes just before several lightning bolts connected with their targets. There was.. a lot of water. Then, of course, at 3:30 or so, when it's almost sunny out and all the water is gone, the power goes out for 20 minutes. And that was fun. I like today.

Meanwhile.. news on the London front. beckon_you_on is going to be there virtually the same time as I, for the first week. So we're going to hang out and I'll probably end up crashing on a couch or two at her dad's for Christmas until she heads back, just before New Year's Eve. I'll have co-worker guy there (and his wife and child whom I also know) to do some sightseeing with at some point, but I'm definitely now more excited about the whole trip in general. Now to get that elusive passport..

Okay, legitimately sore today. It's of the vague, annoying, all-over sort, with a few hotspots. It's warm and humid and I feel tired, even with the occasional small nap. I've been continuously starved all day and eating often with little relief. Signs of times to come, I think. Looks like I'm going shopping after work and gym tomorrow night. As of yesterday, I'm shooting baskets in the yard again. This is something I used to do all the time from the age of 12 on, but stopped doing a few years ago because of my knee. I sank my first basket from 15 feet away, so I'm glad that hasn't left me. I'm going to try and do less treadmill, more elliptical, and strengthen the area and try and get it feeling as healthy as possible again. That should do wonders. (And plenty of stretching, too.)

I've been geeking out a little bit today, adding new LJ communities to keep me entertained and informed daily. Then I installed NetNewsWire and have been adding and reading RSS feeds. That should keep me occupied for a while.

I have to call the airline tomorrow and see if my non-refundable ticket to San Diego for the 25th can be saved for a later date, likely with a fee. I know I'm going to be cranky for next few weeks and onward being stuck working all my summer days away, but I'll make sure I put those days to good use, and try and plan something even better and more worthwhile for Septemberish. (Post-Labor Day would be cheaper.)

So 'they' finally cancelled the Morrissey show that was originally set for June 30 at MSG, so I e-mailed Ticket!@#$%^ about a refund a few hours before they sent a cancellation notice, so that's $85 back to me, which I'm actually happy about. It can go towards my passport, that is when I can find the time to get down to the post office. I think I'm actually starting to consciously procrastinate in hopes I can push the London trip into warmer weather sometime in '08. However, I'll have been at this job 5 years come November, which means another week of vacation next year. I sure wouldn't mind using it for London again in the spring or summertime, with Paris also a possibility. Perhaps sometime after that I'll be so tired of my job I'll just quit and traipse around Europe for a year. Who knows.

Today. Things are better.

Firstly, I apologized to the boss in question in hopes he would reciprocate. He did. All is well. Until he elbowed me sometime later when I had a razorblade in my hand. But that's neither here nor there.

My windshield is now replaced, and barring more misfortune, this is the last I shall speak of it. Dead to me!

Back to more annoying subjects, like.. SAN DIEGO IN 50 DAYS OR SO FTW!!!!!111oneoneone.

Or.. LONDON IN.. I DON'T KNOW I HAVEN'T CHECKED LATELY # OF DAYS FTW!!!!!!1112222333.

K, that's out of my system. THE BOSS (ie the one that sits ever so near me as I work) is leaving for the south of France with wifey tomorrow for almost two weeks. I am happy about that. Not that he really bothers me while he's there, but he's generally hated/feared far and wide and I notice everyone is just a little more pleasant when he isn't around.

So it looks my options for a place to dwell in or around London has whittled down to a hostel in London. More expensive than staying with a friend of a friend, but ultimately conducive to doing what I want to do when I want to do it, so it'll work out. I haven't booked anything yet, but I'm looking at Astor Hyde Park (which, I can stay at for 14 days), and somewhere else for the last two days, or a combination of that. We'll see. I have time. San Diego, however, is just 89 days away..

Several items to discuss. I've decided I must do everything good more regularly everything bad less regularly. This includes (but is not limited to) drinking the recommended daily dosage of water, eating at the pizza place around the corner from work rarely rather than mostly every day, exercising every day, getting to bed at a decent hour every night, not stressing/worrying over job or life related issues when it only makes things gradually worser.

If I can do all of these things for some time to come (preferably at least all the way 'til San Diego), things should overall be much better. This may or may not include a gym membership (which is right around the corner from where I work, and also $43 a month, but well worth it if I'm dedicated), and a new bicycle purchase (which would coincide with best friend of 22 year's new bicycle purchase and semi-often rides all over the dang place).

It's lame and monotonous to repeat the mantra 'life is all about choices' and yes, it makes me want to hurl as with every other cliche, but too bad, it's true.

I also think posting in my LJ semi-regularly again will help, given my tendency lately to keep just about everything all bottled up. I'm positive that's not helping matters much either. All of the above things are happening in small doses, and have been for quite a while. More of that. More of that.

Aaaaaaand all set. One round-trip ticket to London purchased today, departing December 21, returning January 5.

Awesome.

The only thing up in the air is whether I'll be staying in a hostel, or with a friend of co-worker who sounds very cool. Either way, again, awesome.

Pardonne ma francais, but what the fuck am I still doing up? I napped until a bit after 11, and have been up ever since. I was so bored, I did my taxes, and something stupid with credit cards and insufficient funds. Oops. Glad to see the spirit of rebellion is alive and well within me, but what am I rebelling against, the ability to feel non-super exhausted during weekdays? Retard.

Aaaaanyway, I spent most of yesterday doing my best to ignore my responsibilities in favor of planning the possible getaway to London for Xmas/New Year's. Initially, I was going to stay with co-worker Englishman and his family, but the flat might not be big enough to house another body, so I may have to stay elsewhere. Obviously that would make the trip way more expensive, but whatever, it's only money. It's quickly becoming one of those things I have to make happen, and have my heart set on. I'm pining for ways to get out and do things in far-off places and see where else it takes me (in terms of.. life), so I'm not about to let any opportunities, or opportunities to make opportunities slip by. I know how valuable they are. Now.

In any case, the co-worker in question grew up in Stevenage, which is about an hour or so north of London. (I'm told. Look for my UK knowledge to grow exponentially within the year.) Now, obviously I might not have to stay there, but if I do, it won't be terribly difficult to get to King's Cross and back, and generally travel where I please. In any case, I'll know more details tomorrow, look to book the flight, then it's onward to looking forward to San Diego *and* London. This year is shaping up, I must say. Now if only I could figure out a way to live comfortably not working or sleeping. Maybe next year. I just think at some point mankind should evolve past this boring humdrum 9-5 existence and break out forever and upward. I have. Why can't you? What's the point? Capitalism doesn't work. Now to get 5 minutes more rest before the same ol' same ol'.

(And quickly.. Police tickets. I tried. I kept pulling up seats above and behind the stage. It's not enough to just be in the building, not at those prices. Hopefully there'll be a DVD.)

So I got an e-mail from gotickets.com yesterday about Police tickets for MSG. They're not going on sale to the public until next week, but they had 10 pages worth of tickets ranging from about $175 to.. $7300. I.. kid you (my captive audience) not. Floor seemed to be around $1300 a pop. So unless something miraculous happens on ticket purchasing day, that'd be that.

Anyway, in other news, I have reached that point in the year where I am so utterly sick of things I'm ready to scream until it all just explodes so I can start anew. Naturally, it's partly because of the weather. Much too cold, but that isn't going to stop me from washing my car today, damnit. I HAVE SPOKEN. (As long as I keep thinking of spring, and San Diego, all will be well.)

And now for something completely different..

( some interesting and/or humorous junk I was reading the other night and was going to post, but never got around to )

Now that I'm up (again), may as well update.

Today? Can just end. Oh, it did. Glad that's taken care of.

Firstly, the weather, horrible. Icy/rainy/snowy this morning, then all ice on the way home (including a nice layer on my car) accompanied by wind and more awfulness. At work, the power went out three times. The last for a half hour or so. The second time it took out the power supply on one PC, an important one, so I had to do surgery on it to get it to work again. It also took out the software on the PC we use to process UPS shipments, so I spent about 2 hours on the phone with UPS trying to get it to work again, only realize their tech support is about the most horrible thing in life, I knew more than they did about their own crappy software, and, after getting disconnected, was able to fix it all myself.

Boo V Day!

In other news, I asked one of my co-workers when he'd be going back to England (he's from London), and he said he'd booked a trip back as of last week for the end of December/early January. He also said the round trip ticket cost him $580 per person. (He's married with child.) I looked today and the cheapest I found was $701 ($750 on Virgin's site), so I'm going to wait, but if I get a decent deal (as in $600 or so) I'll be going to London. The possibility of that is almost enough to balance this day out. Almost.

And this:

Creationists defeated in Kansas school vote on science teaching

How awesome is it The Police will be reforming tonight and opening..

THE 49TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS FROM THE SPACIOUS STAPLES CENTER IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Yeah, I don't care about The Grammys, so my television will likely be off at 8:05pm. But.. The Police!! Hopefully the announcement for some massive, country spanning tour will be forthcoming. I don't know how realistic scoring tickets will be, but I will certainly do my best.

I'd also like to report my desk.. is brown. Yeah, and? No, seriously, it's brown. And I know this because I cleaned all the junk from it today. Things that have been sitting on it for.. a. long. time. are now put away or in the garbage where it belongs. I should probably do that more often, but I clean when the mood strikes.

More excited about the San Diego trip than I was yesterday. I imagine this will only build until it crests the day I leave and while there. I wholeheartedly approve. And this is handy.

So 2007 has a vacation destination, and she is..

San Diego, California, USA, Planet Earth

And that happens the last week of July.

blusia will be meeting me there, and unseen oodles of fun will ensue.

I am missing the Mets by a week. The Padres are out of time while I'm there, so no live action baseball for me at PETCO Park, but there will be plenty to do and see, so I'm not too broken up about it.

I (and she) have 5 months to think about what else is fantastamundo about San Diego and surrounding area, so I'll have fun looking forward to what new and exciting experiences are in store. (Obviously, San Diego Zoo is in, as is Sea World, and probably the rest of Balboa Park.)

So excited. :D