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November 01, 2006
What Goes Around Does So Because It Is Strapped To A Car Roof
 I arrived in San Francisco in speedy fashion yesterday, after pausing to take the photo on the bottom in my mother's car port before I left. It would've been a better picture, but although my camera still takes photos, the LCD, you may recall, was smashed by a roller coaster, so I couldn't preview it.
But there you have it: the trike, once again traveling via car roof. Oddly, there seem to be more insects in California than along the New York-Maryland corridor. In May, the trike rode all that way with a minimum of splattage; yesterday, the mesh seat back and even the frame got a nice coating of bug protein.
And, once more, I am in an small Econolodge room. I have to open the closet and roll the trike partway inside it in order to sit at the desk, and this is the dingiest example of this particular motel chain I've stayed in. But I wasn't willing to go the "residence hotel" route without first checking out the hotels in question, as they can be the abode of freaky junky psycho killer child-molestin' wackos. In my wanderings today, I found myself at the intersection of Sutter and Larkin, which is where one of the hotels I found via craigslist is located. I had the phone number on my GPS, so I called, and Chris, the resident manager, showed me around the place. Rough around the edges, to be sure, but Chris had a good vibe and was concerned with keeping the freaky junky psycho killer child-molestin' wackos out. The neighborhood seemed decent enough. The rooms with private baths were all taken, so I'll probably finish out my stay here at the Econolodge, and see about staying at the other hotel between Thanksgiving and Christmas, or after the New Year if I haven't turned up a sublet or something else.
The effort of all this is interesting...sure, I moved to New York, but that was a gradual process. In New Jersey, I started in Lawrenceville, then moved north to New Brunswick, then further north to Jersey City, just across the water from Manhattan, and then finally to Astoria in Queens. I could job- and apartment-hunt easily. Here, I'm all on my oddy-knocky in a city I don't live anywhere near, with the bulk of my possessions three thousand miles away. It's a different game.
But the debilitating anxiety that often whomped me when I stayed in motels during my trike trip hasn't appeared. Many cups of chamomile tea helps, of course, as does an absence of caffeine and alcohol. But the primary difference is, obviously, situational. I'm getting to know a new city, trying to bring down Big Change upon my life through acts of Will! I spent the morning doing jobhunt-related tasks, and trying to understand why so many staffing agencies do not comprehend the phrase "I am looking for projects in San Francisco only." When it was time to get outside, I spent the afternoon hoofing it around town, learned to eat udon with chopsticks, and eventually happened upon the aforementioned residence hotel. This was a good and serendipitous thing, because my To Do List includes seeking out the hotels I'd found on craigslist to see whether they'd be viable options. At $184 cheaper per week than the Econolodge, I'd say that the one I toured today certainly is. I'll check out the others later on.
Finally, I wrote 1,600 words of my NaNoWriMo attempt last night, which is 1,000 fewer than I'll need to average per day if I'm going to meet th 50,000-word target by November 30. But it was fun, and I'll try to do it again this evening.
And that's all I've got to say about the things I've said.
And Then:
November 02, 2006
Still Trying To Finish...
...the damn map. It's a laborious process...I have to go back through my GPS routes for each day of the trip, then cut and paste the coordinates and some code for each little flag point.
I also have to check to make sure that the code works properly for each change I make to the .HTML file, because each time I try to complete the map, at some point during the process I seem to break the Google Maps API. This time, for example, it's refusing to add the last flag I've entered into the code. I've also noticed that the map is wildly inaccurate the further you zoom in...Astoria, for example, is a coastal town, and the map plotted that point a few dozen miles inland. I know my coordinates are correct, because I pedaled from place to place using them. So I can only conclude that Google doesn't plot GPS coordinates onto the its maps very accurately.
Which is a drag. But when it's done, it will be the slightly out-of-focus Portrait of my journey.
Resisting The Urge
9:32AM
Cellphone: Hello, this is Sayeed from mumblefarg, how are you today? I saw your resume on Dice, is this a good time to speak with you?
Me: Sure, go right ahead.
Cellphone: I have a technical writing opportunity in San Jose, would you be interested in that?
Me: I'm only looking for work in San Francisco.
Cellphone: You're only looking for work in San Francisco. It is a three to four month opportunity.
Me: I'm only looking for work in San Francisco.
Cellphone: I see. Thank you very much. *click*
11:19AM
Cellphone: Hello, this is Ram from whozawhatzit, how are you today?
Me: I'm just fine, how 'bout yourself?
Cellphone: I have a technical writing opportunity in Foster City for you.
Me: I'm only looking for work in San Francisco.
Cellphone: [pause] Not in Foster City?
Me: No.
Cellphone: OK, thank you very much. *click*
I am reminded of a certain Samuel L. Jackson line from a certain Quentin Tarantino film. If you, too, would like to be reminded of that certain line, and if you're not at work or near small children, click here.
I don't know how else to phrase it on my resume. I've checked off the Willing To Relocate? NO boxes on the job boards. I've even changed my contact address to this very Econolodge, so that automated Zip code searches won't locate me in Santa Barabara.
And still, they don't understand. I had an e-mail yesterday from someone with a gig for me in Detroit. This morning someone from Robert Half's New York office called me with a project for a reinsurance company in Princeton. That one I didn't mind so much, because he was articulate and understood what I said the first time I said it. Plus, I've signed up with Robert Half. His search of the company's resume database turned me up because my cell phone number still has a New York area code. Even the fact that it was 6:30AM my time didn't really bother me. He offered to alert the San Francisco office that I'm around, which was good of him.
But the others...I think I'll listen to that soundbite again, just to quell any urge I might have to play it into the phone, should the opportunity arise.
Granted, Foster City is only 21 miles from San Francisco. But my Plan does not involve auto ownership, nor does it involve significant commuting via public transport. Cycling, I'll do, but I'd like to keep it to around ten miles or so, which is within the bounds of San Francisco. Until such time as it becomes clear that living and working in this city is an unattainable goal at this time, I'll stick to the Plan. I've only been here since Tuesday, after all.
It's raining, today. Doug called me and said, "Thanks for bringin' tha rain, ya jerk!" I honestly thought I had left the rain in my other duffel bag, but apparently not.
So, there won't be much walking around today, because although I brought my Gore-Tex raingear, I don't feel like plodding around in the damp just to plod around in the damp. I'll stay here, plugged in to the Puter, until around 4PM or so, when I'll go meet the aforementioned Doug at a sports bar in the Mission district, where I will not drink beer while socializing.
Perhaps there will be someone there who will offer me a technical writing opportunity in Gnome, Alaska.
UPDATE:
Late this afternoon I had two calls from recruiters who are actually in San Francisco. No gig as of yet, but this is progress.
November 03, 2006
Jalapeños Do Not Explode In A River Of Molten Cheese
They just don't. If you think they do, you must be holed up in a motel room with the television on, like me. But I still have the strength of character to resist such dairy-based fast food nonsense. Because I know those bastards. They're out to get me. To get all of us.
Perhaps I should go for a walk.
Anyway.
And I mean that.
Any way at all.
November 05, 2006
Rich And Tom Update: Machetes And Stalin
 I've heard from The Boys. They're currently in Mexico, hanging about on the beach:
We saw the demos in mexico city, people with machetes and flags with stalin, marx, and lenin. All pretty intense. We are in puerto escondido at the mo just chilling, the bus we arrived in was plastered with graffiti from oaxaca, US journo was shot last week, all pretty screwed up. We are probably gonna head for san cristobal de las casas in a few days, skip the town of oaxaca.
If you haven't been following things with our neighbors to the South, their southern state is currently boiling over. When I was there in late '94, Oaxaca was a cool town, only mildly tainted by rumors of "Sub-Commander" Marcos and his band of Zapatistas. From what I've read, this flare-up has pretty much trashed the city, making life very difficult for folks who live there and reducing income from tourism.
What started out as a response to the government's totalitarian suppression of a teacher's strike has attracted the usual band of totalitarian-loving opportunists. And as always, the People's Revolution types are more than willing to accept sacrifices on behalf of the greater good, especially if it's The People who are making them.
November 09, 2006
Why, Yes. Yes It Is.
As much as I would like to give y'all the energy you deserve as long and faithful readers of this site, I just haven't got any left at all. I'm back in Santa Barbara, having to make Heavy Decisions, and although my brain is in fact kicking out post ideas (y'know, for real posts, like I used to write), I just don't have the wherewithal to actually produce them.
So, I'm putting this here site to bed for awhile, and focusing on the work I need to do to keep body-mind-soul contiguous.
If you haven't already, I suggest signing up over at Bloglines. Enter Astonished Head into your sitelist, and it'll let you know when I've written something.
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