It Is By The Smallest Increments We Take The Biggest Steps

I registered to vote yesterday.

This means that I am now a resident of Washington State.

I've been here four months, but I wasn't a resident. I'll get a Washington State license soon, and re-register my car. Soon I'll have a job. And a place to live. At some point in the not too distant future, I'll own a home in this state.

None of those things are what will have determined residency, though. The fact that yesterday I filled out a voter registration card and mailed it make me a resident of Washington State.

Since before I could conceive of distinctions like states and borders, I've been a resident of California, and I still have an abiding affection for the state. I knew as soon as I arrived in Washington that this is where I belong, but I felt the strangest sense of disloyalty and guilt in filling out that voter registration card.

That feeling of guilt is gone now, though, and I am glad to finally make it official. It won't really be home until my wife is here, and I won't be settled until we have our dogs. I won't be truly content until we have a home, but at least now I can be counted amongst my people - the people of Washington State.

Core Capacities Index

As part of an online application today, I took a personality profile-type test. I find these endlessly fascinating. This one indicates that I'm especially good at inspiring others and taking inspiration from them, that wisdom is a chief value for me and that I'm seen (or more likely, if you think logically, I have come to believe that I am seen) by others as showing wisdom, that knowledge is a "cornerstone value" for me and that I have a desire to see right done in the world, but that I am not as pragmatic as some people.

I like the almost-condescendingly diplomatic language in which these personality test results are couched. I am endlessly fascinated by the value in further introspection provided by their insights. The people-don't-fit-neatly-into-boxes-so-we-made-a-differently-shaped-box attitude which necessarily underlies their creation is tremendously amusing to my heightened sense of irony. Most of all, I love graphical displays of data - this foreshortened square allows me, when queried "What kind of a person are you?" to respond "I'm a purplish-blue person with strong hints of green, but hardly red at all."

Low-Res_Photos

I found some shots on my phone that I had never transferred over to the computer or deleted. These three were among them. I cleaned them up a bit in Picasa and thought I'd try out the "Blog this" feature built in, since I'd never done so before. The one on the far right, of both dogs, is the one I use as a wallpaper on my phone. Amazing, isn't it - what low resolution is tolerable on a 2" screen?

Sept. 12 Round-Up

I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy.
Microsoft came out with a new ad, featuring Bill Gates and the creator of a-show-about-nothing, Jerry Seinfeld:

Blogs, interviews, news commentators, and folks at the water cooler all seemed to agree that it was dumb and pointless - that Microsoft was crazy - that they didn't know how to advertise. This meme, Microsoft's dumb new ad, seemed to be pretty pervasive. The ad executives seem to agree that that's a pretty good start to an ad campaign.
Now there's a sequel. It's wacky, too.

Patriot Day was yesterday. I heard no mention of it. Seven years gone and now it's passe. That's interesting to me. I remember where I was September 11th, 2001, sort of the the-day-Kennedy-was-shot of our generations, but the impact has been more drawn out, I think, and therefore, perhaps diminished in some way.

Wow, it has been a long time since I blogged, hasn't it? The Democratic and Republican National Conventions have come and gone. The tide of the election seems to have changed, shifting notable toward the right since before the conventions.

I worked at the Pan Pacific Hotel for about two months. It's a beautiful hotel with a wonderful staff. I'm still kind of sad that there wasn't room for me to stay. The next time I'm there, it will be as a guest. I thought for a bit that I might get a job at the Fox affiliate, but that didn't pan out, either. I keep plugging away, though. Things will pull together at some point.

I'm unemployed at the moment. I'm interviewing today for a job, though, which I hope will be a better fit, and which I hope will be much more lucrative. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm ready to move on with life - to get my wife back and my dogs back and have a place to call home. I'm ready to get out of my host-family's hair and be more neighbor and less nuisance. I can finally say that I'm hopeful that Shel will be starting school soon, which is better news than I've had in recent memory.

I did a single set of bench presses at low weight and was sore for almost a week. Maybe that means I should continue to work on that. I have cut way back on calorie intake, and at least while I was working, I was climbing stairs every day, so I continue to lose weight, which is good.

Now that Shel and I both have working computers (knock on wood), we've been able to use Google Talk and hang out together online and play World of Warcraft together. It's not as good as face-to-face interaction, but it's a whole lot better than isolation.

I've been learning some more features of Microsoft Office, which has been nice. I'd still like to learn more about computers, and IT specifically, but it's something that will have to go on the back burner for the time being while life normalizes.

I responded to a phishing email today to explain to the phisher that their attempts were fairly ham-fisted and to offer helpful advice.

I'll try to update again soon, hopefully with good news about new employment, and maybe with a photograph or two. I've discovered all of the best blogs have lots of terrific original photography.

Sundeck Panorama

I haven't posted too many photos lately, what with the broken computer and all, but now that I have the beast running again and (since late last night) even have the card reader working which lets me transfer photos, I give you a panorama of the sun deck where I ate my lunches these past two months - a beautiful view of Lake Union.

(Click on the photo to see it more clearly)

More General Updates

Tomorrow's my last day here at the station. While the bosses are all sorry to see me go, they just don't have an opening for me right now. I have been assured that I'll be the first one called if something suitable opens up, but that doesn't pay the bills so, hopefully, one of the positions I'm being considered for now will materialize. Things look good so far, but I'd rather have chickens to count than the number of an egg hatchery.

On the upside, my computer seems to be working! I got on the phone with a Dell Support Technician named Prosune in Hyderabad who helped me download and install the drivers I needed to make the computer run after installing Windows. Shel's computer seems to be working, too, after much help from her mother, so life on the tech front seems to be looking up for the moment.

I contacted Les Schwab about the hubcaps, and they have them on hand. I might have time one day to pick them up before they close up shop for the night.

I have been busy - super busy - since I arrived in Seattle. It's been a bit overwhelming, but it's also been good. Once we find a place and get settled in here, things will be at least as busy as they have been so far, but they'll be twice as good, too.

General Update and a Noteworthy Turn-of-phrase (with prepositions and pronouns)

Shel's computer:
is working again after a series of increasingly catastrophic minor glitches with Windows Vista, and a complete re-installation of the OS, but there are still plenty of bugs to work out - you know, like getting the computer to remember the wireless connection at the house, navigating Vista's labyrinthine menus, and convincing the OS to play nice with the anti-virus software. We'll see how thing go today. Shel's mom is helping us fine-tune settings, and I have hoes that it will run smoothly soon. The irony here is that when I bought the computer, I had it shipped directly to me, paying Washington State sales tax, and installed the software, arranged settings, and basically broke it in - all to avoid forcing Shel to do exactly what she's doing right now.

My Computer:
I have hopes that my computer will work again soon, too. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I took the beast to a computer repair shop in the university district whose staff were able to retrieve my data and put it on an external hard drive. I called Dell back and ran through the same rigmarole I had already run through before taking the computer in to the shop, and Dell's tech support finally decided to send me a new hard drive with the OS already installed. It is supposed to arrive in two business days, counting from Sunday. As I said, keep your fingers crossed.

Les Schwab Debacle (long):
With finances as tight as they were while I wasn't working, I have put off have the brakes on my car looked at for some time. When I took my computer to the repair shop, I parked on a hill, with my wheels turned in toward the curb and couldn't help but notice that my front tires where balding badly, so while I sat waiting for my data recovery, I took the car to Les Schwab to have the tires replaced and the brakes repaired. I arrived early on a Saturday morning, expecting to wait all day and take my car home that night. I even brought a book to read. Les Schwab offered to take me back to the house and pick me up that night. At about 5, I get the call: "We're only half-done. can we keep your car and finish on Monday?" (All Les Schwabs are closed on Sunday.)
Me: "No. I need my car to get to work."
Les Schwab: "Where do you work? Maybe we can drive you."
M: "Westlake." (about 45 minutes to an hour away from this particular shop)
LS: "Oh. Well, can you find a ride to work?"
M: "No, my friends are out of town. I'm just visiting. I need my car to get to work."
LS: "Oh. Okay, we'll stay and finish it, but we may not be done until 8 or 8:30."
M: "Okay. Give me a call when you're done." So, half an hour later, I get another call:
LS: "Sir, I'm sorry. We're not going to be able to finish tonight. We need to keep your car on Monday. Is there any way you can get a ride to work?"
M: (never mind that this we'll leave me stranded at the house all weekend, unable to run my other errands, like grocery shopping)"I don't know. Let me call my friends and see if they can come back from out-of-state early. I'll see what I can do and call you back." (granted, I knew that I wasn't going to ask them to come back early - they were planning to come back late Sunday night - but if they agreed, they were going to have to turn around after four days and 1500 miles of driving and get up early to run me into town."
LS: "Thank you, sir." Well, I called my friend, and, unsurprisingly, she agreed to help me out, whereupon I offered profuse thanks and promised a bribe of coffee (the standard currency throughout the greater Seattle area.)
M: "My friend has agreed to drive me to work on Monday, but I'll need you to come get me from work."
LS: "Thank you, sir. When you're off work, just call a cab and we'll pay for it when you get here."
My friends call back again and I learn that there are other plans for Monday and she may or may not be able to drive me. Fuck! Now, I'm irked. Now, Les Schwab has put me out, hosed my weekend, fucked up my friends' plans, and quite possibly screwed me out of a day of work.
Another call from my friends (late Sunday) and I learn that she will have to rearrange herday, but she will be able to drive me. I take the cab to Les Schwab, tip the cabbie, explain that somewone will be out to pay him, walk in and immediately let the first available employee there know that there is a cab outside waiting for payment. She calls for a manager who eventually comes in and deals with another customer's complaint. Some employee's mill around for a bit, attending to their duties, and a receptionist eventually comes to help me, bill in hand. I explain to her that before I resolve my bill, I'd like to talk to management. She calls in a manager, whom I tell about the still-waiting taxi. He rushes out and attends to the driver, pulling money out of the till to cover the fare. When he returns, I explain the situation and express both my disatisfation and my embarrassment at being told by my friend "Never go to Les Schwab! it's not like it is in California. Next time, come to me and I'll steer you right, but everybody here knows - you can't trust Les Schwab here." eventually, I walk out with a paltry 10% discount on parts. Perhaps I ought not to have accepted this. Maybe I should have pushed for more, but the fact is, they had me over the barrell and I can't afford not to take any discount I can get at this point.
Fine. Lesson learned - never go to Les Schwab again. I take my car and leave, still pissed, but resigned.

The next morning, as I'm leaving for work, I notice something about my car that I hadn't noted before: my hub caps are gone. Les Schwab stole my hub caps! This is the icing on the cake, but between computers failing left and right, job hunting, work, house-hunting and the myriad other concerns, I just never took the time to call them, so I will do that when I'm done blogging and let you know how it goes.

Job Hunting:
Friday is to be my last day with the TV station where I've been filling in for almost two months. I have an interview scheduled this afternoon with another staffing firm and I have applications in with several firms, most recently, with a major insurance underwriter. I'll apply with a well-known internet content provider later today or tomorrow and with a big aerospace firm today.

House Hunting:
Shel and I now have our own Realtor and our own mortgage broker. I'm scheduled to meet with the mortgage broker tomorrow, but I need to get some paperwork together, so I'll likely reschedule that meeting. After she and I jump through some hoops, Shel and I will, hopefully, be pre-approved for a home loan and I can begin touring the countryside with our Realtor.

The field I hope to soon be entering, corporate training, should be substantially more lucrative and immeasurably more interesting than the one in which I currently find myself, so I'll likely have to update our loan pre-approval soon, but getting started on the home-buying process feels good - like progress. I am ready to have my wife back, my dogs back, and my life back.

Long-Suffering Hosts:
I'm sure my hosts are ready to have their house back, too. I've been in their guest room (or on their couch) for two months now - and while these are very dear and very close friends with whom I have a lot of history, I'm all too aware of the fact that anyone can wear out his welcome after a while. They have other guests (you know, like "guest"-guests, rather than extended-stay-with-his-own-daily-grind-guest) to attend to; their oldest has been sick for a couple of days, at least; they have a still-nascent start-up business to attend to - in short, they have a life of their own as well, and I will undoubtedly make a better friend when I am a fellow home-owner than I can be as an adult dependent.

Turn of Phrase:
Finally, I promised you a turn of phrase. I was combing through various online news sources this morning and happened upon a wonderfully, visually evocative metaphor. If I don't share it here, with you, I'll forget it.

"…why force buyers to swallow the entire buffet in one sitting?" - Matt Peckham, Tuesday, July 8, 2008