Tuesday, March 29, 2005

One more treasure from my collection

The great urban philosopher Rakim once said "It aint where you're from its you're at." But today, I'm happy to know where I come from. I happened across the program from the Jeffers Ford Sills Reed family reunion held in Gary, Indiana August 1980. I of course did not attend, since I was 4. The program is dedicated to my Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother:
In memory of Sarah Jeffers, who was sold and bought on the slave block in St. Louis Missouri. Sarah weighing 300 pounds and carrying twin boys under her arms, was taken to Holly Springs, Mississippi, where she died in 1893.

I remember reading this as a child and trying to picture this woman. I've seen roots enough times that I can fill in some more of the details if I close my eyes and imagine her now. Since this week I'm thinking a lot about things I'll miss, and people I need to make proud, I'll add Sarah Jeffers to my list.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Crying is for wusses!

Sure I think that, but it didn't really stop me from doing it today. I walked into my porch storage closet and noticed what looked like some water damage on the floor and on the corner of some boxes. It seems that all those hurricanes this summer taking out my porch awning allowed some water to go wherever it felt like. There was some mild mildew damage to a few of my nostalgic things, but overall my stuff didn't fare too badly. I looked through some things to determine if they were worth keeping. I came across this letter from my sister. Grab a tissue!
8/30/1991
Dearest Jason,
Como estas? Creo Que bien! I do miss you a great deal--especially working out with my favorite brotherly-type figure. How did it feel to not have 20 different females running around the house, from a "male's" point of view. I still owe you a fishing trip that will hold up my end of the deal for later, if you will still go with me. Did you know that you are so special that these awful things called tears fell when I had to say good bye. How is school? Mom was saying that you came home with a great deal of homework every night. I hope that you're not miserable + that you still have an extra-curricular life outside of SHS! I hope that the sorta girlfriend is going well and mom didn't/doesn't give you too hard of a time. You're a good kid, but I want you to do well in your classes; just do your best A's or not! Lastly Always remember I love you.
Love ya
Cathryn
P.S. LOOK A LETTER!

For the record, many of the things I have done in the last 5 years have been made possible by the life and legacy of Cathryn Yvonne Herron. I'm reminded as I am about to take a giant life step, I have an obligation to make her proud.




Sunday, March 27, 2005

Take care of him, he's my special boy


Today I spent some quality time with my barbeque grill(and also my family). Its too big and too heavy to try to bring out west, so I have to leave it in Sarasota. I am told it will be well taken care of, but it and I have been through a lot, and I'll have to adust to not having it around. Here I'm cooking a nice big leg of lamb according to this recipe. It was the most tender and flavorful lamb I have ever eaten. I added grilled asparagus to the list of things I can cook well, so you should consider inviting me to your next barbeque. I also spent a good couple of hours hanging out at church today breaking the news that I'm busting out of this town. Most folks are sad but supportive, especially since I've promised to return in May for family camp and the requisite games of brain fry. Muldoon and Cowboy Karl intend to throw me a going away party on Thursday night, we shall see if they can deliver a quality turnout. Posted by Hello

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Turning back the clock

Today rather than pack for my impending cross country move, I spent the day making sure there would be lots more things I'd miss when I leave. I packed up clothes for 2 days and ran down to Sarasota, where I got to spend a few hours at the Sarasota county fair. I did something that would have mortified me in my younger years, I went and hung out with my mom. She of course was willing to take pity on my incredible shrinking budget and pay for my fair adventure, so how could I refuse. (and just so it doesn't sound like I only went because she paid, I had fun anyway, and I knew that I would) It turns out a random stranger had season passes to the fair and just decided if we were willing to play along, she would let us in on her passes. Instant savings=$14.00. Today the weather seemed to jump directly from spring to summer, meaning that it was blazing hot. I had a delicious Gyro (mmmmm fair food. auggghhh) and an elephant ear, and one of those fresh squeezed lemonades. Since I know the exact value of every penny I spend these days I managed to avoid most of the carnies who would goad me into trying to win a prize to prove my manhood. But one guy let me practice throwing a ball into a bucket enough times I could no longer not hand him over $3 of moms money. As you can imagine, I should have just wadded up the $3 and thrown it in the bucket, at least it wouldn't have bounced out with an embarrassing thud. Seeking relief from the heat we even wandered in to see stinky farm animals and the show stopping craft exhibits. Mom, Grandma and I snuck in a last visit (for a while) to the oyster bar, the official restaurant of our family. Don't ask me how many Friday nights we went there for dinner in my uncool days, but I just couldn't resist one more plate of grouper fingers. Of all the nostalgic memories I had to day, funniest one: My best friend in high school made up some little awards at the end of our senior year. Mine you ask? Most likely to end up as the smart ass in the dunk tank who intentionally ticks people off. (back then he was known as bobo the clown) The worst part about that is , I'd actually have a job right now and it would even include lots of travel. Perhaps I've missed my calling.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Beauty and the Beast?


Here's a pic of myself and my honorary niece GK. I'm wearing my unemployed MBA costume, and she's wearing a princess costume. I'll let you decide which is more convincing. Posted by Hello

Reason I'm going to miss Florida number...

I've reached the phase of going away where I'm starting to divide up my remaining hours in town with people I'm going to miss the most when I leave. Today I got in a 3 for the price of 1 with Todd, Kelly and Georgia Kate. Todd and Kelly both happened to have the day off, so we had lots of time to catch up, reminisce and think happy thoughts about the future. They have bay area residence experience since Todd is a Cal grad. Funniest line of the day? " If your relationship can survive a paint project, it can survive anything". We have shared a few million laughs in the last 6 years, and I know that there are a few billion left out there for us to enjoy. I will definitely miss getting to watch GK grow up if I don't make it back soon. As you can see from the pic, the kid gets cuter every day like some sort of cuteness asymptote.(Woo Hoo! I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence.)
I got to see one of my favorite former youth today, Robert. He dropped by just because my car was in the driveway, which made me feel pretty darn good about myself. I made him promise me he wouldn't get a tattoo until he was 18, which he actually delivered on, but has gone out and gotten 4 since his 18th birthday. Some mentor I am.
I even got to catch up on a couple of movies today, I'm probably the last person to have seen Spiderman 2, and The Incredibles, both of which I absolutely loved. Now its off to pack some more, I've got so much more crap to sort through and the clock is ticking.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Experiencing some withdrawl symptoms

I'm a chronic Cokeaholic. That's right, I'm addicted to Cokeahol. No, that's not right, but you could say, (and Wendy often does) that I drink way to much sweet refreshing coca cola. I haven't had a coke since lunchtime sunday, and am really starting to feel sluggish. When I was growing up we never had sodas in the house. I lived on Kool aide as a kid, We made it in a bright yellow plastic jug with water straight from the tap. It was carefully stirred with a wooden spoon and generally served over ice in plastic cups that once held margarine. A roach was once spotted in one of the cups, and no one ever wanted to get stuck with that one. Fortunately those cups got retired when McDonalds gave out those giant dream team cups. (I still hated to drink out of the alien-headed Reggie Miller cup) Well, to bring myself back around to the point of how much I want a sweet cool refreshing Coca Cola. I had no intention of going cold turkey this week, but I was out and just decided that since my waist is expanding at approximately the same rate as my budget is contracting, perhaps I could live without it. If I'm out I'll certainly have one, but no more at home for me, at least not until I'm earning a paycheck. I will also accept coke donations, especially if I start to look a little strung out. To make matters worse Claudia has a post this week about touring the coke museum in atlanta. I hope she posts a lot this week so that I stop reading about all the free samples she got.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Interesting stuff? Where is it?

I haven't posted much this week, because quite frankly my life has been less than fascinating the last couple of days. I am still slowly looking through all of my things trying to determine what I'll need in California, what's worth saving and has to go. Its kind of funny how things that seemed so important at some point in time come down to a simple go/no go decision. If it can't be fit into a box, or doesn't weigh less than 50 lbs, then it has to make alternate arrangements for itself. Time has been tough enough on some items so making the decision is easy. Other things, particularly those that remind me of my sister are far more difficult to part with.
I finally reached my saturation point for Gran Turismo 4, Which means that a significant number of resumes got out today, and important business actually got done. I was going to make myself a little money doing my grandmother's taxes, until I got the result, which said she owed the government a whole lot of money. At least I know when I'm in over my head, so we're getting her a second opinion.
I've officially given up on the Jerkasses at Virgin mobile. I guess returning my email was too much to ask. I've got 2 weeks to find a real job or I settle on something as soon as I arrive out west, and keep working on something better. I have definitely gone way too long without a paycheck.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

I've managed to pull away from the Playstation long enough to actually accomplish a post. There's plenty to tell you about since real early Thursday morning when I last had something to say. W and her mom finally reached a compromise and have already signed the papers. Which means that the road is finally clear for me to wander off that direction. Saturday I managed to drag myself out of bed and drive to Orlando to hang out with my favorite MBA'er Luerne. She pushed her roommate Debbie and I all over town enjoying her own little local version of celebreality that would make VH1 proud. We started with some lunch at Chipotle. I arrived starving after spending 2 hours and 15 min on I4 stuck in traffic for no particular reason. We "took the scenic route" around Winter Park for a while before eventually arriving at the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. Some of L's Friends were singing in the attached Jazz music show. Mosaic is 6 guys who do the most interesting arrangements of songs, all a capella. The next stop was the White Wolf Cafe, a really cool restaurant that we took over a back room of and were noisy and boisterous. We figured out Sinan was in town, so he and his little cousin the genius joined us. He knew almost as much finance as sinan and I, and could recite the entire Gettysburg address. Next it was off to L's show, She was extremely good, everything else was... well just there. It was really funny, but the lead actress was really really sick. Then it was back to the house for margaritas and Scrabble (which I won handily) and Trivial Pursuit which I lost on"mitigating circumstances" the opposing team got way too many yes or no questions. Games lasted until 3:00 am then it was off to brunch with several more friends. I finally got to eat at a Houlihans, I've wondered about it since they bought the naming rights to the New sombrero. It was decent, I won't say I loved it but I'd go back if necessary. I know I'm going to miss L even more when I'm gone, I definitely wouldn't have survived year one of Grad school without her. Despite not hanging out for months it was just like old times. We ate, We laughed like crazy and we talked smack about games and anyone else we could think of.
So its back to the grind this week. More waiting and applying.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

You'll have to excuse me if I'm absent

I had been saving $55 in Best Buy Gift certificates for the magical day that Gran turismo 4 was released, and it finally happened. So today I went to pick it up and have already immersed myself in it. If I don't post too much, don't take it personally, I just am unable to put down the controller. It turns out W's family is not the only force weighing in on our relationship. I just found out that my Uncle, the new convert to Christianity has decided that he's unhappy because I'm sinning by staying at W's house while not married. I have officially challenged him to a debate of such matters, not because I think I'm not guilty, but becuase I'm certain it's none of his business and he has absolutely no biblical place to stand in judgement of me. I have asked him to call me so that we may discuss the matter, we shall see if he accepts my invitation.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

News brief from the front line of my local race war

Coming down to the finish line of Wendy refinincing and buying her mother out of the condo, the old lady has decided to dig in her heels and make a stand on the issue of race one final time.
Her latest nuggets of xenophobic wit: "What have I done wrong as a mother to deserve you cavorting around with a black man? Who you date reflects poorly on me." and my personal fave. "Your decisions are splitting up the family". The third one being the most interesting, since its SG's decision not to accept me that is splitting the family. Now on the scale of threatening black people ranging from well lets say Wayne Brady to hmm... Ray Lewis. I'm definitely way down there with Wayne and the Gumble of your choice. Not to mention the fact that SG really liked me when I was just wendy's random boyfriend #231(not actual number) The fact that I had an MBA and was looking for a big job in finance made me awfully attractive. But alas, she has chosen the one thing not to like about me that as far as I'm concerned makes me the most interesting. I could give you lots of reasons not to like me: I'm a little messy, I procrastinate, I spend too much time on the internet. But, we're not here to bash me we're here to say hey! get to know me and then find something you don't like.
So the bottom line is this, SG feels that she should be compensated in cash because she does not approve of me, completely re-writing the deal she and Wendy originally made on the condo.
Seems pretty fair doesn't it?

    Monday, March 14, 2005

    Alert the chamber of commerce, we were not the sunshine state today


    Sitting on the couch waiting for the perfect job seems gray and cloudy, but at least mother nature was feeling sympathetic today. Posted by Hello

    I'm a convert

    I have had some ridiculously hard times with Microsoft's Internet Explorer lately. It stopped allowing me to print web pages, it wouldn't allow me to view the sources of web pages, and froze up whenever it felt like. So I finally cut the cord and changed to Mozilla's Firefox. I'll absolutely never go back. Tabbed browsing is the only way to use the internet. I'm most sorry that I spent 3 hours with tech support last week when the solution to my browsing was right under my nose. Ok, enough of the infomercial, I obviously have a little too much time on my hands. We're now a nice round 7 days from my interview and still no word one way or the other. Yes, I'm starting to sweat.

    Sunday, March 13, 2005

    In case I ever think of letting Snoop Dogg make a guest post

    gizoogle
    If you're offended by harsh language or gratuitous dropping of the N-bomb you will want to stay away from this.

    Saturday, March 12, 2005

    You gotta love someone who throws great parties

    My friend Tammy throws the best parties ever. I thought she wouldn't be able to surpass New years eve '03, but her murder mystery party topped it with class rather than intoxicated craziness. Tammy and Justin went crazy buying Chinese food, including some delicious General Tso's chicken, egg rolls, those little sugar coated dumplings, and at least 3 other dishes that I can't remember. Not to mention I've seen Chinese restaurants with less plum wine, kirin ichiban and sake in stock. (even more special since they don't drink) Each Table setting had a fan, and they had a few of those paper lamps hanging around. Food was even served on square paper plates. I was very impressed.
    The Game itself wasn't quite as cool as I expected, the pseudo Chinese names that were English pun homophones made keeping track of who was who and what actually happened very difficult. Some important information was conveyed on a tape done in an exaggerated Asian accent and was tough to decipher. I liked the concept, It had potential, but its obviously not designed for the MTV generation. In the third hour trying to get 12 people to focus on task proved to be real difficult. (it was a lot like every MBA class group project) Not speaking English as a first language was also difficult for one cast member as some words and nuances were actually pretty difficult to understand. This made for lots of repitition and explanation.
    You gotta give us credit, we tried, and we had fun anyway. I won't call out names of people who didn't dress up in costume, but lets just say they outnumbered those of us who did. But those in costume were definitely much cooler.

    Stepping out of a horribly innacurate time machine near you


    Here is the official costume, complete with authentic eighth century chinese bling. It turns out I was a terribly corrupt magistrate who was embezzeling money from the empire to fund my personal accounts. I was a thief, not a killer. Posted by Hello

    Thursday, March 10, 2005

    Stop me if you've heard this one before...

    This post is going to sound awfully familiar, but i spent the day sitting in a lump on my couch. I did do some stuff packing around my house, but I just wasn't really feeling it yet. I found out that If I'm going to bust my lease i have to give 60 days notice plus one months rent to get out of my lease, or if I'm rushing 30 days and 2 months rent. Ouch!!!
    I forgot yesterday to give a shout out to Vicky N. who bailed me out of a $30 cab fare by picking me up at the airport. We grabbed a little food at Tijuana Flats which in my opinion is still pretty good, but I was already missing the authentic Mexican from El Amigo in San Leandro. My old Friends Annie and Subadra are rolling in to town tomorrow. The occasion: a murder mystery dinner hosted by fellow MBA classmate Tammy. Tammy just posted my part on the evite:
    HAO DEE-DOO (aka-Jason)The magistrate of Chi-Ka-Go, Hao is a cousin of Hoo
    Li-gan and , as the head of the district governmental system and the tribunal of
    Chi-Ka-Go, he is the emperor's representative in Chi-Ka. So young to have
    attained such an exalted position, Hao is reputed to be a man of impeccable
    moral character and scrupulously fair in his administration of local government.
    He is apparently favored by the emperor and therefore expected to go far in his
    political career. Hao has a passionate interest in collecting precious
    antiques.Costume Suggestion: Lont-sleeved robe (preferably blue) worn over pants
    or gown, waist-high apron, black stocking cap worn high upon the head, black
    boots, jade pendant.

    Not sure exactly how I'm going to pull off the costume in the next 48 hours but I'll be working on doing it as economically as possible. If you've got a jade pendant you want to loan me for Saturday please feel free to "speak on it". You can of course look forward to hilarious pictures on monday.
    Sunday another former classmate Stefanie is having a barbeque, which will provide some quality volleyball opportunities. So I guess I'll have to work hard tomorrow to give myself the rest of the weekend off.
    Its been four days since the big interview. I'm starting to get just a little nervous. The job location is so perfect that having to find something else would make things much more difficult. Keep those fingers crossed for me!
    Final thought today. Since I'm so busy dropping names today, I'll tell you about what I read in airports last month. John Grisham's Bleachers and Dan Brown's Digital Fortress. I liked the Grisham book, but having only read one other of his titles I was suprised by how different it was from The Last Juror. As for the Brown book, I liked it a lot, had a hard time putting it down and consequently didn't sleep on the plane. As far as I'm concerned if uncle sam wants to read my boring emails he can all he wants. If he knew what my intentions in life were maybe the TSA wouldn't hassle me so much.

    Wednesday, March 09, 2005

    The TSA's beef with me

    I arrived at "home" safely today after only some minor difficulty. Let me begin by saying this is not a rant against the people working for the TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) or the organization itself, its more a rant about my bad luck, particularly when flying out of Oakland. 3 times I have flown out of Oakland, 3 times I've been selected for extra special pat down. To their credit I'm a single male under 30 of ambiguous ethnicicity flying one way coast to coast. So perhaps I deserve a little extra scrutiny, but today I made some people really really really nervous. Since I'm transporting a lot of stuff west, I didn't bring much home with me. I packed the few items I had in my small suitcase and nested it inside its larger sibling. I brought back shorts and flipflops and tshirts only and enough clothes to dress up one time if necessary. The mistake I made was bringing back several tools (cordless drill, pliers, wire cutters, channel locks, vise grips) well, I found out tools make tsa agents nervous. To make things worse buried deep inside the inner suitcase, wrapped in a sweater, inside my green MBA bag was my playstaion 2. Of course the airline wendy works for (which I will not mention out loud, lest she end up like this) offers no protection at all for any electronic devices you put in your checked bag. So if I'm going to check my precious sweet baby PS2, you better believe its going to be well protected.
    Both of my flights (oak-den, den-tpa) were uneventful, I didn't even have to sweat getting a seat for a change. They did give me middle seats on both flights. No one is less popular that the last person on the plane who takes away that middle seat you were planning on making your own personal space. So now i'm home and I'm faced with the daunting task of deciding what I want and what I don't and what's worth carrying all the way across the country. Its not going to be a fun couple of weeks.

    Tuesday, March 08, 2005

    Well, Now she does have a reason not to like me

    Ok, lets get the important stuff out of the way first. My job interview today went... O.K. The first guy I met started to ask me some accounting questions that I kinda fumbled my way through. I'm certain he was not impressed. He did send me on to someone else, who after settling down and having a coke I managed to regain my composure and give a good interview. She was a little more involved in the every day finance anyway, so maybe I picked the right person to impress. I hope...
    Sunday we hung out with Wendy's cousin Nina. We went to a little tiny fair, managed to come home with less cash than we started with and a couple of stuffed animals. Then we had some coffee and nachos at a starbucks (the nachos were from a nearby freshmex). Later I took my first ride on Bart so I would know what my transfer would look like to get to my interview today. We were still out avoiding SG so we went to see Hitch. Its your standard issue romantic comedy, but at least it was funny. We finally arrived at home to be "greeted" by one grumpy individual who did not know I was still in town. She played the stay locked in the room game until morning. When she couldn't find a hair dryer in the morning she called Wendy's home phone from her cell rather than knock on the door. I decided I would stay at the house tonight and cook some of my famous manicotti. While my water was just getting ready to boil, our other favorite simmerer walked back in the door. We exchanged Hi's and she began to rush around the house cleaning up her things. As she struggled to get through the door with the first load I offered a hand, she declined. As she cleaned up some things in the kitchen I wandered in to say I know you emailed wendy about some rent from me, if you'll write me up an invoice. (I of course intendended to counter with an invoice for my repair services which would have more than accounted for 3 weeks rent.) she declined that too saying wendy would have to handle it, as if my tainted money were no good to her. At that point I no longer felt like playing nice and said If you have any more questions about my parents marriage I would really prefer that you address them directly to me. Her reply: I'm not interested in that. I said well that's fabulous and walked away. She said bye as she scurried out the door. I lied and said it was nice to see her. So we'll see what her next move is. Let the record show the appraiser was here today, and he LOVED the kitchen, saying it added "personality" and value. I asked if he'd send that in a letter to MS. cranky pants.

    Old School...Breakfast?


    Sunday morning I spent time perfecting use of wendy's stove top belgian waffle maker. Belgian waffle recipes generally ask you to separate the eggs and beat the whites, which is why the man's mixer got invented to begin with. The first time I made these I kinda forgot to introduce the waffle iron to my friend pam, and the first waffle stuck so much that the iron took me hours to clean. Result: Really fluffy pancakes. Posted by Hello

    Friday, March 04, 2005

    The Man's Mixer


    Wendy's kitchen isn't perfect, she still doesn't have a hand mixer. So occasionally I have to improvise a little. There could just be a market for this product. I'm accepting bids for manufacture as you read this. Posted by Hello

    I don't know if I should post about this or not

    Posting about job prospects ahead of time hasn't worked out for me in the past(IPA), but not posting about a job prospect hasn't worked out for me either(Moffitt, Brandymarine, PFM, Steak&Shake... and countless others). So I'm going to go ahead and talk about the prospect like I'm not worried about it. I got a call mid-afternoon today to say I have an interview in Walnut Creek on Monday at 1:00p.m. So, rather than fly back to Tampa for the weekend and sneaking to Sarasota to play Walleyball, I am staying here and sweating all weekend about my interview. I have to figure out what to wear to the interview, I got some cross eyed/impressed looks at Modis the other day when I showed up in a suit and tie. I'm told under no circumstances am I to dress in that manner on monday. The company has a far too "young and hip" image for me to dress up. So, we'll see how I do.
    Today I found another nice little reminder of home, Wendy's favorite authentic Mexican place EL Amigo Taqueria makes tortas. I had a chorizo torta that was absolutely delicioous. Also notable is their fresh salsa that is loaded with cilantro.
    I'm eating well, so maybe my weekend of sweating about the job won't be quite so painful.

    Thursday, March 03, 2005

    giving the people what they want

    By popular demand, here is a link to the pictures from all our home improvements. I've always got something to fall back on if this finance deal doesn't work out.

    Wednesday, March 02, 2005

    Title edited for adult content

    I desperately wanted to title today's post with three words from the chorus of a Madonna song, the last of which is the same as the First word of the company I interviewed for today. Ok, so I didn't actually Interview for "Sir Branson's" company today, but I did interview with some nice, but very busy people at Modis in San Ramon. If you clicked on the link you might be wondering what I was doing at an IT staffing firm, but they do so much work for the company, they figured they could staff it just as well. The drive to san ramon is beautiful, except for the fact that I was nervous about my interview and was driving wendy's Jeep Cherokee for the first time. No biggie except for the fact that its a stick, and I have very few opportunities to drive uphill. The Interview went extremely well, and they say I may have a follow up with the CTO at the "inexperienced" company as early as Friday. Unfortunatley this news comes one day after finding out my favorite senior high youth group is playing walleyball on Sunday. So at this point it looks very unlikely that I will make it. A sidebar here, it also means I won't be able to help Ann E. move her couch on Saturday. Although, that does serve her right, she called me at 8:50 a.m. eastern time on monday which would be early if I were still sitting on my couch in Tampa without a job. But considering I was jobless laying in bed at 5:50 a.m. pacific it was reaaaaaaally early. Needless to say neither Wendy or I were pleased. So here I stay for a few more days, my tampa apartment may have exploded by now, and I'd never know. All I have to do is figure out how to get myself some wheels and everything will be fine.