Walking is for suckers

I finally figured out how to use the bus system today, the stops that go directly to and from Bart are compellingly close, and spending $1.50 to take the bus is much better than showing up some place wet from rain or breaking a sweat. I wandered around the city looking for a short term retail job today, my choices are Target, Ross, Marshalls, or Office depot. And coming soon to the nearby (next Bart station south) bayfair mall.... a Bed Bath and Beyond. Of course W thinks if I get a job there, I might get a bill every 2 weeks instead of a paycheck. I had an MBA classmate who got into the management program at Target, and loved it, so it might be worth a try. My contact at the temp agency assures me I'll hear from him on Monday about a job that someone's interested in me for. I'm sure at this point he's just ready to have me stop calling him. If I continue to not have a job for one more week, I'll just standby my way back to FL a few days before Family camp and standby to Cali after the golf tournament. That is unless the big Monday interview pans out by next week. A friend of W who is from Mauritius is coming to visit us on Saturday, so I'm going to attempt authentic Mauritian food. It borrows heavily from Indian food, so it should be something I can handle.

Because it's what people do here

Yesterday we went to check out a Dim sum place in San Leandro called D.T. Dim sum and Tea. I had never eaten dim sum before, but I had heard that since I live near and hang out in San Francisco it was a requirement that I try it soon and then eat it regularly thereafter. I knew to expect lots of little dishes mostly of a dumpling nature, kind of like Chinese Tapas. The food was really good, and we got way more than we could eat in one sitting for $15. Then I had my first experience with a Pearl drink. Its like a Tapioca pudding smoothie with the biggest tapioca pearls you've ever seen. You get it with this giant straw so that you can drink it and watch as the pearls alternate with the smoothie. Ours was yummy mango, and was rich and very filling. Next door to the restaurant was a Chinese grocery store that I had been eyeballing for a few weeks now. Well, it was like paradise. The veggies were fresh, and cheaper than we'd been paying the jerks at Safeway. We couldn't resist picking up a big bag... Of.... Say it with me now..... REALLY Loud.... And with no teeth.... BOK CHOOOOOIIIII!!!!! (ahhh, only 2 weeks until Brain Fry time) that I later stir fried in my wok. We picked up a few Chinese sauces too, and a giant Chinese chef knife that I snapped up for $10!!! I'm telling you this thing cuts through anything with a ridiculous amount of precision. They have live black sea bass still swimming in the tank, and live crabs, and an impressive selection of lobsters that are priced extremely reasonably by local standards. (Its a damn shame when I can find a lobster bargain, but can't afford to put gas in a car to go buy it.) I found a show on the science channel yesterday about the construction of the new Oakland bay bridge. And suddenly I am very very afraid of traveling on the old one. It was built in the 30's and the show made it pretty clear that if the '89 quake had lasted 10 more seconds some really bad stuff might have happened. They seemed to imply that they're racing to finish the new bridge before the next big one, since its only a matter of time. Its fair to say that the next time I go across it I'll have difficulty not holding my breath. Not that I'm entirely comfortable inside Bart's transbay tube, but at least I know its a far more recent addition to the landscape.

So now I wait

My interview yesterday was by far the most quality lead I've had in a while, So its fair to say It's going to be a long 2 weeks of waiting for a decision. I'm still feeling the urge to do something in the meantime, and I keep hoping the temp agency will bail me out on that. I'm due to call the recruiter again tomorrow, to see if I can hustle him along a little. Thursday I'll break down and go to plan C, the outlet mall in San Leandro. Its starting to get close enough to the time I go back to Florida its going to be difficult to arrange the whole thing. Today Calvin Left, so there's nobody here to keep me company all afternoon. Nobody to stare at me when I eat or watch every move I make all day. It makes me seem a lot less important. The wicked witch and rosita came in the door together today, and poor rosita was just embarrassed that the wicked witch would not even say hello. Rosita gave me a big hug and we small talked about Prasha. The wicked witch managed to acknowledge my presence when she needed to know where something was, and a half hearted goodbye, but that was it for our interaction today. 1 day down, 13 to go.

Stupid DVR!

I'm finally getting some time to blog today because W is recording 2 shows I can't stand. When you record 2 things at once, you're forced to watch one of them. Today's TV abomination I'm forced in to watching. "I married a princess". Its on Lifetime, I think that's all I need to say about it.
Well, lets get to the important stuff first. I knew today was going to be a long day when the application packet never arrived in the mail on Saturday as planned. That meant I had no Idea with whom I was meeting today, I had only been given a person's name and number to call if something went wrong. Not knowing where to go seemed like a good enough excuse to call, so I dialed it for the first time at 8:30 this morning. I got a busy signal. I dialed it at least 10 times before considering other options. A faint voice in my head told me maybe the last digit of the number was 6 and not 0, and the faint voice was right. That bought me the correct persons voicemail. She returned my call after 20 anxious minutes and instructed me how to get from where I was to the meeting place. I had to fill out a huge application that should have taken up a good portion of my weekend, but instead had to be done in the hours before my interview. Next I briefly met with my liaison who reviewed the information for clarity and accuracy, and who briefly prepped me for the interview. Thanks to my coaching session on Friday I was far more prepared for my interview today than I would have been otherwise. Some of the behavioral questions were actually quite difficult and included many details that had to be written down and addressed. It was not fun, but I think I performed admirably, considering how flustered I'd been all morning. While waiting in the lobby Fed ex called me to ask me what my address was, they'd attempted delivery on Saturday, but the only note said wrong address. There was nothing wrong with the address they had, and I'm not sure why they chose not to call on Saturday if there was a question. I am told I was the first candidate brought in, and it could take up to 2 weeks to make a decision. *Sigh*
We finally broke down and snuck out for dinner on Saturday, at our favorite sushi place, Sushi Avenue. Our sushi was delicious, and they even gave us some deep fried albacore on the house. It would have been delicious for $20, so you can imagine how sweet it tasted at that price. It was definitely time to celebrate since I'd scored an interview and a part time job in a 3 day span.
Sunday we visited Aunt Rosita to play with her new Bengal kitty Prasha, I found out I miss the rumblenator a whole lot more than I've been letting on. If you didn't know any better you'd swear this thing was a mini-leopard. It is the cutest thing you ever saw. At the store the night before we decided it would be nice if we brought him a present, so I picked out a furry octopus on an elastic string that you could hang over a door. Prasha tugged on this thing until he was plum tuckered out, took a nap while we were there, and we are told as soon as he woke up he went right back at it.
We had to run around a little bit after that, because I wanted some quick reading material to refresh my memory about some accounting things. (I learned my lesson from being dumbfounded by simple accounting questions at my Virgin interview and decided I should refresh my memory a little bit.) Of course I didn't field a single accounting question all day today. While we were out we spent a disproportionate amount of time an a Bed Bath and Beyond looking at stuff we might someday buy if I ever start earning a paycheck. We wanted to get one more meal out while we had a chance, so we went to an On the border. Neither of us had ever been to one before, but we will be back.
2 more thoughts for today in this rather long winded post. 1. Tomorrow is calvin's last day here, the wicked witch of the north is returning to pick him up. I sure will miss his company during the day. 2. My stuff arrived for the part time job today, its going to be a ton of reading and studying, here's rooting for multiple choice on the test.

I'd lose my head if it wasn't glued on tightly

Lately I've been losing track of things, a lot. It started with a wallet my first week here that managed to wander its way into the pocket of a duffel bag. Next was a set of keys that turned up 5 days later in the crack of a chair. Last night it was a file folder full of stuff I need for an interview (more on that in a minute) and this morning I suddenly can't find my camera cable. Which really ticks me off because I have some great pictures I took at last nights Giants/Brewers game. W's friend Scott had an extra ticket to the game and invited me to tag along. This killed a couple of birds with one stone, since I got to catch a game there and I learned how to transfer from Bart to Muni. The game wasn't very good, the Giants lost 6 to 1 to a brewer team coming in on a 7 game losing streak. I had a hot dog and a beer and despite being cold from the wind whipping in off the bay, I enjoyed myself a lot. After the game we met up with W's boss Audrey to sit down and discuss the interview I have on Monday with their company. The finances at "the company" are not exactly fabulous so both W and I working there would mean having all of our eggs in a less than stable basket. But its exactly the kind of job I'm looking for and I got some good hints about what to expect from Audrey. Keep your fingers crossed for me around 1:00 pacific time Monday, something great could be happening for me.
Exciting news regarding the blog today: I finally reached the top of a search engine! If you do a Yahoo! Search for "Chinese pinball machine" Link number one is my riveting post about me pretending to be iron chef Chinese Chen Kenichi.

Congratulate me, I have half a job!

Yesterday while quietly sending out more resumes the phone rang. I haven't taught W the rule about not taking phone calls from numbers we don't recognize, it could lead to a phone interview. Unfortunately this was one of those calls. This was a job I had applied for right before leaving Florida and they had emailed me while I was on the flight here. After researching the company a little I saw that it was part time and it looked like it would require me to sell the tests to fitness centers. So I decided not to pursue it further. So needless to say I was grossly unprepared for a phone interview yesterday when they called. It started with the usual interview fare, why are you interested, why should we hire you and then started to move to some stuff about why is america so fat. Things were going well until it was test time. Questions included What does ATP stand for?, what are 3 symptoms of a muscle strain?, what are the muscles of the rotator cuff? Name 5 glands of the endocrine system. Where is insulin produced? Some of the questions were pretty easy, and some of them reflect the fact that I haven't studied exercise phys in a solid 5 years. Not to mention I've poured a whole bunch of other knowledge and several beers into my brain since then. I didn't feel great about it when I got done, and I tried not to sweat it too much, but I did find it distracting that so much information had seeped through the cracks of my brain. So the phone rings early this morning while I'm getting ready to drop W off. (she carpooled in to work with a friend and left me the car) And the guy says we're ready to hire you, I'll email you a contract! There is of course a catch. I have to first pass the very exam that I intend to proctor. They're nice enough not to charge me to take the test, but I have to put up the cash for the study materials. Its written into my employment contracth that I immediately get reimbursed. Its a great plan, but I can't stop the little voice in the back of my head that says what if they make the test unpassable and just collect your money that you paid for materials? I am trying to stay positive about it.
So I'm at least kind of celebrating the fact that someone thinks I'm worthy of writing a paycheck to.

I'm still on the hunt though, Today I drove the car to the Bart station and caught a train out to Fremont. The city had a great job that I was almost qualified for, I figured it was worth the effort to drop off a resume on the odd chance they're short on applicants. I wandered around the Bayfair Mall to see who was hiring there, just in case and because I wanted to scope out the 24 hour fitness there. Calvin was glad to see me come back, and he and I went over to the dog park. Yup, just us boys out on the town.

At least the view was nice

Because of my rather unstructured existence these days climbing out of bed when I have something important to do can often be very difficult. Monday Night I didn't have to get in bed until 2:00 a.m., so 7:30 the next morning came around a little earlier than I was ready for. I managed to get up, and get myself presentable for another adventure in the city. The career fair was up on the club level out in left field of SBC park with this gorgeous view down the 3rd base line. You could even see out over the bay to McCovey cove. All I could think was: I could learn to love baseball if I could watch it from here. Maybe someday when I have that glamorous job in the city I can cut out after lunch to watch the game. The career fair itself was even more lame than I expected, I suddenly wished I hadn't built up all that bad karma talking bad about the USF career fairs. Even our little networking receptions had better offerings. So then it was off to the new restaurant in the embarcadero center. I left a resume, but my lack of fine dining experience is likely to cost me there. I'm not quite ready to settle for that anyway. I happened to walk home a slightly different way and noticed that there was a little store that sells equipment for home brewing and winemaking with a help wanted sign out front. I figured it might be a nice opportunity to get some entrepreneurial experience. I called back the temp agency today, just to stay on the front of the recruiters brain. He led me to say the words, but the message was I should lower my salary expectations a little just to get started. W has the day off, and we have many things to do around the house, while I continue to lurk the job boards and wait for the phone to ring.

Is it really a 3 day weekend if I'm not going to work tomorrow?

W has been off the last 3 days, so we've been running all over town having fun. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours at Lowe's daydreaming about the kinds of things we'd do to the the condo if someone would start writing me a paycheck. I rushed out the door before spending money I didn't have. W's friend Paula started us a little herb garden while we were in Florida, and we were so inspired we procured ourselves some little plastic pots and a few other starter herbs. So now the entire staircase is lined up with our little herb garden. I'll see if I can get a picture tomorrow.
Tomorrow looks to be a busy day, there's a career fair at SBC park (where the Giants play) It is of course a whole mile away from the nearest Bart station, but at this point a walk that short doesn't seem too bad. There's a big new restaurant opening in the Embarcadero Center that I was thinking about dropping a resume by too. If I got a job there, I could at least tell people that I have an MBA and work in SF's financial district.
2 days this weekend we took Calvin to the local dog park, to get him and us some exercise. It always makes me nervous that the dog park is obviously a converted Landfill, but it is bay front property and very green, so you just kind of have to forget where you are. We even got out and played a little tennis yesterday. I won't tell you which of us I think is the better tennis player, but we had fun and the weather is gorgeous during the day here. I had forgotten that a world exists where you don't start sweating the second you walk out your door. Sometime last week it came to my attention that W doesn't have AC, a lifestyle I planned on never having to endure again in life. She assures me I will survive the very few summer-like nights that will come along.
Todd Y. started blogging this week, he's even more of a technophile than I am, so I expect to see really good things over there once he gets the hang of it.

Allez Cuisine!

Today I spent way too much time wandering around Ikea. They were having a we pay the taxes sale, so not spending lots of money there would have been like throwing money away. We actually did pretty well, only managing to squander $40 and getting some cool kitchen gadgets in exchange. My favorite new toys: a wok we scored for $10.00 and a heat resistant plastic wok ladle. This means I'll be spending even more time playing iron chef now pretending to be iron chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. I got to make some waffles for breakfast today, and now that my hand/stand mixer lives here with me it may officially be time to retire the Man's Mixer. The world just wasn't ready for such a great concept.

My timing stinks

Yesterday I decided to take another Bart adventure, which unfortunately meant I had to walk out the door with W at 6:00 a.m. Commuter traffic at that hour is pretty light, and we got to use the carpool lane so we had time to stop at McDonald's for a little breakfast. I grabbed a train from the airport to the civic center station in San Francisco. I was finally dropping off the application for the job with the city, so I had to find my way to either city hall or human resources, I wasn't sure which. I tried human resources first, which required about a half mile stroll down market street, only to find out that wasn't right. A nice lady pointed me towards city hall, which of course was a stonesthrow away from the station I arrived at. After determining which of the massive downtown buildings was city hall I walked inside its palatial halls. I found my destination fairly easily and the person to whom I handed my application seemed genuinely impressed that I managed to properly assemble all of the application parts. I rushed back down to the train and it was off to Oakland. I'd set myself a 10:00 appointment with Appleone, a staffing firm that I'd accidentally bumped into in pleasanton 2 days before. The Oakland office was almost right on top of the Bart station, so I chose to go to it instead of wandering around pleasanton again. I arrived there about a half hour early which was good, since I had forgotten to write down the address and started walking the wrong direction. Unfortunately they suddenly had more applicants than jobs at the moment, but the recruiter I talked to says they cycle back and forth regularly. We went through the standard interview process, and they gave me 4 tests: advanced excel, basic access, word and powerpoint. If I only learned 4 things in grad school it was how to use those 4 pieces of software. So I at least came off looking pretty smart, if not a little bit hireable for something. American Express financial just called offering me a sales job, I'm one more week away from taking one, just to earn some cash.
Laugh for the day: Blogger spellcheck doesn't like the word "hireable" its recommended replacement: horrible

Taking a long painful walk

I was fed up with the faceless sending of resumes and filling out of online job applications, So I decided I would go look the city of San Francisco right in its mug. I wanted to drop off an application for a job with the city, visit Kelly financial downtown, and then head out to Pleasanton to hit the regular kelly. Things went awry around 7:00 a.m. when I couldn't pull myself out of bed early enough to finish the city application, but fortunately that one is faxable. I rode to work with W so she saved the $3 bridge toll and got to use the carpool lane. We arrived a little bit before her shift started, so we grabbed a cup of coffee and some breakfast for me. When she went to work, I caught the Bart to the city where I jumped out and tried my best not to stare open mouthed up at the sky scrapers. Once I actually got my bearings and figured out how to get to the kelly financial, I discovered it was actually a kelly legal services. So I had to march back to the BART and head for Pleasanton. On the way there it occured to me that I wouldn't make it before 1:00. So I called Kelly and all they really wanted me to do was send a resume anyway, they could care less if I dropped by. I at least found a couple of businesses I should research and an interesting job magazine that told me about some other temp agencies. Then I had the monster walk from the Bart station in San Leandro to the house. Lets just say I won't try that again in dress shoes. So, miles walked: 7 things accomplished: 0 definitely a day to be proud of.

Lets find out how good this blog really is

W's dad referred me to a job with the city of Oakland that paid well, but required no experience. Sounded like my kind of gig. But they decided to make my life difficult and not allow email or fax submissions. So, while W was at work her "aunt" Rosita was nice enough to drive me to downtown Oakland to drop it off. I was up until very late the night before filling out the second page of the application I somehow hadn't seen before. It had 4 essay questions and wanted a 3 page writing sample. So I decided to pick out 5 of my favorite blog posts arrange them in chronological order and attach them to my application. When W got home, we actually walked to dinner and then walked for a while afterwards. So the fitness campaign is going well, and so (I hope) is the job search.

Just when you thought things were fabulous

The great job phone call I thought I got yesterday was actually from a week ago. Whomever made the call has apparently decided that I kept her waiting too long and has not yet returned my call. Tomorrow I guess I'll call and say I'm sorry I was out of town, but would love to be considered for anything else you have. I have 2 other jobs that I"ve applied for with them and would prefer they not forget about me. I tried to unpack myself some too. The contents of 4 giant suitcases are now slowly and osmotically spreading themselves throughout the condo. W and I sat around last week deciding that we are getting far too fat, so we started exercising today. We took a nice 2 mile walk around the bay that seemed like we were walking against the blustery bay wind in both directions. The next time we walk I'll be sure to bring the camera the views of planes landing in oakland, and the city are fabulous.

An encouraging day

Today was encouraging, but also very very long. A 7:15 a.m alarm led to rushing out the door to catch a cab at 8:30. A $30 cab fare and much traffic dodging later we arrived at the airport with 4 huge bags and 4 carry on bags. We managed to get 3 of the 4 bags to weigh less than 50 pounds. the 4th weighed in at 70 pounds. That of course costs and extra $25 but I'm pretty sure I don't want to know what same day delivery of a 70 pound package costs from fedex. The plane we were supposed to get on in Tampa arrived 15 minutes after we were supposed to take off, and then they announced because there were storms in the midwest we would have to take a longer northern approach to denver. So we thought for sure we would miss our connection in denver. After a little hustling through the terminal and an impatient ride on the train we arrived just as they were calling our names at the gate, and jumped right on the plane in the last two middle seats available. Because we rushed so much we never managed lunch and arrived in San Francisco starving. That seemed like a good enough excuse to go to Favorite India restaurant in Hayward, where we could get a whole bunch of Indian comfort food for cheap. After a marathon trip to Costco for some groceries, we finally arrived "home". Yeah, that still feels a little weird. But I was welcomed by a message about a job interview at Blue Cross of California, and an email about another job. So, i'm encouraged at least that my efforts on the job boards has not gone to waste. I'll update about the job ASAP.

Yeah, I'm forgetting something

A cab is coming in exactly 6 hours to pick me up, but do you think I can sleep? There are lots of people who deserved a phone call to say I'm getting out of here, but they didn't get called. I told lots of people I'd grab a drink with them before I left, didn't do that either. So now the moment has finally arrived where I can't possibly accomplish anything else before I leave, and I'm sweating the small stuff a little bit. I know I'm coming back in a month, so its not that scary, but I sure wish there was a way to get it right the first time. Sure I could have planned better and prepared more ahead of time, but what fun is that. So here's to everyone for their love and support, I'll be back before you know it.

Tick Tick Tick

The final moments of my stay in Florida started counting down more quickly this weekend, but I crammed a ton of stuff into it. Friday we went down to Sarasota to have dinner with W's parents. Tom fired up some delicious bacon wrapped filets on the grill, and Felicity served up excellent sides and salad. We watched the movie 2 weeks notice and then snuck in a chilly late night swim. We got up fairly early saturday to wander around the farmers market. It was a beautiful, sunny and breezy spring morning and we enjoyed picking up some fresh veggies. Next I got to visit the new Whole Foods market. The foods were a little pricey, but the seafood looked excellent, and they had an impressive variety of beers. Next it was off to Cest la vie on Main St. for breakfast. My crepe was delicious and so was wendy's omlette. We went back, rounded up W's sisters and took off to Cypress Gardens. The drive from Sarasota was perhaps a little longer than we would have liked, but the rides were reasonably fun, despite being undersized. W and I were too wide at the hips to fit in the same car, so we had to split up, and I had to sit at an angle so the safetey bar would go all the way down on the wooden roller coaster. We werent there for rides anyway, we went specifically to see Switchfoot, one of W's favorite bands. We decided to get dinner right before the concert and waited in an insane line, but that meant we missed a few of the opening bands songs, which turned out to be a good thing. He was a Creed sound-a-like whose songs couldn't be differentiated from one another. After waiting 45 minutes, Switchfoot finally came on and played a great show. I'm not sure which was louder the music from the band or the screams of the throng of teenage girls behind us. After getting kind of lost on the way home and then missing the detour at the I4/I75 junction we eventually made it back to Sarasota. Sunday Felicity made us a delicious breakfast of waffles eggs and bacon, and then it was off to hang out with my mom and grandmother. After a while we took off on a dinner adventure visiting 4 closed sushi restaurants before settling in at Jo To's. Our sushi was amazing. After a follow up visit to the goodells, we made it home extremely late, since a stop at The Ale house was necessary for a zinger melt.

Where is the love?

It has been a busy couple of days, let me catch you up. Wednesday I really put my head down and packed like crazy, and then picked up W at the Orlando airport. We had dinner and a couple of drinks with her friend Mark and tried like crazy to catch up with Luerne but she had an audition that ran late and couldn't make it. Traffic on I4 still stinks both ways, but I managed to make the trip in under 2 hours each way. Thursday we were somewhat lazy, but managed to get out for sushi at my former number 2 sushi restaurant, but we received such lousy service that it is unlikely we'll be going back soon. Which is too bad, because the sushi was delicious once it actually arrived. As anticipated the party thrown by Muldoon and Cowboy Karl was bad, but it was bad in a more spectacular fashion than I could possibly imagine. No one showed up but W and I. She of course is beginning to believe that everyone at FPC is a flake, or a jerk who tells you that they're going to do something and then doesn't deliver. Unfortunately I've had trouble providing significant evidence to the contrary. So we snuck of to see Guess Who which for the most part we really enjoyed. It moved a little slowly in the beginning, but finished strong. So, its time to begin the whirlwind final weekend where I expect to have somewhat limited internet access, but I'll try my best to tell you about it.