Wednesday, March 28, 2007

12:34 PM - the shoemaker's elves

pardon the interruption...

My apologies to anyone who was browsing my site this morning and found it offline. Apparently there were some issues when GoDaddy merged my Domain Registration account with my Hosting account, causing them to not point to each other correctly. Everything is back to normal again; sorry for the inconvenience.

The "tech support" rep that I spoke with, however, was somewhat less than competent. She put me on hold no less than 4 times to go ask her colleagues how to solve my problem. She disregarded when I pointed out that the domain side and the hosting side were not pointing at the same IP address (which was the ultimate root of the problem) and told me, "It's supposed to be that way." Once the problem was fixed, she made an awkward attempt to sell me some bonus services for my "new website" even though I had already told her twice that I'd been operating the site since 2002. Every time she picked up the phone after placing me on hold, she called me, "Ma'am."

After all that, she wanted me to fill out a customer service survey? I turned it down, for her own benefit.

Monday, March 26, 2007

9:30 AM - ma vie en rose

medic!!

As some of you may not know, I get nauseous at the sight of my own blood. Years of living alone have taught me to muster some fortitude and slap on a bandaid, but I still panic every time I start bleeding.

Just now I was unpacking my boxes slowly and methodically, intending to only unpack a few essentials and leave the bulk of my stuff packed since I am only staying in this sublet for a couple of months. I was unpacking my bedsheets when I accidentally cut myself with a pair of scissors. The cut wasn't very drastic, but it bled a lot more than I had expected... There were no first aid supplies in the our bathroom yet, and I couldn't remember if I had found room in my shipped boxes for the large carton of bandaids I had in Vermont. I should point out that my packed boxes are well-labeled and I know most of what is in each box, because I knew I wanted to keep most of these things packed up through June for the move to permanent housing. Well. I was bleeding, and I had no idea which box the bandaids might have been squeezed into (if they made it at all!), so I just opened most of my boxes, wielding the traitorous scissors and dashing back and forth between the boxes (which I had carefully organized in several different rooms) and the bathroom, where I kept washing the trickle of blood off my hand.

Stuff that I hadn't intended to unpack is now exploded all over the apartment. Naturally, I found the bandaids in a box full of knives. That box, the last one I packed, was labeled "Truly Miscellaneous."

6:54 AM - mechanical ticking clocks are annoying.

habit

Yesterday I drove across the Bay Bridge for the first time in a year and a half. The experience was strangely uneasy.... When I drive, I am very specific about being in the "correct" lane to make myself feel comfortable; I know which toll lane I like, which lane makes me feel safest on the bridge, and which lane to be in to set myself up properly for the turns I need to make. Having not done it in a year and a half, I was unusually anxious and second-guessing my ability to drive... There's one ramp on the way back from San Francisco to Berkeley that is basically a concrete arc through the sky, and while it used to make me a bit cautious, last night was almost a panic. On a ramp that I've done hundreds of times.

I guess this illuminates something about my comfort zones and the way I operate.

The time in SF, though, was fantastic. L and F and I had another vegan brunch, and this time I actually helped out with the menu rather than sit passively and wait for everyone else to feed and pamper me. We made pumpkin scones with apricot jam, potato-leek soup, veggie sausage, and sliced fresh pears. It was a perfect rainy-day brunch, which L topped off with scenes of Elizabeth Taylor from Elephant Walk and some vegan chocolate chip cookies. I went to Rainbow Grocery twice in the same day.

Just now as I was writing this, I a) got rid of the bed that the woman moving out left behind and b) had all of my things delivered, including my new bed. Only two of the boxes were mangled, and one of them was my "clothing and costumes" box, and it doesn't look there was any damage in that one. I'm going to unpack some things and look for damage, and then take a long-overdue bath with the bubble baths that K sent.

Yay!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

11:48 AM - shake it... shake it...

the best part...

The best part about having my own blog is that I can post all of my silly links here. Remember the days when people would e-mail 200 of their closest friends the same picture of a cat? And then each of those 200 friends would forward it to their 200 friends, which might sorta be okay, except that you are all in the same circle of friends and you end up getting the stupid cat 200 times. So now, thanks to the miracles of modern technology, I can simply post this in my blog and forget about it.

Yet another funny thing on YouTube.

Other than that, I don't have much news. Yet. Car delivery and stuff delivery both seem to be stalled. It's so frustrating not to be able to drive to the cheaper grocery store or... that sort of thing.

I guess I'll just keep working on the things I can do from home. I'm going running today... that should be rewarding.

Friday, March 09, 2007

9:18 AM - wasting no time (three rings party)

and... loving it

Late last night, I went to a "secret" party hosted by Three Rings in conjunction with this week's Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. I brought along Lauren, who doesn't know much about Puzzle Pirates but is a huge fan of the evening's entertainment: Evolution Control Committee. I felt very spiffy to be on the guest list for a secret exclusive party. I mean... the invite had a secret password.

Before we continue, I just want to point out that I went to one Puzzle Pirate party before, and I had only just started playing the game, and it was an unsettling experience to walk around all night with a nametag that said, "Me mates call me Shantybones."

Naturally, this "secret" party had a huge line and nobody asked for the password. Guarding the door was Aya, who scored me my invite in the first place. We got to the front of the line, and I said, "Hi, Aya!" and she tried to shoo me into the party. We took a couple of steps in and I looked at Aya really hard and I said, "I'm Tony," and she gave me the "go away fanboy I'm obviously busy" look, shooing me even further into the party. Just as I was about to turn away, Aya's face lit up with recognition and she threw her arms around me, abandoning her post guarding the line. (As a side note: Lauren was convinced that the secret password was "Aye Aye" once she heard me say hello to Aya. Sigh.)

Inside the party I immediately saw Jay, who is the captain of my pirate crew. I smiled and said, "Jay!" and he responded with a friendly smile and, "I'm terrible with names." I told him I was Tony, got a blank stare, and so I had to tell him I was Shantybones. After that, we had a fun conversation catching up on all of the things that we'd talked about over the forums and IM, including his work at Apple, where he encouraged me to get recruited. The same pattern repeated when I met Jon, who mentored me with island design. I said, "I'm Tony," and shook his hand, and Jon was very nice to meet you, I'm going to talk to my friends now... Once I told him I was Shantybones, we had a fun time.

We left the party after Evolution Control Committee stopped playing, in part because Lauren and I both had important things to do the next day, like my web developer interview in North Beach this afternoon. As we were waiting for the MUNI, Lauren told me that I should have let her know that I had status so that she could work it for us. Hah. It was fun to make an appearance, and I'm sure I'll see more of the Three Rings crowd now that I'm around San Fran (and I promised Aya lunch, I think). My apologies to (Bia?), who I kinda blew off because a) I couldn't hear his name properly and b) people had turned one of the offices into a smoking room and I was hacking and coughing. I only have so many clothes for this excursion people, and I don't need to smell like filthy cigarettes for my interview today.

Anyway, wish me luck!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

2:41 PM - how to milk the system. moo.

a quick job update

Today I learned a trick to working with online jobhunting websites: update your information. I logged in today to update my address and contact information, and I received three recruitment calls in the following two hours. If nothing else, I'm definitely learning how to play nicely with recruiters.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

6:48 PM - where every street looks like the Cosby Show...

New York Citah!

On Wednesday, I officially left Brattleboro and began my move back to the Bay Area. The move involved a significant stop in New York City, which I hadn't visited for 8 years. The last time I visited New York, I absolutely hated it, but I had promised friends I would visit and wanted to hold true to that promise. Plus, I was overdue for a bit of vacation.

This time, New York was a blast. Eight years ago, my impression was that people were mean and the weather was unbearable. (100 degree heat in August). The weather was beautifully pleasant this time around, but the biggest change was in me: because I've spent 6 years in San Francisco, I now know how to navigate a city. After some initial reluctance to venture forth into the urban jungle, I found myself navigating the subways like a pro, poking my nose out at significant stops to take a look around and then popping back down into the subway care of my all-day multipass. I had lunch in Central Park, which was poised on the cusp of its spring thaw, and really just enjoyed being able to blend in.

Yes, people in New York still seemed somewhat abrupt, but I think that I have a much better understanding of the way things work. Living in a city requires a certain kind of mental fortitude and the strength to represent your own interest; now that I can function more successfully in an urban environment I can appreciate the mutual respect that passes between the predators of the city. Brianna talked a bit about what she had identified as an NYC "ethic" where people placed their own needs first, even at the expense of others, because everyone is expected to attend to their own needs. While that's not an attitude that I would embrace for myself, at least I have more insight into how things work, and don't feel threatened by it.

After Brianna and I scored seats and a nose-in-the-air expensive restaurant for Peter and his friend Dennis by assuming that our group had reservations (when in fact no one had made any), we went out to Eastern Bloc, a gay bar in the East Village. (I don't actually know where the East Village is... presumably in the East.) What was fun about this was that it wasn't the San Francisco "grope first and introduce yourself later" kind of bar, but instead people were actually introducing themselves and being warm and affection and fun. I actually *gasp* enjoyed flirting. The other interesting bit was that the bar had go-go boys pole dancing in their underwear; the first one had a nice body but his strongly Jewish facial features made me giggle a bit on the inside. Welcome to New York.

I also got to spend time with fellow Risley alum Lauren Berke at her studio. She's been developing an impressive body of illustration work since I last saw her eight years ago, and it was really wonderful to spend time with her over Orange Pekoe tea and hear what she had to say about what she does. She is brilliant, articulate, and insightful, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with her.

There were a few notable problems scheduling time to see some of the other people I'd been hoping to see. All the more reason to go back, hopefully!

I am safely nestled in to my sublet in Berkeley. I am overwhelmed by the odd feeling of comfort... I've spent the last several weeks applying aggressively for jobs, organizing the details of my move, wrapping up my non-profit job, packing, cleaning, driving, and working hard to try to make things happen smoothly, or in some cases happen at all. To finish all of that and suddenly be in a place where I know how to live and it's easy to meet my needs.... My stress level is surprisingly low at the moment.

I saw my ocean today, and it feels good to be home again.