Thanksgiving Day

I went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Hadn't planned to. Just one of those things. Tom emailed me asking what I was doing for Thanksgiving. My reply: nothing. He said he had no plans and was wondering if I could think of anything interesting to do. I suggested the parade. Shortly thereafter Adam calls to say he's coming into NYC and wants to go to the parade with me. So 8:05 am I was standing on the corner of 66th St and Braodway waiting to meet up with Adam to watch the parade. His dad came along with him. Late, as usual. However, we were still early enough to find a good viewing space on 65th and Broadway. I've watched the parade from that corner almost my entire life.

It was nice being with Adam for a few hours. After the parade we strolled back to Broadway and settled in at a cafe with tables outside. This meant we could smoke with our coffees, so of course we lingered. The weather was quite warm, in the mid-60's at least. Adam gave me a new cell phone and switched my sim card into it. I'm in the process of rebuilding my phone addressbook so anyone I know who is reading this, please send me your preferred contact phone number to add to it.

It was early on a warm summer's evening in the 1970s, as I stood in a palm plantation high on a green hillside in western Java, that I saw for the first time, silhouetted against the faint blue hills of faraway Sumatra, the small gathering of islands that is all that remains of what was once a mountain called Krakatoa.

-Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester

Two interesting web sites recommended to me by a friend.

The Pilgrims of Russian-town 70 Years Later, Stephen Scott

Linguaphiles' Journal

Two product warnings -

The US post office. Don't be mislead by their fraudulent so-called Priority mail. There's nothing priority about it except the name. Mail sent this way costs 20 times First class and doesn't get there any faster. In fact, it often gets there slower.

Second warning is Firefox. I'm very sad to say that while I tried Firefox and really liked it when it was in Beta, when they recently released the final official version 1.0 what they released was complete CRAP. I have no idea what happened but the nice program that did what I wanted it to and was fairly stable has turned into a complete and utter pice of crap. Of course, like most open source software, they think they are doing you a favor and therefore can be arrogant and rude and not supply any documentation. They can also not supply any help or tech support or explanations.

On a nice note, Andrew's in Vienna. I hope he has a fantastic time. I have 5 days off from work and plan to catch up on sleep. I've been suffering from major fatigue due to too little sleep and the disruption of my entire day/night activity cycle. I had intended to walk a bit today but it's raining so that's a great excuse to slob around the house instead.

Andrew is off to Vienna today. I hope he has a wonderful time there, takes loads of photos. I loaned him my digital camera. I was very excited about that camera when I first got it but it's amazinghow fast things change and now what I want is a really small thin one.

I'm listening to the Dresden Dolls, "Coin Operated Boy". I need to get more of their music and see if it's as good as this song.

Night work is still messing up my energy/sleep cycles. I'm off for 5 days for Thanksgiving. I'll be working on my resume and looking for a new job. I really need to get back to a normal day job.

I can see I'm babbling. I had something I wanted to blog about but I've forgotten.

Awesome, awesome solar video website!

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/spaceweather/lenticular/96_01seq_new.mov

You MUST see this! Simply must. 'Nuff said.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!

Yes, today is Andrew's birthday. He's 21; an interesting milestone in life.

So, we met this morning and went off to have a birthday brunch (with a small side trip to the bank to deposit my paycheck which FINALLY arrived - only 2 weeks late).

Amyway, a pleasant morning meal with Andrew - and he will stop by again in a few days to pick up his birthday present. I also loaned him my new digital camera for his trip to Vienna next week. I look forward to seeing the photos he'll take.

I won't go into any philosophical outpouring about Andrew's birthday. He and I had a very nice conversation over breakfast this morning and I'm not particularly inclined to share with outsiders. It's not that kind of blog.

One thing we did talk about, and agree about, was people who live too much of their lives on the net. We substitute the net for a life and think that that is functional. It's not. The internet is not now and never has been "a life". Entertainment, hobby, employment, relaxation, distraction, information but not life.

I'm feeling pretty crappy at the moment. I just finished my second full week working installing/migrating/configuring computers and still haven't gotten paid yet. So that's actually the first partial week and then 2 full weeks pay they owe me. We were told so many different stories about when we'd be paid that I've gone thru all the stages of annoyance to anger to despair. The latest story is that they were delayed and rolled the first partial week's pay into the first full week's pay and then after being told several times that the checks were being processed and sent out, finally, in writing, told tthe checks were mailed out Thursday and should be here Saturday. Yeah, right. It's Saturday and the mail came and, what a surprise, no check.

FUCK!

Possibly it will be here in Monday's mail. The post office has been VERY slow delivering mail the past few weeks. My postlady claimed it was the massive amount of Xmas mail starting early. This is also bullshit.

I don't know what it is but it seems to me the bullshit level of life has recently increased to impossible levels. I don't think it's just that I'm looking at things through jaundiced eyes because I'm depressed. I think it's really so. All around me I see people just going through the motions. Doing as little as possible, as slowly as possible, with as little thought or effort as possible. This infuriates me because I sincerely always try to give what I do my best effort. Perhaps I should change my style and start becoming a slacker, too?

Anyway, I'm terribly upset at not being paid yet. Mind you, it's a 90 minute commute to work in New Jersey and the transportation costs me about $15 round trip each day. And this is to work that awful 5pm to 12 midnight period that screws up your sleep and wrecks your day. So my personal and financial costs for this job are a daily strain.

Arrgh, I don't usually rant quite like this. But this is simply awful. Simply awful. I feel like I'm no longer looking into the abyss but IN it. Damn, someone has to help me find a better job, a real job.

The work situation in New York City is really terrible. There are just so many people looking for work and so many companies laying off people. We are becoming a society of migrant cyber-workers. Buy us by the dozen, we're anonymous hands. Buy us by the hour and toss us away when finished. New hands always available. Easy-peasy. No wonder companies are getting away with forcing their staff into unpaid 60+ hour wook weeks. I've lived with that myself. Full time, permanant staff are all classified as exempt (ie no overtime) by a series of sleazy manouvers and ebnding definitions and rules. Snap, people routinely working 9am - 8pm and later, working weekends, working, working, working. So easy for companies to use/abuse workers now. So easy to outsource. Anyone who says outsourcing doesn't hurt the economy, doesn't hurt American workers is not just a liar, they're a damn liar. And they know it.

Yes, I'm ranting again. But the middle class is shrinking. The sides are pulling apart. And the ugly consequences are becoming very visible.

Hope your lives are more settled and positive. We now return you to your own realities.

First night at work went well! Commuting there takes a long time but it's relatively straightforward. Going home, I got a lift to my door from one of the other techs who lives in Brooklyn. Hopefully we can work it out so he'll do that every night. That would be ace.

Friday Andrew came over and we went to my local post office to apply for his new passport. Turned out, my post office had a clueful woman behind the counter. She was careful but helpful! What a shock ;) WIthin the hour Andrew's papers were certified and accepted for processing. He didn't need me at all- which is how his local post office *should* have done it on Thursday. I really hate incompetent civil service people, esp USPS jerks who seems to make a complete speciality of being the biggest jerks possible.

Anyway, having a relaxing weekend. Work starts for real on Monday.

So it's all set. I go in tonight for a training session, then Monday start a 3 week work contract. Get paid for the training tonight and paid each week. I'm a happy bunny.

Just spoke to Andrew. He has to renew his passport and his local post office are not only complete morons but giving him grief about it. He's going to meet me tomorrow morning and we'll go to my local post office instead and he'll renew it there. If there's any aggro, I can legally "identify" him.

Looks like I've got a 3 week temp gig doing an XP rollout for some financial institution. It's in NJ but not a bad commute from the Port Authority terminal. It's at night so my days will be free to continue job hunt and interviews.

My contact for temp jobs says my resume needs redoing. He's right, I haven't been happy with it. I -HATE- doing resumes.

Anyway, this means cash flowing in to Chez Barb again. I'm much relieved. If I could be sure of a steady supply of temp jobs I would be tempted to stick with that for a while. I'm in the middle of making some major life changing decisions - and this would give me some wiggle room untill I know what country I really want to concentrate my job search efforts on.

Ah well, we shall see. First I need to do this work successfully. I've already googled the specific tasks involved and done some serious refresher studying.

No need for flu shots here

When is a cold not a cold? When it's the flu. Well, lucky me, no need for a flu shot this year.

Four and a half hours - yes, 4 hrs and 30 min- WASTED by bastard ad/spyware crap program silently(invisibly) installed without my permission. Worse, without the permission or knowledge of the owner of the original artwork package I was trying to download. So now, 4 1/2 hours later, my PC is once more clean. HijackThis confirms it. And even more important, the horrified and mortified artist is now on the phone with her hosting service asking them what the hell is going on. Then she says she intends to change hosting services over the weekend.

What a nightmare.

Hello World.

Very strange...I get a call on my landline phone late this afternoon, about 4pm. Man says, Hi, This is Giovanni, is this Barbie? Nice, polite, well modulated voice but not familiar. And err, I never call myself Barbie. But, I meet a lot of people and who knows what name they may think of me as? So I say, This is Barb but I don't know any Giovannis so where do you know me from? He says, but we've talked so much on the chat line.

Bzzzt!

No, wrong answer. I've -NEVER- chatted on a phone chat line. I tell him, sorry no way. Never use them. He insists, very politely, that he recognises my voice. I don't think so.

I tell him someone must have given him my name and number but it's not me and I'm not interested. He says lets chat anyway. Jeez, what is this, some new pick-up technique? (This is all the shorthand version obviously) He's very apologetic and extremely polite, sounds as if he thinks this is weird, too.., says he's so sorry, please excuse and we end the call.

Now I'm doing a paranoia-instant replay and wondering if it was a simple mistake or some new scary criminal ploy? Like identity theft set-up or some deviant sex thing.

Arrgh! I know I should have just said - sorry, don't know any Giovanni- and just hung up. I didn't give out any info except yes there is a Barbie/Barb/someone at the number he dialed. But still, it's freaking weird.

Back in the old USA

A relatively decent flight. Saw two very amusing films: Saved, which is a excellent little send-up of the whole evangelical jesus-is-your-personal-saviour nonsense and the remake of The Stepford Wives. Stepford Wives didn't have the taught dark horror of the original. We've moved on and such topics are now simply more comedic fare. Be that as it may, the film wasn't particularly funny, at least not in the intended bits. Lots of unintended humour for me, I assume so from the fact I was laughing when others weren't. However, Bette Midler was great, she was so perfect and so funny. She made the film for me. I seriously think Bete Midler is enormously underappreciated as a great comic actress. But then we don't really like great comediennes as a society. Perhaps we allow Lucille Ball the honours but we're very unforgiving of others. A damn shame.

Anyway, Newark airport has a relatively painless Immigration and Customs set-up. Bravo Newark Airport!

Arrived to cold drizzle. Today is cold drizzle. Dark, gray, wey.

Cashed my damn check, paid phone bill and rent. All's right with the world. Kinda-sorta. Back to the job search.

Actually ended up speaking up at the last moment in London about some serious issues - got the usual frustrating, "why didn't you tell me yada-yada. I had no idea yada-yada." We'll see. More needs to be brought up and discussed. It will be.

On my way back home, I'm on my way home

The cab will be here in about 90 min to take me to Heathrow for my return flight. A nice time here but frustrating as we didn't settle the issues I came here to settle. So, I shall consider that an answer and act accordingly; not much choice otherwise I suppose.

I just keep thinking it's another case of "you don't know what you've got till it's lost" ...

Ah well. Ave atque vale, London and all that.

Holiday* in London still going well*.

* For the set of definitions of "holiday" that include business as usual, previous commitments, unfair practices, house cleaning, etc.
* For the set of definitions of "well" that include having a pleasurable time but exclude serious talk.

Yeah, yeah, having fun. The seamed black stockings and 5" high heels getting lots of milage.

Also, setting up job interviews for next week.
Going to pick up some goodies for Kate this weekend. Already got stacks of books and goodies for others to bring back.

Yesterday we went to the National Portrait Gallery to view an exhibition on Women Travellers. Small but remarkable exhibit of their portraits and their associated momentoes, sketches and work. Well worth trekking into town (and more of the endless long walks) to see. And another long walk after to have dinner at Cafe Pacifico. And then another LONG walk back to the train (I'd have been more than happy to take the tube - we passed 3 stations along the way!) and another long walk home from the train station at our destination. I like walking in nice weather. Not in cold wet windy weather.

I have a fairly nasty cold and today the weather is cold and drizzly -quite miserable. As we walk a lot here, this does not make it easier on me.

We're going into town shortly to meet for a marketing session. This is going to be a less than pleasant experience as I'm not going to play the nice, sweet, every obliging, optimist I usually do. Frankly, I've had it and intend to be blunt. I need a quid pro quo from now on. Btw, this is NOT my idea of what to do on a romantic or relaxing holiday.

Have I whinged enough yet? Just wait till tomorrow. That's been screwed up by a Labour party meeting in the evening. Thursday? The plumbers are coming for the annual maintenance. Friday? Pre-comitted to a dinner out with a bunch of friends. Saturday is actually FREE I think. Sunday is a ACCU meeting . And Monday I go back to the states.

Coming down with a stinking cold. Just figures, doesn't it. I'm determined not to let it spoil my time here in London. In about an hour we're going in to central London to the National Portrait Gallery. There's an exhibition on about 300 years of Women Travelers, not just their portraits but journals and objects they collected. Sounds good to me. Then dinner after at Belgo or Cafe Pacifico. Tomorrow's a marketing meeting. I don't really expect anything brilliant out of it. Same old people, same old crap.

Have I really been here almost 4 days? It's been nice. Very nice. Very, very nice.

From the secret fortress in London
OK, it's not a secret and it's not a fortress. But, it is London. And despite a long list of nightmarish obstacles , I've made it here safely.

And I having fun yet? Ummmmmmm yes!