12 August << 2001 >> 12 September
I just walked Jessica to her car. She got back from Taiwan last week and so she dropped by tonight to say hello, and show me photos, and catch up on gossip.
Last Friday I got to go with the Oaks Project to lobby State Assembly Member Dion Aroner about state energy policy. It was my first time being directly involved with the Oaks. We met first that the Unitarian Universalist center in Berkeley. I parked behind another silver Insight that had a few more progressive bumper stickers than my own. It belonged to one of our troupe. Since I was new to this stuff I was assigned note-taking duty. Public office is fascinating and weird.
Then on Friday night I met up with a bunch of Illinois friends and we checked out the DNA Lounge up in the city. We met at Ari's place first, which is a sight to behold, then we carpooled over to the club. It wasn't too crowded, as they haven't been open long nor have they had a promoter for Friday nights yet. You can read all the gory details on their web site. The music was techno and trance. The way this works, as Ari explained to me, is you catch the beat, then you keep dancing until you don't want to dance any more, then you dance another two minutes, and you start to feel awesome.
It seems to work that way. It is a bit of a change from hanging out with my other friends, who enjoy clubbing in large part for the mack - or as you you old-school hipsters might call it, flirting with some fine young honeys. It is a splendid art that I am just beginning to pick up with any sort of assurance. To make the night complete, I exchanged contact information with a pretty gal in a stunning dress, who was hangin' out with this handsome, French, PhD student. I also danced long enough to appreciate the music. I got both worlds going on, because I'm all that.
Anyways, me and Moshen grabbed a cab back to Ari's place, except we either confused or got taken by the cabbie, as there was some missing distinction between Harrison and Hamilton. My car was back at Ari's, on Hamilton. Once we'd said Harrison, though, where the club is on, the cabbie said there was no street, or something like that, and we got over on to 101 and retraced my driving steps from there. Like, $25 in cab fare. Oh no.
Saturday I met Yiling in Fremont and we took BART up to the city and trekked around several miles, checking out a total of one apartment open house, down in the Mission, which is pretty ghetto. But it was fun just cavorting around the city. I got to walk along Castro for the first time - gay neighborhoods are the best, I like to think. Castro's up high, too, so you get some awesome views. We wound our way from here to the Haight district, where the other place I had happened to see on Craigs List wasn't as open an open house as one might expect. That's just as well.
My lease is up 29 March. I'll probably be moving then. I figured I'd just start window shopping at housing up in San Francisco, which is far cheaper and more available than it was last year. Where I'll be living in November is anyone's guess, probably Joe's back room for a little while. The trick is I want to follow the job. Well, that's not tricky. The trick is finding a job.
Just as you can actually find plentiful rentals in San Francisco, so too can you find plenty of SysAdmins. From what I can tell, each open position has a hundred or more applications. I've had a few phone screens, and an interview or two, but that's it. I've whittled my resume in to a sharp pointy thing that I keep jabbing at recruiters. Occasionally it sticks long enough, but you have to drive it through the recruiter and in to a hiring manager. Ungh! Take big effort!
I was thinking it might be fun to come up with a little glossy propaganda-like brochure to send to employers for fun, and to get noticed for initiative and moxie. We'll see what comes of that.
While I've been living cheap, I bought some toys today. They are, oastensibly enough, for recruiting purposes. I snagged a digital answering machine for $25, and a cool phone / clock / radio thingy for $30. Another $5 for connectors, and I have myself a regular home office. I must praise AT&T for providing superior telecommunications products for the home.
Well, the money lasts about as long as my rent does. Come September, I'll be broke as a dog, or something like that. That's when the character really starts to build. I must also praise the State of California for my weekly $230 unemployment check. Huzzah!
12 August
<<
2001
>>
12 September
/journal
dannyman.toldme