September 26
It has been a fairly lousy weekend. I am looking forward to my business trip tomorrow. Is it a bad sign when your weekends - your fun free time - instead make you long for work?
I am trying to forget the past 48 hours and instead remembering my great (business) trip to San Francisco a week ago.
San Francisco!
Note:
San Francisco is one of the (probably) few cities in the US where you if you
see a member of the opposite sex walking down the street, and think "Mmm…
he/she is really good looking." Eight out of ten times they will be the
wrong orientation to appreciate your appraisal.
If he had not been blatantly gay, I would have sworn that the guy I bought a cappuccino from at a small waterfront café was hitting on me.
Him: "Ooooo… your accent is adorable! Where are you from?"
Me: "The Midwest. Ohio."
Him: "I love Midwestern accents. They are so earthy!"
Me: (thinking) Oookay….
Note:
Normally I dislike buying souvenir T-shirts of the "I was in [insert
place name here]!" variety. But I really wanted to find a T-shirt for
John that said "My girlfriend went to San Francisco and all she got for
me was this stupid T-shirt". Not surprisingly, I was not able to find
anything like this. That is my constant problem when I go shopping… I
start out with such a specific idea of what I want that I am completely unable
to find anything that qualifies. Then I just give up. Or I buy the first thing
that I see, just so I can get the shopping chore OVER with already. Fortunately,
San Francisco is the home of Ghiraradelli Chocolate, and you can't go wrong
with that. Unless you are a freak and don't like chocolate, or are allergic.
Friday, September 10
Near a fun city on a Friday night… gotta go out, man. Maybe not to par-tahy, but at least to see some sights.
Sarah told me to go to Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. The people at MDL told me to never never try to drive into the city and then find parking, especially on a Friday night or weekend. All things considered, I am glad that I took everyone's advice. Taking the BART in was a lot more straightforward and less painful then I, who never avails herself of mass transportation (other then airplanes) feared it would be. Once I got into the city, I took the MP line - a historic cable car - down to the very end of the line at the wharf, and then got off and just wandered for a while.
I am not a big-city girl at heart, even though I was born and raised in (the suburbs of) Cleveland, having spent all of my post-high school life in small-city places. Big cities just smell funny - that distinctive "city smell" that is a combination of pollution, humanity, and gasses from the sewers. That smell never fails to remind me of NYC, since that is where I first got a whiff of that methane-derived odor. Though I have to admit, that San Francisco, at least the parts that I was in, smelled more like salt and wind then anything else.
For the record, I don't dislike large cities. I like them just fine. Just, maybe, not to live in. I like a bit more personal space then is generally available in cities. Visiting cities, though - I like that. SF is making my top five so far... right up there with Boston and Seattle.
Saturday, September 11
I started out early in the morning and drove down the coast to see the aquarium in Monterrey (another recommendation from Sarah). After the aquarium, I continued down Highway 1 through Carmel-by-the-sea and down along the coast to just past Big Sur and back.
California has some climate oddities. Microclimates.
Inland, the weather was just beautiful… clear blue skies, golden sun, everything was glowing. On the coast, the fog was rolling in from the ocean in thick, grey waves. The wind in from the sea was also strong and cold. I bought a fleece to wear when I stopped in Monterrey, and was glad of it.
It was hard to drive down the twisting and winding road while simultaneously staring over the cliffs at the ocean. It was indescribably beautiful. I kept pulling over to take pictures every 25 feet or so, despite the less the optimal weather. At one point I climbed down a path to the beach, rolled up my pants, took off my sandals, and walked in the surf. The ocean water was shockingly cold. Now I have stood in the ocean on both coasts.
Sunday, September 12
I went into the city again this morning.
There was a big deal bike race in the city this morning, and one of the most important parts, a stretch up Taylor Street and then a sharp left on Union Ave, literally ran right under the front balcony of S's (one of my co-workers at MDL) Russian Hill apartment. I stopped by for a little while for the view. And what a view. I cannot even comprehend how unbelievably masochistic a person has to be to race a bike up down up down up down and all around the hills of San Francisco.
Buffalo Street hill, eat your heart out.
Despite this, I got on a bike myself a little later. After watching a couple of laps of the race, I wandered back to the waterfront and rented a bike for the day. S had told me that you could bike over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and then take the ferry back. Since this is San Francisco, I can say without either irony or exaggeration that is was uphill all of the way. Uphill, and into some pretty stiff headwinds coming off of the bay. If I didn't pedal with all of my might, I was in danger of being blown backwards and away.
Speaking of being blown away - while biking by a park by the marina, I passed several people (this one is for you, Eric) who were flying stunt kites. One guy was sitting on the ground with his legs stretched out and braced in front of him, and he was still getting pulled across the field by his kite.
The geography of San Francisco might not be terribly bike friendly, but the city and the people in it sure are. Much more so then Dayton. There were bike racks and signs admonishing drivers to "share the road!" all over the place.
Sausalito was beautiful. I surprised myself by thinking "I could live here" as I was biking around the town. I mean look at it, couldn't you?
It would be a killer
commute to San Leandro, though. I could telecommute it, but, as John so succinctly
put it, "If they will let you telecommute in, they will just have you
telecommute your ass in from Dayton." And he is right. Besides the fact
that I just moved down there only a bit over a month ago and have no desire
to pack up and move again, I promised John that we wouldn't look at another
relocation (either buying a house or moving to an RE office in a different
city) for at least a year.
The ferry that I took back from Sausalito was actually the wrong one, and it went to pier 1 instead of pier 41. So what? I just biked back along the harbor front along the Embarcadero, dodging every thickening crowds of oblivious pedestrians because there was NO WAY I was going to bike in the street, bike helmet not withstanding. You know the song that goes "…I left my heart in San Francisco…"?
There were all sorts
of heart sculptures along the Embarcadero. I thought that it was very cute.
September 25
John is moving in today. Or, to be more precise, about 80% of John's stuff is moving in today. John will be returning to Ypsilanti after dropping his stuff off because he still has to finish cleaning and fixing up his house and in general prepairing it to go on the market. And please let it sell quickly. Before rates go back up again and winter sets in.
I really am looking forward to this, because my moving three hours away was really going to start to put a crimp in our dating lives. And what with the rather substantial amoung of traveling I have been doing for my job, and the fact that John's new job down here will require a much more moderate amount of travel, and that we are both workaholics... really, the only way we were ever going to get to see/spend time with each other is if we are living together.
I am looking forward to it, but at the same time I am rather apprehensive. After all, I have lived by myself (unless you count fish and a cat as room mates) for the past 6+ years. I have gotten very used to having a lot of "me time" by myself, living on my schedule, with all of my stuff just the way that I like it. And if sometimes my schedule meant staying up till 3am watching the Food Network and recoding css files, well, that was just fine. But now I am looking at living with someone else, and all of his stuff and his schedule, and I am hoping that I do not either start to feel smothered by the constant togetherness or go crazy because he has forgotten to completely wring out the dish scrubbie and put it on the edge of the sink next to the dish soap and has instead just left it sitting in the little puddle of water in the sink......
It is the lifestyle change that is making me nervous, certainly not the person I am making it with. I love John a lot and I wouldn't have asked him to move in if I wasn't crazy about him. But my obsessive compulsive Type A little heart is crying out at the fact that I will no longer have complete control over "my space". This will henceforth be known as "our space".
3:45pm
John has been and gone and his stuff is in piles in my apartment. And I am trying to get it all cleaned off and stuff unpacked as much as I can. I wish - and please don't take this the wrong way, John - but I really really really wish that you had dusted off and wiped down stuff before you boxed it up and put it all in the UHaul. It seems like everything is covered in a thick layer of grime and dust and dirt and my allergies are in full swing. I had to vaccuum out the dresser before I could even think about trying to wipe it out. I even had to wipe dustbunnies and cobwebs off of the books. I am fairly fastidious and I hope that this is not a sign of "cleaning issues" on the horizon.
September 23
Sometimes I wish I could talk cat. Not in some cutsey "Dr. Doolittle" kind of way, but so that I could ask Merlin some questions and get understandable answers.
Like: Why do you follow me around whining so much lately? I know that you can't be hungry, because whenever I go to check out your dishes, you have plenty of food and water. Maybe you just want the lights on so you can see what you eat? Because I have noticed that when I feed you in the morning you won't start to eat until I go back to the utility room and flip the light switch. If that is the case, maybe I should just put a stool in there so you can reach the switch yourself.
Also: Don't you know that it is much harder for me to do sit-ups when you come and sit on my stomach and lick my chin? Or maybe that is exactly why you do that...?
And finally: What is with the plants? Why do you keep eating the plants? They always make you throw up. And how are you managing to reach them anyway? I thought I had them all on high enough shelves.
Please stop eating the plants.
September 20
I was shocked. Everyone was shocked. Of course I went to the funeral. What else could I do? I didn't know him as long or as well as most of the other people there, but I still cried during the eulogies. He was wild and crazy and had an irreverent and off-the-wall sense of humor. He was a great guy who saw something to like about everyone and found common ground with all sorts of people, and everyone he met couldn't help but like him back. He was a great guy to work for and with. I will never meet anyone quite like him.
Afterwards, before the open house, a lot of the current staff and DBD alums went to Dominick's and raised a glass or two in his memory and swapped some stories. It was appropriate. Stephen loved Dominick's and he loved telling stories and jokes.
I don't know what I think of god or heaven or any of that, but it doesn't matter... Here's to you, Stephen, where ever you are. You will be sorely missed.
September 15
Home again tomorrow, and hopefully there will be none of the problems with massively delayed flights that so plagued my trip out here. I am going to be getting back to Dayton late enough as it is... I don't need any airline delays to further drag out the process.
I think that I have a good handle on what needs to be done for this project, and have made a good start on the necessary work. It has certainly helped to be able to come out here and meet everyone face to face to get the background information. Which I suppose means that this has been a successful and worthwhile trip. Everyone wants to know when I will be coming back onsite, and the answer is that I don't know. (It is too soon to know!) I need to check my travel schedule for my other projects. Plus, while the hotel here is quite nice, I have gotten really tired of it. And I really need to do some laundry.
My last night in San Francisco. Should I go to the city for one last (short) fling before my flight tomorrow? I think that the answer to that question ought to be obvious.
September 14
To add to my list of stuff to do when I have free time: learn Dutch.
(Ha ha ha ha! Free time! Ha!)
Between Old Norse and Middle English from Cornell, actually being in Germany (and other European cities of note) for part of a summer to study medieval architecture, and singing "Innsbruck" and "Est Is Ein Schnee" and other such songs with Singabar I have picked up enough of a smattering of understanding of modern German that I can almost understand one word out of every eight when listening to my co-workers chatter in Dutch.
It is enough to make me wish occasionally that I had studied at least one useful foreign language in college. Oh, yes, well okay. Arabic. But that is really only useful right now if A) I wanted to work for the government (I don't). B) I wanted to visit an Arabic speaking country (actually, I do... but as a blonde American non-Muslim woman that would not be the best idea given the current political situation). Or C) if I was at all fluent anymore, which I am not (over five years of not practicing will do that to you).
So. Dutch. Maybe I can start by listening to language CDs in the car?
September 13
Not home yet… still in San Francisco for the next couple of days.
I could talk a lot about what I am doing here when I am being a tourist and not working, but pictures are worth a thousand words, and I have taken so many pretty pictures that I figure the comprehensive trip report can wait until I can integrate my pictures and my words. And since I left the cable to connect my camera to the computer at home… there you have it. Isn't anticipation FUN?
So much for my persona as "tourist". As for work, the core reason for this trip out to Never-Never Land, I have been thinking… yes, I know how dangerous that can be, but I have been thinking anyway.
After long thought on the subject, I have decided that I will not be writing much, if anything at all, about my projects at RE. I had to sign a lot of non-disclosure agreements before I started work here, and RE is very very serious about its non-disclosure agreements. There are all sorts of legal issues with clients and databases and proprietary information and software and interface development, which I won’t bore my 2.5 readers with. Suffice to say that he who controls the information (knowledge is power) controls the markets, and RE wants to retain its stranglehold on its market. As a result I can’t talk about stuff that is going on here. I could, but then I would have to kill you. And then I might be fired for disclosing confidential information.
My supervisors know that I have a website, and I know that they know about my site, and they know that I know that they know, and so on and so forth. So I will just skirt the issue entirely and not post about work. I like my job and would like to keep it.
There is nothing to stop me from talking about computers and politics and programming and news and tech stuff in general and my personal projects and photography and the funny thing I saw while I was walking down the street the other day, but ix-nay on the ork-way.
And with that word from our sponsor, we can return to our regularly scheduled broadcast.
September 7
Chuck thinks that I look to good to be a computer geek. I think that I know too much about interface design, css, xhtml, php, asp, perl, and ia (too name a few things) to not be one. And since I also read comics, watch anime, like kung fu movies, and game (as often as I can) I am about as far into the geek category as I can be. Well, okay... I am not a huge Star Trek fan. Nor do I shun the outdoors and natural light. So sue me. I am still a geek, and darn proud of it.
I got to spend the holiday weekend in Ann Arbor, hanging out with all of the villians up there and helping John paint his living room. (It is no longer that shade of avacado/sage green that I so disliked. Now it is a nice, light, buttery, yellow. Yay!) Despite the fact that I have tons of stuff going on at work that all needs to be done NOW NOW NOW, I totally slacked off. It felt great.
I am on the road again tomorrow, this time to San Leandro, for just over a week. I have just been assigned to a new project, and the movers and shakers that be think it is best if I travel to the site for a while to get all of the background, meet everybody, and get a good start before I come back to Dayton to continue the work. So, off I go to the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.
I don't know if I will be able to post while I am out of town. Sure, I will keep writing entries and working on my redesign and such, and if there are connection "issues" I will just post everything en masse when I return.
Damn. I gotta go and finish packing.
September 1
I like Centerville pretty well so far. But since I have only been living here for just over a month, I suppose that this is still the "honeymoon" phase of moving. I am still exploring and settling in and meeting new people and finding new places and everything is still all glittery around the edges. Eventually I suppose, the shine will start to wear off and I will begin to view my new home with either indifference or boredom, so I ought to savor this settling in period while it lasts...
I like Centerville. But I still miss Ann Arbor, and I especially miss the people in Ann Arbor.
Got to see one of them tonight, though. Chuck was down at the WPAFB for business meetings, so I went out to Fairborn after I got out of work, picked him up at his hotel, and we went out for dinner. Just eatin' and talkin'. Catching up and shooting the breeze. And DAMN was that nice. It has only been a month (less then that for the people that I saw at Pennsic) but it feels like much longer then that sometimes. Because I don't know people around here, either socially or at work, very well yet, I have been doing a lot of holding my weirdness in and trying to act more normal so I don't freak them out too much. It was nice to really get to relax around someone and feel like I could be myself and not worry about what kind of impression I was going to make. (Because Chuck ALREADY knows that I am a total freak.)
It can get hard to meet new people when you move someplace and no longer have the benefit of being in school and having to actually go out and look for social interaction rather then being able to sit back and having your pick of social situations and activities. (Ah, the benefits of being a college student!) I miss my friends in Ann Arbor. I miss singing practice and FKABN and Catan and fencing by the clocktower and mass migrations to the movies and just getting together and hanging out with all of them... I can't wait till the weekend, when I go up there to visit.