Hello, I'm alive, and I'm employed...

...at least temporarily!

Sorry for the long vacation away from the blog, but I've been trying to find work, focus on the birds, and learn how to live with my parents again after 27 years out of their house. Thank you all so much for your kind comments and for coming back to the old bloggy. I don't know how much I'll be doing on this blog; politics has just become incredibly frustrating and joy-sucking.

The cool thing is living with two hard-core democrats like my Mom and Pop. We now take turns yelling at the TV talking heads; it's so cool to hear them say a lot of what all of us have been saying all these years! Who knew there were still a few hardy dems in Texas, other than those Texans on my blogroll!?

I've been here about two weeks now. I've applied for a bunch of interesting jobs--marketing, sales, administrative assistant, etc.--but I finally got a hit when I went to (of all places) the same temp agency I registered with in California. I'll be working in a call center resolving something or other at a certain huge national/world banking center. It's outbound calls, but at least I won't be selling anything. And at least I'll be making some money for a while; it's a temp appointment that'll last until sometime before Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, I'll keep plugging away, trying to get a "real" job, hoping someone likes my resume enough to give me a call.

Again, thanks so much for your support during my "migration" around the country.

Plans

And so it has come to this: if I can't get a job (or at least a promising interview) before the end of the month, I have to leave California.

It's not the ideal plan, I'll admit. Many people tell me that it often takes months to find work, especially out here in budget-wrecked California, but any fool could see that staying out here much longer is financially unwise. I've never been without work for so long at one stretch, at least not while trying to find work. It seems that things here in the Golden State are tougher than I imagined and while, as they say, "hindsight's 20/20," I am beginning to think that my desire for new lifebirds and greener pastures blinded me to just how easy I had it in PA and how long my savings (and loans) would last.

Yes, I was tired of the Pennsylvania snow.

And yes, I wanted to go someplace I'd always dreamed of living.

And oh sure, I felt like I didn't really "belong" in a state like Pennsylvania, where I was perhaps one of maybe ten hispanics in Centre County (I'm being generous; I only knew of me and my friend Ignacio) and where I'd only gone because of a now-defunct relationship.


AB keeps telling me that I can't look back now and judge my decisionmaking after it's turned out to be a total dud; if that were possible (or wise), no one would ever take a chance on anything. Or even get out of bed. But it's hard not to think about the fact that if I'd stayed, I'd still have a good job and I'd be with my girlfriend.

Must. Not. Think. About. That.


So where will I go, you ask? One of two places: Texas or Pennsylvania. BUT... the only way I can go back to PA is if I already have a job waiting for me.
...What, you think I didn't learn a lesson from this whole "Hey, I'm sure I'll find a job in a state where everyone's being laid off! Great idea!" fiasco?


I am furiously looking for work now through the same crap job-seeker engines (Monster, CareerBuilder, SnagAJob, etc.) that have failed to net me more than one interview out here in sunny NoCal. Don't think I've missed the irony of such a situation. At least The University has its own job Web site, though there's no telling the snail's pace at which The University might travel.
(Okay, okay, Mr. Unnecessary-capital-letter-policeman, I'm only capping "the university" out of respect! ...well, and a little karmic finger-crossing. Shhh.)

I know two weeks isn't a lot of time to find work anywhere, but this is the plan I worked out with my sainted father and brother, who are loaning me yet more money to pay the really late bills and buy food and stuff.

Yes, I'm 45 and still getting bailed out by my father. Perhaps I should run for president. I hear this kind of thing worked out great for the last guy.

I'm still trying to follow up on my California applications and apply for other positions, but at this point it's almost stupid to keep trying. I lost count after 60 of how many jobs I'd applied for, but I did get one interview (on my birthday, no less) that was going really well until they told me that although they loved my skills and experience, they didn't know when they'd be able to make an offer, much less hire me. Budget problems. Low sales. Downward trends. You get the picture. (I should've remembered that the last time I had a good birthday, I was in 9th grade and my dad was picking up all my little geeky friends and taking us to SkateLand for a big night of rollerskating to "Dancing Queen." It's like a curse, my birthday. Every stinkin' year.)

At any rate, AB is being really supportive, and we're both hoping that I can at least go back to PA and be with her. But again, I can't go there without a job, so I'll continue to hit the Interwebs super hard over the next week or so. This whole job-search is like a job in itself, a really boring one where I'm forced to write cover letter after cover letter, tailored to the specific job duties and my overwhelming ambition to work at Company X!, and fill out endless job-search-engine registration forms. I've gotten it down to a science, copying and pasting stuff into the blanks, but it's still mind-numbingly boring and soul-crushing.

The other night I couldn't sleep and decided to read a book I hadn't read before (those who know me know that I LOVE to re-read my favorite books, especially when I can't sleep). I noticed a book I'd gotten at a recent book sale, Barbara Ehrenreich's Bait and Switch, in which she "goes undercover" again, this time not as a minimum-wage worker (Nickel and Dimed) but as a middle-management-type white-collar jobseeker, applying for hundreds of jobs over the course of six months, paying for an image consultant, enduring life-coaching from several rather life-challenged individuals, attending endless "networking events," and ending up with nothing -- not even one interview.

Given my circumstances and my now quite fragile job-seeker self-esteem, reading this particular book might, just might!, have been a bad idea.

Table for Sisyphus, party of one! Table for Sisyphus!

I've really enjoyed California. It's beautiful, for one thing--you should check out the pics on my birdy blog--and I've gotten lots of new birds for my lifelist. (If you know what that is, you might be a geek.) The weather is lovely. But it's hard to enjoy the beauty when you know you have no job, no income, and not much hope.

- - - - - - -
On a lighter note, I'm excited to report that I'll be driving into Oakland on Sunday to visit Matty Boy. We're planning to bird at Lake Merritt and then go watch the Cowboys game. I'm totally pumped!

Eat your hearts out, bloggy gals!

Oh, I just thought of something: I haven't told him this bit of news yet, so if you're reading this post, Matty Boy, I'll give you more details on Sunday.

Meanwhile, if anyone knows of a job in the Rohnert Park area... anyone? anyone?

"No matter how bad it gets, it can always get worse."

Those were some sage words of advice from my dad one time when things weren't looking so good for me. I'm sure he meant them in the most positive and encouraging way possible, but they always just made me sad.

So you know I'm not having much luck with the job search, thanks to that whiny post from earlier today, but Matty Boy just called (which did cheer me quite a bit) and after we'd discussed how much I LOVED Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, he gave me some bad news: Princess Sparkle Pony has stopped blogging.

I remember finding the Princess through a googles search for god-only-knows-what, probably something on Condi, and I just about burst my liver open, laughing. The Ex didn't much appreciate the Princess' wry humor, but I thought it was quite possibly the funniest thing I'd ever seen -- a whole blog devoted to that crazy Condi's hairdo and such. Brilliant.

I was then introduced to the hilariously smart comments of such future bloggy pals as Matty Boy, FranIAm, and KarenZipdrive, all giants in the field who've gone on to make their own great bloggy contributions. Even I started blogging, and not just about birds!

I could go on, but it's just too sad. Suffice it to say that Princess, you will be missed.

God, how I hate looking for a job

I've been out here in the Golden State for almost a month now, and I'm still looking for a job. The longest it's ever taken me to find a job in my whole life (and I've had lots!) is two weeks, but we're coming on a month here.

I still say California is beautiful. I've enjoyed seeing new birds and new places, drinking new wines and decent tapwater. But this endless job-searching is making me hate life.

I started out applying to editorial positions -- there were a few, actually! -- then I went to the administrative assistant jobs. Now I'm filling out apps to be a assistant manager at "THE HUT" (Pizza Hut, for all us non-hip people) and completing questionnaires with questions like "When I go into a restaurant, right away I begin thinking about ways they could do things better." Fortunately, I could answer "DEFINITELY" on that one, as it's rare that a restaurant doesn't piss me off in some way. When asked about why I like coffee (on the Starbuck's app), I talked about how it brings people together and you can learn about it, like wines, only without the big wine price tag. I also added that even people who don't drink coffee know why others do. (I just left it at that -- mysterious, no?)

I'm exhausted by all this filling out of online apps and paper apps and stuff. And nary a word from any of the places yet. AB told me that most places work on a different time scale than I do; they take a couple of weeks or whatever, and then they get around to calling for interviews. But I'm broke, people! Hurry up! I can do your job, trust me!

So that's what's going on in my real life. In my birdy life, I'm having a blast. My life list is up to 212, and I've got all sorts of great pictures and stuff. The other day, I even went to one of those "gravity hill" type places near here and I swear to you, it looked like the car was rolling UP the hill backwards! So that's all cool.

What's not cool is paying $212 to register my vehicle. TWO HUNDRED TWELVE DOLLARS? I asked the DMV lady if that was for the lifetime of the car, but she said no, it's every year. In Texas, it was like 60 bucks. PA, about the same. What the hell is it about this place? How can the state be broke if they're charging each of the kabillion cars out here 212 bucks each year? That's messed up, man.

I'm trying to figure out how I'll know when/if it's time to just pack it in and go back to PA or something. I mean, what's the cut-off? I could borrow more money, though I don't want to. But I don't want to give up and start driving back, only to get a bunch of callbacks for interviews when I'm hitting Nebraska or someplace. But what's the cut-off?

a random thought

I once heard, "the rulers are not of the ruled." Truer words were never spoken; this truism explains so much about why our government is screwing us daily.

But today I started to wonder: just where DO the rulers come from? Old-money families? If that were true, Tom "Hot Tub Tom" DeLay wouldn't have had to make a living killing bugs. Power cabals? Please--like Darling Lindsey was ever part of anything powered besides a Folsom Street Fair Fucking Machine. (and no, I'm not inserting links--my Mac is old and I have to type out the HTML, and I'm too lazy and tired to do that right now)

So just where DO these sorry excuses for people come from? Ted Kennedy came from a rich powerful family, but he NEVER abandoned his liberal leanings or turned his back on the poor and powerless who believed in him. So where did these republicans come from?

Gone to Texas, baby

Photo credit, even though I believe it's real and not an urban myth!

...for my sister's wedding. Be back next Wednesday!

(I tried to find a YouSeriesofTubes version of the Texas classic "Gone to Texas, Baby" by Terry Allen, but I couldn't. Sorry!)

Note: Crossposted at the birdy blog.

East meets West at the East West

Well, Matty Boy and Karlacita! had lovely lunch today at Santa Rosa's kick-ass East West Restaurant. I had the Falafel Wrap which was HUGE, Karlacita! had the Falafel Plate, and Matty Boy split some Pumpkin Soup with his sis and ate a Denver Omelette. A great time was had by all, and we have pictures to prove it!

Note the lack of a picture with Matty Boy and me in it; I was temporarily sillified and just forgot. The poses were based on the "Grecian urns" routine in one of my favorite musicals (and obviously one of Karlacita!'s as well because the poses were her idea), The Music Man.

Special bonuses: intelligent conversation! scary squash that's like a foot and a half long and tomatoes from Karlacita!'s garden! The first season of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, on loan from Matty Boy! Pretty cool!

Matty's done his own post, complete with a picture of me and him tagethah, bruthah, and much better text!

P.S.--got carried away with all the !!! -- thanks, Karlacita!.

Breaking Texan news!

Along with such big names as Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Macy Gray (that singer with the raspy voice), Kathy Ireland (model), Ashley Hamilton (multi-untalented Shannon Doherty cast-off), Donny Osmond (professional has-been), and Michael Irvin (Super Bowl-winning former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver and cokehead-turned-preacher/lecturer), former effing Speaker of the effing House Tom DeLay (crook) will be tripping the lights fantastic on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

So to all of you who thought his career was washed up after all those inconvenient little legal troubles and stuff: look who's laughing now!

Today, Dancing with the Stars; tomorrow, the world! Dignity, people! Dignity!

Blogger Meet-up preview!

Tomorrow, I'm meeting the expert 'splainer of all things, Matty Boy of Lotsa 'Splainin' to Do, AND his sister, hilarious commenter Karlacita! in Santa Rosa! We'll be lunching at the East West Restaurant, which looks like a lovely place.

Pics and dish tomorrow after the meet-up!

Overwhelmed

driving over the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday

I've been too overwhelmed by this "moving to California" thing to even catch up on my politics, but I will say that, as Princess SparklePony's latest posts prove, there is no longer any such thing as sensible discourse or political debate in this country. If I hear one more goddamned word about "death panels" or "Palin plots divorce" or "freak takes gun to Obama healthcare town meeting and can't fucking figure out why the cops went nuts on his ass," I'm just going to tune out all together.

Come to my other blog and look at some pretty pictures. We just spent two days in San Francisco, and boy howdy--it was nice to see so many different characters and assorted kooks in one place. Toto, we're not in Central PA anymore.

Cross-postin' fer jesus**

Check out the latest California news at my other other blog.

**- I know the title makes no sense. It just sounded funny.

What scares me today

1. Google Voice. I heard about this yesterday, where you can get one phone number (assigned to you by Google) and route all your other phone numbers (cell, home, work, etc.) to that one Google number. Does anyone else think such a plan will make it just that much easier for the government (or anyone, for that matter) to monitor ALL our communications?

2. That the Right-Wing Media actually thinks Michael Steele can substantively and effectively "rip" anything, other than maybe a big fart. For the more realistic version of events, see Princess Sparkle Pony's report on the situation.

One giant leap

"Earthrise," taken July 20, 1969, from the Apollo 11 Command Module

Forty years ago today, Apollo 11 left Earth and began its journey to the moon. As a kid, I remember lying on the tile floor of our living room, sick as a dog from Montezuma's revenge after our yearly summer trip to my mother's mother's home in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The floor was cool, and my mom had placed a box fan on the floor to blow air on me. I had a fever and was throwing up everything I ate, but there was no way I was gonna miss that moon shot.

The biggest thing I took away from the Apollo moon landings, especially that first one, was the idea that we could do incredible things if we put our minds to it. The dreams of my generation involved the dreams of the entire planet, rapt with attention, watching that rocket take off and then, awestruck, watching Neil and Buzz walk on the moon. The entire planet! How many times has the entire planet watched the same thing and been so affected, so united? Sure, the Olympics often captivate the world--but those athletes, while they're doing things no regular person could do, aren't braving space and landing on the moon. And countries remain insular during the Olympics, with each nation's people rooting only for their own men and women.

Apollo and the moon landing united all people as one nation--we were all earthlings, not Americans or Russians or Germans or Australians.

Noble people and noble causes, inspiring us all. Do we have anything like that now? When the world comes together, what do they watch? What brings them together? American Idol? Some YouTube video? A sporting event? Perhaps the closest thing is the first few days after 9/11, but we had to experience such tragedy to know that kind of global closeness.

I feel sorry for those who didn't get to experience the moon landing, as well as the other moon missions, first-hand. I think kids today are incapable of imagining a world united for one purpose. They're incapable of imagining that we, puny humans that we are, can accomplish something so huge and so important and so difficult. Kids today are used to daily but somewhat meaningless and empty accomplishments -- cellphones that can take pictures and videos, or iPhones that can wipe your ass for you, or computers so fast you don't even have to wait more than a second for anything to open. Technological progress has become commonplace to them; they're impressed by the latest video game only for as long as it takes them to find another gadget to be impressed by.

The moon landings, on the other hand, impressed a generation of us in a way that is truly lasting. I will always feel that surge of joy and pride and accomplishment, as well as the resulting desire to know more: more about us, more about our universe, more about what we can do. When I see anything related to space, that feeling comes back to me just as strongly as it did back then, as I lay there on the floor, feeling sweaty and feverish but more excited and awe-struck than I had ever been or would ever be in my life. My life, all our lives, were changed forever.

I can't even listen to NPR anymore

In yet another instance of stupidity and bias, NPR pissed me off again (daily occurrence!) this morning.

At 8:30am (Eastern), some guy (can't remember the reporter's name) reported on the Sotomayor hearing yesterday, and he comes right out swinging the idiot-bat:

"So far, she's remained unflappable."

He could've said, "she's remained composed in the face of fucking ridiculous questions about nun-chucks and the like." But no -- he says she's remained unflappable, as if that's some kind of surprise. I guess we should all be surprised when a 'Rican doesn't pull a knife or start shouting obscenities in Spanish. You know how hot-blooded and volatile all we hispanics are.

Then he goes on to say, in his "she's doing well so far!" piece, that she "sounded like a Bush nominee" when she said that judges should be "strict interpreters of the Constitution."

Since when does a judge who declares this to be his/her philosophy automatically sound like a Bush nominee instead of just a judge who's doing his/her job? I guess since the Rovian machine started using that bullshit phrase along with the equally bullshit "activist judges."

Isn't every judge an interpreter of the Constitution, "strict" or otherwise? I mean, either you use the Constitution as your basis or you don't. And if you don't, you don't gain the kind of sterling record that Sotomayor has. And we all know that unless you're a "strict interpreter," you're pretty much an activist judge, and you're going to force women to have abortions while burning a flag and writing a check out to Osama bin Laden (remember him?). Oh, and you hate freedom and America.

I had to change the station at that point.

You know, in a small town like State College, there isn't really much variety on the radio. We have classic rock, oldies, that hip-hop/dance/top-40 crap, and that's about it. I try to remember the old days when NPR was actually a good news source, and I tune to 91.5 FM, and every freakin' day they disappoint.

I'll conclude by encouraging you to check out NPR Check (see my sidebar for the link). There's always an open thread, so you too can talk about the latest stupidity you've heard on NPR. I mentioned the topic of this post in a comment on the latest thread, but I was so angry that I had to post about it.

"If the president does it, it's not illegal"

This morning on NPR, I heard Steve Innskeep interviewing a man from Iran about the many people who've been taken prisoner by the Iranian government since the election. The interviewee named several people, most of them friends of his (I'm sorry, but I was driving and couldn't write the names down--and they won't post today's stories online until later today--I'll link then).

The notable part of the interview, at least to me, occurred when the interviewee revealed that at least one of these prisoners is now reportedly being tortured. He said that "last time," two years ago, the Republican Guard would arrest people but they would just hold them. This time, "it's different," he said--he's heard that at least one prisoner he knows is being beaten and tortured.

"What's changed between last time and this time?" Steve Innskeep didn't ask.

"Last time," the interviewee didn't reply, "the Iranian government and the Republican Guard didn't have as justification the fact that the US tortures all the time. Now they know the US tortures, so why can't the Iranians?"

Innskeep then didn't say, "Oh, of course--if the most powerful and supposedly upright and law-abiding nation in the world can torture prisoners on a regular basis, then other nations whose governments might've been afraid to anger the UN and defy international laws before can now torture just like the US, with impunity."

"Exactly," the interviewee didn't conclude.

Let the boycott of the right-wing media begin!

Crest Whitestrips ...... Delphi ...... Mercedes Benz ...... Comcast
Subaru ...... GMC Suv's ...... Best Buy ...... Travelocity
Capzasin ...... New Phase ...... Orbitz ...... Ditech.com
eloan.com ...... Dawn ...... Toyota ...... Centrum
Nextel ...... Vehix.com ...... Gold Bond ...... Aspercreme
webmd.com ...... American Express ...... Holiday Inn Express
M Professional ...... priceline.com


All these products/companies are ad sponsors of Faux Nooz. Please join me in boycotting them. This list will remain up top as a reminder. And every chance you get to mention the media, call them the "right-wing media." The "liberal media" is simply a lie.

Compare and contrast

This morning, there are two items of note I'd like us to examine.

The first: The number of American children in poverty is going up. Again.

18 percent of all children 17 and under were living in poverty in 2007 -- up from 17 percent in 2006. The percentage of children who had at least one parent working full time was 77 percent in 2007 -- down from 78 percent in 2006. And those living in households with extremely low "food security" -- where parents described children as being hungry or having skipped a meal or gone without eating for an entire day -- increased from 0.6 percent in 2006 to 0.9 percent in 2007, the report said. my emphasis]

Yup, this certainly is the land of plenty, the richest country in the world. It disgusts me that while this goes on, banks and Wall Street billionaires are still crying and bitching for more government bailout money. Our government's priorities have gone completely to hell, all with the help of both repuglicans and democrats. We have a shitty education system, hungry children, and people out of work. Colleges turning away students. But AIG's lining up some more bonuses for their thieving execs.

This goatfuck of a situation leads me to provide the following for contrast:

Dick Cheney's net worth "estimated to be between $30 million and $100 million, is largely derived from his post as CEO of Halliburton from 1995 till 2000." Amazing how someone can work for a company for only five years, yet make between 30 and 100 MILLION dollars doing it. All this for a man who, it's finally being revealed, withheld information from Congress regarding the CIA's torture tactics and other "counterterrorism" efforts.

Maybe NOW there will be some accounting for the war crimes of the Bush Administration. Maybe NOW, after they've seemingly gotten away with it all, Chimpy and Darth Cheney will finally stop their smirking and their hiding.

I won't hold my breath.

Like shooting fish in a barrel

"Summertime, and the livin' is easy.
Fish are jumpin', and the cotton is high."

--George Gershwin

It's too damned easy to make fun of the repugs these days. It's like the shit writes itself. The Sanfords, the Palins, and the other various assorted freaks and bigmouths on the right just seem to spend their time handing out the loaded guns, putting on their blindfolds, and shouting, "Fire!" all the time. It's hilarious.

I guess that's why I haven't posted much. I am still reading a lot of your blogs, though, and you're all doing some great work.

Meanwhile, I'm steadily paring down my possessions and packing the necessities for the big move. Time is moving faster now, thank goodness, and I just can't wait to leave this burg. I'll miss my girlfriend more than I can say, but I'll be happy to see this place in my rearview mirror.

Enjoy your summer--weather here is fantastic, for a change. Sunshine and cool breezes, as opposed to the usual rain.

War update -- still going!

Even as we're pulling out of one debacle, we're ratcheting up in another.

This latest Afghanistan operation is getting as much press as Michael Jackson's death. It makes me think that if the Normandy invasion were happening tomorrow, our guys would get blown out of the water before they even landed because the Nazis would've heard all about the coming invasion on NPR.

Happy Canada Day!

For all you Canucks out there, here are few things you can use for your Canada Day celebrations:

mail a letter with this stamp:


watch out for this guy:

have a few of these:

do whatever it is you do with those maple leaves:

drive a red Barchetta in the limelight with Tom Sawyer and this guy:

don't get lost in Quebec:

fly with these guys:

and take off, hoser!