Blogging by the Bays

I'm so tired...

2009-05-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Since I have a job that allows for a life now I signed up for a Birkram yoga class. Birkram yoga is the kind where you do 26 poses in a 5000 degree room for an hour and a half. Just got back from my second class and a feel great but exhausted. I did managed to stay in the room both the first and second time, and this time was definitely easier. My goal is to go again on tuesday.

New Job, new laptop, new table...new house?

2009-04-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

Today was such a beautiful day that I went wandering around the Mission, and ended up in Noe Valley. I found a great old table at garage sale and the guy was willing to deliver it. Granted it needs a little TLC but it will work great for a home office.

Also I found the perfect place to live...just need 1.6 million dollars.

www.VictorianNoeValley.com

The view from the deck is amazing. And the realtor was really cute.

coincidences upon coincidences

2009-04-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of 4 days of vendor training. I learned a great deal and am really excited about this product. Maybe I'm just falling into the salesforce.com cult, but it seems really really cool.

I just happened to sit next to a guy from Accenture out of the Chicago office. We had a nice chat and everything. Then, on the way home I saw a guy at the bus stop with an accenture laptop case. We got to chatting--turns out we were in the same group, out of the same office and have been to the same corporate and networking events. We probably have met before, we both had the "you look familiar..." feeling.

Guess I can't get away from accenture...ever...

Back in the workforce

2009-04-13T18:32:00.001-07:00

Today was my first day at the new job! Right now its a little overwhelming...unlike my previous employer, I'm not in a start group--just the new girl. Due to a serendipitous coincidence, they're going to send me to a vendor training for the rest of the week, so on top of everything I get to learn a whole new platform. Fun! But it is somewhat comforting that they're willing to sink a good chunk of change into me right up front.

Anyway, got my cube today. Its huge...at least 10' by 10'. This might sound sad, but I'm really excited about having my own space, and so much of it. All the projects I've worked on had me in shared workspaces. Ok this does sound pretty sad, but I'm excited about decorating my cube.

difference between an engineer and a non-engineer

2009-04-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

A non engineer, upon realizing she has left a tube of chapstick in her sweatshirt on the radiator will remove the tube and wait for it to cool off before opening it. An engineer will feel how warm it is and still open it to verify the state of the contents. Btw, chapstick melts into a liquid form, yet also dries extremely fast. Especially when its all over the floor.

Good News!

2009-04-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

I have a new job!

I'm starting at a technology consulting company next Monday! I'll be working on a project to develop a website with automated form submission for Hawaii Electric! These forms will allow customers to monitor the electrical efficiency. Unfortunatly, no, free trips to Hawaii are not planned at this point.

Almost out of here

2009-03-31T14:53:00.001-07:00

Today's my last day, and I've gone through everything except giving back the laptop. I might not be online a great deal in the next few days, depending on when fedex delivers the new laptop.

Recession vs Depression

2009-03-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

"A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job."

Not an original quote, but an apt one.

2009-03-16T20:49:00.001-07:00

As hopefully everyone reading this blog knows, I flew out to Ames, Iowa for our yearly Black Belt Reunion and Marital Arts Banquet this past weekend. This entry will be mostly a travelogue of my trip for people who wanted to go this year but couldn't make it (ie, Mom and Dad...hi mom and dad). All of the "people" pictures are on facebook, but I'll include one below so that you can see my dress.

Me, Irene and Irene’s new boyfriend Journey.

The new side of Coover. This is looking west, where there used to be a parking lot. The new part of Coover is…interesting. There are a lot more labs and much better equipment, but the overall effect is cold, comprised of glass and concrete. Plus they made no attempt to marry the old part with the new, so that going from one to the other is extremely startling. I entered from the old part, the east entrance, and it looked (and smelled) exactly the same.

The inside of the new part, looking East towards the old part.

The key code was not 1-2-3-4-5-*, I tried.

Shiny, but empty on a Friday afternoon.

This is a new Bioenergies building coming up on what used to be the marching band practice field between Howe and Design. This was also where we launched the weather balloons for our senior design project, so I’m a little sad to see it developed. Ah well--progress.

I just happened to be wandering around the library, reminiscing about all the hours spent studying there, when I wandered past the shelves with thesises (thesi?).

The new Morrill hall, no longer decrepit and condemned. Unfortunately this was taken on Saturday and it was locked up, so I could not go inside. It looked nice though.

This was taken in the Memorial Union, where they have made many changes. This is the only one I like. Specifically, this is in the Gold Star Hall, where the names of Iowa State servicemen and women who died in the line of duty are carved into the walls. World War I and II soldiers are carved into the stone prominently on the main walls, Vietnam and Korean soldiers are in smaller text, and this has been squeezed into the corner. One would hope this is a temporary measure before these names are permanently added to the walls. We’re running out of space though.

I am the packing master!

2009-03-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

4 pairs of shoes
8 pairs of underwear
5 pairs of socks
1 gym outfit
1 formal outfit
1 swimsuit (2 piece)
5 business casual outfits
3 casual outfits

in one carry-on

second carry-on will contain laptop, toiletries, camera, chargers, and books for the flight

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.

Tulips!

2009-02-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the farmer's market, I haven't been in a few weeks so I don't know if this is a new development but the guy who sells flowers has started carrying tulips. In Iowa tulips grow pretty easily but since they need a cold winter to hibernate you hardly ever see them in California. The ones at the farmer's market are small little things, about half the size of the ones back home, but its still good to see them. They remind me of how we would watch for the sprouts and, when they were in full bloom, we would breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate spring.

Of course, I'm avoiding thinking about the carbon footprint of these mini-tulips.

A new business idea

2009-02-13T01:25:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I wandered around the mission district, ducking in and out of shops and (mainly) bookstores. I wandered into one shop that was clearly aimed at the high end parent consumer. There were science kits, models of animals with parts labeled, your usual stuff only more expensive. Towards the back I came across a basket of tin foil wrapped-objects slightly larger than an egg. According to the label, they were owl pellets--with real animal parts inside. This isn't the amazing part...the amazing part is that they were priced at $75. Each.
Anyone pondering what I'm pondering?

New blog!

2009-02-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

I've started a supplemental blog at
http://nobookstoreleftbehind.blogspot.com/
devoted entirely to short "reviews" of independent bookstores in San Francisco. (This was completely Mom's idea--from several years ago--but I finally got around to it.)

Networking in a recession

2009-02-05T22:07:00.000-08:00

Being borderline employed as I currently am, I went to a networking event for green professionals last night. I met some interesting people, made some good connections and all (and yes mom, I stayed sober). Although most people were optimistic about the future for green tech, at least 40% of the people I talked to had been recently laid off and everyone knew someone laid off at their company or organization. It reminds me of this chart:

Note to self:

2009-02-04T21:26:00.001-08:00

Idea for new career path: become a personal finance consultant to executives accepting bailout money. Theme: how to live on under 500,000/year.

The View from the Bench

2009-02-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned below, I'm currently unstaffed and looking around for new projects (or new jobs, if it comes to that). Since the blog is anonymous, I hope I can talk frankly about a certain unnamed company.
There are a lot of people unstaffed (or "on the bench") right now, and not a lot of projects looking to bring people on. Even the projects out there are pushing back their start dates and slashing their budgets. Its even harder for people in San Francisco and several other cities, because we bill at at higher rate (get paid more too...at least in theory). Apparently they let go a good number of people in SF, NY, Chicago and Boston, and probably will let more go in the coming weeks. I know at least one person, perhaps two people, who were let go last friday. I've been going into the office, but its a little depressing...you can almost sense the grim reaper of layoffs just around the corner.
But, to be honest, I've been set on a career change for a while now. It won't be the end of the world if it happens to me.

In the midwest...

2009-01-29T21:27:00.000-08:00

we meet the neighbors via tornado alarms. In California, apparently, fire alarms fulfill the same function.
The building alarm went off about 9 pm tonight...at first I didn't take much note of it but when I went into the hallway I could smell something burning. (It smelled like someone left the stove on, or possibly a grease fire.) So I decided to get dressed and join my neighbors outside. I got to talking to several people I haven't met before, plus a few people I have, while we were waiting for the building manager or some sort of authority to give the all clear. We ended up waiting for over a half hour, at least, but it was worth it. Four full-fledged fire trucks showed up, plus one or two of the smaller vehicles. It's nice to live in an affluent neighborhood. In the end, of course, it turned out to be a false alarm...but at least we got our fill of eye-candy tonight. There were a lot of fireman there...many were calendar-worthy. I've also realized the vast majority of the building residents are women.

All in all...not a bad night.

Reminder!

2009-01-28T23:07:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to enter the HGTV dreamhome sweepstakes once a day, every day:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-dream-home-2009-giveaway-enter/package/index.html

Its a beautiful house in Sonoma...would make a great bed and breakfast. Just sayin' ....

Inauguration Day

2009-01-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the quality of these pictures, I didn't have the foresight to charge my camera batteries so had to take them with my cell phone.

This used to be Bush st...a local artist put a festive touch on it. Sadly, they've removed the stickers and its back to Bush st.

I watched the inauguration from Yerba Buena gardens. I think there were about 200 people there, but I haven't read an official count. The bright light to the upper right of the church is the sun reflecting off a shiny modern high rise.

Part of the crowd. I got there around 8:30 so managed to get a decent spot. It was startling when I started looking around.
Joe Biden taking the oath.

things you miss when you have internet access at home, part II

2009-01-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Today I'm sitting a coffee shop a block from my apartment, it took a while but I finally scored the coffee sit in the corner by the window. A large group of 5-7 year old boys just walked by, obviously on a field trip. Each one carried a hand made sign, most said "Martin Luther King Jr", peace signs, or quotes from MLK. There were at least 50 kids, and seemed like they were from one of the local private schools. Most were white, but there were a smattering of black and Latino boys. Mostly, everyone seemed to be having fun--hugging, laughing. Of course there were also plenty of chaperones and a few police officers to manage traffic.

things you miss when you have internet access at home

2009-01-12T18:49:00.001-08:00

Right now I'm sitting in a newly opened Peets near the office, I figured I'd stop in here and check my email after stopping in at Stacey's (oh Stacey's...I will miss you) after work. This Peets is pretty nice, it has a little outdoor patio where you can sit and watch the foot traffic and the streetcars lumber by. Anyway, a large protest march just passed. Its too dark to see their signs, but I think it was in response to the situtation in Gaza--I heard the words "Peace" and "Justice" several times. Plus there was a large group of surly-looking police officers marching ahead, beside, but mostly behind them. Seems like there was one officer for every 3 protesters.

Edit: although I suppose it could also be in response to the 22 year that got shot by a police officer in Oakland. I'll check it out after I finish my chai.

2nd Edit: it was in response the Grant shooting. Story is here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/12/BA5H159265.DTL

I didn't see a "raucous crowd" or police in riot gear though...it all seemed pretty orderly to me.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

2009-01-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

Received some very bad news this week. Stacey's books, a San Francisco institution founded in 1923, is shutting its doors in March. I'll write a full eulogy later, but clearly this is a major blow. The full story is here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/07/BAFN154UV2.DTL

Oh yeah, and I'm also getting rolled off current project early to do budget shortfalls. Guess I'll have to change the name of this blog.

Don't Forget!

2009-01-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

to enter to win the HGTV Dream home and win me a house in Sonoma!

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-dream-home-2009-giveaway-enter/package/index.html

It has a fireplace.

I know what I want for my birthday

2009-01-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

A fireplace.

It's chilly and rainy in good ole san francisco. Last night I curled up with a mystery novel (Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express) with my space heater but its not quite the same. After 20 minutes or so I had to turn the space heater off or it would overheat and cut itself off, taking the lamp with it. Nothing like reading a mystery novel and being plunged suddenly into darkness.

postscript

2008-12-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

...but not quite the end.

Its interesting how all the streets pictured in this book were serviced by cable cars, even up to the 40s. I would postulate that this was primarily due the to fact that most of the streets were and are extremely steep in parts. Back when they were dirt roads (even packed dirt) it would have been extremely difficult to navigate a horse and carriage or car up and down these streets. Which brings me to another interesting historical point: the streets in what would become San Francisco were laid out in 1835 by William Richardson, an Englishman.

A surreal moment

2008-12-30T17:39:00.000-08:00

When I first moved out to San Francisco I had a number of "surreal moments"--times where I felt odd or out of sink with the surroundings. Since then I guess I've adjusted since they have definitely dropped off. I had one today though.
I'm working from home this week, so I opted to go to the bookstore during my lunch hour. There is a series of books called "Images of America" that consist of historic photographs of neighborhoods. I found one that must have been published recently since I haven't seen it before; its on San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood (where I live) and Presidio Heights neighborhood (right next door, so to speak). Of course I bought it and immediately headed to the park to look through the pictures since it was a beautiful sunny day today. It was really a trip to look through pictures of huge, beautiful mansions built in San Francisco's boom years (1860s-1920s, with an earthquake and fire in between). A fair number of these mansions are still standing, since Van Ness was the fire line in 1906. An interesting side note: I don't think any of these mansions were built by people who made their fortune directly from gold. The builders and early owners all seem to be "captains of industry"...bankers, business owners, railroad tycoons, etc. Their homes were incredible though...kind of makes me wish I was born it that era, and as a rich white male. But then again...the health care...
My surreal moment came while I was sitting in the park (Alta plaza) and turned the page to see a photo of the park from the 1930s, including the spot I was currently sitting.
Trippy, no?

(the end)

Holy canoli...

2008-12-14T22:11:00.001-08:00

its hailing in san francisco. Itty bitty hail...but still...damn.

Christmas spirit, Vancouver vs San Francisco

2008-12-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

The rules: all pictures are taken of outdoor decorations. Most are at night due to my day job; most are blurry due my very basic camera.

Round one: Vancouver

This is a hospital.
I really like the top of this building, it looks like a gingerbread house.
The art gallery in vancouver.
The very top of a hotel (not mine though).

Even the construction cranes are getting into the action.

Christmas Spirit, hotel style

2008-12-09T22:24:00.000-08:00

Yes Virginia, there is internet access...

2008-12-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

...in my hotel, its just included in the corporate rate. At least I hope it actually is.

Weather is cold and rainy; I trying to get over a cough that won't go away. Perfect time to blog!

This week I got a pretty nice hotel room, so I took pics:

Unfortunately, lots of windows=tons of drafts. You would think Canadians would know how to put in double pane windows.

The Nerve of some people...

2008-12-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

I'm back in San Francisco, right now I'm sitting in a coffee shop since my neighbor's wireless is down. Its not even my favorite coffee shop, Peets, which was packed to the brim. I'm sitting in Coffee bean, sipping vastly inferior chai and hoping my battery holds out until someone sitting along the wall leaves. Sigh...why can't people maintain their wireless networks? Anyway, might be online a lot less in the near term.

Thoughts for Grand Central

2008-11-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent sometime paling around with an old friend in Berkeley. We had dinner at a place called Cafe Gratitude (http://www.cafegratitude.com/); which, to be honest, was a little too granola even for this San Francisco lefty. All the food was Vegetarian and raw--don't get me wrong, it was tasty but not at all filling or nourishing. I'm certain I've never had a stronger craving for hot dogs than I did after dinner last night.
However, the decor and environment are of note. The room was brick and cozy, complete with a fireplace and with large tables sitting 6 or so. The tables are shared spaced (but you can opt for small private tables) so you are encouraged to sit and interact with strangers. There are cards on the table with questions to get conversations going. I'm not sure how well this concept translates to a small town where people are likely to know each other anyway, but it is nice in cities where eye contact is not the norm.
All the dishes on the menu have names like "I am sensational" and "I am generous", so when you order you say something like "I'll have the 'I am sensational'". The waitress then repeats each loudly and with a smile: "YOU ARE SENSATIONAL". This happened twice before I turned to my friend and said something along the lines of "Isn't this kind of weird? and awkward?" Her response was to joke, "what? people being happy and friendly?" --"Yes"
Like I mentioned above, the food was tasty but not "complete". Like all raw food, you can't eat too much of it without feeling bloated, especially if your digestive system isn't used to it. There are people who swear by the health effects of raw food, but I'm pretty sure that's only because you can't eat a lot of it without feeling ill. We had a kind of mushroom bruschetta for an appetizer. I liked it a lot, it was basically mushrooms on a type of pounded nut/grain bread with whipped mozzarella on top. I like the whipped mozzarella, but my friend didn't. She had basically a salad with some grains for dinner, I had a pizza that was entirely unlike pizza. It had the same nut-type bread with whole tomatoes, some kind of sauce, and a giant salad on top.
Here are some pictures I took, sorry some are blurry:

Annual Christmas wishlist

2008-11-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again! The rain has start coming down and the stores have switched to Christmas window displays, so it must be shopping time. To simplify things for friends and family, below is a list of items I could use this year. Please don't feel compelled to get any of the below, I completely understand if you send a lump of coal.

A passport holder--something small but big enough to hold my passport, ids and credit cards. I already have a wallet that I really like, so don't really need another wallet. Something along the lines of this: http://www.executivegiftshoppe.com/211-5.html but not necessary in leather. Bonus points for something fair trade or eco-friendly.
A guillotine--but not the one you're thinking of. One of these: http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/12-Guillotine-Trimmer-Wide-Base/2903.013/489967.html I've recently gotten into bookbinding as a hobby and have most of the supplies I need, but it turns out bookboard is really hard to cut with normal scissors.
A cd wallet--I need to organize my cds and dvds. (http://www.amazon.com/Fellowes-Nylon-Wallet-224-Disc-Capacity/dp/B0000326O1)
a heavy duty umbrella--not necessary a big one (smaller is better for traveling) but something that can last forever and ever. I have a couple but they're pretty shoddy.
General stuff: sustainable, fair trade items; gift certificates (esp to sf or vancouver spas); donations to worthy causes; books (as always)

Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

Welcome to the new blog!

2008-11-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

Its hard to believe its been almost two years since my last post at sleepdeprivedzombie.blogspot.com. Not surprising (especially if you know me), I forgot my username and password for the site. Anyway...I'm back.

I was reminded of a post from the old blog the other day when I had a "Bokononist" moment. I'll get to that in a minute, but first, the original post:

I got my first San Francisco Voter Information pamphlet the other day. For all the Midwesterners out there, California sends out a booklet chock full of information pertaining to the election: local candidantes, voting location, sample ballots, and ballot propositions. I was excitedly read though it when I came across proposition I, "adopting a policy that the mayor appear monthly at a board of supervisors meeting". I flipped the page and the next one was "adopting a policy calling for the impeachment of president Bush and vice president Cheney". While I revealed in the irony, I studied the cover of the booklet carefully. It had the most famous picture of San Francisco: As I studied it, a sudden realization swept over me: that's the office building of the client I just finished working for. The fifth window from the left is the window I've been sitting at for the past two weeks. And then I remembered how, in ninth grade, I was working on a jigsaw puzzle in Mrs. Peterson's home room of the first photo above. I tried to imagine me handling the puzzle piece with the window I was sitting at and got dizzy with the coincidences. It reminded me of a passage in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. "The room seemed to tip, and its walls and ceiling and floor were transformed momentarily into the mouths of many tunnels--tunnels leading in all directions through time. I had a Bokononist vision of the unity in every second of all time and all wandering mankind, and wandering womankind, all wandering children. "

My recent "Bokononist" moment happened while I was shopping at a consignment store yesterday. (As a side note, this is a really cool consignment shop. If you're ever on Fillmore street, stop by Seconds-To-Go.) Near the back in the corner with the books was a shelf of glassware and Christmas decorations, including this:

Which I'm 99% sure is the same decoration we had every Christmas until it accidentally broke one year. I plopped down five bucks, now its sitting on my side table next to the radiator.

More pics: