The search is on. This weekend I'm going to start applying for jobs in Melbourne. The part I hate is dealing with headhunters (recruiters, I mean). With rare exceptions, they are slime. It is in their interest for you to get a job, yes, but all of their profit comes out of the difference between what the company's willing to pay and what you're willing to accept. So, while they work hard to find you a job, they are always trying to rip you off. But, sometimes it's the only way to get a job. If you go to any of the various job sites, 95% of the postings are from recruiters. And the jobs they list there never really exist, either; they are just to entice you to call them. Each recruiter has just a small changing pool of jobs he knows about that he will try to sell you on. (I say "he" because I've yet to see a female recruiter. I'm sure they exist, but are rare. Is it because women have a more evolved sense of ethics that they don't survive in the recruiting field?)
This one time in Atlanta I was contacted by a really strange recruiter who would call me at all hours of the day and night, and who finally convinced me to come visit him at his office way up in Alpharetta. I told him I definitely didn't want to work in that area, but that didn't stop him from springing an interview on me during my visit, with an Alpharetta company he was in contact with. So I gave an impromptu interview -- a good one, I might add; it wasn't really the company's fault -- and then emailed the recruiter that night telling him I didn't want the job and to stop sending my resume out; I didn't want to do business with anyone who so completely ignored my wishes. He ended up leaving a pissy little message on my answering machine about it, that I wish I had digitized; it was hilarious, in a creepy sort of way.
But what's really worrying me this time is the process of interviewing. Melbournians are notoriously outgoing but unpretentious, while I am notoriously quiet but cocky. My attitude seems to work well with American companies, but I'm going to have to vary my approach a bit down there, I think.
I'm also at a delicate stage in my career advancement, where people are going to want to put me in charge of stuff. Well, stuff I can handle; I just don't want to be in charge of people. I don't like managing at all, and have steadfastly avoided ever learning any presentation software like PowerPoint. I can handle heading up a team of a few people, but only if I can keep my hands in the technical stuff. My plan for making more money is by being worth the price of several other techies, but many companies think that throwing enough cheap young coders at a problem is a workable solution. Fortunately there are more and more who have wised up. We shall see.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Jane, get me off this crazy thing. I'm training my replacement, so he's using my computer. I've been given a Mac portable as a replacement. My boss thinks that I would love Macs if I had to use one for long enough.
Instead I think, how can people stand these things? Why are they considered so easy to use? I can't figure it out. I mean, I know that once you've learned one operating system, you're pretty much indoctrinated, and all you're going to see if you switch OSes are the things that are lacking. But I've been able to get practically NOTHING to run on this p.o.s. None of my Java applications will pop up windows. FOP just hangs. I can find no decent text editor -- BBEdit, which is supposed to be great, won't even let you page down. Moronic! I hate the dumbed-down one-button mouse. I hate the lack of keystroke equivalents for most things. I hate the limited keyboard (you have to hold down a function key to hit page up or down, home, or end). I hate the lack of a consistent way to switch between separate windows of an applications. I
can't even find a way to create a text file in a directory except from within an application. I hate how icons in the system tray jump up and down to get your attention.
The fonts are nice, though.
Instead I think, how can people stand these things? Why are they considered so easy to use? I can't figure it out. I mean, I know that once you've learned one operating system, you're pretty much indoctrinated, and all you're going to see if you switch OSes are the things that are lacking. But I've been able to get practically NOTHING to run on this p.o.s. None of my Java applications will pop up windows. FOP just hangs. I can find no decent text editor -- BBEdit, which is supposed to be great, won't even let you page down. Moronic! I hate the dumbed-down one-button mouse. I hate the lack of keystroke equivalents for most things. I hate the limited keyboard (you have to hold down a function key to hit page up or down, home, or end). I hate the lack of a consistent way to switch between separate windows of an applications. I
can't even find a way to create a text file in a directory except from within an application. I hate how icons in the system tray jump up and down to get your attention.
The fonts are nice, though.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
We celebrated our second anniversary tonight; a very low-key affair, just a nice dinner at home. We tend to make a bigger deal of the day we started going out instead.
Watched the season three debut of Six Feet Under; what gives? All the tension they built up at the end of last season just went "poof".
Oh, and woo hoo! Passed my Java certification exam. It was hard. Multiple choice, but often more than one of the choices was correct, and you had to get all of them correct for it to count. I swear I thought I was blowing it, halfway through, and that I'd wasted the money. Ended up getting 47 out of 61 questions right, or 77% (52% is considered a passing grade). Quite a relief.
Watched the season three debut of Six Feet Under; what gives? All the tension they built up at the end of last season just went "poof".
Oh, and woo hoo! Passed my Java certification exam. It was hard. Multiple choice, but often more than one of the choices was correct, and you had to get all of them correct for it to count. I swear I thought I was blowing it, halfway through, and that I'd wasted the money. Ended up getting 47 out of 61 questions right, or 77% (52% is considered a passing grade). Quite a relief.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
I'm scheduled to take a Java Certification Exam tomorrow, so I'm up late studying such thrilling topics as RandomAccessFile invocation parameters and how to instantiate Threads.
While on the subject of 'boring', here's the report from Sunday's game. I continue my offensive onslaught from fullback:
Next week I'm going to try to score with my hips or butt.
While on the subject of 'boring', here's the report from Sunday's game. I continue my offensive onslaught from fullback:
We had the better of the 1st half and scored after a knockdown from Gimson was chested into the goal by Mark S. A fairly even 2nd half in possession but we had many chances to bury them with at least 4-5 clear cut chances. They equalised when a free kick was chipped into the path of their nippy stirker to slot it pass me. After a series of disgracful finishing from us , we won it with the last kick of the game when Kelvin chipped the out-rushing keeper from outside the box.
Next week I'm going to try to score with my hips or butt.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Speaking of vows, Tuesday is our second wedding anniversary. Since we're not buying presents this year I'll use the occasion to document all our travels together chronologically, something I've been meaning to do for a while. The following is probably not of much interest to anyone but us, but the blog has turned into more than a way to keep up with family and friends, it's also a way for us to remember our experiences.
This list only documents trips we've made together.
1. Boston, Massachusetts, September, 1998. We went up to see Elvis Costello play a free radio-station sponsored concert. We started way in the back, but due to a sudden storm that scared away all the non-devoted fans, we ended up right under the stage. Other highlights: Showing Mark where I used to live and where I went to high school, visiting the Boston Aquarium and eating Pizza Regina, yum, my favorite pizza since high school and still one of the best.
2. Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1st trip October, 1998. The first trip we made together to Chattanooga was to attend my friend Chris' wedding. This was also the first wedding Mark and I attended together. We went up subsequent times to go white water rafting, and another trip to visit the aquarium, but I'm sketchy on the dates.
3. Athens, Georgia, Halloween, 1998. The first of many trips to Athens that we've made together (and the only one that will be documented here). We went with a big group of friends to participate in the Halloween bar crawl. We had a blast, this was possibly the best Halloween I've ever experienced.
4. Madrid/Barcelona, Spain, Dec/Jan 1998/1999. Our first trip together outside of the United States. Highlights: Spending New Year's eve in Plaza Mayor with lots of festive Spaniards. Walking around Barcelona and taking in the Gaudi Architecture. Visiting several fantastic art museums.
5. San Francisco, California, June 1999. Another Elvis Costello show, this time at the Fleadh Festival. Shane MacGowan pulled a no-show, the drunk. Other highlights: Watching the seals bark at one another on the waterfront.
6. Austin, Texas, Summer 1999. I tagged along with Mark on a business trip. Highlights: The turtles, bats and nutria along Town Lake.
7. London/Manchester, England, November 1999. Mostly a pub tour as I was exhausted after my first few months as a first year special ed. teacher with city of Atlanta schools (the worst job I've ever had). In one of the pubs the term "heavy gravity spot" was coined for falling over for no apparent reason (other than strong lager). An injured ankle kept us away from the tourist spots, for the most part, the rest of trip, with the exception of a jog through the British museum where we saw the Rosetta stone and ignored mostly everything else. Other: We spotted Henry Rollins drinking coffee in a Starbucks (in the window seat, the attention whore), followed by a discussion about whether or not to give him the two finger salute, we chickened out (he's a big guy) and regret it to this day.
8. Orlando/Cocoa Beach, Florida, Christmas, 1999. My first Christmas with Mark's family. They were, and continue to be, very fun to be around. Other highlights: Going to see multitudes of manatees at Crystal Springs, and gator spotting near the Kennedy Space Center.
9. New York City, New York, Winter 2000. Highlights: Walking around Park Slope Brooklyn, huddled together, freezing our asses off. Also, a rooftop in Brooklyn one in the morning.... well around that time anyway, the view was like nothing else I have ever seen anywhere else, with city and humanity stretched out forever. Our first time staying as a couple with Kristina and Michael who have proved time and time again to be amazing hosts, and have put up with my sorry excuse for a house guest many, many times. Some day soon we hope to reciprocate.
10. W.Palm Beach, Florida, April, 2000. We went to visit my best friend Karen and her husband Tom at their house in W. Palm (they've since moved to Connecticut). What I remember most about this trip is visiting in their house, and swimming in the pool. It's always very nice to visit with good friends and we don't see Karen and Tom near enough.
11. Cancun, Mexico, June, 2000. The water in Cancun was amazing. This trip was the first time I'd gone snorkeling and is still the best visibility I've come across, including a particularly memorable "Mark, Shark!" moment. The other major highlights were swimming with dolphins at Dolphin Discovery, and visiting Xcaret.
12. Boone, North Carolina, New Year's 2000-2001. Our first (and so far only) ski trip together. We discovered that I ski about as well as Mark snowboards, and almost died driving down the frozen roads in my brand new (to me) Honda Civic. New Year's was somewhat anti-climatic as all the bars had closed. We did light a few fireworks purchased at one of the many scary Fire Works! shacks along the Georgia/North Carolina border.
13. New York City, New York, Spring, 2001. We spent the first night of this trip with people we no longer consider friends as we did something unbeknownst to us to piss them off (that's my story, I'm sticking to it). We spent the rest of the trip with Karen and Tom (see W.Palm Beach) and had a blast together. The most memorable event was a sketchy interaction in the lower East Side with some of the scariest looking guys I've ever seen in my life, and a morning trip to the planetarium. Another too-short visit with two of my favorite people.
14. Tokyo,Japan/Singapore/Tioman Island,Malaysia, June, 2001. Our first trip to Asia together. This was the trip that inspired the move to Singapore, and began our first real consideration of life as expatriates. We've been back to all three places if that's any indicator of how much we enjoyed ourselves the first time.
15. Chicago, Illinois, July, 2001. Highlights included visiting the Chicago Aquarium and Art Institute, and later that day stumbling upon a Patti Smith show while walking around downtown. Chicago's a lovely city, where else in America can you find a Picasso and a Chagall outside for everyone to enjoy?
16. Las Vegas, Nevada, October, 2001. We went to Vegas for my very good friends Kristina and Michael's wedding. Most memorable: the rehearsal dinner at "The Pink Taco" restaurant in the Hard Rock Cafe (nice one Kristina). The wedding was lovely and it was so much fun being on vacation with friends! Their vacation wedding inspired us when planning our own event less than a year later.
17. Paris, France, Christmas, 2001. Mark proposed to me on this trip. It was tres romantique as he waited until Christmas eve when we were on a bridge over the river Seine with Notre Dome in the background. As Jonathan Richman says "if you don't think Paris was made for love/Give Paris one more chance..."
18. Key West, Florida, January, 2002. We went to Key West on an exploratory trip to see if it would be a suitable location for our wedding. Which leads to trip 19....
19. Key West, Florida, May, 2002. We got married on the beach at Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park with two other couples elbowing for room on the same beach, in spite of that it was a very lovely sunset ceremony, made all the more special because our most cherished friends and family flew down there to be with us. I highly recommend a destination wedding; you get a vacation with your best friends and an excuse to have a very small wedding (which I also recommend).
20. Charleston, South Carolina, July, 2002. We went to Charleston for 4th of July weekend. It was a nice break away from Atlanta. There are some lovely beaches nearby too.
The rest of our trips together have been documented on the blog so I'll just list them without commentary:
21. New York, October, 2002
22. Orlando/Cocoa Beach Florida, November, 2002
23. Moved to Singapore, November, 2002
24. Vietnam, December 2002
25. Koh Samui, Thailand, March, 2003
26. Bali, Indonesia, April, 2003
27. Sydney, Australia, July, 2003
28. Tokyo, Japan, September, 2003
29. Los Angeles, California/Cocoa Beach, Florida/Atlanta,Georgia, December-January 2003/2004
30. Bangkok, Thailand, January, 2004
31. Tioman Island, Malaysia, March, 2004
32. Melbourne, Australia, April, 2004
This list only documents trips we've made together.
1. Boston, Massachusetts, September, 1998. We went up to see Elvis Costello play a free radio-station sponsored concert. We started way in the back, but due to a sudden storm that scared away all the non-devoted fans, we ended up right under the stage. Other highlights: Showing Mark where I used to live and where I went to high school, visiting the Boston Aquarium and eating Pizza Regina, yum, my favorite pizza since high school and still one of the best.
2. Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1st trip October, 1998. The first trip we made together to Chattanooga was to attend my friend Chris' wedding. This was also the first wedding Mark and I attended together. We went up subsequent times to go white water rafting, and another trip to visit the aquarium, but I'm sketchy on the dates.
3. Athens, Georgia, Halloween, 1998. The first of many trips to Athens that we've made together (and the only one that will be documented here). We went with a big group of friends to participate in the Halloween bar crawl. We had a blast, this was possibly the best Halloween I've ever experienced.
4. Madrid/Barcelona, Spain, Dec/Jan 1998/1999. Our first trip together outside of the United States. Highlights: Spending New Year's eve in Plaza Mayor with lots of festive Spaniards. Walking around Barcelona and taking in the Gaudi Architecture. Visiting several fantastic art museums.
5. San Francisco, California, June 1999. Another Elvis Costello show, this time at the Fleadh Festival. Shane MacGowan pulled a no-show, the drunk. Other highlights: Watching the seals bark at one another on the waterfront.
6. Austin, Texas, Summer 1999. I tagged along with Mark on a business trip. Highlights: The turtles, bats and nutria along Town Lake.
7. London/Manchester, England, November 1999. Mostly a pub tour as I was exhausted after my first few months as a first year special ed. teacher with city of Atlanta schools (the worst job I've ever had). In one of the pubs the term "heavy gravity spot" was coined for falling over for no apparent reason (other than strong lager). An injured ankle kept us away from the tourist spots, for the most part, the rest of trip, with the exception of a jog through the British museum where we saw the Rosetta stone and ignored mostly everything else. Other: We spotted Henry Rollins drinking coffee in a Starbucks (in the window seat, the attention whore), followed by a discussion about whether or not to give him the two finger salute, we chickened out (he's a big guy) and regret it to this day.
8. Orlando/Cocoa Beach, Florida, Christmas, 1999. My first Christmas with Mark's family. They were, and continue to be, very fun to be around. Other highlights: Going to see multitudes of manatees at Crystal Springs, and gator spotting near the Kennedy Space Center.
9. New York City, New York, Winter 2000. Highlights: Walking around Park Slope Brooklyn, huddled together, freezing our asses off. Also, a rooftop in Brooklyn one in the morning.... well around that time anyway, the view was like nothing else I have ever seen anywhere else, with city and humanity stretched out forever. Our first time staying as a couple with Kristina and Michael who have proved time and time again to be amazing hosts, and have put up with my sorry excuse for a house guest many, many times. Some day soon we hope to reciprocate.
10. W.Palm Beach, Florida, April, 2000. We went to visit my best friend Karen and her husband Tom at their house in W. Palm (they've since moved to Connecticut). What I remember most about this trip is visiting in their house, and swimming in the pool. It's always very nice to visit with good friends and we don't see Karen and Tom near enough.
11. Cancun, Mexico, June, 2000. The water in Cancun was amazing. This trip was the first time I'd gone snorkeling and is still the best visibility I've come across, including a particularly memorable "Mark, Shark!" moment. The other major highlights were swimming with dolphins at Dolphin Discovery, and visiting Xcaret.
12. Boone, North Carolina, New Year's 2000-2001. Our first (and so far only) ski trip together. We discovered that I ski about as well as Mark snowboards, and almost died driving down the frozen roads in my brand new (to me) Honda Civic. New Year's was somewhat anti-climatic as all the bars had closed. We did light a few fireworks purchased at one of the many scary Fire Works! shacks along the Georgia/North Carolina border.
13. New York City, New York, Spring, 2001. We spent the first night of this trip with people we no longer consider friends as we did something unbeknownst to us to piss them off (that's my story, I'm sticking to it). We spent the rest of the trip with Karen and Tom (see W.Palm Beach) and had a blast together. The most memorable event was a sketchy interaction in the lower East Side with some of the scariest looking guys I've ever seen in my life, and a morning trip to the planetarium. Another too-short visit with two of my favorite people.
14. Tokyo,Japan/Singapore/Tioman Island,Malaysia, June, 2001. Our first trip to Asia together. This was the trip that inspired the move to Singapore, and began our first real consideration of life as expatriates. We've been back to all three places if that's any indicator of how much we enjoyed ourselves the first time.
15. Chicago, Illinois, July, 2001. Highlights included visiting the Chicago Aquarium and Art Institute, and later that day stumbling upon a Patti Smith show while walking around downtown. Chicago's a lovely city, where else in America can you find a Picasso and a Chagall outside for everyone to enjoy?
16. Las Vegas, Nevada, October, 2001. We went to Vegas for my very good friends Kristina and Michael's wedding. Most memorable: the rehearsal dinner at "The Pink Taco" restaurant in the Hard Rock Cafe (nice one Kristina). The wedding was lovely and it was so much fun being on vacation with friends! Their vacation wedding inspired us when planning our own event less than a year later.
17. Paris, France, Christmas, 2001. Mark proposed to me on this trip. It was tres romantique as he waited until Christmas eve when we were on a bridge over the river Seine with Notre Dome in the background. As Jonathan Richman says "if you don't think Paris was made for love/Give Paris one more chance..."
18. Key West, Florida, January, 2002. We went to Key West on an exploratory trip to see if it would be a suitable location for our wedding. Which leads to trip 19....
19. Key West, Florida, May, 2002. We got married on the beach at Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park with two other couples elbowing for room on the same beach, in spite of that it was a very lovely sunset ceremony, made all the more special because our most cherished friends and family flew down there to be with us. I highly recommend a destination wedding; you get a vacation with your best friends and an excuse to have a very small wedding (which I also recommend).
20. Charleston, South Carolina, July, 2002. We went to Charleston for 4th of July weekend. It was a nice break away from Atlanta. There are some lovely beaches nearby too.
The rest of our trips together have been documented on the blog so I'll just list them without commentary:
21. New York, October, 2002
22. Orlando/Cocoa Beach Florida, November, 2002
23. Moved to Singapore, November, 2002
24. Vietnam, December 2002
25. Koh Samui, Thailand, March, 2003
26. Bali, Indonesia, April, 2003
27. Sydney, Australia, July, 2003
28. Tokyo, Japan, September, 2003
29. Los Angeles, California/Cocoa Beach, Florida/Atlanta,Georgia, December-January 2003/2004
30. Bangkok, Thailand, January, 2004
31. Tioman Island, Malaysia, March, 2004
32. Melbourne, Australia, April, 2004
Another thing we're looking forward to doing after we move is taking some classes. Like many of the things on our other this, this isn't necessarily something we're prevented from doing here; it's just that with a new beginning and (hopefully) more money, it seems more possible. And it's also a good way to meet people.
I plan on continuing Japanese, and maybe doing some writing workshops. Marjorie wants more Spanish and photography. Together we may do cooking and scuba diving. Oh, and dog obedience, of course.
We took a vow the other night to never again go six months without taking some sort of class that interests us. Unlike my nail biting/neck cracking vow, let's hope we can stick by this one.
On another note, go see Shrek 2. Side-splittingly funny.
I plan on continuing Japanese, and maybe doing some writing workshops. Marjorie wants more Spanish and photography. Together we may do cooking and scuba diving. Oh, and dog obedience, of course.
We took a vow the other night to never again go six months without taking some sort of class that interests us. Unlike my nail biting/neck cracking vow, let's hope we can stick by this one.
On another note, go see Shrek 2. Side-splittingly funny.
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