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Dear all,
First of all yes, it's a dull mass mailing but I just wanted to a) beg for everyone's snailmail addresses and phone numbers. Yes I lost my address book. Bleh. Fortunately I have most everyone's email address. Feel free to pass along anyone else's address you think I might be interested in. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean I'll actually send something via the postoffice (in theory I could call) but I'd feel better of I had this stuff in print somewhere. And B) share some anecdotes...
Are bugs and critters a problem in the warmer climes of California? Of course they are, but they are manageable. I noticed some ants troopin' along a line next to my cds and the line of ants passed beneath my boombox. Investigating, I lifted my stereo and to find swarms of them. For some reason my stereo was a nest of a whole colony. I wasn't aware of any tasty morsels I left inside the stereo, in fact there wasn't any food in my room. Well I wiped the stereo down and replaced the old batteries with an ant poison which is supposed to kill the colony and set it outside for the day.
This procedure actually worked, too.
The internet is changing the way we look for employment, especially in technical fields, right? Well job searching can be made weird here. I joined a friend (Lori Dinitz) and her boyfriend at a job fair in San Jose at the last minute (took the Cal-train down there after work). Walking into the ... hmm I suppose it was an auditorium, but if it wasn't for the fact that I was in the middle of downtown San Jose I could have called it a converted gymnasium... in any case walking into this large area my first thoughts were that I must've died and gone to not quite hell, rather a purgatory. Balloons bouncing into the air, people walking about in costumes, Billy Idol blasting away, and - I kid you not - circus performers. I found my metaphor of purgatory was apt; the sin that I must burn off is a lack of computer programming experience. For those who don't know already, take a few computer science classes or teach yourself some programming and you can find a quick job. You won't necessarily have a place to live with the housing market around here but you will have a job! I did get some marginal interest, but it was good more for the spectacle.
On March 18th (a Saturday) I had a chance to be a "witness" for a series of mock depositions created to train the new attorneys at the firm I'm temping for. I was the defendant in a defamation suit and hence was giving a deposition. I could've given you the definition of a deposition before this recent experience, but I really had no idea what went on in the actual event. For those not in the know: in the conference room were I, my counsel, the court stenographer, and the opposing counsel. I was given a backgrounder describing my situation. My name was Robert Lim, a second year graduate student in social work who lived in an apartment complex which also had a sometime noisy woman who had a kid. One night before a nasty final this woman and her boyfriend were being loud and there were slapping sounds, I eventually went to my living room where I got some sleep. The next day (after doing rotten on the final) I complained to the landlord saying not only is she drinking and being loud, now she's beating her kid. That was the story with a map of the apartment complex. When answering questions (what are my classes? What music was she playing? What kind of clothes did she wear? And on and on.)
I went through four sessions, during the first two my attorney was an old pro and the person taking my deposition was brand new out of law school. This was reversed for the last two sessions. I can now say with complete confidence (unfortunately) that there is a big difference between a $420/hr attorney and a $160/hr one. I felt like I was being publicly undressed when the old pro was questioning me. If I would've known what I was doing a bit better I could've acted as different types of witnesses (confrontational, talkative, lost, etc.) to put the new attorneys in different situations. One of the first new attorneys was a real flatterer and asked if I was an actor. They all appreciated when I named the music being played loudly (Guns-n-Roses). I had a lot of fun. One of the attorneys is my age, just graduated from Michigan and loves Bloom County. He's fun (even if he is an Objectivist, but that's fun too). Oh, and believe it or not, I was paid at overtime rates for all this!
I got a warm-up for a16 protests in DC. (That'll be an upcoming story I'm sure, but does anyone know of other people (or yourself) heading to DC for the weekend of April 15, 16, and 17th let me know! I'm heading out with Michigan friend Anna Callahan and will be seeing Hellgate friend Beth Koch). I rode with the grand-daddy of them all the San Francisco critical mass. Wow, it was a blast. I took some pictures and hopefully I will finally get around to putting up a webpage. Certainly over a thousand people, amazing to see what is (oxymoronically) a somewhat organized anarchy. I was interviewed by some tv crew, but I didn't see the station and heard that sometimes the police dress as tv reporters to get good shots and names of people. Who knows. Fortunately, no one at work said they saw me. The ride itself produced lots of little stories but nothing that works in this quick anecdotal format.
Somewhat boring odds-n-ends: I'm still interviewing for a job with the law firm. The dot-com I interviewed doesn't want me :( My housemate is great and we had a nice party a couple of weeks ago. I probably will finally go camping this weekend. I've got regular ultimate frisbee and soccer pickup games that tire me out on the weekends. I'm volunteering at the Coalition on Homelessness which is starting to get interesting, helping out with some legal work. Probably as a by-product of my thesis I am recording data of each of the people I get a ride from during the "casual commute". I'll have a nice spreadsheet of good data soon of what radio stations commuters play in their cars. If you want any juicier personal details you'll have to ask! Tatafornow!
Friends,
James