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Poor Aussie Bastard/The Interview
Sep. 4th, 2006 09:14 am
Today's Workout
Time: 30:02
Distance: 2.75 miles
Top Speed: 6.1 mph
Calories: 284
Weight: 163.8 pounds
Long story short, I got the job at Bookbuyers. 9 bucks an hour to be the media guy, which is quite a bit less than I would have liked, but the owner and I see very much eye-to-eye on a lot of things. I'm guardedly optimistic that it will turn into something sustainable, even for the "low" starting pay. We all have to start somewhere, right? The rub is one night and one weekend, because they need it. I have a problem with this, but then again...we'll see where it goes and whether or not I can swing it. More about it all later. But for now, I'm gainfully employed, doing pretty much exactly what I want to do.
In other news, Steve Irwin is dead. I won't go on a long diatribe about it because there are a lot of people who already are. But goddamnit, do you really think it's good form to say "He had it coming" and shrug? Do you really care that little about other human beings, are you *really* that jaded and cynical? More than being a celebrity, he was a person, and I really hate seeing the passing of someone treated with such callousness. Really, people, have a heart.
In yet other news, went to Paramount's Great America with my lovely otta and a certain big green![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
duncanroo. Rode almost everything there is to ride, and Duncan vehemently enjoyed me screaming the entire time. You'll have to ask him about it, I'm sure there are stories already floating around. It was an absolutely fabulous time, though Jiminy these people are expensive. Afterwards, Duncan took us out for sushi/teriyaki at a neat restaurant called Midori. I really don't think I could possibly have as much fun in another Japanese restaurant; the owner was just...unparalleled. He *makes* that restaurant (even though the food is really excellent as well).
There's a lot more I'd like to say, but it'll have to wait for later.
Time: 30:02
Distance: 2.75 miles
Top Speed: 6.1 mph
Calories: 284
Weight: 163.8 pounds
Long story short, I got the job at Bookbuyers. 9 bucks an hour to be the media guy, which is quite a bit less than I would have liked, but the owner and I see very much eye-to-eye on a lot of things. I'm guardedly optimistic that it will turn into something sustainable, even for the "low" starting pay. We all have to start somewhere, right? The rub is one night and one weekend, because they need it. I have a problem with this, but then again...we'll see where it goes and whether or not I can swing it. More about it all later. But for now, I'm gainfully employed, doing pretty much exactly what I want to do.
In other news, Steve Irwin is dead. I won't go on a long diatribe about it because there are a lot of people who already are. But goddamnit, do you really think it's good form to say "He had it coming" and shrug? Do you really care that little about other human beings, are you *really* that jaded and cynical? More than being a celebrity, he was a person, and I really hate seeing the passing of someone treated with such callousness. Really, people, have a heart.
In yet other news, went to Paramount's Great America with my lovely otta and a certain big green
duncanroo. Rode almost everything there is to ride, and Duncan vehemently enjoyed me screaming the entire time. You'll have to ask him about it, I'm sure there are stories already floating around. It was an absolutely fabulous time, though Jiminy these people are expensive. Afterwards, Duncan took us out for sushi/teriyaki at a neat restaurant called Midori. I really don't think I could possibly have as much fun in another Japanese restaurant; the owner was just...unparalleled. He *makes* that restaurant (even though the food is really excellent as well).There's a lot more I'd like to say, but it'll have to wait for later.
I Want You On My Side
Aug. 31st, 2006 05:48 pm
Haven't gone running just yet, though I suspect the only running I'll do today is to Burger King. Ow, I'm a bad rabbit!
My left ankle is pretty sore, so I thought I would give it a rest. Still, three days out of five isn't bad, and I *definitely* plan on running tomorrow and probably Saturday. It's odd, but I can never seem to manage both sides of the diet/exercise equation. Not paying attention to making sure I'm as hydrated as I need to be, and certainly not eating enough in the way of good food. I'm going to have to seriously watch myself to make sure I'm drinking the water I need to be.
Tube's job finally got listed today! This is the one we've really been angling for since I've gotten here, and it's taken them about two weeks to post it. Not a good sign. What's an even worse sign is the mandator bachelor's degree you need for your application to be taken seriously! Doh. :/ Going to apply anyway, because I'd really like the job, but at this point I'm just going to have to pour most of my resources into other things. if Bookbuyers offers me the job with them (and they pay enough), I'll almost certainly be going there. At this rate, I don't expect HR at SJSU to get to the interview stage for the jobs I've applied for until November, anyway.
I've been thinking about New Orleans, the flood caused by Hurricane Katrina, and the government response to it. The first 'anniversary' of the disaster was just a few days ago, and conveniently enough Spike Lee made a documentary chronicling the whole thing just in time. He is who he is, so there's a lot of racial grandstanding (Al Sharpton is the equivalent to the word "Nazi" in racial debate -- bring him up and you automatically lose), but he does a very good job of showing exactly how special New Orleans is, and why it's such a tragedy that this enormous historical and cultural landmark is being so disrespected.
Lee goes after Nagin a bit, but largely shows him favorably (I agree with this; Nagin has stood up for his city very well, even if he has bungled the initial response). He leaves Blanco (the governor of LA) alone for the most part, as well, saving most of his anger for -- who else? -- George W. Bush. I agree with this, too. It's no secret how awful FEMA handled the response, and what's even worse is how Bush, Cheney, Rove, Chertoff (then-Director of Homeland Security), and Condi Rice were either MIA or seen having a grand old time while things at the Superdome and the Convention Center were falling apart. Lee does a great job of telling us exactly when everything went down, so we know that Bush was playing guitar with a country singer in the same afternoon a New Orleans resident had to leave his dead mother on a sidewalk.
The documentary was four hours long; the first part deals with Katrina and the flooding afterwards, while the second part deals with the cleanup and investigation afterwards. Even a year afterwards, there are parts of the 9th Ward that aren't clean, some residents are still waiting for FEMA assistance, and the insurance companies have been working hard to screw their clients out of as much money as they can.
It's frustrating and frightening to see how horribly our government has been handling our own people. There are some points where you just get numb to it, you get so weary about hearing day after day after day about how the Bush Administration is totally fucking America and her citizens that it doesn't register when you hear the latest questionable thing, or soundbite gaffe. We don't really get angry any more. We should be getting angry, and what's more, we should be channeling that anger into making America the way it's supposed to be. With or without the government.
The biggest lesson learned from Katrina and New Orleans is that we can no longer expect our government to care for us if/when something happens. If there's another tragedy (like an 8.0 quake in San Francisco, say), I can't expect FEMA to come in with water and supplies. The Red Cross, yes, celebrities, maybe, but the government? Probably not.
This leaves only one option; to make sure you can care for yourself and your loved ones in the event of an emergency. At the risk of sounding survivalist here, it's something the government has been mildly advocating for a while now, but it's something I think we should all start taking very seriously. Make sure there's enough canned food, water, clothing, bedding, batteries and first aid to last anywhere from three days to two weeks, that sort of thing. And perhaps more importantly, we should all be prepared to help each other if we can. At this point, we have to start thinking of ourselves as the cavalry.
In a way, it's a little empowering to be under this government. We get to learn to do for ourselves again, at least. There's the silver lining.
My left ankle is pretty sore, so I thought I would give it a rest. Still, three days out of five isn't bad, and I *definitely* plan on running tomorrow and probably Saturday. It's odd, but I can never seem to manage both sides of the diet/exercise equation. Not paying attention to making sure I'm as hydrated as I need to be, and certainly not eating enough in the way of good food. I'm going to have to seriously watch myself to make sure I'm drinking the water I need to be.
Tube's job finally got listed today! This is the one we've really been angling for since I've gotten here, and it's taken them about two weeks to post it. Not a good sign. What's an even worse sign is the mandator bachelor's degree you need for your application to be taken seriously! Doh. :/ Going to apply anyway, because I'd really like the job, but at this point I'm just going to have to pour most of my resources into other things. if Bookbuyers offers me the job with them (and they pay enough), I'll almost certainly be going there. At this rate, I don't expect HR at SJSU to get to the interview stage for the jobs I've applied for until November, anyway.
I've been thinking about New Orleans, the flood caused by Hurricane Katrina, and the government response to it. The first 'anniversary' of the disaster was just a few days ago, and conveniently enough Spike Lee made a documentary chronicling the whole thing just in time. He is who he is, so there's a lot of racial grandstanding (Al Sharpton is the equivalent to the word "Nazi" in racial debate -- bring him up and you automatically lose), but he does a very good job of showing exactly how special New Orleans is, and why it's such a tragedy that this enormous historical and cultural landmark is being so disrespected.
Lee goes after Nagin a bit, but largely shows him favorably (I agree with this; Nagin has stood up for his city very well, even if he has bungled the initial response). He leaves Blanco (the governor of LA) alone for the most part, as well, saving most of his anger for -- who else? -- George W. Bush. I agree with this, too. It's no secret how awful FEMA handled the response, and what's even worse is how Bush, Cheney, Rove, Chertoff (then-Director of Homeland Security), and Condi Rice were either MIA or seen having a grand old time while things at the Superdome and the Convention Center were falling apart. Lee does a great job of telling us exactly when everything went down, so we know that Bush was playing guitar with a country singer in the same afternoon a New Orleans resident had to leave his dead mother on a sidewalk.
The documentary was four hours long; the first part deals with Katrina and the flooding afterwards, while the second part deals with the cleanup and investigation afterwards. Even a year afterwards, there are parts of the 9th Ward that aren't clean, some residents are still waiting for FEMA assistance, and the insurance companies have been working hard to screw their clients out of as much money as they can.
It's frustrating and frightening to see how horribly our government has been handling our own people. There are some points where you just get numb to it, you get so weary about hearing day after day after day about how the Bush Administration is totally fucking America and her citizens that it doesn't register when you hear the latest questionable thing, or soundbite gaffe. We don't really get angry any more. We should be getting angry, and what's more, we should be channeling that anger into making America the way it's supposed to be. With or without the government.
The biggest lesson learned from Katrina and New Orleans is that we can no longer expect our government to care for us if/when something happens. If there's another tragedy (like an 8.0 quake in San Francisco, say), I can't expect FEMA to come in with water and supplies. The Red Cross, yes, celebrities, maybe, but the government? Probably not.
This leaves only one option; to make sure you can care for yourself and your loved ones in the event of an emergency. At the risk of sounding survivalist here, it's something the government has been mildly advocating for a while now, but it's something I think we should all start taking very seriously. Make sure there's enough canned food, water, clothing, bedding, batteries and first aid to last anywhere from three days to two weeks, that sort of thing. And perhaps more importantly, we should all be prepared to help each other if we can. At this point, we have to start thinking of ourselves as the cavalry.
In a way, it's a little empowering to be under this government. We get to learn to do for ourselves again, at least. There's the silver lining.
Colonel Lapse
Aug. 29th, 2006 03:42 pm
I didn't go jogging today, because I biked to Mountain View and back yesterday. My legs and shoulders are pretty damn sore. Tomorrow, I'll get back on the horse, I promise!
On the bright side, I've already got my first job interview! It's with Bookbuyers, Inc, for their online data entry and book cataloguer positions. If they pay well, I think I wouldn't say no if they asked me to go work for them! Their office is in San Jose, so it might not be too far from Tube and bikable as well! We'll see when I go in, next Monday!
Today I spent writing and reading mostly. Oh, and being sore. :) There's a four-hour Spike Lee documentary on Hurricane Katrina I'm pretty keen on seeing called "When the Levees Broke," and I think I'll try to tackle that whole thing in one go. I don't know if my dear otter is into four straight hours of that kind of thing, so I dunno how that'll go.
Now, more writing!
Oh, and I changed my LJ layout. There's a new style called "Expressive" that's really just a template on which you can slap a lot of different looks. I was *this* close to going for Bunnylicious, but I went for Zen Midnight, instead. I like it quite a bit.
On the bright side, I've already got my first job interview! It's with Bookbuyers, Inc, for their online data entry and book cataloguer positions. If they pay well, I think I wouldn't say no if they asked me to go work for them! Their office is in San Jose, so it might not be too far from Tube and bikable as well! We'll see when I go in, next Monday!
Today I spent writing and reading mostly. Oh, and being sore. :) There's a four-hour Spike Lee documentary on Hurricane Katrina I'm pretty keen on seeing called "When the Levees Broke," and I think I'll try to tackle that whole thing in one go. I don't know if my dear otter is into four straight hours of that kind of thing, so I dunno how that'll go.
Now, more writing!
Oh, and I changed my LJ layout. There's a new style called "Expressive" that's really just a template on which you can slap a lot of different looks. I was *this* close to going for Bunnylicious, but I went for Zen Midnight, instead. I like it quite a bit.
( Today's workout. )
Yeah, sorry about not telling you exactly *what* I've been doing. I just figured everyone would be able to read my mind and already know. I've been going on the treadmill, off and on last week, but I'm going to try and step up to see if I can't make it every day this week. I'll more than likely be biking to Mountain View today, though, so I might need to skip tomorrow and/or Wednesday depending on how much that might take out of me.
I'm still trying to work out a good routine for it; no incline for now and I'm not really trying to sustain speeds over 6 right now, either. Today I started at about 3.0 and increased .5 every 30 seconds until I got up to 5.5, hung there until about 10 minutes in. Then I ramped up to 6 for 10 full minutes, and hung back to 5.0 again from 20 minutes on. I try to time my cool down for 28 minutes in (the treadmill has a little 2 minute cool down button), but I was so close to 2.5 miles I decided to hit that instead. I did, and I felt enormously better. Go me!
My ultimate goal is to be able to run 4 miles every day. If I'm to actually manage that in 30 minutes, it'd mean I'd have to be able to sustain 8 or 9 mph for a good long while. That prospect is pretty daunting; I'm not sure what's a good speed for jogging or anything, so I'll have to do a bit of research about that.
I decided a little while ago that running/jogging is the exercise for me. I get a really great high doing it, and it's the simplest exercise you can do. More than anything, I really like the idea of having a 'runner's build'. If I get this job at Bookbuyer's, I'll likely be doing a lot of biking as well. If I manage to swing a job at SJSU, I'll see how close it is to home; maybe that's a bikable distance as well.
This weekend was, in a word, awesome. Watched a grand total of 8 movies from Friday - Sunday. I really had no idea Tube was so serious about movie watching. :D I don't know if I could do that *every* weekend, but I'm definitely not averse to having movie marathons on a frequent basis. :)
Went to a party on Saturday night, met a lot of CA folks for the first time. I never expected it to be as much fun as it was! Met Dingo(!!) and his pal Greg for the first time, and that was awesome. Saw Rayce, as well, andkibou, whom I haven't spoken to in about 2 years...literally. It was *really* good to see her. :)
Now that Monday's come around, it's back to the daily grind...so to speak. I've been waiting for a friend to come up with a resume she promised me about six weeks back. I'm pretty disappointed that it's taking this long, especially since waiting made me miss out on one Uni job I was very well-suited for, but I don't blame her at all. She's a really hard-working woman with a new marriage and a new baby(!!) into her 40s. Given all that she's going through right now, a *lot* of slack is in order. ;)
I have a two-page resume that I made, and it'll work pretty well for now. Now, all I need to do is write up a few cover letters for specific jobs that I'd like, and the application process can begin in earnest. How exciting! ;) Wish me luck.
Yeah, sorry about not telling you exactly *what* I've been doing. I just figured everyone would be able to read my mind and already know. I've been going on the treadmill, off and on last week, but I'm going to try and step up to see if I can't make it every day this week. I'll more than likely be biking to Mountain View today, though, so I might need to skip tomorrow and/or Wednesday depending on how much that might take out of me.
I'm still trying to work out a good routine for it; no incline for now and I'm not really trying to sustain speeds over 6 right now, either. Today I started at about 3.0 and increased .5 every 30 seconds until I got up to 5.5, hung there until about 10 minutes in. Then I ramped up to 6 for 10 full minutes, and hung back to 5.0 again from 20 minutes on. I try to time my cool down for 28 minutes in (the treadmill has a little 2 minute cool down button), but I was so close to 2.5 miles I decided to hit that instead. I did, and I felt enormously better. Go me!
My ultimate goal is to be able to run 4 miles every day. If I'm to actually manage that in 30 minutes, it'd mean I'd have to be able to sustain 8 or 9 mph for a good long while. That prospect is pretty daunting; I'm not sure what's a good speed for jogging or anything, so I'll have to do a bit of research about that.
I decided a little while ago that running/jogging is the exercise for me. I get a really great high doing it, and it's the simplest exercise you can do. More than anything, I really like the idea of having a 'runner's build'. If I get this job at Bookbuyer's, I'll likely be doing a lot of biking as well. If I manage to swing a job at SJSU, I'll see how close it is to home; maybe that's a bikable distance as well.
This weekend was, in a word, awesome. Watched a grand total of 8 movies from Friday - Sunday. I really had no idea Tube was so serious about movie watching. :D I don't know if I could do that *every* weekend, but I'm definitely not averse to having movie marathons on a frequent basis. :)
Went to a party on Saturday night, met a lot of CA folks for the first time. I never expected it to be as much fun as it was! Met Dingo(!!) and his pal Greg for the first time, and that was awesome. Saw Rayce, as well, and
kibou, whom I haven't spoken to in about 2 years...literally. It was *really* good to see her. :)Now that Monday's come around, it's back to the daily grind...so to speak. I've been waiting for a friend to come up with a resume she promised me about six weeks back. I'm pretty disappointed that it's taking this long, especially since waiting made me miss out on one Uni job I was very well-suited for, but I don't blame her at all. She's a really hard-working woman with a new marriage and a new baby(!!) into her 40s. Given all that she's going through right now, a *lot* of slack is in order. ;)
I have a two-page resume that I made, and it'll work pretty well for now. Now, all I need to do is write up a few cover letters for specific jobs that I'd like, and the application process can begin in earnest. How exciting! ;) Wish me luck.
