Clearing my head in the desert
The joke goes "Where am I going ? And what am I doing in a handbasket ?"
Its been one surreal hell of a week!
Starting brain dump....
Where am I REALLY ?
Im just outside Calexico on the Calif Mexico border.
HUH ? WTH ?
Set the way back machine, Sherman to last week.
As of last weekend, I was in one hell of a bind.
The bank account ran out, storage was in default and I was worth more dead than alive.
I had a nice time at Halloween at the Grand Central Starport. It was a break from the panic that was my life. It was good to see the Mandelbear & Flowercat. Steve, Colleen, Emmy & Chaos were exactly what I needed. I desperately needed people. Chaoswolf even phoned. Eventually Jilara popped by after doing her "Haunted Bayou" thing at her place.
Figmo gave me some help in my jobsearch. BIG help. Incredible huge big help. I gave up on careerbuilder.com long ago. She said to try it again. She gave me other good advice. It paid off.
Sunday was nice. In the morning, Dad & I went over to Salem Lutheran to visit Mom. I didnt get jobsearch work done, because dad & I were working the Berkeley Community Theatre pipe organ concert. We had 1 guy playing the largest Wurlitzer pipe organ on the west coast and his buddy on the 9ft grand piano. This was not some boring church organ concert. Just before the intermission we had a treat. The pianist excused himself from stage and let the organist do a solo. The next selection after that solo was a scottish tune and the audience was taken by surprise when the pianist reappeared in the rear of the house in full highland regalia and a 100yr old set of bagpipes. Then after that they went into Scotland the Brave as they rode the orchestra pit elevator from stage level all the way down.
After the concert, we broke down the CD & sheet music shop in the lobby and had guided tours up into the chambers and the catwalks of the theatre. Finally we took the artists out to dinner at Cafe Venezia in Berkeley as usual. I got home late and exhausted.
Monday, I applied Lynne's (Figmo) help to my job search.
Meanwhile, the US economy has started to move. Job loss is slowing, change is out on the horizon. The Dow is flirting with 10k. The Dow is really no longer a good predictor. The S&P 500 or maybe 1000 would be better, but we are conditioned to look at the Dow. All that zero interest money the banks can borrow from the FED (these are loans not bailouts) the banks are using on the stock market and thats why the Dow is going up but so is unemployment.
We got another rough year, but it looks like weve seen the bottom. If things arent looking much better by late summer 2010, Obama will find hiimself with both houses back in Republican hands.
I dont think hes gonna let that happen. People who want to pillory him forget that this is not his creation. He just got left "holding the bag". It feels weird being an Obama Republican, by the way.
He really need to trust the American people with the truth. Bring back FDRs "Fireside Chat". Perhaps a "Back Porch Chat". I really think that if he sat down and tole the American people what the hell is REALLY going on, he just might bolster his numbers.
Many companies took advantage of the recession to reduce headcount and soon there will be presure to take some of this presure off. With the recent news that weve officially started recovery, temp agencies are seeing activity. This is the start. And some staffs will demand that management at least bring in temp staff. Like recovery from the dot-bomb, entire staffs will threaten to take their chances in the growing temp workforce unless management brings in additional headcount. The threat of losing a whole dept is very scary to employers, I dont care how heartless the bastards.
I have been extremely disappointed in the American people. They should have stormed wall street months ago "with shovels and rakes and pitchforks and other implements of dee-struction". I was heartened to see the banking convention protested.
I come from a family of "Orange County Bankers". These guys are not "neocons", they are REAL Republicans. The dirty secret is that the republican system without regulation is called "anarchy" and that is not good for business. Regulation of business can be a pain, but it also damps out radical swings that can kill entire sectors.
The IT sector has been improving faster than others because there are tax issues regarding keeping equipment past 37 months. Everyone seems to listen to CISCO and they are saying things are taking off. INTEL says the same. Doesnt matter if its true. What matters is that people believe it and people feeling like its improve will make it improve.
Even retail is expecting a small upturn.
As I said, just when you are up against the wall, sometimes the cavalry arrives.
I ran the numbers and figured out none of my storage gets auctioned until Dec, so I still have a teeny bit of breathing room.
Between the recent recovery in the news, and Figmos advoice, things started to happen Monday night.
Monday night, Mom was in better shape than usual. She was standing upright for once.
Tuesday, the phone rang and rang and rang. The phone got more use on Tuesday than it has in the last month and a half. Tuesday night, it happened, just before leaving to go see Mom.
"Im looking for an AIX admin who has Tivoli Storage Experience, Are you available ?"
"Sure. Im available and Id love to start tomorrow" (I was getting kinda cheeky)
"Well we need you yesterday"
and thats how it started. They wanted me in Imperial County the next day but I didnt have my ducks in a row. I was holding out for a starting date of next Monday. Wednesday was a blurr. Thursday morning, I told them I could do it.
Wednesday night, Dad had gont to the "loo" (I LOVE that term dont you ?) I was walking with Mom down the hall, and mentioned that I was about to go on an out of town project and I wouldnt be by to visit for a while. Mom suddenly looked up at me. I think she actually understood.
If true, THAT is a scary thought. Pondering this for my LJ post this morning, I had an epiphany that I will be posting about later.
Im playing with fire here. Im outta town. Moms best friend (my "Auntie Norma") is psychically gifted. Shes in a hurry to visit Mom. I dont like the math. Im prepared in case, but it makes me nervous.
SO, I boarded a plane in Oakland to San Diego. Ive rented a u-haul truck but never a car. It was amazingly easy. While the bank accounts are wiped, it turns out my COSTCO account I opened with my DAD is actually an AM EX, so that was available for me. While I didnt have a reservation for a car, they did have mini vans & compacts. I wasnt looking for a luxury car anyway. They put me in a black Ford Focus with TOO many gadgets.
I missed a turn getting out of the airport and got lost but managed to take a guess and dead reconed to get onto I-5 north and then again lost on a poorly marked detour for the move to I-8 east. Again, I managed to take a few guesses and got enroute. I saw trucks and lots of border patrol vehicles out there.
It was cooling as it was late at night. I set cruise control and headed east. I didnt know I was going over mountains. Eventually the temp started dropping a degree every few minutes. I spotted an altitude sign that proclaimed 4100ft and encountered light rain. I stopped at the rest stop at Bradshaw Springs and nearly froze gettin out of the car. Further along, I was finally so sleepy I pulled in at a brake check area and took a 2 hr nap. When I woke, the pavement was dry and the rain had stopped. Then I found out why the brak check area was there. It was at the top of a 10 mils 7% grade (very steep).
I got into the hotel around quarter to 4, lost an hour trying to get the laptop online. I overslept and got up at 7:30. Managed to dress, hit the breakfast buffet and head out to the jobsite. The local irrigation district has a large upgrade going on and they needed some extra manpower to help out. The district does more than irrigation. They do power and water. They even have a geothermal plant running down here.
My spanish might be better than I thought. They dont know I understand spanish yet. (hehehe)
Anyway, its a couple weeks.
After work, I popped over to Yuma AZ for the radio club meeting to surprise someone who didnt know I was down here. It was hilarious to see the look on Ti-Michelles face when I got there. The trip back included both an agricultural inspection and an immigration check point. I was coming back late enough there was no line for either one.
Alas, my passport expired in Sept and I cant afford to renew, so I had to decline the invitation to go down to the Tecate plant. Ill get it renewed soon but it wont be in time.
This is a longer post than expected.
This sudden relief has been amazing. I dont know how much Ive had perking on the back burner and were to freaked out to deal with, and how much Ive been able to think about out here in the desert. It was 86 at noon, yesterday. I did lunch at Costco and tried out the moon roof. By the way, I havent run the air conditioning yet.
Its peaceful and warm. I can think. Uh, oh, thinking is a dangerous thing....
More on that in another post. Another epiphany hit this morning.
Now, I think lunch and a swim.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kayfox's Friends Page
amused
awake
determined
aggravated![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}