Author: cheerfulchaotic

Learning the scu

So, there’s the notion of the unwashed nerd, and their many social failings that is popular among my more mainstream friends. When hanging out among my nerd friends, I have noticed trends that I like, and trends that cause me to roll my eyes. Sadly, they are often the same trend applied in different circumstances. I myself regularly fall prey to some of them. Most especially the notion that a friend of a friend is a friend. So appealing, and yet so very not the case.

I urge you to check out this article to get a better notion of what makes me tick in my charmingly neurotic ways. I hope to use the reflection this has prompted to seperate a bit of the neurosis from a bit of the charm. =) Read it and you might even figure out a bit about yourself.

http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html

thanks to and .

Past 24 hours

I finished the Ro recommendation letter. Still haven’t given it to him for review. Handed in passport application, debt consolidation loan payment, and first insurance premium for blue shield. Tonight will be more fun with the resume, for grad school stuff. Emphasis will be placed on research, and human interaction/instruction stuff. Also writing analytical essay, and possibly outlining the statement of purpose. May also try to do something for a consultant-y resume, but I suspect that will wait ’til next week. Or maybe even Austin. Oh, btw, I’m going, tickets will be purchased, as soon as I recieve confirmation from my host(s). =)

Now on to the application. I wonder if I’ll ever get around to studying for that whole final thing I have going on next week.

Texas over christmas?

Hmmm, Austin, TX is looking like a possible holiday destination. Might I rely on one or more of my wonderful lj-subscriber type folks in that area to put me up while out there? Happy vibes into the universe. I think I’m going to go pay for insurance and get a passport. Must also bust ass on berkeley application this week. Including writing letter of recomendation from Ro. Wheeeee.

On the return from ohio

So, my flight back was mostly uneventful. Slept part of the way, read “Leadership Without Easy Answers” during the rest. Good book. Recommended to our commendable new elected official to the north, , I think you might enjoy it.

One thought from looking out the windows, another from the book.

1) Flying into phoenix, I thought the rock outcroppings were really cool and the city looked kinda neat. But looking at the organization of the urban fabric, the pervasive “suburban style housing pod, pool at the center, one way out for the car, with occasional big box/huge parking lot commercial entities” stuff, I could tell from the air that I’d probably be very sad living there.

2) In the book, he makes a huge distinction between influence and leadership. Influence is accomplishing what one desires. Leadership is guiding people to confront and manage their fundamental conflicts. It’s a very interesting book thus far, and I strongly recommend it to everyone, but especially Aaron. It has a great section briefly discussing primate behavior patterns, dominance, deference, and what not. Thinking about it made me wonder how my own reactions to influence worked. I think I still have some of the reflexive envy/anger/fear reaction to the “popular people”. That’s a bit of a problem there, makes for unsmooth interactions with such.

When I got back, I started chatting with another phoenix resident, lj-er, former roommate to , , , etc, oh yeah, and me, Brandon, *yay* =)

Best place to live?

test source

Interesting that the east coast tops off my list. Climactically, I totally get that, though DC is a bit on the warm/muggy side for my taste (it’s up there because it’s got so many smarties, schools, the library of congress, etc, etc). (Chicago was my climate selection, though I was sad to have to choose only city. I like mild summers, snowy winters, and generally cool climates. So, from the description, I really ought to check out Denver, pity it’s thoroughly land locked. Main problems for it were recreational possibilities, and low high school/college graduates).

I’m surprised by the high transportation scores for LA & Seattle (I chose way high on public transit (duh), train access almost there, plane access just below that.

Pittsburgh was 14, Madison 30, Oakland was 40th (big loser on climate and health (primarily air quality)), Champaign-Urbana was 71st scoring a surprising 0% on recreation (no nearby parks, I guess), Burlington, VT lost big on transportation and libraries (97th), Phoenix got a 0% on climate, and while I doubt I’d like it, I doubt it’d be that bad), Albuquerque was 217th. Good thing I’m not living there. =)

I really wish that you could make a section (like say, transportation) multiplicative instead of additive, but, overall, cool thingy. Thank you

An interesting point, am I a city slicker or country bumkin?

Reading this bit about howard dean got me wondering if I did essentially the reverse. Go from living next to cow pastures and uncut forest to residing in pittsburgh, chicago, and the bay area, with a taste for high density and an active street life. (with a five year layover in suburbia intervening). And wondering what the future holds for me.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2003_12_07.html#002296

Lost cell, where to go?

So, I lost my cell phone today. Left it on the bart coming back from *redacted*. It was godawful bloody early, and it wasn’t 30 seconds after the train pulled away before I noticed its absence. Grrr. There goes all the numbers of just about every fucking one I know. *sigh*. I have been deleashed, I suppose, though we now have a land line.

Also, today, Ro, knowing I was going to be in the area ‘alone’ for the holidays, said that if he had a southwest travel voucher (which he may well), I was welcome to it, if I wanted to go somewhere over the holidays. I was vaguely disheartened to realize that there wasn’t anywhere I wanted to go. I’m sorta feeling like everyone already has plans, such that any arrangements I did make would result in me being a third-to-nth wheel. I saw my family (excluding Liz, who I had an extended phone conversation with) over thanksgiving, and I think we get along best seeing one another not-too-frequently, and my parents at least will be out here in late January.

I’ve had a fair number of solo holidays/birthdays, and they generally blow (the long chorus rehearsal on my bday was actually kinda cool), but I don’t think there’s a cold-sleep facility around to hibernate through the holidays. Maybe I can do some work on grad school applications and consultant-work-finding then.

Category Scores
Climate Econ. Hous. Educ. Health Crime Recr. Arts Trans.
1  Boston, MA-NH-ME 8% 6% 5% 18% 9% 6% 6% 11% 30%
2  Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV 7% 7% 6% 22% 7% 4% 7% 7% 33%
3  San Francisco, CA 1% 7% 5% 18% 8% 3% 15% 12% 31%
4  New York, NY 8% 4% 6% 18% 3% 3% 13% 9% 36%
5  Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI 9% 16% 7% 20% 8% 5% 9% 6% 20%
6  Long Island, NY 9% 5% 6% 19% 10% 15% 12% 9% 14%
7  Rochester, MN 9% 20% 8% 23% 4% 10% 0% 5% 21%
8  Chicago, IL 13% 6% 7% 19% 5% 2% 4% 9% 36%
9  Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA 3% 8% 7% 14% 8% 4% 22% 6% 28%
10  Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 2% 6% 7% 21% 1% 4% 19% 8% 34%