Prospects and People and food in SF

Well, talking to the GAO office went okay. I think I came across as a bit strident, but I tend to make that first impression, I think, particularly on work related things. Reviewing their teams and options and stuff, I’m still in favor of returning to the bay but less intently focused on that. Taken together, this means that future life at GAO would likely be in Chicago. And I’m okay with that.

The ERG did not impress me much. Or, at least, not as an option for me. I have several interests, but they apparently don’t do the sort of energy policy I’d like to do for the developed world so much. I was told it would definitely fit, because they have a very broad program, but that they don’t have faculty that really examine that stort of thing. Not terribly surprising. They recommended CMU and Penn State, though the prof I talked to admitted it was not so much his specialty, and I’d be better off talking to professor A (who wasn’t available, and likely won’t be while I’m in town). Enh, oh well. That’s sort of a safety option and there are probably better safety options for me.

Dear Diary…

Little things about the bay

  • It was a bit of a surprise to see foothills in the distance when I got out of the airport. Minneapolis and Chicago are not renowned for their dramatic terrain. I just hadn’t thought about it.
  • People come in more than two colors.
  • When walking back from getting my driver’s license replacement, I noticed a store front with fruit and decided to check out what they had. The place had a strong odor of incense. Turns out that they had more cooler space for cheese than meat. More for tofu than for cheese. And more for fake meat than for tofu. And there was a cat lying on the floor in the corner. I love the lower haight.

last days in chicago, first day in san fran

My last few days in chicago unfolded more or less as expected. I didn’t end up going to the gym, but and I did end up skating through the horde of people watching the air & water show, then up to hollywood beach and back to boystown. One of the guys I’d been chatting with at the bar on Saturday, Lee, invited me to the Big Gay Cocktail Club on Sunday, but ‘s departure was delayed so he could synch up with his coworker’s arrival at O’hare. Besides, arriving sweaty and tired from skating probably not so much in keeping with the tone of the event. Afterwards we ordered from chicago pizza. I got a deep-fried veggie variety pack (mushrooms, cauliflower, and zucchini), once again proving that vegan does not imply healthy.

was a great weekend guest. I actually think he’d make a great roommate (in case this in inobvious, this is high praise from me), but I’d have to take a pass on Phoenix.

Monday I think I packed for a bit. Dropped clothing off at the Brown elephant. Browsed pornographic superhero comics at unabridged and generally lazed around. spent some time at the Emergency Room with some worrying symptoms, but nothing terribly wrong was found. Went I got home, Mitch (whose lj, remains empty) showed the two video games he’d acquired. I played the one he got for Laura, Fable, from 11pm til 6am. I went to sleep as the sun was rising. This made my last minute packing a little more hurried. I mailed a couple more boxes back to mpls. One heavy and clunky, the other a shoebox full of books. Must remember to tape down all edges. I scratched up my inner elbow to an annoying degree on the half mile walk to the post office. Then I caught a cab to the airport because I was tight on time.

I was still standing in line for about half an hour waiting to board the plane (southwest, so no assigned seating). In line, I met Chris. Chris is a punk, homo (he’d say “queer”, he may actually be bi, but whatever), writer (particularly of zines) from Milwaukee, freelance mac support guy, who has lived mere blocks from the places I lived in berkeley and minneapolis. He saved me a seat (middle seat, towards the back of the plane). We chatted for the first couple hours of the flight. I loaned him Bear Cub to watch. I listened to my iROK podcast, watched over his shoulder, and read a bit more of Freakonomics. Then we talked some more, and took bart, then muni from the oakland airport to the castro street station, where we parted ways to get housing from our respective friends.

I watched a little charmed with Jason, had some good ethiopian food with and (rather fewer people than expected, but oh well). joined us later, got some pizza, then we got some beer (well, cider in my case). Then Josh went home, and Aaron and I hung out at, or rather, in front of, Badlands. I was introduced to a tall, skinny, blond minnesotan, who paid a flattering amount of attention to me. I quickly repaired to Josh’s.

I just finished shaving, and am now off to talk to GAO people and the ERG at berkeley. See y’all later.

Two galling recent events

Firing the general for adultery pisses me the fuck off. Firing for sexual harrassment, rape, whatever, I could see. Firing for adultery seems like a total waste of talent. If he wants to fuck up his personal life six ways from sunday, as a member of the people he’s protecting, I’m fine with that, so long as he manages to do his job well. Absurd policy, abyssmal waste.

Cindy Sheehan. It’s great that someone is bringing it home for him. It sucks that this is what it takes to bring it to the American public’s attention. It’s like a michael moore documentary and it annoys me. One soldier, one mother. If it had been a perfectly reasonable action taken to stop a genocide, the same stunt could be pulled. Would it resonate as much? Probably not. But, ugh.

Maybe Democrats are Lazy

My political leanings are no secret. And I can empathize with the perspectives in a couple of posts entitled “Letting the Republicans Implode”. But constructing a plausible and perhaps even probable political analysis of the imminent decline of a particular political alliance is a far cry from being able to say it’s miller time.

This reminds me of ‘s recent post on the subject of voting v direct action.