Howdy

Well it’s been some time since I’ve posted, but I haven’t disappeared off the earth, indeed if I look down I can say, “Wow, there’s earth, just below me”. Yes, it’s a thrilling life I lead.

So I got back to the US and got to spend a couple days seeing friends in LA, before spending a couple weeks in San Francisco. I’ve been in New York ever since visiting friends and family. Next week I’ll be in Boston, then back in NY, then home to SF. As promissed, I will be back home by Halloween.

If I thought anjyone would get the joke I’d come as a “generic backpacker” – aussie accent, natch (though I may mix thiings up by periodically claim kiwi); dirty tshirt, dirty pants with way to many pockets and zip off shorts, flipflops. Then I’ll restrict my conversation to the quality of the local beer and how superior I feel to the following people:
1. People who are so soft and wimpy that they have to carry a change of clothing or worse, more than one.
2. Anyone who attempts to tell me about some cool thing they’ve seen along the way – of course it’s not nearly as cool as what I just saw in Nepal, Peru, or Cambodia.
3. Any fellow tourist who suggests that maybe the act of travel alone doesn’t confirm one as a higher order of human.
Or something. Shit, I even get the joke and it’s a lot more sad than funny. Yeah. Clearly more brainstorming needs to happen.

Since I’ve been here on the East Coast, I’ve been trying to do the mental excerise where instead of thinking of myself as unemployed, I think of myself as having a job and that job is finding a job. To that end I’ve been making progress, my resume feels to be in very good shape and I feel like I’ve assembled a pretty good plan of attack. Of course, as jobs go, this has ups and downs: the freedom and hours are great, but the pay (rather, the lack thereof) sucks and its easy to let yourself get directionless. So I guess the next steps are to start attacking on that plan. Yar. Now is the time to harness my inner Hun.

It’s been fun to be in New York. Many of the people I love most in the world live here, so it’s been so wonderful to spend time with them. I got a chance to walk a lot in Queens (around Jackson Heights and Astoria). These are veryintriguing places to me, I feel like I can walk a small number of blocks and make it to neighborhoods that feel pretty close to other countries. And it’s all so different from Asia, where homogeneity reigns, but here the next group is just a short walk away and all the pedestrians are a hugely diverse mix. To my eyes, this is the strength of America. And tt’s like travelling on the cheap and easy. This is so cool. I must do more spelunking in Queens.

Comments

[old friend passin by]

I've done the job looking thing and key is too stay motivated. Considering looking for a job as a job is a smart way to go about it.

If you're still doing tech you're probably already using monster.com and dice.com.

Also try net-temps.com and, if you're looking on the east coast, look up a recuiting firm called M*logic and ask for Marvin. He runs the firm and has connections.

If you want more I'll add them here. Good luck.