1:33 p.m., EST<\/p>\n
Waiting at the gate in the Pittsburg airport. My flight doesn’t leave until 2:55, so I’ve got some time to kill… no problem there. Plenty of AppleScript Studio docs to read, plus I recently started over on Snow Crash, a most excellent novel by Neal Stephenson. I almost finished it about a year and a half ago, but instead of just finishing it now I decided to start over… picking up a lot of detail I missed the first time around :)<\/p>\n
Words can’t adequately express how glad I am to be getting back to Seattle…. To date in this lifetime, Seattle represents the most ideal mix of technology, culture, attractions, and friends… I can say without a doubt that in general I’ve enjoyed my time living there more than any other single geographical location (not that it has all that much to do with geography ;) It seems only fitting to return now after the Islandless stint.<\/p>\n
In truth, this whole thing feels like it’s just been an extended vacation from Seattle. I figured that after Islandless that I’d probably end up back in Seattle (… or elsewhere with Amy, but oh well…); it was just a question of how long I’d be with Islandless. My commitment was to do it as long as was necessary. That doesn’t sound right though… it’s not as if I felt chained in, even though it turned out that life in the BVI wasn’t all I thought it would be.<\/p>\n
Of course, I greatly wanted Islandless to succeed – not only for financial purposes, but because I wanted the experience of having built an ISP. In the end, I got about as much experience and knowledge out of it as I could, without us actually deploying our network. The bulk of the wireless links that were set up were for testing or demonstration purposes; although we had everything else planned down to the last detail. Perhaps more importantly, I got to work closely with one Dan Carleton, whose fu is very strong… I tried to pick up as many habits \/ take as much advice as I could… it definitely made a positive contribution on me personally (and certainly we couldn’t have pulled off the whole Filemaker <--> LDAP thing at all without him ;) The fact that I could keep up with him (or even understand what he was doing) with some things made me happy :)<\/p>\n
Looking forward, I must say that I’m very pleased at what’s ahead :) Hangin’ with Damon again will be both relieving and loads of fun. Never underestimate the importance of having somebody close by that you can really connect with on a variety of levels :) Also, there is something about the Damon geek lair that exudes moxy and general badassness…. I always enjoyed being a something of a fixture in said lair, and am pleased and honored to be able to do so again for a while :)<\/p>\n
The word is that housing is fairly easy to come by in Seattle these days… I will most likely look for a place that that is centrally located and cheap. I’m not much of the home entertainer, so as long as there’s room for a desk or two and my bedroll, I think I’ll be in fine shape. Frankly, spkz sdsl availability is more important than square footage or just about any other factor.<\/p>\n
As far as the job scene goes… I could go in a variety of directions. I’ve got a desire to do quite a few different things, really… I’d love to get back into a nice tech. training role, as I’ve got many years of experience in that department and enjoy doing it. I also wouldn’t mind sticking to network administration for a while longer, as I’m also good at that and enjoy it. One thing I’ve never gone for is any kind of writing position… I think I’d make a pretty damn fine technical writer… I’ve got a lot of practice, but it’s mostly been personal project related, not for money (though I did write a shit load of courseware for the sessions I taught while working for the school board in FL). Also on my mind is …. RETAIL! *ghasp*. Well, not any kind of retail. In fact, there’s only one place in all of Seattle that I think I would like to work in retail – The Computer Store, for obvious reasons… mac evangelism and my generally amiable nature ;) I also want to be first in line whenever Apple starts accepting applications for their Seattle store, whenever they decide to build it… I also wouldn’t mind a general *nix administration position… I may not be a hardcore developer, but I’m confident enough in my current knowledge (and more importantly, my learning abilities) to feel perfectly comfy going for such a job… Then there’s the whole music thing, which has been largely untapped in my life except for personal entertainment. I would probably really enjoy getting in on the ground floor at some studio or something and working my way up. I think I’ve got a fair amount to offer in that area, what with my knowledge of music theory, intermediate playing ability, and nearly perfect pitch (I bet it could be perfect if I ever actually focused on training my ears better). And of course, there’s a whole slew of other stuff that I’m sure I could do, but haven’t thought of yet… I’ve been reading postings for about a week now, and will continue to do so until I find something that catches my interest and is still available… (I’ve applied for a few positions that had already been filled). The bottom line is, I’m multi-talented enough that the myriad of commerce \/ industry in Seattle should be more than sufficient to provide me with an opportunity for a job that I like. I hate to gush with confidence, cause I feel like it might make me look sorta conceited… really, though, I just enjoy all of these things a great deal :) Incidentally, keep your ears open for your good buddy dre for any positions related to the above criteria ;)<\/p>\n
4:30 p.m., EST<\/p>\n
At JFK, again :) The flight here was pretty nondescript… seems to be the norm these days. I don’t know how many times I’ve flown, but it’s a lot… enough that it all seems to run together. Got my first glimpse of the NYC skyline in a couple years…. when I was here a week and a half ago, it was pretty overcast \/ hazy, so I couldn’t see much…<\/p>\n
The flight to Tacoma should take about 6:15… I just wish I had Escape Velocity: Nova to play on the way… alas, it won’t get released until tomorrow… oh well :) Actually I had nabbed a whole crap load of really old \/ small games, but I recently realized that I never actually got them to my workstation… they’re still sitting on a shell. No worries :)<\/p>\n
Mom gave me some McDonald’s bucks (or whatever) that I used in Pittsburg to purchase some nugs, fries and a coke. I’m not getting anything to eat here in hopes that we’ll get some fine airplane food during the trek westward.<\/p>\n
We’ve got some festivities planned for tonight, sponsored in part by the small plastic terrarium that belongs to nico and steph … wee :) Damon went ahead and got Monday off work, so we’ll have a nice long weekend in which to freak out \/ chill \/ geek \/ chill \/ geek… etc, etc ;)<\/p>\n
Also, while I was staying at my grandparent’s place in Slippery Rock, granddad offered to put me through a certification crash course of my choosing. After asking me about certifications in general, I mentioned that I’ve been looking at Cisco certs for a couple years now, but never had the ability to pony up the ~$1000 it costs for an accelerated course that touches all the bases required to pass an exam. Sure, I could just buy books and study ’em myself… and really, I probably already know the majority of what’s required to pass a CCNA exam… but, my study habits are simply atrocious, so an accelerated course is by far the best way to go, for me. I found a few decent offerings; my favorite so far is one that starts in Seattle on March 23 and runs for 7 full days. The cost includes lodging and meals, plus the price of not one, but *two* exams… CCNA and CCDA. They even say that if you fail them, you can come back and take the whole course again for free… So, I sent email to them early this week, but have yet to hear anything back from them… my internal scam detector senses are tingling, so I’m most certainly proceeding with caution – especially considering that it’s $2350 of somebody else’s money. Cisco certification(s) would be sweet though… it’s stuff I’m into, and easily applicable in the ‘real world’.<\/p>\n
8:00, EST (though I’m not sure what time zone I’m actually in…)<\/p>\n
The in flight movie was Behind Enemy Lines… High production value, whiz-bang, a few pretty sweet action sequences. Excessive use of the overcrank \/ undercrank (but then, isn’t it almost always excessive?). I went ahead an opted to not pay the $5 “entertainment charge” and just use my own headphones instead… (I hate those cheap-o ones anyway).<\/p>\n
The food served was quite decent. This bigass 767 is only about 60% full, which means I’ve got an entire center row to myself… woot :) I’ve also noticed a large number of laptops on board… one in almost every row (some lady behind me has a TiBook…). One of these days I’ll travel with a fellow geek that also has a laptop + airport card, so we can do some wlan gaming at 35,000 ft ;)<\/p>\n
I think there’s somewhere around three hours left in this flight, so I think I’ll read some ASS documentation now :)<\/p>\n
(I’m half way through building the interface for the Watson tutorial app – this shit rocks!!)<\/p>\n
11:45: PST<\/p>\n
Got here a while ago. Chillin :) oh yeah :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1:33 p.m., EST Waiting at the gate in the Pittsburg airport. My flight doesn’t leave until 2:55, so I’ve got some time to kill… no problem there. Plenty of AppleScript Studio docs to read, plus I recently started over on … Continue reading