That’s right! Another blog entry brimming with the subconscious swell of dissatisfaction at my not managing to punch out more than one entry per month. If only daydreams lead to blog entries; I find myself shuttling around by plane, train, and automobile dreaming up the most engaging (if I do say so myself, thank you!) rants and narratives. Some day I’ll figure out how to capture them in written form.
So, what have I been up to lately? Let’s take it point by point…
Back to the States
I touched down at SFO after my 7 months abroad just in time for the holidays -- leaving just 3 hours between arriving in the office and the Christmas holiday shutdown. This was, of course, the perfect window of time to do rounds of the office and shake a few hands without having to pierce the thick fog of jetlag in order to do real work. Nick and I drove down to Riverside shortly thereafter to spend a week with our parents for Christmas. Of course, no Carde Christmas holiday would be complete without the now-traditional holiday retrofit and upgrade of the house’s computer, network, and entertainment systems. That's right. I'm a tech whore and I look forward to these things. ;)
Vegas, baby! Vegas!
Early January means only one thing, and that is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The media seemed to generally concur with my sentiment that were precious few new and exciting things to see at CES2008. You may have already read my rather ungracious rant about Moletech who – to make a long story short – embodied everything that was wrong with the show.
However, all was not lost. Erica was in town for a Rona’s bachelorette party – and so she stuck around for an extra day and I came out a day early… We definitely lived up to our party potential: saw a Cirque du Soleil show (Zumanity!), ate extravagantly (steak and sushi!), and drank well. On that last topic: unsuspecting guests who order a double-shot of rum at the MGM Grand are “treated” to an $18 tank of the stuff.
In other Las Vegas/CES news, the parties were awesome, as usual. Here we are at the MediaFLO party in Tao at the Venetian. Yes, Philipp and Anders have two mojitos each. That's how we roll.
Nabbed a pad!
That’s right! Near the end of January I finally shifted my place-of-residence from “Nick’s pull-out couch blessed with Rock Band” to a short-term sublet in Duboce Triangle in San Francisco. I’ve two housemates – a guy from Michigan and a girl from Ireland – and, while my room is pretty tiny, the flat is great and the neighborhood is abso-friggin-lutely awesome. I’m totally in love… This might be my first stop entering the real-estate market [hopefully] later this year!
Why? There are two cafes, a loungy bar, several taquerias, a burger joint, a pizza shop, a cheap-o Chinese place, and two grocery stores within two blocks of me. Market St. is also two blocks away, as are the N and J street cars. Duboce park, one block away, has a <fat bastard voice>huuuuge</fat bastard voice> fenced-in dog park, so my block is a virtual nexus of dogs filtering towards the park. It is a shame that city dogs are so damn jaded about meeting new people: “You? You want to pet me? Pshaw! Get in line, buddy!”
Engaged political warp drive!
My mom joined Bill Hedrick’s campaign to unseat the Republican incumbent in California’s 44th Congressional district: Ken Calvert. Taking any Republican seat in the house would be a delight, but Mr. Calvert’s seat would be a particularly delicious victory, as he made the list of “Top 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress.”
I’d been watching my mom’s involvement from afar (e.g. Germany), and it seems that they really needed somebody with back-end web programming and infrastructure experience. Between my having transitioned, professionally speaking, away from web development a long time ago and not having an ounce of spare time, I swore I wasn’t going to get pulled in. Not three days after arriving home from Germany, however, I signed on as – unofficially, as I don’t have a title – the “guy in charge of internet stuff.” I’m not doing the front-end design of the web site (I wouldn’t know good design if somebody hit me with it), but am doing the back-end, constituent tracking, and direct email systems.
On a related note, I’m more excited about an election than I have been in years. It’ll probably come as no surprise that I’m 110% behind Obama. While I don’t doubt that Clinton (isn’t weird that everyone calls her Hillary?) would make a fine president, the thought of an alternating Bush-Clinton dynasty frustrates me to the point of feeling ill. If you doubt that Jeb is waiting in the wings for 2012 or 2016, I’ve got a bridge you might be interested in. His policies, ideas, and platforms (which I largely agree with, by the way) notwithstanding, Obama also offers the singularly best opportunity our generation has seen to affirm that – as we grow to lead the nation –we will neither embrace nor fall for the politics of division and distortion that have become the norm for both parties. It is truly heartening to see our generation awake, energized, and ready to finally call bullshit on the way politics have been played to date.
Travel up the wazoo!
I just returned from my first short-term trip back to Stuttgart, not a month after I left from having lived there. I’m working on some pretty fast-paced and exciting stuff for work, and so I expect the travel to continue at a furious pace for the foreseeable future. We’re talking monthly trips to Germany, here! It was SO nice and tremendous fun to be back in Germany – I still can’t believe how many amazing friends I have there after such a short time… something that I wish I could have brought back here with me!
I should mention that it was Karneval weekend in Germany. This lead to plenty of good times:
Anders and I at a [one of many] Fasching party in Stuttgart. Does Anders look happy to be in Germany? I think so.
Serene spotted these two Americans at the Fasching party, and we started talking to them. The guy in the red called himself a 'Republican Captalist Pig' (seriously!) and his favorite topic seemed to be how much anti-Americanism we experienced in Germany. He also flipped a guy off for spilling beer on him. Draw your own conclusions. ;) The guy on the right was an Obama supporter. Word.
A Karneval parade in Elzach, Germany -- near the French border. It was a little scary, actually. All 2000 villagers in the parade dressed in the same costume depicted here, walking around with pig bladders inflated like balloons, tied to ropes on sticks. Really. And they hit you with them - hard. While growling. My fight-or-flight response has not been stimulated like that for some time.
Spent the weekend in Freiburg -- and attended a good-bye party at a bar there!
So, that’s about it. Work, seeing old friends, keeping in touch with new (and distant) friends in Germany, more work, more fun – and some politics on the side. Life’s not boring – not by a long shot!