Wednesday, August 27, 2003
givin' it all away
Through the front door of the café comes an older man; brightly coloured knit rasta cap, grey beard, hardened eyes, grizzled features. Tank top, blue overalls. Slung over his shoulder was the longest extension cord I've ever seen in my life, and it's a grungy, dirty yellow. He asks me if it's $4 an hour to surf, and I correct him and tell him it's $6.
"Oh. Haven't checked my email in 3 months." (Me, thinking: Your address probably doesn't exist any more.) "Hey. Someone there across the street told me" (I quickly think he's about to tell me that someone across the street told him it was $4/hour to surf) "you'd give me $3 for this. It's worth over a hundred dollars." He indicates the cord. I politely tell him I don't need it, but thanks and good luck.
He shrugs as if to say, No biggie, and then adds, "I gave away my 1.2 gHz Hewlett-Packard the other day."
I think that he would have been better off if he'd tried to sell the computer and give the cord away. I decide to ask him why he gave it away, knowing that I might very well be getting myself into weird, shadowy areas.
He speaks kind of in a ramble, and when he's done, I realize he never did answer my real question, which was really why didn't he sell it.
"I just signed the title of my truck over; my house; left behind everything, furniture, animals, family. Quit my job, steel frame construction. Left the last paycheck behind. Going to Mexico to start a new life."
I wonder if he's told anyone. If his family knows. If the left-behind animals are cared for. What do I know? — Maybe the guy's out of his mind and when he leaves he's getting on the bus to go home. Maybe he's dying of cancer and wants to run away and die alone like an old dog.
I didn't really know what to say to that because who am I to judge? Finally, I say feebly, "Whatever works for you."
Evidently it was the right thing, because he gave me the thumbs-up gesture and a toothy grin as he shuffled out the way he came.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
maybe yes, maybe no
Well, I got the app in the mail in time. Used the class handout on scribing in the SCA as my writing sample, and a printer's spread printout of the newsletter I used to do for our branch as the design sample. My cover letter is a lot more aggressive and yet filled with a lot more originality and personality than any cover letter I've sent out to date. I'm still hoping to hear something back that's positive, even if it is something of a long shot chance. Who knows.
This upcoming weekend is Labour Day, and supposedly we're driving up to Washington (south Puget Sound) for the weekend. It all depends on whether or not Andra can finish the QA reviews that are due by end of day Saturday. (If she can't, we're not going). On the one hand, a weekend away! On the other, gas is expensive right now, and the usual travel costs like food on the road (or food for the road, as the case may be) and ferry tickets — I must admit, I'm a little creeped out at the thought of being on an island with no way to get off except for a ferry. What if there was a natural disaster?
More later, mebbe.
Thursday, August 21, 2003
11th hour reprieve
We've managed to pull a miracle out of thin air and avoid the sale tomorrow. We're not out of the woods yet but at least now I don't have to worry about trying to pack up my house in ten days.
Stumbled across a graphic design job with the organization through which we sponsored "little Uchka" (and have another little sponsor baby girl now), right here in town, and it sounds perfect for me. Closing date is tomorrow so I have to pull together a writing sample and a design sample.
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
pig day 2003
Me, Andra, Marian, Tim and Sonnet, post-chowing-down.
A couple of my favourite blogs have either gone 404 or have closed shop, so I trimmed down my journals list.
If anyone has a favourite blog they think I would enjoy, please go ahead and let me know. kick to the solar plexus
Well, my weekend was good enough. We attended Pig Day (big barbeque with a Southern-style roasted pig) — fun and the food was awesome. Sunday was all about being domestic (laundry, cleaning, sorting through closets and ditching clothes that are too big).
Monday, well… Monday sucked. We learned that because of a "Quality Control Audit" that picked up on the fact that my dad and I share the same last name (well, duh), and for some reason this is "fishy", they denied the loan approval. Talk about your hit to the solar plexus. So now we are scrambling to get the sale postponed or preferably cancelled, talking with the EMC™'s supposed "Executive Response Hotline" and/or "Loan Resolution Center". We've also got our congressman and his office on our side (making calls to them on our behalf as well) and have got the ball rolling with the Oregon Dept. of Justice. If worse comes to worse, the mortgage broker said that he'd rent-to-own one of his properties to us because he knows we're "good for it". That really meant a lot to both of us.
At least I had yummy curry chicken from Poppi's Anatolia for dinner last night (once I got my appetite back), as we tried to get our wi-fi hotspot up and running. Supposedly it's all set to go, but alas, nada.
Pictures later from Pig Day.
(Oh, and my silly girlcat Rowan turns 9 today. They grow up so fast.)
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
weekend
I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to update here about my fabulous weekend in Colorado.
First of all, here's the present I was working on, a baby blanket. One side was "American", a coffee cup print flannel (because the café sponsored her in the orphanage). The other side was of a windhorse (hiimori), which is a traditional Mongolian spiritual symbol for the self or spirit.
I had a great weekend. I arrived a bit late at DIA (that's Denver's airport for the rest of you) to find one of my hosts waiting for me at baggage claim (ok, the fountain by baggage claim), a big sign in his hand that read "SANDRA" with "UCHRAL*" written smaller underneath. Chuck turned out to be a wonderful, funny guy who put me at ease immediately. Since it was dark outside, and most of the roads back to their house were rural and poorly lit, I didn't see much of anything of note on the ride.
(* Uchral was the name that the orphanage gave her. They've renamed her Katherine (Katie). What's cute is that they still call her by her nickname, Uchka (ooch-ka).)
We arrived back at their home and Kelly, Chuck's wife, greeted me on the walk with the now-two-year-old Katie in hand. My heart melted on the spot. Katie was an absolute peach the entire time, and for only having been exposed to English for three months, she's catching on remarkably well. One of the highlights of my trip was getting to feed her french fries on the car ride to the airport. :D
The party was great… busybusybusy and lots of little kids, more than I've been surrounded by in eons. Her parents went for a carnival theme (the modern carnival has roots in the Mongolian nadaam, which they felt appropriate for her first birthday in the US) and they had a dunk tank, games, popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy, the works. I was recruited to do a little bit of face painting, but honestly, it was damn fun and I was happy to do it. And I went *GASP* swimming! Well, wading really, as I don't enjoy swimming much. It was bloody hot outside (upper 90's F). I did okay in the sun except for missing putting sunscreen on a 1" stripe along my back and it hurt the next day a bit.
The blanket went over very well, though everyone was treating it like it was a precious museum piece. I kept trying to tell them that it's machine-washable, that she should use it! :)
They gave me presents from Mongolia: a tee-shirt that says either Ulan Bataar or the name of a holy mountain near Ulan Bataar (in traditional script); a set of shagai (a traditional Mongolian divination tool, sheep's knuckles) in a beautiful carved wooden box; a painting of a day in the life by a Mongolian artist; and another painting, this one framed for hanging at the café, the steppes at night. I was touched beyond words. (I was also secretly lusting over the tiny, felt-covered breakaway yurt that they bought for themselves. :) )
I was only just a tiny bit bad, diet-wise: a half slice of chocolate cake with an ice cream center and butter cream frosting; pizza (not the crust, just the toppings); hot dogs without checking the sugar/nitrite content; and a chocolate malt Schwann's Push-Up. I actually didn't feel miserable on Sunday, but of course, that might have been masked by being in transit.
Plane rides were a bit turbulent, but not scary-turbulent. No, the scary part of the trip involved a late landing into Phoenix, having 20 minutes to get 2 concourses over, going to the wrong gate at first because I misheard where they'd told me to go. (You'd think that B8 and B18 would be relatively near each other, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong. Phoenix airport sucks.) After running to the plane — part of the run was out to the plane on the tarmac, not connected to the air-conditioned airport, and, oh, by the way, it was 115°F outside — I was the very last person on the plane at the very last moment. But at least I made my plane.
Some pictures:
Yes, small children were plied with sugar! Ohhhh boy!
Katie, with Mad Cake Eating Action™!
In the car on the way to the airport. I was her best friend, because I was feeding her her french fries.
Friday, August 01, 2003
for those who once shared my mania
A pretty cool article about the recently reformed Duran Duran, outlining what really happened back in 1985 when they split up.
Best quote of article: "We're doing it all and we're doing it with our own hair."
Otherwise? No further word yet. My suspicions were correct about the payoff figures. Went and paid off the rest of the owed property taxes, so you know, pretty broke now. :)
