5.1.2003 (16:25:00)

I GOT THE JOB!!!

Just got the call from Washington DC and I have a month to pack! More news to come...

I'm going to Montreal tomorrow - helping a friend move. I was going to stop in Ottawa while there to discuss a job with the Canadian Internet domain name service but I guess that is not necessary now :-) I'll be back on Saturday I think. Anyway, I need to go hunt down a new habitat in DC now, later folks!

5.5.2003 (22:40:00)

Montreal is so cool - I love it there. It is about the same size as Boston, however it has twice the filth and graffiti. Other than a very interesting experience with immigration at the border of Canada & Vermont - the drive was very nice. Friday night we finished moving Alana into Lucy's apartment as their third roomate was getting ready with her friends to go out to the clubs. It was quite a girly affair. Saturday morning we went to a cafe and ate crepes. All I had was real money, not that crazy duck/queen funny money they use. Lucy acted as my currency exchange counter. She is very nice.

I drove home Saturday afternoon and went through the White Mountains looking for the famous Man in the Mountain face. I've never seen it before, and I was planning on taking a picture or two. I saw a moose but no big rocky face (although I did see a spot on a mountain that looked something like it). Turns out the damn face fell off the mountain just before I got there!! OF ALL THE LUCK!!

I'm flying down to DC for Sunday & Monday so I can go apartment hunting. I'm going to live in the District, so it will be a tough search. I've got a few leads. I'd like to live as close to where I'll be working as possible (near the Washington Monument). Because this new job will be laying some well deserved cash on me, I purchased 3 18" LCD monitors yesterday. My master computer system will soon be complete, and it will be my home theatre as well. Spare no expenses! This will be a technological masterpiece (I'm such a geek).

5.10.2003 (21:55:00)

Tomorrow I fly down to DC again. Most of my meetings with the leasing agents I managed to schedule for Sunday afternoon. That means Monday I only have to drop off some paperwork at the L'Enfant building and then I can play all day! I'm thinking of doing some wireless network scanning with my laptop downtown - maybe I'll pick up some interesting data :-) And of course I GOTTA visit at least 3 Smithsonian museums. Washington DC is so cool.

5.13.2003 (23:58:00)

I am so sore from hiking the entire grid of Washington DC from edge to edge. Sure, the Metro helped some, but I'm quit out of shape. That should change when I start working out in the fitness center at my new apartment! Yeah that's right I found the perfect place, 15 minutes by foot, 5 minutes by subway from the building I'll be working in. It was hard to find a place under $1600/month but I did, and it is really nice. It's in SW DC on 4th St. (just 3/4 mile SW of the Capitol next to the Potomac River). I can now tell you that I'll be an IS Security Specialist at the USPS Headquarters by early June. Quite an exciting change.

The RandyCam! will be down for a short spell. I'm building a new computer so I'm tearing down the old one piece by piece. The new system will be worthy of my new twin 18" LCD monitors - a P4 3Ghz/1Gb RAM with all the fixins'. This is one happy geek.

5.17.2003 (00:29:00)

Somehow Jon convinced me to go see Matrix Reloaded today. It was the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life. I can't believe how bad it was. Crappy acting with a wretched script. The person responsible for allowing this film to released should be covered with jelly and tossed to an angry mob of hungry rats with rabies and herpes. Uggh.

Speaking of rotten, I was at the drug store today getting my monthly fill of medication when I spotted something disturbing while waiting in the ridiculously long line. A huge section of products for home drug testing! Tests for all the drugs your kids may be taking. Something tells me that if you have to make your kid take a drug test, y'all got way more problems than just drugs to work out. Now, I've never done drugs in my life (despite incredible pressure, just not my thing that's all), but when I was a teenager I think if my parents pulled this on me the scene would go down like this: Parent: Son, you've been acting wierd lately take this drug test. Me: That's because I am wierd, I'm outta heeeere. You guys suck I'm going to go to Mexico to live in a grass teepee with a clan of fugitive granny-rapers with bad tatoos and delusions of taking over the government and killing the border guards and Federalis.

5.19.2003 (21:05:00)

Today Maura and I went to Small Point Beach in Phippsburg (Maine) to relax and play with the seaweed. It was so sunny and warm out, although in Maine our coast is generally 20° cooler than the inland. I'm surely going to miss these spur of the moment trips to the ocean once I move to DC. Although the Chesapeake Bay is very close, it just won't be the same.

Wednesday I need to do the pee test and medical exam for my new job. Should be a swell time. It's at 8am (DAMN!!) so I should be ready to go real bad by the time I get there (it's in Portland). I'm so str8edge there is nothing to worry about. The most harmful substance to have ever entered my system was a bag of Skittles. Although they may probe me about the whole pacemaker thing, I'm not concerned - this job doesn't require me to lead covert assasination plots on foreign nationals.

5.21.2003 (22:20:00)

I passed my pee test, got fingerprinted, interrogated, screened in every possible way, and I'm happy to say I'm finally done with the pre-employment process. I'm in! So now I just need to move. Looks like I'll be in my new apartment the second week of June (or possibly earlier). I asked if I could wear the funny shorts and stuff (it is the USPS afterall) but they said I need to wear suits & ties. Blah. Oh well, it pays good.

Had two interesting phone calls today. First, Andy called. He's the one who I lost contact with for over a year. It was great to talk with him - he's coming over Friday. We'll have a grande time. Also, Stephanie called a few hours ago. It was pleasant, and less awkward than I expected it to be. She's doing well and has a new boyfriend. It's all quite odd right now. It's weird to hear an ex talk about the good qualities of their new interest. Those are specifically the qualities that they didn't find in you. One can learn a lot from such a conversation. It's both hurtful and helpful. In the long run of course, it is more of the latter. I hope.

I'm going to see my friend Scott in Vermont this weekend. We're taking the Jeep off-road! Maybe one of his Yugos or Fiats too. I've been so neglectful of keeping contact with him. I'm trying.

5.25.2003 (22:12:00)

This weekend was amazing! I really really really needed to get away for a while, and being in the center of barely inhabited Vermont was perfect. It was great to see my friend Scott P. again. We got to hang out and do nothing with his friends also. It felt like a family, everyone is so nice there. He built a garage for working on cars there, and he is the only mechanic for miles. Needless to say business has been good for him. I slept in their very old house on a woodsy hill and it was so quiet you could hear a fly cough. This morning we ate breakfast at Eaton's Sugarhouse (exit 3, I89) and I do believe we weighed 22 pounds heavier on the way out. Mmmmmmm!

After breakfast we took the jeep rock hopping on this nasty muddy twisty log jammed mountain. It was a blast! Scott thought the Jeep would get stuck, silly non-believer. Anyway, once we got to the top, we visited his friend Jim. Jim is quite an unusual man. He lives on the top of this mountain on 30 acres, off the power grid detached from society. He has been building his house piece by piece for years now, making walls out of hay, wire and wood. Ceilings out of old doors and a living roof over the kitchen (basically placing the kitchen undergroud). He generates his own electricity (quite sophisticated) and loves to go mountainboarding down his driveway. He has a fantastic view and owns two donkeys, Luigi and Peanut. They're quite nice. He's a lucky man.