A Rayote's Journey

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blackfeather — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:28:03 GMT

Back in CA from RailsConf, it was awesome! Lots of contacts.

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blackfeather — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:46:25 GMT

Arrived in Portland, and i'm doing well--heading for BoF session!

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blackfeather — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:52:42 GMT

This message posted via SMS to test the feature. I wil also be trying Twitter.l

E-Democracy Bar Camp, March 2, 2007, Washington DC

blackfeather — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:09:07 GMT

Hello all,

I went to a barcamp in DC on the 2nd. The topic was e-democracy. I really like the barcamp concept, as it is very impromptu and organized in large part by the attendees. If I stay here in Orange County, I am seriously thinking of trying organize a Ruby barcamp. I will seriously need to research it ... and get lots of help. There's not much indication of another meeting of the Orange County Ruby Users Group.

I took some notes on the conference. I know they're not as clear as I'd like, I might clean them up later. I also took some pictures. I've posted both the PDF of my notes and the pictures -- sorry the service isn't the fastest host, but I don't have the time to really design a nice page for this all (that's why I am blogging it). If I can hunt down usable hosting, I might do it up as a real page. But I'd like to put the photos up so that others can tag them (and the PDF too, might as well), I could code that, but for that I'd need more than hosting, I'd need access to install my code on the host. Or I could use another photo-share service that allows for that. I picked the one I did as it had no limits to number of files, and didn't resize the files downward (which flickr did to me for my photos of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival).

Cheers!

blackfeather — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:04:35 GMT

Assuming I can finish my packing early, anyone want to do something on my last day in (hopefully) a long time I will be in the DC area? (I got another gig in Southern California ... a week-long 'working einterview' but if it goes well I am staying on for 3+ months).

Back in Virginia

blackfeather — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:27:54 GMT

I'm back in Virginia, have been since mid-December. I am looking for a new gig (or permanent job, even), but the going is slow. (Hopefully it will wake up some soon, post-holidays). I need to post my resume to more places, and start looking on more job boards. I'd really like to live in Portland, Oregon or the Bay Area if not in Canada.

I have been doing one of my own Rails projects -- a small one to create data migrations (easier than the generator). Right now I'm AJAXifing it so that it only shows one migration, with one table and no fields at start up and you click to add a field or a new table.

I tried updating my desktop and now X windows doesn't start ... I have posted to ubuntu_users community, and have a few responses. I need to post back what they need. Even copying the config from the working LiveCD didn't do it.

New Years was fun, I spent it at the nookery, as I have for the past many years.

blackfeather — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:50:37 GMT

Does anyone know of a place that might have a room for rent for a short period (possibly becoming a longer period, if I find work near it) in the DC region? I'll be flying back next week, likely Tuesday or Wednesday. I will pick up my car, but I don't have a place to stay. I am going to be checking craigslist as well, but I though I'd ask here, as it would be cool to room with others I know.

I also need a mailing address badly -- I need to be able to get my check for the work I did in October, which is soon to be issued; and the check for the Mac computer I bought for work, and my November and December checks as well. Even if someone doesn't have a space for rooming or know of one, if you know of where I could get mail that would be cool. I could let the contracting company know the address and maybe have a check waiting for me in VA/MD/DC. This I can always solve with a post office box rental, later once I get into the city.

On the job front, I have possibilities in NYC, Columbus, OH, and Minneapolis, MN. And I had a phone interview for a very short term (4-6 week) job in the LA area with Sony, but for a markup position. I don't think I'll be offered it, as I didn't have any sample code to offer, nor am I that far along in CSS (I do know HTML backwards and forwards, though, as I've been using it for over 12 years). And just today there was an inquiry if I wanted to work for 3-6 months in San Mateo; that would be really cool too. (Another Rails job).

Once I get back to the DC area, I really need to get after Kaiser to get something more done about my sleeping; I am not getting good rest, even with the CPAP. I think that's what mostly contributed to the job change here ... I can't write code while super-fatigued. :(

I look forward to seeing folks in DC again. And at least I will be able to say goodbyes here, as I will be around for the Prancing Skiltaire party on Saturday, and go to the Golden Compass outing on Sunday.

heading back east

blackfeather — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:53:40 GMT

Looks like I am likely to be heading back to the East. It seems the LA Times was looking for a much more senior developer for the position. While I'm senior relative to IT overall, I am not for Ruby on Rails. I had only 8 months experience, which is more than year less than their other developers. So, I have been given notice -- my last day will be 12/7, at the end of a development cycle (an 'iteration' as they call it).

At least I have learned a lot here, including agile methodologies, and SCRUM. The whole planning for an iteration is good; it lets all the development team understand much better the code.

If I don't get an offer by about a week from now, I will book a flight on around the 11th or 12th back to IAD from LAX. I will also then need to pack up and ship a few boxes back to MD or VA; and I don't really have anywhere to ship them to just now.

I will also look for shot term housing in VA or MD, while I look for work.

There has been some interest from recruiters, especially for a few jobs in NYC and another job in Columbus, OH. In fact, like 3-4 recruiters have queried me about the Columbus job; I was careful to ask who the client was when I heard the same town name and saw the same specs on the job. It is very bad form to have more than one agency submit a candidate -- it will likely disqualify him or her for the position.

The job in NYC sounds more interesting, and also will pay far better ($50/hr on W-2) vs. maybe $45/hour 1099 in Columbus. The NYC job also will be being submitted with per diem, if I maintain a place in VA. For that I could easily rent a small room which I would have for weekends on occasion and to fall back to when the contract ends. It would also be good for the landlord as I wouldn't be there weekdays and most weekends. :-)

If anyone reading this knows of other Ruby on Rails developer opportunities, please let me know. Likewise if you know of a place to rent in the DC metro region (as I don't have a job when I get there, the location is not so important. If I did find a local job, I could always then look for somewhere closer to live).

Doing well enough in LA ... brief return visit to VA

blackfeather — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 04:47:16 GMT

I'm doing well enough here, not getting enough sleep (which worries me, as it lowers my work productivity) ... but otherwise OK. I am seeking a room of my own, I can't keep staying as a guest on someone else's couch. But I need to be in a safe place, and not too far from downtown (where I work). And I don't want to pay a really huge rent ... I could handle $900, but not $1500 or more for a place of my own. I'd prefer a shared situation of course.

I will have to see how I will like LA, my feelings so far are mixed, but I'm generally upbeat, and I see a lot of neat places etc as well as the less than neat places.

The next weekend of the 25-28th (Thu-Sun) I will be back in VA to remove my stuff from my former residence. I was hoping to get some help with it, but it doesn't seem that I have any volunteers yet. *sigh* It will be very rough to do all of it alone. I'm seriously thinking of seeing if I can afford to keep my car and keep it parked in VA for trips there, and in case I want to move back East (or to take a week vacation and drive it to CA).

Arrival in LA

blackfeather — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:19:52 GMT

I arrived fine in LA, I have a host who is putting me up for a short time while I find a place to live. More after my first day of work tomorrow.

Taken the LA job ...

blackfeather — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 05:54:19 GMT

Now, is there anyone in the DC area who'd like to come and help me in getting ready for the move? (Basically, it will be going through what I have here, and deciding on what to keep, what to move, and what to toss/give away). I will probably in the week also need to make a trip to my locker in Kensington to get a few things, and also toss from it what I can so that I can have room for some stuff from my house. Oh, and I will need to arrange for car sale, and for movers for what I do take to SoCal with me. :-)

There will also be bookshelves available, given in first priority to any who help me. And I'll feed them of course. :-)

Another Turning Point, a Fork Stuck in the Road

blackfeather — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:03:27 GMT

(With apologies to Green Day, in "Good Riddance")

I now have, or will have by midnight, two offers of employment to consider. One is on a 1099 (direct pay, I pay all taxes including the employer's share), hourly, in LA. The other is in the DC area, on a W-2. There are so many different factors to consider here.

The technology used in both jobs is Ruby on Rails, no doubt there would be some differences in what other associated technologies are used (e.g,. maybe one would use rspec and the other not), but the basic tech is the same. Both would probably involve multimedia aspects as well. The applications are both far more interesting than what I was doing at Dunbar Consulting (intranet work for the US SEC).

DC Job:
+ No relocation, or only when I want (I'd like to move to a complex/building with a heated pool)
+ A large social network in the region (including most of my immediate family)
+ W-2 job, so I won't have to pay employer's shares of taxes
+ Medical, but that's both a + and a -, as it is BlueCross/BlueShield not Kaiser which I prefer
+ Related to the above, I can start a lot sooner, and save relocation expenses
+ While at this job, I can start to seriously pare down my possessions for any future moves.
+ The Writers' Center in Bethesda
- This will allow me to slide by, not getting rid of stuff, unless I'm really vigilant. If I opted to stay in Alexandria, I'd want to move my storage locker contents down here from Kensington.
- I won't have the same chance to form new social networks in DC that I would in LA.
+ DC is a lot closer to Toronto, but too far to drive on a weekend trip.

LA Job:
+ Relocation, means a new place to know and explore. The climate in LA is almost certainly better than the climate in DC.
+ I can form new social networks in that region; furries, SF fen (LASFS, the oldest Science Fiction club in the world; SCA, in the state where it was founded.
+ While I have to pay it out of pocket, I can keep Kaiser insurance (since I need some coverage, it might had as well be what I like).
+ Possible more flexibility with my schedule, as I am paid for each hour worked, even over 40 week. And when need be I can take time off by not getting paid.
+ The trip across country would be very cool, and a chance perhaps to meet new furs along the way (I'd plan that out if I chose this option).
+ The trip itself will force me immediately to get rid of what I have at my house that I can't fit in my Subaru Outback, "TANFUR" (I have those VA plates).
- I would have to get my car checked up and make sure it is mechanically up to a 3000 mile trip.
- There would be a lot of stress to start getting packed, and deciding on what to toss.
- I might well feel isolated for a while until I can get the contacts made out there.
+ I'm a lot closer to the SF Bay Area! Not close enough to really drive up for a weekend, but still closer. :-)

With both jobs, I don't know how well they will stand me for getting the next job down the road -- it never hurts to think far ahead. I don't know about the stability of either, how well funded the DC company is or how long the Times will keep their contact with the contracting shop (my contract would be for six months, renewable). One issue with the W-2 vs. 1099 is that if I do have another opportunity in the future, if I stay for the duration and then leave, it doesn't look nearly so bad as quitting a 'regular' (W-2) job. I also have questions on the W-2 job about hours worked; some tech firms expect more than the normal business hours, but I have no way to know what is the situation in the DC job.

So hopefully tonight late, (or at least by the weekend) I will have the DC offer in the email to compare the LA offer to (come to think of it, I need to see the contact for that, too).

I want of course to do the very best work for whomever I work for -- do excellent work, write readable and efficient code that does what it needs to do. This is a technology I can take joy in using, and also both opportunities are interesting areas in which to work.

I guess in part it boils down to whether I am risk-taking or risk-averse.

As the song with the title above says, "It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right." I think I will do well with either option, I will do fair, honesty, hard work in return for my pay. And I will also pursue life with gusto with either option. I have the above factors to consider, and once I see both contracts, there might be other factors (but probably nothing that significant). If I knew either option would accelerate my gaining a Canadian skilled worker visa, or if either option would lead to finding a mate, yeah, that would trump all the others (or at least be a *very* high factor). I certainly hope that I will have "had the time of (my) life."

Comments are quite welcome!

Bored ...

blackfeather — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 19:17:29 GMT

Anyone local to me (DC region) want to hang out tonight? My mood is a lot better around others. :-)

My contract eneded a few months early

blackfeather — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:19:41 GMT

I got back from Feral! to find that the contract has finished for my job. So now I'm without work. :-(

Anyone know of any Ruby on Rails jobs that are open? I do have plenty of leads to track down, but it never hurts to find more. :-)

A Feral! report will follow later. I need to go into full-time job search mode, at the early end of the contract my boss is only giving me 2 weeks' pay.

I'm going to be looking pretty much anywhere, although I'd favor my favorite areas of Toronto, SF Bay Area, Vancouver, Portland (Oregon), and Seattle.

Leaving in a few minutes for Feral!

blackfeather — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:49:44 GMT

I'm leaving in a few minutes to take the local public transit (the TTC) to Yorkdale Mall to catch the bus to Feral! I'm so ready for this (after missing it last year).

I'm likely next online on Saturday.

Cheers all!
Blackfeather Tanfur

Won't be reading LJ for a while

blackfeather — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 06:31:07 GMT

I'm off in Toronto, in preparation for attending Camp Feral!. It is the highlight of my year, and now it has two years since I last went (last year it sucked, I had to miss it as I hadn't the money to go, or rather shouldn't have gone as I was not working).

Hopefully I'll get plenty of pictures, and also actually write a con report this year.

But I probably won't be able to catch up on LJ when I get back in town, the number of f-list posts will be more than I can read ... after 2-3 days I often can't read that far back (my eyes blur trying to follow so much), let alone nearly a week.

Anyway, I am having a good time. No, a fantastic time. My best wishes for everyone out there. Love you all!

Cheer,
Blackfeather

My photos made the SI website!

blackfeather — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 01:53:59 GMT

Hello,

I blogged here a while back about going to the Smithsonian Folk Festival. I took over 100 shots there, and uploaded almost all of them to Flickr in the 'visitor' photography gallery for the festival. Well, the folks at the Smithsonian selected 5 of my photos for their slideshow of visitor photography of the festival. To see the slideshows, follow the link, then the links from there to the Mekong River and Roots of Virginia by visitors.

(I registered on Flickr as "festival photographer", as I couldn't find the password for another account at the time, I later realized it was just my normal Yahoo account, but not till after I created festival_photographer.

Mekong River -- 3 photos of mine in the slide show, #46, #47, and #51 (of 76)
Roots of Virginia -- 3 photos of mine made it, #22, #23, and #24, (of 40)
Alas, none made it for Northern Ireland, that's OK, I didn't take that many there.

I got an email which said they were impressed by the quality and quantity of my photographs. I claimed any great talent in photography, I just point the unit at what looks interesting and snap, on autofocus. :-) I guess even a beginner can get luck, sometimes, in his shots.

Office Chair?

blackfeather — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:30:47 GMT

Hello all,

I was wondering what my readers' experiences are with various office chairs. I need an office chair for my workstation area I've set up in my room. Any nice chair I've seen is several hundred dollars; some are over $1000. I will need something I can sit in comfortably all day (8+ hours, potentially on a weekend). I want to do a lot of writing, and also a lot of coding (both for iedro.org, and for my two Ruby on Rails projects, the nutritional one and the writer's concordance. This will help with two of my top four items for my off-time during the week (the others are getting rid of junk, and exercise).

Any suggestions are most welcome, in what I can do for an affordable chair.

Many thanks, all!

I had a wonderful weekend

blackfeather — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:41:39 GMT

Friday night I went gaming at chez_turtle in Ashburn. I didn't win but made a good showing in Entdecker and Grave Robbers from Outer Space.

Saturday morning and early afternoon, I helped Protius move, as did zenwolph and kj_roo. Around 3-ish I took my leave of them, and went to have dinner and see the new Harry Potter movie with an old group of friends with whom I used to game. I'll be visiting them next weekend.

Sunday I went with rebelsheart and amras_wolf for lunch and saw Transformers. We hung out for a while at Tango's, and I then dropped Amras off at his door on my way back to Virginia.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post about my request for advice on office chairs. :-)

I'm also eagerly anticipating the arrival of my vanity plates ('TANFUR'). The person in charge of ordering them at my auto dealership misheard me and originally ordered 'PANFUR'. I don't have to use those if they do arrive, as the corrected plates will arrive later.

Cheers all!

Folk Festival

blackfeather — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:13:16 GMT

I attended the Smithsonian Folk Festival over the weekend, on Friday after work and on Saturday. Friday I mostly stuck to the Mekong River exhibit area (and a bit of Northern Ireland), and Saturday I saw some of the Virginia exhibits, attended the dances given by the Virginia Indians (and danced in the Friendship Dance). Saturday evening, I saw much of the Live Earth concert, the DC part. It was at the National Museum of the American Indian, out front (the East side). The musicians were (almost*) all Native Americans, ranging from Rock/Classic Rock to Punk** to Blues to Reggae. I liked most of it, especially the Reggae musicians, and the Punk Rockers. The concert(s) was/were part of the "Indian Summer Showcase". I missed hearing Al Gore speak on Saturday morning. *shrugs*.

I took over 100 photos at the festival, which I've shared on the official Folk Festival Flickr group. They will become part of the Smithsoan's record of the festival, along with all other photographs by the public which have been/will be share. And of course, there were quite a few official photographers as well. My photos aren't yet captioned, some aren't even rotated yet.

Sunday I went to see a documentary film, "The Trail of Tears", at the NMAI. It was quite fascinating, and told the tragic story very well. I stayed for the discussion with the director afterwards. Sunday evening I went gaming, and played "Arkham Horror", and we won (it's a game where [usually] the players all win or all lose, it is a cooperative game).

* I can't say for sure if the member of Native Roots who was identified as Jamaican was or was not, Native American. All others had a listed tribal (as compared to nation-state, identification).

** The Reddmen were featured on Grey's Anatomy.

Car

blackfeather — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:25:13 GMT

I finally got a car, just about a week ago now. It is working mostly fine, although I'd like the brakes to be tighter. I have a '97 Subaru Outback, dark blue. I need to call the dealer and give him the information if I decide by tomorrow that I do indeed want a vanity tag (I'm think "tanfur", with Animal-Friendly tags).

This Friday I'm to go back to the eye doctor, for a follow-up on the Surgery of May 3rd. I'm doing well, thankfully. The only question will really be how fast I'm healing, and how much I should still take of the eyedrops he gave me (part antibiotic, part steroid -- I assume for anti-inflammation/swelling). I do have a hard time remembering (and being able, when I remember) to take them 4 times a day.

I'm also well on my way to getting a new box assembled, an Ubuntu machine, likely. I'm thinking of going for Ubuntu as I was easily able to get wifi working on it, and I'd like to have both machines I will be using personally with the same OS (I will put Ubuntu on this laptop after I get it working on the desktop, so I'll always have at least one system working). The laptop is currently running Vista ;-( Yuck!

Freedman's and Contraband Cemetery, Alexandria, VA

blackfeather — Sun, 13 May 2007 00:50:46 GMT

Today I decided to go into Alexandria, VA just to chill out a bit before I have to pack for Railsconf. I went to see the Archeology Museum, which was closed a half hour early. But there was a notice up that there was going to be a rededication of the old Freeman's Cemetery that afternoon. It had been long lost and mostly forgotten, even to elderly life-long residents of the town. It was under a gas station and office building for many years. Parts have been lost to mining clay, to construction of the Beltway, and probably some is under Washington Street or Church Street. It was only used for a few years (1864-1869) for the massive immigration of those fleeing slavery. Conditions were pretty bad, so there was a high mortality rate.

I didn't know that some ex-slaves were called "contraband", as the Union classified them as "contraband of war", so that they wouldn't be required to return them to their 'owners' as it stood in law at the time.

The ceremony was nice, but I was most touched by the "lumieres" of which one was made for each person recorded as buried in the cemetery. (The list has over 1800 names).

The site is at the corner of Washington and Church Streets, Alexandria. It is on the southwest corner. The Google Maps Satellite image still shows the gas station and office building. But the city bought it all out and those are now gone.

I have some pictures from today, I'll put them up on Flickr or some other photo hosting site if there's any interest. :-)

Oh and I ran into someone I haven't seen in like 20 years or so [anneb] (I know has been a long we knew each other, as she called me "Elladan", a *very* old nickname of mine). Small world, isn't it? She was there as a photojournalist.

*hugs all*
Blackfeather / Helgi

OK I'm good to go

blackfeather — Sun, 13 May 2007 00:31:46 GMT

Dr. Youssri has assured me that it is 99.9% likely I'll be fine to fly out to Oregon. The "bubble" that I thought was in the eye was either debris left from the operation (something not cleaned out), or if it was a bubble, it would have been very small, as it is was so close to the retina. And even the last little bit that was there on Friday was gone by this morning. So I'm off to Railsconf!

Huzzah!

Portland in May!

blackfeather — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:09:45 GMT

I'll be attending Railsconf in Portland, Oregon. It runs from the 17th to the 20th, and I will try to get tickets to fly out for the 16th, and return the 20th.

I'm very excited. And now, I to find someone to commission to do a nice personal business card for me, to hand out there. I'm not good at slick, professional design (what I do is more functional). Does anyone have any recommendations as to whom I might commission?

BTW, I was told by the eye doctor that in my case I'll be fine to fly by then (some Vitrectomy patients need longer, depending on what they replace the vitreous with).

Kaiser rescheduled me

blackfeather — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:16:24 GMT

Alas, Kaiser (my HMO) called and told me the surgeon will be out of town on the 19th this month, and I was rescheduled for May 3rd. *grr* Oh well ... it will make it easier to move on May 1st, at least!

I still could possibly use some help on the 4th of May, in getting into downtown DC, possibly from Silver Spring, and then back -- to Annandale, preferably (or if there's a furmeet that night and a fur would take me, that would be *wonderful*. I probably won't be feeling the greatest a day after surgery.)

Cheers all,
Blackfeather / Helgi