Looking forward to Summer

As the weather is fantastic, and work is picking up, I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SUMMER!!! I will go back to Italy for a couple of weeks, and also to Madison to see people, but only for a couple of days.  The atmosphere here is quite good, in the sense that although the office is a strange mix of recession anxiety, Obama fever (still!) and “activity to combat the recession” such as project planning and relationship building, when you go home there is a sense of seasons changing.   Crap, my battery is low.  I’ve got to plug in – which is hard, since I’m on my patio having a very early morning coffee.  Anyway – I still haven’t seen the new Star Trek movie. Is it good? Has anyone seen it!

Gotta get my plug!

Earth Hour

I have just read on another blog – wattsupwiththat.com – that “Earth Hour” was “total bust” in California. The blog show the electricity consumtion for the state of California for the day in question, including the one hour period we all turned off our lights to help reduce electricity consumption, and therefore fossil fuel consumption and ultimately, remind ourselves that this behaviour affects global warming. The graphs show no change in electricity consumption between the hour the lights were all off and the same hour the next day.
I have a few considerations to add:
1) things like earth-hour, earth-day, etc. are important because they motivate public opinion and keep climate change, environmental and waste and performance issues in the news. That is already important.
2) Can we say that electricity usage on Saturday night would not have been significantly higher at that time without “Earth Hour” – that is, are the Saturday night and Sunday night timeslots otherwise comparable?
3) I understand that approximately 7% of US energy consumption is in data storage centers alone. If that is true, this type of consumption for IT states like California must be quite heavy, and these centres operate whether we turn off our computers or not – contributing to a volume of consumption that may be high enough to render houshold usage less significant in relation to the global level of consumption. The fact is that IT burns a huge amount of physical resources that are “hidden” among apparently “virtual” benefits. I.E., internet requires towers and power! Does anyone have any statistics on this for California?
Anyway, these are just some observations about Earth Hour. I turned off my lights, computer and everything – even the refigerator. I won’t tell you what we did in the dark – but I found Earth Day to have a very high marginal benefit!

We had Earth Day in Italy in 2005, when a tree in Switzerland knocked out power nationally for an entire day – heh heh.

Recession!?!

Here’s an interesting bit of news. Very American – using the free-market to help people out, rather than going to the State.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/03/19/news/inland/poway/zeffc482d9908b6908825757d008064f6.txt

I’m sorry I haven’t posted for a while – it has been crazy at work and there have been talks of layoffs! So nerves have been high and the stress has been incredible. As one of the most recent arrivals, I’ve been worried about my job too. So far it looks like I won’t be cut, but the last round of department meetings were all about “downsizing” and “restructuring staff”. They didn’t say “layoffs”, but that’s what they are considering. On the bright side, with no changes to basic salary, we’ve been told to not work overtime unless absolutely necessary. This means I can leave at 4 on Friday – and the weather is getting warmer. So that’s pretty good.
If you want an interesting look at American responses to local issues, look at the North County Times Newspaper I linked above and click on this link:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/03/15/news/coastal/carlsbad/z60fbdb0c245467528825757b000a3ead.txt

Today’s piece is about a dead seal that washed up on the beach. The reactions posted by the public are quite interesting – from disgust to suspicion of the fishermen to political outrage that municipal police were used to take care of something that happened on State property. Heh heh. Actually, the blog aspect of this Newspaper, and US newspapers in general is really fascinating. If I could study all over again, I think I’d become a communications analyst. Blogs and blogging, chats and forums have been a great way to expand the communications of the once-mass media. Media is now personalised. This is really interesting for network developers, because how do you stay ahead of that curve? One of our recent meetings, on innovation, focused on the dangers of saturating the technology-services market model in a way that companies can’t react quickly enough to changing expectations in consumption and usage. It’s a big problem. Now we have two problems: the recession affects cost since it affects physical supply and operation – even in the IT business (those data centres don’t operate for free!) while internet is increasingly viewed as a way to get around physical supply networks. At least at my company, we’re quite worried about keeping ahead of the desire for technological solutions to existing problems. This is very American. Here even the old people expect some form of technology to solve things. In my little town in Italy, the old people still save on electricity and keep their houses cold. Not really because it is necessary, but because that’s how they learned to manage housing. Forget about them going hi-tech! Maybe their right. If this recession lasts, I might start planting potatoes in the garden!
The other big thing, of course, is Obama. It is really interesting to be in the US for this. He’s really talking as if he can change things here. The free-market has had many problems, and the State must do something to balance not only the economy, but economy and society. Maybe he can do this – cutting bonuses to bankers is a good start! I know there are millions in Southern California who would appreciate a little more fair distribution of wealth, or at least the removal of gross disparity between populations.
I saw a funny video on You Tube by an Irish commedian called Dylan Moran. He comments how Mr. Schwarzenegger was voted into government in California because he is able to lift heavy things, something Americans in general hate doing. It was really funny. Look it up, I don’t have the link right here.
So, I have a bit more time these days. Janine and I are stressed about job security, also because it places some interesting questions in front of us about my work visa (oops – I’m an immigrant!) and what to do next. We try to digest this problem by spending time at the beach – just watch out for the dead seals!

Back at it

Janine and I got back to California last weekend. Those flights are long! Ugh – oh well. It was great to see everyone, but it’s good to be back into “the swing of things” (the normal cadence of life). It is always strange to walk into your house after you’ve been away. Although the weather in California was much better than at home, the house seemed cold and empty. The first evening is always a bit strange. We watched a movie and went to bed.
Monday was back at work. The Americans don’t pay much attention to Epiphany (la Befana) so the work pace was back at breakneck speed. This was good. It jolts you into “real” life again and wakes you up. I’ve made a “new years resolution” to socialise a little more this year. Since moving to California Janine and I have been quite private – exploring the area etc. We’re going to check out the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad. The website is quite interesting. They have an exhibit on playing slide-guitar which looks pretty cool.
Anybody else make new year’s resolutions?

Happy 2009!!!

Happy New Year Everybody!!!
I’ve been terrible at keeping this up, I know – but I’m back in Italy for a couple of weeks over the holidays and have this peaceful (if wet) New Year’s Day morning to sit down and actually write a post! I know, I know – unbelievable. The rest of my family is still sleeping (of course we went to bed late – or early, depending on your perspective). Mum is up, of course, making some breakfast. I’ve become quite accustomed to American breakfasts, so today it’s eggs and bacon and cereal and juice and coffee. Heh heh. Janine just got up… back in a minute…
Ok, I’m back. Janine says hi! She was really excited to come over to meet everyone and see my “stomping grounds” (the place where a person grows up or spends a significant portion of their lives). She’s been getting along very well with my mother, which is more important than a person may realise when you are an ocean away! I won’t lie – I was nervous about that. Actually – the two north americans seem to like each other quite a bit. You can really tell these things at three in the morning when the new year’s cheer has worn on a bit and people are getting tired. They were still up and chatting and cheering! Dad and I went to smoke our new years cigars. Lots of fun – we go outside and watch everyone else blow things up with fireworks and lite up a Cohiba and catch up. I don’t remember why we started doing this – we’ve been doing it for almost 10 years now. I guess dad used to smoke, so this is his once-a-year reversion. It’s fun.
Christmas was fun – it was fantastic to be able to show Janine around. We went to Perugia and Assisi (of course), but also up into the mountains for a walk (it was cold and wet and nasty, but very much worth doing) and “made the rounds” to see my old friends. Not much new there, people are graduating university. Many are considering getting specialisations and masters since the job market isn’t very good. Some of the “old guard” have moved to Ireland and Germany. I’ll be honest – people seem a little more nervous about the future than they do in California. It was a bit surprising when talking with my friends to be reminded of the mentality that must deal with so many limits. I’ve been really lucky. Of course, they reminded me of my good luck mercilessly! Ha ha!
Today I think we’ll do nothing – stay inside and play board games and watch movies. My mother gave me a DVD called King of California – with Michael Douglas. It’s really funny and intelligent – about a father who comes back from the mental recovery hospital after two years and convinces his almost seventeen-year-old daughter to come with him on a hunt for Spanish treasure lost on an expedition to California in the early seventeenth century. In the process they damage a Costco (something like a retail warehouse – they’re great). It’s a really fun and touching movie. We also saw Tidelands by Terry Gilliam (from Monty Python – watch them!). Very sad and strange – but worth watching.
Ok – Mum and Janine have eggs and bacon ready, so I’m going. I guess it’ll be my turn to wash dishes! Like the doctor says – “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning” – if you haven’t got aspirin – but do have the right kind of headache – eggs and bacon will do just fine, and lots of coffee!!!!
Happy new year to you all!

Obama has done it! It is a great time for America!!!

As you all know, as the world knows, Barak Obama has won the US presidential election.  He has won by a landslide 69% t0 23% with Ralph Nader and other independent candidates taking minor percentages of the vote.  As you all are reading or have read, this is historic.  Voter turn-out was very high, I think the highest since 1908, the next president will be black, with a muslim and African immigrant background.  Obama really represents America.  He is intelligent and willing to learn what he needs to know to do the job.  I have found many Americans like this. I think America can be proud of itself again. I think America can now re-position itself in the world. One of my colleagues said that it was a great day for democracy.  Ok – but the same democracy elected George Bush twice, with a close enough margine either way that it was possible to create questions about cheating or rigging the vote.  You can’t rig the vote when the margin is 69% to 24%!  Many people who never voted before came out to support Obama – something that the polls up to the election largely ignored.  It was surprising to watch Obama pull away from the debates with Hillary Clinton and actually begin to create some policy platforms for domestic and foreign policy that he could (very effectively) communicate to the electorate.  IT WAS A VICTORY FOR IT NETWORKING!!!  In the end there were a few dissapointed people here in the office, but actually not many voted for McCain after seeing a couple of months of Sara Palin.  There are a lot of us that watch Saturday Night Live, and nobody wanted to see her do that.  There was a lack of seriousness about their campaign that pulled people away in the last months. That’s not my observation, that’s talk around the coffee machine at work.

My mum (Canadian) now says that Canadians will wear American flags on their clothing and backpacks when they travel abroad so as not to be confused with people from the country of Stephen Harper (Canadian Prime Minister).  Heh heh.  I think the message that Obama represents will help other countries in the world adjust their own political “levels” of quality.  Not everywhere, of course, but in some countries.  Maybe Italy too!  I heard about a month ago that Al Queda would have supported McCain because they need the enemy to boost recruiting. It is hard to fight against this president.  The middle east may have better days ahead of it.

Let’s hope that Obama is up to the task – he sure seems willing to try!

Good luck!

Let’s take advantage of wordpress’s polling function! Here’s a poll!

Credit Crisis, Election, Mexico

The US sure has become an “lively” place to live recently.  We’re very close to the election and everyone seems to be really loud about their opinions.  People at work are forming factions.  There was a big argument in the corridor when Sarah Palin was chosen for vice as immediate supporters were jumping with joy.  I’m pretty sure that few of them even knew who she was before her nomination, but there is a definite mentality that likes that kind of thing.  They liked it in George Bush too.  There are many people who don’t really worry about what the politician thinks, just that they make themselves look like “one of the guys”.  I find it horrifying.  These people should not be “one of the guys” if they want to govern one of the most important countries in the world.  They should be professionals, interested in governing and have a sense that they are representing the nation, not taking part in the day to day idiocyncracies of SOME of the nations people.  The “gun-totin” house-wife who’s foreign policy is based on the ability to almost sea Russia from the shore of her state is really an appeal to the “lowest common denominator”.  The Americans use this term to describe when a politican appeals to the basic and base qualities that are present in most human beings.  Although many individuals and voters would never act politically on these base qualities (i.e. vote), they can’t deny that they have them and are slowly influenced over the two year campaign process.

That’s another thing. American election campaigns run for two years, beginning with the competition to enter the game and then the various stages of selection.  That’s a huge amount of money that makes only people at the top of the food chain have a chance to win.  This is not good. It’s not even democratic.  Living and working here has been really “interesting” for me. They get so involved in the election drama, as if it were a television show. Again, lowest common denominator.  It has also brought out the sense that even really intelligent people here have very little idea what it is like to live in a foreign country and so to see the world from a different point of view.  You may say, ok – Americans must see the world with an American point of view – but they often see the world as wanting to share their point of view closely, and that is simply not true.  The “exporting democracy” fallacy was one example of this.

I think Obama will win.  He’s been accused of being “elitist” and “distant” from “the people”, but this can only be a good thing. It is about time somebody set a better example.  He’s ahead now because the economy is doing so badly. McCain really doesn’t look like he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to salvaging financial and housing markets and getting people to feel confident economically.  The Democrats have always been better at that.  The one good thing that may come out of the credit crisis in this country.  This too has been the topic of debate at work – loudly and with anger.  I must say, this job is not like the last one! In Wisconsin, people were quite reserved about expressing their opinions, so they listened quite alot to each other as they built up their statements to arrive at what they wanted to say.  At first I found it a very slow way to interact, but then I really liked the amount of time it gave me to appreciate and understand what the other person was saying.  Here, the opinions fly like kites.  They are very, uhm “expressive” and tell you immediately what they think.  This leads to almost constant arguments in the office.  The guys I work with don’t even talk to each other much since three of them support McCain/Palin and the other 5 support Obama/Biden.  Of course they don’t hate each other, but they don’t get along anymore – not since Palin.  It will be nice when this is over.  I try not to take sides, since that would involve some arguments too.

The credit crisis is also interesting over here.  We’re beginning to see unemployment rise, with people nervous that it will be like the stock market crash of 1929.  I saw a man on the street in a jacket and tie with a sign that explained his skills and the type of jobs he was looking for – in a jacket and tie!  Credit was never that easy to get in Italy, so I hope we’ll be fine over there. Janine thinks we should both move back, but I think she only sees Italy as an “exotic” place to visit. I’m not sure how we’d do it. Anyway, we’ve both been working constantly.

Last weekend, however, we did get away to MEXICO! This was fantastic! We went down the Baja peninsula – all the way to Bahìa de los Angeles. It was a long drive, and we wanted to go fishing but none of the boats were going out because of hurricane Norbert.  It was well worth it though.  We stayed in a little hotel – the Hotel Villa Vitta -arriving late Friday night and at fish all day on Saturday! The people were incredibly friendly! We stayed mostly inside because of the weather, and played cards with the guys working there. It was very “rustic”, but a very nice change from southern California or So Cal as it’s called.  People seemed very genuine and honest.  The food was outstanding, everything fresh, all the time.  It was also nice to not be the only foreigner! Janine loved it. We hope to go back there to go deep-sea fishing sometime when the weather is better.  It was a long drive down and a long drive back to play some cards, but I’d do it again in a second!

Janine’s got a job!

Janine has found a job! Life couldn’t be better! It’s not perfect, but it is certainly a great thing! She’s working in a marketing consultancy agency that specialises in IT. It seems that there are so many IT companies in California (that makes sense) that there is a sub-industry in IT marketing consulting. Anyway – she’s a junior marketing manager in an agency not too far away from here, so commuting isn’t too bad. She got the phone call on Friday afternoon – which meant (heh heh) we celebrated on the weekend! Now, once again, we’re both exhausted on Monday morning! She’s so excited that I don’t think she’s feeling any tiredness. WE LIKE CALIFORNIA.

So, how to celebrate in Carlsbad? We went for a balloon ride in Temecula (between Carlsbad and Palm Springs)! I almost died! I was so scared. Janine loved it. Actually, the company was fantastic – and very understanding of my, uhm, not-so-macho fear! I almost lost it at one point, while we were ascending. After about 15 minutes – once I came to terms with the fact that we weren’t going down again until the flight was over – I calmed down and it was really beautiful! We went over the California wine country. Spectacular! Amazing! And it was really interesting to get an overview of the geography of our area. We could see so many places. At the end we got a certificate for taking our “first flight” and we had sparkling wine and a picnic offered by the company. It was such a great experience. Like John. F. Kennedy said – “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”! I might believe that one day, and am a little closer now that I’ve been up in a baloon. Let me tell you, doing things like that is GREAT for a relationship!!! We had so much fun on Saturday. The weather was a bit foggy in the morning, so we thought we might not go, but it was clearing up by noon and quite nice in the afternoon. Anyway – what a fantastic weekend.

We found the company over internet (of course!). Their link is

http://www.greatamericanballon.com

Now we’re both at work. Let’s see how relaxing weekends are! It’s September and people are all very busy. The families around all have children back in school and there’s a “hectic” feel to the town. Actually, I suppose its hectic compared to the summer, or compared to Madison, but not compared to Italy! I like seeing the American school busses. It’s like the movies.

The next big thing we talked about this weekend was, now that Janine is working, we should probably buy a car. Any suggestions? I would like a FIAT Panda – I love the new Pandas – but I don’t think that’s going to happen here. Maybe a SMART? A lot depends on price. I do miss Europe for our cars. Anyway – we’ll investigate the possibilities. Any suggestions?

So – fantastic week-end. Really fantastic. I can’t wait to see Janine this evening to see how her first day went. She won’t dare put Skype on today – she’ll be too busy. I suppose it’s better – they hate it in my office when people (me) put on Skype. Heh heh… we all do though.

I’ve got to get to work.

The expression of the day is “to be stoked”. (have I used that one before?) It means to feel really excited about something. “To stoke” is technically when you add wood and air to a fire to make it burn hotter – which means giving off more energy. It’s kind of a great term for having a lot of enthusiasm for something. A lot of people use it here, particularly people over the age of 35 or so. So – I’m really stoked about Janine’s job!

New Theme!!!

After the last post I figured – “hey, new town, new job – new blog theme!”  Your’e in the right place – that is if you got here intentionally. If you didn’t – WELCOME to the new, improved, Pacific coast theme!  I hope you enjoy it!

Office Politics

Heh heh, things have been heating up here lately as national politics has come into the office. I hadn’t really been paying attention since there’s been so much to do at home as well as here. Anyway, yesterday’s newspaper had a headline about how Barak Obama’s wife talked about his “bedrock values” and ensured America that they were people just like everyone else. Well, it sure brought up the topic here! California seems to be a strange state, too – because although the Governor (yep – it’s Mr. Schwarzenegger) is a Republican he definitely has a European socialist view of administration. It’s kind of like he’s Repulican (centre right) on business and the economy, but Democrat on social issues. It makes it’s own kind of sense, I guess.

Anyway – the Obama speech really “pissed people off” in the office, on both sides of the election. Some of the guys here were annoyed at what they called “pandering” – which means to try to win the favour of people by giving them what they want. Coffee-break democrats said that it was stupid of Obama to underline his “everyman” appeal and try to make himself sound like an “Abe Lincoln” president. “When I went to school we had to walk – in the snow and cold – uphill – both ways!” That kind of stuff. So the centre-left who wants to vote for Obama as an alternative doesn’t want “everyman”. The guys on the other side of the spectrum thought almost the same thing – that he was simply putting on a show to get people to think of him as something he’s not. They claimed that he was elitist.

It was interesting. America does have this dual relationship with its identity. On the one hand, they are highly individualistic. On the other hand, they do have this concept that through “bedrock values” all individuals can have the same opportunities and be “everyman”. They like to see people sacrifice and then succeed. Be humble, but then become a big success (while still being humble). This makes it hard for them to deal with hierarchy and, in a way, makes it hard for them to deal with community as a collective. They tend to see community not as something you participate in and that you are inherently a part of, but something that is publicly created by the will of voluntary participant individuals. That makes all community action much more planned and much more debated. The discussion is good, I suppose, but sometimes it means that the public aspect of community only exists when there are problems, and then everyone goes back home and carries on their own individual lives. It’s just an observation, but the argument yesterday about Obama’s “everyman appeal” and “bedrock values” was just a bit strange.

Wisconsin wasn’t like this so much. I don’t know if the tone here is partially set by the fact of having Schwarzenegger as a governor or not. California is a very wealthy state, with a GDP almost the size of Italy’s, but with 20,000,000 fewer people. It’s richer as a state in the US than Canada is as a country, for example, and has only slightly more people. It also has a reputation of being a very progressive state, where the “bedrock values” are different – there is a lot of social freedom here, but there are also a lot of problems and reasons for “the community” to debate things. The atmosphere at work in Madison was much more laid back, if not reserved. Here it seems that they’ve got some undefinable project that they’re trying to put together – but in such a way that emphasises differences and exeptionalism. It really is interesting!

I suppose we’re closer to the November election too, so people are getting more excited. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if they’re excited because the government is going to change or if they’re just excited by the competition between these personalities. McCain might win on the grounds of being more soft-spoken!

Anyway – in other news. Janine and I LOVE mexican food!!!! We’re eating it all the time!!! It’s fantastic!!! We went to a place called “Las Olas” (The Waves). We had a shrimp and scallop appetizer and then I had, get this, shrimp stuffed with scallops and wrapped in bacon. It’s called the shrimp Cortez. I almost died. It was great. And quite a few bottles of Dos Equis (XX).

Here’s their menu, if you’re ever in Carlsbad!

http://www.lasolasmex.com/menu.htm

What a great time. Janine is interviewing these days, and is therefore a bit stressed, but she should hear about a job soon. Everyone is talking about recession, but my guess is that the high-tech sector will continue to grow, as people look to internet and communications technology for entertainment and work without having to fill up the car!

Anway – we’re having a good time. We like California. It’s warm.