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!

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!

New job

Well, I’m on my coffee break on the second day of my new job. It’s pretty cool – in a scary kind of way. It’s a very different feeling when you’re working because that’s what you do. What I mean is, up until now I was working, and it was hard and demanding, but I was doing it because I was in university – or at least I had university to finish. Now there is no other calendar but the project calendar. It is really keeping me busy!

The company is more “laid back” (I’ve explained that one before) in outward appearance. I was amazed at the building. It is in its own glass and white concrete building with beautiful lawns around it and a small lake or large pond with ducks in it.  My boss says that they got money from the state government to build the pond large enough so that a helicopter could get to it for water in case of forest fires. I don’t know if this is true, but it sounds possible. Work is good. The people here work very hard, but somehow they seem less stressed about the day to day activities of the job. It’s interesting too because there is a great deal more latino influence around here, which I really like.  It’s in the street names and place names and just everywhere.

Anyway – my coffee break is over. I’ll write more soon.  It’s not bad to be Bob in Carlsbad California! Janine is having a good time getting to know the place, but starting to think about work too!

It’s cloudy and cool today! I gotta go!

Sometimes you win!

Ok – here it is -I GOT THE JOB IN SAN DIEGO! I’m moving to California this summer! We went to San Diego on Thursday and I had my interview Friday morning. It was really a formality in some ways, although there were about 10 of us there to be interviewed. It seems that the directors had heard good things about me from Frank (the bastard – he didn’t tell me they had called him). Anyway – they were very interested in my background. I was surprised because they didn’t seem so interested in the technical part. They said that a basic knowledge of network structures was enough to get anyone started for this position – managing network structures as part of a technical team, but they really asked me a lot about how I found the United States and problems I had integrating and adapting. I think they were trying to find out about how flexible and “multi-tasking” I am. Anyway – this interview was more like just talking about myself and not answering technical questions. It was actually a bit fun. There were three interviewers. They took turns asking me about my experience in Madison, but at a level of detail that I didn’t expect.

Anyway – the result is that by the end of July I must move to San Diego. They will begin the process of visa application for a work permit. I have leave the country and re-enter with my new permit in order, but the interviewers said that they have done this with four or five foreign employees and they never have problems. I’m very excited. I will go back to Italy for a couple of weeks in July, then move my stuff from Madison to San Diego. I think I’ll get a car and go through Saint Louis and Route 66 – like in the song. Heh heh! I won’t be making tonnes and tonnes of money out there, but certainly enough for a “single” guy. I’m not going to tell you how much – but it’s “certainly enough”. It will be great to see my home town again, and my house and parents and relatives and everybody. Then it will be very nice to MOVE TO CALIFORNIA!

More on the mechanics of this later – I’m going back to work now. I’ve only got until the end of this month here at work in Madison, then a week or so to pack up, then to Italy, then back here to pick up my things and go to San Diego. I won’t sleep. I haven’t slept properly for a few weeks now. Ugh. Thank God for Janine!

Here I come – a nervous wreck

Janine and I leave for San Diego tomorrow. I’ll tell you right now – the expression of the day is “to sweat bullets” – it means to be incredibly nervous (the reference is that when you’re nervous, you sweat, and when you’re really nervous, you sweat out large drops of water) – in anticipation of some major event or situation.  I’m really sweating bullets. Another, similar expression (Janine’s addition) is “to shit bricks” – the idea is the same. It’s kind of funny how we make metaphorical reference to bodily reactions to stress situations. Anyway – I’m rambling again.

One of the primary reasons I’m so “wound up” (nervous, stressed, excited – today is full of idiomatic expressions!) is that It’s almost June, so my work visa expires in 2 months. That may seem like a lot of time, but two months ago I was finishing up my part of the project with Frank and beginning to look at what to do next. Now it’s already the middle of that phase and I don’t have any answers. When my visa expires, I have to leave the country – if I don’t have a job “lined up” (meaning a job offer confirmed) then I probably have to go back to Italy to work. That would not be good. Don’t misunderstand me – MUM! – I miss my family and friends etc., and it will be great to be back in Umbria for a bit, but I don’t want this adventure to finish yet. There’s too much to do. I could be here for years, I think. (Not to mention that Janine is really cute! – and fantastic.) So, “there’s a lot riding” (meaning the consequences of the outcome are serious) on this job possiblity in San Diego. I’ve also been called for an interview in Chicago, so when I get back from San Diego I’ll go down there for a couple of days. Whatever happens, I have to start organising my departure from Madison – talking to my landlord, my bank, etc. Really, I don’t know how I would do all of this without Janine. I would hate to run around all day, and then not have her to hang out, have fun, and relax with in the evenings (although I’m not that easy to be around lately – too excitable!). Anyway  – if the San Diego job comes through, I will really be the luckiest person on the face of the planet. If not, I have been incredibly lucky anyway. EXCEPT I’M SO DAMN NERVOUS ABOUT THIS! So, I’ll stop. I’ll let you all know how the interview in San Diego goes. I’m going out with Frank this evening – to shoot some darts, play some pool, drink some beer and get a “big brotherly” slap across the face to “snap me out of it” (my nerves) and calm me down.

Today’s expressions are all of the above!

Later!

A second interview!

I’ve just been called for a second interview at the company in San Diego! This is great! I just got the phone call today. The assistant to the executive asked if I could come out for a second interview and a closer look around next week. WOW! I was starting to get a bit down on things over the last week or so. I was waiting for California to call, and had a not-great interview here in Madison, and have already sent out 40 or 50 c.v.s – and now I’m going back to San Diego! Janine said she’d come with me and we’ll take a long week-end in San Diego. I am thrilled. I don’t know what else to write. I’m so excited.

Anyway – I’m going to lunch with Frank! I haven’t been able to talk to anyone about this yet. I’ll keep you informed!