tcob

TCOB, San Francisco style

For some reason I’ve been having trouble getting into this blog at work. No problem at home. Either something is up with my work server, or my version of Internet Explorer is just too old, and I don’t have permission to install the new version. So now I find myself typing quickly before I lose connection again. Blah.

The possible move to SF has been dominating my thoughts. I made the mistake of telling my mother, “We’re going no matter what,” ie, even if MB and I don’t have jobs set up, and she basically freaked out. I did some quick backtracking and pretended I didn’t say I’d quit my job if they didn’t let me work remotely. Yeesh. You’d think I’d learn by now.

I mentioned the idea of working remotely to my boss last week, and yesterday told him our move was a go for sometime in September. His only experience with a direct report working off-site was a bad one. The person just sort of announced she was doing it and made arrangements, before getting any approval. I never assumed that, and had found the guidelines and application a couple of weeks ago. He seemed surprised there was even an application, which surprised me quitely fankly.

Anyway, I finished up the application yesterday, basically stating my case for why working remotely would be fine, and we have a formal meeting set up for Monday morning. TCOB!

We also bought our plane tickets for a visit in August. Hopefully MB will have some interviews set up for that time, and we’ll look at apartments. Hopefully we’ll have both a job for MB and an apartment by the end of our visit, but at least an apartment. And also hopefully by then I’ll know if working remotely is a go or no-go.

Last weekend I entered the final edits to my memoir. As I post sections I’ll probably edit a little more, but just honing – the structure should be all set. I’m staggering the posts a little more now because I want to get the whole book on Scribd and available for purchase about mid-way through my posts. So it’ll be, “You can keep reading once a week for free, or you can buy the whole thing now for $2.” I also changed the template again! It’s back to how it originally was. I found myself getting mixed up between this and the writing blog. I know the look should be the same, but I thought slightly different would be okay.

Crap! I still have my assignments to do for the London class, a journal and a paper on a specific topic. They’re due mid-August, but I want to get them done soon. I can pull a lot from this blog for the journal, as well as from my notes. As for the paper, I have to pick a topic – I have a few ideas – and do a literature assessment. I’m so not in the mood for it.

moving / writing — 3 Comments
05
Jun 09

Memoir plug, and Palo Alto

Next memoir installment is up.

On another note, MB got an interview for a job in Palo Alto. It seems promising since they say they’re willing to fly him out there.

I think I’ve written that we’d like to live somewhere other than New York. For a while the shortlist included Amsterdam, Prague, and Buenos Aires. I’m flexible. The only requirement is that MB have something secure set up beforehand since it costs money to move.

Of course I’d totally be down with the Bay Area too. It would be easier, but still different from New York. Plus MB would have more of a chance to get a job he actually likes.

As for me, I’d want to see if I could keep my current job and work remotely. In my department people are scattered all over the world. I only see my boss in person two or three times a week, and I do quite a bit of work for someone in the UK. Hell, people down the hall email me. So I have a feeling it would be okay, but who knows.

And I thought we could live in my grandmother’s empty house in Berkeley, if only temporarily. But I talked to my mother and it’s already been put on the market.

It’s still early yet. MB has yet to have the interviews, but it’s fun to think about.

library / new york / photography / tcob / weekends — 1 Comment
30
Mar 09

A live-alone-and-like-it kind of weekend

At the last minute, MB decided to go to this conference in Chicago. He was hesitant at first because of finances, but then he got paid for this consulting gig, and I encouraged him to go. I knew I’d miss him like crazy, but he hasn’t been to a conference in so long. Plus it’s a good opportunity for networking.

I didn’t have a lot of plans, just a photography outing with YP on Saturday. The theme this month was “self-portraits,” one of my bright ideas, which was hard to do, especially for someone with short arms. Neither of us were too enthusiastic, and ended up taking just a few pictures. Last month’s theme of “food” was better.

Aside from that I ran a bunch of errands: Whole Foods, the drugstore, the Container Store, the Asian grocery store. Dropped off laundry, cleaned the fridge, cleaned the stove. Got rid of my old shredder finally. MB has a smaller one so we definitely don’t need two.

Did some reorganizing using my purchases, folding mesh cubes, from the Container Store. I love them because they’re flexible so you can squeeze lots of oddly shaped things in them (like shoes), and if you’re not using them, you can just fold them up and hide then away. But I always forget how to refold them. It’s like origami.

Worked on homework a bunch. For Collection Development we have this annoying subject analysis assignment. For the library of our choice, we have to map out all the subject headings, including Library of Congress of Dewey Decimal classification, and then rate then according to the ALA codes in terms of depth and intensity.

I’m just going to wing it in terms of the ratings – I mean, who’ll know if they’re correct or not? – but I’m being a stickler about the LC headings. Do I dare say that I’m kind of enjoying looking up all the headings and subheadings and assigning neat little numbers? I guess that’s why I signed up for this gig in the first place.

My Thursday class, People Centered Methods and Design, is cancelled this week since we had an extra class earlier in the semester. Last week’s class was good. At first I dreaded it because I thought we’d have to present our projects again, but the professor just gave us feedback on the reports we had handed in earlier in the week.

Early on I was really doubtful about my project. Everyone else’s was so artsy – a dream archive with dreams depicted in sketches, creating an interface for a repository of digital photos, some type of exhibit in which the person would be attached to various strings and people could pull on those strings, which I guess demonstrates phenomenology, which I’ve only recently begun to understand as having to do with not just thinking or existing in a vaccum (“I think therefore I am”) but existing in the context of a “universe,” reacting to and acting in that universe, and in relation to other people (I know: hunh?).

In comparison mine was so pragmatic: creating a resource, like a wikipedia, to help people to learn corp speak and corporate language, skills that one must have to succeed in the corporate world but which are never acknowledged (only “good communication skills” in a general way).

But I think the professor actually likes my project. He gets exicted when we talk about it while with the others he either sort of rolls his eyes, or presses people to be more specific and concrete. In the beginning he was like, “Go with it!” to the people with artsier projects, but I guess since they are still so abstract, he feels they haven’t progressed as much.

This weekend I also did some reading at the NYPL. It’s out of the way from my place, but I love the quiet of the reading rooms, unlike cafes where people are yakking and there’s coffee spillage and crumbs. Nearby is the International Center of Photography. One of the exhibits there now is Weird Beauty: Fashion Photography Now, which was, needless to say, very weird but also fascinating. It’s funny how you can see those photos in a magazine and think, Whatevs, but seeing them displayed together was really interesting.

MB is back tomorrow. Yay!

family / library / tcob / travel — 4 Comments
20
Mar 09

Money in, money out

This spring break I haven’t gotten much homework done, but I’ve TCOB on a few things.

A bit of spring cleaning. I needed to pull out my tax stuff, which was in my hard-to-reach box o’ files, so I rearranged things a bit in the apartment. Also dusted, filed away papers that had been sitting around forever, got rid of copies of manuscripts which I don’t need anymore. Still need to shred though.

MB and I also finally cashed in on all this change that’s been building up for a year. 200 smackers! It was all his since I spend my change regularly. Guys seem to always dump coinage until there is a giant pile. Guess that’s the advantage of having a purse.

Taxes. Filed them on Wednesday. I was nervous, but it turns out I’m getting an unexpectedly hefty return. I should be in school every year!

London trip. I reserved my room a while back, and this week bought the plane tickets. When I checked prices a few weeks ago, they were $900 round-trip – now they’re about $720. I guess they could go down even more, but almost-$200 seems pretty good to me. My room, which is a single in a dorm with a twin bed and not much else, is about $50 a night, including breakfast. Not too bad.

Post-graduation splurge. Also known as an excuse to spend too much on tickets to the Broadway revival of West Side Story. I know it’s cheesy – pirouetting street gangs, the whole Romeo and Juliet thing – but it’s one of my favorite musicals. The dancing gives me goose bumps, and I cry like an idiot at all the same parts.

I got two tickets though I’m not sure who will go with me. MB is not into musicals so I was thinking of taking my dad, who really enjoyed Chicago. It would be like a belated Father’s Day gift.

Getting in a ‘rents visit. MB and I are going down tonight, back tomorrow night. My parents are going to be gone for most of next month on a trip to China. Then at the end of May/beginning of June, they’re off to L.A. to help with my grandmother and of course see my bro. And they just recently got back from San Francisco! What jet setters they are.

library / tcob / travel — 1 Comment
04
Mar 09

TCOB listicle

You know when you put in “listicle” in Google, they suggest “testicle”?

Anyway, suddenly it seems I have a billion things to do, and what better to help me organize than a trusty list.

Jury duty questionnaire. If you follow me (the real me that is) on Twitter, you have followed the engrossing saga of the jury dury questionnaire I thought I lost. I attempted to get another copy via the very lame New York Jury Duty commission or whatever it’s called. I called – no answer. I emailed and got a reply that said, “Please call.” I called again, several times, and every time it said that all the operators were busy, you can’t leave a message, and you can’t wait on hold. Wtf?

But luckily last night I found said questionnaire, and it turns out I don’t have to do jury duty right now since the last time was within 6 years. Score! Not that I mind jury duty. Last time I just waited around in a room for two days, drinking coffee, and writing. I still got paid by my job, and received a stipend as well.

School. This Sunday I have my midterm for Collection Development, which shouldn’t be bad. But last week we all found out the professor expects our library profiles with selection strategies as well. We have these folders that we put assignments in, and he was very surprised to see that none of them had library profiles.

Well, he never said when they were due exactly, and we were all thrown for a loop that he expected then this Sunday.

I switched mine late in the game so I have a bit to catch up on. For example, I’m not sure what he means by selection strategies and how these are different from goals and objectives. Whatevs. I’ll just do my best.

Oh yeah, and I got into that London program in June. No huge surprise since they were practically begging people to apply. Now the question is if I get a scholarship.

Taxes. Crap, I can’t believe it’s tax time already. My goal is to get them done over spring break, which is the week of 3/16. Best to make an appointment soon.

What’s different this year is that I’ve paid for school and I’m not sure how that works. Do I get a break, or do I get taxed on tuition reimbursement? Also, I gave away a shitload of clothes when I moved. Hopefully that’ll add up to more than the standard deductible.

Travel. I’m itching to squeeze in a trip to L.A. and see the family (and drag MB along of course), but I don’t know when. We’re both off from school later this month, but that may be too rushed. May is a thought, after I’m done with the semester, but MB might go to Europe for a conference. June I’m in London, so that leaves sometime over the summer, I guess.

Oh, and I suppose I should book my London flights soon as well. Yay, London!

rant and/or rave / tcob — 2 Comments
24
Dec 08

Left out in the cold

So MB and I were supposed to hear Les Paul play at the Iridium on Monday. We had tickets for the 10 o’clock show and got to the place around 9:30. There was a line down the block, but we weren’t worried since that was how it was at the Blue Note for Bela Fleck, and the line seemed to be moving quickly.

Then not so quickly. It kept stopping and moving a little, till finally we were out there almost an hour. It was cold, and then the wind would blow, and we could feel ourselves die inside a little. When we finally got to the door, we were told that the club had oversold, and there was no room for anyone, even those with us with tickets.

The door guy was apologetic, but the guy inside the club was a jerk. He hollered at this one woman, “I didn’t sell the tickets so don’t yell at *me*!” and slammed the door in her face. Nice way to treat your customers.

We were disappointed, but we only had to come up from downtown. The guy behind us had driven in from Philadelphia.

Hope we get our money back.

~ ~ ~

In other news, I had my annual physical yesterday. Really I wanted a new Allegra prescription and that was the way to get it. But then my doctor gave me only a two month supply! GRRR!!! Luckily I only need to take the allergy medicine every other day so I can stretch it out a bit.

I had to fast since she was doing a cholesterol test. You’d think with a 10 AM appointment, it wouldn’t be so bad, but by the time she saw me – about half an hour late – I was DYING. I’m one of those people who needs to ingest coffee and a little breakfast the minute I roll out of bed. I also need to eat every 3 to 4 hours or else I get cranky.

After my exam, I rushed out and inhaled a tuna bagel and cup of coffee (mmm, tuna and coffee perfect together), and I felt amazingly better afterwards.

Today seems to be a bit warmer but it’s rainy. Hopefully tomorrow won’t be bad when we got out to New Jersey.

library / rant and/or rave / sick / tcob / work — 1 Comment
09
May 08

My final is over, yay!

It took me the entire class time, which I wasn’t expecting since I had finished the midterm early, but suddenly it was the last 10 minutes, and I looked up surprised to see that 2/3’s of the room was empty.

I was able to answer some questions very fully, like the significance of FRBR, and the advantages and disadvantages of Dewey Decimal vs Library of Congress classification. These were two areas I felt shaky in, and so studied like crazy.

I feel like the teacher didn’t do a good job teaching these concepts. When comparing the two classification systems, for instance, she was very vague. I didn’t even know for instance that mostly academic and government libraries use LC while public and school libraries use Dewey, till I did my own research online. I didn’t know that LC subclasses are completely inconsistent since they’re developed by experts in each class, rather than across classes.

Of course there were a few questions I felt like I was bullshitting, or didn’t have much to say about it. Oh well. At least it’s over. My summer session starts right away on Monday. Web design.

My cold seems to have completely evaporated. Very strange. A few days of a sore throat, one day of a runny nose, and gone. Not bad. MB had it much worse.

Yesterday I was finally able to get my passport photos. First I went to CVS but they were a hot mess. The girl couldn’t even tell me how long it would take.

Me: “Will it be a few minutes? Shoud I wait?”
Her: “Ummm, uhhh. No, I wouldn’t wait.”
Me: “Okay, I can come back. When? In an hour?”
Her: “Ummm, uhhh.”
Me: “At the end of the day? Five? Six?”
Her: “Ummm, uhhh. Can you come later?”
Me: “I’ll just come back tomorrow.”

I felt like I was at an auction. Do I hear five minutes? How about 10? An hour? Sheesh.

So I returned the next day, which was yesterday. Chaos! At least three other customers appeared to be unhappy/irate. My turn came and asked for my photos. The same girl looked through a couple of different envelopes. Nothing.

“Who took your picture?” she asked.

“Uh, I think you did,” I said.

Then she disappeared in the back, and was fiddling with a camera. Fiddle, filddle. I saw her take the battery out and put it back in.

“So are they ready?” I asked.

“Umm, uhhh.”

I had a feeling she hadn’t even downloaded them from the camera. Luckily I hadn’t paid a penny. “Forget it,” I said. “I’ll get them somewhere else.”

And get them somewhere else I did, from this little hole in the wall down the street. Took five minutes. Now all I have to do is send my stuff in and I’ll have a valid passport. Yay!

This afternoon my coworkers are taking me and my other colleague who’s leaving out for drinks. That’s very nice of them, but I wish I could use the time to work out instead. Then again, I could have gotten myself up early and gone to the gym then. Oh well. At least I got three workouts in this week.

Our dresser arrives today! Now I can organize my clothes better and free up some closet space.

Glad it’s the weekend and with no homework to do. :)

running / sick / tcob — 4 Comments
07
May 08

Motivated suddenly

As always: 1) procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate, 2) wake up at 6 in the morning panicking at everything I haven’t done, and 3) work like crazy.

It’s amazing how much I got done in the last 90 minutes. More than in the last week, I’d say. I don’t know why I do this. Maybe because I keep getting away with it.

I also have yet to start studying for my Knowledge Organization final tomorrow night. I figure I can get started this afternoon, do more tonight, and finish up tomorrow. I got A’s on my Information Professions term paper and presentation by the way. Yay!

My cold still hasn’t kicked in fully, but hasn’t gone away either. Right now I feel fine, but when I woke up this morning, my throat was killing me and I felt crummy. Then I had some hot coffee and my throat felt better.

It helped to run yesterday, and I hope to run again today. It’s amazing how much better I feel about myself after just one workout. Last week I was feeling particularly fat, and made sure to hit the gym four times, and felt great by Friday. Then by Monday I felt totally fat again. I hate that feeling – more than enough motivation to get my butt moving.

MB finally heard about his job situation. I think I mentioned his company was bought out recently, and he has been waiting to hear whether or not he’d get a job offer or a severance package. He did not want a job offer unless it paid ridiculously more than his current job. Dealing with all the corporate BS wasn’t worth it to him.

The real sticking point was that if you were offered a job and turned it down, you got zilch. If you were laid off, you got a ridiculously good severance package.

And lo and behold, they came through with a sweet severance package. It amounts to about six months’ worth of his salary, which is more than enough to live on, especially now that our rent is cut in half.

He is really happy. He’s been in this limbo for the past couple of months, not knowing how long he’d be getting a steady paycheck, or whether or not he’d get a lame job offer he’d have to turn down. Now he can take his time, work on his own projects, and consider carefully his next gig, rather than take any old one that comes along.

Okay, back to work.

awareness / moving / new york / relationships — 1 Comment
02
May 08

Friday mishmash

Last night we saw Iron Man. It was very cool.

Robert Downey, Jr. is the man. He totally made the movie. Also, the action was nicely spaced out. MB would prefer 2 hours of nonstop fight scenes, but I liked that the middle slowed down a little and built up to a good finale. The only thing I didn’t like was Gwyneth Paltrow’s character, who couldn’t decide if she was a smart, efficient assistant, or a ditz in stilettos.

There were some good previews too. What looks promising: Prince Caspian, The Incredible Hulk, and You Don’t Mess with Zohan (in a stupid way). What looks bad, unless the payoff is very very good: The Happening. What’s up in the air: the new Indiana Jones. That came last and compared to the other trailers, it seemed quiet and old-fashioned. But who knows. Either way, lots of movies to see this summer.

We got back very late and didn’t get to sleep till 3. Tired again.

Tonight there’s a birthday party – the girlfriend of one of MB’s friends. I’ve met her once and have no idea how old she is. I know his friend is about 29, so she could easily be 10 years younger than me. Yikes! I think I’ve mentioned that MB is little more than 2 years younger than I am. I don’t think about it when we’re together; it’s more like we’re the same age. But then I think about it, and it’s kind of hot. ;)

This weekend the theatre near us has midnight shows of Alien. We are so there. I’m psyched because I’ve never seen it on the big screen. In fact, I’ve never seen any of the Aliens on the big screen.

I’m finally officially all moved into my new place. Tuesday night MB and I went to my place, and threw out a bunch of last minute stuff, including a few big pieces the new tenant doesn’t want. Luckily MB was there because I wouldn’t have been able to bring down the shoe cabinet, coffee table, and surprisingly heavy microwave. We were done within an hour.

As we left I felt a little sad. After all that place has been home for the past three years. I got to know my neighborhood and neighbors. The old guy who ran the antiques store next door, the Chinese lady who ran the laundromat and with whom I sometimes chatted in Mandarin, the young guy at Le Pain Quotidian who served up my mochas on the weekends.

While MB’s neighbordhood is cooler and less stuffy, I will miss lots of things about my part of town. The Park especially, being just a few blocks away. The plethora of delis and bagel shops. The chain clothing shops (so I’m not so cool).

There must be delis in MB’s neighborhood, but I’ve yet to find where I can get a standard coffee and bagel, instead of some fancy schmancy pastry and too expensive Americano. There are clothing stores in his area but they are all super expensive boutiques.

What I won’t miss in my neighborhood is the very expensive laundromat. $3.50 a load! MB’s is just $1.50. I didn’t even know I was being ripped off. I also won’t miss the people, who are mostly snooty high-rise dwellers with BMW-like strollers or else lots of plastic surgery (sometimes both). The LES neighborhood is more of a mix – hipsters, long-residing artist types, Indian families, Chinese families, and people like us.

Another good thing about MB’s ‘hood is that people tend to want to hang there more. It’s a challenge to try and get people to come uptown. Plus now I live near YP, yay! We are basically on opposite ends of Houston Street.

The end of a single girl era. Three years was quite enough time to get to know and love myself again, and to explore life and what I want to do. I’m ready now for whatever happens next.

library / moving / tcob / work — Comments Off
29
Apr 08

Yay, one class down!

So last night I handed in my term paper and gave my presentation. We had the option of yesterday or next Monday to present (all papers were still due yesterday), so of course I went with yesterday to get it overwith.

I guess my presentation was fine, though my argument was probably a little flimsy at the end. And I was totally under the 10 minute mark. I was coming to a close when I suddenly realized the professor hadn’t given me even the 2 minute warning, and so I slowed waaay down. Came in at about 8 minutes.

Now I have some free time till my final for Knowledge Organization on 5/8.

As for right now, I am totally skipping a meeting. My boss has the tendency to set up meetings with vague titles and no agenda. It’s like if this has no immediate bearing on my job, I’m not going. We also have a team meeting soon. Blah. What I hate most is my boss’s “around the horn,” during which he makes everyone talk about their projects. For me it’s always like, “Well I redesigned this page on our website, and I got some stuff through review committee.”

In team meetings with my old boss, if you had something you thought everyone should know, you put it on the agenda. You didn’t waste everyone’s time talking just because you’re expected to talk.

Speaking of my old boss, I ran into him at the cafeteria. He’s really happy for me in my new job, and went on about how my current boss is “delusional.” He heard that my old boss is posting for positions one to two levels higher than mine, which I’d seen on the job boards. Again, someone at that level is not going to want to do the nitty gritty stuff associated with my job, and again, my boss has refused to listen. Even my old boss agreed the team needs not just one but two operational people. Glad someone agrees with me.

In other news, I got my renewed driver’s license in the mail today. Yay! When I sent in the request, I sort of felt like I was sending it into a black hole. But just two weeks later, I have a brand new license. Now I just need to renew my passport.

Also canceled my Con Ed account, and put in a forwarding address request on Friday. TCOB!

Today will be my last day in old apartment. I’m going there after work to throw out the last batch of stuff, and take with me a few random things, including my cable box. Hopefully it won’t take too long.

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.