I've had a rough couple of days. I think I am just not handling stress very well. I have a Brookstone back massager that Ainsley and her boyfriend-at-the-time bought me for X-mas a couple years ago, but it's really designed for one person to use on another, standing or seated before him. It's tough for one person to "scratch his own back," as it were. Thanks for the perpetual reminder that I am alone, Ainsley.
I've just finished packing for tomorrow's flights. Dad will be by at 6 to pick me up for the drive to Dulles where, weather permitting, our 9am flight will wing us on our way to Sunny Minneapolis. We should be in Colorado Springs by 1pm local time. Back Sunday very very late, and back to work the next morning.
I had to give notice at my apartment today. I'll be out of here in a month! It seems strange to actually get the ball moving, and in the back of my mind I am wondering whether it will all turn out in the end. Am I just making a huge mistake? Three months from now it will be nearly summer, and I will be sipping tea with my Gran, perusing the local job announcements.
3:48:00 AM
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Last month I noted that London's Congestion Charge was due to start on February 17. The issue was complicated by the accident on the Central line the week before, which caused 600,000 users of that tube line & one other to find alternate ways of getting around. The Central Line isn't due to reopen until the end of March at the soonest.
However, according to this article, the implementation of the new Charge has been largely successful, with traffic down 20% in central London & buses having to slow down as they were running ahead of schedule.
5:13:00 PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Yes, it's been awhile since I wrote last. The weekend was a total washout, literally, as the warm weather started to melt the mounds of snow & a couple of inches of rain washed a good portion of the remainder away. High winds swept in Sunday & the temperature dropped, so it was definitely a weekend to stay in!
I got a good deal done on a project I have been trying to finish up for months, and in fact I have just put the finishing touches on it tonight. What a relief! -- I almost feel as if I've just completed my thesis!
I'm looking forward to the short trip out to Colorado on Thursday, but the forecast now calls for accumulating snow here starting Wednesday night.
4:48:00 AM
Saturday, February 22, 2003
Do you want to know why I don't eat at Subway very often?
It's not because there isn't one close by; there's one across the street from my apartment, in the mall's food court. And there's another a block away from where I work.
It's not because they only serve junk food or because it's expensive; in fact, the opposite is true, as you must already know -- Subway has a series of sandwiches that are 6 grams of fat or less, and they have the Wow fat-free potato chips available.
It's because I actually prefer each bite of my sandwich to taste of bread and/or meat & cheese; I don't like biting a mouthful of mayonnaise. No matter how often I specify "just a little light mayo" or "a dab of mustard, please," the server picks up the condiment bottle, shakes it three times, and creates a replica of Devils Tower on my sandwich.
4:17:00 AM
Thursday, February 20, 2003
The magic number is now
54
5:06:00 PM
For the first time this winter, and the first time in many years, the Federal Government was closed yesterday due to the snow. It was nice having an extra day, but today was pure hell getting to and from work, as the Metro was only operating every fifteen minutes (about a third as often as normal). Of course, since no one wanted to drive, everyone was on the Metro. I went in a couple hours late this a.m. & managed to miss most of the crowds, but it was awful trying to get home tonight. I wound up getting a train going the opposite direction for 4 stops, just so I could get ahead of where most of the commuters get on for the journey out of the city, but I still was crushed standing, twisted & dangling from one of the ceiling poles. And as soon as I got home I had to sit in awful traffic on treacherous roads to get to Steve F's to feed his dogs. Not fun.
4:51:00 AM
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Almost two weeks ago, I got a sales call from Comcast Cable asking me if I wanted to take advantage of a special offer they have currently: two months of free HBO, then six months at half price, with no connection charges, cancel anytime you want. "Sure!", I said. "I'm moving in two months!", I thought.
There's only one show on HBO I've been interested in seeing, ever since Todd mentioned it in my comments: Curb Your Enthusiasm. I've managed to catch parts of two shows so far, and it's OK, but not hilarious. Another show I've heard a lot about but didn't have the opportunity to see was Six Feet Under. It's currently on hiatus but the first season was just released on DVD & I've rented the first two DVDs of the set from Netflix. I started watching them last week, and after two episodes I wasn't impressed, but I couldn't really say why.
Thursday on the metro I overheard three girls talking about shows on TV today. One mentioned that there isn't any show that she makes a point of sitting down to watch. Another said that most of the good dramas always involve accidents, or conflict, or tension or violence, and we're getting enough of that in our day-to-day "real" life lately. Who needs to sit down and subject themselves to more "bad vibes"?
That's what had struck me about Six Feet Under: quite a bit of death (naturally), conflict, anger, sadness and tension. I just wasn't in the mood for that, and decided not to watch the rest.
I changed my mind over the weekend though (as I was a bit bored form being stranded indoors for 72 hours as a result of the blizzard) and watched the other five episodes. I have to say that the show is growing on me. The acting is superb, and I've since found out that the show has won several emmys and golden globes.
4:34:00 AM
Monday, February 17, 2003
.
St. Patrick's Day 2003 is fast approaching, and as is to be expected I don't have any definitive plans made yet. It's been years since I went out for a drink on the Day, as all bars and restaurants in DC, particularly the Irish ones, are packed to the gills; you pretty much have to know someone to get in, and once you're in you can hand over wads of cash for the privilege of having crap domestic beer spilled all over you. The last time I recall celebrating St. Patrick's day was during my sophomore year of college at GWU. There was a bar on Pennsylvania Ave called The 21st Amendment which offered 17 cent glasses of green beer, starting at 11 in the morning. I went with a group of friends from my dorm, and I was drunk by two in the afternoon. The 21st is unfortunately no longer at that site, having been bulldozed over to make way for the grand edifice that is the new International Finance Corporation headquarters. Not the same kind of crowd.
I'm certain I'll get out and do something this year though--perhaps with my sweetie darling friend Nicky & her friends & family--as this is the first St. Patrick's day I'll be able to celebrate officially as an Irish citizen. I obtained my citizenship on October 4, 2002, when my name was entered into Ireland's Foreign Births Registry. I have been meaning for some time to write about that long and drawn out experience, which others might find of interest as they go through the same process.
Ireland's laws regarding citizenship are among the most liberal in the world. After the potato famine and the devastating poverty which followed, many left Ireland with the hopes of, at least, staying alive. Today, Ireland's citizenship laws have been crafted with a view to allow descendants of these emigrants to return to their homeland.
I don't recall how long ago I realized that I qualified to submit an application to become a citizen, but as early as April of 2000 I had written to the Irish Embassy in Washington, DC to have the necessary paperwork and instructions sent to me. I didn't act on it at the time, as I was involved in a relationship with someone locally, and had just signed a four year lease on a town house. Very soon after both of those situations fell apart, I began to examine more earnestly the steps that were required to submit my application. By summer of 2001, after fifteen years in the DC area, I had made up my mind that a change of scenery would be a good thing, and that I should leap at the chance to return to England.
The instructions the embassy sent me were relatively straight forward. Ireland's Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform provides this handy chart summarizing citizenship by descent:
A (Born in Ireland) Irish Citizen
B (Child of A) Irish Citizen
C (Child of B grandchild of A) Must register to obtain Irish citizenship
D (Child of C great-grandchild of A) May register for Irish citizenship, provided that 'C' had registered by the time of 'D's' birth
I qualify for citizenship as a person of type "C"; my mother (a type "B" person) is an Irish citizen because her mother (my grandmother) was born in Ireland.
My mother is also an English citizen, because she was born in the U.K.. The reason I didn't apply for dual U.S.-U.K. citizenship is that I didn't qualify. I was born in the U.S. and, until 1983, the U.K. only granted citizenship to children born outside the U.K. whose fathers were citizens of the U.K.; mothers could not pass on their citizenship. The law changed in 1983 but unfortunately was not retroactive. I can, if I choose, become a naturalized English citizen after living and working there for four years.
The Irish Embassy required proof that I could register, and requested the following original documentation:
The full, long form version of my birth certificate, showing my parents' names, places of birth and ages at time of my birth
The full, long form, birth certificates of my parents, showing my grand parents' names, places of birth and ages at time of birth.
my parents' wedding certificate
my Irish grandparents' full, long form (i.e. showing the names of their parents) Irish birth certificates
my Irish grandparents' wedding certificate
my grandfather's death certificate
Most of the documentation was obtainable from the Irish and English Registrar General's Offices for a small fee. I had trouble because neither my birth certificate nor my mother's had our parents' names and ages at the time of birth; neither New Mexico nor England issued such documents, and a letter stating that was enough for the Embassy.
I sent my application to the Embassy in Washington on December 10th, 2001. I was told at the time that processing the application would take four to six months. Mine took eight. After being notified that my application was accepted, I submitted an application for an Irish passport which was processed and approved in a week or so.
It's important to note that I didn't have to give up my U.S. citizenship in order to become an Irish citizen; US citizens may retain their citizenship when they become naturalized in another country. One of the only ways you can lose your US citizenship is if you apply for the foreign citizenship by free choice, and with the intention of giving up your U.S. citizenship. I didn't intend to give up mine.
By the way, for a thorough analysis of the current situation in U.S. law regarding dual-citizenship, see Richard Wales's excellent FAQ.
As I alluded to before, there are certain advantages to having dual-citizenship. As a citizen of Ireland, I can live and work for as long as I want in any of the 15 member states of the European Union, without ever applying for a visa or work permit. Soon the EU will expand to include much of Eastern Europe, and I'll be able to take advantage of travel opportunities there as well. Usually, an American who wishes to work in London is required to have prior sponsorship from a company operating there, resulting in a Catch-22 situation. I will be able to avoid that by presenting my Irish passport to any English employer as proof of work eligibility.
Some people have asked me why I'm moving to London and not to somewhere in Ireland. After all, at least until recently Ireland's Celtic Tiger economy was booming and technology jobs have been plentiful there. Well, I'm just more comfortable & familiar with England. My mom is English and we still have some relatives living in Oxfordshire, where she was born. I was a military brat and my father was stationed in High Wycombe, just outside of London, while I was in 10th-12th grade. Before then we had spent many summer holidays in the U.K. We made one trip to Ireland, during the summer of 1976, during which we met most of my grandparents' relatives in County Cork, but a week long trip over 25 years ago isn't enough to draw me back to live there.
6:39:00 AM
Sunday, February 16, 2003
Millions of people around the globe marched today to protest the upcoming Gulf War II, a day after plans by the US and Britain to push for a second resolution authorizing the use military force ran into the Brick Wall of the U.N. Security council after yesterday's most recent report from the chief inspectors. I don't recall hearing about any action in DC this weekend (and the weather would have made a march mighty miserable) but Ian at Blogadoon proffered these protest placards earlier in the week:
If You Are Not Outraged You Are Not Paying Attention
Bombing For Peace Is Like Fucking For Virginity
Who's The Unelected Tyrant With The Bomb?
Smart Bombs Don't Justify Dumb Leaders
How Did Our Oil Get Under Their Soil?
A Village In Texas Has Lost Its Idiot
Regime Change Begins At Home
How Many Lives Per Gallon?
All Humanity Is Downwind
Drop Names, Not Bombs
War Is SO 20th Century
Make Tea Not War
Relax, George
4:55:00 AM
It's my baby bwudda's birthday today: he's 32. I called him early this a.m. to find out what excitement he had planned for the day. His response:
* obedience training (for his dogs, not for him)
* shopping for a gas grill
* dinner at a steak house
He hasn't received the gift my mom and I purchased for him yet, apparently, but it wouldn't have come in handy during any of those activities.
3:56:00 AM
Friday, February 14, 2003
I'm not a big fan of valentine's day, only having been with someone with whom I'd wanted to celebrate it twice in my long lifetime. I remember bringing the store-bought demi-cards to school when I was seven or eight, and I seem to recall getting at least my fair share when they were distributed in class.
It wasn't until I got to college that I had a "bad" valentine's experience: I had been dating a girl named Kathleen for a few months, but for various reasons I knew it wasn't going to work out. I had a hard time with the idea of breaking up with her before valentine's, though, but was still trying to pull back & distance myself. She wanted to make big plans for the day, and I resisted. We had a huge row, and I took the opportunity to end it. In typical, boorish guy fashion, I asked "what's the big deal about Valentine's Day, anyway?" In tears, she replied "I was raped on valentine's day," and stumbled out of the room. We didn't speak after that.
I have never felt so small, before or since.
10:04:00 PM
Great, just in time for the double-barreled snow storm, I'm coming down with something. It started off innocuously enough yesterday, with an ache in my chest & a cough, and now it's stuffy-head and runny-nose. I'll see whether I can weather a trip to CVS after work to fight the duct-tape-and-plastic-sheets-buying crowds to grab some nyquil, and knock myself out for 72 hours.
9:42:00 PM
Steve F. has asked me to dogsit while he's gone on yet another scuba adventure, so he's lent me his car so I can get back and forth from his place. I don't have to start until next Tuesday, so for now the car is parked in my garage. And it's going to stay there for the next several days, as all that is forecast for the next few days (including the holiday weekend) is crap weather, rain, sleet, snow, and more crap weather. That's fine; I have a ton of "indoor" work to do.
2:18:00 AM
Nobody who reads this except me will care, but I've just finished successfully creating a secure wireless network with my 802.11b equipment here at home. It's taken me two nights and a lot of searching on the web & trial and error (and many many reboots) but it's done. Now if I can only just NOT TOUCH IT.
2:16:00 AM
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
I've only been to one bachelor party before, and nothing like this ever happened.
What a way to go.
7:50:00 PM
Scary!
OK, I understand that the entire US has been under Terrorist Threat Level Orange since last friday, but did we really need to be quarantined in our basement suite while fire department comes to sample a "suspicious" powder which was spilled outside our door & in the elevator (which I've ridden up and down in a half dozen times since)?
I'm not allowed to leave here, even if I wanted to. I'm hoping they don't ask us all outside to be hosed off. It's kinda chilly out.
Update: Turns out the "suspicious substance" was coffee creamer that had spilled from an order from Joe Ragan's Coffee.
7:48:00 PM
There's not much point in going into the details of the morning. The government manager in charge of me & the other IT guy started off a meeting by blowing up at us, directed at me. Lots of subtle threats were made. When I pointed out where he was wrong & that he didn't have a leg to stand on, he reversed himself.
For the last five or six days, by the time I got home from work, I've had a headache. That doesn't much put me in a productive mood, but I dragged myself out of the house this evening to attend weight watchers. I joined up after the new year as I had slipped (crashed, more like) quite a bit last year since Ainsley abandoned me. Coincidentally, though she'd done great last year she's slipped a bit and has re-joined as well. There is a meeting each Tuesday across the street, with a chipper, knowledgeable leader named Heather, and I've been losing slowly but steadily since re-joining, so that's all good. Not that they pay me or anything, but the Program really does work, if you follow it.
4:55:00 AM
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Morning from hell. More later.
5:56:00 PM
I got a letter from my apartment's Manager yesterday, indicating my lease is about to expire on April 30. Actually, I've been going month-to-month since last April, but I shouldn't nitpick. They're encouraging me to sign a new lease, either for 12 months at $1600/mo or for 6 months at $1650/mo. Otherwise, my month-to-month lease will begin May 1 at $1750/mo.
Guess who's moving out on April 9?
1:30:00 AM
The magic number is now
61
1:25:00 AM
Friday, February 07, 2003
How funny. My site is google's #2 choice for a search on "Hecht's coupons"
3:42:00 AM
Am I the only one who nibbles around the edge of my PopTart first?
I'm having one now, and it has made me think about comfort food from my childhood. There are some things which I crave when I'm stressed or in a bad mood, and most of them I can recall my mom making for me when I was a kid:
* PopTarts, gently warmed in the toaster
* gingerbread cookies (especially after playing in the snow)
* hot chocolate
* open-face grilled cheese sandwiches. I would never try this at home now.
* bologna, cheese, catsup and butter sandwiches
* a big tall glass of milk with Nestle Quick
* chicken nuggets. The whole box? Yes, that's fine.
3:38:00 AM
A huge, insincere THANK YOU to the asshole who decided 2:30a.m. was the perfect time to attempt to create his Trash Can Lid Sculpture, which of course had to be shaped and formed through repeated beatings with a crowbar, just outside my bedroom window. I had just fallen asleep when this idiot started. I actually couldn't tell what was making the sound, as I couldn't see him from my ninth story window, but after a half hour's racket I called the cops anyway. And, since I don't live in the district, they were here within five or six minutes, poking around until they found the guy & he stopped.
It took me another hour to get to sleep. Want to guess how cheerful and pleasant I was to be around today?
3:31:00 AM
Thursday, February 06, 2003
One of the only reasons I've shopped at Microcenter, other than the fact that I used to live only half a mile away, is that they have an amazing return policy. You can return anything--even if you've opened and used it--within 30 days for a full refund. They often resell the items at a discount after making sure they are complete and in working order.
A good thing, too, as the network card I'd bought to use with Leo's laptop turned out to be a piece of junk. I struggled all day Sunday before determining that it's just broken. But, yesterday I got a package from TechDepot with the wireless network card I'd ordered Saturday (on sale from $59 for $14.95) so all is well. I am surfing the web all the way from my bedroom.
Unfortunately, I'm downloading the AOL client, as things have taken a turn for the worse at work. I've mentioned before how most of the equipment there (including that assigned to the IT support folk) should have been acquired by the Smithsonian's agents long ago. I decided to bring in a legal copy of WindowsXP and load it on the Compaq PIII I've been assigned, since a quarter of the staff have that OS on their PC's & I'm getting constant support calls. It seems as if someone narked on me, as the government person in charge of me ordered me to remove it & reinstall WinNT. For those of you who don't remember, Windows NT 4.0 came out in August of 1996--it's ANCIENT HISTORY.
So I spent the ENTIRE day today reformatting the machine, trying to find old drivers, and re-installing software. I've brought in the laptop Leo's lent me, which DOES have WinXP, and I'm going to use that to surf the web through AOL--not connected to the bleeding government network. AOL has a "two months free" offer, just about long enough....
4:09:00 AM
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
Stolen from NotSoSoft:
"It's called nucular. Nu-cu-lar."
Q: Why does Dubya insist on mispronouncing the word nuclear?
Further Q: In any case, can someone be expected to make intelligent decisions about something he can't even pronounce?
And don't even axe him about the axis of evil.
9:53:00 PM
Monday, February 03, 2003
In case you were wondering, this article in Time magazine is very much in line with my thinking about the Space Shuttle tragedy.
7:45:00 PM
The magic number is now
66
5:29:00 PM
I'd forgotten to post about this news story I'd heard over the weekend:
Bowing to health concerns, the [Irish] government said Thursday that it will ban smoking from all workplaces including pubs, where a pint and a cigarette have long gone hand in hand. In fact, the change is so significant that the government has given the public 11 months notice before enforcing the ban: the new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2004. In announcing the ban, Health Minister Michael Martin released a study that links second-hand smoke to cancer and heart disease in workplaces.
5:28:00 PM
Generally speaking, I botched the weekend. I accomplished almost nothing. I slept in very late both days, called a few people, made an abortive trip out to Micro Center today, and otherwise sat on the couch plowing through my Netflix selections.
Beth came by Saturday and dropped off the Stampin' Up items I'd ordered last month, and Leo was by today to deliver the Dell laptop he's lending me, along with some items he wants me to put up on eBay for him. It's a nice laptop but I've struggled with configuring it for my network for most of the evening, and it's not ready yet.
I avoided missed most of the media coverage of the Columbia disaster.
I think I'll be trying one of those Nytols tonight.
4:18:00 AM
