Tuesday, May 30, 2006
So in the Sanctuary.... When there is a powder-blue sky. When it is in the mid-70's and dry. When thanks to all the recent rain my garden looks like the Cover Girl for a garden magazine. It is so hard to write anything. Don't get me wrong. It all still bloviates beneath the surface. But does Al Gore's new movie, 'Inconvenient Truth', matter to me when I am surrounded by chirping birds beneath the birch tree? .....Well of course it does matter deep down and of one thing I am thankful. The public is finally starting to get it. More importantly, corporations are starting to get it. Let me rephrase that: the corporations are not getting it from an altruistic standpoint. They are getting it the same way corporations discovered that the word 'Organic' sells. There might be a lot of puff and fluff to their efforts but efforts they remain. And we need all the efforts we can get.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
We have chosen a new co-worker. Which means that something akin to the American Idol selection formula has put eight other strong candidates on the bench. What made the winner win? Hard to say... Perhaps that he seems to have a very real and compelling story to go with the great resume everybody else had. Said newbie is from a family of ten children. Having studied in Virginia, new co-worker moved up to the Boston area when he found out his older brother had leukemia. He has been working at the Dana Farber Institute and helping out his brother ever since. He is tall, good looking, but understated. He has a sense of humor and just seems to be a grounded, real person. Having once interned with Senator Barrios, we are just trying to figure out whether or not he is gay. OK, I didn't say that. My progressive boss did. What would we do without un-PC humor now and again?
Sunday, May 21, 2006
98.2% Sure....We think that the son has graduated GW University although we are not quite positively sure. Put it this way: As of Saturday noontime, May 20th, the son had not yet confirmed that his summer college credits (summer courses taken because he bombed his sophomore year) had been applied to his official record. AND, there was the fact that he had one outstanding class marked INCOMPLETE as a result of his laptop having been stolen out of his apartment replete with his work for said class.
FRIDAY EVENING. With the status of son's graduation as tenuous as it was, the first family dinner spent with grandmother, parents, and sibling consists of a whole lot of strong drinks with a side order of appetizers. Thanks Grandma.
SATURDAY Morning. The son seems to think he will be graduating and so he and his father go to wherever they need to go to drop $50 for a robe and gown. Grandmother and Anna proceed to Georgetown to window shop. This might have been a lot of fun had not a seething hubby joined us later to recount his doom-and-gloom predictions as to son's future (which quite honestly are a bit scary considering he has neither a job nor an apartment lined up). And if that isn't enough, we get continuous play-by-play cellphone updates of the daughter's progress in packing up her dorm room to move back home this summer.
Saturday evening the troops rally because sometimes believing in Santa Claus just makes life easier. Yes let's celebrate the son's graduation and we go to the last restaurant in D.C. that will take a party of five or more and enjoy not only a great soft-shell crab pasta dish replete with copious amounts of Cabernet but great opera sung by wanna-be opera waiters who on this particular Saturday evening indulge us with their talent.
Finally Sunday morning arrives and the son appears at the hotel in robe and cap for a quick photo session before hurrying off to the Washington Mall to join his Business School comrades. His breath reeks of alcohol sustained from an obvious party which must have occurred between our dinner together Saturday and this milestone morning. Says he, "I'm already late so just come later by Metro. Of course there will be so many people we probably won't find each other..." Indeed the Washington Mall is packed and there is no chance in hell we will be able to find the son amongst the throngs of people.
OK so we make our way to the spendida White House now swathed in a powder-blue sky and wonder if the son is indeed sitting up front sweltering in black polyester graduation gown or whether we have just been scamed big-time. He calls from the cell phone to say he is sitting up front "somewhere." We while the hour-delay listening to live bagpipe music (which I'm sure sounds a whole lot better live than piped over tinny sound systems). We then endure the comedy commencement speech show called, George and Barbara Bush doing their "we've been married 61 years (hah, hah [a marriage is between a man and a woman]) routine with their poignant reminders that what is important is what goes on at the family dinner table (preferably between a 'traditional' family).
The ceremony threatens to go beyond the time we all need to head to the airport and so we make our way towards Regan Natioanl Airport before the Business School (of which we believe said son has been a participant) undergraduates are collectively honored. In terms of the son graduation we only know that we saw his name printed up in the graduation booklet. We do not know, however, if said son actually graduated. It's kind of a Barry Bonds moment if you will: Did he or didn't he?
The daughter and we sit at California Pizza, at Regan National Airport, shortly before departure. The cell phone rings. It is the son asking whether or not we enjoyed ourselves at the graduation. He says that he had wanted to call us at the end of the ceremony to come up and take pictures but his cell phone died and he couldn't reach us.
We are 98.2% sure he graduated....and as the North Shore Shuttle guy brings us back home I reflect on the day's events. I wish the son all the luck in the world and think that we are off to an auspicious start from the standpoint the son is not living in our basement. The young driver strikes up a conversation and we learn that he graduated from Cornell last year majoring in astro physics. He is hoping to land a job in a defense lab down in Virginia but is still awaiting security clearance. He tells us, wryly, that they are no doubt checking whether he might be inclined to accept a bribe to pay off his student loans. In the meantime he is working three jobs....
FRIDAY EVENING. With the status of son's graduation as tenuous as it was, the first family dinner spent with grandmother, parents, and sibling consists of a whole lot of strong drinks with a side order of appetizers. Thanks Grandma.
SATURDAY Morning. The son seems to think he will be graduating and so he and his father go to wherever they need to go to drop $50 for a robe and gown. Grandmother and Anna proceed to Georgetown to window shop. This might have been a lot of fun had not a seething hubby joined us later to recount his doom-and-gloom predictions as to son's future (which quite honestly are a bit scary considering he has neither a job nor an apartment lined up). And if that isn't enough, we get continuous play-by-play cellphone updates of the daughter's progress in packing up her dorm room to move back home this summer.
Saturday evening the troops rally because sometimes believing in Santa Claus just makes life easier. Yes let's celebrate the son's graduation and we go to the last restaurant in D.C. that will take a party of five or more and enjoy not only a great soft-shell crab pasta dish replete with copious amounts of Cabernet but great opera sung by wanna-be opera waiters who on this particular Saturday evening indulge us with their talent.
Finally Sunday morning arrives and the son appears at the hotel in robe and cap for a quick photo session before hurrying off to the Washington Mall to join his Business School comrades. His breath reeks of alcohol sustained from an obvious party which must have occurred between our dinner together Saturday and this milestone morning. Says he, "I'm already late so just come later by Metro. Of course there will be so many people we probably won't find each other..." Indeed the Washington Mall is packed and there is no chance in hell we will be able to find the son amongst the throngs of people.
OK so we make our way to the spendida White House now swathed in a powder-blue sky and wonder if the son is indeed sitting up front sweltering in black polyester graduation gown or whether we have just been scamed big-time. He calls from the cell phone to say he is sitting up front "somewhere." We while the hour-delay listening to live bagpipe music (which I'm sure sounds a whole lot better live than piped over tinny sound systems). We then endure the comedy commencement speech show called, George and Barbara Bush doing their "we've been married 61 years (hah, hah [a marriage is between a man and a woman]) routine with their poignant reminders that what is important is what goes on at the family dinner table (preferably between a 'traditional' family).
The ceremony threatens to go beyond the time we all need to head to the airport and so we make our way towards Regan Natioanl Airport before the Business School (of which we believe said son has been a participant) undergraduates are collectively honored. In terms of the son graduation we only know that we saw his name printed up in the graduation booklet. We do not know, however, if said son actually graduated. It's kind of a Barry Bonds moment if you will: Did he or didn't he?
The daughter and we sit at California Pizza, at Regan National Airport, shortly before departure. The cell phone rings. It is the son asking whether or not we enjoyed ourselves at the graduation. He says that he had wanted to call us at the end of the ceremony to come up and take pictures but his cell phone died and he couldn't reach us.
We are 98.2% sure he graduated....and as the North Shore Shuttle guy brings us back home I reflect on the day's events. I wish the son all the luck in the world and think that we are off to an auspicious start from the standpoint the son is not living in our basement. The young driver strikes up a conversation and we learn that he graduated from Cornell last year majoring in astro physics. He is hoping to land a job in a defense lab down in Virginia but is still awaiting security clearance. He tells us, wryly, that they are no doubt checking whether he might be inclined to accept a bribe to pay off his student loans. In the meantime he is working three jobs....
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
OK, if we have to pick between college graduating seniors to fill my colleague's post -- which we do it seems because nobody else would be stupid enough to accept such paltry earnings (except me)-- then I think we have narrowed it down to three candidates. Firstly may I say that none of the women candidates got past square one. Their personalities were boring and they really all need to stop ending what should be declaritive sentences with what amounts to a question mark at the end e.g. "I did event planning for the Kerry campaign??". Ok so did you or didn't you.... My three guy candidates constitute an eclectic group: 1) sensitive, good writer, street-smart gay guy 2) very young, but very smart, very hungry, moldable, recent Trinity College graduate who is an Excel spreadsheet guru 3) well-prepared, brimming with enthusiasm, smart, but very intense personality-wise 2005 graduate.... Right now I'm leaning towards the moldable recent Trinity College graduate...
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Streams. Situated near the bottom of a hill, the Great Window of my home office affords me an evening view of ever-growing rivulets cascading down the newly paved road. It has been monsoon-pouring all day -- except for one light-rain reprieve that got me and the dog out for a five minute walk. The moving water is just deep enough that if you placed a paper sailboat at the top of the hill, it would sail swiftly, and crazily down to the very bottom. There are no dry patches of road (that I can see anyway) which would provide enough friction to stop the sailboat's soggy journey downward. There is so much rain that I this afternoon felt compelled to take a flashlight and peek into the crawl space of our house. Dry as a bone we are pleased to report. One more brownie point for the nuclear physicist (or was he some kind of engineer?) who designed our out-of-place-in-New-England Californian contemporary house. Our Very Dry Californian contemporary house. Not the case of my neighbors all around who have sump pumps going like mad in their Colonial-style houses with basements....
More Streams. Rivulets of soon-to-graduate college seniors have been visiting our office at the State House this week in the hopes of applying their stellar qualifications toward a job that will pay them between 29K-and 35K depending on the mood of the Speaker of the House. The salary (even if they were to get in on the high end) wouldn't pay one year of tuition at the schools they have been attending. For Anna Bloviation's it has been a surreal exercise indeed to be interviewing these candidates no older than the son about to graduate. Most are mere babes and this gives me hope that cosmopolitan, Euro-raised, older-than-he-looks-for-his-age son will blow the babes away. However four of these seniors (the son would I think not have been among them [but I'm subjectively prejudicial...]), have pulled themselves into the final round based on their resumes, presentation, and writing samples. Their final hurdle? Unfortuantely it is Anna Bloviation's.... who by the way would make a really terrible judge on American Idol: "But I like them ALL... Couldn't we just hire them all? How are we going to say no the the others?"
And More Streams. Streams of random thought: The email I'd like to send to an anonymous conservative who used to give me flak about my anti-Bush, where-are-the-WMD's diatribe. The scumbag. Scumbag only because he was so arrogant at the time and relished accusing me of being a whiny liberal. Streams: The news in the New York Times that if one had bought stock in Whole Food Markets back in 1992, one would be doing pretty well for oneself. Yes I did blog about that at one point. Not that I bought any Whole Food Market stock.... Streams: Another Mother's Day spent happily by myself in my dry, comfortable, California sanctuary in the middle of New England -- plowing through books curled up on the couch with pounding rain for music and a lovely Australian shepherd curled up at my feet. Son and daughter in D.C. Hubby in the U.K. I can't think of a better Mother's Day and mind you I love them all dearly.
More Streams. Rivulets of soon-to-graduate college seniors have been visiting our office at the State House this week in the hopes of applying their stellar qualifications toward a job that will pay them between 29K-and 35K depending on the mood of the Speaker of the House. The salary (even if they were to get in on the high end) wouldn't pay one year of tuition at the schools they have been attending. For Anna Bloviation's it has been a surreal exercise indeed to be interviewing these candidates no older than the son about to graduate. Most are mere babes and this gives me hope that cosmopolitan, Euro-raised, older-than-he-looks-for-his-age son will blow the babes away. However four of these seniors (the son would I think not have been among them [but I'm subjectively prejudicial...]), have pulled themselves into the final round based on their resumes, presentation, and writing samples. Their final hurdle? Unfortuantely it is Anna Bloviation's.... who by the way would make a really terrible judge on American Idol: "But I like them ALL... Couldn't we just hire them all? How are we going to say no the the others?"
And More Streams. Streams of random thought: The email I'd like to send to an anonymous conservative who used to give me flak about my anti-Bush, where-are-the-WMD's diatribe. The scumbag. Scumbag only because he was so arrogant at the time and relished accusing me of being a whiny liberal. Streams: The news in the New York Times that if one had bought stock in Whole Food Markets back in 1992, one would be doing pretty well for oneself. Yes I did blog about that at one point. Not that I bought any Whole Food Market stock.... Streams: Another Mother's Day spent happily by myself in my dry, comfortable, California sanctuary in the middle of New England -- plowing through books curled up on the couch with pounding rain for music and a lovely Australian shepherd curled up at my feet. Son and daughter in D.C. Hubby in the U.K. I can't think of a better Mother's Day and mind you I love them all dearly.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
A Few Feet of $3,800.... Anna Bloviation's house is located on a point of sorts. This means that there are no houses on either side but what we do have is a stone retaining wall as seen here. And It wraps around the property for hundreds' of expensive feet (at least when it comes time to repairing those feet...). The snow drifts and snow plows of New England have taken their toll on our wall and as you can see dead center in this picture, some of the top stones are coming loose (multiplied by many hundreds' of feet more). So I invited Sean (from the Yellow Pages) -- a perfectly charming man from Ireland (i.e. a land of just such stone retaining walls) to give me an estimate as to what it would cost to mix a patch of taupe-colored topcoat cement. Well he must have misunderstood me to say that I wanted a layer of semi-precious stones, not cement. $3,800?? And too bad too. I really love the Irish lilt. Not to mention that he was cute. Married, but cute. Plan B? Illegal aliens from Guatemala....
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Resumes in possession. Whoever the choreographers above may be, they certainly have a most wicked sense of humor.... although more wicked than humor. While the son makes nil headway in terms of finding a job or new apartment in D.C. (at least as far as I know), I have in my possession ten resumes and accompanying cover letters which I received within nano-seconds of having posted the availability of my colleague's Executive Assistant job position. Six of the ten are from graduating college seniors. Here's a taste: Christopher, Rob, Ture, Erinn, Caleb, and Joe all have GPA's 3.5 or higher with a boat-load of work experience and volunteer service to boot. Each sent me professional, tailored, and compelling cover letters along with his/her resume e.g. Caleb wrote:
"I will be graduating in May from XX College with a B.A. in Political Science, with minors in Business Studies and Writing. As noted, your office seeks candidates with strong written and verbal communication skills, excellent organizational abilities, and a sense of humor. As for the verbal skills and the sense of humor, I believe those attributes will be most evident in a meeting or interview, which we can hopefully arrange shortly. My organizational ability is best exemplified by my constant commitment to hold a part-time job or internship while remaining a full-time college student...... To emphasize my writing ability, IÂd like to stress that I take tremendous pride in my writing, both creative and academic. Through my varied coursework, I have become an especially versatile writer, adept at adjusting my style to meet the circumstances...."
Christopher's resume, for instance, has him interning with the Federal Aviation Adminstration, attaining his pilot's license, and counseling developmentally challenged adults. I would cite more examples but then I might have to go throw up.... The job they are applying for pays $35K a year -- all of the candidates are over-qualified for what the job entails.... Good grief, I think I'm starting to empathize with Tanya Harding.
"I will be graduating in May from XX College with a B.A. in Political Science, with minors in Business Studies and Writing. As noted, your office seeks candidates with strong written and verbal communication skills, excellent organizational abilities, and a sense of humor. As for the verbal skills and the sense of humor, I believe those attributes will be most evident in a meeting or interview, which we can hopefully arrange shortly. My organizational ability is best exemplified by my constant commitment to hold a part-time job or internship while remaining a full-time college student...... To emphasize my writing ability, IÂd like to stress that I take tremendous pride in my writing, both creative and academic. Through my varied coursework, I have become an especially versatile writer, adept at adjusting my style to meet the circumstances...."
Christopher's resume, for instance, has him interning with the Federal Aviation Adminstration, attaining his pilot's license, and counseling developmentally challenged adults. I would cite more examples but then I might have to go throw up.... The job they are applying for pays $35K a year -- all of the candidates are over-qualified for what the job entails.... Good grief, I think I'm starting to empathize with Tanya Harding.
