...who can't book appointments when I leave a message on their voicemail.
My driving test is now on the 23rd.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Photos of San Jose
Alex (one of the other interns) has put our photos of the other day in central San Jose (say the last bit ten times really fast) on the web for his family to see, so have a look:
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/558080381PPKcfV
I particularly liked the lovely streets with trees down the middle where the light rail goes, and the City Hall part with the big dome.
And yes we will put ours on the web - its just that with a few thousand photos, it takes a while!
Ida - the photo of the sign in the shop windows about red shoes, is for you. It's from Oakridge Mall, the nearest mall to here.
Enjoy :)
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/558080381PPKcfV
I particularly liked the lovely streets with trees down the middle where the light rail goes, and the City Hall part with the big dome.
And yes we will put ours on the web - its just that with a few thousand photos, it takes a while!
Ida - the photo of the sign in the shop windows about red shoes, is for you. It's from Oakridge Mall, the nearest mall to here.
Enjoy :)
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Memory -loss at Rite Aid
I was buying more water at the Rite Aid closest to where we live. The guy who served me is a slightly chubby, well-meaning Chinese guy with floppy black hair, a soft American accent and huge glasses. As he was serving me, he asked, "What language do you speak?"
Slightly taken aback, and looking towards the line forming behind me, I replied, "English." Then I realised that he would have thought I was from England, so I explained, "I'm from New Zealand."He didn't show any signs of recognition, asking "What's it like where you come from?" I said, "Hot. It's summer there so all my friends are at the beach."
Why this is funny (apart from me realising later I had said, "English" in a slightly hurt, 'of course' sort of tone - I mean, who asks "What language do you speak?") is that this particular guy is famous amongst the Kiwis here. Every single time any Kiwi goes to Rite Aid, and it happens at least once or twice a week, he asks the same questions in the same sequence.
"Wow, you have an accent."
Then, "Where are you from?"
Then, "What's it like there?"
No matter how many times you see him, and tell him the answer, he never remembers you.
Slightly taken aback, and looking towards the line forming behind me, I replied, "English." Then I realised that he would have thought I was from England, so I explained, "I'm from New Zealand."He didn't show any signs of recognition, asking "What's it like where you come from?" I said, "Hot. It's summer there so all my friends are at the beach."
Why this is funny (apart from me realising later I had said, "English" in a slightly hurt, 'of course' sort of tone - I mean, who asks "What language do you speak?") is that this particular guy is famous amongst the Kiwis here. Every single time any Kiwi goes to Rite Aid, and it happens at least once or twice a week, he asks the same questions in the same sequence.
"Wow, you have an accent."
Then, "Where are you from?"
Then, "What's it like there?"
No matter how many times you see him, and tell him the answer, he never remembers you.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
How one Firefox extension doubled my productivity
Today at work I accomplished roughly twice as much in the last three hours of the day as did I did for the five hours preceeding it.
Granted, this was partially because two of those five hours were spent in meetings, which are unproductive at the best of times. But the rest of the enhancements were due to a very simple Firefox extension. What does it do? It blocks all the websites I like. In fact, on its own it doesn't even do that. I had to tell it what sites I like so it could stop me from visiting them. Of course I could accomplish the same effect by simply not visiting those sites, but that's so much harder than not being able to visit them. Some might call this self-deception; I prefer to think of it as enforced motivation.
In general motivation isn't an issue, but I've found that when I'm not sure how to approach a task, but also don't want to "jump right in and work it out on the way", I can often start thinking about it and somehow wind up on Digg. A little helpful reminder in the form of a blank page and an error message speeds up the "thinking" process immeasurably.
I also found a handy little program that allows you to save sequences of keystrokes and write them out at certain times (such as when you press a keyboard shortcut). It's great for little things like typing out your username and password, which I can now do with a single shortcut! Yes I know, I'm a geek. And a lazy geek at that.
If your "thinking" also causes you to traverse a large portion of cyberspace, you can get BlockSite for Firefox here, and the AutoHotKey macro recorder is available here.
Granted, this was partially because two of those five hours were spent in meetings, which are unproductive at the best of times. But the rest of the enhancements were due to a very simple Firefox extension. What does it do? It blocks all the websites I like. In fact, on its own it doesn't even do that. I had to tell it what sites I like so it could stop me from visiting them. Of course I could accomplish the same effect by simply not visiting those sites, but that's so much harder than not being able to visit them. Some might call this self-deception; I prefer to think of it as enforced motivation.
In general motivation isn't an issue, but I've found that when I'm not sure how to approach a task, but also don't want to "jump right in and work it out on the way", I can often start thinking about it and somehow wind up on Digg. A little helpful reminder in the form of a blank page and an error message speeds up the "thinking" process immeasurably.
I also found a handy little program that allows you to save sequences of keystrokes and write them out at certain times (such as when you press a keyboard shortcut). It's great for little things like typing out your username and password, which I can now do with a single shortcut! Yes I know, I'm a geek. And a lazy geek at that.
If your "thinking" also causes you to traverse a large portion of cyberspace, you can get BlockSite for Firefox here, and the AutoHotKey macro recorder is available here.
Why US Immigration is worse than Studylink
Today I finally finally got my letter from Immigration saying my electronic form had been received, so I can get my work permit. It took 11 days, and was supposed to take 7-10.
I'm sure I have to send in more documents to them, and I looked all around the website but I couldn't find exactly what I needed to send in.
So I called Immigration, an already complicated system made more complicated by the fact that everything has to be said again in Spanish. Studylink has nothing on bureaucracy here.
For ages I waited while the blood drained away from my hand and it got tired.... Eventually there was a recorded message, in Spanish naturally. So I waited patiently as the message began to sound increasingly confused, before suddenly realizing that someone was actually talking to me in Spanish.
We went round in circles for a bit, while I tried to figure out her heavy Hispanic accent and she tried to figure out my odd New Zealand one. She asked why I was calling, and I gave her a big long explanation about how I couldn't work out what information I needed to send in. At the end of it, she said, "Could you please repeat that, ma'am, and speak louder and slower." I thought I was speaking reasonably slowly, but I think our phone makes things really quiet.
It turns out I don't need to send anything in unless they send me another letter asking for it. I don't know if that's right somehow, they tell you very clearly there are many more things to send in, so I will get everything ready to take when I get a biometrics appointment sent to me (everything here is all about biometrics, eww). I have no idea about how long that might take.
The worst thing is, that when I asked how long it might take for the California centre to process my work permit, she said they were still processing applications from December! So before they can get to me, they have to get through applications from December, January, and most of February. So it will definitely take at least three months.
*screams and has breakdown on the spot* I want a job!
I'm sure I have to send in more documents to them, and I looked all around the website but I couldn't find exactly what I needed to send in.
So I called Immigration, an already complicated system made more complicated by the fact that everything has to be said again in Spanish. Studylink has nothing on bureaucracy here.
For ages I waited while the blood drained away from my hand and it got tired.... Eventually there was a recorded message, in Spanish naturally. So I waited patiently as the message began to sound increasingly confused, before suddenly realizing that someone was actually talking to me in Spanish.
We went round in circles for a bit, while I tried to figure out her heavy Hispanic accent and she tried to figure out my odd New Zealand one. She asked why I was calling, and I gave her a big long explanation about how I couldn't work out what information I needed to send in. At the end of it, she said, "Could you please repeat that, ma'am, and speak louder and slower." I thought I was speaking reasonably slowly, but I think our phone makes things really quiet.
It turns out I don't need to send anything in unless they send me another letter asking for it. I don't know if that's right somehow, they tell you very clearly there are many more things to send in, so I will get everything ready to take when I get a biometrics appointment sent to me (everything here is all about biometrics, eww). I have no idea about how long that might take.
The worst thing is, that when I asked how long it might take for the California centre to process my work permit, she said they were still processing applications from December! So before they can get to me, they have to get through applications from December, January, and most of February. So it will definitely take at least three months.
*screams and has breakdown on the spot* I want a job!
Monday, March 05, 2007
We're going for our licences!
After my last driving lesson I felt a lot more confident driving around here, and today that was a bit different. I had Brendan's driving instructor instead of mine... He's a lot more neurotic, and keeps on pulling me over to tell me stuff and draw me little maps and things. But I don't mind, it's technical stuff I need to learn. I just felt a lot more neurotic as well.
Today I drove onto the freeway, and we drove along it for about a mile and off at the next exit - yay! The merging was a bit scary, but overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. American drivers (especially those in big SUVs) go crazy on the freeway, swervign in and out of traffic, so I've been a little nervous about that.
We also drove round and round a few parking areas in malls, which was good practice.
The exciting thing: I'm booking my appointment with the DMV right now.
On Saturday (NZ Sunday), I'm having another lesson. But overall, he said he thinks it will only take this last lesson before I can go for my licence, YAY! He said the lesson will be more about driving around the route the DMV uses to test you - right turns, changing lanes, left turns, reversing and parking.
Will let you know how things go. Brendan's at his lesson right now.
Edit: We've now both booked our appointments: Mine's on the 15th of March and Brendan's is on the 19th of March (he has his lesson on Sunday the 18th.) Apparently it's the only time you are allowed to drive around the DMV (to practice the driving route).
Today I drove onto the freeway, and we drove along it for about a mile and off at the next exit - yay! The merging was a bit scary, but overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. American drivers (especially those in big SUVs) go crazy on the freeway, swervign in and out of traffic, so I've been a little nervous about that.
We also drove round and round a few parking areas in malls, which was good practice.
The exciting thing: I'm booking my appointment with the DMV right now.
On Saturday (NZ Sunday), I'm having another lesson. But overall, he said he thinks it will only take this last lesson before I can go for my licence, YAY! He said the lesson will be more about driving around the route the DMV uses to test you - right turns, changing lanes, left turns, reversing and parking.
Will let you know how things go. Brendan's at his lesson right now.
Edit: We've now both booked our appointments: Mine's on the 15th of March and Brendan's is on the 19th of March (he has his lesson on Sunday the 18th.) Apparently it's the only time you are allowed to drive around the DMV (to practice the driving route).
Friday, March 02, 2007
Oh decent coffee, where art thou?
Ingrid (the wife of one of the other interns) says the coffee here is nothing like New Zealand. Walmart doesn't sell an actual espresso machine, only percolators similar to the one you'd find in the corner of your office cafeteria. And coffee machines here (like the one in the leasing office) come more as a little bag/tube with a plastic top which you slot into the machine. The machine pours water through the bag into the cup below, and you sprinkle powdered fake-latte-milk-which-froths-chemically into your cup. It doesn't actually taste much like milk. Or coffee, for that matter.
On the bright side, they did have a few sachets of "exotic chai".
However, on closer instpection, decent coffee comes from a little shop next to Rite Aid called "Moonbeams". They put whipped cream in everything though, you have to ask for "no cream". And they don't give out teaspoons.
I also can't buy a decent coffee machine at Walmart. They're all percolators. Yucky. I did manage to find a little 1-cup coffee percolator for at home. You can buy all manner of flavours of coffee beans in the supermarket - "Chocolate black forest raspberry" and "Vanilla hazelnut creme". It smells divine as you walk past.
On the bright side, they did have a few sachets of "exotic chai".
However, on closer instpection, decent coffee comes from a little shop next to Rite Aid called "Moonbeams". They put whipped cream in everything though, you have to ask for "no cream". And they don't give out teaspoons.
I also can't buy a decent coffee machine at Walmart. They're all percolators. Yucky. I did manage to find a little 1-cup coffee percolator for at home. You can buy all manner of flavours of coffee beans in the supermarket - "Chocolate black forest raspberry" and "Vanilla hazelnut creme". It smells divine as you walk past.
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