crossing my fingers

Today I attended an information session about FRB of NY. Perhaps my view of it is a bit rosy, but it sure feels like it's the ideal place for me to work. I hear whether I get an interview or not on October 11. Until then... I'll be wishing and hoping.

So far I'm applying to the following places:
GAO
SEC (Market Regulation)
FRB NY (Bank Supervision and Automated Services groups)
FRB SF (if they have anything)
FRB CH " " "
FR Board of Governors
Mitre Corp.
DISA(?)
OCC/OTS/FDIC/NCUA (so far I haven't seen any posts for these)

I've been disqualified from intelligence work due to close relatives who are non-US citizens, so NSA, CIA are non-starters. I admit that I'm not heartbroken over this.

---

Work and baseball are the only things keeping me from dwelling on my current sense of isolation. For some reason, I don't feel at liberty to share my sad feelings w/ my friends...it seems importunate to do so right now.

my dream

I usually don't like to interpret dreams, but it occurred to me that when I woke up from the one referred to in the last post, I had the same feeling as I do whenever I read these lines of Keats:

...
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the fairy power
Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.


hm...

in sciatic-nerve hell

This has been a bad week, physically speaking. I've been laid up in bed all weekend with a back pains. Lying down doesn't even really help the pain, although it takes the stress off. I dread going to school on Tuesday, when I will have about 6 total hours of sitting time. Probably should take friends' advice and see a doctor soon. This time it's my sciatic nerve, so occasionally I feel pain in my legs as well.

One exciting thing happening is that the FRB of NY is coming to school. It's a big deal because this is pretty much my #1 choice for place to work next year, and in fact was one of the reasons I applied for grad school in the first place. Unfortunately it's a limited sign-up (only 12 people for some reason) but I'll try and see if I can get our career guys to give me a spot. This reminds me....got to get a haircut soon. Right now I look like a bit-part actor from a Starsky & Hutch or Brady Bunch episode. Maybe I'll be metrosexual and try out Pelusi this time.

Felt crappy earlier this week because of a bad dream I had. I was on a beach, in the darkness, and I could hear the waves slowly rolling in and out. I saw a boat on the sand, slipping slowly into the water. I knew I wanted to pull the boat out of the water, to stop it from drifting off to sea, but I just didn't have the power to get up and do it. After sitting there helplessly for a while, the boat was taken off by the tide, and I felt rage and frustration at my inability to bring it back. So I just lay there, until the boat was pulled into the sea. I started asking it to come back, as if my words would have an effect, but it kept drifting slowly away. Finally it disappeared in the offing and I started crying. I woke up at that point...it was about 4am. Not a great way to start a week...

Alright, it's late. Got to go to bed now...

this made my day

Between work and being sprawled unconscious in bed I've been unable to do any more extensive posting, but in the meantime enjoy the following, which apparently is a 1980's-era training video for Wendy's line cooks. Thank heaven for small pleasures...


Awesome Wendy's Video


.

Germany - Day 1: German TV is just as bad as ours

So because I was zoning in and out and lying in bed my first day there, I got a chance to check out the boob tube and discovered that other than a lot of rounded vowels, German TV is pretty much the same as we get in the states. The three pics I have here are pretty representative of the sort of daytime fare our friends across the pond get...

From top to bottom:


--One of many Geraldo-style daytime talk-shows.

--Seeing American cartoons in German is pretty damn funny--kind of like hearing French rap music. Anyhow, they do have Sponge Bob Squarepants, but with characteristic Teutonic efficiency they've done away with all that's superfluous and dub him what he really is--Schwammkopf ("sponge head").

--Recognize the troubled brow, the goofily dramatic overhead lights, and of course the lame question w/ answers A thru D? They don't have Regis, but everything else is identical. And again, the name gets straight to the point..."Das Quiz", not "Wer will ein Millionaire werden?"

So soon, real soon I'll actually have some pics of Germany posted!

Germany: Day 1 - Frankfurt

My first day in Frankfurt was essentially recovering in my hotel room, trying to adjust to the time difference. I basically spent all day in bed or in the bath--here's the only photo of myself from my trip, in hugh-hefner mode...

pic problems resolved

OK, I think I've got the pic-posting issue taken care of. Here's my test pic--a view of Heidelberg taken from the castle hill (Schlossberg) overlooking it. More interesting pics are forthcoming...

late night in the South Side

Neha, some random lush, and Stephanie at Smokin' Joes on South Side

Extremely tired, but for a good reason...went out a-drinking tonight w/ some ISPM folks-- Shaun, Barrett, Daniel, Stephanie, Tim, Jerem, Neha, Julia, Rick. Rick was in fine form this evening--but that's not any deviation from the norm. Had a real tasty Ommegang ale which made me nostalgic about California--I used to get them real cheap at TJ's...sigh. We hit Smokin' Joes and Dee's, and B showed me the original crime scene of his ill-fated hook-up (a scuzzy looking corner table next to the pool tables at Dee's). I love that place--just the right amount of dive-i-ness and lots of excellent body art. Cheap Yuenlings too..

I can't really keep on doing this nowadays....aside from my flagging stamina, there's the minor issue of keeping up w/ schoolwork.

I am reminded that I need to post my Germany pics up here soon...they are forthcoming, I promise!

Right about now I am going to zone out to some Samuel Barber songs for piano and voice...my absolute favorite is "Of That so Sweet Imprisonment", using lyrics by James Joyce. Although Cheryl Studer (the soprano on this piece) has been maligned as being too operatic w/ her work on this record, I find this a poignantly beautiful piece...

here are the lyrics:

Of that so sweet imprisonment
My soul, dearest, is fain --
Soft arms that woo me to relent
And woo me to detain.
Ah, could they ever hold me there
Gladly were I a prisoner!

Dearest, through interwoven arms
By love made tremulous,
That night allures me where alarms
Nowise may trouble us;
But sleep to dreamier sleep be wed
Where soul with soul lies prisoned.

back in the 'burgh

OK, I'm finally getting used to the idea of being back at school. I was resisting it for a while but I've come around. I think I had a little too much fun this summer having a regular work-day, getting home, fixing dinner and zoning out in front of a TV in a comfy couch with a zillion channels. It's going to be excellent being a working stiff again next year.

Current priority projects:
1. the extremely important and monumental work of copying the files out of my itunes folder onto CD.
2. finish listening to the rest of the Ring cycle (Die Walkuerie is next).
3. buy a tasty fish at Wholey's and do s'thing cool with it.
4. try to get to sleep before 2:00am some day.
5. watch that kung-fu DVD that's been on my shelf for half a year already.
6. figure out which overseas place I'm travelling to in December.
7. send hatemail to Lonely Planet for that bum steer they gave me (the so-called "internet cafe" in Frankfurt)
8. find out if Sharp Edge has Eisbock
9. see Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at the Carnegie Museum

Lesser projects:
1. do telematics research for telecom class
2. do research of current regulatory regime for payment systems
3. re-read SSA docs for architecture analysis class
4. install vmware
5. send resume to SEC
6. re-edit IPv6 paper
7. back up stuff on thunderbolt
8. look up deadline dates for various federal job apps
9. tell Sumitha about my research project

OK, to paraphrase Foghorn Leghorn, right now I'm feeling " bout as sharp as a bowlin' ball"....got to get some zzz's...