Recent Travels Part 4: Portland

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local.

Portland

My trip to Portland was the last stop in my voyage westward. I spent 3 nights and 2 days staying with a former coworker from DC out of our Portland field office. I also had a great dinner with a friend from college I hadn't seen in years. I loved Portland and the vibe of the city although the cold and damp weather certainly was an adjustment. I found the public transportation while it took me everywhere I needed to go a bit unwieldy since I had trouble orientating myself with all the rivers. 

I could have spent DAYS in Powell's books. As it was I spent more than 4 hours there. 

I found the Food Cart pods. Including one that sold  Vegan Grilled Cheese. It was AMAZING. 

Visited the Oregon Historical society. Not sure it was worth my admission but it was interesting all the same. 

Found occupy portland.

Visited the Duck Store and spent WAY too much money on gear for myself and my Dad (an alum)

Visited the International Rose Test Garden and took a lot of flower pictures

Visited the Japanese Garden and spent a long as I could before I froze to death taking pictures of the gorgeous grounds. 

Recent Travels Part 3: San Francisco

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local. 

San Francisco

This section of the trip was entirely dedicated to family. I stayed with my Dad's younger sister and husband, my Aunt Laura and Uncle Jay. However, my visit coincidentally coincided with my Dad's older Sister and husband (who travel the country in their RV) visiting for a few weeks and staying in an RV park about 500 feet from my Aunt and Uncle's home. This combined with the fact that my grandparents (Dad's Dad and stepmom) live about 30 minutes away led to A LOT of family togetherness over 4 days. But thankfully I only have to do that much of my Dad's side about once every 10 years so it was do able and we did a lot of fun things!

Enjoyed this view every morning while enjoying a hot chocolate from the shop just behind this view and steps from my Aunt and Uncles home

Enjoyed this view every night from my Aunt and Uncles home 

Visited Half Moon Bay and wandered around enjoying the small shops and quaint town. 

Found a stingray in the water. Unfortunately it was dead or as we told the young boy near by "resting"

Wandered out to the point where they host the Mavrick surfing competition each year and is the winter destination for many big wave surfers. There are underwater rock formations that cause the waves to break unpredictably and has killed 2 surfers in past years. 

Wandered the Labyrinth. That's my Aunt Laura taking a meditative stroll. 

Visited a street fair in Kerouac's Alley in downtown San Fran.  

Went to Club Fugazi for a showing of Beach Blanket Babylon, America's longest running musical review. Performers wear disproportionately large hats/wigs and gaudy costumes while performing satirical renditions of popular songs. It was pretty silly/stupid but I enjoyed it. 

My uncles relieved their aging hippy ways and serenaded us ladies in song. 

I snuggled with my Aunt's adorable 6 month old kitten Simba. 

we visited the California academy of science where I took too many pictures of animals including this adorable octopus. 

Recent Travels Part 2: Austin

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local. 

Austin
Austin seems to be where a lot of my friends from undergrad ended up. My friend Josh for his phD and other friends for just the vibe of the city. I stayed 1 night with Josh and 2 nights with a former coworker from my time in DC with an agency that had a field office in Austin. I had also supported her boyfriend while he was deployed as a doctor last year by sending him DVDs of his 49ers playing so it was good to meet him in person. I wanted to like Austin but I just don't think that I'm the kind of person attracted to Austin. It was nice to visit but 3 days was plenty! Here's what I saw:

The Atrium was really impressive. All those red boxes hold presidential papers

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center where I took a lot of pictures of butterflies because Texas doesn't have much in the way of wild flowers in October

The 307-foot tall UT Austin Tower is best known for the 1966 sniping rampage by Charles Whitman which killed 16 and wounded 31. Prior to 2007's Virginia Tech shooting it was the deadliest school shooting. 

I really wanted to buy cowboy boots when I was in Austin. Do you know how freaking expensive those things are?!

Recent Travels Part 1: San Antonio

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local.

 San Antonio

I flew into Austin and rented a car for the day to drive down to San Antonio. The purpose of this trip was 2 fold--one because I've always wanted to see the Alamo and two, my former boss and her husband retired to San Antonio about a year ago and I was looking forward to seeing her, touring Brooke Army Medical Center (like her husband said only I would visit a hospital on vacation) and seeing the new home they're having built from the ground up. I really enjoyed San Antonio but I also lucked out at getting AMAZING weather. I think that I would love it a lot less when it was 167 degrees out. 

Visited the Alamo, its a lot smaller then Texans would lead you to believe based on the battle

Learned that I missed a very basic lesson on taking self portraits I either look confused or constipated (or both!)

Visited the Riverwalk. Which if we're being honest is just a very pretty gutter. But it was a gorgeous day and because it was 3 pm on a Tuesday was pretty much deserted

Visited the Mission de San Jose. It was GORGEOUS and I took an excessive amount of pictures as evidenced from the rest in this post

I'm terrible at blogging

So....its been awhile. I would like to say its because I have been doing amazing and glamorous things. But really its more of the fact that I have been whiney and mopey and otherwise unpleasant to be around and I haven't felt like subjecting the internet world to it.

I will say that my despite my last worry wort post my gallbladder surgery went pretty well all things considered. The recovery was very quick and I never needed anything stronger then Tylenol. It mostly felt like I'd done a sadistic number of crunches. It was slow going walking wise and tough to sit up and lay down for about a week but all an all things weren't bad. The surgery was on Wednesday and my birthday was Saturday and despite the  lack of birthday cake I was able to get out of the house and go to a movie (and watch my friend eat a burrito because dinner was not going to happen).

As for the eating/gastroparesis nonsense, it took about a month and then it felt like a switch got flipped. For the most part about 3/4 of the month I feel pretty good. I haven't vastly expanded my diet (mostly because I am afraid of food still after 8 months of hell) but considering prior to getting my GB out I was in pain and nauseous from broth and plain pasta. During my cycle things are decidedly not good but I'm working on fixing that. I was even able to go to the beach for a week in early August and eat out every night (including sneaking some french fries) without implications. Its been pretty nice. I certainly feel like I hate my life a little less dietary wise. Though I will say in this stressful time of un/underemployment I really miss being able to drink. And regularly eat french fries in large quantities.

On the employment front, I have been interviewed for my dream job with the Army. This will get an entry of its own because its so supremely WTF that I want to go into detail. I have also had 9 more interviews and 3 more job offers that I have turned down for one reason or another. I know that I should be incredibly grateful that I have been offered positions and the number of interviews that I have. They just all happened to not be the right job. 2 of them for Veterans service organizations would have been great jobs but the pay was not adequate for the time put into the position and my experience nor would they have gotten me any closer to my career goal. The 3rd offer was for a county position helping families apply for food stamps, wic, medicare etc which again would be a great job but is not eligible for social work supervision because all those programs are eligibility based and therefore needs assessments don't require social work.

I have a 2nd round interview for a job working with persistently mentally ill adults. It was one of the more intense interviews I've gone on That would provide and qualify for supervision and seems to encourage it. The downside being I can't begin to get supervision until I pass the 6 month probationary period and for every month of supervision they pay for you commit to the same number of months. So I would end up with the organization (and therefore DC) for nearly 5 years. Which isn't what I'm shooting for. We shall see I still have one more interview and subsequent background checks and whatnot.

Mostly my life continues to be on pause waiting for the Army job (see next entry). In the mean time one of my former volunteers who runs his own business has taken pity on me and has hired me as a temp. I hate every minute of being a masters educated glorified intern/receptionist. But its money and an excuse to wear grown up clothes 3 days a week.

Anywhere, that's where I'm at. I would hope that I'm not as silent moving forward but I cant make any promises! I am a terrible blogger!

Absent

If the first rule of fight club is not to talk about fight club then the first rule of blogging is probably don't talk about what a horrible blogger you are when you haven't written in weeks. Or really a month.

So what have I been up to in my absence?

1. I graduated from graduate school. I am officially an MSW. (and unemployed)

2. My best friend  got married to the wonderful love of her life 

3. I saw Matt Nathanson in Concert after seeing a tweet about a secret concert he was holding at a venue right in my town.

4. I traveled to reunion weekend at my favorite place on earth. 

Hows the job hunt been going?

1. Got offered a job right after my last post with a Veterans Service Organization but turned it down due to a number of reasons not the least of all is that despite saying I couldn't start until June 6. They asked me to start May 5th and asked if I could skip my graduation and leave late for my best friend's wedding in order to attend training out of state. They also wanted me to decide by 4:30 pm the day they offered me the job. It just seemed like a poor situation considering it wouldn't even give me the right experience I needed to get my license anyway.

2. Interviewed for a Bachelor's optional Social Service assistant position at the army hospital I did my internship at. The interview went really well but the man who interviewed me said that while he really really liked me and thought I would be a fantastic asset to the team taking the position would be career suicide and that I am supremely employable in my desired field as long as I'm willing to move. He also emailed a plea to other supervisory social workers for Warrior Transition units which led too....

3...a potential job offer, I am waiting to interview, but I am sure the job will be mine for the taking once we talk. It is however, not in my ideal location. I will post about this tomorrow because it deserves its own entry.

4. I also made the highly qualified list for the Substance Abuse internship program the Army is offering but I haven't been interviewed. I am not confident I will be interviewed because I heard about it the Friday before memorial day and the program starts in early July so I imagine they'd already started interviewing. I would love to be interviewed but I am not a veteran or a military spouse so I'm doubting its a go.

So thats about all to catch you up on thats happened over the last month (at least the things of significance)

Whats coming up?
-Trip to where I went to college to see some friends and old professors on Wednesday
-Mumford and Sons in Concert on Thursday
-Possibly a trip to NC (to get a shooting lesson) or an Indigo Girls concert this weekend