Moving

People keep asking for an update. Before when I was super busy with work and life I felt I had a reason to slack. But now that I just quit my job, I guess I don't anymore. So here goes.

The big update is that we are finally getting our act together and moving to New York. We've been saying we're going move for about 6 months now and haven't made any progress, and apparently a few of our friends are even making bets on our timing (I think Maryam already won some money betting against our former claims we were moving in March).

But I quit my job two weeks ago so that was the first real tangible step. The next step is finding a place in NYC. We're thinking of trying to do a house swap for the first three months so we can get a sense of the city before committing, and we wouldn't have to deal with either renting out or selling our house in San Francisco. Plus Sep wants to come back in the Spring to teach a semester at Stanford so it will be nice to have our house back for that.

We're actually in New Jersey right now but we're not looking for places, we're going to Sep's 10-year college reunion at Princeton. Then, over the next few weeks, we have like 5 weddings and my parents and Aunt Lisa coming to visit for a week. We'll start really looking for a place in July/August.

So I thought I was going to be excited to be unemployed for a couple months before moving and finding a job in New York, but it actually makes me very uncomfortable! I don't like uncertainty and I really don't like not being super busy. I also didn't realize how much of my identity is wrapped up in my work and my career path. I think when I take breaks from work from now on, I need to be traveling so that it just feels like a temporary vacation instead of feeling like such a lofty transition. If I look at it objectively though, I know I'm super lucky to have this time off and I'm using it to do the things that make me really happy. Like spending more time with Sep, my family and friends, and also doing things like being in nature, getting more exercise, doing pottery, cooking, and reading a ton. So that has been really nice. I'm also looking into taking some computer science classes to get a little more technical and maybe also taking a Farsi class.

Anyhow, that's my update. I'm going to try to keep this a little more updated although I think I do a lot less political ranting than I used to. I do want to write some about my experiences cooking up an invasive species that we took out of Golden Gate park last weekend, walking Bay to Breakers, Maryam's wedding, and Emily's new baby, so those will be fun.

Also, if you're curious about the picture. That's me sitting here right now. Unemployed. In New Jersey. Sep is in the background. It's a crappy picture taken by my webcam, but I just think blog posts look better with pictures.

Speechless

Except to say that I feel so damn proud right now!

I thought this would be a good time to post one of my favorite photos from the 2004 Democratic Convention.


















p.s. I purposely said "I feel proud" in hopes of being prominently featured on Sep's website "We Feel Fine" which is reporting that since the election, people are "feeling proud" on blogs 8 times more often than usual.

My Election Day Conspiracy Theory

So I have to admit that I was one of those people who thought that for sure there would be at least one manufactured catastrophe like another anthrax scare or new Bin Laden video that would magically surface just before election day to instill tons of fear in Americans to vote Republican again.

But I am pleasantly surprised to say that election day is here and despite a few implicit connections and fear mongering throughout the campaign, it has been surprisingly clean.

I had been wondering how we got away so unscathed this year when I stumbled across this article this article on how Karl Rove recently predicted that Obama would win.

At first I wondered "Why in the heck would Rove say that??" It didn't make any sense to have a top Republican advisor conceding the race publicly during the final days of the election. That's when another conspiracy theory formed in my head. This one is entirely baseless, but kind of fun to imagine.

What if, Rove, known for his dirty tricks, went to McCain and said: "Okay McCain, you're 12 points down in PA and the economy is in the tank, were going to have to get down and dirty and fight back with the only weapon we have left: fear."

But McCain, who we know has at least some decency said back to Rove: "No way man. We're going to win this on merits and only a little ethical fear mongering (think William Ayers) or not at all."

Then Rove got all pissed off and stormed away to alert reporters that he thought McCain was going to lose.

It could have happened!

Either way, I was wrong in my cynicism and now I hope I'm wrong in my longstanding worry that this country was really going to have a hard time electing an African American.

Gobama! GO USA!

Best Wedding I've Ever Had

And the only wedding I've ever had of course... but I don't think I'm being biased in saying that it was the most incredible, magical evening and Sep and I were so happy and everyone around us seemed like they were having lots of fun.

We had great photographers and they posted the first professional photos on their blog but we won't get the rest for a couple weeks. Check them out. They are really nice.

Where have I been?

I've been busy.

1) Getting Married to Amazing Man in September: Sep Kamvar
2) New Job (and Career) at Cool Company: AngelPoints
3) Three Week Vacation/Pre-Wedding Honeymoon: Europe

I feel like that is a good update. It's got some meat in it.

Where are the fundamentalists when you need them?

Hurricane Gustavo hits during the Republican Convention. Where are the fundamentalists talking about this sign from God?

Mr. McPike

I just found out that one of my favorite people in the whole world passed away on Saturday. My East High School Principal, Mr. McPike, was one of the most inspiring, amazing people I've ever met (and I don't use terms like that lightly). He had a profound impact on me and pretty much everyone that went to East. He knew us all by name, was so kind-hearted, but didn't take any crap from anyone (he was a San Francisco 49er before he became our Principal).

I was senior class president and editor of the newspaper and had a bunch of other over-achiever roles during high school and so I got to know him pretty intimately. I used to walk into his office all the time with all these crazy ideas or controversies--like my interview with a group of closeted gay students that I insisted on publishing in the school newspaper (a big deal for a Wisconsin high school in 1998), or my protest against Coca-Cola trying to infiltrate East through school sponsorship, or my crazy schemes on what to do with 98 christmas trees my class had stolen/cut down and put in the school on Christmas day. And even though I'm sure he thought I was nuts half the time and we'd argue over things, he was always so supportive and made me feel really good about taking initiative and being so involved in the school community.

A few months ago while I was home for Thanksgiving I saw him on the bus from Madison to Milwaukee. I actually got on to the wrong bus during a rest stop and there he was. I hadn't seen him in years. He looked the same except thinner and less towering. Even though I've been out of high school for almost 10 years, he acted like it was yesterday and that I had been his favorite student of his 20 some years at East. He said he thought about me a lot and had been following my career and was proud of me and he gave me a big hug. Even though he probably says that to a lot of former students it meant so much to me at the time and just underscored his absolute gift for making everyone around him feel special.

Mr. McPike will be greatly missed. But more than most, he has left legacy of touching thousands and thousands of us--as an educator, mentor, and as a friend.