Back to school...

Well the job search isn't going anywhere, so I'm going to take a graduate course (Adv. Organic Chemistry) and work on nano-particles in a professor's lab (volunteering as a way to stay busy) at Portland State University. In time this may turn into a paying job or a doctorate but one thing at a time.

Just won...

I've been playing poker (hold'm) for a week now and just won my first tournament (out of 90 people), no cash involved unfortunately. In fact, I've finished in the top third everytime so far. Yeh, I know beginner's luck... still, it's nice.

Last night's ER trip.

So yesterday afternoon is was working out on an excerise bike when my contact started bugging me. After fiddling with them a bit the discomfort went away only to return shortly. On my way home, I started to see halos around objects, the concentric circles of interference patterns around light sources and sometimes double images. As soon as I got home, out come the contact and into the shower with me (often helps when my contacts bug me). Once I get my glasses on, still the problems continue - not good. I get drive to the ER about 4 hours after all this starts, by the time I leave at 1:30 in the morning I'm looking at the possiblity of glaucoma (the eyes weren't scratched). I need to get more testing done but no fun.

The good news is that my right eye is almost normal, and the left a bit better. Still not what I want to deal with.

Going home for my birthday

I'm giving myself a birthday present; I going home to SF for about a week. I'll drive down June 13th and drive back on the 19th. While I'm there I visit with friends I haven't seen in far to long, go to Death Guild and BaGG and whatever other fun stuff strikes my fancy. I'll also try to talk to professors about grad school (Masters in Chemistry) since I'm not finding positions to my liking.

I'm excited :)

Life in Portland...

Well, I like Portland more then IAlbany NY, but I'm still bored out of my mind. It doesn't help that I'm 30 miles from downtown (about 45 minutes). I'm starting to find things to do while I look for work, which is going slowly. This past Sunday I went out dancing at Barbarti's Pan (a greek restaurant/club) that had a Fetish night with a dungeon (BDSM) and stripers and was a bit like BaGG. Since that happens only once a month, I'm still looking for more night life (that I want to be part of). In the mean time, I'm getting back into shape... going to the gym 5-6 times a week is boring but it is good for me. I'm also restarting Aikido training, but I'm having a hard time finding a dojo that I really like (I'm seeing issues with how some basic techniques are being taught - it's not that they are being taught wrong but that the aspects that make them work well are being omitted).

So far we haven't had much sun (its very grey and today its raining) which makes it hard to fight depression but I'm surviving. Hope to be in the Bay Area soon.

Arrived in Portland...

After five long days on the road, safely arrived in Portland last night. I now have a lot more respect for truck drivers... driving a big truck (I had a 26' truck with car carrier) is not easy when idoits in little cars zip in and around you.

My next task is to get that job in the Bay Area and go home.

Nest stop: Portland OR

I'm all packed and nearly ready to go. I just have a bit of last minute cleaning to do and waiting for the moving crew to show up tomorrow to load the truck (which I'm driving). I figure 4 or 5 days of driving then I'll be in Portland OR, until I find a job in the Bay Area.

Good bye Albany NY.

Cry Freedom

By mutual agreement I was laid off from the worst job I've ever had. Ok, I was given the option of resigning without having to repay $10,000 in moving expenses but to do so would have left me broke anyway... the cost of moving back to OR or CA, and the remainder of my lease, so I held out for a bit more. By being laid-off I can still collect unemployment and I get 2 weeks pay.

Since the end of September 2007, all I've really being doing was working off the moving expense clause of my employment contract. For a long time, I've been unhappy with the jobs I was given (I was recruited for one job but made to do something else), the poor working conditions (a boss who often talked about beating people down and other things) and feeling like I was being retaliated against for asking for reasonable accommodations (which I didn't get, or at least one's that would have ever worked for me) for my ADD and for wishing to leave, I filed a complaint with HR. During that discussion, the possibility of being laid-off was brought up as was the fact that I was not preforming well (by me). The stated reason for the lay-off was poor performance and since it follows a harassment complaint it is probably in a gray area of the law but not one I'm going to fight about. Since the end of September 2007, all I've really being doing was working off the moving expense clause of my employment contract.

As soon as I can, I'll be packing up and returning to the West Coast. Short term, that means Portland Or to live with my mom but I'll drive down to SF ASAP.

I'm finally free and I'm coming home.
See ya soon.

My new tattoo - part one