Career Forum – The Stupid American Tourist

Career Forum Day Two, etc. etc.

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Nov 092013

Day two of the Career Forum, and my last. I’ve seen everything I want to see, and talked to everyone I want to talk to. I talked to a few companies, had a couple of brain cramp moments, but generally feel okay about it.

If something comes through, great! If not, I’ll keep freelancing.

I headed back to the hotel, changed, and had lunch. Then I got my stuff together and headed to the USS Constitution, to get a good look at it before the last tour of the day. I just made it to get on board, but I missed the last guided tour. I did get a chance to take some photos with my NEX and my Leica 21/2.8M ASPH lens, though.

I went back to the hotel, rested for a little while, then headed to the same Japanese restaurant I went to last year, Shiki in Brookline. It’s about a 45 minute trip by the green line. I had 20 minutes to kill before my table was ready. There wasn’t anywhere to wait, so I waited outside.

I had udon. It was good. The service was a bit on the slow side this year.

Tomorrow I head to New York.

Career Forum, Day One.

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Nov 082013

Today is the first day of the Career Forum. I set a bunch of alarms on my new Nexus 5, but one didn’t go off. I think the travel charger I use isn’t compatible with it, even though it’s USB. The phone starts freaking out when it’s plugged in, and acts erratically. It charges, though, and that’s all I can ask for.

But it would have been nice to wake up on time.

I hurried to get ready and dashed to the Convention Center.

Not much has changed since last year. I did lots of walking, talking, and listening to companies’ pitches.

I talked to some really nice and interesting people at a number of companies, and we’ll see where it goes. I’m not going to get my expectations too high. Recruiters say a lot of things to a lot of people. Sometimes they come through, and sometimes you don’t hear anything, ever.

When it was time to head out, the wind was screaming, and it was cold. The weather here is nasty, especially the wind. I grabbed some food at a 7-11, then headed to the hotel to collapse. My feet were done for the day.

Lots of Yellow and Red…Made it to Boston Anyway.

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Nov 072013

I slept in a bit today, because I figured I would leave around noon and just toodle on up to Boston. I didn’t have to be there at any particular time, so I took it easy this morning and lounged a bit.

Okay, not really. I lounged for about 20 minutes or so, then got cracking.

Google Maps said it would take 5:45 to get to Boston. I laughed. I’ve made this drive before, and no way will it only take 5:45.

The Quest For Gas

I wanted to gas up at the nearest Costco, because in NC, they’re the cheapest places to get gas.

“Okay Google, where’s the nearest Costco?” 10 minutes later I got there… and they didn’t sell gas. Doh.

“Okay Google, where’s the nearest truck stop?” 10 minutes later, a closed onramp and a long detour later, they were out of gas. *Facepalm.*

“Okay Google, where’s the nearest gas station?” 10 minutes later and I finally found an establishment willing to sell me gas!

Yeah, it was that kind of day.

The George Washington Bridge is Never Green

I was listening to a lot of traffic info on the way up the NJ Turnpike, because I know how NY/NJ traffic is–it changes from minute to minute from smooth as butter to clogged up and not moving at all. “The GWB is green, the GWB is green,” I kept hearing that, so I decided to take the GWB across the Hudson… and hit a 30-minute delay right at the toll booth. Yay.

The whole time I’m driving, I’m also fighting the new version of Google Maps. The old version would let me seek alternate routes. The new version does not. I don’t like this improvement at all, but since I have a new phone, I can’t roll it back.

The phone keeps telling me to take weird routes I’m not used to taking, and I can’t tell if I’m actually going to save any time at all. It’s really frustrating and annoying. I don’t want to take the Merrit across Connecticut. It looks like a big red line of non-moving traffic from the map and from behind the wheel.

So I moved back to I-95. It didn’t move much, either, and Maps was still trying to get me to go back the Merrit. Ugh.

Before I left I-95, I pulled off at a service area to get gas and some food.

I finally got off on to I-91 and things were moving again, but this jaunt across Connecticut probably took 3.5 hours, when it should take two, max. The traffic was horrible on all of the east-west roads.

I got to the Mass Pike, and everything was smooth again, but the drivers were all crazy. And just as I’m pulling into Boston, the GPS drops, and stops giving me directions, and I wind up who-knows-where. When I got out from underground, it kicked in again and figured it out, but it was annoying to have to guess what it wanted to do next.

So my 5:45 trip took about 8 hours.

The hotel is nice. Expensive, but nice.

Off to Boston… Again.

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Nov 062013

After a lot of running around and getting ready, I left for Boston. The drive up I-85 and 95 was pretty uneventful.

The NC QuickPass transponder worked on the EZ Pass lanes in Maryland and Delaware. That was a relief.

I made it as far as Newark, DE the first night, and stayed at the same Holiday Inn Express I stayed at last time. It’s a nice clean hotel, and this time I was on the first floor, which makes getting out a cinch.

A+ Certified (Part Two: Pass!)

Education, Japanese Language, Technology 2 Responses »

Oct 212013

Man, that was nerve-wracking.

Part two of the A+ exam was trickier than I thought it would be. I know a lot of this stuff just because I’ve been messing around with computers all my life. I’ve built every computer I’ve used for the last 20 years. (Except for laptops.)

But if you ask me about cables, and numbers, and standards, my eyes (until now) would glaze over.

Now I know which version of Windows XP you really need. Or Vista. Or 7. (Yeah, that part was kind of weird, if you ask me.)

I also have a bunch of handy new skills in basic network troubleshooting, and dealing with Windows’ general random bugginess.

Finally, I have a new way of approaching problems that’s really useful.

I highly recommend getting as many A+ books as you can, and dumping them into Anki, then dump the questions into Anki, and review the bejeezus out of them.

Now on to N1 prep, and Career Forum prep.

Music School

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Sep 032013

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is starting something new this fall, a Community Music School for people like me who live nearby and want to polish our musical skills in a relaxed setting. It sounds really interesting to me, because as I’ve said before, I need to work on my music composition skills. I also need to work on my piano/keyboarding skills, because that’s the fastest way to enter music into my DAW of choice, Reason.

I spoke with the teachers at an event on Sunday, August 25th, and they both seemed like really nice people who were not only passionate about what they do, but highly experienced. So signing up was a no-brainer for me.

Composition starts this Saturday, Group Piano starts next Tuesday. I’m looking forward to it.

Also, I’m starting to go into full gear mode for the N1, which is coming up in less than three months. (OMG!) I’m also looking at getting my A+ certification, because it’s an easy way to show people I know what I’m doing when it comes to computers. I may get Network+ and Security+ later on, but for now A+ will be plenty.

The only thing I’m worried about is cramming for A+ will mess up my N1 prep. But I want to have the A+ certification before I go to Boston again. (Yeah, I’m going again.)

This fall is going to be crazy.

Career Forum, Constitution, Shiki

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Oct 202012

While I’m freelancing, I’m always keeping an eye out for opportunities to do something interesting. I like freelancing, but it’s not the most secure kind of work in the world. I’d also like to be able to focus more on the work part of work than all of the other stuff that has to be done around freelancing, like accounting, etc.

So I headed back to the Career Forum today. Getting there was a lot easier for two reasons:
1. It wasn’t raining like crazy.
2. I have gotten somewhat used to the transit system here.

I sat in on some more presentations, handed out more resumes, and talked to a lot of different people. There were a few very promising leads here, and we’ll see how they pan out. I’m not going to get too high or too low over what happens at a job fair.

Seeing the Constitution and Bunker Hill

I got back to my hotel room, changed, flopped down for a bit, then realized that if I wanted to see the USS Constitution, I had better get a move on.

I started walking along the waterfront, taking lots of new pictures with my Sony Nex 5N, and eventually got to the Constitution. When I got to the admission gate I found out I was 15 minutes late. The last tour is at 4 p.m., not 5.

Oh well, I can still take pictures. And I took plenty of them.

Then I went into the USS Constitution Museum, and looked around at the exhibits. It was very interesting, and also very educational at the same time. When I was done looking around, I went down to the gift shop and picked up some souvenirs.

From there, I started walking towards Bunker Hill, because the sun was starting to set, and I thought I could get some good pictures from there.

Turns out I was right.

It was a little tricky to find it, because I saw two signs pointing in the general direction, and then saw absolutely nothing. But I had Google Maps with me, and Google Maps is a mighty weapon, so long as I have a signal!

I took a lot of pictures, and then started to get hungry. I walked back to the hotel, but wound up at the Constitution again, so I took more pictures of it in the sunset, and wandered back along the harbor walk to the hotel.

I asked one of the people at the front desk for a good restaurant that does seafood here, and I got a recommendation. I went upstairs to my room, and checked it out on the web.

Yikes.

Take the Green Line to Brookline

I decided to find someplace else to eat. I thought I would try Google’s Zagat ratings, and set it to seafood, 24 or higher, and it came back with Shiki, which is in Brookline, MA. I wasn’t intending to eat Japanese food tonight, but it had high scores and lots of good comments on the food, and the food is what matters.

It took 45 minutes to get there. The Green Line is a subway/tram line, and it branches out in 5 different directions. So when I got to the main Green Line station, I had to wait 15 minutes for a tram going to Brookline.

I eventually got to the restaurant, and they were packed. Fortunately, I was alone, so I could get a seat at the bar. I have gotten into a lot of packed restaurants that way. I prefer eating at the bar, because then I don’t have to watch other people eating, and I can talk to the bartender sometimes. It depends on my mood and the mood of the place.

I spent about 20 minutes worrying over the menu– they just had so many delicious looking things on it, that I couldn’t make up my mind. I settled on zaru soba, which is one of my favorites, and gyutan, which is grilled sliced cow’s tongue. Alas, there was no cow’s tongue left, so I tried to get kushiage, which is a bit of everything, deep fried. No luck. I got hirekatsu instead, which is like a tonkatsu, only in smaller chunks. The waitress apologized for not having what I wanted, but they were slammed, so I understand.

Shiki has great food. If you’re in the Boston area, it’s worth the trip.

When I got done eating, I went back to the Harbor, but stopped off to get some ice cream along the way at Emack & Bolio’s Ice Cream, because it’s near my hotel and on the way back from the subway station. The Chocolate Moose is pretty good.

I need to start packing, because I want to get to Manhattan in time to do some shopping before everything closes.

Boston Career Forum, Day One

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Oct 192012

My first big Japanese job fair was a little intimidating at first, but once I got settled into it, it was interesting.

I wasn’t so much here to do the job interview stuff as I was to do some reconnaissance work first.

Getting to the Convention Center from my hotel was a bit of work. I wound up getting off one stop too late, because I didn’t know that there was a line that served the center directly. It’s not on Google Maps. Well, it is, and it isn’t. Google Maps has it marked as a bus stop, but it’s not just any bus stop, it’s the Silver Line, which was apparently supposed to be a subway line, but wound up being an underground electric bus line.

That’s a first for me.

I got to the center, checked my bag, then picked up a bag full of information from the CareerForum.net folks. I took a few minutes and looked at the map and the list of companies, and thought about making a plan, then ditched it all and just started walking and talking to people, like I usually do.

I met a lot of interesting people doing interesting things.

I sat through a lot of presentations, too. Some of these companies look pretty interesting.

The main problem for me is that most of them want new college grads, and not experienced people. I just have to keep looking until I find a company that’s the right fit for me. I’m not going to get discouraged that easily.

I say that, but on the way home, the rain was beastly, and the wind was absolutely howling. I got soaked. Good thing I have 2 suits with me.

Off to Boston.

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Oct 172012

I’m setting off for Boston, for the Boston Career Forum sponsored by CareerForum.net. I’ve decided to check it out and see what the job market for native English speakers who can speak Japanese is like. Granted, most of the 190 companies there are large-scale companies, and it’s probably more realistic to talk to smaller companies first, but it’s an opportunity.

Tonight I’m in Newark, Delaware, halfway to Boston on I-95. Today was challenging in its own way.

The day before yesterday, I dropped my car off at the dealership for an oil change and rotation, and asked them to take a look to make sure everything was running okay. It’s a long drive to Boston, so I don’t want anything falling off or breaking on the way.

I figured that everything would be fine.

I got packed up and hit the road today. By the time I was about 20 miles into Virginia on I-85, 3 yellow lights came on. The first two were about the VSC system, and the third was the Check Engine light.

Great.

So I pulled over at a truck stop and spent 15 minutes checking the owner’s manual to see what was up. Apparently, the skid control in the car isn’t working, and it stored a code in the computer. The car still ran fine, so I decided to try to ignore it as best I can.

When I got to Maryland, I decided to pull off at the welcome center on I-95 just north of the Beltway to figure out where I was going to stay tonight. The Welcome Center has free WiFi, so I tried surfing to hotels.com to see what the customers there thought of the hotels in Delaware. I found a good hotel, and then called them instead of messing with an open WiFi network. Not only are open networks not secure, this network was painfully slow.

Maryland has started doing something really tacky, IMO. They’re putting photo speed detectors in work zones. Now I’m not against speed enforcement, but I want to know who’s watching me. Also, I really dislike how the fines don’t change even if the zone is empty of people. If the fines are supposed to be a deterrent that saves the lives of workers, why are you trying to catch people at 9 p.m. in an empty zone? It’s not about safety, it’s a cash grab.

I like the approach they tried in Texas about 10 years ago. A group in Dallas wanted to sell speeding coupons for $5 each, and if you got caught by the police, you could just hand it over. That way, you’ve already paid your speed tax, and they get their ticket quotas. Sadly, the state legislature went nuts, even though most people in Dallas would have loved that kind of system, because they all drive like lunatics in Texas. (Well, to be honest, just about everywhere you go these days, everyone is driving like a lunatic, but in Texas it always seemed like everyone drove crazy fast.)

I think it’s more efficient to tax that sort of behavior up front, rather than playing cat-and-mouse with everyone. Everyone speeds, or if they don’t speed, they probably break some other traffic rules. For example, the left-lane vigilantes who drive slow in the left lane are breaking the traffic laws as well. Keep Right Except to Pass or Slower Traffic Keep Right are frequently seen on black-and-white rule signs, which makes them just as much of a scofflaw as the guy doing 70 in a 55 zone.

Anyway.

I wound up staying at the Holiday Inn Express just off of Exit 3B on the Delware Turnpike. It’s a great hotel. The rooms are a little pricey, but they’re clean, and it’s easy on/off the interstate.

One thing that has me slightly miffed– the cost of the drive so far in tolls. Just getting here has cost around $16, and I know it’s only going to get more expensive tomorrow.