In Barack Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, he uses the DMV (or whatever local variant he said) as an example of why people generally feel that the government isn’t really working for them. Today has left me inclined to agree with him.

Today Jessi and I headed over to the Massachusetts RMV to (finally) get around to changing our license over to Massachusetts ones. A process that I’m sure you know was loads of fun.

The first obstacle to converting our California and Illinois licenses to Massachusetts ones was one of location. There is no RMV office in Somerville. The closest one is in Cambridge, annoyingly enough at the Cambridgeside Galleria which is on the Green Line, not the Red Line. Of course, that doesn’t really matter, because that location doesn’t let you convert an out of state license. So we had to go into the Boston location, which is on the Orange Line at the Chinatown stop.

Once we got there, which took 30-45 minutes, we headed inside and found ourselves at the ‘Greeter Desk’. This isn’t something that I’ve encountered during my previous experiences with the California DMV, but I think it’s actually a pretty good idea. Rather than forcing us to figure out which part of the building we need to go to and which line we need to stand in and which form we need to fill out, we simply told the greeter what we were there for, she handed us the appropriate forms, gave us each a number for the appropriate line, and directed us to the third floor.

It was at this point that we realized we had forgotten to bring any of the documentation needed: a passport or social security card, proof of date of birth, proof of signature, and proof of Massachusetts registry. We didn’t have anywhere to be just then, so we got back on the T, came home, got the documents, went back to the RMV, got new numbers, and got back in line.

At this point it was about 2:30. Jessi had a 3:30 appointment, which fortunately was nearby. So we waited in line. And waited. And waited. And then Jessi had to go to her appointment before her number got called. So I stayed, and 15 minutes later my number was called.

I went up and gave the woman behind the desk my form. Had my picture taken. Then gave her my supporting documentation. Only to discover that I didn’t have all the supporting documentation needed. I had my passport, I had my old license, and I had a bank statement. By any reasonable standard, this should be enough. The passport proves that I am who I say I am. It proves my birth date. It proves my signature. My old license also proves my birth date and my signature. And my bank statement proves my Massachusetts residency. But no, that’s not good enough. Apparently each document can only be used for a single purpose. You need separate documents for each of: passport (why?), date of birth, signature, and residency. This is just completely ridiculous. Why is my passport, a federally issued document intended to prove my US citizenship, identity, date of birth, and signature, not count as proving my date of birth and signature to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? And why can a single document not prove more than one thing, especially when it’s specifically designed by the federal government—and recognized by state governments in other capacities I might add—to prove those very things?

From here:
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

That’s something I just don’t get. Pretty much the only reason that I’m ever not in the middle of a book is because I’ve already read all the books I have and I haven’t had a chance to get more yet. I recently read Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire, and I’m currently about 1/4 of the way through Charles Mann’s 1491. Next up will most likely be Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, though I may move into fiction a bit for some Charles Stross (I’ve heard good things about The Atrocity Archives) or Kevin J. Anderson’s Of Fire and Night which I’ve been waiting for for a while.

In some way, I even miss having a 45 minute commute every morning and evening like I did in San Francisco. It was nice having a full, uninterrupted hour and a half every day in which to do nothing but read. I guess everyone has things they like to do. I like to read. It doesn’t hurt that the Boston Public Library is a work of art, either.

I’m sure I’m not the only one to have noticed that jobs/projects never seem to come one at a time. They’re like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park: when you stumble upon one out in the jungle somewhere, you can be sure there’s more of them flanking you in the bushes just waiting to jump out and disembowel you. Only less bloody. Unless you’re a hit man or mercenary or something I suppose… Anyway, my point is that it seems to be a Law of Business that you can never be only doing one thing at a time.

This law even seems to apply to freelancing. Having finished off some projects and being left with a little free time, the leads on new work were coming in slowly recently. Then, all of a sudden, a nice juicy lead pops up out of nowhere in the wilds of Craigslist. Had I thought of my dinosaur simile earlier, I wouldn’t have been so surprised when, within a day, two more had surfaced. And this at a time when some of my side projects are starting to ramp up as well. Fortunately, unlike a velociraptor attack, this is good news. I was lucky enough to have a nice quiet period in terms of work while Jessi and I were moving into our new condo, and now that we’re mostly finished with that I’ve got what’s starting to look as though it may be a glut of work to help us start saving for the remodeled kitchen in our future. It’s a good thing it didn’t work out the other way around or I’d probably be pretty miserable right now.

So anyway, it looks like I’ve got some choice new projects coming up. There are, as usual, a few web things to do, but the biggest thing of note is that I may be taking steps towards pushing my consulting business in a new and exciting direction: IT strategy consulting. At my previous job in San Francisco I was used to filling pretty much every rung in the IT ladder. I did everything from helping people format their Word docs to designing the IT infrastructure for a new office and spending tens of thousands of dollars to contract for its implementation. So though I’ve been focusing more on the support and implementation roles in the work I’ve done so far, I definitely have some experience in doing more. I’ve now got a chance to do just that and hopefully establish myself a little further up that ladder. This has always been part of my plan, though I expected it to take a little longer to actually find an opportunity to try and move into that space.

Hopefully this will also provide the opportunity (and income) to take another step that’s been part of my plan—and of which inklings of impending reality have lately been appearing—hiring employees. I’ve actually been approached in the past about hiring someone on, but never at a time when I could realistically think about doing it. If things go well in the next few weeks/months, I may be able to (need to, even) start thinking about actually doing that. This, of course, would be a huge step in many ways.

And, as I always knew to be the case, the most useful tool in getting to this point has been networking. Advertising will always bring in some work, but if you want to be proactive about it, there’s no better way to go about it than to just get out there and meet people. Of course to do that you need to know where to go to meet the the sort of people that are actually likely to buy what you’re selling. Fortunately, I just the other day met Mark Doerschlag who runs MarksGuide.com, a site dedicated to networking and networking events in Boston. He’s pointed me towards a couple different events that I’ll be checking out in the near future, including the web innovators group of Boston (which is, in name at least, quite reminiscent of the SFWIN events I often attended while I was in San Francisco (doesn’t look like they’re actually related though). So with luck this will help accelerate things even further.

In other news, this weekend marks my favorite event in the sporting year: the opening matches of the RBS 6 Nations rugby tournament. Making it an even better thing, now that I’m in Boston instead of San Francisco the first match of the day starts at 8:30 am instead of 5:30 am, so there’s a change I might even wake up and drag myself down to the Phoenix Landing to watch it live (something I haven’t been able to do since 2004 when I spent a week and a half in London)! So five of the next eight weekends should find me at the Phoenix, hopefully not surrounded by rabid Ireland fans who won’t much appreciate my (much needed, but sadly not very effective) cheering of Scotland. At least Scotland are playing England on Saturday, so the Ireland fans will be on my side for that match…

All in all, it appears that good things are ahead (as behind).

Though it involved no gunpowder, treason, or plot, this Guy Fawkes Night (Which is also one of my favorite holidays, even though I’m not British and don’t celebrate it. There’s just something about a holiday during which you burn people in effigy…), it was certainly still a night to remember. Tonight, Jessi and I made an offer on a townhouse/condo. I think this means that we’re officially Big Kids. It also means that, barring unforeseen problems, we’ll soon no longer be residents of Cambridge, but of Somerville, the second move this year for both of us. The process of home-buying has been, so far, pretty painless. I’ll write about it in more detail, but I’ll wait until we finish the process first.

In other news, I went to my first Carleton College alumni event the other night. I don’t know why, but I never really bothered to get involved with any of that stuff in San Francisco. I suppose it probably had to do with already knowing lots of people in the area and having a regular office job that brought with it some really great friends, whereas here I know fewer people, and don’t get to meet as many new friends through work. Anyway, the event was actually a lot of fun. It was largely ‘05ers and ‘06ers, then myself and one of two others from the class of ‘04, and a couple from ‘02 and ‘03. Amazingly enough, I actually ran into someone that I played rugby with freshman year. I also met a guy who’s currently a corporate lawyer working with biotech firms. He pointed me towards some Mac users he knows in the industry, so hopefully I’ll even get some business out of the event which, I suppose, just goes to show that a little networking is always worthwhile.

Oh yeah, I’m also in need of a haircut. I haven’t had to do that yet here, so I have no idea where to go. Any and all recommendations are welcome. Preferably somewhere that’s likely to be able to squeeze me in before tuesday night when I’ll be attending Christy Mihos’ election night party.

Staying in the political vein for now, I had a few thoughts on the Cape Wind project. When looking into the candidates, it didn’t take long to realize that their thoughts on this project revealed a lot about their general policy. Really, it should have appeal to members of both parties. It involves the privatization of public land, favors business, reduces (albeit slightly) our dependency on foreign oil, stimulates the economy, and lowers cost of living at the same time for the Republicans. For the Democrats it’s good for the environment, helps establish America’s support for alternative energies, and stimulates the economy, all important Democratic talking points.

When you think about it, there’s no reasonable objection to it. Republicans should like it for the free market approach towards solving several issues at once, and Democrats should like it for the vapid, buzzword-compliant environmental-friendliness. Me? I like it for all of the above reasons; it’s just a good idea all around. The only people who don’t like it are the NIMBY crowd. So this issue really provides an excellent test as to the general political alignment of the candidates above and beyond the broad stroke of party. In a broad stroke of my own, I think it’s fair to say that those who support it are, in general, interested in the issues more, and those who are against are mostly just courting the vote of the, generally wealthy, Cape Coders (most of whom are probably snowbirds anyway); no one really objects on any grounds other than aesthetic. At least that’s the feeling that I got from reading the various candidates’ positions on the project.

It did, however, occur to me while reading up on Cape Wind that there were other alternatives. For example, tidal generators could generate power from the tidal fluctuations of Cape Cod, Buzzard Bay, even Boston Harbor. This could easily be used to augment, or even, in a state with as much coast as Massachusetts, replace the wind farm without infringing on people’s views from their vacation homes (and how dare anyone consider besmirching that 1/2 vertical inch of horizon).

It appears that I’m not the only one who thinks this way, as I read this morning that tidal power generation is being seriously considered for implementation in the San Francisco Bay. Now, to be fair, the San Francisco Bay has extremely strong currents and so is especially well suited to such methods and, even so, will only be generating 38 MW, whereas the Cape Wind project is projected to generate 420 MW (An increase in global wind power generation of over 700%!). The San Francisco proposal seems to be putting the turbines under the Golden Gate Bridge, approximately 19 acres of seabed, whereas Cape Wind will cover approximately 15 acres. This does suggest that wind power is significantly more efficient than tidal generation (1,400% more efficient, even), if more visually obtrusive. The difference is significant enough that I find it unlikely that any errors in estimation on my part cause much of a deviation from the actual fact.

So really, the only possible argument against the Cape Wind project (assuming it’s economically viable, which, really, it must be or no company would propose it and the various wind farms that exist all over the world wouldn’t exist), is that some people might not like how it looks. And, having been to a number of places that have wind power, I have to say that argument doesn’t hold much water; wind farms actually look pretty cool. So, as a measurement of general character as well as environmental friendliness, I find support, or lack thereof, of the Cape Wind project to be a pretty effective test of whether I like a candidate or not. So, if this were the only issue I were looking at, my rankings would probably be Patrick, Ross, Mihos, Healey. However my other important issues are economic policy, gay marriage / equal rights, and general commitment to basic freedoms. Taking those in mind (either weighted or unweighted) it comes out Mihos, Patrick, Ross, Healey.

Sigh, politics are annoying.

(I wanted to post this yesterday before leaving, however the DSL at what used to be my house wasn’t working for some reason. So pretend it’s been up for over 24 hours.)

Today, having completely packed up all my worldly possessions (Except, obviously one of my computers. The ThinkPad, in case you were curious.) Jessi and I are getting in my car and I’m leaving my house in Albany for the last time. I am, of course, leaving behind more than just a house. My roommate, with whom I’ve been living for the past two years and with whom I’ve been friends for the past 14, is still living in this same house; one of his coworkers is taking over my half of the lease. My other friends, many, and some of the best, of whom were, until Friday, coworkers. My dad, whom I’ll obviously still see, but not nearly as much. The office that I helped set up in January of this year (I may have left my job and that office but I certainly have a lot of fond memories of both, helping to set up that office and install all the technology being one of my favorites). And of course San Francisco, a city that I spent so much time just across the Bay from but never really got to know until just last year; one of my favorite cities in the world, ranked up there with Shanghai, London, and Madrid. Those are the things I’ll miss, but one other thing that I’m leaving behind I definitely won’t: the 2866 miles between me and Jessi, that I’m quite glad to be giving up.

The trip itself should be a lot of fun. We’ve got a lot of territory to cover, and not all that much time to cover it in if we’re going to make it to Cape Cod in time for a massive party that Jessi assures me we can’t miss. The plan is to leave Albany on Sunday morning, driving South and then East to visit my mom in Santa Fe. We’ll spend Sunday and Monday nights there, then head North-East to visit Jessi’s mom in Illinois skirting around Nebraska on the way (I’ve driven through that state far too many times as it is and have no desire to see that particular 400 mile stretch of nothing again). We’ll spend a night there, and then move on to Boston. If all goes according to plan we should arrive in Boston on Thursday night, although now that I’m moving with Door to Door it’s not longer an issue since I’m going to have my stuff delivered on Sept. 1.

Along the way, obviously, we won’t really have internet access, but I intend to post when I can. We’ll also have Jessi’s camera with us, so I’ll hopefully be able to provide some visual record of the trip (and take full advantage of Zooomr’s geotagging feature).

Today was certainly a big day: my last day at work. This last week has been strange in several ways. Obviously there’s the sadness of leaving all my friends I’ve made there mixed with the excitement of everything that’s happening. On top of that, work itself has been strange. There was a bit of ramping up leading up to this as people wanted to make sure everything got taken care of, but then for the past two days there’s been very little work for me to do. Today I took care of a few last things, but mostly just said my goodbyes, had a nice lunch with the one co-worker who could drag herself away, had my exit interview, my last weekly Friday meeting, packed up my stuff, and left.

Going into it, I really had no idea what to expect from the exit interview. It’s not something I’d done before, and it really seemed a somewhat strange concept. But the reality of it was very different from my expectations; it was actually fun. Our HR manager is absolutely wonderful, and she and I share a very quirky sense of humor (for example, we’re both incredibly amused by my YouTube playlist The Hoff). Although the interview had it’s serious moments and there was genuine discussion about what I thought was good and bad about the job and company, I think we probably spent about 50% of the time laughing. I don’t know how one is supposed to feel about an exit interview, but I really enjoyed mine.

At the Friday meeting, along with all the normal mundane details of what happened that week, I was also presented with a going away card and gift. As with the interview, this part was just fun. The card they gave me is an absolute riot. Rather than your typical goodbye card, the message on the front is ‘Mazel Tov on your bar mitzvah’. It must have taken me a good 10 seconds of laughter before I was able to straighten up and actually open the card to see the message ‘Today is your first aliyah- your first step toward manhood. May each step of your life and each reading of the Torah lead you to greater wisdom and joy. Congratulations on your wonderful achievement’. Given my aforementioned quirky sense of humor, I really don’t think there could have been a more appropriate card. And the gift was also great. A gift certificate to Grill 23, my favorite restaurant in Boston which serves by far the best steak I’ve ever had in my life.

I really did have amazingly great coworkers. I’m going to miss them.

After a weekend of Northern Californian sybaritism (Tiburon, San Francisco, & Napa) with Jessi (of WhipperSnaPR fame), I’m back in the office for my 20th to last day of work.

Two important things happened today. First, I had a call with the president of a company in Boston that I interviewed for a job at a little over a week ago. (Obviously getting a job would be antithetical to my plan of starting my own company, but you gotta cover your bases, right?) She’ll be calling me back tomorrow afternoon and I’m 95% certain that she’ll be making me an offer that’s higher than my current (and soon to be ending) salary. The question remains of whether I will take it. Certainly there is an appeal to the steady income of a regular job (not to mention benefits), but it’s not really what I want. Unless they make me an offer significantly better than the one I’m expecting (which is unlikely as they’re a non-profit) I plan on turning them down, but it’s definitely nice to know that my skills are in demand and that people think they’re worth money. Makes me a little more confident going into business for myself.

The other thing that happened was that my manager sent out an email to the entire US team (six offices) telling them that not only am I moving to Boston, I’m leaving the company; something I’ve been both looking forward to and somewhat apprehensive about. It definitely makes the whole thing seem more real now that everyone knows at least part of what’s going on. I’ve had a lot of people wishing me good luck which, like the (potential) job offer, makes me a feel a lot better about this whole thing. One thing that I’ve found since I first made the decision to do this has been that every single person I’ve told has been very supportive. There’s always the initial ‘you’re kidding, right?’, or ‘you realize how crazy this sounds?’, but once they realize that I’ve actually thought things through, that I actually want to do this, and that I intend to do it right, they pretty much always say they think it’s a great idea. Maybe they’re just being polite, but I like to think it’s got more to do with people recognizing that I’m following my dreams and wanting to support it on principle (and maybe even live it vicariously). I suppose I should start referring people to this blog…

T-25 days and counting.

With my moving date (July 21) now less than a month a way, I figure it’s time to get serious about figuring out all the logistics. The biggest question, of course, is how I actually get my stuff from San Francisco to Boston.

My first thought was to use PODS. I really like the concept, and their way of doing things just seems very convenient. (For those that don’t know, they deliver a container of the appropriate size to your house, you pack your stuff in it, and they take it off to either a storage facility, the destination of your move, or both depending on your needs.) However when I got a quote from them it was around $7000, a bit more than I was looking to spend.

My next thought was the tried and true standard of U-Haul. Obviously U-Haul is a known quantity. They’ve been around, they’re well-known, they’re reliable, and whenever you drive long distance you always see more U-Haul trucks than anything else. How can you go wrong? When I got a quote from them it was about $1800 to get a truck for 11 days and three thousand something miles, along with a trailer to tow my car. Not a bad deal, other similar companies (like Penske) were all in comparable price ranges. This is all perfectly good, I have no problem driving 3000+ miles in a U-Haul towing my car, but I wanted to drive down to New Mexico on the way to visit my mother, and I didn’t really relish the idea of taking the U-Haul with trailer down one lane dirt roads where I might not be able to easily turn it around to get it back out. In addition, my calculations suggested the cost of gas for this option would be around $1000.

Then it was suggested to me that I try some website where you can post what you need in terms of moving services and different people can bid on your move. It sounded great to me, although by the time I got home that night I had forgotten the name of the site (I need to figure that out still). A Google search of the what I thought the name might be lead me to Help U Move.

Help U Move’s approach is something of a mix between PODS and a traditional moving company. They deliver a trailer (like the back of a semi) to your house. You pack your stuff into it, using as much or as little space as you need (though they’ll charge you for at least 3 feet even if you don’t use it all). Then they pick up the trailer, take it off to wherever it is they take it, load it up with commercial goods, and drive it to your destination. They’ll even hold it in storage for two days at no extra charge. Because they’re using it for commercial deliveries as well they’re able to offer very low costs. The quote they gave me: $1700. That’s right, they beat U-Haul on price as well as convenience. There’s still a few things I want to check out, but the BBB has received no complaints about them, so I think there’s a good chance I’ll be going with them. I’d much rather drive my own car from San Francisco to New Mexico to Minnesota to Illinois to Boston (lots of people to visit on the way); it’ll be significantly faster, more comfortable, use less gas, and did I say faster?

Now I just need to get on with my favorite part of any move: packing.

[Edit: whoops, apparently a bad quote in a link had chopped out an important part of this post...]

This morning I tendered my resignation.

Exactly one month from today, on July 21, I will leave my office for the last time, leave San Francisco, move in with my girlfriend in Boston, and start my own IT consulting company. About as much change as you can possibly have in your life all at once.

Why? Because this is what I want to do, and call me crazy, but I think that’s a good enough reason.

In one month’s time I will be on my way to Boston with no job and very little money. Despite that, I’ve so far found this experience to be quite liberating. Although I still have the responsibilities of my current position for another 30 days (and will continue to fulfill them, as I don’t want to abandon the friends I’ve made at this company), they seem much less onerous than they did yesterday. This has definitely been the least frustrating day I’ve had at work in just about as long as I can remember. But even still, I don’t think the reality of what I’ve done has really set in yet; I’ve still got 30 more days of exactly the same thing I’ve been doing for the last year and a half, and, close as that is, it still doesn’t really feel as though my situation has significantly changed.

But really, that’s the whole reason I’m writing this blog: I don’t know what to expect, but whatever happens I intend to share it.