Pundits and Wags

A few quick hits

2005-02-27T22:45:00.000+01:00

I don't have much time to write anything, so I've only got a couple of dealies to hold over the few that have been checking the site lately until I can hopefully put some better updates later. My flight leaves early tomorrow morning for England, and I'm dreading the early wake up.

First, it's cold in England, even colder than here (it's been unusually cold here lately). It snowed all week and from what I see of the weather report it's probably going to snow some more this week. It really hasn't accumulated much, but now I can say that this won't be the first winter in my life to never see snow.
Today was the start of the Fallas in Valencia. This really deserves its own post, but I'll have to write about it later. I went with my girlfriend today to see the first mascletá in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento and it was really cool. I'll explain it sometime in the near future, but basically a mascletá is a fireworks show at 2pm that they do daily until the end of the festival, March 19. Of course, it being in broad daylight, the point isn't about the visual spectacle like typical fireworks shows. The point is the noise. Imagine about 500 of those fireworks that just make a bright flash and a huge boom in about a 5-10 minute period, and that's a mascletá, more or less. It's really cool.
It's nice working in England, since at least I don't have to struggle with a foreign language. I'd make a joke about struggling with the English language, but the truth is that I haven't found it to be that difficult to talk with those who speak the Queen's English. I've definitely noticed a lot of little differences, but they're not anything that makes it too hard to communicate. One thing I've noticed is that there is a multi-purpose word there that isn't used too much in the US. The word is "cheers," and it's used as a hello, goodbye and you're welcome. I've seen it as a salutation in emails, but not too much else before now. It's one of those words that I would feel completely awkward saying myself because it just doesn't seem natural.

Well, that's it. I'll update more later. Sorry for the long gaps in writing.

Reading Railroad: $200

2005-02-18T23:32:00.000+01:00

I just got back from a week in Reading, England, where I'll be working every week until the end of May. This explains the silence this week and the time leading up to it as I've been extremely busy. I'll try to put some quality content on here this weekend, but from this point on my posting will likely be even more sporadic than it has lately. I've really got my hands full with this new project, and obviously it takes priority.

That said, I do plan to keep the site going. So please don't despair. Or do. Whichever you prefer.

Selling ice to Eskimos

2005-02-10T22:43:00.000+01:00

I've been pretty busy this evening evaluating Curricula Vitae1 2 for a position my company's trying to fill. It's actually pretty tough to go through a lot of Curricula at one time. Sometimes people write way too much in their CV's, sometimes not nearly enough.

The empathetic part of me wants to give everyone who applied a job (well, almost everyone), but at the same time I haven't seen one that really looked perfect for what we're looking for. It's like everyone has that one little fatal flaw.

Speaking of fatal flaws, that just reminded me of a story in early American literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a story called "The Birth-Mark" about a woman who was perfect in every way except for a birthmark on her face. Her scientist husband became so fixated on her one blemish that he attempted to perform an operation to remove it. Then with perfection achieved, she dies.

"Ah, wait for this one success,'' rejoined he, "then worship me if you will. I shall deem myself hardly unworthy of it. But come, I have sought you for the luxury of your voice. Sing to me, dearest."

Ah, Hawthorne, you sly dog.

But I digress. In the process of weeding through all of these Curricula I have seen some things that have caught my attention. One in particular was the person whose most recent experience was working in sales of "free software." For some reason that just makes me giggle. Or as a great sage of our time said (quote courtesy of Michael Beaver):

A fool and his money are soon parted.......I'd pay someone a lot of money to explain that one to me!
- Homer Simpson

Selling ice to Eskimos.

1 Curriculum Vitae is what a resumé is called here, and generally everywhere but the United States. One must wonder why we use the French word "resumé" if even the French call it "Curriculum Vitae."
2 Not sure, but I believe that the plural is Curriculums Vitae. [edit: I've been informed by the more Latin-inclined Dan Turkenkopf that the plural of Curriculum is actually Curricula, I've edited the post thusly]

I solemnly swear not to be a cow

2005-02-08T22:14:00.000+01:00

Jeff Jarvis offers some words of wisdom to those hypercompuglobalmegamarts that think it would be a smashing advertising ploy to put together a fake blog, purportedly written by an imaginery character (not even necessarily a Homo sapien):

This is a human medium, I said. It's about people talking to people. We don't want to talk to a cow; that's as off-key as coming to a wedding dressed up like a pig. We don't want you to lie to us and think we're stupid and that we want to talk to a character a marketer made up.

I agree. Really, blogs are kind of cool, but what makes them cool is the fact that they are a sort of grassroots medium for real people to conduct real conversations, often about real events or whatever else comes to mind.

For that reason, in the interest of fairness and full disclosure I shall take this opportunity to pledge to all of my readers that I am not presently a cow, nor have I been or ever shall be a member of any other species but that of Homo sapien.

Maybe I should rename my blog to www.letstalkaboutgettingaspanishworkvisa.com

2005-02-07T23:04:00.000+01:00

I'm probably boring people to tears with talk about this subject, but since I've started I might as well keep going. I found out today that the Spanish Consulate in Washington says that I can apply for my visa without having to leave my passport with them, therefore enabling me to return to the UK for the project I'll be working on while they process the application.

This is kind of bittersweet news. It's mainly good news, because it means that I can finally get this over with (and stop posting about it). The bad news part of it is that it means that my trip back to the US won't be more than a couple of days at a time, once to drop off the application and once to pick up the visa. This means that I won't be able to go to Florida to visit my parents, and that any attempt to finally tie up the loose ends I left in my moving process will be much more difficult. I doubt that I'll be able to take care of everything that needs to be done.

Oh well, the truth is that I'm so tired of dealing with this visa process that I'll just be happy to get it out of the way. There will be other opportunities to go to the US, I'm sure. They'll just be further in the future.

It's raining men!

2005-02-07T22:58:00.000+01:00

Well, not actually. It's actually raining water. Lots of it. And there's a bunch of thunder and lightning to go with it. It's pretty cool because it makes it feel like summer's coming. Ask me how I feel about summer in a few months though and I'll probably tell you that I can't wait for winter to come again.

On a side note I've heard the song "It's Raining Men" a number of times since moving here. It cracks me up every time I hear it. I guess the mental image is too much for me.

Obligatory Spanish visa process update

2005-02-02T23:10:00.000+01:00

Found out yesterday that the employment agency, INEM, now says they found four more people they want my company to interview before they will concede that they can't find anyone to fill the position that I'm supposed to fill. My company thinks they should be able to finish the interviews this week and get the rest straightened out next week. More and more, time is running out before I need to go to England.

I'm kind of numb to the delays now. I'm sure it will all be resolved eventually and the best potential time to return to the US to finish the process has already passed anyway, so no reason to get worked up about little delays.

That history exam I missed because I slept too late lacked legitimacy too

2005-02-02T23:06:00.000+01:00

So an Iraqi Sunni clerics' group, the Muslim Clerics' Association, says that the Iraqi elections "lack legitimacy because a large segment of different sects, parties and currents ... boycotted."

I'm not sure how I feel about boycotting elections and what rights the groups who boycott have to pass judgment on the elections afterwards. On the one hand, I can kind of understand the reformers boycotting the last elections in Iran, because they knew that regardless of what they did the elections were rigged from the beginning. A great number of their candidates had been disqualified by the conservative mullahs.

On the other hand, it seems like a different scenario in Iraq. This seems like a group who enjoyed extraordinary power before, despite being the minority in the country, trying to do everything they can to prevent others from getting a bigger voice. Of course, I'm not there, never have been. So this is just my perspective from far away.

In my view it seems to me more like these groups had their chance to join in the democratic process but failed to do so. They chose not only to skip the elections themselves, but to inhibit the ability of others to participate. Fortunately there is still a good chance for them as it sounds like they will be brought in the process of drafting the constitution despite having fought against the transition to democracy thus far.

Gmail invite offer

2005-02-02T22:54:00.000+01:00

I have a few Gmail invites that I haven't used if anybody is interested. Just let me know.

I'll start the bidding at.... one millllllllllllion dollars! Or just let me know and I'll give it to you for free. While supplies last.

Almost there

2005-01-31T22:12:00.000+01:00

The latest word is that all that is left in my visa process are two formalities. Out of the 700 candidates who came up in the search at the Spanish employment agency, INEM, 0nly 3 applied for the position and out of those only 2 showed up for interviews. Neither of the two were qualified for the position, so now my company just needs to return to INEM to get a paper from them certifying that they were unable to find a suitable candidate for the company. After that they will take the paper to the Delegación del Gobierno to complete the process already started there. At that point all that is left is for me to return to the US to apply for the visa at the Spanish Consulate in Washington.

That last step has become more complicated now because on the 14th I'll start a new project in England (I believe it will be in Reading, although I'm not sure). Technically, the process is that I'm supposed to leave my passport with my application at the consulate, and then it can take between 2-4 weeks (or more) for the consulate to have the visa ready. Obviously, I don't have time for that, so I must convince the consulate to let me keep my passport while they work on the visa. I believe that they'll do this, because at one point I was going to apply for a different type of visa at the same consulate (they later convinced me it was a waste of time) and they were willing to let me hold onto my passport for an even less convincing need. My only worry is that if I get stuck in the US for an extended period of time it could lose this project for my company. Let's hope all goes well.

The other drawback to this having taken so long is that now the prospects are not good for me being able to spend some time in the US to see my family and friends. I had planned to go to Florida to see my parents while I was there, but it's quite possible that I'll only be there for two very quick weekend trips, which obviously would not leave time to make a side trip to Florida. I also have some things in the US that I need to bring back with me, but if I'm going there on the ends of business trips, it will be much more difficult. Regardless, I'll just be happy when this process is over. I'm sick of the hassles, and I've been holding off some things that I've planned to do until I can get certainty that I'll have my visa, long term contract, etc.

I'll keep you updated on when I go back to the US, because I know a lot of my friends and family read this blog. Sometimes communicating with people back in the US is a little easier this way, with the difference in time zone and such.

Currently listening to...

2005-01-31T22:07:00.000+01:00

Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder. This is the first time I've listened to this album and I'm quite impressed. A very pleasing, calming album. Check out the review at Pitchfork.

A movie that all must see

2005-01-30T23:05:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I saw the movie Hotel Rwanda. It was probably the best movie I've seen in years. I can't remember another movie that affected me the way this one did. It is the amazing story of a hotel manager in Rwanda who protected around 1200 Tutsi refugees in his hotel during the genocide that occured there. I've heard people say that it's like a Rwandan Schindler's List, which sounds reasonable to me, although I have to admit that I've never seen Schindler's List. That's another one that I'll have to see.

One thing that might explain why it resonates with me so much is the disbelief I have when thinking that after all the talk of "never again" after the genocide against the Jews (among other groups) in the second world war, something like that can happen again and the world will sit by and do nothing once again. It's time that the member nations of the UN get tough on stopping this sort of thing. It's happened so many times and it should never be allowed to happen again.

Democracy: the benign virus for which I hope there is no cure

2005-01-30T22:54:00.001+01:00

Today there was a monumental event in Iraq. Iraqis voted for their own government after decades of being ruled by a fascist dictator. Despite the numerous threats to kill voters from the enemies of democracy, there was a considerably high turnout for elections today. Currently the estimates appear to be between 60-70% of eligible voters, which is quite impressive considering even in a high-turnout election (like the last presidential election) the US had a turnout of 56%.

I hope that this virus of democracy spreads throughout the Middle East, and through the rest of the world. I personally believe that it's the only way that we'll defeat terrorism.

There are many blogs worth looking at regarding the elections today. So many that I can't possibly link to all of them here. However, for good links and Iraqi election coverage check out Instapundit, Buzz Machine and Andrew Sullivan. Our friends at HispaLibertas have a little bit about the elections too. And finally, hear it from the Iraqis themselves at Healing Iraq, Iraq the Model, Hammorabi and The Mesopotamian.

Congratulations, Iraqis. Let this be the beginning of something great.

Stupid stock market, and other business musings

2005-01-20T23:22:00.000+01:00

From Dan, over at the Tabularium, we get a duo of good posts. First he discusses the effect on corporate strategy of maximizing shareholder value. This obviously has a huge effect on what companies do and how they spend their money, and not always for the better. He wrote a good post about it.

Next Dan discusses something near and dear to my heart: the inexplicably negative effect that IBM's much better than predicted 4th quarter 2004 results have had on their stock price in the last few days. Apparently analysts are "bored" with how "solid" IBM's results have been lately. Eh? As disclosure I own stock in IBM as I worked for them for 6 years, so of course this bugs the heck out of me. Dan also throws a tie-in to the article about maximizing shareholder, pretty cool huh?

The real Super Bowl?

2005-01-20T23:19:00.000+01:00

I'm very excited for this weekend's game between the Steelers and the Patriots. The conventional wisdom is that the Patriots will win, and I'm glad that that is the conventional wisdom. Because last week the conventional wisdom was that the Patriots would lose to the Colts and that didn't happen. People also thought that the Steelers would roll over the Jets and that didn't happen. I think that the Steelers perform better when they are the underdogs (just like I think the Patriots do the same, in fact I've noticed them trying to play the underdog chip a bit this week... worried, Pats?).

The Steelers gave up 3 points on defense last week. If they can eliminate the costly mistakes they made against the Jets last week, I think they have a very good chance of beating the Patriots this weekend. I'm glad that they faced such a tough game against the Jets because now they have no reason to come into this weekend's game overconfident.

Also, let me say that I'm extremely jealous that my sister and her boyfriend are going to the game in Pittsburgh. VERY JEALOUS.

The little known corrolation between wind and hygiene

2005-01-20T23:15:00.000+01:00

Little did I know, but there is a direct correlation between the amount of wind and my capacity to maintain proper hygiene. Yesterday was extremely windy, and because of that I was unable to take a shower all day. Why, you ask? Because our pilot light for the natural gas water heater is outside (which makes sense, wouldn't be a good thing to have inside). Every time I tried to start it up it blew out within a minute. Wasn't too keen on a cold shower, so I opted to go without. Fortunately the wind died down today so I was able to get the hot water going today. That would be a tough thing to deal with in Chicago, I think.

Tastes like Grandma

2005-01-20T23:08:00.000+01:00

Time to introduce you all to a new blog. This one's all about the Simpsons (whereas my site's name is based on a quote from the Simpsons and I constantly mention and reference the Simpsons while trying to give the appearance of producing original content). A friend of Cynthia's was apparently inspired by her new blog and fortunately for us started Life Imitates The Simpsons.

Of particular interest is her post on the real life re-enactment of the tomacco invention from one of my favorite Simpsons episodes. I actually saw this episode on tv here yesterday, and was quite pleased. I was even more surprised to see the tomacco plant actually created in real life, minus the plutonium (supposedly).

Back in black

2005-01-20T23:03:00.000+01:00

I've been remiss lately about posting so I'm going to do some rapid-fire posts now to make up for it. Been studying quite a bit lately and tomorrow I plan to take the practice exam mainly to see what areas I need to study more. I don't expect to pass the practice exam tomorrow.

Busy as a beaver? Not me, but I know someone who is

2005-01-17T21:02:00.000+01:00

Well, I've been busy lately between personal life and work life, but Michael Beaver's been putting his efforts into more blog-a-riffic pursuits. I recommend you check out what he has to say... many cool things about music especially. I'd also like to congratulate him on his new dog, looks cute (in a manly dog sort of way).

Also, why don't you drop by and see what Cynthia has to say? She's been telling some deep dark stories of her life's past and present. One spoiler: she's a Madonna fan. Don't hold it against her.

Currently listening to...

2005-01-15T23:33:00.000+01:00

New York Jets @ Pittsburgh Steelers. Let's go Steelers! Won't be able to think about anything else 'til this game is over. Really wish I could see it.

Rebuffed once again

2005-01-14T19:03:00.000+01:00

Found out a few hours ago that the Delegación del Gobierno told my company's representative today that they could not give me permission for a work visa because of the number of candidates that were returned when INEM did the most recent search. The maximum that are allowed in a case such as this is 100, and seven times that came back from this search. Of course the reason for such a high number is because INEM did not in fact put the actual job requirements in their search, they did a search on a broad job category, simply looking for "Consultant with English," which could mean anything.

So this coming week my company will have to return to INEM to attempt to get them to run a search with the actual job requirements, as they are certain that there will hardly be any candidates with the qualifications they need... they would hire them if there were. If that doesn't work (INEM's system may not be flexible enough to actually do a useful search in this case) they'll have to go through the list of 700 candidates and evaluate each one and give justification to the government as to why they are not qualified for the position. Let me just say that it's not that there aren't qualified people here, it's just that my company's looking for someone with pretty specific skills that aren't common in the US and are less so in Europe, as the software and technologies they are using are rather new.

So let's hope they are able to find a way to convince the Delegación del Gobierno of the need to hire me. If they're not able to do that, it doesn't look good for me being able to continue with my career here in Spain. If they can't justify to the government the need to hire me for a position in which I know there aren't that many qualified people, how would another company be able to justify it for something that is more common (which is what the majority of the other jobs I've seen offered have been). I suppose one way to fix this in a last resort is to get some sort of certification of my French skills, although I don't really remember much French. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Next: the robotic Richard Simmons

2005-01-14T10:55:00.000+01:00

Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark, they shoot bees at you?

This article cracks me up. Nice to see that the Pentagon is using their time wisely. Not so sure about the severe and permanent halitosis, though. That not only sounds gross, but I've also known non-guerrillas who have had that problem. Now if they could only develop a weapon to get rid of halitosis.

Long day, short post

2005-01-13T22:29:00.000+01:00

Had a long day today, was pretty busy. Got an update on my visa application and not so sure that it's encouraging. Apparently when they removed french from the job requirements and put it back through the INEM database about 700 people came up nationwide (compared to just 4 the last time). It seems that when they put an offer into the database they only have so many categories they can select, so a job that requires a technical consultant with enterprise application integration experience who has developed with Java and Websphere extensively and speaks fluent English gets entered in as "Consultant with English." Of course that's going to bring up a bunch of results. We'll see what the Delegación del Gobierno has to say. I have to imagine that it won't prevent me from getting the visa in the end, but maybe it will extend the process while the company explains why the other consultants who came up in the search aren't actually qualified for this particular position. We'll see.

I hope they get it resolved soon, I need to get my visa. On the other hand, from what I've been told, the process is even more difficult in the US. Apparently there you have to hire a lawyer to get through it.

A few more worthwhile Spanish blogs and a cop out from yours truly

2005-01-12T22:52:00.000+01:00

I'm pleased to say that I'm adding a few more Spanish blogs to my links on the right side. I've toyed with the idea of making a separate section just for Spanish blogs, but in the spirit of the American mixing bowl I'm going to leave them all together for now. First, there's Desde Sefarad by Jose Cohen (in Spanish), a blog that was recommended to me by Manel from HispaLibertas (which I want to remind you is a great blog, also in Spanish). Next is Barcepundit, which is an excellent blog by Franco Alemán who is, you guessed it, in Barcelona. One especially cool thing about his blog is that he has both a Spanish and an English edition. And finally there's Iberian Notes by John, which is another Barcelona blog but is in English (as you may have guessed from his name).

Now comes the cop out. I had written a somewhat lengthy post in this spot but have now removed it. Sorry.

A Dram in the morning, and a drink of Grog at Dinner or at Noon

2005-01-12T20:47:00.000+01:00

I think I saw this guy when I was at Mount Vernon for my friend Trevor's wedding reception.

Link via Instapundit.