The Hot Season

I'm not sure if it's official, but it might as well be: the North Carolina Hot Season has begun. A year ago I was down this way on a long weekend trip to secure a home and get my foot in the door at architecture firms, and I remember the folks here telling me that the Hot Season had just started abruptly a few days before my arrival. I'm not sure it's been as abrupt this year... we've been consistently in the 80's for a few weeks now, except for a few odd days of 70's or (egad) upper 60's. But it looks like the transition to typical highs in the 90's is just around the corner, and will probably last until late September. You know, when summer is actually supposed to end?

I've heard a lot about the heat down here before and since my move, usually by northerners who have to imagine that there's something wrong with the place, or from the small scattering of folks who lived down here once and found the heat and humidity remarkable. Having lived through the better part of last summer and now on the cusp of another, I have to say: yes, it gets fucking hot. And humid. And if I was an outdoor laborer, it would definitely change my perception of the livability here. But just the other day, for whatever reason, I was thinking about Halloween. Whenever I thought about fall holidays up north, it was always followed by: yeah, fun, but ugh--then winter. Now? Now I think: yeah, fun--oh yeah, and it'll be nice out! What a different world when some of the best holidays of the year are no longer mired in the dread of an imminent horrible winter! So, we bake during the summer like many do (Midwest, Las Vegas, your summers suck, too), and go for cold drinks and dinner under shady canopies, enjoying the excitement of seemingly daily, quickly-passing thunderstorms. And then we celebrate the end of the heat with an autumn that isn't a bummer.

Of course, with the return of warm weather come the side effects--bugs and mold. As I write this, I have several ants inexplicably crawling on my hand. I have an earwig that has made a home in the crack on the side of my laptop monitor (still waiting for the grand zap and puff of smoke that will be the simultaneous end of him and my laptop). The fuzzy red spiders have returned, as have the daddy long-legs. The shrimp/grasshopper/frog hybrid family I mentioned in an earlier post is prolific and fat; they've taken to exploring the exhaust pipe from their lair into my bathroom. And unless I keep the air conditioner set way too low for my budget, the moisture in the air will cause my refrigerator to grow a mold beard. Have you ever sprayed down your refrigerator with shower cleaner? It does the trick, but you won't be hungry for a while.

I haven't been able to enjoy the warm weather and communing with my seasonal "friends" as much as I would like, because I am preparing for my second Architecture Registration Exam--Structural Systems--which I will take June 9th. I've spent way too long studying, unfortunately, so I'm already starting to lose content despite a rigorous study schedule. I've done fairly well on Kaplan's practice exams, but I've lost my faith in them almost completely--they get answers to their own practice exams wrong. I didn't do as well on the NCARB practice questions (NCARB controls exam content). But, assuming I don't black out at the exam, I should be able to eek it out. And if not, I get six months to beat myself up about it before I take it again!

So, that's this month in a nutshell.

I Decree...

The following people no longer deserve to be in the news (CNN, I'm looking at you):

1. Sarah Palin
2. Sarah Palin's daughter
3. the guy who impregnated Sarah Palin's daughter
4. Sarah Palin's husband... actually, the whole damn family. All of them. And Grandpa McCain, too.
5. Dick Cheney/Karl Rove/Newt Gingrich/Rush Limbaugh (they're the same guy, actually)
6. the guy who invented Facebook
7. any baseball player accused of or proven to have taken steroids
8. OJ Simpson--no matter what he does
9. the guy who landed the plane in the Hudson. Like, kudos, dude! Now time to not be news.
10. anyone related to Somali piratetry
11. anyone who said swine flu was going to be a global pandemic. You were wrong, now sit down.
12. the Kardashian/Hilton/Lohan clusterfuck that is Hollywood
13. Elizabeth and John Edwards
14. Bill Clinton
15. Chelsea Clinton (should have stopped being news in 2000)
16. any and all Kennedys, unless Teddy dies
17. Miss America and all runners up
18. Donald Trump--for the love of GOD, let's stop feeding this guy's ego, people!
19. Omarosa? Like, really? Has anyone on earth been given more unearned publicity?
20. all reality show characters after their series' finales, in fact
21. Oprah. She may be great and all, but if I want to see her every day, I'll watch her show.

There are many more that don't immediately come to mind (thank God), so they get spared from my decree for now.

Free at Last, Free at... oh. Sure, I'll be there tomorrow.

Ok, so here's the scoop, because apparently I did not describe my situation clearly:

Yes, I got laid off on April 3. April 3 was the first Friday after the end of the first quarter, and of course my employers were reacting to some cash flow issue that could only be resolved by getting some long-term expenses off the books. Frankly, I was under the impression that Thursday afternoon was the best time to fire people, as they get a three-day weekend to absorb the shock, they can leave at a normal time of the day without arising much suspicion, etc. etc. The incovenience of being laid off on Friday morning is, I still had to commute on my last day, and it was a little hard to leave discreetly with my box of shit at 10am.

I did not leave in a huff, I did not burn bridges or go Jerry Maguire, I just put my personal stuff in a box and headed for home (and later to a bar that has a very good-looking daytime bar mistress). The firm had a severance package for me that would have allowed me a decent amount of time to get on my feet without losing an income. The "Plan" that I posted a while back was what I planned to do with my non-rushed unemployment, most importantly figuring out if sticking around Raleigh made any sense. I considered it a luxury to be able to travel, exercise, sleep, and all the things you would do on a vacation without digging a huge financial hole. So I began executing the plan.

By this last Monday, I had gotten most of my lazy screwing-off done and was becoming serious about the travel I wanted to do, studying for my next ARE, thinking about my various open projects, setting my alarm in the morning, that kind of thing. After exercising at the YMCA that morning, I ignored a phone call on my cellphone as I headed to the shower. I was about to launch into my day when I remembered the messsage, found out it was from my former employer, and listened to the message... knowing that I had not stolen anything or committed any other crimes when I left, I suspected immediately that the only reason they'd call me is that the layoff didn't "take." And sure enough, they offered to have me back. I deliberated for a couple hours with the help of my Ma and a promise by my landlord that I could negoatiate a shorter renewal for my lease given the uncertainty of my re-employment. I was back at my desk in less than 24 hours.

So, here I am, two weeks after being laid off, a week into being rehired, and basically nothing has changed. (Actually, in that time, Raleigh had its big annual tree pollen storm, and now we are basically fully leafed out.) My gracious siblings and parents have sent me care packages, which were great, but now I feel guilty because I pretty much got them for nothing! The folks at work were happy to see me back, but it only took a couple days for all that to work itself out and get back to normal. If I didn't document that this all happened, I think I and everyone else would be liable to forget. Come to think of it, I wish I had done something stupid or memorable during my week off so that this was, in some way, a stuff-changing experience. Oh well, maybe next time.

Here's the map of my last walk during unemployment (call it ITB-SW):
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&daddr=Hillsborough+St%2FNC-54+to:Ashe+Ave+to:Avent+Ferry+Rd+to:Pineview+Dr+to:Kaplan+Dr+to:Western+Blvd+to:35.789099,-78.674512+to:Groveland+Ave+to:931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&geocode=%3BFVoNIgIdJLVP-w%3BFarvIQIdGrBP-w%3BFcDBIQIdBBZP-w%3BFUbiIQIdVvpO-w%3BFdTiIQIdwUBP-w%3BFQ8JIgId91VP-w%3B%3BFSMUIgIdCLxP-w%3B&hl=en&gl=us&mra=dpe&mrcr=1&mrsp=7&sz=15&via=1,2,4,5,6,7,8&dirflg=w&sll=35.781544,-78.67022&sspn=0.027469,0.055618&ie=UTF8&ll=35.778062,-78.679962&spn=0.054941,0.111237&z=14

A Walk Too Far

This is what I was planning:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&daddr=N+Person+St+to:Plainview+Ave+to:Dennis+Ave+to:Watkins+St+to:35.802813,-78.614838+to:Timber+Dr+to:N+Raleigh+Blvd+to:Brookside+Dr+to:931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&hl=en&geocode=%3BFVceIgId3SJQ-w%3BFSdBIgIdx09Q-w%3BFZRHIgIddFRQ-w%3BFSA-IgIdAGlQ-w%3B%3BFWlYIgIdVHlQ-w%3BFYRTIgIdXolQ-w%3BFY8UIgIdkDlQ-w%3B&gl=us&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=5&sz=16&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,8&dirflg=w&sll=35.80203,-78.613358&sspn=0.013731,0.027809&ie=UTF8&ll=35.798254,-78.627863&spn=0.027463,0.055618&z=15

This is what happened:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&daddr=N+Person+St+to:Clifton+St+to:Plainview+Ave+to:Dennis+Ave+to:Watkins+St+to:Watkins+St+to:Timber+Dr+to:35.802796,-78.608208+to:Marlborough+Rd+to:Chatham+Ln+to:Chatham+Ln+to:Milburnie+Rd+to:New+Bern+Ave+to:New+Bern+Ave+to:N+East+St+to:Oakwood+Ave+to:N+Person+St+to:931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&hl=en&geocode=%3BFVceIgId3SJQ-w%3BFSo8IgIdtEBQ-w%3BFSdBIgIdx09Q-w%3BFZRHIgIddFRQ-w%3BFSA-IgIdAGlQ-w%3BFcNOIgIdrG5Q-w%3BFWlYIgIdVHlQ-w%3B%3BFUdKIgId-Z1Q-w%3BFcwjIgIdWbFQ-w%3BFfUTIgIdn7BQ-w%3BFYYUIgIdNnRQ-w%3BFZb1IQIdaHRQ-w%3BFVD1IQIdpl5Q-w%3BFdQHIgIdoStQ-w%3BFfIHIgIdrCFQ-w%3BFZYTIgIdNyJQ-w%3B&gl=us&mra=dme&mrcr=0,1&mrsp=8&sz=16&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17&dirflg=w&sll=35.79888,-78.609602&sspn=0.013766,0.027809&ie=UTF8&ll=35.794564,-78.617048&spn=0.055069,0.111237&z=14

This is why:

Just after crossing Robin Hood Drive on Watkins, I see in my peripheral vision--mostly peripheral hearing, actually--a dog come over from the house on the right. After coming by me, the dog started running ahead of me and looking back at me, and I figured it was using me as an excuse to walk himself around the neighborhood, so I ignored him. Then I heard "Chief! Chief!" from a voice that could have been a child's or a petite woman's. At first I didn't turn around--this was between her (I was fairly certain it was a her) and the dog. After the dog had peed on several neighbors' bushes and appeared unlikely to heed the woman/child voice, and as I felt partially responsible for enabling the dog's flight, I turned around the address Chief's apparent owner. A petite woman, and cute at that. Good, I thought. A reason to involve myself.

Chief kept a margin of one or two street addresses ahead of cute woman, and I could tell from her look of anxiety that this was not a simple repeat of most Sunday afternoons. "Do you need help?" I asked. Her response left open a lot of room for interpretation: "I'm just trying to catch him." Ok, I thought. Not like I have anywhere else to be. So we both took off after the dog, her barefoot and calling out "Chief! Chief!" every few steps, alternating between running and walking, me trying to jog after the dog without looking too strangery lest it try to dodge me out of fear.

At Timber Drive, we got our first real opportunity to outsmart Chief. He ran to the right behind some houses and managed to get himself into a fenced dog lot with another dog. Barefoot Woman ran back there to get him--I was a little too concerned with prowling around other folks' backyards--and it looked to me like Chief was going to get cornered. I don't know what happened back there, but I do know that Chief came running out to my left, and despite my best efforts to position myself to scare him back towards Barefoot Woman, he got ahead of me and headed for Crabtree Boulevard. This is about where I started to lose track of where I was, though amazingly I was still following the "intended" path for the walk. This is also where I started to realize that, though this woman had no chance of catching Chief without some external intervention, I was definitely not helping the situation. I almost caught him, or rather cornered him, while he took a quick dump on the lawn of the office building at Timber and Crabtree, but fearing tackling a strange dog with poop hanging off his behind, I kept enough distance to let him run down Crabtree, crossing it twice as I tried to wave down oncoming vehicles to beware of dog.

At this point I verbalized my worry to my barefoot partner that I was perhaps causing more trouble than I was helping, to which she assented with a "maybe" as she started jogging again. "But we have to catch him in there [behind the guardrail of North Raleigh Boulevard] right now!" Chief was having none of it. He must have known that he had passed "bad dog" threshold a few blocks back, so he was going on a walkie HIS way before the inevitable incarceration. Naturally that meant crossing a major roadway against the light, with me following. Barefoot Woman waited for the light to change. Chief led us into the Capital Area Greenway, a bike path around the northern half of the city I "discovered" on my last walk. Chief smartly stayed about twenty feet or more ahead of us, sniffing and peeing as he went. At this point, Barefoot Woman acknowledged that my running after him was just propelling him away faster, so I decided the run was over and walked briskly instead. She continued to jog, as did Chief (which is to say, no, it was not just me being a stanger... this dog was in full-bore piss-off-my-owner mode).

About a quarter mile into the trail, Chief stopped and held back as a group of walkers and a bicyclist came at him from the other direction. The bicyclist in particular had aroused his concern. Barefoot Woman continued running after him and calling out "Chief! Chief!" I would have suspected that anyone with a brain could tell that the dog was a runaway, but this turd on his bike, as he rode by, said "That dog should be on a leash, you know." First of all, go fuck yourself! Second of all, no shit! Third of all, I'm about 100 feet back from all this... what makes you think I'm involved? Sadly, all I could get out of my face as he rode by was "Yes, I know." Not especially biting of a response.

Finally, at about a half mile in--I'm basically out of view of Chief and Barefoot Woman now--I hear voices up ahead and laughing. As I approach, I realize that the only thing that could stop Chief was his interest in other dogs, three of which were being walked on the trail. Barefoot Woman was able to grab his collar, and the nice folks walking the dogs gave her one of their leashes (apparently their dogs were slightly more trustworthy). I helped stabilize Chief as he was linked to the leash, and was looking for a good moment to interject, "not bad for being barefoot," a line I had been crafting since back at Timber Drive. By this point, though, Barefoot Woman had spent about twenty minutes doing something that should have taken two, and she looked eager to get back to Watkins Street. I wished her luck as she tore Chief away from his new friends, and she never turned back to see I kept on walking the path in the opposite direction. Of course, had I any idea where I was (which was still relatively close to my planned route) I would have followed her and gotten back to North Raleigh Boulevard. Instead, I ended up with a three-mile detour through the bad part of town.

And that's why.

The Plan (April)

- first weekend is a bye

- spend the remainder of April deciding if living in Raleigh/NC is a priority
o day trips and minivacations
o keeping up activities with AIAT
o volunteering at Habitat
o walks/hiking
o social activities
o YMCA – every day but Sunday

- front load on available benefits
o review benefit termination schedule, etc.
o reschedule physical to April
o schedule dental appointment

- review spending and opportunities for saving
o revise budget

- review how NC unemployment works for end of April registration

- continue studying for ARE contingent on passing BS exam

- begin writing with available free time

- Review job listings
o to ensure that immediate job search ramp-up is not advantageous

First Walk of the Spring

I decided to pretty much ditch studying for a second weekend... thanks for the excuse, ipod! Instead I took the new toy on a walk. This one was ITB - NNW. That's the Wake Forest Road/Capital Boulevard area. See here:

Map Link

Couldn't let a good, sunny weekend day go by after a week and a half of less-than-stellar weather.

Thanks, AAA

Thank God I decided to jump in my car this afternoon to get some gas and a coffee instead of waiting until right before my exam tomorrow morning to start it up... because it was DEAD. Even the odometer and the clock had given up the ghost. It seems I had left the damn lights on, and it also seems that my lights do NOT have an automatic turning-off thing, as I had assumed (considering that this is not the first time I jumped in my car and flipped the lights on only to find that I just flipped the switch off instead, and yet still got the car to start). So, knowing no one here where I live, I was forced to call AAA. The wait was excruciating--not because I was stuck on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere, which I imagine is not a fun wait, but because it was getting on late afternoon on a Sunday, meaning my chances of finding an open mechanic or even a walk-to-able store that sells car batteries open for business was growing slimmer by the minute. The AAA guy finally showed up and said my battery had one volt left in it. He then hooked up his special plastic box and capow, the car started right up (well, I still had to turn the key, but it took almost no time to get the thing going is what I mean). And then I took a magical drive, circumnavigating the city's beltline, then heading out to the airport, getting lost somewhere west of Cary, as I'm prone to do, and finally after putting 1.5 hours of high-RPM time into the battery, I came home.

Hope she starts up tomorrow; I'd feel pretty pathetic to take a cab to the exam.