searching for a luxury seat post

in the pics: the package I had sent from Samoa finally arrived (thanks max and Teuila). you'll notice there is a mat on top of the box. it is very wet where i live now; The contents of the package: many souvenirs; one of the chores in this neck of the woods: chopping wood. although I don't use a machete.

1/18
So my life right now…spend time looking for a job, ride my bike, meet with my friends (I wouldn’t say mentors, but they’re older than me and have an interest in what I’m doing—it’s cool to have those kind of people around…oh, so I can pick their brains about jobs and spiritual suff. And they can hear funny/crazy stories about peace corps).

About the bike. Hmmmmm…it was A LOT harder than I thought it would be to replace a 30mm seat post. My bike spent 5 days at the bike shop while said post was being ordered. It came. It was the wrong size. It went back. Another one comes. It is the correct size. Yes yes yes. I went on a nice ride this morning—the trails out by Fort Clatsop—rode out there, and then ran on the trails a bit. Only thing missing is the swimming, but in this weather? No no no is all I can say.

About the job searching. Here’s what I got (or am going to do):
-make my resume nice and spiffy
-update facebook and linkedin web sites
-look through Portland, seattle, and boston jobs section (post a resume)
-put my resume on the BIG name job sites (monster.com, careerbuilder.com)
-go through the Peace Corps Hotline (job resources) as they come, talk to people in the know
-sign up at the employment office in Oregon…I’d really like to work in Oregon, but I will go wherever there is an interesting job…I have no strings right now.
-create a statement about my work and what I want from it. You can find it here.
-email all my friends and ask if they have any ideas/leads

I have already applied to a tech support position, the ymca, Gates Foundation, and will probably apply for a teaching fellowship(?) in NYC. That would be quite challenging—teaching wise and financially. But isn’t that what I want? Oh well, maybe not the so challenging financially part.



1/14
fun example work duty of the day:
"Receive and direct people or telephone calls that may be irate and verbally abusive"
customer service...hmm...can I just tell them to do some yoga?

“We who live in the luxury of the United States”…says the pastor at church. Yes, after being in Samoa, I see luxury in a different way…as do all people who have lived overseas in a “developing” country.

Does luxury bring sea shells to us in a bag? I saw shells in a plastic bag for sale at Fred Meyers recently. I almost started tearing all of them open, yelling “they must be freed!” luckily I didn’t.

“I don’t want leftovers.” Says my mom. Ding. Goes flag in my mind. Samoans don’t make food for leftovers either. The only leftovers at my family’s house was the LARGE plastic tub with some taro and coconut cream in it, which was still good the next day. In America, my fridge is filled with random containers and bottles of every shape and size. In samoa, our ice chest (most families did not have this) was filled with fish, cow quarters, maybe pieces of a pig. Oh, and some bottles of water. I always asked for ice water when I ate at the house.

Animal control…youth corrections…so much correcting and control…is it really going to make things better?