stepping up ops in iran

i'm not all that in touch with the news media, honestly. but had any of you heard about this story, involving congress authorizing $400 million to step up covert ops in iran? it's front-page news today in france. still working my way through the stories, but it's interesting to see what's likely to affect the perception of america o'er there... (and has it hit al jazeera yet? can't imagine this making too many friends.)

step 1: resume

check.

well, a draft anyway.

i think i have it up here if you, dear readers, would like in on the polishing process.

i still hate trying to find that balance of telling people what i can do without sounding overly boastful, of trying to find the keywords employers are looking for without running too far into the b.s./buzzword territory.

and shhhhh, don't tell 'em that i don't use capital letters in my personal life!

just in case there are any other xkcd fans out there who don't watch tv...

we'd probably be watching discovery channel too if we had cable, but yeah.

here you go. i had to look it up, so i thought i'd share.

language-learning goodness

i think i've mentioned chinesepod on here before, yeah? the same folks recently launched frenchpod, and i'm using more of my time than i probably ought to be poking around there. but... if i can find a job where they like the fact that i speak french, it'd be better to have knocked some of the rust off my grammar and vocabulary before trying to interview. so yay for feeling a little productive while i'm having fun. they came out with their first upper intermediate lesson today, and i'm rather relieved to find that i can follow it, no problem.

also on language, chris p. (whose blog i think i wandered over to from chinesepod?) recently posted a video explaining his strategy for learning lots of vocabulary in a foreign language quickly. it's not too entirely different from what i do when i'm being serious about learning vocabulary anyhow, but it's more systematic and it's been a while since i've been serious about it. i'm giving his method a try with chinese, albeit using the pdf transcripts of my daily podcast dialogs instead of articles -- not up to article-reading level yet, but the pockets of "things i understand" are getting more frequent!

squeaky wheel

we had put in a complaint about the oven... the door was a bit warped, so it didn't seal properly, and thus tended to heat up the entire kitchen more than it did food.

i knew that the maintenance guy had been out to look at it. i knew that he hadn't been able to do much. i knew he'd hinted that we should put in a second maintenance request, just to see what happens.

i had not the slightest suspicion that while i was sitting here in my pajamas this morning, a couple of men were hauling a brand new stove up the stairs. surprise new appliances are fun.

sometimes, our apartment complex kinda rocks. it's not one of the ritzy gated communities, but it's a good location, rent's entirely reasonable, we have a gorgeous view, and thus far they've been really nice. that counts for a lot.

long time no post

still jobless, and the idea that "i ought to be looking for a job as first priority" has led, more or less, to a sort of procrastinating paralysis across all areas of life. one day, maybe i'll learn to do something other than play solitaire and organize my music when i have too much to do that i don't want to deal with. i hate hate HATE the application and interview process, which is why i've typically just gone into temp agencies to deal with the problem of obtaining a job. i promised my mom, though, that i'd start getting in a bit more of a hurry about the jobhunt as soon as i get back from this trip (one of the last major ones that was planned before i moved); maybe it'll help to start unfreezing other domains first.

let's see, since i logged onto blogger last... it's been philadelphia for the workshop with kevin and sharon, then d.c. for big big event, then vblx last weekend, and now knoxville to go to alice and kris's wedding (HAPPY WEDDING DAY, yay!). shannon, who's kindly hosting me, is headed out to nashville for today, so i have a bit of time here by myself.

of the recent weekends, philly was probably the best in terms of adding new dimensions to how i think about dance; kevin st. laurent and sharon davis taught a one-track workshop that became, for me, basically a day to meditate on "how the heck this stuff works." by taking the simplest stuff out of pattern, and making us really lead and follow it, they produced pretty incredible results for a group class, and made it challenging for all levels (well, i was challenged, anyway). jesse and i also shared an opportunistic last-minute half-hour private lesson with kevin on sunday while david was taking one with sharon... the thing that struck me most was how kevin was able to correct some of my connection problems without actually saying anything -- he, through his connection, could make me aware of the tension i was carrying... very cool stuff.

big big event was a very, very sweaty weekend, but wins hands-down for best dancing. friday night, solomon douglas's band was in the best form i've ever heard them -- granted, i'd only heard them at lindy focus and on cd, but they were rocking out. the hot club du jam cellar's debut was also highly entertaining -- watch out for them! ninety-plus-degree heat and classes in non-air-conditioned venues don't mix all that well, but there was plenty of good material. peabody with chad and midori and "antiquated vernacular dances" with mike and casey were enough to get me even more excited about the sugarfoot stomp weekend (coming up 4th of july!). the boilermakers and russ wilson on saturday night were also delightful.

uh oh, i need to duck into the shower if i'm going to make it to the... um, scenic outdoor location?... on time! hopefully i'll get around to more rambling before another month's gone.