What A Pretty Dog

Was out for my walk and saw this beautiful Weimaraner out for a run with her parent. This is the second time I have seen this dog while out on a walk. Pretty is probably too conservative a description, though. This dog was striking looking with erect head, solid, muscular body, and the most beautiful silver/gray coat. She just strode along-side her parent with grace and ceaseless effort. The woman was running with the dog or else I would have stopped and talked to her just to pet her dog. (Can you tell I want a dog?)

The funny thing is if this woman had stopped to talk to me she would have thought I was interested in her—She is very attractive—but right now I would rather have a new dog in my life than a new girlfriend. Maybe when my business becomes successful I’ll try to find me a girlfriend, maybe one with a dog. But for the time being, I’d rather have just a dog.*

 

The thing is when I was checking out my apartment my landlord said I could have one cat (i.e.: no dog) with the emphasis on just one cat. As it turns out, the couple who had the apartment before me had three cats and two of my neighbors in my building have a dog. Maybe after I have been here a few months I will ask my landlord about getting a dog. It would have to be something small—I have a one-bedroom apartment—and older but I am sure I could find something at the pound. We’ll see.

 

*I went on a date last Sunday and might have a follow-up date with the same woman. So, I feel I should reveal that here to indicate I have not completely sworn off interest in women in favor of a dog.

Rejection Sucks

I’m not talking about dating. (It’s been so long since I was actively dating I can’t remember what that kind of rejection feels like.) No, I’m talking about rejection in the job market. Today, I called the local upscale grocery store where I had submitted an application last week and was told the usual spiel “Reviewing applications; Will call when there is an opening and if you fit our needs”. Blah, blah-blah, blah . . . blah-blah-blah.
I mean, my resume doesn’t scream manual labor but I’ve got a strong back and a good work ethic. Besides, if anyone knows anything about the computer support field, they would know you spend most of your time picking up and moving around computers and printers. Granted computers, and especially monitors, have gotten lighter over the years—I can remember back in the day when a high-end 24″ graphics CRT monitor would require two people to lift and move it—but laser printers and networkable fax machines are still heavy. I’ve got the strength and stamina to do manual labor (and the willingness). All I need is someone to offer me a job. Sigh!

 

I have to check again but I think I am up to 80 83 applications submitted so far this year (actually since mid December 2008 when I finished my masters thesis). Once I get my internet access squared away (tomorrow, I hope) I will have an easier time of searching online for jobs.

I have been in contact with a reference through a friend-of-a-friend situation about doing IT work in the education field but I am awaiting a callback from this woman. I am not looking to her for a job but rather to gain some insight on how best to enter the educational IT support field here in Madison.

I am at the laundromat now—Someone in this strip mall has an open WiFi network—but I will be going to the library this afternoon to a) get legitimate internet access and b) do some searching through the library’s employment-finding materials. (The latter might require a trip to the central library downtown.)

I think the only thing in my favor right now is the fact that the holiday season is approaching and there will be some—not a lot, but some—extra hiring during this time. If I am lucky, I should be able to put together several part-time positions during the holidays to get at least some money coming in. We’ll see how that goes.

The Madison Report: Madison in Seven Parts

As a follow-up to my post about getting around Madison by bicycle and on foot, I thought I should provide a brief overview of the city of Madison.

The city of Madison is divided into about 70 neighborhoods spread across seven regions. The regions are based around the Wisconsin sate capitol building in the center of the Downtown region which is dominated by cultural, governmental, and commercial entities. The other regions are listed below with their defining features.

Downtown: Seat of government for the state of Wisconsin, county of Dane, and city of Madison. Lots of cultural offerings in this area combined with the main commercial corridor for students, namely the State street pedestrian mall.

Near East: placeholder text.

Far East: Suburb-like residential area with some dodgy neighborhoods but mostly nicer, upscale neighborhoods. Home to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens.

Near West: Suburb-like residential area with some dodgy neighborhoods but mostly middle-class neighborhoods with a few upscale neighborhoods near the Arboretum and around the western edge of the university. Home to most of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the UW-M Arboretum, several big golf courses, and several big cemeteries.

Far West: placeholder text.

South: placeholder text.

North: I know nothing about this area.

To find out everything you could possibly want to know about Madison from a geographic-based, socio-political perspective, check out the Madison Neighborhood Indicators Project here. For reference purposes I live in the Nakoma planning district but the Summit Woods neighborhood association.

To be continued.

The Madison Report: Finding My Way Around Madison

So far I have not had too much difficulty getting around Madison.

When I had visited previously I stayed at the hostel downtown and explored a lot of the city on foot, particularly the Downtown and Near East regions of Madison. I had spent a little time in the Far East and Near West parts of the city as well but only enough time to get a sense of what were the major roads.

To my surprise, that knowledge of just the few major roads in the Near West section of the city proved quite useful in finding my way around. I live in the south-central part of the Near West region or southwest of the state capitol building downtown. I am on the main north-south road (Midvale Blvd.) through this part of the city and close to a main secondary route to downtown (the Nakoma Rd. / Monroe Rd. corridor).

Of course, all of this road info would be important if I was driving everywhere, but I am not. I am walking or biking everywhere. The Southwest Bike Trail passes my place less than one-quarter mile away. On it, I have a direct, car-free route to downtown and a connecting bike path—again, care free—that takes me across the Downtown region to the Near East and Far East regions of the city.

To be continued.

The Madison Report: AT&T is a Terrible ISP

At least, my experience with them so far has led me to believe that. And the sad thing is, I don’t actually have them as my ISP yet. All my frustrations stem from me trying to get them to hook up my service. I know, it’s not like the world needs another blog post about how ISPs provide terrible customer service, but I am going to post one anyway. So be prepared for some vulgarities.

AT&T, as an ISP, sucks giant sweaty donkey balls.

I sign up for “naked DSL” service from AT&T on Sunday evening, 18 Oct 09. I get one of their mid-rate plans (1.5Mb downstream/384Kb upstream) and schedule the technician to come out Wednesday, just three days later. I think that’s not bad even though the scheduled window for when the technician can arrive is 8:00AM – 9:00PM. (No, that is not a typo.)

I then proceed to order a Wi-Fi-enabled DSL modem—the offerings from AT&T were skimpy on features and heavy on price—that will arrive by the end of the week. So far, all is good.

Wednesday rolls around and I am waiting patiently for the AT&T technician to show up. (Did I mention they tell you the technician will show up during a 13-hour window?) It gets to be about 12:30PM and I’ve got errands to run. So, I call the AT&T service number to get a better sense of the technician’s ETA and get a generic brush-off with “We do not have that information”.

So, I decide to give the technician the benefit of the doubt that he will be logical and call me **before** he shows up. BIG mistake. I go to the library after running my errands so I can use the internet to check e-mail and browse the web—I applied for two jobs online while I was there. As my phone is off, I don’t get the message from the AT&T technician telling me he is outside my door until I get home. (As it was, he didn’t get to my place until after 4:30PM. If I hadn’t gone out to run my errands I would have been home all day twiddling my thumbs waiting for the guy.)

At this point I am furious as all the guy—and it was a guy, Brian—had to do was call me as he was on his way over. Shit, the library is only 10 minutes away by bicycle. I could have met him back at my apartment IF HE HAD ONLY CALLED ME AHEAD OF TIME. Oh yeah, the best part: Chuckle-head Brian tells me to call to reschedule the installation but he doesn’t leave me the number to call.
(For those of you wondering: To speak to someone about the status of an AT&T DSL installation, the magic number to call is 800-288-2020 and choose “DSL Status” as your option.)

Thursday morning FedEx tries to deliver my modem and I was in the bathroom. So, I have to wait one more day to get it, plug in it, and see if the DSL is working.

Later Thursday morning I call the AT&T service line to try and re-schedule the installation. The woman on the line sounds confused and says the service should be active but to wait until I get my modem plugged in to be sure. My second BIG mistake. As it turns out, there is a wholly separate 800 number to call for DSL installation support. A number which I don’t obtain until today.

Today is Friday. I get the modem from FedEx, get it all set up and configured and no DSL service. So, I call the 800 number again and after being transferred once talk to a nice gentleman—His accent sounded Indian but his pronunciation/vocabulary sounded Canadian; It was kind of an odd, yet soothing sounding, voice—who tells me that my DSL service is “Pending” and I need to speak to the Installation Dispatch Team team to re-schedule my appointment. (This means the woman I spoke to yesterday gave me completely false information AND did not refer me to the correct people to get the installation re-scheduled.)

I speak to the folks at the Installation Dispatch Team team who again confirm my DSL service is “Pending”. They can re-schedule me for next Tuesday, four days from now. Never mind I was already in their system; Never mind the technician doesn’t call before showing up; Never mind he fails to give me a number to call to re-schedule; Never mind any of that. I have to go back in their regular installation queue.

[Dennis take a few deep breaths.]

So, here I am, back at the library, using their internet until I can get service installed at my apartment. At least this branch of the library* has a cozy reading corner with a running gas-fired fireplace. I can enjoy my time here knowing that at least some things work well in Madison.

*There are several major branches to the consolidated library system in Madison/Dane County. The branch nearest me is the newest one and it is beautiful, all stone and glass with lots of open space and a variety of spaces to sit and read, sit and work, or to sit and talk. I got my library card already and set up my online account—to search for books, magazine, videos, etc. from home.
There is a debate right now as to a) whether or not to renovate or to rebuild the main library downtown and b) whether or not to put the new main library’s funding plan to a municipal referendum or leave it to a simple vote of the Madison City Council. I am in favor of a) building a brand-new library and b) leaving the vote on this particular matter to the Madison City Council. The designs for the new structure look gorgeous and promise lots of useful, functional space within the library for various users. Not to mention the new library would renovate a depressing block in downtown Madison and serve as an anchor to attract other construction in the area.