For Those of You Who Are Curious

I still haven't figured out where the hell to live next year.

It's actually beginning to freak me out a little because well ... I'm a planner. So to not have a plan for what I'm doing with you know, the REST OF MY LIFE is starting to get a little weird.

I think I've narrowed it down except not really at all. The problem is that I had been operating under the assumption that I could apply to jobs in a bunch of places and then figure out where I was moving based on where I got a job. I soon realized that um we're in a recession... it's going to take me for freaking ever to find a job. So I might need to decide where to live and, you know, work at a Starbucks until I can get a real job.

At this point I think there is a

45% chance I will move to New York which has the advantage of being a good city job-wise, as well as family and friends. And it's a cool city.

35% change I will stay in London which I would dearly love to do. But in this economy I'm just not sure that there are enough work opportunities for a non-EU citizen.

10% chance I will move back to California. I actually have been missing California quite a bit lately, and would be much more likely to move back if I thought I could find a job there, but I've looked and there really ain't nothing there.

5% chance I will move to India. Lately, I've been thinking about this option more and more. Given the field I am going to be working in, this seems to make a lot of sense, and it would certainly be nice to spend more time with my family there.

5% chance I will be elsewhere. Which could basically be anywhere at this point.

So, if anyone wants to weigh in, again, feel free. And if you have a job to offer me, your suggestion will be looked upon even more favorably.

Really, what I'm tempted to do given the double digit unemployment rate is to just cash out what is left of my 401(k) and bum around Europe for a while.

So you know, hire me. I'm awesome! Really!!

My Eco-Sins

So some of you may know this or not but I'm secretly part of the Green Moms Carnival ... even though I'm not a mom. Shhh! Don't tell them. I may have made up an imaginary child named Juanita to get into the club.

Anyway ... point being, this month's carnival topic asks what we do that is not eco-friendly. I feel like I've covered this ground a few times since I love self-flagellation, but what the hell. If you want to read the full carnival, check it out on June 24th at The Green Parent.

Okay ... so first off, I have sinned REMARKABLY during these past few months with exams. I think I've come to the conclusion that we all have the things we're quite good at. For me, it's not shopping. I can not shop until I don't drop. But cooking ...?

Yeah that crap went out the window long ago. In the past couple months, I have *gasp* used several styrofoam cups as I forgot my portable tea mug and then the portable tea mug became so scuzzy and gross I couldn't use it anymore.

I have given up on farmer's markets for the time being, instead buying my (still organic and British grown) strawberries at the nearby supermarket. Of course, they come wrapped in buckets of plastic.

Then there was my exam obsession with Subway. I chose Subway, because, yes, it is fast food, but it is reasonably healthy, I get a lot of veg on my sandwich, and I always take the sandwich without a plastic bag. So getting Subway once in a while, okay. But I lived on Subway. To the point where, I would go in, and they would know me, and know what I wanted. "Why do you always get the Veggie Delight?" they would ask. 'The Veggie Patty is really good you know.' After that time, I stopped going to Subway so much.

What else? Oh yeah. I switched back to normal deodorant after trying the Tom's of Maine kind. (It doesn't work.)

And lastly, when I was in Belgium, I bought a ton of delicious goumet chocolates. They were amazing. And also, seriously not fair-trade.

What Motivates You?

I've been contemplating this a lot recently. What motivates us? Me, you, your friends, your spouse? Are we motivated by posters? By ads? By pop-stars? By sticks? By carrots?

And how do we motivate others? Is the answer to our problems taxes and tazers? Do we motivate people to lessen their environmental impact by force?

Or do we motivate people to lessen their environmental impact by appealing to their altruism?

Can we use force to get people to care, or does force turn people off? Will cap and trade or a carbon tax or another top-down approach make people care more about the environment, or will it make them care less?

What do you think?

To Buy or Not to Buy?

Well it seems like everyone's talking about cell phones this week and it's made me think a little about mine.

For years I always went with the no-frills free phones. They would conveniently fall apart right about when my contract would expire, so I would dutifully re-sign with my cellphone overlord, get my new crappy free phone and continue on with life. I never questioned this until my phone fell apart a mere six months after I had purchased it. Given the option of paying full price for the crappy no-frills phone, I instead opted for the magical land of eBay where I found a used phone that, yes, had some scratches, but worked perfectly. And lo! Me and my cell phone were happy for a year and a half until it basically went kaput.

At that point I was getting ready to move to the UK so I took a friend's old phone that was UK compatible with me. And it's served me quite well for the past year, but I've had it for almost a year now, and I believe my friend had it for over a year before me, and there are signs that this cell phone may well be on its last legs.

Now back when I bought my first phone off of eBay I swore I would never buy a new phone again. Why sign a contract to get a crap phone when I can get a perfectly good phone at a decent price off of eBay. I only ever got the stupid no-frills phones anyway, so what does it matter.

Except that phones have changed since I made that edict and phones are increasingly no longer just phones. More and more of my friends have iPhones and Blackberries and their phones can do cool stuff like tell you how to say giraffe in Portuguese. So I fear that I am succumbing to the Shiny! Technology! Greedy! Gremlin.

I mean I'm not. Not yet, anyway, because A#1, my phone still works and A#2, I'm an unemployed student with no cash to spare.

So for now, my principles are intact.

But I do kinda want an iPhone. And I kinda hate myself for kinda wanting an iPhone.

But WHAT DO I DO IF I NEED TO SAY GIRAFFE IN PORTUGUESE? What then?!! Think of the children!!

I know, I know ... new cell phones are incredibly damaging to the environment. And I have principles.

So I'm not buying a new cell phone.

I guess I'll have to wait until I get home to my laptop computer in order to translate giraffe into Portuguese. Or else start learning Pourtuguese.

I'm back?

So exam five out of six ended today, and I think I should probably get back into some form or routine. Including blogging, jogging, and losing the ten pounds of exam weight I apparently put on.

As I transition back to a normal schedule of blogging for the first time in what, ten months, is there anything you would like me to blog about? Because I am likely to be slim on ideas for awhile, so if you don't want blog posts about what I had for breakfast, you know, tell me what you want me to chatter on endlessly about.

So Beany asked me the other day about how I felt about the tube strike (hence the photo of the tube.) As she correctly recalled, the tube strike did not affect me directly since I live in walking distance from campus. It did affect my friends who do not live so close to campus and who also received a rather nasty email from the university saying that the tube strike did not constitute a valid excuse for being late to an exam.

Anyway, I wasn't particularly bothered and politically I support the right of unions to strike in general, but the two days of the strike I have never seen so much car traffic, foot traffic, and bikers. The car traffic especially was a disaster and a good reminder of why public transit is our friend. I heard some of the bikers tried to campaign to get people to bike more even on days when there is no tube strike. But I don't think they really succeeded as now that the tube is back up and running, it doesn't seem like there are more bikers on the streets. Perhaps if they had tried a massive naked bike ride during the tube strike ....

Photo from flickr user gnackgnackgnack

Um, awesome.

Apparently, the Queen is becoming a locavore and growing a garden at Buckingham Palace for the first time since World War II!! Check it out.

30

And I still haven't saved the world yet. What the hell, man?! ;) I guess that's going to have to go on my list of things to accomplish by 40.