Crossroads

Sign on Caye Caulker, Belize
Originally uploaded by susiebarber

One of the reasons that I took my epic tripwas to take some time to assess my life and figure out what I want to do from here. I hadn't been happy for a while and my manager had been making my life a living hell. I've been schlepping through the hell that is Silicon Valley for 10 years and was tired of the constant flux and companies getting bought and sold. I've personally worked at 3 companies that have been bought since 2004.

So what did I figure out? Absolutely nothing. I'm not sure if I was just too busy trying to get around, having fun and staying safe, or if I was just avoiding dealing with all of this. All I know is that I'm running out of projects around the house and am starting to get a bit bored. I am signed up for an orientation with Cabrillo's Fast Track program, where the assess your skills and interests and hopefully train you for a new profession. But that's not for another week or so. And there's no guarantee that they'll be able to help me out. Since I've returned, I've had calls from recruiters, but they're for more of what was making me miserable.

So what's a girl to do? Ride her bike? Been doing that. One friend suggested getting off my ass and trying the online dating thing, but I just couldn't figure out what to say on a profile. Volunteer her time toward a good cause? I need to find another cause (I did shuttle old folks to the polls on election day). Or just something that I like doing.

Any suggestions?

A Fantastic Night

population world map
Originally uploaded by upyernoz

I'm sitting here absolutely ecstatic about the election results for President, the Senate, and House of Representatives, but I'm anxious and worried about Proposition 8.

Having recently finished a 3 month mid-life crisis, bucket list, "learn how the other half lives" trip around the world, I couldn't help but want to find out what they're all saying in far away lands. So this gal with a BA in Politics with an emphasis in International Relations went searching on the internet for the past hour or so. Interestingly, Al Jazeera's English web server was down for most of that time, but it's now up and they have a great play by play of tonight's events interspersed with reactions from around the world here.

My favorite quote from the article:

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege in Kenya, reports that "the level of excitement is absolutely unbelievable. Many of these villagers have been sitting here for 15 hours watching international television news in a language they barely understand. That excitement is felt across the region.

"There's also a huge sense of pride, because Obama’s father was born in this village.

"If Obama does win, the local community is planning to slaughter cows and have a barbecue."

Given what I saw on my trip and the conversations that I had with people in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, I know that the world is excited. Personally, I am confident that the world's perception of the US has changed for the better, but it will be interesting to see just how in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Vote

Election Day ~ go VOTE
Originally uploaded by paulhitz

I've done it and I hope you do, too. For those of you familiar with the Santa Cruz area, I vote at the Simpkins swim center. There are 4 precincts there and when I first drove up, it was pretty intimidating. The entire parking lot was full and the long driveway was lined on both sides with parked cars. The 4 lines ( 1 for each of the precincts) went out the doors. They only had 1 electronic voting booth for each of the precincts and those had some long lines, so I opted for the paper ballot. Despite it looking like I could be there all morning, I parked and was back out in my car within 10 minutes.

So get out there and vote today! And be thankful we have nice sunny weather. And vote no on Proposition 8.