Caliban – Opinion and Righteous Anger

I spent today packing bags, ready to head off to the airport for a 23:59 flight to Ottawa via Washington DC.

Yes folks, it’s the wonderful musical immigration game. I have to disappear to Canada for a month, otherwise the US authorities will get uptight and kick my arse out of the country. Canada just happens to be the closest country to the US in which Linuxcare has an office.

With a little luck, I’ll be packed off to Hong Kong and possibly the UK at the end of this trip; otherwise, I’ll be back in San Francisco on 22nd July, assuming the INS let me in.

The day started slowly today.

I spent a lot of time on the phone to the Irish Consulate, trying to find out how the hell to relinquish my Irish citizenship. I need to fill out a Declaration of Alienage, but don’t have enough kinds of official identification with me here in the States to allow me to do so.

This is crazy! I know you have to jump through hoops and perform miracles to gain citizenship, but surrendering it should be easy!

If I don’t surrender my Irish citizenship soon, I may lose my Dutch citizenship. And all of this is going on while I’m in the USA. Don’t ask; it’s a long story.

Tried to find a barber shop to have my hair cut. Failed. Made an appointment for Thursday morning.

Took the bike in to the shop and had the chain lubricated, the rear derailleur tuned, a saddle bag and water bottle holder fitted, some new grips added, plus front and rear lighting. My $200 ex-hire bike is purring like a kitten again now and is a pleasure to ride.

Finally got in to work at 11:45, where I stayed until 21:15. Got out and met up with former Linuxcare sysadmin Michael, who’ll be staying with me for a couple of days.

I don’t think I’ve ever drunk so much fluid in a single day.

The day started with two cups of water, followed by two pink lemonades at Max’s. Then I cycled up into the Marin Headlands, before heading down to Sausalito, where I devoured two milkshakes.

From there, I cycled across part of the Bay Trail to Tiburon, a small and picturesque town in Marin County. A large slush drink was the next in line to try to quench my insatiable thirst.

I came back across the Golden Gate around 8:30 p.m., arriving home around 9, which was pretty good timing, since my bike has no lights on it, so I didn’t want to be on any busy roads after dark.

I rounded the evening off with some potato skins and 3 more pink lemonades at Max’s, where I bumped into Crackmonkey, who was reading Leo Brodie’s out-of-print tome on Forth. Hmm, I’ve got a copy of that back in Amsterdam. Haven’t hacked Forth since my CP/M days. Can’t even remember how now, to tell the truth.

Went down to Digital Island’s facility on Friday to check out Linuxcare’s equipment in the racks. I’ve now seen what an EMC Symmetrix looks like. Wow, is all I can say.

I’m now going to be staying in San Francisco until 31st July. It looks like there may be work to do in either Ottawa or Padua, Italy, so maybe I’ll end up going there instead of back to Amsterdam.

My folks are staying in San Diego, but the drive up to San Francisco is too brutal, so I won’t be seeing them this weekend after all.

Went out with ex-Linuxcare sysadmin Robin Slomkowski yesterday. We did a lot of driving, heading up north of Cloverdale and hung out in some very beautiful scenery. It was good to talk to someone sane for a change. Went to Sparky’s afterwards for some serious small hour dining.

The weather continues to be gorgeous, so I’m going to head out on the bike soon. Not sure where I’ll go, though. Maybe over the Golden Gate and then up the Marin Headlands, or maybe I’ll go south.

Spent today fixing reverse DNS using Perl, curing Oracle problems for the finance department, configuring the last few printers that were not yet on-line, and generally tidying up the loose ends from the move.

Spoke to my boss and Human Resources today. It looks like the firm is finally going to apply for an H-1 visa in my name. My current stay in San Francisco has been extended by another month, so I’m now here until at least early July.

Went to BALUG this evening, but was so tired that I actually started to nod off a couple of times during Andrea Arcangelli’s kernel talk. Shame on me.

My folks are now in the USA, currently in San Diego. Maybe I’ll meet up with them this weekend.