an entry somewhere else

This weekend I caught up with an old colleague who still pounds the pavement in the Big Durian. He’s a bit older than me with a great story to tell about his worldly travels, his ups and downs. The point is this: while talking to him, I realized that looking for a job in the U.S. at this time is a pretty ridiculous thing to do. The economy is in the dunk tank, no matter how many times the interest rates get changed, and putting gas in a car is getting obscene. With most locations in the U.S. necessitates the use of a car, something that I’m looking to move away from at this point in time. Of course, you can counter me by telling me to live in a city and use mass transit, but too many people want to live in a city. To add to that, jobs are much more plentiful (and better paid) abroad.

I’ve been in Indonesia for the better part of four years, and I feel it’s time to move on. Move on from this organization and move on from Indonesia. Luckily, I don’t have to jump at the first offer that comes my way. Of course, interviewing from little ol’ Aceh might involve some technological acrobatics, if it were to come to that. You can bet I’m not flying to the U.S. just for an interview, no matter how decent the job seems right now. I do have a luxury of a nest egg and the offer of several couches to surf for the time being.

Perhaps, as things have done unusually much in my life, some offer that I just can’t turn down will fall at my feet, bidding me to take it up and run with it. For now, I’ll look at jobs with the multitudes who have the not-so-much-a-beginner-but-not-a-well-seasoned-educator qualifications.

About a month ago my heart rate monitor (people who do a lot of exercise sometimes use them—I’m not ill) went bust. I’m not sure what happened. I tried to replace the battery, but I couldn’t put the darn thing back together. This reminded me that I have a digital camera and I should have taken pictures as I disassembled it. I’m going to see what the local fix-it man can do. For now, I covet Garmin products. Specifically, the Garmin Forerunner 305. The 405 is a little much for me. They don’t support MacOS yet, but by the time I am able to pony up some dough for one, they should.