Over the next month or so, Wikimedia will be recruiting for the
following positions: developers, chief financial and operating officer,
head of public outreach, head of partnerships development, accountant,
personal assistant to the executive director, office manager, head of
development, head of communications and head of business development.
For the full job postings and application instructions, please go to
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings.

These jobs are intended to be based in our new San Francisco
headquarters, but as an international organization we're open to the
possibility of locating a few positions elsewhere. For the SF office
itself, we will only be able to hire people who already have the legal
ability to work in the United States.

These are fabulous opportunities for creative, motivated people who want
to work in a successful, growing and highly-collaborative mission-driven
environment :-) Please tell your friends & colleagues.

Company: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Job Title: Multiple openings
Description: Please see http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings

It may be that I'll have to stagger my own workweek somewhat, come in excrutiatingly early some days, while staying late others, in order that I may have access to the European as well as Asian communities. However, this also allows us the opportunity to expand our contacts and allow me to better relegation functions to community members across the globe.

I regret that this will put me at somewhat of a distance from our Europeans, although, the good news will be that my morning will be their evening; and most volunteer activity takes place during the evenings.

Anyway, I'm delighted to be moving to San Francisco, otherwise. 18 years in Florida is enough.

While we love Saint Petersburg, it has never completely felt like home. Too backward in many aspects, too many uneducated people with conservative leanings. While I'm not knocking them, I can't understand people who like to vote against their own best interests.

San Francisco is the opposite. Affluent people with liberal leanings. Plus the weather can't be beat. No more ridiculously hot and long summers.

We had a 7 hour layover at LAX before we boarded China Airlines Flight no. 5 to Taipei, which itself was delayed for two hours because of a PA system failure.

Taiwan was hot, muggy, and beautiful and breathtaking. I experienced a cornucopia of sights and sounds, and made some remarkable acquaintances during Wikimania 2007. Much of my Wikimania related photographs can be found in my Commons Gallery, here: Wikimedia Commons Wikimania 2007 gallery.

The city was filled with many other amazing sights. I especially enjoyed the Buddhist Temples. The notable one was Foyou Temple in Danshui, probably because we were the only foreign tourists at the time to be visiting. My sightseeing pictures are mostly located here: Bastique's photos on Flickr.

The flight back was just as tedius. I got home Tuesday morning, August 7, and slept much of that day. It took me several days to finally get caught up in my sleep.

The United States Passport agency has still not notified me when I am going to receive my passport. I filled out my application and turned it in on April 30. Last time I called, they were in the process of working on it. Hopefully it will be overnighted to me at some point tonight (or maybe it already has been, one can cross one's fingers). If not, I'm going to have to drive all the way to Miami, pick it up (if it's ready) and then drive all the way back.

Why didn't someone plan this?

Throw a paper ball on the floor and he would play with it--and then he would bring it back to you to throw again. Coco fetched like a dog!

He was also peaceful around dogs. Rare was the dog that would make him run and hide...usually he'd simply find a place high enough to get out of the dog's way and remain there until the dog lost interest. It was his house, and the whatever dog it was, was just a guest there.

This passing one breaks my heart more than any that have passed before. I will dearly miss my little Coco.

I am sorry. Work has been hectic, but not too unwieldy to ignore the blogosphere. Therefore, expect some updates in the coming weeks as to my life, the world, and everything.

Cary

Thanks.

Read the article and see the video here: Rainbow flag creates controversy.

Here's an extract:

Local resident, Keith Klassen says the flag is a slap in the face to the conservative community of Meade. “To me it's just like running up a Nazi flag in a Jewish neighborhood. I can't walk into that establishment with that flag flying because to me that's saying that I support what the flag stands for and I don't," says Klassen.

Spread the word.

My tattoo, as it stands now.

Don't get me wrong—the work is most definitely worth it, considering the talent of the artist and the scope and nature of the artwork. It's just that this tattoo is costing me considerably more than I expected when I began initial discussions with the artist. Originally conceived as a present to myself for quitting smoking, the total cost has quite offset any savings I might have incurred by not buying cigarettes.

On the other hand, I have remained a non-smoker, not willing to explain a huge tattoo for which I've publicly announced was a direct result of my quitting smoking. How embarrassing that would have been! Better to stay non-smoking.

The last time I went in, I told him I had $150 on me and we'd stop when that ran out. It worked.

Since when was the art of getting tattooed reserved for the wealthy?

Attendant: "You can't bring that bike in here!"

There's a comment I'm all to ready for. After all, convenience gas stations have tons of pedestrian traffic, in and out, and my bike could have caused an accident for someone who might not see it in front of them. It might even mark up the floors of the shop. Never mind baby strollers, wheelchairs.

Me: "But you don't have anywhere to lock it up in front."

I'm not kidding about this. This place has eight convenient pumps with three grades, plus diesel; not leaving a lot of room for other encumbrances, like a bike lockup rack. Gasoline convenient stations have become highly specialized, for one single kind of consumer. All the convenience you can muster in one place…if you're buying gasoline.

But there are a lot of people who aren't in cars lounging around outside the gas station. Rough-looking sorts. And it isn't my bike.

"Listen, I just want to tell you that you have to leave it outside."

Listen to nonsense? This man has evidently no concept of the value of things, or more probably is thinking in terms of himself, what he might have to clean up off the floor—or what might happen. Or perhaps I'm just being too impatient, expecting an outcome where nothing is certain.

The female cashier is trying to say something…but I'm not really listening to her.

"If you don't want to cater to bicyclists, I'll go somewhere else!"

Walgreen's, at least, builds stores with bike racks. I shouldn't be surprised at a Shell station without one. I don't like Shell. Shell gasoline is shit. My truck always has problems when I use Shell fuel. Buying something to eat would be the only reason I'd be in here, and…well…

As I'm leaving, I hear the man saying something about the fact that people leave their $30,000 cars running outside. I wouldn't leave a car running outside, but that's irrelevant. Theft of a car is considered a felony. Theft of a bike isn't. Opportunity will easily ignore a running car, complete with GPS navigation, Lojak, and other secure devices, in favor of an unlocked bicycle…a quick $25 to $50 on the street…impossible to trace or recover. Who does this idiot think he is, comparing my bike to a $30,000 car?

I do believe the young lady in front of the register was telling me that I could leave my bike at the front of the store. Maybe I should not have been so hasty in my retribution. Ah well, the damage was done.

Cross one Shell station off of my list of friendly stores.

My last photograph...Tri-Rail leaving Delray Beach

I had just recharged my battery, and knew the camera had juice—at least as I was taking the previous photographs—but to be certain, I looked again at the images I took. My battery indicator was full, and my images were fine. I slid the cover open again. My lens remained in place.

The Olympus Stylus 300 digital cameras (as well as the rest of the Stylus series) have a mechanism whereby the lens remains tucked into the camera unless the lens cover is completely open. My assumption is that this protects the undoubtedly delicate lens from scratches or cracks.

I have always have some small difficulty with the sensitivity of my lens cover. It only takes a tap and the lens shuts closed, disappearing into its slot more quickly than a gopher escaping from a lawn mower. I remember more than once preparing for the perfect shot only to have my hopes dashed by the sudden disappearance of the lens because my finger slipped.

Carefully bringing my camera home, I unscrewed the lens cover to reveal the mechanisms, barely a quarter inch by quarter inch of little plastic and metal pieces, carefully aligned, and one tiny sliver of plastic—perhaps a half of millimeter wide and five millimeters long—broken loose.

With no practical way to fix it, I grunted in disdain. This camera, which cost me over $300 two years ago, is long outmoded by cameras with eight times the power at the same price. I have sent an email to Olympus complaining that an otherwise perfectly good camera has been brought low by a tiny sliver of plastic.

I will optimistically wait for their response. Perhaps this sort of thing has happened with this model before, and all I have to do is send in for a complete retrofit of the mechanism.

I don't care that the camera is already two years old and can only store 180 images at 2048 by 1572. I've taken a lot of good pictures with it and hope to take many more. Furthermore, It's not like I have another three hundred dollars to drop on a new camera—I still have to buy a new bicycle as well as finish my tattoo, not to mention my endless dental expenses.

So I have faith that Olympus will respond to me and do the right thing. You will all know if they don't.

The page I was handed after my oral surgery

I only have myself and the misdeeds of my past to blame. In the first place, adequate dental hygiene habits never appended properly despite the best efforts of my parents. Furthermore, during the worst of my drug addiction I used a substantial amount of crystal meth, traditionally a large contributor to tooth decay.

A card I received on Folsom Street in San FranciscoCrystal methamphetamine, or "Tina", as it is known affectionately by its users, is an enemy that combats the well-being of teeth on numerous fronts: dry mouth from reduction of saliva potentially caused by meth overuse, cracked teeth due to clenching or grinding, general immune suppression associated, and finally poor nutrition and basic hygiene neglect. It's a wonder I have kept the teeth I have.

I have had all four of my wisdom teeth out, but the feelings surrounding the loss of those cannot compare with the removal of this tooth, great price tag notwithstanding. It's a loss for which I have little resolution.

Right now there's nothing but a sad little hole in my underbite. My tongue wants to explore the gap.

Having a tooth missing is certainly a mood depresser.

First and foremost is hours of relaxed peace I spend riding each week, wherein I've been able to renew my romance with the quill and ink, otherwise known as my writing fancy. It is no secret how much I love crafting words from the whorls of chaos churning in my mind every day. There is a kind of "self-help" power in making entertaining or provocative commentary.

The Tri-Rail looks turned round when it's heading northbound.
This one is leaving the stationThere is also a mental muscle involved in writing, one that gets weak and flimsy when not in use—but when exercised on a daily basis, the muscle grows strong and dexterous, able to masterfully ignite effervescent prose from even the most desolate of environs.

Secondly is the stress relief of putting all my power on an immense, constantly moving locomotive when local traffic reports every morning provide an endless barrage of accidents, fender-benders, and roadway debris causing backups for miles and miles filled with psychotic rush hour drivers high on the carbon monoxide fumes of countless cars.

There is little to compare with the feeling one gets looking out the east window of the rapidly progressing train and seeing I-95 looking like a parking lot.

Next on the list is the daily exercise I have been getting from riding a bicycle between the station and work (and many mornings between home and the station). I sit in front of a computer screen all day at the office and much of my evenings at home. I need to have some sort of routine to prevent the onset of my impending forties, and bicycling happens to be the perfect daily aerobic workout.

Finally, the Tri-Rail provides a never-ending supply of entertainment from comedic announcers to sleeping security guards…and certainly not the least of which are the other passengers—a cross-section of South Florida society. Whether riding for convenience, economic necessity or ecological conservation, there is no end to the flow of personalities to be found on every Tri-Rail train.

I've recently become part of a subclass of Tri-Rail riders, the "rider-bicyclists". Out of necessity, we become familiar to one another. Bicycle storage stations on the trains come in pairs, and one often finds oneself doing a sort of dance with other bicyclists in order to insure that "next-one-off-the-train" is the bicycle on the outside.

There is one female rider-bicyclist, who, judging by her garb must work as a hygienist or nurse's assistant, that only rides for one train stop, but being the friendly and outgoing individual that she is, smiling and starting conversations, has become an easily recognized rider. Recently she asked what it was I was writing in my notebook every day.

In so many ways, the train is the better option by far. I wish they were more frequent and had a better on time ratio. Perhaps they'd attract more riders and be able to provide even better services.

But no more bicyclists…please. We need the space we get!