Among The Poplars Redux

Forgot to explain the subject line in the last post. On the walls of the High Street Station Café in Alameda are a series of museum-quality framed text items which explain some of the history of Alameda and its former place as a major rail and trolley locus. It says there used to be huge oak forests (for which Oakland was named) and it was not an island until a cut was dug between it and Oakland.

One also said the town was named in an election, that Alameda was from the Spanish term for poplar trees, and the voters were told it meant "a stand of poplars".

Which, as anyone familiar with the various Alamedas throughout California knows, is WRONG.

While the root word is  Spanish for poplar, an alameda is a promenade or avenue lined with trees. Poplars would be nice but any species will fit the bill. Naming the town Alameda was on a par with naming a town Freeway or Highway or Overpass.

Mondays Are Not So Bad

...when you don't have to go to work in the morning. I spent entirely too much time cutting up an MPEG of a play I was in ages ago into 20-minute segments to fit Facebook's size limits, and then converting them to MP4 and WMV formats for further size reduction, only to find FB choked about 1/3 of the way through the uploads. It could also have been Comcast throttling, but they usually only do that on downloads.

So no joy there. It was suggested I try Youtube, but they have a 15-minute limit, and I'm done with the tedious cutting which would be required.

No word from the recruiter about the job I did the phone interview for last week, and just like The First 48, chances are exponentially poorer of getting to the next level if you don't hear within 48 hours. Bummer.

I went to Linked-in and removed the connection there I had with Sorta-boss. When I made the connection he was a new transfer brought in as part of a 2-person team to automate tests. They failed so miserably that Boss made them Sorta-bosses of two newly-created groups. The permanent promotion came through last week, so now he is actual manager of his group. I really don't need a connection who could have warned me about my impending dis-employment but pretended everything was fine.

Watched some CNN, caught by a teaser which promised some news from Cmdr. Kelly about his wife's amazing progress "after a short update on the middle east". The update ran through three commercial breaks before I gave up and went back the the computer.

BASFA was way crowded tonight, some folks from Corflu, and others who were there to vote on a rare money motion, about which the group sends postcards to the membership 2 weeks prior. 

Plans for tomorrow:
Watch the rain