Three Hundred Eighth Entry

Had my interview at Caltrans in Oakland today. I was very good and restrained myself from discussing how ignorant and inefficient they are.

It was a good interview. The three panelists were nice and asked interesting problem solving questions. For example: Imagine a roadway has a congestion problem(not that hard in the Bay Area). What factors contribute to the congestion and what measures can be taken to alleviate the congestion? Not a question like "What is LOS?", or "What are HOV lanes?" which is a very Tulare County way of interviewing. You really have to think and almost participate in a quasi-preliminary design solution for that problem. The really broad answer would be to increase capacity on the roadway. They wanted specific answers like: widen the road, add metering lights(if it's a freeway), add a carpool lane(HOV lane), encourage ride-sharing/public transit, provide adequate detour if congestion is due to construction, change the phasing patterns on signals, investigate trip generation for the area. I gave all those answers except for the last two. I think there was one more, but I can't remember it.

Then I had two questions about hazardous waste. One was what to do when you find it (stop construction, isolate it, call hazmat teams) and the other was what risks it may have on environmental resources and people during removal(make people sterile, kill off any plants or animals(possibly endangered), damage the water supply, potentially become airborne). Very interesting questions!

I pulled a boner today. I am such an idiot. I forgot some papers that I needed to take to the interview in my office yesterday. I thought that if I went early enough, noone would see me and I could still call in sick today without repercussions. So, I got up at 6:30 a.m. and went over to the office. I went in, got the papers and headed out. As I stepped out the door at 6:40 a.m., the Assistant Director of Engineering was walking through the parking lot. IF only I hadn't hit the snooze!!! I was absolutely certain he saw me walking out to my truck in my sweats and flip-flops. I totally ignored him(he walked like 5 feet from my truck) and got in and sped off. Then on my way to SL I called in sick to Danny, not thinking the AD of E would say anything. Well, I called Blas after my interview and downloaded to him the questions and my answers. He mentioned that AD of E was up in Danny's office asking where I was:

AD: Where's Young Phillip?
Danny: He called in sick.
AD: Oh really? I saw him here this morning.
Danny: Really?

If I wasn't quitting next week I would shit a brick the size of a microwave. But I am, so I'm not. He'll probably come up and see me tomorrow and ask me what is going on. I'll tell the God's honest truth. Aliens abducted me and taught me how to speak their language. Meep zorb cantwi Poona. Anma Hipro sporat Gijif. I'll teach him the basic phrases, just in case he's ever abducted, and he'll give me one million dollars for being so honest.

Everything is good and brown
Oh I'm here again
With a sunshine smile upon my face
My friends are close at hand
And all my inhibitions
Have disappeared without a trace
I'm glad, oh I found
Somebody who I can rely on

This is the return of the space cowboy
Inter-planetary good vibe zone
Say at the speed of Cheeba, oh you and I go deeper
Maybe I'll have to get high to get by, hey

Everything is good oh and green
Say I'm red again
And I don't suppose I'm comin' down
I can see clearly, so high in sky
A man with psychedelic picture frames
Of happiness to shade his eyes
He's glad, oh that he found
Somebody who he can rely on

This is the return of the space cowboy
Inter-planetary good vibe zone
Say at the speed of Cheeba, oh you and I go deeper
Maybe I'll have to get high to get by, hey
Maybe I'm gonna have to get high

Now he's here again
Now he's here again
And I don't know what I'd do without him next to me
Everything, everything is good and brown
Now that, now that he's around

This is the return of the space cowboy
Inter-planetary good vibe zone

Say at the speed of Cheeba
Oh, you and I go deeper
Maybe I'll have to get high to get by

This is the return of the space cowboy
Inter-planetary good vibe zone

Say at the speed of Cheeba, oh you and I go deeper
Hey now we'll go deeper, oh now we'll go deeper
You and I, you and I, you and I, you and I
You and I, you and I, you and I, you and I
Now we'll go deeper yeah

Return of the Space Cowboy (one of my top five)
Return of the Space Cowboy album
by Jamiroquai

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There's a stillness in time
Which I cannot define
Does your heart bleed like mine all the time yeah
For a place we can go
Where the troubles of our time are far away
Hey they are so far away
And I had all my life in front of me
Now my darkness days are trouble free
There are so many wonderous things for you to see

If you find that somethings going wrong
Look around at what your running from
You can wait a thousand years in line
For that stillness in time

I found love in that way
And I'm never sad, and I'm always glad
Anything you give me today
Oh yeah I will will be thankful for
People find it hard to be strong
Cause they don't know where they're coming from
Ooh there was nothing left to do but hang on
For that stillness in time

There's a stillness in time
Search the space inside my mind

If this world is turning too fast for your head
Just remember how bad times can roll instead
Guess I'll have to search the space in my mind
For that stillness in time.

Oh yeah I found love in that way
And I'm never sad, and I'm always glad
Ooh yeah anything you give me today
Oh yeah I will be thankful for
People find it hard to be strong
Cause they don't know where they're coming from
Hey, there was nothing left to do but hang on
For that stillness in time.

I know that this is the peripheral side of bliss
There is no me, for the love I have will stay the same
I have been wrong if I don't know where I'm coming from
If I don't see the things that are inside of me
Apart of me, in front of me
Oh, see it's all around me
Said I know, said I want to find that stillness in time
Stillness in time

Hey la, la, la, la, la, lo (repeat until end)

Stillness in Time
Return of the Space Cowboy album
by Jamiroquai