alex.polvi.net

First, before I even get started, I have to say thank you. There are sooooo many people that helped me make this summer awesome. You might be thinking to yourself, how did I help? Well, think about it a bit more, you’ll come up with something. Anyway, yeah, thank you. It was rad.

Where I lived

I worked and lived in Manhattan (NYC). I really feel like I got the experience or at least as much as I could only being there three months. My apartment was on the upper west side, right across from the American Museum of Natural History. I lived with fabulous couple in their spectacular pre-war apartment. I got a kick everytime I watched the doorman operate the manual elevator.

Where I worked

I worked as a Linux System Adminstrator for Google. Yep, I can confirm, Google is an amazing place. My first two jobs were pretty much start-ups; both workplaces at which I could be super idealistic and make crazy ideas happen. Moving to Google I was nervous that I would lose this. Well, I sort of did. I was an “intern”. Parts of the company were off limits. However, they were very open with what they could be. I got to see behind the iron curtain. I feel like I am better system administrator because I can now think at a scale much larger than I had before.

What I did

I went out a lot. My co-workers were very good at showing me around the city. Some of the more memorable times include running across town in torrential down-pour with sandals on just for a slice of pizza, getting kissed by an overweight 40 year old lesbian (she “wanted to know”), and the bar the Irish women forced us to stay at.

Then there were all the concerts. Here are some of the bands I saw, in no particular order: Say Hi to You Mom, Ozomatli, Panic! At the disco, Dresden Dolls, Jose Gonzalez, Damien Rice, Fiona Apple, We are Scientists, Belle and Sebastian, Martha Wainwright, Gomez, and Bloc Party… to name a few. Everybody plays in NYC, so I got to see TONS of great bands.

What else happened

I went to Europe! Spain and Italy were cool, but I think I liked Vietnam better. I’m glad I went… it opened my eyes a little bit. I mean, those places are OLD. I need to post photos. Katrina and I had a lot of fun.

OK, this is incomplete… but I’m posting it anyway.

I am home.

The last leg of our trip is in Rome. We’ll be going there later this afternoon. After spending a little time there we will be flying back to Oregon (should be there by 23:30 on the 22nd).

Yesterday we went to Slovenia to have lunch and play in a castle. It was pretty cool! Trieste has been awesome. Andrea has given us fantastic hospitality and tours. He even shared his friends with us! Gooooooooood times.

Oh, and, for you gentoo infra fan boys: polvi <3 lcars

… here

A metro, bus, airplane, and train ride later, we are now with the ever hospitable Andrea Barisani in eastern Italy. Going to check out Venice, Slovenia, eventually ending up in Rome at the end of the week.

Right here.

Took a crazy 8hr bus across Spain. Going to end up in Italy sometime at the end of this week….

Ahh, internship is over and now I’m in Spain with Johnny and Katrina.

In fact, I’m sitting right here, in Segovia Spain. Yup, under a Roman aqueduct stealing wifi.

Sorry for being terse…

In a stint of creativity and angst, I created this last night: http://socialrecession.com/

In other news, I realized last night that I can go from idea to product in less then 4 hours… this includes registering the domain, setting up the webserver, mail, graphics, copy, and the actual HTML. The barrier to entry on the Internet is very low.

There is just so much to do!

This week has been no exception. I got the opportunity to meet up with my Aunt Margaret and see the Hambletonian.

George Forman was there too

The Hambletonian is the most prestigious harness horse race in the country. Aunty M was traveling with a friend who was the mother of the favorite driver, Brian Sears. While he did not win the big race ($1.5mil pot!), he won another very prestigious race. We got to go in the winners circle!

they are taking a photo of us!

It was a very unique experience!

Things got even unique’r when Apple decided to use its SoHo store as a venue. Dri and I saw “The working title” (a name which I think is hilarious).

work’n the $1 horn

Then just to top off the night, Dri, Eric, Chris, Adam, and I all went to a crazy roof-top on 5th ave.

Chris, he has a sweet accent

This is the largest single unit of beverage I have seen.

folks, yes, that’s a liter

I am holding it up like that so you can compare it to the size of my head.

The next big thing was McCarren Pool, Bloc Party’s venue.

that’s a big pool

Blurry photo time!!!

Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke

It was a little warm… but still a good time.

I’m over a week behind and the stuff keeps piling on. This is going to be a very rushed blog post, please don’t hate. Here we go.

Got some awesome cds from katrina, I think she is the first person to use my wish list (hint hint wink wink).

Sufjan Stevens and John Vanderslice

Then Fred visited from OSU

Google took us on this boat thing

Rux and Dri danced it up

Then the day went to Oregon

In Oregon I met up with most of my family to put my Uncle Al to rest. It was sad, but it was right. A lot of the family was there together… I’m very glad I went home.

RIP Kitty Pal!! I know I’ll never forget you!

From there I went to Corvallis.

Deck caught on fire, neighbors put it out… close one! Lucky nobody got hurt

We had a great BBQ. Good friends from the Corvallis crew all showed up. It was wonderful to be able to see those folks — made me realize how much I like Oregon!

Closing note:

Oregon mass transit is much more pretty than nyc