Personal

While at the salsa bar at Cactus with Rebekah today: C: How do you say ‘Here, take this,’ in Persian? R: بفرماید (Befarmaeed.) [Go ahead ; By all means ; Be my guest ; Please, have some] C: Really? R: Really. C: Doesn’t that seem overly formal? R: You’ve been Persian for how long?

Since arriving back on Monday, I’ve done the following: – Had a burrito at El Ojo de Agua with Becky, Joe, Alan, and Boyk! – Had a beer at Jupiter with David Sasaki – Had breakfast with Evgeny Morozov – Went to an A’s game – Had post-baseball tacos at Tacos Sinaloa – Had lunch with Luukas Ilves – Interviewed Vint Cerf for Wired Italia, where I met Christopher LaMarca – Saw Nous Non Plus last night at the Rickshaw…

Well, our seven-month contract here in Lyon has finally come to a close. We’ve had ups and downs, like with anything — but overall, Becky and I agree that we’ve had a fantastic time. We’ve made some wonderful friends, and have had a chance to experience a taste of French and European life. Things I’ll miss about Lyon: 1) People! Big thanks go out to Wolf, Rebecca, Romix, Lucy, Loïc, Brad, Nicole, Birgit, Clément, Didier, and many others who made…

Right now I’m sitting on a TGV that’s about to depart from Lyon back to Paris. It’s a quick two hour trip between boths stations. With comfortable seats, food/drink (hell, beer and wine are served on board!) and stations in the center of town — this high-speed stuff is definitely the way to travel. (Everyone’s voting for the California high speed rail ballot measure, right?) Becky arrives early tomorrow morning and I’ll head to the airport to pick her up…

Well guys, I’m off tomorrow. I’ll be visiting my cousins in Washington DC tomorrow through Sunday, and by Monday will be arriving in Paris. By Tuesday afternoon, I’ll be in Lyon, where Becky and I will start the beginning of our seven month sojourn. I’ll be continuing to blog for Salon’s Machinist, and freelance as much as possible while I’m abroad. Oh yeah, and I gotta finish that pesky book before the end of the year. I’ll be back before…

As usual, 10 percent discount for blog readers. Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) Seasons 1-7 DVD – $200 AT&T GoPhone prepaid SIM card – $15

Becky and I are moving to Lyon next month. I leave Oakland in exactly six weeks (OMG! SIX WEEKS!) for a weekend trip to DC to visit my cousins and will go to France from there on September 21. So, who’s got leads on apartments in Lyon? We want something in the 3è (near Part-Dieu), have 500 euros max to spend and ideally would like the place to be furnished. We’d need it from October 1 2008 to May 1…

The subject of traffic tickets is on my mind lately, as a few months ago I got busted for doing a California roll right turn here in North Oakland. I’m in the midst of online traffic school right now, and when all is said and done, I’ll have had to throw down $400 for the pleasure. Compare that to Alex’s experience in Estonia: Then came (compared the the States) a lot of paperwork. A document showing my rights under Estonian…

So after much speculation, discussions, and email exchanges with French bureaucrats, Becky and I are be going to be English Teaching Assistants in France, a program arranged through the French government. What does that mean? We’ll be working 12 hours a week for 28 weeks (October through April) to teach French high schoolers our native tongue, and améliora our French in the process. Did I mention that this includes all the baguettes and croissants we can eat — oh, and…