06.11.04

Spontaneity

Posted in Philosophy, Travel at 3:51 pm by Danny Dawson

For better or worse, I made a change today. My prior plans included me waiting until the 21st of this month to fly out to California, find myself a job, and then fly back home, collect my things, return to CA and start my life there, couch-hopping with friends until I can find and afford a place of my own. This morning, I got tired of the waiting and anticipation, and I quit. I quit my job. I quit waiting. I quit living each day waiting for another day to come.

Now, I pack. This weekend I go with my mother to my cousin’s wedding in Daytona (congrats Nikki and Ray), and when I return from that excursion there will be a final packing of my bags and boxes. Then, California. I’ll leave most of my stuff with my mom in easy-to-ship boxes ready to meet me at whatever beautiful new apartment or hole-in-the-wall warehouse studio I find.

Am I excited? Yes. Am I nervous? Yes. Am I a fool? Yes.

The sky is bright and blue and I am free to go.

06.06.04

Screw Florida

Posted in Travel, SocialIssues at 1:23 am by Danny Dawson

From an email I wrote tonight to Kim:

$14 on a Friday night is ridiculous. So’s $20 on a Saturday night. I’m coming home.

Those numbers refer to tips only. Florida has no minimum wage, so we follow the federal law here. My employer is required to provide me with $2.13 an hour as a “base pay” rate, and if my weekly average pay (including tips) drops below $5.15 an hour (the federal minimum wage, compared with $6.75 in California), my employer must make up the difference. So I should see a small pay check for this week (most of it is taxed — tip jobs [waiter, bartender, etc.] tend to have slightly high rates of taxation). Oh, wait, no, I take that back. Tonight I made a total of $29.585 when you include my hourly wage, and last night I made $23.585. My employer is only required to provide me with extra cash if my total for each of those nights had dipped below $23.175. You gotta love the federal minimum wage Florida.

Were you aware that the federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised in about 7 years? It was set to $5.15 on September 1, 1997. Assuming a 40-hour work week and 50 work weeks a year, that amounts to a yearly wage of $10,300. In the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area in 2004, $10,300 has the same buying power that $8,886.27 did in 1997 when the minimum wage was set, which seems to mean that workers making the federal minimum wage nowadays can afford about 86.3% of what they could back in 1997. In San Francisco, where the minimum wage was raised to $8.50 an hour this year, workers working the same amount make $17,000 a year, which is equivalent to about $13,764.77 in 1997 dollars. In SF in 1997, minimum wage workers made $10,300 a year (same as in Florida), which shows a quality of living increase for minimum wage workers in SF of 33.6% between 1997 and 2004, compared to the 13.7% decrease of QOL for minimum wage workers in the FLL/MIA area. Note that through all this, the federal Health and Human Services poverty guidelines have been raised 18.0% over that same time period. Sounds like Mi Ami has been fucked and forgotten. Which is one of the reasons I’m moving to California.

Keep in mind that I know nothing of economics. The subject has always mystified me.

Maintaining the same QOL in Emeryville, CA that I do here in Hallandale, FL requires about a 38.6% increase in my income. By my most conservative guesstimates, I made at least 50% more working at Venus in Berkeley (a short bus ride from Emeryville) than I currently do at Tuna’s in North Miami Beach (a bitch of a bus ride from my house in Hallandale, or more often, an inconvenient hitch with one of my coworkers). I say at least, because I’m comparing a very low guesstimate of my average income at Venus with a high guesstimate of my average income at Tuna’s. More likely, I made about 80-100% more, which is what I’d need to maintain the same QOL in the City of SF. However, if I choose to live in SF, I will surely shop around for the nicest cheap apartment I can find and I’ll get some job in the city, where the minimum wage is 25.9% higher than it is in Berkeley.

Again a disclaimer: this is probably all based on some seriously fuzzy math.

Resources:
Minimum Wage Laws by State
Cost-of-Living Calculator over time by Metropolitan Area
Relative Salaries City to City (in current dollars)
History of CA Minimum Wage
HHS Poverty Guidelines over time

Further Reading:
Hope for Florida?

05.26.04

The Caesar Salad is Mexican

Posted in General, Travel at 1:02 pm by Danny Dawson

Last few days:

  • Friday - was driven around in LA by Carlos’ brother. Crashed on the couch at 6:30. Woke up at 4am next day.
  • Saturday - Walked around the neighborhood at sunrise. Took a long walk later around the city looking for wifi access. Outside the Flynt Publications building found four advertised networks. All used protection. Carlos came down from the Bay Area and we went out on Sunset Blvd with Melissa and her brother. Also went to “Barney’s Beanery - the sloppy joe house slash nightlife with an incredibly attractive waitstaff.”
  • Sunday - Jared’s wedding. Drove up to the BA with C-los and Yuwynn.
  • Monday - Triumphant return to Berkeley with tail between legs. Breakfast at Venus. Helped Alissa move out of Theta. Watched the Cal Math graduation. Had a pint for my homies at Thalassa. Walked by Jupiter. Had pizza and coke for lunch. Joined Kristen, Michele, and Kim at the Castro apartment. Had pizza and Prosecco for dinner. Took BART back to MacArthur. Decided to walk back to C-los’ apartment. Had no idea where to go. Visited the Oakland Army Reserve Base. Visited the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Not open for tours at 1am. Found my way back to the apartment after only having walked 5.6 miles (3.5 unnecessary) out of my way through some of the shadiest parts of West Oakland carrying at least $1500 worth of electronics. Found myself locked out. Knocked on a few windows. Made it inside and passed out.
  • Tuesday - Spent the largest part of the day relaxing in the apartment. Had Spinach and Dal curry for lunch. Went with C-los, Christina, Lauren, and Jen to Thalassa. Ran into Ellen, Todd, and Skye. Received two marriage proposals. One subsequently retracted. Considering having a first wife.
  • Wednesday - Sitting in Berkeley Espresso. Soy Chai and Bagel with Lox for breakfast. Free wireless internet. Found someone’s Day Planner with a SWA trip itinerary inside. E-mailed her and got a response. Here she is. Just gave it back to her. Turns out she was in front of me in line. Have a nice time in Portland, Oregon on June 12, Mrs. Carol Sparks of CDHS.

05.21.04

As Pretty as an Airport

Posted in Travel at 6:15 am by Danny Dawson

As I write this, I am sitting in FLL’s Terminal 1, Concourse B, Gate B3 waiting to board Flight 299 to LAX via MSY, departing at 7:50am EDT. I have boarding pass number 4 and a pretty blue preboarding pass because of my arm mom. I’m drinking a free can of orange juice, plugged into a free outlet in this column next to me, on the free “Guest” wireless network, waiting for my free flight across the country where I’ll reside with a great friend who has told me not to worry about the cost of food, or lodging, or transportation. And I’m blogging this.

If networking isn’t important in today’s society, what the hell am I doing here?

This is the cat’s pajamas.

Sunrise at the airport

Update: That was the best flight experience I ever had. Free Bloody Marys, a window seat that I never had to move from, and a row to myself for the second (longer) leg of the trip. When I got off the plane, I went to the bathroom to put my contacts in, walked to the carousel right as my luggage was disgorged from the depths, and walked outside right as Steve (Carlos’ brother) pulled up in front of me. We then grabbed some quick fast food and cruised the PCH and Sunset Blvd. Nice beginning to my trip so far.

05.20.04

California

Posted in Health, Travel at 8:05 pm by Danny Dawson

Website workings will be on hold for awhile. I’ve got posts in draft form that I’ll post later. I’m going back out to California until at least next Tuesday, and I’m too excited to attempt concentration on this. Jared’s getting married to Vicki on Sunday in LA, and then I’ll be driving up to the Bay Area with Carlos and Yuwynn for a few days before flying back in to FLL.

I got my Robocop-appendage removed yesterday and posted the pictures today (the pins in my wrist are still there). I’m in a cast now for another week; when I get back from CA the cast is coming off and the pins are coming out. I’m looking forward to a painful recovery.

In the meantime, though, I’m looking forward to finding my heart back in San Francisco.