When I lived in Austin, I used to travel for Learning Tree quite a bit. As a result, I flew out of Austin all the time, and when I arrived back in Austin, the smell of the airport is what welcomed me home. The Austin airport is all one terminal, so all of the restaurants smells mingled with whatever other smells there were (it was a new airport at the time, too, so maybe that had something to do with it) to form this smell that I knew of as "arriving home."
When I've visited in the past, I've always noticed that the smell was still the same, and it gave me that same "arriving home" feeling as it did when I lived here. It was actually something that I looked forward to when I got off the jetway.
I'm in Austin this weekend, and when I arrived the other night, I noted that the airport no longer smelled exactly the same way as it had; it was similar, like a variation on a theme, but definitely not the same. While I don't live here and may never live here again, it makes me a little bit sad that there's one fewer place that reminds me of "home."
Friday, April 11, 2008
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Breakfast of champions
This week is the bar. That means that on top of all of the anxiety, stress, and self-doubt I have about the exam itself manifests in crazy ways, including a practical nervous breakdown now (day 2 of 3) because I feel terrible about how today's exam went.
With the stress and anxiety, my stomach's been turning over and about...so my breakfast both days has been:
With the stress and anxiety, my stomach's been turning over and about...so my breakfast both days has been:
- Lipton Iced Tea - Peach
- Nature Valley - Oats 'N Honey Granola bars
- Swig of Pepto Bismol on my way down to the test
Friday, August 11, 2006
The QA Dilemma
Now that I'm working again, I have come to certain realizations.
The first of which is that I made some mistakes when looking for jobs this past spring. I was more interested in finding a job than in finding the right job. Granted, having a job with income is going to be better for me than the semi-employment of teaching computer programming classes. But it wasn't the path to long-term success. I really should have looked for a job that I wanted rather than taking the best offer that I received before leaving school.
This has led me to wonder whether I wouldn't have been better off just staying in Pittsburgh, where the cost of living was relatively low, and the expectations are likewise low for the people there. Doing a few classes a year probably would have gotten me by, and I could have had the same low-key semi-unhappy lifestyle that I had before, but at least I would have had a lot of free time.
So the mistake here was taking a QA job. QA people tend to have an inferiority complex, and I'm no exception. There is a lot of angst about QAers about whether they are good enough to be developers, and the general consensus seems to be that we're not. If we had been good enough to be developers, we would have been hired as developers instead of just QA. The attitude of most developers reflects this perceived inferiority, in that they rarely care what QA thinks, and definitely do little development with QA in mind. QA will always take longer than development, and yet it's given the shortest shrift in the development cycle. All of this leads to relatively unhappy and burnt-out QA people. Plus one.
The second realization is that this is a problem not limited to me. This is a general QA person complex. It also leads to a few general issues with QA departments. One is that it tends to create a self-fulfilling prophecy: QA people feel they must not be good enough for development, they become unproductive, and their work suffers (QA quality or development quality is irrelevant). Another is that QA people become less aggressive with the developers over time because the developers essentially "teach" them that the developers are not going to be that helpful to the QA people.
The third realization is that in general, of course it's going to be harder to get good QA people, too, because most of the people are who would be good QA people would rather be developers, and people who are confident about their abilities are not going to take the QA job unless they're really into QA. Which, I don't think, most QA people are (really into QA, I mean). And I don't mean to say that there aren't really good QA people who really like QA.
I don't really know what all this ends up meaning at the end of the day, other than I gotta figure out how to get out of here.
The first of which is that I made some mistakes when looking for jobs this past spring. I was more interested in finding a job than in finding the right job. Granted, having a job with income is going to be better for me than the semi-employment of teaching computer programming classes. But it wasn't the path to long-term success. I really should have looked for a job that I wanted rather than taking the best offer that I received before leaving school.
This has led me to wonder whether I wouldn't have been better off just staying in Pittsburgh, where the cost of living was relatively low, and the expectations are likewise low for the people there. Doing a few classes a year probably would have gotten me by, and I could have had the same low-key semi-unhappy lifestyle that I had before, but at least I would have had a lot of free time.
So the mistake here was taking a QA job. QA people tend to have an inferiority complex, and I'm no exception. There is a lot of angst about QAers about whether they are good enough to be developers, and the general consensus seems to be that we're not. If we had been good enough to be developers, we would have been hired as developers instead of just QA. The attitude of most developers reflects this perceived inferiority, in that they rarely care what QA thinks, and definitely do little development with QA in mind. QA will always take longer than development, and yet it's given the shortest shrift in the development cycle. All of this leads to relatively unhappy and burnt-out QA people. Plus one.
The second realization is that this is a problem not limited to me. This is a general QA person complex. It also leads to a few general issues with QA departments. One is that it tends to create a self-fulfilling prophecy: QA people feel they must not be good enough for development, they become unproductive, and their work suffers (QA quality or development quality is irrelevant). Another is that QA people become less aggressive with the developers over time because the developers essentially "teach" them that the developers are not going to be that helpful to the QA people.
The third realization is that in general, of course it's going to be harder to get good QA people, too, because most of the people are who would be good QA people would rather be developers, and people who are confident about their abilities are not going to take the QA job unless they're really into QA. Which, I don't think, most QA people are (really into QA, I mean). And I don't mean to say that there aren't really good QA people who really like QA.
I don't really know what all this ends up meaning at the end of the day, other than I gotta figure out how to get out of here.
Friday, June 02, 2006
I blog, therefore I am.
Yes, I am still alive. I'd like to blame my lack of posting on being too busy for it, but we all know that's not entirely true.
But to keep you up to date, I have moved to California and started a tech job out here 3 weeks ago. So much for putting my law degree to work. I did buy patent bar review materials, so I do plan to take the patent bar. I should probably get to work on that a little bit.
I bought a car and drove out here 4 weeks ago. Work is interesting, and I like the people I work with (and there aren't many who read this, so I'm not lying).
There's a woman at work who told me a great story the other day which I thought I'd share. She recently bought a house, and when she went to sign the mortgage paperwork, the banker told her, "Here's a payment coupon for your first month's payment." She said, "Sweet! A coupon...and I was thinking that it was just going to be like 20% or something, but it was for the whole amount!" Then of course, she realized that it was not a coupon in the supermarket sense of the word, but in the remittance sense. Pretty funny stuff.
I could probably put some stuff here bitching about having a roommate again, but there's really no point. Up until a few days ago, he worked at Best Buy full time. He went to college to be a computer animator, but has yet to get a job doing that. But last week he got an offer to do a "test" for a company in Seattle, which essentially means that they sent him some work for him to do for free to see if they should hire him. He submitted the first part of the test, then they gave him some more work. So I guess he's working on that, but I'm not really sure. I thought I didn't like coming home when he wasn't here all the time...now it's even worse.
It's interesting to me that I still know a fair number of people who have roommates (and that number has only increased since getting to the uber-expensive Bay Area) years after college is over. Financially I can understand it, but on an emotional level, I can't. Other than Sarah, I really haven't had a roommate since 1998, and I can't imagine going back to having a roommate full-time. This 2 month period is gonna kill me, as I'm only 3 weeks in and I hate it so much already. Have I just grown out of it, or have I become spoiled? Even if Sarah were not going to move out here in July, I think I would have to rent a place on my own, just to feel independent again. Silly, maybe.
Ok, I'm rambling, I'm too tired to write more, time for bed.
But to keep you up to date, I have moved to California and started a tech job out here 3 weeks ago. So much for putting my law degree to work. I did buy patent bar review materials, so I do plan to take the patent bar. I should probably get to work on that a little bit.
I bought a car and drove out here 4 weeks ago. Work is interesting, and I like the people I work with (and there aren't many who read this, so I'm not lying).
There's a woman at work who told me a great story the other day which I thought I'd share. She recently bought a house, and when she went to sign the mortgage paperwork, the banker told her, "Here's a payment coupon for your first month's payment." She said, "Sweet! A coupon...and I was thinking that it was just going to be like 20% or something, but it was for the whole amount!" Then of course, she realized that it was not a coupon in the supermarket sense of the word, but in the remittance sense. Pretty funny stuff.
I could probably put some stuff here bitching about having a roommate again, but there's really no point. Up until a few days ago, he worked at Best Buy full time. He went to college to be a computer animator, but has yet to get a job doing that. But last week he got an offer to do a "test" for a company in Seattle, which essentially means that they sent him some work for him to do for free to see if they should hire him. He submitted the first part of the test, then they gave him some more work. So I guess he's working on that, but I'm not really sure. I thought I didn't like coming home when he wasn't here all the time...now it's even worse.
It's interesting to me that I still know a fair number of people who have roommates (and that number has only increased since getting to the uber-expensive Bay Area) years after college is over. Financially I can understand it, but on an emotional level, I can't. Other than Sarah, I really haven't had a roommate since 1998, and I can't imagine going back to having a roommate full-time. This 2 month period is gonna kill me, as I'm only 3 weeks in and I hate it so much already. Have I just grown out of it, or have I become spoiled? Even if Sarah were not going to move out here in July, I think I would have to rent a place on my own, just to feel independent again. Silly, maybe.
Ok, I'm rambling, I'm too tired to write more, time for bed.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
I'm a litterbug
On Friday, I littered for what I consider to the be the first time. I say that I consider that to be the first time because I can't recall every having littered anything other than bubble gum or other organics (banana peels, apple cores, etc). I don't count the organics because they end up getting eaten by other things and aren't something that someone will be able to pick up in 2 weeks during a trash sweep.
Sarah got some lotion, manufactured for Kohl's, from someone at school (I think). It was some sort of Ginseng & Soy Protein thing, but whenever she put it on, it made me sneeze like crazy. She usually puts it on while driving to school, so it stays in the car.
Friday I drove her to school, and she put some of this lotion on her legs. This used a rather larger portion than normal of the lotion, and made me sneeze correspondingly more. Not only did I sneeze in the car, but I sneezed and had a runny nose all morning. Obviously I'm allergic to something in the lotion. So after my final and errands over on campus, I got back in the car, and whatever diminishment had occurred over the course of the morning, the lotion had its full effect when I returned to the car.
So while driving past the cemetary on my way home, I made the decision that this lotion needed to be thrown away. Immediately. It needed to be thrown away so that it could never come back. If I were to throw it away at home, she could dig through the trash to retrieve it. Or worse, make me dig through the trash to retrieve it. Yes, she likes (liked) the lotion enough to do this. So out the window it went.
She wasn't that upset when I told her it was gone, though she was surprised at the manner of disposal. I told her I would buy any other lotion she likes to make up ofr it.
What a great way to celebrate the day before Earth Day.
Sarah got some lotion, manufactured for Kohl's, from someone at school (I think). It was some sort of Ginseng & Soy Protein thing, but whenever she put it on, it made me sneeze like crazy. She usually puts it on while driving to school, so it stays in the car.
Friday I drove her to school, and she put some of this lotion on her legs. This used a rather larger portion than normal of the lotion, and made me sneeze correspondingly more. Not only did I sneeze in the car, but I sneezed and had a runny nose all morning. Obviously I'm allergic to something in the lotion. So after my final and errands over on campus, I got back in the car, and whatever diminishment had occurred over the course of the morning, the lotion had its full effect when I returned to the car.
So while driving past the cemetary on my way home, I made the decision that this lotion needed to be thrown away. Immediately. It needed to be thrown away so that it could never come back. If I were to throw it away at home, she could dig through the trash to retrieve it. Or worse, make me dig through the trash to retrieve it. Yes, she likes (liked) the lotion enough to do this. So out the window it went.
She wasn't that upset when I told her it was gone, though she was surprised at the manner of disposal. I told her I would buy any other lotion she likes to make up ofr it.
What a great way to celebrate the day before Earth Day.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
8:34
I'm sure I'm not the only person who still thinks he's (or she's) 17. I have to think about it for a second to realize that I'm 28 years old and that my siblings have also aged and are no longer little kids.
I called my brother tonight, most likely the last time I will talk to him for at least a year in a form other than email. He flies out tomorrow for the sunny skies and green (poppy) fields of Afghanistan. I've known that this will happen for a while. Initially it was to be Iraq, and eventually it was changed to Afghanistan.
He's excited about going; he wants his first confirmed kill. The last few years have all been foreplay to his big trip east, his trip to "The Show". He's not a grunt, he's some form of lieutenant, he'll be the only one with his job at the base where he will be stationed. This should keep him safe, though he is still on some level expendable.
I called my brother tonight and told him to come back safely; not to do anything that's likely to get his ass shot off. I don't know what else to tell him. The sum of my experiences is not likely to help him in whatever encounters he has over there. I can only tell him to come back alive and hope that it's not the last time that I talk to him.
I called my brother to tell him that I'm sorry for beating him up as a kid—there are some fights that I'm really not proud of, where I was far too violent with him. I called him to let him know that whatever happened earlier in our lives, though we're not terribly close, I'm still here for him.
But alas, we're both Lees. We don't voice feelings to others in our family. They don't know how to receive it, and we don't know how to say it. So the long phone call where we talk about everything—isn't.
Instead, it lasts just 8 minutes, 34 seconds.
I called my brother tonight, most likely the last time I will talk to him for at least a year in a form other than email. He flies out tomorrow for the sunny skies and green (poppy) fields of Afghanistan. I've known that this will happen for a while. Initially it was to be Iraq, and eventually it was changed to Afghanistan.
He's excited about going; he wants his first confirmed kill. The last few years have all been foreplay to his big trip east, his trip to "The Show". He's not a grunt, he's some form of lieutenant, he'll be the only one with his job at the base where he will be stationed. This should keep him safe, though he is still on some level expendable.
I called my brother tonight and told him to come back safely; not to do anything that's likely to get his ass shot off. I don't know what else to tell him. The sum of my experiences is not likely to help him in whatever encounters he has over there. I can only tell him to come back alive and hope that it's not the last time that I talk to him.
I called my brother to tell him that I'm sorry for beating him up as a kid—there are some fights that I'm really not proud of, where I was far too violent with him. I called him to let him know that whatever happened earlier in our lives, though we're not terribly close, I'm still here for him.
But alas, we're both Lees. We don't voice feelings to others in our family. They don't know how to receive it, and we don't know how to say it. So the long phone call where we talk about everything—isn't.
Instead, it lasts just 8 minutes, 34 seconds.
Monday, December 05, 2005
test
Well, apparently blogger got so restless that I haven't posted, it's refusing to show the page. Maybe this will fix it.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
FOLR, continued
I can't tell if it's just because my friends are law students that I'm the friend of last resort, or whether I've always been that way. I know it's been that way for a good majority of my "friendships", but has law school exacerbated the problem?
Case in point. This evening, I got invited out to dinner, "but it has to be something quick. I have other things to do tonight." Alluding to school work or something, you might think. That's fine, you have school work, let's do something quick for dinner. As it turned out, this also involved this friend picking up at least two more people to go to dinner. Our dinner plans fell through, but the question I'm left with is, if you wanted to do something quick, why are you picking other people up (who are way out of the way, for that matter)?
The obvious answer is that "I have other things to do tonight" refers not to actual things to do, but other people to see, parties to go to, what-have-you. And you've graced me with an invitation to spend some of my time in the radiance of your presence. Gee, thanks. If I'm not really part of your plans, what are you doing inviting me out for anything? I didn't go out of my way to call you to see about dinner, you called me. You called me so that I could go out to dinner with you, and then you could go out to do other things with other people, never really making me a part of your group.
I don't need to be part of the group. I'm not asking that you invite me out to those other events, or get others to invite me to other events. But why invite me to anything? You like me, but only enough for dinner. More than that and I'm tiresome. Which, again, is ok if you feel that way, but don't invite me to dinner to be some sort of half-friend.
It's better to know I'm an outsider while at home than to see that I'm an outsider while I'm out to dinner.
Case in point. This evening, I got invited out to dinner, "but it has to be something quick. I have other things to do tonight." Alluding to school work or something, you might think. That's fine, you have school work, let's do something quick for dinner. As it turned out, this also involved this friend picking up at least two more people to go to dinner. Our dinner plans fell through, but the question I'm left with is, if you wanted to do something quick, why are you picking other people up (who are way out of the way, for that matter)?
The obvious answer is that "I have other things to do tonight" refers not to actual things to do, but other people to see, parties to go to, what-have-you. And you've graced me with an invitation to spend some of my time in the radiance of your presence. Gee, thanks. If I'm not really part of your plans, what are you doing inviting me out for anything? I didn't go out of my way to call you to see about dinner, you called me. You called me so that I could go out to dinner with you, and then you could go out to do other things with other people, never really making me a part of your group.
I don't need to be part of the group. I'm not asking that you invite me out to those other events, or get others to invite me to other events. But why invite me to anything? You like me, but only enough for dinner. More than that and I'm tiresome. Which, again, is ok if you feel that way, but don't invite me to dinner to be some sort of half-friend.
It's better to know I'm an outsider while at home than to see that I'm an outsider while I'm out to dinner.
Monday, September 05, 2005
friend of last resort
Hi, I'm probably at the bottom of your I-need-to-call list. I'm the person you call when you're really bored, or you really can't find someone else to do something with. You let my calls go to voicemail, you go out and party, and in your down moments, in those times when you don't have money to go out and drink, that's when you call me.
Sure, you'll come over to my house and eat my food. You don't call me to extend any sort of invitation to me; no, no, this is a one-way street. I reach out to you, and in those times of benevolence, pity, or boredom, you choose to make plans with me.
We spend time in bunches together. Your close friends go away for a few days, so you've got time to kill with me. I'm your B-list friend. I get the part for a short run, and then the budget runs out. An A-list friend becomes available and is instead cast in the role that I had.
I can't put my finger on it. It doesn't seem to be my personality, since you like me just fine when we spend time together. Is it what I like to do? Or don't like to do? I don't want to go out and drink, and therefore I'm made to be the de facto pariah?
You're still here? Don't you have your A-list friend's blog to read instead?
Sure, you'll come over to my house and eat my food. You don't call me to extend any sort of invitation to me; no, no, this is a one-way street. I reach out to you, and in those times of benevolence, pity, or boredom, you choose to make plans with me.
We spend time in bunches together. Your close friends go away for a few days, so you've got time to kill with me. I'm your B-list friend. I get the part for a short run, and then the budget runs out. An A-list friend becomes available and is instead cast in the role that I had.
I can't put my finger on it. It doesn't seem to be my personality, since you like me just fine when we spend time together. Is it what I like to do? Or don't like to do? I don't want to go out and drink, and therefore I'm made to be the de facto pariah?
You're still here? Don't you have your A-list friend's blog to read instead?
Saturday, August 27, 2005
I love the smell of the O in the morning.
School starts again on Monday, and I spent the last couple mornings at school, for various reasons. On Friday, it was Rebecca's birthday, I wasn't going to make her bar-party, so I took her out to lunch instead. We went to Primanti Bros. (for those of you who aren't familiar, this is a Pittsburgh place where they put french freedom fries and slaw on their sammiches), a cash-only establishment, as many Pittsburgh places are.
We had our lunch, and she had to leave before I finished due to work. So I finished my lunch, and when the dude behind the bar went to ring me up, I motioned that I was covering for both lunches (she had already gone, but she left her plastic salad box behind to signify that she had not paid). I put a $20 on the bar, and threw our stuff away (trash can was right behind where we were sitting).
He gave me back my change, which apparently was $13.xx. I noticed this as I walked out of the place, and realized that he had made a mistake in ringing up our lunch. Each lunch should have been around $7.
Moral dilemma time.
I needed to go over to the bookstore, so I went and did that while I pondered what I should do about it. Did he think that Rebecca had walked out without paying? He shouldn't have, I made the little back and forth signal with my hand, indicating that I was paying for hers. Was it just unfamiliarity with the cash register and the inability to add? Occam's razor and all, this is what I should have assumed it was.
But no, I have to be a good guy and go back and tell him that he made a mistake ringing up the meal, as he gave me $13 back. He doesn't believe me at first, and then with some reluctance, he rings up Rebecca's lunch. But. Not without saying, "Well, did I just give you back $10 too much?"
WTF.
Here I am, bringing this dude FREE FUCKING MONEY, and he has the audacity to call my integrity into question. This is an all-cash establishment with no computerized ordering system. No one would have known that he made a mistake, and no one would have been able to track me, either. What's the reason for making an establishment all-cash? Avoiding taxes. And somehow I'm the crook here.
I then explained how addition works and with each lunch being $7, he would have had to have given me $16, not $13, in change for him to have given me $10 too much. (Ok, I wasn't that much of an asshole, I didn't explain addition, but I did repeat that he gave me back $13, not $16).
So the end result is that I feel like an asshole for being an honest person and even going back. Their food really isn't that great to begin with, and now, I'm not going back again. Hopefully I'll remember this time, I keep going back there, even though I don't particularly like the food.
We had our lunch, and she had to leave before I finished due to work. So I finished my lunch, and when the dude behind the bar went to ring me up, I motioned that I was covering for both lunches (she had already gone, but she left her plastic salad box behind to signify that she had not paid). I put a $20 on the bar, and threw our stuff away (trash can was right behind where we were sitting).
He gave me back my change, which apparently was $13.xx. I noticed this as I walked out of the place, and realized that he had made a mistake in ringing up our lunch. Each lunch should have been around $7.
Moral dilemma time.
I needed to go over to the bookstore, so I went and did that while I pondered what I should do about it. Did he think that Rebecca had walked out without paying? He shouldn't have, I made the little back and forth signal with my hand, indicating that I was paying for hers. Was it just unfamiliarity with the cash register and the inability to add? Occam's razor and all, this is what I should have assumed it was.
But no, I have to be a good guy and go back and tell him that he made a mistake ringing up the meal, as he gave me $13 back. He doesn't believe me at first, and then with some reluctance, he rings up Rebecca's lunch. But. Not without saying, "Well, did I just give you back $10 too much?"
WTF.
Here I am, bringing this dude FREE FUCKING MONEY, and he has the audacity to call my integrity into question. This is an all-cash establishment with no computerized ordering system. No one would have known that he made a mistake, and no one would have been able to track me, either. What's the reason for making an establishment all-cash? Avoiding taxes. And somehow I'm the crook here.
I then explained how addition works and with each lunch being $7, he would have had to have given me $16, not $13, in change for him to have given me $10 too much. (Ok, I wasn't that much of an asshole, I didn't explain addition, but I did repeat that he gave me back $13, not $16).
So the end result is that I feel like an asshole for being an honest person and even going back. Their food really isn't that great to begin with, and now, I'm not going back again. Hopefully I'll remember this time, I keep going back there, even though I don't particularly like the food.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
New look
Well, I finally got around to switching to a different Blogger template, and after doing soem minor fiddling, it's close enough that I'm going to go do something else for the evening. Maybe I'll post again soon. Then again, maybe not.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
bits and pieces
So I noticed the other day that Blogger has now blocked the use of etenation for comments. When I started the blog, Blogger did not have a comment feature, so I was forced to use an external site for that. And now they've turned it off, so that our comments are essentially lost. When I find some time, I need to overhaul pretty much everything about the template of this blog so that I utilize the blogger comments. But that will not be today.
I'm teaching another class in two weeks, in Chicago, and in the meantime, I have a ton of stuff that I should be doing. I'm working for a prof at school, I have a programming project, and I just can't get focused on anything.
Well, just not anything work related. I've been fantastically involved in board games, of course. When I was in London, I went to a guy's house to play board games, a guy I didn't know at all. He, his wife and I played a game that I've been obsessing about for the last month. It finally arrives today. Yesterday I must have tracked the package 100 times on the fedex website, just to make sure that it arrives today. It's like hitting the "UP" button for an elevator over and over...it arrives faster the more you hit it, right? I invited people over to play it tonight, so I definitely need it to be here. The Fedex tracking web servers will be glad to have that package delivered.
I'm teaching another class in two weeks, in Chicago, and in the meantime, I have a ton of stuff that I should be doing. I'm working for a prof at school, I have a programming project, and I just can't get focused on anything.
Well, just not anything work related. I've been fantastically involved in board games, of course. When I was in London, I went to a guy's house to play board games, a guy I didn't know at all. He, his wife and I played a game that I've been obsessing about for the last month. It finally arrives today. Yesterday I must have tracked the package 100 times on the fedex website, just to make sure that it arrives today. It's like hitting the "UP" button for an elevator over and over...it arrives faster the more you hit it, right? I invited people over to play it tonight, so I definitely need it to be here. The Fedex tracking web servers will be glad to have that package delivered.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Lightweight Heavyweight
I'm still in London. Friday night, I came back to the building where I taught my class this week, primarily to check email. I was going to dinner immediately afterwards, and once I left, I realized I had left a book that I had wanted to read at dinner. So I turned around, went back in to see if I left the book at the internet terminal. It wasn't there, so I walked back out to go to dinner, no book to read. As it turned out, it was just as well.
Now, next to the building was a pub that I walked by on my way back to the hotel. I had gotten about 200 ft past the pub when I realized the whistling and yelling behind me was one of the technical support guys trying to get my attention. I turned around, he caught up to me and chastised me for making him run after me when he was in the middle of having a drink. He said I needed to come back to the pub to have a proper English pint. Who was I to say no.
So I went into the pub, and three of the support guys were there. Brad, Esteban (the one who ran after me), and Andy. I'm not entirely certain what all three of them do, but Brad is the head of tech support here, Esteban does some sort of tech support function (I think it's product development related), and I have no idea what Andy does, though I think he might manage the ed center. (Hell, I hope I got the names right, getting the jobs right would be a bonus.) Andy asked me what I wanted, I said a lager of some sort, and I ended up with a Kronenburg 1667 (something like that), which they told me was a French beer. Halfway through this first pint, I was already feeling pretty tipsy. It had been 6 hours since I had eaten anything, and I don't drink all that often, either (last time was at the baseball game).
Talk about lightweight. They ordered a second round, which I realized I really shouldn't be having, as I was plenty buzzed off the first beer, which had been consumed in about 10 minutes. Just as I realized Esteban was ordering a third round, I told him that I was done, but he had actually ordered the third round a few minutes before, and the drinks were already there. So I felt obligated to drink the third beer.
Now, I normally have a hard time hearing people in bars in the first place. The background noise drowns out everything, at least to my ears. Add to this problem heavy accents, and I'm lucky to be understanding 30% of what they're saying, though it's all in English. Or at least, I'm assuming it was.
I did manage to stop at the third beer, but I was plenty drunk by this point. I was thinking about the chinese restaurant I had been planning to go to, and how if they were still open, I was probably a little too tipsy to go in there anyway. So I just stayed at the pub.
A word on English urinals. English urinals are of a different design than American urinals. American urinals are generally very upright, and due to flanges on the sides, provide you with a little bit of "cover," shall we say? Not so the English urinals. English urinals are of the low "slingback" variety, providing zero cover. So when using them, I tend to get probably a little closer than I do with American urinals. On top of the design being different, they also don't have any flushing mechanisms. Randomly, somewhere the water is released and flushes the urinal, but it's not on a one person, one flush basis.
Well, I was drunk enough at this point that when I went to the loo, I wasn't 100% awake. I snuggled up to the urinal, and the urinal started to flush. Before I realized it was happening, the urinal overflowed, right onto my jeans. Yum. I didn't get much on me, probably just a couple tablespoons, but it was more than enough.
Eventually, around 10:30 PM, I had made enough comments about eating something that Andy and Esteban (Brad had left about 20 minutes after I got there) agreed to go get some food. So we went to this dive Chinese place around the corner (not the Chinese restaurant I had intended to go to), where I got pork dumplings that were pretty undercooked (the pork was, anyway, they managed to overdo the outside of them), and lemon chicken. Neither was that great, which was fortunate for me, since by the time we sat down, I realized I was pretty full from all the beer.
I ate about half the food that I had ordered, we left, they walked me back to the hotel and we said goodbye in the lobby. I showered and washed my jeans in the shower with me. Not bad for my first English pub experience.
Other than the urinal overflowing onto my jeans, of course.
Now, next to the building was a pub that I walked by on my way back to the hotel. I had gotten about 200 ft past the pub when I realized the whistling and yelling behind me was one of the technical support guys trying to get my attention. I turned around, he caught up to me and chastised me for making him run after me when he was in the middle of having a drink. He said I needed to come back to the pub to have a proper English pint. Who was I to say no.
So I went into the pub, and three of the support guys were there. Brad, Esteban (the one who ran after me), and Andy. I'm not entirely certain what all three of them do, but Brad is the head of tech support here, Esteban does some sort of tech support function (I think it's product development related), and I have no idea what Andy does, though I think he might manage the ed center. (Hell, I hope I got the names right, getting the jobs right would be a bonus.) Andy asked me what I wanted, I said a lager of some sort, and I ended up with a Kronenburg 1667 (something like that), which they told me was a French beer. Halfway through this first pint, I was already feeling pretty tipsy. It had been 6 hours since I had eaten anything, and I don't drink all that often, either (last time was at the baseball game).
Talk about lightweight. They ordered a second round, which I realized I really shouldn't be having, as I was plenty buzzed off the first beer, which had been consumed in about 10 minutes. Just as I realized Esteban was ordering a third round, I told him that I was done, but he had actually ordered the third round a few minutes before, and the drinks were already there. So I felt obligated to drink the third beer.
Now, I normally have a hard time hearing people in bars in the first place. The background noise drowns out everything, at least to my ears. Add to this problem heavy accents, and I'm lucky to be understanding 30% of what they're saying, though it's all in English. Or at least, I'm assuming it was.
I did manage to stop at the third beer, but I was plenty drunk by this point. I was thinking about the chinese restaurant I had been planning to go to, and how if they were still open, I was probably a little too tipsy to go in there anyway. So I just stayed at the pub.
A word on English urinals. English urinals are of a different design than American urinals. American urinals are generally very upright, and due to flanges on the sides, provide you with a little bit of "cover," shall we say? Not so the English urinals. English urinals are of the low "slingback" variety, providing zero cover. So when using them, I tend to get probably a little closer than I do with American urinals. On top of the design being different, they also don't have any flushing mechanisms. Randomly, somewhere the water is released and flushes the urinal, but it's not on a one person, one flush basis.
Well, I was drunk enough at this point that when I went to the loo, I wasn't 100% awake. I snuggled up to the urinal, and the urinal started to flush. Before I realized it was happening, the urinal overflowed, right onto my jeans. Yum. I didn't get much on me, probably just a couple tablespoons, but it was more than enough.
Eventually, around 10:30 PM, I had made enough comments about eating something that Andy and Esteban (Brad had left about 20 minutes after I got there) agreed to go get some food. So we went to this dive Chinese place around the corner (not the Chinese restaurant I had intended to go to), where I got pork dumplings that were pretty undercooked (the pork was, anyway, they managed to overdo the outside of them), and lemon chicken. Neither was that great, which was fortunate for me, since by the time we sat down, I realized I was pretty full from all the beer.
I ate about half the food that I had ordered, we left, they walked me back to the hotel and we said goodbye in the lobby. I showered and washed my jeans in the shower with me. Not bad for my first English pub experience.
Other than the urinal overflowing onto my jeans, of course.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
baseball game fun
So with some difficulty, S and I went to the Pirates game on Saturday night. A whole bunch of law students and their friends went to the game, 21 in total.
My friend A was in town for Carnival at CMU, we had independently decided to go to the game, but once we discovered the coincidence, we decided to sit together. Along with this, we had decided to meet before the game for a drink. The game started at 705pm, we were planning on meeting at 615pm. There are several bars across the street from the stadium, so proximity of alcohol was not an issue. However, lateness was. We ended up not meeting up until 645pm (the fault of both parties), and by the time we got a drink (or two) and headed over to the game, it was probably 745pm or so.
As soon as we found our seats, I went to find food and beverages. And a bathroom. The line for beer was long (and of course, I'm picky, and this was the only place I could get the kind I wanted). The line for food wasn't so long. But all in all, it probably took me 30 minutes to acquire the necessary sustenance.
Once I got back to the seats, I realized that yet another bathroom trip was in order. I decided to wait until I had eaten, so I had a burger, and then headed back out to the bathroom.
Back in the game, it was now like th 5th inning, and I was just sitting down to watch some baseball. In the middle of the 5th inning, they held the pierogie race, and I lost my voice screaming at Sauerkraut Sal, who of course threw the race. It's Wednesday now, and I still don't have it back.
Before I knew it, the game was over, I had seen about 2 innings of it (due to yet another beer and bathroom run), and I realized I needed yet another bathroom run. Since it was the end of the game, though, I figured the bathroom would be mobbed, and I wanted to get the hell out of there. So we just left instead.
Saying goodbye to A took about 15 minutes, getting to the car took another 5, and by the time we were getting to the car, I had an urgent need for a bathroom again. And, lucky me, the parking garage was gridlocked. As in, not moving at all. I contemplated using a stray Aquafina bottle we had in the car, but Sarah suggested that I just go back to one of the bars and use their bathroom.
So 5 minutes later, I'm back at the bar we were at before the game, only this time, there's a $5 cover charge. I'm thinking, "Fuck that, I'll go to the bathroom right here before I pay you $5 to utilize your bathroom." Now there are other bars there, but I didn't even bother, thinking that if one has a cover charge after the game, they all have a cover charge after the game.
Luckily, there is a Marriott hotel across the street. So I went in there, hotels usually have a bathroom you can use in the lobby. This one did. Except for the slight problem of needing a keycard to get into it. If I had a keycard, I would go up to my room and use the truly private bathroom up there! Frustration was definitely setting in at this point, on top of the oh-please-god-get-me-to-a-bathroom feeling.
So I tried to con the woman at the front desk.
"Hi, I'm waiting for a friend, he's not here yet, and I need to use the restroom. Can you please give me a card?"
"Is your friend a guest here?"
"Yes"
"What's his last name?"
At this point, watch me as I turn and walk out of the hotel lobby, not saying a word further. I head back to the parking garage and get back into the car. It's now 20 minutes later, we're still in the parking garage, and I still haven't found a bathroom. We just left, and I ended up using the bathroom at home, 20 minutes after that.
It truly is the simple things in life that can make you feel good.
My friend A was in town for Carnival at CMU, we had independently decided to go to the game, but once we discovered the coincidence, we decided to sit together. Along with this, we had decided to meet before the game for a drink. The game started at 705pm, we were planning on meeting at 615pm. There are several bars across the street from the stadium, so proximity of alcohol was not an issue. However, lateness was. We ended up not meeting up until 645pm (the fault of both parties), and by the time we got a drink (or two) and headed over to the game, it was probably 745pm or so.
As soon as we found our seats, I went to find food and beverages. And a bathroom. The line for beer was long (and of course, I'm picky, and this was the only place I could get the kind I wanted). The line for food wasn't so long. But all in all, it probably took me 30 minutes to acquire the necessary sustenance.
Once I got back to the seats, I realized that yet another bathroom trip was in order. I decided to wait until I had eaten, so I had a burger, and then headed back out to the bathroom.
Back in the game, it was now like th 5th inning, and I was just sitting down to watch some baseball. In the middle of the 5th inning, they held the pierogie race, and I lost my voice screaming at Sauerkraut Sal, who of course threw the race. It's Wednesday now, and I still don't have it back.
Before I knew it, the game was over, I had seen about 2 innings of it (due to yet another beer and bathroom run), and I realized I needed yet another bathroom run. Since it was the end of the game, though, I figured the bathroom would be mobbed, and I wanted to get the hell out of there. So we just left instead.
Saying goodbye to A took about 15 minutes, getting to the car took another 5, and by the time we were getting to the car, I had an urgent need for a bathroom again. And, lucky me, the parking garage was gridlocked. As in, not moving at all. I contemplated using a stray Aquafina bottle we had in the car, but Sarah suggested that I just go back to one of the bars and use their bathroom.
So 5 minutes later, I'm back at the bar we were at before the game, only this time, there's a $5 cover charge. I'm thinking, "Fuck that, I'll go to the bathroom right here before I pay you $5 to utilize your bathroom." Now there are other bars there, but I didn't even bother, thinking that if one has a cover charge after the game, they all have a cover charge after the game.
Luckily, there is a Marriott hotel across the street. So I went in there, hotels usually have a bathroom you can use in the lobby. This one did. Except for the slight problem of needing a keycard to get into it. If I had a keycard, I would go up to my room and use the truly private bathroom up there! Frustration was definitely setting in at this point, on top of the oh-please-god-get-me-to-a-bathroom feeling.
So I tried to con the woman at the front desk.
"Hi, I'm waiting for a friend, he's not here yet, and I need to use the restroom. Can you please give me a card?"
"Is your friend a guest here?"
"Yes"
"What's his last name?"
At this point, watch me as I turn and walk out of the hotel lobby, not saying a word further. I head back to the parking garage and get back into the car. It's now 20 minutes later, we're still in the parking garage, and I still haven't found a bathroom. We just left, and I ended up using the bathroom at home, 20 minutes after that.
It truly is the simple things in life that can make you feel good.
Friday, February 18, 2005
sex == late
Sex has a lot of "late"s about it. There is the obvious and most dangerous "Oh God, she's late." That's not what I want to write about, though.
The more interesting late is the "I know I have to go to class in 5 minutes. Let's have sex now anyway." Followed by the "Oh shit, I'm 30 minutes late. Eh, it was worth it though." This was the typical thing that happened in college. I was late to classes all the time and I was even late to a few finals. Maybe it's just the extra element of excitement in throwing other responsibilities out the window that made it worthwhile, I don't know. This type of sex lateness is something I'm sure we've all encountered at one time or another.
Then there's the guy lateness. "Shit, why did I have to masturbate this morning? I should have just jumped in the shower." I'm sure every guy out there has experienced this one (and undoubtedly some women too). You just have to get it out of the way before getting on with your day, and you can't find time for it. But you do it anyway.
There's a lot of stuff guys don't particularly like to talk about when it comes to masturbation. With the rise of the internet, we've been opened up to a whole world of sexual perversion that was never accessible before. We don't want to let our girlfriend/wives into this world. It doesn't really involve them. They can only think less of us if they know what we look at. What makes it worse is that what we look at may or may not correlate to what we actually want to have happen in our lives. We think less of ourselves for looking at porn, how can they not think less of us?
Every guy has "his" kind of porn he likes to look at. Some have several types. Mine's text. I like text, things can be as sexy as I want them to be. Disturbingly, in picturing the scenes in people's houses, I picture a friend from elementary school's house. But anyway. We amass vast quantities of porn, because when it gets old, we have to move on to something new. But we can't let go of the old. "That's a really good [movie|story|whatever], I may want to see that again some day."
But that doesn't mean that we don't realize that we have too much porn. And that we've looked at too much of it. I have amassed about 30 MB of porn text, probably more space than the complete text of the oxford english dictionary takes up. That doesn't disturb me so much. What does disturb me is when I realize I've read a 30-part story over the course of a few weeks' worth of masturbation. Or that I can recall some of the stories and exactly what goes on and in what order. Or that I can remember the first time I read the story. At least I haven't written any text myself. Yet.
In answer to your question, yes, I was late to work today.
Let's take a poll, leave a comment telling what was the worst thing you were ever late for (due to sex of one kind or another, of course). I was definitely late to my Chemistry final at CMU.
The more interesting late is the "I know I have to go to class in 5 minutes. Let's have sex now anyway." Followed by the "Oh shit, I'm 30 minutes late. Eh, it was worth it though." This was the typical thing that happened in college. I was late to classes all the time and I was even late to a few finals. Maybe it's just the extra element of excitement in throwing other responsibilities out the window that made it worthwhile, I don't know. This type of sex lateness is something I'm sure we've all encountered at one time or another.
Then there's the guy lateness. "Shit, why did I have to masturbate this morning? I should have just jumped in the shower." I'm sure every guy out there has experienced this one (and undoubtedly some women too). You just have to get it out of the way before getting on with your day, and you can't find time for it. But you do it anyway.
There's a lot of stuff guys don't particularly like to talk about when it comes to masturbation. With the rise of the internet, we've been opened up to a whole world of sexual perversion that was never accessible before. We don't want to let our girlfriend/wives into this world. It doesn't really involve them. They can only think less of us if they know what we look at. What makes it worse is that what we look at may or may not correlate to what we actually want to have happen in our lives. We think less of ourselves for looking at porn, how can they not think less of us?
Every guy has "his" kind of porn he likes to look at. Some have several types. Mine's text. I like text, things can be as sexy as I want them to be. Disturbingly, in picturing the scenes in people's houses, I picture a friend from elementary school's house. But anyway. We amass vast quantities of porn, because when it gets old, we have to move on to something new. But we can't let go of the old. "That's a really good [movie|story|whatever], I may want to see that again some day."
But that doesn't mean that we don't realize that we have too much porn. And that we've looked at too much of it. I have amassed about 30 MB of porn text, probably more space than the complete text of the oxford english dictionary takes up. That doesn't disturb me so much. What does disturb me is when I realize I've read a 30-part story over the course of a few weeks' worth of masturbation. Or that I can recall some of the stories and exactly what goes on and in what order. Or that I can remember the first time I read the story. At least I haven't written any text myself. Yet.
In answer to your question, yes, I was late to work today.
Let's take a poll, leave a comment telling what was the worst thing you were ever late for (due to sex of one kind or another, of course). I was definitely late to my Chemistry final at CMU.
Keeping a resolution or two
Yesterday I ordered the CD for the month. I've actually bought a couple of CDs in the past month, they're Mark O'Connor CDs, and frankly, I've been disappointed with them. There's a track of his on Yo-Yo Ma's "Classic Yo-Yo" CD that is unbelievably good, and the CDs I've bought of his have been pedestrian. The CD I bought yesterday is "Cello x 16" by Zoe Keating. She's been playing with Rasputina.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Why oh why
Do I love board games so? I can't even get people to get together on a regular basis to play. And yet my addiction goes on. Late in 2003, I somehow got onto this site, FunAgain, and I spent like $125 on board games. The trend continued a couple months ago when I bought another $150 in board games, this time from Card Haus and TimeWellSpent. Then, last week, I spent another $110 at TimeWellSpent on even more games. I'm out of control, maybe it's time for gamblers anonymous?
Maybe all of it is my way of avoiding thinking about all of the work I need to do for school. Since 9pm tonight, I've been ready for bed, and sadly, this is hardly the only night. My IP Seminar's 150 pages a week really needs to stop if I'm to get any research done for my paper for the class. I don't like writing patent claims.
Time for some masochism (aka law school reading).
Maybe all of it is my way of avoiding thinking about all of the work I need to do for school. Since 9pm tonight, I've been ready for bed, and sadly, this is hardly the only night. My IP Seminar's 150 pages a week really needs to stop if I'm to get any research done for my paper for the class. I don't like writing patent claims.
Time for some masochism (aka law school reading).
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Malcontent I am
I'm never happy with where I am. How to be happy with where you are?
I'm working for someone right now, writing a book. I mean, I'm writing parts, he's writing parts, he's getting other people who work for him to write parts of it. Talk about a shit job. "Here's what I want written." Ugh, take my advice, don't take a job like that. I'm ready to quit after only a month.
But it's not just that I'm unhappy at this job. I've been unhappy with most of the jobs I've had. I wonder whether it's just the people or situations I've been in. I really liked the people at Tivoli, except for my bitch manager Roslyn. After a while, I needed to do something new, and I guess that was what made me malcontent with Tivoli.
LT, there it's the policies that have no appreciation of the fact that travel can be hard on you. Doing things to make your week away from home harder than it should be. Been malcontent with that job for a long time.
Even going back to when I worked at Lucent/IBM, I don't think I was malcontent there, but I did feel as though I wasn't really being utilized. The position didn't really let me be utilized enough, and that's ok, I guess. I liked the people there, I had a good time working there. Does dissatisfied equal malcontent?
Is it me? Is it the situations I put myself into? How do I break the cycle?
I'm working for someone right now, writing a book. I mean, I'm writing parts, he's writing parts, he's getting other people who work for him to write parts of it. Talk about a shit job. "Here's what I want written." Ugh, take my advice, don't take a job like that. I'm ready to quit after only a month.
But it's not just that I'm unhappy at this job. I've been unhappy with most of the jobs I've had. I wonder whether it's just the people or situations I've been in. I really liked the people at Tivoli, except for my bitch manager Roslyn. After a while, I needed to do something new, and I guess that was what made me malcontent with Tivoli.
LT, there it's the policies that have no appreciation of the fact that travel can be hard on you. Doing things to make your week away from home harder than it should be. Been malcontent with that job for a long time.
Even going back to when I worked at Lucent/IBM, I don't think I was malcontent there, but I did feel as though I wasn't really being utilized. The position didn't really let me be utilized enough, and that's ok, I guess. I liked the people there, I had a good time working there. Does dissatisfied equal malcontent?
Is it me? Is it the situations I put myself into? How do I break the cycle?
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
breaking the resolutions
So. About 3 weeks ago, I had intended to post and write down all of my New Year's Resolutions. This is why I never make resolutions. They are always broken by January 15, and this year has been no exception. So, with that in mind, I will post my list of resolutions:
That's it. That's the list. Only 8 resolutions. Hopefully with choosing this many, at least one of them will stick.
We'll all know shortly whether #1 does. :)
- Post more frequently. Obviously this one isn't going so well.
- Find a summer job that doesn't involve my current employers. This one is "ongoing". It's not that I don't like the lawyers that I currently work for, I just worry that either they or I will not be able to stand me working there for another 8 months.
- Lose some weight. Or get into shape. I guess the latter is more important than the former, no matter what my weight.
- Unclutter my life. The things you own end up owning you. Get rid of some of this shit. (Anyone want to give me $50 for a 21" Nokia computer monitor?)
- Buy a CD from a band I've barely heard of, once a month. I got this month covered with a Sarah Harmer CD.
- Be a better student. My grades from last semester have motivated me on this account.
- Do more programming. Something a little bit more regular, learn some new stuff.
- Be a better person. I'm a pain in the ass, a ball-buster, it's time to cut back on that. I'm at least somewhat realistic on this, it's not like I said I would completely stop.
That's it. That's the list. Only 8 resolutions. Hopefully with choosing this many, at least one of them will stick.
We'll all know shortly whether #1 does. :)
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Our long national nightmare is over
No, not the election, silly. My last cliffhanger post, of course. The wait for the new post.
I accepted the job in Austin. I told them my start date would be Nov. 8th. They sent me their IP agreement, I made some substantial changes to it, they agreed to them (the substantial portions, anyway). Then I told them that I was declining the offer.
I decided all of this because I didn't want to leave law school, essentially. I was worried that I would feel like I had flunked out, and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to go back to law school to finish. I would have always wondered what might have been. Going to Texas, I could with some definitiveness determine what my life would be like. Staying in law school opens up a world of possibilities that I wouldn't have in going back to work just yet. Another thing that really bothered me is that I could be laid off in 6 months, and then I would have left school to have a job that I didn't have any more. That would've sucked.
Another thing that weighed on me was the fact that while in law school, I still have the opportunity to do tech-related things. I'm currently getting paid $80/week to work on Jurist, I can work for credits if I want, and the whole site is going to get re-written. By me. So I think I'll have enough things there to keep me busy, and if I decide to do tech-related work once I get out of law school, I'll be keeping my head in that game by working on the site.
2 weeks later, I have to say that I'm pretty happy with my decision. While I was trying to make the decision, even though I was leaning towards taking the job, I didn't feel good about the decision. I had a few fitfully-slept nights before making the decision, and none afterwards.
Though now that I went through all of that, I have a lot of catching up to do. I basically didn't do my schoolwork while I was trying to make the decision, and it put me really far behind. So that's what I'm trying to do lately, with some success, though not as much as I might like. I'm still far too easily distracted by other things, still too "open to suggestions".
Sorry it took so long to update. In case anyone is still checking the blog.
I accepted the job in Austin. I told them my start date would be Nov. 8th. They sent me their IP agreement, I made some substantial changes to it, they agreed to them (the substantial portions, anyway). Then I told them that I was declining the offer.
I decided all of this because I didn't want to leave law school, essentially. I was worried that I would feel like I had flunked out, and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to go back to law school to finish. I would have always wondered what might have been. Going to Texas, I could with some definitiveness determine what my life would be like. Staying in law school opens up a world of possibilities that I wouldn't have in going back to work just yet. Another thing that really bothered me is that I could be laid off in 6 months, and then I would have left school to have a job that I didn't have any more. That would've sucked.
Another thing that weighed on me was the fact that while in law school, I still have the opportunity to do tech-related things. I'm currently getting paid $80/week to work on Jurist, I can work for credits if I want, and the whole site is going to get re-written. By me. So I think I'll have enough things there to keep me busy, and if I decide to do tech-related work once I get out of law school, I'll be keeping my head in that game by working on the site.
2 weeks later, I have to say that I'm pretty happy with my decision. While I was trying to make the decision, even though I was leaning towards taking the job, I didn't feel good about the decision. I had a few fitfully-slept nights before making the decision, and none afterwards.
Though now that I went through all of that, I have a lot of catching up to do. I basically didn't do my schoolwork while I was trying to make the decision, and it put me really far behind. So that's what I'm trying to do lately, with some success, though not as much as I might like. I'm still far too easily distracted by other things, still too "open to suggestions".
Sorry it took so long to update. In case anyone is still checking the blog.
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