Not having all that free time to screw around is pretty harsh. 🙂 So far, I’m kind of confused and getting less confused all the time about what the job is about, but I think the ramp-up time will be lots shorter than larger companies with more distributed workloads and more places to, well, hide.
Got my iPod today, and I can use it on my pitifully short commute. I’ve taken the bus twice and I’ve walked once and I’ve found the following:
Day
To Work
From Work
2/2
Got a ride
Walk – 35 min
2/3
Bus – 40 min
Bus – 35 min
So far, it takes longer to wait for the bus than to just get off my fat duff and start hiking. Which doesn’t seem to make any sense, because the times I’ve walked back I’ve always been passed by the bus. I guess I’ll have to try to catch the bus closer to peak commuting times when they come more often. I’m sure it’s a little quicker to ride than to walk, but there’s not that much difference.
I’ve decided the first song I listen to has to be “Oh, Sherry” by Steve Perry. Now to win some songs from the iTunes store by buying Pepsi…
So I was going to see my friend Craig sing on Friday night, but I blew it off since I was tired, lazy, and not supposed to drink. Anyway, I went home and kept quiet instead of going out, and I feel pretty lame.
Well, the drought broke today and I had one whole beer today. It didn’t bother my stomach and it helped me make it through the tedious first quarter of the SuperBowl. But there were some interesting commercials and a better football game than many were expecting. Some of the best ads were from Portland. The Trunk Monkey rocks. Too bad they don’t have the latest commercial.
The best part is that they’re shorter than the Ian Rankin book my ex-girlfriend lent me. Both are good, but at least with comic books I don’t have to think about who is doing the death and dismemberment for days on end. In the comic books I get to see in in vivid color, and it’s some villain who is going to see the bottom of Batman’s boot. Well, I’m almost finished reading all the books I have, so it’s time to find some more.
I guess we found out this morning just how long my dad has to stand in the shower to empty the hot water heater. A 20-minute shower is about as much as our new 50-gallon hot water heater can handle. We used to have an 80-gallon hot water heater but the salesman at the plumbing supply convinced me we didn’t need one so large. Serves me right for trusting him.
My blood counts look back to normal and I can stop taking that darn allopurinol. That means I can probably start drinking again, but the doc wasn’t too happy when I asked if I could start back up. Don’t know if that’s because of my leukemia or because drinking is linked to cancer in general.
I guess I can lay off if I have to. So much for living a normal life, though.
Well, I won’t say that much about the company, since I haven’t signed the offer letter, but it’s a development job in downtown Portland. Yay! And I got the job because of a recommendation from my friend who works there already. Double yay!
I already ordered an iPod (the 40GB iPod is on sale at Buy.com, and it’s almost never on sale). I was planning on buying it to celebrate: finishing my Master of Science in Computer Science, getting close to 40, and getting a job. Now the third part of the triptych is complete!
Sometimes things are startlingly simple. I wanted to get rid of an old, dead TV, so I drove it to a recycler and they took it for $20. In fact, I just had to drive into a warehouse and the kid grabbed it out of the back seat. That was easy. Actually getting the TV into the back seat was a bit more tricky.
So why was it so hard to (try to) get a free tape measure?
I got this coupon with the new hot water tank. I waited while they looked all over the store for the free tape measures and they finally told me there weren’t any to be had. Off I go. Thanks for your money, go away. I wasn’t the only one today. They told me a woman had come in this morning and they turned her away too.
Actually, I’ve never had much trouble with my teeth. I have a few small filled cavities and got four wisdom teeth (two impacted) removed, but I’ve never had big problems or any fear of going to the dentist. I remember when I was little, I was deathly afraid of the doctor and his needles, but I got over that as well. So there’s a lot of things I think are worse than visits to the dentist.
This leads into the the latest horrible job fair experience I had today. I prepared a new résumé, begged at the door to be let into the “technical” section, and then found NO JOB OPENINGS FOR ME. I talked to some people from IDT just because I was bored, but it was nothing that was leading towards a job. I left to look at the “normal” jobs, but the pickings were slim there, too. There was a huge line at the Providence Health System table, for good reason. Two hospitals in Portland closed down just this month. Other that, the only table with a long line was Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Nobody had any swag, and the only other companies I remember were Burger King and Paychex. It was really grim.
So there you go. Did I mention that I’m hooked on VH1’s Bands Reunited.
Early this morning (well, 8:30 is not so early, but I was trying to sleep in) George Morlan Plumbing came and replaced our hot water heater. It was about a $150 hot water heater, and $375 worth of labor. They took out the 10-year-old 80-gallon tank and replaced it with a 50-gallon tank. I had to fiddle with it, since code specifies the water temperature to be 120°F and that wasn’t warm enough for a decent shower.
Soon after that was all finished, the TV went on the blink. My parents bought the 27″ Mitsubishi TV in 1987 or 1988 and run it constantly, and it’s been showing signs of the HV going bad. So I wasn’t too surprised. Fortunately, we have another 27″ Mitsubishi TV that’s a few years newer from my friend’s mom, so my parents were able to keep watching videotapes from Japan.
Earlier today, I smelled burning electronics so I ran to my computers in the basement which are running all the time. The stupid button on the front of the UPS powered everything off when I touched it, so that was pretty exciting. Later, I bumped a power strip that had a large wall-wart on top of the power switch and I shut down the power to my Mac upstairs.
Well, it turns out that it was the hot water heater.
Even though the hot water heater is glass-lined and 80 gallons, it’s 10 years old and the plumbing store suggested we replace it.
I also went to the doctor and my white blood cell count and platelet counts are visibly changing. And I’ve only been on Gleevec for about a week-and-a-half. I guess those weren’t sugar pills.
Today I called my insurance company to see if they’d pay for my sister’s tissue typing or whatever they call it so she can be a stem cell donor for me. Apparently, I have to be admitted to a transplant program first. Well, I can’t expect them to pay for all sorts of expensive tests and procedures without some sort of rules.
And I went in and took an Excel test at the temp agency. I got several questions wrong, mainly because I kept hitting “Next Question” instead of “Repeat Question”. It was one of those test where they simulate the program running, and it doesn’t accept all the things that you’d try. I did well enough. I’ll see how it goes, though.
For some reason, my sister wanted this picture of the two us seeing Santa Claus in Christmas of 1968. That means I was 4, and my sister was 3.
There are other pictures where I’m torturing her, but those pictures aren’t getting scanned in.
I went out running to day and caught up with a friend of mine. Well, I couldn’t just pass her by, so I slowed down. Patti Finke would have been proud. She’s always trying to get people to slow down. Well, slow down and run further. Since I’m not running the long distances any more, I’m probably don’t have to slow down that much. Ah, the joys of being a slug.
