12 posts tagged “office”
What do you love most about your job?
1. Problem solving. Although it's all in the field of nerdy computer things, I do like being given a problem then working out the best way to solve it. Or the best way with the time available, which are not always the same thing.
2. People. I work with several people who I love dearly and learn a lot from.
3. Learning. In the space of less than two years, I have learned a LOT and keep learning. It's great, and I attribute that to both the people I work with (especially my mentor, Eduardo, whose coding style is so easy to follow) and the fact that the company is too small for pre-defined roles to really stick on any given project. I was hired to do CSS and JavaScript, but spread out into SQL Server, ASP.Net, XML and other technologies just because I could and extra hands were needed.
So begins 'Heirloom' by Bjork, and so begins this post. I've had it a lot over the past year. Elements change, but the overall theme is the same.
I am in what I recognise to be one of my old places in London. Sometimes, it actually is one of those places, other times it is a place my brain has made up. The overall thrust of the dream is that I am supposed to be moving out of the place, but I am not ready - not everything is packed, and there is some looming deadline such as the landlord coming to inspect the place or new people moving in.
Last night, it was the latter. In the dream, my brother, his girlfriend, Jess and I were asleep in my old place. I got up and looked out of the window to see the new tenant and her friends carrying luggage and furniture towards the house. I quickly ran to wake people up, shouting "We have to get up, I'm not ready!"
Then it cut to me explaining to the new tenant that she could keep my television, stereo and VCR as I wouldn't need them where I was going. It was around this time that I woke up.
Jess thinks the dream is actually an analogy for work - how I am very busy on one project but the next one is looming up ahead. It would make sense I guess - work is crazy this week (culminating in me staying late at the office last night), but I don't know... even ignoring work, I've felt very strange this week. My brain has been ticking more than usual with directionless, restless thoughts and I think my sub-conscious is having just as hard a time making sense of it as my conscious is.
Where did that weekend go?
I left work at a reasonable time on Friday night and met Jess at home. We went to a vaguely Irish pub to grab a bite to eat, then headed to the Metro to see Nada Surf.
The opening act was The Jealous Girlfriends, a four piece featuring a girl on vocals/guitar, a guy on guitar/vocals, a guy on keyboards playing bass lines and synth parts, and a wee chap on drums. First and foremost, the drummer impressed the crap out of me, he was great. I liked the band's music, too. I'm struggling to compare it to anything... when the guy sings, I hear the twat out of Snow Patrol, but the girl reminds me of someone and it's been annoying me for days.
They're kinda shoegazer indie rock, I guess. Whatever that means.
Nada Surf were pretty freaking great - helped in no small way by the addition of Martin Wenk from Calexico on keyboards and trumpet. He added what Jess called a "Debbie Downer" vibe to the gorgeous '80 Windows', and brought some swagger to songs from recent album Lucky.
Matthew was very upbeat and chatty, getting the audience to participate on harmony vocals and talking up a storm. It was a really enjoyable show. As far as I can remember, they played...
From High/Low:
'Stalemate' (which morphed into 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division)
From The Proximity Effect:
'80 Windows'
From Let Go:
'Blizzard Of '77'
'Fruit Fly'
'Blonde On Blonde'
'Inside Of Love'
'Hi-Speed Soul'
'Kilian's Red'
'Happy Kid'
'Paper Boats'
From The Weight Is A Gift:
'Concrete Bed'
'Do It Again'
'Always Love'
'Blankest Year' (with audience participation on the "fuck it!")
From Lucky:
'See These Bones'
'Whose Authority?'
'Beautiful Beat'
'Weightless' (with audience participation on the "ooh aah ooh")
'I Like What You Say'
'The Fox' (for which Matthew donned a creepy looking fox hat)
Some dude kept screaming out "Popular!" but was thoroughly denied. BURN.
Saturday was a nice, sunny day so we went out for brunch, I picked up a game in Best Buy, then we headed down to the zoo. Despite the abundance of Americans, it was entirely pleasant. Having a zoo so close by is highly recommended.
After that, we schlepped home and had a quiet night in, watching The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. It was a really enjoyable film - and not as crazy long as I'd been led to believe.
I had to work on Sunday, preparing the latest project to go into QA. An unrelated emergency sprang up that we managed to contain, but we still got everything we needed to do done by 5pm. I left work and went over to meet Jess and Josie. We did a little shopping, went bowling (oh yes, all three of us are awesome at bowling) then took Josie to the train station.
And that was my weekend.
It's been a good week.
With the launch out of the way, work has been less hectic. There were still bits and pieces to do on the sites we launched - some post-launch bug fixes, new features and responses to feedback. Other than that, I got to move onto my other project which - while also bearing an ever-looming deadline - I am comfortable about.
Tuesday was Jess' birthday so we went to our favourite Mexican place. As it was a special occasion, we had cocktails and dessert... and I'm very glad we did. Despite it being a girly drink, I love pina colada; and the weird ice cream things we had for dessert were very tasty. Jess really wanted to go to a Thai place, but given the distance, this was a perfect substitute.
Yesterday, I left work just after 5.30pm and got home around 6.15pm, despite having to take a detour to drop off our rent cheque. Considering last week I didn't leave work/get home until around the same time the following morning, it was nice. Jess was staying late at work, though, so I didn't know what to do with myself.
I did very little. I made myself a very simple and meat-free dinner, watched a whole disc of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law then got into bed and played Solitaire on my swanky new phone. Somehow, I held off the sleepiness washing over me until Jess was home and in bed.
She had to get up early again this morning, leaving me to bum around. I spent my morning devouring another disc of Harvey Birdman, dicking around on the computer (it's amazing how much time you can waste looking at online galleries, Wikipedia entries and Amazon) and playing more Solitaire and Bubble Breaker.
My lunch was a bit more interesting - Jess had brought me home some steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli last night so I reheated that and downed it with copious amounts of Diet Coke. My dessert was Dairy Milk from our stash of imported chocolate.
I'm about to get a shower then head to meet Jess after work so we can pick up the last of her birthday presents. Despite two consecutive weeks of one of us working the weekend, things are calming down as the weather slowly (oh so slowly) picks up.
This week's calmer Dale is soundtracked by...
- One Cell In The Sea by A Fine Frenzy
- Deserter's Songs by Mercury Rev
- Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
- Logic Will Break Your Heart by The Stills
Last week, I clocked in 61 hours at work. Pretty good going. The two sites we had been working on finally launched at 10.30pm on Saturday night.
My arsehole of a body didn't let me sleep in too long yesterday. Jess and I got lunch and cleaned the place up. I spent a little bit of time bumming around watching Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, playing Earth Defence Force 2017 on the Xbox 360 (a game in which you blast lots of giant ants and things to pieces) and ripping recent CD acquisitions.
Those CDs were...
- Mickey Avalon by Mickey Avalon
- The Getty Address by The Dirty Projectors
- One Cell In The Sea by A Fine Frenzy
- Brother, Sister by mewithoutYou
After all that, I had the rest of Thursday's curry for dinner and we watched the Oscars.
There were disappointments:
- Cate Blanchett should have won one of the two actress awards, she's certainly better (and less scary-looking) than Tilda Swinton
- Juno, to me, was a better movie than No Country For Old Men
- John Travolta looks even more plastic and scary than ever before
But there were also highlights:
- Atonement only won an award for score, so Keira Knightley can go cry into her skeleton hands
- Amy Adams and Marion Cotillard... *drool*
- Javier Bardem was recognised for being creepy-awesome as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men
This week should be much less manic than last week. I've started working on my next project, built using the same system, and it's much less complicated and stressful so life should return to normal a little bit.
What a week.
Tuesday marked the one year anniversary of my getting on a plane at Heathrow with two big bags, a guitar and a smaller bag and stepping off at O'Hare to begin my new life in America.
I still remember that day. I could barely sleep - partially because I was on the floor at my parents' house, and partly because I was so nervous. My mum refused to come as she didn't want to cry in public, so it was just me and one of my two dads in the car.
I don't remember the flight, but I do remember getting off, getting through customs with my shiny new visa and meeting Jess. We got a cab back to our place - a place I had never seen before as Jess had only just moved in a few months prior.
Since then, it's been a busy year: we got married (twice... sort of); I got a job that has kept me plenty busy; we've had ups and downs with US Immigration; we've been to gigs and movies and restaurants; I've made new friends and somehow kept in touch with old ones. I won't feel fully settled in until I get my green card, but it wasn't as hard as it could have been.
And from one anniversary to another as yesterday as the anniversary of my being born. 28 years old... Jebus. Although I was at work and busy, it was a good birthday. I got money, vouchers and presents up the wazoo; I got to eat Indian food (double nice as Jess hates it) and a tasty, giant banana cupcake; I went for a nice lunch with Leslie and Jason at work. I feel spoiled, but old.
Today is the piece de resistance. A project that started back in November; that has caused plenty of long days, late nights and weekends; that has seen myself and several co-workers amassing wrinkles, grey hairs and scruffy facial hair... this project that has been our lives finally launches today. It's a huge deal: we launch the latest version of our platform, written from scratch, with a massive site for Comcast - one of the biggest cable TV companies in the US - and a smaller one for Bresnan. Right now, we're just finishing the final preparations after a couple of test runs before our five hour launch at 6pm.
If we get through this, we can get through anything.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Because Jess and I are loveless heathens - and because we have our birthdays, our wedding anniversary, and the anniversary of when we started dating all coming up; plus Jess is ill - today is a normal day.
It's been an interesting week.
- On Monday, I was told to pick either Tuesday or Wednesday and take that day off. So I had Tuesday off work. I spent most of the day playing guitar, listening to music and doing sweet eff all.
- Yesterday, I was given an Apple gift card. They'd been giving out iPods and gift cards to people who worked on this project as a motivational aid, and I was the most recent winner. I've spent $40 of it on Warcraft III for PC/Mac, and have $100 left, which will either go on Logic Express 8 or... something else.
- Today, I found out my manager is moving over to another team. For her sake, I am relieved because she's had a lot of crap to deal with lately.
- I have a whole ton of bugs to fix across three different sites I'm working on... I am so tired of bug fixes.
This weekend should be interesting. We're hiring a car and heading out to the suburbs to pick up some stuff from IKEA. As we're not moving for the time being, Jess cleared out a bunch of her crap from our weird office/closet thing. We're putting a bigger desk in there so my gadgets have a permanent home.
If Jess lets me get my own way (USB hub and external hard drives behind the keyboard)...
As I've mentioned before, when I moved to the US, I had to leave all my CDs behind so I ripped all 11,000+ songs to my portable hard drive and back them up to a second hard drive I bought here. Any new CDs bought since the move have also been ripped to the hard drive - whether Jess bought them or I did - and the number of songs is creeping up.
Today, we both bought a handful of CDs. I got...
- Juno (Official Soundtrack)
- Origin Of Symmetry, Absolution and Black Holes & Revelations by Muse
Jess got...
- Chase This Light by Jimmy Eat World
- The Con and So Jealous by Tegan & Sara
The best part of having such similar tastes is that we can split the cost of buying CDs. So I ripped them and the b-sides to the recent Radiohead single, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, before deciding today was the day to start tackling something I had put off for so long: ripping all the CDs Jess owns that I don't.
There's albums I don't have by bands I like, albums by bands I've never heard of, and albums by bands I personally would never by albums by (I won't mention names in case Jess is embarassed by some of them). I'm guesstimating that there's around 100 CDs to rip in here, at least. By the time I'm done, I'm sure the number of songs wll be over the 14,000 mark.
This is how I'm spending my Sunday.
I spent my Friday at work. I didn't leave the office until 2am as we had to get the two sites we're working on into the staging environment and working ahead of a client demo on Monday. That was fun. I have a few issues to fix tomorrow morning, but nothing scary.
My body wouldn't let me lay in yesterday, so I got up and played some Burnout Paradise. After cleaning the house and watching Waitress (a great film made more poignant by the fact writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelley was murdered before she got to see the finished product), we went out for dinner and drinks with our friends Jason and Brad.
All in all, it's been a fairly relaxing weekend. Now we're just waiting for Rock Of Love to come on before getting an early night.
If you read Jess' Vox, you will know that we've put our dreams of buying a place on hold for now. In hindsight, we were going about it a little backwards - we hadn't saved a down-payment so we would have needed 100% financing, which we couldn't easily get with me being a credit blank slate in this country.
This year, we are going to eliminate our outstanding debts; save a whole buttload of money; and start again next year when we're far more prepared. This has a side benefit of allowing us to travel back to the UK as soon as my green card shows up.
Other than reaching this decision, our weekend was very quiet but productive. On Saturday, we headed down to the bank to do stuff, then I traded in a bunch of computer games towards Burnout Paradise, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Sonic Mega Collection Plus to play on my Xbox 360. My poor Wii continues to get very little love. While we were out, we also ate brunch and got me two new pairs of shoes as my others were falling apart.
We managed to get some laundry done but I passed out early on Saturday night so we didn't watch any of the three DVDs we rented. Very rock and roll.
Yesterday, I went out to pay the rent, get a haircut and pick up some stuff from the supermarket. After I got home, we spent the day cleaning. Josie came into the city to go for dinner, then once she left we continued tidying the place up. As we're staying put, we had to clear out the mini-office space ahead of a potential trip to IKEA to re-furnish it. After finding out Rock Of Love wasn't on because of the Stupid Bowl, we didn't have time to watch any of the DVDs once more. Bo.
And now I'm back at work, trekking through tons of snow to get to the final week of QA hell on my current project. W00T!
For the first time ever, I feel my age.
It started when I was joking around in the kitchen with a guy I work with. We were both in line to grab coffee and I made a joke like "Age before beauty." He said "I don't think I win in either category." so I asked how old he was. Yeah, he's 25, two years younger than me.
I figured he was older than me. Not just because he has one of the deepest voices I've ever heard (well, not James Earl Jones deep) but also because, well, I've always been one of the youngest at every place I've worked. I started my first job at 16, moved to my second at 19, and my work style has always been "eager newbie". Plus Jess and most of the people I hang out with are younger than me.
Then I read this article about so-called "child men". Apparently the typical guy my age is a commitmentphobic douchebag. I'm married, have a career, and am more likely to be found drooling over new places to live with a Diet Coke in my hand than drooling over some random slut in a bar with a Bud Lite in my hand. I do spend a lot of money on gadgets and video games, but I have never lived with a group of guys and spent most of my nights getting wasted.
Roll on my 28th birthday. Groan.
