34 posts tagged “work”
Littering, long showers, not recycling... What's your biggest pet peeve about the way some people (mis)treat our planet?
Sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco.
Littering has always been up there, especially douchebags who drop shit on the ground mere feet from a bin.
My biggest beef, really, is the automobile. Specifically...
- People who buy cars that are larger and more fuel guzzly than they need for their day to day usage.
- People who drive short, walkable distances.
- People who drive to places that are easily reachable on public transport.
Heck, I used public transport for most of my journey to and from work when my house and office were two hours apart by car (and significantly more by public transport).
Walking is free, a bike is cheap, public transit in a big city like Chicago is cheap, reliable and likely to go pretty much anywhere you need to get most days. The impact on your pocket and health is pretty substantial if you replace car journeys with walking and biking.
29 is the atomic number of copper. 29 is also the age I have been since Saturday.
Eva got spayed on Thursday last week, so I took Friday off to stay home and care for her. We spent all day playing Street Fighter IV (yes, she played... maybe), cuddling and napping. It was great. Other than the scar on her stomach, which they sealed with surgical glue rather than stitches, she was in great shape from day one. Her behaviour hadn't changed a bit - she wasn't feeling sorry for herself or moping, she was just as happy and excitable as ever. This cheered me up, because I had read a ton of spaying horror stories before we took her in.
I had a great, but quiet, birthday. On top of all the cards and messages from friends and family, I was spoiled and received...
- Lots of money to spend on nice things
- Saints Row 2: Collector's Edition for Xbox 360 (it's the game, a USB stick shaped like a bullet, a money clip, a poster and an art book in an embossed tin)
- New jeans
- An awesome t-shirt: www.isteamphone.com
I felt very spoiled and very loved. Today, I came into work to find chocolate from my friends Jason and Brad, too.
Jess was very good to me. On top of my presents, I got a tasty breakfast in bed (biscuits and gravy) and she suffered Indian food with me that night. The place we went to was shockingly good, I would say the best Indian I have had in the US so far.
This week, I'm back to work. Rather than sending her to daycare, where she might over-exert herself and mess with her scar, Eva is staying with her aunty Lindsay every day. This kills two birds with one stone - Eva gets one on one care, Lindsay gets all the puppy kisses she wants. WIN!
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.
In this economic climate, not all employers are able to give raises. What perks would make you happy in lieu of a raise?
Sponsored by Microsoft Small Business.
Well, I just got a raise and a new title, that makes me pretty happy... but not as happy as having some of my current concerns addressed.
One thing my manager has been very good about lately is giving me down time so I am not so stressed out. I'm hoping that can continue - just a few days transition time from one project to the next. Also, some time to work on a couple of pet projects.
I'm pretty low maintainance at work so long as people don't take the piss.
What are your plans for the three day weekend?
Ahem, FOUR day weekend, thank you very much.
I have spent my morning playing demos of new Xbox Live Arcade games, Photoshopping pictures of co-workers, talking to a jerky cat and bumming around.
I'm going to shower and head out to take back some DVDs and trade in Too Human for Tales Of Vesperia. I might wander down to Reckless Records or something. Other than that, today is Lazy Times.
I'm not sure what we're doing for the rest of the weekend. I know Jess wants to get out of the city, so maybe we can rent a car and go places. Failing that, I'll try and get her to get out of bed before the day's half over (she's a sleepyhead) so we can check out some of the things we wanted to check out in the city, like the farmer's market, museums and so forth.
Had US Immigration handled my case properly, I would have my green card by now. In fact, I would have had it months ago... but they cocked up. C'est la vie.
They cocked up so much, though, that I was forced to apply for a new work permit. I held out as long as I could as with a green card, you don't need a work permit - and who wants to spend $340 on something they don't need? Well, I had to.
My work permit was approved today.
I have my interview for my green card tomorrow.
I could get both cards on the same day... and knowing how fate is, I would put money on it.
Wish me luck. And stop laughing at the back.
What's making you smile today?
Making fun of Jason - a common pasa tiempos.
After saying goodbye to my parents and having a two-day work week, I didn't expect to have the energy to do much this weekend. Somehow, though, we did a fair amount.
I had to get up really early on Saturday morning as I had a biometrics appointment with US Immigration. Unlike the last time, where they fingerprinted every single digit and took multiple photos, I was in and out. One fingerprint, a signature and a photo. Done and done. Exactly two years before, I had proposed to Jess in Paris, so it was pretty surreal to be living in the same country.
During the day, we got lunch, did some shopping, talked to AT&T about our pending migration from T-Mobile, then Jess had a nap. She then made a very healthy dinner before we went out drinking with co-workers. Mike, the guy who started the exact same day as me, was turning the exact same age as me - 28 - so we were going to surprise him. We left at midnight, everyone else kept drinking. It was a fun night.
Our plan for Sunday was simple:
- Do laundry
- Get brunch
- Head to Best Buy when it opened to get Wii Fit and/or Guitar Hero On Tour for DS
- Go home and bum around
Best Buy hadn't received any copies of Wii Fit (meaning, basically, the game Nintendo have spent fucktons marketing hasn't been available for purchase since its release date). I'm pretty much resigned to the fact we're not getting it. Instead, we both picked up a copy of Guitar Hero On Tour with the free stickers, and then noticed that they had the standalone Rock Band drum kits.
I've been hemming and hawing about the game for a while. We have Guitar Hero II and III and thus two compatible guitars, and neither of us would want to sing. That ruled out the big bundle. Then there's the pending release of Guitar Hero IV with its own snazzier drum kit. I decided to go for it, though, as the drums looked very appealing to play. So we went home with the disc-only Rock Band game, the drum kit and two copies of GHOT.
We spent a lot of time playing Rock Band, in which time I realised how much fun drumming is. After that, Jess tried the drums while I opened my copy of Guitar Hero. Due to the high potential for hand cramping, the shitty list of songs, and the fact we would likely never play the multiplayer modes, we decided to take the second copy straight back for a refund. It's fun, but not twice the price fun.
And that was our little indulgence.
We have an interesting few weeks coming up.
- We're about to receive our economic stimulus cheque from the government. We're splitting it between four charities - one of which is our savings account, the other three are actual good causes.
- I supposedly get a bonus I've been promised for a few months next week, so that has been earmarked for a new iPhone each (hence the aforementioned AT&T migration) and more savings.
- There's some little thing called the fourth of July.
- We're seeing the excellent Wolf Parade at House Of Blues (having seen the also brilliant Dethklok there last week).
- I have my interview for my green card application.
It's all go, go, go.
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.
... but I think I need a time out:
1. I saw a car with the license plate "WHT SPCE". I said to two co-workers "I can't see this car as I ignore white space." If you understand this joke... yeah.
2. I heard a co-worker laughing about hex values for colours. If you know what hex values are... yeah.
YEAH. Seriously.
