title of the blog

More writing from the excitement which is BART.

Today at work we had the excitgement which is a 10-year celebration. This means beer and wine at work, while everyone cheers on people who have been there for (obviously) 10 years and people tell embarassing stories. It's entertaining, really. A few glasses on wine into it, I stood (... against the wall) wondering what I would say, dare I make it that far at this company.

That's not to say I don't expect to. Dolby has been good to me, and I enjoy the people and the work, and have no intention of leaving. But, as they say, "shit happens", and it could always happen to me.

I'm onto a new set of deadlines, looking to get our product out onto the shelves where hopefully people will happily write checks to fill their studios with it. Based on our response from clients, it looks incredible. To us, it's fascinating.

I would say that the 'hard' part is over, really. What we were doing before is best described as mad science -- things nobody else has done, and things that we were actively developing as we tried to get the technology stable enough to use. Now that we're out of that phase, most of the technology is stable, and all we're doing is working on getting it ready for consumer release. Inevitably, working on crazy new stuff is more interesting than just developing hardware and software support around it, but it's part of product developement that I'm sure I'll be seeing more of.

Maybe I'll put in an application to get closer ties to research, so I can do more of what the status quo has been for me over the past 9 months. It's been fascinating, to say the least, and I'm excited for the future.

I miss Alex and I wish that she woudl come home tonight to me eventually. Soon!

yawn, exhausted.

It's been some time since I bothered to pull this thing out of my lunchbox and decide to start writing again. Let's see, what have I done over the past 4 months?

Work has been extremely ridiculous. Well, more accuurately, it was extremely ridiculous from about Febraury through April. Our big demo was at NAB, the weekend of Carnival at CUM. I worked 75% of weekends over that period, probably, but what we ended up with was pretty amazing. Hopefully it'll hit press releases soon and then we'll be awesome. Reviews from the show were almost all positive, with the negative ones being only minor issues that we need to resolve.

The weekend of the show, I flew to Pittsburgh for Carnival. My work on the project led to getting (more or less) 2 weeks away from the office, which was nice. Sleeping and seeing Alex and friends and family is never a bad thing, and never long enough. I spent most of my time in Pittsburgh meeting people and visiting old landmarks (cough mad mex cough), whereas most of my time home was spent recovering from that insanity.

Now, work for a few more weeks, and then Alex will be out here for the summer (Yay!) She's got an internship with Billshrink, some internet startup, which means she gets to be in San Francisco for 3 months. She gets here around the 19th, and then we're both flying to tthe beach in North Carolina for a week-long vacation with 60 of our closest friends.

My time has mostly been spent playing WoW, of late. This has upsides and downsides, in my mind. Yes, I feel like a tool. Definitely a downside. On the other hand, it's uch cheaper than going out often or spending money on other things, and I get to talk to a lot of people that I wouldn't otherwise be talking to on a regular basis. Also, playig is also fun. We'll see what happens when Alex is here, as imaginably I'll have less time then.

It's surprisingly cold here right now... 40-60 and lots of wind.

Hrm, I'm talking about the weather. I guess that means it's time to wrap this up.

until soon, internet friends.

I know I haven't written in a while, but generally that happens because I'm busy or traveling. This time -- both! I spent 10 days at home (19th - 29th), 4 days in Denver with my girlfriend (29th - 4th) and then she spent about a week in San Francisco with me (5th - 11th).

I miss her so much, already. I get so used to having her waiting for me to come home and then get sad when she's not there anymore. Alas.

Another 4 weeks until I get to see her again, from today. I can't wait.

Works has gotten a little tedious, but mostly because I'm stuck on trying to identify some problems with our current setup. Obviously I'm not about to go into the details, but I've probably spent the better part of the past 2-3 weeks working on this issue, and it's starting to get really boring.

I've also been looking into buying a unit in the condo building I live in, since prices have come down so much. I expect significant valuation in the area, and the building is extremely shiny, and my parents have offered to help, so we'll see what happens.

I started playing World of Warcraft. The ultimate antisocial geek hobby, but it's just so damn fun. I get to blow things up with my friends online and pretend I'm a cool zombie that can throw fireballs. Who /wouldn't/ want that?

I don't have a lot to say. I made some Indian chicken (jira chicken, specifically) which turned out pretty yummy. I get paid tomorrow, which is pretty sweet. My landlord accidentally threw out my January rent check (oops). Otherwise? 2009 feels the same as 2008 so far.

Thursday afternoon! Only two nights left alone....

Although my mind might be drawing a blank again this evening... not a whole lot for me to think about besides going to Pittsburgh, so I've been pretty robotic in my routine the past couple of days. Wake up, eat cereal, go to work, go to the gym, work more, come home, play on the computer, experiment while cooking dinner, watch TV, make the next day's lunch, sleep.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

It's almost embarassing, but I've been discovering a good number of new TV programs since my emlpoyment began. Lots of House, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Southpark, and hopefully 24 soon! And Battlestar Galactica, if that ever comes back on. And some Family Guy and Futurama tossed in when there's nothing else on. There was a time and day when I didn't watch TV at all, and those days are definitely far behind me.

I have, as I noted, been experimenting in the kitchen recently. I have an extremely nice kitchen area in my current apartment, and I'm trying to make as much use of it as possible. Lunch tends to be boring things (sandwiches, or just leftovers from dinner), but dinner is a whole separate world. I'm pretty happy looking things up online, dropping by the grocery store on my way home from work, and then coming home to try and figure out how things are made. It's mostly demand-based; I'll see or eat something when I'm not at home, and decide that I want to learn how to make it.

my latest attempt has been with calamari. This took a while, since finding squid isn't something I'm particularly experienced with. I tried four or five different grocery stores before trying the asian store across the street from my building; they had it.

It was an operation to get all the raw squid cleaned and cut; I'll spare you the gory (well, more squishy) details, but it was pretty gross in general. I'm fine dealing with shrimp or chicken or turkey or beef, but squid was just, well, fishy.

Anyways, it mostly worked; I think the process was valid, but I used a low-fat oil instead of the "good stuff" that you're supposed to use (read: heart attack on plate), so my squid has a funny taste. I was able to drench it in lemon juice to solve that problem, and it's not half-bad anymore. Someday when I have the stomach (or impulse) to clean more squid, I'll try again with a more different kind of frying oil.

It feels like it's time for a nap, and it's barely even 6PM... daylight savings time continues to screw with my internal clock.

Tuesday, November 18th
4 days until I visit my girlfriend.

Girlfriend's birthday present: purchased!

Unfortunately the list of things I need to do before Saturday is dwindling... as is my motivation to get work done this week. Also unfortunately, I find myself on not just one, but TWO critical paths at work, which kind of sucks. That means that the work one guy's doing on figuring out how good our product is is depending on me, and the work the other guy's doing on making it better is also held on me. Which is better? Neither, really. It sucks though.

I decided on a whim to go by the asian grocery store across the street before going home yesterday; I wandered through their meat aisle (I was looking for squid because I want to make calamari).

Items I found and made mental "wow, gross" comments to:
-- pig ear
-- rabbit foot
-- bull penis
-- pig feet
-- various guzzards
-- some other organs I couldn't easily identify. And at that point, I wasn't really interested.

Anyways, in case you were wondering, bull penis is pretty expensive.

I found the squid, though, and hope to make calamari sometime. I need to buy some frying oil as well as maybe one of those metal spoons to drain things with, and maybe look at the receipe. If all goes well, I want to try that before the week is over.

yum squid.

I've been experiencing my mom slowly getting more and more comfortable with the internets and computers; not that she was terrible to start with, but after she took her job as a lab tech, she's been getting better, it seems. Now she regularly uses AIM, facebook, and even checks her email... scary! (Dad, on the other hand, probably can't turn on the computer still.)

I am excited for next week... excited beyond belief. It's going to be tons of fun and I can't wait to go out and celebrate Alex's birthday or thanksgiving or just be together in general. I'm such a softie.

I got new glasses, as well as a pair of prescription sunglasses. I think the prescription might be wrong in both, and it's seriously screwing with my head. I'm going to wait a few more days to see if my eyes and brain can adjust, and otherwise go back to the optometrist and complain. I'm afraid I'm not going to get much love, though.

The week is boring. Hopefully Battlestar Galactica is available on my computer so I can watch tonight. Otherwise... no idea what I'll be doing.

talk to you tomorrow, internets.

Monday, November 17th.

I am six (almost 5) days away from flying to Pittsburgh and visiting Alex, and I am extremeley excited for that.

This past weekend, Alex (male) was in San Francisco with Laura, and we did a bunch of walking around in San Francisco and some touristy stuff as we wandered through the city. We had some tasty sushi and went out to some bars and clubs in the city during a short but extremely busy 48 hours.

Friday night I had a party with probably ~20 people showing up to my apartment, and it seemed to be a success. Besides leftover food and the whole cleaning thing, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad it happened. It'll probably be a few weeks before I'm willing to do it again, though.

I'm pretty much going to try and get through this week of work as fast as is possible-- I fly out to Pittsburgh Saturday sometime (I think morning), and I'll be there until the Sunday the 30th.

It's so hard to do the long-distaance thing, but as some might say, "the ends justify the means."

I've got a short list of things to do during the week that I'm hoping will keep my mind occupied; I want to retry making marshmellow cookies (last time the marshmellows melted into oblivion), I need to get Alex's birthday present (it's a surprise!) and I will fill the reamining time with TV, video games, and sleep.

I will be doing a lot of TV/video games/sleep.

I don't have a whole lot more to report on, really. I had a delicious pastrami sandwich for lunch from the cafeteria in the building, but it probably undid all the benefit of my workout right before. Alas, decisions are hard. I figure as long as I'm working out every work day, my body should be in relatively good working condition.

I lost my debit card, so that kind of sucks. Hopefully I'll have a new one before I fly out this week, or otherwise my week in Pittsburgh may get interesting.

I guess I can write about something less trivial than my life. Let's see...

Actually, I have no idea. It's amazing that we can live so long and have nothing that we feel like commiting to writing; in fact, one would expect the opposite, that we die with hundreds or thousands of thoughts, memories, expressions, characterizations that will never be repeated.

Does writing frequently and often commemorate the writer, or does it serve to expedite his/herself being purged from society? Remembering someone who can only be recalled from memories must require significantly more effort; maybe this is a pro as well as a con-- if you really want to remember something or someone, you'll spend the effort and remember the person, not just their words. But if you don't really care in the first place, then having the words as a reference serve to remind people what the writer was about, and allow people who never actually met the writer to "meet" them after death.

see for reference: any historical figure.

woohoo, home!

and now, I complain about Proposition 8:

As you may or may not be aware, there was a proposition to ban the already-present right of gay couples to wed in the state of California, which passed. Whatever the reason, I am baffled. Coming through the election, it was one thing I was fairly sure was not even in question--it would fail.

But, apparently, I was completely wrong. IT based 52 to 48%, with the bay area voting completely against it, and the rest of (conservative) California voting for.

I'm just baffled at the logic of people who supported it, though. As I remember:

pro-8 #1: it devalues the meaning of marriage and families.
Relay? Come the fuck on. Gay people get married, and sure, now marriage is not strictly between a man and woman. Does that devalue marriage directly? Does that have a more significant effect than the, what, 30% divorce rate in this country? Does it have more effect than bad parents combined with poor education that breeds the problem in and of itself?

Someone at work was talking to a social conservative, got a little frustrated, and asked this series of questions:

So, you're pro-life, right? OF course you are.

So, hypothetical: suppose, as the situation inevitably is now, that there are more children seeking adoption than the number of foster families looking to adopt. And that without care, these children will probably either end up on the street doing who-knows-what.

Now, suppose that there's a large pool of gay couples looking to adopt and help ease this burden. Is the infringement on your ideals so much that this shouldn't be allowed? If life is the most sacred thing, then shouldn't anything that can be done to support it be done?

I'm less concerned with the actual question than I am the idea. Somehow the priorities of radical social conservatives take varying precedence given the issues, and it's outrageous. If you can't make up your mind as to what you actually care about, then what are you doing bothering to express an opinion? People get worked up over candidates "flip-flopping", when in reality they can't keep a consistent opinion for more than 30 seconds.

Other reasons people could be voting for it... hum. I don't really know. Gay couples can't raise children? Our society isn't ready for gay-raised children? Gays eat babies and breed radical liberals? I mean, what?

A lot of people have been saying that the increased number of black voters who came out to support Obama are part of the reason Prop. 8 passed. I say that's a bullshit reason. Weren't we past the idea that an entire race of people is capable of thinking alike?

The other entertaining comparison that's being made is that being gay is the "new black". Now that (and I swear I heard this several times after the election) "racism is over", since Obama was elected, and once someone in a minority is elected president, nobody will ever be biased against them again, it's time to start being "sexual orientation-ist".

(probably several days later, Tuesday afternoon)

Man, today is exhausting. I was planning on joining a group of people for some pub trivia, but I woke up wanting to go back to bed, and am headed straight home instead.

(also didn't feel like staying at work until 7:30, honestly.)

I read an article (nytimes?) that suggested that the White House was ironically named, oh ho, because only white people lived in it. Hopefully it gets renamed to the Black House. I'm sure that would shut people up.

Um, I'm done whining about politics and current events, for the most part.

One of the amusing things that has happened since I started work is that I am more well-read (on current events) than I have ever been in my entire life. It's actually kind of neat, because for once I feel like I'm that guy who tells other people "hey, did you see [foo] in the news?" rather than the other way around.

I never really did it before because of the effort involved in keeping up with news, but maybe if I had discovered digg years back (or reddit now) then I would have been more motivated. It's nice to take the time between chunks of work to stop and catch up on what the rest of the world is doing. At the very least, it reminds you that you're probably not screwing things up as much as someone else is that moment.

I made some picture collages of various things and people that I want to get printed real big-like and frame for my house. I have 4 20"x30" collages, two with family, one for friends, and one with my girlfriend and some random pictures from Europe.

I've never been a really big fan of taking pictures, as most people know, but I've also never gone back and flipped through a bunch like I did this week. I've probably paged through the majority of my albums at this point, looking for things to include on the collages, and it really reminds me of all the things I'm missing living out here in CA by myself. (but don't tell my parents that.)

I'm a little bummed I won't get to see #2 and #3 over turkey break, but I guess I'll see them a few weeks later during the winter holidays.

I went grocery shopping yesterday, since I was seriously in need of supplies (and am having a shindig on Friday.) Now, you use your imagination to think what it means for someone without a car to go "serious grocery shopping." I went with the hiking pack I used when Peter and I went to Europe, and filled it completely with groceries (including milk and juice, mind you). Furthermore, the "best" grocery store is either 3 miles from my house or a mile from work-- nothing convenient across the street.

So, I took the work shuttle to the Caltrain station, which is across the street from a Safeway. I loaded up on groceries, packed my backpack, somehow swung it onto my back, and walked the mile from there to the nearest BART station. Then I rode BART for 20 minutes across the Bay, and finally walked the five blocks from there home. I probably ended with 45-65 pounds of groceries (I'm not good at estimating weights on my back); I spent about $100 total, and most of that was canned/glass/liquid goods. I was pretty proud of myself, anyways, so I took a picture of all the things I brought home that day.

(For reference, on my last and "more complete" trip, I spent $200 and it took me 3-4 trips to get all the stuff from the Zipcar I rented to my apartment.) I could have done the Zipcar thing again, but it's nice to save that $20-30 per grocery trip; those numbers add up pretty quickly over time.

Normally I pick up smaller groceries (eggs, fruit, etc) in my lunchbox after work. If I could remember to do that more regularly I wouldn't need to use the backpack at all. But, I'm lazy, too. =)

I am at a lab, and definitely win the "biggest tool" award with my keyboard here. (Nothing serious, just getting a routine blood workup done. It's funny to think that in 22 years, I never really had a normal physical -- I guess that's what happens when your parents are in the medical field, and "monitor" your health, heh.)

But, anyways. One of the sweet things about working where I am is the 9/80 schedule; basically, I work 9 hours for 8 days (M-Th), which I would be doing anyways at a technical company. Then, I work 8 hours on a Friday; that adds up to 80 hours, and I get every other Friday off! It's like being in school and having no class on Fridays, except that I don't have to do homework, either.

One of the nice benefits is being able to work the off Friday (like I'm doing today) and then crediting that day towards the future. I don't think it's as common when you start picking up PTO (and mine goes as fast as I can use it), but for me it's great. I am working both of my off Fridays in November, and in exchange (plus a day of PTO) I get the whole week of Thanksgiving to visit Pittsburgh.

Which is extremely useful for me, given that a 9 hour flight doesn't make a quick weekend trip worthwhile.

I miss school, though. Everyone always says "don't rush to get out, this is the best time of your life", and I definitely agree; however, I feel that that mantra is certainly more true of our parents' generation than ours -- 30 years ago, young professionals getting into the workplace were mostly subject to bureocracy and rules. Now, the internet allows literally anybody to come up with something and sell it; I think it's resulted in a lot of tiny companies with less concern for "the rules", and that in turn has led the larger companies to offer similar benefits to remain competetive.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's nice to not be subject to the same social standards that our parents were.

*blanks for a few minutes*

I am so not a morning person. I can try and try, but it still doesn't seem to work. I feel lame going to bed before midnight, but there's just no way I can roll out of bed by 7:30 unless I've had my sleep, and god knows I love my sleep.

Fortunately the last shuttle from the subway to work is around 9:40AM, which means the latest I can possibly wake up is about 8:45 AM. This is still way earlier than my record for the last several years, but getting to work at 10 means (due to the 9/80) that in most cases I'm staying until or past 7.

The extremes are the best, though. As somehow I've thrown myself into the center of the project (I guess I have a tendency to do that), during "typical hours", which are probably 9-6, I get nothing done because every 2 minutes there's a distraction from someone coming over with a question. In the mornings, nobody else is around, and late at night, nobody else is around. On the other hand, leaving work at dark is miserable, so I might prefer the mornings.

But, again, I suck at waking up.

San Francisco is great, but I haven't convinced myself I'm working with the income to afford it yet. At the moment I'm burning through school and starting-life costs, and hope to have a positive net worth by January '09. I can't wait. Debt is depressing, but I vehemently refuse to let my parents dig me out anymore-- I'm making more than enough to cover myself, and I need to be self-sufficient.

Much to my parents' dismay, of course. I know it's not true, but sometimes it feels like they want me to run every single thing I do through them. Am I going to cook dinner? I need to warn my mom first. Am I going to buy something I want? Oh wait, I better save that money.

I mean, come on. I graduated from school 6 months ago, I have 3 degrees, and I am employed. I would say I'm in pretty good shape.

It might be time for a nap.

So I bought this bluetooth keyboard for my phone hoping that I'll be able to write blog entries with it while I commute in the mornings.

So far I'm pretty hopeful, although it'll be helpful to get something stable to put the actual keyboard on.

But, yeah. I commute 15-20 minutes each direction in the mornings, and I've been wishing that I would do something more productive with my time, like reading or writing. I spent a month or two playing Final Fantasy 4, which was a pretty awesome game. Although I have FF3 to play as well, I just don't feel like spending another 64 hours on a video game just yet.

(I'm sure it'll happen soon enough.)

so, the little updates:
I have a job. It's pretty sweet, and is starting to get extremely busy. When I first started, I was mostly being clueless. Now that I've been around as a veteran of 3 months, I have somehow managed to make myself critical to the project.

Again: 3 months ago, I am not here.
Now: the project pretty much cannot continue to function without me. Arguably someone could spend a little time to figure out how all my scripts work, but that in and of itself would take a few weeks.

I am fairly proud of myself.

(next morning)
Doesn't work so well when I'm on a crowded train and not sitting down, though... Maybe I'll either get up earlier and get on an early train, or just find something to read in the mornings.

(later that afternoon, Nov 6th)
Phew, got a seat this time!

okay, life update continued:
I have a job, it's awesome. I feel my work is interesting and challenging, but still recognized (and hopefully rewarded).

I am living in an apartment just across the bay in Oakland, CA, which offers the same convenience as living in the city with a cheaper cost of living (and newer buildings). Granted, the area is known to be a little "sketchier", but that never bothered me, and I'm downtown so that's not much of an issue.

I'm constantly surprised at how quickly I've become a grown-up. I find myself waking up every day at 7AM (okay, sometime between 6 and 8 is a better statement), getting dressed, making my bed (!?! my mom would flip), having breakfast, and going to work. It's ridiculous. I wake up at 7 and go to bed at 11:30 every single day... when did that happen? I find the drastic change in my lifestyle, which I thought previously impossible, fascinating.

I have plenty of friends in the area still, which helps keep me entertained. Although I see very few of them during the regular week, on weekends we tend to see each other at least once. (Fortunately public transit is sufficient for me to be able to get to and from the South Bay with relative ease, which is great.)

I don't own a car, which still seems to surprise some people. My plan was to be in San Francisco without one, and I thought that being in Oakland might require one -- thankfully, I was wrong. Getting groceries isn't always convenient, but between the Trader Joe's across from work and several larger grocery chains within biking distance of home, I'm able to make do.

I've been using Zipcar for my infrequent vehicular needs. It's probably the best thing ever -- I don't have to worry about gas, my own insurance, vehicle maintenance, or parking... and considering how much all those things cost in this area (versus how often I'd probably be using a car), I'm thankful.

It also means I can drive a different car every time I need to... or get a pickup truck, or hatchback, or SUV, or station wagon, or ... yeah, you get the point.

The weirdest part of "growing up" is doing the whole finances thing. Now that I have a real income, I am legitimately thinking about savings accounts and investing and stocks and 401ks and taxes and all this crap that was never a major issue before. With all the travel I've been doing, there isn't a whole lot of change left over, but it's still something that's constantly on my mind (especially with the global markets as they are.)

Travel-- so Alex (that's my girlfriend) and I are doing the long-distance thing, and it's both miserable and wonderful at the same time. We're probably in better communication now that we're 2400 miles away than we ever were, but not being able to have any actual time together sucks a lot. We've made it almost 6 months now, and we'll have been together for 9 this week!. I'm excited.

I have been flying back to Pittsburgh a fair amount to visit her... although the 9 hour flight is hardly a fun time, it's easily worth the effort. We get to see each other on about a monthly basis, which still doesn't ever feel like enough. My next trip is for Thanksgiving, and I'll be spending the whole week out there (yay!). (It's her birthday as well, so twice the reason to celebrate.)

My parents, of course, are less than excited about me not coming home for turkey break. But, it's hard to explain the distinction between home and Pittsburgh to them, without ending up in a discussion about how I should try and buy property because that's the best way to invest or that I shouldn't work late or that I shouldn't go out late at night or that my brother isn't listening or any one of 300 other common topics.

Obama won the election. That was cool. I don't think I'm going to say anything else about that.

what else... hum.
No idea, really. Although I do feel the monotony of adult life, I'm still okay with it. I'm more than okay with getting paid to work instead of having to pay to study.

And business expenses are wonderful.

I'm sure I'll come up with something else to write about tomorrow.

This is a test post from my phone.