![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearWell. This was my first week at work in six months. It'll take a while for me to get the hang of it, and for the stress to go away. It's demanding, and promises to stay demanding, and I'd gotten very used over the last 6 months to having lots of free time.
The whole week was mostly paperwork and setup. It's my first encounter with development using Windows, Eclipse, and Maven. Plus Rally. Confluence is familiar, at least, and along with the two other new guys I've made a few edits to the "new developer setup" page. So... yeah. Steep learning curve. I hope to be writing code next week. I'd better be.
I like commuting by bus. This is a good thing, because as a contractor I don't get free parking. I don't get a lot of things. Like paid vacations. Orycon is going to be a weekend blitz this year. Fortunately it's only a 3-hour drive; we'll be able to drive down after work on Friday and come back Sunday night.
My stupid body seems to have decided it wants at least 7 hours of sleep every night. Do Not Have The Time! I especially miss having an extra hour or two to myself in the morning. One hour (if I get up at 7 and leave at 8) is barely enough for the usual round of drugs, nose-watering, tooth-brushing, and a quick breakfast. A shower is pushing it. Well, maybe I'll get into a stable schedule eventually.
Apropos of tooth-brushing, we went to Costco and I found a two-pack of Sonicare teethbrush (that's the plural of toothbrush, isn't it?). They'd been strongly recommended by my new hygienist. We did end up spending quite a lot more there than I'd intended.
I also spent more than I'd intended at the Container Store, getting tracks and standards for the living room. I finally decided not to try anything fancy. I have one, 4' shelf up, for the guinea pig cage. It's a huge improvement. I also got a pair of stacking bamboo shelves to go between the chairs - the stack is low enough that it fits under the overhang of the arms, and I've clipped a pair of drink holders onto the end. Big win.
Today I may have time to buy wood for the bookshelves.
Colleen had wanted to check out Bellevue Square, which is next door to Lincoln Square (where the Container Store is), so we did that. Ghastly. It's laid out so that you have to do a lot of backtracking if you're on a scooter, plus it's noisy and crowded. We didn't even bother with the first floor -- there was a long line for the elevators. If it wasn't for having the only Container Store in the state I wouldn't go back there at all.
I did some cooking -- Polish sausage with beans, carnitas soft tacos, ... The really huge thing this week was that Colleen cooked dinner on Friday! That's wonderful progress -- it's been a really long time since she was able to do that. The fact that our kitchen is almost an ideal layout for scoot-through cooking helps. She only needed help a couple of times; getting a hot pot of pasta between the stove and sink for draining is still well beyond what she's capable of. So far.
Some links. Watch out for the first one -- it's going to be very triggery for some people. Harrowing and heartbreaking, but you need to see Amamda Todd's video if you can handle it.
1013 Sa
* awake 6:30, up 7am; W=192.4; d, n, t, ... h, e, l; laundry, dishes
@ EXTREME TRIGGER WARNING: bullying, cyberstalking, suicide. Heartbreaking.
RCMP probes online links to teen's suicide - Yahoo! News Canada
Amanda Todd’s mom speaks out about daughter’s death (with video)
Amanda Todd's Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self Harm
#RIPAmandaTodd - YouTube
(The Eclectic Fan - What the HELL is wrong with people?)
@ Seattle Malls - Seattle Shopping
* Ordered Avalon Is Risen -- both versions.
* Container store: 3 tracks, 240". Cage is 17x41, so get a 4' piece of 16"
wire shelving? Would be on only 2 brackets, but ok because very lightly
loaded. Verts are $15 on sale; normally $20.
2' spacing: need 10 verticals (not 11, because we're not using the very ends)
32" -> 7.5, so 8. OK, 24", which allows any even shelf length with 12"
overhang on the ends.
-> cost $361, about $100 more than my estimate, but that's completely
accounted for by the two bamboo stacking shelves (to go between the
recliners) and the two boxes of brackets. So... ok. Still a lot cheaper
than the equivalent in freestanding bookshelf units. A LOT.
* Colleen wanted to check out Bellevue Square, so we did. Ghastly. Layout ok
for foot, maybe, but not scooter/stroller. Wouldn't surprise me if they did
that on purpose -- they didn't have to. We didn't go to the first floor at
all because the line for the elevators was too long. So the only reason to
ever go there is because the Container Store is the only one in the state.
And it's actually across the street in Lincoln Square.
@ Jim C. Hines » Boundaries (thnidu | The right to say No.)
" When someone says no, the correct response is “Okay.” If you don’t
understand, that’s fine. You don’t have to understand. Maybe the other
person will be willing to explain. Maybe not. But they don’t owe you an
explanation.
You have the right to say no, period. And if someone can’t accept that,
then the hell with them. The problem isn’t you.
"
* dinner: Bush's maple/bacon baked beans, with Polish sausage that had been
sauteed in the pan first. Yum. And leftovers for tomorrow.
: Hmm. The livingroom wall is several feet shorter than I thought I'd
measured it. But it's about 20'6", which is enough. Barely. (If it hadn't
been, I'd just have to go get the hacksaw. But I could have saved $20 on a
standard. And could have gone with 16" shelving for the piggies, and saved
the $20 I spent on the brackets. Ah, well.
* Tracks up. One screw left over, thanks to a half-dozen that had leaked from
the broken box onto the bottom of the toolbox tray. Whew! About 2"
clearance on either end. 2' spacing = every 3rd screw, since they're 8"
apart. Convenient, that.
* 11:15 piggie cage up on new shelf. 4/9 standards up.
* pair of stacking wire-and-bamboo shelves between the chairs. Big win. Two
drink-holders clipped onto the end. Wastebasket under the piggies.
! tired, accomplished, productive. Go me!!
1014 Su
* awake 6:45; snuggle
* up 7:15; W=193.4; d, n, t, h; dishes
: putting my coffee on the between-chairs table is a bit inconvenient, and
it's not really a good place for my glasses at all. I expect these things
to get worked out over the next couple of weeks.
* 9:15 - get over to N's for shopping and errands
@ The San Francisco Games Revolution Is Over | TechCrunch
* pick up some shelving on the way back from N's
* 1pm aim to get back for grocery shopping with Colleen
-> raining, and C. hadn't had lunch; was after 2 before I headed out. But I
had a shopping list, at least.
@ Raspberry Pi: The Small Computer With The Big Ambition (To Get Kids Coding Again)
@ Dark Social: We Have the Whole History of the Web Wrong +Tim O'Reilly
@ Why a Bible belt conservative spent a year pretending to be gay +Kee Hinckley
@ Astronauts Hail Skydiver Felix Baumgartner's Record-Breaking Supersonic Jump
* buy Android app MyBackup Pro in preparation for ICS upgrade.
1015 Mo
* up 6:19; W=196.6; d, n, t; laundry, dishes
* 7:13 eating breakfast and writing this entry.
@ A field guide to “plain text” « File Formats Blog with filksong
* 522 stops at 2nd and Marion. There's an entrance on 3rd. Win.
* 9am start at $D. Still haven't actually heard from anyone.
925 4th Ave, Suite 1600, Seattle, WA 98104
-> many introductions, mostly forgotten. Overview of the system
setup. Windows 7 box Still waiting for a login on the internal github
working on new multi-domain identity system. Java/Tomcat
Confluence/Rally/Maven I'm trying to set up Eclipse; may punt and
install Ubuntu in a VM as soon as I have enough RAM to run it.
$ HSX: sold a copy of CC+S to Shaun ($K)
* My copy of Leslie Fish's Avalon Is Risen arrived in the mail today.
@ PIN number analysis
* practicing: ~20min: mil-dawn, the bears, boom
1016 Tu
* up 6:20; W=193.6; d, n, t, s, h, e; dishes
* wasted quite a lot of time finding the cleaner's receipt
* saved some time by remembering that I can start my second cup of coffee for
the travel cup before I finish the first cup.
* arrived ~8:45 after some confusion about the elevators.
: found desktop computer at "Stage 3 of 3 Preparing to configure Windows. Do
not turn off your computer." For half an hour so far. let me log in,
though. Weird. But what do you expect from win$
* taken out to lunch by $BOSS - the three new guys and Polina (think I've got
the spelling right) She was supposed to have interviewed me, but my
interview got rescheduled.
* got most of work setup done. Required a little help figuring out how to
bring up the right view in Eclipse. Helped one of the other new guys figure
out how to do a git clone.
: It turns out that, if you're a consultant, you pay for your own parking. :P
So for the most part I'll stick to the bus. Parking downtown is *expensive*
* pants ready - cleaner's open until 7pm -> sticker shock; was ~$16/pair to
have the legs shortened and cuffed. But ok.
* load drugs
* practice: rosie, toolmakers, when-i-go, boom
* started working on $K forms, but need work address. Which is on a piece of
paper at work. :P
1017 We
* awake 6:20; snuggle
* up 6:40ish; W=195.8; d, n, t; laundry, dishes
* finish $K forms (W4 and direct deposit); set up $D identity manager
* lunch @ Sushi Kudasai, downstairs. Sashimi Salad -- quite good.
* Took all afternoon, with an expert's help, to get the whole thing working to
the point where it could pass functional tests. Glark.
* bus was very late due to the backup behind a bad accident on one of the onramps
1018 Th
* woke with alarm at 6:15; vivid dreams; sweaty; hard time getting out of bed
* up 7:ish; W=192.6; d, n, t; laundry
* lunch in a buffet -- buffets in Seattle seem to operate on a "by the pound"
basis, rather than all-you-can-eat. Pretty good mix of Asian and salad, but
the one on 3rd Ave in our building looks better. Next time.
& N offered me a ride home. Worked pretty well.
@ Pretending to Look the Other Way - This is Your World on...
* static IP address. $6/month
2602:0041:6582:6300:0000:0000:0000:0000 65.101.130.99 polaris.thestarport.org
updated DNS, reverse DNS
1019 Fr
% my stupid body seems to be insisting on 7 hours of sleep. Do Not Have The Time
* up 7; W=192.8; d, n, t, h; dishes
& found that there was a huge backlog of recommended updates for my work
machine. It's been installing for half an hour now; hopefully it'll be done
by the time the 10:15 stand-up meeting is over. Or maybe after lunch.
Fortunately I can keep working while it cranks.
* set up autoload for my ORCA card
: Colleen made dinner, with only a little help from Emmy on things like
getting things in and out of the oven, and me for draining the pasta. Yay!
1020 Sa
* up 7:30ish; W=193.?; d, n, t, h; shower, dishes
* put pork shoulder in (small) crock pot for carnitas, with thyme.
* buy: glue - pliobond or something else that will bond rubber to metal.
for fixing the loose door seal on the van. -> silicone
x noonish leave for AFK, picking up N along the way
x 1pm meet Alan and Jeanne at AFK
* out 11ish shopping with the cat: Home Despot, lunch at Las Margaritas,
Costco, Central. Back 4:20ish -- so much for time management.
Also cost management -- Costco was pricy. Of course, that included a
two-pack of Sonicare toothbrushes, a large stock of vitamins, and a happy lamp.
@ Ghosts of war: Artist superimposes World War II photographs onto modern
pictures of the same street scenes | Mail Online (fb somewhere)
* move piggies' cage and shelf 2' to the right (farther from the wall) so as
to leave room for a side-table again. Ideally a shelf, but probably not
since that would require another trip to Bellevue. I'll make do.
@ Why BYOD Can Make Your Cloud Data More Secure | Wired.com (linkedin)
Not sure I agree that familiarity with the device will reduce user error all
that much. Some, but how many people have mac at home and windows at work?
The real problem is that most applications make it way too easy to lose
data. Select and overwrite with no undo is my bane in web browsers.
@ Where Will The Next Pandemic Come From? And How Can We Stop It? (linkedin)
Oh, Seanan...
* 15min: table and letter-sorter now in the corner within reach of my chair.
Not their ultimate destination -- the sorter will end up near the desk,
presumably, but it'll do for tonight.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-22 03:17 am (UTC)I've just started a new job myself, and the last weekend involved spinning up on that as well. After wrestling with Windows and trying to get set up there, I gave up and installed ubuntu 12.04. I'd heard bad things about the latest window manager they use by default, but I found it generally similar to Windows 7 and quite like it on the whole, although I suspect I'm missing a few tricks as it occasionally hides windows on me.
You might not need quite so much sleep when you get more used to the new job and all.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-22 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-22 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-28 01:26 am (UTC)Glad to see you are finally working again. For Disney, neat, I'm a stockholder. Needless to say, I hope the project is very successful.
Say hello to Colleen for me.
Take care up there.