Lunch Time

I had a powerful hankerin’ for Asian cuisine yesterday. I saw Timmy’s Wok was down the block. It seemed like a good idea. Then I ate. Then I met Timmy. Man, there are times I miss Seattle.

I saw the name Timmy’s Wok and it reminded me of my old cube mate Tim Nguyen. Tim is a great guy. He is Vietnamese and it looks like he can cook. When he would bring his lunch from home, I would actually experience food-envy. So I looked at the sign and I thought, “I’d eat whatever came out of Tim Nguyen’s Wok. And truthfully all I really require is that a meal be hot and stay down. So how bad can it be at Timmy’s Wok?”

First of all it turns out that Timmy is an expert in the buffet. For $5.99 you get all the Midwestern-Asian cuisine you can eat. There was quite a spread. There were fried egg rolls, chicken wings, wontons, okra, and sushi?! I sampled the jasmine rice(huh?) the shrimp and chicken in sauce, and the black pepper chicken which was prepared with jalapenos. Suddenly $5.99 seemed like an outrageous amount of money.

Then Timmy stepped out of the kitchen. Oh my. A 240lb ex-marine looking dude with a social disorder and a chef’s license, he sat down to ask me how I was enjoying my meal. I could tell that Timmy was unhappy I hadn’t cleaned my plate. He was downright disappointed that I wasn’t going back to the buffet to fill another plate. I explained to Timmy that I had eaten all I wanted. Timmy tapped the sign and patiently explained to me that the sign said all you CAN eat, not all you WANT to eat. Timmy was under the impression I could eat some more.

Not wanting to disagree with Timmy, I stood up as if I was heading back to the buffet but at the end of the row instead of turning right toward the buffet I turned left toward the exit. I ran. I threw 7 dollars at the lady behind the counter up front as I dashed past. I finally understood the look of pity on her face when I arrived 20 minutes earlier. I ran the 2 blocks back to my office, sprinted through the security door, sat down at my desk and considered ordering out.

The New Job

Well, it’s worse. I thought that Expeditor’s was tough and it was. The new job has better tools and setting, but is still a much worse environment. On top of all that, I feel that this job has no respect for me personally. I do not enjoy this job.

Expeditor’s is a culture shock for software people in Seattle. There’s a very strict dress code which is strictly enforced. The policies about appearance and behavior are strictly enforced. For example, you aren’t allowed to have a whiteboard in your workspace. There are published policies about how to communicate (written and spoken communications) and those policies are strictly enforced. Expeditor’s has an acclimation period that cannot be ignored.

The new job doesn’t really have those kinds of rules. We have dual monitors and whiteboards. There are no real rules about Dilbert comics or plants or other items you might like in your workspace to make your desk feel comfortable. However, you need a security clearance to be able to touch any of the information that pertains to your job. That takes time. We sit in solo cubes (with our dual monitors and whiteboards) and everyone wears headsets. Why? I don’t know there isn’t any conversation! I tried to schedule a meeting to chat about the small amount of code I was allowed to look at and I got 3 (3!) people to come by and ask why I would want to talk about what I had seen. I can’t believe they are paying me by the hour. It’s very frustrating.

On top of all this fabulosity, on my very first day, there was absolutely no one ready for me. I sat in an outer office for 30 minutes waiting to speak to anyone. There weren’t even any receptionists available. I didn’t pick the start time, they did! More insulting, no one even considered going to lunch with me on day one. I asked the bloated sack of protoplasm in the cube next to me what the lunch policy was and he said, “I brought my lunch.” We’re on the same project! When the project manager finally went to lunch with me on Tuesday, he was very clear that we would have separate checks. Not even 1 lousy lunch. Worse than all this, I have been on the job for 3 days now and not one person that I have met has said, “Welcome aboard.”

So I ask myself as I continue to interview, “what is it that will keep me on this task?” The work isn’t interesting. The people are at best jerky. And there’s something about being a government contractor. I don’t know if I can explain it. The people are arrogant without any skill or intellect to back it up. You’d think I’d fit right in. I guess I only like it when I’m the underskilled blowhard.

Made it

Sorry it’s been a week since my last update.

We arrived in Dayton, Ohio on Thursday at 1:30pm EST. Whew! We rented a room at an extended stay hotel and began our wait for our new furniture. We picked up Courtnei on Friday morning and drove down to see Mom and Dad. Since the furniture was arriving on Sunday morning we headed back to Dayton on Saturday.

I went to my first day of work yesterday (Monday) and Lori and I had our first meal in the new house (Skyline) and spent our first night in the new place. Here are a few pictures:




Ohio isn’t so backward. We have our own outhouse and only 2 other families on the party line phone. Truth be told, some of our neighbors have most of their own teeth and can do cypherin' at a 6th grade level.

I’ll tell you about my new job later. It involves manure, straw, and the phrase “what you doin’ there boy? This ain’t Enumclaw.”

Quick Update

So, we’re trying to leave Minnesota today, however the dragon needs to go to the mall one more time before we go. Mecca baby, mecca.

I dread the remainder of this journey. Flat, flat, flat land. We’ll be going trough Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and finally Ohio. I expect to pull into Dayton sometime Thursday early afternoon.

So far the best day of travel was Sunday. We woke up in Gillette, which oddly enough is where we went to sleep. The town’s elevation is about 4500 feet. So when we awoke we were covered in snow.


The high plains covered in snow are a great site. We had beautiful views all day.


BTW, the scariest moment of the trip was about 5:30pm Saturday night. We were on our way to Butte, Montana (pronounced “but” not “b-yoot”, ignorant locals) and the darned deer were standing in the middle of the interstate. I can attest that the brakes on Mercedes will stop the car, under control, before you reach the end of the range of the headlights at 85 miles per hour.

Fun with Photo's

So, we are in Bloomington, Minnesota. We are visiting the Mall of America. This is the dragon's version of Mecca. I can only assume she will turn toward the twin cities in future times and pray, 5 times a day.

Anyway, we have seen some good sites. Follwing is a quick sample.


Custer's Battleground:









And here's the reason we didn't get any closer...




Devil's Tower:



Mt Rushmore:

me!

Friday Nov. 10, 2006 - 7am PST

The morning news fills me with dread, there’s too much precipitation. It appears we made it over the pass just in time. I’d like to get to Billings, Montana tonight. Lori needs to get ready. I want to get rolling.

The morning news teams are celebrating the foul weather in the pass. Thanks to Liz, we went over the pass before calling it a day yesterday. We stopped at Cle-Elum and I would like to get through the mountains before the bad weather catches us. I’m hoping to get to Custer’s battlefield early tomorrow and be able to see Devil’s Tower late in the afternoon. Then we can see Rushmore on Sunday. So I want to roll by 8AM.

The forecast is not promising. I want to get moving as quickly as possible. Lori is still in bed. I’ll attach a photo at some later time. Lori has asked me what the plan for the day is. “Pack and drive, uh-durr! Silly dragon.”

Seriously, I want to get rolling.

Steve Challenge update: 0 for 2. We’re both sick. Does that count?

Moving Day

Wotta day! Up late last night up early this am. On top of that the dragon is a little under the weather.

And now it’s zero hour. The movers are putting all the boxes we have filled into their huge orange truck. It’s always amazing to me how a life can be boiled down and abstracted to a number of boxes and a set weight.

We made it downtown just in time to be 45 minutes late for the going away party. The movers started 1.5 hours late and traffic was brutal getting into Seattle. We missed Chris and Krista but we got to see most of the rest of the team. Hey Rob, thanks for getting it all together! My lovely wife aka The Dragon is a little jealous. She says, “Your coworkers treat you like royalty, my coworkers advised me not to let the door hit me in the ass!”

We decided to beat feet after the party and get out of town. Truthfully, it was just a little too emotional for me to stay another night in Seattle. We made it to Cle Elum. The down side is that I couldn’t see any of the scenery as we crossed the pass. The upside is the weather was perfect, cool and wet. No snow, no ice.

We stayed at the Stewart Lodge. Room was clean, quiet, typical room. The dragon discovered her favorite TV program was on and was satisfied. I expect no issues getting the hood over her eyes this PM.

Enter the (House) Dragon

I have a House Dragon. I have decided that my wife is not only my wife, but also the common species of dragon known as the House Dragon. I can’t take credit for naming or discovering the House Dragon. That honor goes to my neighbor Dave. He had a Sunday Bitch, but I had a dragon.

The Sunday Bitch is a cranky variety of wife. Except she’s only cranky on Sunday knowing she is facing another week of work at a difficult job. It makes them angry. Typical symptoms are yelling and cross faces. The big difference between the dragon and the bitch is timing. The bitch is only angry on Sunday, my dragon is angry all the time.

There were other indicators that I had a dragon. I started finding scales in the carpeting. At night, when my wife came to bed I would feel a strong breeze. I thought it was the fan. Then I realized she was flapping large leathery wings circling the bed searching for a place to perch. Then she clears a landing place by firing verbal fireballs at me: “Did you take out the trash?” “Why can’t I watch TV in bed?” “Quit stealing all the covers!” The biggest tip-off was when I saw the spent carapace at the foot of the bed. She had molted!

To be fair not everything is terrible. I turn the dragon loose on all the solicitors. It yells at them without remorse. I also don’t have to defend my seat at the movie theatre. I like the fact that coffee in my house is always hot. I like having a hot meal every night. And frankly there’s nothing better than a warm fire on a cold winter day. And I get to have that fire everywhere she goes.

So I have to weigh the benefits of a warm bed, with the shredded calves I receive when she kicks in her sleep and her razor sharp talons rend my flesh. All in all, it’s a pretty good trade.