I am still trying to get a handle on all that is going on and expected of me at the new job. I know that will go on for months, but in the beginning it is imposing to try and pick up on so much so quickly. I already jumped in and had 4 hours of meetings today. I couldn’t even spend allot of time with my team because there is so much planning that is needed. I am just tired. I need to get more sleep.
Day One
So I started a new job today! Wow, it is totally different, and things are the same all at the same time. I don’t remember starting at my last job being so much of a radical change. I think the department was more established so that might explain it. I am shifting gears to a much smaller organization with more responsibility, vs a very large organization with a set area of responsibility. It is a big adjustment. I am currently in denial mode:) There is just allot to take in. Over time things will come together but the flood of information is allot to get used to.
On the plus side everyone seems really friendly. I can’t complain about the commute. Overall I am just tired from the grind of the first day at a new job. I know it will get easier over time, but it takes a bit to get used to.
Carrier
I don’t normally watch PBS, but I saw the advertisement for Carrier a few weeks ago. I programed up the Tivo and finally got to watch all of it recently. I thought it was an amazing documentary. They seemed to gloss over some stuff with lots of music, but I think all in all it was really well done. That is hard to say to many TV shows recently, documentaries or not. Well done TV is rare, and the 10 hours of Carrier were worth the watch for me!
State of Play
I am not sure if it is me or it seems like the BBC has more good shows out compared to any US network. There just seems to be more and more shows or specials I watch from the BBC that are just good. I am watching State of Play DVD from Netflix this week. I had no idea that this series was made back in 2003, but I recently found a review for it on another DVD so I put it in my queue. I am glad I did. It is fantastic. I am up to episode 4 (out of 6) and it is fantastic so far. This series adds to the long line of other great series I have watched from the BBC. Recent favorites are Foyles War, Spooks, Hustle, & Torchwood. Then there was Red Cap, The Vice, Doctor Who, and the list goes on!
When It Rains, It Pours
It is weird. I go months without writing very much at all on this blog, and then there are times where I have written 4 or 5 posts in a day. This week is one of those times where I have queued up a bunch of posts. I know it is because I have free time to write because I have time off between jobs. I just find it funny. I am aiming (I have said that allot) to set aside more time to sit and write. I always find it therapeutic but when my schedule is hectic it gets put aside too often. I think when I start my new job I will force myself to set aside a half an hour before I goto bed to write what’s on my mind. That by the way is why there are plenty of topics I repeatedly talk about and others that I don’t touch very much or at all. I talk about what comes to mind that I can put into coherent thought in print. There are plenty of times I have stuff to say about my social life, dating or whatever and I just don’t feel like articulating it into words. So instead I write about mobile phone woes or some cool new toy I got at work. I guess I am shy about writing about some stuff. Go figure?
Submarine Shopping
It is hard to find the perfect gift for people. I needed to find a gift for my friends Jayson & Gretchen for their house warming party next week. What do you get? Some kitchen appliance, a painting, alcohol? Who knows. I ended up going with the fun and frivolous gift. They have a pool, so I went searching for a submarine to drive around in it. The selection for remote control subs wasn’t that great but I was able to find something nice on Amazon that got good reviews. I look forward to seeing if the kids can sink it this weekend.
Starting Over
Monday I start a new job. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Consciously I know the decision to leave my previous job was the right one, but my sub-conscious mind keeps asking if I made the right choice. I know it is my way of worrying about how things will turn out, and keeping me on my toes. Change is good, but it can also get your worrying. People like routine. A new job is an entirely new routine. It is starting over somewhere that you know no one. In a way it is a clean slate, but in another way you have to prove yourself to everyone all the time. As always I am cautiously optimistic. Only time will really tell if I made the right decision, but I have always gone with my gut instinct. It hasn’t always been right, but it is rarely 100% wrong, if that makes any sense?
Ok, enough worried rambling. I am going to try to get some sleep and think about less deep topics to write about.
The Waiting (For Updated Technology)
After extensive pondering between what mobile phone I will continue to use I ended up with no clear decision. I got rid of the Centro, the Treo 680, & the Treo 750 is in a box ready to be sold. I am still using the Nokia E61i but recently I am not happy with it either. It went from being reliable to being very unreliable. I go to type stuff on the QWERTY keyboard and the keys that also can be the numeric keypad don’t work. Cycling through all the shift and alt functions don’t get them to work. A reboot is the only thing that works. Then there is the fact that I cannot always make calls after I get out of the subway or regain service. I get network busy even when I have 5 bars of signal. Incoming calls aren’t affected. In fact once I get an incoming call the phone works fine. Even after a reboot it doesn’t always work right. It is driving me crazy since I rely allot.
I am frustrated enough to want to replace the E61i with something, but I can’t just yet. I am waiting for the rumored new iPhones to come out in June. That and the very soon ability to buy and install programs onto the iPhone is my only hope for a stable smart phone. My problem is I am never good at waiting for new stuff to come out, but my goal is to hold out a bit more.
I am about to wipe the E61i and reload only the basic applications I use on it. SInce I went months without any real issues like this, logic tells me that something recent that I installed is causing the issues that I am having. I am not sure what, but it has to be something. I am going to wipe the phone this weekend and hope for the best. It is either that or throw it into a wall:)
Skype With My Parents
I got my dad a new computer back in January. When I did I also bought a web cam. The idea was to set him up with Skype so he can talk to me and my sister with the video chat. I thought it would be fun to have especially since Carrie and the kids (and Michael of course) are almost two hours away now. Well I tested the setup by myself when I had the computer at my place when setting it up, but never had my dad try it. I setup skype to auto start and configured everything so all he really needed to do was hit accept when an incoming call came from someone on his buddy list.
Last weekend I finally got around to giving him a test call. It worked almost flawlessly. He didn’t have the speakers setup right so audio was messed up in the beginning but then it worked for a little while. I then started hearing some nasty white noise, but the video was fine. I think the issue is on my end, but I need to test a connection out with my Macbook & iMac to be sure.
It was fun to do. I hope to actually use the setup. I wish more people I know actually have skype so I could utilize it more. Unfortunately I have lame friends who only primarily use AIM:(
XP SP-3
I am installing Windows XP SP-3 for the first time tonight. I am putting it on a Virtual Machine running on Fusion on my new iMac. Up until now I haven’t had the chance to give SP-3 a try, and since I have some free time on my hands I am going to tinker. Hopefully it wont blow anything up, but if it does who cares! It is a VM after all. If it does work, I should update the Sysprep image I have of a clean install of XP. You never know when you might need it.