Safe from the Losing Fight

Charity has informed me, via Elaine, that I need to post. Since I haven’t fully formed any of the technical articles that have been banging around in my head, I guess this will be a personal post.

As you can tell from the sidebar to your right, I have arrived in the Bay Area, and have begun to hate the driving situation already. Elaine’s sister commented that I drive somewhat aggressively for someone from Tennessee/Texas. It’s true, but it’s because when I first arrived in the Bay Area about four years ago, I couldn’t even getting on the freakin’ freeway until I started driving like I robbed the local 7-Eleven. And yes, I mean that you have to openly brandish firearms before anyone will let you merge, if only begrudgingly.

On the home front, I have an alarm system that seems pissed at me personally. It waits until I feel safe and comfortable, then emits a high pitched screech, designed to scare the bejezus out of me. Before you think the screech is benevolent, let me assure it is not. It is not the beep of “there might someone trying to break in,” it is the beep of “This home’s alarm system is not working! Free furniture!” The landlord has apparently not paid the monthly upkeep on it, so it feels the need to berate me about it, despite the fact it won’t even tell me where to send the check. Fortunately I think I have finally located its lifeline, and me and my friend, Phillips Screwdriver, have already set plans into motion to end its miserable life.

I’ve also attempted to get some sort “programming” for my television set. My first choice was to try Comcast, because I was feeling particularly masochistic that day. I meticulously entered in all my information at their website, selected a package, and made an appointment. This data is carefully translated into Kannada, printed out, and handed to a Comcast associate who promptly shreds it. Meanwhile, I was waiting in line to chat with a janitor — or maybe the groundskeeper, I had forgotten who by now — in a Java applet specially designed for people who wish to go blind by staring at impossibly small fonts for hours at a time. “Willy” (I forget what English name he gave me) helpfully asked me all the questions the form already had, but with much longer pauses and more grammatical errors. I was then informed I could only have the package I selected if I paid twice what they advertised. Apparently they have make up for not buying an ordering system that actually connects with their backend somehow.

It was about this time I remembered that my TV had a built in HD tuner, and I lived in the Bay Area, which has lots of off-air HD content, all from PBS. All I needed was an antennae, and loss of will to live. I ordered both off Amazon, which went smoothly. Unfortunately, it was shipped on Friday via DHL (motto: “You’ll never have to ask ‘where’s my package?’ again, because damn if we know.”) using “next business day.” It arrived on Wednesday, which clearly is the next business day, if you willingly block out Monday and Tuesday with liberal amounts of alcohol, wishful thinking, and pixie dust.

I’ve stayed pretty busy working on my current contract. It never ceases to amaze me how much money they pay people to code, who so obviously have no skill to do so. If you can’t design a class without making most, if not all, data members public nor can you handle errors or exceptions without a lot of goto statements, maybe you should seek other employment opportunities. Seriously, there’s one coder in particular that I wonder why he hasn’t been fired, or at least barred from ever touching the code. Code wilts when he gets near it.

There Charity. You are now officially up to date. Bring back sweet tea and Chik-fil-a.

It’s been a long week in that I’ve been juggling both trying to get a contract jump started and ironing out the final details of the move. The movers will be here Monday (or perhaps Tuesday), then I have a nice leisurely three day drive out to California (leisurely because last time I took the 25 hour drive in two days). However, today I have “off,” from the move stuff at least. Hopefully I’ll also have the chance to go hang out with some friends today for the last time for a while.

Despite the busy week, last weekend was pretty special. Elaine came into town, for one thing. Second, she also had organized a birthday party/farewell party for me, which one of my friends was kind enough to host. It was great to see everyone, catch up, and touch base with them before I take off to the land of fruits and nuts. It felt more like a going away party than a birthday party, save the most excellent Justice League “Happy Birthday” banner. (The hosts have a four year old son…)

Anyway you cut it though, it was a lot of fun, and the food was amazing. It was pot-luck and everyone brought some sort of finger food and/or dessert. Except one of my business partners who brought smoked beef brisket, with homemade barbecue sauce. It was delicious, and something that you can’t in California. I lived there for two years, and never once did anyone show up unannounced at my door with a pound of brisket. No manners whatsoever.

The real present was something Elaine organized behind my back. She had put together a scrapbook of photos from various friends. She had done most of it in advance of the party so there were photos in there from people who couldn’t make it. Like pictures of an open cockpit biplane that myself and Rob, who was afraid of flying, had gone up in. The photos were definitely reflective of the people who took them. For example, Hiroshi sent in photos of his two cats, whom I’ve never met (I like cats though).

That said, Elaine didn’t forget my birthday. She also got me a birthday present, which was the latest Pearls before Swine book. Of the newspaper comics, Pearls and Get Fuzzy are my favorites. Very funny stuff.

Despite the move being imminent, I’m pretty calm about it. I think it’s a combination of having most of everything that needs to be done, done, and having done this three times before. i.e. I’m getting jaded. Whatever the reason, I’ll be glad when it’s over.

See you in Cali.

I would like to wish everyone a happy Pi Day. Not the kind you eat, but the kind you calculate circumferences and whatnot with.

I would not have known it was Pi Day if my ever vigilant mother, retired geometry teacher extraordinaire, had not sent me an e-card, featuring a bear writing pi out on a blackboard. Yes, they do make cards for such occasions.

Don’t forget your geometry teacher this holiday season.

I just noticed that I haven’t posted in a very long time. I blame the move.

I had to visit the Bay Area twice before I found any place that was worth having. Not a great place, but I was really pressed for time and it had the least number of things wrong with it. I get to pay over twice what the same apartment would cost in Dallas for the privilege of being in great state of California. For a place that’s famous for people claiming you can’t own property, property sure does cost a lot there.

Anyway, with all the running around and whatnot, there hasn’t been that much time to blog. Now that I’m back in Dallas I have to finalize all the move details within the next two weeks, after which the movers arrive and move all my junk to an undisclosed, but highly expensive, location. It is doing wonders for my stress level. It’s a good thing I only move across the country every two years.

This is coupled with a new contract that finally started after literally two months of negotiation. The problem was the client’s lawyers got involved. In small companies, the client’s lawyers are on the same side as their client, because they’re not in-house and can be let go easily. In large companies, the lawyers are on neither our side nor the side of the client. Their side is the side in which nothing happens, therefore they cannot be blamed for it. Anyway, the contract is a week old and already a month behind. It’s gonna be fun, I can tell.

All this is to say I’m not going to posting for a while. At least until all this stupid move stuff calms down, which will probably won’t be until mid-April or so.

P.S. Is there anyone in the Dallas area who would like to buy a full size washer and dryer? I’ll sell them on cheap. It is apparently illegal in California to own such things. Some people smuggle in those stackable mini washer-dryer units that have the capacity of a small salad bowl, which is what the owner of the “condo” I’m renting has done.

It’s that time again.

It’s been a little over a year since I moved back to Dallas, so all my junk is getting restless, yearning to move halfway across the country in hopes of getting lost or damaged along the way. Apparently that is preferable to living with me.

Actually, it’s because I’m engaged, and my fiancée lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. We agreed that it would be easier on us if we lived near one of our families. Hers lives in the Bay Area, and mine live in east Tennessee. Since we are both in the software industry, and there isn’t much of that in Tennessee, we agreed that I would move to the Bay Area.

I suspect I was set up, although I have to admit I was a willing participant.

The truth is, I’m really just sick of moving. I grew up and spent most of my life in various parts of east Tennessee. I moved to Dallas for three years, then to San Francisco for two, then back to Dallas for a year, and now I’m in the process of moving back to the Bay Area. It was after the first move to San Francisco that I decided I was through moving, although that resolve has apparently had very little impact on my life.

The problem is, I don’t particular care for California, especially the Bay Area. Yeah, I know, that makes me scum of the earth. It is just far too expensive and crowded for my taste. I know that it has positive points, such as being beautiful and having a diverse community, but there are places that have those perks sans the high price. I just can’t think of any right now.

It’s not that I’m all that attached to Dallas, although I do have friends here that I will miss. I just want to find a reasonable place to live, and stop moving. I think having unreachable goals really stretch me as a person.

On the plus side, I’ll be opening up the San Francisco “office” for Order N Development, my company. My partners will still be in the Dallas area, so if you’re looking for local Dallas developers, Order N still offers that. We’ll just also be offering local contracting for clients in the Bay Area now.

Anyway, the decision has already been made and I’ll be moving in March. I’ll be out in the Bay Area next month looking for apartments in the East Bay. So if you see some dorky guy with a southern accent walking around looking at apartments, please be nice; I only bite yankees, not hippies.