With · My · Friend · Sancho · Panza...

Today, I took a quiz for my buddy the HR lady. I hear that they're evaluating this new system for new hires, and she was interested in how I'd stack up.

The test was part math skills, part vocabulary, and part personality test. The results were somewhat expected: high marks in math and numeric reasoning (sequences, etc) and logic.

The personality test had some interesting results. I expected the part where it said that I learned well. I wasn't flattered but expected the part where it said I have an attitude (highly critical, esp of employees that don't meet my expectations. I didn't expect the low mark in assertiveness... I've always been told that I was almost overly assertive at work.

I suppose... The world is a twisted place...

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Here we are, at the end of another day. Trying to wind down from the constant cavalcade of action and suspense that is "the work day". Its still summer out, which annoys and vexes me, since I still don't like hot weather. Fancy that, I hate hot weather, yet I live in Dallas of all places.

This morning I walked outside and it smelled like September. What does September smell like? Got me. If I could describe half the things that occur to me, I'd be slightly more sane than I am now. I guess its something about the humidity in the air, the temperature of that humidity, and the fact that it was garbage day. The smell of September reminded me of mornings at the field house in high school. Instead of getting coach's roll, I was taking out trash cans. Probably not what I dreamed back then that I'd be doing 10 years later, but then again, I probably won't be where I think in another 10 years.

I felt some sense of accomplishment at work today, at least. I've been on a project for the past few weeks to turn a 3 page hand-written form into an automated computer program... easy until you consider that the 3 pages comprise about 60 different fields for entry. A fresh approach this morning gave me inspiration to write a routine that generated the field content based on an external file, link the fields to variables in an array, and then export the data by iterating through the array... rather than reference each individual field by name in various subroutines. Also turned in an hour of testing for Jim today, finding one bug during my time. It'll be deferred for sure, but the fact that I found it made the hour seem worthwhile.

Also got to enjoy my awesome beef stew at lunch today. No recipe, just random ingredients thrown into a crock pot, cooked for something on the order of 10 hours, and then served into a bowl this morning. Sat with Travis at lunch and talked politics. He revealed this theory that Biden the LBJ to Obama's JFK. With that, and his idea that the Russians are trying to start the cold war again, it feels like everything old is new again. Add to that the fact that they're bringing back 90210, Knight Rider, and trying to ressurrect Hawaii 5-0; and it really does seem like we're doing a time warp again. Quick, break out the Kansas CDs!

Jonesing for Starbucks, since I haven't been in 2 weeks. Wifey and I've had to tighten our belt since we realized that we're living in a place we can't afford, but can't sell outright at the moment. Waiting to hear what the Mortgage company has to say we can do, and looking for the best option that we can take. So far, this whole "being an adult" thing really sucks. There are very few benefits, and waaay more liabilities than anyone told you about growing up. I know we're to blame for our own trouble, but geez... cut a guy a break.

At least I still have my iPod... and music... lots of music. Tonight's playlist: pretty much all The Album Leaf. Nothing I know more relaxing than this.

• Red-Eye, The Album Leaf


• Into The Sea, The Album Leaf


• See In You, The Album Leaf


• Wishful Thinking, The Album Leaf


• Broken Arrow, The Album Leaf


• Wherever I Go, The Album Leaf


• Writings On The Wall, The Album Leaf


• Shine, The Album Leaf


• The Light, The Album Leaf


• Always For You, The Album Leaf


• Twenty Two Fourteen, The Album Leaf

Now, to go find what happened to any artistic ability I might've had....

I plan on updating someday.  Honest.

This week, I've been in Seattle.  I came on business, tooling around to 17 schools in the Seattle School District.  Got here Monday morning at around 9am, and been working hard during the day, sightseeing and relaxing at night.  Bekah and her mom were quick to accomodate me on this trip for their own ulterior purposes.

You see, on paper, my reason for being here is business. Additionally, I am here to size up the area and see what I think, as the wifey has decreed (well, it was agreed when we got married) that we will someday move up this direction.  I am not sure if we'll be in Seattle itself, but somewhere in Washington or Oregon has been discussed.  With that in mind, I've spent this week doing my think with an eye toward the area as a perspective place to live.  I've also talked to several of the locals (mostly teachers) about things like the housing and job markets.

So leaving this for the moment, what have I seen?  
  - Ate dinner at Elliot's, a nice seafood restaurant on the waterfront.  I am not a seafood eater at all, but the steak was damn fine.
  - Ate dinner at Wild Ginger, a very nice Asian restaurant in the middle of downtown off 3rd Ave.  The food was excellent, as was the hot Sake.
  - Walked from Wild Ginger to the Pike's Place Starbucks, the original store #1.  Got a new insulated tumbler to commemorate the visit.  Cesar, one of my coworkers, also took a picture of me with a job application, as a joke to Bekah ("See honey, we can move here.  I have a job at Starbucks!")
  -  Stopped off at Starbucks Center, their headquarters, for a cup of coffee.  It was pretty neat to get coffee from the store shoe-horned into the lobby of their office building.
  - Walked the Pike's Place Marketplace today, checking out various stores and watching the world famous Fish Market guys throw fish.
  - Got to drive around endlessly.  Seen more of I-5 than I care to for a while, as well as Alaskan Way (double-decker highway that runs along the waterfront).

We would have done the various museums (the Seattle Art Museum, the Science Fiction Museum, etc) and the Space Needle, but they all cost a good $20-50 to enter, and our group was tired.

So do I like it here?  

I've forgotten just how much I love living on a coast, near the water.  Something about looking out into the water from the market today just made me smile.  It rains a lot here, but its not been so bad the last few days.  Slightly on the cold side, but I'm a bit of a polar bear anyway.  This area is hills galore, which adds to its beauty, but makes the houses look a lot different from good-ole flatland Dallas.

I love a city with a REAL downtown area.  Dallas has pockets of downtown, but none of them compare with my experiences in Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Seattle.  I like having somewhere to go and walk around, nice restaurants, and interesting places to just stop and look around.

So yeah... there are some definite good points.

Real Estate?

Well, houses here.... well, they're just damned expensive.  That goes for the city and most of its suburbs, and mostly that judgement is in comparison with Dallas.  Our almost-2000 sq ft house cost us a little over $170,000.  Out here, a similar house would cost almost or above $300,000.  On the other hand, rentals, like apartments, are about the same as they are in Dallas, which would be more or less affordable... if you want to live in an apartment or townhome.

Jobs?

The regional sales people who were here with us this weekend both recommended that I try to get a job with Starbucks corporate.  One of them even tried to get me a foot in the door with the school district, when our district contact mentioned that they were sans a District IT Manager after theirs walked out a few weeks back.  I've also got the bug in with some of my upper management to keep an eye for jobs that I can work from anywhere with some occasional travel back and forth to Dallas.

So yeah... there it is... my thoughts on Seattle thus far.

I promised myself that I wouldn't stay disappointed for too long, so I think I might just say it here and make that it.

Yesterday, I met with the building's IT manager, and found out that I did not get the job. She cited 2 reasons for her decision:

1) She was worried that, because I am so connected to other departments and programs in the company, I might get bored in a job that doesn't really require too much outside collaboration.

2) She was worried that with her mounting responsibilities, she would not be able to serve as the support structure I needed.

Who she ended up choosing a guy who I greatly admire, has many of my same values, and more management experience as me. I'm not so much upset with that, job went to a good guy. I guess I am just sad because I wanted it.

Everyone keeps telling me that there will be other opportunites, so I guess I'll just keep waiting for the next one.

Just hope I don't burn out here in the meantime.

My friend Jim told me Friday that if you have a good idea, a good train of thought, you should ride it until I falls off the rails. It is with that in mind, that I am here again. Before I really get into this subject, I feel a small disclaimer is in order.

( Cut... because this musing is looooooong...Collapse )

Heh, my previous entry, which I cross-posted to the World of Warcraft group here on LJ, got posted on WoW Insider!

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/02/14/office-management-azeroth-style/

I read that site several times a day, but I never thought I'd see something of mine there!