blog.circusgeek

a personal blog with nerdy bits thrown in

Category: Work

  • Work, work, GOOSE!

    Back to the grind today. Sadly, I had a terrible night’s sleep. After going to bed at around 11pm I laid there, wide awake, until nearly 1am. And then woke up frequently throughout the night. I probably got about 4 hours of sleep before my alarm went off. I then promptly cursed the gods (and my alarm).

    At work, I spent most of my day in meetings; planning and coordinating the next couple weeks, and looking ahead to the next couple months. Hopefully tomorrow I can get some real work done.

    After work I met up with my friend Timmy, visiting from out of town. He and I both share the love of the Goose Hollow Inn reuben sandwich, so we met there to gorge ourselves. I had a couple pints of Guinness, and was pleased to learn that one portion of their patio still (for now, anyway) is allowing smoking, since said area sits just outside of the 10 foot range from the door. I was pleasantly surprised. At least I know I can go there if I want a smoke AND a beer at the same time. Fellow smokers (and reuben lovers) rejoice!

  • The dreaded last day of vacation

    Well, it’s finally come, my last day of my two weeks off. And as usual, it seems to have flown by faster than seems possible. In that time there’s been a big snow storm, Christmas, and New Years, so it’s been an eventful couple weeks, yet somehow I still feel like I’ve only had a couple days off.

    My sadness is made somewhat worse because the next couple weeks at work are going to be pretty stressful (lots to get done, lots to wrap up for the next release, lots to start on for the next release). This probably means I’ll go silent on the blogging again for a bit. It’s nothing personal. 😉

    Right now I’m pretending I still have loads of time before tomorrow morning comes around, and chuckling that it’s snowing again.

  • Wintry weather, and some well earned vacation

    Snow in NE Portland, 2008The past week has been very wintry here in Portland, unusually so. We had snow over last weekend (as Kelly mentioned), some 24 degree days, and again over the past day or two, more snow! I always love the snow, makes the world feel a bit softer somehow. We had more yesterday, a bit of a warming today, and then more snow tonight. I got home to a white neighborhood again. Love it.

    Work has kept me insanely busy over the past few weeks, which explains why I’ve been ignoring the blog. I’ve been working late hours (more than a few 1 AM night, and one 16 hour up-til-4 AM code-fest, urgh), trying to get a bunch of feature work done for SuperSweetCo’s upcoming release. The late hours were partially because I really wanted to get something added that wasn’t officially planned for, so the only way to do it was to work late nights. We did a demo today, and the release is really coming together and looking fantastic. Mad props to everybody involved. I’m super excited to see this next version launch in a couple months.

    Fortunately (for my sanity) I’ve got the next two weeks off of work. I look forward to lots of sleeping in, gaming (Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty, here I come!), and generally doing nothing (except the usual holiday season activities). Hopefully I can get some shopping done, finally.

  • Winter brewfest, and Moon

    After a few days of very intense and focused work (meetings galore!), today several coworkers and I went to the Portland Holiday Ale Festival at around 3pm to sample some tasty, malty, and strong holiday ales. The Santa Baby Stout from McMenamins was my favorite, but I sampled a few stronger, smokey stouts that were also pretty darned good.

    I was going to go to dinner with my coworkers at Clyde Common, which I hear is fantastic, but I had a prior engagement with my brother T at Moon & Sixpence to have a few more beers and some dinner. I hope to go to Clyde Common soon, however. A coworker says that even their burger is fantastic, and well worth a visit. Fortunately it’s right up the street from my office.

  • Weekend recap

    Saturday after Kelly got home we had a night in (as poor Kelly was exhausted from partying ’til the break of dawn). So I went to the local Thai place and picked up some dinner, and then we watched some television before Kelly went to bed.

    Yesterday we went over to our neighbors to get the details on what we need to do to watch their dog next weekend while they’re out of town. We even went to the local park and played a bit with all the other neighborhood dogs before going to Concordia Ale House for dinner. Oh, I also played quite a bit of Team Fortress 2 yesterday. Hooray!

    Last night we watched a couple movies. First was the rom-com Blind Dating, which was my first exposure to the upcoming Captain Kirk actor Christopher Pine, who was actually pretty good despite the relatively cheesy flick. It also got me even more excited for the upcoming Star Trek film. After that we watched the British gangster flick Layer Cake, which I’d seen on a plane w/o Kelly and had forgotten how good it was.

    Back to work today. I think I’m coming down with something, or fighting something off at least. I felt exhausted all day, with a tiny bit of a stuffy head and sore throat. I think I’m just going to continue to ignore it, and hope it goes away without direct intervention on my part. Stupid fall.

  • The past week or so…

    I keep meaning to post, I really do! I just keep getting distracted and putting it off. Here’s yet another recap of the past week or so…

    Tues – Fri
    Worked. Lots of meetings, lots of planning, little actual work got done.

    Friday night (Halloween)
    Kelly and I went to Concordia Ale House for a beer, and then headed over to Kennedy School to witness the Halloween festivities. We arrived just in time to see some little kids all decked out (saw a tiny dinosaur, the kid couldn’t have been more than a year old — looked like a stuffed animal with a small child stuffed inside, very cute). We got pints and went to the front fire pit and watched the adults arrive for the evening party. There were a number of good costumes, including some zombies, 80’s style rockers, a thin and buxom Wonder Woman, a Sarah Palin (the scariest costume all night), and my personal favorite… Cousin Eddie, Christmas Vacation style.

    Rest of weekend
    Chilled out, watched some TV and movies. Had plans and they fell through so it was a generally lazy weekend. Perfect! One cool thing, my friend Eric sent me the invite code for the Call of Duty: World at War demo, which I downloaded and played for a bit. Awesome and loads of fun, though it did tax my two year old video card. Time to buy another I guess.

    Last night
    Met Snooks at Horse Brass for a couple beers last night, before returning home to have a salad and doze off on the couch. I think I’m fighting off a flu or something. Urgh.

    Today
    Worked from home and managed to get a lot of real work done. Hooray!

    Tonight (election night)
    Trying to ignore the results as they come in. Nothing can be gained by fretting over the numbers as they come in, moving upward and (sadly) closer together. I can only hope. And pray. And wait. In the meantime I’m gonna continue to play with my new shiny iPod Touch. Maybe play some Call of Duty, or Team Fortress 2 (oh yeah, thanks again for gifting that to me, Ghost Dog!).

  • Time off ends.

    I didn’t blog quite as often as I thought I would over the past few days… distractions distractions. So here’s a recap of my short holiday.

    Thursday was Kelly’s big Mac & Cheese contest finale at Kells, and I ate way too much food. Some of the finalists recipes were really good, and the ones I thought should have won top awards didn’t. Hrmph!

    Friday Kelly and I had a small party at our house for my birthday, had a good time hanging out with friends and neighbors, snacking and sharing my keg of Guinness with everybody. I suspect that night made a dent. 🙂

    Saturday I went to dinner with my family at the Ringside Steakhouse. Mmm, meats.

    Sunday (yesterday) I was lazy, but I did go and pick up an iPod Touch. Shiny.

    Today I was very lazy. The most exciting thing I did was to get the oil changed in the car, and play some Call of Duty 4. Oh, and of course play with the new iPod.

    Anyway, tomorrow I go back to the office. *sigh*

  • Time off begins…

    So after a rough week last week, tonight I begin some well-earned time off. Starting now, I will NOT be working again until next Tuesday. Hooray!

    Kelly got back from New York yesterday. Last night we made dinner and nearly got caught up on Heroes before Kelly passed out, since she was so exhausted. Tonight (and tomorrow night) she’s staying in a hotel in downtown Portland with her coworkers leading up to her big work event on Thursday night. Basically I’ve seen her once since last Wednesday, and I probably won’t see her again until Thursday night. Hrmph!

    Oh well, the important part is that I’m at home, chillin’ out listening to music, sipping on beers, and generally relaxing. Ahhhhh…

  • Trouble at the mill

    This past week has been rough at (and for) SuperSweetCo. The struggling economy is starting to have an effect, and there were some tough decisions made. It hasn’t been a good week, but in the end, I believe the decisions and changes are for the best, and give the company the best chance to survive. I can’t really talk about it in any detail however. So instead, I give you something brilliant (the start of the vid is a bit funky, but it clears up).

    “I don’t know. Mr Wentworth just told me to come in here and say that there was trouble at the mill, that’s all – I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.”

    Kelly left today for New York. She arrived safe and sound. I’m sitting at the Moon & Sixpence at the moment, having a pint of Guinness. It’s helping. 🙂

  • Take On Me – Literal Version

    A coworker sent this my way a couple days ago, thought I’d share.

    “I’m gonna kick some ass with my own pipe wrench”