Growing up, I can probably count on two hands the number of times I actually drank coffee. 100% of these cases involved me being on a long road trip to/from Seattle, Missoula, and/or Colorado. It was basically my "in case of emergency, break glass" drink when I needed a kick in the ass so I'd stop dozing off at the wheel. I hated the idea of breaking down and getting coffee to stay awake, but when I did, it was always necessary. Why did I hate it? I'm not really sure. I think it goes back to when I was a kid and found out caffeine stunted your growth. Even though I never drank it to begin with, I wanted to be bigger and taller than everyone else, and didn't want anything handicapping my vertical ascension. Well, mission accomplished. With a few exceptions, all of you can suck it.
Even after my growth stopped, I never took up drinking coffee even when I probably should have. Like 8 a.m. classes, for example, or any activity before noon. But it's hard to do something you've been actively loathing for close to two decades at the drop of a hat. There needs to be some kind of catalyst to kick-start that habit. Which is where the working world comes into play. I wake up around 6:30 - 6:45 a.m. five days out of the week now, no exceptions. And when I do arrive at work, they expect me to actually be productive and not drool on myself as I fall in and out of sleep. With my well documented sleep issues, this drooling tends to happen every day of the year except those four days (at most) where I actually wake up feeling rested and refreshed. Especially since I'm new, I really need to be alert and learn what's happening around me if I want to keep this pretty swell gig.
So, enter coffee. For a few weeks in the beginning, I was able to hold out. My mental fortitude was strong, and the occasional energy drink or 5 - 10 minute break/walk would usually do the trick. But as I found myself more sluggish and sluggish, I really needed a quick pick-me-up. And the coffee pot is in the space right next to mine, sitting all warm and ready to be consumed, with plenty of creamer and a large vat of sugar right next to it. I really had no choice but to break down by the time I got back from training. Now, instead of hating the substance, I can tolerate it, with enough sugar to push me that much closer to diabetes. On the bright side, it makes me more active and alert with my work, and time seems to go faster than if I'm jabbing myself with pointy objects to stay awake. It's pretty much a win-win for everyone. On the other hand, it kind of feels like succumbing to some evil, ominous force. Coffee has been the nectar of worker bees for centuries now, functioning as a token of one's status as a contributing member of society. While everyone else I knew started drinking it by the gallon, I abstained; it was a part of who I was. I could always become the exotic tea guy, but it's just not the same. I have been assimilated, drugged and wandering further and further into the hive of productivity.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Mark vs. The Exercise Routine
As some of my earlier posts have mentioned, Montgomery isn't exactly the healthiest place in America. There's fast/fried food everywhere; oppressive heat means most waking hours are spent avoiding the outdoors; and there aren't a whole lot of outdoorsy areas that don't have a high probability of gator sightings, or are just bad areas to avoid altogether. This, combined with my new 40+ hour work week in which I mostly stare at a computer monitor, has not made for the healthiest of living environments. So when it dawned on me a couple weeks ago that I should probably start working out again, the first thought that popped into my head was "Great! Umm... how am I gonna do that?" The answer is easy enough: use the fitness facility I get for free in my apartment complex. The part that's become really hard to answer, though, is when.
I thought it would be easy enough to hit the gym after I get off work. Convenient gap time between then and dinner, I'll have the urge to blow off some steam and get active, etc. Instead, I find myself wiped at the end of each day, wanting to lay down on my couch play some StarCraft or go on Facebook. It's also really inconvenient if I need to work any overtime, run errands, or catch dinner or drinks with co-workers. While working out is great, it shouldn't dictate the more important things in life. This left me with one option: work out early in the morning before work. Which is great, except for the teensy snafus that keep me up at night and make my quality of sleep piss poor to the point I don't want to think of getting out of bed before noon.
The ideal scenario here would be lap swimming. It's low impact, gives a total body workout, and most places even come with a relaxing sauna. If I could get up, eat breakfast, swing by the pool and swim some laps before heading to work, that would be a great schedule. I could do that. Unfortunately, the only place I've found so far is the YMCA, which costs $40/month plus a $50 sign up fee that I really don't want to pay. Alternatively, I could try and swim around the small Lima bean-shaped pool outside the gym here and risk not cracking my head open, but the chances of that happening are roughly 0%.
So far, I've devised a plan that may or may not work: wake up a half hour early and do some push ups, crunches, and stretches until I get into the morning workout mindset, then hit the weights bright and early. I'm really not a fan of this plan, and don't know how long it will last. Maybe not even through the end of the month (or the week). But I need to get active. Unlike college I don't have a lot of leeway to blow off hitting the gym for a few hours; my days are a lot more structured and (somehow) exhausting. If I don't build good habits now, they aren't going to magically appear later when I really need them and putting in the effort to get fit is even harder. I just really wish I didn't have to wake up so early...
(This is yet another reason why I really want my cyborg body right now dammit!)
I thought it would be easy enough to hit the gym after I get off work. Convenient gap time between then and dinner, I'll have the urge to blow off some steam and get active, etc. Instead, I find myself wiped at the end of each day, wanting to lay down on my couch play some StarCraft or go on Facebook. It's also really inconvenient if I need to work any overtime, run errands, or catch dinner or drinks with co-workers. While working out is great, it shouldn't dictate the more important things in life. This left me with one option: work out early in the morning before work. Which is great, except for the teensy snafus that keep me up at night and make my quality of sleep piss poor to the point I don't want to think of getting out of bed before noon.
The ideal scenario here would be lap swimming. It's low impact, gives a total body workout, and most places even come with a relaxing sauna. If I could get up, eat breakfast, swing by the pool and swim some laps before heading to work, that would be a great schedule. I could do that. Unfortunately, the only place I've found so far is the YMCA, which costs $40/month plus a $50 sign up fee that I really don't want to pay. Alternatively, I could try and swim around the small Lima bean-shaped pool outside the gym here and risk not cracking my head open, but the chances of that happening are roughly 0%.
So far, I've devised a plan that may or may not work: wake up a half hour early and do some push ups, crunches, and stretches until I get into the morning workout mindset, then hit the weights bright and early. I'm really not a fan of this plan, and don't know how long it will last. Maybe not even through the end of the month (or the week). But I need to get active. Unlike college I don't have a lot of leeway to blow off hitting the gym for a few hours; my days are a lot more structured and (somehow) exhausting. If I don't build good habits now, they aren't going to magically appear later when I really need them and putting in the effort to get fit is even harder. I just really wish I didn't have to wake up so early...
(This is yet another reason why I really want my cyborg body right now dammit!)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Leeroy Jenkins
Sorry for the long break, but it's been hard to find a decent amount of free time to write anything. Between training, hanging out with family, and a work deadline coming up, it's been hard to find a dedicated time to sit down and write.
In any event, I got back to Montgomery last Sunday after doing my company training for a week. It was, shall we say, an interesting experience. It didn't dawn on me until the first morning that I would be in class for 40 hours over one week. That's five hours less than a semester, in a fraction of the time. I don't know how I never thought of this sooner, but right about the time that sank in, the trainers started working me and the other four like a speed bag for five days straight. One concept, one topic after another, and on to the next. Normally I'd have time to process and take in what's being thrown in my direction. Not anymore. It wasn't all bad, though. I did learn a lot of useful information that's helped me understand more about the job, the systems I'm working with, and how it all fits together. I think it is good that I was on the job for a couple weeks before being sent off because that exposure makes the learning a little easier. It isn't all from scratch, and you can relate to prior experience so you aren't completely lost. It's a complicated system, and I can see now more than ever why the company treats its employees so well. These systems go for millions of dollars, with only a select few who know how to configure and maintain it. The effect of a person well versed with it walking away is crippling. They're counting one me to be one of those experts, have confidence I will be, and will make it worth my while to stick around. So yeah, no wonder they turn up the heat.
On the bright side, the rest of the trainees were in the same boat as me, just as lost and wide eyed in the headlights. Shared misery, as always, made for an excellent bonding mechanism so we made sure to enjoy the greater Denver area in our off hours. Thanks to my cousin's wife I had a car during the entire stay, making it possible to do things like go to Dave and Buster's to relax, or Hacienda Colorado for dinner instead of Subway. Friday night was capped off by a Rockies game, where I managed to watch a professional baseball victory in person for the first time in literally four years. I know I've been in Montana for most of that time, but as a Mariners fan, I died a little inside after realizing that. For most of my formative years we were competitive, or at least had good hitting to make games interesting. Watching players hit back-to-back doubles with two outs is something I haven't seen in ages, as is having some confidence three runs for the opposing team doesn't automatically mean game over. It felt good to be a fan of a winning baseball team again, if only for a short while.
So after all that fun and excitement, as well as good times with the Balceraks in Colorado playing a variety of card games, I came back to work this Monday fresh and eager to apply what I'd learned. At least that was the plan, until I got the wind taken out of my sails when I was told a lot of what I had done the previous week was wrong or incomplete. When the words "I've screwed up worse before, but..." are uttered, you know you did a decent job of botching something. After my head was put through the ringer a stomach punch was the last thing I needed. My team members were nice and reassuring, and gave me the benefit of the doubt that I don't know everything and left stuff incomplete before training, but it wasn't the best news I could have heard. Especially since it was followed by me stepping through error messages I could barely decipher, let alone patch, for the next several days.
But that's part of any new job. As my older brother told me, when you start a new job, you're going to fuck up. It's inevitable, so don't beat yourself up over it. Accept the fact it happened, brush yourself off, and make sure you learned something from it. For me, I now know what the gaps in my knowledge are, and filling those will help me get better quicker, especially with regards to terminology. I've even seen some modest improvements this week; by the end of today, I was patching more problems on my own the first try. I was able to see that something was obviously wrong, and knew how to solve it off the top of my head. Granted, they weren't huge, complex problems, but it's baby steps. I've got to walk before I can crawl. So in the mean time, I just need to keep my head down and learn as much as I can, but still find productive ways to blow off steam outside of work. I'll go from coal to diamond one day. But not yet.
In any event, I got back to Montgomery last Sunday after doing my company training for a week. It was, shall we say, an interesting experience. It didn't dawn on me until the first morning that I would be in class for 40 hours over one week. That's five hours less than a semester, in a fraction of the time. I don't know how I never thought of this sooner, but right about the time that sank in, the trainers started working me and the other four like a speed bag for five days straight. One concept, one topic after another, and on to the next. Normally I'd have time to process and take in what's being thrown in my direction. Not anymore. It wasn't all bad, though. I did learn a lot of useful information that's helped me understand more about the job, the systems I'm working with, and how it all fits together. I think it is good that I was on the job for a couple weeks before being sent off because that exposure makes the learning a little easier. It isn't all from scratch, and you can relate to prior experience so you aren't completely lost. It's a complicated system, and I can see now more than ever why the company treats its employees so well. These systems go for millions of dollars, with only a select few who know how to configure and maintain it. The effect of a person well versed with it walking away is crippling. They're counting one me to be one of those experts, have confidence I will be, and will make it worth my while to stick around. So yeah, no wonder they turn up the heat.
On the bright side, the rest of the trainees were in the same boat as me, just as lost and wide eyed in the headlights. Shared misery, as always, made for an excellent bonding mechanism so we made sure to enjoy the greater Denver area in our off hours. Thanks to my cousin's wife I had a car during the entire stay, making it possible to do things like go to Dave and Buster's to relax, or Hacienda Colorado for dinner instead of Subway. Friday night was capped off by a Rockies game, where I managed to watch a professional baseball victory in person for the first time in literally four years. I know I've been in Montana for most of that time, but as a Mariners fan, I died a little inside after realizing that. For most of my formative years we were competitive, or at least had good hitting to make games interesting. Watching players hit back-to-back doubles with two outs is something I haven't seen in ages, as is having some confidence three runs for the opposing team doesn't automatically mean game over. It felt good to be a fan of a winning baseball team again, if only for a short while.
So after all that fun and excitement, as well as good times with the Balceraks in Colorado playing a variety of card games, I came back to work this Monday fresh and eager to apply what I'd learned. At least that was the plan, until I got the wind taken out of my sails when I was told a lot of what I had done the previous week was wrong or incomplete. When the words "I've screwed up worse before, but..." are uttered, you know you did a decent job of botching something. After my head was put through the ringer a stomach punch was the last thing I needed. My team members were nice and reassuring, and gave me the benefit of the doubt that I don't know everything and left stuff incomplete before training, but it wasn't the best news I could have heard. Especially since it was followed by me stepping through error messages I could barely decipher, let alone patch, for the next several days.
But that's part of any new job. As my older brother told me, when you start a new job, you're going to fuck up. It's inevitable, so don't beat yourself up over it. Accept the fact it happened, brush yourself off, and make sure you learned something from it. For me, I now know what the gaps in my knowledge are, and filling those will help me get better quicker, especially with regards to terminology. I've even seen some modest improvements this week; by the end of today, I was patching more problems on my own the first try. I was able to see that something was obviously wrong, and knew how to solve it off the top of my head. Granted, they weren't huge, complex problems, but it's baby steps. I've got to walk before I can crawl. So in the mean time, I just need to keep my head down and learn as much as I can, but still find productive ways to blow off steam outside of work. I'll go from coal to diamond one day. But not yet.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Airport
When I first met people in my office and told them how I got into Montgomery without any incident, they were surprised. Every one of them. Each person has their horror story about flying in or out of Montgomery Regional Airport and the random delays, cancellations, or other oddities that plagued their journey. Well, now I have mine. Despite it being a beautiful day, my flight to Denver is delayed by three hours because the plane has not arrived yet. Which is the same reason why my flight to Montgomery was delayed by a half hour back in July. This was also a common theme among my co-workers and their delays. I don't know if Delta (the major airline that uses the airport) is making moonshine runs with these things, or if the pilots down here get hammered and need some extra time to sober up, but the regularity of these delays is alarming.
Originally my itinerary had me going from Montgomery to Memphis to Denver, arriving in CO around 4:00 pm. When I got to the airport, though, my flight from here to Memphis was delayed to where I would land five minutes before my other plane took off. I called Delta and managed to get my itinerary tweaked so I'd go from here to Atlanta to Denver and arrive around 7:00 pm. They were really nice and quick about it, too, which I thought was nice. As soon as I get that boarding pass and get through security, however, I hear that my other plane just arrived and they should be getting into Memphis at least a half hour before my other plane was to take off.
Needless to say, that did not make me happy. While a half hour is cutting it close, I've done it before. It pisses me off, too, because I was able to get emergency exit seats for both flights. Now, I'm in a window seat to Atlanta, and still need to pick up a boarding pass there, so I don't know where I'm ending up. Probably the very back of the plane in the middle seat, right next to a colic baby. So help me god if that's the case.
The reason I'm going to Denver in the first place is for my week of training with the company. They like to give some people experience on the job before sending them to training, so they have exposure to the terms and concepts of what's going on before they learn about them. Apparently it's more helpful that way. One of the guys in my office knows someone who's doing the training so he made sure to pass along some "good words" about me. On the bright side, the other two guys who got hired from Montana will be there too, and I'm arriving early and leaving late so I can hang out with family in the area. So overall, the training will probably kick my ass, but everything else should be a blast. Seems to be a common theme these days...
Originally my itinerary had me going from Montgomery to Memphis to Denver, arriving in CO around 4:00 pm. When I got to the airport, though, my flight from here to Memphis was delayed to where I would land five minutes before my other plane took off. I called Delta and managed to get my itinerary tweaked so I'd go from here to Atlanta to Denver and arrive around 7:00 pm. They were really nice and quick about it, too, which I thought was nice. As soon as I get that boarding pass and get through security, however, I hear that my other plane just arrived and they should be getting into Memphis at least a half hour before my other plane was to take off.
Needless to say, that did not make me happy. While a half hour is cutting it close, I've done it before. It pisses me off, too, because I was able to get emergency exit seats for both flights. Now, I'm in a window seat to Atlanta, and still need to pick up a boarding pass there, so I don't know where I'm ending up. Probably the very back of the plane in the middle seat, right next to a colic baby. So help me god if that's the case.
The reason I'm going to Denver in the first place is for my week of training with the company. They like to give some people experience on the job before sending them to training, so they have exposure to the terms and concepts of what's going on before they learn about them. Apparently it's more helpful that way. One of the guys in my office knows someone who's doing the training so he made sure to pass along some "good words" about me. On the bright side, the other two guys who got hired from Montana will be there too, and I'm arriving early and leaving late so I can hang out with family in the area. So overall, the training will probably kick my ass, but everything else should be a blast. Seems to be a common theme these days...
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Traffic Cops / The Long Week Ahead
My posts have been non-existent over the past week due to the just-released StarCraft II dominating my off-work hours. It's been a good 10 years in the making, and a good Zerg rush is just awesome and fun to fight off. I can't help myself.
Anyways, traffic cops in the Montgomery area are a lot like fried chicken franchises: they're everywhere. I can count on two mittens the times I've been on the freeway and haven't seen one. There's at least one or two each morning hiding behind a barrier, or sitting on the side of the road having already pulled someone over. This isn't a revelation that came after a couple weeks. On the way to my apartment when I first flew in (a 25 - 30 minute drive), there were a total of nine cop cars that had pulled over five people. I don't know if they knew I was coming and decided to put on a show of force, but it felt like it.
Despite this, there are still plenty of people who go about 90 mph at any given time. It might be because of these people there are so many cops, but they aren't having much of an effect. It works out fine for me, though; I just let those guys speed on ahead and be my lead blockers. The freeway to Montgomery is a straight line until you hit the city, so I can see why people haul ass. It's weird because back in Seattle I'd always think there were cops hiding in certain places waiting to tag me, and 95% of the time I'd be wrong. Here it's the complete opposite. If you think a cop is hiding there, he probably is, or will be the next time you drive by.
Coming up this week I have an assignment that was given to me last Friday, due this Friday, with the disclaimer that I shouldn't be afraid to abuse the company's overtime policy. So it sounds like I'll have some early mornings and late nights in my future. I hear my boss can overreact at times, but considering I'm still getting the hang of things, I will probably log a significant amount of hours at the office. Technically my assignment is due Monday, but I'm flying to Colorado this Saturday for training and to see some family in the area. This is in addition to an already large pile of work due by the end of the month, which could get larger because one of the guys in my team is relocating to Alaska in a week. I knew I wouldn't get a soft landing with this job, so I can't complain too much, but it does remind me that shit's real now. This will start happening more and more, so I better get used to it. And hopefully find a good way to start working out, or at least get exercise, lest I become pudgy.
Anyways, traffic cops in the Montgomery area are a lot like fried chicken franchises: they're everywhere. I can count on two mittens the times I've been on the freeway and haven't seen one. There's at least one or two each morning hiding behind a barrier, or sitting on the side of the road having already pulled someone over. This isn't a revelation that came after a couple weeks. On the way to my apartment when I first flew in (a 25 - 30 minute drive), there were a total of nine cop cars that had pulled over five people. I don't know if they knew I was coming and decided to put on a show of force, but it felt like it.
Despite this, there are still plenty of people who go about 90 mph at any given time. It might be because of these people there are so many cops, but they aren't having much of an effect. It works out fine for me, though; I just let those guys speed on ahead and be my lead blockers. The freeway to Montgomery is a straight line until you hit the city, so I can see why people haul ass. It's weird because back in Seattle I'd always think there were cops hiding in certain places waiting to tag me, and 95% of the time I'd be wrong. Here it's the complete opposite. If you think a cop is hiding there, he probably is, or will be the next time you drive by.
Coming up this week I have an assignment that was given to me last Friday, due this Friday, with the disclaimer that I shouldn't be afraid to abuse the company's overtime policy. So it sounds like I'll have some early mornings and late nights in my future. I hear my boss can overreact at times, but considering I'm still getting the hang of things, I will probably log a significant amount of hours at the office. Technically my assignment is due Monday, but I'm flying to Colorado this Saturday for training and to see some family in the area. This is in addition to an already large pile of work due by the end of the month, which could get larger because one of the guys in my team is relocating to Alaska in a week. I knew I wouldn't get a soft landing with this job, so I can't complain too much, but it does remind me that shit's real now. This will start happening more and more, so I better get used to it. And hopefully find a good way to start working out, or at least get exercise, lest I become pudgy.
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