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.

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...

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.

Pressure and Time

I almost wanted to post this after my first three days on the job, there's been so much to talk about. This first week on the job have pretty much been all over the map: exciting, stressful, enjoyable, frustrating, rewarding... Overall, though, it's been great. I can see why people love the job and are extremely inclined to stick around. I'm also pretty sure I'll end up being one of those people.

It's been a weird mix of trying to learn a lot of material, and being thrown to the wolves. Days 1 and 4, they were filling me up with as much material about the job as is humanly possible. There were times I thought I'd end up like Cloud from Final Fantasy 7, unable to move and drooling all over myself from the information overload. There are about a dozen software programs I have to be familiar with, and half of those are seemingly vast and infinite in their intricacies and and complexities. As soon as I was given a brief overview about one, I'd quickly move on to another. One of the concepts I'm learning is even more difficult than trying to figure out the situation in Afghanistan. And there's still more I have to learn, some of which will become obsolete quickly as we work to upgrade our software system. If anything is going to push me towards rampant alcohol use, this sheer amount of information is it.

The other days, after going through the assault on my cognitive processes, I was left to my own devices to work on service requests for our client. It's the equivalent of giving a Cub Scout a crash course in survival, then leaving him in the Amazon with a broken leg and a knife. I'd read a request, for example, and see that our system's configuration had to be changed, or I'd have to write some SQL to make something work. Except I'm not too familiar with the system, and my knowledge of SQL up to this point has been limited to some Select and Join statements. I'd spend the rest of the day trying to implement a solution, only to figure out I'd been doing it wrong the entire time. I ended the day on that note Tuesday, frustrated and demoralized, wondering if I made the right choice or if I was cut out for the job. I like to consider myself a relatively bright guy, but I felt like an utter moron for the first time in ages.

That all changed Wednesday. I went back in and worked on another problem before returning to the rat bastard that bitch slapped me the day before. It took several hours, but by the end of the day I finally figured out what needed to happen. And I was able to do it. Google provided an assist, but left to my own devices I devised a solution even my team lead said was good and probably better than he would have came up with. The satisfaction of a job well done was exhilarating. I walked out more determined than ever to kick ass and take names, and knew then and there I had made the best career choice possible. It'll be really hard, but I've seen now I can do it. I can do well at this job.

A co-worker brought up a great point in a separate conversation. The company I'm working for specifically hires bright, Type A individuals because the work is difficult. They know it isn't easy, so they hire people who are self-motivated and determined to do the best work possible, and they compensate/treat them accordingly. It isn't for everyone. I've been told of people who burn out because they find it too stressful or just can't handle the load. That isn't a knock against them; more than anything, they're examples of why it's important to find ways to relax, pick up a hobby, or do something that takes your mind off work. It's why the company pushes people to use their vacation days, and forces them to take time off if they bank a lot of work hours.

Most importantly, though, is they don't expect me to become proficient in all this stuff within a month. My coworkers keep telling me not to worry if I don't understand everything because it takes time. I've heard from them it takes anywhere between 6 months to a year and a half to become comfortable and feel like you know what's going on. Even then, it might take more time. I've heard on a daily basis people say "Huh, I didn't know you could do that," or "I have no idea how that works" - and some of them have been around for five years. One of the service requests I was working on required five people to solve because no one knew how to do it on their own. Everyone keeps encouraging me to ask questions and not to be afraid to ask for help, because it will help me understand everything sooner. They've all been where I am, and are always willing to lend me a hand when I need it.

I wouldn't have things any other way. I didn't want to get into a job where I would perform rote, mundane tasks on a daily basis. I wanted to be challenged, to use my brain on a daily basis so I wouldn't be bored for 40+ hours a week. That's the way I'm wired, and it won't change any time soon. I just need to take things one step at a time, and use my brain to figure problems out for myself. If I need help, it's not because I'm incompetent, I just need to learn. It isn't embarrassing or weak of me to ask questions; I should be asking them. I will get to where I need to be. In the mean time, I just need to relax and have faith in my abilities. If I can do that, I know I'll be successful.

Food

-dary!

Now that I've had a little time to settle in, I've begun to venture around the Montgomery area in search of places to eat. Normally I'd cook (I love cooking), but the temporary housing I'm in has extremely little as far as cooking ware goes. I have a small pot, a sauce pan, a smaller sauce pan, and a regular pan. I also have a cutting knife, measuring cups, a spoon, a spatula, a cheese grater, and that's about it. The place did not come equipped with mixing bowls, a cutting board, casserole dishes, baking sheets, or a variety of other tools I like to employ. If I just pan cooked steaks or chicken it wouldn't be so bad, but I enjoy my toys. I like eating nice food; it's tasty, I can experiment with a wide array of cuisine, it comes out cheaper in the end, and I usually end up with plenty of leftovers. I found out today from a coworker that these places are normally better stocked, so I might have to kick down some doors this weekend, when I'll actually have time to do so. Either that or break down and make a trip to Target, right after I leave a flaming bag of poo in front of the leasing office.

With my preferred method of dining rendered incapacitated, I've been forced to eat out a lot. And so far, I have to say, it's pretty good, both in taste and value. The day I flew in I ordered a pizza from a place not too far from my apartment, and for $10 I got a large five topping pizza and marinara dipping sauce. There's a regional southwest food chain, Moe's, that makes a good burrito plus free chips and salsa for around $7. (Still doesn't beat Chipotle, though.) I've also had wickles: pickles that have been peppered and deep fried (more on that later), and found/was taken to a really sweet Mexican restaurant where I got two enchiladas, a tamale, and rice for $6.88. As an added bonus, there several Sonics within a couple miles of my place, which, as far as fast food goes, is pretty f'n fantastic. (Side note: I apologize for those of you who clicked on both those links. Apparently no one let either company know poorly designed Flash-based sites died years ago.)

On the flip side, if you want to eat healthy, you're pretty much shit out of luck. Tonight, for example, I went out looking for something light, like a salad or sandwich, to mix it up from the aforementioned burritos, pizza, and Sonic. Instead, I came back with a meatball "sub," which looked a lot like a medium deep dish pizza folded in half and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. The healthiest restaurant I've been able to find so far has been a Red Lobster, and I'm pretty sure that doesn't count. If I didn't know any better, I'd guess that the only four food groups were pizza, fast food, assorted fried food, and fried chicken. There are at least five different fried chicken franchises within a three mile radius of my place, possibly more since I haven't ventured very far north. On every menu I've seen you can get some fried chicken item, and it's gotten to the point where my chest and left arm start tingling when I drive by a Popeye's or Church's. The portions, as mentioned, are also pretty big, so even if you are trying to lose calories by eating less bad food, it won't work. It's really easy to see why the South has the highest rate of obesity in the nation. Unless you have the money to dine at more upscale $16 - $20 restaurants on a daily basis it's really easy to give into the temptation to get a bucket of fried chicken and call it good, especially if you have a family and/or are working. Eating healthy is definitely a choice, don't get me wrong, but being in this kind of environment is like trying to live an ascetic life working for Sterling Cooper.

It's because of the unhealthiness that I've decided to start working out again. I might die out here if my eating habits stay the way they are and I don't do something to balance the load. It's also one of the other reasons why I want to start cooking again. I know I'm young and my metabolism is still pretty good, but I can see myself gaining a decent amount of weight if I'm not careful. And I really don't want to see Fat Mark back in action. Finding time to do so, in addition to working 8+ hour days and being busy cooking, is going to be really difficult, but I need to get more active before I fall prey to sloth and gluttony.

Rebirth (Long Post)

After being constantly harassed asked by lots of friends and family to "keep them posted" on how I was doing, and at the suggestion of my brother and his wife, I thought it would be a good idea to start blogging. Again. Not that I don't enjoy writing or human contact (I do), but this way is convenient for everyone involved to see how I'm doing.

(To play catch-up those of you who didn't know, or stumbled across my blog, I recently moved to Montgomery, Alabama for the first big job of my professional career, after graduating from the University of Montana this past May. The company for whom I am working installs software systems for various government agencies in order to to process all the taxes people and businesses file. I work as a consultant to install, implement, troubleshoot, and do whatever else is necessary to make sure this system works and is stable. After getting the job, they decided to send me to Montgomery for about 3 - 4 months before transferring me to (most likely) a new project, also somewhere in the South. After moving there, I'll live there for a couple years before going elsewhere, and the cycle repeats itself.)

Yesterday was a travel day, waking up at 4:15 am to pack my bags for a 7 am flight to Atlanta. Since this is a temporary assignment, the company wasn't paying to move my belongings, so packing was a struggle as many clothes as possible into two bags of luggage without either one of them exceeding 50 lbs (lest Delta Airlines charges me a $90 "overweight" fee). When I got to the airport I found out one was 3 lbs over, but after some crafty rearranging of belongings in my carry-on and CPAP case I was able to make weight. The sucky part came, though, when I realized my ticket had me in the middle of the row for my flight. As I'm 6'5", this was unacceptable. After making my way through security to my gate, I figured I'd talk to the service rep at the desk to see if there was anything he could do to help. I guess he appreciates passengers with a sense of humor, because after asking him if there were some animal sacrifice I could perform to get an emergency exit seat, he was able to get me one after a 20 minute wait.

What came as a shock to me, about moving and starting my career, happened when I got on board the plane. I was seated next to a soft-spoken guy who had an uncanny resemblance to Will Bailey from The West Wing, who worked for Microsoft. We struck up a conversation and he asked me what I did for a living. Then it hit me. "I'm a consultant." Up until now, I'd always been a student, studying whatever, wanting to do "x" as a career path. Now, I'm there. Instead of climbing rung after rung on a ladder, I can go and do whatever I want. The gravity of that personal choice and responsibility was (and still is) shocking in its scope and depth. It's an entirely new experience building my own "empire" by my own devices. As we got to talking about cloud computing and data security, it was funny for me to think of it as a conversation between two professionals. I've never been that before; even though I've worked other jobs before, I was still "student." Not anymore. I've officially reached the end of my beginning, arriving at a point where, more than ever, I'm the master of my own destiny.

A lot of that realizing must have taken it out of me, because about an hour later I started falling in an out of sleep. I probably would have slept the entire flight, but Delta has apparently found a way for a sponge and a slab of concrete to mate and have uncomfortable, bastard children as seat cushions. But the flight did go by faster, so that was nice. The layover in Atlanta was uneventful, as was the flight to Montgomery. When we landed, I started to perk up. This place is going to be home for the next several months, and I wanted to see what it was all about.

I thought our plane taxied to a terminal and I'd be greeted by more air conditioning. Turns out that "terminal" was instead a tarmac, and promptly greeted me with bright light and a bear hug of heat and humidity. At first I thought "hey, this isn't so bad, I can do this!" Ten seconds later: "Okay, now it's getting kind of hot." Thirty seconds later: "My place has air conditioning, right?!" (Fortunately, it does.) It also turns out that my rental car until the Prius arrives is a white Ford Flex. It looks funny, but it handles really well, has a lot of space, stylish interior, plenty of giddy-up, and good gas mileage for its size (24/17).

My apartment is also pretty sweet. After some initial trouble getting onto the property (it required a gate password I didn't have), I arrive to find it's more like a townhouse. I've got a single car garage (which the Flex won't fit in, but the Prius should), decent kitchen, living room, etc. I wish the TV were bigger, but other than that it's pretty nice. Especially the A/C.

(I'll post pictures of a lot of this stuff once I get a camera. Forgot to bring mine on the plane...)

Since moving in, I've done a lot of exploring and running of various errands to get all settled in. I also had dinner with my boss and his family earlier tonight. He's a really cool, down to earth guy, and seems like he'll be fun to work for. He didn't beat around the bush and let me know that the work will start pouring on me soon, but I wouldn't expect anything less. He did a lot to put my mind and ease and make me feel welcome. Going into dinner I was really nervous, but walking out I feel confident that I can do this and kick some ass.

Considering I'm learning so much at once I'll probably break some of my postings up by topic (like "Food") instead of having it all trickle through in several pieces. Those should hopefully happen more often than not, at least once or twice a week. Pictures will also follow as soon as I get a camera, or a family member/good friend decides to mail me one. *hint hint*

Work starts at 9 am. Time to be a productive member of society. This is going to be legen- wait for it...

Murky Waters

One of the issues that came up after Oracle acquired Sun was what would happen to its programming languages and free software systems. MySQL, Open Solaris, Open Office, etc. all belong to Sun, who was pretty proactive about the open source movement. Now that they've been bought out, it's interesting to wonder what Oracle does with these systems. Many people agree that the move was made so that Oracle could have more control/power over the direction Java takes, the programming language that runs the server Oracle makes a killing on. For both parties, the move makes sense.

However, there's no guarantee that Oracle won't pull the plug on any of the open source solutions and products Sun offers to "trim the excess fat," or "stop the hemorrhaging." If that happens to Open Office, for example, then what? It's easy to say look else where to find a comparable application but there isn't one that's as proven or reliable. More importantly, though, what happens when that application takes off and someone buys them out? There's a perception that anything free and popular in the technology world can make oodles of money if tweaked the right way (Facebook, Craigslist); or it needs to be bought out at a higher-than-valued rate to quash any competition (Google with YouTube). It's kind of like the old expression, "Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive." Open source wants to be free, but it also wants to be bought, manipulated, and repackaged into something you have to pay money for.

This is a trend that is likely to continue. After all, if someone wanted to throw a billion dollars at me for something I created for free, there's no way I could say no. Still, I wonder if it's possible for a company or organization to not sell out and try to build an empire on open source software. The idealist in me says that yes, someone is going to make sure it's free. But the cynic in me says there's no way, the next big thing will always be bought out for vast sums of money.