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This weekend, Danny was kind enough to brave the outlet mall with me so I could pick out some new work clothes. He didn’t suffer too much though considering he picked out a new pair of shoes for himself. I got some new sneakers in the men’s section of Macy’s. They were sold out of the type I wanted in the women’s section, so I found something similar in the men’s section on sale. This is one of the few times I’ve been grateful for having big feet.

We also watched the end of the olympics. I’m a little sad that they’re over. Watching the olympics is one of the very few times I actually get into sports. Although I saw a lot of great races and events, I wish NBC had broadcast some of the less popular sports like synchronized diving and swimming, kayaking, rhythm gymnastics, and archery. And although I enjoyed watching the gymnastics, why do we have to watch the same athletes do the same routines time and time again? It took me days to get the music from Carly Patterson’s floor routine out of my head.

This is from the women’s basketball game between Russia and the Czech Republic. I would have liked to have seen THAT game.

I looked more closely at the chapstick and discovered a second warning.

Stop use if rash occurs

Now, does this include eye rashes or is that covered by the first warning?

The other day, my Dad asked me why there were no pictures of my bike on my website. Danny had pics of his bike so why didn’t I? Although my bike is very cool and deserves equal screen time, it is not nearly as shiny, pretty, or new as Danny’s. Instead of a photo, just imagine a dark grey mountain bike. See, wasn’t that easy?

On my first day of work, I went through the obligatory benefits overview with the people from HR. After sitting with them for an hour as they went over my options, they told me “if you have any questions, email us.”
Yesterday, I had a question, so I emailed them. This morning I got a reply stating “During our orientation I had explained xyz to you. We cannot give you the information you requested until your employee information is updated. Therefore, we will email you the requested information when it is ready.”
Really? Oh wow, I guess you DID tell me that along with a bazillion other things I was apparently supposed to memorize on the spot. Geez, this Q&A system is great. Thanks for your help! So anyway, I will ask her no more questions unless I preface them with the phrase “I’m sure you told me before and my feeble brain cannot recall it, but please bless me with your infinite knowledge once again.”
I spoke with one of my coworkers and they confirmed that HR was essentially useless and that asking questions was the only way to get anything done. This made me feel a little better, but not much.

Question of the day:

Why is there a warning on my tube of chapstick that says “keep out of eyes?” Is this really a problem? This also provokes the question, how do you get chapstick in your eye in the first place? There is the obvious way of removing the lid and smearing a substantial amount of “stick” into your eye. I doubt if anyone has really done this but there are a lot of idiots out there. The other ways include getting some chapstick on your finger and then rubbing your eye or kissing someone directly on their eyeball - yuck. I guess I’m just surprised at this warning. I mean why the eye? Why not say “do not eat the chapstick?” Maybe because eating it won’t cause the same burning sensation as rubbing it in your eye. I just have a hard time believing that you could damage yourself with chapstick and that the damage would be so severe that it would require a warning label.

Any thoughts? Any other good chapstick warnings that should be shared with the dozen regular readers?

It is my fourth day at my new job and I still like it. At lunchtime today, I decided to explore my work neighborhood. I walked down to the ferry building to check out the restaurants and the views. The restaurants were a little pricey, but I managed to find something tasty and affordable. After wandering through the building, I found a vacant table outside facing the bay. From here, I could gaze out over the bay, the bay bridge, and check out the ferries coming and going. I took a late lunch so it wasn’t very crowded and I had a spectacular view. It looked something like this.

On Monday, Danny and I went to Target to get a new coffeemaker. I need coffee in the morning, however, I’m too lazy to get up ten minutes early and walk over to the cafe in my neighborhood to buy the coffee before catching the train. To solve this problem, we bought a coffee maker with a timer. I think it’s pretty cool. You put in the beans and water the night before, and, at the appropriate time, it grinds the beans and brews the coffee. It has worked like a charm the last two mornings.

This morning, I was a little rushed, but I made sure to fix my coffee. I rushed out the the door and made it all the way to the train station before realizing I had left it on the counter. Damn. Oh well…. I bought coffee once I got to the city. No big deal.

Tonight, Danny and I decided to go bike riding. We took the back way to his office. I had misjudged the time and it got darker and darker. Fortunately, I had remembered my trusty red bike blinker or butt blinker and Danny was nice enough to secure it to the back of my pants before we left. Although I never thought I’d use it, I stopped for a second to switch on the mini-headlight I had dutifully attached to the handlebars of my bike. It turns out that I would never use it because it had vanished! Sometime since Sunday, someone had crawled up on our porch and snagged my headlight off my bike. The stealing part was annoying, but the “off the porch” thing even more. Plus, that’s a lot of effort for a flashlight attached with a bracket. I was dismayed, but at least my bike hadn’t been stolen. I’m surprised they didn’t snag the cushioned seat cover too.

Aside from those annoying incidents, my day went well. Today was free breakfast day at work and apparently free dessert day too. In other words, I didn’t suffer TOO much.

Yesterday was my first day at work. It took me a little over an hour to get there by train and lightrail, but the commute was pretty painless. My office is in the financial district of San Francisco. I have to admit, working in a real downtown is pretty cool. My coworkers seem nice and altogether harmless. However, don’t they always? Hmmm… Oh, I have a cube with a view of the building next to us. Sadly, this is a vast improvement over my last job. I had a view of matt’s head. Although that was fine, a little sunlight and a glimpse at the outside world would have been good once in a while.
The only real drawback to my job is that I cannot keep staying up this late. Like a naughty third grader who stayed up to watch tv, I too should have been in bed hours ago.
Random: Check out the rest of the pictures of Mom’s trip here.

Two weeks ago, I interviewed with a company that seemed to have it all: a well-known brand, friendly employees, and a fun atmosphere. Everything seemed a little too fun though, especially considering that the technical writing teams were working overtime to meet deadlines and going through a seemingly horrendous html to xml conversion. I won’t go into the gory details, but the last nine months of employment at my last job involved an excruciating sgml to xml conversion that is still taking place and there is no end in sight. It is not the reason I quit working there, but it definitely did NOT make me want to stay.

Anyway, my interviews went well, but I was met with statements like this - “We work hard and sometimes for long stretches, but we have FUN doing it.” Really? How is living at your office for days on end considered fun? It sounded like a slave ship to me. However, I got called back for a second interview the next week. I almost cancelled, but I wanted to give them another chance to prove to me that I might like working there. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my first impression was dead on. I interviewed with two writers who had been there for about a year. They started out by telling me how they frequently came in on weekends and stayed until midnight to meet a deadline. Now, if you were a news writer, this would make sense. If you are writing technical manuals or FAQ pages, this is a little weird. They sensed my apprehension and talked about the wonderful perks they got at work - an onsite gym, a late-night cafeteria - even onsite hair-stylists, dental care, and chiropractic visits. This place was heaven! Everything you needed was within its tall, highly fortified walls. Who needs a home when you can catch a quick nap on a brightly colored sofa in one of the many “lounge” areas?

After listening to these guys go on and on about the perks, I think I finally realized what cult members sound like. I did give them one last chance. I asked them straight-out “so, do you guys live here?” With only a second of hesitation, they both answered “yes.” I knew that I was not cut out for this job.

In the end, I was not offered the job. Perhaps it was because of comments such as “Wow! That sounds a little scary” when asked if I was interested in spending hours on end debugging the new authoring system or the aforementioned “do you live at work” question.

As for me, I prefer to live at home with my boyfriend, not in an office with my coworkers. Now, to get ready for my first day of work on Monday at a non-brainwashing company (or so I hope) …

I haven’t managed to wear mom out sightseeing yet. We did, however, take a break today. I had to go into work for a couple of hours to get the scoop on some projects before the writer I’m replacing leaves on Thursday. I got up and took the train in, met with her, and then had a short lunch before heading back to Menlo Park. Mom slept in and then explored my neighborhood a little on foot.
Since she arrived on Saturday, Mom and I have been to the beach and to San Francisco. We drove south along highway 1 to Shelldance Orchid Nursery and Pigeon Point lighthouse. The next day, we drove into the city and checked out gardens at Golden Gate Park. There is so much to see there, we barely scratched the surface. Still, we got our fill of flowers and exotic plants for the time being. Check out the pictures here.
The weather here has been wonderful. It was even sunny in San Francisco. Hopefully, the weather in Napa and Sonoma will be as nice, but I’m not worried.

Since my mom is coming to visit tomorrow, I have spent a lot of time today cleaning our apartment. It is now nice and clean and worthy of being photographed. We are still in the process of decorating but it’s coming along.

I just want to say thanks to everyone who coached me through my job negotiations and frustrations this week: Lisa, Danny, Mom, and Amy. Thanks for listening to me drone on and on about the benefits of a short commute vs. extra vacation days. Thanks for the advice to “just have a glass of wine to, you know, relax.” Thanks for reassuring me in my fragile state that I had indeed made the right decision.