Snowman Studios
Odds and Ends
Preparing to go on vacation seems stressful. Not so much because of all the planning (I didn't do it), but more that there is work that is expected to be done (deadline 2 weeks after I return) so I need to get it done rather than letting things slide.
For those who I haven't told, I'll be going to Hawaii next weekend. Maui, specifically. One of my cousins is getting married there, so I'm taking a weeks vacation. It'll be great.
Big News...
My company is getting acquired.
Reasons this is good:
- My stock options will vest immediately and I'll get a bonus of sorts.
- They will probably put more people on my team since the product I work on will be considered more important.
- The benefits might be better. Not that they are too bad now, but they might be better.
Things one shouldn't hear...
Last night I was at a bowling alley with a couple from Church. In the next lane over was a family with small kids. After one of the kids had a throw that didn't hit any pins, he said "damnit." But he was 5 years old, and it was really high pitched. Just wrong, especially since his parents must have heard it too.
Have you ever wanted to get 80 random people dressed like Best Buy employees and cause confusion and high blood pressure amongst the store management? These
guys did.
I know I've written a lot today, but there is one thing I want to add:
Can we have the (Hispanic) immigrants walk out every day? There was no traffic last night leaving work (and I left at the peak of rush hour). I am not going to say something as foolish as "it's their fault we have bad traffic," but I'm for creative ways to improve road congestion.
I got a call at my desk today. It went something like this:
Me: Hello?
Woman: Hello, is so-and-so there?
Me: No... he doesn't work here anymore.
Woman: Is there a receptionist who can refer me to someone involved in product development?
Me: I'm in product development. Are you a telemarketer?
Woman: I'm not a telemarketer.
Me: Then who are you?
Woman: I'm conducting a survey.
Me: I'm not interested.
Woman: If you take it, we will send you a $50 honorarium.
Me: (thinks..) What's an honorarium.
Woman: It's a check.
Me: I'm not interested. I'm working.
Woman: Is there a receptionist you can forward me to who can put me in touch with another developer?
Me: Not really.
Woman: Ok, I'll call back another time.
Me: Please don't.
Woman: *giggles* (before hanging up).
When I say giggles, think of River's laugh in the "Objects in Space" episode. The unsettling one that makes Jubal Early really uncomfortable.
There are a couple of things I didn't post that I meant to. A week ago Saturday I autocrossed with my dad. He brought the 944, I had my WRX. We traded off in the middle of our run groups. I got the better time in both cars. I also killed about 40 cones in my first 4 runs (more than all the cones I hit before that day). One of the guys who I've talked with a lot asked how I did on one of the porsche runs. I told him "79" (the leaders were posting around a 70 or high 60s). He went over to look at the tires and said "you got a 79 on
those tires?!" Then I shaved 5 seconds off that.
My dad is getting better, but he needs to get more familiar with the system. He gets lost on the course a lot (lots of DNFs), and one guy came up to us and said he could tell which of us was driving which car at which time. He described my driving as agressive and asertive and my dad's as cautious and uncertain.
I also got a lot of rides in cars. I rode in a:
- Mazda Miata
- Mini Cooper S
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution RS
- Toyota MR2 Spyder
- Toyota MR2 Coupe
- Acura Integra Type-R
- Honda Civic Hatch (~1990 model)
- Corvette Z4 (~1990 model)
- Porsche Carrera 4S
- Ferrari 360
Somewhere along the way my stomach wasn't feeling so well. Most of those cars were right after lunch. The craziest was the Evo because the driver had borrowed it from someone else and hadn't driven AWD Turbo before. Off the line he said "Wow, that's a lot of turbo lag." and when he finished the turbo kicked in and he started screaming and swearing. I was mostly laughing.
I also got one of the well respected drivers to drive my car to give me an idea how much is me and how much is the car. His first run shaved off about a second and a half off of my best, and then shaved off another second. I then shaved off almost a second and a half (after watching his driving). I felt pretty good about that considering that he'd shave off a second off of one of the experienced drivers times (first run) and shaved 6 seconds off the ferrari driver's time (also first run).
