Work & Toys

Just finished my first 2 weeks of the graveyard shift, 10pm - 6am. It's not bad. It's the equivalent of interchanging work time with sleep time, leaving the evening in tact. Depending on one's constitution, it can be more flexible. Shave a little sleep and you're up during office hours. Me, I like getting my sleep in one go, not splitting it up or skimping. If there was any doubt my body had time shifted it disappeared last night when I couldn't get to sleep at 4am because it was 3 or 4 hours earlier than I usually go to bed!

Next week I'm on afternoons, 2pm to 10pm. This shift I'm not as keen on. When I was training, switching between a day and afternoon was ok because the sleep pattern was the same. I'm not sure about changing bed times between afternoon and graveyard on a 2 week / 1 week rotation.

Work is coming along. I'm familiar with about 80 - 90% of the features on our main product. User questions are snap. On the back end I'm dealing with most simple questions and solving medium hard problems on my own. Call volume is definitely picking up. One of our major clients started classes last week. Most other institutions are in major prep mode.

My Powerbook continues to be fun. Still haven't had much of a chance to really dig into it. A couple times I wound up close to work with a couple hours to kill. Not really enough time to go home and come back. Powerbook to the rescue! I keep reading about all these open wireless networks. This may be so, but there're never where I need them to be! I've also had it hooked up to my TV playing DVDs. Awesome portable DVD player.

I continue to have one complaint about my Powerbook. It has all of these really nice small touches. The charger jack has a small light ring that glows amber when it's charging and goes green when it's complete. There's a tiny light that tells you if it's in "sleep" mode. So far I've plugged in a Firewire video camera, TV, and USB mouse and the devices have just worked. But the god damn thing only has one fucking mouse button!!! What kind of asshat executive moron decided this? They have an Apple logo on the lid that glows when the unit is one but they only have one mouse button. Go figure.

In the long run it probably won't matter. The track pad sucks anyways. I've bought a USB mouse - hmm, you can't find one less than 2 buttons - and life is much better. I have my eyes on the wireless Bluetooth mice. I could care less about wire/wireless with my desktop, but for a notebook wireless is a definite plus. Though they're still a little pricey, that will change.

So Very Vancouver?

Today's blog is coming to you from Westbank Beach on English Bay. How? I have a new toy, it's portable, and you can type on it. I promised myself when I got a new job I would buy a notebook and this week I delivered on my promise. Yay! Using it at the beach on a sunny afternoon within 24 hours of getting it ... well ... maybe I've been in Vancouver too long.

Or maybe not. I came from a nice little lunch with my niece, who was passing through Vancouver on her way home. The only fine dining available at the bus depot is McDonalds, but you work with what you got. Since my shift starts at 2pm, it wasn't worth going home. Hmmm, an hour to kill, a notebook purchased precisely so I can write anywhere, where would YOU go?! Of course, there are hazards one doesn't think of ahead of time. Every time a gull flies over I live in fear of wiping bird crap off my keyboard. There's something you'll never see in a notebook ad. Note to self, include handy-wipes in jump bag.

The new toy is an Apple Powerbook and it's pretty sweet. I picked it up last night on my way home from work. The screen is beautiful, and it play's DVDs. Long waits just got a lot more entertaining! A lot more playing around on the horizon but the main reason I bought it, something portable to type on, is working out just fine!

Now, if I only had a decent digital camera I could include a couple of photos ... maybe next month.

It's Been a Month - Time Flies

More than a month, actually. The job is going well; stuff I volunteered to work on before I started the job not so well.

This is my first week of "late" shift, that's 2pm to 10pm. It alternates with a "night" shift, 10pm to 6am. Ok, that's afternoon and graveyard shifts anywhere else I've worked. Everything is pretty dead right now, so everyone hopes there's enough work to keep from getting bored. Things apparently pick up in September. Hope so, I can't imagine I'll be around very long after if they don't.

After only a day the "late" shift looks ok to work.