conversations that should never happen

A: "I have the window seat."

B: "Oh. Do you want the window seat?"

A: "Yeah, I kinda do. I like to snuggle up against the window and
sleep."

B: "Oh. Ok."

I wasn't person A today. That was two flights ago when person B was
way more belligerent. But c'mon. Why the hell would someone get a
window seat and not want it? You might get lucky, but at least ask
first before acting like a total moron.

Other flight notes, I'm on a Continental 737 and there are 40mph winds
today. At least I'm not flying out from Denver.

256kB simm, anyone?

fail!

They opened this Circuit City only two years ago. I picked up some
cheap crappy DVDs and a GZA album.

oh. hi.

driving to crystal

interesting... am i at risk?

wish list

I just ran to catch the bus. I wish I could stretch.

This year's wish list:
REI or Joe's gift certificate (for ski boots and a helmet, maybe pants?)
A season pass to one of the ski areas near Seattle (Snoqualmie?
Crystal? Baker?)
Adobe Photoshop
Newegg gift certificate (for the HTPC)
National Parks Pass (for June, actually)
Tickets to the 2010 winter olympics freestyle skiing or snowboard events
Noise reducing in ear headphones with volume control

Absurdity:
A new 520 bridge with bike path
A motorcycle
Light rail from Capitol Hill to Redmond
A "cabin" at Whistler
No more student loans to pay off
An iPhone that works as advertised
Windows Live moving into WaMu's office building downtown
No WA sales tax for clothes

thanks, linkedin

Real people, eh?  Then again, I guess it’s best not to mess with Jack Bauer.

interesting message from my xbox

where’s my money???

From: Paul Ip
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 11:37 AM
To: X (Cendant Mobility)
Subject: RE: ER -Paul Ip -1856621 -27486 -53728 -8108 -364976CT -72108WA - B08KAM

8/7 was the original disbursement.  The mileage in the original calculation was incorrect, which led to the following issues:

• The per-mile reimbursement was short.
• The number of days for the trip was one day less than it should have been, leading to one less day of food covered.
• The number of days for the trip was one day less than it should have been, leading to one less day of lodging covered.

8/14 – Correction #1
The original number of miles for the trip were incorrect.  The miles on the trip was adjusted and the per-mile compensation was adjusted up by $301.97.

9/18 – Correction #2
The additional day of food was covered.  Compensation adjusted up by $23.

??/?? – Correction #3
The number of covered hotel nights has still not been corrected.  Microsoft still owes me $89.83 for a night of lodging.

Paul Ip
------------------------------------------------------
From: X (Cendant Mobility)
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 9:01 AM
To: Paul Ip
Subject: RE: ER -Paul Ip -1856621 -27486 -53728 -8108 -364976CT -72108WA - B08KAM

Hey Paul,

      I show that these two items were actually reimbursed back on 8/7, as an adjustment from the earlier error.

X
Relocation Specialist, Global Relocation Services
Phone: +1.425.748.xxxx Fax: 425-936-7329 Attn: X

Please consider the environment before printing this email.
----------------------------------------------------
From: Paul Ip
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 12:22 AM
To: X (Cendant Mobility)
Subject: RE: ER -Paul Ip -1856621 -27486 -53728 -8108 -364976CT -72108WA - B08KAM

Any update on this?

Paul Ip
----------------------------------------------------
From: X (Cendant Mobility)
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:58 AM
To: Paul Ip
Subject: RE: ER -Paul Ip -1856621 -27486 -53728 -8108 -364976CT -72108WA - B08KAM

I was told this would be fixed. Let me follow up with accounting right now.

Thanks!

X
Relocation Specialist, Global Relocation Services
Phone: +1.425.748.xxxx Fax: 425-936-7329 Attn: X

Please consider the environment before printing this email.
---------------------------------------------------
From: Paul Ip
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:53 AM
To: X (Cendant Mobility)
Subject: RE: ER -Paul Ip -1856621 -27486 -53728 -8108 -364976CT -72108WA - B08KAM

I’m glad to see that the $23 was added on.  What about the hotel?  Based on the mileage I should have gotten 8 nights of hotel, not 7

Paul Ip

dammit

The bus doesn't help when traffic isn't moving AT ALL.

walking to a meeting

vermont is a small state... but seriously...

fall is here

more endorsements

Former Reagan Solicitor General and McCain supporter

The Anchorage Daily

On another note, please, for God’s sake, vote against Initiative Measure 985.  “Relieving congestion” sounds great till you see that it’ll open up the HOV lanes to everyone at 6pm.  Last time I checked, rush hour ended at 7:30.  Not only would it make congestion worse for the Puget Sound area, but it would also render the busses a non-viable alternative by clogging the HOV lanes.  End result:  even worse congestion.  Idiots…

Lastly, Washington State has the most awesome election materials I have ever seen.  It’s actually possible to make semi-informed decisions on most issues and they do an admirable job making the process as non-partisan as possible.  Here’s the online version.

maybe i won't fly american again either

United and US Air are the airlines that I first thought I would really try to avoid. Recently I had my first experience flying American and was pretty disappointed, but I figure I could give them the benefit of the doubt. (details here)

Seems like I was pretty lucky (well... kind of). If I had taken the same flight about a week earlier, I could have had a more memorable negative experience. Read about it here.

ow

random shortcuts?

Windows + 1: Outlook
Windows + 2: Live Writer
Windows + 3: IE
Windows + 4: Firefox
Windows + 5: Excel
Windows + 6: OneNote

ooooooooooh…..  This is the order of stuff in my QuickLaunch bar.  Interesting….

look at all these endorsements

Former Miss Alaska (the one who beat Palin)
American Hunters and Shooters Assoc
Katherine Schwarzenegger

Jessica Alba
Nicole Richie
50 Cent
Shakira

midwest

free food

I just went to the break room to refill my tea, get a soda, and get another soda for my monitor stand.

When I got there, I saw a huge stack of boxed lunches on the counter.  There were about 20-30 of them.  As I went to grab some milk from the fridge I wondered if I should take one.  As I was taking that step, a crowd of about 10 people descended upon the break room and attacked the boxed lunches.  In the commotion I heard things like “news travel fast,” and “if it wasn’t pear salad…”

By the time I finished getting my hot water, the crowd was gone and so were all but three of the boxed lunches (all pear salad).  As I left the break room I still saw a few people hanging out in the hallway with their lunch boxes open exchanging items.

Me?  I’m still not hungry.

cheap power!

I got my first full electricity bill a few days ago.  It was shocking.  I managed to use 310KWH over the months of August and September.  If I were still in Connecticut with their insane $0.26/KWH I would be owing almost $100!

Thankfully, Seattle City Light relies on cheap hydroelectric power.  Total charge:  $17.40, or a average cost of about $0.056/KWH – that’s generation AND delivery!

So it seems like I’m using about 5KWH a day, or about 200W being used on average.  That seems like a lot.  I think this also tells me that if I get another computer that I leave on all day it’ll double my electricity bill.  Hrm…

Oh…  I’d also like to mention that this is my first post using Windows Live Writer.  So far it’s a little slow, but it has a nice WYSIWYG and pulls in my tags.  Neat.

easier rebuild ever

My Vista laptop has gotten so broken that I had to wipe it clean after less than three months. Three hours later, I'm almost completely back to 100%, thanks to a few neat tools and tricks.

Awesomeness #1: Net install of Windows Vista and MS Office 2007
One of the perks of working at Microsoft. I can install it all over the network and it includes scripts for installing all the updates. Sweet. I started the process at about 3pm, then went to Target to do some shopping. By the time I was back it took another half hour and it was done. Now I just need to deal with reinstalling stuff.

Awesomeness #2: Windows Easy Transfer
I knew my laptop was terminal and its condition was worsening fast. Knowing that I needed to back up my settings, I turned to Easy Transfer. Easy Transfer is hidden somewhere in accessories, but it backs up all those Control Panel settings and app settings. This way I just restored and I didn't need to bother setting all my settings again. Sweet.

Awesomeness #3: Windows Live Mesh
All my documents are backed up on Windows Live Mesh. Usually this is great so I can access my files from home, my phone, your place, wherever. Today it helped me out by having an updated backup ready to go without me having to think or worry. Love it. The other folder that I have syncing is my Favorites folder. All those links to internal sites that I've accumulated have my magically restored. Sure, there's a 5GB limit, but that's adequate (for now at least).

Awesomeness #4: Exchange Server
Where are my Outlook settings? On the server. I am set and ready to go.

And if you're wondering what caused the downfall of my laptop, I'll blame the multiple installs, uninstalls, and reinstalls of pre-release software (Windows Live Clients, IE8 betas, Google Chrome, FireFox betas) and a bunch of other crap like sketchy nVidia drivers, Apple bloatware (Bonjour), and fat applications like FireFox, IE, and Live Mesh.

interesting because the ballot is in english!

view from the msft cafeteria at lincoln square

four more years!

I just checked the archives and it's been about four years since I started this blog. It's gone through several URLs, from http://paulip88.blogspot.com to http://www.paulip.com to http://blog.paulip.com.

A link to the original post:
http://blog.paulip.com/2004_10_01_archive.html

Apparently back then I used Yahoo! Photos (which has since been axed). Scary.

worst case scenario of the day

I've already talked about the death spiral of dwindling confidence in the markets, but not here. Brief summation: People are fearful of an economic downturn and are preparing for it by cutting spending. The cuts in spending result in less commerce, which causes pushes down profits even more. Repeat... over... and over... and over.

Going another level deeper, as people hold on to their dollars, the reduces the "multiplier" effect of how many times a dollar is spent. In fat times, people spend. When it's spent, the next guy spends it... repeat... over... and over... Each time this happens, people have income. Things look good. Get one dollar and cycle it through a million hands a million times and everyone is making a million bucks! If someone holds on to that buck, everyone makes less. Right now everyone is holding on to that buck.

So the worst case scenario... WAR:
When people are doing well, people like to make money. When things go down the shitter, people get PISSED. I doubt this would directly affect us in the US that much since despite our dependence on foreign oil, we do have a solid base of agriculture, manufacturing, resources, services, and we also have a ways to fall before people really start suffering. (Then again, most Americans have no idea what it's like in the "real world," so who knows) I'm more concerned about places like China. China relies on the world economy to consume all the goods it produces. China has a huge population, all of whom directly or indirectly rely on exports to the rest of the world for their wages. So what happens when the factories start to shut down? Potentially hundreds of millions of people will be without jobs, and they will be PISSED. Continued joblessness and poverty generally leads to unrest. When this happens, well... it'll suck. How it will unfold is unclear.

If the government steps in with social welfare programs early, things will be fine. If they engage in job creation New Deal style, things would probably be fine. If they pull a Fourth Reich/Hitler type deal, things will be pretty ugly. If the country implodes, then the rest of the world would experience a boom when they help China rebuild. Or maybe they'll go back to more traditional communism?

every day gets better and better

Looks like the market is down another 7-8% today.  On the bright side, even if the market drops 8% a day, we would still always have some money left.  And we would also be losing less nominally each day.  In other words, even though everything is falling apart it would be getting better and better every day.  It's like what Novemsky liked to talk about regarding colonoscopies.  Leaving it in doesn't make it feel any better, but yet it does.

mystery meat

flight aa269

4:20 boarding begins
4:50 depart gate
6:20 cannot proceed because the plane ahead of us possibly blew soMe
debris into our engines
6:35 heading back to gate
7:00 wait for equipment to be moved at the gate
7:10 arrive at the gate
7:55 cleared to leave
8:13 push back from gate
9:05 takeoff!
11:00 scheduled arrival in SEA
2:30 touchdown in Seattle
2:35 at the gate!

Only a little over 10 hours for a direct flight.

is there asphalt in the engine???

company match

Rocking the company match for the first time.  Funny because I'm giving to a cause my ex is supporting.  It would have happened sooner if Outlook didn't dump the reminder e-mail I sent myself into the spam folder.  It seems like it does that a lot.

And if you're curious or if you're in a generous mood:
http://waystogive.texaschildrens.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=210&srcid=211&frsid=90

It's for the kids!

in bed!

nice ride

leaving work "late"

wifi on the bus

I'm trying wifi on the bus home for the first time. It works, but it's
a bit slow. I'm downloading this song from iTunes right now and it's
going at about 6kBps. Oh well, what else would I be doing here on the
bus? Maybe I'll do some web browsing and see how many times safari
crashes on the iPhone. Wish me luck.

idiot mba candidate

From: Ip, Paul
Sent: Wed 09/10/2008 12:40 PM
To: Idiot MBA Candidate
Subject: RE: Tech Product Management at yale

I've been doing well. Thanks for the followup three months later. I was wondering whether you were ever going to get back to me.

Since you prefer to do the complete impersonal style of the Google Forms Informational Interview, I would advise you to also try the Google Search Information Interview. I sure you can find a wealth of information about Product Management online. It also requires less personal interaction and followup, which appears to be what you're looking for anyway.

Seriously... what response do you expect to recieve after claiming to "really really appreciate" it if I could give you a few minutes, then not even sending back an e-mail after I respond within 24 hours saying that you can call me whenever you want with your questions.

Paul Ip

________________________________

From: Idiot MBA Candidate
Sent: Tue 09/09/2008 11:26 PM
To: Ip, Paul
Subject: Re: Tech Product Management at yale

Hey Paul,

How have you been doing ? Hopefully you're settled down and enjoying MS.

If you have some time, it would help a lot if you could answer some product management questions for me. (I'll be sending out the questions in another email using google forms)

Cheers
- Idiot MBA Candidate

On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 10:11 PM, Paul Ip wrote:

Sure thing. I'm in Seattle this week looking for apartments, so just give me a call whenever. Chances are I'll just be walking around somewhere in the city.

Paul Ip
--------------------------------------

Class of 2008
Yale School of Management

On Jun 7, 2008, at 10:31 PM, "Idiot MBA Candidate" wrote:

Hello Paul,
I recently came across your profile on the yale message boards and as some one keen on following a very similar career track, I would really really appreciate it if you could give me a few minutes to talk about yale and how it is in general for product management.

Cheers !
-- Idiot MBA Candidate

transitions

So coming to Seattle to work full time, I knew that some things would
be different from last year. Some things would change for the better,
some for worse, and some would just change...

As always, I love optimizing my modes of transportation. I've been
rocking the bus pass at least five times a week whereas I used it
twice all of last summer. Not surprisingly, I'm also driving a lot
less. I think I've put on less than 2,000 miles since I arrived here
in Seattle and most of that was in the first two weeks when I was
driving to IKEA every day. Nowadays I use my car only once or twice a
week. Not bad.

I also got a bike Saturday. It's something I should have done last
year with the intern bike money. So far I've already biked to REI and
hit up downtown twice. The ride back up to my place sucks (I live 500'
up from downtown), but the ride down is exhilirating. And yes, I got a
helmet. (-:

Another odd change is my social life. I was a bit of a recluse last
summer... Yes - weird. I'm doing better this year, but still not at
biz school levels (which is probably a good thing, especially for the
liver). And yes, need to get back in touch with some people. At the
same time, I've been lucky to meet a cool chick that I've spent some
quality time with. Yeah, she's pretty... AWESOME. Heh heh.

Then there is work. I'll leave out the meaningful details, but I knew
some things would be different. It's been easier getting up to speed,
and the people are still cool. On a less significant topic, I always
knew last year that at some point I would stop abusing the free soft
drinks and start consuming bevs like a normal person. Rather than
constantly drinking endless Talking Rain sparkling waters, I've
started drinking more regular water from a plastic bottle. Probably
better for the teeth and the balance sheet.

So what else... um... I think I'm ditching cable tv at the end of
football season.

worst banana ever

bike

free berries

Every day when I leave work I pass through some berry bushes on the
way to the bus stop. Today I decided to eat some. Yum!

skynet - eta 2050

The creation of SkyNet is inevitable. It didn't happen in 1998, and the destruction of Cyberdyne Systems delayed it, but as we saw in the prophecy AKA Terminator 3, it will happen anyway. But when?

Intel CTO says 2050.
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20080821comp.htm

Intel Corporation's chief technology officer took a fascinating look at how technology will bring man and machine much closer together by 2050.

Justin Rattner, during his keynote today at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, predicted big changes are ahead in social interactions, robotics and improvements in computer's ability to sense the real world. He said Intel's research labs are already looking at human-machine interfaces and examining future implications to computing with some promising changes coming much sooner than expected.

"The industry has taken much greater strides than anyone ever imagined 40 years ago," Rattner said. "There is speculation that we may be approaching an inflection point where the rate of technology advancements is accelerating at an exponential rate, and machines could even overtake humans in their ability to reason, in the not so distant future."

Interesting... especially given the following quote from Terminator 2...

Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

Maybe I should plan out my investment horizon as if I would have no expenses after 2050...

frontier

I'm flying Frontier for the first time. So far they seem competent.
Perhaps my positive impressions comes from the new, clean plane or the
empty seat next to me. Amazing... I haven't gotten an open seat next
to me in years. I like it. I'm less of a fan of the pay TV and movies
(Virgin had TV for free), but at least the bevs are free, unlike US
Airways.

I just glanced out the window and miraculously recognized a random
landscape. It was the Beaver Valley in western Pennsylvania. How did I
know? Rolling hills + river + a coal and nuclear power plant in one
unit gave it away. (-;

a good night's rest

So I've finally made it to DC. Unlike my last set of flights, I was
able to get some good sleep on the red eye.

Three hours of sleep from Seattle to Charlotte, and an incredible two
hours of sleep from Charlotte to DC. So you may be wondering how it's
possible to get two hours of sleep on a half hour flight. Stretch your
mind a little...

9:10am - we board the plane, I start sleeping

9:40am - instead of taking off, we start taxiing

10:10am - instead of landing, we are still waiting in line to use the
runway. Looks like US Air has a shitty hub.

11:15am - we land, an 65 minutes late.

I have to admit that I had a great experience with US airways in 2004
when I got a brand new airbus to take me home from Rome, but that
doesn't make up for putting me on a plane where my seat was literally
missing, stranding me in Pittsburgh, and almost stranding me in
Charlotte in 2007. You guys really suck.

angry

I'm in Charlotte's airport right now sitting across from the angriest
looking infant I have ever seen. He's pretty fussy too.

His parents both look fairly angry as well.

this plane does not sound right

you have got to be kidding me

I was planning on not checking any bags in, but I just read the e-mail from US Airways and it looks like they've started charging for any checked baggage. I bought my ticket berfore July 9th, so I should be OK anyway, but I don't like the way this is going.

The other thing is that I need to pay for drinks - even water. WTF? I can't bring my own drinks into the airport since it's a liquid, and now I can't even get a drink on the plane for free? Dammit.

Third thing is they're charging $5 to choose a window or aisle seat. Thankfully I chose seats before they decided to be super cheap pricks. I have a fancy window seat.

I hope they go bankrupt again and disappear. That way I wouldn't be tempted to fly them ever again just because they're cheaper or have better schedules.

plans for the week

Tuesday: Hang out (-:
Wednesday: Float down a river with work peeps drinking beer and
acting like idiots
Thursday: Sailing
Fri-Sun: DC, the place to be!

On a side note, I've been seeing this couple a lot on the bus. I've
seen them on this bus (the 545 at least three times). They work at
Microsoft and live down the street from me, so I see them on two buses
followed by the walk home. And no, I'm not stalking. I'm a busy man
and I have better things to do with my time.

I do have to say I was amused one day when I worked from home and saw
them walking home from work when I was walking the opposite way
carrying some food and a bottle of wine. (-;

i enjoy abusing google's search tools

Tits vs. Ass

There are some interesting geographical differences, but it's a close battle.

now passing mount hood

That was a great hike. Along with Mount Hood I can see Mount Adams and
the massive dome of Mount Rainier in the distance. I still haven't
made it to Rainier this summer. )-:

No worries, I'll make it! I would want to miss my nearly annual visit
to the park!

my virgin virgin flight

Paul Ip

flying again

I'm on a flight up from LAX back to Seattle right now. We're going
straight up the Cascades so I'm enjoying my window seat. It's kind of
fun to see places that I've been from the air.

The first spot was Pepperdine University's georgeous front lawn that I
spent an hour on this afternoon. We then passed by beautiful
Bakersfield followed by Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National
Park, and Yosemite National Park. From the air I can tell that the
entire region is spectacular. The Yosemite valley is just a very small
part of it. We just passed Lake Tahoe.

Oh... So how do I know where I am? I'm taking my first flight on
Virgin America. The plane features power ports (120v and USB) as well
as satellite tv, and a google map showing where we are. It's a bit
buggy, but working enough to tell me where I am. With any luck we'll
get NBC back so that I can watch the Olympics (or Comedy Central for
Scrubs).

The key missing feature is Internet. They were supposed to have it,
but either failed to get the software right or didn't get approval
from the FAA or FCC. My loss. )-:

pepperdine

Paul Ip

pepperdine

Paul Ip

i am easily amused

http://www.iphonesavior.com/2008/08/i-am-rich-buyer.html

Paul Ip

no diving into the sand?

hanging out by the pool

Paul Ip

hanging out by the pool

is it a subway, or is it a bus? it's the bus tunnel!

Paul Ip

working from home

I went downtown for my 9am appointment for getting my driver license, thinking that I'll be out of there by 9:30 and get to work a little after 10am.  Well...  it didn't exactly go as planned.  I don't think I got out of there till 10am or maybe a little later.  Instead of heading over to the east side to work from the office, I opted to head back to my apartment and work from home.  After all, I don't have any meetings today anyway and most of the stuff I was planning to look at today was on the Web instead of being on the intranet.  If that wasn't the case, I'd be in bad shape.  I left the power adapter for my work laptop at work.  Good thing I have at least an hour of battery left!

Anyway, I think I'll enjoy this arrangement.  I get to sit in my comfy chair and listen to music as I work.  And I save two hours of commuting - two hours that I can spend working instead.

Final note:  I think I've become too lazy to go to blogger.com to write my blog postings.  I'm going straight e-mail even when I'm on my laptop.  Yeah...  LAZY!

race results

The 242 wins by 2 minutes. Both missed the 5:50 connection to the 43.
End result: no difference.

Paul Ip

today's commuting experiment

It's simple. Is the 545 faster than the 242? The 242 has a two minute
head start. We shall see.

Either way, it's good to have options. Today is warm so illtake the
545's a/c. The crowds are a bit annoying though, but I guess I'm on a
bus.

It's early, but I think the 242 is going to win.

emissions testing

Paul Ip

sunset

Paul Ip

lunch at jade garden

Paul Ip

this is a new iphone phenomenon

Paul Ip

rockin the bus

I know it's early, but so far the 242 is rocking the MS connector in
the afternoon. Easier to get to, smoother ride and more comfortable
seats. The only thing is that it's running late. I'll have to see if
the 545 has the same issue. Either way, it seems like I'm finding
myself a decent communting routine. Cool.

perfect sailing weather

Paul Ip

the ride back

On my way back home on the MS Connector. It definitely seems to take
longer, but I also get to do things like browse the Internet, do
Facebook, twitter, and blog. I also get a much better view of the lake.

It does seem to be taking MUCH longer. I'm still on the bus but my
guess is that door to door it'll take an extra 20-30 minutes, which
really sucks. Friday I'll try taking the public bus home. It should be
more direct, and therefore faster. There's a transfer though, but
there's on with the MS service too.

To be continued...

taking the microsoft bus home

Paul Ip

connector

Today I am trying out the Microsoft Connector bus to get to work. I
think I got to the stop way too early, but I'm curious to see how much
faster/slower it is door to door in the am and pm. I do have to say
that I've been getting to and from work pretty efficiently though -
usually 30 to 40 minutes.

Friday I'll experiment with taking the city bus home. I like options.
(-:

work

update

It's been a while since I've actually *written* something, right?

I actually don't even have anything that I feel like writing at this
point. I'm just bored, sitting on a plane, with nothing to read. I
knew I forgot something!

So tomorrow starts my second real week in Seattle, and I'm looking
forward to it. Tomorrow there'll be this fun event at work, with a
"variety of beverages" that I'll be joining in on. Hopefully it'll be
a good opportunity to meet others in my org and just have a good time
in general. Also, with any luck, I'll have as much fun after work this
week as I did last week. (-;

good morning

520 says hi

jersey

transportation

What to do... despite making it back home in record time today (40 minutes), I have a feeling that there must be a better way than to drive to and from work every day. I'm close to city bus routes as well as the Microsoft Connector shuttle. But, city bus would still take forever because of stops and the Microsoft bus, from what I hear, doesn't go to the buildings where I work.

Solution? Tell me if this is crazy.
1) Rent a $15 locker at the transit center over by Microsoft where I can keep a bike. Then, take the Microsoft shuttle there and ride my bike the remaining mile or two to where I work. There's a bike trail that takes me right there. This means that I'll probably have an east side bike for work and a west side bike for um... when I'm on the west side. Two bikes. Overkill? The other bonus is that I would be able to ride my bike to the gym. Last year I never went to the gym because it was about half a mile away from work. Waaaaay too close to drive there, but too far to walk. Perfect biking distance though.

2) Motorcycle. Seems like a great way to exploit the HOV lane in the evenings so that I can get home reasonably fast. Plus, it's another machine for me to play around with... as if the car weren't enough... Downside is the cost of a bike, effort to get a license, and also insurance. Wah.

3) Do both. Who knows if I can get a seat on the Microsoft bus at all?

4) Car pool. This will be trickier since there aren't 60 interns living in the same complex. I'm not counting on it. I would need to find people who live by me and work by me and have similar hours. Ick.

5) Work from home a lot. YES.

holy shit that's a big tv

Five digital channels off the air with no antenna. Maybe I should tell
comcast to f themselves.

homemade speaker stands done!

Two Target lamps + parts from my old dresser + a set of conduit clamps
+ black spray paint = custom speaker stands for under $5. And less
clutter!

This is the ugliest view.

eta

Arrival of items:
TV - ETA 7/23
Couch - ETA 8/2

Removal of items:
Boxes - 7/18
Crane that's been blocking a small part of my view - TODAY

bookcase

I went to IKEA today in search of a sofa, coffee table, TV table, dresser, a desk lamp, shelves, random kitchen stuff, and another chair. I only got the TV table, shelves, random kitchen stuff, and the chair, but that's probably a good thing. My car was completely full. Miraculously I played tetris with the boxes and got everything to fit. I could even see out my back window and my side mirrors.

Anyway, it's all assembled. I just need to new TV to show up and perhaps get cable. Oh... and get the sofa, dresser, and coffee table.

New bookcase is built and loaded, meaning that I have yet another room that is almost *complete*. I got a fancy looking one. 16 cubes in a 4x4 arrangement. It was actually interesting to build. Very repetitive, which is great for later in the evening.

Top row - Personal stuff:
1 - Good books worth re-reading + my queue (2 books... one that I've started... over half a year ago)
2 - Books that I've read (or planned to read) that are "meh"
3 - History (history books, yearbooks and the like)
4 - Travel and language

Second row - professional stuff:
1 - Good readable books + queue (10 books, 3 that I've "started")
2 - Good useful books
3 - Good but irrelevant books, or relevant books that suck that I keep "just in case" [someone throws some meaningless marketing term that I've blocked out of my memory]
4 - Dated, irrelevant, or otherwise dead to me

Third row - TBD
1,2 - empty
3 - records that aren't in my file. why is it on paper anyway?
4 - misc. Yale stuff

Fourth row - Class materials
1 - Useful stuff from CMU, and random stuff from training at PGR
2 - The good stuff from Yale
3,4 - The good but irrelevant, or relevant but not good stuff from Yale

18 year old coors light died during the road trip. sadness.

i will try to not fall out of my window

thanks, melanie!

I haven't gotten cable yet, but I'm enjoying this free internet. My $50 badass WiFi antenna is paying off.

Download: 1023kbps (or 128kB/s)
Upload: 656kbps (or 82kB/s)

I'm getting a bit tired of packing. Maybe I'll post a few stories from the epic road trip.....

wtf?

another nice lunch spot... sadly, the last of the trip

bear. still alive

the clouds looked nice before dumping near blinding rains on us for 15 miles

oh. hi.

collective soul, live, blues traveler, and fireworks @ red rocks