News ‘O Aaron August 18, 2004
Posted by Aaron in : Life, News, Work , trackbackI guess it?s been a while since I posted, so I guess to keep the viewing audience entertained I should (also to jerk around yahoo?s search some more, that?s becoming a bit of sport in itself). For you regular readers especially those who routinely actually communicate with me, a lot of this is probably nothing new, but that isn?t to say this isn?t the first time it?s been recorded as such)
I guess I may as well start with what?s been going on at work, since that is the largest item around which my schedule revolves. Work is going well; it?s a lot of fun working at a small still fairly new company (though as of last February or March, Synthesys turned 1). It seems every other day I?m foraging into areas I (and often, the company) have never been in before. I get to shape & establish a lot of company policy simply because I?m the senior man on the scene when the sky starts falling. Thankfully, I?m not alone in this though as we?d likely end up with some wacky policies & standards. Between 2 bosses (if, on any given day, we can track down 1 of which quickly we begin to expect Armageddon, but that just makes things interesting), the other main tech here (fellow GC grad, Michael) and our summer intern (James) usually I can get enough feedback to shape a crazy idea into something at least worth tucking away for future reference (or just get told that on this or that, I actually *am* crazy, so I shouldn?t even write it down). I?m told the buzzword for what we have here is ?Synergy?. Who would have thought that in a dinky town like Greenville, I?d find myself project manager for one software project, and nomadic code-monkey for another large app & a few websites? Better yet, if it needs to look pretty, I can just point at James or Bethany (odd note here, James is digital media major who is mostly coding, Bethany is a comp-sci major who is mostly designing? they are both great at what they do though so in the end, who cares).
Yes I do hear your protest; ?Where are the cubicles, pressured schedules, and annoyed customers?? Well as for the last 2, we?ve got them, and as for the first, if you saw our office you?d realize we?ve not got room for cubicles. Jokes aside there is one major drawback. I?m not salaried; I get paid by the hour and only for work done for clients. This means that though I am in the office or at clients pretty close to 40 hrs a week, recently my average has been 12 paid hours a week. As I like to complain, I get penalized for being awesome, if I can find & fix a problem in code just from reading a description, I get paid less than if I had to painstakingly reproduce the problem, make a change, then try to reproduce it again. Just yesterday I had one of those where if I wasn?t intimately familiar with significant portions of Bid-Advantage (sort of my ?baby? as it is), it would have taken me at least 15 minutes; instead I was in and out of the design environment in about 2 minutes, and about a minute of that was waiting for things to load & shutdown (to be fair, it isn?t always that easy). That 12 hrs a week barely seems to cover anything, and if I weren?t making $15/hr I?d have already been forced to bail out. As it is, things get a little tight at times, and while I don?t really care that much about money, it?d be nice to be able to put some aside for some rainy day (did I mention I?m also without any sort of health insurance?) or, God forbid (he seems to be), I start a family someday. Because of that, and that I?ve not found any firm point to anchor to, I?m not sure that I?ll still be at Synthesys in another year. Great job or not, I cannot continue to barely scrape by each month, and after a 2 years of being frontier-geek-lawman, I think I could job hunt with much more success. Where will I end up? I?ve always thought that I?d stay in the Midwest, but these days I?m more inclined towards any state that I?ve never lived in before (and perhaps countries?)
Ok so I?m cheating & typing this draft up in word, and I just realized that I?m at about a page, which is far too long for any post let alone one of mine. So I?ll try to be less wordy on the rest of this, if you?d like I?ll wait here and let you get a drink or drive to the MotoMart for munchies??????????. Back? Ok, let?s continue.
So that?s work, what about the rest of my life. Well, um, yeah. I guess I eat, sleep, go pester Dan, watch TV, play whatever computer game I?m playing that month, and I?ve been trying to get back into running. I guess I?ll go into more details on the running bit. There is a GC alumni race on Oct 15th (if you?re bored & want to come, let me know). Basically it?d be a bunch of us dirty alumni (ok we?ve got jobs and are probably more clean cut than the current batch) descending upon a regular race & running un-attached (or just watching, who cares), and generally being a rowdy embarrassment to the coaches (ok, not so much rowdy by most standards, as just weird). Really I shouldn?t lump the other alumni in with myself, as of now I can average 8-min miles for 4 miles. Unfortunately I?ve got to go 5, and since I don?t want to slow down the meet, I need to add that extra mile, while not adding more than 4 minutes to the total. Not an easy proposition for 2 months, with one ankle that is isn?t 100% and a knee that occasionally hints at revolt.
At this point if you don?t know me, or haven?t been paying attention you might say ?Hey, Aaron, seeing anyone these days?? To which I would likely respond, ?Well all except those people who are invisible?, mostly just because simply saying ?have I ever been ?seeing anyone??? isn?t as funny. And, umm, yeah I?ve exhausted that one, next topic.
Its 11:30 now, and I?ve been writing for oh 45 minutes or so, and I can see the end of page 2 just a few inches below. There really isn?t a whole lot more to tell, so I?m just going to bail. If those who don?t live in the neighborhood, decide to visit our `hood (or I mysteriously end up on your doorstep), then there are plenty of strange little stories to be told about Dan?s customer support woes, and my erratic behavior at local eating establishments, though perhaps those who do live in our `hood will be allowed to hear them as well.
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