The Mandelbear's Musings

Way too much to do more than summarize briefly -- I spent most of the last week in the Seattle area, mostly hanging out with Naomi (and, briefly, Chaos), apartment-hunting, and interviewing. (The latter was mostly by phone, but there was one fairly grueling coding test at PopCap. I may or may not have squeaked through that, but it made for a fascinating learning experience.)

The phone interviews mostly went well, I think. A few stupidities on algorithm questions; I got extra points for having at least heard of topological sorting, even if I didn't get the algorithm right.

The apartment search fairly quickly narrowed down to three complexes, fairly close to Naomi's house, that had 3-bedroom apartments available. As it turned out, we ended up in a large 2-BR; the 3's were either too small for us, or not accessible by scooter. But we have a place.

Friday I had lunch with Chaos at AFK Tavern, a gamer joint. Fun.

Saturday, N. went to an all-day workshop at a massage therapy school she's checking out, and took me along. Great fun -- not enough for me to consider a career change, but enough that I'll strongly consider taking a couple of classes for the fun of it. In my copious spare time.

The only major screw-up, and it was major, was forgetting my meds. Fortunately, the only one I expected to have real trouble with was the SSRI; I picked up some 5000 IU vitamin D (my usual dose is 2000) and St. John's Wort. Worked, apparently.

The big disappointment was that it was overcast on Sunday, so we missed the eclipse. We did see the light change -- it was pretty noticable.

Plenty of links in the notes.

0516 We
  * up 7:30; W=197.2; d, n, t; laundry, dishes
  @ Report - Nokia Loses Cellphone Top Spot to Samsung - NYTimes.com 
  @ Top 10 Most Unforgivable Twitter Spelling Mistakes 
  @ How To Be Friends With A Disabled Person | Ferrett Steinmetz 
  @ NOVA - one-stop career transition services
  * 10:30 phone interview - PopCap -  Andrew Edmond
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/nerolabs
  * 15min:  triage in the garage (electrical)
  " (14:31:58) mdlbear: I'm afraid my time machine isn't working right now.
    (14:34:35) mdlbear: In principle, I understand the idea that the only way to
     keep a time machine from totally screwing up causality and the fabric of the
     universe is to go back in time and keep it from being invented in the first
     place, but it still sucks that it isn't working.
  * check in, rent car
  * walk:  d=1.5, s=1, c=156, t=31m; Bascom and W. San Carlos
  @ Sticks & Stones: The Changing Politics of the Self-Publishing Stigma
  * PAY BILLS
  * print 10 copies of resume, 20 cards, 10 personal cards
  * pack
  * -talk to- _email_ references  

  * for N:  one-cup coffee filter, coffee grinder, tools, bedding.
    2 blocks of cheese

0517 Th
  * up 7:11; W=197.2; d, n, t; dishes
  * last-minute packing.  Wish I could find a duffel.
  @ How Facebook took over the Web | Internet & Media - CNET News 
  @ Ninth Circuit Presses Government Lawyer on Watch Lists: “What Would You Do?” 
  * 9ish call Chris Olds for pickup ~10
    San Jose, CA - SJC  to  Seattle/Tacoma, WA - SEA       Confirmation #49XR3H
        DEPART MAY 17 THU    12:40 PM San Jose,  CA (SJC) to
		      	     02:45 PM Seattle/Tacoma,  WA (SEA)   Flight #902
  * forgot to take phone out of pocket; other than that it was easy going
    also forgot to load up on magazines -- one of the more disorganized
    departures of all time.  SJC's WiFi connectivity sucks.  Probably has to do
    with N vs G.
  * walk:  to the far end of Terminal A and back.  .75mi?  The farthest
    few gates are a ghost town.  There is, however, a good taqueria (which I
    bought a couple of "street tacos" from) and a sushi bar
  * spent the afternoon and evening going through Colleen's apartment list.
  % CRAP:  forgot my meds.  :(  The only thing I'm really worried about is the
    antidepressant,  Maybe the D.
  % _definitely_ the most disorganized departure ever.  Actually I've done this
    before, but only for a local con where I could go back and fetch.
    Distracted bear, is what I was.
  @ Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is – Whatever 

0518 Fr
  = LHH program ends
  * up 7:30; d;
  ! good (IIRC)
  * Took J to bus stop; 
  * buy: St. John's Wort, D, claritin
  *  11am phone interview - Zillow 
  * lunch w/ Woof AFK Tavern
  * buy: coffee (TJ)
  * Looked at Keeler's Corner - nice apt's, crummy stretch of 99.
  * looked at neighborhoods around Echo Lake, Arabella, and Executive Estates
  * had Chinese delivered for dinner
  * got housekey duplicated
  % very sleepy - took a bath and went splat ~10:35

0519-20, 2012 Maker Faire.  Also, the weekend I'm in Seattle :(
0519 Sa
  * up 6:30; d, t; 
  ! good.  It occurs to me that tracking my mood would be useful
  @ Occasional kvetch - Leaving Mundania book on LARPing
  & Hot & sour soup for breakfast - better with pepper and malt vinegar.
  * full-day massage workshop at Covina.  Great fun.
    It was clear immediately that I wasn't going to be leaving at the lunch
    break.  I'm better at it, and enjoyed it more, than I expected.  Not enough
    to do it professionally -- I don't have the stamina, if nothing else.  But
    something I could easily persue as a hobby.  Not as hard on my back as I
    expected; it's all in the legs.
  * 15min: worked through most of the backlog for [email protected]  A couple of
    things I'm sorry to have missed in the backlog.  Hopefully I can keep better
    track now that the 300 or so mailing-list items are gone.  Still need to
    update .gnus to folder them properly. :P
  * 15min:  looked at PIA code.
  * pull down PIA onto cygnus from s.net -> users/Ricoh
  @ 'The Golden Age of Silicon Valley Is Over, and We're Dancing on its Grave' 
  * install openjdk-6 on cygnus
  

0520 Su
  * up 7:50; d, t; hair, coffee
  @ Google Gets Back to Its Roots With New Search Update - The Atlantic 
  * heard back from Brad
  * apartment-hunting.  Bothell is too far.  Watercrest is a winner.  They have
    2's, may have a 3 available.  Arabella has 3's available but they're small
    Executive Estates office not open on Sunday (new)  Watercrest would do fine
    if EE doesn't have 3BRs available.  EE is the only one with much visitor parking.
  * brush up on Java - reread PIA code
  ~ solar eclipse - peaks ~6:20 -> cloudy all day
  * load resumes into computer bag

  ~ get on Executive Estates' waiting list.

0521 Mo
  * up 6:45ish; d, n
  * 9:15 phone interview - Tableau
    Encouraging.  Windows, but all C++ and Java, and cross-platform ports under way.
  : Karise called - will set up phone interview with Intentional
  * pack:  * copies of resume,  directions
  * 1:45 leave for interview
  * 2:30 - PopCap -> Monday
    -> first problem was parking in a 2-hour zone.  grumph
    The PopCap team is looking forward to meeting with you on Monday.
    Time: 2:30    Location:  2401 4th Avenue # 300, Seattle, WA 98121
    Ask for:  Heather Kulawiak when you arrives. Heather will greet you and escort
    you to the interview room.
    If you don?t mind, I will be there at 2:30 as well.  I?d like to meet you.
    -> Coding test.  Bowling scores.  Didn't do all that well; should have
       broken it down better.  Should, actually, have used objects for frames.
       Should have put the two passes (reading and fixup) into subroutines.
       got in trouble with emacs/notepad impedance mismatch, and the kind of
       syntacic stupids that Perl is justly famous for.  
    -> stupidly forgot to get cards from the two guys giving the test.  Greg?
       Greg's boss, Andrew, wasn't available.  I spoke to Andrew and Greg on the
       phone last week.
    -> using svn for SCM; most using eclipse in a VM on Mac; at least one
       developer using emacs.  Some git usage.
    -> low partitions
   @ Google Overtakes Internet Explorer As Most Popular Browser

0522 Tu
  * up 6:09; d, n
  * wake kids ~7am
  * 7:20 kids dressed and eating
  @ If the cops take your computer | Files That Last
  % a block and a half of jogging (to retrieve a jacket) is all I can manage.
    Ought to work on that -- I hate it, but I should be able to jog for at least
    a mile at my age.
  @ Dark Matter Makes a Comeback (fb:Bill Gawne)
  @ 8 Rules For Creating A Passionate Work Culture | Fast Company (linkedin)   
  * 9:30 Executive Estates office opens -> called Tyson; will come by ~10:45
  : Karise called with ping from Intentional.  expect call @2pm
  * put apps in at both Executive and Watercrest, where they *might* have a 3BR
    opening up in the right timeframe.  Could hear as soon as today.
  @ JetBrains :: Meta Programming System — Language Oriented Programming
    environment and DSL creation tool Open source.  cf. Intentional SW
  * 2pm expect call from someone at Intentional Software ended up being ~1:20;
    employment history, algorithms (I know I blew the topological sort
    question, but I think I nailed everything else); a little about the
    company; Q/A.  Small; I'm sure I could do the work, but may not be a good
    fit socially.  Their preference is for offices, but it's sort of agile
    light.  We'll see.
  " (18:00:16) mdlbear: Have spoken with Colleen; Emmy is apparently very
    distressed at the thought of moving; apparently it didn't really sink in
    until Colleen told her we had an apartment. 
  * leave ~3:15 -> 3:26
  * return car by 4:15 (4:30, actually.  Close, but made it ~4:15)
  * 	RETURN MAY 22 TUE    06:35 PM Seattle/Tacoma,  WA (SEA) to
   	       	      	     08:40 PM San Jose,  CA (SJC)    Flight #814
  : travel note: pulled computer bag and put the leather jacket into Chami --
    worked great.
  * take evening meds, 10mg citalopram