I ate too much bread...

Booya. I ate too much bread with dinner tonight and now I feel like a bloated balloon, ready to pop. It was from fresh batard bread I bought (not bastard but "batard") and i just ripped a chunk off of it and didn't realize how big it was... until I finished it.

Anyhoo, here's an update on me. Worked 55-60 hours last week and it looks to be more of the same for the next two weeks. As my last post indicated, I've been learning a lot about being in a work environment, and that learning continues to this day. One nice perk about working overtime is that the company reinburses for expenses, such as meals and the inevitable cab ride home. Very nice.

Above all, I miss my other half. Things aren't quite as enjoyable without you, because I've gotten into the entirely disagreeable habit of seeing something with two sets of eyes, as opposed to one. That said, I wouldn't have it any other way. I am excited to get settled somewhere and really start hatching my hare-brained schemes of world domination.

Oh, Adam and I bought a domain and server space, at www.bagombo.com. I'll be using it to test out and use different Web technologies, websites, and project management toolkits. It's all good. I'm not sure what I'm going to put at the main site, probably a portal that leads to the different things that will be on it for now.

I should get into bed, which has been curiously empty for some time now. Really, everything has a hollow ring to it, as if they are merely standing with me and passing time, waiting. Waiting waiting light bright.

Upward Mobility

Ok, boys and girls, an interesting topic came up at work today. I keep my two co-workers (that I work closely with) in the loop about the AppleScripts that I do for various projects. Yesterday, I told one of them about a script I worked on at home, and she looked like she wanted to throttle me.

Puzzled, I watched her struggle to explain herself and it finally became clear. She was concerned about, essentially, making sure that I got recognition for the work I was doing. She said, "Do not give things away for free. Get paid for it, and get recognized for it." She brought up an excellent point, and one that is forgotten too often among us deaf overachievers.

She suggested that I actually do a presentation of some sort on the AppleScripts to the bigwigs and explain how they are used, and why, etc. The essential point seemed to be that it is hard to "move" up and get recognized at your performance review if you do things that aren't so visible. For instance, making a script and distributing it to everyone. While the "boss" might notice and smile, it will be quickly forgotten.

So, taking to heart her corporate lesson, I decided to go forward with my original idea (and I haven't given anything away for free yet -- it was a good warning at a good time). I am going to request to start a taskforce devoted to process improvements and AppleScripts and see how that goes.

Anyway, that is today's lesson for those who are newly entering the working world. (1) do your job first and (2) on "extra" things that go beyond what you were hired for, such as leadership and goodies, make sure you set up an environment where you will be recognized. If you don't, upwards mobility is lost to you. I think this is an important lesson for us deaf professionals, as we often feel we have to overachive in order to be viewed as... equal.

Shopping Spree

Today, I went shopping. Needed some shoes and a haircut! So I head over to Tyson's Corner Mall where I bought some New Balance shoes, got a haircut, and browsed around some stores looking for simple work clothes.

Alas, I was unsuccessful with clothes, but I had fun browsing around the Apple Store and visualizing myself owning a video camera and editing videos and having fun with that. I almost went ahead with buying a video camera but I don't have much to record at this time in my life so *puts that on hold*

The whole time I was wishing that you were there, with me, at my side. I even went in a few stores that have those little things that sparkle and looked around a bit. Dreams are good.

Love you & miss you terribly.

/start

This is a space for me to post things that I find interesting. I'll get started by mentioning something that caught my eye earlier today: Verizon Announces Fiber to the Premises (FTTP).

It's quite amazing now that we have gone from old "POTS" modem technology to fiber in the home in a decade. I have read reports that fiber in the home isn't quite as nice as they say. Quality seems to vary, and the "bundling" of services (cable, telephone, and data) might possibly degrade service for each as they aren't "focused on."