Emmy and the Faucet

That Beautiful View

So, I've been home for a few days now, and the holidays were fun, though I'm pretty glad they're done and over with (mostly, still New Years to go). The average temperature since I arrived is probably around 10 degrees, and there's about as much snow sitting around as I've ever seen sitting around this place. That said, for one of the first times I realize how pretty the Minnesota winter actually is. Exhibit below.

Despite the cold and despite the hassle that the snow represents, I'm really glad I came from this place. For one, it gives me the ability to laugh at anyone who claims that any other place in the lower forty-eight is "cold". For two, I got to take this kind of sight for granted.

When people think of beautiful scenery and nature, they don't often think of places that get lots of snow five months of the year. They think of places like Florida or California or Hawaii that are always pristine in weather, or at least offer no-jacket weather most of the time. The beauty of a place like this where it's bitter cold much of the year is the fact that you can tell the dramatic difference between seasons. During summer, you come to appreciate how nice air conditioning is. During winter, you thank the inventor of central heating.

I do miss living here, but I'm not quite sure if it's more or less than I had anticipated prior to my move. Every place has its advantages for the most part; if Minnesota is my scenic nature preserve, New Jersey is my representation of humanity, industry, and the grace of urban architecture. Well, the cities surrounding it, anyway.

A whole week to go here, and I've got plenty to do. Not a dull moment!

Eclipse

So, I'll be posting a bunch of crappy photos I take of the eclipse here. Enjoy.

Schedule for Week Ending 12/26

Monday - 11:00 to 20:30 (9.5 hours)

Tuesday - 14:00 to 17:00 (12.5 hours)

Wednesday - 09:00 to 20:00 (23.5 hours)

Thursday - 09:00 to 17:30 (32 hours)

Friday - HOLIDAY (40 hours)

Weeble Wobble

So in the midst of this week, I'm quite happy with work all the sudden. The shift in gears that made me arrive here? Probably the fact that I'm extremely busy this week, and that comes with perks.

1) Being busy allows time to pass much more quickly when I'm at work. I'm all for having a boring day, but that usually involves me finding something that I'm able to do at work that's enjoyable and takes several hours. Usually this is difficult to do, considering the fact that at work I'm cut off from pretty much everything I enjoy.

2) Being busy allows me the luxury of feeling like I'm doing something positive at work. Sitting in the lab and running consoles during tests, or even (as I did today) being the test director for a portion of testing, provides me with a feeling of accomplishment.

3) Business provides me with structure. A lot of the time it's hard for me to figure out when I'm going to come in for work, and a lot of the time I don't have anything time-sensitive to do. I rather like having to come in for specific things.

Anyway, the recent blitz of official and semi-official testing has been helping quite a bit with my work-esteem. Additionally, I've been familiarizing myself with the system to a degree which makes me feel confident in my abilities. Hooray for progress!

I recently got a very good review, which goes a long way in advancing my satisfaction at work. Hopefully early next year, I'll do well on the ship, do well in my new assignments/baselines, and get my promotion. Things are looking up!

Schedule for Week Ending 12/19

Monday - 14:00 to 20:48 (6.8 hours)
Tuesday - 06:42 to 16:00 (16 hours)
Wednesday - 01:00 to 08:00 and 16:00 to 24:00 (31 hours)
Tuesday - 08:00 to 20:12 (19 hours)
Wednesday - 00:00 to 04:00 and 14:00 to 24:00 (33 hours)
Thursday - 11:00 to 18:00 (40 hours)
Friday - 12:00 to 17:00 (45 hours)

Top Gear

Lately, I've been quite obsessed with the BBC show Top Gear. Tony has been a fan for years, but for whatever reason it just caught on with me. I never saw it as any more than a "hey look at that car" show, but it's quite hilarious.

If you're not familiar, the show features Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May in their automotive adventures. They test out various cars and have various challenges which test not only the cars, but the hosts themselves. I've heard from various sources that Top Gear is one of the most accurate and fair shows in terms of their car reviews, and in watching quite a few episodes over the past couple weeks, it certainly seems to be true.

Each of the hosts seems to have their own preferences when it comes to cars. Hammond seems to be the only one that truly loves motorbikes, May seems to prefer taking his time and is the one of the three most likely to prioritize handling and comfort over speed, and Clarkson who likes things fast.

Aside from reviews of both regular and super cars, many of the challenges the three are faced with involve purchasing a car for less than a set amount and going on a road trip. For example, one challenge involved the trio buying cars for less than $1,000 in southern Florida and heading over to New Orleans. Breakdowns abound, but they made it in a reasonable amount of time, giving their cars away in post-Katrina New Orleans. At the end of the road trip, the thirty second summary made you realize exactly how much the cars had been through and how close a person can get to a motor vehicle in just a few days.

Anyway, the comedy is why I came, but the sheer power of some of the cars the hosts drive is mind-bogglingly. Some people, undoubtedly, are attracted to the show by the cars and stay for the comedy; I've undoubtedly been the other way around.

Sick Day

Bluh. I called in to work today; it seems that I have a pretty bad cold out of nowhere. I have a full nose and my throat is a bit sore, but more than that, I didn't get to sleep until extremely late last night. At a certain point when I have trouble sleeping, I want to say "screw it" and do something productive for a bit; last night that productive thing was driving my check to the apartment office for December rent. Then I came home and crashed.

But it also gives me time to figure out my schedule for next week. Hooray.

Monday - Sick Day (8 hours)

Tuesday - 10:00 to 18:00 (16 hours)

Wednesday - 10:00 to 18:00 (24 hours)

Thursday - 08:00 to 16:00 (32 hours)

Friday - 12:00 to 20:00 (40 hours)

Celebration, Florida

The idea of a modern-day Pleasantville really creeps me out.

It all relates back to the fact that denial of the truths of humanity is futile in my eyes. No, that doesn't mean that the entirety of society should just give up on making people more empathetic and kind to each other, but to pretend that people already are empathetic enough is self-defeating. In order to properly fix the problems of society as a whole, one needs to recognize that problems exist.

Celebration, Florida is Disney's take on how a town should work. Its population crested ten thousand sometime in the last ten years, and it has always been blessed with a low crime rate. However, for the first time since the town's inception, a murder was committed within Celebration. This reminds me, and I hope it reminds others who idolize the "Disney Town," that as much as we want to live in a pretend world, we don't. We have a world with problems that need solving, with good people who want to do the right thing and bad people who don't.

I'm not happy the murder happened, but willful ignorance and pretending that plugging our ears and shouting will make the world any better just bother the hell out of me. Yes, it can be painful to look at the truth behind your and other people's motivations, but it's necessary. You can't fight the bad parts of human nature without knowing what they are. It really reminds me of this RSA Animate presentation done by Barbara Ehrenreich about the dangers of optimism, entitled "Smile or Die":

Inflection Point

Andy came up to visit yesterday, and we had some good conversations, as we always do. One in particular was on the nature of learning, and for whatever reason it reminded me of the concept of inflection points. I'll explain what it is mathematically for those not quite so inclined.

For a purely mathematical definition:
The inflection point is the point at which a curve's second derivative changes sign.

Now, I don't expect you to know precisely what that means, but take from it that an inflection point is where things are going straight ahead for a moment. Imagine a winding road and two curves - one to the left and one to the right. There's a point directly in between these curves where the steering wheel is perfectly straight; that's the point of inflection. It's the point where things stop accelerating in one direction and begin to decelerate.

Everyone experiences lots of moments like this, and mine seems to be upon me regarding my job. It seems like after two and a half years, I'm beginning to lose my sense of purpose. I spent the entirety of the last thirty months building that purpose up - learning to do new and useful things, becoming more and more integral in the execution of testing at my facility. Now, it's almost like it's slowly beginning to decline, as if in two and a half years I'll pass zero and head into the "worse than useless" territory. Of course, that's a negative viewpoint to have, but it's something that I'm sure everyone experiences.

Now, the only remedy for an inflection point, of course, is another inflection point. If you're trending down, you have to experience one to move back up. Here's hoping I experience one in the coming few months.

Upcoming

'Cause it's one thing, or another...

Oh hey, there, internet. I figured I should let you in on the goings-on of the upcoming few months. Thanks to some random things popping up, it seems I'll be quite busy!

DECEMBER 24 - JANUARY 3 ......... Operation Frozen Failure

Heading back to Minnesota for a couple weeks. As in past years, I'm sure I'll see plenty of people who're scattered all about this great nation of ours. Also family, and Christmas, and happiness. Only three weeks away!

JANUARY 14 - JANUARY 31 .......... Operation Waikiki Washout

I learned that there's a fairly good chance I'll be heading to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for a couple weeks for super secret ship stuff. It'll be weird going from one of the coldest places in the country to one of the warmest within two weeks.

FEBRUARY 16 - FEBRUARY 22 ............ Operation Disney Disaster

Going to Orlando with Dana for a few days to meet up with the family. I can't really take a week off from work, nor can Dana miss much class, but hopefully we'll have fun. Planning on flying late on Wednesday and returning the following Monday/Tuesday.

SOMETIME IN THE MID-LATE SUMMER .......... Operation Cross Country Catastrophe

I have a dream. I have a dream to zig zag across the country, stopping at tourist traps and taking as many pictures of myself next to giant fiberglass animals as possible. Check out the Google Map I made here to check out all the possible stuff we're potentially going to see!