The Ranks of the Employed

[flwyd]

My alarm went off at 6 today. I left at 7. I spent a couple minutes at the gas station determining that "Please press 'Pay Outside' or 'Pay Inside' button" was like a Soviet election, because there was no Pay Inside button. I finally got to the edge of Boulder at 7:35 and got to Denver West at 8:05. Not bad.

This is the second week of operation of the Eagle Computer Systems Denver office, and the current setup is temporary as well, so it doesn't quite feel homey yet. The office does have an up-close-and-personal look at the apartments in front of Table Mountain, though.

I received a new IBM ThinkPad laptop and told I could set it up however I see fit. It's currently got XP (masquerading as 2000), but I'll probably split the partition in a few days and install some form of Linux on it. I could Penguinize the whole thing, but I think I'll try to get Windows to play nice for a while. Plus, I feel certain in Windows's ability to take advantage of all the hardware (Touch Pad hot corners are so t3ch!) and dual-booting will be an interesting learning opportunity.

Since I'm essentially new to the Windows world, does anyone have recommendations of software I shouldn't do without? I already grabbed Cygwin, Vim, Putty, and Mozilla. You can tell what I prefer running, ne?

After a quick introduction to the environment, I got put on a portion of the OCR project with another new developer who's been working on it for a few weeks. We'll be doing name and property location (advanced address, essentially) recognition. Who'd have thought that my three semesters of disparate natural-language based academic work would pay off on my first day? I'm not even sure my project manager knew I had that background.

My coworkers seem pretty cool. Of the 3 CU computer science M.S. graduates from last semester, Eagle hired two. And the other one was already working for Avaya. Another guy is a recent CU grad and another graduated from Mines last year, I think. I think the average age in our office is about 27. Our mannerisms and dress are casual, which is an interesting contrast from the folks in the Jefferson County Republican Party and the Independence Institute (libertarian think tank) on the first floor. (There's something ironic about the name "Jefferson County Republican Party.")

The signs of workaholism may be visible. Our project manager offered to buy dinner for anyone who was staying after 8pm. I left at about 7:15 and discovered I'd left my lights on all day. I've never driven from dark into day before, so there was no brightness in front of me to tip me off. Fortunately I was able to get back in the building and get a jump from a coworker. After a few minutes exploring the area (it's all inorganic suburban growth) I drove through Golden (much less sterile architecture) and back along 93. After a few short shopping trips I got home at 9:30. 14.5 hours of work and commute (incl. lunch). That's not what I hope for in an average work time block, which is one reason I definitely plan to move to Golden soon. commute.time == 5 >> commute.time == 45. Once I've got my rhythm down, I may take the bus regularly, though the G's last run to Boulder hits Denver West at about 6:20, so evening work would necessitate a jaunt to downtown Denver and then a B home. Which is probably a two hour trip. Good thing I can read on the bus.

So if I'm not keeping up with your journal this month, don't take it personally.

---

Oh yeah. In my post on drugs and Super Bowl ads I forgot to mention the big-money drug ads. Cialis (sildenafil citrate, aka Viagra aka Levitra) was finally up front about what their product does. With all these vague ads saying "Ask your doctor if {Levitra,Cialis} is right for you," I wonder how many 52-year-old nuns struggling with arthritis have asked their doctor if Levitra is right for them. Their main selling point seems to be that it lasts for up to 36 hours. ("Does that mean you're erect for 36 hours? DAAAAAMN" I say before the ad can continue.) Side effects, from the Cialis website:

The most common side effects with Cialis were headache and upset stomach. Backache and muscle ache were also reported, sometimes with delayed onset. Most men weren't bothered by the side effects enough to stop taking Cialis. Although a rare occurrence, men who experience an erection for more than 4 hours (priapism) should seek immediate medical attention. Discuss your medical conditions and medications with your doctor to ensure Cialis is right for you and that you are healthy enough for sexual activity.

Now, I first wondered if headache, backache, and muscle ache were side effects for the user or his partner. I then wondered just how annoying it would be to be erect for four hours. Especially if you took the pill so you could get in a quickie before work. Or during lunch with your secretary. And Eros help the heart of the man who tries to utilize the four hours while he's got them.

Comments

[slyviolet.livejournal.com]

Moving to Golden, eh? Wow. Big jump ahead. Congrats on securing gainful employment!

*hugz*

[teal-cuttlefish.livejournal.com]

The spousal unit and I watched just the Superbowl ads yesterday. I can find the link if you need it. It's somewhere on ifilm. At any rate, the only clue we could really get from the Levitra ad that it was a competitor for Viagra was at the end, Mike Ditka threw a football through a tire.