Thu, 26 Aug 2004
Well, that's it. I'm done here at Quarry. I say here, because I'm typing this entry from work. Quarry was gracious enough to pay for my home internet while I was here, so I no longer have a connection at home. I'll probably get re-hooked up early next week.
Going camping this weekend. Looking forward to it.
Starting my new job on Monday. Looking forward to it.
Tue, 24 Aug 2004
A series of unfortunate events
So I was slated to have started my new job yesterday. As you can guess, that hasn't happened.
Last week was a busy one. In addition to the scheduled events, mostly having to do with a friend's wedding, was the additional unscheduled discovery by a different friend that his brain had been haemorrhaging blood for the last few weeks. Both of these friends are also co-workers. (At least they are for a few days yet.) However for their own reasons, neither of them will be at work for the next week or two.
Things are pretty short handed here. Most notably, with two of the three linux admins leaving Quarry as of this past Friday, and the third out of commission recuperating after someone took a power tool to his skull, there could have been some pretty serious problems with Quarry. And so, I postponed my departure by a week. The University was very gracious and understandable, letting me start a week late.
Unfortunately, this week is equally busy. There's a new guy that started on Monday. So far, he seems quite capable. It doesn't help that on the weekend I bought myself a copy of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and have been playing it every spare moment I get.
Tue, 10 Aug 2004
I've been holding off buying a camera for a long time. I keep looking at cameras and saying "yeah, but I want this feature, and I want that feature and I want..." and before I know it, the cameras I'm looking at are a little out of my price range.
After scoring some birthday cash, I looked at my options again. I'd been eying the Canon Rebel for some time, and it seemed to do everything I wanted. I finally went in to actually play with the camera yesterday, and really liked the feel of it in my hand. Took a few shots testing out macro, and things like depth of field, and some of the manual settings. Popped the CF card into my 'puter and took a look.
Bought camera. Bought a few small extras. Paid lots of money. Oh well. Anyway, new toy! Yay! I've included the obligatory plant shot. I honestly don't know what the name of the plant with the pink spots is. The shoot behind it is of a store-bought ginger root that I planted. Click on the image for a very large version of the same shot. (1500x1200).
Sun, 08 Aug 2004
As promised, stuff about the new job.
Actually, I'm hoping that this will save me explaining everything again, for like the zillionth time when asked what exactly I'll be doing. I'll just be able to point them at my blog and say it's all here.
First off, I'm still not 100% sure what it is I'll be doing. The official title is "C&O Software Specialist", working for the Math Faculty Computing Facility at the University of Waterloo. It's a new position, and as such, my roles and responsibilities are not yet well defined. I do know that I'll be acting as a point of contact for the C&O department to bring issues that need attention to the MFCF. I'll be in sort of a Client Relations/Support position in that respect. Also, the MFCF was looking for someone with strong Linux skills. It is entirely possible that my long term position will involve being the primary Linux guru for the team. There is almost certainly some sysadmin-based tasks required of me.
The Friday that I found out was an interesting day, certainly. I got an e-mail from the HR people in the morning saying they'd like to talk to me, and could I please call them at around 2pm? So that was pretty much it. It was either yes or no at this point, and I had to wait through most of the day before I found out. I was a nervous wreck all bloody day. I ended up going home to make the call from there.
The call was fairly short and sweet. Everything looked good, and they wanted to hire me. They outlined the salary and my starting classification. The university has a highly structured employment system. My salary is solely based on how I am classified. I can make so much money before I have to change classifications (i.e. prove that I'm more skilled, and take on more responsibilities) at which point my pay scale shifts. They also asked when I could start.
That was pretty much it. The phone call wrapped up, and thanked them profusely and hung up.
Sat, 07 Aug 2004
My parents' 40th wedding anniversary is coming up in about a week. So my sister took it upon herself the excellent idea to arrange a weekend where we could all come together and celebrate, and see each other. Something that happens very rarely now that we're scattered all over the place.
It's actually been really nice. We have a neighbour's cottage. More of a chalet, really, at the base of Blue Mountain near Collingwood. I've skied there in the winter, and let me tell you. It's as nice, if not nicer in the summer.
Being right near big hills, when I booked a car to come up here, I thought "hey, I'll bring my bike." Sure enough, I got some decent mountain biking in. Also, I managed to have a spectacular wipeout and get some pretty nasty scrapes all along my left arm, and right palm.
Sadly, those two events are not at all related.
In the touristy village at the base of Blue Mountain, I took said spectacular wipeout running towards a giant outdoor checkerboard. My five year old nephew, who I was with at the time manages to put one foot in front of the other with little to no problems on the other hand.
Anyway, I got the mountain biking in, so now I have a good excuse if someone asks me what the heck happened to my arm. "Oh, I took my mountain bike up to Collingwood on the weekend." I'll let the listener put two and one and a half together for the rest of the story.
What really happened will just be our little secret, okay?
Thu, 05 Aug 2004
Sandwiched between long weekends
Wow. Lots of things to write about.
First off, last weekend was marvelous. There was one thing that I didn't get to do that I wanted to, which was to bike up to a friends cottage and chill out there. I haven't seen this friend in a long, long time.
Other than that, much goodness was had by all. First off, Happy Fucking Birthday to Me! The job offer came through Friday afternoon, as you may have guessed. More on that later. But after all that, I was completely exhausted. The long weekend seemed like the perfect time to just relax.
Only problem there was that people seemed intent on making me celebrate my birthday. What did I want to do? What did I want to do? What did I want to do? Jeez. I had a bloody stressful week. I just want to relax. Okay. Well once everyone got it in their head that I wasn't looking for big celebration, things went smoothly. Pizza at Nath's with a few folk Friday.
Saturday, the weather still wasn't looking great. I begged of biking, but mostly it was sheer laziness. Lunch and coffee at Whole Lotta Gelata. Decogrrl and boyfriend came down from Toronto and hung out. We had dinner at Charbrie's and watched a movie.
Sunday was another relaxing day. BBQ at my place. Then hung out at Zuckervati's place with Decogrrl and Mr. Decogrrl. Had more pizza.
Monday was brunch at WLG again, but with more people this time. Then we just went to the tiny little park/playground next to my building and sat in the shade for most of the afternoon. Eventually, we took Decoteam to the bus station then retired for dinner at the Whale & Ale, where if you can prove it's your birthday then you eat free.
Whew! All this relaxing has me all tuckered out.
And now I'm taking Friday off too. My parent's 40th (Wow! Is that right?) anniversary is coming up soon, so the whole clan is gathering at a borrowed chalet up on Georgian Bay for a few days. Maybe I'll bring my bike.
Wed, 04 Aug 2004
I gave notice today. I feel weird.
