Christmas Politics -or- the Neverending Supply of Sweets

As we all know, the holiday season is filled with cakes, candies, puddings, fruit-pies, hot chocolate and a neverending assortment of other such cavity inducing treats. And, as it were, the workplace is a natural gathering place for these sweets. Contributing to the collective sweet tooth, I brought in a Christmas Stollen, which is a kind of German raisin bread. My reasons, though, are somewhat more complex than simply feeling the festive, holiday spirit flowing through. I have a kind of political motivation as well. Now, I need to pause here to diatribe about office politics. I cannot stand office politics. In fact, I try to avoid these pointless mind games like the plague. But it's not always possible to do so. And, from time to time, I find myself compelled to either participate or risk the stability of my continued employment ... or at least the sustainable enjoyment of my employment.

So this happy Monday I brought a Stollen Cake to tickle the collective sweet tooth of my coworkers and to show my boss that I'm not, as she puts it, 'Cube-i-izing' myself to the detriment of the forecast and my future career. What this means is that she believes I've been hanging out in my cube rather than getting out and socializing. Of course, this was spawned by nothing less than the sinister and cruel act of not saying, "Hello!" consistently each and every morning; "How's your day?" in the afternoons and "Drive safe," as the 5 o'clock hour approacheth.

It makes me envy my cube neighbor, whose boss works in New York and who has no teammates and few stakeholders (people who depend on the reports he creates on a regular basis) in Wilsonville. In fact, he works from home whenever he pleases and when he does decide to come in it is usually around 9:30am, with a 4:00pm departure. I've no doubt that he gets his work done. I attend a monthly meeting in which he makes a 15min. presentation. Looks pretty solid. But the real difference between us is that he gets to do his work without his boss hovering over him or the need to be caught in the dull 8 to 5 day-to-day.

Anyway, this true diatribe has a happy end! I presented the cake to the delight of my boss and coworkers and even managed to snag a couple of slices for my cubeish self. Lol! So, with that, I'll conclude by reciting my old mantra of,

"Whatever..."

Moving Time

I moved into my first house about a week ago, or at least most of my stuff did. I couldn't get settled into the place until the middle of last week --just in time for the holiday season to begin! And so I undertook the great experience of moving, cleaning and unpacking on top of getting ready to spend time with the fam. All of which was not too tiresome, but definitely made for a full week.

This past weekend my Ci had to go back to Eugene to work on her presentation. Although she should have gone back on Friday, she was willing to pull an all-nighter on Sunday and get only 4 1/2 hours of sleep on Monday in exchange for spending more time with me up in Hubbard / Wilsonville / Portland. I think it was kind of rough on her, but it was her decision so I just had to support that. What I do know is that even an hours worth of sleep can help a lot to clear one's mind and allow one to look at one's work with a fresh pair of eyes.

So, while she is JiaYou-ing (working hard) I drove to work in the snow and got here a bit early this morning. This was a very good thing since I had to leave a bit early yesterday and am still unsure of whether anyone noticed. In any case, I got here all right but saw a real traffic jam on I-5 in both directions! Not a usual thing this far from downtown P-town at this time of day on this day of the week. For as much precipitation as falls in this area, people consistently drive poorly under conditions such as today. Accidents scatter the road and drivers are as aggressive as ever even when snow and perhaps ice coat the roads. Scary stuff. Maybe its due to a large number of out-of-state folks flocking to the great N.W. in droves as companies such as Intel and HP flex their hiring muscles. Who knows? One thing is certain, though: TRUST NO ONE on the road when its snowing or even raining moderately. Yikes.

That's about all I've got time to write for now. Next time I'll post some pix of the house and talk about plans for the remainder of the year. Ah, how time does fly by...

Outsource Humor

I recently made a purchase from Overstock.com through a gift certificate I received at work. I went online to choose my items and ultimately went to check out. I need to mention that I'd bought a voice recorder for my iPod that turned out to be incompatible with my version of iPod. So I returned it and expected the amount to be put back onto my gift certificate. Instead I was given "in-store credit", which amounts to another, separate gift certificate. When I went to check out with my latest purchases, I was unable to do so because only one coupon may be used for each purchase.

And here's where the fun starts: I contacted Overstock's online live customer support through and IM window and... well, just see for yourself.

Welcome to Overstock.com's Customer Service Live Chat! You will be joined with a chat representative momentarily. Welcome to Overstock.com Customer Service, you are now chatting with Pamela. Pamela: Thanks for visiting Overstock.com, this is Pamela, how can I help you? you: Hi Pamela, my name is David. I'm trying to make a purchase using a gift certificate. But when I get to the checkout screen, I get the error message that something is wrong with my credit card info. I've called the credit card company and they found nothing wrong. I tried to use another card and got the same error. What's going on? Pamela: I'm sorry to hear that you are unable to place the order using gift certificate as a mode of payment. Pamela: I apologize for any inconvenience caused to you in this regards. Pamela: I'll check and will help you with that information. you: Thanks, Pamela.

So far so good...

Pamela: On reviewing your order history, I see that you have placed the orders through gift card as a mode of payment and still now has not used the credit card as a mode of payment. Pamela: I request you to contact bank and once again verify the error caused to you. Pamela: I hope this information is helpful to you. you: Not really. I've used two different cards from two different banks and received the same error message on Overstock.Com. The problem must be with the order page. Pamela: Do you have further questions for me today? you: Can you place the order for me, please? Pamela: Sure, I can help you by placing the order for you. you: Excellent! Thank you.

And here's where things got hairy...

Pamela: I'd like to let you know that for this order either the gift card amount of $xx.xx or $xx.xx will apply. Pamela: For the rest of the amount for the order you will have to use credit card as a mode of payment. you: I can't use both? Pamela: I'd like to let you know that for one order two discounts cannot be used. Since you have a split of $xx.xx and $xx.xx they will get applied as discounts during the check out process and only one amount can be applied.

Just when I was about to pop a vein...

Pamela: Please stay online, while I check whether I can combine both the amounts to your account. you: That would be great! Thank you. Pamela: Thank you for staying online. Pamela: I got permission to combine both the amounts. Pamela: May I go ahead and place the order for you by entering the necessary data required. Pamela: *? you: Yes, please. Pamela: Thank you for the confirmation. Please stay online while I do the needful to you.

Did she just say what I think she said??? ( ?)?)

Pamela: Thank you for staying online. you: My pleasure. Pamela: Did I explain the return instructions and the shipping time frame clearly to you? you: Yes. Thanks. Pamela: May I go ahead and submit the order for you? you: Yes. Pamela: Thank you for the confirmation. Pamela: Please stay online, while I submit the order and provide you the invoice number for this purchase. Pamela: Thank you for staying online. Pamela: I have successfully completed the check out process and have placed the order for you.

Good grief, how BORING!!! And she took forever in between those displays of appreciation.

Pamela: Do you have further questions for me today? you: No. Thank you for doing the needful to me. It was very nice. :) Pamela: You're welcome.

I'm such an ass sometimes.

Pamela: Was I able to resolve your issue today? you: Yes. Pamela: You're welcome. I appreciate your co-operation and patience. Pamela: Thanks for shopping with us. Upon closing this window, a survey will display. Your feedback is important, please complete this survey. It takes less than one minute. Pamela: Bye and take care. It was my pleasure chatting with you.

I'll bet it was, too! And I didn't even have to pay the 1-976 fees.


I think we've all learned a valuable lesson here about the dangers of outsourcing customer service jobs overseas.

Nuff for now.

Workday Life

Life at the office is pretty much the same as it ever was: sporatic periods of random business interrupted by longer periods of spacing out while staring at whatever few websites the company web filter allows through. I can't even check gmail or yahoo from here. But that's another story altogether.

The weather has turned for the better this afternoon and, being Thursday, I am pleased that the weekend is just around the corner. One bit of good news is that my Ci is coming up to visit this weekend. School begins next week for her so this is her last best opportunity to get out of Eugene. I remember saying those exact same words about my trip to Seattle when I was on the verge of starting this new job. Ah, the memories.... wait, what was I talking about? Oh, I forget. Let's just move on. (:-)-

I'm managing to keep myself busy although I feel kindof bad because I'm not doing something too difficult, which makes me feel as if I should be more, like "proactive" or something. As if I could just stand up and start dictating changes around the office towards greater productivity 'n shizz. Naw, I think I'll just sit back and collect my paycheck in every two weeks. Maybe get a new car... definitely get cracking on searching for a home. I've contacted a new real estate agent and this one seems to know her shtuff more than the last one. Heck, I've even considered requesting info on and sitting for the MENSA entrance exam. But I don't know. I'm actually rather lazy after work. And with the weather being so gray and rainy all the time I can't even get outside as much as I'd like. I love to go on day hikes and take in the fresh air. Ah, but alas...

Ok. End random babble. Laters!

The James Bond of Xerox

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006.

There is no prevailing theme for this post, just a bunch of stuff I've decided to write for no reason other than I've got some free time and I figured that my Ci would like to read something new. So, my Ci is back from Beijing and staying with me for awhile before going back to Eugene and back to school. She'll be in school for another couple of years. I think it's okay though because I'm still really busy during the week and wouldn't be very entertaining to be around anyway. As well, I'm searching for a new home and need to get a new-used car and blah blah blah. So, things are pretty unsettled on my end. I don't think it will take two years for me to get these matters situated but my feeling is that I don't want to rush into buying a house just to buy one. I'd rather take a bit more time and find one that fits my price range and that works for me in terms of location and commute and all that.

About work, I feel better about my job and how to handle various issues as they arise. Things are going well. The forecast period for September is winding down and the company hasn't blown up... not yet, anyway... But seriously, even when the job throws me a curve-ball, I've been able to handle it pretty well. Like yesterday for example. I came in to the office at about 7:50am and logged into my email. After the PC booted up, my MS Outlook calendar displayed the message, "You have a meeting in _5_ minutes." WTH? I looked more closely and it turned out to be another major forecast meeting that I was driving. D'oh! So I quickly printed off some documents and rushed off to the conference room, totally unsure of how this meeting would go. When I got there, I found the room empty. Rather than question myself, I rushed into setting up the PC and getting the forecast docs on screen. As it turned out, only one person joined me in the meeting room and two others on the conference call. We talked about a couple of issues and I did my best to be pithy and direct during the presentation and we ended up finishing about an hour and a half early because the forecast was pretty much on the money. Niiiice.

Today presented its own issues, like I need to get in touch with Europe to amend their forecast based on our conversation last week. And, oh by the way, it needs to be done today and, oh by the way, they've finished their workday already. So I've done all that can be done on my end and may have to make some adjustments to their forecast on my own, which would be kind of weird... Dave Savoy - International Forecast Guru. Sounds like an office worker's James Bond title or something.

The boss has been out of the office on vacation since the beginning of the month and is due back in tomorrow. I think she'll be getting some pretty good reports on how I've handled things here, but we'll just keep on and see how things go.

Peace out!

Bumbershoot and the Calm Before the Storm

This past weekend was for many people a three-day weekend since Labor Day allieviated work on Monday. Though, for me, the weekend was not so long. I work in a critical position at my office and the first week or two of each month is rather busy. On top of that, I'm still new and ramping up into the post. Oh, yes, and my manager is out this week so that means I'm more or less on my own to get things done and meetings held and information disseminated. I was in on Saturday to get things ready for the week and take a bit of pressure off the otherwise stressful week.

And then I went to meet some friends at Bumbershoot, in Seattle.

SATURDAY

I had a hard time focusing at work on Saturday (who wouldn't?) and ended up leaving around 3pm. One of my best friends called up to ask for help in moving... at the last minute. But with plans already made, I couldn't do it. So, I went over to his place and hung out for an hour or two before hitting the highway up north.

I got to Seattle around 9:30pm and all was well. I went to hang with Andy, who was kind enough to let me crash at his place. After some deliberation on where to go and with whom we would meet up, we went downtown to Belltown and to a bar called Ohana's. It's supposed to be a Japanese bar, I think, but I'm pretty sure the owners are Hawaiian or something. So, we hung out and drank some hot sake. Ah, that brought back memories... A couple of Andy's friends brought some Korean girl with them. I'm not sure which guy she was dating, but they both seemed to be clustered around this girl. I forget her name, but she told everyone to call her "Kee". Anyway, she drank way too much and kept falling down. Then she lost her jacket at some bar somewhere, I guess and cried and nearly threw up in Andy's car. Not fun. And at some point she got all pissed off that I had lived in Japan. The topic came up after we were at the Japanese bar that I'd been there. She was so uncool. I wish my Cici were there to slap her around. Hei hei hei... Afterwards, Andy and I went to hang out at Mario's place and didn't leave until 5am. Oh, yes, I was a tired Dawei.

SUNDAY

After I woke up at around noon, I went off to get some breakfast. Andy, of course, was still asleep and not even up by the time I'd returned to his place after breakfast. So, I waited for him to get moving and then we headed out to Bumbershoot. Sometime later that afternoon, we arrived at the Seattle Center and met with some other folks I know up there. We listened to the music and went to the beer gardens and just floated around while waiting for the mainstage show to begin at 8pm. I played one of the carnival games and won a couple of stuffed animals for my Cici. My friends made fun of me for carrying around the dolls, but I did it for my Ci. Eventually, I put them in Andy's car and thought about how much Cici will like them. Hei hei hei...

Later on, we saw Kanye West, which was pretty good then went back to Andy's place and crashed. Dawei was a tired Dawei once again. Andy and I stayed up, though, about an hour before crashing to watch TV. Then Dawei slept for the next 10 1/2 hours. Zzzzzz....

MONDAY

Another late day getting moving. I woke up pretty late, around 12 or so and headed out to meet with James for a bit before making the drive back to Portland. See, James likes Everclear (the liquor) and Everclear is illegal in Washington. It is not, however, illegal in Oregon. You get the idea.

After a nice 3 hour drive back to Portland, I really missed my Cici but was so tired that I just went to bed because I knew that this week would be rather full at work.

TUESDAY

I'm here in my cubicle, typing this journal for my Ci and thinking it's about time for me to get back to work. So, to my Ci: I'll talk to you on Wed (your Thurs).

Jiayou, and me too!

House Hunting

I'm not really sure if now is the right time to be off house hunting, but here I go. We've all heard about the housing bubble and how it's supposed to burst any time now, but who knows? Here's an example: I just saw a house yesterday that my real estate agent alerted me about. I drove past it and thought it was in just a perfect little neighborhood and in great condition. My plan is to take a look at the interior after work today. If I like it, I'll make an offer. Actually, there's already another party showing interest in the place and, as I understand it, he/she/they have already made an offer. But, their offer is below the asking price. Thus, if I'm willing to pay the asking price, then I'll get myself a nice new little house. It might just be worth it... I'll have to take a look at it and see. My agent says that the selling agent is willing to wait for me to look at the house to see if I'll offer more than the other party, so I've got that goin' for me... which is good. I mean, at least I've still got a shot at this cool little house. And if it doesn't work out, then I can still hope for this housing bubble to deflate, right?

I'll be posting pics of the place in my yahoo photo album. Actually, I've got some new pics up there now if y'all wanna look: Savvys Albums be here.

Summer Day-Z in the Sun

Oddly enough, this set of sunny summer days occurred in Seattle. I went up on Friday, a few hours after work, to see the crew and show off my new dj stuff. Yeah, I've been mixing again and made a demo tape. Not too bad, not exceptional, but good stuff. So anyway, I drove up and planted myself on Mario & Sean's couch for what would become the remains of the day.

Friday night
How I conned the peeps into sticking around their house while I was on the freeway was kinda silly. When I was still about 10 miles south of Chehalis, Sean called me and asked where the heck I was and how soon before I arrived. Knowing that Chehalis is aboiut 100 miles south of Seattle, I told him I wasn't far and I'd be there in 30 minutes. I was doing about a steady 90mph, but even so I wouldn't arrive in Seattle for another hour-fifteen. Well, thirty minutes and about 45+ miles later, I get another call. Sean was just so pleasantly inquiring as to when I'd be there since the crew wanted to go out to a bar or club or something. I said that I had been stuck in some nasty traffic, maybe behind an accident or something, and was still in Federal Way (20 miles south of Seattle). Sean told the crew it would be another 20-30 minutes before I arrived and told me to call him when I'd entered Seattle. Um Hmm. So, after traversing Tacoma, Federal Way and Sea-Tac I called Andy rather than Sean to tell them I'd entered Seattle. I was pretty close anyway, but not quite there. By that time, I figured, if they hadn't left the house they probably weren't going anywhere. Good news. Eventually, I arrived and sat on the couch and sipped my beer smiling serenely.

Saturday
Next day, I met up with the friends again and went to a birthday/house warming party for a friend of a friend. It was a'ight, we played kickball and a bit of football, non-tackle of course. I mean, I like active, physical games and all but I was dog tired after about 30 minutes of it. My mouth felt as dry and full of cotton as if I had just been chewing on a stuffed animal.

Somewhere in that time period, I spotted a meth-head scoping out my car, which had my overnight bag in plain view. I stealthfully watched him and then he approached me. He asked for some tools to help repair his motorcycle. With no other ideas in my head, I went to my friend's friend's (the birthday/house warming party person) place to ask if they had some tools in the basement or something. Nope. But I got that dude to follow me there and alerted the whole party to his attention. Now everyone knew there was a meth-head sketching around... Then I went back and moved my car to a spot in front of the house. Andy was saying he wanted to check out a party at this place called Belltown Billiards because a friend of ours was deejay-ing (DJ Elad) and we could get in free. A'ight.. a'ight..

So, long story short, we ended up going to a club where Andy wanted to meet some chica that someone said had a crush on him. It didn't pan out for him, unfortunately, but he did manage to leave me stranded downtown. Oh what fun! He ran off to an after hours club, chasing that girl, and another friend offered me a ride back to where I'd left my car --about 15 miles across town. I went back to the car and drove off in search of a place to get some sleep. I drove to Golden Gardens park in search of a quiet spot by the Sound (Puget Sound) at which to crash land my tired mind. Not too bad, except that I heard some girl(s?) and maybe her boyfriend getting mugged by three dudes. I saw nothing, only heard parts of an argument and possible fight. Then the police came and took care of whatever it was that had happened. I heard no ambulance, though, so I assume there were no serious injuries or ill shiznit that went down besides someone getting punched a few times and then having his/her/their wallet(s?) stolen. And that's alls I knows 'bout that.

Sunday
I had drank too much. I wasn't able to sleep well and my back hurt from my lumpy car seat. I was not a happy, frolicking Dawei. So, I just took care of some business. I went shopping to buy a new pair of sunglasses I'd lost mysteriously on Saturday. Don't really care though; they were broken anyway. And my new ones look more like my old favorite pair. All was going well. Some breakfast at Cyndi's Pancake place where I remember eating with my Ci the last time we visited Sea-town. Hei hei hei... And then I met up with Andy, who drove us out to Alki beach and talked the whole time about how he had just ended a relationship he'd been in for the past 3 years. Personally, I think the guy just needs a woman he can think of as a close friend instead of thinking of a dating relationship as something separate and independent of friendship.

We just hung out and eventually saw a movie: The Descent. It was a pretty freaky movie, but had a really contrived plot with very little depth. The storyline was pretty transparent and the characters were never well-developed. But the cave scenes were kinda scary. I didn't quite understand the ending, but I can guess that the main character must've been psychic or something to see ghosts like she does. But I won't spoil the plot here...

After that, Andy and I watched The A-Team for an hour or so. I crashed on the couch.

Monday
I have today off due to the kindness of my boss and my shrewdness in picking just the right time and manner in which to request it. I mean, I've only been there for three weeks and I've already scored a day off. It's because I worked a lot of overtime recently and the boss is just appreciating a dedicated effort. All to the good!

I left Seattle around 11am, after a nice IHOP breakfast, and got home around three. I checked email, sat in the hot tub and just spaced out a bit. Now, here I am winding up this story and journal of the past weekend. And, oh what a weekend it was! This one was one for the books! I exercised, took a few pictures, displayed my deejay talents and caught up with some folks I'd not hung out with in awhile.

But the night grows on toward bedtime and I'm thinking about calling it a day. More laters.

Reportz on da Life

With the first two weeks of the month behind me and a total of three weeks experience in the office I'm feeling pretty confident about my job moving forward. It was quite busy at times during the first nine business days of August, with dozens of spreadsheets folded within about a hundred messages coming in while I was sending out analyses in files so big that I had to put them in .zip files before I could get them out. And the documentation I've been working on has passed the 20 page mark. I should actually be working on that now, but just can't bring myself to be productive. It's Friday. I'm tired. And I've got myself a nice little three-day-weekend coming up.

My plan for said time off is to rock on up to Seattle sometime either tonight or early Saturday morning, depending on whether or not I can get anyone to meet up with me tonight. Friday is generally not a big party day among my friends. We all work during the week, so Friday is more about hanging at home and slothing around from the computer to the beer fridge to the T.V. and back to the computer. So it may just be that I go to bed early and rock it up north at 7 or 8am tomorrow. We'll see.

My hunnie is in Beijing and I miss her but she's with her family and it's a good thing. I'll try to keep my finicky camera working while I'm on vacation this weekend so I can make vids and pics to show the Ci (and my blog audience as well) just how relaxed I get this weekend.

Keep on keepin on and chizzill and all dat.

A Bee in the Water

The other day, I found a bee stuck in the pool. He had gotten himself --I call it a "he" because isn't that the gender of all drone worker bees? Toiling away for the queen, who sits in the nest giving commands and eating the flesh of other, would-be queens?-- into the center of the pool. I watched him work himself around in circles, never making much progress in any one direction, as he scrambled his black, stick-like legs in a frenzy. I stood there for awhile just watching adn contemplating the apparent metaphor of this bee in the water. "How much am I like that bee," I wondered, "And isnt this just a perfect illustration of the situation of all humans? Spinning around on the Earth." At times, I considered jumping in to save this bee, but never could bring myself to do it. After all, I had just gotten out and showered and dried off and.... So I decided to kick water at the bee with no really good reason for why I was doing so. I splashed the bee and thought I had seen him sink. I kicked again. He hadn't sunk so much as been knocked about by the tiny ripples the droplets made on impact. This poor bee. Then I noticed something different. He was then closer to the pool's edge than he had been before. I kicked again. He floated closer, surfing the waves as they were towards closer to the edge. I continued to kick water just behind this bee to push him to where I could reach in and scoop out this water-logged bee.

Before too long I had this bee near the edge. I stared at him kicking around for a while as I thought about what might happen if I scooped him out. Would he sting me? Would he bite? Would he just die? I wouldn't take the risk so I found an old t-shirt someone had left by the pool and scooped the bee. He crawled on the shirt a bit to make me think he had more spunk in him than he actually possessed and I flung the shirt to the ground so that he could recover in peace. But the shirt, unfolding in the light breeze, twisted and rotated about so that the bee hit the ground first and this wet, black t-shirt piled on top. Would this be a tragic turn to an otherwise happy ending? Would this bee live to see dry land again? I darted at the shirt to flip it and check the bee. At first, no movement. But then he walked an inch and stopped. I could see his wings move a slight gesture. He survived!

I gathered my things and prepared to go back to my apartment, stopping on the way out to look at this bee who really should be dead. He sat on this wet, black, leaking pile of cloth upon which he had just ridden to salvation as he dried off his wings and appeared to be licking his legs. I began to wonder what the long-term effects of the chlorine would be on him but then, he's just a bee. Probably wouldn't have lived that long anyway, right? So, I stood up and headed back to my apartment. Now I think back to the moment I saved a bee and wonder if I'd have been fortunate enough to have someone save me if I'd been in his position. Thoughts of Jesus' death on the cross came to mind and I realize that I have been. We all have been as fortunate; because the true metaphor of this story is that mankind is the bee in the water just waiting to die. But Jesus came to our aid (admittedly, he's saved us with more style and honor than I when I pondered just letting the little bugger die) and rescued us from alienation from God and certain death.

I thank God every day for what he has given me and seek to share knowledge of that gift with others.

The Un-restroom

Poopy! That is, unfortunately, the most accurate and appropriate word to describe the state of my fellow cube-dwellers -- not that I enjoy saying so. Now, I need to set the scene here to give a clear picture of what I'm talking about. Picture this:

I walk into the office building, a huge warehouse of grey fabric cubicle walls and printers and fax machines stacked up in corners. From my usual entrance, its about 100-150 yards to my desk, across a field of others that look just the same. At any given time maybe 75% of the office is full. I guess people just work on different schedules or for whatever reason that just isn't important to the discussion at hand. So, it's a big office, but never jam-packed with folks. There are multiple bathrooms generously located throughout the workplace. That is, I'm never more than 50 yards from the "facilities" when I walk through the place.

Yet, whenever I make a trip to these rooms of rest and relief, 90% of the time the room is filled with a smell more fitting to an old septic tank than a (relatively) upscale office. Accompanying the fumes are the sounds one would expect from a person experiencing an Ex-Lax moment. But enough of the fun details, you can imagine the rest.

Perhaps it is the lack of healthy foods in the diets of so many of my coworkers that leads to multiple trips to the toilette or maybe its in the water. Whatever it is, I wouldn't be suprised to learn that this office creates enough methane to power the city of Wilsonville! Well, maybe not quite, but close...

And what is the moral, you ask? Nothing. It's just a bunch of stuff that happened.

What's up?

Back to the basics. My job and my life have seen a fair amount of turmoil over the past couple of weeks. Partially, this is due to my becoming acclimated to a new position and the responsibilities associated with that. It doesn't help matters that no documentation currently exists (other than what I've been creating on the fly, as it were) describing responsibilities and how to go about satisfying these. According to sources I've contacted within the company, the previous individual to hold this post was something of a maverick when it came down to coordinating forecasting schedules with our worldwide partners. That is, not only is there no documentation on my position but that we (my mgr and I) are reconstructing the methodology and essentially redefining the post from this point forward. So, I'm tasked with writing all of this down and making it comprehensive and as easy to follow as possible. Partly, I'm doing this for myself, so that I can run through next month's forecasting cycle with greater confidence and speed -- since the boss will be on vacation. But also, I'm working it with a mind towards identifying areas of necessary improvement.

So that's been tough.

At home, my new apartment, I'm getting used to being away from my hunnie in Eugene. I've begun to build a routine, but only a couple of weeks have gone by and I'm still not settled in my activities. I work out at the apartment rec center and have used the pool a time or two and I take regular walks around the area. So, it's feeling more and more comfortable as time goes by. I'll make a post detailing my surroundings --pics and all-- sometime maybe this weekend.

All in all, things are going well. I'm busy but feeling more confident by the day and have begun to re-focus my mind towards house hunting. In all likelihood I'll get back to searching in September. In the meantime, I'm just taking life one day at a time and trying not to let myself get too stressed out about future plans and goals.

And that's what's been up with me lately.

Give them Gods

Random thoughts post ahead: Continue at your own risk!

I just thought of one random thing that would make me pause and get it down in writing before the fleeting thought flies its course away from the front of my mind. Giving thought upon Egyptian culture and their usage of narcotics as a natural part of life, it occurred to me that another, non-physical form of narcotics had been simultaneously fed: religion. Now, I'm far from Expert in my knowledge of Ancient History or Theology, but it reasons to me that the successful governments throughout civilization have had at least one commonality: association, and sometimes intermingling, among church and state. The question that arose in my mind today is such that I wonder if religion has been largely a means to control people, perhaps through either preiminent structure of class/caste system or by fear, in its most primitive form.

And... was there ever really a time when human-kind simply allowed his mind free to wander about what is and what came before? Assessment of this leads one to believe that humans would tend more towards natural harmony with the environment and develop in a more "natural" manner if allowed to develop without powerful individuals seeking domination through government control and land ownership. That is, mass-customization of beliefs would not have resulted unsolicited.

D

PS I've just had a long and difficult day at work, and a tall glass of wine at home. I'm relaxing and letting my mind wander. Excuse and enjoy.

Data Deluge

As I look upon my monitor, with a deluge of numbers flowing across the screen, I feel as if I am somehow being drawn into the pool of bits and bytes piece by piece. In my world, consisting of four gray, felt textured walls, I am immersed in an infinitude of data and databases until my cubicle becomes less a workspace and I see myself inside a neverending spreadsheet in which I exist only within my assigned "cell".

It's all a bit overwhelming in my first few days on the job. But as days go by, I grasp more of the picture and I push on the walls of my perception to expand my understanding of just what the hell it is that I do here (besides collect a paycheck).

So, this post isn't so much of a "what's up with me" as it is a data dump and forum for me to vent. But, as the picture illustrates, I know I will soon rise up like Neo and then no one will be able to hold me back ... just as soon as I figure out what it would be that "they" try to keep me from.

Now, hit me ... if you can...

The First Day

Its the first day of a new job and I'm sitting, staring at my notebook computer wondering how in the world I'm going to analyze the reems of data now stuffing my inbox. Well, I'll just begin by poking around and sifting through it all to gain my bearings and develop some familiarity with it. Learning how to put it all together and actually make some use of it will take time. But for now, I'll begin taking steps and (hopefully) move in the right direction.

The routine is slowly coming together and I've got a full schedule for the next three weeks. This week is all about meeting people and shuffling paper. It's next week when the real fun begins. The first two weeks of each month, I'm busy submitting forecasts for production by product and related supplies. That means that those reems of data are necessarily plugged in to various spreadsheets where forecasting calculations are performed. Ultimately, this results in some form of prediction of how much of what goes where and when.

Whew! My Ci called me during lunch and I felt kind of rude because, being my first day, I'm loaded down with work and this feeling of not knowing what I don't know. I mean, I don't even know yet what tools I'll use or with whom I'll meet to get the data I need to do my job. Over time, soon I hope, I'll at least learn the key objectives of my job and where to get answers to the questions that arise as I fumble through my first day/week/month here.

To my Ci- Wo ai ni! I will call you soon and we can talk about all that we did during the day. Hmmmah!

Ok, nuff for now. Gotta be a busy little worker bee and get back to my spreadsheets. Oh what fun!

The Latest

Dog tired and sore, My Ci and I moved my stuff out to Wilsonville just yesterday. Now we're back in Eugene for a brief rest and tomorrow's birthday celebration! Yeah, tomorrow my Ci will turn one year older and wiser. So I'm here until Tuesday when I'll head back up the I-5 to go house hunting... ooooh...

And as for work, I'll start next monday. I'm excited and yet nervous and trying to get my life and mind organized to begin the next adventure. I've got a good feeling about all that is going on now and I'm looking forward to getting a move on with it.

Two years from now, I may just find myself back up in Seattle with my Ci and ... well, who knows? But I'm looking forward to it! Meanwhile, I'll kick butt at work and get myself situated in a home soon.

Things be goin' well.

The Graduate -or- Movin' on Up (Jeffersons Style)

It's been nearly three months since my last post, for those who can remember back that far. I didn't want to post until my next move has been set in motion. With graduation two weeks behind me, I received a job offer just this afternoon from Xerox Corporation!

I know, I know, you are probably wondering why I'm not with Intel Corp after talking so much about them in my past blogs. I've interned with them and worked on a student project with them and how do they reward me? With a hiring freeze and the expectation of future layoffs instead of hires. During my internship last summer, I saw that the company has a hefty amount of fat in terms of employees and often whole groups working on projects contributing little or none to the bottom line and certainly not enough to justify the firm's high salaries. But enough about them, and now more about my employer and benefactor, Xerox.

I'll be a Market Forecast Analyst for the N. American region. Pretty high position to get started out in. And the exposure within the company is really great too. I'll be working with people from marketing, finance, production, operations, etc. This means that, two or three years out, I'll have the ability to move to another position within the company outside of my forecasting role. This job sounds nice, but I'm really interested in getting into marketing. Yeah, I can see it now... I'll send out a few surveys and schedule a couple of focus groups before consulting with my data analyst to give me the latest on market trends and segments. Then I'll roll in to a forecasting/sales meeting and preach about how our clients demand more of this and less of that before I kick my feet up at Starbucks and marvel at the success of their competing stores -across the street from one another!- and sigh as I sip my no whip, double shot mocha frappuccino (Tiesto on the headphones, of course).

But that's all yet to come. For now, I'll be working with my nose to the grinst-- I mean, keyboard... building the connections that will promulgate my forthcoming meteoric rise to the top.

Yes, this blog is just an announcement: I GOT A JOB!
More fun and hijinks later. For now, it's celebration time.

An Afternoon on the Lawn

I’m sitting outdoors in a forest park area of Hillsboro after just having picked up a nice new laptop from my student-based consulting firm, Intel. I should begin a bit more prior to where I am now in order to tell this story right. I left this morning at around 10am to drop my Ci off on campus and head for that well-known I-5 corridor north. All went well up through 50 or so miles and then it slowed. Traffic nearly stuck completely, traveling at only 60mph! Laughing out loud… But to me, that is an absolute turtle’s pace. And it meant that I’d only have a couple of minutes to spare before the PC tech folks had their lunch and I didn’t feel like waiting around for an hour just so they could munch. I’m being a little selfish, I know. And, as it happened, that’s just how it worked out. I missed the techs and got stuck waiting in an unshaded spot on a near-summer’s day in my car in a parking lot packed to the rim in a sea of glinting cars in the sun.

So after I finished checking out the new laptop the company has invested me with, I drove out to my old apartment neighborhood and out into a small forest park nearby. And so here I sit, finishing up my whopper sandwich from Burger King and searching for a wireless connection to steal and ultimately writing this blog post. Sitting on a log sprinkled with pine needles and twigs and pollen swarming in clouds on the notebook screen, I’m reflecting on the day now to relax my mind just a bit before returning to Eugene and the madness of school work for one final term.

But enough for now. My next step is to walk around some and maybe get a soda before I hit the road. Exciting and eventful, huh?

Seated in my car, willingly this time, sipping a Safeway Select Clear Sparkling Water beverage, I’m just gathering my thoughts before a quick walk around the park. Seems leisurely, doesn’t it? I wonder if I’ll have the time or even work to make the time once I begin a job/career in just a few months. Which is one more reason for me to do it now, to enjoy my time while it lasts, while I can, while it’s still there.

But I’ll be back to Eugene shortly and hit the gym later tonight with my hon. Hheee… So, I’d better get to walking so I can keep the schedule.

End.

Just for Fun

Come here to check out the pic? That's just a little test I'm running to see how many hits my site gets just by placing a simple pic named with a popular keyword. I remember placing a pic titled "race car" on my blog and my hits took off! How many more will I get just by all the pervs out there looking for some online smut, I wonder.

So what's the point of this post? Read the title. I usually write as a summary of events or to expand upon one happening in my life. Recently, my theme has been more of a journal than a true 'diatribe spot'. So this time it's all about what I feel like writing. This time I'm writing about whatever random topic comes into my brain as I type. This time, its just for fun.

So I went to Arizona earlier this week for training with Intel... again. It was really quick, though. I was down on late-Monday and back on Wednesday evening. The weather was nice. Warm, but breezy and no rain. Now I'm back into the Oregon liquid-sunshine. But spring is here and I'm glad. Spring is my favorite season. I dont mind the rain, but I can only take it in doses. I definitely cant stand the week-long rainstorms that hit Oregon in the late Autumn and Winter. But Spring and Summer are nice here. The rain has its purpose, and makes the grass green and trees full of shade. Perfect to cool down and relax when the temp gets up into the 80's.

With Spring comes, of course, Spring Break. My Cici and I are going to California to check out Six Flags amusement park sometime next week. It should be fun as I've never been there, but really enjoy thrilling roller coasters. Ah, vacation! Much needed and well-deserved for Cici and I.

So, I'm on permanent chill mode... at least until the end of the break. Then it's back to the grind for one more term before I venture out to find: employment, a house, a new car, and some other stuff I can't think of now.

Random random random... I'm running out of things to say. So, I'll call it good for now and come back strong later on.

And if you came here just for the pic, but ended up reading the blog anyway, then Good for YOU! There's hope for a few pervs out there, at least. J/K!

The Beginning of the End

Winter term is coming to a close in about a week and then, after a week off for Spring Break, I'm back for my sixth and final term of Grad School. And what are my post-graduate plans, you ask? Well, to answer that, here's a little story...

In one course this term, we were given an assignment to identify a e-business problem relating to web design and/or acquiring additional hardware and software support. I called on my contacts at Intel to hook me up with a project. (Side note: Sounds nice, doesn't it? I mean, to have work available upon request. I just sent a couple of emails and before too long I was assigned to a project. Oh, its good to have friends!)

However, since this was to be a team project, I needed to gauge my teammates level of interest in working for Intel. Surprisingly, they were actually opposed to it! So, after discussing my situation with the prof, I agreed to work on some other, less demanding project for class and the Intel thing morphed into an independent course study scheduled for Spring term!

This means that I'll need only three in-classroom courses aside from the indy project to gain the required number of credits to graduate. As well, the indy project is pass/fail, which should represent a relatively easy task.

So, with that all situated, I began contacting my "sponsor" at Intel to get the details on the project. It so happens that I needed an Intel notebook computer and passwords to access the necessary software and have the necessary security clearance to work with confidential material. So, they hired me as a contract employee through their partnered temp-agency. And, yep, I get paid on top of everything else. Niiiice.

I went up to Portland yesterday to receive my Intel badge, notebook computer and so on. It was a decent trip, but made for a really busy day. I was up at the crack of daw-- -well, by 8:00am at least. And traffic wasn't bad on the way up, but was thick coming back to Eugene. Except for a brief hassle in getting past security at the Intel site, it was an overall good day.

So, in a roundabout way, this hints at the answer to my earlier question. I might be able to parlay this indy course thing into a full-time position. But I'm not writing off efforts with other companies. I'd still love to get up to Seattle soon. But I've got some short-term goals to achieve before I can honestly say that I'm back on my own again (on my own but with my xiao meimei, of course!). I need to get my mom into her own place, pay down some student loans and then save up a bit of cash to invest in a nice place in Seattle. It's expensive up there! Not as bad as San Francisco, but still pricey. And ... and and ... en!

I'm happy with the way things are going, but I'll be even happier when I can start to realize some of these goals I've got. Like getting my own place and either sharing with the mom or getting her a condo. I'd rather get her a condo, but initially she'll have to live in my attic or basement or something. ;D Just kidding. No, she'll have her own room. My biggest goal, then, is two-fold: get the mom into a place that I own and then get her OUT. Ah, but enough about that. It will happen. All in God's time.

So now I just keep on keepin' on and get my butt through school and off into the more lucrative working world. Jiayou, yay!

Soaking Up the Weather

Cold rain crashes against my window and the wind sounds a steady, ominous voice through the trees outside. Winter season has never been my favorite as I notice my emotions tend to flow with the weather. When all is dark and cloudy and rain covers the ground in gigantic pools, its as if my world becomes so much smaller and life closes off around me. Its a bit depressing, but I've learned to deal with it. In my days living in Seattle, I would bring my notebook and a pen (yes, a pen...) and hunt down a coffee house with a chill, ambient atmosphere. One of my faves was a place called Cafe Ladro on top of Queen Anne hill. Basically, it offered everything that Starbucks lacks in setting and feel. Or maybe I'd just go sit and do my laundry and watch the people busily slaving over their clothes, lugging them in baskets through the rain out to their cars. I'd sit and write for hours about the goings on around me or perhaps some new philosophical idea that happened into my mind. It was good times and a way for me to vent or get whatever feelings I had out and onto the paper.

But now, in school once more, writing is not for fun and neither do I have time to make it so. Free time is now spent playing computer games to try and distract my attention from my classwork if only for a brief and fleeting moment in time. I keep in mind that it's all coming to an end in a matter of months and that thought gets me through although I am not sure where I'll be or what I'll be doing after this ends. I find that thought both frightening and comforting. Its frightening because I have no stream of income yet bills loom large on the horizon. At the same time, its comforting, or maybe just casually interesting to me, that I will be free once again. I suppose that one primary thing I've sought for in my life is freedom. So school with end and I know I'll be somewhere doing something; no matter where or what that is I know that I'll be free to go after it. With my special someone still in school for awhile longer, I'll have time to find that dream and start down that road and have myself being just where I want to be and doing just what I want to do.

It all lies ahead in my future and it will happen. Just need to endure a few more term papers, essays, midterms and exams before it does. Jiayou! Ganbatte! Do your best! Keep on believin"!

The Daily News

What's on my mind right now? The same thing that I've been thinking about for the past four years is now mere months away. Soon, and before I realize that the time has slipped by, I'll be completing my MBA and off to work in some yet unknown business doing who-knows-what. I've been planning to get an MBA since I first went to Japan. Since then, I've studied for and taken the GMAT; applied and was accepted to a decent school; completed an internship in between years; and am now on the verge of ending up the whole adventure with a greater sense of direction for my life and the means to reach those goals.

One thing I am reasonably sure of is that wherever I end up I'll be in much better financial health. Student life grows tiresome. For example, my car has neverending issues. The front bumper hangs loosely on the right side, looking like it was taken out back and thrashed in an unfair bar fight. As well, I believe the fan-belt mechanism is slightly bent, causing the belt to squeal randomly. It needs an alignment, new tires and new brakes. But other than that, she runs great! Anyone interested in making an offer? ...

Which brings me back to my job search. In about a week I'll attend a Career Fair up in Portland specifically for MBA's and I'm just putting the finishing touches on my resume. I'm looking forward to that as a way to make contacts with people at firms that aren't Intel.

So, as this term plugs along and I find myself spending all my free time either sleeping or being used as a Dawei Pillow, I look out my window and wait for the rain to subside just enough for me to dash out. Places to go and people to see and I'm off and running.

Jack Bauer Style

The following takes place between 9AM and 9AM Wednesday thru Thursday, Jan. 4&5:

I awoke at 9am to head north for a series of meetings along the I-5 corridor, speeding like a brushfire. First stop was to meet the Mom, having lunch at T.G.I. Fridays. I arrived around noon and had a nice, large meal courtesy of a gift card she'd received for Christmas. Then, near 2pm, I rolled on over to an old friends place for a little catching up. We've known each other since undergrad years and somehow managed to keep in touch. Good times. Polance and I hung out and chatted and watched some spy movie, James Bond style, and all that jazz. And then it came time for my largest drive of the morning. Up to South Seattle to meet another old friend before she leaves the States once again for life in Japan. And just as I was leaving, I get a phone call.

It was my special someone. She sounded a little depress-ci, so I needed to make sure she was doing okay before I took off. We talked for awhile and it turns out that she was just a little bored and needed to talk for awhile. No worries. We chatted and by the end of the conversation, she sounded worlds better. Then, I was in the car and on the road again not long after.

I arrived at the coffee shop where I would meet my old friend ahead of schedule. We talked a bit and decided to head to Capital Hill and check out a place called The Baltic Room, a bar and night club I'd visited during my days as a Seattle local. So, I stopped to get some gas when I noticed that my head was bleeding!! I'd gotten a haircut in Portland after meeting the Mom and before meeting Polance. The guy must have nicked my scalp and it had scabbed over in the hours since because I seem to have scratched off the dried cover while heading to the gas station. I felt something wet in my hair and when I checked my hand, it was red with blood. I didn't panic, guessing it was from the haircut (what should I really have expected from a cheap and quick hair place anyway?) and i just continued on to the station. When I arrived, Paula, my pal, called and when the conversation had finished, I noticed a streak of blood running down the phone. Ewww! Like a scene from a horror movie, I'd gotten a paper towel to mop up my head and it turned red as well. The cut was a tiny little thing, but it was just dripping at a rapid pace. I couldn't even feel the cut but for when I washed up in the Arco bathroom it stung just a bit.

In sum, got a band-aid on the spot and that concluded the issue. Shortly thereafter, we went to that lounge spot I mentioned and chilled for awhile. We reminisced and caught up and all and left around 1:45AM. At that time, I checked my phone and noticed thirteen missed calls. Yet my "received calls" menu only showed one name: The special someone. So, I called her to see if she'd really called that many times. No answer. I left a message, not understanding why my phone only showed one missed call but told me there had been thirteen. Then, dog tired and sleepy as all that I dropped Paula off at her house and proceeded to find a nice place to park my car and crash. I checked the phone a few hours later and noticed four more missed calls. Again, the special someone but this time she left a voicemail as well. Unhappy, apparently with my questioning how many times she'd called, she sounded frustrated and upset. Well, I didn't want her to feel left out or ignored, so I called back but the phone was off. Then I made a tough decision: I would head back to Eugene right then. It was around 4AM when I left and I'd estimated it would be around 8:30AM when I reached my destination.

A long, dark and tiring journey ahead and one energy drink in the cup holder to help me get through. Cruise control and open road; my headlights the only source of light to be found on long stretches of highway. I rolled through the beginnings of rush hour in Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR at 6:30AM and thought about stopping. But the light of day had just begun to arise and I felt a bit of energy with it. I made it back to Eugene on schedule and surprised my special someone and told her not to feel guilty. She had been upset, but didn't want me to do something so risky. But I was up for it. Tired as I was, I felt that I had come as far as I could and if there had been any more to go, I would have needed to stop. But, as it were, I ran out of energy just as I reached my destination. It all worked out. And so there I was, back home and greeting my someone and then off to bed and headed for dreamland all within a 24 hour period.

Rollin' like Jack Bauer.

One Evening on the Train from Tokyo

Here's a retro-story about an event that happened about a year and 1/2 ago while I was living in Tokyo. Its worthy of posting, since I'd only ever sent it via e-mail back in the day. Enjoy and you just might learn something as well.
***
It started with my return trip from Tokyo Station at around 11pm on Monday. My friends and I had just spent the day at Disneyland and so I, like most other people at around 11pm on a monday, was dog-tired. The train ride started usually enough, cramped and crowded, with some guy wiping his freshly blown snot on one of the grips people use to balance themselves while standing. Then four or five business men in, what appeared to be second hand, navy blue suits boarded the train. From the bits of Japanese I understood coming from the loud, pushy, obviously drunken businessmen, I gathered that the loudest, most obnoxious among them was their "shacho" -company president. The rest were lackeys of some sort or another who assisted him to an open seat when it opened. His cohorts placed him in a seat next to a set of doors, near the middle of our car, from where he proceeded in his string of drunken babble loud enough to announce himself to those on the opposite end of the car. On a crowded Tokyo train this is not an easy feat, rest assured. Several stops went by before I finally caught an open seat. To my fortune (good or ill, Ill let you decide) the seat was spaced by two others between the shacho and myself. This is the point at which this particular train ride parted with the gross normality of life in Tokyo and became something ... more strange.

The shacho`s ranting became noticably louder, though it seemed impossible at the time given the decibel level of his bellowing before-hand. So, I looked over at the shacho to see what had irritated him so much more. I had been hoping to tune out the scene, as so many Japanese people are masters at doing, but I couldn`t. Not with what I saw when I looked over and saw this large, white-haired man screaming angrily into a lady`s ear that her typing on her cell phone had annoyed him. I just couldn`t believe it! For a few seconds I did nothing. Thinking, "How could she sit there and take this? Why doesn`t she get up and walk away?" But she didnt. She just sat there, typing, obviously disturbed by the belligerent drunk`s wailing. I saw one of the shacho`s lackeys waving at the lady to just ignore it, that the yelling would soon subside. However, a few more seconds passed ... no more than a minute in total since I first noticed but at least three minutes, I guess, since he directed himself at the lady. Well, I had seen just about as much as I could take. Without thinking about what I would say or do, I directed myself at the shacho from my seated position on the bench and spoke to him in English. Rather angrily myself, yet controlled, I ordered, "Stop yelling at her! Leaver her alone. Mind your own business!" And watched his face, in total shock, gape at me for another ten seconds or so before glancing around and saying something about either the lady or myself, I couldn`t tell. And yet the lady remained silent and unmoved. My neighbor, however, did not. Person #2 between the shacho and I also turned toward him and exclaimed, "Urusai!" (noisy!) and some other words I couldnt pick up. The shacho had been double teamed! And his lackeys remained in their respective positions but issued no defence. The shacho came to his own defence, eventually commenting that, "...men should not be sitting on the train, rather. they should stand and be masculine,". I`d have piped in again, but I figured that as he wouldnt have understood anyway, it would have bounced right off him. But that proved to be unnecessary as a man standing in front of me and to my right then replied ... something. Couldn't catch it, but with this new TRIPLE teaming, the shacho must have known he was beaten.

After the third man`s comments, the shacho occasionally made some side remarks to his cronies, but all yelling had subsided. During this time, I really wished I could just get off at the next stop ... run and hide in a sense. I could not and did not. Instead I prayed for a sense of calm on the train, and a calmness did come. But what amazed me most was that lady`s quiet resillience. When I disembarked a number of stops later she and the shacho were the only two left on our bench and she had not moved. She sat there, quiet and resolute, next to this man -though his lackeys had each disembarked by then.

As I write this, still in some sense looking for an explanation of what went on tonight, my tired mind trying to understand it. Only now do I begin to see the answer. In the end, I think it took my initial comment to break through the barrier that people in Japan put up all too frequently. One that bars others, or "outsiders", from daily life. I used to think that such building such a barrier was an inevitable part of living in a city the cize of Tokyo. Something needed to keep one sane. But, as tonight`s events have revealed, those barriers nearly let a self-important, pompous, drunkard abuse a young lady beyond any stretch of reason.

The moral? Well, I dont know if there really is one here. Nobody is perfect, so noone can judge or condemn another. So, I cant really say much more that I already have. Here are the facts. Draw your own conclusions.

Peace and goodnight.
Dave