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!