One of the ideas behind Stanley Milgram theory is that a lost-letter could get to the right person in only six hops. This sounds a little strange to me. When I think about Six Degrees of Separation, I do not see it this way. I count a lot of people in this that I would not ask a favor of. I can get to George W. Bush in three steps. It does not mean I can ask favors of the people between us. It is a question of how you define degrees of separation.
My apartment is a mess right now, but it is not the kind of mess that it was before. It is that “I am going to have to deal with this stuff to clean it up,” mess. It looks like all the boxes I had around my apartment have all exploded. This mess feels better. It feels like I am getting somewhere. I start to have some ideas what it will take to truly get this apartment in good shape.
The bad thing is that I am not the type of person that can do this all in one night. My apartment will still be messy when this weekend ends. I cannot keep myself working on it for all that long. I am too easily distracted. There are a lot of other things I want to do with my time. My apartment is getting better, but it will be a while before other people think it is in good shape.
There is something very therapeutic about cleaning an apartment. I have to think about a lot of ideas that I have not thought about in a long time. Cleaning my apartment is like cleaning up the last couple years of my life.
Once again it is time for the Friday Five. This week I am even doing it on Friday.
1. What was your first job? I had a summer job working at Burger King. We had nine different managers (the story usually had three at a time) in the six weeks I worked there.
2. How old were you when you had your first kiss? 16. I meet the girl in driver's ed class. We are still friends.
3. What was your first car? What happened to it? My first car was a 1988 Plymouth Reliant K. It was my father's car and he gave it to me my second year in college. I put over 200,000 miles on that car, after my father had already put 100,000 on it. The engine died after a long life of service.
4. What was your first concert? The Monkees. It was their first reunion tour in the 80s. They were playing after the Temple University Homecoming game. My oldest sister took a big group of my friends to the game.
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? Cleaning the apartment, Watching the Eagles, maybe San Jose Car Show, maybe a movie.
My friend Aaron sent me his thoughts on Santa Claus. I think it is in response to something I posted about my father and Santa Claus. I guess it is all about how far you take Santa Claus. If you play it up too much it could be cruel.
Now that it is "post holiday", specifically Christmas, I have something that has bothered me for a while. It has to do with capitalism, but more about what's right and wrong with Christmas. I feel that the whole gift giving phenomenon is all cute and nice, and it does give you a good feeling to give somebody a gift. But this day is about Jesus' birth. I am sick of the whole mass media marketing machine shoving Christmas down our throats like it's mandatory to get people gifts. For me, It all started with Santa Clause. I really did believe in Santa Clause. I remember my cousins telling me that I just missed Santa darting across the sky with his reindeer and sleigh. It was at my grand mom's house, and they were the first ones out the door, so they tricked me into believing that he flew over head and I missed it all. I have a problem with Santa because parents and teachers and uncles and relatives are always chiding their children for lying. But what do they do? they take advantage of youth and naivety by telling you about some fake man, who may, or may not have ever existed, and they play the old "carrot and stick" with you about being good and getting presents. The whole thing about chimney crawling and leaving milk and cookies, and Rudolph. It's America's biggest lie. Well, besides Iran Contra and "I did not have sexual relations with that woman". All I'm saying I'm saying is "don't tell your children to be honest and never tell a lie, and then lie to them about Santa Clause and not expect them to hold it against you". That's on par with finding out that my mom and dad stole cable television by having my uncle hook up a "hot Box" onto our television when I was a kid. I have to admit that it was nice to try and watch the Playboy Channel (even though it never came in) and to see constant reruns of Cheech and Chong, but it was bad parenting. That's the point of my life when I realized that; A) Santa doesn't exist, he's just a made up lie that's cute and funny and parents get to hold it over your head until you figure out that it's them. B)My parents are stealing cable television, on top of lying about Santa Clause. That's borderline criminal behavior. I am scarred for life.
Today TiVo announced the next generation of hardware that we will be releasing. Because of some of the features of the new product I have decided to order DSL. There are some things that I will be able to take advantage of broadband access.
When I moved into my current apartment I subscribed to Digital Cable. I told people I did it because it would help me with my job. Some people laughed at me for that. I survived two rounds of layoffs they did not. I listened to my instincts then and I am going to listen to them again now. I just ordered DSL tonight.
For a long time I have resisted getting DSL. It seemed indulgent. I could not explain why I would be getting it. I have a reason why to get it, but I do not feel all that good about it. I feel that it is too expensive and can cause me to waste more time. I think it still important that I have it. I just wonder how long it will take before it is turned on.
I got into work today and this article about layoffs was on the front page of MSN. It seems very appropriate. We had a "force reduction" today in the call center. It is not really a new layoff. We knew it was coming. It is a delayed action from the last layoff. It was no surprise to people when it happened. We let go of eight people. I think that only one of them was surprised they were let go on this cut.
One of the people was the guy who had been working with the call center the longest. He was there when the call center opened. Now I am the person that has been with customer support the longest. I arrived in Sept '99. There is only one other person left in the call center who was hired in 1999. I am always impressed when I think about the people who I have lasted longer then.
On days like this I have to think. I knew that I would not be laid off today, but I still had a plan for what I would do if I were laid off. I decided I was going to take a vacation. I would pack up my car and take a vacation for a week. When that week was over, I would decide what I was going to do. I would just relax for a week and not worry about anything. If I was laid off I would need a week like that.
Since I was not laid off, I have to wonder where all this is leading me. I have to wonder where my life is going with this job. Where will I be in 2003? These are all things I was thinking about when I left the job today. What will the company look like on the day I leave? Why will I leave it in the end? Will I be remembered?
Right now I am just kicking back and trying to not think about these things. There will be another "force reduction" in two months. I will hold my breath then just in case some plans have changed. I have ideas, but not plans. I think that is what my life is about right now. I am not working to worry about the things I cannot control.
I got my bicycle back today. I had forgotten how much I like riding my bike. It has not been in good shape since I moved down here. Now it is in great shape. I rode home from the bike shop and I loved it. I had forgotten what it was like to ride the streets on a bike. There is a level of experence that nothing else has. I need to ride more often. I think it something that would be great for me and it is really fun.
I do a lot of my writing right before I go to bed. I try to push myself at the end of the night. I feel that I have ideas in my head and I want to get them out before I go to sleep. I am tired when I write. I know that I am not my sharpest, but I seem to have an easier time concentrating.
Last night I realized that I couldn’t write on Super Karate Monkey Fist when I was that tired. I needed to be sharper to write reviews. I need to already have an idea of what I want to write. I cannot just pick a topic and go off the top of my head. I will have to give myself more time to write things for Super Karate Monkey Fist. I have to have more of a plan. I will have to remember this going forward.
I want to push myself until I start to spread myself thin. It has been a long time since I have asked a lot from myself outside of work. I have not been challenging myself in my hobbies for too long. I have to find the time to do all these things. I think it is a good thing for me.
This weekend I had a dream about buying a new car. In the dream I was working for Saturn. In my mind it makes sense that Saturn and TiVo are alike in my brain. Everyone who I work with now, was also working for Saturn. One of the marketing guys was driving around with me telling me I made a good choice. I told him that I was thinking about buying a VW Bug, but I chose a Saturn. This is strange because the last couple of times I dreamt about getting a new car, I bought an old Bug. I had to take the car into the shop to get something adjusted. All the people working in the shop where from TiVo’s Quality Engineering department.
I know that I am getting to the Friday Five a little late this week. I have been working on too many things.
1. You've just won a complete collection of movies starring one actor - what actor would you pick? Steve Buscemi. Not only is he a great actor. He has been in lots of great movies.
2. What was the last movie you saw in a theater? Lord of the Rings. I was surprised how good this movie is. It really lives up to the hype.
3. What was the last video or DVD that you bought? Stepford Wives. What can I say, It is a classic.
4. What movie could you watch over and over again and not get sick of? Airplane! It is full of timeless jokes.
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? I went to see Fellowship of the Rings and I hung out with some friends.
I started this last night. The idea is that I want to make it a place for media reviews. I want it to be my place for things I think about movies and tv. I want to see what other people think about music and art. I just have to find people to go there. If you would like to be invited to post on Super Karate Monkey Fist, just send me a message.
I finally finished posting the First Day Project. It took me a while to put it together. All of the pictures were taken January 1, 2002. I have not seen anything on Not.So.Soft making reference to this project.
I hope that it gives people some insight to my life. I am not very good at taking pictures. I cannot capture what I see in a place. Hopefully you will be able to see what I see around my life.
The other day I was sitting in my cubical. A guy from another department walked up to me and asked me a question about installing a satellite dish. I would like to remind everyone that I have never installed a sat dish and I have never been trained to do it. The question is not because of a business reason either. He is installing the equipment in his house.
I answer his question off the top of my head. He gave me a blank look so I explained the answer. Explaining the answer is like double checking my work. As I give him the reasons, I get to think though my answer. I gave him the correct answer and he went away happy.
This happens over and over again at work. People from all different departments know that I am the product support guru. They come with me with questions about the product. Even if it does not have anything to do with supporting I still answer the question if I can. I feel like they come up and say, (in your best game show host voice) "to impress me and to keep your job answer this question..." There is something funny about this. I guess that is what my job is all about.
It does not get really cold in San Jose, but last night was a little cold and a little rainy. I stopped to get a cup of hot chocolate and read the Metro. Hot chocolate is just the right speed for the occasional treat. It is not as work-a-day as a cup of coffee. It is not as indulgent as a cup of luxury coffee. It warmed me just enough to enjoy the evening alone.
