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Friday, June 08, 2007

Money Advice

I was reading Money Advice for Grads and I could hear the first thing come out of a lot of my friends mouth. How will I have a social life if I do these things? I think there are a lot of things you can do to save money here.

- Use websites like Upcoming to find free events. -- Some are free to attend and some have open bars. A little reading can go a long way.

- Socialize with people from work -- I hear lots of people say that do not want to be friends with people they work with. This is an immature way to look work interactions. When you are looking for a future job, people like you is important.

- Don't buy all the gear the moment you start a new hobby -- In a lot of social circles hobbies are viral. I knows lots of people with scuba gear the never really used.

- Never shop when you are depressed -- I cannot tell you how many people I know who use retail therapy and ended up putting thousands of dollars on their credit cards.

- Make your own lunch -- You work 260 days a year. You can see how to do that math on that.

- Pre-plan going out to lunch with colleges -- It is important to go out to lunch with the people you work with. It builds strong bonds and he helps you understand the rest of the business. Pre-planning where you are going can help control costs.

- Don't become a snob. Drink the coffee they have in the office if it is free, learn how to drink cheap beer, and never turn down a free sandwich.

- Don't smoke or quit smoking -- Taxes and addiction are not a good combination.

- Have your friends over to your place -- I know that being young people want to go out. If you are going to a bar to just hang with your friends, think about having them over you place. The beer is much cheaper at home.

Labels: advice, list, lunch, Money, New York Times, tag overload, work

- Rich, 4:33 PM

Monday, March 19, 2007

Old Mix - Job Layoff Mix

I was looking at an old Sad Salvation entry and I found a mix that I never finished. It was a Job/Layoff mix from back in 2001. It was at the bottom of the bubble and lots of people were getting laid off.

I figure that I better finish up the mix and put in my blog. It has become a little more of a work mix. tell me what you think.

I Better Take Anything They Got

Career Opportunities - The Clash
Where Do I Go - Hair Soundtrack
Fred Jones Pt 2 - Ben Folds
Cowboy - Kid Rock
Finest Worksong - R.E.M.
Call In Sick - Big Daddy Graham
Happy Workers - Tori Amos
Working In A Coal Mine - Devo
Working Undercover for the Man - They Might Be Giants
Taking Care of Business - BTO
Work Is A Four-Letter Word - The Smiths
9 To 5 - Dolly Parton
Today Was A Good Day - Ice Cube
I Will Survive - Gloria Gainer

Labels: job, mix, mixcd, old entry, sadsalvation, work

- Rich, 5:37 PM

Friday, March 16, 2007

Work and IM

I use IM a lot at work. I try to only use it when I need a quick answer or find out if someone is available. Often I use IM to find out if the person is somewhere I can call them or to ask them when I can call them. I am a big fan of using IM to find out if it is worth me walking over to someone's cube. Sometimes I will get into a real conversation on IM, but that is not too often.

I was thinking about this when I saw M Roth's tips for work IM. These are pretty good tips. Reading this makes me want to examine how I am using instant messages.

Labels: communication, instant message, tip, work

- Rich, 7:16 PM

Monday, March 12, 2007

Jobs and Gender

I have not thought about gender and work in a while. In the Merc news today there is a story about how jobs are divided by gender. This is pretty interesting. I wonder if this has anything to do with women settling for less in salary negations. I wonder if this might pull a whole profession down.

I also wonder if it is something else all together different. This stat really stood out to me.

About 42 percent of the nation's working women are employed in just 20 occupations out of 450 on the government's standardized roster of jobs, including preschool and kindergarten teachers (98 percent female), secretaries and administrative assistants (97 percent female), receptionists (93 percent female), registered nurses (91 percent female) and maids and house cleaners (88 percent female).

It makes me wonder about the labor supply and demand in these fields. I wonder if this is more than just labor the difference. Is there a difference in the competitive nature of these fields? Is like fields for a men more dangerous or dirty. I think looking at the top five might give us some insights.

5 most female jobs

1. Dental hygienists
2. Preschool and kindergarten teachers
3. Secretaries and administrative assistants
4. Dental assistants
5. Speech-language pathologists

5 most male jobs

1. Logging workers
2. Automotive body and related repairers
3. Cement masons, concrete finishers, terrazzo workers
4. Bus and truck mechanics, diesel engine specialists
5. Electrical power-line installers and repairers

To be honest I do not hear feminists yelling for more women to be in these fields. I think you need to see longer lists to see what is happening. I am not sure that these things are going to change any time soon. I am not saying that sexism is not at work here, but there are forces more powerful than just regular men being sexists here. Unless those forces are understood nothing with change.

Labels: gender, job, list, mercnews, pay, work

- Rich, 4:35 PM

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Travel

From the Air: about to land
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

There is something about traveling that wears me out. Especially traveling for work. Yesterday I came home from a week in Andalusia, Alabama. My flight left Alabama 6:30 in the morning CST. When I got back to my place I could not get myself into the swing. I was really useless when I got home yesterday.

Being away from home was really tiring. I did not sleep well. I usually do not have that problem in hotels. I think the time shift had something to do with it. I was getting up much earlier then I was used to. At night I had a hard time falling asleep. I am not sure what this was a sign of. I had to deal with being tired a lot. That is not something I enjoy.

I would like to travel more. I am not sure how much I would like to travel for work. I got to see very little of Alabama on this trip. I was more focused on work than seeing the sights.

Labels: Alabama, flickrpost, travel, work

- Rich, 6:32 PM

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Town Square

Town Square
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I am traveling for work. I am visiting this small town Andalusia, Alabama. The town is really small. I was told that restaurants are not often open on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night. Those nights are so slow, it is not worth enough money for the restaurants to be open.

The town is the county seat. After a couple of conversations with people I am working with, they told me about the town square. I was driving around today looking for the town square. It was only 7 PM and everything was closed down. Almost every store on the square had a tenant. They just close early.

I ask the people I am working with what they do for fun. The answer falls into three categories. 1) Go 90 miles away and so something fun, 2) Stay home, and 3) Nothing. I am told you are either the type of person who likes this kind of area or you are not. The people who are not end up leaving.

Whenever I go anywhere I ask myself if I could live there. I can say that I could not live in Andalusia, Alabama. The houses are nice, but I need to be able to do things. I am a bit of a home body, but you have to be an extreme homebody to live here.

I will be happy to get back to San Jose.

Labels: Alabama, flickrpost, travel, work

- Rich, 8:30 PM

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Travel advice

My friend Andrew Thomas grew up in Alabama. I asked him for advice for traveling to Alabama. Here was his advice.

Be friendly and polite. Don't talk religion or politics. Take your pace down a few notches.

Also Be apologetic about your Northern roots.

Tell people your grandmother is from Alabama. (which is true)

His advice has seemed to work.

Labels: advice, Alabama, travel, work

- Rich, 8:33 PM

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Emmy

Emmy
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I just wanted to remind everyone that my company one an Emmy this year.

Labels: emmy, flickrpost, self, work

- Rich, 1:55 PM

Friday, September 15, 2006

7 Years Ago Today

I have living in Silicon Valley for seven years now. I started my job seven years ago today. I am past the point where those seven years feel like both a long and and short time. Now it feels like a long time. When I got here everyone was talking about the internet boom. Now everyone is talking about web 2.0, but I am not sure everyone thinks they can get rich off it.

I have worked at this job longer then I worked all of the jobs I had as an adult combined. That might be why it seems like a long time.

Who knows how long I will be here. The last time I was home, when my mother asked me about moving back to Philadelphia my father said, "He has been there this long, I don't think he is in a rush to come back." There is something comfortable about San Jose. It is the kind of city that seems to fit me.

Labels: home, job, living, San Jose, Silicon Valley, time, work

- Rich, 4:15 PM

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Bad is Good

I saw this story on how bad habits can help your career. I think this is funny. I work for a company that is all about TV. I have had a TV in my cube for years now. This year I have been playing Fantasy Football as part of my job. Understanding Flickr, blogging, and the Web 2.0 has helped me in my job. My job and my hobbies seem to go hand in hand at time.

For a few years I have said that my laziness helped me at my job. My laziness would help me and customer support be more efficient. Being lazy keeps me from over working problems. People can really waste time when they do not know what is important. It is a waste of resources to be prepared for everything that could happen. My laziness has helped me figure out what is worth customer support spending time on. I think that this is a bad habit that has been good for my career.

Labels: flickr, habits, laziness, work

- Rich, 1:36 PM

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

The Emmy

The Emmy
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

TiVo won an Emmy for television technology. It is the second time we won one. This time the statutettes were brought into the office so everyone could get their picture with them. The leadership of the company wanted to make it clear that it was everyone's Emmy.

I know that this is not a big deal for some people. I still think it is pretty cool. September 15 will mark 7 years at TiVo. I feel that working here has been great for me. I feel like I have been part of something much bigger than myself.

Labels: emmy, flickrpost, self, work

- Rich, 7:31 PM

Monday, August 07, 2006

Taiwanese TiVo Ads

Check out the Taiwanese TiVo Ads on Gizmodo. I wish the US ads were this cool.

Labels: advertisement, Gizmodo, TiVo, work

- Rich, 11:21 AM

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Who Moved My Cheese

I had seen this documentary about math and history before. They did a segment about the game go and samurai warriors. At the beginning of a game of go there is a seemingly infinite (4.5x10^397) number of outcomes. With each piece that is played those outcomes start to narrow. The game was taught to samurai warriors for them to learn decision making. With every choice you make you have fewer choices in front of you. Often in life you only get to make once choice in a situation.

Part of me thinks that the end of my relationship is like ending a game of go and starting a new one. I made a lot of choices in my relationship, choices that limited the directions the relationship could go. I was happy to make those choices for the relationship. Now that I get to start fresh, I can think if those are the same choice I should make next time.

Directly from the department of synchronicity, the week before the breakup I read Who Moved My Cheese for work. I did not know the book would be coming into play in my personal life so soon. The cheese in the book is supposed to be a metaphor for whatever makes you happy. By breaking up with me she ended up moving my cheese.

One of the questions in the book was, "What would you do if you had no fear?" This saying has been in my head for the last couple of days. I am not saying that I am a person that usually lives his life in fear. I am thinking of this more like, "What would you do if you had no obligations?" I was happy to live up to those obligations when I was in the relationship. I think that obligations are a good thing. It is our commitments that life substantial. Now that I do not have them what should I be doing?

It is not that I do not have any obligations at all. I still have work and financial obligations. I am not willing to just pickup everything and leave. If I had no obligations at all, I think I would look for work in another country. I think that might be enjoyable. I am not ready to leave TiVo anytime soon. Maybe I will get a job in Prague when I am ready to leave TiVo.

Now that I have no relationship obligations I have to re-examine what in my life. Are there interests that I have not engaged in that I should look into? This time gives me a chance to look at my life. I need to take time to do that and not just be pissed off about the end of the relationship.

Labels: Abigail, break-up, Go, math, Samuri, Who Moved My Cheese, work

- Rich, 5:49 PM

Friday, May 19, 2006

Bike to work day

Bike to work day
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

Thursday was National Bike to Work Day. For a while now I have been thinking about getting my bike fixed up. I always loved riding, but I have not been doing it much since I lived in San Jose. Last week I finally got off my butt and did something about it. I had no idea that bike to work day was this week.

Bike to work day has been an event at work for the last couple of years. It is not a huge thing, but I have seen the signs in the past and felt bad about not trying it. Now that my bike was fixed, I would have no excuse for not trying.

I have not rode my bike in years. I bought my bike in August of 1999 in Portland. I wrote it a lot that month. Portland is a great place to ride a bike. In September of 1999 I moved to San Jose. San Jose is not a very friendly bicycle city. It has been in storage (behind the couch) all that time.

My bike route from my apartment to the office was about 8.8 miles. It was not the most direct route, but I wanted to stay close to the light rail line. I wanted to be able to get on the light rail if the trip was too much for me. I got my bike from the bike shop on Friday, biked it around the block a couple of times Sunday, and rode it eight blocks on Monday. I knew I needed a back up plan for Bike to work day. The light rail was that backup plan.

I can finally say, Yes! I have biked to work. I made it all the way there on my own power. I did not have to resort to my backup plan. The trip was pretty interesting. Most of it was easier than I expected. The first 6 miles just flew by. I was not tired or aching at all.

The last two miles just killed me. I had two hills in those last two miles and it was just enough to zap me. I felt great when I got to work. I was happy that I was able to get through those tough stretches.

My only problem is that I was tired for the rest of the day. My legs felt heavy and I really wanted to take a nap. I got though the day, but every time I stood up I wanted to take a nap.

I did not ride all the way home. I biked two miles to a light rail stop and took the light rail the rest of the way home. My legs were so tired that I just had to take the light rail.

Now I have to figure out where to go from here. I know that I should keep biking to work. It is a good form of exercise and I like it. I need to make it so it does not wear me out and effect my work. I am thinking of riding 20 minutes and taking the light rail the rest of the way. That way I can build up my stamina. I know I just need to stick with it.

Labels: bike to work day, flickrpost, Portland, San Jose, work

- Rich, 6:42 PM

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Warminster and San Jose

I have been thinking about place a lot lately. On Saturday one of my sisters asked if I was ever planning to move back to the area. The first thing out of my Mother's mouth was "he does not want to live here." Up to this point of the day I had been talking to my mother about my life and my friends in San Jose. This must have been the impression she got from me. The conversation changed to another topic quickly, but that comment stuck in my head.

Last night a friend asked me if I would move back. I know she wants me to move back. She said that when she got back to Philly, she missed some of her old friends. She keeps on telling me that she would love to see me move back to Philadelphia. I told here there are three things she could do to get me to move back to Philadelphia.

1. Find me a job that I cannot refuse.
2. Set me up a woman for me to fall in love with.
3. Give me the winning lottery numbers.

There is a very high standard for number one. I really like my company. I worry that I would not be able to find a job I like in Philadelphia. I know that I never had a job as good as my job now when I lived back here. That was more then six years ago.

I think that number 3 might be easier then number 2. My friend did not say that she would be up to any of the three. I am not holding my breath.

I know I have lots of friends who have plans to escape Silicon Valley. They talk that they want to live someplace else. There are things about Silicon Valley, like the housing market, that drive my friends crazy. I have said for a long time that once my friends start leaving San Jose I might have to think about my plans.

Right now I do not know what I feel about here v. there. There is something I just love about Philadelphia. My family is here, I still have friends here, and the area is special to me. The problem is that the area might be special because I do not live here all the time.

On the other hand I like the life I have build for myself in San Jose. I work for a company I love. I have a nice circle of friends. I have met lots of new people out there. It might not be perfect, but it is something I build. That means something to me.

I am not sure how these ideas change with my father being sick. I do not know how things change going forward with his recovery. I am not sure if the draw of my family will grow because of that. I guess I will find out as time passes.

Labels: life, philadelphia, relationship, San Jose, self, tag overload, warminster PA, work

- Rich, 1:06 AM

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Work

I can finally tell people I am working on. All I can say is that it is really cool. TiVo plus DVD player is Cool.

Labels: broken link, DVD, TiVo, work

- Rich, 10:33 AM

Monday, April 21, 2003

Travel-blogue Albuquerque - Social

I wonder if I do not socialize enough while I am visiting here. Almost everyone from my department comes to Albuquerque. All of them have these stories about going out on the town and drinking. I usually just go out to dinner after work. When dinner is over I go back to the hotel. I guess I feel that I am just here to work. After doing a couple of training classes I am usually drained. I guess I have to come here with other people from the office.

Labels: travel, travelogue, work

- Rich, 7:05 PM

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Job v. Career

I am currently obsessed with my job. Everytime I sit at a computer I log in and do work. This is a bad thing because I am not getting anything else done. I am not working my my projects. I am not thinking about anything but work. There are only so many hours I can sit at the computer. If I spend all those hours working I am missing something in my life. I like working hard and being needed at work. It fills something good in me. There is a level of dignity you get when you do not hate your job.

This leads to the question of what am I doing with my life? What do I invest my energy in? What do I have left for myself at the end of the day? What do I want to be doing in one year? three years? five years? What do these things mean to my life and my sense of the world?

Labels: job, question, self, TiVo, work

- Rich, 10:33 PM

Sunday, January 05, 2003

Travel Notes 1/5/03

The extra day

I am so happy I am taking a day to get back into the swing of things here in San Jose. Most of the time I push my days off to the max. I have slept a lot today. It would have been bad if I had to go to work. I might have just called in sick. I need to remember this the next time I take time off.

Labels: San Jose, time, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 6:24 PM

Monday, July 15, 2002

Vacation

The plans are set. I am going to San Diego. This will be the third vacation I have taken this year. After this I will take at least one more. After going to San Diego I will still have three weeks saved up. I have to use them anyway.

If you could go on vacation at this very moment, where would you go?

Labels: San Diego, self, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 9:51 PM

Sunday, July 14, 2002

Doomsday Clock

Today I was thinking about the idea of making a doomsday clock. My idea was a little different then the idea of the Atomic Doomsday Clock. That clock is a set up that we can look back and see how close to the edge we were. We can see how close we were at any one point to having the world blown up under us.

I am looking for a clock that sets a date when we think the world is going to end. When I talk about the world ending, I am talking about the end of human existence on the earth. That date would be an average date for everything we see around us. That date would be pulled in when we there is nuclear tension and pushed out when we doing something good. I am not sure how anyone comes up with this date. that would be something interesting to think about.

Work Doomsday Clock

Thinking of the Atomic Doomsday Clock again, I wonder if anyone ever sets one of these up for their job. I would think right now Worldcom is at 2 minutes to Midnight and Enron is at 1 minute to midnight. I found no results when I searched for "Enron Doomsday Clock" on Google. I wonder where that puts TiVo. I would think we have to be at least at 10PM.

Labels: atomic war, business, doomsday clock, Enron, TiVo, work, WorldCom

- Rich, 11:38 PM

Saturday, July 13, 2002

Feeling Uneasy

A friend of mine got laid off this week. This scares me a lot. For the last few months I have been thinking that most of the layoffs in Silicon Valley are over. At most companies there are no more people to cut. I was thinking that all I needed to worry about was my company surviving. If my company did not make it, other companies would be hiring by the time I was looking.

I am not ready to be unemployed. I am not good at the simple things like saving money. I would have to work really hard to find another job. Including the recent events at WorldCom, Global Crossing, and Enron, I wonder if anyone in the valley is going to be tagged with this kind of problem. If that happens, it will be bad times around here. If I have to go without a job for too long, I will be heading somewhere to live with someone else.

I think I can weather the storm. The valley will be an ugly place if there is another round of layoffs. It is not too bad right now, but I think most of the gold rushers have already left. If another bad round hits, people will be sleeping on the streets soon.

Labels: economy, Enron, Global Crossing, layoffs, Silicon Valley, work, WorldCom

- Rich, 10:14 PM

Tuesday, July 09, 2002

Overhear at work today

1. Please don't use the word "share".

2. I do not mean to beat up on you, but I need to get my aggression out

3. I cannot believe you when you giggle like that

It was one of those days at work today.

Labels: overheard, work

- Rich, 2:41 PM

Tuesday, June 25, 2002

Minority Report

I went to see Minority Report last night with a friend. I went with a woman I work with. She is someone that I have been friendly with for a while. I really wanted to see this movie, but I knew that I would not go see it by myself. I had to see it before anyone ruined it for me. I had to stop several people from talking about it at lunch. I loved the movie. It reminded me of the best of 70s Sci-fi. The images were not caught under the weight of Blade Runner or Road Warrior.

I asked a woman to go with me and she said yes. I decided to treat it just like any of my other friends. I will admit that I do not have very many female friends in San Jose. It is easier to treat guys like friends. With a guy there is no subtext that I am missing. There are no signal that I am misunderstanding. With a guy I am not wondering if I missed anything. I am not worried about my lack of relationships over the last several years. All of these things come into play with women.

I like this women, but she seems very blank or very distant. I am not always sure which one it is. She is friendly, but I can never read anything off her. I decided to just treat her like any of the guys I would see a movie with. I know this is always an odd idea to try. It has lead me to both good and bad places in the past. I would love to be honest with this woman, but I have a hard time being honest with women. It has do with the language of women and men.

Labels: movie, relationship, women, work

- Rich, 12:45 AM

Sunday, June 16, 2002

Working on Sunday

I am actually at TiVo working right now. I am not the type of person who likes to work weekends. I think that it is important to take time away from work. If you are working all the time, your productivity will suffer. I do not even feel fully productive when I work a normal eight hour day.

Yesterday the AVS Fourm had a TiVo Picnic. They asked that some of the employees show up. I decided it was the right thing for me to do. It is always good to fly the flag as my father would say. I had an okay time. I had some cool geek conversations about HDTV and nano-computing. I did not stay too long. It was really hot yesterday. I was starting to feel a little dehydrated. That is always a good sign of when to leave.

Today I am in the office looking at issues. There is a deadline that I need to meet on Wednesday. I need to plan out how my team is going to attack these issues. If I did not have to worry about the rest of my team, I would not be in here right now. I have to have a plan by tomorrow morning. If I do not have a plan by then, a lot of time will be wasted. I cannot have that.

With all that said, I am in the office right now. I still take a second or two for a diversion. It is not as often at the regular work day, but I still have to refresh my mind from time to time. I have to get out of here before too long. I will not have anything left for tomorrow if I do not.

Labels: self, work

- Rich, 1:24 PM

Saturday, June 08, 2002

Summing it all up

In the air somewhere over America.

After every trip home, I have to ask myself the same questions. I have always enjoyed my trips home. I would not say that any of them have been a waste. This time I came back 29 and I am leaving 30. Warminster was a good place to celebrate my birthday. I knew there were people around for me to celebrate with. I knew my family would be there for me.

I feel when I go home that I do not have enough time there and I spend too much time there all at the same time. I feel I would like to spend more time with everyone. I would like to see everyone a couple of times before I have to leave. I also feel that I would rather my trips be quicker. The quicker the trip, the less work I have to do and the more people are willing to fit into my time frame.

I still love that area. I still have a draw in my heart to move back there. I would love to see my family more often. I would love to be part of my nephew Charlie's young life. I still have friends there. I feel that I could have current friendships with those friends that would not just be based on the past.

My question is, where am I going to work if I go back there? Will I be able to find a company I like as much as TiVo? Will I be able to find opportunities to succeed like I have in San Jose. How will I feel if I have to settle for a job I cannot stand? Why am I so unsure about getting a job I like?

What does it mean that I am willing trade off work for family? Why must it be a one or the other choice? What am I getting and what am I giving up? These are the questions that I will be thinking about a lot in the next few months.

I feel like I cannot go back yet. I feel there are still things I need to do in San Jose. I feel that I need to figure things out about what my life means and where it is going. I need to know these things before I move back to the Philadelphia area. I do not know these things I have the feeling I will be swallowed up but the people I know.

Labels: family, self, travel, warminster, warminster PA, work

- Rich, 4:58 PM

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

Career

I have always seen work as one of the pillars of life. My friends all see what they do for a living as an important part of who they are. I think about how I did not choose my career, I fell into it. I just need to think about what mistakes can be made if I change careers.

Labels: career, TiVo, work

- Rich, 9:28 AM

Thursday, May 09, 2002

A Career...Career...Career...Career...Career...Career...

I have always thought I have a pretty good resume. I have never been nervous sending it out to people. I think a lot of people think they have very good resumes. I try to give my friends advice, but they are set in their ways. I cannot say that I really know I am doing it correctly either. Maybe we should all just look at outside advice and make another draft of our resumes

Labels: career, resume, work

- Rich, 10:38 PM

Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Odd Article

I was reading a design for community article that mentioned both TiVo and Blogger. The article is about how companies can inspire communities around their products. It is like the places I work and play have the same point business strategies. I hate when my worlds collide in that way.

Labels: blogger, broken link, self, TiVo, work

- Rich, 8:25 AM

Tuesday, April 09, 2002

Business Trip to Albuquerque

This is a trip that has been on the drawing board for a long time. I want to go down to our call center because we need to build better lines of communication. Since the last round of layoffs, we have pushed more work to that office. For me to do my job well, I have to have a good idea how the customer is experiencing the product. To do that, I need a good read from the call center reps.

There is only one airport in the bay area that Southwest flies direct to Albuquerque from, Oakland. San Jose International is right near my apartment, but I had to drive all the way to Oakland. if I did not fly direct, the trip would take another two hours. I had to get up at 6 AM to get out on time. My morning was not going well. I could not pack last night because my laundry was still wet. My morning did not go well.

I am traveling with Eric. It is his first trip to Albuquerque. He is really excited to be here. He wants to see how the call center works. He has never been at a call center like this before. He was surprised when it was quitter then Alviso. He expected to me a lot louder. I knew what it was going to be like. I worked at a place like this before.

Eric is a good guy to travel with. The flight was not crowded. We had an open seat between us. It was easy for us to talk the whole time. We talked mostly about music. Eric is a musician. He is close to my age. A lot of the time we talked about bands that were big while I was in college. Our tastes are not that different from each other.

We got to Albuquerque and started holding meetings. it is weird to work and travel on the same day. I am big on planning whole days where I do nothing but travel. I hate flying anymore and that makes me not want to so anything after I land. We still had to go to the office and work.

Tonight, after work we went to Paul's Monterey Inn. It is an old style steak house. I have been itching for a steak for a while now. I knew this city would have to have a good steak house. The place was filled with people in their 60s. It was old vinyl booths and table cloths. It was what eating out used to be. The steaks were really good and it was great. By my count it will take one customer 1.4 years to pay off that meal.

Labels: Albuquerque, Alviso, business travel, tag overload, travel, work

- Rich, 11:17 PM

Monday, April 08, 2002

Back To Work

It has been hard for me to get back to work. I thought that taking a vacation would re-energize me to be at the office. It has worked in the past. I would go away for a few days and I would be able to swallow all the work bull again. Just catching up from being on vacation seems to be enough sometimes.

This time it is just not cutting it. I am looking at the work in front of me and I want no part of it. It seems more senseless then usual. I am just reminded that I should be looking for a better job.

Since getting back from Portland, I keep on thinking about how close 30 is. I keep on thinking about how I am not ready to turn 30. I should be doing more important things with my life. I should have done more things by now.

On top of all this, I have to take a three day trip to Albuquerque this week. I wish it was not right on the heals of my trip to Portland. I feel that I am going to miss a lot of things going on around the office. I am not recovered from my vacation yet. I do not want to go, but I do not want to tell my boss that either. It looks like I am on my way to Albuquerque tomorrow.

Labels: 30, Albuquerque, Portland, self, vacation, work

- Rich, 9:59 PM

Wednesday, March 27, 2002

I Just Want To Go!

I am sitting at work right now just waiting for the day to end. I cannot say I want to do any more work. I am just trying to get to the end of the day. I am trying to keep my head down until i leave for vacation. I want to keep people from looking for work for me to do. I want to not draw any attention to myself. It is a bad situation to be in at work. I have to figure out what time I can sneak out the door.

Labels: self, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 3:37 PM

Friday, March 15, 2002

Work and Other Ideas

As of today I have been at TiVo for 2.5 years. That is 30 months if you are counting. I do not want to even think about how many hours I have spent here. I have worked here longer then any other job I have had. At this rate I will work here longer then any other two jobs.

This week my department had the last scheduled round of force reductions. It has been in the works for months now, but it was still hard. It was hard to see people take the news. I did not feel very good about work yesterday. I am happy that I am not getting laid off. In this job environment I should be happy to have a job. It still made me feel bad to have a job while these other people were asked to go.

In the long run, I am worried about my job. I do not know when someone is going to decide that my job is not part of the next business plan. I really like the company I work for, but I want to get away from my department. In the past I have tried to change departments. I have never been successful in the past. I was seen by too valuable by my department. It might have saved me; those jobs were eliminated in previous layoffs. Now I feel that I should get away from where I am not. I can see my job being disposable in the future. I have to find the right way to do all these things. I am not sure I can do it without leaving myself open to other problems.

I just found out that one of my other friends here is leaving. He decided to resign as the result of a bad review. He told me that the job no longer excited him. His experence is one the job stops exciting him, he cannot keep the job. His work suffers and he is soon let go. This time he decided to resign before he was let go. There is something shocking about this. I know that I loose my excitement from time to time. I am not afraid of being let go as a result. My review is next week. I think that I am going to have a good review. Now I just have to wait and see.

Labels: layoffs, TiVo, work

- Rich, 1:36 AM

Friday, February 22, 2002

Light and Dark

Last night was the first time this year it has been light when I left work. This makes me happy. I hate going home in the dark. I want to be able to leave work and have at least some sunlight left over.

By the time I got to my apartment it was no longer light. It was full night time and all the street lights where on. It will not be too long before it is still light when I get back to my apartment. That means I can break out my bike on week nights. I want to ride my bike more often, but San Jose is not a bike friendly town. Longer days will help me out.

Labels: self, sunlight, work

- Rich, 11:11 PM

Wednesday, January 09, 2002

Grab a beer, Kick Back and Reflect

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.

Labels: broken link, layoffs, self, work

- Rich, 10:42 PM

Sunday, January 06, 2002

My work life resembles a quiz show.

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.

Labels: quiz show, self, work

- Rich, 1:27 AM

Friday, January 04, 2002

Part of my Brain

I had an idea to write about, but work got in the way. I had to use my brain for my actual job. I lost that idea I was going to write about.

Labels: self, work, writing

- Rich, 2:33 PM

Thursday, December 27, 2001

work

My job calls my name today. I have to go into the office to see how much work has piled up over the last couple of days. I am not in the mood for that.

Labels: self, work

- Rich, 7:15 AM

Thursday, December 20, 2001

Lunch with Stephen

I had lunch with my friend Stephen today. I have worked with Stephen for 27 months and we have never had lunch together before. For a long time I would tease Stephen how busy he is at work. He is the kind of person you find sitting on the floor typing around on his laptop. I have always respected how much he does and how well he does it. Those two years do not sound like a long time, but they seem like forever in Silicon Valley time.

I have know Stephen the whole time I have worked at TiVo. He has always been someone I have liked, but we have never been closer the meeting friends. (Rich Thomas work dictionary, Meeting Friends: People who you make jokes with before or after meetings. They are higher then 'hi, who are you friends' but not as high as 'cubical friends') We had lunch because Stephen made my old web log a few weeks ago. Stephen suggested that we have lunch.

I learned some things about Stephen. I learned that he is an frustrated writer much like I am. He is an old comic book fan like myself. He faces the same kind of issues in his life being taken over by work. We talked about all these things. I got a kick out of the my big lie idea. I am going to have to start writing a novel next year. He told me he needs to publish a novel before he turns 40.

It was a great lunch. We had the right combination of talking about personal stuff, work past, and work future. He gave me some good insights. I feel that I can trust him from a work level. He has nothing to gain by misleading me. There are a lot of things I know now that make me feel a little bit better.

I have to keep on having these lunches with Stephen. I think it is a friendship that has a lot of potential. It is good to know the way other people view the world I live in everyday.

Labels: friend, Stephen Mack, TiVo, work

- Rich, 12:27 AM

Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Home for Christmas

Tomorrow I am leaving to go home for Christmas. Today I am just filled with energy. I cannot focus on anything. I just want to go, go, go. It is a hard way to be at work.

Labels: Christmas, vacation, warminster PA, work

- Rich, 2:29 PM

Tuesday, December 18, 2001

Messages from friends

My friend Aaron sent me an e-mail message. I felt that I had to post part of the message here. It says something that I have been trying to get out. I wish that I could have said some of these things. I really understand the underlying idea that Aaron is writing about. I hope you enjoy his message:

I have some senseless banter of my own. I have come to the realization that I'm almost 30 and I still don't know dick about anything important. I generally know some mindless information about sports, but not enough to get into a history of sports conversation. I know some things about computers, but not enough to enable me to pass my stupid A+ OS test. I know some things about women, but not enough to be able to avoid draining relationships with nice girls that are the wrong fit for me. The sad thing is, I don't even have a strong grasp on what I like or dislike, I just find out at the last moment when things in life reach critical mass, "hey, I hate this...what the hell am I doing this for?" At that point, it's usually too late to get out of something without looking like a complete ass anyway.

I know enough about people to manipulate them if I feel that they are of weaker character than I am. I am not of strong enough character to avoid or repress the people out there who build their lives out of manipulating people. I'm not even a good liar. You once told me that I am an angry young man, but I'm not in an important enough position in life that anybody would really care. Like, "why is HE angry, Oh well, who cares. He's not important anyway" I thought that observation was funny.

Labels: Aaron, friend, message, relationship, work

- Rich, 9:07 AM

Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Thick with work

Today my head was thick with work. I could not let my mind wonder like usual. I had to keep it tight on work. Here are a few of the tidbits from my day.

I talked to a woman I work with. We were talking about Pittsburgh, her home town. She told me that Michael Chabon's Pittsburgh was not her Pittsburgh.

I got my merchandise from the TiVo Story Employee sale. I bought two TiVo lunch boxes, a coffee cut, and a clear remote. It is are one chance to have a discount for anything at work. They do not sell the product from the TiVo Store.

I had Rob Bass It Takes Two stuck in my head all day.

A woman I once had a crush on came back to visit the office today. There was nothing more then pleasant chatting.

I got a call from a customer who will not listen when I say I do not take customer calls anymore.

I was so focused at work, I cannot focus on writing now.

Labels: self, TiVo, work

- Rich, 10:28 PM

Friday, December 07, 2001

Fools at work parties

I found an amusing article on what not to do at work parties. I found the article to be amusing. The long and short of the article is, be yourself but be the work version of yourself. I always find these things to be a little bit funny.

I have not done anything really embarrassing at a work party. We have had more then a few work parties at TiVo. Before TiVo, I never had the chance to make a fool of myself. All of my old jobs were cash bar places. I worked at one place that never severed liquor at business functions. Most of the other places did not have a party atmosphere.

I have been to more then one TiVo party. I have gotten tipsy at a couple of parties, but I have not gotten embarrassingly drunk. Most of the time I have to drive home, so I do not get the chance to drink too much. I am not the drinker I used to be. Even when I want to get drunk, it seems hard for me to loose control enough to really drink. There is part of me that thinks I am too old to drink like that anymore.

I sometimes have a dark side when I drink. If I find myself drinking for the wrong reasons, it can start to get ugly. The last time I remember getting this kind of ugly drunk was at my cousin's wedding. If I drink because no one is talking to me or I feel that I do not fit in, this is when I start to become an ugly. I basally drinking because of my own unhappiness. This is never a good thing.

There was a party, the DTV launch party where I found myself going down this road. I had started to drink at the party. I could not find any clique to hand out with at the party. TiVo can be really cliquish at times. I found myself being angry and drinking. I had to pull back because I was afraid what would happen. I have been known to tell people to "screw off" when I am this way. I know this could have hurt me.

I will have to remember the guidelines from this web site the next time I go to a TiVo party. I am going to miss the luncheon. I wonder when the next big TiVo party will be after this.

Labels: broken link, party, self, TiVo, work

- Rich, 12:49 AM

Monday, December 03, 2001

Sick Day

I took a sick day today. I felt like crap most of the weekend. Today I was running fever and was light-headed. I was in no condition to go to work. Taking a sick day is always a hard thing. My current boss never takes sick days. He is the type of person who always seems to be in the office. I cannot remember the last time he took a sick day.

I am not saying that I am the kind of person that takes a lot of sick days. The last sick day I have take was over the summer. I am still worried. I think people will say bad things about me if I take sick days. I think they might think that I am not dedicated. I will not go into work when I start to get sick. My hope is that a day of sleep will keep me from getting any sicker. It will have to play out over the rest of this week.

Labels: sick, work

- Rich, 11:39 PM

Thursday, November 29, 2001

A year is a long time

It is Christmas again and time to think about holiday parties. It is a different world now then 2000 or 1999. At least it is a different world in Silicon Valley. This story from SiliconValley.com talks about the change in the Valley. It looks like people are pulling back a little on the parting. In 1999 my company had a Christmas cruise about the bay. It had both a DJ and a funny money casino. In 2000 we had a swanky affair in Palo Alto.

This is really interesting. It was always said that Silicon Valley knows how to party. We knew how to play hard after we worked hard. Even when I was at these parties, I realized that it would not last forever. I could tell this would not last forever. Launch parties were worse then any holiday parties. I wondered how companies could spend all that money.

It is interesting that the article above does not mention layoffs at all. I think that is a really big reason not to have big parties. We just laid off half the company, but we are going to blow a few million dollars on a party. I wonder what that would do to a company's morale.

This year my company is having a holiday luncheon and a half day off. Of course this is a day that I will be in Philadelphia. I am going to miss the party all together. Oh well, I wonder if I will still be in the valley when the big parties come back.

Labels: Christmas, layoffs, Silicon Valley, time, work

- Rich, 7:43 PM

Tuesday, November 27, 2001

About the Job

I found out last week that my job is secure. TiVo is not planning to cut my job in the upcoming months. They are actually going to adding people to my department. This makes me feel pretty good. I am not ready to leave TiVo yet. I do not think I will be ready leave right after the holidays either. I want to stick around for a while. I do not want to be unemployed in Silicon Valley until things start to rebound around here.

Having a certain future takes a huge monkey off my back. It gives me a chance to make better plans. If I leave TiVo, I would like it to be on my terms. I do not want to be asked to leave because I am being laid off. There is part of me that thinks that I want to be at TiVo until we either hit it big or close up shop. I do not want to be asked to leave before the big finish.

I have to try not to do anything too stupid with my money. I need to build up my funds so I do not find myself out in the cold if I do get laid off. There is still a chance that might happen to me. I cannot depend on nothing. My job still might go away. I feel that I will still have a job, but I spend money like I am going to be laid off.

I still feels good to not worry about my job. I should start thinking about other things now. I am not sure what those other things are. I know there are a lot of things that I am not paying enough attention to right now. It is bad to let too many things in my life go to seed.

Labels: job, layoffs, Money, self, TiVo, work

- Rich, 10:54 PM

Monday, November 26, 2001

Thick with ideas

My head is thick with ideas. It is so thick with ideas I cannot think about anything. I need to find the way to slow down my mind. Right now there are too many things buzzing around my head. The ideas are sticking together in such a way that I cannot make any sense out of them. I need to be able to slow down my brain. There are so many things in my head, I am unable to do anything.

Labels: self, vague, work

- Rich, 12:14 AM

Friday, November 09, 2001

Thinking About My Job

I had lunch with my friend Don today. Don is also employed at TiVo. We have lunch about once a week. We have been trying to have lunch since the layoffs have come down. This is the first chance that we have had to get together because how crazy our worlds have been.

I told Don about my four ideas of what I might do if I get laid off. I told him about the merits of each of the choices. He told me to stop thinking about all of it. I am just going to waste a lot of mental energy for something that might not happen. There is a good chance that anything I do will not effect the way these decisions are made. I am just going to drive myself crazy thinking about these things.

He also told me that I should not worry about looking for another job now. I like working for TiVo. I like the company, even if I do not always like my job. There is a chance that I could still be with the company when we come out on the other side of the. The worst thing for me to do is pull the rip cord now. I should wait for them to lay me off. Then I can decide what I can do.

One thing is that I should stop spending my money like a drunken sailor. I should try to keep as much of my cash as I can. The more cash I have the more choices I have later. This is going to hard. I always seem to spend all the money I have. I have never been good about saving money. I like to spend more then I have. I will have to do what I can and tighten my belt for when that day might come. Until that day comes I am going to try to relax. I think I have better ideas about what I might do since I was close to that position already.

Labels: Don D., TiVo, work

- Rich, 6:03 PM

Tuesday, November 06, 2001

Hanging over my head

There is a chance that I will be looking for a new job in the first quarter next year. There is a chance that my position at TiVo will no longer be there. This is really scary to me. I cannot talk about too many of the details. What I do know is that I have the chance to survive the next round of layoffs. There is also a clear chance that my job will no longer exist.

This hangs over my head like the Sword of Damocles. At work I am trying to make sure I survive. When I am on the job I can focus on working. When I come home I start to think about my future. I start to think about what my life is going to be like if I get laid off. When I think about getting laid off, this is when I panic. I really do not want to be looking for another job right now.

I am in an odd position when I am looking for a job. My current position is Customer Service Engineer. If I tell people my title they do not understand it right away. I am the person that goes between the Engineering department and the Customer Support department. I am the person that makes the information flow both directions.

The problem with my job is that it is a hard job to find in another organization. Most of the time you cannot just walk into a job like mine in another organization. I do not want to go back to being a phone support rep again. I think I have burned myself out from doing that. I know that there are other things that I could do. I just have not figured those things out yet.

I am regarded well at my job. I know people and I feel that I have a good reputation. I do not want to lose any of these things. For once in my life I am at a company that is fun to work at. As long as it is fun to work at TiVo, I do not want anyone to show me the door. I am not sure how I am going to get around that. I know now is the time I have to work hard and make sure people want me kept around.

Labels: job, Sword of Damocles, TiVo, work

- Rich, 11:01 AM

Monday, November 05, 2001

Change to Life

For weeks now, long before TiVo had layoffs, I have been thinking about reducing the amount of possessions that I own. I am starting to feel weighted down by the things that I own. I live in a studio apartment, but it will be increasingly hard for me to move from my apartment in the future. I feel that I am getting too attached to these things.

I know there are good and bad results from getting attached to possessions. I know that sometimes, attachment to possessions can help root you in a place. It can help focus you on the maintenance of that place. Those are currently two things that I do not have. I am not focused and I am not attached. I am not sure that my possessions will help me do this.

The down side of my possessions is that they tend to close me in. My possessions make me want to go and buy more possessions. They draw me to them and help me waste my time. I really do not need any more help to waste my time. I am good at wasting my time as it is right now. My possessions give me short-term enjoyment at the cost of long term accomplishment.

I am not sure when I am going to move from this apartment. It might be as soon as early next year. If I leave this apartment I will have to think about getting rid of some of my stuff. If I leave San Jose, I will think about getting rid of a great deal of my possessions. I want to think about this now while I can make a good choices. It makes me wish that I could live without owning anything. The only way I can do this is by becoming a priest. I still need to find simpler ways to live.

Labels: apartment, layoffs, life, posessions, San Jose, TiVo, work

- Rich, 10:38 PM

Saturday, November 03, 2001

Long week

This has been one of the longest weeks that I have had in recent memory. On Monday I knew that something was going down at week. I thought there was a chance that I might lose my job. On Tuesday I found out that I was going to keep my job, but I was not sure what the fallout of the layoff would be. On Wednesday I found out that my department might be done away with after the holiday. On Thursday I spent the day trying to figure out where my jog would be going. On Friday I tried to pick it all up again.

I am happy this week is over. Last night I was physically and mentally exhausted. It had been such a hard week I had nothing left when I got home. I feel asleep right after I got back to my apartment. I must have slept for 9 hours. I was so beat it felt good to just sink into my bed. I took such an emotional beating this week, it felt good to just surrender to my bed last night.

I am looking forward to Monday. It will give me the chance to sort everything out at work. It will give me a fresh start. I am hoping I can focus next week. On Friday I really could not focus at all. I seemed distracted by everything going on at work. I did not feel like getting any other work done. I am hoping to get some momentum next week. It will be hard to work if I cannot get going. I do not want the next couple of months to be that hard.

Labels: job, layoffs, TiVo, work

- Rich, 3:56 PM

Friday, November 02, 2001

Different Feel to Layoffs

I have now been through two rounds of layoffs. This round of layoffs has a really different feel to it then the last round did. In the last round I felt that I was being played as a sucker. For a little while I felt as if it would have been better if I was laid off. This round feels a lot different.

In the April round of layoffs they destroyed my department. They laid off my boss and half my department. After the layoff they tried to pull me closer to the call center. At first they wanted me to spend half my time taking customer support calls. I felt like I was getting demoted. It was not really the job I wanted to do. I found someway to fight through that.

This time it is very different. I felt that I was kept because of my skills. I feel that I was kept because they see something in my that will be important in the future. I am proud that I survived. I feel like I have done something right. I know that I have the chance to hang in at TiVo. I know that I have the ability to stick around a lot longer if I given the change.

I guess the big difference is that I have a clearer idea of what is going on around me. I think that I can see what is motivating the people around me and around the company. I do not think I am going to be screwed by someone else. I will have to see what happens from this point forward. I have a good outlook, but things can always turn on me. I will have to see what happens.

Labels: job, layoffs, self, TiVo, work

- Rich, 10:35 PM

Thursday, November 01, 2001

Layoff Story

If you want a more objective view of the layoff you can check out Yahoo.

I talked to our Evangelist about the layoffs. He seemed to be taking it really hard. I asked him how he was taking it. He said it is hard whenever your family gets smaller. He takes the company very personally. I guess that is what happens when you are a corporate evangelist.

Labels: job, layoffs, TiVo, work

- Rich, 11:53 PM

Driving Home

It is dark when I leave work now. By the time I leave the building it is usually pitch black. I know this is a result of Daylight Savings Time. Last night was the first night this week that I left work at my usual time. It is the first time I noticed how dark it is.

I wonder how this is going to effect my ideas about work. It seems a little silly for me to think about this since we just had a round of layoffs. I guess I have some idea of how the layoffs are going to effect me. I am not sure about the darkness. I wonder if it is going to make me want to leave work early or kill my productivity at the end of the day. I know it is going to change the way I view my day is some way.

In some ways I think it is these little things that have the biggest effect on my life.

Labels: driving, DST, layoffs, work

- Rich, 7:13 AM

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Yesterday Afternoon

After I found out that I would not be laid off, I spent much of the afternoon thinking about two things. I thought about leaving San Jose and I thought about staying in San Jose. Both of these ideas have a lot of weight in my head. They seem to be a central idea behind my last few months here.

I do not consider San Jose to be my home. I live here, San Jose is the address on my drivers licence, everything I own is here. I still do not seen San Jose as my home. I feel that there is some kind of distance between me and the city. I lack a connection to the city most of the time. I feel connected to my apartment, my office, and my car. For rest of city could be any other place on earth.

With all those things city, San Jose has a small place in my heart. I want good things to happen to San Jose. I think people from the rest of Silicon Valley should show San Jose more respect. I think the construction going on around the city is a good thing. I worry that the economic downturn might effect the money for those projects.

There is part of me that wants to leave San Jose. I want a new city to explore. I want a new place to figure out. I want to live in a city that has better parks. I want to go somewhere that has a different character. I want new experiences. I feel that somewhere out there I could find a city that I would enjoy more then San Jose. I miss parts of Portland and Philadelphia. I wish some of those elements where here.

I think if I leave San Jose, I will never move back here. I know that the dot.com boom period is over. It is something I will not be able to cash in on. Right now Silicon Valley is paying for those excesses. The whole Valley is depressed right now. If I leave now, that is it for me. I am not going to make my way back here.

In my heart I feel that Silicon Valley will come back. I think there will be another explosion of technology that will fuel Valley again. I still want to be part of something like that. I think once we get to the other side of this down turn there will be a huge upturn. If I can get thought this period in the Valley, I will find a huge payoff. I want to be around for the next big thing.

If the forces of fate turn against me I see myself leaving San Jose. If I lose my job at TiVo, there is a good chance I will be moving onto my next city. I am not sure what city that is. If TiVo does not let me down, I see myself staying in San Jose for a while. I know that I change my mind every other day when it comes to this city. As of today, this is where I stand on San Jose. It might change any day.

Labels: job, layoffs, San Jose, Silicon Valley, TiVo, work

- Rich, 11:23 PM

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

I Still Have A Job

My company had layoffs today. There are so many things in my head right now, I think it would take all night to get them out. My head is think with emotion, reaction, detail, and evaluation. I might even get a full week of web logs out of the layoff. I know that I was not ready for this to happen. I just thought my company would keep on going. I should try to be smarter next time.

At the start of the day I knew what was going on. I knew that people were being laid off. The hard part was that I did not know who was going to be laid off. The morning went very slowly. I had to wait for my boss to tell me what was going on. My boss had told me that he was being laid off. I had to still wait to find out what my fate would be.

There have been two rounds of layoffs at my job. Both times my boss has been let go. I guess being my boss is a bad position to have. Both times I have had some problems with my boss. It is at the moments when layoffs are happening when you find out what kind of person your boss is. I will say that both of my former bosses are good men. Sometime it takes some distance to see this.

I just sat at my desk and waited to see what would happen. I felt like jumping up and down, but I just had to sit there. I was afraid that if I walked over to someone else's desk, I would miss the call from my boss. That would mean I would fall to the bottom of the list. I would have to wait to find out my fate.

I had already run over all my options in my head. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do if I got the ax. In my head I had four options. Three of the options are practical. One of the options makes me laugh like a madman when I think of it. Each of these options have their pluses and minuses. I was trying to see all my angles without knowing what was going to happen to me.

Option 1: Stay in San Jose and look for a job.

Positives: I do not have to move. That saves me time and money. The pay is still good here. I have some people here to network with. There are people in Silicon Valley that know that I am a good worker.

Negatives: It is expensive to live here. I would not have a long time before my money ran out. There are a lot of people out of work in the valley right now. Not many companies are hiring. I know people that looked for a long time before they found anything

Option 2: Move to a city where one of my friend is currently living and crash with them.

Positives: It would give me a chance to move to a new city and learn it. I could be closer to one of my old friends. I would be able to brake away from San Jose.

Negatives: I would have to count on the generosity of my friends to accomplish this. I might wear that out quickly. I do not have a good idea of what the job situations are like in these cities.

Option 3: Move back in with my parents.

Positives: I would have a good support network if I moved back to Philadelphia. There are a lot of people in Philadelphia that I know. I would be close to my family again. I could reconnect with some of my old friends. One of those friends might help me find a job.

Negatives: There would be some level of defeat here. I would not be returning to Philadelphia on my own terms. It would be my unemployment that would force me to go back there.

Option 4: Move back to Portland

Positives and Negatives: This is the one that makes me laugh like a madman. On one hand moving to San Jose would have been just an interruption. I would go back to the status I had before I moved down here. On the other hand I miss Portland and I still think it is a cool place to live.

My boss called me into his cubical. He said to me, "don't worry, you are not affected." I still sat and talked to him for about 20 minutes. We talked about my job and how he thought I did a good job. He told me that he was happy that he worked with me and my group. He said that it is a small valley and he would be back on his feet in no time. I should keep in touch with him. I am not worried about my boss finding another job.

It was another hour before John, a guy in my department found out that he was laid off. John had been working in the customer support group for a long time. He was the guy who trained me when I was first hired. I know that John was pissed about getting fired. After he found out, I could see the hurt in his eyes. He started to pack up his stuff.

The first round of layoffs where back in April. There were six guys and a manager in my department then. The April layoff cut my group down to three people. We also started to report to the director of customer support. In this layoff we have been cut to two people. Now we are going to report to a new director of customer support.

I have survived two rounds of layoffs. I am still going to be at work tomorrow. There is a part of me that is proud. I am a person that has been picked to stay around twice. I must be doing something right. I consider myself to be a hard worker. I take pride in my work and I want people to see me as the best at what I do.

It is hard to say these things after a layoff. It it hard to take pride in your accomplishments when other people have been let go. I did the "Rocky Dance" at one point in the afternoon. I felt like I was a survivor. I felt like I was going to hold my job together. This is a good feeling, but I feel wrong for having it.

One thing I can say is that I was not prepared to be laid off. I thought my company would go at least until after Christmas before laying people off. I thought that I would have a lot more time before I would have to face this. This makes me think. I do not think that another round is coming anytime soon. I still should start getting ready now. I should align my life so I can react better to being laid off.

For right now I have to see what direction my company moves. I have to see what the plans for the future are. I know that I have some part in those plans. I am also going to relax. Today was stressful enough for a week. I need to just get down to business. I need to get out of my head a little bit and stop thinking so much.

Labels: layoffs, list, philadelphia, Portland, self, work

- Rich, 9:42 PM

Two TiVo Dreams

I had two TiVo dreams. In the first dream TiVo was having a convention. TiVo had taken all of the employees to a resort hotel. TiVo had invited the families of all the employees to come along. My Parents came to the resort. The TiVo parties were going on throughout the hotel. My parents and I sat down in the only empty restaurant. We waited for other people from TiVo to join us. My sister Dot got there a little while later. I could not get my family and the people from TiVo into the same room. They just stayed in different rooms.

In my other dream a layoff was coming. I knew it, but I was not sure who else knew it. It got to the end of the day and they still did not have the meeting. Everyone in the company was loaded onto buses. We were told that we are going to an overnight meeting. The buses too us to a hotel. All of the employees where in a room together. JR was leading the meeting. We were doing things like, "Name ten things that remind you of band camp." It was like we were going to have one last fun time before we got laid off.

Labels: dream, job, TiVo, work

- Rich, 8:59 PM

Saturday, October 27, 2001

I Think I Have Seen It All

Every week at TiVo we have a company wide meeting. When I first started to work at TiVo the company wide meetings used to be big things. Everyone in the company used to cram into the open area. We would get updates from all over the company. We would hear about every effort to improve the company. The employees felt connected to everything the company was doing.

As the company has become larger these company meetings have become less important. Less then a third of the employees show up at the weekend meeting most of the time. The meeting are much more boring then they used to be. The information is not as thrilling as it used to be. I do not know if the information as change or if we are just used to it now. I should not be surprised that these things have changed. TiVo is Different, Silicon Valley is Different, and the whole world is different.

This week's company meeting was really strange. It was strange enough that I think I should write about it here. The TV Linux Alliance had sent TiVo a box full of Styrofoam Tux Penguins. Tux is the symbol/mascot for Linux. The box had about a hundred of these little dolls in it. At the end of the company meeting the people in the front of the lunch room started to throw these dolls into the crowd. After a few rounds the people in the front of the room just starting chucking the Tux Dolls at the crowd. The rest of the people started throwing the dolls back.

Somewhere this turned into a free for all. These little black penguins just started to fly everywhere. It felt almost like a food fight. For a good five minutes people where throwing these penguins at each other. I tried to only hit the executive staff. When else am I going to get the chance to throw something at a vice-president without getting fired. I laughed myself to tears when I saw that was of the development managers was sitting under the table hiding. This was one of those company wide moments of fun that TiVo has not had in a long time.

I will say that I have never been through something like the penguin fight before. I have never been at a company where a meeting has turned into something from summer camp. I am not saying this is a bad thing. I think we need this kind of fun more often. I know it will be increasingly hard to do as the company grows. I just think it is the kind of healthly fun that a company could always use more of.

Labels: Penguin, Silicon Valley, TiVo, work

- Rich, 11:29 AM

Thursday, October 25, 2001

TiVo Wins an Emmy

TiVo has been awarded an Emmy. The academy give out lots of technical awards. Basically if you are a company that is working to improve television viewing, you are going to win an Emmy. There is something about the company I work for winning an Emmy that excites me. I think it is just the coolest thing in the world.

They showed us the Emmy statue at the company meeting this week. I wanted to get a picture of me holding it, but no one had a camera. I want to get an Emmy on my business card. I think it is cool that I work for a company that has won an Emmy. I want to tell all my friends about this. I know it is not the same as if I won the Emmy, but I can say I had something to do with it. It is just like I can say I have had something to do with the success of the company.

I know this entry makes me sound like a total geek. I think my obsession with the Emmy comes from going to school for broadcasting. The Emmy is the Oscar for unluckily people. I do not think TiVo will ever win an Oscar. This is as close as I am ever going to get.

Labels: award, emmy, TiVo, work

- Rich, 11:47 AM

Sunday, October 21, 2001

TiVo October-Fest

We had a company picnic today. I am a big person for showing up at company parties. TiVo has thrown some pretty good parties in the past. I have been with the company long enough to say I have been to a good deal of the parties. The Parties now a days are not like the ones we threw two years ago. This party was a potluck. One of the guys in the band was the VP of IT.

Parties were a big part of the dot.com boom Silicon Valley. TiVo's IPO party was held in San Francisco. It was an expensive affair made to look like a Hollywood premiere. There were search lights, celebrity impersonators and a red carpet. The red carpet had people cheering for us and a guy trying to interview us as we went to the party. This was a tame IPO party by Silicon Valley standards.

Now Silicon Valley is a much different place. Most companies do not have the money to blow on big parties. I have not hear of any obnoxious in a while. Most companies are doing the best they can not to lay people off. I know that our last two parties have been funded by the employees.

Most of the people at the TiVo October-fest brought their children. We are a company full of young parents. Most of the people are around my age. There have been a lot of kids that were born in the past two years. This makes me realize that I cannot no longer talk about my childhood at work. Most of the people are talking about the childhoods of their kids. It is the difference between having kids and not having kids.

I had a good time at the party. I went by myself. I do not have anyone to take with me. I do not even have anyone I can take as a safety date. It is one thing I used to have back in Warminster. Only a couple of people came alone to party. I think that everyone that came alone were in the customer support department. They closed the call center early. I know that is a reason that a lot of the reps showed up.

I stayed to the end of the party. I was one of the last people to leave. I am usually one of the last people to leave a party. I felt sad when I left the party. I felt said because I was leaving alone. I did not have anyone to come to the party with and I did not have anyone to go home with. It has a lot to say about my life in Silicon Valley. There is not much going on in my life outside of work.

As I was driving home from the picnic I felt really lonely. It is a feeling that I have dealt with over and over again. I do not know how to get away from this loneliness. I do not know how to meet people. I am not sure if I want to be in a relationship. I do know that I want to get rid of this feeling.

I do not know if I will be able to get rid of the loneliness in San Jose. The problem is that I cannot leave here and still work for TiVo. How I feel about TiVo is a whole different entry that I am going to save for another time.

Labels: dot.com bubble, party, Silicon Valley, TiVo, work

- Rich, 7:58 PM

Friday, October 19, 2001

Writing About Work

My fears about writing about work have been compounded. I read on the weblog of Mark Pilgrim that he was fired for comments that we wrote at his web log. The worst part is that it was not even comments he was making about his job. He was just writing about his life in general.

This makes me think about my weblog and my web site. I have been telling the people I work with about my web site. I have been trying to show off my Dreams about Bill Gates Site. I know that I have only told about a dozen people at work about the site, but that is going to spread. I am not saying that everyone at work is going to spend all their time reading my web page. I am just saying that someone might check in on it from time to time. I am not sure what they are going to say if they read some of the things I have written.

Part of my problem is that I have so many conflicting ideas about work. There is part of me that really wants to go and find a new city to live in. There is another part of me that want to stick it out at TiVo until the company either goes under or goes big time. I feel that I am working a job that is taking me nowhere, but I have a pride in the job I do. All of these conflicts make me think that I am going to stay at TiVo for a while. When I am faced by conflicts like this, inactivity usually wins out.

This adds to another part of my life I am going to hide from this web log. I already knew that there are a lot of little things that I will not put here. There are things about myself that I cannot tell my closest friends about. I know there are lots of little parts of my that I am not ready to put on the internet. I wonder if I will be able to give people a good idea of who I am without showing those parts of myself.

For the most part I am going to try to put this fear behind me. I am not going to worry too much about what I write here. I am probably kidding myself to think anyone is reading this web log at all. It would be nice to hear from anyone who is reading this.

Labels: Bill Gates, blog, blogging, job, TiVo, work

- Rich, 10:24 AM

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Back From Vacation in Chicago

Today I am going back to work. My vacation is over and I have to go back to the grind.

Last night, right before I went to sleep, I realized I had a good vacation. As I was laying down in my bed I felt like I did not remember what it is like to wake up for work. It felt like sleeping in my bed was almost an unfamiliar experience. Intellectually I knew was just getting back to my life. It was my physical memory that felt different.

There is part of me that did not want to come back to San Jose. It would have been nice if I would have been able to stay on vacation forever. It would be nice if I did not have to work and I had all the money I needed. I know that I am a long way away from that ever happening. I knew that too much of my life is in San Jose. I do not have the kind of support system that would allow me just to leave here and never come back.

I will have to see how long it takes me to get back into the swing of things at work. I know I only took five days off. It feels much longer then that. I think that I really emotionally escaped my job while I was in Chicago. I did not think about any of the day to day parts of my job. It might be next week before I am back in the swing of things.

I might be getting back into work before I get there. Last night I had a dream about TiVo's Evangelist, Richard Bullwinkle. I do not remember anything about the dream. I just know that he was in the dream.

Labels: Chicago, Jerery P Bushnell, San Jose, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 6:31 AM

Monday, October 08, 2001

Homework

I should be doing my homework right now. I am taking an grammar class. It is just so hard for me to sit down and do my homework. It is not that I am doing that many better things with my time. I just cannot sit down and focus on my homework. There are a million little things that are running though my head. This is what makes me think that I will never go back to school.

Labels: homework, school, work

- Rich, 8:58 PM

Sunday, October 07, 2001

Talk about the dream

Yesterday I talked to my friend Cathy about the dream in my last post. She asked me what did I think it means. I told here that I am never good at figuring out my own dreams. This is what I always tell people. I try a hard to remember my dream and write them down. I do not try to figure out what my dreams mean. The number of things a dream might mean is just too large for me to understand.

Cathy said that she thinks the dream has a pretty simple meaning. She thinks it means I am homesick, I hate my job, and that I need a date. Personally I do not think it is that easy. I think there is more to this dream. I think that I am homesick, but I do not want to leave my job behind me. I want to find someway to stay at TiVo and move back home.

I think she is write about the date part of dream. It has been a long time since I have had a date. Whenever I had a love dream, I am always a little depressed. The woman from that dream was not a real woman. When I dream about a fictional woman, I always wonder why I cannot find a woman like that. When I dream about a women I really know I am sad because I know she does not feel that way in the real world.

Labels: Cathy Heard, dream, homesick, TiVo, work

- Rich, 2:33 PM

Saturday, October 06, 2001

The Dream

I had a dream about work last night. In the dream my company was taking to Pennsylvania. My parents had decided to throw a reception at a house they had just moved into. In the dream the house was just down the street from where my parents live in real life. I spent most of my time at the reception just looking around my parents' new house. It seemed very small. I noticed that it only had two bedrooms. That means that I could not move back into my parents house. My sister Kathy was living in that other bedroom.

TiVo had hired an event coordinator for the retreat. I was standing in my parents bedroom and she walked in. We were away from all the other people at the reception. The event was about five foot ten, round face, glasses. She has long light brown hair. There was a good vibe between us as we talked. I took the chance and kissed her on the lips. After the kiss she was flustered. She said something about it not being the right time or place for that. I told here that I just wanted to take a chance. Then she kissed me back. It was a long kiss. I looked at the doorway and there were a bunch of people looking at us. The people were the people of my same level from work. They started to make fun of me right away. I moved so the event coordinator would not see the people from TiVo.

Labels: dream, kathy, Pennsylvania, TiVo, work

- Rich, 1:54 PM

Friday, October 05, 2001

Work, Web Logs, and the Real World.

I know that I cannot write everything that I want to write about work on this Web Log. I want people who I work with to be able to read it. I want to mention the name of the company that I work for, TiVo. I also want to mention my name. The problem is if I have these two things in this web log, who knows who will be able to find it. Some one might be able to search for it. I could cause some bad times for myself.

I never know how people are going to react in the world place. If someone fines my bitch about my job, it might be bad for me. I can see people say to me that if that is how I feel, I should look for another job. While I have problems with my job, I do not want to get fired because I am blowing off steam. That is something that I do not like.

A lot of the web logs I read people comment about their jobs. Most of my life revolves around my job. Am I going to be able to write anything interesting if I do not include my job in the mix. Will I feel there is a wall between my life and what I am writing? This is a tough question. For right now I will be careful about what I write about my job. Maybe I am kidding myself that anyone will read this.

Labels: blog, job, TiVo, work

- Rich, 2:55 PM

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