Some days at work, I think to myself "I can't take this anymore", and I start looking at jobs on craigslist. But, I'm kind of stuck right now. I don't want to go look for a real job, because I am planning on going back to school next year. But when I try to apply for a 'less-real' job, such as the one I'm in now (but one that pays better, because almost every job in the world pays better than what I make right now), I am too overqualified. So I'll look at my resume and think "hmm maybe I should just take the master's degree out". But then I think, well what am I going to put in there for work from 2007-2009? Argh.
Just to remind myself that I did the right thing, I went back and read this. I was so angry back then! It's funny to read now, since I'm not dealing with it anymore. (I'm sure you unix fans remember helping me through all my trials and tribulations.)
The bottom line is that I was not a very good engineer. I think that's the thing that I need to explain to people when they give me a bunch of crap for not using my education. Non-engineers always assume I am a good engineer because I can count in binary or throw around terms like "Fourier Series." But being good at math does NOT make you a good engineer. It makes you a passable engineer. To be a good engineer you have to be decent at math and also be interested in engineering. For me, reading man pages was not fun. I learned the bare minimum of unix commands necessary to get through my day. Now, I was not a terrible engineer. I am smart enough to come up with some OK ideas and get a piece of code working (eventually). Many people who are worse engineers than me slog it out for their entire career (usually writing requirements -- oh, snap!). And if all I cared about was having a stable income, that is what I would do. Show up for work, count down the hours until 5, and then go home and have a beer and forget about it.
But that's not me. So, yes I am going to go back to school again! By next fall this strange receptionist period of my life will be over. I should actually be studying to re-take the GRE right now, but I'm too distracted by this new book I just got, it's really good. :)
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
New Language
There are many things I don't like about my job, and someday I will regale you all with many tales of nonsense. But for now, I will remain(?) somewhat professional and not discuss work dramas on the blog.
On the bright side, I am taking advantage of the one perk that comes with my job - free language classes. I have been taking Spanish for the last 4 quarters, but this summer I decided to sign up for Arabic 101. My first class is tonight, and I am excited! I haven't taken a class in a new language since college (not counting the random Italian, French, and Chinese words I learn at work), so I think it will be really fun! (By the way in college I took one semester of Polish and one semester of German, and I have forgotten everything.)
I looked at my Arabic book last night and the letters look so hard to read. Apparently they are shaped differently depending on where they fall within the word?? WTF?? Well, we'll see how it goes. :)
On the bright side, I am taking advantage of the one perk that comes with my job - free language classes. I have been taking Spanish for the last 4 quarters, but this summer I decided to sign up for Arabic 101. My first class is tonight, and I am excited! I haven't taken a class in a new language since college (not counting the random Italian, French, and Chinese words I learn at work), so I think it will be really fun! (By the way in college I took one semester of Polish and one semester of German, and I have forgotten everything.)
I looked at my Arabic book last night and the letters look so hard to read. Apparently they are shaped differently depending on where they fall within the word?? WTF?? Well, we'll see how it goes. :)
Monday, June 14, 2010
Our Garden
Last weekend I finally got around to uploading some pictures, so you can see our cute little "raised bed" that we (mostly Sean) built.
Here's the empty box, almost done but not stained yet. This probably took at least 3 months, as we made very slow progress. We bought the wood and then it sat in the van for several weeks... which was fun in a way because the van smelled like cedar all the time. However, when a piece of wood fell on my toe, it was time to finally get it out of the vehicle.
Here it is after we planted everything. It was supposed to be 3 bush beans and 3 climber beans. But after a week or so we noticed that one of the climbers looked different from the others. I was worried that it might be sick or something, but Sean thought maybe it was just a different species of bean. Turns out... it was a tomato! And you might be wondering how we figured out that piece of information. Well, it turns out, we just read the little label, which I had in fact planted along with the plants.
Here's the empty box, almost done but not stained yet. This probably took at least 3 months, as we made very slow progress. We bought the wood and then it sat in the van for several weeks... which was fun in a way because the van smelled like cedar all the time. However, when a piece of wood fell on my toe, it was time to finally get it out of the vehicle.
Here it is after we planted everything. It was supposed to be 3 bush beans and 3 climber beans. But after a week or so we noticed that one of the climbers looked different from the others. I was worried that it might be sick or something, but Sean thought maybe it was just a different species of bean. Turns out... it was a tomato! And you might be wondering how we figured out that piece of information. Well, it turns out, we just read the little label, which I had in fact planted along with the plants.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Hugest Pet Peeve Ever
Ok I don't really have that many pet peeves. Really. I swear. What else have I ever complained about on this blog? ;)
But here is my giant pet peeve of the day:
Every morning when I get off the bus I have to cross the street at an intersection where there isn't a crosswalk. (Ok i don't have to, I could walk two blocks down. But come on, I'm lazy.)
So, the street is busy but it's not that busy. I just wait for a break and then go. But I haaaaaate when a car stops and waves me on. The driver waves, like "ok go lady," and then they look impatient if I don't go. But guess what? I can't go because there are still cars coming the other way and I don't trust them to stop for me.
If anyone can find a facebook group called something like "Don't stop for a pedestrian when there is traffic coming from the other direction that clearly won't stop for them, you MORON" please let me know. So irritating!!!!
But here is my giant pet peeve of the day:
Every morning when I get off the bus I have to cross the street at an intersection where there isn't a crosswalk. (Ok i don't have to, I could walk two blocks down. But come on, I'm lazy.)
So, the street is busy but it's not that busy. I just wait for a break and then go. But I haaaaaate when a car stops and waves me on. The driver waves, like "ok go lady," and then they look impatient if I don't go. But guess what? I can't go because there are still cars coming the other way and I don't trust them to stop for me.
If anyone can find a facebook group called something like "Don't stop for a pedestrian when there is traffic coming from the other direction that clearly won't stop for them, you MORON" please let me know. So irritating!!!!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Doing a REAL BP Boycott
Just in case I wasn't enough of a jerk in my last oil-spill post, I'd now like to point out what would be involved if you actually wanted to boycott BP.
1. BUYING GAS - You would have to go to an Exxon, Shell, etc. station for your gas. As we all know, they are no angels either. This Newsweek article has a great overview of the environmental niceties that these other companies engage in.
2. FLYING - no. BP makes jet fuel too!
3. PUBLIC TRANSIT - For me, I'd probably have to walk to work since right now I take the bus and yes, I am too lazy to try and find out where Metro King County gets their gas from.
4. SHOPPING - Well first you'd have to stop buying anything made out of plastic. But more importantly, you'd have to stop buying items that are transported by truck, train, or plane. Yes, BP makes diesel too! Said items might include things such as... well, I can't think of any retail stores that get deliveries by bicycle/sailboat/horse/other draft animal. So I guess you'd have to stop buying just about EVERYTHING.
5. EATING - What's that? You still want to eat? Well, you could make an exception to #4 and walk to the grocery store. But you'd have to buy all organic foods because it takes about 1/3 of a gallon of gasoline just to make the fertilizer that grows the daily food of an average American. (I got that stat here, and by the way it was from 1994 so I'd imagine that number has gone up by now.)
6. ELECTRICITY - Depending where you live, you may be lucky enough to be powered by hydroelectric power, or coal! But if your local power plant uses petroleum or natural gas, then it's candle time for the modern boycotter. Yes, BP makes natural gas too!
7. INTERNET - Ok, what if you have a sweet solar-paneled laptop carrying case that can give your lappie a fossil-fuel-free recharge? Well... that's fine if you want to work on your novel. But most websites use servers, which use electricity. See #6.
So you can't eat or surf the web? That's pretty rough. But life isn't over. (At least not until you starve to death in about 2 weeks.) You and your special someone can still get it on! And good news - latex is made from rubber, which is not made by BP!
1. BUYING GAS - You would have to go to an Exxon, Shell, etc. station for your gas. As we all know, they are no angels either. This Newsweek article has a great overview of the environmental niceties that these other companies engage in.
2. FLYING - no. BP makes jet fuel too!
3. PUBLIC TRANSIT - For me, I'd probably have to walk to work since right now I take the bus and yes, I am too lazy to try and find out where Metro King County gets their gas from.
4. SHOPPING - Well first you'd have to stop buying anything made out of plastic. But more importantly, you'd have to stop buying items that are transported by truck, train, or plane. Yes, BP makes diesel too! Said items might include things such as... well, I can't think of any retail stores that get deliveries by bicycle/sailboat/horse/other draft animal. So I guess you'd have to stop buying just about EVERYTHING.
5. EATING - What's that? You still want to eat? Well, you could make an exception to #4 and walk to the grocery store. But you'd have to buy all organic foods because it takes about 1/3 of a gallon of gasoline just to make the fertilizer that grows the daily food of an average American. (I got that stat here, and by the way it was from 1994 so I'd imagine that number has gone up by now.)
6. ELECTRICITY - Depending where you live, you may be lucky enough to be powered by hydroelectric power, or coal! But if your local power plant uses petroleum or natural gas, then it's candle time for the modern boycotter. Yes, BP makes natural gas too!
7. INTERNET - Ok, what if you have a sweet solar-paneled laptop carrying case that can give your lappie a fossil-fuel-free recharge? Well... that's fine if you want to work on your novel. But most websites use servers, which use electricity. See #6.
So you can't eat or surf the web? That's pretty rough. But life isn't over. (At least not until you starve to death in about 2 weeks.) You and your special someone can still get it on! And good news - latex is made from rubber, which is not made by BP!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Infinite Languages
I have a new favorite website - http://lang-8.com.
It's basically a "writing-correction-exchange" site. You go onto the site and tell them your native language and your target language. Then you can write journal entries in your target language and others will correct them, and in turn you correct those who are writing in your native language.
Just now I wrote a story about my new coffee maker (scintillating in English or Spanish) - and almost immediately had it corrected by a 17 year old girl in Mexico who is studying Japanese and Korean.
The website itself is not the most polished website I've ever seen in my life, but it works. It is a Japanese site so I don't know if it's designed to a different aesthetic or just didn't have much money put into it. That being said, I highly recommend it for anyone learning a new language!!
PS. In case you are curious about my coffee maker, I got a new one (after many years of the 4-cup Mr. Coffee... Sean actually couldn't watch me throw it away.) The new one not only has a timer, but also grinds its own beans! Even though I was expecting it to go off this morning, the grinding noise scared the crap out of me. I seriously jumpedup in the air, and DH laughed his butt off. :) Good times.
It's basically a "writing-correction-exchange" site. You go onto the site and tell them your native language and your target language. Then you can write journal entries in your target language and others will correct them, and in turn you correct those who are writing in your native language.
Just now I wrote a story about my new coffee maker (scintillating in English or Spanish) - and almost immediately had it corrected by a 17 year old girl in Mexico who is studying Japanese and Korean.
The website itself is not the most polished website I've ever seen in my life, but it works. It is a Japanese site so I don't know if it's designed to a different aesthetic or just didn't have much money put into it. That being said, I highly recommend it for anyone learning a new language!!
PS. In case you are curious about my coffee maker, I got a new one (after many years of the 4-cup Mr. Coffee... Sean actually couldn't watch me throw it away.) The new one not only has a timer, but also grinds its own beans! Even though I was expecting it to go off this morning, the grinding noise scared the crap out of me. I seriously jumpedup in the air, and DH laughed his butt off. :) Good times.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Being an Oil-Spill Jerk
So, I don't want to be a jerk or anything buuuttt...here goes. Everyone is saying that the BP spill/explosion/disaster is the Three Mile Island of off-shore drilling, and that makes sense. Given that analogy, the conclusion is that off-shore drilling will become politically difficult and may be banned altogether.
While I am an environmentalist and all, there is one question that comes to mind. Has anyone thought that perhaps it would be better to just go ahead and get all the off-shore drilling over with now? I mean, the whole Gulf of Mexico is already screwed up, and destined to be screwed up for quite a while. I think the only argument against my idea would be if you sincerely believe that someday very soon we will completely wean ourselves off of oil as a society, and therefore could leave the Gulf untouched from now on. Since that is unlikely to happen, we will drill there eventually. Maybe not in the next few years, but someday the price will be so high, and oil so scare, that we will be desperate. So why not go gangbusters with the off-shore drilling and get it over with while the water's still dirty?
While I am an environmentalist and all, there is one question that comes to mind. Has anyone thought that perhaps it would be better to just go ahead and get all the off-shore drilling over with now? I mean, the whole Gulf of Mexico is already screwed up, and destined to be screwed up for quite a while. I think the only argument against my idea would be if you sincerely believe that someday very soon we will completely wean ourselves off of oil as a society, and therefore could leave the Gulf untouched from now on. Since that is unlikely to happen, we will drill there eventually. Maybe not in the next few years, but someday the price will be so high, and oil so scare, that we will be desperate. So why not go gangbusters with the off-shore drilling and get it over with while the water's still dirty?
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