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September 19, 2004

No School, Job Instead

Hey Everyone.

School year is about to start... well not for me, but for a lot of my slightly younger friends. Last night I went to a bonfire with some of them. It was great fun in spite of there being very little fire and very much cold. I saw some great shooting stars and peed in the ocean again. The best part, though, was the Moon Over My Hammy on the ride back... well not really, but it'd be funny if it was.

Today I'm hitting up the city for a sweep through china town and a night at a comedy club. We were going to take the fun BART, but someone doesn't want to talk 5 blocks, so we have to drive :(. I'll never use up my $14.50 BART card! (BART gives you a $16 ticket min if you pay with a $20).

Other than recent events I wanted to record, I think I should blog about my job change. I got a side-motion (same pay, different work) at work. I was conscripted by sales to do their technical support, which will be fun. It'll be easy, but very important/critical work. The pay is, indeed, about the same, but this new job allows for much more rapid career growth. I'm looking forward to it, but that's not my concern.

It's a bit of a dirty job, I think. The reason that I was hand selected out of all of the developers in the company to take this position might not have been my technical prowess. I think it might have something to do with my first language being english, which is actually remarkably remote within the company's diverse development staff. Actually, out of everyone who would want this job I'm getting, I'm the only EFL (kinda like ESL, but backwards).

This does make business sense, in that some guy who works at a potato factory in Boise, ID (one of our real clients) might pick the competitor because their technical sales rep speaks better english, but it does feel a bit funny since It's the first time I've ever been promoted not based solely on my abilities. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

September 8, 2004

Lake Almanor

vacation part 2:

Lake Almanor (i think i spelt that mostly right). Thanks for the invite Steve, and the indirect invite Mike. It was lots of fun.

The best, and most painful, part of the weekend was when we decided that it'd be a good idea to launch a 14' sailboat by hand. Normally you'd back a truck down a paved launch ramp and float the boat off of the trailer, but we decided that we'd push it down a rocky, boulder covered hill and then drag it out of the trailer once it reached the water. The launch was great fun, but removing the boat from the water and dragging it back up the rocky hill was another challenge entirely.


--Mike

September 2, 2004

No Manta Ray Pictures for Me

I finally found a few min to look at my Hawaii pictures. The pictures I most wanted did not turn out at all, sadly. I have 0 pictures of the big gray reef shark and the manta ray. They were pretty far away though and underwater pictures don't often turn out at 30' range with a surface digital camera and a mini flash. It's ok though. I'm lucky to have seen it. The manta ray was just about the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

Website Down! Maui Fun!

Sorry everyone, The web page previously noted is down again. *shakes fist at computer*. When I'm really board I'll get it back up again,... I promise.

Anyway, now for the boring news of my life. I just got back from Maui on my family trip. Here is a quick list of highlights before I forget them:
-Snorkeling with a couple 250-300lb sea turtles above a reef formed on a large volcanic rock
-The booze cruise with my parents and sister
-Catching a glimpse of a 25' wingspan manta ray and a 5' deep water gray shark during a snuba dive.

There were some other good moments, but those were my three favorite. The manta ray was just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I'm going to get my scuba certification as a result this year. Partners are needed for real dives though. Any volunteers?

--Mike