brian's blog

This has got to be the coolest knife block ever. Though I wouldn't recommend having it on display when you bring a date back to your place. Someone might get a wee bit antsy about seeing something like that.

In other news, I've booked a flight to Toronto next Friday so I can make it to the Science Grad Ball:

Inbound: Arrive at Pearson on Friday, March 11th @ 8:55 PM
Outbound: Leave from Pearson on Sunday, March 13th @ 6:10PM

Wish I had more time to spend in the 'loo but I suppose that'll have to wait until convocation.

Well, Heather's back in Waterloo. We had a great time yesterday, and though we didn't get to do half the stuff I had planned, we did get to cap the week off with dinner aboard the Royal Argosy ship. It was a very enjoyable, elegant meal (without being excessively formal) that just happened to float by so many amazing sights around Elliott Bay. Live band, multiple decks (including some requisite time spent outdoors), etc. Fantastic time.

And earlier in the day Satuday, I signed the lease to move into the Epi. Move in date is March 4th. I'm excited, and can't wait to post photos of my junky student possessions contrasted against a nice new hip apartment interior.

This is exciting. Microsoft has signed Hironobu Sakaguchi and his studio to exclusively develop two RPGs for the next generation of the Xbox.

Who is Hironobu Sakaguchi? He's only the creator of the Final Fantasy series. Psssh.

It's not like I feel I need to plug Xbox now that I'm out here. It's just that everyone's been bugging me about when I'm getting an Xbox, and I simply haven't had a good reason to buy it yet. (I'm sure there are plenty of good games, but few have really jumped out and hooked me yet.)

I feel bad that I'm at work all day while Heather's left to entertain herself around Seattle. And by the time I come home I feel drained. She's mostly been checking out the Seattle shopping scene (including helping me identify prospects for my wardrobe), and looking into job prospects.

At least now that I have my housing and car situation figured out we can spend a full, proper day on Saturday exploring the area. Current plans are to visit Bainbridge Island, the Seattle Underground Tour, take a dinner cruise, and hit up the Space Needle and try to win the UW Shop's contest for an iPod Shuffle. (She brought a UW shirt, and while Seattle isn't terribly exotic for a photo, we're betting on there not being many entries.)

As for taking the bus, it's going pretty well. It's about 50 minutes from the moment I leave the door to the moment I arrive home / at work. That may stretch to about an hour once I'm living in Fremont. Some of my co-workers think I'm crazy. It's definitely not the most convenient option but I remind myself of a few things:

• I don't need to deal with the hassle of driving
• It's good for the environment
• I can work on my laptop on the bus distraction-free, even if it's a little bumpy
• I'll probably be able to find a carpool once I'm settled in Fremont, if I need it
• Saves money
• I still get to live in Seattle and not the stuffy, suburban Eastside
• If I head out on the weekends, I'll be walking or taking taxis whether I have a car or not

After pretty much deciding on a Toyota Prius late last week, I set out looking for a good deal on a used 2004 model (the year they introduced the Prius' new look and the second generation of hybrid engines). But all of the cars I found online cost almost as much as (if not more than) the MSRP on Toyota's own website, despite having 10,000 to 20,000 miles on them.

So, I called up several Toyota dealers around the area to discover that ~5 years after they were first introduced, and well over a year after the newer generation was brought to market, there is still a backlog for these cars. I had heard of outrageous price gouging by dealers on these cars in the past, but had expected that supply would have caught up by now.

Nope. While it's better than it used to be, the most optimistic quotes I received promised I could drive it off the lot in a month, and might need to wait 2 or 3 months. And these are car salesmen telling me this. Run it through the BS filter, and that means 4+ months. At least most of the dealer surcharges seemed to be gone, though if I wanted to buy a fully-loaded Prius that just happened to be on the lot, I'd have to pay at least $2,000 extra.

So I thought to myself, "Brian, why don't you just take the bus while you wait a few months for a Prius order to come in? You've got a bus pass, and if you absolutely need a car in the meantime, you can use a Flexcar." (Yes, I have such conversations with myself.)

And the Flexcar is an amazing system: A co-op car system on digital steroids, Flexcar lets you reserve one of hundreds of cars parked in permanent locations around Seattle from the web, get into the car using a keycard, drive off, and be electronically charged $9 an hour (or less, if you buy hours in bulk). The rate includes gas, insurance, maintenance, cleaning, etc. There are three Flexcars parked around Fremont, including one in the basement of my own building.

You can probably guess what I thought of next. No, not that. You should be ashamed. I thought "Hey, why not try not owning a car for a while?" And the more I thought about it, the more it sounded crazy, but I'm going to go with it anyway. Sure, I'll need to take two different bus routes to get to work, plus walk a bit, for a travel time of probably somewhere around an hour each way. But at least I won't have to fight traffic and I'll be able to work on my laptop most of the way. And it will save me an embarrassing amount of money -- no monthly car payments (~$600+), no insurance (~$200), no gas ($50+) and no underground parking fees ($120). All in all, a thousand bucks a month. I'll remind myself of that every time I feel inconvenienced.

Most importantly, this is the best option to reduce my impact on the environment. The buses even run on 20% biodiesel, and I think some are hybrids as well. Everybody wins all around, right?

(I'm sure I'll crack and buy a car in two weeks.)

Heather flew in Friday night, and we spent Saturday early afternoon on an apartment tour around many different locations in Seattle. One of the more unique locations we saw was Queen Anne High School, a 100 year old high school recently converted into an apartment complex. Quite cool, but unfortunately it was in a very residential area.

My goals in an apartment are:

• 1 bedroom
• Within short walking distance of an urban neighborhood of shops, restaurants, etc.
• Not too long / difficult to get to work
• In a well-built (preferably new), modern-styled, large-ish apartment complex
• Modern appliances in the unit (washer, dryer, dishwasher, etc)
• Relatively quiet and insulated
• A bar counter :)

I didn't put as much emphasis on square footage or a view as I did on a cool layout and the goals mentioned above.

After some searching, I managed to find almost everything I was looking for at the crazy-looking Epi Apartments, which Markus pointed out "is the first apartment building ever to have Godzilla defenses built in." (Click the link to see what I'm talking about.) It's also located in the neighborhood of Fremont, the Center of the Universe, a place previously recommended to me by people who know the neighborhood to be designed for people who are a tad eccentric. (What are they saying about me?)

There's even an organic grocery store, PCC, on the first floor of the building. (I had no idea that Whole Foods -- already in a niche market -- had competition out here!)

My only beef is that the location isn't very convenient to reach the 520 bridge to Redmond, but I think an extra 10-20 minutes of total travel time a day is worth it since I've otherwise found a great place.

Next step is to sign the lease. Let's hope being Canadian doesn't cause problems again.

Tomorrow: My car choice (it's not what you think...)

Heather flies in tomorrow to spend reading week in Seattle.

We agreed to delay Valentine's Day until this Saturday. And let me tell you, it's definitely worth delaying. I can get a restaurant reservation easily, spend more time shopping for a gift, buy clearance rack chocolate hearts, and get discounted week-old roses!

Picked up a cell phone yesterday. Took about 2 hours to clear their credit approval -- from the store, I had to fax over just about every piece of documentation I had before I was approved. Can't trust those shifty Canucks.

So. After getting the same recommendation from everyone I asked, I got an Audiovox SMT5600. Super sexy phone with a massive color screen, Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Media Player 10, a camera, Bluetooth, etc etc. Entirely excessive, but it was a good deal, and the software downloads work emails and syncs my Outlook calendar automatically 24/7. That, and it has a mini SD card slot, so once I stick one of these 1 gig cards in, it'll be a pretty useful music / video player.

My new number is 206-849-GLIK (That's 4545). I'm almost embarrassed just typing that out, but it was too good a number to pass up.

AT&T also has an amazing plan that allows unlimited evening & weekends calling to, from, and within Canada for $10 / month, so I signed up for that, of course. Feel free to abuse it.

I won't have a rental car as of Saturday and I'm still on the fence as to what kind to buy for my own. Anyone's who's been forced to hear me ramble knows that I've been insufferably gung-ho about getting a diesel car so I can fuel it with biodiesel. But, after doing excessive research over the past week, I'm not quite so sure what to do anymore.

My biggest goal, by far, is to reduce my overall environmental impact along a car's entire lifecycle (manufacturing to recycling), and that includes the entire lifecycle of the fuel it uses. If I get biodiesel, I'm essentially forced to buy a 2001-2003 Volkswagen Jetta or Golf, since not much else has a diesel engine. If I go hybrid, it'll be either a Toyota Prius or a Honda Civic. So! The tradeoffs:

Jetta pros:

• Looks sexy, and is most fun to drive (apparently)
• Biodiesel appears to have about 1 ton fewer greenhouse gases a year compared to the Prius
• Eliminates dependence on oil, a non-renewable resource

Jetta cons:

• Notoriously unreliable. When I posted on a VW forum asking whether the rumours of unreliability I heard were true, and whether I should buy one, the answer was essentially "Are you good with tools? Do you have a garage? Then you'll be fine!", which didn't exactly fill me with lots of confidence. I could find a reliable mechanic around here who knows VW TDIs, though.
• Somewhat hard to find used; my searches find the most in Portland, 2-3 hours away, and even fewer still are manual transmissions
• Must buy used; I read of some problems when 2004-2005 TDI engines are fueled with 100% biodiesel
• The best greenhouse gas reductions on the Jetta come from having manual transmissions; otherwise it comes close to the Prius, which only has automatic
• Nitrious oxide, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide are higher in the Jetta, even with biodiesel
• Biodiesel is very expensive
• Driving stick-shift in Seattle would be awful, what with all the hills and the stop-and-go commuting across the 520 bridge and the drivers who tailgate you on inclines, and things of that nature
• Might need to mix in some dirty diesel during the winter to keep the biodiesel from gelling at lower temperatures

Prius / Civic pros:

• Engineered to give its best mileage in stop and go traffic
• Newest Prius generation readily available new or used
• Environmental impact is about the same as biodiesel after all?
• I can actually choose between two different car manufacturers!

Prius / Civic cons:

• No manual transmission option on the Prius; I'll be mocked by the Wolski brothers
• Still sustains the oil companies (less gas, but the dependency certainly isn't eliminated)
• Prius looks a little weird, but isn't unbearable
• Needs to be driven reasonably and unaggressively to get close to the advertised miles per gallon (but I should probably do that anyway)

Since it looks like the environmental tradeoffs between biodiesel and hybrids just about cancel each other out, and everything else seems to weigh in the hybrids' favour (except the "sustains the oil companies" factor), I think I'll be going with a hybrid. I so would like to stick it to Exxon in my own small way, but the barrier just seems much too high right now.

Was listening to Air America radio and heard this fantastic clip of Bush speaking at a town hall meeting on Social Security:

BUSH: There's a certain comfort to know that the promises made will be kept by the government.
MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.
BUSH: You work three jobs?
MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.
BUSH: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause) Get any sleep? (Some laughter)

Bush isn't trying to recover from a unexpectedly critical question -- it seems that he genuinely believes she works three jobs because she wants to, that she's taking advantage of an incredible "uniquely American" opportunity.

I have more of a connection with the American people than he does.

I'm getting to this a little late in the day, but happy Valentine's Day (a short film).

Some notes on the past week:

• The person I sat next to at the new employee orientation, a guy named Jordan, turned out to be from Waterloo, from CS, was in my Distributed Systems class last term, and neither of us remembered seeing the other before at all
• Been working until 8-9pm or so most nights, and getting to work at 9am
• Seattle is very, very hilly around downtown. Owning a stick-shift car is going to suck
• The culture at work is still very relaxed; I'm overdressing now and then, but I can't bring myself to stop
• I am loving the grocery shopping experience at Whole Foods. The US simply doesn't have grocery stores with the kind of massive selection and quality of Zehrs / Loblaws, but Whole Foods makes up for it with an excess of enviro-organic-hippie-ness.
• But, frozen juice cans cost ~$2.50 USD everywhere here. What's with that?
• I'm borrowing a wifi signal to post this; there are many downtown. I'm being very careful not to use much bandwidth, though.

To do very soon:

• Buy a car
• Find an apartment
• Get a cellphone
• Decorate my office; my officemate and I have agreed on getting a LoveSac

What a week. It's been tough, a bit more challenging than I was expecting, but I hope I've been able to step up and perform. I say "I hope" because it's a difficult role in which to judge how well you're doing -- unlike other jobs, being a program manager has very few deliverables by which you can measure your performance, such as coding X, testing Y, designing user interface Z, or signing a business contract. Instead, I'm a gopher trying to coordinate a billion little things & act as a resource for many, all while trying to maintain a semblance of leadership over the project. And while it is often genuinely fun, this early on it's also somewhat overwhelming, especially since the constant question of "What do I do next?" rarely has a clear answer.

That said, this is the sort of challenge where, once you nail it and know you're performing, it makes you feel really, really good. That's the high I'm seeking here. I knew what I was getting into. I'm not there yet. And I can't wait to get there.

Wow. I've been hit at work with a big project that requires a spec tomorrow and is moving at light speed. It's very cool, but for now, I'm definitely fighting to keep my head above water and updates will be a little light for a bit.

Hope everyone's doing well. Funny how I suddenly feel homesick!

(Oh, and be sure to check out Google Maps. Tres cool. I'm constantly amazed by the tricks Google milks out of web browsers.)

Had my first day of work today. Was pretty exciting, though nothing terribly remarkable happened. Spent the first half of the day in the new employee orientation session getting overwhelmed about resources, benefits, and tools, the torrent only partially mitigated by my having heard a large chunk of it before. It also included a motivational video starring Ballmer, who has an incredible amount of energy.

I then checked out my new office and spent most of the day mingling since my computer access won't be enabled 'till tomorrow. It was funny walking by some people I hadn't seen in 10 months and watch them turn around and do a double-take. "H-hey! It's you!" Unfortunately, the next step they usually took was to call security.

My new officemate wasn't in, though. We need to make some key decisions on office design. I'm going to have to remind her that this is a democracy now. I'm willing to fight in order to gain my right to vote.

Keeping Britney Spears posters off the walls are at stake, after all.

I probably shouldn't have read A Little Golden Book - My Little Golden Book About Zogg while at the public library's internet terminals. Not that the content is offensive -- far from it, actually. Instead, my poorly suppressed laughter caused people around me to shrink back in fear. The kids (and their freakish eyes) remind me of The Village of the Damned.

Tomorrow: I start work!

Spent the afternoon wandering through downtown Seattle, and it was fun:

• Visited the newly-built Seattle Public Library, an architectural paradox of acute angles, contrasting colors, and foam chairs. Click on the picture for my latest album of Seattle photos (yes, so soon!). I'll sort my albums more meaningfully soonish.
• Stopped by the Gap, where I was accosted by a Gap Corporate team of market testers from San Francisco who demanded that I fill out a survey and try on five different pairs of khakis for a complimentary $40 gift card. So I did. Let me simply say that Khaki #4 rises in my bathing suit area like nobody's business.
• Messed with some Scientologists who set up a "free stress test" table downtown. I pretended to be a confused, stressed out soul. They gave me two hollow aluminum cans which were hooked up to a cheap-looking device with a needle swinging back and forth. They told me to "think of something, anything" while holding the cans "not too firmly." The needle, of course, moved to indicate that I was stressed. Here's a dialog:
  
  Him: What were you thinking about?
  Me: My girlfriend...I guess she can stress me out.
  Him: What does she do to stress you out?
  Me: Well, she's always telling me what to wear. I feel like I have no control in my life. And it has to be blue.
  Him: But you're wearing a black jacket.
  Me: Well she's not around right now, is she?
  Him: Oh, um, right. What else?
  Me: Well...she doesn't like dark chocolate. I wish she did. I like dark chocolate, but it's hard to eat it when she's around.
  Him (obviously frustrated): Okay. Does anyone else frustrate you by trying to control you?
  Me: Yeah! My mom. She's always like "shovel the driveway" or "mow the lawn" or "get a damn job." I wish she'd just freakin' lay off.
  Him: Hmm, yeah, that can be frustrating, though some types of control might be useful... (He actually said this. He then pulled out a copy of the Scientologist's bible, Dianetics.) Here, read the back of this, and tell me what you think.
  Me: Ron Hubbard! I know that name...wait, didn't he make Battlefield Earth?
  Him: Well, ye-
  Me: That movie sucked! Hey, can you guys give me my movie ticket money back for that?
  Him: Um, no.

I'm a bit late on this bandwagon, but from Wired News, Hide Your iPod, Here Comes Bill:

"About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering." [...] So popular is the iPod, executives are increasingly sending out memos frowning on its use.

Not that I've started yet, but from what I've seen and heard, this just isn't true. The culture seems to strongly support using and learning best in class products in order to understand what makes them so great. And everyone I've heard from says no such memos have been sent.

(Yes, maybe I'm drinking the kool-aid a little quick, but I also can't wait to get my free iPod mini.)

Please find attached some pictures of Seattle for your consideration. Click on the picture to the right to view the album. I am available to discuss further at your convenience.

Had fun visiting the office and catching up with co-workers yesterday. Apparently, they have a number of openings in my department, which might explain why they lowered the bar and accepted me.

It was a great time finding out what's going on; there are some very exciting projects in the works that I'm genuinely eager to get started on. The only downside is that my new officemate, a fellow Canuck, loves Britney Spears. Loves her. She has posters up on the walls (including the same one twice), and loves blasting Britney. I told her that I was having second thoughts about the job and might head back home tomorrow.

There's also a co-op from Waterloo (the other UW) in my group, which is interesting. Seems like they haven't broken him yet. I give him another two weeks before he cracks.

Spent most of the day so far getting settled in; did some grocery shopping at Pike Place Market, sent a fax of my visa information to get my household goods cleared for shipment across the border, and headed to the driver's licensing office to figure out license requirements. It's going to take both a written and a driver test to get licensed here. They don't trust our crazy Canuck licenses.

Soon, I'm heading out to Redmond to meet and catch up with new / old co-workers before heading out to dinner with them. Then, apparently, people get together at someone's house to watch The Apprentice. The "fitting in" is off to a great start, though living downtown in the "big" city does feel a little overwhelming so far.

Pictures tomorrow. I say that today because I remember my Europe blog, and all the comments from that were "When are the next pictures?" or "Upload some pictures or I'll cut you" or "Free porn, click here." There are picture vampires out there on the internet, craving the sweet digital juice of photographs, and I think they're coming for me.

I ate dinner at a French restaurant in Pike Place called Cafe Campagne. Feels very strange eating alone. Once in a while, you see those people off in the corner of a restaurant all by themselves, and wonder if they have some kind of vaguely-defined problem. After today, I'll just assume they're using up a company-provided food credit.

Also forgot to mention a very cool feature on the Air Canada flight over here: Real-time updates of our plane's status. The fold-down overhead displays rotated between screens displaying speed, time to arrival, altitude, our position on a map, and a top-down view of the plane indicating which window to look out to view assorted landmarks. For an information junkie like me, I couldn't keep my eyes off of it. I was mesmerized.

Lastly, I know I'm not supposed to include so many distinct points in a single post, but I can't help it. Here's another: Seattle seems to have a huge number of homeless people living downtown, most of them panhandling. Makes sense, I guess, given the year-round mild climate. But it makes the city a little scary at night.

I'm in Seattle. Flight went well, and I managed to swing a place in the swank Harbor Steps in downtown Seattle after all. Should be cool exploring the city life before I find a place further away (though hopefully not too far away). I took some pictures I'll post later.

On the taxi ride to downtown, before I had really been outside, I asked the driver "So, think it'll snow at all before the winter ends?" He looked at me funny and remarked, "What are you talking about? It's spring." And it is: it's much too warm to wear a jacket (it's 16°C right now), and apparently it's been beautifully sunny for a few days now. So much for the gloomy rain.

Hello from an internet terminal in the airport.

So I'm the only passenger early this morning in the large room where you apply for a U.S. visa. After my papers are processed, I smile and jokingly ask the official escorting me to the cashier, "So, is it always this busy?"

He looks at me for a moment, obviously confused, before stating "There's no one else back there."

I think they're robots.

Could barely sleep. Got less than 3 hours. Too excited / nervous. Also lost ability to use pronouns.

Ride to the airport should be here in 10 min or so. Goodbye Waterloo, friends, family. Goodbye Heather (for now).

My house is packed and shipped out, my flight luggage is set aside, and the paperwork is all prepared -- I think I'm ready to go!

I'm maxed out at 2 carry-ons & 2 checked bags; that's all I'll have access to while my stuff is in storage. I hope I didn't accidentally ship anything, like my medicine that keeps me from turning back into a werewolf.

I put up pictures of the going away party we had on Friday at my place. It was a great time, though it's a little sad how most of our parties lately feel more like reunions. I was really surprised at all the gifts I received from people; I wasn't expecting anything at all. You guys rock. The "10 Ways To Fit In In The U.S." book from Jenn and Bryan was especially funny -- I'll definitely take the "learn to love Bush" tip to heart.

I'm going to miss everyone.