Today I was out of the office almost all day. My firm is working on a feasability study down at Stanford, so I'm going to be involved with the project, due to my intimate knowledge of the site. Today was the first meeting and it was nice to be back. While we were down there, we stopped by the site of another project we're working on that is right down the road from Stanford. The photos up top are from the site.
The Love Parade, originally from Berlin, hit San Francisco for the second time last Saturday. Sam was in town for the weekend, which was great, and so during our wanders, we headed down to Market Street to watch the parade go by. We definately felt square dressed in our everyday clothes, but then again, that is true at most San Francisco events I've attended.
While in Thailand, I kept noticing that signs that looked like they were in Hebrew. After looking at it a bit harder, I realized that it was just Tahi script, but it brought up the question, is Thai read left-to-right, like most western languages, or right-to-left, like Hebrew. Since we knew nothing about the language, we had no clue.
I remembered this today when reading about C's temporary loss of use of her right hand, so I finally looked it up. Turns out Thai is a left-to-right language, which means that the similarities in appearance is pure fluke. I wonder if the numerous Israelis travelling around the country ever thought the same thing...
As some of you know, I changed my name when I got married. Deb wrote a great post yesterday about the thoughts she went through with her decision which are pretty much exactly the same as mine.
However, since my degrees are in my maiden name, I wasned to change my middle name to my maiden name. What I didn't realize, though, was that when I applied for my marriage license, I could only change the last name, not the middle name. And what I also didn't realize was that to change the middle name, there is this long process of going to court to get a judge to approve you changing the middle name, as well as running a announcement of the change in a newspaper for 60 days, before its official.
I'm not sure I would have made a different decision about changing my name had I known all that before. Probably not, but it would have been nice to know what a hassle it is.
And will I ever get around to changing the middle name? Maybe. I started to try and do it before I came out to SF, but I ran out of time. I thought about just using my maiden name as my middle name unoffically, but when I become a Professional Engineer, my legal name will be on my stamp. And I would like it to be the same as the name I use professionally.
Now becoming a PE, that's a whole other thing - I am currently in the process of trying to remember all the projects I worked on in my career, including the amount of time I worked on them and what engineering skills I used. All this just to qualify to take an 8-hr exam!
Don't you just love buraucracy?
Thursday I went out for drinks with my coworkers after work, and ended up going out to dinner with them as well. I work with some really cool people and it felt good to have some sembalance of a social life. For future reference though, I wouldn't recommend Cafe Prague. In the past, my coworker swears they had the best goulash and tomato soup, but our goulash came out lukewarm (and took forever to come), and in her opinion, the soup has gone downhill.
Its ok, though. Friday we ordered lunch from House of Nanking, since most of us were too busy to take lunch since we were rushing on a project, and it was among the best Chinese food I've ever had. For sure the best moo shu pork, delicious string beans, fried tofu, everything was tops.
As for work, its been really busy - I've been working on a project in St. Kitts, and the PM is going down there next week (we all feel really sorry for him) for a site visit, so we had to prepare a bunch of stuff for him. I used to get so hungry at my old job, and I'm thinking its because I was so bored, becuase before I know it, its usually 1 or 2 and I have to remind myself to eat.
And now for some random thoughts...
- There was a minor fire near our office on Friday, so the firetruck was parked in front of one of our windows. I took particular notice of it because 1) I have never seen a female firefighter before and 2) I have never seen an Asian firefighter before.
- I think my street is the hilliest one to have busses on it. I should really stop trying to anything besides listen to my ipod on it because I get motion sick.
- The new Death Cab for Cutie album rocks.
- I picked up a bag today at Urban Outfitters that is perfect. Its a super tote bag - I couldn't resist! It has slim outside pockets on both sides, so I can put my bus pass on the outside, but keep my phone on the inside for when I have it on vibrate. It has a zip pocket on the side on the outside that is perfect for my ipod. Its large enough to fit a book and a newpaper, but not huge if its empty. I'm in love.
- I've been covetting this as well. KQED is giving it away as a membership thank-you gift. I normally donate to WNYC, but didn't this year since I was in California, so maybe I'll donate out here instead.....
This morning at swim practice, I was told two things that astounded me.
1) Butterfly is done with only one kick per stroke, not two (one large one and one small one) the way I have done for the past 12 years of my life (including many college swim meets where I could have apparently been disqualified).
2) I have the body of a breaststroker or backstroker, and should have been doing those, not butterfly or freestyle, for my whole career. Apparently the fact that I'm damn slow at breaststroke means nothing - I just haven't been training the right way.
Huh.
Freaky sculpture at a gallery near the Civic Center
Mmm, heirloom tomatoes
I did actually make it to swim practice last Friday. I was suprisingly awake at 5:30am, and I made it through the day as well. And I think I would have made it today too, had I not forgotten to check the volume on the alarm. I guess sometimes its good that my neighbor showers early.
On Saturday and Sunday, though, I wasn't so pleased about the early wake up. Its amazing how long Saturday lasts when you wake up at 7am! I went to the library (and passed by some neat street art near the civic center), did a bit of shopping, and browsed at the farmers market (and desparately missing my kitchen looking at the beautiful produce), and had a yummy lunch, all before 2 pm.
Otherwise, I spent a lot of time watching tennis, and a lot of time getting frustrated with my wireless connection. I have a usb wireless adapter, but it cuts out all the time, even though the monitor in the left corner says its still connected. So I thought maybe if I tried a wireless adapter in the PC port that it would make things better. I picked up a new adapter, installed it, and it has since failed to ever detect the local wireless hotspot. Ever. This from one that is supposed to have an even larger range than my current one. To make matters worse, I think its made my usb adapter even worse. I'll be returning the new one, that's for sure, but if anyone has some wireless advice, I'm all ears...
So far, the residence hotel is fine. My room is nice, and though I share the bathroom with a guy who leaves the toilet seat up, its perfectly fine. I went out and bought full size toiletries - yay full size shampoo!
And meals? The food is pretty good, but its kind of weird. They have "waiters" that take your order and clear the table, but there aren't exactly many choices. And you have to catch them at the right time, otherwise they might forget about you. For instance, today I didn't get desert because I waited too long to catch the waiter's eye and the kitchen had thrown it out already.
The real problem with the meals is the hours - if I miss them, I can't get my meals held. Which means if I want to go to the gym before work, I miss breakfast, and if I go after work, I miss dinner. I testing out the Y near the office this week and it seems pretty nice and has a masters team, so I'm going to try a morning practice and see how it goes.
Mostly, though, I've just been working. I've been working a lot, but it doesn't seem to drag. I'm learning a lot and I think I'm catching on. And they are letting me work from NY for a few days in October when I'll be in town for my cousin's bar mitzvah! Maybe it will work out so well that they'll decide I should come back even sooner....
Now, off to sleep so that I can wake up to swim in the morning.
The San Francisco Grand Prix was in town today, so I headed to the Presidio to watch the race go by on Lyon St. After watching one lap, I went in search of coffee down Chestnut St and got to see another lap while walking. The sun finally came out, so I enjoyed my walk around the Chestnut/Union Street areas.
When I got back to my coworker's place, I decided to check out the rooftop view he recommended, since the city was no longer draped in fog. Isn't that a great view? They must have great BBQ's up here when its actually nice and warm out.
P.S. Sam ventured to Ikea yet again, this time with the original receipt in hand, to track down our bedside tables. Only to be told that they had to hand count the inventory and will call Sam when they do. Now, did they really need the original receipt to do this?!!! There had better be some free shipping in there for us when they figure this all out....
The hostel scene got old very quickly, when they moved me around each night, so I'm pretty glad that I don't have to spend another night there. Right now, I'm typing from one of my coworker's apartment's, where I'm spending the long weekend catsitting, since he and his wife are out of town. Its great. Nice quite neighborhood and beautiful apartment where I can just hang out for the weekend.
And then on Monday, I'm moving into a residence hotel. I had looked at a bunch of apartments, but nothing great, and so I looked at a couple of residence hotels as well. The one I'm going to stay at is a bit pricier than I had been looking for, but it includes breakfast and dinner, and my room is private, sharing the bathroom with only one person, has a private sink, huge closet area, a double bed, a TV and a mini-fridge. And there's wi-fi and cheap laundry and an iron in the basement. And in classy Pacific Heights, one block away from a bus I can take to work. For at least one month, I have a place to unpack my bags!
As for the job, the first day was a bit rough, but I think I'm getting the hang of things. The office itself is great. Really nice people, and a really chill environment. There is a stereo that people switch off hooking up their ipod's to. And so far, everyone's music tastes are pretty good. The firm picked up the tab for both a welcome lunch, as well as happy hour on Friday, which is apparently a weekly thing. Not happy hour at a bar - they just brought a few six-packs and some chips and salsa back to the office and we sat around sipping beer during the last hour of work.
And the work, I've been thrown in headfirst, but it seems really interesting. As of day three, I'll be the project manager of the first residental rainwater harvesting system in California. The previous PM's last day was on Friday, so I spent my first two days of work trying to understand all the details of the project. But by 4pm Friday, I started to get it.
So first impressions? People work hard and play hard.
Oh, and San Francisco is damn cold. I have a long sleeved shirt and a sweater on and am wrapped up in a blanket as well.
As some of you might remember, I am starting a new job today. In San Francisco. The dream job. With any luck, by New Years I'll be back in NYC.
Amazingly, I successfully navigated both the NY and Bay Area subway systems with to quite large suitcases (work clothes AND play clothes - eek!) and even found the hostel where I arranged to camp out until I can find a sublet. Its definately a hostel. Haven't stayed in one since junior year when I travelled around Europe. Which is fine but kind of hard to deal with the large suitcases in a small room being shared with 3 other women. But at least I get free breakfast.
OK, stomach is rumbling and its about time for me to hop in the shower and get ready. Off to my first day of work.