Work – Page 2 – From the ashes of Heaven

Today is a good day…

<WARNING>Computer terminology to follow</WARNING>

First of all… I’m 3 days ahead of my own personal projected schedule for the project my mentor has me on. Although, I learned on Friday that the 6 weeks included a bit more than I was originally told (which I assumed since there was no way he could think this project would take 6 weeks unless he thought I was a novice at programming). Just the same, he was pretty happy with the progress I had made and let me know a few of the features he was going to want me to work on. There was three general features he wanted me to add: a form edit feature in which he wanted to be able to update information to a database on the fly before it was approved (as opposed to as it was approved); an informational feature that allowed submitters to view what was already in the database so they didn’t have to be preempted by my data cleanliness checks; an asynchronous data association feature (basically if multiple users were approving data at the same time there is the possibility that they could overwrite each other’s data). I finished the first and second throughout the afternoon.

The third is why today is such a good day. My mentor and I argued for a bit about how exactly to do it. He said we could just use a thread pool for asynchronous data processing… I know you can control how many active processes there are in a thread pool but I still didn’t like the idea because there were situations that data could still become corrupt because there are 2 distinct functions that associate to the same data. Well… I came up with a fairly good idea to do thread queuing instead… Just a Queue data structure with containers for Threads and a control function that runs the threads in the queue as long as threads exist (the calling function kicks off the thread control which in turn exits if it is already running). I can’t test it on my actual site since I don’t have the database connections at home, but it works beautifully on a test site I made.

<END_GEEKINESS/>

Life has been boring and interesting in an odd way. I went out with some of the other interns the night before last… I work with a very wide array of people. I still don’t do much most nights. I keep thinking I might go into down town Raleigh and try to meet some people at a bar, but I haven’t been in the mood to drink at all which kind of kills my purpose. I’ve been talking to Theresa quite a bit which definitely helps with the loneliness and she flies down in 6 days (the anticipation of which is making me significantly more irritable). I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night looking for her for some reason which is as frightening as it is confusing so it will be nice to actually have her close for a few days (that is an understatement by the way).

I think thats enough broken thoughts strung together in one paragraph for now.

Archangel / July 1, 2007 / Work, xanga / 1 Comment

Lurking in the dark?

… or just avoiding eye contact?

I’m in a very poetic mood today… but I can’t think of anything to write…

My first week has gotten a lot better. I finally got to meet my mentor yesterday and we went over what my project would be for the first 8 weeks or so. According to him that will be 6 weeks of development and 2 weeks of Q&A testing. I’m not so sure on that target for 6 weeks. I’m not the most proficient at ASP.net programming and I’m still thinking this will take at worst 4 weeks to complete… If I think about it… There is 4 major modules that I have to complete each one with an entry and an approval form. I’ve already completed one of the worst entry forms (as far as I can tell) and I don’t think it will take me more than a day to finish the approval form… so basically 8 days for real development and I’ll tack a few extra on there for pretty code and code hardening… maybe a few more for requirement checking… so… 3 weeks if I manage to keep the pace I’m at now… I’m happy with the project though. Its an actual application that Cisco will use. It will have to go through a fairly major skinning process before it can be released as a 1.0 app, but that isn’t my job… I’m just creating the back end logic for it.

I’m a lot more lonely than I thought I would be… I’ve been able to talk to Theresa a lot, which helps to no end, but I can’t shake the feeling of isolation. I met some interns that also go to OSU, perhaps I can do something with them. I was also invited out to a bar tonight… don’t know if I’ll go, but it is definitely an option.

Archangel / June 22, 2007 / Work, xanga / 0 Comments

Day #2

… last one I promise…

I found out some interesting things today: First my manager doesn’t care what I wear. In his words, “We’re only interested in your brains so what ever makes you comfortable.” The only thing I really have to worry about is if I ever have to meet with customers, I should probably be at least business casual. Second, for every 2 weeks I work, I accrue 6 hours of paid time off that I can take in 8 hour increments… So, for my trip to Dallas… I’ll only have 4 days I don’t get paid for instead of 6… which is very nice. That also means that I can take a day or two off in September if anyone cares to come visit me (hint hint). Third, I can make my own hours. In general, I should be here when the core team is, but if I have to I can come in early to leave early… Basically I only report the number of hours I’m here on the honor system… its not monitored as long as I get my work done. Fourth, I can use my laptop for what ever I want for the 3 months I have it… it would appear even on the corporate network. Obviously I won’t abuse such a thing, but I think all of the above is very progressive for a company like Cisco.

This are is absolutely beautiful and the weather here is gorgeous… unfortunately it is a little warm for me to go running. I might have to find a way to work it into my morning schedule or do it late at night. I still haven’t explored much, but from what I’ve seen I don’t think I’ll have to go far to find something interesting.

Archangel / June 19, 2007 / Work, xanga / 0 Comments

Day #1

I promise, I won’t actually do a count down… that would make me as miserable as it would annoy all of you.

Lets get my bitching out of the way first… My car wasn’t done Thursday or Friday as promised. We called Friday morning and they said it would be done between 3 and 5… ok… they never called and no one was there after 5. Called again at 8am Saturday they said it would be done at 9am. Turned the rental in and went to get my car… they found something they didn’t fix… “come back in two hours”. The shop let me us a Dodge Durango for the time being and I went back in 2 hours… then sat there for two hours… At about 1 they brought the car up. I took a look at somethings that needed fixed and found some interesting (read annoying) facts: they didn’t give me a front license plate bracket even though required by state law, they didn’t give me back my front license plate, the fog lights did not function, the gas door wasn’t fixed, and the center console cup holder was broken (not to mention they took everything from the inside of my car and put in a box in my trunk). I gave the car back, took the Durango, and ran some errands. I called the shop around 4 to see if my car was ready, picked it up at 4:30ish. As I tried to drive away, I heard a very disconcerting whine from my steering… Gave the car back again… Turned out to be air in the steering fluid… but how do they try to give a car back with that noise? On my way home I decided to fill my tank so I didn’t have to in the morning (because there was no way I was leaving Saturday now). To the gas station was all left turns… on the way out I had to turn right and discovered the right turn signal didn’t work… I just went home (I fixed it later that night myself as well as realigned the headlights… which they pointed 5 feet in front of the car).

The drive wasn’t bad yesterday. About 40 miles north of Charleston I got stopped in traffic for about 30 minutes (most likely because of an accident) but all told it took me 8.5 hours including one stop to fill up on gas and a bathroom break. The condo (which is much more an apartment than a condo) is decent. The neighborhood seems quiet and I have all the room I need. It is also very close to work so my drive to and from is ok. I am also close to the airport so I won’t have to do a whole lot of prep for Theresa’s visit or my trip north. I had a pretty serious bout of loneliness last night as the realization set in that I knew no one within 60 miles of me (which still isn’t fair because my cousin, while interesting, isn’t really in my sphere of social interest… so we should really say within 250 miles since Jill lives in VA just across the tunnel under the causeway). Talking to Theresa helped a lot… hopefully I can sustain…

So my first day… I left 45 minutes early to make sure I was on time… the drive was about 15 minutes but it took me about 15 to find my building… The overhead map I was given only showed trees (actual satellite photo) and some of the signs weren’t clear. So I was still 15 minutes early… only to find out that the man who was to meet me was going to be 45 minutes late… yippie. That wasn’t too bad though. I met up with him and got my security badge and a tour of our teams facilities… I think I saw close to $1M or better in networking equipment today… it was pretty cool. I’ve been left to myself since about 11:30am… with nothing to do except connect my phone and computer (big plus… they gave me a ThinkPad T60 for the summer). Hopefully they’ll either tell me to go home or do something soon.

Depressing Fact: I’m the only person sitting in my row of cubicles.

Archangel / June 18, 2007 / Personal, Work, xanga / 0 Comments

12-Jun-2007

When the dust has settled and the dark receded… When the torrent has stopped and the waves smoothed into glass… When the lightning goes dim and night sky is crystal clear… what do you think about?

I have had a very interesting four years in college. I’ve experienced more than most in life and academia… perhaps my social life is wanting, but I’m ok with that. Although I’m not graduating, the end of this year seems like the end of a very long chapter in my life… for a lot of reasons. I’m finding it very ironic that I don’t actually care about the grades I earned this quarter even though it is only the second time in college I received a perfect 4.0. That is not to say that I wouldn’t have been disappointed had I gotten a 3.5 or something like that… but my priorities in life are realigning themselves to something entirely new.

My walk with God has changed a lot in the last couple of years. If I had to pick something to thank (or even appreciate) Alex for it would be that. She started me on path that led me to where I am now… maybe not exactly where I should be but I am a lot better off than I was 2 years ago. I find the more I talk to others seriously about how my life has progressed I see that a lot of things couldn’t have happened any other way and that I’m pretty close to where God wants me. For the first time since I can remember, every part of my life (except for money… but w/e) is tranquil and some are excited in a very good way. I don’t have any hidden conflicts, everyone knows the truths they should, and I am ok with myself… which is not something I’ve often been able to say.

I’m leaving for North Carolina in 4 days… I’m a lot better with the idea now. I certainly won’t be happy to be away from Theresa, but I’m not exactly afraid of it either now. Three months isn’t that long and if we aren’t able to cope with that we probably have other issues we haven’t discovered yet. Absence makes the heart grow fonder right? We’ll survive, if not be stronger for it. I’ve also managed to work out a trip back north at the end of July just before I go to Dallas so I can see everyone (Dad, Tara, and Matthew included of course) which makes the internship less daunting.

Update on my car… $2100 in damages. They have to replace all of my front lighting, the front fender, the radiator shield, the right front quarter panel, the right front control arm and most likely both front ball joints, and the right air intake; they have to repair one of the oil lines, the right rear quarter panel, a fair amount of wiring and part of the exhaust… That is all that I can remember just thinking about it and all of that is not considering aesthetic repairs like scratches to the body, rims, and gravel guard… Fortunately I don’t have to pay for any of it and neither does my insurance. The other driver’s insurance took liability for the accident (thank God) saving me a $500 deductible and an increase in insurance rates. I should hopefully have the car back by Friday… if I don’t I get to drive a Pontiac Vibe to NC and figure out later how to get my own car back.

P.S. I went to get suits yesterday for my internship… $600 later I look pretty good in a suit.

Archangel / June 12, 2007 / Personal, Work, xanga / 1 Comment