- Up early, off to the airport.
- Kissed my wife goodbye and headed off to UDS.
- Spent most of the DTW -> PHL flight reading.
- Spent the beginning of the PHL -> FRA flight watching the first episode of HBO’s 24/7 Caps vs. Pens, The Big Bang Theory, and The Simpsons.
- Tried to sleep. Met with little success.
Category: General Nonsense
7 May 2011
- Up and at ’em. Headed to St. Clair Shores for Mother’s Day brunch with the in-laws.
- Brunch was at a nice Italian restaurant beneath a hotel nearby. We were the only customers, not that we were complaining.
- Back to the hotel to take a short nap.
- Got dressed for the wedding and headed over to the ceremony. I tailgated a bit with Mike and Jim as they listened to the Tigers game (their pitcher went on to pitch a near-perfect game) while Emily, Amy, Greg, and Luke explored the park.
- Ceremony was beautiful. Marred only by my uncontrollable laughter at the opening words: “Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today…”
- Much merriment followed the ceremony. Tried to wear myself out for my upcoming travel.
6 May 2011
- Up somewhat early. Stopped at a local donut shop for breakfast.
- Went to a local coffee shop called the Bean and Leaf and worked on the blog, which upon reflection is a very stereotypical thing for a (temporarily) unemployed person to do.
- When Emily was finished we grabbed lunch at a National Coney Island then went to a friend’s house to visit and dote on her babies. One of the twins slept peacefully in my arms until he awoke and realized some strange bozo was holding him.
- From there we headed to Joe Louis Arena to see what turned out to be a very exciting game between the Red Wings and the Sharks. The Wings were down 3-0 in the series, so this was a potential elimination game for them but they managed to survive. After getting up to an impressive 3-0 lead in the first period the Wings let the Sharks chip away until it was all tied up, then miraculously scored the game winner with less than two minutes left in the third. It was an exciting game, and I did my husbandly duty and rooted for the Wings all the way.
And now for something completely different…
As I’m sure many of my very few readers will have heard by now, I’ve made an exciting career move. As of this past Wednesday I am no longer working at Timesys. Starting Monday May 9 I will be an employee of Canonical Ltd., otherwise known as the corporate backer of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. I will be joining the OEM Services team, which helps customize Ubuntu for new hardware, such as tablets and laptops. I’m also very excited to say that my first day will be at UDS in Budapest, Hungary.
I can’t begin to describe how much I’ve enjoyed working with my friends and colleagues at Timesys. I learned more in my three and a half years there than in all my years of schooling. Each member of the engineering team — from the coders to the manager — is a rock star at what he does, which was a little intimidating when I started. But they all helped me find my place on the team, and each helped me to become a better programmer and engineer.
I will be working from Canonical’s Pittsburgh headquarters (a.k.a. my house). I will miss commuting to downtown every day, and seeing these folks who have become my friends. I will also miss the wonderful lunch options that Downtown Pittsburgh has to offer (though I suspect my waistline won’t). I will be sure to visit Timesys from time to time to drink their beer, and I will even consider the CEO’s offer to let me rent my old cube. 😉
In the meantime I want to wish everyone at Timesys the best of luck, and hope that they show enough respect to at least wait until Monday to raid my desk.
5 May 2011
- Up early; hopped in the car on the way to Rochester, MI; a suburb of Detroit. Some friends of ours are getting married on Saturday and Emily is one of the readers.
- Showed up early for the rehearsal. The park where the wedding is being held is beautiful.
- Rehearsal dinner was at the Rochester Mills Beer Company. I’m a sucker for local breweries and there seems to be no shortage in Michigan. The black IPA and porter at this place were lovely. They had a very interesting array of pizzas as well.
- After dinner took a walk around the town with Emily. The town itself reminds us a bit of Mt. Lebanon back home, with little shops along the main drag.
4 May 2011
- Up early; last day at Timesys. Hopped on the bus one last time.
- Bought bagels for the office as an explicit bribe that they might remember me fondly. I hope it worked.
- Due to inclement weather we ordered in from Chinatown Inn for my going-away lunch. Delicious food and interesting conversation. My (now former) boss told me to go screw myself. Good times.
- Cleaned up my workstation and tarred up my various configuration files (git, vim, bash, etc.). I think the intern is inheriting both my computer and my seat.
- Happy hour at the Sharp Edge Bistro with Justin, Andy, Ian, Tony, and Ed (a.k.a. Former Boss). More good times as I said my farewells.
- Home for a quick dinner with Emily then lots of packing.
3 May 2011
- Up early but it didn’t matter since my bus had a flat. Eventually made it to work.
- Got all of my projects either wrapped up or in a good state to pass on. Justin seemed excited about taking over maintenance of the audio driver.
- Lunch at India Palace. Delighted to find gulab jamuns set out for dessert.
- Home then off to guitar lesson. Learned some 12-bar blues riffs. Let the instructor know that I’ll be out of town next week.
2 May 2011
- Up and off to work. Only a couple of days left.
- Still no word from customer about memory leak. Perhaps they solved it on their own?
- Started redding up my desk. It’s amazing how much crap one can accumulate on one’s desk in three and a half years.
- A bit unsure of my feelings regarding the death of Osama bin Laden. He was a mass-murderer of the highest degree, but it does feel weird to celebrate someone’s death. I guess my feelings can best be described as relief that the man who orchestrated the deaths of so many has seen some measure of justice done. However the partying in the streets of New York and Washington, D.C. are a little too reminiscent of scenes I saw in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries in September of 2001.
1 May 2011
- Up late, but still managed to get over to Art All Night at the old Pittsburgh Brewing building in time to see Andy’s show with the Electric Situation. This breaks a long-standing “curse” in which I was never free when they played. Also there was art.
- Brunch at Dozen in Lawrenceville followed by a walk in the rain up and down Butler Street. We were hoping to visit Backstage Guitars but they were closed. A simple web search would have told us that but it was somehow refreshing to find out the old-fashioned way.
- Home for a mostly lazy day of cleaning the basement and setting up my new work laptop.
30 April 2011
- Up early (for me). Got a much-needed haircut.
- Inducted into the Order of the Engineer. This is something I’ve wanted to do since I finished my bachelor’s degree (I missed the deadline at the time). It’s also something I feel very strongly about. While I may not be designing bridges I still feel that as an engineer I should be using my skills to help people as much as possible.
- After the ceremony my parents took Emily and me out to lunch at Joe Mama’s in Oakland. Haven’t been there in years, but it hadn’t changed at all either.
- Went to see Lewis Black at Heinz Hall. He’s as angry as ever. His bit about asking an inanimate object where to get sushi had me rolling on the floor (or would have if the seats weren’t so tightly packed in there).