Spent much of the day dealing with some new-job-related administrivia I’d been putting off. Health insurance, 401k, etc. Finally got it straightened out.
Also submitted feedback on the training materials. Impressed by how quickly my comments were addressed.
Spent the rest of the day attempting to reproduce a certain software configuration from a previous project. The mechanics are easy. The more challenging aspect is coming up with useful and interesting test cases.
Walked to Giant Eagle after work to get some exercise and some groceries. This could be a good habit to get into.
Short call with manager and mentor to get me rolling on a new project. My current task is to try to duplicate some software shenanigans from a previous project and document how to do it for posterity.
Final guitar lesson of the season. Rehashed some 12-bar blues and boogie-woogie. A few minutes of one-on-one time with the instructor to go over Jeffrey Gaines’ version of “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. Pretty interesting cover, and much easier to play than the original.
Rode in the 2011 Pedal Pittsburgh event. 15-miles this time, as Emily’s dad joined us. Tour took us through Downtown, the North Side, the Strip District and the South Side. Great fun and a tasty burger at the end.
Up somewhat late. Managed to miss shelves being installed in the cellar under the porch.
Lunch at Smallman St. Deli with the in-laws. One of Emily’s friends from high school was there… he’s going to be spending some time at CMU and was in town scouting living quarters.
The Smallman St. Deli Rachael is a modern marvel.
Stopped at Lowe’s to pick up some poison-ivy poison and a storage box for the porch. I put together the storage box while my father-in-law installed a partition on the lower deck — precursor to an eventual hammock situation.
Dinner on the deck. Grilled flank steak and vegetables. Wonderful food, wonderful times.
Saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Pretty entertaining and better than the last two but still not as awesome as the first.
Went grocery shopping during my lunch break. Unexpected advantage of working from home is opportunities like this. Got in a little exercise walking to and from the store and got to shop during a relatively uncrowded time.
After work went out with Emily, Greg, and Jim to dinner at Stonepepper’s Grill then to see Thor. The movie was definitely entertaining but it didn’t quite have the magic of the first Iron Man. I did like the cheesy overacting style that seems to crop up any time Kenneth Branagh is involved.
More training. Getting more deeply engrossed in the new build system. Coworkers on IRC are very helpful in determining when I’m wrong vs. when the documentation is wrong.
Watched The Brothers Bloom from Netflix with Emily. Great story and phenomenal acting. How did I not hear about this movie earlier?
Training continues. Have to unlearn most of my habits from my previous job and relearn them for this one. Lots of packaging-related stuff to absorb. Concepts behind build system are the same, but details are completely different.
Off to guitar lesson. Mostly review, which is nice since I was out of town for last week’s. Some ensemble playing which is particularly challenging for beginners.
Up early; first day of “real” work for Canonical. Long commute from bed to living room. Could get used to this.
Began engineering training. Apparently training docs haven’t been updated in a while and some processes have changed. Now I get to update the docs as I’m learning from them. More fun than just going through them mindlessly I suppose.
Spent the evening goofing around on the computer. Still shaking off the last bits of jet-lag.
