Sunday, March 26, 2006

Sunday, March 26, 2006

this is why i take classes ...

Posted by Hippobean at 9:47 PM
Wow, so I've been battling with CSS for 2 weeks and then this girl from my class just stepped in and found a solution. And now my class project (L's portfolio) is working on all browsers!!! These students at Foothill are just amazing! Who would spend so much time helping a fellow student? So much energy and enthusiasm in the class and so many talented, intelligent, positive attitude, fun and supportive helpful people that I've never seen. And this is why I take classes! I enjoy the classes soooooo much and feel a bit down when one is nearing its end. The classes are not so much to learn anything new but to meet intelligent students, hoping their energy, intelligence, experience and enthusiasm could rub off on me. This is how I live and get enjoyment from in life. I could only wish my job could be so enjoyable! I learn so much more from fellow students than from the instructors. I didnt think I've actually learned too much from the course material itself as I've learned from the students. Amazing work they produced! Kinda makes one wonder how come they are taking classes where they could be out there making big bucks. And like L said, I just cant figure out how people who dont know anything could get jobs and be out there making tons of money! This world is wacked!

Monday, March 13, 2006

Monday, March 13, 2006

a room with a view ...

Posted by Hippobean at 10:41 PM 0 comments
... of 3 guys. A, our QA, finally showed up to work today and D already got him a to-do list. I think we overwhelmed him a bit. He's used to telecommuting and today I told him the newbie had to take out the garbage every night. He laughed and said 'I bet you're tired of doing it for the whole week!' and I responded 'yeah, and I couldnt wait for you to show up!'. M practically talked him to death and A just took off early. I've discovered today that some girl last year only showed up to work on her first day and they never saw her again! This is indeed a difficult place to get used to. You have to be quite resilient to stick around. So now I'm in a room with 3 guys. And so the group is complete. Let's see how long we'd last ...

Friday, March 10, 2006

Friday, March 10, 2006

the color of the chairs

Posted by Hippobean at 9:04 PM 0 comments
"What color did you pick for your chair, Hip?" Oops, I forgot the color. Our boss told us to look through the Ikea catalog and pick a desk and a chair. All three of us picked the same chair but J decided on a green one and M chose the beige. "I'm sending him an email. Would you like me to tell him what color you want?" asked M. Green is my favorite color so I said I'd go with green. "So, you're gonna side with J!" M said. "And would you feel hurt if I go with green?" I asked. "Well" said M, "I'd be angry but not outwardly, I'd just keep my anger to myself" joked M. So I felt bad. I didnt want M to be angry with me, showing it or not. "Pick whatever color you want Hip" said J. "But I dont want to upset M" I said. "It depends if you care about us or not, if you think we're a friend or what." J said. And I do. I like them both. I've only known them for a week (and J for only 3 days since he only works part-time) but they're both nice guys, easy to get along, funny and helpful and I already like them. So I said "I do care about you. I like you both! and I dont want you guys to think I like one more than the other!" So I've decided to go neutral.

Strange how this turned out to be. I was missing the NAS bunch and felt kinda lonely having only M to content with, even though he really is a very nice guy. But on Wed morning, suddenly J appeared and took my breath away. He's gorgeous! They took me to a nice eatery on campus and I've discovered they went to the same school in Chicago and J got M to come out here to work. They're both very polite young men, nice gentlemen (they open doors for me!), engaging conversationalists and very helpful at work (Java dudes!). We had nice discussions and laughs. J possesses these burning blue eyes that sometimes rest on you in a special way. M is very personable without being annoying, tall, skinny and good looking. I really enjoy sharing the room with them and I feel very comfortable with them. They're both easy going and didnt mind a lot of things. We dont like flourescent lights and so we work in the dark after 5PM (we use halogen lamps instead). But the room has lots of windows and today we hovered by the windows to see the hail pouring down in the faint light. It was quite romantic actually! And today with the chair color episode, I've discovered they could be playful too.

Btw, I decided to go with burgundy!

Friday, March 03, 2006

Friday, March 03, 2006

Last day of Freedom

Posted by Hippobean at 4:35 PM
I knew I was late. I forgot how hard it was to find a parking space in downtown Sunnyvale at lunchtime. My cell rang and it was Lisa wondering where the heck I was. "I'm here, just looking for a parking." I said.

When I came out of Dish Dash after failing to find the group, Harout was there at the door waiting for me. Nice kid, most handsome and with a cheerful personality. He's just transferred to DTS, and who knows, perhaps someday he'd get to take over my messy code and drive DTS to web 3. He loves to script (Mr Scriptor) and will go somewhere in life. It was always pleasant to run into him.

It was another jolt of energy to see the gang again, all sitting around the long table. And then the gifts started coming. Don brought each a box of See's Candies for Lisa and me. We kidnapped his CatBert (hm, now that Lisa cleaned up her desk, where the heck did she hide CatBert?) and demanded chocolate for his safe return. And Don delivered but I'm not so sure now he would get CatBert back! Then we each got a fleece NASA jacket from the group. Oh boy, I went to a shopping spree at the NASA souvenir shop on Tuesday before my discount expired, and I got myself exactly the same jacket! On a last thought, I also grabbed the Shuttle model which I'm planning on displaying on my desk on the new job. Then there were more gifts. Ryan made each one of us an organic cotton T-shirt with the DTS logo (Apple logo with NASA on top). I had wanted one of these T-shirts for a long time and been nagging him to make me one. Now it was a most pleasant surprise to finally get one! But Lisa and I had our own little surprise for everyone.

So we ate and chatted and laughed and insulted each other as usual. Then Lisa brought out the penguins. We spent an entire weekend making Linux penguins with the Apple logo and letters DTS on it, for everyone. That's 15 of them! We wanted something special to remember us by and thought a DTS mascot would be perfect. We donwloaded the pattern from somewhere, and I cut the fabric and she sewed them. Herbert thought we were crazy and Vil just laughed without making any comments. Each penguin came out slightly different which was kinda nice and unique if you ask me. Or you can blame on Hippo's cutting abilities! At one point I've asked Lisa if she could make one that resembled a hippo! Intelligently, she ignored my request! And now the whole gang just burst out laughing at our ingenious idea but really they loved it. I, who is the tiniest and skinniest of all, from all people ended up with a chubby one (my penguin needs to go on a diet!). Next came the name of the DTS mascot. Ryan thought we should use Borg designations: 3 of 12 of DTS of NAS. Yeah, just think of Cath barking: 5 of 12, get over here! Heather said we should use icelandic names like Bjorn and I said Knut sounded more techie. But we should come up with something linux+apple+nas, and since Tux is the Linux penguin, so maybe it should be Tax? Nax? Linax? So we held up our penguins and took a group photograph.

dish dash


When we departed, there was again another round of hugs (and some wont let go!). I'll sure miss this group like no other.

Come Monday, a new life, new people, new work, new place ... and distant memories ...

"wishing I knew when ...
we'll never have to say goodbye again ..."

hippo's linux penguin
Hippo's Linux Penguin
 

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