February 28, 2005 The Wrong Way It's 6:45AM. What's wrong with this picture? Yes, the windshield needs cleaning. That's not it. And I shouldn't be taking pictures from a moving car, but that's not it, either. Nobody should have to be awake and driving at 6:45AM, but that's not the reason I took the picture. This will probably only make sense to those of you who live in the Boston area and know what my commute is like. That's the Charles River. Across from it is Boston. The sun is rising in the East. So obviously the road I'm on is Memorial Drive. East. At 6:45AM. If you know where I commute from, you'll know that I have no business being on Memorial Drive, going East at 6:45AM. At that time, I should be on Rte. 28 in Somerville, or (if there's traffic) 93 South somewhere around Medford. But nope; I'm in Cambridge, coming from Route 2 East, which is off of 95 South, which is a hell of a long way away from where I should be. I thought I had everything perfectly set up for my morning. I'd packed my work clothes in my gym bag carefully (I tend to forget to pack a belt and have to go with the "untucked" look for the day) and laid out my work clothes neatly the night before. I had also packed a lunch and put my computer bag next to it so that I wouldn't forget it. When the alarm went off just before 6AM, I jumped out of bed, got my gym clothes on, stepped over two sleeping dogs, brushed my teeth, gathered up all my bags, and headed out the door. There was very little traffic on the road. I put Painted Pictures by Grey Eye Glances in the CD player and sang sleepily along with it as I drove... ...right past the exit for 93 South. Right past the Washington St. exit, and the Woburn Cinema, and it wasn't until I passed by the Burlington Mall that I realized I was still heading South on Rte 95. Crap! I had two choices: turn around and get back on 93 or keep going, head East on Rte 2, and make my way down Memorial Drive. It was a risk either way - 95 North at that time of morning is pretty packed, but Rte 2 can be a bear, especially with all the rotaries. I chose to keep moving forward, and my instincts proved to be pretty good. There was very little traffic on Rte 2, and Memorial Drive was pretty clear. Still, the roundabout way I went to work today added about 20 minutes to my drive, and I had to rush through my workout. I was hoping for another 4 miles on the treadmill, but I only had a short time to run, so I bumped up the speed and got 2.5 miles out. I quickly showered, shaved, and dressed, to arrive only about 15 minutes late for work. Usually, I'm early or right on time for work, so I felt incredibly embarassed by the fact that I was late, especially since Dan was already in, as were all my other co-workers. Usually, I can count on at least one of them coming in fairly late, but I was the only culprit this time. I dutifully noted it on my "achievements and development" spreadsheet (I'm all about documentation these days), and only took a 45-minute lunch, because I'm a good employee. Still, I think I really need a lot more sleep than I'm getting, or else I have to start taking Aricept right now, because a mistake like that is really inconvenient. Then again, another winter storm was predicted for today, so maybe it was an unconscious decision on my part. If I'd stayed on 95 South, I'd eventually have ended up in Florida, where I could bask in warmth and have some fresh-squeezed orange juice. Maybe I'll just let the car take me where it wants to next time. Might be more interesting, wherever that is. A couple of days ago, Jette suggested I buy a digital audio recorder to help me with my writing. I thought that was a fine idea, as it would also help me with my acting; I could listen to the way I sound, rather than relying on the impression I get from hearing my own voice in my head. I looked online for the one she mentioned, and found it, then decided to comparison shop. I typed in "digital voice recorder, and found this: It's the Griffin iTalk. Just 39 bucks, which is quite a deal. It's gotten some pretty good reviews, and the guy at the store recommended it to me. It can record for a longer time than the recorder I was looking at, as well as store many more songs, if I wanted to rip some MP3s. Of course, the iTalk only works if it's attached to: This. Yeah, despite all my protests that I didn't need one, I realized that it would be silly for me to purchase a product exclusively for voice recording, when I could get something comparable which was also the most popular music product on the market. And when I think about it, it makes total sense. I can use the iPod as a recorder when I need it, and I can also use it as an MP3 player when I'm running or doing weights. It'll also come in handy for longer car trips, and will be a great way of organizing all the one-hit wonder songs I love so desperately. Of course, I shouldn't have bought it. I've used what I was going to spend of my bonus and tax refund on the laptop and the camera. However, a financial institution (let's call them Capital Two) has seen fit to give me a second chance on credit, and I got my new card in the mail a couple of days ago. I plan to pay this off in two installments, one for each coming paycheck, so that I'll show a history of purchases, just a little interest, and the ability to pay off an outstanding debt. Considering that Capital Two is the reason my credit score is still pretty weak, I think it's a good idea to build up credit as much as I can, and I've heard that having an ongoing line of revolving credit that is used and paid on a regular basis is a good way of doing that. I do have two other credit cards which are completely empty right now, but they've been used fairly consistently, especially through Christmas. So, while I'm not planning on a spending spree anytime soon (though digital video cameras are looking quite attractive, now that I'm in tech-geek land), it's good to be able to show that I can use credit wisely and have a really cool gadget at the same time. I'm never going to fill up the whole iPod, though. I just don't listen to enough music. Of course, if Retro-Active (my cable music channel of choice) had a download site, I'd probably be heading to the Apple Store next week, looking for the 60-gig version of the iPod. Just after my big impulse buy, I had a meeting with the woman who is in charge of the admins in the Consulting Company. Why isn't this a hidden entry, or in the source file? Well, I figure if Dan has enough interest in me to look at my personal website, then he's welcome to the information. Besides, I haven't exactly made it a big secret that I'm doing a little bit of window-shopping. At any rate, Christy and I got together today, and she asked me why I was looking at admin positions. I told her that I've done lots of administrative work before, and that I'm very good at it. Also, that I'm looking for better hours, and though Dan has offered me those hours, it would look like a backwards move rather than a lateral move. She understood, asked me about my admin experience, and then told me about a really exciting opportunity that hasn't been made official yet (they don't know if the job title will be approved or not), so I can't say much about it, except that it would involve a lot of projects, a lot of research, and wouldn't be your "typical" admin position (at least in Consulting Company terms, which means lots of scheduling and travel arrangements and the like). Christy and I left it with excitement on both ends, and she promised me that she would call the woman who would be my boss should I get the job right away. By the time I got up to my desk, there was an e-mail from Christy, saying that [the boss] is very excited to talk with me soon, though there may be a bit of a wait before the position becomes solidified. Heck, the fact that anyone might be "excited" about interviewing me is pretty damned flattering. We had another interview today, this time with someone who was very impressive. He had a portfolio of his PowerPoint work and everything! I haven't been able to see his test yet, since I now use my new laptop (which doesn't have the office connection on it), but the night supervisor seemed impressed, and we've been on the same wavelength since we started interviewing together. I hope it went well, because I really liked this guy's energy. He was very interested in the job, asked a lot of informed questions, and has a good reason for wanting to work nights (he's going to school during the daytime). He has a laid-back personality and is bilingual. Very good candidate. We have more interviews scheduled for Wednesday (another day off that I'll be going in to work...joy!), and hopefully, we'll have a pool of candidates to choose from after that. I'd like to get someone new started soon, because it's really picking up in the department (despite this past weekend's incredible slowness). I had called Laurie to see if she wanted to grab dinner before the snow hit tonight, and she agreed, but just before I left work, she IMed me, asking if it was okay if she bagged out. I told her that was fine, and went to the grocery store to buy something I could heat up for dinner. It's always a bad idea to shop for food when you're hungry. I bought dinner food (chicken tenders and macaroni 'n' cheese), but I also bought some cookies, some frozen crab rangoons (which will either be really good or terrible), soda, graham crackers, and Nutella. I'm eating the Nutella as I write this. It's the first time I've had it since I visited Melissa many years ago. I'm having it on toast, but I wonder how else to serve it. Any ideas would be appreciated. On the way home from shopping, I decided that I didn't want to "cook" (if microwaving and toaster-ovening can be considered "cooking"), so I stopped by McDonald's and bought myself some junk food. It's troubling, how I can be so good with food during the day, but it all goes straight to hell as soon as night falls. I ran a quick errand and then went home, where Mom and I watched really bad television until The Fabulous Robert called. He's finally over being sick, and we chatted for awhile before he went to bed. We made some plans to go on a road trip to Northampton in a couple of weeks after he gets out of work, and non-specific plans to have lunch in the new, funky building that was recently built where he works. It's really nice, having a male friend who calls. I know that sounds sad, but unless I've been dating someone, most of my male friends don't call at all. Not that I have many male friends in the first place (as my long-distance friend Eric pointed out). I do get along much better with women, but there are times when I want to hang around with another man. And luckily for me, Robert (despite his unbelievably hectic schedule) seems to want to hang around with me! Fabulous! I'm not going to subject you to any of my "artistic" experiments with the digital camera on this page, but if you want to see what I've been doing with my "using only available light at night" theme, you can go here and see some stuf that I've snapped. It's more of the same stuff; mostly blurry (I do need a tripod) and pretty pedestrian, but I'm having fun, and I figure it's my site, I can post whatever I want to. Of course, I won't be able to post anything if I don't close this up now, so I'll close for tonight. It looks like tomorrow is going to be yet another adventure in snowblowing! Whoo!