I'm Really Moving

It's starting to hit home.

All our boxes have been sorted through, culled of things we don't need anymore, and packed back up. The movers come tomorrow morning to steal all our stuff away. Tomorrow night, we'll camp out in our bedroom on the floor, with air mattresses and sleeping bags. Saturday, we'll do the move-out walkthrough with the landlord, then pick up Forrest's dad, Dennis, from the airport. (He's helping us finish clean up and drive our two cars down.)

All this means, we're really leaving Seattle. I've been here since April 2007, and I've really come to like the area here. I've made some good friends, whom I'll miss. So far, I've been busy with the logistical details of the move, which are concrete and unemotional steps. But now that the busywork is trailing off, the Sad is starting to creep in.

I wish I was relocating because I wanted to, rather than because work said "move or quit" (to both of us, of course, which made it crazy for us to both quit at the same time — we learned our lesson on that one last year). But there are certainly worse places to live than California, even the South Bay. And there are worse things than working for Google, even if they are a big company.

On the other hand, I've come to believe it's better, emotionally, to admit when you feel contradictory things. So I'm super excited to have been hired into Google, even if it was "only" through an acquisition. I'm excited about the many opportunities there (offices in Europe? yes please!). I'm very grateful for my salary and generous benefits, which make day-to-day financials not stressful. But I'm sad to have to leave Seattle for the South Bay. And I'm sad to no longer be part of a tight-knit startup.

All in all, though, this will probably be a net-positive experience. Maybe it will only be a "learning experience." Maybe we'll both find the right niche for us that feels a little more like a startup within the large company. Either way, it's not like this is going to send our life spiraling downward; far from it. I guess it's that I was comfortable doing startups in Seattle, and change is always somewhat disruptive and emotional.

Here's to embracing change and making the most of it.

Health, Happiness, and Hochdeutsch

Resolutions, Goals, Rules, Whatever

It's a new month, which is the new New Year. At the suggestion of a friend, I'm trying out HealthMonth for tracking weekly goals. Nothing too surprising here:

• Exercise for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week
• Stay under my calorie limit at least 6 days a week
• Track your meals at least 6 days a week
• Write or journal every day (blogging counts)
• Study German at least 4 days a week

I had been using Lose It to track my calories and eat more consciously, but I haven't logged in for a month or two now. So I started up again, to support my HealthMonth goals. HealthMonth uses gamification — points and teams — to encourage you. End of day 1 is looking pretty good. :)

Moving Back to California

So pretty much everyone who knows me in real life already knows this, but this month Forrest and I are moving back to California. When the startup we worked for was acquired by Google, moving to their headquarters in Mountain View was one of the conditions. So February 18th, we're packing up all our stuff and heading back to the Bay Area.

I've lived in Seattle since 2007, and we both really like the area. We had always strongly considered moving back to California... some day. We're not especially happy that we're being forced to move back sooner than we wanted to, however. (Despite great benefits and good pay. I know, I know, it's not really a horrible situation. I'm lucky that this is what I have to complain about. I get that.)

Neither of us like the sprawl of the South Bay, where you have to drive to get anywhere. We are definitely going to miss our apartment in Fremont, where we can walk everywhere or hop on a super-convenient bus. So rather than settle for some expensive, small apartment in some crappy, sprawling suburbia, we found ourselves a cool rental house 8 minutes above Los Gatos. (Note: There's a Borders in Los Gatos! Alas, they may soon be filing for bankruptcy...)

The house is this 150-home community in the middle of the redwoods of the Santa Cruz mountains. It's about as big as our old rental on Dexter Ave, except it has a second bedroom instead of a weird office/walkthrough area. The yard is pretty small, but big enough for chickens! I'm really quite excited about keeping a small flock of chickens. Number and breed TBD. Apart from the yard, there's a small deck between the bedroom's back door and said yard, and then there's a much larger deck off of the living room and kitchen. There is a wood-burning stove in the living room, and a pot belly stove on the large deck. All in all, I think we'll like it there — it will definitely be a nice daily break from the South Bay sprawl.

No, we don't have a date yet

Forrest and I are still engaged and still planning to get married in California this year. We've been holding off on setting a date, because we were waiting until we had moved to California. It's difficult to get a good sense of venues solely based on their websites — they tend to portray only their best side, y'know? And since venue will be the determining factor for specific dates, that's just going to have to wait a little bit longer.

Starting to Learn German

My sister Lisa foolishly said in my hearing, "I want to learn German." You should not say you want to learn a language in front of me. My response: "Orly? Let's!"

Turns out, she was actually serious. She's got some good motivation, since her boyfriend speaks German. We had some snafus with studying together remotely, however, so for now we're studying independently.

Ich nicht spreche Deutsch jetzt, aber ich studiere es. Ich lese deutsche Tweet, und ich höre ein Podcast bei Deutsche Welle.

Omg I'm a Googler!

Social Gold + Google! Jambool + Google!
...Jamboogle?

Champagne! Excitement! Ponies! It's public!

I joined Jambool back in December. Today, we've officially been acquired by Google! It's been crazy-distracting keeping up work as usual while having the acquisition process going on. So much uncertainty and changes going on. And when the story leaked on TechCrunch this Monday, we had to fend off our techie friends' questions with "no comment" until the deal closed today. Now I can finally explain in detail what's going on!

Champagne Post-Acquistion

For the most part, I'm excited. The benefits sound awesome (free meals! subsidized massages!). It will be very interesting to be part of Google and see how things work there. From what I've heard, they're a very developer-centric culture, which will be interesting to see in a big corporate context (rather than a startup context, where it's hard to be anything but). Retention bonus handcuffs are very shiny, too. ;)

But there are some downsides; almost nothing is 100% good, eh? It is a big company, so I'll be going back to that environment. Also, we're being asked to relocate to Mountain View within 6 months. I like it here in Seattle — I have friends here, and I actually like the weather. :P Also, I'm not so crazy about the suburban sprawl that is the South Bay. But que será, será.

say "We just got acquired by Google" &&
SKIP_HOSTFINDER=1 cap production deploy

All things considered, I'm super excited about this new phase of my (ex-)Jambool career. :)

So my schedule for the next two weeks is hectic: partying today ;), flying to Mountain View for week-long orientation & training, flying back to Seattle to settle into the Fremont office, then flying to Hawaii(!!) for a long weekend celebration with the Jamboolers. Life's tough around here.

Recovered; Still Engaged; Moved; Aunty C

English:

It's been so long since I've written! First, I'm completely recuperated from my surgery. I'm very, very happy that my stupid, broken gallbladder is no longer attacking me. :) I can eat whatever I want now and I don't have to be afraid of it hurting.

On the topic of weddings, we are still engaged and we still don't have a more concrete date than "some time in 2011." We continue not-planning. ;)

We moved from our rented house to an apartment in the Fremont neighborhood. Packing our boxes and bags and everything was an epic disaster that lasted for 2 or 3 weeks. And now in the apartment, we still have the majority of our things in boxes. At least the boxes are only in one room of the apartment and we can use the rest. There are photos on Flickr.

Other news... Forrest has a full-time job at Jambool as an engineer! Yes, you read that right, he's working with me at the same company.

And in other, sadder, news, I attended the memorial service for my Aunty C, who died this past winter. She was 96 years old, was always feeling bad, and it was simply her time to go. Her family meet on Mount Diablo to scatter her ashes.

Spanish:

¡Tanto tiempo que no he escrito aquí! Primero, estoy completamente recuperada de mi cirugía. Estoy muy, muy contenta que ya no me ataque mi estúpida vesícula biliar rota. :) Puedo comer lo que quiero ahora y no tengo miedo de que me duela.

De la tema de bodas, todavía estamos prometidos y todavía no tenemos una fecha más concreto como "algún tiempo en 2011." Sigamos no-planeando. ;)

Nos mudamos desde nuestra casa alquilada hacia un apartamento en el barrio de Fremont. El hacer de las maletas y cajas y bolsas y todo era un desastre "épico" que prolongó atrás 2 o 3 semanas. Y ahora en el apartamento, todavía tenemos la mayoría de nuestras cosas en cajas. Al menos las cajas están en sólo un cuarto del apartamento y podemos usar los demás. Hay fotos en Flickr.

Otras noticias... ¡Forrest tiene un trabajo a jornada completa en Jambool como ingeniero! Sí, lo lees correcto, él trabaja conmigo en la misma empresa.

Y hablando en otras cosas, cosas más tristes, asistí a las honras fúnebres para mi Tía Cita, quien murío el invierno pasado. Ella tenía 96 años, siempre sentía mal, y simplemente le llegó la hora. La familia de mi tía reunimos en el Monte Diablo para esparcir sus cenizas.

First Day of Work, Again (Israesisat a Lhi)

(Backdated post...)

English:

I worked my first day. I had no company computer. Even so, I am happy. Will they be my friends?

Lhenazi:

Zame a kesath a ir rae ateilh. Ekamioter mozreshata one uan ateilh. Lhikei zrazo atei. Amaizorei isemei ia aikeish?

Explanation:

I worked my first day.

Zame a kesath a ir rae ateilh.

work that day that one at I-did

I had no company computer.

Ekamioter mozreshata one uan ateilh.

computer of-company have not I-did

Even so, I am happy.

Lhikei zrazo atei.

am-happy even-so I

Will they be my friends?

Amaizorei isemei ia aikeish?

my-friends become yes/no they

Words like this were coined for this entry; words like this demonstrate new grammar needed for this entry. See my website for more information about Lhenazi.

Jambool It Is (Israesisat a Ne)

English:

The second company said they're not giving me an offer. I will work for Jambool. I will work soon, tomorrow!

Writing numbered journal entries creates many numbers! One, two... What will the next number be? I will know soon!

Lhenazi:

Noke zreshatalh a ne zame-anen oan a-one atei. Zamei a Shamol-rae ateish. Zamei a some, a kesath ash shate, ateish!

Kazeme ainisraesisat a trimeta-one teze ox aitrimetan. Ir, ne... Thai-zre sia trimeta ash shate? Ilhei a some ateish!

Explanation:

The second company said they're not giving me an offer.

Noke zreshatalh a ne zame-anen oan a-one atei.

says company-did that two work-giving not that-have me

I will work for Jambool.

Zamei a Shamol-rae ateish.

work that Jambool-at I-will

I will work soon, tomorrow!

Zamei a some, a kesath ash shate, ateish!

work that near, that day that will come, I-will!

Writing numbered journal entries creates many numbers.

Kazeme ainisraesisat a trimeta-one teze ox aitrimetan.

creates journal-pieces that number-has writing many numbers

One, two...

Ir, ne...

What will the next number be?

Thai-zre sia trimeta ash shate?

what-is what number that-will come

I will know soon!

Ilhei a some ateish!

know that near I-will

Words like this were coined for this entry; words like this demonstrate new grammar needed for this entry. See my website for more information about Lhenazi.

Another Job Offer!

This time around, I was unemployed for only a little over 2 weeks. Booyah! I haven't officially accepted the offer yet because I haven't officially received all the numbers in writing. But I expect everything will look reasonable and I'll have a shiny new job ASAP. :D

That's all for today's blog post!

...

...with whom, you ask? Oh, right. Good question. ;) The company's called Jambool, located in Seattle's Pioneer Square. Their primary product is Social Gold, which is a payments platform that game developers can use for virtual currencies used in-game, bought with real money. Many of their merchant-clients are Facebook games, but they also support other web (and Flash) apps.

Speaking of Facebook... I had noticed while researching the company that their Social Gold app page had horrible reviews. I was really concerned about it, and it was the first question I asked them today during my on-site interview. Their explanation is this: Social Gold is just the payment platform; if the game that uses Social Gold doesn't do the right thing (either through bugs or fraud), then Jambool can't help that. That seems true, on the one hand, although on the other I'd like to see some kind of response to that effect — "Sorry for your bad experience! But you need to contact the game company if they didn't give you the points you bought through us." It's a bad user experience to vent about getting "ripped off" and no one from the company even comments on it.

The second comment Jambool folks had to say about this was that they were looking to hire someone to actually have the time to respond to these comments and concerns. ;) So it's not as great a situation as if they'd never had the bad reviews on the Facebook app page, but neither does Jambool seem to be fraudsters themselves.

Anyhow! I should be getting hard details tomorrow morning, and unless something is really off in the offer, I'll probably be starting work again soon!

No Job For You!

November 12th was my one-month "anniversary" of my new job. The board members controlling the company decided that it would be a good time for a 50% "reduction in workforce." Extreme suxor. They reduced staff from ~20 to 11. There is no more HR, and all other positions lost any "redundant" folk. As the second developer, I was obviously the one let go.

They let us know Thursday that our last day would be... Thursday. Ouch. At least they're extending my medical benefits through the end of the year rather than the end of the month...

So yeah. This is officially ridiculous. I'm looking for a new job after just one month. *sigh*.

New Job!

So I am very belatedly (and back-dated-ly) writing about my new job. No more unemployment! Yay! :)

Two weeks ago, I started my new job at Recruiting.com (formerly known as Jobster). We work on making software to help recruiters find and track candidates, with a focus on easy-of-use, which I particularly like. The company is like 20 people total, and the dev department consists of the product manager, the QA lead (who manages the remote QA team), the graphic designer / basic front-end programmer, the lead dev, and me. That's the entire dev team. It's pretty awesome to have the potential for really mattering to the team and the product.

No one's griping off to the side about how things suck around here. My manager is very much a peer that I feel comfortable with, not some parental-acting figure that hasn't kept up with the latest technologies.

The Office

So far as I can tell, the people are pretty fun, too. Lots of joking around and generally being relaxed.

Not to mention I got a raise compared with my old job at Microsoft (although probably not if you factor in differences in benefits, but still...). I also have a "window office," or rather a view of Puget Sound from my desk. We have "professional development" every Thursday at noon, by which I mean we all eat pizza while watching The Office. ;) We have wine and Rock Band on Fridays. When the weather's nice, we grill out on our balcony overlooking the Sound. It's pretty awesome, really. :P

So I think I made the right decision for myself. I definitely feel less stressed and more happy. All in all, good times. :)

An Offer!

I'm really lucky that there's no web cam in my living room. Otherwise, everyone would have seen me doing an exceptionally silly-looking Happy Dance. In lobster pajama pants and a dust ruffle, no less. ;)

Hot on the heels of my last blog post talking about all the interviewing I did, I just got a call from my recruiter that the startup wants to extend me a job offer! So now, even if Amazon and Google don't give me an offer, I will have a job. So awesome!

One "wallows" in self-pity; on the other hand, what does one do with being pleased with oneself? I'm not sure, so I guess I'll have to just go wallow in it. :)

Forrest, Interviews, & LoCoWriMo

Forrest is Back!

Well, back in cell phone contact with the rest of the world, anyway. I pick him up tomorrow at the airport; so excited! I haven't seen him in nearly a month now. He says he had a good time, but I haven't heard all the interesting details of his trip yet.

Interviews

Last week, I did an in-person interview with Jerry's team at Amazon, another in-person interview with a startup in Seattle, and a phone screen with Google. I never know how to judge whether the interviews went well; my feelings about them don't seem to correlate well with offer vs no-offer. So I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Amazon is having its team debrief meeting late this afternoon, so I should hear back from them by end of week. The startup is finishing up its interviews of all its scheduled candidate interviews today as well — two days ago I was still on their "short list" of picks. I should hear back from them, one way or another, soon too.

And I finally passed Google's phone screen! (I had done a phone interview just before graduating college, and they weren't interesting in moving forward then.) I have an in-person interview with Google this Friday. I should probably get over my "not good enough for Google" feelings if I want to do well on their interview, eh? ;)

LoCoWriMo

Finally, you may have noticed a new progress bar in my blog's sidebar, just above my "NaNoWriMo participant" badge.

In addition to November's NaNoWriMo, where a bunch of ambitious/crazy internet folk try to write a 50,000-word novel(la) in a month, I'm also doing LoCoWriMo, where a bunch of ambitious/crazy conlanger folk try to write an original story completely in their respective conlangs in a month.

Because each person's conlang is at different levels of development and completeness, we each have a personalized word count goal. I timed myself at around 100 words per hours in Asha'ille, so my goal for October is 6000 words. If it turns out that, with practice, I start writing significantly faster, then I'll increase my word count goal.

At the stroke of midnight, I'm going to write as much as I can. That should give me some "buffer" slack-off time for the first couple days that Forrest is back in town.

Track my progress with the progress bar! :)

No Amazon Offer

My Daily Stats

Exercise	Food	Spanish	Writing	Conlanging
Steps	Calories	Time	Words	Activities
15,900	1730	Pandora station (1-2 hours)	–	Lhenazi font & keyboard layout

So 2 weeks after my last interview with Amazon, I finally heard back, and it's a no-go. :( I'll continue my search elsewhere. *sigh*

I Quit! :D

I turned in my letter (rather, email) of resignation today. Man, do I feel so much happier! I've been pretty gloomy, moody, and irritable lately. I apologize for bringing anyone else down while I've wrestled with being unhappy at work. But next Thursday is my last day. Woohoo!

Okay, so it's also really freakin' scary, since I don't already have a job lined up and Forrest's still unemployed. Scary situation. But I've been increasingly unhappy at work for a year now. My mom and HR both commented that the headache-that-would-not-die could very well be stress-induced. The doctor said it wasn't impossible to be stress-related, though it's hard to prove that causal relationship in any given case. All I can say is that it finally cleared up over the weekend, after I started really believing I was going to quit work. And I do have some savings to pay bills for a while yet...

I feel positively giddy right now. I know it will wear off and the creeping fear of uncertainty will pop up, but right now I'm going with the happy.

Unintentionally funny: I logged in to Microsoft's internal Health & Wellness site to look up some benefit info. The top headline on the site was "Quit for Life Today!" Don't mind if I do! :)

Let's end this post with some links:

• Top 10 signs you're unhappy at work
• Find your quitting point
• Top 10 bad excuses for staying in a bad job

Songsmith Ad: Must Been Heard to Be Believed

Ahhh, Microsoft. You make such great software, and ads to sell them! I like Videogun's commentary on the terrrrific ad for Songsmith:

“ [T]his REAL commercial for Microsoft's new Songsmith software (you sing at it and it creates horrible musak to accompany you) is completely insane. Not only is it apparently earnest and not a parody, self- or otherwise, it seems like it comes from a bizarro parallel universe where irony was never discovered. ”

See for yourself. Don't forget to turn up the speakers! ;)

Update: Forrest points out that this is from Microsoft Research, not the commercial arm of Microsoft. Still, the Cheese Factor is just to much for me. :P

Work Motivation, or Lack Thereof

So if you search for what employers can do to increase employee motivation, you'll get a list that includes:

• money
• opportunity for growth
• leadership opportunities
• responsibility
• recognition of performance

Why do so few of the search results for work motivation talk about what I feel is a key motivational factor? Namely, giving a shit about the thing you're working on.

Feeling like the product you're working on is subpar and not likely to improve is a real drain on motivation. :(

I don't want to talk with people about what I work on. If they're not familiar with it, I have no reasons to recommend that they learn about it or try it. If they are familiar with it, I have to agree with all their complaints about it and then some.

I need to work on a different product...

Starting at Microsoft

Yesterday was my first day at Microsoft as a fulltime SDE (that's Software Design Engineer, if you don't know your Microsoft alphabet soup). The first day and a half is devoted to NEO: New Employee Orientation. Lots of videos and talking and going over the thick packets of information we were given.

I haven't been able to get in touch with my manager yet. I tried calling yesterday at the end of the day, but he didn't pick up and I just assumed he had gone home. No big deal. I called again today (during the lunch break in our orientaion, which I'm also using to write this post) and again he didn't pick up. This time I left a message, and in any case I'm heading over to his office after orientation. He will not evade me forever. :)

From chatting with my fellow new-hires, it's been nice to see that I'm not the only one who's really vague on what, exactly, I'll be doing on my team. :P But I should be finding that out later today, so it's all good.

Unfortunately, there are only two computers here with internet access for us to use during this hour-long break, and someone's just showed up to stand in line behind me, so I'd better go find some other way to pass the time. :)

Last Day at BillMonk & Obopay

It was fun times at BillMonk, but things change and today was my last day working for Obopay (BillMonk's parent company). Eric, Gaurav, and I (the remaining BillMonkers) met up with Chuck, Christina, and Josh (the former BillMonkers, minus Scott who couldn't make it) for a final farewell lunch at a yummy Thai-ish restaurant. It was good to see everyone again.

I hope I'll continue to see them all, since I consider them friends as well as (former) coworkers.

As for BillMonk, I'll be staying on the Obopay payroll as an independent consultant to keep the site up and running.

This post is backdated; it was actually written on January 23, 2008.

Visiting Family & Obopay

I'm stopping by my apartment to pick up some last-minute almost-forgotten items, then I'm driving down to the SeaTac airport. I'm visiting my family this weekend (the Squirts will both be back from college for the weekend), then doing a big meet-n-greet with the Obopay folks down in Redwood City.

So that's what I'm up to for the next couple days. :)

Interview Trip Update

Current status: two companies's "hire/no hire" decisions pending, one interview left to do, and one offer! As if I didn't already like BillMonk this much. :) Just a verbal offer right now and details may vary depending on how soon I can start, but the offer letter's forthcoming. Wootles!

(And here's me being embarrassed if the BillMonks actually know about my blog here and see me [virtually, anyway] hopping up and down. ;))

Categories: career

Ahhh! (Read: Busy)

This Week's Schedule

This would be why my life feels so crazy-stressful-hectic right now. I've got class (blue), homework (red), work (orange), and appointments/interviews (green) all vying for my time.

Thursday and Friday are deceptively empty -- I'm in San Francisco then for some job interviews. I don't know how much homework I'll be able to get done, but that's what I'll be spending a good chunk of my free time doing those days.

Note that I don't actually stop my day at midnight. I'm up until 2 or 3 (or sometimes 4) in the morning, usually homeworking. Then it's up at 9:30 and do it all over again!