I’m positively dying. This cold is wreaking havoc with my lung capacity. It wouldn’t be so bad except I had to schlep my stuff out of my temporary place this morning. Friday should be FUN!
Birthday greetings to KC!
One of the annoying things about growing up in a world where demands can be satisfied comparatively quickly is that even the slightest amount of bureaucratic boondoggle, even if it’s not that much, really irks me. *grumble*
Also, some clearly defined policies and procedures would be nice–and it would be nice if I didn’t have to find it out on my own, either! In some ways the transition to working here in the university has been like someone teaching me how to swim by dumping me in the middle of a twelve-feet deep swimming pool and telling me to figure it out myself. Probably from the day I told my advisor when I’d start work, it’s been pretty skeevy, I must say. I had to take care of the employment paperwork (application, references) when I got here, and I was only told I’d need to fill those out when I’d already arrived in the city and was ready to start working. And then, departmental procedures continue to elude me: for instance, I didn’t even know I needed to be cleared to use the MRI scanner! “Something that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!” Hoo-boy. I get the strange feeling that once I’ve gotten all this taken care of, it’ll be time to pack up and move on.
Woke up this morning around 8:30, not feeling all too tired, certainly not sleepy enough to go back to sleep.
It’s almost three hours later, and I want to go back to sleep.
Saturday: lounged about the apartment all day feeling sick. Watched and re-watched some movies on my computer. Went out to the diner for dinner. Weather was pretty pleasant, actually.
Sunday: packed up some things and put it into storage. Weather: HOTT and HUMIDD. Not prime weather for someone dealing with a cold, which incidentally now included a minor cough, sinus pressure, and ear problems (that plugged-up feeling that you get, kind of like when you’re descending in an airplane and you have to pop your ears but you can’t).
Monday: Woke up butt-early (for me, anyway) and hopped a bus to Oakland to go to my orientation. Among the things I learned was that I can’t stand it when official documents or PowerPoint presentations have glaring misspellings in them. I also learned more about my retirement options than I could ever dream from a very nice young man whose voice at times seemed to me as Cartmanesque, or perhaps he had had Novocaine injected into one side of his mouth; his speech at times also seemed peppered with a Southern drawl. At about 3-ish the orientation finished and I had to go back out into the oppressive heat. Went home, tried to take a nap but couldn’t. Later fell asleep to the sounds of rain outside my window.
And now it’s Tuesday. Motivation still not present. Maybe I should go out and look for it.
Time to go home now. I could have left earlier, since it’s a Friday (TGIF? More like I Can’t Believe Friday Got Here So Soon). But, what’s waiting for me at home? Not much. At least it’s now one less day before I can get settled into the new place.
I didn’t get anything productive done, either. This conversation snippet sums up the situation and my attitude pretty nicely:
<bruce> So, someone should tell me when I’m actually going to start doing some work.
<dragon> For what values of “some” and “work”?
<bruce> “some” == “>0″ and work == “!play”
<dragon> Next week.
<bruce> Sounds great!
This half-cold that I have doesn’t help matters, either. I spent most of today focused on my clogged-up nose, wishing I could breathe a little freer. And I’ve got this sickly taste in my mouth.
My brother warned me to be careful and not let putzing around with my website distract me from doing my work. Well, that’s not the problem. I haven’t really done any tinkering with the pages. The problem is having an Internet-connected computer to begin with. I waste ALL MY TIME online, reading web pages and now blogs, endlessly clicking on what’s better…and don’t forget mindlessly autoseqing notesfiles! It’s what I spent most of my time doing when I did sysadminning in New York. Old habits die hard, you know.
Oh, sometimes I’ll find myself in the groove and I end up being mad productive, but I notice that I have to be in the right frame of mind to do that. Waking up feeling like krep doesn’t help at all.
That’s it for now. Until Tuesday (as I’ll be busy getting oriented on Monday).
I’ve been linked to from Dave Copeland’s site. So, if you dropped on by from there, welcome! I apologize for the mess–I’ve been trying to clean as much as I could but everything just keeps piling up.
In other news: I hate it when reality makes a brief, but sudden appearance in my life. Today’s cameo is “OMFG WTF DID I SIGN UP 2B COORDINATOR 4 MY 5-YR HI SKOOL REUNION!!!!!!!11!11\” Responsibility: Live it, learn it…hate it.
Let’s hope these guys make it out alive…
Operation Impending Move of Doom One is soon to commence! Rejoice, and be glad!
Hopefully I will also be able to get paid soon for the last three weeks…
Filled out some more forms related to the Employment. Met Jennifer of the Human Resources department. So far, everyone I’ve met is good people. Though, talking to Jennifer was a bit odd. It felt like I was in an infomercial. “Hi, Jennifer, it’s me again. I’ve got another question…” “That’s a good question, I’m glad you asked.” All that was needed was the Ronco Rotisserie and an audience shouting in unison, “SET IT AND FORGET IT!”
When I said that I walked to the HR office from Presby, she seemed a little surprised. “You didn’t take the bus?” she said. That’s a good question, Jennifer! I’m glad you asked. The thing is, $1.60 seems like a lot to pay just to save myself a 10-15 minute walk, even if it is a bit hot and damp outside. Sure, I know people back in New York would take the subway for one stop, but they’re either lazy or have unlimited ride Metrocards. And I don’t have the equivalent of an unlimited ride Metrocard–a Pitt ID–yet. Soon, soon. Well, two weeks from next Monday, optimistically speaking.
The “evidence” link to the left now actually works. I will include projects and writings there.
My lunch break was just all sorts of productive! Granted, I did stuff that I should have taken care of a long time ago, but still. Among other things, I scheduled a van for next week to move things. I did not get a chance to go down to Craig Hall to pick up some informational packets, though–I tried calling Jennifer of the HR but she wasn’t there, so I didn’t want to go without making sure she had put the materials together (it’s a long walk, and yes, I’m whining).
I was greatly amused with my conversation with the guy at Guardian Storage. It went something like this:
Me: “Hi, I’ve got a storage space with you guys, and I’ll be moving out of it next week…”
Guy: “What? You’re moving? Aww, you can’t do that!”
Me: “Yeah, I know, sorry, but I’ve got my new apartment and I won’t be needing storage anymore.”
Guy: *laughs* “Yeah, all right then.”
Those guys are great. They certainly have made my moving experience a pleasant and enjoyable one.
Probably the most amusing thing so far today, however, was the woman in a Mustang convertible driving along Fifth Avenue with Eminem’s “Without Me” playing on her speakers, and she was singing along. Best episode ever!
Almost time to go home. I’ll leave with this entry:
Sunday’s USA Today ran an article on the way that young Catholics are redefining their faith. One point raised was that our generation feels little or no guilt about being “cafeteria Catholics”–meaning that one merely chooses what specifically of the faith to believe.
I’m still dealing with my own issues regarding my faith, so I am in no position to judge; but how can someone engage in that and still call himself a Catholic? The issues that bring about cafeteria Catholicism, such as the Church’s doctrine on sex, abortion, and allowing women in the priesthood, go to the very core of Catholic identity. I find it incomprehensible (though I can certainly sympathize) how one could rationally take up a contrary position on any of these topics and still claim that they accept the necessary beliefs that define ourselves as Catholics.
Maybe I’ll talk about it some more later. Iunno.
Pittsburgh Madness
Pittsburgh Madness (part one in a series)
Parallel parking: Convention (and the law, too) dictates that when you park on the side of the street, your car should be facing the direction of traffic for that side. If you do so, this will never happen.
It has been explained to me that many of Pittsburgh’s streets are narrow and, moreover, two-way, so when people find a parking spot, they pull into it regardless of what side of the street it’s on and don’t bother to reorient their cars properly, since it’s not worth the hassle to, and the spot might get snatched while you’re taking the time to conform to the law.
Hill parking: One of the things I learned in driver’s ed (and never really needed, since Chicago’s pretty flat and NYC is as well, to some extent) is the proper way to park when on an incline, so that should your parking brake fail, your car does not roll into traffic or otherwise cause death and destruction. For the uninitiated, this is the way you park:
- If you are parked uphill and there is a curb, you turn your wheels sharply away from the curb. That way, the wheels will hook onto the curb and prevent the car from rolling backwards.
- If you are parked uphill with no curb, or you are parked downhill, you turn your wheels towards the curb.
Here, though, it seems no one knows that they’re supposed to do that, or they’re just lazy, or they don’t teach that anymore.
PAT Buses: In Chicago and New York, buses have two sets of doors, one in the front and one towards the back. All boarding takes place through the front, where the farebox is, of course. Riders have two options for exiting the bus, however. They can exit through the front or the back. The back doors are self-operated assisted doors, meaning that the doors are locked until the driver (B/O or bus operator) unlocks it. A green light comes on when the bus stops at the bus stop, clearing you to exit. In Chicago, all you have to do is push on the doors, and a pressure-release mechanism assists in opening the doors. In New York, you can push on the doors, but you don’t get the assist mechanism unless you push the yellow tape. There are instructions that clearly inform passengers how to operate the doors, of course.
In Pittsburgh, that’s not the case. In most situations, all ingress and egress takes place through the front doors. It makes some sense, in the context of the transit system here. If a bus is downtown-bound, you pay as you enter. If a bus is outbound, you pay as you leave. Those rules change after 7pm, when all fares are pay-as-you-enter; some routes are always pay-as-you-enter.
It does NOT make for a very efficient system, however, when the bus is packed and you have to make your way from the back (where you sat because you’re a good passenger) to the front to get off. Sometimes the bus driver will open the back door, but from my (admittedly limited) experience, they are inconsistent in that practice. I’ve seen some cases where a passenger shouts “BACK DOOR!” to get the driver to open it but he or she refuses. What happens, in the end, is that the bus sits idling longer than it needs to be while the passengers wishing to exit make they way to the front to get off, and only then can people board. Meanwhile, because many streets are two-lane two-way roads, traffic gets backed up behind the bus.
Could a system that’s a little more sane be implemented? Probably.