February 01, 2008
HOV Heaven
I located a co-worker at Hotels.com to ride with me to work everyday, and as a result, I am driving the new HOV lane that runs from Bethany Rd. in Allen, down to the High Five (I-635 and US 75).
The main artery is twelve miles, and constitutes the bulk of the drive down Central Expressway. It used to take me between forty and seventy minutes to drive each way to work (the evening leg usually being the longer), but now it's almost always a consistent thirty-five minutes each way. To say that this has made the drive to work a less stressful drive is a wild understatement. I used to drive nutty circuitious routes to avoid the traffic on Central, but now I just blaze up the core of the highway like photons in fibre optic cable.
Posted by Steven at 07:12 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2007
Almost Settled in at Hotels.com
Finished my third week at HCOM, and I'm almost completely settled in. It's amazing how much HR stuff there is to do with a new job (401(k), insurance, peeing in bottles, &c.), and then there's figuring out who everyone is, and finally, figuring out what it is I have to do to earn my paycheck.
The good news is that HCOM, which is owned by Expedia, is pretty friendly to the development staff. The managers seem to want to keep the developers happy, and the work environment appears to be very "family friendly" (this is one of the reasons I shied away from the Linux kernel contract job in Richardson).
Probably the biggest problem with the job is the drive itself. I take between thirty and seventy minutes to drive one-way either to or from HCOM. Some days it's completely bizarre when and where the delays are, but I spend typically ninety minutes driving each day (and I just paid $3.40/gal. for diesel last week), so there are some additional costs to this job that my Maskina one didn't include.
I'm trying to figure out and document all the operational stuff that I am supposed to be doing, as well as engaging in my development (tools) tasks. I'll keep you posted to any interesting developments.
Posted by Steven at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2007
Traveling to San Francisco in December
HCOM is sending me to San Francisco for training from the 11th of December until the morning of the 15th. I should be available to visit with friends and Ilk in the Bay every night. My co-workers are bringing family and we won't be renting a car, so I'll have to get around on BART and Caltrans.
If you are reading this, I'm hoping to see Matt Bailey, Russ Brenner, Zed Lopez, Ogen Perry and Ed Falk. If there's time I'll look up any WRPI alumni I can recall, but I think seeing that lot will be plenty for the week.
Posted by Steven at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
Job Update
The good news is that I have been offered a job with Hotels.com, which is part of the Expedia.com family. Hotels is located in Dallas on Central Expressway, just south of the High Five, putting this commute (27 miles) in between the awful drive to Irving (45 miles) and the sane drive to Richardson (20 miles). I had hoped to start this new job (well, today) but I don't think that this will happen. Instead, I'm going to be on the bench up to another week and will officially start on 10/29.
The downsides to this new job are having to drive into Dallas, and taking a noticable pay cut. I am hoping to make up some of the difference with a "go-to" attitude and fortunately I will be eligble for some bonus/raise early next year, which will put me on the path to restoring my previous pay.
Charles Forsythe works at Hotels.com (abbreviated HCOM by the staff), and so I hope to revive an old Micrographx tradition and play Nuclear War at lunch. Eating out will be something of a luxury, but since Charles is getting a nice finder's fee for my joining HCOM, he has graciously offered to pay for Friday lunches. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the saddle with a stable company that doesn't sell phone service ;-).
Posted by Steven at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2007
Looking for a Job
Maskina is phasing out my job at the end of October and has given me early notice, so I'm back on the job market. I'd like to find something in McKinney/Allen/Plano, but if I have to, I'll drive back into Dallas again :-(.
My resume is at http://www.deltos.com/resume.html.
Posted by Steven at 01:08 PM | Comments (1)
January 12, 2006
Telecommuting Can Be Flu Antidote
Another great reason to telecommute: avoiding the flu.
Of course, there's a human side to the flu season, one that presents a dilemma to business owners. They want to get the work done, but they also need to be concerned about everyone else on the premises catching the same bug if an employee shows up sneezing and coughing.Pressuring them to come to work is a mistake.
"If a person is really sick, you don't want them in the office because you don't want the whole staff to go down," said Reed Baker, owner of Sophist Productions, a New York-based music label and production company.
Moreover, someone with a fever probably can't concentrate on what he or she is doing. And leaning on staffers to come to work when they really don't feel may well generate a morale problem - not only will sick workers be resentful, but so will all the other employees they complain to.
One reason why workers in some companies might want to come in sick is because they're afraid of using up their sick days. That's a particular concern this early in the year. Small businesses with restrictive sick time policies may see more people showing up when they don't feel well.
Some business owners worry that a too-liberal sick time policy will encourage some workers to abuse the system. To Baker, the solution is to be sure from the get-go that you have a solid team of workers behind you.
Baker said he looks for workers who have the same entrepreneurial spirit that he does, who aren't going to take advantage of sick time. Also, he said, with a highly qualified and motivated staff, employees are more willing to step in and do a co-worker's job.
Other workers might come in because they're so dedicated to their work, or find it hard to give themselves permission to take their sick time. That's another reason why equipping employees to work at home is a good idea.
I've always been happiest working for small firms that need lots of different skills from their staff, and don't pidgeonhole workers. Being able to telecommute for Maskina means I don't waste time driving in Dallas' notorious traffic, don't get and stay stressed out as a side effect, and I don't get what everyone brings to the office!
Win-win, I say. The proof? I've not been sick for a year.
Posted by Steven at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2005
A DVPS Of My Own
This is really weird. Someone has posted a DVPS for sale on eBay. This is the video satellite server that I worked on at DG Systems (my most miserable job experience of all time). I'd love to bid on this and buy it ... just so I could have an Office Space party where I take a sledgehammer to it! I sent a question to the seller asking how the acquired it (I thought DG owned all instances) ... haven't heard back from them yet.
PS. Simon is not having his infamous DG Xmas party this year. :-( The fur jock-strap will not be re-gifted to some deserving couple!
Posted by Steven at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2005
First Anniversary
Today is my first anniversary at Maskina Communications!
Woot!
I went out to Irving to do some "Nick Burns, the Computer Guy" stuff for my computer-challenged sales staff (I tease, but they really are computer-challenged), and I stopped at Benihana's for lunch.
To my utter surprise, I ran into the guy I used to sit across the isle from at DG Systems, Daming! He was surprised to see me, but he did remember that I had spent part of last year in Canada. I chided him, "Why did you leave the Great White North?", and he took the ribbing in good spirits. A surprising number of DG software engineers from my era are still there (at least five). I guess these guys really cannot find another job.
I cannot stress the difference between these two jobs. I've now worked for as long away from DG Systems as when I was there, and the new job simply blows away the previous. I could go into details, but that would be telling. Suffice it to say, I no longer have all the malingering aliments that commuting two hours a day to an Abu Ghraib-like job can cause.
Thanks again for bringing me on board, Maskina! You guys rock. scissors. paper.
Posted by Steven at 11:51 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
Austin By Day
I'm driving down late Tues. night on the 2nd. of Nov., and returning in the late afternoon on Wed. the next day. I have to be at Maskina for a developer meeting, and probably won't have time to visit with anyone or even do lunch -- it's a bad week for me to travel as band and school are taking up every evening that week (Anne will have to find a sitter for Leo on the 3rd. -- any volunteers?).
Update
I'm going to get up really early Wed. morning and drive straight down for the day instead. I hate doing it this way, but it confines the "damage" to one day.
Posted by Steven at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2005
Terrifying HS Phenonema
Now that my daughter is in High School, I'm running into a phenomena that is borderline terrifying: running into previous co-workers and bosses.
For months now I've been seeing Tim Hegwood from DG Systems. Tonite I came face to face with Lyle Griffith, former VP of Micrografx (and the man responsible for my first "death march"). My Universe is imploding.
Posted by Steven at 09:12 PM | Comments (1)
July 03, 2005
Interesting VoIP Info
Normally I try not to talk about work on this blog, but this topic, VoIP, is near and dear to me. Check out Bob Cringley's column for interesting notes about VoIP.
Posted by Steven at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2005
Working From Home This Week
I'm working from home this week, so don't look for me in Austin or Irving!
Posted by Steven at 08:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2005
Yes, I'm Paying Attention to This
Just in case anyone was wondering if I worry about blogging about my job, I do. Which is why I try to never say anything that I couldn't say on the street corner with a bullhorn. If I do stray, please let me know.
Posted by Steven at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2005
Skype
The International Hearld Tribute has an article about Skype, a Voice over IP (VOIP) application that implements a telephone on your computer.
Naturally, there's a catch. You must have a computer with a headset, or at least a microphone and speakers, and a relatively recent operating system - Windows XP or 2000 for Skype on a PC, OS X version 10.3 for a Mac. And for your call to be truly free, your counterparty must also have Skype.To talk to another person who has Skype, you enter the user name, press return and you're in business. The quality is usually better than the average cellphone call. It took five minutes for a friend in the United States to download the software from www.skype.com and call me.
Of course, card-based services that route ordinary phone calls through the Internet have been reducing the cost of long-distance calls for some time, and probably millions of people are already talking free over the Internet with voice chat software from Apple, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo.
Skype goes a critical step farther. With a pay service called Skype Out, you have the option of using the power of the Internet to dial into local phone networks around the world. To call the United States and many other countries from France, the per-minute cost is 1.7 euro cents, or 2.2 U.S. cents. (Calls to cellphones are pricier: It costs me 1.92 euro cents to call a fixed line in Japan, for example, but 12.5 cents a minute to call a mobile there). These prices are cheap enough that I will do my best never to make a regular long-distance call again.
Skype, based in Luxembourg, was started by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the co-founders of Kazaa, the peer-to-peer, or P2P, file-sharing software that has gone straight after a previous life as an outlaw music-sharing program. Skype, which as of Friday registered more than 76 million downloads of its software, employs the same P2P approach as Kazaa.
Other VOIP companies have taken different approaches. Vonage, based in New Jersey, offers a service that completely replaces your traditional phone line. Its service, which starts at $14.99 a month in the United States, allows you to plug an ordinary phone into your broadband connection. International rates, still very cheap, are about twice what you would pay on Skype. Vonage is not yet available outside of North America and Britain.
People who use Internet calling will tell you that something happens to people when costs fall to zero. Cost-conscious parents in the old country begin calling every day. Friends who see each other once or twice a year put on the headsets and chat for hours at a stretch, as though they were in the same town. The cost of telecommuting plummets.
Just how the VOIP revolution will play out remains to be seen. Big telecoms will surely not submit without a fight. And while national regulators have taken a hands-off approach so far, a more aggressive stance could curtail the growth of Internet telephony or increase the cost to users.
The company I work for (Maskina) is in the debit-card long-distance business. Fortunately, our market is largely folks who don't have the kind of money needed to have a decent computer and broadband (at both ends of the call) so for now, the "bottom dropping out" sensation that large carriers are experieincing over Skype hasn't hit Maskina ... yet.
Posted by Steven at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2005
Working the Week
Supposedly, I'll be coming down on Mon. and going home on Thurs. through March. Of course, my mileage has, and will, vary. Expect me this week, however, for certain.
Posted by Steven at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2004
It's Tough Being Santa
Check out Kevin Drum's commentary on how much harder the job of Santa is today, thanks to the Hallowthanksmasyear Effect.
Posted by Steven at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2004
Transcom Austin
I'm here, in Austin. Well, really Cedar Park, TX. Just up the highway from TX 620 and US 183, next to the Lakeline Mall, and right around the corner from where my sister Leigh Anne and her husband Todd used to live. In fact, according to Cynthia Amaya, I'm one block from her ex-husband's (Richard Reis) home.
So, as they say, small universe. I'll just start spelling it 'universe' since despite it's 15 billion light-year span, it's clearly composed of only Dallas, Austin, Boston, Toronto and maybe Albany. Maybe.
I'm going to stay at the Fairfield Inn on North Mopac for this week. Call my cell or ding my AIM to reach me.
Posted by Steven at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2004
Start Again ...
Ok, yesterday was supposed to be the first day at Transcom (or whatever this company will become), but today is the real first day, such as it is.
One odd synchronicity: in addition to being almost in front of the building that DNA Studios is located in, and across SH 161 from Temerlin McClain where Mr. Jones works and down the highway from the DG Systems building where Melaine is ... I'm right next door to the AAA building. Astute readers will recall that ATI is next door to the CAA (the Canadian AAA) building ...
Hopefully tomorrow I'll go to Fry's with my new boss and we'll pickup a 12" iBook with 512Mb of RAM to use as my work machine. This will be interesting.
Posted by Steven at 10:46 AM | Comments (1)
November 30, 2004
I Start Work Tomorrow
The latest news (as of this morning) is that I begin work at Transcom tomorrow morning at 9am in Irving. I'll probably be heading down to Austin starting next week, but who knows. They haven't even got the offer letter to me, but if I fill out a W-4 tomorrow, I'll be pretty confident that the job is a "go".
Posted by Steven at 01:19 PM | Comments (1)