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| Simple Pleasures of an Office SpaceRelocation of my personal thoughts to a real web domain is still pending..mainly because I don't want to use Madmanslitany again and thus have to think of a name that's new but which I can live with for the rest of my domain's lifetime. It's like naming a firstborn child. Seriously.
So, in the meantime, a filler entry dealing with the simple (...almost depressing) things which keep my office space a bearable environment for myself and my fellow yuppie coworkers:
1. Coffee, free and otherwise.
Every office of a major corporation probably has free coffee. You'll probably realize this by the third day and start taking advantage of it to try to avoid dozing off in front of managers (a constant danger in meetings, really..especially after lunch..when all the lights are off..yeah...). However, it takes a more seasoned yuppie to figure out where the good stuff is; you realize by the third week that not all office coffee is created equal. Case in point; the coffee on my floor is the normal generic stuff which comes out of a pair of giant metal cylinders that look like the propulsion system of a small submarine. But if you venture down the flight of steps to the floor beneath mine, you will discover the promised land.
Okay, not really, but they have some old Flavia machines (http://www.myflavia.com/myflavia/default.aspx) which can make several varieties of tea, coffee, and even hot chocolate and cappucino! I've been experimenting in particular with the uses of the Creamy Topping packets, my abuse of which has drawn the ire of my friend who actually works on the floor that the coffee machine technically belongs to (I personally think that as a matter of team spirit it belongs to all of us, regardless of race, religion, or what floor we actually work on)...
Unfortunately, I've developed a taste for not-so-free but oh-so-good coffee from the Malaysian Old Town brand (http://www.oldtown.com.my/). The stuff is insanely strong yet wonderfully tasty..just what I need to get myself through a long day of work...
2. Free food.
One of the things that shows you have good coworkers is that they buy you food. Well, not you specifically, but the people in my time have a habit of going on vacation and bringing back food from their trip which they then leave out for consumption by the team and anyone else who happens to be passing by our section of the floor that day. This has allowed me to taste Hawaiian chocolate as well as wafers which claim to be Italian but were made in Indonesia, bought in Vermont, and eaten in New York. Such exotic treasures can also be yours if you choose wisely...
I suppose I'll have to bring in food for the team eventually too. Oh well. But first, tomorrow all the dads and moms will be dumping their leftover Halloween candy..thank god I'm seeing the dentist on Saturday...
More to come..sometime...
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| From the Other SidePart of the reason I've been lax with updating this site is that I've been busy with training--I don't consider it hard per se from a technical perspective; I've had to adapt myself to technologies that I haven't really encountered before in my coursework, but I truly feel now that Cornell's CS program has made it pretty easy to adapt to technical details because of the way it teaches you to think. Still, for various reasons, training does take up a lot of time and on the weekends I tend to be out and about, which leaves relatively little time to update this Xanga.
The other part of the reason this site hasn't been updated much is that in roughly a month I intend to stop updating this site altogether and move my personal and philosophical ramblings to a dedicated domain host; i.e. actually get off my lazy software developing ass and build my own website.
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I still see a lot of people from Cornell around a lot. Besides Anita, I see Will practically every day, I've seen Hari multiple times, hung out with CTAS people and Lily at the Dragon Boat Festival less than a month ago, seen Lulu around twice, seen Ken about thrice, saw Kelly this past weekend, managed to catch Linda while she was visiting her family and friends, and so on and so forth...
But in spite of that, I still can't help but feel a little sadness to know that Cornell has started without me for the first time in five years.
"Zai Jian."
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| Alma Mater"Far above Cayuga's waters
With its waves of blue
Stands our noble Alma Mater
Glorious to view
(Refrain)
Lift the chorus
Speed it onward
Loud her praises tell
Hail to thee our Alma Mater
Hail, all hail, Cornell!
Far above the busy humming
Of the bustling town
Reared against the arch of heaven
Looks she proudly down..."
This morning on the train, I almost felt as if I had this strange urge to start singing it out loud.
New goal: Memorize the alma mater.
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| Twilight/DawnMy alarm went off at 9:45 am this morning. I swatted it as if it were a particularly obnoxious winged insect and went back to sleep. Over three hours later at about 1:00 pm I rose from bed and went downstairs.
Apple pies had been on sale this week at ShopRite, so my mom gave me a slice of one for breakfast.
Afterwards, I turned on my computer. No new anime had come out on Baka-Updates, so I started playing Command and Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour as a break from playing the superficially similar but deeply different Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars. This continued for a few hours until I decided to try and do something marginally more useful.
I tried calling Comcast to arrange for internet to be set up in my apartment, but since the current tenant hasn't cancelled his subscription yet this didn't happen.
I rummaged through one of the boxes I had brought back from my apartment at 301 College Ave., throwing out the crap, junk, and crappy junk as I encountered it. I then put a few more things in the box in preparation for moving to Jersey City in three weeks; only essentials, of course..like my copy of Star Wars: Empire at War. As well as more sentimental items like a small pile of birthday cards and postcards I received at Cornell over the past few years.
My attention turned back to the internet once this was done and I IMed a few friends, asking for suggestions for more meaningful activities.
EmoShroomHater (8:43:12 PM): go to work 12 hours early
EmoShroomHater (8:43:18 PM): wait
EmoShroomHater (8:43:20 PM): DON'T DO THAT
EmoShroomHater (8:43:22 PM): THAT'S WHACK
crazy lazy lei Z (8:46:28 PM): welcome to the end
crazy lazy lei Z (8:46:32 PM): oops
crazy lazy lei Z (8:46:41 PM): it's a joyous ride!
raptorblood (8:49:09 PM): enjoy it to its fullest?
raptorblood (8:49:12 PM): get drunk?
raptorblood (8:49:16 PM): o wait
raptorblood (8:49:18 PM): you said eve
And now we arrive at the present, where I'm typing this entry. It's 9:00 pm already, and I'll have to go to sleep in less than 3 hours. Before then I..will probably not do anything useful other than make sure I have identification and all the paperwork I need for orientation. And that will be how I spent the last day of my last summer vacation before becoming a full-time adult with his own insurance policy.
Fin.
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