Checking in

Sorry, I have been pretty swamped with work. Personal life is beyond great. Work is busy but fulfilling. Sometimes when you're living your life you forget to blog about it. And besides doing my normal job, there's a lot of things going on to process.

The crossword puzzle I found actually contain message (thanks Nicole): "hidden something important locate." Okay... And apparently there are Holomove packages out there that don't make any sense to me. I mean the site just launched on Monday, everyone is pretty jazzed and working hard. Life is good, I kinda want to leave it there.

This was supposed to be a fun blog (funtastic as Arcas says), so I'm going to try to get back to that. More later.

Public Apology

So my buddy at work said something to me that really threw me for a loop. He's been noticing my interactions with Eliza on this blog, and he says that it looks like I don't really respect her. In Jay's words: "you look like a jerk." Looking back at my posts, I can see his point. I haven't tried to show all the things about her that I like, that are more than just how she looks. She's smart, talented, driven. She puts up with my corny jokes. She's got a wicked sense of humor that pops out when you least expect it. And when she smiles at you, it's like everything will be alright, whatever it is.

She really is more than a pretty face to me. And it was wrong for me not to imply otherwise. In my excitement, forgot how things on the internet can easily be misconstrued. I am sorry. I guess this is my warning to be more clear in my posts.

Eliza stops by the ol' cube

Here she is and she’s a little more open to the camera than last time. Good times. But it's hard to concentrate on work as you might imagine.

Great weekend

Things have been going really well with Eliza since the conference. We hung out all weekend. It sucks that it's already Sunday, but at at least I get to see her at work.


Yeah, I'm pretty psyched.

Another gorgeous day in San Diego

Finding it harder to unpack the last little bits when it’s so pretty outside. And the lack of internet access also helps me not stay inside. Just for comparison, take a look at the average temperatures of the last few places I’ve lived compared to San Diego.

Average Temp in Newport News

Average Temp in Troy, NY

Average Temp in San Diego

San Diego is a serious upgrade.

Some pics of the place:

San Diego!

I’m in. The apartment is pretty sweet. It’s furnished. But no internet yet (waiting for the appointment…) yet so I’m up hooked up here in a coffee shop. Just grabbing some food and checking my email and then I gotta get unpacking.

Gainful Employment, Baby

That’s right ladies and gentleman. I just faxed over my acceptance as a developer at Holomove. I start in work in two weeks! This is all going so fast. They wanted me to start earlier and have offered to have me moved. I took them up on the moving help even though I don’t have that much stuff that I’d want to take all the way to California.

There’s also an apartment waiting for me. I can keep it and start paying the rent in May, or I can just use it as a home base until I find something else. It seems pretty sweet, and I hate apartment shopping. So I might be lazy enough to just take it as is.

This is crazy, but I have a good feeling about this. I’m ready to move outta the house and my parents are stoked that I’m not “wasting my life away” anymore. So I am going to throw caution to the wind they say. San Diego, here I come.

My Interview

Things went well at Holomove, I think. They asked a lot of questions about my background and what kind of problems I had to solve in the past yadda yadda, boring typical questions. I was thinking this wasn’t the company I thought it would be. Then there was some time just to solve puzzles. Not coding puzzles, but just physical puzzles. Like build a pyramid out of these weird shapes. And logic puzzles. Apparently it’s a way to assess my “divergent thinking.” Whatever. But that’s when I really started to have fun with it. I like how it was not just a traditional interview (not that I really know what that is). Feels like they want me to do more than just bang away on the keys all day. I might actually get to think. I think I answered all the questions correctly, but who knows. If I just get to solve puzzles all day, sign me up.

So then I got a tour of the place. It was a cool open office, except for a few rooms, you could pretty much see everyone working. And the gets lots of light. I was afraid it would be in some coding dungeon. The people that I met seem really nice, so I could definitely see myself working there. You have to get along with your coworkers, right? Anyway, I guess it’s up to them whether I am the right “fit” for the job.

Job Interview

I have a job interview! I solved that puzzle and sent it off to them. Two days later I am talking on the phone with them and they are saying all the right things. They are flying me out to San Diego to meet with them. So if nothing else I get a free trip to California. They seem more in line with what I want to do, so I am really excited about the opportunity. I don’t want to jinx it, but this is a small glimmer of hope.

Networking pays off (shh don’t tell)

So, in all my networking, real and forced, I have picked up a lot of my event swag. It’s just been collecting in the corner of my room. Anybody need an XXL t-shirt? I was going through it all today and I stumbled across this company Holomove. Not much to go on, but they’re hiring. Apparently there’s a slowdown in the market, layoffs (like Yahoo). So. I’m open to anything.

But here’s the deal. They don’t just want mad coding skills. You don’t even get in the door unless you can solve this crazy puzzle. Hey, at least they’re trying to keep it interesting.

Luckily, yours truly has never met a puzzle he didn’t like.

World’s greatest developer

Okay, maybe that’s a bit (lot) overshot. But I want to shake up the world and do something great. I want people to look back and say “Nathan changed the way we look at…” I haven’t quite figured out what that thing is. But I will. All of those start-ups out there with half of an idea are trying to make it work. I just need a good idea. A really good idea.

Massive, Crippling Debt

Can I just say that I am so over student loans? They give you that year of bliss, where you think “this time next year, I am gonna be making so much money it won’t even matter.” Then they come. Those monthly reminders of how you haven’t done enough, how much you owe. Owe it to yourself to do more, do better. They are like credit card bills but with added guilt. Cause I really need more of that. Dad loves to start the “when I was your age” business whenever he can. How do you argue with a man who was working on a nuclear sub at my age? Engineers always have all the answers and my dad is no different. He thinks he’s seen it everything and he kinda has. After all his adventures and travels, I never have a situation that he’s hasn’t mastered years ago. Aggravating.

It’s about that time

Now that I am done traveling, for the time being, I guess it’s time I found a job. I have kinda looked at some postings, but nothing has really jumped out at me. I don’t just want any job. Maybe I am being a little naive, but I wanted something special for my first “real” job. I have a couple friends who are well-situated in their code monkey lives. They seem to like it, but they barely know what they are working on. You gotta get in on the ground floor of a project I think. Once it’s well established, you’re just completing someone else’s vision, good or bad. With bosses and more bosses.

All that said, I kinda just need to get a job at this point. I am broke and can’t travel anymore. And there is only soo much ramen and so much Star Trek: STTNG reruns I can endure. I have however learned of the arts of ramen from The Official Ramen Homepage. Some of my favorites include:

• Corn and Broccoli Chowder
• Vietnamese Shrimp Soup
• College Ramen Omelet (my friends and I totally did this before I found this)
• Easy Peanut Sauce Ramen Recipe (it’s good, I swear)

I really need to get a job. Anyone?

New Year’s Resolutions

It’s that time when everyone pretends that this year will be different. Set huge goals that are mostly unattainable. So in keeping with that, here are my resolutions for this year:

• Get a freaking job
• Try to catch up with old friends
• Start looking for just the right bike (an Indian, please)
• Do something with all my photos
• Update this blog more often

How many of these will I actually get done? Well, I think I will go crazy if I don’t manage to get a job this year. Student loans are such a killer. Whatever happened to socialism? Sigh.

It’s funny how my parents keep talking about writing, say, “2007” on the their checks, for like a month into the new year. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a check.

Back Home

Whatever home is these days. Back in the States at least. Having traveled so much as a kid, home doesn’t quite mean the same thing to me as most people. I never got too attached to a place cause I knew we’d be leaving. We always left.

I remember my roommate in college got all upset when his parents converted his room into a guest bedroom. Seemed like he was over reacting to me, but then again he lived in that room for 18 years. Maybe I’d be upset too.

So Newport News is my home base for the time being. Nothing here quite makes me want to stay any length of time. But it’ll do until I figure things out.

Paris. Winter. Awesome.

Okay another quick one. Again having a great time. Funny how that works, when compared to Troy or Newport News. I wish I were staying here for New Years. But I told my mom I’d be home for the holidays. Oh well, at least I'll be able to see my new nephew.

Bozeman out.

Quick update from Sydney

Having fun. Too much fun really. I don’t really want to go back any time soon. I’ve been up and down the east coast of Australia, going through sunscreen like there’s not tomorrow. More later. Here’s some choice photos.

Off for while

…to Australia! I’m going to catch up with some friends there and just take my time and explore. Explore = bum around. But it should be fun. I’ll be kinda off the grid since I don’t want to worry about losing my laptop.

After that I think I will try to swing by France or Germany, since I love being on planes for days. Here’s to spending my savings and ignoring my bills.

The Green Man

I just got back from my first Burning Man. I am exhausted but had one of the best times of my life. The atmosphere there was like nothing I have experienced. Everyone is really friendly and chill. There is no money, no advertising. The only thing you can buy outright is ice and coffee (thank goodness for coffee). It’s all about bartering and sharing.

The art was pretty amazing. There were some ingenious contraptions, like the two semis bent into a ‘s.’ My favorite part was the scavenger hunt that went throughout the city. And it really was a city. There was a city plan and streets. Only bikes and only a few cars that were really more art pieces than cars. It even had an airport, which always sounds like a joke.

I am avoiding putting up any of the art here because the agreement Burning Man. I might put on some Adwords or something to this blog later and I don’t wanna break the spirit. But here are some pics pre-sunburn.







Of course there was the incident of the early burning. Being my first Burning Man, I was bummed to miss the first burning. Some of the people who had been year after year thought that the whole thing had become too commercial and too planned, so it was a return to what it should be. Anyway, it was rebuilt and the then we all got to share in the burning.

It was a lot of fun and I’m definitely considering going next year. I feel like I might need to rest a whole year to be ready for it though.

Last Day of Work Yesterday

Well that’s that. The research job at RPI is done. It wasn’t a bad gig and I learned a lot of stuff, but it just wasn’t the place for me. I want to get out there and do something bigger. The life of a research assistant isn’t exactly glamorous by any stretch of the imagination. I haven’t made any strong ties in Troy, I know I want to do some more traveling before I take another job. Oh and I have tickets for Burning Man so, I am getting psyched for that.

So I guess I’ll head to the folk’s house. As much as I’d like to avoid that, I probably should to save money.