It’s been a pretty crazy long weekend.  On Thursday I hopped a flight down to San Jose.  After settling in at my hotel and suiting up, I went to meet my friend Phil and we headed over to his work holiday party. The party was tons of fun; it was held at the Exploratorium and before we even got there we spent some time on a chartered bus where I got to meet a bunch of his coworkers (including a former CTO of Carrier IQ) and do some pre-gaming.  I also peed in a bus toilet for the first time ever; I might do it again but I’d want to sit down next time XD. When we walked into the place, I was pleased to find that it was essentially as I expected.  A few fancy tables setup with drinks and food, folks walking around with hors d’oeuvres, music playing and plenty of science exhibits to explore.  Some of the highlights include mashed potatoes with bacon and caviar, appletini from the ice luge, dancing to “Beat It” and playing on the xylophones.  While enjoying all of these things I also got introduced to many more people. Of course, even with all the exhibits surrounding us, the biggest experiment of the night was the social experiment I was conducting myself (with some help from Phil).  You see, I wasn’t just meeting random people at a random company, I was meeting interviewers and potential coworkers at a company where I would be interviewing the very next day!  Most everyone was really cool about all of it, though not everyone was aware of what was going on at first.  Phil was trying to keep it a secret from at least one of the guys, but then someone ended up spilling the beans at the end of the night (with a hilariously awkward result).  There was also one guy who was trying to ask me questions ahead of time, but I was having none of it (it was a party :D).  When he asked “What would you say you’d like to do here?” I answered “I’d love to take the specifications from the customers and deliver them to the engineers.  I have people skills!!”  I got a few laughs and we resumed having a good time :) The next day (Friday) I got up early, drove back to the hotel (I had stayed over at Phil’s after the party), checked out and headed for breakfast.  We stopped at a cool little bagel place near the old office, and we also stopped to grab coffee at a place which primarily sells running accessories.  After that it was into the belly of the beast!  There were the usual algorithm types of questions, and they weren’t too bad; the amount of writing I had to do on the whiteboard was reasonably small.  Best of all I got to talk a lot about the stuff I’ve been working on and the things sorts of things I’d like to start doing.  There were two teams I talked to and they both seemed really cool. I kept telling myself not to think about it too much; after all I’ve thought that I’d done well on interviews before only to find out I was wrong.  I did talk to the recruiter afterward; she hadn’t talked to anyone so we couldn’t say much, but she told me to give her a call over the weekend while I was in town.  Phil and I hung out the rest of the evening and Saturday as well.  We talked a lot about things like where I’d live, how the commutes would be, etc.  We made a point to not speculate on how the interview went or whether I’d actually get an offer.  ”Mentally prepare for either case” was his advice; I don’t really know how to do that so I tended to assume nothing (or assume the worst). I eventually thought of a few ways I could have done the interview better, and it gave me a little legitimate worry I think, but I figured what was done was done, and while I’m on vacation I’d best not worry about things which were no longer in my control.  Saturday we did some cool sightseeing and ended the evening with some fun bar hopping; we even hung out with one of my interviewers :) Sunday Phil had to leave to start his holiday vacation back in Montreal.  This left me essentially wandering around the city by myself.  I had a very early start since his flight was super early.  I went with him to the airport so I could store my checked luggage for the day (my flight wouldn’t be until 8:40 PM).  So I wound up downtown around 9:30 or so.  I got pretty hungry so I found a popular restaurant and stopped for brunch.  The place was called Brenda’s and it apparently is a fusion of French and Creole cuisine.  I had a catfish donut and eggs benedict with biscuits and fried chicken.  Afterward I decided I wanted to grab a book, find somewhere pretty, sit down and do some reading.  So I began looking up book stores, but the first few I checked were closed (to be fair it was Sunday morning).  I finally went to City Lights (I figured it would be cool because it was labeled so largely on my map) and started looking around.  For a while I’ve been wanting to get into Ayn Rand books, so I tried looking for them for a while.  Unfortunately I didn’t know what genre it would fall into, and a couple that I checked didn’t have anything from her.  So I wandered about the store looking for something interesting and I finally settled on Sartre’s “The Age of Reason.”  I picked it mostly because I read some interesting Sartre quotes while helping a friend study for GMAT. Book in hand, I left the store and headed over to the Coit Tower.  It sounded like it would have a decent vista of the city and might be a cool place to read.  I got to the top of the hill and discovered the tower has an entrance fee.  I wasn’t so interested in going inside so I mostly just chilled outside a bit.  Before too long 12:30 rolled around, and I decided it could be a good time to talk with the recruiter (I wasn’t sure if she’d be attending any religious services before that time).  So I called her and we talked only briefly, but she did let me know that they would be making me an offer.  We made plans to talk again in the evening (when I’d be at the airport) and she cut me loose to continue exploring. My change in perspective was immediate.  I was no longer in a cool city that I was visiting.  I was suddenly in an awesome city that would soon be mine.  I looked back on the past year of my life in Seattle and how depressing it was a lot of the time.  I thought of Leeloo, standing in the altar chamber (or whatever it was), so dejected, wondering what it was in the world that made it worth saving.  It’s an incredibly cheesy scene, and it’s an incredibly hyperbolic comparison, but that’s what I thought about at that moment. I decided to forget about reading at that point, figuring I’d more enjoy to walk around the city.  It was a little more work than with other cities because of all the ups and down, but very enjoyable nonetheless.  For the next destination I decided on Golden Gate Park and the Ocean Beach beyond it. I looked up the route on my phone and found it to be about a 4 mile walk to the closest point of the park (which is itself about 3 1/2 miles long).  I thought about taking the bus but it was still not even 2:00, so I figured I had the time to spare.  Of course, the walking would again help me work off the energy from brunch. So I walked, stopping occasionally when I came across a park or something like that.  I occasionally thought to stop and grab a drink somewhere, but I never quite found a place that looked very cool.  So I found a convenience store, grabbed some Gatorade and kept on track for the park.  Before long I arrived and realized that, much like Central Park, Golden Gate Park was quite larger than I expected.  I checked a map and found a few points of interest I’d want to see, and decided it would be really cool to catch the sunset at Ocean Beach. The most interesting place I stopped was the island in the middle of Stow Lake.  I suppose there’s nothing very unusual about it but it was also the first water I stopped at, and it was cool with all the birds chilling in the water (and begging for food, pretty much).  There were plenty of cool sights (and places to go, though they charge admission) but I didn’t want to spend too much time at any one place because of how early the sun would be setting. I made my way through one trail after another, passing a lot of other sightseers and bicyclers, and eventually ended up at the beach.  The entire time I was somewhat regretting wearing my nice shoes, but I especially regretted it once I saw the sand.  I guess I did walk around 8 miles that day, so sandals might have sucked (as it was, I was anyway thinking “the hike’s not over when my feet hurt, the hike’s over when I hate myself!”).  Unfortunately there were clouds in the way but they did look cool with the light from the setting sun coming through them a little. I still had a decent amount of time left, and I was finally starting to get hungry again, so I found a Thai place and went for dinner.  It was pretty sweet because I got a small bottle of hot sake, a Peking duck appetizer and mas saman curry all for around $20 (and it was all delicious). Afterward I found the bus and headed back to the train station.  At one point a girl in the seat in front of me started asking about where she needs to exit the bus.  I should have switched to sit next to her but I guess I’m bad at life like that.  We chatted for a little while (she was making the rounds through US cities on vacation from South Korea) until some random guy sat next to her and started talking with her instead.  I guess I still managed to help her get her stop (it was the same as mine) but it would have been cool to chat longer. From the bus to the train to the airport, I finally checked in and got through security.  I found an outlet to charge my phone (I’d been mapping things and snapping photos all day) and sat down to call the recruiter.  She told me the details of the offer, and it was a little less than what I thought they might give but I told her I’d think about it.  I spent yesterday looking over housing options for myself (and my sister if/when she chooses to come out with me) to make a counter-offer.  It’s still a bit in the air (she’s asking the finance folks) but the original offer is not all that bad and I’m likely to take it if nothing else.  I almost feel bad for that, but I think it’s not too tough to appreciate the desire to maintain standard of living given the extra taxes and housing costs.  We’ll see; either way this will finally be my ticket out of here. Of course I came back to Seattle that night, and it should be a good week but the weather is just so bleak, and I’m again a little bored.  Here’s to hoping the change will be everything I was hoping (and I can prove wrong the chorus to my favorite emo song :P).

It’s been a pretty crazy long weekend.  On Thursday I hopped a flight down to San Jose.  After settling in at my hotel and suiting up, I went to meet my friend Phil and we headed over to his work holiday party.

The party was tons of fun; it was held at the Exploratorium and before we even got there we spent some time on a chartered bus where I got to meet a bunch of his coworkers (including a former CTO of Carrier IQ) and do some pre-gaming.  I also peed in a bus toilet for the first time ever; I might do it again but I’d want to sit down next time XD.

When we walked into the place, I was pleased to find that it was essentially as I expected.  A few fancy tables setup with drinks and food, folks walking around with hors d’oeuvres, music playing and plenty of science exhibits to explore.  Some of the highlights include mashed potatoes with bacon and caviar, appletini from the ice luge, dancing to “Beat It” and playing on the xylophones.  While enjoying all of these things I also got introduced to many more people.

Of course, even with all the exhibits surrounding us, the biggest experiment of the night was the social experiment I was conducting myself (with some help from Phil).  You see, I wasn’t just meeting random people at a random company, I was meeting interviewers and potential coworkers at a company where I would be interviewing the very next day!  Most everyone was really cool about all of it, though not everyone was aware of what was going on at first.  Phil was trying to keep it a secret from at least one of the guys, but then someone ended up spilling the beans at the end of the night (with a hilariously awkward result).  There was also one guy who was trying to ask me questions ahead of time, but I was having none of it (it was a party :D).  When he asked “What would you say you’d like to do here?” I answered “I’d love to take the specifications from the customers and deliver them to the engineers.  I have people skills!!”  I got a few laughs and we resumed having a good time :)

The next day (Friday) I got up early, drove back to the hotel (I had stayed over at Phil’s after the party), checked out and headed for breakfast.  We stopped at a cool little bagel place near the old office, and we also stopped to grab coffee at a place which primarily sells running accessories.  After that it was into the belly of the beast!  There were the usual algorithm types of questions, and they weren’t too bad; the amount of writing I had to do on the whiteboard was reasonably small.  Best of all I got to talk a lot about the stuff I’ve been working on and the things sorts of things I’d like to start doing.  There were two teams I talked to and they both seemed really cool.

I kept telling myself not to think about it too much; after all I’ve thought that I’d done well on interviews before only to find out I was wrong.  I did talk to the recruiter afterward; she hadn’t talked to anyone so we couldn’t say much, but she told me to give her a call over the weekend while I was in town.  Phil and I hung out the rest of the evening and Saturday as well.  We talked a lot about things like where I’d live, how the commutes would be, etc.  We made a point to not speculate on how the interview went or whether I’d actually get an offer.  ”Mentally prepare for either case” was his advice; I don’t really know how to do that so I tended to assume nothing (or assume the worst).

I eventually thought of a few ways I could have done the interview better, and it gave me a little legitimate worry I think, but I figured what was done was done, and while I’m on vacation I’d best not worry about things which were no longer in my control.  Saturday we did some cool sightseeing and ended the evening with some fun bar hopping; we even hung out with one of my interviewers :)

Sunday Phil had to leave to start his holiday vacation back in Montreal.  This left me essentially wandering around the city by myself.  I had a very early start since his flight was super early.  I went with him to the airport so I could store my checked luggage for the day (my flight wouldn’t be until 8:40 PM).  So I wound up downtown around 9:30 or so.  I got pretty hungry so I found a popular restaurant and stopped for brunch.  The place was called Brenda’s and it apparently is a fusion of French and Creole cuisine.  I had a catfish donut and eggs benedict with biscuits and fried chicken.  Afterward I decided I wanted to grab a book, find somewhere pretty, sit down and do some reading.  So I began looking up book stores, but the first few I checked were closed (to be fair it was Sunday morning).  I finally went to City Lights (I figured it would be cool because it was labeled so largely on my map) and started looking around.  For a while I’ve been wanting to get into Ayn Rand books, so I tried looking for them for a while.  Unfortunately I didn’t know what genre it would fall into, and a couple that I checked didn’t have anything from her.  So I wandered about the store looking for something interesting and I finally settled on Sartre’s “The Age of Reason.”  I picked it mostly because I read some interesting Sartre quotes while helping a friend study for GMAT.

Book in hand, I left the store and headed over to the Coit Tower.  It sounded like it would have a decent vista of the city and might be a cool place to read.  I got to the top of the hill and discovered the tower has an entrance fee.  I wasn’t so interested in going inside so I mostly just chilled outside a bit.  Before too long 12:30 rolled around, and I decided it could be a good time to talk with the recruiter (I wasn’t sure if she’d be attending any religious services before that time).  So I called her and we talked only briefly, but she did let me know that they would be making me an offer.  We made plans to talk again in the evening (when I’d be at the airport) and she cut me loose to continue exploring.

My change in perspective was immediate.  I was no longer in a cool city that I was visiting.  I was suddenly in an awesome city that would soon be mine.  I looked back on the past year of my life in Seattle and how depressing it was a lot of the time.  I thought of Leeloo, standing in the altar chamber (or whatever it was), so dejected, wondering what it was in the world that made it worth saving.  It’s an incredibly cheesy scene, and it’s an incredibly hyperbolic comparison, but that’s what I thought about at that moment.

I decided to forget about reading at that point, figuring I’d more enjoy to walk around the city.  It was a little more work than with other cities because of all the ups and down, but very enjoyable nonetheless.  For the next destination I decided on Golden Gate Park and the Ocean Beach beyond it.

I looked up the route on my phone and found it to be about a 4 mile walk to the closest point of the park (which is itself about 3 1/2 miles long).  I thought about taking the bus but it was still not even 2:00, so I figured I had the time to spare.  Of course, the walking would again help me work off the energy from brunch.

So I walked, stopping occasionally when I came across a park or something like that.  I occasionally thought to stop and grab a drink somewhere, but I never quite found a place that looked very cool.  So I found a convenience store, grabbed some Gatorade and kept on track for the park.  Before long I arrived and realized that, much like Central Park, Golden Gate Park was quite larger than I expected.  I checked a map and found a few points of interest I’d want to see, and decided it would be really cool to catch the sunset at Ocean Beach.

The most interesting place I stopped was the island in the middle of Stow Lake.  I suppose there’s nothing very unusual about it but it was also the first water I stopped at, and it was cool with all the birds chilling in the water (and begging for food, pretty much).  There were plenty of cool sights (and places to go, though they charge admission) but I didn’t want to spend too much time at any one place because of how early the sun would be setting.

I made my way through one trail after another, passing a lot of other sightseers and bicyclers, and eventually ended up at the beach.  The entire time I was somewhat regretting wearing my nice shoes, but I especially regretted it once I saw the sand.  I guess I did walk around 8 miles that day, so sandals might have sucked (as it was, I was anyway thinking “the hike’s not over when my feet hurt, the hike’s over when I hate myself!”).  Unfortunately there were clouds in the way but they did look cool with the light from the setting sun coming through them a little.

I still had a decent amount of time left, and I was finally starting to get hungry again, so I found a Thai place and went for dinner.  It was pretty sweet because I got a small bottle of hot sake, a Peking duck appetizer and mas saman curry all for around $20 (and it was all delicious).

Afterward I found the bus and headed back to the train station.  At one point a girl in the seat in front of me started asking about where she needs to exit the bus.  I should have switched to sit next to her but I guess I’m bad at life like that.  We chatted for a little while (she was making the rounds through US cities on vacation from South Korea) until some random guy sat next to her and started talking with her instead.  I guess I still managed to help her get her stop (it was the same as mine) but it would have been cool to chat longer.

From the bus to the train to the airport, I finally checked in and got through security.  I found an outlet to charge my phone (I’d been mapping things and snapping photos all day) and sat down to call the recruiter.  She told me the details of the offer, and it was a little less than what I thought they might give but I told her I’d think about it.  I spent yesterday looking over housing options for myself (and my sister if/when she chooses to come out with me) to make a counter-offer.  It’s still a bit in the air (she’s asking the finance folks) but the original offer is not all that bad and I’m likely to take it if nothing else.  I almost feel bad for that, but I think it’s not too tough to appreciate the desire to maintain standard of living given the extra taxes and housing costs.  We’ll see; either way this will finally be my ticket out of here.

Of course I came back to Seattle that night, and it should be a good week but the weather is just so bleak, and I’m again a little bored.  Here’s to hoping the change will be everything I was hoping (and I can prove wrong the chorus to my favorite emo song :P).