Everybody Loves Me

I delivered the news to both potential bosses today. The one I turned down (the one I had the written offer for) was nice enough to say that if the other didn't come through with the paperwork, he could probably get his group's offer back on the table. Everybody loves me!

Confused

Yep, the more people I talk to the more confused I get.  I had decided one way last night and have gone back and forth several times already this morning.  Arrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

Decision

Last night almost turned into one of those five entry nights. Thankfully I didn't have my laptop with me at a certain restaurant I eat at often. After I got home, I watched my MTV and played along on my keyboard to music, loudly (to itunes, not MTV.. MTV doesn't play music). I haven't done that in awhile. I'm sure I've mentioned before that when I do that it always puts me in a good mood. I still don't do that enough though.

Instead of rambling on about the five things I was thinking about last night, I need to focus on making a decision. I had the interview today for the second internal job today, and now I need to decide which one I want. I'm no longer worried that I'm risking not getting the second job if I don't take the first one. They seem plenty interested and if I don't accept the first one I'm sure I'd get an offer on the second one shortly. So, I have to weigh the pros and cons.

First job pros: Higher pay than #2, sooner start date, should be able to be get recognition for work sooner, stable and predictable
First job cons: maybe too structured, more of a routine

Second job pros: More flexibility in hours and duties, greater independence, more exciting, cutting-edge, new systems, etc.
Second job cons: Higher pay but not as good as #1, less stable and predictable, harder to communicate with workmates (english not first language for most), and because of less structured environment it may be harder to be noticed

I know which way I'm leaning, but if you have any input that would be great. It will probably not help and just confuse me but go ahead. Tomorrow I will probably ask some co-worker advice, but that probably won't help either. I'm going to need to make a decision by Friday on the first job.

A final thought... there must be so much opportunity out there. But it doesn't come knocking, you have to look for it. The first two years I've been in this job I've been afraid to apply for another internal position cause I felt I needed to be loyal to the boss that hired me. Now that she's moved on to a different position, I've finally felt able to look for something more appropriate without fear of being canned or treated differently. But this is just the world within my company. How many opportunities must there be elsewhere, if only I took the time to look?

One of Those Kind of Days

Why do these kind of days always happen this way.  This morning, another stupid job annoyance happened, by itself not meaning much, but enough to get me thinking about what this job is all about and why much of what I do is futile.  For the first time in a while, I fantasized about walking in to my boss' office, saying I quit and enjoying the rest of the afternoon without having to worry about any of it.

Then, this afternoon I get a call.  I've been offered a new position in the company with a huge pay increase.  I might've accepted it right then but I have another interview tomorrow for a different internal position.  I should at least see how that goes, but due to the timing I will have to decide to take the position already offered or risk losing both.  We'll see how it goes, but right now it looks like I'll be doing something new here (and exciting, at least temporarily) in a couple of weeks.

Running Logs

Last night I had preliminary plans on meeting someone near campus, so I decided to plan a running route near there.  I checked the Internet before I left work, and discovered there are a lot of websites devoted to planning your run.

http://www.usatf.org/routes/
http://www.coolrunning.com/log/
http://www.favoriterun.com/
http://walkjogrun.net/
http://www.runningahead.com/

I haven't looked at any of these too deeply yet and thought I'd ask if anyone had used them.  It looks like most if not all of them use google maps, but some may have more features than others.  Runningahead.com claims to be the first to incorporate elevation maps, that's cool.

The last time I tried to log my runs I started with a spreadsheet.  It didn't take too long for me to give up on that, as it was just too much a pain in the ass to have to update it after every run, and it didn't really provide any additional benefit.  I ended up used a paper log, which is much more accessible.  Now that there are websites that provide analysis, I may try an online log.

Cover Band

I knew I was going to start asking this to myself after doing this for a few months.  So why do people like cover bands?  I mean, we concentrate so hard on trying to reproduce songs just like the recording.  So why not just play the recording?  Why isn't a DJ preferable to a cover band?  The DJ could probably fulfill more requests, too, and the audience inevitably makes requests.  I suppose I could make the same argument for non-cover bands too (a DJ could just play their album).  So I guess there's just something about live music, no matter what it is?  I don't know.  Well, I knew I would start thinking about this some, but it's not something that will make me quit.  I don't plan on being band-less for a long time.  I would be sure to have something else going first before leaving the cover band.

Conference Gig

The gig was interesting, as usual.  It was a bit more work and therefore not as much fun this time, mostly due to the logistics of getting everything set up in the ballroom.  Many elevator trips, and we had to bring extra stuff this time (lights).  That's compared to parking in front of a bar and having to walk 10-20 yards to the setup area.  We started playing promptly at 10, to an empty ballroom.  I guess the guests were supposed to trickle in between 10-10:30, but that didn't start happening 'til the later portion of that window, so we all felt pretty stupid playing to nobody.  Oh, nobody except the bartender who was completely across the room.  When people started coming in we just started our set over from the top.

Sometime during the first song or two some young suit wearing manager type walked in and pulled me aside, saying something about no free beer not even if the staff gave it to us, they could lose their liquor license, etc.  He was extremely angry, but I think he was enjoying being on a power trip or something.  I didn't know what he was talking about really... three of us had beers and one of the guitar players got it for us, so I didn't know where they came from.  I thought I might tell that to the guy but pretty much anything I said could've made it worse.  So I just kept saying "yes sir, I understand, it won't happen again, blah blah blah" until he finally left.

I also got a dose of  group politics.  Not surprisingly, it's the two guitar players that are most at odds.  The bass player and drummer are both agreeable most if not all of the time.  And I as the keyboard am basically non-existent.

I didn't get home until 3 and not to bed til 4.  So Saturday was a waste for the most part.

As Usual

Once again I waited 'til the final day to prepare for the show.  I hadn't even hooked it back up since our practice last Thursday.  So, I was up late last night and will have to last until 2 am tonight on 5 hours of sleep.  No problem!

A Stone's Throw

For the first time ever, I had a work meeting today less than ten minutes from where I live.  So I got to leave a little later and went home for lunch.  Wouldn't that be nice to have a job normally that close!  What a waste of time, all of that driving.  This afternoon I am at the closer of the two regular locations, and will later do my normal routine of running around Zilker and winning at trivia downtown.  I will probably stop talking about running so much as long as I'm maintaining my routine.  I guess I've resigned driving the extra distance to do the Zilker run whenever possible, at least until I don't feel like quitting halfway through all the time.

NYC

I went to NYC last weekend.  Really I just wanted to see how my friends were settling in, so I didn't make any plans in advance to do anything exciting in the city.  But of course we had to go do something!  Friday we hung out at the "local" bar (which is actually a couple of miles from their apartment in NJ) and scored some Guinness schwag from the should've-been-hotter Guinness promotions girl.  Saturday I checked out my friend's workplace and went for a movie and food in the Village and Chinatown.  Sunday we checked out the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I managed to fit in a short run on Sunday morning in Englewood, and it was fun to check out the neighborhood that way.  But, like I said, I was mostly curious how my friends were doing and they seem to be adjusting well.  Their apartment is great and their jobs seem to be going fine.  And what to say about New York City—so many people, so much to do.  You could spend years just walking around exploring the city it seems.  I could see myself living there and really liking it, but something really extraordinary would have to happen for me to leave Austin.

Busy Week

I wish I could remember what I did though!  Lessee... Wednesday we got first place for Trivia for an unprecedented third time in a row.  Third time in a row for me, anyway.  It's actually three out of the last four weeks, but they didn't win the week I was absent.  I either know the answers no one else does or am simply good luck.  We had the old how many black keys on a piano question again... we've had this one so many times now that I can do the math in my head very quickly.  Band practice keeps getting better, as everyone is enjoying it more and more.  We are learning a bunch of new stuff.  That might have something to do with our attitude.  Private party gig next Friday at the Hilton, can't wait!  Have a good weekend folks.