Follow up on the new car and the new job (long)
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First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially - -
First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially -Rob Manderson wrote: Day 1 took 37 minutes So i presume you are late. :) Rob Manderson wrote: Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour So are you late again? LOL. Rob Manderson wrote: it only took 25 minutes to drive home So I guess there's no early or late when going home right? :) Rob Manderson wrote: as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. X| Weiye Chen When pursuing your dreams, don't forget to enjoy your life...
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First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially -Ooh - do they let you play with LN2 as well ? That's liquid nitrogen for those who don't know. On day I'm checking one of the stress ovens that I have been doing test developmen on and I notice a trickle of water running down it. There isn't a water pipe :~ It's liquid nitrogen - a valve had frozen and the over pressure seal had popped so BRS time ! (Big Red Swtich) :laugh: Elaine (chilly fluffy tigress) The tigress is here :-D
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First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially -The wife and I picked up our new car on Monday evening and were pleasantly pleased to find it had a full tank of petrol (which at current UK proces is about 50 quids worth!). Sweet.
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The wife and I picked up our new car on Monday evening and were pleasantly pleased to find it had a full tank of petrol (which at current UK proces is about 50 quids worth!). Sweet.
Cool. :) My partner Beth picked up her new car (a soft-top Audi TT no less!) yesterday. I suspect whether it had a full tank of petrol was fairly low on her priorities this time though!! :laugh: It's quite a sweet little thing - just like her. :-D Anna :rose: Homepage | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work. Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Visual C++ Add-In
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Cool. :) My partner Beth picked up her new car (a soft-top Audi TT no less!) yesterday. I suspect whether it had a full tank of petrol was fairly low on her priorities this time though!! :laugh: It's quite a sweet little thing - just like her. :-D Anna :rose: Homepage | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work. Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Visual C++ Add-In
We have a new family-tastic Ford Mondeo. All we need now is a dog and another 1.4 children. ;) Kinda boring but actually very nice. Only an LX, but the spec is still good - CD, air con, cruise control, airbags everywhere, etc. Much roomier than the Focus we had before, which is handy for little 'uns stuff (pram especially - we could fit the pram in the boot of the Focus but it didn't leave room for anything else). We are on the Ford Options scheme so we get the chance to upgrade every 3 years. Works out well for us. Last time the car was in my wifes name, but as she isn't going back to work until Jan 05 (and her salary stops next month ... GULP!) I decided to take on the new car. First time my wife hasn't had her "own" car in 10 years, but she'll be driving it a lot more than me anyway (and saving herself £150 a month in the process). One minor problem is the drivers seatbelt seems very worn and doesn't "feel" right, so we have to pop back to get that sorted ASAP.
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We have a new family-tastic Ford Mondeo. All we need now is a dog and another 1.4 children. ;) Kinda boring but actually very nice. Only an LX, but the spec is still good - CD, air con, cruise control, airbags everywhere, etc. Much roomier than the Focus we had before, which is handy for little 'uns stuff (pram especially - we could fit the pram in the boot of the Focus but it didn't leave room for anything else). We are on the Ford Options scheme so we get the chance to upgrade every 3 years. Works out well for us. Last time the car was in my wifes name, but as she isn't going back to work until Jan 05 (and her salary stops next month ... GULP!) I decided to take on the new car. First time my wife hasn't had her "own" car in 10 years, but she'll be driving it a lot more than me anyway (and saving herself £150 a month in the process). One minor problem is the drivers seatbelt seems very worn and doesn't "feel" right, so we have to pop back to get that sorted ASAP.
Sounds good. :) I've a somewhat used looking black Renault Laguna Estate at the moment...it came to me as part of the divorce settlement as my ex can't drive. I must admit it seems a bit bigger than I need now, although it could be useful if I start doing shows again. At the moment I've no loans, mortgage or finance agreements to worry about which suits me fine - all I have to deal with is the £727 a month in maintenance payments for my kids. Anna :rose: Homepage | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work. Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Visual C++ Add-In
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First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially -It's cool to hear how it is other places. In the US it's pretty standard to receive a new car with a full tank of gas. I've bought 2 from a dealership and both came with a full tank. Brian "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams
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First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially -Rob Manderson wrote: ...as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. I just recently got assigned this role, too. In my office are eight others. In our main office is about a dozen or so. And then about two dozen scattered out in the field, some in other states. So far most of my calls have been directly related to spyware and popup ads. When I show/tell folks how nefarious these spyware authors can be and how they play on people's emotions/naiveness, you should see their jaws drop. The classic is the popup ad window that comes up with the real caption hidden off the top of the screen and a fake caption drawn just below it, complete with the "X". When I asked them how they would close an otherwise innocent looking window, they all respond with "Just click the X." I then tell them that they've just let one of the bad guys in! I don't mind helping them out with PC, server, and network troubles, but it is something I've had no official training in. What I know about support is a byproduct of writing software for the machines, network, etc.
"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen
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First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially -Rob Manderson wrote: there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car I encounter those too in my tiny Nissan. Have you considered driving under them ? :) "I believe I referred to her personality as a potential science exhibit." - Elaine, about Ellen, in "The Dog"
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First, for Weiye :)Day 1 took 37 minutes - it would have been less but I, being in an unfamiliar area, made a wrong turn and got lost. (Ok, the truth is I was in the wrong lane and am way too timid to just push in when there are SUV's and pickups that seem 3 times the height of my own car :) ) There are those who will scoff at the idea of becoming lost in Phoenix - in theory the city is an easy grid. What they forget is that there are enough mountains around to totally stuff up the theory. I live close to North 48th Street (Tatum Boulevard) and where I work is very close to South 48th Street (less than a block in both cases). Unfortunately there's this bloody big mountain in the way which means that N 48th and S 48th, though on the same alignment, don't actually meet. Day 2 took 31 minutes during peak hour :) By the standards of where I used to live this is pretty good.The new car:I forgot to mention this the other night. When we took delivery of the Kia the salesman apologised for the tank being only a quarter full. It seems their bowser was on the blink so he asked me to return tonight for a full tank of petrol. I've bought 3 new cars in my life - the other two were in Australia. This is the only time I've ever heard of a new car being delivered with a full tank. My Australian experience is that there's barely enough fuel in a new car to get one to the nearest petrol station. I bought a small car based on 30 years of driving experience in another country. What I didn't allow for was the sheer size of the average vehicle on Phoenix roads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on my drive home yesterday I was in the middle lane behind an SUV seeing empty lanes both sides and unable to see far enough ahead to judge whether to stay where I was or to change lanes. Ah well, it only took 25 minutes to drive home so I'm not complaining :)The Job:Let's hope they're not reading :) Actually it's pretty interesting, if you discount being told that as a software guy you're expected to do sys adminy things and general software support for the office. It came as a surprise to be told that but in retrospect I should have realised that in a branch office of 20 or so people there wouldn't be a dedicated support guy. My first reaction on being told I had to install a modem on the accountants PC was to say 'You're not paying me enough to ask that'. First reaction lasted maybe 3 seconds :) As for what I've been employed to do officially -Rob Manderson wrote: Can you tell I really missed hardware? Yup. I do, too. The changes in test technology are really amazing. We had to build and program 'smart' test adapters because computers then weren't fast enough to test in real-time devices that operated at a mere 1 MHz. What a difference a decade or so has made! I bought rights to use HP's signature analyzer algorithm for $100, talked Fairchild out of samples of 100MHz shift registers that weren't publicly available yet, and built my own SA because 10MHz was the best HP had to offer. Now you can easily exceed that by a couple orders of magnitude using your home computer and a few wires! Damn I miss designing hardware...:( Some people think of it as a six-pack; I consider it more of a support group.
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Ooh - do they let you play with LN2 as well ? That's liquid nitrogen for those who don't know. On day I'm checking one of the stress ovens that I have been doing test developmen on and I notice a trickle of water running down it. There isn't a water pipe :~ It's liquid nitrogen - a valve had frozen and the over pressure seal had popped so BRS time ! (Big Red Swtich) :laugh: Elaine (chilly fluffy tigress) The tigress is here :-D
:eek: LN2 is fun to work with, but extremely dangerous! Frozen valves are a common problem, especially in humidity-controlled clean rooms where the atmospheric water vapor is kept high to reduce static electricity. Some people think of it as a six-pack; I consider it more of a support group.
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It's cool to hear how it is other places. In the US it's pretty standard to receive a new car with a full tank of gas. I've bought 2 from a dealership and both came with a full tank. Brian "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams
BrianEllis wrote: I've bought 2 from a dealership and both came with a full tank. Mine came with a pre paid gas card with 250.00 on it. Since I only get about 14 MPG in the city and 21 on the highway it didn't last a real long time but it was appreciated :). I have a 22.5 gallon gas tank so that amounted to about 7 fillups. I also get 2 years free reqular maintance ( such as tire rotation oil changes wiper blades ) so that saves me about 100.00 a year. Not bad. Richard "He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice. --Albert Einstein