Kiddie SUV
Today seemed to be the convergence of all things employee-related, and I spent my afternoon in a long conversation with a couple of people on my team who are going through an existential crisis -- what are we here for, how do we fit into the larger organization, etc. I was deep in this discussion when one of the people mentioned that I probably had to go because it was 4:30. Generally I take the 4:30 pm shuttle from Intuit to the train station, and I'm really draconian about sticking to that schedule. The trouble was I had forgotten that I drove today; and the reason that I drove was so I could pick Devon up from daycare so Walt could work late.
This sudden realization sparked an absolute sprint to the car, whereupon I peeled out and made for the highway as fast as possible, since Elaine closes up shop at 5:30. Now an hour may seem like more than adequate time to make the 40 miles or so between Mountain View and San Francisco; but I can assure you that on 101 at rush hour, this is absolutely nail-biting. I had a totally hair-raising drive to the city and also got incredibly lucky -- no accidents anywhere along the way and only a couple of major traffic jams. I made it to Elaine's only a couple of minutes late, and my tardiness was covered by other parents who were there chewing the fat with Elaine. Phew. For those of you who have experienced urban daycare, you know that they're tyrannical about late pickups. One of my friends at work is charged $5 for every minute he's late...
Devon is still on her stroller kick, and this evening as we came in the gate, she saw the stroller in the hall. She made a total fuss about getting it out, so I just parked it in the hall and let her play with it for a while. She was still adamant about staying in the stroller, so I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride in it. She immediately said, "Yes!" so I packed in some snacks (we hadn't had dinner yet), bundled her in and took her on a short tour of the neighborhood. She loved it. Modern strollers are like the child's version of a SUV -- they have cup holders for sippy cups and little sections where you can put food -- Devon got wheeled around like a pasha, drinking and eating the whole time. No wonder she likes it.
Walt and I have been scoping items on eBay for the house, namely light fixtures. Like just about everything in life, the great bulk of the offerings are total crap, but there are a few gems among the dross if you're patient enough to keep looking. Last night we found a real gem, a beautiful set of Art Deco sconces. Since our new apartment was originally lit via gas, there were several rooms that had sconces in them. We've since installed overhead lights in many rooms, but a couple of them still have the wiring for sconces. If you've spent any time at all looking at lights and light fixtures, you know the majority of them are simply ghastly, there is really no other word for it. In fact I'd probably add light fixtures to my list of hideous modern amenities (see yesterday's post) that are nonetheless embraced by most. (Remember the halogen torchieres of the 1980s and 90s? Argh.)
Given this dismal landscape, we were really excited to find something worth bidding on. Walt got all set up to snipe (aka going in at the last minute and bidding to win the item), put our bid in (which was a good $50 more than the current bid) and it looked like we had won it. Then a few seconds later we refreshed the screen and saw that we had gotten blown out of the water by another bid; the sconces had been bid up another $150 past our outer limit. Turned out there were 5 other people who were trying to snipe this same set of fixtures. We were disappointed, since this was one of the nicest sets we've seen; everything else has been ok but not spectacular. Perhaps this was just too upmarket for our lifestyle...
We still keep forgetting to take some photos of the refinished floors; I'll try to remind Walt about it tomorrow while he's over at 8th. And if our luck holds, the painters will actually start at the end of this week, perhaps Friday or Saturday. Guillermo, our painter, is still in El Salvador on vacation, but hopefully we'll be able to confirm the date with him. If there's one thing that I've learned, it's to harass -- literally -- these people so they show up if only to stop you from calling again.
This sudden realization sparked an absolute sprint to the car, whereupon I peeled out and made for the highway as fast as possible, since Elaine closes up shop at 5:30. Now an hour may seem like more than adequate time to make the 40 miles or so between Mountain View and San Francisco; but I can assure you that on 101 at rush hour, this is absolutely nail-biting. I had a totally hair-raising drive to the city and also got incredibly lucky -- no accidents anywhere along the way and only a couple of major traffic jams. I made it to Elaine's only a couple of minutes late, and my tardiness was covered by other parents who were there chewing the fat with Elaine. Phew. For those of you who have experienced urban daycare, you know that they're tyrannical about late pickups. One of my friends at work is charged $5 for every minute he's late...
Devon is still on her stroller kick, and this evening as we came in the gate, she saw the stroller in the hall. She made a total fuss about getting it out, so I just parked it in the hall and let her play with it for a while. She was still adamant about staying in the stroller, so I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride in it. She immediately said, "Yes!" so I packed in some snacks (we hadn't had dinner yet), bundled her in and took her on a short tour of the neighborhood. She loved it. Modern strollers are like the child's version of a SUV -- they have cup holders for sippy cups and little sections where you can put food -- Devon got wheeled around like a pasha, drinking and eating the whole time. No wonder she likes it.
Walt and I have been scoping items on eBay for the house, namely light fixtures. Like just about everything in life, the great bulk of the offerings are total crap, but there are a few gems among the dross if you're patient enough to keep looking. Last night we found a real gem, a beautiful set of Art Deco sconces. Since our new apartment was originally lit via gas, there were several rooms that had sconces in them. We've since installed overhead lights in many rooms, but a couple of them still have the wiring for sconces. If you've spent any time at all looking at lights and light fixtures, you know the majority of them are simply ghastly, there is really no other word for it. In fact I'd probably add light fixtures to my list of hideous modern amenities (see yesterday's post) that are nonetheless embraced by most. (Remember the halogen torchieres of the 1980s and 90s? Argh.)
Given this dismal landscape, we were really excited to find something worth bidding on. Walt got all set up to snipe (aka going in at the last minute and bidding to win the item), put our bid in (which was a good $50 more than the current bid) and it looked like we had won it. Then a few seconds later we refreshed the screen and saw that we had gotten blown out of the water by another bid; the sconces had been bid up another $150 past our outer limit. Turned out there were 5 other people who were trying to snipe this same set of fixtures. We were disappointed, since this was one of the nicest sets we've seen; everything else has been ok but not spectacular. Perhaps this was just too upmarket for our lifestyle...
We still keep forgetting to take some photos of the refinished floors; I'll try to remind Walt about it tomorrow while he's over at 8th. And if our luck holds, the painters will actually start at the end of this week, perhaps Friday or Saturday. Guillermo, our painter, is still in El Salvador on vacation, but hopefully we'll be able to confirm the date with him. If there's one thing that I've learned, it's to harass -- literally -- these people so they show up if only to stop you from calling again.
posted by Devon Szalva at
8:40 PM
4 Comments:
You have to let me in tomorrow on what the crisis is all about. At precisely 1447 today, Tuesday, I got three different IM's of this nature: "Have you seen the reorg deck that is being shopped around, you are impacted." But they would not give me details and looks like I am the last to know so you have to tell me. :)
On a different note I wanted to share a recent post I did with you:
The Awesome Power of Data Visualization
(http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/07/the-awesome-power-of-data-visualization.html)
There is a visual in there that I think you might find interesting and while I took a web analytics lesson from that perhaps you, or even Mr. Sailer judging from his comments on your blog, might have a more intersting take on it. If you do would love to read that on your blog! :)
Thanks Blaire.
By
Anonymous, at 12:17 AM
Avinash, I think I mentioned in our IM today that I had actually stopped by Oleg's desk to take a closer look at the tax dollar visualization. It's really marvelous -- I wish I could see something on a larger scale, since even at that size I know I'm missing detail.
I was trying to keep this apolitical, so as not to offend anyone, but that lasted about 5 minutes. I heard on the radio today that the war in Iraq is costing us about 3 billion dollars a day -- yes, that is BILLION with a B. And that the Bush administration has rewritten the BLM laws so that ranchers now have far more latitude to graze cattle on federal land (that's our land, just to be clear), one of those unwritten subsidies that's not necessarily represented in your excellent tax dollars example but definitely means that money we could direct to, say, ensuring all schools have arts classes or beefing up the EPA is going to entities like the Pentagon. Sigh.
I want to take a rain check so I can examine it more thoroughly and give you more specific comments. Jim, I think you'd defintiely appreciate this graph as well.
By
Devon Szalva, at 10:50 PM
Oh, and now that you know the crisis, you'll have to let me know if you see any behavior improvements after my next come to Jesus meeting with the perpetrators... And remind me to tell you, Katherine mentioned something to me when I met with her about it that I thought was very amusing (although I must admit that it did start to make the person in question seem a little megalomaniacal).
By
Devon Szalva, at 10:52 PM
I am going to come find you tomorrow morning Blaire! :)
And can't wait to see your detailed take on Jesse's visual!! :)
Good night.
-Avinash.
PS: I really can't believe the assault on the envionment, from all fronts, by the current administration. And now that I am finally a American (!!) I am even more outraged than before.
By
Anonymous, at 11:40 PM
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