My Last "Off-Friday"

I need to amend my list of things I'll miss about my current job... in addition to my great co-workers (who p.s. took me out for a lovely lunch today and made me give a farewell speech (eep! I hate public speaking!!!)) and of course the free feminine products, I'll miss having every other Friday off.

Yep - in exchange for working 9 hours per day (as opposed to 8), we get every other Friday off here at Big & Evil Inc. It's quite nice. Totally worth it to stay an extra hour every day if it means you get a 3 day weekend at least twice a month.

Last Friday was my last "off-Friday". Kyle and I made sure to make good use of the day*. And what a glorious day it was - mostly sunny with a high of 77 F. Yeah November in California!!

First we slept in. Mmmmmmmmm... sleeping in. Then we met up with Kyle's brother, Kelsey, and headed to one of my favorite restaurant's in Cole Valley (a neighborhood in SF) for a leisurely outdoor brunch. Mmmmmmmmm... leisurely outdoor brunch. Then we went to Golden Gate Park to visit the new California Academy of Sciences. Mmmmmmmmm... Sciences. It was AWESOME. As the advertisement goes, It's an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, and a 4-story rainforest... all under one living roof! And indeed it was! The aquarium was much bigger than I thought it would be, and they managed to integrate it with the rest of the building VERY well... it just sort of meandered though the other exhibits, so pretty much wherever you were, part of the aquarium was there too. Very cool. We saw a 3-D movie about bugs, took a ride through outer space in the planetarium, touched star fish and abalones, starred at the rather creepy looking albino alligator, and marveled at the truly awesome living roof. (It's covered in native California plants and wildflowers - quite stunning and functional!)


Me and Kyle checking out the Living Roof at the Cal Academy. The bumpy shape helps cool air flow down into the center of the building - keeping AC costs to a minimum.

Once the science museum closed, we wandered over to the de Young Museum for their Friday night happy hour and live band - highly recommended if you're ever in the park on a Friday evening. We sipped pomegranate cocktails and people watched in the outdoor covered patio while the sun disappear behind the trees.

After happy hour, we headed home to re-heat some leftovers for dinner. For the record, I've never really been a fan of leftovers... but Kyle is showing me the error of my ways. :) And you know what - they're not half bad... as long as I don't have to eat the same thing two days in a row. Variety is the spice of life! No?

With our bellies full, we changed into some fancier threads, hopped on BART and headed downtown to meet up with some friends at the Opera House, where we saw The Elixir of Love which is a sweet and, at times, quite silly opera. Yes yes, TWO museums AND an Opera all in one day - am I cultured or what!? :)

After the Opera, we walked to a snazzy bar in Hayes Valley where we chatted over wine and stinky cheese. A perfect end to our day.

So that's it, I guess. Now I'll have to work on Fridays. Ugh. The next time I want to go to the museum, I'll have to fight the weekend crowds, just like everyone else. No more Fridays filled with running errands or lazily lying around the apartment. No more heading up to Tahoe on a Thursday evening - totally avoiding the Friday rush. Sad. I reeeeeeally hope my new job is awesome enough to make up for it...

___
*Note: Kyle and I both work for same Big and Evil Corporation... so we both get every other Friday off... well... at least we USED TO both get every other Friday off... with my new job, I'll have to roll out of bed all my by lonesome while he slumbers away once every other week. Yuck. Those days are gonna suck.

Proof

Sweet! I've got proof that I made the right decision when I chose to leave my current job. This is an email I sent to a some co-workers a few days ago, in which I express my outrage at the latest law flowed down from our evil overlords. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that these rules and regulations are designed to maximize futility and minimize employee morale. Enjoy.

From: me
To: my co-workers
Sent: Friday, November 7, 2008 5:48:04 PM
Subject: I'll miss this place

Just in case there was any doubt in my mind that I made the right decision when I chose to leave [Big&Evil Inc.], today I received indisputable proof: I got reprimanded for using scissors. Apparently there is a new [B&E Law] out that scissors are no longer allowed – because they’re sharp, and people can cut themselves.

I kid you not.

Forget that kindergarteners use scissors all the time, [Big & Evil] employees apparently can’t be trusted to use them properly.

Reprimander: I’m sorry, sharps aren’t allowed anymore.
Me: Oh, these are just scissors. Safety scissors, no less. They barely cut paper.
Reprimader: Sorry, [B&E law] states that scissors are no longer allowed.
Me: But I have to cut this.
Reprimander: You’ll have to find another way.
Me: Another way to cut something? But that’s what scissors are for!
Reprimander: Sorry, we’ve had a lot of injuries with scissors. People cut themselves.
Me: Well maybe you should hire smarter people.

When I pressed him on how exactly he plans BUILD HARDWARE without ever using a sharp tool, he finally conceded that, ON OCCASION a sharp tool may be necessary, and if that was the case a detailed procedure would have to be written – complete with appropriate caution statements and warnings – stating exactly how the tool should be used. (“Insert thumb and middle finger into the loops on the base of the scissors; gently move thumb away from middle finger thus causing the blades of the scissors to become exposed. WARNING SCISSOR BLADES MAY BE SHARP!!!!!” ???)

Just kill me.

I expect pens to be outlawed next (you could stab your eye out!) Then we won’t be allowed to leave our cubicles (lest someone trip and fall while walking!) And don’t get me started on push-pins!!

In fact, if it wasn’t for this company’s LOVE AFFAIR with paper, I could definitely see them pulling the plug on that too (can you imagine the number of paper cuts people must get every year? Yikes!)

I’m a bit tempted to demand that we all be able to work from home everyday, as I’m sure just getting out of bed greatly increases your chance of injuring yourself, but instead I think I’ll just walk away from this madness. Slowly. Looking both ways before I cross the street, of course.

-Courtney

It's nice when life makes the decision easy for you, no?

Things I'll Miss

There are several things I'll miss about my current job:

• My co-workers, many of whom have become dear friends. I have been blessed to work with some amazingly brilliant people.


• The security of my job. The chances of my current company going under, even in this crummy economy, are about as slim as they get. At my new job, I think it's entirely possible that I'll show up to work one day and the front door will be locked and all of the desks and computers will have been hauled away by some repo company. This scares the crap out of me.
  
• The parking lot. I know this seems REALLY weird, but my current company does a really nice job with their landscaping. When I walk out to my car at the end of the day, I'm greeted by mature trees and fresh cut grass. It almost always smells nice. Often times there's a large V of geese or a solitary hawk flying over head. And, on most nights, I run into a familiar face on my way out and we exchange pleasantries, each wishing the other safe drive home or a nice weekend. It's a really nice way to end the day.
  
• The tampons. Also weird, I know, but my company provides FREE TAMPONS in all of the bathrooms. It's really nice to know that I never have to remember to bring my own. (Note: if free feminine products ever make it into YOUR list of the things you'll miss most about your job... it's time to find a new job.)
  
• The company-matched 401K. My new company promises to give me zillions of stock options, but they don't have a 401K plan set up. Booo. Even when the market is crummy, and my 401K bleeds like it's had a limb cut off, I still like having it. I realize it's a long term investment and ups and downs are to be expected. Over the long term, it's VERY likely that I'll make slow and (mostly) steady growth. Plus, company-match = FREE MONEY! (If anyone out there isn't taking advantage of a company-matched 401K plan remind me to slap you silly the next time I see you.) With stock options... well, let's just say the odds are much scarier. The potentially very big upside comes with a potentially very big downside.
  
• Telling people what I do and then having them ask, all starry-eyed, if I'm a rocket scientist. (I'm not, by the way, but I do work in the aerospace industry, which apparently means I'm a rocket scientist in countless people's eyes. Psssssst - I'll let you all in on a little secret: Putting functional things into space requires a lot more than just a rocket.)

Anyway, it's nice. It's safe. It's easy. And it has some decent curb appeal.

There are, however, things I won't miss:

• The commute. Driving 86 miles a day, in bumper to bumper traffic, will not be missed. Even if it does afford me 2 - 3 hours of prime NPR listening time (I LUVS me some Kai Ryssdal on the drive home!), I simply cannot wait to not have spend so much of my life in my car. Not to mention the sheer (ridiculous) volume of gas I go through (Approx. 860 gallons per year JUST driving to and from work!!) It makes me ill to consider both my impact on the planet and my wallet. Yuck.
  
• My cubicle. When I first started, my cubicle was like my own little office. I loved it. I set it up just so, with all my little pictures and trinkets in their place, and my drawers stocked with fresh office supplies. My books on their shelves and my papers filed neatly away. But it didn't last. Over the years they moved us into smaller and smaller cubicles. They took away our book shelves. Encouraged us not to display so many trinkets. Papers mounted and I lost track of what should be filed and what should be thrown away. I stopped unpacking my boxes in between moves, stopped painstakingly routing all my cords after each computer upgrade. My cube is now a sad, cluttered, dingy little space. I just sort of stopped caring about it. It is an uninspiring atmosphere in which to work at best. I can't wait to work someplace where I'll have windows instead of padded walls.
• The bureaucracy. In my opinion , we have far too many people doing far too little actual work at this company. Everyday, it seems, we're tossed new hoops to jump through, new forms to fill out, a new online system (guaranteed to improved productivity!) to weigh us down. It's as if the people writing the rules and the people forced to follow them live on two entirely different planets. I see the wheels of progress grind schreechingly to a halt over and over again as employees are saddled with ever more ridiculous rules and regulations that do little more than break their spirits and cost the company money. It's enough to make me scream on a regular basis. (On the upside, it does make Dilbert a whole lot funnier... b/c I TOTALLY relate to almost every single strip.)
  
• The speed. Or shall I say, the lack there of. Do you have ANY idea how long it takes a giant, bureaucracy laden corporation to put something into space? It takes roughly forever. (Give or take a decade.) I have been working on the same design project for 6 years now. SIX YEARS to come up with a design, refine it, get it approved, build it, test it, document the results, and deliver it. It will be about 6-million more years before they integrate it onto the satellite and test it again. And then another 3 eternities before they finally launch the thing into space. Do you have any idea how boring it is to stare at the same project for 6 years? And how sucky it is to know that by the time the thing ACTUALLY gets used it will be so out of date that people will laugh at it? At my new company, things get designed and built in about 6 months.
  
• Feeling like a tiny tiny cog in a giant GIANT machine. On the one hand, it's easy to blend in, to not have to work that hard, to "coast", if you will. If you and 100,000 other people are pushing the same giant block forward, does it REALLY matter if you push with all your might or if you just sort of go through the motions? Not really. The block slowly moves forward, pretty much with or without you. On the other hand, it's bit depressing, don't you think? I don't feel like I can have much impact here. No matter how hard I work, my salary probably won't change much (sure, I might get a 2.6% raise instead of a 2.4% raise - woo-hoo!), my department probably won't win any new business, my company as a whole probably won't be any more profitable, and I probably won't change the world. Maybe it's a blessing to not have the fate of your company (and the world!?) resting on your shoulders - but, at least once in my life, I'd like to know what it feels like to at least have the potential to make a real impact.

Veterans Day

To all those who have served or are currently serving in our armed forces and to all the military families out there who support them, Thank You.

Thank you for your service. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your sacrifice.

Breaking News

*beep beep beep*

We interrupt these wedding related blog posts to bring you breaking news...

(And before anyone asks - No, I'm not pregnant. Sheesh, you get married and suddenly everyone thinks you're going to announce pregnancy anytime you clear your throat.)

Anyway, I had originally intended to get through all the wedding and honeymoon related blogging before I moved on to other topics, but seeing as how I've been married for forty some odd days now and STILL haven't finished my wedding re-cap and haven't even BEGUN to work on my honeymoon post, I think I'm gonna have break up the natural flow of things and post about some exciting news that I just can't keep in anymore.

I got a new job!!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A new job IN San Francisco!!! A mere three miles from my house!!!!!!! (For those who don't know, I currently commute 43 miles EACH WAY every single day. It's awful)

The new job is with a start up. I don't know a ton of detail yet other than I'll be working as a mechanical engineer on light weight, highly efficient, portable power systems - mostly batteries and fuel cells. There are about a dozen people at the company. It's been around for 3 or 4 years*. I'm the only female engineer (typical) and, except for the CEO and the guy I'll be reporting to, I'm the oldest person at the company (WEIRD!!!) I am so nervous/excited/curious about the new job and my brain cannot wait to wrap itself around a whole new technology. It feels like the first day of school is approaching. I'm down right giddy. :D

*Yes, I realize that 4 years seems like a long time to be considered a "start-up"... but the technology involved has taken some time to get off the ground. They are launching their first product next year. To date, I believe most of their funding has come from angel investors. I'm not sure when exactly you go from being a start-up to just being a small company (maybe when you start making money?)... but I'm sure that's one of the zillion things I'll learn as I embark on this journey.