Coit Tower Pictures

So on Saturday I hung out with some friends in San Francisco. We went to Coit Tower, which is the second largest hill in San Francisco. It overlooks the bay and the city and you can get a pretty good view of everything. We went during sunset, so some interesting sites!

The first picture isn't from the tower, it's from the wharf down by the bay. (After we went to the aquarium.) The last one is a little blurry upon close inspection. I should have taken my tripod. Maybe that means another trip?

Also, we had a guy setup a video camera during the service this morning. He's supposed to get me the DVD some time this week. If everything works out I might be able to get a video up here. This is a work in progress. We shall see if everything works out.

VMWORLD

So yesterday I got the chance to go to VMWORLD up in San Francisco, which is the virtualization industry show that we put on. Lots of companies, lots of people, lots of free t-shirts. I didn't get any free t-shirts because I didn't have the right kind of badge. I got to go with an employee badge, which pretty much let me do everything except get free stuff.

The show was pretty fun, if just a little overwhelming. When I first got there I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. So the first thirty minutes was spent wandering around looking at all the flashing lights and computer monitors. Luckily one of my managers spotted me and let me in on all the secrets, like how I could just walk into any of the sessions. This made killing time a lot easier. Plus there was free Mountain Dew and cookies scattered around. This made killing time a lot more sugary.

I worked the booth for our product for about three hours total. I was supposed to work for two, but with people filtering in and out and there not being enough people to really work the booth I stuck around. It was a lot of fun getting to put my marketing face on and talk to customers. I think overall it was good for me to meet people that actually use our product and hear what they had to say about it. A lot of good things and a lot of suggestions.

Below are a few pictures from the show that I was able to snap with my phone. [Click to make them bigger.]

The first two show the big blackboard that was setup that had two artist drawing (usually) comedic representations of key words that we use in the virtualization biz.

The third is the stairway leading to the event. You actually came down these steps to get to the event. Going up them means you were leaving. So I took the pictures from inside the event. Makes sense? Good.

The fourth picture is the vmware booth.

The fifth picture is the actual booth that I worked at. The monitor to the left was the one showing off our product.

Church Band Pictures

Well, the church-service-band-extravaganza went well. Below are a few pictures from the service (warm-up, not actual service) of the band playing. They're clickable to make them bigger. Enjoy!

Next up, going to VMworld to work a booth! Although I'm not sure when that is exactly. I was supposed to work tomorrow (Tuesday) but they gave me a pass to get in on Wednesday. So now everything is up in the air. At the least I'll be able to go and just check things out. And at this point I think I'd prefer that over having to answer intricate details about software.

Lots of Updates!

Well, it's certainly been a busy month!

Reno, Nevada

I went to Reno, Nevada three weekends ago with some friends from church. They went to college there and have family there. It was a spur of the moment thing, but I decided to go. We mostly did some errands they had to do. But it was a lot of fun checking out a part of the country I've never been to. There aren't many trees, and the trees that you do see don't seem to want to fit in. That weekend was also Hot August Nights, which is apparently the largest antique car show in the United States. So there were many nights filled with looking at old cars. It was a pretty interesting weekend.

Also, it's not pronounced neh-VA-duh (like the A in cat), it's pronounced neh-VAH-duh (like the A in wash). People from Nevada will try to stone you if you do not pronounce this correctly. So get to practicing.

Palo Alto, California

Work has been going pretty well lately. The company has recently IPO'd, which hasn't really changed a whole lot. Except that we've stopped hiring now. What this means for me is that, for the foreseeable future I'll be pretty much taking the lead on the front-side development. We hired a few people leading up to the IPO, but nobody that's dedicated to helping out with the development I'm doing. There is one new person that might possibly be able to help out, but all that is completely up in the air. So the stress levels stay up, but it stays exciting!

VMWare has its VMWorld conference next week in San Francisco, and I'll be working the booth for our product for a day. I'm getting excited about it, it should be a lot of fun.

San Francisco, California

At the church I'm going to I've been taking over some of the volunteer organization. This past weekend I organized a group to help out a homeless center fundraiser. It was a silent auction event that had a bunch of food. So we showed up early and helped prepare some of the food and stayed afterwards to help clean up. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of pretty good auction item. Mostly gift certificates to random places around San Francisco. I ended up with a gift certificate for two to the Museum of Modern Art, two tickets to the Exploratorium (science center) and four lift tickets to the Donnerville Ski Resort. All in all a lot of things to do over the next year!

I've also been working hard to get the next set of songs learned for the church band. The set of songs for the next service (this coming Sunday) have increased in complexity. I'm getting a lot better with the bass guitar though. It's been pushing me pretty hard. I'm almost there, but there's one bass solo that moves pretty quickly and it's up in the air if the solo is going to be able to be played on Sunday.

Top-Floor Church

So the church I go to in San Francisco doesn't own a building. We rent out a banquet-hall area in a place called the Regency Center. One of the people that has started coming to the church remarked today, "Hey, this is where I went to prom!" So it's that kind of place.

We've started meeting on the top floor, as opposed to the bottom floor. There's a lot more character on the top floor. There's a pretty decent sized stage-like section with changeable backdrops. Today we got the Greek architecture. Hopefully we'll be able to stay in this location, as it's quite a few leagues above the bottom floor in terms of style. Of course, that means it's a few leagues above the bottom floor in terms of money. We're going to try and talk them down. I mean, who else is using the building on Sunday mornings?

Below are a few pictures I snapped on my phone. One is from the setup before the service; the second is from during the service. My phone's quality is pretty poor, so that really really white part of the picture is actually the power-point screen that is run by the computer. Not some kind of super-bright window.

Also, the band stuff went really. We didn't mess up. Well not too much.

Energy: It's Electric!

In my planning for moving to California I resigned myself to the fact that energy just cost more out here. Gas, electricity, food. Energy in all its forms was just going to cost you a little extra.

And boy did my first power bill deliver.

For a little context: I live in a one bedroom on the bottom floor of a shady apartment complex. It's very rare that I get full sun coming in. I don't have an air conditioner, but don't really need one. I have a heater, but it's summer, so it's not in use.

Ever since my first bill I've watched my electric bill start to nose dive. I have no idea what the cause of this is. My second month's bill was $155. This month's bill was $11!


Since the second month I haven't had a power bill that went up. It's been a steady decline. I assume that next month will end the streak, but I think I remember saying that about last month as well.

So, in closing, cheap power.

Short: I'm also playing the bass in the church band tomorrow. I realized yesterday that it will actually be the first time I've performed instrumentally in public. I'm seem pretty excited right now.

Old, Empty Frames

Wisconsin has come, and Wisconsin has gone. And what was with all the goats?

It was nice to have the family all together. And Anya sure didn't disappoint. She continues to become more grown-up and the people around her continue to grow more child-like. I suppose that's the nature of children. Especially when they are in your genetic line.

She's also very photogenic. She must have gotten that from Matt... (sarcasm!)

I also seem to have fallen into a bizarre hobby as of recently. I have begun to collect old frames from thrift stores. I have no idea what I will be doing with the frames I collect. As of now I have about ten frames. I usually find three interesting frames every trip. You have to space them out you see, to give people time to realize they don't need their old frames, and that they would be better off sold to the lowest bidder. The best thing about shopping at the thrift store is that you know that, despite no signs indicating a sale, you will only be charged half of what the stickers say you should.

Couch!

Well, the day has come. Justin has gotten a couch. Robert and Mary were redoing their t.v. room and were gracious enough to pass their old couch along to me for zero dollars.

It's funny how having a couch in an apartment can make it seem like someone actually lives there. I must say, the past day has been nice. No more laying on the floor for me!

As you can see, the walls are probably the next project. I figure they'll only take me another six months or so.

Santa Cruz

So I got a chance to go down to Santa Cruz this weekend. It sits right on the ocean and is apparently the place for surfing. I didn't do any of that though.

Culture Shock

I'll be honest, since I've been out here I've been anxiously awaiting the moment when culture shock set in.

Let's face it, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most culturally diverse areas in the country. There's a large mix of Asian and Indian, with a growing Hispanic group, all mixed in with your run-of-the-mill Caucasian. I was expecting it all to be a little off setting. Not bad, mind you, but certainly unfamiliar and, well, foreign.

But, amazingly, that really hasn't happened. I've met a wide variety of people, and been in some parts of town that feel like you're walking through another country, but I've been more encouraged by it than anything else.

And the food is excellent.

But there was another part of this life that I wasn't expecting. A part that has snuck up on me, leaving me blindsided and a little weirded out. The world of using disposable income.

This has been something that I've been aware of happening to me. (I mean, who else goes six months without buying a couch? Right?) But I think it really hit home today when I bought a few new clothes, something I had been putting off for about six months or so. All totaled it was around sixty dollars, which really isn't too bad, but I almost felt dirty buying them.

Needless to say, I don't know how to live in a world with disposable income. I guess this is what you get after six years of scraping by in collage.

Why don't they teach courses in this?!?

Justin Shorts

I'm still leading the development of the front-end at work. This has caused many nights of frustration and many days of self-doubt. But things make progress and I have a presentation to give two Mondays from now.

I looked at my wardrobe and realized I have way too many black / earth-toned shirts. So I'm currently on a mission for color.

I need a haircut drastically. I'm investigating cutting it myself, but I don't know if I have the resolve.

Phone Home

So I had been meaning to get to the Stanford Dish to take some pictures and I finally did it this morning. I even woke up before the sun did! The computer said it would be raining all day. But apparently computer's don't always tell the truth. This is all new to me. So I'm taking some time to let that fact sink in.

The Stanford Dish area is just off the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. There is a walking path that goes up along the ridge of a small mountain. It's always pretty full of people. It's also about half a mile from where I work. It's strange to be in the heart of Silicon Valley and still have spots like this. Of course, all of technology is not lost, as can be seen from the really large satellite dish.

The last two are actually from "vista points" off the interstate. They over look the San Andreas fault. They also seem to be hubs for talkative amateur photographers.

And let me know if the new layout style messes up your display. I'm just messing around with it, so it might change, but I'm sort of tired of just letting pictures roll down the screen. And I have to do SOMETHING to compete with a cute baby. I mean COME ON, have you been looking at the baby pictures lately?!?

Monterey

So last weekend I went down to Monterey with some friends. Its definitely pretty down there. Unfortunately I didn't get any time to see the seals that lounge on the beach. I saw a few on the rocks though.

We spent Saturday at the aquarium and at a place called Point Lobos, which is right on the beach. Lots of interesting sea life at both places. It was a little cloudy out, but definitely a fun time.

Remember: Click for biggie size.