it's got ticketses!

wednesday:

something special happened this week, and it began on wednesday. i think it was the realization that i had been too hard on myself and had been pushing to prove something that was over my head and was, in fact, supposed to be.

so began a general de-stress, with the move and the forms and the office integration and snowboarding and everything. i've got much to do and much to learn, and some of it will be fun and some of it will suck, i'll do the best i can and i hope it's enough.

the day: getting comfortable with mac development, enjoying validation when i figured out that the binaries i was working with had been badly compiled and i could tell the supplier in what way, and the satisfaction of getting the junior to see the power of being methodical - i followed the instructions he'd put together on how to install an android development environment: it took me no time! he cleverly didn't follow them, and his system got screwed. we sat on that until quite late.

i checked the laundry room when i got home, and was so excited to find it available that i had already poured the detergent when i realized that i was still wearing a shirt that should have been going in.

*sigh*

i can't recall ever throwing salad stuff out, but in the span of a week (i think) i've not only tossed slimy cucumbers but i had to chuck three mini-heads of lettuce. how very disappointing.

i watched an episode of one piece with a st. ambroise - great beer - and was then too exhausted to do more than crash.

---
thursday:

after an early night i had a late morning. it suddenly dawned on me that i've never transported a snowboard further than a short walk and it seemed to me that not using a bag to protect my snowboard from dings and scratches might not be such a good idea. but bags are either expensive or bundled with other purchases, and i couldn't figure out where to get one.

on a positive note, the shower was upsettingly cold but it warmed up fairly fast - this is good!

mckenna thought for the day: what if soma, the begetter of the gods, is actually a metaphor for the cows?
anyway, the man did a fantastic job of explaining the sacred in sacred cows, making sense of not only religious development but of mythology too. serious and wonderful stuff.

an official response in the morning informed me that as i do not hold a master's degree in my field i cannot possibly be considering a senior anything. *i* think that's quite myopic.

i was in such a hurry to get nowhere that i skipped lunch, and we all scooted off to a demonstration in some very flash downtown offices. i thought the view from the street was magic, but from the twentieth floor? the city is covered in white with its beautiful buildings thrust out into the still air between the packed snow and the pastel blues, oranges and pinks of the sky is absolutely breathtaking.

the coffee afterwards was good, we're all feeling positive and i, for one, am beginning to feel like i know what i'm doing with apple development.

i went to grab dinner and had a long chat with my aunt, who was giving me some very good advice about snowboarding which included the lack of any need for a bag whatsoever. then i ate in the cafeteria and sat down with the junior to help him out...

... i was a bit short with him, and it was late in the game when i realized that he was in way over his head and that i needed to teach him some very basic basics indeed. if i'd have guessed at his level i'd never have left him to the tasks he's been breaking his head over! he's deeper into some of the tricky systems than i am, and last night i was teaching him the beginnings of object-oriented...

-- there are private moments which i have to code and then hope i recall them later. this one involves a call in the dark in which i managed to see something i'd usually miss in real life. that really made me laugh, one of those healthy, unrestrained laughs that have been quite rare recently --

i left the office (late again) with the sensation that the lights are on but nobody's home: i got everything up and running, or at least not crashing, but nothing was actually being done.

i can't figure out the relationship between the temperature and the weather here. when i walked to the supermarket it was -6, and it wasn't cold at all! but earlier i couldn't stand outside for more than two minutes and it's above zero.

the caretaker's wife called me as i was on my way out to tell me to come and get my change from the rent. three warm dollars. why were they so warm? didn't want to know, couldn't not think about it :/

so, super-salad:
flax seed, stuffed olives, olive oil, himalayan salt, vinegar, pickled onions, lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, mixed beans.
it's weird to me that this was so delicious. incongruous, for some reason.

---
friday (today!)
after another early night, but sleeping badly, i woke up quickly and got moving.

i was focused today, and finally found myself getting right with apple. their development software suffers flaws up the wazoo, but i'm now ready to face qt and xcode. it's gratifying to feel things fall into place on a practical, rather than just theoretical level.

it looks like my first weekend of snowboarding might be delayed another week, but i'm more relaxed about my options and everyone's been super helpful :)

the week ended with a good talk with the boss, and i rushed home to find out when and where i'd see the hobbit. another great salad, another episode of one piece (a cooking competition?!), and chat with sorter and the metro...

... the warm, sleepy metro...

i had to choose between imax and avx, and if i hadn't begun badgering the staff i might've taken the bigger screen over the 48fps. huh!

i've been waiting (typing this) for most of the last hour, and it's time to go in!

i hope this coffee is strong enough. it's 11pm and i'm bombed :P