Actually TODAY is Christmas Eve eve.

December 23, 2003

OK, OK, I realize that I had a fairly big typo in yesterday’s blog entry. Yesterday was Christmas Eve eve eve, not Christmas Eve eve. TODAY is Christmas Eve eve, and not Christmas Eve by yesterday’s Christmas Eve eve reckoning. Does that make sense?

Yesterday also marked the end of my Christmas shopping, which was a tremendous relief. Not that I bought all that much, but I wanted everyone on my list to have at least one thing to open up. Because I placed limits on how much I was willing to spend on each person, I had to make sure I stuckl to my budget. I ended up going over budget on my sister, but hey, those $0.95 were well-spent! I just cruised over to Fred Meyer after my job interview, which naturally meant that I was fighting 5 PM traffic in Beaverton. Most of the time I’d rather jump naked into a swimming pool full of double-edged razor blades, but since I was driving the Escape, I didn’t have any troubles, either mechanically or psychologically. I sometimes have issues driving the Mustang in heavy traffic, both due to the size of the car, its lack of handling, and how in the rain the windows fog up and I have no real defroster. But since the Escape is much more nimble and handles much better, no sweat.

My job interview went quite well. I met the man I talked with at a place called “The Hoop” in Beaverton. It’s basically a big gym that only has basketball courts, but that’s not what the business does. He tried to explain it to me but didn’t do a great job, but from what I can tell they mostly deal with organizing sports events, like basketball leagues and the like. Due to the nature of the business, they have something like eight full time employees and around 70 part time ones, and I believe I was going for a full time position. Anyhow, it went really well, and we talked for about 30 minutes. He said that he had *70* responses from his job posting on Craigslist, and I was only his second of seven yesterday, but I got the impression that I’ll be hearing from him for a second interview at some point in the next week or so. I’m not doing the position justice with my half-assed description, but it seemed interesting. I would have a lot of responsibilities should I get the position, including being responsible for all the computers in the company, both from a technical and sales perspective. Being put in a position where I can influence the direction of a company from a technical standpoint is a very appealing notion, frankly. Additionally, I would also be sort of an office “gofer”, for lack of a better phrase. If I get a second interview, I’ll ask for some concrete examples of my responsibilities for the position, as well as salary, benefits, etc. I don’t ask about those in a first interview.

One thing I neglected to mention in my last entry is what my Dad is giving to my grandmother for Christmas. Or rather, one of the things. A company called Ceiva sells a product that has always interested me, namely, a digital picture frame. Unlike a product I would be interested in, however, Ceiva requires a paid subscription in order for it to work. The process is that you upload pictures to their server under an account, and then the frame will dial out and download the pictures over the phone line. You can then have a slideshow display the pictures on the frame, as well as so other neat features. I wouldn’t want to pay a subscription fee to any frame I’d use, though, just a place where I could put the pictures in myself with a cable or USB memory key. But this is perfect for my grandmother, however, because she doesn’t have a computer and can’t see the pictures I take and put on my website (yes, I still do that). But uploading them to her frame, she can see pictures of me, where I’ve been, that sort of thing. My Dad can upload pictures from family gatherings she can’t make it to, etc. I think it’s a great idea, and I’ve already sent three pictures to it. Most of the ones I can think of to send aren’t back on my website yet, though. It’s a great idea.

So I’m back at my Dad’s house again, now, after a night at my Mom’s. I was going to come back over here here today to bring my Dad something and go on a couple errands for him while he’s at work today, but he called this morning and said I didn’t need to bring the first thing, and as I pulled into the parking lot at Fry’s, he said I didn’t need to go there. So here I am again. Tomorrow I get to head back to my Mom’s, then back here the day after tomorrow. Busy busy busy! But I can indulge my TV habit for another night here, not to mention restaurate my blood with caffeine. Oh right, and see my Dad and stepmother, of course.

Hope everyone is done with THEIR shopping. You don’t have much time, if you haven’t. Until later, then.

Posted in Geekery, General