Tyler Neu

We used naan instead of our own dough which made this a crazy simple dinner.

Frugality: Pouring another margarita because you cut an extra lime.

Tunnel Trike

These are my first Minifigures from Series 10.

Sheryl Sandberg, “Lean In” (via dhuseontheloose)

I was asked yesterday how I could stay at tech company for longer than 3 years. I explained to him how I have been doing new things every year. Now I’m a manager with a set of responsibilities that I didn’t have five years ago. I may be working for the same company but I have had many jobs since moving down here. I think the jungle gym analogy is spot on because I’m also having fun.

• Coworker: Are you a fan of the Avett Brothers? If not disregard, but if so, I wanted you to see this.
• Tyler: How did you peg me a possible Avett Brothers fan? Do I give off an Avett Brothers aura?
• Coworker: I was afraid you were going to ask that, so I was already trying to remember where I might have heard. I know it was years ago...
• Haha. Avett Brothers aura. Love it. Maybe it’s the plaid!

GeoGuessr is an online game where you are presented with 5 random Google Street View locations and have to pinpoint them on a map using the clues you come across. It’s probably the closest I’m going to being dropped in a random place in the world.

I have been impressed with my work so far. I tend to look for signs or markings on cars to narrow it down. The landscape can be an obvious source. Tonight I got dropped right in front of sign that said “Lake Worth, FL”. I limit myself to my knowledge when playing so I browsed around Florida until I found it North of Miami. Can you beat 13471 points?

Nuvo has a fake turf “cocktail lawn”. #Nashville (at Nuvo Burrito)

Landlord sent me an inspection report claiming the dark spot in the carpet and blind that doesn’t match the rest will be coming out of my deposit.

I called the landlord asking if he is interested in photos proving these nuggets were present before we moved it.

Landlord is interested.

The landlord has always been very reasonable and fair. I wish I could have stayed with him.

The previous tenant we subleased from played dumb when I asked if he remembered the irregular blind or recalled the carpet. I was honest and said that I would be emailing photos showing that the spot was there when we moved in. It was a bonus to find a photo of his large chair on the exact spot in question. 

Kids. Take photos of your rental properties. You will never know what is “damaged” until you leave. 

We didn’t take any photos of this place but the landlord was super anal about walking through every room together. It was actually uncomfortable when he promised to tweak the windows and such. 

Beth & I celebrated 5 years of marriage Friday night with a simple date to Germantown Café. She had the plum pork and I the trout. The atmosphere was casual and comfortable. I don’t think it could have been any better of a night. (I’m going to ignore the disappointing pork belly tater tot appetizer.)  We wanted to walk around our old neighborhood but rain was moving in so we drove back home leisurely.

5 years of marriage. Soon 5 years in Nashville. 5 different homes.

My paternal grandmother wrote “You must like moving.” in an anniversary card to us. 

I work in a large room of 4ish development teams. The loudest has outgrown this space and moved. The other are currently in meetings. The last is remote today. 

It’s quiet in here.

Play!

One developer in our office has stood at his desk since I started here. In the early days he had cardboard boxes, an old Sun box, and wooden boards holding up his rig. A year ago he got the company to buy him this standing workstation. Now 15ish coworkers have their own standing workstation and I got mind last week.

Today is my first full day at it and it is going better than my Friday afternoon. I stood from 9-12 this morning and plan to stand all afternoon. My legs burned a little in the morning and now my back has the same pain I experienced starting as a grocery store bagger and washing dishes. I sway, tap my feed, put weight on one leg, etc. to break it all up. I stole my bosses unused cushioned mat and it feels really good to stand on with my shoes off.

I’m hoping my digestive comfort is the biggest improvement I see. Hunching over for a few hours after lunch makes me feel bad. I should take walks but I tend to go right back into work after my treats are gone.

Beth doesn’t see my desk often and criticizes the “crap” I have on it every time she does. This photo was no exception. 

nprmusic:

Playful, soft, sunnily melancholy and springlike, Zooey Deschanel’s songs with M. Ward once again subsist on the strength of their own agreeability. Timelessness has long been key to She & Him’s charm, and indeed, Volume 3 seems to be floating through AM speakers at all times.

Stream Volume 3 now.

My day is made.

“Water!”

This week I was told the project I have been promised for Q3 has disappeared. I knew the legacy application I’m in charge of wasn’t going away but I never thought that the source of my hope would be killed. I immediately saw my career paths being uprooted like a scene from Inception. Would I be stuck in legacy land? Will I ever get to build a new product? There are immediate options forming but they don’t excite me… which my boss knows… because I told him. (I’m very lucky to have had a string of bosses that I can be honest with.)

I was bummed after the news and began to notice other undesirable things happening. A meeting I was looking forward to, because it was related to these immediate options, was cancelled at the last minute. Other parts of my schedule fell through which matters because others were forced to jump through hoops to accommodate my day. Nolan has a earache and I had to take him to the doctor. Traffic was a bear and I made some poor decisions driving which resulted in a longer drive there. My gas tank was nearly empty. 

One has to be careful to avoid hypersensitivity of unwelcome personal nuggets when a few have been identified in a brief period. That state garners more negativity which feeds vulnerability. I start associating the weakest problems, like an empty gas tank, with my made-up overall state. Reinforcing. Boosting.

Bad habits and ideas come out when I’m in a slump. “I deserve…” is followed by large portions of unhealthy food or dreams of trips we shouldn’t spend the money to experience. I’ll eat till I’m unhappy which triggers another loop of sad faces. But luckily I’m identifying these loops and slumps. I know that I’m in a short phase of dissatisfaction and I’ll come out soon. I always do. Most people do.

This afternoon a coworker came by and told me that I’m being looked out for by people above me. They know my skills aren’t being utilized and that I can do should be doing more for the company. Hearing the compliment was enough to pull me out of the funk. Learning that people care about me was icing on the cake. My gut says that any options for me are still months out but I can have faith, as this coworker asked me to have, and be useful in the meantime. 

I want to build my own pizza/bread oven once I own some property I know I’ll be at for a while. In the meantime I hope to get this portable pizza oven. I sure hope it doesn’t cost $500.

Edit: Their Kickstarter listed the oven for £160 or $244 today.

Don’t use your school email address for anything that will outlast your time at the institution, i.e. student loans.

The worst part of moving may be seeing student loan balances while logging in to update addresses.