Secondary choose new music...then a better song came along!!!

AAAAAUGH!!!! What a dilemma!!!

I've picked out Enya's "May It Be" from "Lord of the Rings- The Fellowship of the Ring" soundtrack. Actually it was more my secondary coach's choice out of the 6 pieces that I've picked. Most of them are soul or rock... and she had to pick the one ETHEREAL floaty piece!!! BOY do I know my secondary coach well... (Oh, well! It *IS* a beautiful piece. I hope I can do justice to it and finally WIN the artistic event this year!)

But the new piece I just stumbled along on is Duran Duran's "What Happens Tomorrow" from the relatively new Astronaut album. AUGH!!! I would love to do this piece!!! Maybe my skating friend from LA (who's a big Duran Duran fan) could do this piece justice, since she has the edges and the skating prowess for the piece. (I don't have that prowess yet, which is why I'm doing wimpy ballerina and ballad pieces now...GRRRRR!!!)

Got Bug Tracking Process first. Now the tool...

...well, not quite! It seems there's been no discussion from anyone as a group on what source code control software to use in the end (or at least whether or not VSS is the one they want to give up. This of course, determines which bug tracking system I want to evaluate, since one of my criteria is integration between the bug tracking system and VSS (or whichever SCM system they want.") But...we'll fix that Monday at our "weekly" meeting!!! :D

So I'm slowly but surely whipping this new organization in shape to become a freakin' efficient software group!!! If only the "so called geeks" (have to differiate between "REAL geeks" and "so called geeks." The real geeks know their technology and they think about the consequence of changing their code. Also, they are smart enough to follow good sound fundamental software engineering practices, (which I'm trying to teach these guys now...) The "so called geeks" rely on their technical knowledge to "program their way out of problems." Also, they don't do this for the love of technlogy, but simply for the money!!! "Real geeks" love technology... and their emthusiam shows...and they aren't afraid of showing me (a demi-geek) a thing or two w/o coming off condescending. :)

The group of engineers I work with don't claim to be geeks...and they admit that they're in it for the money and they value family life more than work... I can most definitely live with that!!! :)

But... getting back...

I have 9 defect tracking software to evaluate... and the shark... eh, vendors are smelling a potential sale. We'll see if we end up buying anything though. If the company is really strap for cash, we might take the existing Sharepoint system's bug tracking system and try to get it to act like a REAL one. And that developer sure wouldn't mind it either. :) (I'm trying to narrow it down to about 3...) :)

Chicken Fat

My online skating friend, Annabel, pointed me out to this funny exercise routine song that she wanted to skate to (but her coach wouldn't let her...) The title is appropriately named "Chicken Fat!!!"

(Warning: put on the speaker or headphones, but turn down the volume (it's LOUD!!!) before clicking on the "Chicken Fat" link.)

OMG!!! I would LOVE to have known about this piece back in the days when I was doing high impact aerobics classes and everyone used to pick on each other by yelling "CHICKEN!!!" to each other. LOL!!!

Bug Tracking System

The end of my second week at work and I'm already looking into bug tracking system. WOW! This company REALLY doesn't have ANY processes!!! I wonder how they managed to build this other system using FileMaker Pro they did without QA processes? EEEEEK!!! =:-O

I took parts of what I remember from my last job, parts from Bugzilla's User Guide and parts from the existing database. I hope I can give them a respectable bug tracking process in the end and they would go along with whatever choice I had in mind. :)

There's never ONE piece of music...

...that I specifically want to skate to. I have at least 12 pieces of music that I want to skate to. I had to cut it down to the ones that I could 1) skate at a reasonable speed and 2) that my coaches would like approve of my skating to. *sigh*

More motivation to get more power and speed in my skating I guess... ;)

One reason why I keep pushing to be eligible for AN...

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=220377#post220377

The comaradarie that comes from the adult skating world is the REAL reason why I work so hard and so many years to become eligible for Adults Nationals. I feel the "Quan" (or should I say "the Kwan") when I'm around these people...

I posted the posting above the one that "sk8er1964" has reply to (that I linked above) because I *KNOW* how well those guys skate! Nick Chou (this year's Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals champion in the Championship Adult Gold men event) have gorgeous edges, nice jumps and cool spins. (Especially his cannonball sit spins!!!) I dare "kunduchaiko" to tell me that he doesn't have that nice polish. Same with Andy Schell!!! Same with a particular former Adult Gold male skater and 2002 Adult Nationals Adult Gold men champion. (My coach, Jay... *AHEM*)

I hope that posters like "TimDavidSkate" and "kunduchaiko" would strongly think about getting back on the ice and "SKATE DAMMIT!!! SKATE!!!" You guys have LESS THAN ONE MONTH to get ready for Adult Nationals in Kansas City! What the hell are you guys doing griping about a "sandbagger?"

Court Rules against California Ban on Gay Marriages

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20050314/ts_nm/rights_gays_california_dc

This is good news, in my opinion! I've been pretty sick of the "Religious Right" spewing their views on one's personal sexual preference for a while. You do your thing! They'll do theirs! If you don't like it, look the other way!

(Of course I'm writing this in support of the majority of our male figure skating coaches!!!) ;)

Cuz I'm the tax man...yeah, I'm the tax man!!!

Best described by the Beatles It's that time of the year again... Gotta go and see my tax consultant! BTW: here's a shameless plug for Bob Deitz's Tax Services! Excellent guy... of course, he's a tad expensive, so I go to his associate Dorothy instead! Both are EA's (enrolled agents... they're the ones that represents the taxpayers before the IRS.) If you got lots of complicated tax paperwork (i.e. stock options, self-employed, etc...) and want strategic advice on how to manage your money, he's the guy to go to!!!

Of course, I hope this year won't end up with another parody:

"I owe! I owe! So off to work I go..." :-P

(It shouldn't be this way. I have a house with a mortgage...) :)

Edited to add: Got back about $2800 in Fed and $800 in State. All debts are now in the house equity loan, which is DEDUCTABLE! Thank goodness for buying a house!!! :)

"Skating Psycho"

This past Wednesday morning I ran into this skating coach. She was doing her own practice for her own program. Later on, I was back at the rink to practice the stuff that my secondary coach wanted me to do. She saw me and I said "Are we just crazy to be here early Wed. morning, only to be back for more Wednesday night?" She replied "Me? At least *I* am getting paid for this. You're not???" And I added, "Yes, and if you think that's bad, I'll be back to skate some more the next day in the afternoon." She replied "You are PSYCHO!!!" (Unfortunately she's probably right!!! Lucky for me, my aging body and my good sense does slow me down enough to NOT skate every single day!)

Hey! At least I'm not skating Friday. Of course, that's because I'm skating Sat. Sun AND Monday nights again!!! :P :D

Survived first week at new job

It's a good sign that people are very nice at this company and have a great sense of humor! I wish to get to know these people better, but of course, now is the time to make an impression on them. I want to start putting in some necessary software processes in place so we can at least have a sane software release cycle! :P

Boy, it's gonna be interesting though.. there's no software prccess in place! Nada!!! Zilch!!! I get to start from scratch, including the bug tracking system. (They want to swicth from Gemini to Bugzilla...) OTOH, I get to learn about C# and .NET... and maybe, just maybe... I could ask for a UI automated test tools? Maybe? Please? :D :P

Read a few of "blond window guy's" blogs

Definitely a computer geek. LOVES computers!!! Middle-of-the-road to left political leanings based on his blogs! Certainly is NOT a Bush fan!!! (Thumbs up for that!!!) :D Very intelligent guy... too scary intelligent, in fact!!! I think I'm gonna bore him to tears if we've ever met for coffee!!!

Never mind working at his company either! I'm definitely NOT as much of a geek as he is and I think he'd want someone who's as passionate about technlogy as he is to work for him. I have my limits -- choosing between computers and ice skating, it would be no contest which one would win!!! ;) After all, the one major reason I want to work for his company is that it's right across the street from my home rink and a half block from the gym I train for my skating!!!

Oh, boy... do I have Adult Onset Skating Syndrome (AOSS) or what!?!?! :-P (If "blond window guy" sees this blog, he's probably gonna think I'm insane...well, after he finally stops laughing!!! And he's probably right too!!! LOL!!!)

Feeling my age...

I'm taking a day off from skating and working out at the gym and just letting my body heal itself. And as soon as I start relaxing, I can feel the effects of my age coming. The carpal tunnel is still there. My lower back from my sciatica is still there. And I just don't have the energy that I once had. I still remember back when I was 31-32 at the time I was bragging that I can keep up or even beat out most college age kids physically. I can't do that now! Running is out because of the sciatica. Heck, even speed walking on the treadmill is out now too! The only cardio thing I could do that doesn't impact my lower back is the elliptical trainer and well, skating laps around the rink. :) And I'm starting to worry now about closing in on the big 4-0!!! EEEEK!!!

Push-ups? I could only do about 10-15 on the floor now. I used to be able to do 40 of those on the floor!!! And by push-up I meant the standard version and not the modified version for women to do. (My former voice coach was a witness to that.) Too much mousing cost me my push up shoulders. :(

I hope I can find the warranty for my body. Maybe I could trade in for a newer one? :-P

Last Day of Freedom...

As of Monday, I start working at my new job. So much to do. So little time. And I certainly will miss being able to skate in the prized midday session where it's nice and quiet and I have the ice pretty much to myself... And admittedly, I'm a bit nervous about my techie skills as of late because I haven't been using it much as of late! (Uh oh! I forgot to get an oil change for my car, my skates sharpened... and i still haven't picked up music for this year's skating season for me., much less a new choreographer...)

I'm relieved though that I can finally not worry about paying the bills (and of course, my skating lessons, ice time, etc...) It's no fun being stuck at home just interviewing and getting rejected... and that's mild compared to having to deal with idiot recruiters and hiring managers who don't have a CLUE how to run a QA organization!!! I can actually concentrate on pass that #:#%@&$ Bronze Moves test that I've been trying to pass for like... FOREVER!!! GRRRR!!! I also have some personal life goals that only a few people know about (which I won't post here...) But I hope that by the end of year there will be more opportunities open to me!

I spent my last day of freedom doing what I love best... SKATING and spending time with my skating buddy, Clari Clyde.

Midwestern Adult Sectionals is this weekend!!! Good luck to you skaters out in the Midwest!!! Go kick some ICE BUTTS!!! :-P

Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals is the following weekend. And next week's morning FS session is gonna be STRESSFUL!!! EEEEEK!!! =:-O (Wish I could go though. Unfortunately, my Bronze Moves is still crappy as of late...) *sigh* :-(

Introduced myself to "blond window guy"

My friend "Clari Clyde" dared me to introduce myself, but I couldn't just go to him and introduce myself because he's at a window and I'm on the other side of the window. The only way I could do this is to gave him my cell number to call me and he called from his desk phone. So I took one of my notebook and put out a sign saying "Call me and introduce yourself" and gave my cell number. It was initially a humilating experience but "Clari Clyde" wouldn't let me off the hook on it.

I got his name and he sounds like a very nice guy! :-) Clari wanted to take a picture of this pinata thing in the office that looks like a cross between Elmo and The Cookie Monster. He mentioned that it's this thing that one of his coworkers picked up and it's their company mascot.

I did give him my email address as well and an invite to join me at the rink on Mondays. Probably should have also mentioned Wednesday nights sessions too since I'm now planning to be there to play "Auntie Jazzpants" to some of my Tremors (our synchronized skating team) friends. But based on the email I got from him, I'm not sure he wants to come because I'm not sure if he took my inviting him to skate as possibly "inviting him out on a date" and he has a girlfriend and all. (Which was not the intention. I did it to be social and the ice is where I'm the best being social.) I emailed him back to tell him "No worries! When you have time and want to come, the public session is from 7:30-9pm. Say hello to me if you do decide to show up there! And if you don't know how to skate, I'll help you out!"

So, I'll leave things at waving at him via his work window for now. But he has an open invite to ice skate with me when he wishes to.

Starting new job... and new blog!!!

For those who don't know the story (or me...) I had just been laid off with a few engineers at a company in Sunnyvale the day I came back from Christmas vacation. My (now ex-) boss was laid off the week after. My ex-boss and I occasionally keep in touch (we were very close friends when we were working together), but he's now busy with his new job as a founder of a startup company that he joined with a bunch of his old friends, his life in the sci-fi world and other interests. And I have my life as a figure skater.

And as of Monday, I'll start a new job in San Bruno as a software QA engineer and concentrating mainly on passing the USFSA Adult Bronze Moves and Freestyle test this year so I would be eligible for Adults Nationals in 2006. I'm now also looking into music for my artistic program for October's Skate SF competition. I have two wonderful skating coaches (one primary and one secondary) who gets paid for kickin' my a## on the ice and lots of skating friends. :-P

Anyway... getting to some interesting observations...

During the time I've been unemployed, I've been skating at Yerba Buena Ice Skating Center to take advantage of the emptier afternoon public sessions. I usually park on the streets across from the rink to save some money. Sometimes I get lucky and park on the 2 hours parking spots so I could skate for an extra hour without having to move my car. One section of the 2 hour parking spots is right in front of an office building where there's a bunch of people working on computers. One day, there's this blond young guy sitting at the corner window seat who watched me parallel park into this space and I barely managed to make it into the spot. He was still watching when I turned off the engine and got out of the car, so I waved hello to him and he waved back.

Since then, whenever I see him, I wave hello to him and he waves back, smiling, but we never gone beyond that. Sadly, since my hours are going to be pretty much the same time as when I'm working, I may not see him as often (if at all in fact...) I'm hoping that I can work out my schedule so that he's about to leave his work at the same time that I'm going to skate. (I think he leaves somewhere between 6:30-7pm...closer to 7 when he's on a crunch...)

So... my goal is that I find out what his name is and he knows mine. My friend "Clari Clyde" knows about this... and suggests that I write on a notepad in big letter to ask for his phone number so I can call him from my cell and introduce myself to him thru the glass. Of course, she wants me to do this when she's with me at the rink, so she could see for herself what's going on. One problem... I think "window blond guy" is on vacation this week! I haven't seen him this week and this is my last week before I start the new job!!! So I probably will do this on the following Monday night. Hopefully then, he'll be back at his desk, so I can pull my stunt of introducing myself to him.

And if in case you are the "window blond guy" and you're reading this, please reply to this blog with your name and an email address where I can reach you. :)