memnus: A stylized galaxy image, with the quote "Eternity lies ahead of us - and behind. Have you drunk your fill?" (Default)
Brian ([personal profile] memnus) wrote2005-05-23 08:39 pm

First day at work.

Rather a lot to say, probably disjointed.

On the way in, carpool lanes were definitely our friend. The trip that had been taking Janna nearly two hours took under an hour and a half, so I managed to get there a full hour before my supervisor. I poked around in Laserfiche's employee resource sites for a while, and slowly got an idea for who was nearby that I knew or had heard of.

I sit at a window, looking out at a parking garage. Behind me and through a divider is Andrew Schoonmaker. Approximately next to him is Gina. Down the wall from me, in the corner, is Levin; somewhere around there is Pava. Also near there is Barna, who'd been the first one to show me around and get me into the network. Around in the other half of the office are Steve and Janna, and another guy named Brian. Sprinkled in there are about three times as many people that I don't know, but need to attach names to by Friday. (Supposedly there will be a quiz.)

I got my first project and worked on it until lunch. Lunch was (first of all, free) Subway, brought in either by the company or the building or something, and I sat outside with Steve and Janna and some others interns and younger employees. It felt oddly like sitting and eating at Platt, having strangely familiar conversations. I got back upstairs and started working again; my neighbors were using their lunch break for Unreal Tournament.

About 3, I'd hit a wall, and Michael (my supervisor) looked over to see how I was doing. I confessed my troubles and he gave me another briefing - this one somehow longer than the initial statement of the problem - this seems to be his style. Half of what he said helped; half just made things worse. I nearly facepalmed when he said something along the lines if, "Oh, ostream is just too inefficient. You can write your own class..." Eventually I had some more ideas, though, and by the time I left I was getting perfectly decent output from my tester.

On the drive home, we caught karma for our easy ride in. Over this week, I think, we'll be trying other ways back, testing different timings.

That's all. Probably digested enough by now to get some exercise.

click

[identity profile] memnus.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
The current route is 10-605-105-710-405, the last two being less than a mile each

[identity profile] fabricant.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
I generally go 10-57-91, but then I'm usually going between Mudd and my apartment rather than Laserfiche itself. I suspect the traffic may be a little lighter on the 57, but I've never tried the other route.

[identity profile] lucasmembrane.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd also try 10-605-405 or 10-710-405, just to compare. I generally try to make as few freeway connections as possible, though of course preference is given to connections that have carpool ramps. Whatever you do, DON'T take the 57 unless you're leaving Claremont late. The 57-60 interchange is stopped solid from about 530 or 600 till around 900, and there aren't any carpool lanes till you get past that.