Movies and Books

I may feel really busy with work, but I've been managing to sneak in some time to watch movies and read books.

The books I've read have mostly been chick lit - where I just wanted some fluff that I could finish in a few hours so that when I got obsessed (which I always do), I would be able to return as a normal functioning human being quickly.

I've read:

• Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella. My first Kinsella book. Appropriately cute and fluffy.
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Anne Brashares. Also a cute book. Very young feeling, but was fine. I enjoyed it for what it was.
• The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri. This was a deeper book, definitely not chick lit. And I enjoyed it more deeply than the others, kind of how I would a really great dinner (as opposed to the other books, which I enjoyed the way I enjoy potato chips).

Currently, I'm reading a non-fiction book called "The Survival of Beauty" which assessed beauty in a quasi-scientific manner and what it means to society. I've only just begun, but since it's non-fiction I won't get as obsessed with the storyline and will be able to put it down when I need to.

As for movies, last night I saw "Taken" with Liam Neeson. First of all, Liam Neeson is a first-class actor. I'm not sure he used it so much in this movie, but he was an extremely believable character here. Anyway, the movie was just good. I was literally on the edge of my seat. Sometimes I use that phrase a bit flippantly, but toward the end of the movie I realized I had scooted up from being reclined on the couch to sitting on the edge, all tense and hunched. All in all, I enjoyed it. I'd recommend it for a Netflix rental. Perhaps not a $5 blockbuster rental, but as part of Netflix queue, I'd say, "foshizzle!"

I am trying to catch up on everyone's blogs. I have deeper things to blog but I never seem to have the time to put them to paper anymore. HA! Paper. I mean "the internet".

This was a totally useless post. Have great weekends all!

Long Absence

I've been so busy with everything - the whole getting up early to go to work, and then coming home hours later, preparing something to eat, and then doing minor bits of schoolwork, before crashing to repeat....I am more behind than I have EVER been in my blog reading!!

Anyhoo, let's see, how are things going with me?

I have gotten so fat. But I can't figure out how fat because I don't have a scale. And I don't want to buy one, because we have one - but it's with Mr. Phizz. Who absolutely does not need a scale. Heh.

Work is still interesting. It's quite interesting to get into the business side of what I've been researching. Companies can be pretty interesting environments in general. But the thing that I really wonder is how much "standards" affect researchers in academia.

For example, say, Microsoft - let's say someone in academia discovers some hot new way to do something, like say write parallel programs. But it requires not only a lot of rewriting, but the cooperation with a lot of customers. This is a pain in the ass for everyone, and the source of a lot of inertia in terms of industrial innovation.

In academia, you don't have this issue. You think of a hot new way to do something, and you do it. Then you publish it. Then you dance the happy dance.

This is something to get used to - the ability to adopt NewFangledAwesomeness is nearly just as, if not more important than, the awesomeness itself. In fact, if it hard to adopt, then it better be really freaking intensely awesome.

Anyhoo, this is just another one of the non-trivial adjustments I'm making now that I'm a corporate schmuck :).

Work is exciting! And other random thoughts

It's only been 3 days, but I'm enjoying it so much so far. First, I get to talk to people whom I find smart and interesting. Second, when I go home, I am home and I don't reeeeeeally have to worry about work anymore. Third, NewJobCity is beautiful. It's just so awesome in so many ways! I can't help but think that not only am I having way more impact than before by working on relevant industrial projects, but I am basically doing the same thing I used to do in grad school (research) but getting paid like 4-5 times as much. I can't get over how awesome that is, just in general!

I am seriously like so happy with everything right now - if only Mr. Phizz were around. Fortunately, he is coming to visit soon and I am even more happy about that.

The only thing I find a bit strange is how many meetings are held in the corporate world. It's like, a lot. Weekly group meetings were quite enough for me in grad school, but having like....sometimes 4 meetings in a day? Good lord. But sometimes it breaks up the day. Other times, it's just insane.

Oh yeah - and if I am not careful, I am going to get very, very fat from eating lunch out every day. Not only that, my wallet will get much thinner than it needs to be. I used to wonder about people who complained that they couldn't bring lunch because it broke social code at work. I thought that was the lamest excuse for being fat ever. However, I can see how that works. My boss doesn't ever bring lunch. When he says, "do you want lunch?" you want to say, "yes" so you can get face time with him. Plus, if a number of people go out every day, do you want to relinquish the only chance you have to hang out with people during the middle of the day? Not really...so far, I have only brought my lunch a few times, partially because it's been hard to get to the store to buy lunch stuff, partly because I've been busy, and partly because I want to get plugged into the work network by going out to lunch with everyone.

Anyway, so those are my initial thoughts about being a full-time employee. Woo woo!!!

I miss Mr. Phizz

Today, I feel lonely. I miss my husband.

I'll see him in a few weeks. But still. I am hoping that work next week will be super exciting. But as it stands, now that I'm settling in, regular life is beginning, and I am realizing how much I will miss Mr. Phizz until he can come join me. It seems like life will now be an endless series of days at work, and coming home to....working on my thesis and no one. How depressing.

So, I just hope that work is exceedingly exciting. Which I think it might be, but I'll still miss Mr. Phizz.

Really Excited - and Scared

I'm really excited about my new job. It's basically....a perfect-sounding job for me. I'll be doing what I like to do. I'll be paid well for it. I'll be having an impact in helping to define the next generation of products. It's so freakin exciting.

But in the back of my mind, I'm worried that my starry-eyed excitement has more to do with the fact that I haven't really started yet, and that in a few months I'm going to realize that I'm a corporate schmuck that hates her job, just like everyone else in the world. Except I really don't think that's going to happen. Except that if it does, I'll be so disappointed.

At the same time, I'm also worried because they seemed to really want me to take this job. Because they think I'm going to kick ass. Like, a lot. And I'm worried that I won't live up to the hubbub and will fall totally, totally short. They'll be like, "why are we paying her again? why did we bring her on? this girl is nothing but an impostor!" I'll just have to work really hard to make sure this doesn't happen.

The other part of me is pleased as punch that I was so coveted for this position. That's right. I'm a rock star.

I'm going to kick some major ass.

Hello Peeps!!!

So I emerge from a house with no internet, and from a cold that knocked me flat - the first really, really, REALLY bad cold I've had in a long time. The kind of cold I hope I never get again because now that I'm a working woman, I can't afford to deal with that kind of inability to move.

This is my first post in what feels like a long time. Longer than it's been. So much has changed - I'm several times zones away from where I lived, and also from my husband. I'm living in new quarters. I don't have most of my stuff. Even Mr. Phizz has moved out of our old place and living somewhere else. Everything is discombobulated. I don't have a car.

How do I find mooring?

I find mooring with books. I found a book from a roommate's shelf and began to read. And read. And read. If you haven't read "Rhett Butler's People" and you loved Gone with the Wind, then go out, get the book, and read it. If you read "Scarlett" as the sequel to GWTW - forget it. We know it sucked. Replace it in your mind with this book. It was so wonderfully done. The author was selected by the Margaret Mitchell estate to write the authorized sequel, and I really think he did a fine job. It's not nearly as good as GWTW, but many parts evoke it very strongly, and I think it's just far and away a trillion times better than Scarlett. It's well worth reading.

I will try to catch up with everyone's posts. I am so behind.