Hidden Pugmarks

The commute has returned to normal, but so far I haven’t. I have still being trying to stick with the routine of leaving the house before 7am so that I can get to work by 7:30am. Getting to work that early means that I can leave at 4pm (which hasn’t actually happened yet).

I find that when I get in early and I have 2-3 hours to work without interruptions that I get a lot more done. Plus, even though I’m there for the same amount of time, or sometimes more; it all flies by pretty quickly. The morning has this way of just zipping by, while afternoons tend to drag on.

Holly & I have both started playing Fable II. I have to say, it is a great game. It is vastly improved version of the original. They seem to have gotten everything “right” this time around. I actually enjoy some of the mini games so much that it has slowed my progression through the game; and I can only see that as a good thing.

Somehow the game seems to magically cater to all types of gamers. You can earn experience the old fashioned way, by killing t hings; or you can buy it in the form of potions to power up. You just need to make some money, be it through a real estate empire, doing odd jobs or gambling.

I look forward to trying out the multiplayer again sometime. Last time I didn’t really enjoy it, but I was still figuring out how the game worked. I think this time around we could take on some bounty hunter work and really do some damage.

Now, on to a sweet, sweet tangent. I’ve been making the family style Haystacks quite often for the last little while; and I’ve really been enjoying them and the process. I had honestly forgotten just how tastey something so simple could be. They are quick and simple to make, and it is really nice to know what exactly is in the food your eating.

I tried to make a lower calorie version of them using Splenda, and wow, did that ever backfire. I wish I had pictures, but those who have made them know that they are a time sensitive monstrosity to wrk with. The splenda just sort of evaporated, apparently the bulk of Splenda is just a chemical filler. Instead of the mixture bubbling up to fill the pot half full, it instead made the pot about 1/15th full.

We are still working away at that failed batch. They’re not goood per se, bet they aren’t awful either. They are sort of what I imagine an unsweetened Eat-More chocolate bar would taste like.

Other than that not a lot has been going on. Lots of work. I’m working mornings and afternoons, and Holly is working afternoons and evenings; so we haven’t seen a lot of eachother lately.

We have been browsing the MLS listings for Eastern Canada. Seeing what is out there and thinking about the future. We have found a few places that we absolutely love. The job prospects aren’t so great for us out that way though. There are maybe four companies out there in my industry. One of the places we found that we liked would be absolutely ideal if I could work from home.

I really don’t know why in this age of computers more people can’t work from home.

I’m not antisocial. I just don’t like people.
-The Foley-

Long drives by yourself I have to think are inherently bad. You’re just stuck there; trapped in a metal box. Very quickly you find yourself running out of things to do.

Thus was my case this morning. You see, what appears to be a group of homeless people “accidentally” set one of our major bridges on fire this weekend. So now that bridge is closed. So now all of that traffic (80,000 cars a day), well, it has to go somewhere else.

I discovered this morning that all of that traffic has apparently decided to divert itself to my bridge. Unfortunately, my bridge is already pretty much at capacity.

So on this long drive I listened to an Audiobook for a while. A little over an hour. I listened to the radio for a bit. I flipped through a mapbook looking for an alternative route. Then, well then I was tired of those things and I ran out of things to do. At first I got frustrated, then I got calm, finally I got bored again.

I find it is always at these moments that I start asking myself, what do I really want to do?

That is both a fundamental and an epic question. We all ask ourselves that from time to time. Sometimes in the context of what do I want to watch on TV next? What do I want for supper? Once in a while though it is in that grander epic sense of “What do I want to do with my life?”

I know for certain, that sitting in a car for up to three hours a day travelling one way to work definitely isn’t it. So what is it? Good question.

I like a lot of things. I have a lot of interest. Most of them involve some form or other of data manipulation. I like to chart things and organize things. I like to write code that does useful stuff. Yes, stuff. I really can’t get much clearer than that.

In a perfect world I would be able to work from home completely on my own schedule.

On the flip side, in these times of economic turmoil; I am happy just to have a job. Almost 300 game developers in Vancouver alone have been let go in the last couple of weeks.

Little by little, I’m getting used to being back at work. This Christmas was the longest break that I’ve had in a long, long time. It made me realize just how much I wish I could do my own thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, when it doesn’t consist of ten and twelve hour days; but it would be really nice to get to sleep in once in a while and work on something that is 100% what I want to do.

Little by little the year is progressing along. Is it really the third week of 2009 already? When did that happen? I guess it must have been sometime between the mountains of snow and the thick as smoke fog that has been plaguing us in the land of rain.

Driving home late every night in the fog is a harrowing journey.

Little by little, Holly and I are consuming every TV series created in both North America and the UK. At least the good ones. We currently have 62 TV series stored on an external hard drive and served up on demand to our entire network, including over the Xbox 360. Although, we’re almost out of space on that drive. 750GB just doesn’t seem to go as far as it used to.

Little by little I’m building a framework around some ideas in my head that I hope to write about. If there is ever time. Which of course there never is. People always say that if things are important to you that you just need to make time to do them. I guess that I just have way too many things that are important to me, because it is hard to eke out any extra time in my schedule to do things.

Little by little the economy is going to hell. You see, I finally forayed into the stock market, and it crashed. Just like that. Quite literally I bought my first few stocks, sold them a few days later, and then the market crashed the next day.

Other than that, things have been fairly nice and normal. Just the way I like it.