Superpowerup.com - Deep Thoughts

EA, will you be my valentine?

nospam@example.com (Christine) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:28:39 -0700

I didn't have any place to be on the evening of February 14th. But still, I was feeling pretty good about sitting on my couch with my cat, watching reruns and folding laundry. Yep, my life really is that glamorous.

But let me get to the point. I'm sure anyone reading this right now has a good idea of what state my job situation has been lately. Without being too specific, let's just say things got a little dicey. Friends were laid off and sent in search of jobs all over the country, a project that was once my entire focus was taken away and given to another company, and the team that I had grown to love absolutely crumbled under the weight of uncertainty. The last few months have been difficult, to say the least.

But all of that has finally come to an end. Yesterday I accepted a job offer from Electronic Arts in Redwood City. Yeah!! In a few weeks I'll be joining the Sims team as a senior designer! I'm SUPER excited and I can't wait to get started. But for now, a few days off sounds pretty nice...

Happy New Year!

nospam@example.com (Christine) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:37:03 -0700

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone the best in 2008! Here's to a fresh start with the coming year. Cheers!

...Now in the gallery: New Year's party pics

A Short Update!

nospam@example.com (Christine) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:23:36 -0700

So I've felt a little strange today. For some reason, even with all the stress in my life at the moment, I felt strangely calm. On my walk home from work, I started wondering what exactly might be causing this, but couldn't decide what it might be...

Is it the fact that I'm moving into a new apartment on Saturday but happen to already be all packed and ready to go? It's quite an accomplishment -- aside from wrapping up the clothes in my closet, I don't have anything left to do in regards for the move. I felt such a sense of relief yesterday when I finished packing up the last couple boxes. I can't wait to move into my new place. It's a block from the beach, bigger than my old place and my rent is actually less (!!!) -- I'm happy.

Babagahnoosh, in happier days.

Or maybe it's the fact that I feel a sense of closure about my poor froggy, Babagahnoosh? Sick with bloat for about 3 weeks, Baba had been on a regimen of antibiotics that I had hoped would improve his situation. I spent a lot of time worrying about him and wondering if he'd get better. However, this past Saturday, he decided he had enough of his difficult life of swimming, eating, and lounging, and passed on. I think any normal person would probably have seen to a quick and respectable burial, but I of course couldn't resist the curiosity of wanting to know why he died (Bloat is an ambiguous diagnosis that has many possible causes). The former Babagahnoosh was given to a friend of mine this morning to deliver to a frog expert. If I'm lucky, said expert will have time to do an autopsy! Oh, it's so wonderful to think that Babagahnoosh has donated his body to science. I feel much better now.

Or could it have been the coffee I drank on my walk to BART this morning? I'm not a coffee drinker, usually. But a friend of mine told me that I couldn't possibly think of moving away from the Jack London area without trying Peerless Coffee at least once. Even though I walk by the place every morning, I've never once tried it. Today I decided to change that and just after sunrise, I stopped at the Espresso Bar, which they only open weekday mornings for passing commuters. I ordered a mocha, which I am happy to say ended up being worth the $3 I paid for it. Wow, that was some good stuff. It also gave me a little bit more morning energy than I usually have...

Or perhaps I'm just happy and excited about the upcoming milestone at work? Without revealing things I shouldn't, I'll just say that we're planning a lot of fun and exciting things for STO during this milestone, and I am responsible for making sure much of it comes out well. Many people and processes will be put to the test over the next few weeks -- it's going to be a very trying yet productive time for the team. I was somewhat overwhelmed before this last weekend, but today, I was feeling inspired. I arrived at work before everyone else this morning and got a head start on my tasks. Even though there was one particularly difficult meeting in the afternoon, any frustration I had regarding meeting participants getting off-topic dissipated quickly and things still appear to be on track.

But then I was thinking... It could be the allergy medicine I took right before a meeting today in an attempt to recover from a headache. So while it might be all those other things that happened to me over the past few days, chances are I should just thank the Walitin (Walgreen's answer to Claritin!) that I swiped from John for that fuzzy, happy, serene feeling in my head. Well, whatever it is, I hope it lasts a little longer. With the plans I have over the next couple of months, I'm sure going to need it.

Got nothing but love for ya, Google

nospam@example.com (Christine) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:16:17 -0700

Yeah, I really do talk like this normally.

I've been using Google Docs and Spreadsheets for a short time now and well, no surprise, I think they're great. They are as convenient to access as a wiki page, yet they have the familiar format of Word and Excel, which means they are actually EASY to edit as well (no crazy wiki coding to be found here). Awesome.

So yesterday while I was setting up a Google spreadsheet for some work stuff, I got a bit curious about the share function and decided to try it out. It took only a minute to invite a coworker to view my document and also give him editing capability... and... to my surprise, not only could we both edit the document simultaneously, but Google provides dynamic updates AND allows anyone accessing the document to chat about it in the same window. I was annoying all of my coworkers (alright, maybe just John) with my screams of delight over this discovery. "Wow, isn't this SO COOL?!"

On a serious note, I can see that in many circumstances it would be an extremely useful tool to be able to chat while editing a live document -- people in completely different locations working together on a project and discussing it intelligently in the sidebar chat window. Of course, since it was me and Mike talking, the conversation pictured to the left ensued in lieu of intelligent conversation.

Even though Mike soon became uninterested in our conversation and abandoned me in our virtual document chatroom, I can't say the same for myself. I probably don't need to state the obvious, but I am a huge Google fan and it's moments like the one I had today with Google docs that ensure that I stay one. Google, I love you. Will you marry me?