A full decade. That's how long Rae and I have been married as of August. That's such an awesome milestone!
I love Rae so much. I can't wait for the next 10 and the eternity beyond that!
Happy Anniversary, Darling!
Friday, August 29, 2008
10!
A full decade. That's how long Rae and I have been married as of August. That's such an awesome milestone!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
"The Land of Enchantment"
Last week, I returned from a travel assignment to Albuquerque: "the Land of Enchantment." I found out on Monday of that week I was supposed to go help test out a new system I helped develop this past year. We had to take it to a facility that is integrating a satellite system we sold last year to test our new system against the satellite before it gets launched this fall.
Two of my coworkers and I flew out late Wednesday night. We stayed at the Radisson that night. I don't think I'd recommend it though. My room was fine, but nothing spectacular since it was only a $75/night room. My co-worker, Jim, however, had a really challenging time. His key wouldn't work in his first room. And his second room was apparently occupied, even though the hotel computer didn't think so. They finally put him up in the top-of-the-line two-story suite. But since it was 1 in the morning by then, all he really got to enjoy of the suite was the bed for five hours and a dead cockroach in the bathroom!
The next morning, the three of us enjoyed a full hot breakfast at the hotel restaurant, compliments of the hotel. Alby and I didn't have to endure the misfortunes of Jim, but we still reaped the rewards by using Jim's free breakfast coupons. But just to top it all off, according to Jim, even the coffee was horrible. Maybe the previous night's experience just left a sour taste in his mouth, since Alby didn't seems to mind the coffee at all. For my part, the orange juice was just fine. :)
We went to Kirtland Air Force Base right after breakfast. It was really neat to see a part of the base I hadn't seen before. We went to a building that is specially equipped to put together and test space vehicles. The satellite we worked with was in a small clean room. The room has a constant flow of positive filtered air pressure to minimize dust and other small particles that could contaminate the space craft. Just outside that room was a high bay area. That area had another clean room in it. Only this clean room was on wheels. It was really cool to see a "portable" clean room. It was maybe thirty feet by thirty feet by thirty feet in size. Quite an impressive sight.
Our testing didn't start out well. We spent the morning just trying to get cables would work for our high-end data link. We enjoyed lunch at the Copper Canyon Cafe, a place near the base that I had been to many times before when I was doing flight tests of another system I had worked on. After lunch, we finally got our link up and running. Once it was running, then I started running. Since the satellite didn't have all of its heating and cooling system enabled, we only had an hour or so at a time with the satellite on before it would overheat. So we had to hurry fast. The satellite inside the building was linked up with our ground terminal in a humvee parked just outside the building. I was the only software engineer there, but we had two systems to check out. I would make a change on the satellite system, then quickly run outside to make a corresponding change on the ground system and check the status. I had to make about a dozen such round trips before we could verify all of the issues and get the link fully operational.
On top of that, we were really starting to be pressed for time. The Air Force folks were asking us to stay another day to get things finished. We, on the other hand, really didn't want to stay another day. So we worked as fast as we could to get it all done on time before our flight out that evening. Our flight was at 6:50 PM. We finally finished up our work at about 5:40 PM. Fortunately, the base shares runways with the Albuquerque airport. So we were at least close to the airport terminal. But we still had a rental car to return. Jim was our volunteer stuckee for that. Poor guy, he really had a lousy trip! We completely ignored having to refill the gas tank and Jim dropped off Alby and me at the terminal. We were there at about 6 PM, which was just enough time, especially since we didn't have any checked luggage and the security lines at ABQ are not often very long. But Jim still had to get to the rental car place and back to the terminal. Fortunately, the attendant at Enterprise was extremely helpful, and apparently not very busy. He offered to give Jim a ride back to the terminal so he didn't have to wait for the shuttle. Jim made it to the gate just as the airline starting boarding passengers on our flight. Phew!
Oh well, just another glorious day in "The Land of Enchantment!" Too bad I may be asked to go back for another round in a few weeks. Hmph!
Two of my coworkers and I flew out late Wednesday night. We stayed at the Radisson that night. I don't think I'd recommend it though. My room was fine, but nothing spectacular since it was only a $75/night room. My co-worker, Jim, however, had a really challenging time. His key wouldn't work in his first room. And his second room was apparently occupied, even though the hotel computer didn't think so. They finally put him up in the top-of-the-line two-story suite. But since it was 1 in the morning by then, all he really got to enjoy of the suite was the bed for five hours and a dead cockroach in the bathroom!
The next morning, the three of us enjoyed a full hot breakfast at the hotel restaurant, compliments of the hotel. Alby and I didn't have to endure the misfortunes of Jim, but we still reaped the rewards by using Jim's free breakfast coupons. But just to top it all off, according to Jim, even the coffee was horrible. Maybe the previous night's experience just left a sour taste in his mouth, since Alby didn't seems to mind the coffee at all. For my part, the orange juice was just fine. :)
We went to Kirtland Air Force Base right after breakfast. It was really neat to see a part of the base I hadn't seen before. We went to a building that is specially equipped to put together and test space vehicles. The satellite we worked with was in a small clean room. The room has a constant flow of positive filtered air pressure to minimize dust and other small particles that could contaminate the space craft. Just outside that room was a high bay area. That area had another clean room in it. Only this clean room was on wheels. It was really cool to see a "portable" clean room. It was maybe thirty feet by thirty feet by thirty feet in size. Quite an impressive sight.
Our testing didn't start out well. We spent the morning just trying to get cables would work for our high-end data link. We enjoyed lunch at the Copper Canyon Cafe, a place near the base that I had been to many times before when I was doing flight tests of another system I had worked on. After lunch, we finally got our link up and running. Once it was running, then I started running. Since the satellite didn't have all of its heating and cooling system enabled, we only had an hour or so at a time with the satellite on before it would overheat. So we had to hurry fast. The satellite inside the building was linked up with our ground terminal in a humvee parked just outside the building. I was the only software engineer there, but we had two systems to check out. I would make a change on the satellite system, then quickly run outside to make a corresponding change on the ground system and check the status. I had to make about a dozen such round trips before we could verify all of the issues and get the link fully operational.
On top of that, we were really starting to be pressed for time. The Air Force folks were asking us to stay another day to get things finished. We, on the other hand, really didn't want to stay another day. So we worked as fast as we could to get it all done on time before our flight out that evening. Our flight was at 6:50 PM. We finally finished up our work at about 5:40 PM. Fortunately, the base shares runways with the Albuquerque airport. So we were at least close to the airport terminal. But we still had a rental car to return. Jim was our volunteer stuckee for that. Poor guy, he really had a lousy trip! We completely ignored having to refill the gas tank and Jim dropped off Alby and me at the terminal. We were there at about 6 PM, which was just enough time, especially since we didn't have any checked luggage and the security lines at ABQ are not often very long. But Jim still had to get to the rental car place and back to the terminal. Fortunately, the attendant at Enterprise was extremely helpful, and apparently not very busy. He offered to give Jim a ride back to the terminal so he didn't have to wait for the shuttle. Jim made it to the gate just as the airline starting boarding passengers on our flight. Phew!
Oh well, just another glorious day in "The Land of Enchantment!" Too bad I may be asked to go back for another round in a few weeks. Hmph!
Friday, July 25, 2008
4-10s Work Week
The place where I work just announced a new work week option. Basically we will have the option to work the same kind of 4 10-hour days work week that Governor Huntsman recently mandated for all Utah state employees.
Currently we work a 9-80 schedule. That's where we work 80 hours in 9 days. Most days are 9 hours long, not including lunch break. When we work Fridays, we work 8 hours. Then we get every other Friday off from work.
The new work week policy will give us the flexibility to choose either the 9-80 schedule or the 4-10 schedule, as long as our manager approves our selection. Then we'll be given the opportunity to update our schedule choice every 6 months. I'm intrigued by this new option, but I'm not completely sure which way to go. If anyone has some good advice either way, please feel free to leave a comment.
Here are some of my thoughts on the matter:
4-10s Pros:
- Every Friday off!!!
- Save gas by driving to work one less day
- Longer work days may be somewhat more productive
- More time to get errands done on Fridays during the day
4-10s Cons:
- Less time with family on work days
- More tiring work days
- Have to get up earlier to get to work; this could seriously impact my early morning Wii Fit workout :)
9-80 Pros:
- Bearable duration of work days
- It's what I'm already used to
- More available to customers and vendors who are sometimes not aware that we get every other Friday off
- Every Friday still has its good side; one week we get paid on Friday, the next week we have Friday off
9-80 Cons:
- More days away from family
- More commuting and more commuting during peak traffic times
- Need to keep track of which Fridays are on and which are off
About holidays...
I heard from a friend of mine who works for the state that they will only get eight hours of paid time off for holidays. If an employee want the whole day off they have to use vacation time or make up the other two hours some other time during the week. I am completely flabbergasted by this. I just can't believe the state would be so inflexible. I really hope that is just a temporary thing and/or I don't really have all of the facts.
As far as my company is concerned, they do have a slight issue with holiday pay this year. There will be two remaining standard holidays in 2008 after we begin having the option to work a 4-10s week (starting 20 September). If we elect to work 4-10s, we will only get 9 hours of paid time off for each of those holidays. It's kind of the same lame issue that the state employees get, but at least it's only one hour difference. Starting in 2009, they will have the electronic time card system updated and the allocation of holiday hours rearranged to allow for 10-hour holidays for those working 4-10s and 9-hour holidays for those working 9-80 schedules. There will be 6 core holidays and an additional bank of holiday hours. Those with the 4-10 schedule get 30 hours for flexible use, and 9-80 folks get 36. So everyone will end up getting the same total number of hours.
One glitch that may occur with this policy is that we will be allowed to update our schedule choice every six months. I'm not sure Human Resources has thought that one through completely. I can imagine some employees taking advantage of the system by electing for the 9-80 schedule during the first six months of the year when there are fewer standard holidays but more flex holidays available, then switching to the 4-10s schedule the last six months of the year and ending up with more hours of holiday paid time off than the intended 90 hours per year. Perhaps HR will figure that out and create some kind policy to shut down that potential loophole.
Does Anthony work late today or all day tomorrow?
This new system could get pretty tricky if there is an incompatible mix of employees working 4-10s and employees working 9-80. A lot of the work I do is done as a team effort. If the digital hardware designers and software engineers that I work with aren't around on the days or hours I am at work, it could be less efficient. In that regard I'm surprised the company didn't just mandate the change across the board like the state did. Still, it is quite considerate to those who have personal arrangements to update (e.g. dependent day care) to allow them to continue in their current schedules.
Public Transportation
I also wonder what impact this will have on the public transportation system. Many employees at our company are regular users of van pools, buses, light rail, and the commuter train. Along with the state and the Church, our company is one of the largest employers in the area. With the state and our company moving to 4-10s, I can't imagine Utah Transit Authority not reconsidering its Friday bus and train schedules. If the Church were to adopt a 4-10s schedule as well, that would almost certainly result in reduced numbers of North-South Trax runs and Front Runner runs on Friday. But even without the Church jumping on the bandwagon, I think Friday ridership will still drop significantly.
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