First Week of Work

I interviewed someone for the first time today. She was interested in volunteering for the summer at DtM, so we wanted to see if she'd be able to help out with any of my projects. It was kind of weird. I learned kinda slowly not to ask any yes/no questions, and spent a lot of time trying to find questions to ask. Guess I should have spent a little bit of time preparing. :)

Today the people in my office went out for lunch to this interesting little spot near our office. There's this nicely manicured grass, benches, and tables for lunch or maybe even meetings. These kinds of spots are rare in Boston generally. This one kind of reminded me of Post Office Square, if any of you have been to that part of Boston's financial district. The thing that set this place apart, however, is that it is located on top of a parking garage. That's right, the perfectly manicured lawn is located above where people reluctantly and expensively park their cars for the day. I wonder if it's accessible in the evening?

This is the end of my first full week at work, and it's been pretty fun. I've been putting together an IT restructuring roadmap. Basically, I'm redoing most of the information technology related stuff in the office. Email, website, newsletter, contact management, shared calendars, backups, and a ton more stuff. I'll present my proposal on Monday and see what they think. It's been a lot more fun than I expected so far, mostly because this is the strategy planning part of the project. I'm sure when I get more into the guts of it I'll get a little bored. :)

Going to see Batman Begins tonight. Supposed to be pretty good.

My head's been a good deal muddled lately. Lots of things to think about. Be praying for me if you would.

Entry posted by byscuits at 01:45 PM | Comments (4)

flickr

I'm getting the word out about this place: flickr.com. It's a place where you can upload photos for free, which is nothing new. But they also have this great setup linking people together and creating small communities. You can also do what's called "tagging" photos. Basically, it just means that you associate keywords with your photos. When someone searches for that keyword, your photo will come up. I've put up just a couple of photos here and there so far. You can see them here. I would love it if you all signed up and uploaded some pictures.

I'll still be updating my photo albums just as often, but flickr allows me to connect with a larger community of photographers to get feedback.

I've been thinking quite a bit about all of your comments on yesterday's blog, and I asked some people in person. The consensus was "I think of you often" doesn't necessarily mean anything at all romantic. It's kind of obvious, but hey. I wanted it to mean something.

I really appreciate all of the comments, emails, and phone calls. :)

I ended up falling asleep last night around 8:30 pm. Yeah, that early. I was just plain tired. It was a long weekend hiking in New Hampshire on Saturday, long day at house church on Sunday, and then I didn't get much sleep on top of that. So last night was catch-up time.

Now that I'm working, I've been going back to the Bible study during lunch thing. Me likey.

Entry posted by byscuits at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

Long Lost

As I've been getting older, it seems more common to get to know someone really well and eventually never hear from them again. Before I left for college, I tried to see as many of my friends because I was guessing I wouldn't see most of them ever again. There's always something sad about losing touch, but it's inevitable. One of my best friends from high school got married a few years ago, and I've not heard from her since. I wasn't around when they started dating, so I never got to know the guy very well. It makes perfect sense that I wouldn't hear from her anymore. It would be weird if she kept emailing me. It would be weird if I still dropped by her place every time I was back in Carl Junction. It would be weird if things didn't change. But I still wish I heard from her every now and then. Is she still in Missouri? Does she have kids now? How is she?

Things change. We grow up. I've sacrificed innocence but gained a bit of wisdom as a result. I'm sad for the innocence lost, but am thankful it made me grow up a bit. I couldn't have learned things any other way. Maybe growing up is just caring more about everything but ourselves. More wisdom allows us to love more deeply. The more we understand the cost of loving something or someone, the more meaningful it is when we love in spite of that cost.

I got an email this morning from someone I didn't expect to hear from again. I had completely given up. I really had a thing for her in January when I got to know her, but she wasn't interested. It was the first time I've ever regretted telling someone how I felt. Not because I was rejected, though. I can handle that. I regretted it because it meant I would probably never have another real conversation with her. She's such an amazing person I just want to be around her even if she doesn't like me the way I hope. I think I could be okay with that.

The email from her today was great, but this is the second email from her that's said "I think of you often." That's what makes things really hard. I know it may not mean anything at all. Some girls are just friendly that way. It's hard for me to take that statement only in a friendly way. It's hard not to re-open, just slightly, things I've had to put away.

If you guys have any thoughts, I'd love to hear what you think...

My first day at work wasn't too busy. I'm waiting for a meeting with my boss this afternoon to get underway. I'm really excited about this summer. I'm excited about designing products.

Listening to The Shins now. Pink Bullets.

Over the ramparts you tossed
The scent of your skin and some foreign flowers
Tied to a brick
Sweet as a song
The years have been short but the days were long.

I don't look back as much as a rule
And all this way before murder was cool
But your memory is here and I'd like it to stay
Warm light on a winter day.

I can't remember the last time I listened to a single song on repeat. If you get the chance, I recommend watching the video. Reminds me a bit of Moby's Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, if you've seen that one. Very melancholy. Good stuff.

Entry posted by byscuits at 10:18 AM | Comments (5)

New Job

I started a new job today at Design that Matters. They're a non-profit company that develops products for developing and third world countries and underserved communities around the world. I'll get to do a bit of product design and reverse engineering at some point this summer, but for now it'll be a lot of web programming. There was a chance I'd get to go to Bangladesh at the end of this month with them as a photograher, but it doesn't look like that's going to work out. Can't get a visa in time.

I went with some friends from Grace Street hiking this weekend in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I took my camera along and had some fun taking pictures.

Hiking Mt. Tom
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The hike was pretty rough. I'm completely out of shape, so the three hours of stair climbing was a bit of a stretch. :) I'm feeling good now, though.

Last night was our first summer house church at Grace Street. The RiCharde's are very kind in allowing their house to be used to fit 60 people for a pot luck, service, and hanging out afterwards. Last summer's house church is the reason I started going to Grace Street and is a large part of the reason I decided to stay in Boston. It's good people.

Funny how I'll start doing this more regularly now that I have a job again. :)

I have tons of photos from when my mom came into town. We went all over Boston, so it's taking quite a while to sort through them all. Look for more updates some time this week.

Entry posted by byscuits at 11:51 AM | Comments (1)