Work Thur Apr 2, 2015

Mon Mar 9: The first day of work during daylight savings time. I went with the flow. I experienced trouble waking up. I ate breakfast at my cubicle.

Tue Mar 10: There was a three day leadership off site training. The senior employees, managers, and the two vice presidents attended the training. The department was quiet.

Wed Mar 11: The third annual ping pong tournament March Madness format started today. I misread the email. People who wanted to opt out reply back to the email. I believe common sense dictates people who wanted to opt in reply back to the email. I was assigned a bracket I didn't want to participate. I'm a contractor. I thought contractors were excluded from the tournament.

I was tired the entire afternoon. I took quick naps. I ate snacks to stay awake.

Thur Mar 12: Security took a new picture of me for new ID badges.

The contractor who trained me on my first day is leaving on Fri Mar 27. We both work with the same contracting company. She told me there's no new jobs for her in another department.

Fri Mar 13: I talked with the new quality engineer who helps my engineer. Both of them worked at Cisco. The new quality engineer survived the Great Recession layoffs. My engineer was laid off in 2009. The quality engineer shared a story when he worked at a start-up in 2001. The start-up closed one week after 9/11.

Mon Mar 16: I felt blessed today I have a job. I know I have an end date. There's nothing more to grow. I automated the RMA data entry process. I acquired all the experience and knowledge.

Tue Mar 17: I played Team Fortress 2 last night. I ate breakfast at my cubicle. I finished upgrading my personal desktop. Playing the video game reminded me when I played Team Fortress 2 every Mon night. My friends and I called it MNTF2 or Monday Night Team Fortress 2 similarly to NFL's MNF or Monday Night Football.

Wed Mar 18: I finished the Portwell recheck RMAs. I entered 15 RMAs missing from the SAP database.

My engineer asked me to find RMAs from newer firewall models.

The beginning of new hires started today. My department was behind in fulfilling open positions last fiscal quarter. One of the vice presidents walked around the room assigning unoccupied cubicles with new hires to start soon.

I was informed my contract ends on May 3 instead of Jul 3.

Thur Mar 19: There was work in the morning and work after 3:45pm. I finished reading The Pearl by John Steinbeck. I met my engineer's new manager.

March Madness started today. I watched clips of upsets games on the web. I was reminded when I watched March Madness games when I worked at Cisco.

I small talked with an employee in the elevator after I worked out at the company gym. He was carrying his McDonalds take out for his dinner. He needed to finish a deadline due tomorrow.

Fri Mar 20: I received information the automation process is on schedule. It communicated to me my contract ending May 3 is more assured.

The best timing and luck story I know for a long time. The contractor who trained me on my first day is working at Cisco on Mon Mar 23. Her last day was officially Fri Mar 27. The contracting company said her last day was today. Her new position renews every quarterly; in other words, an indefinite contract length. Higher pay. There was no interview. She didn't need to update her resume. Wow!

I looked at the power tray icon on my laptop. The Power Saver option was selected. I deselected Power Saver. I selected Balanced which is the only other choice. I was reminded when I was researching CPUs for my personal desktop I upgraded. My friend suggested I get a CPU using more power. I agreed. I'm glad I used my friend's suggestion. Buy a CPU that uses more power instead of a CPU using power saving.

A ping pong tournament was held in the cafeteria at 2:30pm. Food and drinks were provided to spectators. A filming crew recorded the games.

I listened to classical music today because I didn't listen to classical music yesterday. No podcasts.

I organized my first Outlook meeting with the SAP administrator for training.

Today was the first time I didn't backup any work related files.

Mon Mar 23: One of our vendors submitted their weekly RMAs to enter. I couldn't find most of the RMAs. The RMA specialist helped me confirm the missing RMAs are in the SAP database. It turned out the vendor matched the wrong RMA numbers with the serial numbers.

Tue Mar 24: I was in a meeting with the SAP administrator for training. He showed me how to delete RMA records; in particular, duplicate entries.

Wed Mar 25: Speed bumps were erected at the back of the parking lot. I hate speed bumps. I saw cars parked over the parking line markers.

The replacement for the contractor who went to Cisco started today. The replacement is a permanent full time employee.

Thur Mar 26: There was a 9:30am informational meeting. The topic was virtualization products. These products are the new firewalls without hardware.

I realized leaving early to attend the 9:30am informational meeting was not worth it. It was not worth waking up early to arrive at work between 9am and 9:15am. I spent more time driving to work and driving home. The 9:45am-6:45pm work schedule is the best because it works well for my gym workouts and shorter commute times.

The department's monthly birthdays seemed to be more of a chore than fun. It seemed the full time employees doesn't care celebrating their birthdays and eating cupcakes made from an employee. I wondered if they're socially awkward.

Speaking of socially awkward, I thought about the recent new hires. They're social awkward. Some common interview tips are be open, be enthusiastic, speak up, communicate good conversation skills, and demonstrate you're not a boring person. On the contrary, I believe my department hires quiet people who sit in their cubicles eight hours a day. My department is an example of hiring content people who fit our working environment. They don't hire loud and cheerful people. Just because a candidate is outgoing doesn't mean the candidate is an automatic hire.

Fri Mar 27: An engineer showed me the table for their weekly Fri breakfasts. I knew bagels were available to everyone. I usually ate breakfast at home. I may try their breakfast one Fri before I leave the department.

My engineer submitted a request to the director to grant me access to the department laboratory and storage. My engineer assigned me to log defective SSD sent from one of our vendors for failure analysis. In addition, the Feb 2015 RMAs sent monthly from another vendor arrived in my email box 10 minutes before I logged off. I have actual work next week.

I stopped at one red light on the expressway driving home.

Mon Mar 30: I stopped at one red light on the expressway driving to work. I drove 15 minute to work.

The new hires continued. A new engineer started today working at the cubicle space formerly occupied by my engineer.

I was granted access to the laboratory and storage. I worked part of the day logging defective SSDs in the tech storage room.

Tue Mar 31: I finished logging the SSD model numbers and serial numbers in the tech storage room.

Some people wanted today to be Fri Apr 3 which is the company holiday Spring Day. They were expressing fatigue.

I met the on-site recruiter during my lunch hour. She was getting coffee at the coffee bar. I asked her for a lunch get-together to discuss my future at the company. I emailed her later in the day to set up a date and time.

Wed Apr 1: The shipping clerk told me there's no process to recycle the shipping boxes and packing material which contained the defective SSDs. I threw away the shipping boxes and packing material in the dumpsters. I gave the shipping clerk the two big boxes.

My engineer told me the next hardware logging model numbers and serial numbers is power supply units. They were supposed to arrive today. They didn't.

I finished entering the RMAs from a vendor sending their RMAs monthly.

I found a detour to avoid the speed bumps at the back of the parking lot when I walked out of the building after working out at the company's gym.

Thur Apr 2: All green lights driving to work on the expressway. I stopped at one red light on the side street.

The part time financial analyst told me she's training quarter end to the new full time financial analyst. She has been concern her contract might be terminated.

One of the vice presidents emailed the department about tomorrow being a company holiday. Many people were talking loud after the email. It was the loudest since the Christmas holiday. The reason was a happy hour at a nearby restaurant.

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