Ellis Live

Tomorrow will make two months in the city for me.

I’ve had a great time and I’m enjoying work and my new home quite a bit. I haven’t felt like there was much to blog but I’ve actually been quite busy, so I’ll get right to it.

First of all, many of you know that the biggest loose end for me was my condo in Birmingham. Well, I sold my place a few weeks ago. I’ll miss it a bit but it definitely makes getting things settled here easier.

I got my bank accounts, insurance, 401(k), phone and all that other stuff moved over. This is trivial stuff if you’re staying in the same area but moving cross-country apparently causes such a riff in the space-time continuum that you might as well be trying to move everything to Mars via a cart pulled by ferrets. Plus, California does everything differently and whatever that way is, I guarantee it’s not compatible with everyone else’s.

Examples: My phone stopped working inside of buildings (so convenient) due to the location change and was replaced three times before it worked properly. My voice mail and text messages are still always two hours ahead because they are not on Verizon’s West coast system. My movers took over a month to get my stuff here and seemed to be unable to find the person who promised me differently, even though I think they were in the same office. My new “Nation-wide”, Bank of America account had to be closed and re-created in California because California’s systems don’t talk to any of the other states. I had to call Progressive and spend over an hour on the phone, close my account and open a new one to get insurance in California. The company taking care of my 401(k) couldn’t understand that California was not in the South and insisted on calling me at 5:00 AM to discuss delicate financial matters. The list goes on. Good times.

I also got my California driver’s license and registration. I think they are trying to reduce the number of cars on the road by failing people on the written driver’s test you have to take. Even after taking multiple practice tests online, it was fifty questions and you could only miss six. I barely passed it. Here’s a sample of an ACTUAL question (from the practice site):

Q: With a Class C drivers license a person may drive:
A) A 3-axle vehicle if the Gross Vehicle Weight is less than 6,000 pounds.
B) Any 3-axle vehicle regardless of the weight.
C) A vehicle pulling two trailers.

I think I chose D) Oh no, please don’t fail me because I can’t wait in that line again tomorrow. Over the next few days I had to get a separate car verification, a smog test, provide my title and old tags, pay fees, do a vision exam, cook a quiche without burning it, prove that dogs inherently like me…you get the point. I then had to go to four stores to find a mounting bracket for the front of my car. Since they use cameras here, you have to have a front and a rear license plate or you can be ticketed immediately. I now have a license and plates. Sigh…

When I’m not sitting at the DMV, wishing to spontaneously combust, I’ve been trying to make the most of what the city has to offer. I try to spend at least one day a weekend exploring and getting out. Since I’ve been here I’ve:

Biked across the Golden Gate

Gotten a wireless axe to compliment my roomate’s big TV and GH2

Become a parallel parking ninja (in training)

Had late night pizza in the Haight

Been to a local Brewing festival in Marin (yes, the master brewmaster does have pink hair)

Started to learn my way around the public transit system (aka, hurry up to wait)

Gotten my nameplate at the office

Seen a machine in the middle of the mall that dispenses lottery tickets

Been to Fisherman’s Wharf to see the seals, the skyline and the tourists

Been attacked by a squirrel with a gun (not really but that’d be crazy, wouldn’t it?!)

Gotten familiar with my local organic grocery store (that person works there)

Blown up friends cross-country

and even learned to sit back and enjoyed the commute

I’ve also:

• Seen Frank Chu and his galaxies
• Been to the largest Chinatown outside of Asia
• Seen tons of great shows, including a concert in the hall where the U.N. was formed
• Been blocked in and cussed out for properly parking in a parking spot, by a nerdy guy in a van (don’t understand? I didn’t either)
• Upped my GH2 chops (and I still get beat constantly at the office)
• Speaking of getting beat, been schooled in pretty much every video game I’ve played at the office
• Had more good food than you’d ever believe.
• Worked with a ridiculous amount of cutting edge tech at work, including Silverlight, Linq, WPF and WWF
• Found a poker game more my speed. At one point, I think we were very close to betting pizza on a hand of war.
• Tried to avoid the whispers from the cube next door, trying to convince me to purchase one of the dark machines…and yet I am still having trouble resisting due only to Eye of Judgement.
• Seen a Nerf gun modded to the point that it could probably put a plastic dart through a deer.
• Been recruited by Google. I know that the almighty search knows everything but they sent me email within a week of me moving to California. The only other organizations I know that are that efficient are the ones that want you to give blood.

I’ve still got tons I want to do. Things off the top of my head are to see the redwoods, snowboard in Tahoe, see O in Vegas and the aquarium in Monterrey. All in all, it’s been a good ride so far.

Doug is flying in from Mobile and he and Robert are coming in this weekend. We’re going to head out exploring and catch the A’s game this weekend. Good times will definitely be had. Hope everyone else is doing well. Later.

I started working at Vertigo Software last week.

I thought my first week of work went well and I’m really excited about working there. The office is a very relaxed and positive environment. I think the hardest thing for me is going to be getting used to the differences in business between the East and West coast. After wearing business attire for two and half years, being able to wear sandals and earrings to work is great but it’ll be a while before I can do it without feeling guilty. My co-workers are every bit as friendly as they seemed when I was interviewing with Vertigo and ridiculously intelligent as well. They’re even expanding my musical horizons! I’m looking forward to learning a lot from them. All of my impressions of the company from the interview process are holding up well.

Here are a few pics I took. When I started, I was greeted by my new space, complete with a box of company swag and my own whiteboard. I may be a simple creature but we all know what a weakness I have for whiteboards.

I was told the gorilla was a company tradition and I’m sure I’ll get the full story later. It drums and has a fortune on it that reads “The important thing is that you express yourself.” Awesome. There was a t-shirt, coffee cup, stickers, some thinking putty, a few notebooks and the book with the company story as well. There was also a copy of the Alfred Hitchcock movie “Vertigo”.

The movie is set in San Francisco and I watched it before I started. It’s pretty crazy and there are a lot of layers in the movie. Definitely check it out.

Vertigo’s offices are in Point Richmond, outside San Francisco and they have a great open area setup which still has room for a lot of individual offices.

Our CEO, Scott Stanfield, used to work for Pixar and the office used to be a Pixar production studio (it was referred to as “Frogtown” back then). I’ve been told that our space retains the feel from when Pixar was there, complete with animator’s lamps.

There’s a lot of energy and you can tell great work has been done in this space. There’s even a sketch of Bubbles from Finding Nemo on one of the walls. Someone was either brainstorming or just leaving their mark and decided to draw on the wall. So, the physical aspect of the office is great, my co-workers are awesome and I had a great first week playing with some new technology. I’m not sure what project I’m going to be working on, but for now I’m playing with a lot of cool stuff. I’m looking forward to next week.