A Sense of Humor is Essential

We’re still looking for a place to live. One of the only things that makes this search bearable is the often-hilarious listings on Craigslist, such as the following (emphasis mine):

2 BEDROOMS
1 BATHROOMS
* LARGE KITCHEN
* LIVING ROOM
* LAUNDRY & BACK YARD
* NEW PAINT
* STREET PARKING ONLY
YOU CAN CALL ME XXX-XXX-XXXX
FOR MAKE LOOK 24/7

First Day Notes

Today was my first day at IronPort and it was pretty great. The first half of the day was taken up with your run of the mill new employee orientation. I knew I had officially arrived in California when, on my tour of the building, I was shown the meditation room and it was presented as if it were a break room. “You know, if you meditate.”

The company seems to be filled with dedicated and hardworking people who also like to goof off and have fun. There is a game room with an Xbox 360 and a Wii, and some of the cubes have recliners in them, but there is also definitely an air of strong competitiveness and a real sense of purpose. Many people there feel like they are fixing email.

In other California news, it seems that beer is generally flat here. After 3 twelve packs of different brands of beer (the first of which was returned), Shannon and I were convinced that there was either a large shipment of beer that was stalled in Death Valley and became flat due to the intense heat, or there was some kind of crazy conspiracy designed to drive us slowly insane. JR gave me a lift home and we stopped and picked up a six pack (because we believed we had only flat beer at the hotel), and I’ll be damned if this new beer wasn’t also flat! JR, however, revealed that this is apparently how beer tastes in California, although I am not completely convinced. We had beers at JR and Ashley’s house the last time we were here and I don’t remember it tasting like this, and just last week we had a couple beers during dinner at Kookez restaurant and it seemed fine. Further experiments will be required.

So, with one whole day in the new job under my belt I’m feeling great about being here. I can’t wait to really start digging into the products and I can’t wait until I can really contribute.

We Have Arrived

Shannon and I rolled into town last night at around 11:00 PST. The drive out here was pretty fun and leisurely. We stopped at the Grand Canyon and visited Shannon’s brother in the armpit of California (aka: Twentynine Palms). After you get out of Texas the drive is downright scenic.

So now we’re settled in our hotel room relaxing. I start my new job on Monday and we’ll probably do a little house hunting this weekend.

It feels a little surreal being in California and not planning on leaving any time soon. All the way out here we kept slipping and saying we’d do something “when we got back”.

So, now we’re here and we’re here to stay. Viva la California!