Amtrak train car door control console in the vestibule.
(Buttons.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)
Door.jpg
Office.jpg
Here’s what my office looks like. No windows other than the one by the door into the hallway, but there’s always my cam, and if I lean way over I can see a sliver of brick wall through the window of the office across the hall. The Japanese exhibit poster is the previous inhabitant’s.
(Office.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)
LOSTwatr.jpg
I put a ‘Dharma Initiative Natural Island Spring Water’ label on my water bottle, but no one here gets it. Disclaimer: Do not drink if pregnant.
(LOSTwatr.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)
Mobile Photo Catchup
Partly owing to my absence from the internet, partly because I’m too lazy to deal with the whole lack of a cat_id problem, I’ve been remiss in posting mobile photos to HNBP, letting them accumulate in my photostream instead. So to make up for it, here is the full backlog of cameraphone shots I have failed to post through the last few weeks: a water main break, a Secret Service officer locked out of his own police car, a subtly funny Metro elevator sign, an Assistants’ Day balloon, two shots from the DC Art Fair, a nonworking Amtrak Police video cart, and our new kitchen. Click the photos to see them larger on Flickr.
Earthlink
As you may have surmised from my increased posting volume, I have internet access at home once again. Earthlink took about a week and a half to activate my naked DSL line and deliver the hardware.
About midway through that waiting period, I noticed that my old Westell DSL modem was picking up a data connection through the phone line, but failed to authorize the user account with my given Earthlink login info. Hence it came as no surprise when the Earthlink equipment arrived — a branded Zyxel P660R DSL modem with only one CAT-5 port — and, on connection, also failed to authenticate my user info.
It took a quick call to Earthlink Tech Support (a very helpful offshore Indian rep who called himself “Robin”) to get my account working. I have a feeling that Earthlink keeps accounts deactivated to discourage users from connecting their own hardware before the crippled co-branded Earthlink modem arrives. Part of their offering involves paying an extra monthly fee to get a router to allow more than one computer to connect — although once the ISP actually allows you to log in, there really is nothing to stop you using a Westell 327W which may already have been lying around.
IP Chicken has confirmed that Earthlink DSL in my area is indeed provided by Verizon. Given my moving experience with them, I’m wondering if I should stay with this. It helps that Earthlink billing and support are tons more helpful and scrupulous than Verizon ever was to me, even with that sleazy “pay extra for more LAN ports” promo.
New[er] Job – Update
My new workplace has an employee weblog policy which, in addition to the usual disclaimers about conflicts of interest, opinions expressed not necessarily representing those of my employers, and not posting during work hours, also states that I should not mention here on my weblog the name of the news magazine I am working for. The policy is understandable, and since I make it a point not to post about work (and generally not to post from work), I should have no trouble with it. I’ve edited out all such references in my previous post on the new job.
I’ll say this one thing, though: it’s pretty cool having my own office. Woo.
KStWalk.jpg
A morning exodus of walkers from Foggy Bottom to Georgetown via K Street.
(KStWalk.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)
Caturday!
We haven’t had a cat photo for a while, so here’s Pandora sleeping with wild abandon in my video rocker. I was worried she’d be really stressed out by the transition of moving, but it hasn’t been a problem for her at all. She’s liking the new place a lot, spending most of her time shuttling between snacking at her food bowl and lazing in or beside said video rocker. (Her bathroom habits are completely stable now, with only one near-the-litterbox accident the whole time since moving. That’s a huge improvement.)
New[er] Job
Remember the new job? Yesterday was my last day there. What happened, you ask? Well, about a week into my two-week stint as a graphic design freelancer, I got a call. From here a prestigious news magazine. Yeah. They had gotten my resumé and apparently I was a strong candidate for a tech producer position.
To be honest, I was feeling ambivalent. I had been working in Photoshop for about a week, had settled back into an expectation of going back into design near full-time, and wasn’t too sure about a daily commute to Georgetown. I had already written up a note saying “Sorry, I think I’ll pass on this.” But hey, I wasn’t an in-house guy just yet — why not give it a try? I went there, shuttled between a few offices to get interviewed by the web staff, and was promised a call back by the end of the following week.
At some point between looking over their CMS and being told the pay and benefits, my mind swung completely around. I realized, deep in my heart after a week of design work, I wanted to get back into code, wrestling with XHTML and CSS and JS and web standards. Plus, the commute to Georgetown from the Union Station area isn’t quite so bad; it’s just a fifteen minute walk from the Foggy Bottom Metro, and there’s the Circulator for non-walkable days, and walking to and from work should be just under an hour and half one way — a decent workout. The office environment was relaxed and friendly and professional, the hours liberal, the pay generous. In about thirty minutes I had gone from wondering what I was doing here to wanting to know when I could start.
The answer came back positive. I start on Monday.
(Aside: I wasn’t supposed to come in to my old job at Omni on Friday, not having any projects, but I came in anyway, brought some Krispy Kremes, said bye to everyone. Shouts-out to Jeph, Mischa, and Jim, sorry some of you weren’t there for the donut holes.)
Update: Oops, I’m not allowed to tell you anything about my employer on my weblog, so that’s all edited out.