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One of these days that not too much happening but a day is filled with work. That was the case today. We did a lot to resolve a support issue. We had a hard time trying to fix the problem. How do you find an instance of a class in Java? Not so easy. We digged a lot before we could find anything. And even then, we had trouble coming up with a solution. Oh, well.
I am slipping in my eagerness toward waking up at 6AM. I woke up at 6:30 today. As a result, I did not get a chance to read.
This is happening because I don’t write my goals everyday anymore. I do it every so often. But a lot of times I don’t do it because I forget or I’m tired. I think I have to start doing them again. I don’t have good excuses not to be doing them.
When I do them, I have more eagerness to doing that.

I think I’m getting better at interviewing people. I also noticed that they started to ask me more to do it. It probably means that they care about my opinion. I like doing it, actually. I get to look up stuff before I do it. I get to learn from the interviewers. And I get to practice my communication skills. What is not to like about that?
I interviewed a bright guy today. Had it not been for his attitutude, lack of interest, we would probably hire him. He just did not seem like he cared. I told them that he is a great candidate but that he would be hard to manage and motivate. They’ll probably not hire him, though, as the other guy that interviewed him said almost the same.

Tom, my manager here at Markit, gave me an interesting insight. He is slowly getting fed up with the maintenance work on Connex. He is not going to put up with it for a lot longer. He said that if he does not see any change coming in the not too distant future, he might consider looking for a new job. Hopefully it does not happen within the next year. I would hate it to happen so soon. It could, though. What would that mean to me? My situation would get worse because I would lose a good manager. And two, I still don’t know a lot of the connex infrastructure development. It would also create an opportunity. That’s for sure. I could, potentially, move into management. But in order for me to do so, I need to know everything there is about connex. I need to know all the little details, all of the setup work, etc. They would have to be confident with me that I can do the work. I think if I work hard, that is possible. Hopefully it will not happen by the end of summer 2008.
I learned a new word today. Oh, yeah. 😉 I learned fabricated. It means duplicated, copied. The story was totally fabricated one.

After a 3-day weekend with my son and my wife, I miss them. I miss looking at my son and seeing his expressions. He is making very good progress at walking by his own. I can feel that he is beginning to get comfortable with walking holding only one hand. I can see himself standing. It’s a lot of fun spending time with him. I can’t say he’s low maintenance, but he’s a lot of fun.
We went to Killington, VT this past Memorial day weekend. One thing that was fun was the pool and just being out of the house. The drive there and back was a snap. It’s not that bad. It took us around 4 hours both ways. Not bad at all. I drove back. I was the leading driver for the group. I actually was speeding quite often. I tried to be careful, though, in making sure I follow a speeder and slowing down when the cars before me did. I think this strategy works fine for me; but I would like to see more proof. We’ll see.

I interviewed a guy today again. For the first time, I felt that he was generally good. He knew most of my questions and had a great attitude. He kept up to day, which is rare, and had an excellent overall view. He was the best guy I interviewed.
It’s funny, because Sergey also interviewed him and thought that he sucked. 🙁 He could not answer at least one of his questions. This has happened several times before, as Tom told me. I think that his questions are just too specific. He does not ask bigger picture questions. I highly recommended the guy.
We have a long weekend coming up. Oh, yeah. We are going to Killington, VT for the weekend. However, we cannot go on Saturday as we have a wedding to attend. Edek is getting married. It’s going to be another expensive weekend. The money pool from my bonus and savings is shrinking. I had to transfer $500 from my investment account. Not good, but what can I do?

I felt kind of lonely today. The girl that sits next to me was not here. Tom and Vadim are not here. But I did enjoy my day. I
I interviewed a guy today. Right when I looked at his resume, this guy was not for me. He had a 7-page resume! He did know a lot of technologies but his knowledge was outdated. He did not know too much detail about Java. He was not up to date in almost anything. To me, that’s a good guy to hire. He’s just going to get worse and worse. I would not hire a guy like that. That’s what I told the management. I said not to hire him.
I gave him a simple problem to solve. He could not do it. The problem I told him to solve was that given a list of integers, give me the largest 3 ones. He struggled.

Unlike other days, when it is torrid temperature here, it was a cool day today. Torrid – extremely hot, is a new word that I learned today. My goal is to learn a new word everyday. It’s been difficult. I read a lot of new words but I cannot memorize any. I tried several techniques but I think the only way I can really remember it is if I put it into context, repeat it, and actually use it.
I don’t know a lot of words. I don’t know basic vocabulary. I have to have a better vocabulary. I just have to if I want to become a better speaker, a better story teller, and a better writer. Learning a word a day is essential in that regard.
Roma, my high school friend, bought a house in Garfield, near where we live, for $630K! Wow! I don’t believe it. The area we live in is hot, but c’mon, I think they overpaid handsomely. The market is chugging along, but I think it has ways to go. Down, I mean. It might take all the way to 2009 for a market to stabilize. I thought it is going to happen in 2008, which is still a possibility, but I am no longer sure about that. We’ll see. I still read a lot of ‘horror’ stories in the market, plus, a majority of ARMs have still not adjusted. I smell something bad ahead…

What am I learning lately? I am listening to the history of America book. I am actually putting it into pieces. I have heard books already on how the US was started. This book puts the whole picture in place. I am enjoying it so far.
Am I doing my everyday tasks everyday? 🙂 I am trying to. I am trying to read 1-2 hours every day. I am trying to practice new technology. Though, I have not had a chance to do too much of it. I am trying to do things that I fear. I am also trying to learn a new word everyday. That’s a lot of learning I’m doing. Not that that’s enough. I am still not in a habit to all of these things. I still have to become bolder in the way I talk. I am still intimidated and shy at times. If I want to get into politics or managerial role, there is no room for that. I cannot be shy. I cannot be afraid to talk boldly. I just cannot.
Thus, even though I’m learning a lot, there is still a lot of learning that I have to do.

I am still a chicken when it comes down to talking to new/attractive looking girls. At least when I have to actually come up to them, introduce myself, and start the conversation. But at least I tried today. Today was my first full day at a new seat. We have this girl from London that is fairly attractive. She is sitting 2 desks from me on my left. Everybody was talking to her. She seemed friendly. So I finally got courage to stand up and introduce myself to her. My voice was weak. I could not really talk. Haha. I wonder why! Am I that scared? I guess it is also that I did this, which is a little bit out of my way. It is definitely out of my comfort zone.
I should put my feelings and personal preferences aside. I have to be ballsy. I have to be bold. I cannot be hiding in a shell. I have to be outspoken. I am trying to become a better speaker, a better story teller. I cannot be afraid to look foolish. I cannot be afraid to look stupid. I cannot be afraid to make a mistake. I just cannot. I am not going to improve if I’m not going to do the things that I fear.
At least I did it today. 

Yesterday we had a pretty good after-hours party. More like a get together. But it was good. We had free drinks on the company. Plus some appetizers. I had 3 beers, and one of them was Guiness. It looked like everyone was drinking it, so I tried it. It was OK, a little bit weak, more like a share, but it was good, I liked it. Though, I think I had a beer too much. I felt a little bit drunk afterwards… Plus, after I went to sleep, I did not feel too good. Oh, well… at least I had a good time. 🙂
Today at work, we had a moving day. I got moved into the open floor. I had a fairly quiet location but no more. I am sitting by the rear row with an oversight for the whole floor. We’ll see. In some regards it might be better. I hope so.
There is one thing I constantly need to remind myself. I need to step out of the comfort zone constantly. Every day. I need to do something I don’t want to do but that I know is good for me. I just have to. Why? Because it makes me grow. I grow when I do that.