Patience is a virtue
I woke up to the normal cacophony of the several alarms I have set. I took my time getting ready and after feeding Molly & Snails, realized I needed to head out or chance missing my train. Luckily I made my train and got a nice seat. I've noticed that there are many more people in the morning using their laptops on the train. When I started taking the train, I was probably the only one in my car working on my laptop. Today, nearly every other person had a laptop in front of them to the point where the normal train sounds were almost drowned out by the variety of tapping sounds emanating from keyboards. Even after arriving at Union Station, the conductor had to repeat himself that we had reached our final stop because half the train raced to type their final emails, word documents, or excel spreadsheets. I was actually one of the first people to close their laptops and head out (a true first, I'm almost always the last person out).
I walked to the office and somehow seemed to always get caught behind someone who felt the need to walk and smoke a cigarette at the same time. I am always perplexed by people that do this because they lower their hand while pacing to their destination and have complete disregard for those around them, spewing toxic fumes directly in my path of travel and giving me headaches before my day really starts. I shouldn't assume that everyone that smokes and walks down Jackson Ave could care less about those around them, but I have yet to see someone considerate of others walk while smoking.
I barely arrived before the daily sprint and tried to organize my plans for the day (trying to become more organized). I had a nice meeting with Joe M. and Kevin M. regarding debugging crazy network problems and how powerful of a tool Wireshark can be.
The rest of the day was a roller coaster of productivity. I am working with a technology that probably should've stayed in whatever decade it was conceived in. I had the pleasure of discussing the technology with Tom W. and the conclusion I derived involved 'A piece of crap being absorbed by an even larger pile of crap'. Which, as a software developer, is always reassuring to know that you're not alone in spirit when you feel like you're chiseling away at a brick wall. Quite often, software developers become naive and ignorant of newer technologies. Despite whatever advances and business cases newer technologies may be, many developers consider anything foreign/unknown to be too risky to take on.
A certain level of risk is always required to move to a new level, or to get out of the known and journey into the unknown. I would never advocate blindly saying yes to any risk, but I am definitely willing to take chances to see where things may lead and learn from my mistakes and successes rather than wondering 'what if?'.
So after an epic lunch at Epic Burger, I got a little bit more accomplished with one of the most bizarre things I've come across in awhile. I like challenges, but I just haven't completely sized up this one. Luckily I am going to be able to take a short break over the weekend and start next week energized to take care of the issues of this week.
After an interview with a prospective employee, a small discussion, and a few emails and progress later, I headed for the train station with the assumption that I would take the next train headed home.
I arrived to the train station at 5:49PM and walked to the platforms. The normal train I take at 5:49PM was still on the tracks and people were still getting on. So I rushed for it and got on the train. I found a nice seat and started getting some things done on my laptop. Around 6:10PM I packed away my laptop and received a notification saying that the line I was on was delayed near Westmont. I looked at where I was on the map and saw that we were at several miles away from where we should be and nowhere near Westmont. After waiting for awhile, sending texts and making some calls, people started moving towards the front of the train. First a few people then suddenly nearly everyone from the rear cars was heading to the front. Someone asked one of the people why they were moving to the front and they said 'The train is going to be stuck for another 1-2 hours, they are letting people get out in the first car if they want to find their own way from here'. Luckily, my mom said she wasn't terribly busy and was able to head towards me to give me a ride to Downer's Grove. I waited patiently for my mom to arrive and thought about what I would do when I got home. I thought about all these people who are delayed, the train that was in front of ours, the one right behind ours, everyone talking about how they're going home and grabbing a drink. It was an organized sort of chaos that arose out of confusion, dissatisfaction, and lack of patience. I was one of the people outside the train, waiting for a ride, there were a number of people inside the train, just waiting, patiently, for the train to start moving again towards its destinations. Oddly enough, I never felt so lonely being on the train and ironically, I wasn't alone in this regard. There were a number of people who distanced themselves from others after getting off the train and making calls to find a ride home. There were small groups of people here or there who were offering each other rides when their significant other picked them up and others offering rides to complete strangers (OK, I really don't know how many of these people are coworkers, friends, family, etc, but it seemed like a lot of people were friendly with each other despite the circumstances). Then there were others who were just outraged. At some point, the news was broken that an accident involving a pedestrian in Westmont is what caused the multiple hour delay. Despite this news, some were still unhappy and felt the need to be vocal as if anyone else cared that this particular person's day was ruined... I felt bad that someone had died. Apparently some people just don't care...
My mom picked me up and we had a nice chat about various things while she gave me a ride to Downer's Grove. She dropped me off and we said our goodbyes. I took the elevator to the top floor and saw just how many cars were still there (At around 8PM on a weekday, there are hardly ever any cars in the garage, especially on the floors you pay to park on during the day). I drove home in fairly easy traffic, picked up dinner, and finally enjoyed some peace and tranquility after the events not too long ago.
Josh and I had a chance to catch up on things and we watched tonight's episode of the Big Bang Theory. It honestly had both of us cracking up a lot more than some of the other new episodes. Josh suggested I quote the show, but I already had a quote in mind for today.
As I think about today, I could not think of a better title. Patience is just one of those things that makes us appreciate the smaller things more and enjoy more of the often unnoticed.
http://www.wimp.com/whatis/
"That's a bad way to start any day." ~ Blake K.
I'm pretty sure Brookfield zoo was the last thing on people's minds, but maybe it'd be a nice diversion from all the hectic things that seem to be going on in people's lives.
I walked to the office and somehow seemed to always get caught behind someone who felt the need to walk and smoke a cigarette at the same time. I am always perplexed by people that do this because they lower their hand while pacing to their destination and have complete disregard for those around them, spewing toxic fumes directly in my path of travel and giving me headaches before my day really starts. I shouldn't assume that everyone that smokes and walks down Jackson Ave could care less about those around them, but I have yet to see someone considerate of others walk while smoking.
I barely arrived before the daily sprint and tried to organize my plans for the day (trying to become more organized). I had a nice meeting with Joe M. and Kevin M. regarding debugging crazy network problems and how powerful of a tool Wireshark can be.
The rest of the day was a roller coaster of productivity. I am working with a technology that probably should've stayed in whatever decade it was conceived in. I had the pleasure of discussing the technology with Tom W. and the conclusion I derived involved 'A piece of crap being absorbed by an even larger pile of crap'. Which, as a software developer, is always reassuring to know that you're not alone in spirit when you feel like you're chiseling away at a brick wall. Quite often, software developers become naive and ignorant of newer technologies. Despite whatever advances and business cases newer technologies may be, many developers consider anything foreign/unknown to be too risky to take on.
A certain level of risk is always required to move to a new level, or to get out of the known and journey into the unknown. I would never advocate blindly saying yes to any risk, but I am definitely willing to take chances to see where things may lead and learn from my mistakes and successes rather than wondering 'what if?'.
So after an epic lunch at Epic Burger, I got a little bit more accomplished with one of the most bizarre things I've come across in awhile. I like challenges, but I just haven't completely sized up this one. Luckily I am going to be able to take a short break over the weekend and start next week energized to take care of the issues of this week.
After an interview with a prospective employee, a small discussion, and a few emails and progress later, I headed for the train station with the assumption that I would take the next train headed home.
I arrived to the train station at 5:49PM and walked to the platforms. The normal train I take at 5:49PM was still on the tracks and people were still getting on. So I rushed for it and got on the train. I found a nice seat and started getting some things done on my laptop. Around 6:10PM I packed away my laptop and received a notification saying that the line I was on was delayed near Westmont. I looked at where I was on the map and saw that we were at several miles away from where we should be and nowhere near Westmont. After waiting for awhile, sending texts and making some calls, people started moving towards the front of the train. First a few people then suddenly nearly everyone from the rear cars was heading to the front. Someone asked one of the people why they were moving to the front and they said 'The train is going to be stuck for another 1-2 hours, they are letting people get out in the first car if they want to find their own way from here'. Luckily, my mom said she wasn't terribly busy and was able to head towards me to give me a ride to Downer's Grove. I waited patiently for my mom to arrive and thought about what I would do when I got home. I thought about all these people who are delayed, the train that was in front of ours, the one right behind ours, everyone talking about how they're going home and grabbing a drink. It was an organized sort of chaos that arose out of confusion, dissatisfaction, and lack of patience. I was one of the people outside the train, waiting for a ride, there were a number of people inside the train, just waiting, patiently, for the train to start moving again towards its destinations. Oddly enough, I never felt so lonely being on the train and ironically, I wasn't alone in this regard. There were a number of people who distanced themselves from others after getting off the train and making calls to find a ride home. There were small groups of people here or there who were offering each other rides when their significant other picked them up and others offering rides to complete strangers (OK, I really don't know how many of these people are coworkers, friends, family, etc, but it seemed like a lot of people were friendly with each other despite the circumstances). Then there were others who were just outraged. At some point, the news was broken that an accident involving a pedestrian in Westmont is what caused the multiple hour delay. Despite this news, some were still unhappy and felt the need to be vocal as if anyone else cared that this particular person's day was ruined... I felt bad that someone had died. Apparently some people just don't care...
My mom picked me up and we had a nice chat about various things while she gave me a ride to Downer's Grove. She dropped me off and we said our goodbyes. I took the elevator to the top floor and saw just how many cars were still there (At around 8PM on a weekday, there are hardly ever any cars in the garage, especially on the floors you pay to park on during the day). I drove home in fairly easy traffic, picked up dinner, and finally enjoyed some peace and tranquility after the events not too long ago.
Josh and I had a chance to catch up on things and we watched tonight's episode of the Big Bang Theory. It honestly had both of us cracking up a lot more than some of the other new episodes. Josh suggested I quote the show, but I already had a quote in mind for today.
As I think about today, I could not think of a better title. Patience is just one of those things that makes us appreciate the smaller things more and enjoy more of the often unnoticed.
http://www.wimp.com/whatis/
"That's a bad way to start any day." ~ Blake K.
I'm pretty sure Brookfield zoo was the last thing on people's minds, but maybe it'd be a nice diversion from all the hectic things that seem to be going on in people's lives.