This is where I am.
In the interests of not being such a hermit, a stream-of-consciousness set of updates on where my life is of late, since I've got a little quiet time.
The biggest recent news was buying a house with Isak ( @TheIsakness). We moved in early March. It's about eight miles from my job in unincorporated King County, Washington, but has a Redmond mailing address. I gotta admit, it's kind of a dream house. It was the third one we seriously looked at, and was just too great to pass up. Right in our price range, decent commute, lots of nice features, and a decent plot of land. Isak is doing all of the yard and garden work, and he could not be happier. I mean, he really loves it, no joke. And now there's plenty of it.
Having bought a house together, suffice it to say Isak and I are still together and doing quite well.
By the way, Macy's has a furniture clearinghouse in Tukwila that's awesome. We bought a really nice, comfortable king-sized bed (because, frankly, him plus me plus Kira were too much for my old queen-sized bed) for super-cheap. One of Isak's coworkers tipped him off to it and it turned out to be a great deal.
Miss Kira is still happily purring and peeping along with us, and she too enjoys her new territory. We mostly have tile/wood floors in this place rather than carpet, and it's hilarious to watch her essentially drift around corners scrabbling at the floor when chased.
Work continues to be quite busy, but has been getting more rewarding as, at long last, our management seems to have more of an appreciation of what my team does for the company. My team got moved into the research division in 2009, and they never really knew what to do with us. We've always done a lot of work with the rest of the company, and never quite fit into the academic research mold. At long last the current powers-that-be recognize that it's important for the research division to have a positive impact on the company's bottom line. I think it's no coincidence this happens not long after the company gets a new CEO. I've now been at Microsoft for over eight years, soon to be eight and a half. And I really have no plans to leave. After a few years of uncertainty, things look like they're really lining up well for my group and I. Don't ever underestimate the value of having an awesome manager at your job, folks. Few things will have a greater impact on your happiness at your job. I've been courted by recruiters at other companies, and honestly could probably have made myself more money if I'd jumped ship, but you have to remember what's really important: happiness.
Gym stuff is a little touch and go. I've had some kind of impingement or other problem with my right shoulder for months. Hardly the first time, but as I get older it's taking long to get settled. I've finally made an appointment with a sports medicine physician to get it looked at, as it's been taking so long to improve. So I've been spending all my time doing cardio instead, and have taken off some weight. One of these days I may feel good enough about my looks to take a picture! But don't hold your breath. I've also switched to mornings because I was feeling so exhausted in the evenings after work. I started waking up earlier and hitting the gym beforehand, and so far that's been a good decision.
Socially I have a mostly-weekly card/board games group at a friends place. Other than that most of my social activities are over the Internet. A weekly online Halo game, and for a while I was pretty into the game "Warframe" on the Xbox One. I'm still somewhat involved with the clan I got into there, but I'm steadily pulling back from it. I still get on the MUCKs, especially during the day when I'm at work as a nice distraction. Part of the reason for this is weekdays are just generally a no-go for me for socializing in person, leaving only the weekends. And half the time on weekends all I want to do is recover from the work week!
I do hang out on Twitter, too, but mostly I read and reply. My posts tend to be dull. But that's @LeonineAspect.
So, I own my part in not being very sociable with just about anyone, especially in person. But time seemed ripe for an update.
The biggest recent news was buying a house with Isak ( @TheIsakness). We moved in early March. It's about eight miles from my job in unincorporated King County, Washington, but has a Redmond mailing address. I gotta admit, it's kind of a dream house. It was the third one we seriously looked at, and was just too great to pass up. Right in our price range, decent commute, lots of nice features, and a decent plot of land. Isak is doing all of the yard and garden work, and he could not be happier. I mean, he really loves it, no joke. And now there's plenty of it.
Having bought a house together, suffice it to say Isak and I are still together and doing quite well.
By the way, Macy's has a furniture clearinghouse in Tukwila that's awesome. We bought a really nice, comfortable king-sized bed (because, frankly, him plus me plus Kira were too much for my old queen-sized bed) for super-cheap. One of Isak's coworkers tipped him off to it and it turned out to be a great deal.
Miss Kira is still happily purring and peeping along with us, and she too enjoys her new territory. We mostly have tile/wood floors in this place rather than carpet, and it's hilarious to watch her essentially drift around corners scrabbling at the floor when chased.
Work continues to be quite busy, but has been getting more rewarding as, at long last, our management seems to have more of an appreciation of what my team does for the company. My team got moved into the research division in 2009, and they never really knew what to do with us. We've always done a lot of work with the rest of the company, and never quite fit into the academic research mold. At long last the current powers-that-be recognize that it's important for the research division to have a positive impact on the company's bottom line. I think it's no coincidence this happens not long after the company gets a new CEO. I've now been at Microsoft for over eight years, soon to be eight and a half. And I really have no plans to leave. After a few years of uncertainty, things look like they're really lining up well for my group and I. Don't ever underestimate the value of having an awesome manager at your job, folks. Few things will have a greater impact on your happiness at your job. I've been courted by recruiters at other companies, and honestly could probably have made myself more money if I'd jumped ship, but you have to remember what's really important: happiness.
Gym stuff is a little touch and go. I've had some kind of impingement or other problem with my right shoulder for months. Hardly the first time, but as I get older it's taking long to get settled. I've finally made an appointment with a sports medicine physician to get it looked at, as it's been taking so long to improve. So I've been spending all my time doing cardio instead, and have taken off some weight. One of these days I may feel good enough about my looks to take a picture! But don't hold your breath. I've also switched to mornings because I was feeling so exhausted in the evenings after work. I started waking up earlier and hitting the gym beforehand, and so far that's been a good decision.
Socially I have a mostly-weekly card/board games group at a friends place. Other than that most of my social activities are over the Internet. A weekly online Halo game, and for a while I was pretty into the game "Warframe" on the Xbox One. I'm still somewhat involved with the clan I got into there, but I'm steadily pulling back from it. I still get on the MUCKs, especially during the day when I'm at work as a nice distraction. Part of the reason for this is weekdays are just generally a no-go for me for socializing in person, leaving only the weekends. And half the time on weekends all I want to do is recover from the work week!
I do hang out on Twitter, too, but mostly I read and reply. My posts tend to be dull. But that's @LeonineAspect.
So, I own my part in not being very sociable with just about anyone, especially in person. But time seemed ripe for an update.