Stuff and stuff
So it's been just over a week since last posting - some things change, others stay the same.
The job search continues. I still haven't heard back from the first interview, and honestly I'm not surprised. I clearly didn't come across as "competent engineer", and my suspicion is that they are still looking. Kind of disheartening - I'd have loved for it to go flawlessly - but still a couple good takeaways.
The big thing is that I don't think that Phoenix was the issue, I really think I just flubbed too many questions. Granted, I was super nervous, and there was a lot of "oh crap, I should have answered it like this" that hit over the next few days. But I really think that a big part of my nerves was in doing the interview as Phoenix, I was too focused on that and I forgot to be a competent engineer first. So I'm trying to walk away from that as "good practice", and a warm up for the next one. And fortunately I won't have to wait - I have another interview on Monday.
What I'm not sure of is how to handle Phoenix on this next one. Do I go as Phoenix again? Or do I go as WMTG and just make sure to bring it up? I know that they are aware of her - her name is included on my resume - but I'm thinking that maybe a softer approach might be the way to go. Especially since work has been painfully slow lately, and there have been some other politics things going on, finding a new position seems to be more prudent. A new job should be my first focus, and let Phoenix come up as secondary.
The other big thing for me lately has been the trains - I've been able to make some good progress there. My SD9 is running well, waiting on a replacement decoder since I accidentally fried mine, but I'm still able to do smooth running loops. I've added a half dozen coal cars to it, and can still get it running relatively problem free. Every so often I'll get a derail, but for the most part it runs super smoothly.
Although now that that's working, it's time to take care of all the other bits. I plugged in and tested the switches, and only three of the ten work. Fortunately two are the mainline switches so I can still do a little bit of running variety by switching between the main and the yard siding, but if I want to be able to get in and run on all the tracks through the coal mine I'm going to have a lot of work to do. I do have a plan - starting with checking power at the toggles, and just going down the line trying to find if there is a break in the wires. I'm hoping it's as simple as loose connections - I don't want to have to try and start replacing switch motors. But even if it is that, I'm happy with a running ovals while I dig in and troubleshoot.
I've also started my first 3d printer project for the trains. First thing I bought was a rail cleaner car - I want something that will help upkeep the rails without having to manually polish them. The car seems like it'll do the job nicely, except that it's just a flat metal bar with a roller in the middle, and looks like a track cleaning car. So I did some searching and found a file for a 55 ton coal hopper, did some slight modification, and will be printing out a shell to sit over the car. The roller will still be partially visible on the bottom, but adding a shell will help a lot and will also give me a place to add weight so that it runs better. With any luck I'll be able to paint it up in such a way that it mostly blends in with the others, and I'll be able to keep things clean and running smoothly.
I feel like I haven't talked of Pidge much, and that's bad Gir. He's obviously such a big part of life, and at six and a half years old he's definitely changed a lot. Although I guess maybe the reason I haven't said much is because even though so much has changed, so much stays the same - one day to the next doesn't seem that different.
Either way, he had his first big track meet last weekend. We got him into track as a way for him to burn off energy, and as a chance to socialize with kids his age outside of school. He's generally liked it a lot - he gripes about the conditioning exercises, but loves playing with the other kids, and his competitive side loves the actual races at the meets. He's been running 55m and 200m, and while 55m clearly isn't his strength, he's a very solid 200m runner. At this last meet he started at the 5th position, pushed forward to a solid second, until he accidentally stopped short (the 1st place kid stopped at the wrong line), only to push and still get third. He doesn't seem to have the flat out speed of the short sprint, but has enough endurance to do well at 200m. And fortunately, he's having enough fun doing it that he isn't super stressed about not being first. He can have a crazy competitive streak - he'll melt down after losing too much tic-tac-toe - but for whatever reason with track it doesn't phase him.
School has been a mixed bag this year - Pidge has had his great days, but has also had his awful streaks. I think it's a combination of factors - the fact that first grade isn't "fun", plus just the usual six year old adjustment to being older and having more responsibilities and expectations. He continues to show Ceri and I that he's smart, and he's charming as hell, but it's also clear that he won't perform if he doesn't want to and has had a fair amount of negative school experience. I also think that his teacher is a little less appreciative of his "spicy" (to borrow a quote from his kindergarten teacher), which I think gets him judged a little more harshly.
But, as it goes, life carries on.
The job search continues. I still haven't heard back from the first interview, and honestly I'm not surprised. I clearly didn't come across as "competent engineer", and my suspicion is that they are still looking. Kind of disheartening - I'd have loved for it to go flawlessly - but still a couple good takeaways.
The big thing is that I don't think that Phoenix was the issue, I really think I just flubbed too many questions. Granted, I was super nervous, and there was a lot of "oh crap, I should have answered it like this" that hit over the next few days. But I really think that a big part of my nerves was in doing the interview as Phoenix, I was too focused on that and I forgot to be a competent engineer first. So I'm trying to walk away from that as "good practice", and a warm up for the next one. And fortunately I won't have to wait - I have another interview on Monday.
What I'm not sure of is how to handle Phoenix on this next one. Do I go as Phoenix again? Or do I go as WMTG and just make sure to bring it up? I know that they are aware of her - her name is included on my resume - but I'm thinking that maybe a softer approach might be the way to go. Especially since work has been painfully slow lately, and there have been some other politics things going on, finding a new position seems to be more prudent. A new job should be my first focus, and let Phoenix come up as secondary.
The other big thing for me lately has been the trains - I've been able to make some good progress there. My SD9 is running well, waiting on a replacement decoder since I accidentally fried mine, but I'm still able to do smooth running loops. I've added a half dozen coal cars to it, and can still get it running relatively problem free. Every so often I'll get a derail, but for the most part it runs super smoothly.
Although now that that's working, it's time to take care of all the other bits. I plugged in and tested the switches, and only three of the ten work. Fortunately two are the mainline switches so I can still do a little bit of running variety by switching between the main and the yard siding, but if I want to be able to get in and run on all the tracks through the coal mine I'm going to have a lot of work to do. I do have a plan - starting with checking power at the toggles, and just going down the line trying to find if there is a break in the wires. I'm hoping it's as simple as loose connections - I don't want to have to try and start replacing switch motors. But even if it is that, I'm happy with a running ovals while I dig in and troubleshoot.
I've also started my first 3d printer project for the trains. First thing I bought was a rail cleaner car - I want something that will help upkeep the rails without having to manually polish them. The car seems like it'll do the job nicely, except that it's just a flat metal bar with a roller in the middle, and looks like a track cleaning car. So I did some searching and found a file for a 55 ton coal hopper, did some slight modification, and will be printing out a shell to sit over the car. The roller will still be partially visible on the bottom, but adding a shell will help a lot and will also give me a place to add weight so that it runs better. With any luck I'll be able to paint it up in such a way that it mostly blends in with the others, and I'll be able to keep things clean and running smoothly.
I feel like I haven't talked of Pidge much, and that's bad Gir. He's obviously such a big part of life, and at six and a half years old he's definitely changed a lot. Although I guess maybe the reason I haven't said much is because even though so much has changed, so much stays the same - one day to the next doesn't seem that different.
Either way, he had his first big track meet last weekend. We got him into track as a way for him to burn off energy, and as a chance to socialize with kids his age outside of school. He's generally liked it a lot - he gripes about the conditioning exercises, but loves playing with the other kids, and his competitive side loves the actual races at the meets. He's been running 55m and 200m, and while 55m clearly isn't his strength, he's a very solid 200m runner. At this last meet he started at the 5th position, pushed forward to a solid second, until he accidentally stopped short (the 1st place kid stopped at the wrong line), only to push and still get third. He doesn't seem to have the flat out speed of the short sprint, but has enough endurance to do well at 200m. And fortunately, he's having enough fun doing it that he isn't super stressed about not being first. He can have a crazy competitive streak - he'll melt down after losing too much tic-tac-toe - but for whatever reason with track it doesn't phase him.
School has been a mixed bag this year - Pidge has had his great days, but has also had his awful streaks. I think it's a combination of factors - the fact that first grade isn't "fun", plus just the usual six year old adjustment to being older and having more responsibilities and expectations. He continues to show Ceri and I that he's smart, and he's charming as hell, but it's also clear that he won't perform if he doesn't want to and has had a fair amount of negative school experience. I also think that his teacher is a little less appreciative of his "spicy" (to borrow a quote from his kindergarten teacher), which I think gets him judged a little more harshly.
But, as it goes, life carries on.