BBQ, Chinese New Year Parade, some snippets of last week

Even I posted my last arcticle just few days ago, there are still lots of things all around me and it is time for a short summary.

It was really late when I updated my blog with my previous article. I was a little bit afraid of being tired next working day, but everything was all right. The regular cleaning services made my bed very comfortable and I could sleep very well.

In the morning I met few people in the office. I had a quick conversation with Romeo. I told him about posting my recent photos which he approved. He was surprised by speed how quickly I published it and did a quick checking. He also informed us about Cliff’s article cited in Forbes what is really a great publicity from my point of view and really congratulate on.

Coincidentally Cliff went to the kitchen and when he had been coming back to his office, he stopped at my desk for a while and gave me a feedback for my last article. He thought I posted too much photos of Romeo (two), just one is enough, otherwise he should think a lot about himself, he said. From my perspective everything was all right and I hope Romeo should carry the burden of his popularity. Actually, he reminds me Arnold Schwarzenegger sometimes. His “Radek, come with me, we need your help” sounds me like “come with me if you want to live” from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

A very special moment was a BBQ lunch on Thursday. Some people were probably very excited and everyone could recognized their ‘can’t wait approach’ with a small queue close to the kitchen, formed probably half an hour before serving. When the lunch was ready, that queue was extended rapidly. in that queue there was also Matt Curtis. When we saw each other, we were always laughing. He probably read my previous article. The lunch seemed very delicious and I started to look for a great place where I could eat my portion.

I saw Ross Lugos and I sat close to him. We had a quick conversation about progress in some projects. Cliff also joined us and I liked the diversity of our conversation. We started to talk about BBQ and continued with a topics about the chicken and hens breeding, one of Cliff’s hobbies. Actually it remembered me my childhood and some experience from New Zealand where I was a part of organic farms for a while. The conversation was very relaxed, it is great to talk about non-technical things sometimes.

On Friday everything went very quickly. I juggled with three difficult tasks in parallel way. That was great because I could keep my concentration on all of them quite effectively. My luck changes for the better every day. In the morning Aaron Myhre invited me on a call with the customer to get some requirements. Even I joined two minutes later due to some other urgent work, the customer call was such a pleasant surprise. I heard about Aaron only nice things, but I have to say the personal experience was better than I expected. He moderated that call very professionally and constructively and I was very happy I could experience it.

Even I was busy and finished some important tasks before lunch. I needed to send another postcard, therefore I found an Asian restaurant close to our office to be right back. When I came back, just people from support were eating their food. Holly, Cindy, Ray and Juraj asked me about the origin of the content of my food box. I really enjoyed our conversation about South East Asia. Cindy spent couple months in Singapore and Ray was in Vietnam to visit our support people there. I asked him about Cambodia. Never been, but he would love to go there, he replied. Me neither, but I think it is a great place for holiday to relax and have a cappuccino there.

Ray described how people in Vietnam take a nap after lunch. It also remembered me my childhood, but it seems this activity is spread among all nursery schools around the world, because Holly, Cindy, Ray and Juraj experienced the same when they were children. Sometimes it also would be useful to take a nap after lunch here in San Francisco or Prague, but we can’t have everything.

I finished many things during Friday, but there were some technical issues on one of our instances and due to urgency to prepare a functional prototype by Monday, I decided to work whole weekend . Fortunately I have had a great time in our office. That is nothing new for me, so I woke up very early today and went to the office after I took a shower and a quick breakfast. I signed at reception and went directly to my desk. I ran some tasks and was analysing one of our solution I received. I had also a great conversation with my girlfriend. The work here during the weekend has lots of advantages. You can borrow Pavel Kolesnikov’s kick scooter to make a trip from your desk to the toilet shorter and you should not asking him for a permission. You are also not alone. I expected I could meet Tomas Svarovsky and I was right. He works really hard, weekends included.

When I went to sign off late afternoon I hard serious troubles to find my name on the list. There were more than 50 other people working on Saturday in our building. It confirmed me the work on weekends is very common in the USA. Fortunately I had no worries with the lunch. Even I broke the tongues I ate some pieces from Thursday BBQ we keep in our fridge.

I had also a great conversation with a clark at reception. Not only he knew Tomas, but he had also a great experience with Czech guys because he shared an apartment with some people from my country. He told me his name, but I can call him Victor, he added. The conversation went really great and I wish to meet him again. On my way home I wanted to take some photos in the downtown. Unfortunately the center was closed for a Chinese New Year parade. On the other hand it was worth to stop for a while and enjoy the atmosphere there.

Otherwise things going very well and I still very enjoy the atmosphere here. No matter there were occassional gun shooting in Oakland once-twice a week (last one on a bus). For the next week I have great plans how to spend my time. Hopefully the weather will be great and no snow in Portland.