Note to self

Next time I spend an hour running a major data query on a database with 300,000 lines and 2500 variables, I should probably not depend on the variable with the name DONOTUSETHISVARIABLE.

More stupid things in Seattle

Monday afternoon

I pick up my friend Jeremy in Seattle to go to dinner, but since I'm still getting used to my rental car, I put the car into drive instead of reverse and almost rear-end his car.  Oops!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday evening
I try calling my Dad in Detroit to say hello. I calculate that it's 10:30 PM Detroit-time, but when he picks up the phone, he sounds extremely sleepy and tired. After about 10 seconds, I remember that I'm in Seattle, which is definitely not in Chicago. So it's actually 12:30 AM in Detroit. Sorry, Aba!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday afternoon, in the office
I'm working at my desk, while finishing off a Greek salad from lunch.  Nothing too interesting going on.  I yawn... rub my eyes....and successfully get some of the dressing in my eye.  Brilliant.
Of course, I don't have any napkins nearby to wipe my eyes, so I have to walk all the way to the bathroom with bloodshoot and teary eyes in order to wash my eyes out with water.  (The salad was delicious, by the way.)

Stupid things I did on Day 1 in Seattle

Flight
During my flight, I was watching the Office on the overhead, in-flight TV.  It was the episode where they think they are getting shaken down by the mob, and Pam and Jim are on their honeymoon, but everyone keeps calling them for help anyway.  F'ing hilarious.
And of course, on the quiet afternoon flight, surrounded by dozens of other passengers, I laugh very out loud.  Repeatedly.  (And I might have shed a small tear during the showing of The Blind Side, but that wasn't as noticeable.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning

Last night, in my hotel room, before going to sleep, I plugged my phone charger into the outlet to charge my phone all night.  In the morning, assuming my phone was fully charged, I didn't bother taking the charger to the office. Halfway through my commute, I realize my phone is barely charged.  Why didn't it charge at night? Because that particular electrical outlet was controlled by the room's lightswitch, which was off all night. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunch
I left the office for a short drive to a local kosher pizza place to grab lunch.  I was able to make it back round trip in less than 20 minutes.  But when I got back, I couldn't find any parking.  Not in the surface parking lot, and not in any level of the parking structure.  I literally circled down into the depths of hell without finding a single open spot.  And since this was my first day, I also didn't really know where else I could park.  So after traveling through several back alleys, going the wrong way down several different one-way streets, and pulling a U-turn across 3 lanes of traffic, I finally found a spot somewhere.  (And I got to my desk just in time for my post-lunch coma to kick in.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evening

It's only 3 pm, so I can't yet write about the inevitable stupid thing I will do this evening, but it's worth it to save the space here.

Headphones

Note to self:

When turning up the volume on my computer in order to listen to something through my headphones, make sure the headphones are actually plugged into the computer.  And just because I think the sound is coming through the headphones, it's probably just blasting from my computer speakers.

Stupid Stiebel-only problem

A short anecdote about me being unnecessarily stupid in public:

Last Friday, I attended a recruiting event for my company.  We were giving a presentation to a group of business students for Univ of Iowa, followed by some mingling and Q&A.

So during the mingling/Q&A, I'm with a few of my colleagues talking with a handful of the undergrad students from Iowa.  Very nice conversation and whatever whatever.

But as the conversation progresses, I realize that my yarmulke on my head is slowly sliding backwards.  (Because I had just gotten a really short haircut, my yarmulke tends to slide more often.)

Now, normally, if my yarmulke starts to slide or fall off, I simply reach up and move it back up with my hand.  But for some reason, I thought that reaching up and grabbing my yarmulke during this Q&A conversation would interrupt the flow of conversation among the group.

So instead of sliding the yarmulke back onto the top of my head, I simply started to tilt my head forward.  The more it slid backward, the more I tilted forward.  But pretty soon, I was staring at everyone's feet!  And at the same time, I was still trying to carry on a totally normal conversation!

Ugh, this is a situation that only I would get into.

In the end, I realized that trying to talk with my chin on my chest was more awkward than simply reaching up and readjusting my yarmulke.  So I did.  And no one even blinked or noticed.

(But on the positive side, I'm pretty sure my socks matched each other that day.)