Infrequently Noted

I've started taking the train down from the city to Redwood Shores where I work, and I'm hooked. One of my biggest frustrations about living in the Bay Area is that I was burning anywhere from 2 to 3 hours a day in a car just waiting...and waiting...and waiting.

Since CalTrain leaves from 4th and Market (right by a Muni stop), it's pretty simple for me to get there and catch the 8:07, which gives me an hour in the mornings to code or think or write. My company has a shuttle that goes from the Redwood City stop to our offices, which means that I get off the train and there's someone there immediately to drive me the 5-7 minutes to work. I'm at work by 9:30 most days, which is about what driving translates into for me. Going the other way, the 5:45 shuttle gets me to the station in time to catch an express to the city, meaning I'm home well before 7. Life is good, and I'm a LOT less stressed out.

The only downside so far is that it more tightly constrains my options in some respects, is somewhat expensive, and means I can't carpool with Jennifer to work any more. I'm going to have to look into the monthly pass option.

Trains! Who knew?

Seems there's a new library in town: f(m)

Tom has obviously put a ton of work into this, and while we may often disagree on particulars, this looks great. If you're considering a library and think netWindows looks a bit too over-reaching, this might be an interesting place to start.

As modern and well thought-out as anything I've seen recently.

It seems there is an interesting set of trade-offs relating to living in San Francisco. On the one hand, I now spend about 3 more hours a day in a car than I did when living in Madison, and on the other, when I'm not in a car life here is much more exciting and engaging.

Since I've moved, I've:

• Seen BNL in concert


• Spent Thanksgiving in Tahoe


• Gone skiing


• Seen Cirque Du Soleil


• Gone on a pub crawl


• Seen Simon and Garfunkel


• Eaten an incredible amount of great food

What a week.

I took a job earlier this week with a company called Informatica and I'll be doing DHTML work for them on a full-time basis. It's going to be weird not having the word "security" on my business card any more, but this just feels like the right thing for me right now. Don't worry, I'll still work on security in my "spare" time, but I have a feeling is going to be weird for a bit. I start on Monday, so wish me luck, and if you're in the Bay Area, buy me a beer.

Life has also been interesting for the past couple of weeks as Jennifer recovers from her ankle surgery. After a scheduled re-casting on Monday, a nerve apparently got pinched and so yet another evening was spent in a doctor's office. Things seem to be better now, but it was a painful couple of days.

Oh! and my new contact info...yeah, that'd be useful:

Alex Russell
637 Fulton St.
San Francisco, CA 94120
(317) 514-8455
alex@netWindows.org

So I've moved to SF.

I rented an apartment sight-unseen for an unbelievably low price (at least for SF). The big question in the back of my mind has been "ok, so what's wrong with it?" Of course, it's tiny, but that alone doesn't disqualify a place from stratospheric rents in this town. The rub is that my new place is above a mortuary, and in the projects.

No, I can't make this up. My landlords are undertakers.

Let's hope the job search goes slightly more...um...predictably.