Weekend!

Jaybird

Jaybird is Birdmojo on Xbox Live and Jaybirdmojo on Playstation's network. He's been playing consoles since the Atari 2600 and it was Zork that taught him how to touch-type. If you've got a song for Wednesday, a commercial for Saturday, a recommendation for Tuesday, an essay for Monday, or, heck, just a handful a questions, fire off an email to AskJaybird-at-gmail.com

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43 Responses

  1. Mike Dwyer says:

    I start a new implementation project on Monday that is going to run until probably the first part of August. Luckily, it is nearby, so I won’t be doing any flying and I can sleep in my own bed every night, but it will double my commute times…so that should be fun.

    This weekend is going to be about relaxing and maybe trying to spend a little quality time with the daughters for Father’s Day. I will miss my own dad, as usual, but my father-in-law makes a pretty good surrogate so we’ll go see him and he and I can hover over the grill drinking beer.Report

  2. Burt Likko says:

    Dude, you’re packing like there are no laundry facilities Over There. I’ve not been but I’m willing to wager rather a large amount of money that there not only are places to get those undies washed, but people who will do it for you while you work or while you sleep. Not sure if your expense account will pay for that to happen but seems like reasonable odds there too.

    As for me, after last weekend being spent with my father from out of town, this weekend will be for my mother-in-law from out of town. Tonight, though, is a rare bachelor night. I’m enjoying it with a play through of Jeff Beck’s 1968 master piece “Truth” album and a few fingers of usquebaugh.Report

  3. Zac Black says:

    Working for the weekend. But my dad and I are doing an early Father’s Day thing (since we both work the day of) and going to the Washington Brewer’s Festival out in Redmond, which we’ve gone to every year for the last few years. Should be fun.Report

  4. Kazzy says:

    Survived week one of Summer Madness Fest 2K16. Probably hanging in tomorrow, lil’un birthday party Saturday afternoon, then adult friend birthday party Saturday evening. Sunday brings yet-to-be-determined Father’s Day funtivities of one type or another.

    The boys better go big this year… I did keep them both alive for almost all of it!Report

  5. j r says:

    I’ll be flying through Doha airport that weekend for a work trip of my own that weekend, but not until Sunday night.

    Unfortunately, this weekend will likely involve at least one day of coming into the office.Report

  6. Miss Mary says:

    I want you to have sooooo much fun on your trip. Travel is amazing, even if you have to work while doing it.

    Speaking of… I’ll be running away this weekend. Only a few hours from home, but I only have two obligations. 1. Have fun without ever looking at a clock.
    2. Run an errand for my son.

    I already don’t want to return home.Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Miss Mary says:

      When I took trips to Annapolis, I was happy to the point where it irritated the heck out of Maribou.

      “Hey! Guess what! I’m going to see Jason Kuznicki and Boegiboe this weekend! You wouldn’t believe the quality of the Italian food! And they have real bagels here!”

      When I go to Qatar, we mostly just talk about how we can’t wait until I come back and how much the kitties will miss me (I’m the one who usually feeds them) and how much Maribou will miss me (I’m the one who usually cooks) and how much I will miss them all.

      This trip is no different.Report

      • Kazzy in reply to Jaybird says:

        Dude… if you want REAL bagels, come here.Report

        • Jaybird in reply to Kazzy says:

          I’ll get there! Eventually!!!

          Before that happens, however, I’m hoping this year’s leaguefest will happen to have surprisingly decent bagels nearby.

          Seriously. Here, they don’t rise right because the altitude prevents some important processes from happening. So we can’t even have the “hard water” debate.Report

  7. North says:

    Good luck in Quatar… goodness it’s gonna be especially hot there this time of year I’d imagine.Report

  8. Kolohe says:

    Alluding to the story of Tristan and Isolde in the cover pic while talking about going on a journey to the far side of the world for your boss is…interesting. 🙂Report

  9. Morat20 says:

    Researching engineering departments at local colleges. My company has fantastic education benefits, I’ve settled into my job pretty thoroughly, so I’ve been mulling into branching out. (I have a BS and MS in Computer Science. Was thinking Mechanical or Chemical engineering for…reasons.).

    I think if I pull the trigger, I’m just gonna retake all the math classes. There’s at least five classes I’ve taken that are required (Cal I-III, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations) in any engineering program, but I haven’t touched that kind of math in 20 years. Sure, it’ll add at least a year to any program, but….that’s kind of fundamental. I don’t want to be trying to learn one thing while struggling to relearn the math I should already know.Report

    • Aaron David in reply to Morat20 says:

      Out of curiosity @morat20 why not EE? I have been thinking about going back for that…Report

      • Morat20 in reply to Aaron David says:

        ME is somewhat applicable to my current job (admittedly, it’d give me the most basic of concepts of what are users do with the tools we make — we do stuff for metal fatigue and fracture).

        Chem E, however — I live in Houston. We live and breathe chemical engineering down here. I’ve got multiple contacts in the industry, and I suspect I can leverage having both a CE and a CS degree pretty hard.

        I like the job I do and the company I work for it, it’s just….I’ve never really been in any positions with a lot of advancement potential. Team lead slots were about it. (The manager’s jobs went primarily to engineers, because us software developers were supporting engineers. They wanted managers that could understand the primary work — the actual engineering, whether electrical, mechanical, aerospace, etc).

        So if I want to advance past “team lead” in my current job, I need an engineering degree. Or an MBA. I’ve considered the MBA. But hand to god, I really STILL don’t know what an MBA really is or what it gets you.

        And if I want to branch out from the job I’m in, chemical engineering (plus a CS degree and decades programming experience?) opens a ton of well paying doors.

        And if I wanted to try to move to the civil service branch of government (I work for NASA as a contractor), having an engineering degree — branching out fairly far from my base education — looks good on the resume. (My company sadly won’t shell out for doctorates).

        But honestly, any bachelor’s or Master’s degree I can get through my company. Even go to law school.

        Having said that: Does anyone have an MBA? I mean jokes on TV aside, what’s that get you?Report

        • Joe Sal in reply to Morat20 says:

          What do you like to do? Are you a stay in the office and run this computer model kinda guy, or do you like going out into the field and see how the machine/model thing is holding up. Would you rather watch processes in an operation to make sure everything is running smooth.Report

          • Morat20 in reply to Joe Sal says:

            More of an office/design type. I like solving problems, I like coming up with solid solutions, and I like challenges.

            I’ve also realized I’ve had a growing urge (over the last decade or so) to move into a more challenging position, one that involves leading and coordinating.

            My career has been small teams, folded into larger engineering groups — so management was from the engineers. And the teams were small, so there weren’t really “project managers” — it was developers and team leads, and the latter were older developers with a side-job in documentation and budget meetings.

            Part of it is wanting to maybe get my hands on something that becomes…real. The software I create and support is good stuff — people design airplanes with this stuff, and I get to meet the people who do it. But it’s gotten a bit abstract, I suppose — especially because the actual computational core is designed by engineers. It’s often fairly black box. I suspect I’d enjoy the work more if those were my solutions going into place. (Users appreciate a functioning system, but what they’re after is that engineering core that does the stuff they want).

            Part of it is looking at management and thinking “I could do that, and I think do that better”. And down here, that’s engineers and MBAs. (And seriously, I really DON’T know what exactly an MBA entails and what it’s really worth. I could get my company to pay for me to get one though).

            If I wanted to move up into the real project management stuff with software, it requires much larger teams than what’s really common down here.Report

            • Joe Sal in reply to Morat20 says:

              Management kinda sucks where ever you go. I think I’ve met two or three managers who were really good at it. I am not sure where you run into large project management teams. Typically in industrial or civil work I usually see only a dozen or less engineers and managers for fairly large projects.

              If your going into the lead and coordinate area it’s good to make sure they have the process of project development at least established and mapped out to some degree and do what it says to do. That position to be honest, is threading needles. You have to inspire people in a positive way to be productive and deliver, without being ‘command and control’.

              I have been very lucky in that most of my work becomes real. Graduated with a bachelors in industrial engineering. My first job they stuck me in a design team as a design engineer. That was pretty cool. I was the first in the team to start 3D modeling with our cad software. We were designing ambulances, and it was pretty awesome to see the stuff on my screen turn into the real deal out on the production floor.

              Design is just some damn fun work. Everything from auto parts to a 11,000 ton lift, sidewalks and driveways for fire stations, layouts of production facilities and work cells.

              I know several ME guys that followed a similar path if that’s what your looking for. Admittedly it’s going to be slim pickings in this part of the country until the economy picks back up. We have a lot of smart folks shopping very few jobs at the moment.Report

              • Morat20 in reply to Joe Sal says:

                Hence Chem E. Not only is it a rather difficult degree (and frankly, I do kind of like the challenge) but in Houston it’s a giant industry, one that I have a number of connections in.

                Admittedly, my two chem e friends are quite fond of their degrees and wax rhapsodic about how widely sought those engineers are. They might be a bit biased, but if there’s anyplace in the US to make a living as one, Houston’s it.

                Then again, the coursework is a bit daunting. The math doesn’t bother me (I’ve taken virtually all of it before, but I’d take it again for this. 20 year old calculus and differential equations are not really sufficient for ready use), but organic chemistry is apparently the big washout spot.

                Then again, I’ve got chem-e friends who can help.

                The MBA is more of an “Huh”. It is something I could go for, but aside from the obvious implications of the title, I’m not sure how it pans out real world. I know what chemical engineers do. I knew (before I graduated college the first time) what computer science majors did.

                MBA’s? Not so much. Management stuff sorta? I mean what do you get hired for with a shiny MBA? What’s an MBA plus, say, CS degree and 20 years development experience say to your company? “Promote that guy!” or “He’s in the wrong job for that” or what?Report

              • Joe Sal in reply to Morat20 says:

                MBA plus your main degree basically signals upper management that you could be team head, or department head. Its like being bilingual, you speak both management, and team worker.Report

    • scott the mediocre in reply to Morat20 says:

      I have a BS in Chem E, and partway through a MS in Comp. Eng (kind of an EE/CS dual major). The Chem E got me my first job (actually doing Chem E work) and in the door for the second (pretty much pure CS, working on a control systems, but the hiring manager thought my Chem E domain knowledge might be handy since the control systems were for uranium enrichment; it turned out to be pretty irrelevant and I’ve pushed electrons and photons ever since).

      Chem E was fun as an undergrad in that it crossed so many disciplines – beyond the chemistry and specific chemical engineering, you had to know some mech (stress, fluid flow and heat transfer particularly, plus at my school the advanced control systems and numerical methods stuff was spun out from mech E), some high power EE, and a bit of civil (mostly plant construction, a bit of enviro). So go for it: you’ll probably gain a lot – I’m not sure about the schools in Houston (Rice?), but at mine (Berkeley) it was considered one of the hardest undergrad majors.

      Regarding the math, I’m sure things have changed but it was really striking in the Chem E classes (compared to EE or mech) how almost everything real wound up being empirical formulas rather than anything that could be traced to the underlying differential equations and equations of state. Of course (kids these days) computers were weaker and a lot more expensive then, so probably FEMs really can work now.

      To distinguish yourself from the crowd re math, I suggest you take a look at some heavy statistics, stochastic process, and system identification classes.Report

      • Morat20 in reply to scott the mediocre says:

        Thanks! At the moment I’m dreading a return to Cal 1-3, DE, and Linear Algebra. Like I said upthread, I haven’t used them in 20 years. I don’t feel comfortable trying to refresh them while using them. Might as well retake the math, even if it adds time to my degree. I’ve got that luxury, at least.

        On the bright side, I’ve always been stronger at math I had an actual use for. LaPlace transforms I used in circuit classes, and so I actually understand them still — even if I haven’t used them in years. Basic differentiation and integration? That’s really clearly used in basic physics (the relationship between distance, velocity, and acceleration).

        “Slope of the tangent line” I can visualize, but honestly why I understand it is the realization that that describes the current acceleration at a given point when you’re dealing with velocity. (And that the area under the curve is, clearly, distance).

        I had real problems in differential equations simply because I never used them outside of the class at all, and real world problems weren’t really touched in class, (I did learn how to do them using computers, which is a fun guess and test method. Sorta). Of course, I was also 19 or 20, so…..probably not as studious as I should have been.Report

  10. Aaron David says:

    Batching it this weekend, as the wife deals with the remains of a horrible, very bad, no good week.

    Can’t wait for her to get back. Will try to get some writing done.Report

  11. Saul Degraw says:

    I’m going to a pig roast.Report

  12. Jaybird says:

    28 hours on a plane.

    My sleep schedule is resoundingly messed up.

    But I am not dead yet.Report