My second day of work at IBM...definitely slower than the first. I worked 9 hours today because the places I wanted to take a look at weren't available for viewing until 6:30pm.

My work environment...

I'm still in a mobility office with my desk right next to the door and printer...probably the worst combination possible really. I see a new face race in and out of here every few minutes through the door to pick up papers from the really loud printer. Lol oh well who am I to complain really. It's a little unorganized here, but this is temporary. It's a good way to meet a gazillion new people, and I'm entertained by my music and the British technical writing team that I share this office with. I listen to them talk about the most random things...from stories to a silly IBM joke. I talked to them for the first time today. They're in this temporary office since they're contractors and working for IBM for only about 6 weeks.

I don't have a checklist of tasks to do or much direction really. They helped to get me set up, and then that's it really. I knew the goal of my job was to test software. I don't really even know which software project lol. But I'm starting off simple...get my basic technology set up, get familiar with everything from the facility to my new fancy laptop, install all the software, immerse in the culture, and then hopefully by next week I'll be doing some real programming. Though I've got to learn about JUnit first. So I've made a task list for myself and sent it to my manager and my lead and they responded with a looks good! Sigh, leading myself into the unknown is always makes me excited and anxious at the same time. Who knows what'll pop up around the corner. And my problem is that I don't even know if I'm leading myself in the right direction! Am I doing this right?

The facilities here are very squarish. And super easy to get lost in, because where there would logically be a hallway that led somewhere...there wasn't or it lead somewhere completely random. The maze is on the first foor really. It's not too hard to figure out once you get above ground because there are tons of windows you can see out of to find out where you are. I found the fitness room, game room, video conference rooms, exits, cafeteria, security office, lounges, giant data centers and network control centers, and walked passed a lot of old "classic" (and I don't find attractive at all really) art.

The general age range here is much older than me, but that's because I hear the coops aren't really in season yet lol. They're all nice though and say hi and smile. There is no strict dress code here (unless you're on the customer front line), but while many of the older people wear nice work clothes, or perhaps jeans and a nice shirt, my team lead wears jean shorts and sneakers. I've been coming dressed up business casual every day, but I'm itchin for the right time to start wearing my jeans lol. I'll wait until half way through next week.

Anyways, walking around I randomly found things out one by one and signed myself up for the fitness center and randomly got an eco pass, where I met and befriended Mario, our security guard.

I spent three hours today installing some software, which made me leave later than I expected, but like I said it worked out good since I didn't have to be anywhere until 6:30pm. I spent four hours driving around and visiting places again today. Still haven't been rejected by any, but I still don't know which place I want to live! They all have their pros and cons...

Place #4:
Near the 85 off the Almaden Exit.

Pros:

• Carmencita really liked me a lot
• After meeting me she sent me an email willing to accomodate whatever really...friends, tv, air conditioning, lower rent/bills
• She was nice and her daughter is cute
• The decor is really nice and beautiful...feels like a home

Cons:

• Parking is crap
• She has a 13 year old daughter, which is fine, but not what I had in mind is all
• The place is major cluttered, which she said she's clearing out, but it'll take time of course, including clearing out the room that I'd occupy
• The place is a townhouse, and I'm looking for a house

Place #5:
East San Jose close to Capitol Expressway.

Pros:

• Beautiful, spacious, clean, fancy house
• Room comes furnished and has a nice big closet
• Room isn't too small or too big, perfect size
• Rent is good, around $500
• Backyard...wow
• Nice quiet neighborhood

Cons:

• The place is too clean...almost like nothing is touched
• The living situation is that everyone keeps to themselves and don't hang out
• It's in east San Jose, further than most places I've looked at
• It really is...TOO quiet

Place #6:
College students inhabited house on Saratoga/Campbell border off the 85

Pros:

• Super nice in terms of location, and relatively close to 85
• Really big corner house
• Kids my age...and they're all really cool and laid back...they go to school and/or work
• Whether I live there or not, I think I just made some new friends
• Room is good size
• For all the guys living there, it's relatively pretty clean (note relatively lol)

Cons:

• Well, it's a party house
• Smells like weed...I smelled like weed leaving the place
• Three boy roommates
• Not very home style decorated because...it's a party house...lots of open space and scratched up floors for the party-goers lol
• Backyard is all dirt...but big
• The room is in the middle of the house and has thin walls

For the most part, it was fun meeting all the new people and checking out the places (I got some ideas for how I want my house to look someday), but I'm gonna turn them all down. The party house was fun to visit, and I hung out with them for a while playing darts and meeting them and their friends that were there. Chris, Alex, and another guy who's name starts with an M...Matt? Chris was kind of on top of everything and showing me around, and Alex came and followed us around after a few minutes and he was the one I hung out with afterwards. He seems like a nice kid. By the way, I rocked the dart board...shoot, suprised myself lol. ;)