First Week in Texas

Tuesday Night - The show was actually a success – a guitar, a vocal and a trumpet. Such an unusual combination, but worked very well.

Wednesday – July 14, 2010 – First day at the office

9:03am – I’m bolting out of the garage, frantically trying to locate “Building 1”. Capital One’s Plano campus has 4 buildings, 5^th under construction. I was supposed to meet my supervisor, but instead I got to meet the guy just below him. We have a tiny team of 3 guys, an intern and myself. Quite an eclectic mix. Ian – a very sharp guy, he’s boss. But he also can pull off neon-pink socks with a pink/blue checker white button up. The guy just below, Galen – a very Texas kind of guy. Like Dodge Ram extended cab, jeans at the office and the slight accent thing going. PhD in computer science, nonetheless. Then there is Adam, a very Jewish gentleman (wearing the traditional cap), who was particularly astute with the technical stuff. The intern is this Chinese-American girl from Rice, Wendy. An awfully nice young lady. The team seems like a win at this point.

The Boss. I did not get to see Ian until later that night, at dinner. We had a very active conversation, seems like there was a connection. Overall, I suppose I’m a bit tired of constant presence of my coworkers. The day promptly ended as I got home.

Thursday - July 15, 2010

Tax Office. Aparently in Texas you have to go to the tax collector to register your car. As of today, I am officially a car owner, with my own insurance and Texas plates. Now I have to have 2 plates on the car =/

Hurry Fail. So as I run into the office, all happy that I’m coming in at a very mildly late 9:15am, announce to Galen that I’m finally legit. Only later I realize that I am missing my driver’s license. Fail. Now I’m worried that I left it at the tax office. I bolt back to my car, and it turned out that it was just stuck with all the other papers in my bag. Lack of attention – not good.

Work. For real. This was the first day I actually was at my desk and in meetings the whole day. It’s like a bizarre combination of self-teaching and mini-seminars. We all got loaded with about a dozen slide decks, expected to get through everything pretty quickly… but the only problem is that with meetings and seminars eating up half of the day… you realize that getting work done is going to be quite difficult.

Teh Computa – For all my tech people, I figured you might enjoy this bit. My workhorse – HP Elitebook (Core 2 Duo vPro) with a docking station (keyboard and mouse) and a 19” HP screen. HUGE desk. And actually a really decent chair. I know in some companies it’s actually not the case, so I suppose I’m pretty fortunate.

Happy Hour. This time I and the ADPers ended up at the Uptown Pub, and I think I observed some of the worst service ever. The waitress would give people a hard time for ordering water. One kid simply never had his order put in, because “she didn’t hear him”, but naturally, it was his fault. Best part – she gratted us 20%! It also didn’t help that the burger was mediocre.

Friday – July 16 2010

DMV. I tried to wake up at 6:45a to make the DMV for 7:30a. The reality was more like 8:30a at the DMV. Fail. Then came the incredible 1.5hour wait. DMV in Louisiana might have actually been faster… but only marginally. Moral of the story – block out 2 hours for the experience, and try to get there 15mins before open. But I am now officially a Texan.

Hectic. The rest of the day flew by at an incredible pace. I had an 11am meeting with my boss for the first time, since he has been in training the whole time. Apparently, I now have 2 projects with actual deadlines. That was a splash of cold water in the face. But I suppose it was a good reality check. Only problem is that I know nothing about what I have to do. Good thing was that it actually is moderately interesting stuff, despite being largely a reporting function. At the end of the day, it seems like on the entry level, you’re either selling or reporting, when it comes to business.

Meeting Madness. The rest of the day included a 2 hour lunch with the Mortgage team, another meeting with Ian, and then a 3 hour seminar with half a dozen mortgage kids.

The lunch was held at Razzoo's of all places. Apparently out here it is not a slimy bar, but actually a decent Cajun restaurant. So this is what a combo skillet looked like:

Next thing I know, it’s already 5pm and I have to get a U-haul and get to the furniture store in time to pick up my overdue bed.

The Move. Wow… I think there is a good reason why the mover/assembly service actually costs $75. Effectively, cost wise, I may have saved 20 bucks, but in process I had to deal with massive inconvenience of getting the truck, driving through traffic, and having a buddy from ADP suffer through all that mess. Not to mention the back breaking up the stairs =/ I think I’ll stick to movers, now that I can afford that 20 dollar differential. Plus I still have to put in another 30 mins or so to assemble it. On the brighter side, I still have the U-Haul, which I’ll probably use to get a TV Saturday.

The evening was pretty eventful. We went out to Idle Rich's, a pub uptown. Since I'm now a Texan, I have a paper temporary license, which means I have to carry an 8x12 sheet of paper everywhere they card. Naturally, I forgot it. So I convinced the bouncer somehow with my work clothes and my work ID that I'm a grown adult with a job and I do not need to show him my ID. At first he was hesitant, but then he assessed us to not be punk college kids, and let me in. Yuppie win.

There I had a pretty incredible roast beef sandwich coupled with a seafood chowder (0_O), chased with a Mardsedsous, a particularly bready dark German beer.

We then proceeded to Claire's house to crash her party. Apparently, Claire was throwing a house-warming party with her roommate, but mainly for the 2nd and 3rd years. Well the froshies were invited, but the quantity was not specified. She got at least a dozen. After a couple of beers, it seemed like we got kicked out of the apartment, just when I was getting into some great conversation.

Clubbin. Next was Blackfriars. Odd name, but it was a sort of patio-club/bar thing. The ID issue came up again. So the bouncer here was giving me serious crap. I tried the bouncer next to him... and without luck, I got turned around. I go back to the car, move it just in time to save it from a fat ticket, and end up scoring a spot just around the corner from the club. More bar than club. Typical college/post-college crowd. With typical crappy music. But the bouncer was so impressed with me getting the ID, he bought me a shot! Massive win. At that point, I was not interested in consuming any more alcohol, so I provided JoAnna, a fellow ADP with the shot of tequila. Further the conversation landed on Bhangra, the Indian kid Nachi was a huge expert on the subject. I decided to deviate from Bhrangra, on a much more familiar subject of salsa. That later resulted in me and JoAnna dancing salsa to some mediocre rap song. Double massive win.

After sitting around for a while, I brought Matt back home, and headed back. Knocked out after 2am.

Saturday – July 17, 2010

Surprisingly I woke up before the alarm again, and got up with the alarm right at 8am. I had to make the dry cleaners before 9am.

Yuppie Livin’.

So majority of the morning was spent at a coffee shop just outside my building. Breakfast, online errands, and plenty of people watching. The conversations passing by are quite amusing. Everything from the likes of a post-frat days yuppie, who was still acting like he was in his mid-teens; a few serious yuppies, probably early 30’s carrying on pretty deep conversations on politics, chess, car buying, healthy cuisine, etc... and then the sorority types chirping about miscellaneous junk. Amidst all this, there are a few 30-somethings, of familial nature. Some with a baby, some with a dog. Lots of runners. Overall not bad. And up until 11am or so, the breeze was actually really nice, causing the 90F+ temperature to feel closer to lower 80’s (while in the shade).

Off to chores - gotta bring back the U-Haul, maybe get a TV and a mattress. But I don't know... I kind of like my air mattress. Next update will probably be a little late, since I will be flying to Richmond, VA for training, and then visiting DC to see several good friends. Should be fun.