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And Out of Left Field, I’m Moving to Seattle

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

This will come as a complete shock to anyone who has spoken to me in the last, oh, four to six years about where I saw myself after college.  I have been bound and determined to end up in Fort Wayne.  I love this city.  Yes, even with all its flaws.  I mean, it’s Fort Wayne.  My favorite description (not because I like it, but because it’s accurate) is that Fort Wayne is a large small town.

So, I had this conviction that I would be here.  My first year of college, I took care of homesickness with photos surrounding me and subscribing to The Journal Gazette’s RSS feeds.  (I grew up on The News-Sentinel, but they didn’t have any RSS feeds at the time.  They do now, but one that I can find.  The JG has different categories.)  Man, I was more up to date on what was up in Fort Wayne than my dad.  Then sometime during my sophomore year I discovered Fort Wayne bloggers.  Since I love getting info from blogs, a whole bunch of them ended up in my feed reader, too.  During my junior year, I was so excited to be up to date on what was going on in FW.  I have lived out of Fort Wayne since graduating high school, and since this past summer I have been home.  I knew what was up, and had all sorts of plans (which about 25% occurred).

Then I began to look for my “Real Job” as I have tagged all the related emails.

Now, I had done serious legwork in the past three years searching out opportunities in Fort Wayne.  In fact, that’s why I was home this summer and fall: two internships.  Also, I found a company I was totally excited about the prospect of working for.

At first, I applied to companies outside of Fort Wayne to have better chances of obtaining a job offer, and because the jobs found via DePauw are all outside of Fort Wayne.  When things started to get serious, I had a conversation with Kenny that completely caught me off guard: “Ashley, you were the one who wanted to live in Fort Wayne.  I am fine living elsewhere for a while.”

Oh.

Then it dawned on me I could get a job ANYWHERE.

Whoa.  Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Anywhere?  (Okay, so Kenny’s probably really glad it didn’t actually end up being ANYWHERE, because I was totally feeling the desert climate of Arizona during GHC.)

Now, back in May during the Imagine Cup, the Microsoft Campus Recruiter for DePauw sent a, “Hey, I exist,” email.  We were smack in the middle of the competition in Boston, so I went, “Oh, that’s sweet,” and promptly forgot about it.

Then at the end of the summer, the Campus Recruiter contacted me again to see if I was interested in applying.  Sure, why the heck not?  It’d be sweet to be able to say, “I got an offer from Microsoft.”  (Obviously, at this point I was totally still staying in town.)

I did my phone interview, it went well, a Redmond interview was mentioned, and then a month and a half went past.  In this time frame, the job hunt ramped up in terms of getting to the point of receiving offers from the companies to which I had applied.

Then out of the blue I received an email detailing my on site interview at Microsoft in less than two weeks.

PANIC.

It was shortly before that when I realized I could work anywhere, and that this wasn’t just for props anymore.  I had serious reservations about living elsewhere, specifically because I felt I was giving Kenny no choice since he still had a year of school left.  It took him a long time to convince me that he’s totally cool with that big of a distance from Fort Wayne (I still don’t fully believe him).

So, next summer I will begin working as a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) on InfoPath at Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

It hasn’t sunken in yet.  This is mostly because my uncle had his heart attack less than twelve hours after I got back from the interview, and I’m in wait for next change (end of internship) mode.  But I have now officially accepted the offer, and can begin letting folks know.  This is to attempt to avoid another situation such as how Ed found out.

Ashley: “At least Kenny will like that it snows less in Seattle.”
Ed: *silence* “What’s all this talk about Seattle?”

Go me.  (I was planning on tell her in person, and instead told her over the phone the day I was going to see her.  FAIL.)

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Millennials and the Danger of Being Smart

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Growing up, I was always in the smart groups.  I wasn’t the smart kid, but I was damn proud of my reading skills.  I attended a Montessori elementary school, and I was in the group of kids reading the more advanced books.  I remember there was few enough of us that we sat at a table rather than in the area where large groups gathered on the floor.  In middle school, I was in a group of four kids in my 6th grade block class that was supposed to read more advanced books.  One of them was The Hobbit, though as far as I remember, I never read it.  Man, those were the days.  My free time was spent reading and writing.  I miss reading like that.

In middle school, as a 6th grader, I also was allowed in the 7+ math class, which was literally an 8th grade math class.  I was so bored in my 6th grade math class.  If I remember correctly, I wasn’t doing so hot close to when I got moved up.  My parents will have to correct me, but I believe their reasoning was I was doing poorly, because of my boredom.

Maybe that’s true and obviously I handled the classes successfully enough to pass with good grades, but there are times where I think I was just…bored.  The way the classes were taught was uninteresting to me.  Once I hit calculus, my “ability” to do math was done.   I just didn’t get it.  In college, I flew by Computational Discrete Math course.  That’s all about following algorithms and patterns; it was a breeze.  Theory of Discrete Math?  Big fail on me.  And I took that f’ing class twice.

A week or so ago, someone tweeted a link to Millennial Marketing on whether or not Gen Y Suffers From Lack of Failure. (Are you sensing a theme here?  Just be glad I made these things separate posts.)

Phase 2 stuck to me.  “Kids that had been initially been praised for their smarts….were easily discouraged.”  Is that me?  This isn’t something I can cookie cutter fit myself into.  (Cue bringing my mother into the discussion as she generally already knows these answers.)

I ran into issues with math, and I gave up figuring it out.  That isn’t something I like.  At some point in my life, I will break down and buy the Head First Algebra book, so I can actually learn Algebra.  (My school system was silly and taught me “integrated math” where I had/have no clue specifically what algebra, geometry, etc were.)  In the mean time, I just don’t think about it.  I pursue what I’m “naturally” good at: programming.

Except there I can’t decide whether I’m moving away at a time I have experienced challenges or if I am exploring a new challenge.  Truthfully, it’s a little of both.  However, in accepting a job, I have accepted the new challenge for a long haul.  To be honest, I am excited about the prospect of focusing on one “challenge” for a longer than three months engagement.

So, verdict still out on whether the points in this article fit me.

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Failing & This Millennial Thing

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Dr. Phil’s most recent show was on the “Me Generation” as the book of the same title refers to my generation.  This was painful, embarrassing, and infuriating to watch.  I have no idea how my parents brainwashed me, but man, am I glad I stress about spending money.

(My mom has no idea how she accomplished this.  My siblings aren’t intense like me about parting with money.  She speculates it was due to where my parents were at financially at a time where I was attuned to the situation.)

The young man and woman Dr. Phil interviewed were spend, spend, spend.  A good chunk of the others spoken to want a job that is some form of “famous”.  My favorite was the woman who wants to have a show about animals, like those on Animal Planet.  During her interview, her point was not clear nor succinct, and her “likes” and “uhms” were to the point of distracting.

I learned of the term “Millennial” within the last year.  The person who introduced it to me, who is not in my generation, warned me it’s something to essentially be on the defensive.

I was thrilled when Dr. Phil pointed out the generation that raised us is responsible for whom we’ve become.  I was yelling at the TV when one mom sympathized with another about giving her 24 year old son, who lives outside the home, rent money from the moment he moved out.  “It’s because, as mothers, we want to help.”  Putting aside the fact I want her to say parents instead of mothers, no.  No, your job isn’t to help.  Your job is to allow your children to experience failure.  Responsibility.  How else will they become capable of living independently when they’ve had no prior experience?

A number of times, after my parents have provided an update on my siblings and I, they have received compliments on how well they have done as parents.  (Though, since my brother is just a freshman in high school, the verdict is still out on him.)  They do a double take at this compliment, because they view raising us as responsible adults is their job as parents.

My parents haven’t left me out in the cold.  Since I do stress about the money thing, I know I can call them when I’m freaking out after running into an emergency.  The difference is my calls aren’t to ask for money.  They are to ask for advice on what my next step should be to handle it on my own.

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No Internet Makes Me Happier

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Okay, that isn’t a for sure statement.  Except, I really think it may be true.  (That wasn’t wishy washy at all, was it?)

I have been living at home since the middle of May.  I haven’t been home this long since leaving at the beginning of August 2006.  The time of my life I wish I could go back to?  The summer I lived in Indianapolis with my boyfriend Kenny and forever roommate Ed.

And I’m beginning to think it was because of my lack of internet.

Evidence A
The first bit of evidence here is in that time in my life I recall being perfectly content with my sleeping habits.  I have years of journals on how awful my sleeping habits are.  For a time in high school, I kept track of the time I would go to sleep and it was just embarrassing.  I still have this problem.  Currently, it is 3:26 AM.

Kenny is a morning person.  When he’s working out on a regular basis, he’s ready to pass out at 9 PM.  When he’s not working out on a regular basis, 11 PM is his latest “awake” time.  Once he’s tired, there’s no bouncing back.  I have given up on talking to him after this point as it’s like talking to a brick wall.  It’s very effective in defusing my energy after I have gotten over the tired hump and am in hyper mode.  Without the internet to keep me occupied, when he went to bed, I went to bed.  Plus there’s that whole cuddle factor, so it’s much more fun to go to sleep at the same time then after he’s passed out.

Evidence B
The other bit of evidence is the amount of free time I had.  I remember having a life outside of work.  In fact, what I remember more about that summer is my time outside of work, despite spending more hours at work.  There was biking (to work, from work, to the grocery, random distances), grilling, making dinner dates once a week with Kenny, time spent window shopping, time doing actual necessary shopping, time at the laundry mat, and occasional weekend visits home.

This summer, I felt like my time was packed and that I didn’t have time to leisurely do things like that outside of a good chunk of weekend lake trips.

Okay, I’ve been sitting on that sentence for a bit, and I believe family had more to do with this difference than internet.  In Indy, Kenny and I had no family; in Fort Wayne, our entire family is around and we were both living with our parents.  The lack of free time was because we were splitting it up between our houses and families.

However, I still feel that when Kenny and I are outside of Fort Wayne, I still would waste much time on the internet as I too often did when Kenny and I were hanging out by ourselves this summer.  I’d waste time and waste time, and then Kenny would be ready to sleep.  Then I would be mad at myself, because what I really wanted to do was hang and converse with him.  Plus, there’s that whole lack of sleep thing again since many times I’d ask him to stay up a bit longer after shutting my laptop.

Evidence C
Finally, I think I was at least a bit more productive having to plan my uses of the internet.  Having to rely on Panera and the library, I used the internet minimally.  Ed and I had some planning times at Panera for WiCS, there was the booking and registering for our first GHC (exciting times!), ordering books, and catching up on email.  Getting lost in my feeds?  Not really an option, since I hate spending a lot of money on minimal amounts of food, so I felt guilt about using Panera internet on the times where Ed just got a drink.

Verdict
So, when Kenny and I move out on our own together (which won’t occur until summer of 2011 at the earliest), I’m thinking about forgoing internet.  The only thing is (1) video chats with my family and (2) whether or not to get a smart phone with a data plan.  If I get a smart phone, I’m going to go all out and get an iPhone, Pre, Droid, or the like.  (Maybe. I did like the internet on my LG Dare.)  However, I can’t decide if that’ll be just as much of a time suck.  Pure lack of internet seems unwise with online bills and emergencies such as me not having my bosses phone number, but knowing her email and me being sick-o and needing to let her know that no way was I coming in.  (Ed’s phone saved me that night.)

Maybe just getting internet on my LG Dare or similar level of phone would do it.  Just a browser; no games or applications to suck up my time/isolate me when in a room with others.

PS – Ed was around these summers.  We spent many a weekend devoted to decompressing and marathon watching movies.  She also went salsa dancing.  A lot.  Which I still haven’t seen her do for real.  Someday.  Someday.

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Donations of Blood, Organs, and Tissue

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

I am finding that in my email conversations of late, I ask people to donate blood and make their loved ones aware if they are willing to be a tissue and organ donor. I always include a link to where people learn more and register their willingness. Donnie Sendelbach, Director of ITAP at DePauw, asked me what she could do, and I asked her to pass on my request to the rest of ITAP which she did. That made me happy.

I think a key thing is letting your loved ones know of your wish.

The legal thing folks need to do is get themselves on their state’s registry. Even if you have a little heart on your driver’s license, it is encouraged that you register.

The Canadian site for organ donations reiterates it is vital to let your family know. Since I know I have at least one Canadian reader, this site has all the details for your country.

If you are willing to be a tissue and organ donor, declare so in the comments!

I admit I am a hypocrite on the blood donation request. Around the time I had mono, I began to pass out for essentially every vaccine or shot I had. It’s not a fear of needles, though at this point it’s a chicken or the egg scenario since I now stress about getting shots.

First Pass Out
The first time it happened, I had driven by myself to the doctor to get two vaccinations required for college. It was the second shot that did me in. Immediately after they administrated it, my stomach felt a bit woozy. I forgot about it as the doctor and I finished our conversation, and the nurse gave me my chart to check out. I walked down the hall, waited as the person in front of me checked out, and handed the receptionist my chart when it was my turn. While at the counter, all I remember is the receptionist asking me, “Are you okay?” All I could do was shake my head as I tried to stay upright. Somehow she got outside where I was with her office chair to catch me.

Worst Pass Out
The worst one ever was the local anesthesia used on my wrist when they drained my ganglion cyst. I was sitting in the chair next to the bed thing in doctor’s offices, because I always feel silly waiting sitting on that while fully clothed. The doctor came in and began setting me up and asked half way through his prep whether I’d prefer to lay down. I said, “I don’t care,” not putting together what this procedure was: lots of (okay, two) needles poking into me. The moment the local went in I told the doc, “I have to lay down. Now.” Poor guy. He had used the bed to lay out all his instruments. In my head he swept everything off the bed; I assume he actually moved them to the counter. It took me a half-hour to be able to sit up. It was not good.

This is why I’m convinced that giving blood is not a good plan on my part. However, with this going on with Rick, I think I want to try. Even if it means I have to lay around for the rest of the day. My mother is, rightly so, making me call and check in with the phone nurse first.

It gives me a little control in the situation. I can willingly do this.

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The Good of Underground@PDC

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

At the beginning of the night we said hello to Lynn Langit who introduced us to Anton Delsink, a Developer Evangelist based out of Dubai.  At the events he presents at in his areas, oftentimes the rooms are completely void of females.  As in not a single one.  However, in Turkey the percentage of females is quite impressive.  He said he once had an event where the entire front row were women, and all were engineers, physicists, and computer scientists.

While on the balcony, Ed and I met up with Barb Dybwad, a Senior Editor at Mashable.  We had some great sarcastic and hilarious conversations.  Ed and her were rapid fire with their comments.  I took a back seat for a good chunk here, as this was when I was yawning and such.  We hung out with her on and off for the rest of the night.  All in all good times there.

While we still owned the table we were at on the balcony, we also met up with Jim Pinkelman of Microsoft.  He has been a huge supporter of diversity efforts.  He explained that there had money put toward such efforts all over the place, and he has been working on focusing the impacts so the funds are used in the most effective manner.  Running into allies is always awesome!

I shot some footage of our journey to the Underground@PDC and it includes a few clips of the event as well.

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Unpleasant Drunk Men at Underground@PDC

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Things were cool until folks got drunk.

I did not have fun tonight.  My evening consisted of dealing with drunk old men.  Pushy drunk old men who did not like that I would not dance with them.

Ed and I attended the Underground@PDC tonight.  During the presentation portion of the evening, we socialized on the balcony and had some fun conversations.  Since we didn’t move from the seats we were able to snag during this portion of the evening, my tiredness was hitting me hard.  Eight o’clock, and I could not stop yawning.  So goes the story of conferences and lack of sleep.

Then we moved inside where the dancing began shortly thereafter.  At first I was excited.  I love to jump around and dance.  Which is nothing like Ed’s dancing as she actually knows what she’s doing.  At the end of the first song, I remembered what’s it’s like to dance outside of Grace Hopper and at DePauw with kids I know.  Absolutely no possibility of dancing by myself without having to fend guys off.  I went back to where Ed was eating.

I am exhausted, so I’m going to try and cleanse myself of what I experienced as quickly as possible.

Ed loves to dance.  She was doing all sorts of salsa moves, and every single guy around her at one point was blatantly staring.  All I could think about was how awkwardly that translates into working together in a professional environment.  Not exactly respect being communicated there.

Then there was the guy who was purposely being an ass.  (He said such himself.)  “You’re in marketing, right?  You’re in sales, right?”  When I first replied, “No way!” I thought then we’d move into what I actually do.  No, he seriously didn’t believe I was legit.  This is the first I have actually had to prove myself.  I won that argument damn quickly to the point where he had nothing left to say.

This same guy (obviously) gets there are few women in tech but had a shrug your shoulders attitude about it.  “There’s a lack, but I have no idea what’s wrong.”  I spouted out the stuff about few girls who think tech is something for them and that mid-level women leave the field in droves while those with mentors and support tend to stay.  He was drunk, so I saved my energy beyond that.

Next up was the guy my dad’s age who harassed both Ed and I.  Ed and I had been hanging near a table, and this guy, after staring at Ed dance, sat down in the chair that was next to us.  Ed left to grab a refill on her drink, and I was arm’s length away from this man.  He put his arm around me and tried to pull me to him.  I stopped that and said, “No.”  His response?  “I see, playing hard to get.”

Later on, after Ed and I moved elsewhere, another guy appeared that was now staring at me while I danced.  I still feel disgusting from that.  Specifically because it went on for such an extended period of time.  Ed and I left for a while, and when we returned he wasn’t around.  At this point, we chilled sitting down.  This guy again appeared, and at first we actually had a conversation.  He was from Illinois, we’re Indiana.  Business, blah.  Then it was on to him being too close, and not getting the hint after we moved away to dance.

Then there was yet another man older than my dad who somehow learned I was from Indiana who would not leave me alone when I said, “No, I am not interested in dancing with you.”  His response?  “Oh, I know how you Indiana girls are.  You dance.”  Okay then.

Finally, there was the guy that a woman shared with me she has never seen sober.  He told me I needed to say yes more often.  Thank you for your unsolicited advice.

Should have left when someone we knew at Geek Fest told us to get over there.  At least there we knew non-creepy people.

So yeah, being a woman in technology is a joy.

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Expo Roaming & Private Parties

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Having the Flip HD is rather nice for shooting short clips.  Unfortunately, it being a simple device, my shaking arm made for obviously non-tripod shot video.  However, no matter! I was able to throw together a really quick clip showing just a couple of the many sites in the Big Room at PDC09, specifically at the Coding4Fun booth. Coding4Fun is demoing five projects and you’ll see shots of three in the video.

In addition to this video, Ed and I were able to get five interviews for Ed & Ashley’s 5 Minute Show, which focuses on women in technology, as well as an interview for Microsoft’s outreach efforts to students.

When Ed and I got in Monday night, our original plan was to head to the tweetup.  Which we did enter, but then immediately headed out to dinner with Microsoft employees we met at the 2009 US Imagine Cup finals.  There we met Lynn Langit who invited us to a private reception that took place tonight.  There we ran into Jennifer Marsman whom we met at GHC09, and it was awesome to see her!  Especially since she introduced us to folks.  (That was really helpful for the introvert in me.  Which I don’t actually have to worry all that much about with Ed around.  No, she’s not an extrovert or anything.)

Once we met a few folks, it became a lot easier to hold conversation.  Had a good chunk of discussion on women in computing.  It’s interesting holding that conversation with men, since I am so used to discussing the topic with a group where the majority is female.  I was pumped when I was able to give folks a head’s up on some of the studies and research I learned about at GHC09 on women and diversity in technology. Next week I’ll be publishing a post where I go through some of that information, since I covered it during my presentation on women in technology to an Introduction to Women’s Studies course.

Besides talking women in tech, skipped from random tech topic to the next.  All in all, a successful night.  Someone even followed me on Twitter right there on the spot.  Then I remembered I could do the same via text.  (He had a fancy iPhone with a nice Twitter app.  Someday, I will have that and my texts can once again solely be used to contact me directly.)

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The Standard (with the Upside Down Sign)

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Arrived at the hotel. This place is surreal.  Ed and I had to laugh when one of the employees asked Ed if she had a separate reservation and she replied, “We’re together.”  His response: “Right on.” lol.

We walked into the hotel room, and Ed was pumped about the huge bathroom.  Then she let out a surprised and greatly amused yelp.  The shower wall?  A window to the bed.  It’s a very good thing we’re forever roommates.

The internet here is impossible.  The wireless is so slow my netbook can’t load anything and Ed hits a link and goes back to her magazine.  I tried the ethernet and that only connects to the local network, not the internet. Will have to ask about that later when I’m not exhausted.

Seriously, this is awkward. I am watching Ed prep for her shower.  So it’s also a really good thing Ed and I love our awkward moments.

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Writing on a Plane

Monday, November 16th, 2009

I’m still adjusting to this keyboard.  Wait, nope.  It’s more I’m still adjusting to the mouse pad.  I keep hitting it while typing, and the cursor jumps around as a result.  The keyboard itself is fairly close to a standard keyboard with both shift keys and the enter key uncompromised.  It’s the home, end, and where the arrow keys are relative to the right shift and right control that are getting me.  I use Ctrl+Shift+Arrow Keys a ton while typing.  Kinda like how I use the backspace all the time.  Rare for me to get things out right the first time.  And my typing speed would be so much quicker if I could.

I set up the magnifier to follow the cursor which is working out really well.  Earlier I didn’t have the feature turned on, and I would be typing and typing and then the text would no longer be on the screen.  I’m still really jolty with moving about the screen when zoomed in.

There is one really inconvenient part about my awful vision.  (Okay, that’s a lie, there’s a lot of inconveniences.)  I am often amused at the thought that people must think I’m looking at what they’re reading or at their computer screen when in reality I’m just zoning out and can’t see a thing from such a distance.  On the flip side, with everything majorly enlarged on my computer screen, anyone with decent vision can read exactly what I’m writing.  Like now.  On the plane.  Folks down the aisle behind me can most likely see this just fine.

Gives me another reason for preferring the window seat.

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