UNPACKED

I actually had no idea where my new desk was this morning. Even though I had seen the location on a map, I’d never been there, in that exact spot before. It took about two minutes of randomly walking around before I spotted the guy who sits next to me, after which I followed him to my area.

It took my about two hours to unpack, arrange, and connect all my equipment together. There are so many wires for all my monitors, TV, dev kits, and computer. Because my desk can move up and down via an electric motor, I had to place my computer on my desk surface as well. I’ve never done that before. It does take up a bit of space but it prevents cables from having to be super long to accommodate the rest of the desk moving.

The consensus is that many people on our new floor, myself included, are packed in tighter than on our previous floor. I used to have a bit more space next to and behind me. There also seems to be less light in our area. I believe this is because our windows now face a massively tall concrete retaining wall. Previously, I had windows that had a clear view of the sky and the mountains to the north. It was picturesque. Now, all we see is grey.

I have yet to work in a standing configuration for any length of time. I gotta try that out tomorrow.

SIT STAND

In my last post, I wrote about how I’m moving desks, two floors down, at work. My whole team is moving with me from the fourth to the second floor. There are a few pros and cons of the move. We have a patio on the fourth floor and it was nice having one close by in the summer time. The second floor doesn’t have a patio. Being on the second floor, does make it easier to get to my desk and to leave work. Being four floors up, I used to take the elevator up and down a lot. On the second floor, there’s really no reason not to take stairs.

The cubicles we’re moving to on the second floor are not the same as the ones on the fourth. They have all been converted to sit stand desks. This means it’s easy to configure the desk for standing as well as sitting. Sitting all day at a desk is bad for your health, so many office workers are now standing for portions of their day.

I’ve never had such a desk before, so it’s gonna be weird to be standing while working. I think it’ll take some getting used to but in the long run, it should be better for me. I’m not sure how it’ll work with all the wires I have on my desk. With my keyboard, mouse, two monitors, TV, two Playstation 4 dev kits, and an Xbox One dev kit all on my desk, there are gonna be lots of wires that will have to move with the desk. I’m guessing you want to minimize the amount of wires that stay stationary and are anchored to a non-moving surface. It’ll be interesting unpacking everything tomorrow.

MOVE

The entire floor that I work on at the studio is moving this week. We’re on the 4th floor and we’re moving to the 2nd. This is to accommodate some renovation plans which will begin in a few months. Space is incredibly tight at the studio and this is with several hundred people who have already temporarily relocated to a satellite office in the Still Creek area.

Tomorrow I need to pack up all my stuff at my desk, which includes my workstation, TV, multiple console dev kits, controllers, office supplies, and a bunch of other random stuff. Since everything needs to be packed up and ready to move before 4pm, we get to all go home early.

A moving company will move all our stuff down two floors over the long weekend. On Tuesday morning, I’ll have to unpack everything at my new desk. I already know where I’m sitting. It’s not particularly close to a window, which is a bit of a bummer. I’ll be sitting next to different people, which is fine, because it’ll be a good opportunity to get to know them better.

FREEZING

The low temperature for tonight will be zero degrees or more commonly known as “freezing”. I believe we set a local record for the coldest October 8th since they kept records. It hovered just above freezing.

I can’t remember an October where it got this cold this fast. I realize that it’s already snowing in places like Calgary but that’s normal for them. It is not normal to be this cold already in Vancouver. I’ve seen toques, scarfs, and thicker coats appear on people and you wouldn’t witness such things until November.

At this rate, I’ll have to bust out my winter gear before the end of the week!

THE HOT WATER DISPENSER THAT COULD

I came home this evening and opened the door to my apartment and heard beeping. It wasn’t the smoke detector but it was a beeping that I had never heard before. After a few seconds, I discovered it was coming from my Zojirushi hot water dispenser.

Normally, on a work day, the hot water dispenser is on a timer, dormant for about six hours at which time it reboils the water and keeps it hot, so I can drink it when I get home. Tonight, however, the water was not hot at all. The dispenser was beeping, a red light was flashing, and the display read “E4”. I understood that to be an error code of sorts.

I dug out the manual for the dispenser and it said that if I saw that error, I should contact Zojirushi for further instructions. There were no further troubleshooting tips or hints. That does not sound like it’s something I can fix at home. I tried Googling the error and no one else seemed to have figured out how to fix it.

I’ve had this hot water dispenser for just over six years now. I even wrote a post about it the week I got it. It’s served me well for six years now. Over the six years, the heating element is off for six hours while I’m at work and another six while I’m sleeping. Overall, it’s been heating and boiling water for me for three years. That’s a lot of time for the heating element to be working.

I wonder what’s wrong with it now. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. The beeping stopped and the display says it’s trying to reboil the water but it never gets hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I think it may be beyond the point of repair, at least for what I can do.

I’ll try to tinker with it some more this week but it may be time for another dispenser.

NEW HABIT

So for about a week now, I’ve been making a cup of decaf instant coffee in the evening and consuming it. I put in a bit of milk and sugar, and it’s not bad. It’s not awesome coffee but good enough that I look forward to it after dinner every night.

I realize the small amount of sugar and caffeine isn’t strictly the best for me but you gotta live and enjoy life sometimes.

SUGAR

Last evening I made myself a cup of decaf instant coffee after dinner, mixed in a bit of milk and some sugar. That bit of sugar was the last from a bag of 2kg of sugar I bought about 8 years ago. It’s taken me that long to go through 2kg of sugar. I’m quite pleased it took me that long because it means I don’t use a whole lot of sugar in my kitchen. In the eight years, I think most of that sugar has gone into items that I’ve cooked or baked. I rarely put sugar in my hot drinks. If I’m making a tea, I prefer honey.

Well, that’s your weird stat for the day, 2kg of sugar every eight years or so.

POUNDS

I surprisingly lost five or six pounds in the last month or so. I did this purely through diet as my level of exercise did not increase at all. I cut down on snacking considerably and reduced the amount of carbs I ate for dinner. I also did not eat much past 8pm.

While I was eating less, I began to worry that what I was eating didn’t have enough fruits and vegetables. As such, it was really important for me to have at least some of that in every meal. At work, I made sure I had a salad or vegetables for every lunch. I should have bought more fruits for home but I’m going to fix that going forward.

When I weighed myself, I was down to 161 pounds which is great for me. I’d like to increase my level of activity and continue to eat less but also healthier.

RETURNED MAIL

In a recent post, I detailed how my new debit card did not make it to my mailbox from CIBC. When I phoned the bank, they weren’t sure what happened but one possibility was that the card was sent in the mail and returned to the bank. How that was possible, no one really knows. I fixed that problem easily by going into a local bank branch and getting a new debit card directly.

Fast-forward to Sunday, when I realized one of my credit cards, with a different bank, was set to expire on Tuesday. I had not received a replacement card, which is usually sent out weeks in advance. This problem seemed eerily familiar to me. What is going on?!?!?!

I called the bank associated with my credit card and they told me something that was a bit worrisome. Apparently, they did send out the card in the mail but it was returned to them. Just like CIBC did, they also neglected to contact me to tell me the card was returned. Why are banks so stupid? Did they think I didn’t want the card anymore? Why would they not follow up and figure out if I had moved or something?

The bank rep said I had two options: wait two weeks for the card to be re-sent again through the mail or have the card couriered to a local branch for pick-up. I chose the latter option and will pick up the card tomorrow morning.

The remaining mystery is why two important pieces of financial/banking mail never arrived in my mailbox. It’s not like I stopped getting all mail. I’ve received correspondence from different institutions on a regular basis. The fact is, however, that at least two pieces of mail never got to me. Why? And why did other mail get to me fine? Is something sinister happening here or is just bad luck?

I need to stay vigilant about those two banking cards and I also need to make sure my mail isn’t being diverted somehow.