CARRY ON

I had dinner with two friends this evening and I took the train home. When I arrived at my station, I got off the train car, and I was greeted with a most peculiar sight. Amongst the many people who had also stopped off at this station was a man who had bought a TV. How do I know he had just bought a TV? Because he was trying to carry a 58″ Samsung TV, in the box, all the way home.

The box was massive and he was trying to balance it on his shoulders but with the size and weight of the box, he had to awkwardly tilt his head to one side. He seemed to not really know what to do next after getting off the train. He had brought the TV box past the fare gates. He went one way towards one end of the station, stopped, and then put the box down. He then picked up the box again, went the other way and stopped once more. I think he was trying to figure out the best way to get the TV down to street level. There are two sets of stairs and two elevators to choose from but it seemed like he wasn’t sure which option was the best.

It was really cold this evening, so I couldn’t watch him make up his mind, so I kept on going so I could warm up at home. Seeing a man trying to bring home a large 58″ TV, still in the box, using public transit brought up a lot of questions for me. Was this a planned purchase? Or did he happen upon a Black Friday sale and did an impulse buy? Was public transit the only option to get the TV home? Could he not afford, say a taxi home? Most people that can afford a brand new 58″ TV can probably also afford a few more dollars to take the TV home in taxi.

I hope that the man with the new TV got it home safely and is enjoying as you read this.

CRISIS AVERTED

I have returned from vacation and was about to steel myself for a bus strike but it seems that labour talks have proved to be fruitful. In the last hour, the strike has been called off. Had it not been, there would have been three days of no bus service, starting with Wednesday. I know lots of people were scrambling to make alternative solutions to get to work.

Even though I have a car, it’s kinda on its last legs and I would have preferred to not put commuting miles on it. I was prepared to make a 30 minute walk from the train station to work but that won’t be necessary anymore. I am pleased.

Over the next few weeks I’ll also write about my trip to Anaheim. Yes, I did go to Disneyland.

VACATION

I’ll be joining the FIFA dev team starting in December, so I decided I should get a quick vacation in beforehand. I’m spending a week in the Anaheim area. Blog posts might be sporadic during that time. I’m looking forward to the warmer weather. I’ll update you as I can!

SUGAR

A few weeks back, I wrote about my new habit of having a cup of decaf coffee in the evening. I add milk and sugar to it. Just enough milk to turn it a nice shade of coffee brown and about 3/4 of a tablespoon of sugar. It’s a great little treat in the evening for me but now I’m starting to wonder if I should cut back on the sugar in my evening coffees. The Internet tells me that a tablespoon of sugar is about 12g. Maybe in the grand scheme of things, that isn’t a lot of sugar in the evening. I don’t drink soda, eat candy or chocolates on a daily basis, so this would be my only real source of pure sugar. I wonder what the coffee would taste like with just milk?

SHORT WEEK

I normally work from home on Mondays but with the long weekend, I’ll be working from home tomorrow, a Tuesday. I’ve been working from home one day a week for a few weeks now and I gotta say, it’s great.

My work from home days are much less stress-free and there are times when I get more done and am more productive on those days compared to my “regular” commute to work days. My particular business unit doesn’t have an official work from home policy but some other parts of the company do. I wish it were more universal and more people had the chance to partake.

THAT’S A WRAP

I just got back from the wrap party. It was pretty damn good. There was lots of food and it seems like almost everyone attended. For the last hour, it was open bar too. Lots of people took the day off tomorrow, which means it’s a four-day long weekend for them. I, however, have an important 11am meeting tomorrow instead. I need to go to bed.

WRAP PARTY

Tomorrow is the wrap party for Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. I’ve lost track of how many wrap parties I’ve been to but I make it a point to go to every single one that I’m invited to. It’s a huge endeavour to make a video game and it’s gotten more difficult as time progresses. I think it’s important to celebrate with my colleagues that we made a tangible thing that people can go and experience. It is no small feat and I’ve never lost sight of that.

To us! Thanks to everyone on the team who put in an amazing effort to get this game out the door!

COMMERCE

I almost bought a new keyboard on Amazon tonight because I thought my current keyboard is old and dirty. To be honest, I have no idea where this keyboard came from. I might have picked it up for free from work. It’s a bit grimy but not totally disgusting and more importantly, it still works. Am I missing out on cool RGB lighting? Are there keys that feel better to the touch? Perhaps I need to have programmable macro keys.

I’ll probably succumb to my capitalistic tendencies and get the new keyboard later this week.