Chaos Love: love, life, design and more.

When it comes to a declining economy and everyone, including the media, always reminding you so, begins to sink into your mind. You begin to think, that your calm little world is about to explode into a chaos of havoc and crime and will to sink into a demise similar to Gotham. That's kinda how I feel this week.

At work, people every other day come into report that their computer/ iPod/ hard drive, etc. was stolen and we are meant to do something about it. These people, I do take seriously and we send out emails to staff reminding them to keep an eye out for so forementioned stolen object. That gets 10X more serious when your own sister experiences her first break in by some desperate meth head/kid who saw her shiny white laptop and made a run for it. The guy (we'll assume its a guy) busted in through her bedroom by pushing in the air con and the continued to scavenge his way through the small apartment, nabbing a backpack in order to throw the laptop and a digital camera into. On his way through, he spots Kim's vintage cookie jar with "Munchies" painted on the side in old 70's style. He snags a chocolate bar and takes a bite of it. Upon realizing its baker's chocolate, he abandons the unsweetened bar and proceeds to grab Kevin's screwdriver in order to hit up the next door neighbors' apartment. (They had fortunately moved out the week before). The police made their stop at the apartment and went through the protocols but the forsenic inspector found the best fingerprints, nonetheless, on the abandoned candy bar in the kitchen. If this guy has every had his prints logged before, an arrest can be made on account of a CANDY BAR.

Meanwhile in other news, that same night, the lights were stolen off my bike. This is very unfortunate for me because if I get anywhere, its on bike. However, the situation is almost laughable.

Meanwhile today, two more people reported stolen laptops. What kind of country are we living in?

The best part about living in economic decline is seeing your friends on the daily news – alone sitting at a bar, as was the case with a co-worker friend of mine. The story was about how not as many people are going out to eat or drink in this past few weeks. I'm going to vote that drinking has not been affected.

But there's hope!
Get out and vote!

Posted in: chaosgurl, portland, technology, united states on September 28, 2008 at at 9:47:00 PM 0 comments    

I took my camera with me to work today to give you all a little look at where I'm at and what it's like... nothing amazing, but at least you can visualise things a bit better.

First off is the commute. Piotr is in Ottowa for Easter, so I'm having to make my own way to work at the moment... what is a rapid 20 minute drive in the car becomes a one hour-plus saga on public transport. I have to walk half a mile to the MAX station, as seen here:

I have to catch this three stops to the north, where I transfer from Portland's Tri-Met system to Vancouver's C-Tran. The number 4 bus takes me over the Columbia River to Vancouver's town centre, where I transfer again to another bus, the 37, which takes me all the way out to far South-East Vancouver, an area known as Mill Plain. Fortunately, tickets purchased on either system are valid on the other, so the transfer is quite easy.

I should mention here that Vancouver's "CBD" (such as it is) is incredibly dull and empty at 8:30 in the morning. Vancouver really is a satellite suburb of Portland, and almost everyone has already headed down the I-5 to their jobs in PDX by this time. So there's just a handful of people waiting at the bus stop for the long trip east with me.

The bus travels along a main east-west thoroughfare called Mill Plain Boulevard, which is basically a giant strip mall, with shopping centre after shopping centre lining it all the way. Occasionally a hospital or car yard will break the monotony, but otherwise it's wall to wall consumerism for a 10 mile stretch.

Finally, I arrive at my stop and it's another half-mile stroll to Wacom's office, in the middle of a stereotypical industrial park, pretty much the same as anywhere else in the world. You know, the ones with street names like "Innovation Drive" and "Technology Blvd"... we've all seen them. Their building isn't exactly awe-inspiring:

Once inside, I have to grab a visitor's pass from the front desk each and every day and sign in. Then it's off to the studio, a dimly lit room with no windows. Here's my workstation:

They've given me a MacBook Pro just like mine and a big monitor as a second screen. I've also got an Intuos 3 tablet hidden behind the laptop and I also have access to a Cintiq 12 – a tablet with an integrated screen, possibly the coolest thing ever invented – if needed. The mouse is mine, an old favourite that I love to death. Of course, working for a company that makes products that are meant to replace computer mice, I've been given a lot of grief about my choice of equipment. What can I say? I'm still faster at certain things with my clunky old mouse!

Work is still a lot of fun and I've worked on heaps of different projects, which keeps things fresh each day. And having money in my pocket doesn't hurt, either!

Posted in: chaosboy, employment, portland, technology on March 25, 2008 at at 9:43:00 PM 0 comments