Well, that’s the end of day 2. This is a little tougher than I’d like, with five days packed into three. Here’s the play by play. Tuesday, June 24

8:43a

I didn’t come in so early for class today, figuring I got here an hour early yesterday so I didn’t need to do that again. Even so, I was still the first person here. It makes me wonder if people work on “Bellevue time” or something.

After class yesterday I went back to my hotel to drop my books and things off, called Jenn, and headed out to find some dinner. I figured since I had a microwave, I’d maybe find some microwave meals and save a little money.

On the way into downtown Bellevue I scrapped that idea and decided I was craving some Taco Bell. Sometimes it’s a good thing to make a run for the border, right?

I drove around for probably 45 minutes getting a feel for the place and looking for Taco Bell.

Taco Bell, to the best of my knowledge, does not exist in Bellevue. Neither, for that matter, does Carl’s Jr., my second choice of eatery. I found McDonald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Jack in the Box, and any number of other mom-and-pop food joints, but neither Taco Bell nor Carl’s Jr. were anywhere to be found.

To that end, here’s something else interesting: On my trip up here yesterday, I started getting hungry so I made a deal with myself that the next “Food Next Exit” sign I saw that advertised a Carl’s Jr., I’d go.

I made it all the way to Bellevue without eating.

Jack in the Box seems to be pretty prominent up here, though. Almost every exit had a Jack.

Anyway, all that adds up to me eating at Taco Del Mar last night, which is a great burrito joint despite the fact that I don’t eat fish tacos. I ate there several times (at Taco Del Mar, but not necessarily that particular franchise) last time I was up here. They seem to have quite a number of them here, whereas back home I can only think of one location off the top of my head.

There wasn’t much to do last night since I didn’t go to that party, so I ended up reading this book I’ve been pushing myself through for the last couple of months or so. I’m hoping to get it pretty much done by the time my Harry Potter book gets here, but I’m reading pretty slowly so I’m not sure that’ll happen.

8:54a

The guy sitting behind me, ever the proud father, is telling this story about how his kid was asking to take his training wheels off his bike and learned last night to ride the bike. He’s actually telling the teacher about it, but I can tell…

The teacher doesn’t care a damn bit, any more than I do.

I understand the whole “proud father” thing, but the proud father really needs to understand this right now - nobody but him gives two shits about this kid riding his bike. Seriously. I’m gonna have to slap this guy pretty soon.

9:06a

Interesting XML link (for those who are interested in such things): http://kensall.com/big-picture/

It’s a chart of all of the different XML specifications, how they relate to each other, and links to the specs themselves.

9:57a

Nobody calls me at work. Ever. Until I get into training, that is.

See, my cell phone rings when my desk phone rings. Normally, that means pretty much never. But when I get into training, people somehow decide that sending me email just isn’t enough anymore so they call me.

Again. And again. And again.

Because my voicemail message that says I’m out of the office isn’t fucking clear enough.

You know, I hate the phone. You want me to respond to you nicely? Send me an email. Chances are, if you’re calling me, it’s probably while I’m trying to focus on something. That doesn’t make me want to help you - it makes me want to pull your fucking chicken neck through the phone so I can throttle you to death. I will respond to your question quickly and completely in email. Call me? I’ll probably end up answering your question later… in email.

10:49a

We weren’t going to really get any lab time in this class due to the short time we have here, but the instructor is letting us do some of them that he thinks are important.

There is a total learning curve on this stuff for me. 11:41a

I’m starting to get this headache because I’m so exhausted. Sleep at this hotel is light at best, and the stuff we’re learning here is pretty heavy. Good stuff, but it’s stressing me out. I mean, I’m all for “challenge” and all that, but there’s only a certain amount of challenge that I can take before I get exhausted. When I learn a new concept, I need to use it and become comfortable with it before I move on to the next concept. The way this class is going, the new ideas come flying past and I’m feeling sort of overwhelmed.

Right now we’re talking about database access. Stuff that I learned about in last week’s class. I am totally blanking on the stuff because I barely got a chance to look at the stuff from last class and now we’re going headlong into this new stuff and I’m sinking.

I think I’ll feel better when I get to use this stuff. Also when I have some practice tests to look at and try. The way I work, I always use reference materials when I’m programming. No such luck on the tests.

Plus, I really have to pee.

12:02p

Lunchtime. Plus, restroom break. Rockin’.

12:52p

It’s amazing the difference a little food and a couple of Excedrin Migraine tablets can make in your outlook on things. Before lunch, I was feeling pretty bogged down by all this stuff, now I feel like I can take on the world.

I’ll have to remember the Excedrin Migraine before I take any of these tests.

My book (The Bear and the Dragon) is finally starting to get somewhere, which is good - it’s only taken like 400 pages. Tom Clancy spared no expense on the intro for this one. I’m actually starting to like what’s going on. I’m hoping the payoff is worth the time spent with the setup.

2:18p

Hey, we’re talking XML web services - the class I took last week. I’m good to go here. Score!

3:28p

Mind… wandering… can’t… focus…

3:59p

We just came back from break and while I’m a little refreshed, I can’t help but feel pretty wiped out. I mean, we’re learning a lot of good stuff here, but the key word there is “LOT” - this is definitely a five-day class packed into three days. By the end of tomorrow, I’m definitely going to be ready to go home. The more I think about it, the more irritated I am that this is the three-day version and not the five-day version.

4:46p

Well, that’s that. We ended up talking about how to get things to print properly… and it looks like a real bitch. Lesson: don’t print anything. Heh.

It’s time to go.