MAGGI PICAYUNE

Today is my eighth anniversary as an official Apple employee. As of now, I believe I am the last person remaining from my group of seven since word (or rumor) has it that Scott Smith left for Brazil. I decided to take the day off to celebrate. Actually, I’m trying to wrap up my income taxes because the wife and I owe $64 yet I’m sending in $200 to be safe since I couldn’t get a clear answer on some stock I sold off, would’ve been cool if it were Apple which is trading at over $90/share.

This anniversary is better than last year, I was sick as a dog in 2006. I’m feeling much more reflective about eight years at the same gig which is really closer to 11 in a row due to a year with PowerComputing, a year at NorTel and the contractor shuffle with Apple twice before. If you want to stretch it, I started this line of work 14 years ago when DG (Dynamic Graphics) hired me to be their tech support guy for their clip art: rather comical when you think about it too, a story for another day. Reflective? Does this mean I’m quitting Apple? Heck no! It pays too well, especially with the student loan load the wife has (it’s managed just fine, so don’t worry). Call me shallow when it comes to those discounts on Apple products as an incentive to stay. My benefits package is much more generous than anyone else I’ve worked for combined. I have to give a big piece of the credit to my immediate boss Juan and co-workers in and out of my department for their supportive nature (a rather long list). I want to state this for the record; of all the jobs I’ve held, this is the only one where I genuinely like the majority of my co-workers. So many other places were very cutthroat and the daily politics were a complete hindrance to getting anything accomplished.

As for the future? I honestly have no idea. I am only an expert on what I don’t want to do. Apple is going fine for the immediate future, I don’t feel like leaving and there’s plenty of work to do as its market share gradually increases. Somara has picked up traction with Kenny’s and should gain more if she lands the new opportunity. I have been working on something which is closer to an investment. I may have discussed a little bit about it with some but I don’t want to jinx it. To me jinxing is a self-fulfilling prophecy of a negative outcome; my explanation to my more spiritual friend Bryant. What will it lead to? No idea other than it will be closer to a hobby or part-time work. I am taking a chance on doing something with my inheritance other than letting it rack up a pittance in CDs.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement these last eight years. Over 14 years ago, a certain jackass fired me saying that I would never cut it in a Fortune 500 company and I couldn’t work within a team. Hmm, Teamwork award in 1997 with PowerComputing? Member of Quality of Life at Apple in 2005? Past experience training agents in Las Vegas, Sacramento and Austin? The list could go on, but to my past critic I say HA! Living well is always the best revenge and life in Austin is pretty great. Now I’m off to write myself a letter at this cool site I heard about on NPR, see what I should think about when I hit nine years.

Sonia caught me off guard because I was sober and the designated driver.

In all my self-absorbed errands (car repair, matters related to the banner, cats, etc.) I almost forgot to write about Jose’s first and only visit to Austin which happened ten years ago this week. I had practically forgotten despite catching him on iChat last weekend. Turns out someone has a wireless network in an unsecured state near his mom’s house in Puerto Rico for Jose to communicate with me. He mentioned that he would like to visit Somara and me in the Cap City with his girlfriend Nancy. No sweat, just my house is a tad cramp as we keep going through our crap reduction in fits and starts. Still want them to visit, even if I have to subsidize a hotel room for their comfort.

Anyway, Jose arrived on April Fool’s Day back at Austin’s old Mueller Airport, his video camera running as he walked off the plane. Then I took him to see the Congress Aveneue Bridge for the bat show at dusk which was a minor ordeal because I got lost in the East side thanks to many of the major thoroughfares being diagonal. We made it in time though and I don’t think he was impressed to see almost two million bats pour out from under the bridge. Maybe he will post to correct my perception.

Then it was back to my apartment in Hyde Park. Being a good host, he got to sleep in my room and I had the couch in the “living area;” it was only a 616-square-foot, one-bedroom pad. Not quite as cool as his house in Orlando but things were still coming together for me at PowerComputing and Austin. I still miss having that apartment’s location of 38th and Guadelupe, a short walk to Central Market, not too far from North Austin, Sixth Street and UT’s Campus.

We drove to San Antonio the next day since he wanted to see the Riverwalk and The Alamo. It was a rainy day so the only negative thing was keeping the temperature in the car at a level we could agree on while defrosting the windows. The Alamo is cool yet I have no idea why everyone from outside Texas wants to see the Riverwalk. I handled a similar request earlier in the year when some friends from Minneapolis came.

I got to see his workplace in Orlando so I took him to mine at PowerComputing in Round Rock. The company had recently moved into its final resting place, an abandoned Wal-Mart, but my cubicle was thoroughly decorated. Even though it was just a call center, I felt it was only fair for Jose to see where all the “technical magic” happens. However, I was on vacation and didn’t think he needed me to take a random call to demonstrate what I specifically did.

We went to Sixth Street a couple times. The first night was rather slow or we picked the wrong joint: no women to meet. Didn’t stop us from enjoying our cigars and beer. We also hit Katz’s a couple times, once because the Taco Cabana on MLK was a complete bust for an after-bar meal. We did take in the midnight showing of Swingers at the Dobie Theater when it was the ongoing movie in Dazed & Confused’s place. We were both night owls so we played videogames at Einstein’s after the movie because it was open until 4 AM.

My favorite day of Jose’s stay involved my co-workers and Sonia. Several weeks earlier I won a free happy hour party from Katz’s upstairs night club, Top of the Marc (it’s gone now). I decided that it would make an awesome location for a memorable staff meeting. My boss Rob (Fedson) convinced his boss to allow it, under the condition of the attendees being off the clock; probably at the end of their shifts or on vacation due to the booze. A great time of camaraderie, socializing and even the site boss (Mike Keig) and Rob’s boss (Doug Reed) showed up to buy everybody a round. Sonia, Jose and I then ducked out at the end of the “meeting” to spend the remainder of our evening at the Speakeasy, this bar with an alley-based entrance; it was also a frequent hangout for Sonia and me.

We wrapped up Jose’s stay by seeing the horrible Val Kilmer movie The Saint. Once again, an original Duran Duran song was squandered on a yawner that tried to make the debunked cold fusion theory a major plot point. We did see some other landmarks around Austin, namely the UT campus and shopping at Technophila, my favorite used CD store. I can’t remember the specifics about his mother’s time here. She had been here as a child from what I vaguely recall Jose mentioning. Again, we can only hope Jose clarifies in the Comments.