I may have narrowly escaped getting thrown into a bullpen - a many, many person shared cube - because I called it like it is:

First, my productivity would go to shit. I can’t concentrate when there are a bunch of other people sitting in the same room. I don’t care how quiet it is; the fact they’re there is distracting.

Second, it’s psychologically problematic for me. Seriously. Just thinking about sitting in a room with a bunch of people all day makes my blood pressure go up. I don’t think I’m necessarily anthropophobic or agoraphobic or anything, but I do feel pretty traumatized to be forced into a large, shared environment. If I was in jail, I’d probably ask for solitary confinement.

Anyway, crisis averted for the time being.

Hockey season has taken over, and I’m not sure I like it.

I mean, I like going to the various hockey games and such, but we went to one Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of last week, there’s one coming up on Tuesday, then another on Friday. Again, don’t get me wrong - I like hockey, but I’m feeling like it’s dominating my free time. And it wouldn’t be so bad if we were kicking ass, but we’re battling mediocrity this year, so it’s not even good hockey. About one in five games is interesting; the rest of the time… well, I’ve been getting a lot of reading done.

Of course, going to the games isn’t just about the hockey, it’s also part social. I get to see my friends there that I don’t normally get to see, so it’s fun. It’s just the hockey gets in the way sometimes. Plus, each game is three hours of your evening, gone. Here’s hoping next season is better.

Jenn and I went to breakfast at IHOP on Sunday, which was nice since we don’t normally go out to breakfast. I had a chicken fajita omelette, which was tasty but stuck with me all day, and Jenn had a standard ham and cheese omelette.

After breakfast, we went on a grand tour of the city, running errands.

Stopped by the dollar store and picked up eight huge Laffy Taffy bars for the creation of my taffy masterpiece, the “taffy brick.” It’s a 7.5” x 2” x 1.5” brick of grape Laffy Taffy. I always said they should sell taffy in bricks; since they didn’t start doing that, I took it upon myself to create one. I took pictures and I’ll see if I can get them up here soon.

We also ended up stopping by the comic store (gotta get my monthly fix) and visiting my parents, among other things. Lots of travel time, but we got a lot done.

Sunday evening Jenn put up some garland around the house and I worked on a beading project I’ve had going for a while but never seem to make much progress on.

I also played a little more San Andreas. This time I went on a mission to romance a casino croupier into giving me her vault access card so I can pull a heist on the casino. Now, normally I’m down with this stuff in San Andreas, but this time… well, in order to start dating the croupier, you have to dress up in a gimp suit. Then you kill her boyfriend and go into her dungeon in his place. After that, you have the option of picking up a new melee weapon: a giant, purple, double-ended dildo. Because I somehow need to go Clockwork Orange on someone?

Now, like I said, normally I’m down with whatever they throw into this thing, but they sort of crossed the lines of good taste here, so to speak. Maybe Rockstar’s giving its Manhunt game a nod here; I don’t know, I never played that one. But come on. There’s bad taste, then there’s bad taste. I’m not sure I’m on board with this.

At work the project I’m on is picking up speed on an exponential level. My job over the next couple of weeks is to start teaching some of the other engineers around here how to use the software that my group’s working on. I think they’re jumping the gun a lot on this, since we don’t have enough done to really do anything effective, but whatever.

They want me to sit in a conference room for half a day with these guys. I guess that’s fine; my primary work focus will be getting them going. But then I also got an email from my manager and it looks like they want to put all of us in a “bull pen,” a giant open-group sort of work environment.

That’s where I draw the line.

I can’t work in an open setting like that, folks. It’s disruptive. I can’t concentrate. Not to mention my stress level goes through the roof in a situation like that. I chose a small, one-person cube over a larger, multi-person cube when I moved to this new department because I can’t work with other people in the same area. I need my space. Now everyone’s going to the same area? This is actually something I’ll consider looking for a new job over. I’ll train folks, but keeping communication lines open doesn’t require me to be stressed out and irritated by my work environment.

One of the guys in my group had a dream last night that I was mad at him for wasting time on frivolous programming efforts and not spending time on the things we need to deliver.

That’s how I work, baby. I work my way into your subconscious, like George Costanza. A positive negative impact of sorts.

I don’t normally go for the electric version of health products. I use a non-electric razor. I don’t blow-dry my hair. You get what I’m saying.

I did give in and buy an electric toothbrush, though, at the behest of my dentist. Oral-B CrossAction Power.

It’s been time to get a new head for a while now, but I can’t seem to find any replacement. I’ve tried for like a month now.

Turns out there’s been a recall on them. New heads won’t be available until January. Unbelievable. I think stores should post that stuff so people like me don’t wonder how come nobody sells them anymore. Or at least tell the employees so I can ask and don’t just get the, “I dunno… I guess we’re out of stock” thing.

Thanksgiving was great. I didn’t get Chinese food the way I thought I was going to because the place was closed, so I ended up with Lloyd’s Barbecue Beef, which is an excellent second choice.

Jenn, of course, was at her grandma’s house, so I had the place to myself with the cats - some great time for a San Andreas visit. Over the course of the four-day weekend, I’ve now collected everything (all the horseshoes and oysters and everything else they make you collect) and have nearly finished the standard string of missions. I haven’t yet stolen all the cars or done all of the sub-missions (mining at the quarry, etc.), so I’m still not close to 100%, but I’m on the way.

We had three hockey games to go to, none of which really, truly held my interest. It’s like watching a battle of mediocrity on the ice. There’s competition, there’s scoring, but it’s not exciting like it’s been in past years. Sometimes the opposing team is good and makes some nice plays, but by-and-large, this hockey season (for almost all the WHL teams) has been more for those folks who like low (or no) scoring games and a lot of battle without much fruition. I’d rather have a higher-scoring game with lots of cool plays and a couple of fights. If the team can’t connect a pass, though… I dunno.

Going to three games in a week is a drain, especially when you’re watching hockey like this. It makes me not want season tickets. The only redeeming factor left is that we sit with friends, and I like seeing them and hanging out, so we still go. If we sat next to crummy people, I’d probably skip next season.

Saw The Day After Tomorrow last night. Eh. The effects were cool, but the plausibility of the story was iffy at best. I was expecting utter trash after I talked to some folks, but it wasn’t that bad. It didn’t cost me anything, and I didn’t feel like it was just two hours I’ll never get back. That said, I really didn’t care much about the characters and there was no way they’d have survived that cold, so the suspension of disbelief just wasn’t there for me. Plus, I’m not big on natural disaster films. I give it two or three out of five.

And so, back to work. I’ve got my Christmas music on my iPod and I’m ready to go. It wouldn’t have hurt my feelings to have won the lottery this weekend, but I guess since I gotta pay the bills, I’ll go to work. Work’s sorta like hockey in that sense - if I was surrounded by crummy people, I’d consider bailing. But I’m doing some good stuff there, learning new ways to do things, and I’ve got some good friends there, so if I gotta work, it’s a good place to be.