This past week has been quite eventful. I got the call Monday morning from Patrice over at Barco offering me a full-time job as a software/hardware systems integration engineer. I was quite excited about the offer, but I asked for a week’s time to think it over. I scheduled a meeting on Tuesday with Lara Hanley over at the Georgia Tech Alumni Association to discuss my options.
I drove down to Dothan Wednesday to discuss my offer and spend a nice evening with my parents and grandparents on Mom’s birthday. The kitchen has been completely stripped of wallpaper and a few other things in preparation for a thorough remodeling. It seems like I come home to a new house each time I visit now. I completed my 2004 tax returns Thursday morning with the help of TurboTax Deluxe 2004 and made my yearly IRA contribution. Even with all the hand-holding TurboTax does, I still feel daunted by the tax code. After a nice lunch at Pizza Hut, I bade farewell to Mom and drove up to Auburn for the remainder of the day. There I was able to partake of ping pong, PC troubleshooting, and a nice home-cooked meal.
I returned to Atlanta on Friday to formally accept the job offer from Barco. I tracked down the offer package at our leasing office, filled out some paperwork, and sent some e-mails to get everything squared away. Some of the details will have to wait until Monday to be finalized, and I don’t yet know when I can start working. Titus and I hit ProMove on Saturday before heading up to the Norcross and Duluth areas to look for a new apartment. My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Tinker were in town to see the Fry’s and they graciously treated us to a nice dinner at Applebee’s. Whew, what a week!
The IT department held a farewell luncheon for me this afternoon with Pizza Hut from Blakely and Blue Bell ice cream. Billy presented me with an FNP IT polo shirt matching those owned by the rest of the IT staff to show that I was truly part of the team. These past few summers have truly been memorable. I’ll miss these guys.
On the way home I stopped at Radio Shack, where I secured an RCA to stereo Y-adapter that should allow me to pipe audio from my PS2 into my PC’s sound card.
I finished up my last half-day of shadowing with Mardis Howell and Doug Barton in telecom. I got to see a lot of radio equipment and fiber switching in the various communications rooms we visited, covering from the peak penthouse to the lower-most basement of the APCO building. I was quite surprised to learn that a substantial amount of Southern’s older network infrastructure is built off of digital microwave radio. In truth, I really didn’t realize that long-distance radio commuinications were even viable for high-speed networks. After the tours were over, I thanked everyone and made a small excursion to Inverness.
I skipped lunch and made for the Southern Nuclear building, where I found Doug McComb, a good friend of my father’s and an all-around nice guy. I mean, I just showed up out of the blue and he made time to share some of his experiences with me and even offered to buy me lunch. I thanked Doug and went next door to meet with SNC IT manager David Cox, also unannounced. I caught David just before a meeting, but he graciously offered to make time for me afterward. David has done very well in the company and I felt like he was the kind of person I could learn a lot from. I shared my thoughts on the company and probed for opinions on graduate school, MBA’s, and the work environment. I felt like the meeting went very well and I think I got a lot out of it.
On the way out of town, I did some quick shopping. I found Dark Cloud for $7.99 used and Star Ocean: The Second Story new for $19.99 at EB Games. Star Ocean sells for upwards of $30 used on eBay, so I felt like it was quite a lucky find. I wouldn’t have even gotten it if I hadn’t asked. I also searched for a CD binder to compress my games shelf to a more manageable size, but I couldn’t find just what I was looking for.
Things went about as well as yesterday; I met lots of interesting folks from Enterprise Storage, Server Support, and Voice & Data Networks. For example: Robert from the UNIX side of Server Support gets his background from the Marine Corps., where he set up Solaris servers that were used to coordinate offensives with Air Force divisions. I tried to learn a little from each person in turn, and I also tried to make a point of asking about experience, career options, and advice for a soon-to-be college grad. Each meeting took a little longer than scheduled, and I subsequently ended up leaving at about 5 P.M. again. That’s okay, though, because my tuna steak at Landry’s was quite a bit better than yesterday’s sirloin. I did go over my $25 meal limit, though. Whoops.
The good news is that my brief stay at the IT Help Desk vastly exceeded my expectations. Suzanne McCreedy met me in the lobby just before lunch and instructed me to report at approximately 12:00 P.M. At said time, I proceeded to the 8th floor of the Alabama Power Corporate Office to begin a series of handoffs that would take me through the RLC, PRC, CCC, and CPIC groups. At each station, a Help Desk employee would share a little bit of what he or she did. I got some good insight into the corporate side of IT as well as some honest opinions about the company along the way. I hope the next 1.5 days will build upon this positive experience.
The bad news is that my dinner was not so good. The closest two restaurants to the Birmingham La Quinta Inn are O’Charley’s and Lone Star Steakhouse. O’Charley’s was jam-packed; Lone Star was relatively empty. Now I know why. The soda machine was broken; my steak was undercooked, on top of being a poor cut of meat; and I dined alone, so the company was unremarkable.
