Slightly less fun fact: A female friend that (I don't want to make out with because her hair is cut like a boy's but I would never tell her that and whom) I go dancing with...whom I would call one of "my salsa girls" so long as she never hears me say that...told me she had signed up for okcupid, as if that is a big deal. She's pretty bitchy; she'll fit right in there. I mentioned that I've been trying to get some of my guy friends to go dancing (hoping for a pat on the back for talking to men because this is the same girl who yelled at me for...nevermind) but she cut me off and said she would never date a programmer. She is still willing to be friends with me, as if that is some kind of consolation prize with nonzero value, but she would never go out with a programmer. She's done.
Not so fun fact: I probably mentioned this before...some friction at work. It continued today. After being told that my tedious and exhaustive investigation of some tiny blips in a graph was not good enough, I returned to my desk in a somewhat negative mood to find too many people gathered in our sad excuse for a team area. I promptly left with our secret stash of whiteboard erase fluid*, found a conference room, and just sort of diagrammed my options. Then I wrote words like "safe" or "unsafe" under them, and other labels for things I value like "mobile." Everything that I want right now is "unsafe," meaning no guaranteed income, no health insurance, and I would likely have to sell my car that I love. And learn how to not bleed money. And move to a cheapass apartment with mice and roomates. Then I circled "startup" and erased everything. There are many reasons why a startup is actually a good move for me right now, but they are a bit complex so I will skip them.
In other words, starting or joining a startup is no longer something I just dream about while walking to work or sitting on the toilet, or out of frustration, or when I'm bored at home. I am now actively looking. I've read some interesting articles that challenged some assumptions I didn't even realize I was making. I'm even thinking about making my own personal website to market myself, but I have a bit of a problem: I don't want prospective employers reading drunk blog posts about how I think objectifying girls is an imaginary problem invented by ugly people, and also don't want girls finding out how good I am at what I do. I don't care what anyone thinks about anything--some hot girl's prejudice against smart people better the hell not prevent me from making out with her. You fucking nerds with your principles can go make your this-is-how-the-world-should-be stand with the fucktards that complain about the symbols on public bathroom doors. I tried it your way. Now I'm playing the game.
In summary, my search for startups, startup jobs, startup ideas...startup opportunities has been kicked into high gear.
You never know when you are going to get hit by a bus (drunk on their new power due to an unfair law that was passed in Seattle but not as bad as the law going through the Senate that nullifies our 4th amendment rights), or have a motorcycle accident, or waste the rest of your good years falling in love with a few more girls that just want to be friends or tell you that you missed your chance, or get kidnapped by the military and held indefinitely without a jury trial because you have more than 7 days of food in your kitchen. When I am lying there on the road with blood gushing out of my broken neck, or listening to a cancer diagnosis, or burning some girls photo and camera charger, or drinking myself to death on my 31st birthday**, or being waterboarded at the hands of the united states military in some extra-continental prison, I don't want to think "well I followed what I was supposed to do and did ok at my job." That is not acceptable. When I feel my life drain away in the end I want to think "I coded with the best; I kicked ass and took names; I slept with/married the
*when we first moved into the poorly named building where I work, they choose not to provide standard, efficient, alcohol-based whiteboard-cleaning fluid available in any office supply store, and instead provided some kind of green acid that I am fairly certain inspired the Batman character Two-Face. This acid ruined the surface of the whiteboards, preventing standard whiteboard erasers from being effective ever again. Unlike the standard alcohol-based dry erase cleaner available in any office supply store, the bottles of acid did not fit on the trays at the buttom of the white boards and required separate metal holders to be installed in every conference room. Then the acid was replaced by some black cloths and some signs consisting of a command to stop using any liquid on the whiteboard, and a false claim that these special, magic microfiber clothes would be sufficient for our erasing needs. Allegedly, the facilities people--the very same people who both failed to provide a whiteboard we requested and stole the whiteboard that we bought and paid for with our own money--have been confiscating the standard and effective alcohol-based whiteboard cleaner available in any office supply store (which they should have provided). For this reason, my team keeps a bottle of standard, efficient alcohol-based dry erase cleaner (available on amazon or any common office supply store, by the way) in a hidden location that I will not disclose, even here. If they take that, we fall back to the bottle of Jack Daniels I keep in my drawer (I have verified that Jack Daniels is an effective whiteboard cleaner, and that unlike the acid provided by the facilities people, it will not burn your face off).
**under no circumstance may anyone infer anything from this completely awesome sentence fragment
[edit]
todo: todo: http://meraki.com/company/jobs#bs_eng
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