Seems to me like the fire department doesn't have enough to do, at least in San Jose. I saw a fire station there because I was visiting my mom's office. There were Christmas decorations up - some snowmen (fake, of course, because we don't have snow here), wreaths, and such assortment of things. I guess being a fireman is sort of like being a soldier. You're either bored or scared all the time. (You'll be waiting to be deployed, and then once you're going to have to fight it's very dangerous) I heard that firemen end up spending time playing cards and things like that, until a fire happens and they have to slide down the fireman pole. I wonder if it's true?

I think that people at my dad's work also have too much time on their hands. We went into a building that I haven't been to before, which has a cafeteria, because my dad was going to show us the new Cisco Systems jackets that just came in. I was pretty stunned by the cafeteria since it was bigger, or at least seemed bigger than my mom's workplace's cafeteria. Anyhow, apparently Cisco has a small company store in the building which sells all sorts of weird things, like pens, gifts for a baby shower, birthday cards, and even stationery (it wasn't exciting, though, so I decided not to buy any). I was not impressed by the Cisco jackets (the sleeves were kind of long for me, which is typical, and I wasn't interested in being free advertising for Cisco. Sorry, Cisco Systems. XD) and so eventually we didn't buy anything else at the store either.

Apparently at Cisco, at least in the relative area where my dad works, there is a cat club. The Cisco Cat Club takes care of stray cats by feeding them and also giving them to prospective cat owners (my dad's friend's cat was obtained in this manner, actually). Around Christmas to New Year's, Cisco will be having a forced shutdown - in other words, they make the employees use up their vacation time, and so nobody goes to work. The Cat Club was concerned about what would happen to the cats, since no one will be there to make sure they have enough to eat, so they actually set up a schedule where people actually drive to the company to feed the cats. I thought that was really extreme - here you have the chance to take a break since Cisco is making you use your vacation days and you're still going to work anyways, because the cats need to be fed.

I think my mom's group has been demoted. At her company, people are put into groups, and these groups work on different products for the company. Well, my mother and her group were on the second level of the company's building, but now they've been moved downstairs. I told my mom that she was demoted, and she sort of denied it but sort of didn't, so I'm kind of confused. Now she is in a spot near a door. It's convenient for getting in and out of the building, but it's annoying because you can hear it every time someone opens the door.

I noticed that someone had put a sign on the door saying "No Smoking within 20 Feet of the Door". It has been windy today, and people were concerned that the smokers' cigarette smoke would be blown inside when the door was opened. After eating lunch, my mom and I returned to my mom's building and saw a smoker, quite close to the door. Ugh...Maybe they need a much, MUCH bigger sign. Or a punishment. Sometimes people think rules are meant to be broken. (I heard this saying that some teenager said, "When teenagers see fences, they climb them," regarding a fence that had been erected around something to keep people out)

I just saw something really awful on television. There was a well-known song about Santa Claus playing, except in an unusual-sounding fashion. Then there was a deformed, monster-like Santa Claus on top of a roof. He smashed the chimney and climbed down the chimney. Upon seeing the cookies put out for him, he gobbled them up, even smashing the plate... Then some green dudes (elves?) with black sunglasses starting shooting at him. He fell over and a strange doctor sort of guy came over and gave Santa a shot with a syringe. Santa shrank a bit and turned into the normal Santa. It made me very angry seeing people ruining my image like this. Santa is by no means evil and violent and thus you should not shoot at Santa.

Labels: army, boredom, cat, Christmas decorations, cisco systems, club, company, demotion, door, fence, firemen, free time, holidays, jacket, santa claus, smoking, soldiers, store, teenagers

Just the other day, my mother's company was having a party. I'm not sure of the purpose exactly, but it was probably just for the entertainment of the employees, so that they wouldn't lose satisfaction and go to another company. (I mean, I actually heard another company, Juniper, was going to start hiring again or something.) The party was held at the Tech Museum of Innovation. I went to the Tech Museum multiple times when I was in elementary school - in fact, I used to have museum membership. But I stopped going there...I think it was because they didn't really have anything new back then. But when I visited, a few things were different, although most are still the same as always.

I was a bit surprised by the choice of location for the company party. I've heard of hotels being reserved for parties, but never museums. My mom said it was a common thing, though. Museums are apparently better than hotels because there is more to do at a museum. Not only can you eat (there was bread, cheese, meat, pizza, chicken salad, shrimp...Oh, and there was dessert. Too bad some of it tasted like coffee, and I'm not fond of that taste in cake) but you can also explore the museum. My mom's company came up with a "scavenger hunt" for the employees to do. It's actually not that easy but some people were really doing the scavenger hunt. (If you fill out the whole sheet then you can get a raffle ticket) I tried to do it too but it would take a lot of running around the museum. While I was in the IMAX movie theater I noticed one guy who had a paper totally filled out. But then he folded it. I guess he figured out I was peering over his shoulder snooping at his answers. XD

Speaking of which, part of the party was the opportunity to see an IMAX movie. It's called Under the Sea, and as the name suggests, it was about the ocean and the creatures living in it. The animals were pretty violent. For one thing, there were the cuttlefish. They hunt by slowly sticking out a tentacle and then suddenly lashing it towards their target. Here's a picture.

The movie was a bit dizzying, but it was nice watching it. I have been swimming in reefs but I could only see some kinds of animals because there's no way I see the deep-sea animals unless I dive. In particular, one part of the movie was really troubling. A turtle started eating a jellyfish! It was sad watching that jellyfish having parts of itself being bitten off by the turtle. I think I've changed my opinion of turtles.

The sea snakes in the movie were cool, though. Sea snakes are pretty rare nowadays because their skin has been turned into wallets and handbags and such accessories. The sea snakes swim instead of slithering and I like the sea snakes even if they are very venomous. I also liked the eels. There's a kind of eel that submerges part of itself in the sand at the bottom of the ocean. The rest of it sticks up and the eels wait for small organisms to float along, carried by the ocean current, so they can eat them. It looked like a forest or a group of dancers.

Oh yes, and I did briefly mention a raffle earlier but didn't go into depth. There were two raffles at the party. One was after the vice president made an opening statement. (At first I was impressed that the vice president was there but my mom said there are many, many vice presidents so it's not that...significant after all) That raffle was for anyone who had been invited and responded saying that they were coming to the party. (Basically, all the company's workers that attended the party were eligible for that raffle. My dad and I are not really "eligible" to win anything since we are guests brought by my mom) My mom says I should have come to see the vice president's speech and the raffle firsthand; then she would have won something. Her friend once won something from a raffle because her daughter attended a company party with her. But ever since her daughter didn't go to another of the company's parties and so my mom's friend hasn't won anything.

While the vice president was talking and picking raffle winners, I was busy playing the Second Life demo they have at the Tech Museum. Second Life is actually an online social game where you have a humanoid avatar and you interact, I believe. (I'm not exactly sure because the demo is kind of...limited, and the demo has been here since 2004, so it's not exactly recent. I haven't ever played the actual Second Life, which you can learn more about on secondlife.com) When I was young I always loved to play the Second Life demo. You can fly around and walk around and ride a jet ski and throw watermelons and make catapults work...And not that much else. (Personally, I just like to try and sit on weird places like the chimney of a house or a volcano or a waterfall or the top of a mountain) It brings back a lot of memories, playing that game again.

Labels: animals, aquatic, company, computer, cuttlefish, eel, games, imax, jellyfish, movie, museum, party, raffle, scavenger hunt, sea snake, second life, tech museum of innovation, turtle, under the sea

I often have trouble finding desktop backgrounds I like. I may have complained about this in earlier posts...The screen resolution of my computers makes it hard to find a background. Even my old laptop, which I used to use a few years ago before it got slow and keyboard started deteriorating, doesn't have the 1024x768 resolution that is common of backgrounds, so I could never really find a good one. The background would get stretched out and ugly on the screen, or I'd have to "tile" it. (You may understand what I mean if you have spent time picking backgrounds a lot) This is the link to a site I found which has some nice widescreen, big wallpapers. They are mostly nature backgrounds, though. Click here

There is the possibility I could try to get a summer job. A friend of a friend has her own company, Gal with the Bleu Umbrella, or just Bleu Umbrella Co. The website link is here. Click here It looks pretty cool. Anyhow, there's two jobs you can have, either model or freelancer. Certainly I am not model material (except for that funny time in Mr. Blair's class, when he said "This person will be a model" and picked out MY name XD) so I suppose I will be a freelancer. Apparently, if I apply for the job and get accepted, I'd do things like host stuff for the Bleu Umbrella Co. Anyhow, it's worth a shot trying to get a job; I would like to be able to make some money so I am not always depending on my parents. They work hard and I want them to relax since they are "getting on in their age".

I've just started reading a book called The Prophet of Yonwood, by Jeanne DuPrau (from the books of Ember series, and I have talked about them in a previous post somewhere). On the cover many birds made a strange shape. At first I thought it was a fish, pointing downward, but then I took a look and said, "Wait a minute! That's not a fish tail! That's a nuclear bomb!" Here's links to two pictures so you can see what I mean.
Nuclear bomb (The grey/yellow thing)
The Prophet of Yonwood

My mom cares a lot about getting good deals on things. When she came back from Las Vegas before, she brought me a present, a plush dolphin! I love dolphins. They are my favorite animal. But then I took one look at it and thought right away that I'd seen it before. It had been on sale at Rite Aid for several dollars less than my mom had bought it for. My mom was quite mortified and had a rather strained look on her face. I know I'd want to save money whenever I can, especially if I'm getting the same exact product. But oh well. I like to imagine I am "adopting" stuffed animals and saving them from certain doom. (It's a great exaggeration, though.)

Labels: background, bleu umbrella co, bomb, books, clothes, company, cover, deal, desktop, dolphin, fish, interfacelift, job, money, nuclear, save, screen resolution, summer, the prophet of yonwood

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