Scott's Thoughts

Road Movie to Berlin

As I write this I'm sitting in a hotel room in St Louis, MO and using a Tom Clancy book to keep the laptop from coking my leg.

What am I doing here? The company I work for is opening a new office in St Louis. Originally I was only going to be here for a few days but since we had several different deliver dates for things and no one could decide when what would be available they extended it to a full week. I flew out last Sunday and theoretically I will be leaving next Sunday assuming the equipment I ordered gets here in time. There is about 2 days of real work although I am appreciating the extra time. I don't have to hurry through things or work late. Expect for the first day I've been using my time fairly decently.

I'm working with this other guy Greg. Greg is a bit of a nut. Very nice and complimentive and seems very appreciative of my work but his a salesmen personality and it's starting not to seem as sincere. Older fellow and single as far as I can tell. He's got a love of music and it's fun to talk to him about it. The problem is I'm kind of a cynic so such pleasantries seem odd and unnecessary. It's not like I'm going out of my way for anything. He's not bad to work with, just a little odd. :-)

An unexpected bonus being out here is that I get to visit Josie and I didn't have to pay for airfare. I was secretly hoping that time away might change her mind and I thought it had but ever eluzive are her true feelings. One day it seems she does, the next she doesn't. I think I have finally comes to terms about her: I can't wait for her to make up her mind. She also likes being alone (or so she says) a lot more. I could see days where I would want to be in her company and she would just want to be left alone. Things wouldn't work out and would only make me lonely but in a realtionship. Sort of like being alone of a crowd.

St Louis isn't that bad of an area. There are trees out here and the river and hills (no mountains). The traffic isn't as bad as Vegas even though it's twice the size. The people here are nice and friendly. If you make eye contanct with anyone they feel obligated to say hello. Things are not quite so in a hurry here which carries a mix of relief and annoyance. If I had to live here I don't think I could complain.

I picked up a few books to read while on my trip. While looking for books I found Tom Clancy's NetForce book. I found out later it is a series and that the one I'm reading Springboard is 5th of 6th in the series. I gave up reading Tom a long time ago. I stopped finding his books entertaining. This one is smaller in size and has a computer/sci-fi theme so I thought I'd give him a try. My biggest compliant about Clancy's work was that he spent too much time developing characters and plot. The books I liked the best were the ones that mixed some kind of action in with it. Tom also has the tendancy to follow a dozen people at once which makes for confusion. This new book was smaller so to me that meant less words wasted on over-development. I'm about 3/4s done and I am again not liking his writing. The book apears to be a corlaboration of several people actually and I'm not sure if Tom is doing the main writing or what but I was getting to parts where there was so much jumping around that it switched between people ever page. There is a lot of far-fetched behavior and cliche situations that it's become silly. I'm going to finish it but I'm done with Tom forever. He should stick with what he's good at - modern military non-fiction.

At home, the guys finally asked Ry to move out. He took it alright I was told and has already moved out. He's got a few large things left that I assume he'll ask if I can move for him with my truck when I got back. We've got a new guy moving in named Bill. His real name is William Wallace - yes that is correct. Bill's worked with Richard before, is closer to maturity to us and likes to cooks and have things clean. I think he'll make a good roomie. He still won't mix in on the level that Rich, Mark and myself do but I don't know of anyone else that would (maybe Ron).

Speaking of Ron, he came to Vegas to help his brother move and visit us. Unfortunately I will be out of town the entire time so I will miss him.

Now with all the changes and potentials I think I will be alright with saying in Vegas. I think I will be looking for another job but not in a huge hurry. I want something where I make about what I'm making now but doing real work and be happy. I wouldn't mind leaving IT and going into programming or even something less technical. I like working with my hands so even construction would be fun. I just need a place where he people are real (like my old job) and where I can do work (like my old job) and get paid well to do it (not like my old job) without coming home mentally exhausted ( unlike my old job).

Note: Road Movie to Berlin is from a They Might be Giants song. Thought it might make an interesting title for being on the road.

posted by Site Smith Scott @ 8:50 PM