Doing Boeing

SalaryTweeter prototype put live....

2009-04-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend one of my coworkers and I finished up a prototype Twitter bot we'd been working on. Read more about the PayScale SalaryTweeter.

You'll have to understand some Twitter parlance to understand what I'm about to type... but here goes anyways. To use the SalaryTweeter you can just tweet your salary questions at it. Within a minute, the SalaryTweeter will tweet back at you with the answer. Go ahead, ask some salary questions.

First post in a long time. I'm taking baby-steps back into this... so this is a pretty short post. Maybe I'll have more later.

My Latest Project Launches: PayScale Meeting Miser

2007-11-06T07:17:00.001-08:00

Have you ever wanted to know how much the meeting you were in was costing? Back when I was working at a huge company, I felt like I often had to go to big and boring meetings. More than once I figured out an approximate cost of the meeting, and more than once I was a little flabbergasted by how easy it is to rack up a $3,000 meeting.
Back when I started at PayScale, my coworkers were listing off all of the projects that I would be working on in the next couple of months... and this was one of them. This project made sense to me, and I knew exactly who was going to be using it. me.
So, give the Meeting Miser a try, and see if you think its as cool as I do :-)

Why PayScale is Better than Boeing

2007-10-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, I asked a friend if they wanted to come work for PayScale. They responded: "How do you think working at PayScale is compared to working at Boeing?" Well, I answered question... and decided that I liked my response enough to post it.

PayScale	Vs.	Boeing
Our office is in Pioneer Square		Their offices are in Renton, or Everett, or Auburn, or Bellevue, or BFI. You don’t get to decide where you’ll be, and you will be expected to drive between the places
For lunch, you have the option to go one of several cheap and delicious establishments. Most notably is the world famous Salumi. But don’t forget about Tat’s Deli, Bakeman’s, The New Orleans, and many others.		Boeing’s lunch café. You’ll be able to choose from rubbery meat, an iceberg-lettuce salad bar, or a Snapple. Nothing delicious; everything overpriced.
You’ll be working on stuff that people actually see, use and find helpful in life		You’ll be working on an internal system to track other internal systems so that “upper management” can complain that we have too many internal systems.
You’re 1 out of 55		You’re 1 out of 155,000
You get lots of stock options		You get ShareValue Trust (which is pretty damn sweet)
You don’t like how something is going? Go talk to the CEO, or the VP of Engineering… their offices are 20 feet away and they’re always willing to listen		You don’t like how something is going? Go talk to your manager, who will talk to his manager, who will talk to his/her colleague, who will talk to one of their employees, who is the person in charge of the project you’re working on… and maybe things can change.
You have a good idea how we can make money? Sweet… we’ll put it into the dev cycle.		You have a good idea? Too bad, the Chairman’s Innovation Initiative got shut down. Your manager’s budget is already too overbooked. Their manager’s budget isn’t doing any better. While the company is on one of the strongest up-swings it’s ever had… every group there is having to cut budget.
Want to go to a conference? Sweet, that sounds like a good idea. Take good notes because this conference looks really good		Um… yeah. Submit your request to the Conference Attendance Core Team for approval. While the CACT recognizes that this conference looks good, there is not enough time to get all the necessary approvals for your request. Plus, do you really want to use Travel Manager?

Remember: A lot of people love working for Boeing; it just wasn't the place for me. There are lots of reasons to work for Boeing, they're just documented elsewhere in this blog.

PayScale on ScobleShow

2007-06-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Its funny about the little things that change when you move to a small company. When I was at Boeing, there were (and still are) dozens of articles written every day about Boeing, most of them being totally insignificant to the company. Now, being at a Startup... every article that comes out is important.
Robert Scoble interviewed PayScale's founder, Joe Giordano, recently for the ScobleShow. Joe talks about PayScale's methodology, our search technology, and he mentions one of the features that we're working on right now: the Job Flower (although, that name is totally unofficial and will be changing :-)). If you want to hear about it, he mentions it at about minute 19 in the video.
Why am I excited about the Job Flower? Because its my first major project at PayScale.

Boeing Pays the Bills

2007-06-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

I recently got, what I assume is, my last check from Boeing. As you can see... it is for $0.20 (twenty cents). Yes, I'm glad that Boeing's accounting system is precise enough to notice that they still owe me $.20. Now comes the a great question:

Did they really mail it? or was it direct desposited?

Guess what kids: they sent me a real check.

Is the check worth the paper it is printed on?
I'm going to guess no. This is pretty thick paper and its got watermarks on it. I'm going to estimate that this piece of paper cost $.40

Was it worth the time?
For me, yes it was. This check is comedic-gold. I've been carrying it around for a week showing it to all of my friends.
For Boeing, probably not. At Boeing, we would assume that it costs anywhere between $100 to $150 an hour to get something done. So if we use $100/hour, that comes out to about $.03/second. So, if someone spent 7 or more seconds reviewing this check... then it wasn't worth it. I'll estimate that it took 10 seconds of review to get this check out the door, which is $.30.

What about postage?
So, I guess this means that the envelope is worth more than the check itself. It cost $.33 to mail the check. Tack on a few cents for the actual envelope, and we're up to $.35.

Conclusions
$.40 for the check paper
$.30 for labor
$.35 for the envelope and postage
$1.05 as a total... not including the $.20 they paid me.
$1.25 all together
And to compute efficiency, I'm going to divide what they owed me by the total... and it comes out to 16%.

All that said... I miss all my Boeing friends. I hope you're all doing well. And, if you have a spare 787 Launch Pass... you should probably email me.

Update: Through some more magic of Boeing's accounting system, I just got another check. This one for the staggering sum of $0.88.

Arbitrary Milestones

2007-06-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

I am talking to my friend Zaheer on the phone... and I mentioned that I was about to break 60,000 page views to this website (according to my stat tracker). Zaheer visited the site, became the 60,000th visitor to Doing Boeing. Thanks for playing Zaheer. He doesn't actually win anything, but I still think its cool.

More arbitrary milestones:

3 years before May 11th, I wrote my first blog post about Boeing.
This is the 140th published post to this blog

I wrote several posts after frustrating days at work, but decided against posting them

May 30th was my 25th birthday
Today was my one month anniversary at my new job
I paid my first mortgage payment on June 1st

The Unofficial Boeing Intern Guide

2007-06-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

I get this question every year: "What should I do while I'm in Seattle." or something of that nature.

If you're working in Renton: you need to go to lunch at Cedar River Smokehouse. Its awesome. They've got great BBQ sandwiches.
Go to the intern classes. I used to help run them. They're really fun, and the teachers are good friends of mine. They get some really interesting people to come talk at them. Every once in a while, the speaker brings some free stuff to give out too.
Go on every tour you can. Make sure you get your manager's approval.... but s/he should be totally cool with it.

Everett factory tour is cool... the non-public tour is sweet.
The wind tunnel is pretty sweet too. They don't have this tour ever year, so take it if you can
The flight simulators are cool (duh)
Surprisingly... the tour of the Bellevue Data Center is pretty damn cool too. Or maybe I'm just a huge nerd and I'm the only one that thinks its cool

Don't eat lunch at your desk. Go find other interns or new hires to eat with. I know its nice to get to leave work 30 minutes early... but seriously... make some damn friends.
Go rafting with the whitewater club (BEWET)

While you're in Seattle for the summer:

Get a sandwich (the Midnight Cuban) from Paseo's in Fremont
Get a sandwich from Salumi in Pioneer Square
go take a picture of Seattle at Sunset from Kerry Park on Queen Anne
get to Bite of Seattle at the Seattle Center
Find your way onto a boat for the hydro races at Seafair. You'll love your life if you do.
Go to a Mariners game. Buy the cheap tickets and hang out in the beer garden.

If you're old enough to drink:

Fremont is the "chill" drinking area. Only one of the bars has a dance floor, and the rest are just bars... and lots of them have decks.

For Happy Hour, go to Nectar. They've got awesome pizzas for $5. My friends love this place so much, that they're having their wedding reception here.
The Red Door, Norms, and The Triangle Lounge are good too.

If you really want to go "clubbing" I guess Pioneer Square is where you'd want to head (although, I generally avoid this scene).
If you want a "fancy" night of drinking and perhaps some dancing: Go to Belltown.

There are some good day trips too:

Vancouver BC (Canada... so, bring your passport)
Victoria BC
Go hike on Tiger Mountain
You should set up a volunteering event for a group of interns too... they're always fun. Check out about rebuilding some hiking trails or working in a food bank.

And... unless you really need to save the money... this is my advice: Spend every cent that you make this summer. Have the summer of your life. When I was an intern, I came out at the end of the summer with about enough money to buy a BBQ.

Done with Boeing

2007-05-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

I've made a big decision: I've left Boeing.

I guess I'm not sure what else to say. Why did I leave? Honestly, its because I wanted something new. I'd been at Boeing for 2 years, 3 months, and 10 days... and I felt like I was beginning to stagnate.

What am I doing now? Tomorrow (Monday) is my first day at my new job. I'm going to be Program Manager at PayScale.com.

What is going to happen to this blog? I'm not sure yet. I plan on leaving it online indefinitely. Will I keep writing to it? yes. Indefinitely? probably not. I've got lots of material left to blog about, I just have to find the time.

Carnegie Mellon West

2007-05-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

I get a surprising number of questions about my school. So I thought I would share a little information with you.
I'm getting a Masters of Science in Information Technology from Carnegie Mellon University (West Coast Campus) in a program called "Software Development Management." The way I like to explain it is like this: Its everything about developing software except writing the actual code.
The school itself is a "startup" school in two senses of the word:

It hasn't been open for long.
Its nestled in among all the Silicon Valley technology startups

It has several well-known establishments backing it though:

It is Carnegie Mellon University. One of the best computer science (and technology in general) school in the world.
Companies like Lockheed-Martin and Boeing help develop the curriculum.

Just like any school, its had its ups and its downs... but overall, it has been a very worth-while experience (of course, I can only say this because I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel).

The school is based in Moutainview California, and I live in Seattle. How has that worked out? Well, all of the classes are over the phone with LiveMeeting sessions. All of the classes are team-based, and as a team we're given a project and told to go do it. The professors (or "coaches") help us along the way... but we really "learn by doing." I, initially, was really skeptical of this method of school, but it has turned out to be very effective.

News Articles about Carnegie Mellon West

And... if you do have any questions, feel free to email me (or leave a comment here)

The Fashion Show

2007-04-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

I got the email invitation from a couple female friends... and it said: "we helped organize a fashion show and you can get some training credit, you guys should come." The email had a link to a flyer and a website to RSVP on. But, why would I look at the flyer? I already know where it is, what it is, and how long it is. I put it on my, 12PM-2PM. Huh, why is it 2 hours long? That seems like a long time for a fashion show.

I get there... and didn't know that they were going to be serving lunch. They are. Freakin sweet... I love free lunch. I'm going to be getting training credit for this, so they scan my badge and give me a packet of information (which I still haven't opened)

At this point, I'm by myself... I haven't seen anyone I know. In fact, I haven't seen another man. Every one of the other 200 people are all strangers and are definitely all women. What have I gotten myself into? I silently slid to a mostly empty table and ate my finger foods.

A random woman comes by and says: "Oh! I'm glad you came! We have male models too." Great, now everyone thinks I'm here to look at men.

The show hasn't started yet, so I do what any uncomfortable man would do... I went to go get more food. It was a great defense mechanism because then the people who were joining my table weren't trying to talk to me. Luckily, at the food table I bumped into my friend KP and one of her friends. And they end up joining me at the table I was at. Then Briggys joined us. Great, I had friends that could buffer me from all the older women that I didn't want to talk to.

Alright, I'm ready for a 2 hour fashion show now. Nope. First, we're getting a presentation about being a "Polished Professional." This subject matter was definitely focused more to women, which I understand... because I was one of four men in the whole audience. I actually disagreed with the presenter on several points, but kept my trap shut because I was out of my element (I know... weird, huh?). A lot of her presentation was based on traditional/older assumptions about business dress/etiquette and I'm not sure valid any longer. The stuff that presented that seemed intelligent was really just common sense... and it was actually slightly scary that these things had to be vocalized (i.e. Don't wear a shirt that people can see down. Don't wear a skirt that people can see up). There were also some questions asked that were slightly disturbing:

"What color socks should I wear with these slacks?"
"What color shoes should I wear?"

Good thing I wasn't answering these questions... because I wouldn't have been very nice.

"Hmm... instead of having trouble deciding which color socks you should wear... just stay home. If you can't make that call by yourself, you probably aren't really helping around the office either."
"Blue shoes Honey, black shoes are so over"

Anyways... after a while I started spacing out because some much of the content didn't pertain to me. Then the fashion show happened! They basically just had some employees some out in some nice looking clothes. There were actually some really cute models/employees. The male models were awesome.

The Levels of a Relationship

2007-03-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Preface

I've spend a considerable amount of time in the past two years trying to find a woman I like, and that likes me. Because I was a little overweight from high school through college, I missed out on some of the social education that you normally gain during that time. Specifically, what you learn about "wooing" women. Since I've graduated, I've lost a few pounds... and started learning about the process of the woo. Because I'm a nerd, I've made some PowerPoint slides about it.

Relationship Levels

I created the original four Levels during a rant at a local drinkery. I was then asked to recount my levels a few more times after that. They seemed to get more and more defined with each iteration. Most of my friends, at this point, have heard my Levels... so I thought I'd share them with a broader audience. And what better way than through my blog?
The three additional Levels have only been added in the last month or so.

Relationship Timeline

There is lots of Level jumping at the beginning of a relationship. This makes sense because the beginning of a relationship is often hectic. Things generally smooth out and because less hectic the longer you've been together.
Of course, proceed at your own pace. And, when I say "your own pace," I mean the pace that has been set forth and agreed to by both parties. One person wanting to move faster than the other is not going to work.

Relationship Costs

These are really rough estimates, because these numbers vary so greatly between different women. Some women would expect higher percentages than this, some women won't.

Concluding Notes

It should be noted that I am in no way an expert in relationships, not even close. There are a few women around the Seattle area that can confirm this. What I am, is a huge nerd... and I thought it would be funny to make these slides.
Of course, when you meet the right girl/guy. All these levels and Gantt charts and cost ratios go right out the window. It just happens.
If you are a girl I've dated or am currently "in a relationship" with... don't take any of this personally. There isn't anything in here that is specific to any one girl.

You Know You Work For Boeing...

2007-02-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

I know... 2 posts in 2 days. This is some sort of a roll. Unfortunately, the only people who are going to think most of these are funny are current Boeing employees.

Checklist to know if you're a Boeing Employee:

You're now that a-hole that schedules meetings for 7:30AM. When you first got to Boeing, you wondered how-in-the-hell were you going to make it to a 7:30AM meeting? Now you heckle anyone who gets into the office later than 7:00AM

You need to know what kind of plane you're flying on. You used to dread flying anywhere... now you dread that a coworker might see you boarding an Airbus. You heed the words: If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going

When you're driving past Boeing Field on the freeway, you strain your neck to see what airplanes are landing and taking off. And, you always look over to see what planes are at the Flight Test Center (just FYI, the Dreamlifter and 737-900ER are still there).

Cubicle Life: Defense Tactics

2007-02-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

I know I suck... its been a while since I've written anything. Whatever, get over it.

Work isn't always fun and games. Sometimes its annoying. Here are some techniques I've learned, developed and employed thus far to avoid the annoying coworkers.

Headphones
This is your number one defense mechanism. There is a balance that must be maintained here; If you always wear your headphones, they become less effective. However, if you don't over-do it, headphones are a sign that you're "in the zone," and you should be left alone.

Hands-free Headset
This one is difficult. It works for me though because it seems like one of my projects is always having all-day telecons to fix problems. That means I can pop in and out during the day when needed to block unwanted coworker conversation starters. "Oh... sorry, I've got to dial in to this meeting... sorry."

Empty Coffee Mug
This is actually a fairly advanced technique, but once set up, this play can be run against a hurry-up offensive. Required tools: Two identical coffee mugs. Thats is. If you catch someone that is enroute to annoy and distract you... grab an empty coffee cup and stand up like you're going to get something to drink. Why do they have to be identical? It just seems to throw people off more.

Preemptive Strike
If you go to someone else's desk to BS, you're in control... you can leave whenever you please (this is also useful to know if you're going to break up with your girlfriend... go to her house). Once every 3 hours or so, make a round through the office saying "whats up" to everyone that might annoy you later. Make sure to keep the conversation light. And for God's sake... don't talk about their kids; they'll ramble for hours.

Work From Home
You'll notice that you get a lot more done when you work from home (actually work... not just answer emails and do laundry). This disadvantage for this one is that you'll miss the free food from meetings, and the people you actually like in your office.

Hostile Personality
This isn't one I've done... but I've seen it work quite effectively. Be an asshole. Nobody talks to that guy.

Be Annoying
If you ramble on for hours about your kids, or complain about "management" all of the time... rest assured, very few people are going to want to come talk to you.

(To be fair... pretty much everyone in my office is cool. I'm just really irritable.)

How My Personal Information Should be Handled

2006-12-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of time to think about the December 2006 stolen Boeing laptop (as opposed to the November 2005 Stolen Boeing Laptop or the April 2006 stolen Boeing laptop) because I'm at home sick today. I've come up with a few simple rules for companies that have my personal information... especially the information that could be used against me in the Court of Credit Fraud (Its one wrung below the Appellate Court):

My personal information has to be encrypted at all times including during trasmission. The only acceptable time for it to be unencrypted is when its on my computer screen. I know that every company has the means to encrypt information. Do it.
Workers with access to my data should not be issued laptops. You will be chained to your desk at your office.
I'm sorry... but these workers can no longer work from home. 3 rotten apples ruined it for all of you.
All computers containing said information must be bolted down and locked to a concrete floor.
The concrete floor must be in a locked building on a secure campus in a secret location.

Would you like to know? Yes, my information was in with the other 327,999 current and former Boeing employees that are currently at an elevated risk for identity theft (Threat Level Fuscia?). Some thief has my social security number, my address, my phone number, and an assortment of other awesome and previously private information.

In other new, Adam's tonsils are huge... he has an appointment with an otorhinolaryngologists tomorrow at noon because Adam may have tonsilitis.

Working in Japan

2006-12-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

One of my friends is over in Japan working with a supplier right now. From my friends that have gone over there, it sounds like an interesting experience.

You thought Boeing was bad about garbage pick up. There are no trash cans here. You have to pack it out. They don't have paper towels in the bathroom you have to bring a towel from the hotel room. Of course there is no hot water either, that would be way too much overhead.

They do like to use people as much as possible. If they can create a job, they will.

The conference tables have folding chairs. Notice that I said conference tables, not conference rooms. The tables are right next to each other. They do have something really cool though; the dry erase boards have a built in scanner and printer. When you're finished with your conference, you can hit print and get a hard copy of the board.

Last night we went to an Irish pub and taught them what an Irish Car Bomb is. I think they are going to add it to the menu. And it was only $15 for a Guinness and shot of Baileys.

Here are my thoughts:

No hot water? I hope he took some Purel with him, because without hot water he's not effectively washing his hands.
I'm glad Boeing provides paper towel dispensers (they're the "sensing" paper towel dispensers, which are an ordeal in themselves... maybe more on this later)
I wonder if he knows that there is supposed to be Jameson in an Irish Car Bomb too. I didn't want to tell him though... because it would probably be $25. $25 is heinously expensive for what amounts to 10 seconds of chugging. $2.50 per second. That's more expensive than driving a Hummer.

Metroblogging Loves Boeing

2006-12-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

After a busy couple of weeks, I spent a sizable chunk of today trying to catch up on my RSS feeds.

This is post that definitely caught my eye. Metroblogging Seattle had a countdown of Seattle's Gift to the World. And, guess what the 4th gift is? The 7X7 airplanes.

Since I am .0006394% of the total number of Boeing Employees, I feel that I am entitled to some leeway after all the things I've done for the world. Therefore, none of you are getting Christmas presents this year.

Love,
Adam

A Bad Way To Start a Sentence

2006-11-21T20:15:00.000-08:00

When someone pipes up in a meeting, here are a few key sentences to listen for. Why are you listening for these? Because if you hear them, you can shut off your brain for a few minutes.

"At my previous job..." This is worthless. Did your previous company make airplanes? No? alright... move on.
"Long story short..." You're a liar; you're about to go off on some random tangent for 13 minutes.
"I've worked here for 30 years..." Wow. Why don't you retire? And guess what: if we want to call a "bug" a "defect"... its really not worth complaining about for 30 minutes.

My brain is slow and that's all I can think of right now. Can you think of other excuses to zone out in meetings?

Another Airborne Halloween

2006-10-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember my Halloween costume from last year (see picture to the right). You may have guessed that I may be something "airplane related" again this year. And you would be 100% correct. I will be in Las Vegas for Halloween weekend this year, and I'm sure I'll have some great pictures of my costume to post when I get back from that trip.
There is more to Halloween than just costumes though. Last night, I went to a friends house and we carved some pumpkins, drank pumpkin-spiced ale, and (I kid you not) listened to The Smashing Pumpkins.

Yes, it was a Pumpkin Hat Trick. As you can see, I (unsurprisingly) carved a rough representation of an airplane into my pumpkin. I was going to try to get a little more fancy with it, but came to the conclusion that I would probably just screw it up or cut myself. You can tell its an airplane, so I'm happy. Katie decided to be fancy, search the internet, find a template, and carve that into a pumpkin. Cheater.

A New York Story...

2006-09-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

There is one interview that I never blogged about. After being at Boeing for about 3 months, I was contacted by Joel Spolsky of Fog Creek Software. I had applied there when I was looking for jobs my senior year of college. Since Joel is internet-famous for running a fun-to-work-at company and for his musing on software development practices... I gladly accepted the interview. Yes, I was torn about only being at Boeing for a few months... but this was an opportunity to work at a small software company in Manhattan, so I thought I would give it a chance.
I was a West Coaster in Manhattan, so I figured I'd better get some of the touristy stuff done during my short 2 day New York excursion. I walked most of the way around Central Park, then made my way over to Times Square. I had to buy some pirated stuff from a "street merchant" while I was in Times Square, so I picked up a DVD and then a fake Rolex. The exchange went something like this:

Vendor: You want a watch? $200.
Me: How about $5?
Vendor: How about 2 for $20.
Me: How about 1 for $10.

The exchange was made, and I was the proud owner of a real fake Rolex. I went out to dinner with a friend, then called it a night.
I woke up the next morning bright and early (time zones and jet lag to blame), got ready, then headed over to breakfast. Of course, I'm proudly sporting my watch as I head into the corner deli. I get some coffee and a scone (or some sort of pastry), sit down, start reading my book and waiting for my interview. I figured I had to leave the deli around 9:30AM to make it to the office on time. I looked down at my watch, and its 9:10AM... lots of time left. I go back to reading. Check my watch, and its still not 9:30AM. I go back to reading. I check my watch. Still not 9:30AM. Am I hallucinating? or is time standing still? I stand up, and go look at the wall clock... its 9:45AM. I'm going to be 15 minutes late to my interview. crap. What happened? Well, I guess fake Rolexes only run for 18 hours before the finely machined pieces fall apart and quit running.
I ended up making it to the interview on time, but was subsequently eaten alive. The questions were hard, and I folded like a cheap Rolex. Oh well, I got a free trip to Manhattan and a good story.

Another Mashup

2006-09-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Its Sunday afternoon, and I have a few choices.

Watch my fantasy football team get pummeled.
Do homework.
Make another mashup

This is the Seattle Special mashup. Its 2 local startup companies.

Findory.com
- This is Pandora.com for news and blogs. You read stories that interest you, and it personalizes the content for you automatically. Its pretty sweet technology.
Bluedot.us - I've written about bluedot.us
before (and you can see their widget on the right hand side of my
blog). A great system for sharing information with your friends. They call it "Social Discovery."

So what does this littlemashup do? It takes your Top 25 tags from bluedot, and uses Findory to show blog posts that are related to that tag. There is definitely some room for improvement, but I just kind of wanted to get this pushed
out of the door, since I have a feeling I'm going to be the only one using it. Of course, feel free to email me or comment here with suggested improvements.

Without further ado, here is BDindory. Wait, that name is lame. Maybe I should call it Findotry. Whatever. Here is Bluedot+Findory.

-- EDIT: 17:10PDT 9/17/2006 --
Right now, this only works in Firefox. I don't know Javascript well enough to be able to diagnose and fix the problem. I've tested it in Internet Explorer, and it doesn't work. I don't know about Opera or other browsers. You can report your findings here.

Would you have thought...

2006-09-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

Basically anything that exists in a city is duplicated at Boeing. We've
got our own medical facilities, our own fire department, our own
airports (kind of), our own news network, our own police department
(well, security department), etc. Most of these actually seem normal,
right?
Think about about it. What does a normal police department do? They fight crime by:

Writing parking tickets
Giving away speeding tickets
investigating possible criminals

(I know its not an exhaustive list, but I'm going for comedy, not completeness)
You guessed it: Boeing Security does all of those things. I've actually gotten a parking ticket before... but getting one isn't really a big deal. They leave the ticket on your windshield and it says something to the effect: "Your manager will be notified." The more parking tickets you get, the more severe the consequences become. Thankfully, I'm not familiar with the upper-level consequences yet, but I hear you can get get unpaid days off (I thought that sounded like extra vacation days, but my manager informs me that these are bad things).
I haven't gotten a speeding ticket yet, but I was talking to a coworker the other day that has. It sounds like the consequences are similar to that of a parking ticket.
And, the readers who have been around for a year or so, will remember the time that I was investigated by Boeing Security. Luckily, this perp was innocent.

A Sad Day...

2006-09-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start this with a disclaimer: This is my opinion and interpretation of today's news. If you quote me as a "Boeing source" or anything like that... you're probably braindead. Don't do it. Talk to these people if you want Boeing's opinion.

Again, one of my favorite parts of Boeing is now gone. Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Alan Mulally resigned from Boeing today to become the CEO of Ford [#]. Does this suprise me? not really: Mulally was just recently passed up for the (in my opinion, much deserved) promotion to CEO of Boeing. The spot was given to Jim McNerney (formerly of GE).
I've met a few of the executives over the course of my 2 years (including my internship) at Boeing; they come talk to the young groups around the company fairly often. Alan seemed to have the most passion for building airplanes. He seemed to have the most love for Boeing. Sometimes when I see other executives talk, I feel like its just lip-service... but never with Alan. He was always genuine and he was always packing a huge smile... you could tell he loved what he did. I miss him already. (I know some of my friends will miss him even more).
That said, do I think Boeing will change much? Probably not. There are tons of excellent leaders in Boeing, of which Alan was one (a big one... but only one). Do I think other leaders have a passion for building airplanes? Yes, there are definitely others: Carolyn comes to mind, and so does Mike Bair.
I've never met the man who is replacing Alan, Scott Carson, but I have seen him speak to a group of interns. How do I think he is going to do? I think he has huge shoes to fill, but I think his feet will grow to the challenge. Anyways, here's to Scott: Congrats and good luck. I wish I had advice to offer him, but he's probably fairly prepared for this task.

Anyways, those are my brief thoughts on today's news.

If you're thinking about writing...

2006-08-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is the most dangerous post I've ever written. Why? Because I'm about to tell you things that absolutely drive me insane. Mostly, it involves email etiquette and writing style.
First off, I am not your manager. Do not write to me in business slang. Example: My schedule won't support that activity.
Replace with: I'm busy.
Example: In addition to providing visibility and access to our organization and key business areas, the site includes several new communication tools designed to inform, enable, and engage employees.
Replace with: We made a new site. Its pretty cool... check it out.

Second, make sure you don't overdo your punctuation. A single exclamation point can usually convey how excited you are. I don't need a string of 10 exclamation points to know it.
Example: We're going to lunch at Cucina Cucina!! You're totally invited!!!!! It's going to be super yummy!!!!!!!!
Replace with: You want to go to lunch at Cucina Cucina?

Third, people who reply-to-all... watch yourself. I don't mind getting 3 or 4 emails sent to me unnecessarily... but sometimes it can get crazy. I'm just asking you to be a little more mindful when using <ctrl>-<shift>-r (yes, that's the hotkey combination for reply-to-all).

The fourth way to drive me insane: be the second or third person who replies-to-all to say: "quit replying-to-all."

Those are the big ones. I know I'm going to get about 1000 emails tomorrow with all 4 of these annoyances in them... but whatever. I feel better after getting that off my chest.

Side note:
Seattle Mind Camp 3.0 is on! I already bought my ticket. You in?

Performance Evaluation Extra

2006-08-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

We have other bards in Boeing! A software engineer in Wichita, Kansas emailed me a poem he wrote last year around the time of his Performance Evaluation. Now, with out futher ado:

Performance Evaluation Extra (PEE)

How did I do in Two-thousand and five?
Achieved that perfection for which we all strive?
Perfect? Well… no.
The “process” was too slow,
But my pulse says at least I’m alive.

Towards that perfection I try,
But the restroom made all go awry.
I arrived at the “head,”
But the auditor said,
My process was not CMMI.

So now in the restroom I stay.
I expect that I’ll be here ‘til May.
But committed I am
To finish this plan,
Though the peer reviews cause some delay.

Each time that I schedule a meeting,
The duration is typically “fleeting.”
I’m not sure of why
But my suspicions are high,
It’s the smell of the urinal seating.

Returning to where we began,
I’ve become quite the powder room point man.
Though my future seems bright,
Each flush does rewrite,
My Performance Development Plan.

~Steve Ware 12/13/05

What are lunches like...

2006-07-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

Local Seattle startup (if you can still call it that), Jobster, just put a new feature into place where they can ask a question, and the users of the site answer. Its actually really fun... and it seems like it may give me inspiration for blogging material. The most recent question is: "What are lunches like..." So I answered with my observations of lunching practices at Boeing.

What are the lunches like at The Boeing Company?
Answering this question "for Boeing" is kind of weird... but here are some observations about the types of lunch-people.
a) Sack-Lunchers. They eat at their desk, and leave work 30 minutes before everyone else.
b) Cafe-Goers. They eat every lunch (and/or breakfast) from the cafeterias unstrategically placed throughout the Boeing sites. I can't imagine this lunching-style scoring well on their blood-pressure test.
c) Too-Good-To-Eat. These people usually go on speedwalks during lunch... it blows my mind. I love food.
d) The Go-Outs. (this is me, for the most part). find 3 or 4 people to drive to a local eatery. Gossip about the non-attending Go-Outers ensues.
e) Sleepers. These people go out to their car and sleep. Why not just sleep in 30 or 40 more minutes in the morning? Still... I envy the people that can do this.

Don't forget you can vote for this blog over at NWSource.com People's Picks. And just FYI... you can vote once per day :-)

Seriously?

2006-07-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at the referer log to my site, and found an interesting place that people have gotten to my site from:
http://www.nwsource.com/peoplespicks/2006/vote/?lid=509122§ion=entertainment

Thats right. My blog is on a voting site! I'm not going to ask you to vote for me (but you should), I just think its really neat that people like this site enough to nominate it for something.

You want to know the cool thing? Almost every other blog that is "in the running"... I already read. That said, I still voted for my blog.

--Update (30 seconds later)
I'm not sure my blog comes up every time as a voting option... try refreshing the voting page a couple times.

A Non-Value-Added Kind of Love

2006-07-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

My friend, Peter, and I started writing a song using business slang. We went back and forth a couple times, then decided other people are better than us at writing songs. So, here is our start... feel free to add to it.

I met you in my morning stand-up meeting
And you talked about the new metrics website
But does this new tool track my heart beating?
Or is it, again, for my manager's delight?

The red light flashing on your status chart
Says you and I should take this offline
Your go-forward plan is melting my heart
And your metrics drive me out of my mind

We've got a non-value added kind of love baby
A non-value added kind of love

This morning I sent you a meeting invite
Hoping you would accept by the EOB
"You want to go to happy hour on Thursday night?
I'll leave work early, and get there at four-oh-three"

And, stay tuned for more business-mocking-media. It'll take a while to produce, but I hope the forthcoming audio track will be as good as the forthcoming sketch video.

The N

2006-07-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

When I left my internship at Boeing, I had no idea that when I came back that I would visually distinguishable from the other Boeing employees (minus the fact that I'm about 20 years younger than most). In my absence, there had been major alteration to the Boeing badge; if you've worked at Boeing for less than three years, you get "The N."
If it wasn't bad enough to be the FNG, I was labelled so. I'd been at work for exactly 0 hours, and I already felt ostracized from everyone, save the other N's.
Most people in the company hadn't seen "The N" before, so I got lots of questions about it. "What is 'The N' for?" My standard answer was "because I'm the son of a Nigerian president." That got old. Then someone came up with the slogan: "The N isn't because we're new, its because we're needed." I'll let you form your own opinions about this tagline, but my silence should let you know how I feel about it.
Then one day, I noticed I was looking at people's badges to try to see if they had "The N." Why though? Its because I like the new people. If you're new to Boeing, you're less likely to be tainted with some of the things that bother me. You're not going to try to tackle me with process. You're not coming into the meeting with "what we used to do." You're less likely to use words like "core competencies" or "value-added." You won't drop a manager's, director's, or VP's name to try to impress people or make me think I have to do what you say. And innumerable other things.
These are all traits that I hope that I have and always will have, so when it comes time for me to drop "The N" from my badge... I'm going to fight it. I'm new forever.

Business Slang...

2006-06-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have to include this preface: Sentences full of "business words" make me sad.

Value-Add: "Is this really a value-add feature?" Are you really that big of a value-minus idiot? Would it be so hard to just rearrange your sentence to ask: "Does this feature make the product better?"

Core Competencies: aka stuff I know how to do. E.g. A manager core competencies are non-value-add.

Emergent: This one bothers me because I think people use it as a replacement for the word emergency. "I'm out of the office, but if you have an emergent need, please call me at...". Why not just use the word emergency? Is that extra character to write, or that extra syllable to say really that taxing?

These are the 3 that I came up with right now... but I'm going to start writing down words that people use at work that annoy me.

Connexion on the Block...

2006-06-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Is that the chopping block? or the auction block? Well, right now its one and the same.

AP Article on the subject.

Why is it that Boeing shuts down or sells everything I love about it? CII, gone. Connexion, gone.

Benefits

2006-06-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

Most people who have been working for more than 5 years probably take benefits for granted... but to us greenhorns, they're the best things since $1 pitchers. What brings this up? Well, earlier this year I broke my hand while I was skiing and was out of work for 3 weeks (I had to have surgery to put me back together again). And it only cost me $250 and no lost income.
Sick Days: We get 1 per month, with a maximum of 10 per year (if I remember correctly). I used most of mine when I broke the hand. I almost had to take another one today because my tonsils are big as grapefruits right now. Instead of taking a sick day though, I ended up just working from home.
Working from Home: This doesn't just benefit me. This definitely benefits Boeing. I can get significant more amounts of work done from home than I can from the office because I don't have all the distractions of the office (i.e. "Tina went out with Kevin?", "No way! She was just going out with Jeff!", "well I hear she has a new boy too"... gossip, you know). Plus, I just read an article that companies that let their employees work from home have a lower attrition rate. Working from home also benefits Seattle by taking people off the roads.
Vacation Days: You mean I can (almost) randomly take days of work off... and still get paid? Are you friggin' kidding me? When that fact really sets in, you realize the life is good. Real good. There is a debate amongst my colleagues whether it is more appropriate to use a sick day or a vacation day to nurse a hangover. I've been blessed with super-human abilities, and don't get hangovers (yet)... so my opinion is oft disregarded.
Disability Insurance: This one is so great, that I almost felt guilty for using it. Then I started getting all the paperwork I had to fill out, and felt less guilty. I got paid 80% of my regular salary (the other 20% was made up of sick days) for sitting at home and watching movies and reading books.
Dental: This is pretty sweet to. You don't have to worry about having to pay the dentist for a check up... preventive maintenance is 100% covered. You only have to worry about what day to schedule your appointment.
There are ton of other benefits too... but this post is already longer than expected.

Boeing Employee Arrested

2006-06-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

I need more details!

A Boeing Co. employee from Kent was arrested for investigation of theft after he allegedly downloaded proprietary information he was not authorized to have from company computers.
--The Seattle PI Article about this

I really hope that what the man said isn't true, I hope it wasn't a retaliation for doing the right thing. But, my gut feeling says that this guy isn't telling the truth and he probably deserves being fired and whatever legal ramifications associated with stealing and passing on company info. As is usually the case... its probably somewhere in the middle.

Beautiful Spring Day in Seattle

2006-05-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Its beautiful in Seattle, so I walked down to little grocery store a couple blocks from my house (Ken's Market), and bought a delicious Reed's Original Ginger Brew. On the walk back, I wondered how hard it was to make Ginger Ale. Having dabbled in a homebrewing beer project, I knew it couldn't be too difficult, and if it required expensive equipment to brew... I probably already had it in the basement.
I got home, and went to the illustrious internet in search of instructions on how to brew Ginger Ale. Turns out it only took 3 clicks. Searched for: "wikipedia ginger ale". Click. The Wikipedia page for Ginger Ale is the first result. Click. At the bottom of the Wikipedia page, there is a link to "Homemade Ginger Ale." Click. Turns out it is dead-simple to do a basic brew of ginger ale.
In one hour (3:00PM - 4:00PM), I was able to go to the grocery store, and buy all the stuff I needed; prepare the brew, and clean up after myself. I even took some pictures. I'll let you know how it tastes as soon as I try it.

Rhapsody and Google Calendar Mashup

2006-05-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

At Mind Camp 2.0, Leo and Katie (from Rhapsody.com) and I started work on a mashup. We wanted to combine Google Calendar with Rhapsody. Instead of waking up to an annoying alarm-clock-radio, it would be nice to wake up to your favorite music.
How to get the data from Google Calendar:
This was easy. Google Calendar can output an RSS feed of your calendar. So, you just give our mashup the URL of your gCal RSS... and we can go from there.
How to play music via Rhapsody:
This was easy. Leo and Katie know all about Rhapsody (duh)... so I didn't even have to research how to do this. We use Rhapsody's Simple.js API... and it is definitely simple.
How to get Album information from Rhapsody:
Rhapsody outputs an RSS file for every album. So, when the time comes to play... the mashup grabs the RSS, parses it, and builds an array to send to simple.js.
Example: http://www.rhapsody.com/riseagainst/theunravelingreissue/tracks.rss

We used the Prototype javascript framework for the PeriodicalEvent timers. One timer fires off every 2 seconds to see if its time to play the music. One timer fires off every 5 minutes to get an updated RSS file from your gCal. We also used the Prototype class because it has super-simple AJAX methods in it. So, we were able to grab the RSS feeds asynchronously.

Because it is next to impossible to remember the URL for your gCal RSS feed, you only have to enter it once. Then I squirrel that away into a cookie. The mashup detects if the cookie is there, and if it is... it just does its thing. If the cookie isn't there, the mashup doesn't do anything until you input your RSS.

unfortunately, I don't know javascript all that well... so the mashup doesn't work in Internet Explorer. It works in Mozilla and Firefox though.

I almost forgot to give you the link to the site! here you go:
http://borrowr.com/~adam/mashup/
There is some basic documentation on how to use the mashup available on the site.

Please leave your comments and concerns here if you have any. Feedback is always cool.

(PS: Another funny Blogger Spellchecker word missing from their dictionary: Google).

Seattle Mind Camp 2.0 Thoughts

2006-05-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Seattle Mind Camp 2.0 Thoughts
First and foremost: this was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.  So I’ve broken my thoughts about this event into a few categories, and here they are:
Startups: I’m smarter or stupider than anyone that is doing a startup.  They’re just braver than I am.  I just need to do it.  Although, I just started enjoying my job at Boeing again.  Now that I’m absolutely loaded down with work…  I’m having fun.  Funny story: A couple weeks ago, I started working on a site that I thought I could turn into a startup.  About a day after I started development, another Seattle Startup launched the exact same thing.  My site is/will be: http://borrowr.com.  If you want to see what my site will do, go to BillMonk.  The guys that are doing BillMonk were at Mind Camp, and were really cool, and welcomed the competition.
Networking:  I’ve realized that people do their best networking when they don’t even realize it.  When you get pulled into a random conversation, then you end up having more and more conversations with that person as the conference progress, you don’t realize it… but you’ve just made a great ally.  Forget LinkedIn, you have an actual friend.
Good Time: It definitely was.
Andru, I can’t wait for the next one!

Seattle Mind Camp 2.0 Experiences

2006-05-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Seattle Mind Camp 2.0 Experiences
This is the first in a two part series about Seattle Mind Camp 2.0.  This is a narrative about what happened at SMC.  The next one will be my thoughts about the event.
Nikki and I got to the venue at about 11:30AM.  The pandemonium beganith.  We brought our stuff in, then went into the theatre for the opening ceremony.  We all went around the theatre and introduced ourselves, then said 3 words.  Any 3 words.  I drew blank.  I was thinking about saying “Purple monkey dishwasher,” but I wasn’t sure who would pick up on The Simpsons’ reference.  Reflecting on that… I should have said it, because everyone would have got it.
At 2:00PM the sessions started.  I went to a session about Search Engine Optimization.  Not much happened, but this was my first session at a conference ever… so it’s worth mention.
For the rest of the day, I went to a couple of sessions that were basically “tip and tricks” for starting a software startup company.  I went to a social networking session, which was basically worthless.  Nobody knows why or which social networking service will take off… so it’s almost worthless to try to dissect the ones that are working.
Then came the best session of the whole event, the mashup session.  Leo from Rhapsody.com got up to the whiteboard, and started writing down websites with data we could rip from, and connecting them with lines.  We came up with a TON of really good ideas.  Leo wanted to make a combination of Google Calendar and Rhapsody to make an alarm clock.  I thought this sounded doable, and semi-useful.  So he and I (and Katie) worked on it.  I actually got it usable last night… but that’s a whole other blog post.  This session made me want to have a MashPit.  Maybe I’ll organize one… when I find the time.
Windows Live paid for dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.  Both meals were awesome.  This event had a ton of awesome sponsors, including Wired Energy Drink.  We had 20 cases of the stuff!  I personally drank 4.  My heart is still palpitating a little.
I’m sure more went on… but I’m done typing this post.

On IM today...

2006-05-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this is the first of a couple blog posts tonight...

Ray [3:27 PM]:
btw, you know what your next project should be
Ray [3:27 PM]:
google life: where you can google your life to figure out where your crap is
Ray [3:27 PM]:
google: where is my ipod
Ray [3:27 PM]:
<I'm Feeling Lucky>
Ray [3:27 PM]:
in your pants in the laundry basket
Adam [3:27 PM]:
hahahah....
Ray [3:27 PM]:
OMG! THX GOOGLE
Ray [3:27 PM]:
i could've used that this morning
Adam [3:27 PM]:
i'm going to quote you in a blog post
Ray [3:27 PM]:
sweet.

I think this should actually be called Google Mom... because she always knows where all you stuff is. Plus, its almost Mother's Day.

Graphical Representation of Warning Sign

2006-04-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Graphical Representation of Warning Sign
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

In the elevators in my building, there are signs that say:
FLOOR GRATE
HAZARDOUS TO
HIGH HEELS

One of the signs has been modded to say:
FLOOR ATE
HAZARDOUS
OHIO EELS

I've been meaning to make this picture for over a year. Every time I get into the elevator with the modded sign I crack up. I think a good chunk of why I think its funny is because its Boeing. I just imagine someone plotting for months to get this masterpiece completed.
First, there was a lightbulb about someone's head. They saw potential in the original sign. They casually mentioned it to a few people to see if they had seen the potential of the sign. (this was perfect "elevator banter" too... so no awkward "elevator silence" for 5 floors). No one else had seen the possibilties that lay in the lettering of the sign.
Next, they had to alter their schedule to make sure they would get elevator "alone time" (the time for elevator banter was over). Slowly, over the course of a month... they slowly chipped away at each letter. G - gone. R - gone. O - written in. G - hacked into an O.
The masterpiece was almost done. Women were now checking to see if any of their Ohio Heels were missing.
Finally, the H was removed... and the masterpiece was completed.
Or maybe a custodial professional got bored of vacuuming one night, and thought this might be the chance to "stick it to the man." Who knows. Regardless, I hope I get elevator #3 tomorrow, it would make my Monday a little brighter... and so I can tape this little beauty up.

I'm Not All Talk...

2006-04-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

I talk about airplanes a lot. Maybe its because I work at Boeing. Maybe I just like flying. Maybe its because I grew up around them. Who knows? but, since I can remember, my family has gone through about 8 different airplanes at one time or another. When I was in high school, I soloed a sailplane and also a Citabria. I also passed the Private Pilots' Written Exam. But, do I have my pilot's license? Nope. In typical angsty teenager fashion, I decided that hanging out with my friends was more important/fun.
Yesterday I finally got back on track to getting my pilot's license. I am buying an airplane. A Cessna 140. One of my dad's friends is selling it me, so we found out about it before it went on the market. Apparently its pretty ugly on the outside (I haven't seen it yet), but mechanically its very sound and has a low-time engine in it. Anyways... I'm really excited about it.

On another note, my friend and I were trying to think of some funny "Web 2.0" domain names. My laundry hamper happened to be in my room, so we looked at it and check for "hampr.com." Low-and-behold, its already taken... and it could definitely be considered a Web 2.0 product. It might be kind of a funny experiment to see how many domain names have be registered with similar names i.e. flickr.com, zooomr.com, isolatr.com, etc. Hampr.com actually kind of cool looking... but I think del.icio.us and blue.us have it licked.

-- Update --
I saw a picture of the plane... and its actually not ugly at all!
http://flickr.com/photos/adamphillabaum/130403181/

If you're interested...

2006-04-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

I just signed up for Seattle Mind Camp 2.0.

A weekend, 24-hour, multi-track event. Think huge space with breakout rooms, broadband Wi-Fi, projectors, white boards - and you.

If you think you want to do it... sign up while its available. SeattleMind.com

Who made them boss?

2006-03-30T17:45:00.000-08:00

Why do the people closest to the window get to decide if the shades are open or closed? Yes, I realize there is a problem with glare on computer monitors when the shades are open, but every desk I've ever seen can easily be adjusted to elimate the glare. Yet, instead of adjusting themselves... the window-people make the universal decision that nobody in the cube-row shall haveth sunlight The best part is that people fight to get the desk by the window, then they chose to close the blinds and never enjoy the view.
-- UPDATE --
I thought this anonymous comment was too good to be missed.
Get over it. Torturing the inside people is priviledge granted to the outside people.

Scott Adams Proposes New Leader

2006-03-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

Scott Adam's (creator of Dilbert) had a little Q&A session on his blog.

Q. Who, out of any person, would do the best job of dictator with total control of the world, and please give a real response.

A. Bill Gates. He’s rational, experienced, and has a good track record of helping the disadvantaged through his charitable trusts.

I thought about it for a while... and I think I agree with him. I don't really know that much about Mr. Gates, but what I do know leads me to agree with Mr. Adams.

Gaming on Connexion

2006-03-22T07:36:00.000-08:00

My gaming portal idea isn't going anywhere, but its good to see some people playing games on airplanes.
http://connexionbyboeing.com/index.cfm?p=cbb.specialpromo&l=en.US

I wonder how the latency will be over the satellite link. I don't know any technical details of the link, but I can only imagine that the ping would have to be pretty high. I mean, the packet is going: wifi to airplane, airplane to satellite, satellite to ground station, ground station to internet... then the return packet takes the same long path.

The Competition

2006-03-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to lie... I think the Airbus A380 is pretty sweet. Wikipedia has some really cool information about the A380, including the Giant Plane Comparison. Anyways... what I really want to link to is this. Its a video of the first A380 being built. Make sure to check out "more videos from this user."

I've got famous friends...

2006-03-08T19:56:00.000-08:00

Boeing just made a new college recruiting video. I thought I would share it with everyone, since this is the time of the year that graduating seniors start looking for jobs.
http://www.boeing.com/employment/collegecareers/ourpeople/index.html

Now that you've watched it... I have a few comments.
a) Nikki and Kristin are 2 of my good friends. Therefore, the "associative rule of famous people" states that I am now famous too.
b) Not everyone in Boeing is as good looking as the people showcased in the video. Take me for example...
c) I totally agree... making airplanes is great feeling.

What the flip...

2006-03-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

I guess I need to post more often. I decided to do a search on one word to see where my blog would show up. So, I searched Google for "Boeing". 45 pages of results... and my blog isn't on there ONCE!? I need to post more interesting things... so more people link to my site. But, what to post?

Managers

2006-03-06T22:10:00.000-08:00

I just read this article about how our new CEO is suppose to "clean up Boeing."

From where I stand in Boeing, this article is a little off-base. It says that Boeing and former McDonnel-Douglas employees are at odds with each other. The only part of "the inside of Boeing" that I really see is the IT part... and I haven't ever seen this war. In my group, we have DBAs from everywhere in Boeing: Puget Sound, Arizona, California, and Pennslyvania... we all seem to get along just fine. In fact, while I'm on vacation at the end of March down in Phoenix, I'm planning on visiting the other DBAs down there... just for fun.

Now, on to another point... how much cleaning is too much? My group is having huge budget cuts apparently, and its really cramping my style. Of all the stuff I've done in Boeing so far, 3 "special projects" really stick out in my mind as awesome. But, I don't get to do any of them anymore. I've already written about one of them. So, what are the other 2?
1) Teaching the intern class. My group has to maintain a certain percentage of billable hours (yes, exactly like lawyers). Any time that we work that can't be billed directly to another group/customer (i.e. training, attending a conference, teaching the intern class) is considered overhead... and therefore is bad and makes Boeing IT look less efficient.
2) Having an intern. There is still a possibility that my group will get an intern (or 2)... but the only way we'll be able to do that is if we fund them completely out of our overhead budget (which is significantly smaller than last years).

So, yes... Jimmie Mac (a.k.a. W. James McNerney Jr.) has probably improved the bottom-line at Boeing, but at what cost? Work is getting less "cool" by the budget-cut. No CII and no interns can make a day at Boeing dull as hell.
Maybe I'm aiming my crosshairs a little too high here... I don't know. Maybe my woes are being caused by someone/thing lower down the org-chart.

--- UPDATE ---
I had a discussion with (one of) my second level manager todays. The problem is over her head... so maybe I wasn't aiming too high. She did offer up some good info on possible ways to solve the budgeting of money in our group (300+ people) though. I was impressed by her thoughts on the problems and solutions in our org. And, my first level manager figured out how I can keep working my Data Architecture job, while still being a DBA (Boeing likes to keep skills segregated... but thats probably a whole other blog post). All-in-all... a good day with managment.

RIP CII

2006-02-27T00:13:00.000-08:00

I've written a few times about Boeing's Chairmans Innovation Initiative, and my involvement with it.
Connexion actually transferred control from the CII to themselves... thereby making me a "graduate" of the CII program. I haven't written about this on the blog because I've been super busy for many months (thanks to grad school, ski season, and a hand-injury that took me out of the game for a few weeks). Unfortunately, Connexion doesn't really have the money to fund such a project right now... so its been put in an indefinite holding pattern. Hopefully, someday, Connexion will have the money and I'll have time time to get the project back into the air.
While I was at a celebratory lunch with Maury and Kathleen (two of the best people I've met in Boeing) they informed me that the CII was getting shut down. That was a couple months ago, and now the internal CII website shows that the program has been shut down. I'm actually pretty upset about this because the CII was one of the things I really loved about Boeing. Its hard to hatch a chick in a henhouse as big as Boeing without an incubator.

PS: does anyone know why the spellchecker in Blogger is so far inferior to the spellchecker in GMail? The really ironic thing about the spell checker in blogger is that it recommended "bloc" to replace "blog." Thats business-comedy gold.

New Airplanes...

2006-02-24T17:59:00.000-08:00

Who in Boeing gets to think of cool new things to put in airplanes? I don't know the answer... but I need to find out because I want their job. I picked up this video off of Randy's Journal last night, and decided it was too cool not to share. 747-8 Fly-Through.

The loft suites are really cool. The really neat thing about this video, is that it is showing what can be done in previously unused (except for wiring, ducting, etc) space in the 747.

How much you REALLY rely on your DBA.

2006-01-30T15:02:00.000-08:00

One of my friends from work just emailed me something to post. And just FYI: I haven’t been to work in 2 weeks because I broke my hand skiing.

Symptom:

I will be honest here. I take resources for granted more then I should. It is hard not to at times. This causes a nice shock to your system and a reality check when they go away unexpected.

Cause:

Being a project manager for a huge corporation, it’s very hard not to view people as resources, especially when you may be managing and assigning daily work to 15-30 people at a time. What is even worse is if your team members start to catch on that they are just a “number” in your little teaming environment.

Emotions:

No one wants to be viewed or tagged by how many hours of work a week you can get them to do. It makes for a very inefficient worker. Most people like to be called by their names, and not their job title (go figure). My DBA is no different…notice how I call him “my” DBA, with no name attached to his title? Guilty as charged.

MythBuster: A quick “harmless” test:

Myth: Backup resources are vital to a team’s success….False!

A good quick way to remember how important and vital your resources are to the whole team is to randomly pull a member your team without warning, communication, or planning… or better yet pull three of them and then break the hand of a fourth. Sure, they will have back-ups that share their job title. But they aren’t really backups for them, just someone that shares the same schooling, certificate, and skills. You can not replace a team member’s brain (well not yet at least), you can not replace 3-18 months of knowledge and history they have gained. And you cannot replace the speed (and trust) they have for making quick decisions and changes to your project.

Unrealistic Resolutions:

In order to really keep your team from leaving your project or your team, you will have to not allow any members to do any of the following:

No driving in the same car together, anywhere…ever. (following each other in separate cars is just as risky)
Can’t go on vacation, especially out of the country (this most definitely includes skiing)
No foreign foods that may be volatile to their stomach, skin, eye sight, or internal working components of the body.
Can not get divorced, get married, get annulled, get engaged, start a relationship, or end a relationship with any person that would be considered “high maintenance”
No physical sports what so ever (ground or water). Card games and board games are OK. Video games are not (keyboard/joystick injuries are just as bad as a broken hand)

Obviously this is not a very realistic list. So the only choice is to identify the fine balance between covering all your team members in bubble-wrap or providing them with bungee-jumping gift certificates.

Conclusion

1. Above all, keep team members happy.

2. Always view your vital resources as your friends, because if they are not your friends, then they are your enemies. I personally don’t like it when those that work on my teams totally hate me. Call me weird but it makes for a little bit of an unstable work environment in my opinion.

3. If it is less effort to give your team what they want (any of the above 5 points), and more effort to keep them from what they want, just give in. You will be happier in the long run and you will have happier people working with you, not for you.

4. Your vital team mates should be viewed as your friends first, co-workers second, and team resources last. I would still like to keep all my friends/team mates covered in bubble-wrap all the time and secluded to their “work cells”, but I really don’t think they would answer the phone when I call them at 9pm on a Saturday or 7am on a Sunday. And believe me, they get those calls.

Adam's Guide to Cubicle Life

2005-12-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

I spend a lot of time at work. Recently, I've started thinking about what I want and need to keep at work. So, I thought I'd share.

Extra coffee mugs. Even if you don't drink coffee, you'll drink tea or water or soda or something. If you drink coffee, and you don't make it for yourself at home in the morning... chances are that you're not running at full speed when it comes time to grab the freshly-cleaned mug off the counter.
Your breath is going to smell like crap after all that coffee. Keep a breath-tamer with you. Mints, gum, Listerine, Toothpaste and a toothbrush... it doesn't matter, just do something about that nasty breath,
Ramen. Maybe its the college kid still rearing his save-money-for-booze-conscious head... but ramen is delicious. The beauty of ramen is twofold: 1) You save money by not going out for lunch. $8.00 vs $0.08, the choice is obvious. 2) You can wake up 7 minutes later, because you don't have to make a sandwich or something in the morning.
Instant Oatmeal. It is also dirt cheap. It's easy to make. Can save upwards of 15 minutes of sleep. Eat it while you do your morning e-mail [deleting] routine.
Toys. Its inevitable, your job is going to be boring at some point. Make sure you have something to play with... there isn't enough news to read in the whole world that can occupy 8 hours of boredom.
Headphones. This may seem like a given, but even if you're not listening to anything, headphones put up an imaginary force field around you. People are about 45% less likely to come tap you on the shoulder.
A "place setting." You'll need a spoon, fork, knife, bowl, and plate. Keep a stock of napkins too. When someone brings the extra food leftover from a meeting, and sets it in the common area... they never bring utensils. Do you really want to miss out on free food just because you're not prepared?

Never-ever put anything in the common fridge. The Fridge Nazi will come throw your food away everytime. I know you're laughing right now... because EVERY office has the Fridge Nazi. So, you have to keep beverages and leftovers cold... what do you do? You have to get a mini-fridge. Once you've got your mini-fridge installed, your food options have just expanded from 2 to 2000. You can take lettuce, and salad dressing. Sandwich fixin's. Chips and salsa. The list is nearly endless.

Maybe I should write a book. How to Save Your Sanity in the Cubicle Sea.
I've already got the table of contents started:
1) How to Select a Toilet.
2) The Desktop Chef: 10 Recipes for the Lazy.
3) Cube Essentials. What Office Depot Doesn't Carry.
4) How to Kill Time Without Getting Pink-Slipped
5) Boring Meeting Survival. How to Pay Attention in a Meeting
6) Boring Meeting Survival II. How to Make Pretend You're Paying Attention.
7) Manager Handling 101
8) Political Science: Office Edition.

Yes, you read that correctly... I'm going to write an entire chapter about where you should poop. On that note, this posting has concluded.

P.S. Its really cool when someone you respect links to your blog. Raymond Chen linked to me yesterday. I was literally schoolgirl-giddy when I saw the link. Thanks Raymond.

--- Update 12/17/2005
Great comment from one of the guys on my team:

Coffee mugs, why so many? I will tell you why so many mugs. Boeing people like to be recognized and reminded that they successfully deployed an airplane bolt system back in 2003, or that their group of 34 people were able to reach a system and process maturity level 2 rating in '04. These are all great accomplishments that mean nothing to the person on either side of you cube. I personally don’t care to know that Mr. Boeing Bluebadge was on this team or that team...yet I am somehow obsessed with reading each and every one someone puts up to their mouth. It's almost like every time they take a sip of tea or coffee they are whispering to you "Pssssstt…Hey check out what I did back in 2001 on the military program!"

Two Recent Random Thoughts

2005-12-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

I often have really random thoughts... ask anyone who has heard me describe a dream, and they'll know exactly what I'm talking about. But, sometimes I just have random ideas/thoughts while I'm awake. Here is a random sampling.
1) This idea is actually kind of good... and if I had the time, it would be really fun to develop this. "EventCasting." This is just another use of "enclosures" in RSS. The basic premise is this: you get a plugin for whatever calendar system you use, Outlook, or whatever Lotus uses, etc. Then you subscribe to feeds that automatically add things to your calendar. Bands could have EventCasts. Venues could do it. TV Shows. Or it could even be a part of your Yahoo! Group. I got this idea as I was leaving my house last night, and got stuck in the traffic caused by people leaving Seattle Center, because I found myself wondering: "I wonder what was going on tonight." Since it adds to the calendar that you normally use, every time you sync up your PDA, Smartphone, or even your Audiovox SMT5600 (my favorite device of all time) the event gets sync'd too... so you'll always know what's going on.

2) I remember talking to a friend's dad a couple years ago about getting hydrogen for fuel cells. People don't think hydrogen is safe, and its also kind of expensive to "make". So, this is my random thought about hydrogen creation... and I have no idea if it has any basis in science or technology. If fish "breath" water, and extract the oxygen out of it... what happens to the leftover hydrogen? Could the corollary to the process that fish use to extract oxygen from water be used to extract hydrogen? Or am I completely bass-akwards (pun-intended)? Do fish just extract "free floating" O2 from water?

Anyways... I realized that I've never really written about this... but I'm working on my Master's Degree from Carnegie Mellon West. Its a ton of work... but my team (Team PANTZ) is awesome. And we're working on cool projects. Right now we're developing the basic functionality of eBay. I'm the Project Manager (just like on The Apprentice), so I'm trying to stay organized...

Performance Evaluations

2005-11-08T21:12:00.000-08:00

So, tomorrow at 8AM I have my first performance evaluation (PE) as a real employee.
At the beginning of the year, we write out our goals for the year... and that becomes our PE (along with some standard evaluation areas). Then we're judged about how well we met our goals.
Currently, I'm a level 1 DBA. I'm so far down in the food-chain that Boeing doesn't actually have a job description for me. So, hopefully I can meet those goals :-)

My Halloween Costume

2005-10-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

My Halloween Costume
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

What do you get when you mix a big cardboard box, some wrapping paper, a mile of packing tape, and a dork together? Something really cool (most of the time). Well... I got this Halloween costume.
It took two or three hours to build, but it was well worth it. Except I didn't start it until an hour before the Halloween party I was suppose to go to started. So, I missed that... but went to another party instead.
Lessons Learned:
Budget more time for costume creation.
smaller costumes for easier transportation.
smaller costume for less awkward movement.

You like what you see?

2005-10-07T16:33:00.000-07:00

Does what I do sound like fun? I know being a database administrator doesn't sound like all that much fun sometimes... but its probably the most adrenaline filled occupation you can get with a computer science degree.

Well, guess what? My manager is hiring 3 people into our group. You could have the distinct pleasure of working with me! Guess what? They're all entry level positions. The focus is on SQL Server, because we have tons of SQL Server databases. But its impossible to be at Boeing and not at least use some Oracle (and especially in my group... we've got some Oracle Ninjas).

Apply Here!

No, I can't help you get the job. As much as I wish I did... I don't that kind of power.

-- UPDATE 10-13-2005 --
Looks like we're done accepting applications! Thanks for applying everyone.

Coolness outside of Boeing

2005-10-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

My roommate is an artist. He does lots of concert posters and stuff for bands and clubs around Seattle. A poster he did just got "Poster of the Week" on GigPosters.com. You should check it out... its pretty sweet.

http://www.gigposters.com/posters.php?poster=53676

Part Two of QTD2

2005-10-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

The 777 Flight Test Journal posted the second part of their article about the QTD2 test. Give it a read.

Oddly Familiar

2005-10-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you've seen today's Dilbert (10/02/2005)... but I definitely know how Ted feels.

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20051002.html

REACH Katrina Benefit

2005-09-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

REACH Katrina Benefit
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

I know... its a flood of posts... two in ONE day!

Anyways, I thought I'd share a recent REACH event with y'all.

Boeing sent out an email to all employees a couple weeks ago stating that for 3 weeks, every dollar that an employee or retiree donated to Hurricane Katrina relief funds, Boeing would match it. This sparked an idea in my head (and more importantly) in my friend Matt's head. Matt is from Louisiana and know lots of people affected by the hurricane.
It was time for a "relief party." You might remember some friends of mine throwing one of these for the tsunami victims (back in February).
I was going to try to help Matt organize this party... turns out Matt didn't need any help, and did it all on his own (but, its the thought that counts... right?). He found an awesome venue for the party. And they were amazingly generous to us... and donated lots of money!
Howl at the Moon is a awesome place... and everyone should go there.
We charged a $10 optional cover at the door. Of course, some people donated more. I think we ended up with ~160 Boeing Employees (and with 98% of us in attendence were under 30). At the door we collected $2100. $2100!! thats awesome.
Here is where Howl at the Moon gets to be awesome. Between 6PM and 9PM, Fat Tire, Mac & Jacks, and Pyramid Hef were all $2 for a pint and Lemon Drop shots were $2 too... AND they donated all of the money to the fund! Thats another $1400.
Thats $3500 total. I don't know if he wants everyone to know or not. But someone very close to this event personally donated another $700. He claims it was because its a tax write-off... but I think its because he's secretly a nice guy.
So... the grand total is $4200. Not bad for a night! The best part? Boeing is going to match it. So thats $8400!

I want to thank everyone for coming out and making it an awesome event. I want to thank everyone who worked at the door collecting money. I want to thank Howl at the Moon (again) for being so hospitable. I know Matt wants to thank all you guys too.
Thanks to Boeing for matching the money (at last check, Boeing employees had donated almost $3,000,000 to the relief effort... we rule!)

Stuff like this...

2005-09-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

I work on something that is going to change how people hear airplanes. Or maybe you won't even hear it, and that's the best part. Boeing recently spend some time over in Glasgow Montana at our remote flight test facility (that's right... we own an airport in the middle of nowhere)... working on making 777s quieter.
One of the systems that was on-site for the test was a system that I run. And of course, while the system is 700 miles away... Oracle decides it doesn't want to work. Just to give you an idea of how remote Glasgow Montana is... they do not have high-speed internet. I literally walked someone keystroke-by-keystroke through rebuilding an Oracle database (for those of you in the know: missing archivelog files, so I couldn't just recover the instance... I had to walk the developer and SA through an oracle import (a tablespace was so corrupted, it couldn't even be dropped)).
Anyways... looks like the official "Flight Test Journal" is going to do a 2-part series of posts on the Quiet Technology Demonstrator 2 (QTD2... you don't wanna know what happened to QTD1, just kidding). Here is the first part. Good read... I hope the second post has some more technical details though.

This sounds corny... but its is stuff like this that makes it cool to work at Boeing.

To Lighten the Mood...

2005-08-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

After an odd couple of weeks at work, I thought I would write about something that has been on my mind for a while. I’m not going to lie, the following post isn’t meant to be read by everyone… only those with an interest in office strategies. I’m not talking about career strategies… I’m talking about the strategies you use in everyday office life. This post is about using the office bathroom.
Your first week on the job, you will find a stall in the bathroom that you prefer over the others. Yours might be the handicap stall; I’m not a fan, the toilet paper is usually in an awkward position… or just a long ways away. I personally like having the TP on my left hand side, and that is usually the tie breaker between equally clean stalls. Of course, a well-flushed and cleaned stall is the most pivotal thing.
Now, you’ve got your stall picked out. What next? Getting the timing right. If you go into the restroom… you want to make sure that stall is going to be available. Why? Because it looks weird when you walk into a bathroom then walk right back out. So, if someone is in your stall… you’ve just be subjugated to an inferior stall. As with almost anything, timing is everything. Avoid the morning rush. Everybody uses the bathroom first thing when they get to work. I mean, why would you use the bathroom at home when you could use the bathroom at work, and get paid for it? You’re going to avoid that pitfall though. Wait until at least 9:30AM, but 10AM is probably your safest bet. You also have to avoid the post-break rush too. So, give an hour or two after lunch to use the bathroom… I usually wait until about 2PM.
What if your stall is occupied? Here a few tips for picking a backup:

Always leave an unoccupied stall between you and whoever is else in there
Avoid choosing a stall that has a mirror on the opposite wall.
Avoid the stall closest to the door, people will assume the stench is yours
Check for TP.

What if your floor is big enough to have multiple bathrooms? This can be a hard decision, but I’ve found a very good way to decide which to use. Go to the one furthest away from the engineers. Engineers never change. They were the gross ones in college, and they’re still the gross ones as they approach retirement age.
And, if you’re really going to ‘let one fly’… go to a different floor where no one will recognize you.

Awaking the monster...

2005-08-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

I've had a couple really crazy days lately... here is the brief rundown.

Thursday, ~9AM
I got a call from the Ethics department. Apparently someone "reported" this blog as a potential ethics violation. Honestly... who reads this and goes: "You know... I think this site is unethical". Bad grammar, poor spelling, and ignorant ramblings don't usually constitute an ethical problem. But apparently it is.
Anyways this is the jist of the phone conversation with the Ethics Dept:
Ethics: This is from Ethics. Someone reported your blog to us.
Adam: OK.
Ethics: You know you can't post limited or proprietary information on there, right?
Adam: Yeah. Is there anything questionable on the site?
Ethics: Well... no. Just be careful. No limited or proprietary information.
I guess they just wanted to call me to tell me to "keep on keepin on." *shrug*

10AM
I told my manager about my website, and about the call I got from ethics. He warned me that Boeing can be sensitive to stuff like this... and on his personal website, he makes NO references to Boeing. This seemed like overkill to me. So, I called a guy in PR. He said I what I was doing was fine. He gave me the name of the guy in charge of PR for my division.

10:30AM
A man with a security clearance shows up at my desk. This isn't a normal occurrence in the DBA world. Again, here is a wholly inaccurate but jistful description of the conversation:
Man: Are you Adam?
Adam: Yeah.
Man: Can I talk to you over here for a little bit?
Adam: Sure... Am I in trouble again?
Man: You've already been in trouble today? Anyways... Ethics called the Security department after your blog was reported to them.
Adam: Yeah. I've already talked to Ethics. I thought everything was OK.
Man: I just wanted to come visit, and have a little talk with you.
Adam: OK. Talk away.
[I'm going to abbreviate this, because I'm lazy. He said he read the entire site and could only find possible problem... but it was no big deal.]
He just wanted to stop by, and tell me to "keep on keepin on"

Then I made a couple of other calls to some folks around Boeing. They all thought I was safe to keep doing what I've been doing. And, most people think what I'm doing is cool.

I thought the whole situation was dead. My job was safe (for the time being).

Monday, 7:30
I get a couple of emails of congratulations from some friends for making BNN. BNN is the internal news organization for Boeing; they publish a few news stories about stuff going on around Boeing every day. One of the stories on BNN this morning was a warning to employees about the dangers of blogging. I'll spare you the details, but basically it cited all the company rules that could apply to blogging. All of which I've been complying with through the entirety of this blog.

Conclusion
Sometimes working for a big company can be annoying.

REACH

2005-08-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about Boeing is REACH. I don't know if I've mentioned them before... but it is one of the best things a company can do.
What is REACH? It stands for Regional Events and Activities for College Hires. While trying to make a cool acronymn it seems like some of the "meaning" of the organization was lost in translation. REACH is really just all the young people in Boeing. And once a month we have official events. Like, last night we had a huge BBQ and bonfire (well... a fire at least) on the Beach. REACH is at every major Boeing site too... and right now we're having a "cross-site visit". What does that mean? It means there are some young-Boeing-folk from St. Louis, Long Beach, and Philadelphia hanging out with us in Seattle this weekend.

Anyways, when you graduate college and move to a completely new place to start your job... it can be tough to meet new friends. REACH basically fixes that. We have weekly unofficial Happy Hours (which, in Boeing, we refer to simply as HH), and I spend a lot of time with other REACHers anyways, because they're a good portion of my friends now.

Fortuntely, there are people that are WAY more into REACH than I am... they're called the REACH Officers, and they organize everything (along with some of the more motivated members). So, I get invites to go to the Horse Races, to Beach Parties, on wine tasting tours, Rafting, and all sorts of awesome events.

But apparently not everyone had as much fun as I did last night.

Career Fair advice...

2005-08-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

I got an email the other day about how to get hired by a company, even if you have a low GPA. I don't want to brag, but I didn't have a low GPA, so I'm not sure I'm exactly qualified to speak about this... but here goes.

The only way you're going to get your foot in the door is by impressing the hell out of a recruiter. And, the only place you're going to get to talk to a recruiter is if you go to a career fair. So, step (a): go to a career fair.

Here are my tips for going to the career fair:
GET THEIR EARLY. If the career fair starts at 8:00am, get there before 9:00am. You want to give the recruiters time to drink some coffee and wakeup, but you want to get there before everyone else. Plus, recruiters tend to be in a better mood in the AM. By the time the afternoon rolls around, they're getting antsy to get back to the hotel bar.

Only print 7 resumes, and think that you only have 5. Your resume is NOT on fire... you're not trying to get rid of it as fast as possible. If you only have 5 resumes, you will treat them like gold, and will only give them to places that you're really interested in (this will happen automatically... if you've taken economics, you'll recognize this as "scarcity of resources").

RESEARCH the companies before you go. This will take at least an hour. There is ALWAYS a list of companies that are going to be at the fair. Go to the website of your top 5 companies and learn some of their basic philosophies (i.e. "Don't be evil") (you should also notice a correlation between 5 resumes being printed, and 5 companies being researched).

Now, you're ready to talk to your 5 recruiters. Because you're early, there won't be a queue to talk to them, so you're golden. If a line starts to form behind you... ignore it, you're working on getting a job and today is about you (just like going to a spa).

The recruiter is going to ask you about school project that are relevant... so be prepared to talk about that. They will also ask you these 2 questions (gauranteed):

What do you want to do at my company?
What draws you to my company?

HAVE DETAILED ANSWERS! If you're talking to a recruiter from Boeing, say: "I want to be a Systems Engineer on the J-UCAS project because I think it's cool... also because: x,y, and z".
And: "I want to work at Boeing because there isn't a job at Boeing that is insignificant. You build planes, missiles, satellites, next generation everything... "
The last comment will really score you some points, because the recruiter will remember why THEY love working at their company. And any positive feelings that are associated with you are good things.
Just be ready to talk! And be interesting. If you've got a low GPA, explain all the cool projects you've worked on.

The recruiter will try to dismiss you without giving you some contact info. Don't take that... you need to get an email address or something. Having a point of contact in the company is pivotal. A good chunk of recruiters are actually normal worker-bees that have left their normal job for a week to go on the road... so they may even know about positions available in their group.

Thats all the tips I can think of right now. But, I want to share a few thoughts about low GPAs. Lots of people say that a GPA isn't a good reflection of your ability to perform. Which could very well be true... but there is SO much more crammed into that 0.0-4.0 number.
Over the last 4+ years, professors have been testing, prodding, and teaching you. And in the end, its almost always the professors opinion of you that ends up in your final grade. I've gotten an A where I, based on pure points, should have gotten a B or even a C. Why? Because I'm easy to get along with, and teachers appreciated that. If I didn't understand something I wouldn't throw my hands in the air and give up... I would go ask for help. And lastly, I made wholly inappropriate jokes during class... and instructors like humor because their lives can be pretty dull.
So, I may place a bit more stock in GPAs than other people... but thats because I think its more than just you ability in a subject, I think its a combination of many things.

Ok, welp thats a decent rambling for tonight. If you notice a spelling or grammar mistake, make sure to email me immediately.

You can be like me!

2005-08-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

honoring myself
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

I got an email from a friend of mine today that works at the American Heart Association. The "Heart Walk" is coming up, and they are looking for people to donate to the cause.

I was the first person to donate, so... I got my name plastered all over the "honor roll". You should donate too.

A380

2005-07-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

A380
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

Take a look at this cartoon. These are the kinds of jokes we make around Boeing. Its really cool to see other people (yes, cartoonists are people) recognize the flaw in this airplane. Its really not that technologically advanced... its just freakin huge. The 787 on the other hand has technology so advanced that we had to steal it from aliens.

Funniness from work...

2005-07-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

Just a little background, REACH is the group of kids fresh out of college at Boeing (it stands for Regional Events and Activities for College Hires). Once a month, we have an official "social"... where someone organizes some event... and we all go. A couple weeks ago, we went to Emerald Downs to bet on some ponies. The next social is being organized by my friend Wick. Here is the email he tried to send about the event:

If you're a recovering alcoholic who has been dry for months, this is the perfect time to start hitting the bottle again. Tell your AA support buddy to buzz off and sign up for the first annual REACH wine tour**. A detailed description of this wine chugging binge is shown below. I know that its more expensive than most socials, but its going to be awesome and I went through two intense rounds of artful negotiations to get us this excellent price of $45 (which includes a kick back to the corrupt REACH officers). Kelly promised to do her John Belushi 'Animal House' imitation where she downs an entire bottle of Jack Daniels at once.

We'll be transported on buses, and I still need to iron out the details on that. We plan on having a pick up at a South Seattle Boeing location. We might also have a pickup in Everett if enough people show an interest to justify that. Its important that you remember to bring your ID or you might be refused wine tasting. Interns under 21 are welcome to come, but they will not be able to drink any wine... unless they can get creative with photoshop and a high quality printer. Any friends outside of REACH or Boeing are always welcome.

J. Wick
Boeing Phantom Works
Secret Evil Weapons Program

Then, this is the update to the event that he wanted to send out. Luckily he was talked out of sending this out... because it might not have been for his employment.

Hello All, its not too late to sign up for the wine tour. Laura needs
your payment by August 6th, see details below. If you RSVP to Laura she will give you instruction on how to pay online with paypal. We already have 68 people signed up. Don't miss out on what's bound to be the most legendary REACH social experience of all time. To answer a few commonly asked questions:

Yes, there will most definitely be drinking on the bus.

No, I do not have a funnel, but you're welcome to bring your own (uhmmm...funneling wine... that sounds good...)

No, we will not allow a breathalyzer contest to see who can achieve the highest blood alcohol level while remaining conscious (that could get dangerous, plus we all know that Kelly would win that one hands down)

Laura will get back to us on lunch details.

The pick up location will be at the Museum of Flight by Boeing Field. Non-Boeing people be sure to use the museum parking. If you venture elsewhere on Boeing property, our security forces will take you out like a seal team on an Afghan terrorist.

Right now it does not look like we will have a bus going to Everett. Only 9 Everett people have signed up out of 68. That's pretty weak guys.... I guess IDS employees are way cooler....
I hope to see you all there!

Wick
Phantom Works
Secret Underground UFO Research Lab - Alien Morgue
Acronym of the day: CRAP - Classified Reports and Publications

Ok... maybe you don't think these are as funny as I do, but its my website and I'll do whatever the CRAP I want.

Interns

2005-07-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

My manager is a genius. He gave me an intern. The weird thing about being a DBA intern is that you start off knowing NOTHING about your job. DBA interns are usually Computer Science students or sometimes Information Systems students... and have, at most, had 1 class "about" databases. What are they taught in this class? Well they'll learn that a relational database is a collection of tables. They'll also learn the basics of SQL (select, insert, update, delete, alter, create)... enough to do the ultimate database example: the video rental store.

In my case, my intern hasn't even taken this class. But, does that matter? not really. Why? because as a DBA you don't really use the basics of SQL. In fact, for my projects that are in "sustaining mode," I've never done a SELECT against any of their tables (but for projects in active development... thats a completely different story).

Also, I've been "instructing" the intern class this summer. This year's interns seem... different. Last year everyone was extremely social, and we hung out with the young employees all the time. This years group seems to be much more clique-ish and less social as a whole. Of course, there are more than a couple exceptions... and they're definitely exceptional.

The Beautiful People

2005-07-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Something I feel like I miss in Boeing is a personal connection to people that actually make decisions about what I do. But, my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss scheduled a meeting with me, and 5 other DBAs from my group to talk about… well… anything. It was amazing. His name is Radha Radhakrishnan (its fun to say, say it outloud) and he came to us, gave us a 15 minute ‘status update’ of the high-level stuff… then basically opened up the converstation for our comments and concerns.

Then I started thinking... "this shouldn't be an extraordinary thing to meet my boss". But, in Boeing it is. I really want to see an "enterprise wide org chart"... it would be taller than a Christmas tree, because there are so many levels of management

One thing that I’ve noticed about people at this level of executive-ship… they’re all beautiful. Radha is probably 50+, but he’s fit, trim, and -- in a completely hetero way -- a good looking man. I wonder if he's good-looking because he's a CEO... or he's a CEO because he's good-looking? If its the latter, I better start running more.

CII Again

2005-06-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a special edition of my blog… I’m writing this as I’m riding in the back of a Jeep Liberty climbing up the east side of Snoqualie Pass on my way back into Seattle. I’ve been so busy lately with work and personal stuff, that I just haven’t had the time to write on the blog. So, I’m using the same method that Vincent uses. I'm going to write 4 or 5 posts... but I'm going to spread them out over the next week or so.

The first thing to write about is the fact that I am going to be doing my CII idea. And, the way its going to be set up, it could theortically be on a Connexion-enabled flight in a couple months. I think Connexion uses J2EE JSPs for their dynamic web pages, so I’ve got to learn a new language… but, the cool thing about doing JSP is that I think we use it in my Masters Program to develop online services. So, by learning J2EE JSP stuff, I’m killing a couple birds with one stone. Plus, learning JSP shouldn’t be too bad, because I know vanilla Java fairly well.

I really can’t believe that this is actually going to happen. It’s still in the planning phase, but its happening! It feels cool that even a behemoth of a company (a la Boeing) has cool programs like the CII that promote small business innovations.

Not-so...

2005-06-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

I've been in class all week for Oracle 10g New Features (more about this later), and yesterday we got out early... so I logged into the work network. I don't remember who IM'd me the link about today's topic, but... someone did... and it may have ruined me for a day or 2.
There was a 5K "fun-run" in Fremont yesterday. I figured I could handle it because I had been running a couple miles after work 3 or 4 days a week. I roped Ray into going with me... and we met up at his apartment, and walked down to the start line. Ray and I chat a little bit, and then we're deciding which group we should be in... and I figured we should probably be in the 9:00 minute mile group. Luckily for Ray, he's in shape... and a 9 minute mile sounds like a leisurely stroll through Fremont. Unluckily for me, I'm a fat lard... and a 9 minute mile sounds like death. So, 9 minutes was the perfect compromise.
As it turns out, Ray and I both brought MP3 players... so we hardly even talked to each other during the run. And, he took off after about 100 yards.

Here is the list of my shames during the run:

I got passed by a guy that was at least 100 years old
I got passed by a guy running with a backpack full of speakers, batteries and MP3s.
I got passed by lots of girls. lots. (I'm not going to lie... this wasn't always a bad thing)
I got passed by a guy SPEED WALKING!
I got passed by many 10 year old children.

I finished in 29 minutes (or 9:20 miles per minute). Ray finished in 25:22 (8:10) miles per minute. He left me in the metaphorical dust.

Then... we had to walk back to Ray's apartment. It was uphill. It was death.

Its funny because its true

2005-06-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

Someone forwarded me an article yesterday and I just finally got around to reading it. This article is probably only funny if you're a DBA, or a developer who works with a DBA.

http://www.dbta.com/columnists/craig_mullins/current.html

Someone asked me why I like being a DBA, and I thought about it for a little bit... and honestly, my favorite part is when something breaks. It's kind of funny... but I definitely get a hit of adrenaline whenever something goes wrong with a production database, and it has to be fixed NOW.

Boeing VS Airbus

2005-06-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Boeing VS Airbus
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

SO, I recently discovered IceRocket.com... which had made me realize that I really appreciate the fact that there are people out there that are way smarter than I am.

So, when you do a normal search on IR, it will pull a screenshot of the webpage up. Which, may seem mostly useless... but its re-freakin-diculously cool.

The thing I really appreciate about it though, is the fact that it will create these graphs of searchs over time. So, everytime Boeing gets referenced in a blog entry (this graph is only for blog posts) it gets logged on this graph. How sweet is that?

I don't know about you... but the first time I run into a new search engine, I ALWAYS do a "vanity search"... and IR definitely satisfied my ego. I think may start using it more often.

Skipping a Meeting

2005-06-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

Remember way back, when you were still in College? There were basically 2 types of people: people who attended class regularly (almost religiously), and the people who skipped class as much as they went.
Are meetings at work the same?

BBQ In the QA

2005-05-30T00:06:00.000-07:00

Because people of my generation are still celebrating things at night (read: we drink)... we had to celebrate Memorial Day on sunday night. So, my roommates and I had a BBQ.

Pregame - I had heard that parties on Queen Anne get broken up pretty early, so when the invite went out... we would startup the BBQ at 5PM. Another precaution we took was to turn our lawn into a beer garden. We went to the Home Depot and got some fencing stuff. The fence really added some authority to our scheme of looking like young professionals blowing off some steam (read: yuppies drinking).

Game Time - Jennthe is probably the best person in the world. Jennthe and I were interns together last summer, and therefore "forever connected" (for those of you familiar with Boeing, I was trying to work in "Forever New Frontiers"... but, I didn't feel like expending the mental energy). Jenn came over like 5 hours early, and started making the best asian food I've ever had: Lumpia. What are Lumpias? (I don't know how to pluralize words in Tagalog... sorry). Short answer: Filipino Spring Rolls. But... they are oh so much more. Here is how Jenn made them, but the contents of a Lumpia can be as numerous as the islands of the Philippines.

Finely dice 4 carrots
Finely dice 4 stalks of celery
Finely dice 1 medium onion

Now mash up all that stuff with 4 lbs of Ground Beef. Thats the stuffing for the Lumpia. Now roll these guys up in some Lumpia wrappers (available at Uwajimaya). Lumpia are usually long and skinny (almost like a taquito). Make sure to use some egg-whites to "glue" the wrapper shut. Now you wait for your friends to show up because unlike revenge, Lumpia is a dish best served warm. Put about 4 inches of oil in a tall pot, and get it pretty warm. Now fry your Lumpia in there. They should take about 4 minutes in the oil to cook.

They were pure heaven. Jenn also made some ridiculicious potatoes (I just made that word up... ridiculously delicious smashed into one word).
Me and the roommates also served up some India Pale Ale that we brewed a couple months ago. I don't want to brag... but it was easily the best IPA I've ever had. Side note: A group of my friends brew beer in my basement. You can read about beer-brewing exploits here.

I just want to give a quick shout out to all the people that brought beer and food... you guys rule. I also just want to thank everyone for coming, it was awesome. We'll be doing that again a couple times this summer.

Postgame - The party really shut down about 10:30PM... and everyone went to the Paragon (a bar that is only about 6 blocks away). And when we got there, there was one of the coolest bands I've ever heard. There were only 2 guys; a guy on a guitar, and a guy playing a stand-up bass. What was the first thing we heard them play? The music from Mario level on Bowser's floating ship. It was intense. Then they played Stairway to Heaven... which rocked unbelievable amounts of yuppie-butt.

Unlike a college or high school party, this BBQ was amazingly easy to clean up. My friends all "respected" the house, and put their can and whatnot into the garbage... so it only took about 45 minutes to clean up the house this morning.

And because when people found out about this last night, they seemed upset that I hadn't told them already... so I figured I should probably just tell everyone. Today is my 23rd birthday.

I can't believe I forgot this...

2005-05-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

The blog just had its first birthday May 11th. Happy Birthday to this inanimate object!

Two Huge Announcements

2005-05-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

I've got lots of awesome news to report... but 2 mega-awesome things, so I'll restrict it to just those 2.
I've been accepted to the Masters of Software Development and managementt at Carnegie Mellon University (West Coast Campus). I'm really excited. And, the awesome thing? Boeing will pay for the whole thing. Boeing's Learning Together Program is truly amazing. I haven't heard of a program like it an any other company. The LTP will pay for any school you could want to take! (I heard they won't pay for a Ph.D, but I'm not sure about that). I think when I'm done with my Masters, I'm going to take some language courses. I want to learn Spanish (or German, or something else equally cool). And, I shan't pay a single penny out of my pocket. I've been toying with the idea of getting my Masters of CS too... but that is in the future.

And the second piece of awesome news: I made it to Phase II for my CII idea. I'm going to get some funding to work on putting computer games on airplanes. How much does that rule? Next time you're on an airplane, and you're bored out of your mind... just think: "Adam is working on fixing this". Remember... I'm always looking out for you.
During the last phase, I had focused on making sure this idea sounded fun. And everyone agrees with me that it would be fun to play games... but the Analysts they have in the CII are amazing; they saw pitfalls of this project that I never even imagined (I was going to list them out... but I'm not on my work computer, so I don't remember what all of them were). But, the cool thing is that most of the comments were really positive, and it feels cool to have your brain-child "validated" by smart people.
Now, during Phase II, I have to focus on the business side of things for the project. I definitely glossed over these during Phase I, so I'm basically starting from zero in this aspect. I just got some statistics from Connexion to use in my business proposal... and I'm not sure I understand everything on these charts. I actually saw words on these charts that I had NO idea what they meant.
But before I get too much into Phase II, I have to give a presentation to the Programs Manager of Connexion (I think thats what he is... Shannon, is that right?) next Thursday... and from the sounds of it, he holds the ultimate fate of my idea in his hand.

And as a PS. I just got back from NYC on Monday, and I had a B-L-A-S-T. And while I was there, I thought it would be awesome to move to Manhattan. But, I just went to Ivar's with some friends; it was a beautiful day, and I don't think I can move away from Seattle any time soon. We sat on the dock, drinking Coronas, watching the boats roll by.

late night

2005-05-21T00:58:00.000-07:00

It's almost 1AM. I've got a flight to New York at 8:15AM. I'm still at work... and no end in site.

I'm a bad person

2005-05-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

I feel bad... I haven't posted for a while. I'll give you a brief rundown of why I haven't had the time

Car Work - The engine in my '95 Jeep Wrangler tried to fall out. When I took it to a mechanic, they told me that I needed to buy an entirely new engine. With installation, $5000. No thank you. I took it back to Spokane so I could work on it with my dad. We fixed it for about $150. That took 2 weekends.
U of Idaho Graduation - I went back to Moscow for U of I's graduation last weekend. A lot of my really good friends were graduating... and I wanted to be there. Plus, I wanted to have one last weekend of collegehood. It was worth the 10 hours of driving. Its amazing how well balanced the kids that come out of UI are. There are so many people that are fun to hang out with, but at the same time, really smart. Congrats to my awesome and smart friends. This is going to sound mother-ish... but I'm so proud of all of you.

Danny: My roommate (and best friend) for 3.5 years. Going to work at Schweitzer Engineering Labs. And he signed the papers to buy his first house today. Congrats Fancy.
Patty: He's going to work at Intel on gigabit ethernet.
Erica: Going to grad school at UC Santa Barbara to work on Optical Signal Processing
Vedran: Going to work for Fast Enterprises. The little Croatian kid made it.
Yes, there are more... but its "late" (now that I'm old, 10:30PM is late)

CII - I've been working on my Gate I presentation. I'll be presenting on Wednesday... wish me luck. I'm usually pretty good at talking in front of people... but in the past, the only thing that has been on the line has been a grade; now there is actual money stake.

On a side note: Interns are arriving, summer is beginning, my motorcycle is running, I'm going to NYC next weekend, I finally bought some tools.... Life is freaking awesome.

Oregon Trip

2005-05-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

Token Sunset on Oregon Coast
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

One of the great parts about Seattle is leaving. Seattle is awesome, and part of that awesomeness is the location. Seattle is located in one of the most beautiful parts of the US (if not the world!).
After a short 5 hour drive, my friends and I pulled up to a wonderful house on the Oregon coast. We payed peanuts for this house... about $20 per night per person... some of the best money I've ever spent though.
We feasted like kings, and drank according to Cliff's Buffalo Theory.

Where to Live in Seattle

2005-04-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I shouldn't be considered an authority on this topic... but I've gotten this question enough times that I think it warrants a post.
If you're moving to Seattle for the summer, you're going to need a place to live. Where you should live really depends on a number of factors. These factors can be reduced to these 2 variables: cost, and 'fun'.
Cost: This is the most important for a lot of people. Luckily none of the Boeing factories are high-rent areas, so if you want to have less fun... you can find lots of cheap(ish) housing near where you work. These are usually less fun neighborhoods though. I personally have never spent much time after-hours in Renton, so I can't imagine there is too much to do down there (for someone my age). I don't know much about Everett... but lots of the Everett interns came down to Seattle to hang-out last year. Cost is directly proporational to fun. Higher cost = more fun, Lower cost = less fun. On my scale, I'm going to rate places to live on a cost scale of 0 to 10. 10=$300/month, 0=$1500.
Fun: If you're less concerned with getting cheap rent, then you're fun-o-meter is definitely going to go up. For rating the 'fun' of a neighborhood, 0="no-bars-or-anything-significantly-fun-for-5-miles", 10="walking-distance-to-extreme-fun".

[Format... Neighborhood Name: / - my comments]
Belltown: 0/10 - Right outside of downtown... this is the place to live if you feel like you're going to want to go to lots of bars with lots of young people. Expect HIGH rent in this area.
Lower Queen Anne: 1/9 - (AKA "Uptown") A little past Belltown, this is a mini-Belltown. Not quite as many bars and restaurants, but still fairly "hip".
Upper Queen Anne: 1/7 - This is actually where I live. Its a little pricey to live on top of Queen Anne. But its a pretty good quite neighborhood that is only a $10 cab ride to Belltown.
U-District: 8/7 - This is where the University of Washington is. So, during the summer there is LOTS of housing, but not quite as many people there. You can usually find a place for about a 8-ish price. There is plenty to do in the U-District, and lots of good ethnic food.
Fremont: 3/7 - Self proclaimed "Center of the Universe". There are lots of good places to eat and drink at. It's got some nice views of the water (Lake Union).
Greenlake: 6/8 - I love Greenlake. Its a little recreational mecca within the limits of the actual city (I think). There is a beautiful lake with an awesome jogging trail around it. Good bars and good food.

These are the places that I go with some regularity. I don't feel comfortable commenting on the other neighborhoods around town. But, there are LOTS of websites with info about where you want to live. The MOST useful (that I've found) is this site from the Seattle P-I. Read it and soak in the information.

Go forth and find a place to live.

The Most Fun...

2005-04-22T00:43:00.000-07:00

The days when you get almost no work done are always the most fun (but usually the least rewarding). I had a friend that wanted to know what it was like to be a DBA, so he job shadowed me today. He came to a couple meetings with me... and he learned that being a DBA is actually pretty easy (most of the time). I felt bad for him, because he came to my group's staff meeting... which is where our manager tells us all the stuff that "Boeing" is trying to enforce on us. I use the word "Boeing" because even inside the company... "they" are just some intangible scapegoat to blame all of the organizational problems on.
The cool part of today was going to check out some Materials and Process Technology testing. One of my friends was FLAMETESTING some components for an airplane (yes... I was purposefully vague there). It was cool, but extremely boring. It was boring because the things being flame tested DIDN'T burn... which is an extremly positive thing, because its all over the airplane. Its cool to see something that you would expect to burst into flames just sit there and take a direct flame.

mod_plsql

2005-04-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

mod_plsql is an Apache module that lets you call Oracle stored procedures to generate a webpage. Never in my whole life would I have imagined that something like this would exist... but it does, and apparently it’s sweet (but there are a few problems I'm seeing with it).
mod_perl and mod_python are for the weak of mind. Wrap around an application stored entirely in a database. Now imagine what a headache migrating between versions of Oracle might cause. Another thing to think about: how are the source files version controlled? Since they’re not actual files, how do you version them with an existing versioning program (Subversion, CVS, etc)?
I'll give you 2 guesses what multi-national aerospace conglomerate might have a critical application using mod_plsql (if you guessed ANYTHING other that Boeing… you belong with the unwashed masses). Now guess who gets to bring the system up to workable state. If you guessed "Adam," you're half right... they chose the 2 youngest people in my group... me and Alan (well, to be honest... you would be more like .75 right, because Alan is kind of a small guy).
One GIGANTICLY awesome advantage to working on this project is that it’s already rock-solid stable. So, there isn't a big time rush to get it fixed. But here is the condensed list of things we are going to do:

Get a test environment set up. A new database, a new web server, a new Oracle Internet Application Server, and a metric crapload of configuration files.
Lead the development of a configuration management system. Currently their source versioning system is: “source.file,” “copy of source.file,” “copy (2) of source.file,” ad nausem (did I use that correctly, I don’t know… I didn’t take Latin in high school). I think one of the things I get to do on this project is to take it from a “Joel Test” level 1, to a level 12 (or a 10, because its hard for an application in Boeing to get the support needed to meet #8 and #9).
Migrate from Oracle 8i to 10g. If you listened to Oracle, this should be no problem at all. But, if you’ve ever done an Oracle migration of anything more complex than the ‘scott/tiger’ demo… you know better than that.

This is cool, because it’s more non-DBA work. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with DBA work… but diversifying my portfolio is something my career broker told me to do.

Sitting in front of my new 19” LCD makes me happy… that’s why you’re getting a flood of new posts to the site. Plus I've gotten some new music in the last couple days. Snuff rules.

For those keeping score at home. I've moved over to using MS Word to write my posts... then I paste it into blogger. Seems to work, but blogger claims they've fixed the problem. I haven't used Word in a while, but Office 2003 is really pretty looking and works wonderfully well.

Can't think of anything

2005-04-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

I can't really think of anything Boeing related to write about, but I want to write something (Blogging can be addictive). So I'm going to write about some cool things that I've started using lately. This is [programming/dork/people with no life]-oriented... so you might find it extremly dry and boring. But then again... I rule... so it might be good.

Doxygen, http://www.doxygen.org/: If you've ever used Javadoc and thought it was cool. Your heart was in the right place, but your mind was a million miles off. Doxygen will parse your code and create documentation for you. And, if you're not lazy, and actually write Doxygen style comments... it will even include those. If you've ever wondered how to document a project that was bigger than you can imagine... doxygen gets it done. KDevelop uses it to create they're API Docs

Trac, http://www.edgewall.com/trac/: Working on a program that is more that a couple hundred lines of code? You definitely need a bug tracking system. Because you're never going to remember all the bugs in the code. Trac is awesome because of its integration into other software. Trac gives you information about your Subversion repository. Bug/Issue tracking and subversion integration make it worth using right there... but you better believe it... it also cuts through pennies. Its also got a built-in wiki that lets you automatically link to issues, milestones, and other stuff in your project. My one gripe with it right now is that doesn't use an RDBMS... just flat files. But, there is upcoming support for actual DB usage.

Forward Declarations: OH man these are sweet. Compiling can be a long and boring process. Forward Decls reduce that time by reducing the number of #includes you have to include in your code. If you want to use these, you better read a little bit.

Oh wow... Blogger did it to me again... I had another couple of paragraphs written, and it just blew 'em away. Maybe I should be learning instead of repeating the same dumb mistakes. Meh.

For the Boeing starved: There are 450+ interns in the Puget Sound area this summer. A lot of those kids are coming from other parts of the US. We want them to have a good time in Seattle... so we're putting together a list of things they should do while they're here in Seattle. What festivals/activities are there to go to? Where should they visit (day trips usually)?

What would you consider "Quintessential Seattle"? If you can think of something that we should include on the list... shoot me an email, or leave a comment.

Outline of the stuff I do

2005-04-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Some people have been asking me what I do. For the high-level 30,000 foot view, I'm a DBA. But at a lower-level, I'm oh-so-much more. I don't know exactly how much I can talk about these... so I'm going to play it on the safe side.

NEL: The Noise Engineering Laboratory. They do just what you imagine... they change stuff around to make engines, stabilizers, etc quieter. I've been to this lab, and its really awesome. They have lots of HUGE padded labs... you know, like you see in a recording studio to dampen echos. Since they acquire large amounts of data, they've got some Oracle databases... and your's truley is the DBA on those. Everything is already setup, and this has been a pretty easy project so far... just basic DBA stuff (renaming stuff, etc).

PROPLAB: The Propulsion Laboratory. Again... exactly like it sounds. They work on engines. And they store data in an Oracle database.

Windtunnel: Yeah, they run models through a windtunnel... and you wouldn't believe the amounts of data they're storing. This Oracle database is flippin' enourmous. So far I've just been writing scripts for these guys, but I think I'm about to start moving into a more primary role on this project.

The above 3 projects are actually all for the same group, they're just different labs. So they have somewhat similar setups.

Quick Sidenote: I was in a meeting for the windtunnel project last week, and as I was leaving... it sounded like I could hear some remote control cars. Well, it turns out I was pretty close... there was an electric slot-car race track setup in a cube on that floor. So... I sat there and raced a slot-car around a 5-second track for about 30 minutes. It was awesome.

Architecture Integration: I actually don't do any DBA work for this project. I started out as a 'Data Architect' (normally the role would be called a 'Data Modeler', but i'm too fat to model anymore). Now that the initial modeling stuff is over, I've gone to a sort of 'Data Analyst' role. I prefer the name the people on the project have given me though: "Data Guru".

This post was way longer... but I 'previewed' it in... and it replaced about 5 paragraphs of text with: "%2". So guess what. I'm done.

P.S. Blogger sucks.

OH! I'm going to a presentation about corporate blogging tomorrow. I don't know the "scope" of the presentation... but hopefully its cool (and doesn't bore me to tears (which is fully possible when you do ANYTHING at a gigantore corporation)).

And one last thing. I don't know if this is Boeing specific... but business buzzwords drive me insane. I'm not even going to bother wasting your time talking about them right now. BUT just wait... I think I'm going to jot down a few especially annoying ones in the next couple weeks... maybe I'll find enough stuff to warrant posting about it.

Chairman’s Innovation Initiative

2005-04-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

There are 2 parts to this post. The first is about the Chairman’s Innovation Initiative (CII) in general, and the second part is about the idea I proposed. Hopefully my idea will keep moving through the stages... because then I can document (right on this here blog) what its like to move through the CII process.
So, as the name would indication, the CII is about "incubating" new ideas that employees storm up. Here is what happens:

CII has a website where you can browse all the old ideas that people have submitted (to make sure you're not submitting a duplicate). And its a great place to find some "inspiration".
Then on the website it tells you to run a few personal checks on the idea: "do your friends think its a good idea?" Another check that I read on another website said: "Can you convince people to join your development team? If not, its probably not as good an idea as you think it is".
Then you can submit right through their website. You write a synaposis of your idea; it is how you would describe your idea to someone outside of the Boeing company. And you also write your "Marketing Plan / Strategy".
So, you've spent approximately 15 minutes of work on your idea... and already, things are about to start happening, because in just a few days, you're going to be contacted by an business analyst from the CII group. This is as far as I've made it in the "pipeline", so the rest is just what I've read and heard from various sources.
Now you get prepped for you "Gate I" review. This is you pitching your idea (more formally) to all the CII analysts, and some subject matter experts (SMEs). If they like your idea, and think you/your team are the people to move forward with it... you've just got yourself some funding!
Now you're in Phase II of your idea. You start building your real business model... you know... how is your idea going to make money? Basically you spend this time talking to possible business partners and suppliers, and getting a business proposal ready to pitch it to the President or Vice President of a interested business unit (If you don't know, Boeing is made up of a few business units (BUs), Commercial Airplanes, Integrated Defense, Capital Corporation, etc).
You're hitting "Gate II" right now. This is where you're pitching your idea to VPs and Presidents. And you better do a good job too, because your CII funding is all gone. If your idea doesn't get picked up by one of the BUs now... its all over.
Congrats, you've just passed Gate II, now there are a few options. You can go back to your normal job, and pretend you never did anything... but you get the satisfaction of knowing that your idea took off... and is going to be put into actual use. OR You can move with your idea and work on the development of that. Now you're getting funding from the BU that liked your idea... you get to start actually developing your product.

The company that helped develop the CII program has a case study about it, and if you're interested in the CII, you should read it [pdf] [HTML].

Now, about MY idea: Have you ever been on a long flight (or anything longer than about an hour)? No matter how good the book you brought is... you're always bored on the plane. The food tray in the seatback in front of you isn't quite big enough to play a board game on. So, why not bust out that shiny laptop that you've brought on the trip with you (but you're not sure why you brought it) and play some video games. Well, single player games lose their appeal pretty quickly... but who is there to play a game against? Well, you're in a confined space with at least 100 other bored people... and a lot of them have laptops too. See where I'm going? An intra-airplane gaming network. Connexion by Boeing establishes a wireless network on the airplane... so the hardware is done. Now we need the games, and a way to connect the people in the airplane together. Oh, and we need to figure out a business model that will work for this service.

There are lots of ways to expand on this basic idea too. For example: The Boeing Airbourne Network for Gaming (BANG... and YES I did just make that up) could be born. Now you can play against people on OTHER flights too!

I'm suppose to talk to my analyst later today (today is my day off... but I'm really excited about working with the CII), so we'll see how far my idea makes it. Even if this idea doesn't take off, I'm definitely going to keep coming up with ideas until one does!

My Nerd Quotient

2005-04-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

My Nerd Quotient
Originally uploaded by adamb0mb.

I recently saw this test on someone's blog, and I HAD to know how nerdy I was. The person who had it on their blog scored a 93... and he works at MS (nerd kingdom). So, I figured I'd probably get in the high 80s.
One of the questions is: "What are you doing on a friday night?" and I answered: "Out with friends". Which is true (or wednesday, or thursday, or saturday night too). So, I don't know how I could decrease my nerd quotient.
The sad thing... I was answering some of the questions 'moderatly'.. trying not to expose my full nerdness.

The Cynics Were Right

2005-03-23T18:39:00.000-08:00

If you had to ONE thing to give to your parents to prove that sending you to college was "worth it"... what would you give them? Something that represented your initiation into the professional world. Something that showed them that their 'baby boy' was all growed up. It isn't expensive, and it doesn't have any actual value but your first set of business cards have quite a high symbolic value.
While I was ordering my cards, I kept asking my mentor what I should put on them. And eventually he broke down, and said "it doesn't matter what you put on them, because it will be outdated in about 3 months." And, I'm like... whatever.
Well, what do you know... today I learned that my entire organization was moving to a new business unit. My cards say: "Shared Services Group", but I'm no longer part of that business unit.
Damnit.

Another Reason...

2005-03-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

I just thought of another thing that has made me happy I'm working for Boeing.
Randy's Blog was started just before I came back to work. At first I thought it was going to be mediocre, but as I've been reading it (its updated once a week or so), I've actually started to enjoy it.
I really like the fact that Boeing has an official blog. Lots of companies have blogs, but... I think it would be safe to say that more companies DON'T have blogs, and it's cool to work for a company that has executives that enjoy doing the same things you do (blogging). I really hope that Boeing has some other people start keeping official blogs... that would make me happy.

Awesomeness of Boeing

2005-03-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

I've got a quick story about how working at Boeing can be really awesome
So, I had a marginal day at work on Wednesday... I had a bunch of work to get done for a meeting I had on Thursday. I normally leave work a few minutes before 5PM because it seems like I can miss a lot of traffic, and make it home a few minutes quicker (or stay until 6:30PM to let all the traffic dissipate). But, because of the work I had to get done, I didn't leave until about 5:20PM and traffic on I-5 was in full-swing... so it was going to take me atleast 45 minutes to get home (without traffic, it is a 27 minute drive).
I was sitting in traffic, getting more and more annoyed with myself for leaving late. And just being annoyed with traffic in general. Then, I caught a glimpse of something that made my mood to completely turn around. Boeing's recently completed 777-200LR Worldliner is still in flight test, so it is flying in and out of Boeing Field. I happened to catch the new plane about 1/4 of a mile off the end of the runway on its final approach. It totally made my day... I wish I had had a camera to take a picture, but fortunately Boeing has plenty of picturesof it.

Rolling Backpacks

2005-03-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

I must have just not have been paying attention, but people are getting unbelievably lazy. When did carrying your briefcase or backpack become too much of a burden? People with the rolling "carry-on" bags are EVERYWHERE. Then it struck me... workplaces are just like high school.

In high school, one person has a mediocre idea... then the "popular kid" thinks its the greatest idea ever... then EVERYONE jumps on the bandwagon. I know everyone's high school had a different weird fad, but every school has one. If I remembered much about high school, I could probably tell you want my school's was... but alas, nope.

Another weird fad at Boeing (and I'm sure other places) is what we (the younger Boeingers) have dubbed "Badge Flair." If you're unfamiliar with flair, you must see Office Space. Most people have their badge on a lanyard around their neck. Then attached to this lanyard is a plastic holder for the badge. The plastic holder has some edges on it that have enough room to put pins on. So, now the competition is to find the coolest pin to put on your badge. And of course... the more pins the cooler you are, so people are rolling with some massive collections of "bling" attached to their badges.

Tomorrow is my first day of working from home... we'll see how that goes. Most people say they're more productive at home, but... well... we'll see.

New Logo

2005-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

There was some question as to whether or not I could use my old logo, because it contained the copywritten Boeing logo. Luckily, my roommate is a graphic designer and a nice guy to boot. So, he came to my rescue. He asked for nothing in return... but I wouldn't allow that. So I bought him a box of popsicles. He whipped up this logo for me real quick, but he has loads of cool art he's done. He does lots of concert posters and stuff. Anyways... you can check out his work at his website.

Intern Class

2005-02-23T00:31:00.000-08:00

Pending approval from my managers, I'll be one of the "teachers" at the Bellevue Intern Class. Since there are about 400 interns this summer, they've broken the intern class up into 3 sections: Seattle, Everett, and Bellevue.
One of my intern friends from last summer will also be "teaching" with me at the class (if you are familiar... its Jenn). And another U of Idaho kid will be at the Seattle class.

The Two Sides...

2005-02-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

There are 2 forces applied to the new hire: being new and being fresh.
"Low man on the totem pole" really has some meaning to me now. There hasn't really been any explicit manifestaions from my coworkers about this... but I'm pretty sure everyone is thinking it (or maybe I'm just paranoid). "He's the new kid, don't give him anything you don't want to be massacred." But, I think that also might have to do with DBAs being pretty careful. I'm not that experienced, and they've worked hard getting this database up and running... now they don't want anything bad to happen to it.
But, I'm also fresh out of college, and everyone thinks I'm really cool (far-fetched, I know, but nonetheless). Everyone wants to work with me, to see what I'm like or something. One of the nicest guys I've ever met (and it just so happens, that his stepson was an intern with me last year) brought me into a project where I won't actually be doing DBA work (in the Boeing-sense), I'll be doing Data Architecture.... or in normal-people-words: data modeling. Most of the people that I talk to in the halls ask me if I have enough work. And, I finally do. This is pretty cool.
On a side note, I've gotten several emails and comments from people saying that they're coming to intern or work at Boeing this summer, and they like reading this site because it gives them some firsthand knowledge of working at Boeing. Suckers... I don't really know anything... I make up most of the content here. So... if you're going to be an intern, you might just get to meet me in real life, because I might be a teacher for the "intern class." Basically all the interns from Seattle (or Everett) get together and hangout for 4 hours, and people who have interesting jobs come and tell us about their jobs. And sometimes you get to play Boeing Trivia. My team rocked everyone last year... we won by some ridiculous margin (A: Good at Trivia. Q: Who is Adam).
Everyone at Boeing is on some wacky internal clock, where "start time" is 7:30 or earlier, so I gotta get to bed. Adios Chitlins.

The First Week (again)

2005-02-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

I had WAY more fun at work than I expected. After my internship last summer, I was kind of "down" on being a DBA. But now that I have my own projects, its actually interesting. I work for some really cool groups: Noise Engineering Labs, Propulsion Labs, Airport Technology, and the application they use to have a customer configure their airplane. And, after they buy an airplane, they can get access to MyBoeingFleet[1]... which I will also be working on.
I think I'm also having fun because I'm learning a lot about databases. And lately, I've been interested in large amounts of data, information retrieval, and informatics. And I'm just starting work on writing a web crawler (something I've always wanted to do just for fun). After taking a class in Evolutionary Algorithms (EA), I became really interested in that, and in the last couple of weeks... I've started thinking about ways to apply EAs to a search engine. If I do anything cool, I'm sure I'll post the results here. For right now, I want to write the web crawler, because I like data (the stuff, not the character). As the old adage says: the more, merrier.

[1] Secure, password protected site for online maintenance, engineering, and flight operations data for airline customers. Also, list of service centers, spare parts search, and tracking of Website metrics.

The First Day (again)

2005-02-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

So, today was my first day back at Boeing. It went much better than I expected, which was a pleasant suprise.
So, I turned up at the plant at about 8AM. I didn't have a badge, so I had to go get a new one first thing. There was some waiting around, but luckily Frontiers (the Boeing corporate magazine) had a pretty interesting article about Howard Hughes. They've updated the badges a little bit. My new badge has a smartcard chip on it. I don't know what it's for... but it looks pretty sweet. Another new addition to my badge was a the letter "N". Because of recent scandals they have to mark people that are new employees (been there less than 3 years) to show that there might be a possible conflict of interest if the person is part ofcontract negotiations.
Anyways, it takes a while for my new badge to get me access to the buildings... so I had to stalk around a little bit by the doors to get in, but I don't think anyone really noticed (I'm kind of a pro at stalking, but don't tell Weird Al Yankovic). And even if someone had noticed, I would have been ok because I now had a badge.
As soon as I got to my desk, I left to go to a performance review for one of my projects (one that I worked on as an intern)... for 2 hours. And then the morning was done. So I spent most of the rest of the day on the phone trying to get my computer sorted out. There was a slight problem... basically it hasn't been loaded properly, so I didn't really have access to anything. And just like that... the day was done. If every day I work goes by this quickly... I'll be a happy boy. I already have about a 50% workload after my first day. And as soon as one guy gets back from vacation, he's going to give me the other half of my work.
The only bad part about today was that I was EXTREMELY tired. I was so excited about today that I couldn't fall asleep last night. I didn't get to sleep until after 4AM, and I woke up at about 6:40AM. I'm going to blame the lack of humor in this post to my lack of sleep. Bye.

Never Underestimate the Power of College Kids

2005-02-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

I just talked to Dan. And in the true tradition of college, he and his new roomates threw a "Tsuami Relief Party". Because of the weather in Moscow they were expecting a somewhat muted attendence. They purchase 5 kegs based on the estimated attendence numbers. But University of Idaho students paid little attention to the weather, and in the interest of The Tsunami victims... they showed up in record numbers.
The report that I got was that about 300 people showed up, and approx. $900-$1000 was collected to send to a (as of now, undecided) relief organization. In the end the party consumed 10 kegs and an undiclosed amount of Jello Shots before calling it a night.
Well Done Guys.

The Memories of Paperwork Past

2005-01-30T01:40:00.000-08:00

So, T minus 8 days until I start work again. And I'm actually pretty excited... but I'm also dreading what lay directly in front of me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited to be moving to Seattle, but I'm not really excited about moving to Seattle. Normally moving isn't a too big of a deal because I really don't have that much stuff (a couch, a bed, a dresser, and a BBQ comprise most of my worldly possesions). I can easily fit it all into my Dad's truck, but alas, the truck is in Arizona right now. So, when I realized that Boeing will hire a company to move my stuff for me... I thought that that would be a great deal. Nope. So, they're picking my stuff up on Tuesday the 1st. And they'll be dropping it off on Monday... the 14th. And to be honest, I could almost care less about that. I'm just not a fan of not being in control of the situation.
Anyways, the paperwork is already coming in. Paperwork for the movers, paperwork for the corporate credit card, paperwork for moving expenses, paperwork for more paperwork (yes its funny, but no... its not a joke). When I went back to school, Boeing had left somewhat of a bad taste (not really bad, its like Tuna packed in water instead of oil. Still tasty-as-all-get-out, but could better) in my mouth and over the schoolyear that has faded into the background. But, getting large packets of paper is bringing it right back up to the front. Once I get going, and I'm just one of the cogs in the corporate machine... I won't have to do so much paperwork. I guess its just the paperwork to install a cog that is a pain.
Sorry its been so long since I've posted, but I really haven't had much to say about my "professional" life lately, since it's been on hold while I transition out of college.

What I Really Want To Do...

2005-01-03T16:41:00.000-08:00

Is being a DBA what I really want to do? Not so much. Its a decent job, with decent pay, for a decent company in an awesome city. One thing I've never been happy with is being just 'decent'. So, I have a feeling that over the next few years I'll be transitioning some of those 'decents' to 'exceptionally awesomes.'
So, what really strikes my fancy? Well, I've always been a fan of making web pages. So that is a start I guess. But as web sites get more and more advanced, I become more and more intrigued by the possibilities of what can be done on the web. Newer sites aren't just HTML and javascript, they are rich enviroments with high amounts of user interactivity with low amounts of old-school-ish navigation. Here are some good examples:

Flickr - My friend and I toyed with doing a photo-sharing website this summer, but never got around to it. If we had been focused, and got it done... I could only hope that it would be half as useful/cool as Flickr. With smart javascript, and flawless integration of flash applications into the webpages, the site *begs* to be used. Another cool thing about Flickr is the availability of an API for outside developers to use. There have already been some genius applications developed that do cool things.
GMail - By far the best webmail I've ever used. They say that their organization system is far superior to previous email systems. Its pretty cool... but its not that much greater. The part that I think is really cool is that the email is very interactive... you don't have to load a bunch of pages. As soon as you're logged in, it seems like you're just using a normal windows program.

There are more, but I wanted to keep this post shorter than normal. So, what do these website have to do with me? Well, I want to create a web application that is cool enough to have people write about them... simply because they're cool. And hopefully there is some money making potential in them...

Never Again... Weird.

2004-12-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

I graduated on saturday. The fact that I'm never going to be living like this again... it hasn't really hit me yet.
* I've had the same roommate for 3.5 years, and I'm probably never going to live with him again. weird.
* I've grown accustomed to taking naps after lunch, and I'm probably never going to be able to do that again. weird.
* I'm constantly messing around on my computer when I'm supposed to be doing homework, and I'd probably get in trouble at work for doing that... so I'll probably quit doing that so much... weird.
* This list could go on for ages.

I get this weird feeling everyone now expects me to be grown up. I've got news for you... NOT GONNA HAPPEN. I'm still going to do all the stupid stuff I've been doing in college for the last 4.5 years.