My first week at work

Sorry to have been inactive (at least in the blog...)for so long. Settling into the working environment for the first week was second only to jet lag in terms of wiping me out.

The first week of work went very, very well. I found out how well college has prepared me for the "real world", and I also found out just how much stuff I am completely clueless about. It was great to be able to speak face to face with the engineers and understand their terminology (even through the accents and broken English). I'm working on two projects. First is a concept that is a complete diversion for me and the company's tendencies. The second is much more traditional, and is simply a freshening up of a current product(which is a lot more involved than it sounds) which is due last week (if you catch my drift). It is sort of tough keeping pace but at least I am comfortable both with the pressure and with the technology and terminology. I can thank my college for that. It seems I came at the busiest time as my coworkers are all swamped and I am one of the first interns to be knee deep in two projects within the first week.

While the work is hard and the days are long, there is a lot to love about being here. First is the fact that I'm up on the 22nd floor. This means that anything that happens outside (thunder, rain, fog, clouds) seem a lot closer and more threatening than they appear from the ground. I can't wait until a typhoon rolls in while I'm at work. The incredible height leads to incredible views. I can literally "see my house from here" when I'm in the office - if I press my face against the window...and I can see the track where I run after work. Hong Kong is the only place I have seen that seems so very urban in the midst of such unforgiving terrain. the mountains are so absurdly steep that I wonder who thought it was a good idea to build anything around here at all.

This is not the view from the office - but rather from the street in front of the apartment. This is the apartment (the white building in the center of the frame)- I think mine is somewhere to the lower left - on the fourth floor. The lower floor is nice for the short elevator ride (balanced by the 22 story jaunt on the way into the office).

There's a track near the apartment...

From one end of the track, I can see this:

umpteen cookie cutter apartment buildings all interconnected and enormous.

And from the other end:A beautiful mountainside covered in forest and undergrowth.

In one day I have seen from the office windows, at least a little bit of each of the following: Mountains, Tai Po, water, clouds, fog, rain, sunlight, and pitch darkness, the track near the apartment, and the apartment building itself, and some spectacular scenery. (the boss-men don't seem to understand why i keep looking into their offices - but I can't keep my eyes off of the views)

The building is seriously big and it looms large on the horizon. I work about 50 feet behind the giant "G" in "TAI PING" and the bathroom is somewhere around that string of windows at the back of the tall section(by the T).

This really is something else for a guy who has spent most of his time in the suburbs of DC or in Savannah...