Pittsburgh, Part II
So the first two days of training have been mind-boggling. We're learning all about how to use and configure a special search engine, and like all things that are exceptionally customizable and powerful, it is extremely complex.
Thinking about this stuff all day yesterday was especially trying because I was exhausted: I'd slept poorly on Sunday night (on account of being in a new bed with low-thread-count sheets. I am so spoilt...) and I'd gotten up at what felt like 4 a.m. to my body, so by the middle of the day I was falling asleep and at the end of the day I had such a pounding headache I couldn't even think straight. Even after taking four Advil Liqui-Caps! I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. (EDT!) and aside from a couple of brief wake-ups in the middle of the night I slept all the way through until about 7:30 this morning. Much-needed rest.
The people training us are friendly and pleasant and have treated us to lunches out the last two days (yesterday was a local deli, today Thai) in addition to feeding us pastries and bagels and coffee and snacks throughout the day. I did hit that proverbial wall this afternoon but I am definitely (mostly) acclimated to the time zone now!
We're learning a lot about how to write XPath strings as well as becoming a bit more familiar with XSL. My web design experience is coming in quite handy in these areas, too.
Now that I've seen a bit more of the city, I can report back on it: it feels sort of like a mix between the Washington, D.C. area and Portland. Not unlike Portland, Pittsburg's downtown has rivers running through it with several pretty bridges spanning those rivers. The downtown area has some lovely buildings as well, including PPG Place, which looks sort of like a castle made with really tall steel pencils. The "like-D.C." piece of Pittsburgh is in the architecture of homes in the city. A large portion of the homes we've seen so far are built with brick exteriors. When I lived in and visited the D.C. area years ago this was one of the things I remember seeing so frequently, and something that is quite uncommon in the northwest area of the U.S. I'm not 100% certain I love it, but it is fun to see a different style of building. Not that I would want to move here but, on the whole, Pittsburgh is a generally pleasant place.
Although neither of my colleagues are at all interested in going with me, I'm planning to go see the Bodies exhibit on Thursday at the Carnegie Science Center. My brother went to see this exhibit when it was at OMSI in Portland and said it was really fascinating. I was supremely disappointed that I'd missed it then, so I was thrilled to see it's here in Pittsburgh while I'm here! Thursday, I think, is going to be my "fun day" - my colleagues are going to meet me downtown for dinner and I think we'll plan to enjoy ourselves on our last night.
Anyway, it's late and I have another busy day tomorrow! Hasta pronto!
Comments
I LOVED the Bodies Exhibit!! I saw in the summer of 2006 here in London and thought it was fantastic, can't wait to hear your opinion about it. glad you're enjoying hte training bits as well & hope you continue to sleep well!
Posted by: sara | April 16, 2008 01:59 AM