My New House

We finally got keys to our first house today! Our escrow closed today after the bank wired the money to them and they got everything on record. Our real estate agent went over to Bellevue, where the seller is located, to pick up the keys for us and we got it from him later in the evening. Even though we don't move until Saturday, Alex and I could not wait any longer, so we went straight to the new house after getting the keys.

We had never gone to the house at night before tonight, so it was definitely interesting seeing our new neighbourhood when it's dark all around. When we did the walk-through last week, the selling agent mentioned to us that Kenmore, where are new house is, is kind of interesting because it's kind of rural as well as suburban at the same time. Today I definitely noticed the rural side of things as we drove by our neighbourhood at night. Unlike Seattle, Kenmore's not very well lit at all at night. In fact, the street we live on does not have a single street light. The downside of that is it would be really difficult if I ever decide to walk home at night from the bus stop. The upside I guess is I can see the stars better.

It was weird when we stepped inside our own house for the first time. It was just me and Alex, with nobody around and a big empty house. No selling agent, no buy agent, no family members. Just us and this big house. We sat in the kitchen and ate the food we had gotten earlier at Taco Bell. There was no T.V.; the house we eerily quiet. For the first time, the new house felt so distant to me, so cold and unfamiliar. I started to miss Alex's small apartment, his tiny apartment that is the size of our new kitchen and living room. Even though it is small, it is our home.

We couldn't stay at the house long because we had to rush to Best Buy to buy a fridge, washer and dryer. We had picked out exactly what we liked already, but stayed on the cautious side to not order it so early in case something went wrong with the house. Today, after getting our keys, we finally bought the fridge and washer/dryer of our dreams. They are all LG appliances. We got a stainless steel side-by-side LG refrigerator, and front-loading washer/dryer with steam wash capability. I'm so excited! I can't wait to use my big new fridge!

After circling around the Seattle area for more than four hours, we finally returned back home. I take back everything I said about the new house being too big and unfamiliar. It was just a horrendous sight greeting us when we walked into the apartment. Boxes everywhere, clothes everywhere, it was like the apartment just vomited all of our stuff out. I have to twist and turn to get things and get to places. I can't wait for a bigger place.

Today, I bought my first house. :-)

My Corporate Policies

When I first started work at my current workplace (its name shall not be mentioned here), it was like most of the high tech companies I'd worked for in the past. Cool people, flexible schedule, lots of freedom for its employees. Nobody was really there to watch over your shoulder and check if you're really doing work every minute of the day. As long as you complete your work on time and in high quality, nobody really cares how exactly you divide your time at work.

Well, that's pretty much all changed as our small office is slowly absorbed by a much bigger corporation. First external Instant Messaging capabilities were taken away from us. No more MSN, no more AIM. Next came a proxy server and a firewall. All of our Web traffic is monitored to see how much you "surf" at work. Today I found out that they started to block popular recreational websites, like youtube and gossip sites.

This is getting really ridiculous. Do they really expect all employees to sit at their desks 8 hours day doing work with no breaks? Surfing the web, listening to music videos on youtube, or even chatting occasionally with friends actually helps me produce more high quality code. I cannot sit here for 8 hours straight and just write code non-stop! I find that if I'm stuck on a problem, taking a break by doing something relaxing such as surfing the web for a bit relaxes my brain and lets me look at the problem differently when I come back to work. It gives me a fresh perspective on things and I can often think of better solutions after a short break.

I often don't have set schedule like most others. I work at home a lot; I work at night and on weekends. I sometimes really enjoy work because I get to code and it's like solving puzzles. I just wish my company would be a little more trusting towards their employees. I believe I am a great employee in that I get my work done on time and I care about how good of a job I do.

We're no longer living in a 9-5 world, where people clock in and clock out like machines. With globalization and rapidly advancing technologies, we are no longer bound to a cube in the office or a set schedule. If companies require us to start working odd hours to accomodate external sites or global customers, or to finish an important project, if companies expect that degree of flexibility from their employees, I believe we, the employees, have the right to expect flexibility from their employers as well.

I do not appreciate being treated like a child by my employer, being monitored for my every move. I think your value at work should be measured by what you produce, not what you do every minute or how much time you spend in the office.

Who knows, pretty soon they might take blogspot away from me too. Time to look for a new job? Hmm...food for thought.

My Responsibility

In six days, Alex and I will move into our first house together. Even though we already handed our money over to Escrow on Friday, I still sometimes have trouble believing this is all coming true. My parents had no money when I was growing up and their friends were mostly new immigrants. So to them, buying a house is an enormous deal. It was the ultimate goal, the American dream. I can't believe it will be mine in six days. Well, 5% mine and 5% Alex's and 90% the bank's.

Peter Parker, aka Spider Man's famous quote is "With great power comes great responsibility." I say, with great fortune comes great responsibility. While buying this new house is a tremendous achievement, it also brings tremendous responsibility. I now owe the bank hundreds of thousands of dollars that will take me 30 years to pay off. 30 years..., I will be 54 then. 30 years of mortgage payments, 30 years of worrying about interest rates, amortization, refinancing. All these terms that sound simple enough but are actually hidden traps, waiting to get you when you're most vulnerable.

For 30 years, I cannot lose my job; I cannot be without a job. Probably not the greatest timing right now with work about to undergo a layoff. Just when I bought myself a new house and signed my life away to the bank, work announces it is going to reduce 5% of the global workforce. Great. Not only do I have to worry about the new house, but I also have to worry about my immigration status. I hate not being an American citizen or permanent resident.

When did life get so complicated? I thought when it was time for me to worry about all this, I would be fully mature, an adult ready to take on the challenges, an adult with a plan to tackle difficulties. Sometimes I just want to shout to the world "WAIT!!! I'm not ready yet!!" Wasn't I supposed to be ready for this before it all happens? Wasn't I supposed to have a plan? Instead I cry, I cry in the face of difficulties. I want to crawl back in time, back to my cocoon where layoffs, mortgage payments have no meanings to me.

I find that I'm not that strong; I find that I pale in comparison to my mother. I keep wanting to go back to the past, keep wanting to be a child again when my mother can shield me from all harms and provide for me. But as Alex said to me today, "You can't be a kid again. Accept it. You're an adult. Accept it."

But I so don't want to.