It feels like only yesterday that I blogged that I will be married in 120 days. Now that number is down to just 30 days- less than a month. It’s pretty crazy how fast the time has sped by, and yet, here I am on the verge of wedlock with not a care in the world (at least outside of some busy-ness at work). I know that no matter what happens, rain or shine, over- or under-cooked steaks and seafood, flight delays en route to Maui - whatever - I am prepared for it, because I’ll be marrying a person who sees through all that to the most important thing about our wedding day, our shared loving bond. But I’ll stop bragging

I’ve been living in Melissa and my new home in San Mateo for nearly two weeks now. After a few years of living like a gypsy, it’s pretty exciting to have a backyard, windows on all four sides, and a big (and soon to get bigger) garden. I’ll be sure to put up some pictures once it’s properly decorated. Woo!

After four years doing mostly low-level technical work on Mac OS X as an individual contributor, I’m now an engineering project manager working in the Mac OS X Program Office. I’ve replaced hours of being hunched over in front of my screen figuring out bugs with hours being hunched over in front of my screen sending emails. Ah, and the meetings, let’s not forget about the meetings. All jokes aside, I am enjoying the challenge of working at a high level, collaborating with dozens of managers and hundreds of engineers throughout the company on a multitude of projects. Looking back at my past experience and my interests, I suppose that management was inevitable. Fear not, I’ll still work on the occasional bug to stay sharp

There Will Be Love

Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” is available on store shelves tomorrow, and tech journalists are already gushing about it in their reviews.

• Walt Mossberg (WSJ): Leopard Faster, Easier than Vista
• David Pogue (NYT): Apple Offers New Goodies in Leopard System
• Edward C. Baig (USA Today): Leopard, Apple’s new Mac operating system, hits all the right spots

Something that touched me was to have the work that my team is responsible in part for called out in Walt Mossberg’s review:

“In fact, every piece of software and hardware I tried on two Leopard-equipped Macs — a loaned laptop from Apple and my own upgraded iMac — worked fine, exhibiting none of the compatibility problems that continue to plague Vista. My old Hewlett-Packard inkjet printer, for which Vista lacks the proper software, worked instantly in Leopard, even over the network. And, unlike with Vista, it was able to print on both sides of the page. I popped my old Verizon cellphone modem card into the test Leopard laptop and it worked, too, with no software installation or tweaking.”

I can’t be prouder of my colleagues and all of their hard work and dedication to excellence.

So Mac OS X Leopard is nearing release, which means that I too am nearing release from the shackles of crunch time. For a bit of perspective, the last day that I took off from work was April 20th, which I took off to fly up to visit Nick in Boston. Since then, I’ve worked generally no fewer than six days per week for generally 10-12 hours per day.

So I need a break.

So I am taking one.

On 9 December, I’m flying to Tokyo to travel around southeast Asia for four weeks. My plan is still coming together, but the countries that I am expecting to visit are Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and possibly Laos and/or the Phillippines. I suspect I’ll do Japan last, as I’d like to partake in the New Year’s celebrations in Tokyo before flying back to San Francisco on 4 January.

In the two months leading up to my trip, I’ll be planning a rough itinerary and securing the necessary visas and innoculations. Generally speaking, though, I’m expecting to more or less bum around, going from place to place following my interests on my own schedule. I dislike “destination tourism,” in which people write down a list of things they plan to see in between meals at places that serve American food before leaving a country in which they never spoke to someone outside of a consumer context. Rather, I like to wander around and take in the people and their culture, customs, and cuisine. My style will be faciliated by the fact that I’ll be traveling alone for most if not all of the trip.

Thailand is probably the place I’m most excited to visit, as I’ve heard nothing but good stories about the beautiful environment and friendly people. There are myriad possibilities there, ranging from partying with the European and Oceanic visitors to scuba diving to trekking in the wilderness. I suppose I’ll need to pick up a camera.

More details to come…

WWDC is now behind me, and so I have a bit more time to continue settling in to the city. I received all of my stuff from State College two weeks ago, and other than a few boxes of books that I need to cart to my office, I’m basically unpacked. Getting furniture has been a bit more difficult, as I work during business hours and like to go out on the weekends. I think I’m settled on the couch and mattress that I want, and will be fetching those things over the next few days, along with ordering a bed. Hopefully soon enough I’ll really be able to call the new place home! In the mean time, I’ve been sleeping on my futon mattress on the floor… classy!

I’m safely in California, despite my continued hubris of getting onto multi-ton pieces of metal crudely shaped like birds. I’m settled into my apartment at least partly, but I won’t have most of my furniture and possessions until Tuesday. They are ready for delivery now, but I don’t have time to deal with them.

Right now I am very busy with some final WWDC preparation, and I’m on call over the weekend to support keynote rehearsals should anything go wonky. I’m modestly confident that everything will go well, and that I can use the calm before the storm to finally get out and buy a mattress and some other furniture. Not that there’s anything wrong with sleeping on the floor, mind you.