In the past year…

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I’m back from the Internet dead. Here’s a brief update on my life since my last update (just over a year ago):

  • I was promoted to Senior QA Engineer in May 2012 at my company! I still can’t believe I’ve been doing QA for four years already. Time flies when you’re old.
  • I moved into a studio in Manhattan and no longer have a roommate. Life is wonderful!
  • My company was acquired by a much larger company (salesforce.com) at the end of 2012. Now I can say proudly that every company I have worked out since graduating college has been acquired.
  • Went back to Taiwan in September/October 2012 with my wonderful boyfriend. This time around we had the chance to ride the High-Speed Rail (HSR) and visit Kaohsiung, Tainan and Kenting. It was really great even with the typhoon warning. We also went to the famous Taroko Gorge for a day trip with an excellent English-speaking tour.
  • Took my first programming class with Skillshare since college!
  • I turned 30 and realized it was time to change my lifestyle by eating healthier. I managed to lose about 20 pounds since July 2012!
  • Heading to Tokyo/Taipei in four days with my best girlfriends! I’m so excited. I pre-ordered our Ghibli Museum tickets. We are also going to Disney Sea!

Well that’s about it for now. We’ll see if I can update my sad site more than once a year!

2012

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Well, I updated WordPress and my theme. I seem to have lost my custom header image. I guess I’ll have to find it somewhere on my computer and put it back in! Anyway, it has been a pretty rough 2012. My boyfriend has deployed to Afghanistan (again) for four months. Meanwhile, work has been pretty insane with deadlines. To top off my January, I found out during a work meeting that my Agong (grandpa) passed away on Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning Taiwan time).

I have great memories of Agong. He was always playing with me. He was a fierce Chinese checkers opponent. In his later years, when he started to get sick, he would cling to certain memories of each grand child. For me, he always spoke about how I would always go to the airport to pick up Ama and Agong with my dad. After a few months, they would pack up and then I’d go to the airport to drop them off with my dad. Back in the day, non-passengers could go as far as security to send off their loved ones. He spoke about how I would always ask why they had so many kids and why they couldn’t just stay with my family. Then I would cry at the airport because I didn’t want them to leave me. I totally remember crying and waving through the glass window to my grandparents as they walked away through security.

It scares me how I’m getting older and that death is just so much more real now. Now, I feel like that little girl again. I don’t want my Agong to leave me. cry

Sadly, I will be returning to Taiwan in a month to say my final farewells to Agong.

My last visit with Agong in October 2010

Changes in 2011

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It has been an interesting 2011 so far. At the end of 2010, my company was acquired by a much larger financial company. The majority of my colleagues were kept while a lot of the management was let go due to redundancies. After a few months it became apparent that most of my colleagues (myself included) were no longer happy with our new roles at the new company. I started looking at other opportunities just to see what else is out there. I was not expecting much to happen due to my minimal experience in my industry as well as my lack of coding/programming skills. To my surprise, the job market is a lot better than I expected. I received a bunch of replies.

As the company morale at the new company deteriorated drastically (many personnel changes/departures), I decided that I didn’t want to stay for the ride. I was used my LinkedIn skills and found a college classmate who had bunch of mutual contacts as me. Lucky for me, I was able to contact him even though were weren’t “friends”. It turns out I had just applied for a QA position with his company so I reached out to him just to verify if the position was even available. I believe that a lot of company career websites are not kept updated and after applying online, where exactly does my resume go? I didn’t expect this contact to reply any time soon, but within a week he did and invited me in for an interview the NEXT day with the Director of QA.

The interview went well and they had an offer letter ready for me in less than a week! It was pretty amazing just how quickly they moved. I start this new position on Monday (6/20) after having 19 days off. It’s the first time in my short career where I’ve had time in between jobs. It’s been really great. I went home to visit my parents and sister in Long Island. I reverted to my suburban life and visited my childhood mall. I even purchased a nice Coach bag as a celebratory gift to myself. I guess it could be a super early birthday gift!

I then visited my wonderful and supportive boyfriend in Tampa. We had a great time. He even took me to the batting cages so I could attempt to hit balls. He is my witness that I made contact with more than 50% of the balls. Too bad my super soft hands get blisters so easily. We dined at the Refinery after I read how they were nominated for the James Beard Award. They use local ingredients and therefore their menu changes on a weekly basis. We had a really good meal there. Jeff ordered the hanger steak as his entree and I got the pork ribs. So yummy! We shared a chocolate cupcake with bacon frosting. It was a lot better than I expected. I’m not a big fan of salty and sweet desserts so I was hesitant in ordering the dessert. However, our friendly waiter informed us that he tried it that morning (it was the first day of the new menu) and that it wasn’t too sweet and really good. I’m glad I took a chance!

When I returned from Tampa, I went straight to a NKOTBSB concert with my college friend. It was pretty fantastic. She is a huge BSB fan and I used to follow NKOTB when I was really little. I think the only reason I was a “fan” was because my older sister and cousin were huge fans. I just copied whatever they did. My first ever concert at the tender age of 8 was a NKOTB concert! I had the NKOTB sheets and outfits. It was pretty ridiculous! We even visited the members’ homes in Worcester, MA. I think my favorite NKOTB song was “Step By Step” and they performed it at the end of the set. Yay! For the rest of the week, I’ve been going to Bar Method (my latest gym obsession), FlyWheel (hit my highest total power!), doctor and dentist. I can’t believe it’s Friday already! I made pizza and cookies. Now I’m watching some trashy TV. What a great night!

Lastly, I am really excited for the last Harry Potter movie. Who wants to see it with me? My boyfriend is hoping someone is kind enough to see it with him so he doesn’t need to!