Back to the Farms

Well, I knew it was too good to last for long.

For the last couple of years my office at Intel has been in a leased building (CO-1) where I enjoyed what surely must have been the very best cube in the whole company. It was a corner office with floor to ceiling windows looking out over nice landscaping and some gorgeous oak trees (well, OK, and looking out over the parking lot too.) The pictures from my cell phone don't really do it justice.

But alas, Intel has closed down my old building, and my cube has been moved to Jones Farm 1. It's an old building, and the windows (what few exist) begin at about 5' and go up from there. The lower floor has been completely remodelled and decked out with fancy shmancy new furniture and, get this, free drinks. (They don't put any cups near the drink machines, and there's a sign that says only employees that have been issued the "special mug" are authorized to enjoy the free drinks.)

The second floor, however, where my cube is located, is definitely the armpit of the Jones Farm campus. I am fortunate in one respect though, I am still next to a window. The window is too high for me to see any direction but up, but at least the natural lighting is welcomed. Even the various shades of gray used in the carpet, the desk and the cube walls all look better in natural light.

This weekend we experienced some really strange weather. In one day we had rain, sunshine, sleet, snow, thunder and hail. Sunday was a bit milder, but we still saw some really amazing cloud formations out our picture window.

On Saturday I was out doing yard work with our dog, Benson. Benson is a major wuss when it comes to loud noises, especially gunfire. I was busily mowing our lower lawn, and left the grass catcher off to avoid having to keep stopping to empty it. Benson was off poking around like he normally does, when a few shots ran out. He immediately ran over to be near me. Now Benson hates the loud lawn mower, but he decided that was better than staying by himself. What he didn't realize, though, is that there was a steady stream of grass shooting out the back and that I was not going to stop. So, he trotted along behind me for several minutes getting completely plastered with grass clippings.

It was so hilarious, I had to stop for a minute a grab whatever photo I could with my cell phone.