My First Day(s)

It feels like not too long ago, I was posting about my first days at Full Sail. Now I'm faced with talking about my new first day being a software engineer for WMS Gaming in Chicago. I have a feeling this will become some kind of pattern. I am fairly sure I am going to have a few more first day posts down the road.

So to fill those in who don't know, WMS is a company that makes Slot Machines for Casinos all over the world. These range from the old school spinning reel machines to advanced 100% digital ones. There are hybrids too that involve both with thing LCD screens placed over mechanical reels to allow more crazy imagery and feedback. My role here is to take the art/sound/game design elements that create these games and tie them all together.

While I'm writing this on my third day, It still feels like my first day. So far I've been learning how to do my programming skillz in a Linux enviroment. The ironic thing is that I kept telling myself and anyone that would listen that one of my biggest weaknesses as a programmer was not trying different development enviroments. In fact, I know extremely little about the true low-level stuff that goes on to make even Visual C++ operate. Being stripped of that Visual Studio IDE and Windows and placed into something completly foreign is extremly intimidating. Foruntatly, I have a superior who is extremely understanding and has been helping me get adjusted. I finally got to do a little practice coding today which is helping me get more comfortable. I still think it'll be a week or two more before I'm fully ready to go. \

Laura and I are still adjusting to our new place in Chicago. We got in a pretty steady rhythm down in Florida so this sudden change is still taking its toll. Personally, I'm trying to sort out my after work hours. Yesterday (after what could be called my first real day since the actualy first day was just orientation) when I got back I was so tired I just sat on the couch and didn't even try to do anything particular. I have a nerdy feeling that I need to schedule out my free time. I'm thinking of starting an online excel file just for posting my chores and what games, etc I should play. If I don't, I'll probably waste a lot of time that could be better spent.

Oh yeah, we are going back to the gym today. Gonna make sure to start chugging water an hour before I leave work. Hopefully that'll keep me awake and not sluggish when I get home. We'll see.

Possible Games for tonight:

1. GTA 4
2. WoW - still working on getting that Priest to 70
3. Sins of a Solar Empire - working on 10 ffa with all Hard AI