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Off to Yahoo!

It's been a while since I've posted, but in my defense, it's been a busy month. Things have been hectic at work. There were taxes to pay. Weddings to attend. My wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it. Actually, if I were to murder anything, it would be the pigeons roosting in the eaves right over the stairs. I've poked at them with an extensible pole, but they keep coming back. I bought a plastic owl to scare them, but after about two days, the pigeons caught on. Wily, those pigeons. Noted animal control expert Tom Lehrer has some thoughts on the matter that certainly deserve further analysis.

The one piece of major news for the month is... drumroll... I'm changing jobs. I'll be starting at Yahoo! in just a little under two weeks. I'll be working for the Infrastructure group, helping to document internal software APIs and tools. Admittedly, this probably doesn't sound as interesting to you as it does to me, but let's face it: the life of a technical writer isn't exactly about the glamour, baby. Oh, sure, the kids keep coming to me with stars in their eyes... and I keep having to break it to them that despite what they've seen on TV, technical writing isn't all gold chains and supermodels and champagne and "Tech Pubs Emergencies!" that send you winging off to Amsterdam at a moment's notice. The truth is that it's hard work, kiddo, and don't let anyone tell you different.

At Chordiant I was fortunate to have consistently excellent colleagues in both Tech Pubs and Engineering. And let's face it, good relationships with your colleagues are make-or-break for a writer. Engineering is a little different in this respect -- the proverbial "lone genius" engineer can, in certain situations,^[1] be marginally effective. Not so for tech writers. If all your Subject Matter Experts dislike you, nothing else matters. You're screwed. So as I leave my comfy, well-established tech writing department, I can't help feeling a smidge of trepidation mixed in with all the excitement and happy thoughts. The group we're building is pretty new, and so we'd better be strong right out of the gate. Let's hope my new colleagues don't find out that I've been out-clevered by the pigeons.

One last note: as some of you might know, Yahoo! has a number of prominent bloggers. So far it hasn't been my style to write much about work, and so I probably won't turn into a "Yahoo! blogger" as such. It's possible, but unlikely. The one thing I can promise is that I will attempt to post more frequently. Whether it's storymapping, markup shenanigans, or delicious mojito recipes, I'm your man.

1. And for certain values of "genius".

Posted by Evan Goer on May. 10, 2005 at 11:36 PM | Comments (12)

Comments

I think you dropped the ball. You don't even
link to a mojito recipe.

Posted by Guess Who on May. 11, 2005 at 12:33 PM
The last paragraph links directly to a mojito recipe! And a damn fine one, if I may say so.

Posted by Evan on May. 11, 2005 at 1:13 PM
Er, you do realize that "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" is talking about the Holocaust, right?

In that light, "deserve further analysis" and "out-clevered by the pigeons" could be interpreted as being in poor taste.

shrug Not saying you should change anything written, just... knowledge is power.

Posted by Ben Karel on May. 12, 2005 at 7:36 PM
Congrats on the new job! I hope it's fun, and that you find yourself lavished in all of the gold chains and supermodels that you clearly deserve.

We recently laid off our one tech writer at work. I shudder when I think about creating the manual for the project I'm working on without her.

Posted by Dinesh on May. 12, 2005 at 9:18 PM
<cite>you do realize that "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" is talking about the Holocaust, right?</cite>

Seriously? Do you have a citation for that?

Lehrer wasn't exactly known for subtlety. When he wanted to hit a topic, he tended to hammer it into the ground. (Like, "We'll All Go Together When We Go"...)

Posted by Auros on May. 12, 2005 at 9:59 PM
"Poisoning Pigeons In The Park" is about the <em>Holocaust</em>?? Knowledge is power... when it's actually knowledge.

Thanks Dinesh and cousin Auros. If there are any extra supermodels or bottles of Crystal, I'll be sure to share!

Posted by Evan on May. 12, 2005 at 11:47 PM
Congrats on the new job! You know Jessica works there right? I'll let her know you're starting! Eww...birds...scary...Have you tried nailing in those sharp nails? I see them on business signs to keep birds away... I will need to get to a bbq soon to introduce you to the new family member :)

Posted by kathy on May. 12, 2005 at 11:56 PM
BTW, Evan -- give me a call on my cell some afternoon, and we can go to lunch. Afghani House is a quite reasonable drive from this neighborhood, and of course there's Java Drive Cafe, the Boulanger (which does a good BLT), and the whole Town Center / Murphy Street complex down Mathilda...

Posted by Auros on May. 13, 2005 at 11:54 AM
Kathy -- I had forgotten that Jessica worked there. And yes, I would love to meet the new family member! As for the birds, the eaves are over the stairs, and it's not obvious where to place a ladder that will reach them. I think it's time to call in some professionals.

Auros -- will do. The Afghani House is really superb. I really wish Sunnyvale would get their act together, knock down the mostly vacant Sunnyvale Mall, and put back the downtown area that they knocked down to build the mall in the first place.

Posted by Evan on May. 15, 2005 at 9:21 AM
Congrats on the new job! Good luck.

Posted by xyz on May. 21, 2005 at 11:05 PM
For the pigeons.

Get a snake for the pigeons. Then a hawk for the snake. Then one of those Minutemen from Arizona who have got to be itching to shoot something by now. Then put out your radio and play NPR full blast till the nice Minuteman goes away.

Posted by Sam on May. 26, 2005 at 12:01 PM
The simpler solution is to put some fine wire grating up there to block the pigeons out of the little cubby holes. Which we did.

Although I do like your general idea of playing NPR at full blast. KQED just finished off their pledge drive, and I can't understand why they didn't offer a 1000-watt stereo system and car-lowering kit.

Posted by Evan on May. 27, 2005 at 12:12 AM

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This entry was posted on May 10, 2005 by Evan Goer.

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