A Canadian Coder tries to make it big...

Consulting and Teamwork

2009-09-04T16:16:00.002-04:00

Being a solo rails consultant is an interesting proposition. Sure, I get to pick my own hours, and choose which tasks I accept, plus the only coworker I can actually annoy is myself.

However, as much as I love being in charge, the feeling of being the guy with 100% the expertise grows old fast. I've had mixed success working in a team before: my first university experience was quite poor what with them asking me to lie and all that. Other jobs have been ok, but "not quite me" for lack of better terms.

Now, I work with Rails almost exclusively, which is fantastic fun. I make customers happy. Nevertheless, I work solo.

This post has been running through my head a lot lately. How much is working with a good team worth to me? Given the choice between a well paying solo job, and a less paying team job, where does the scale balance?

I wonder if someone could show the long term benefits of a well known company or a fantastic team. Does working for Google mean that, a decade later, you are more employable and better skilled? What's the long term benefit in terms of salary? Is there even a metric for happiness?

I suppose in the end, the most I can hope for is to be the best that I can be. I don't know if you can put a price tag on that.

Ruby is my Future

2009-07-11T09:17:00.001-04:00

It's been over a year since I updated the blog. The original reason I started the blog was because I wanted to "make it big" in New York City. Of course, that didn't work out at all.

Since then I've attempted to write machine code for Ryerson, worked in the Java Enterprise CMS sphere, and finally found a home with Ruby. I didn't blog much about Ruby because there's a lot that people are saying, and very little for me to say.

After about a year of experience, a half a dozen projects, and on the verge of launching my first zero-to-finished app, I'm happy to say this is where my home will be. There's something about the Ruby community that's welcoming and inviting. I'm writing this from the FutureRuby conference, before the talks begin.

I paired up with a very talented graphic designer, and we're now attaching a brand name to the business we've been working on for some time. It feels odd to finally put a name to the work I do, as if it makes it larger than life, more than "just a guy with a laptop and a love of Ruby."

Now the goal is simple. Make my customers happy, and expand my knowledge of Ruby as far as it can go. The former, I'm doing ok at. The latter will be a never-ending process.

I'm ok with that.

The future is bright.

Here Again?

2008-05-31T17:07:00.002-04:00

So, irony of ironies...

I'm sitting in a rest stop in New York, leeching the free Wi Fi. It's the same one I made my update about one year ago, on my last ill-fated trip to New Jersey.

This time, I'm going for legitimate business, and the people who are paying for me have no qualms about my real experience. I've also been able to negotiate for a similar salary that I would have gotten for lying.

In that time, the US dollar has fallen dramatically. I'm living in a place much cheaper than I would have been, if I worked in New Jersey. And while I get to travel to the USA for business, I don't have to stay there, and I don't have to lie.

Integrity for the win!

Back on the road again.

Whatever You Do, Do It Well

2007-06-16T02:24:00.000-04:00

Well, the job for the Ryerson professor is a bust. The professor has no idea what actually needs to be done. When I asked for software drivers, I got user manuals on things that had nothing to do with software, because he misunderstood the term “driver” to mean a power supply to the laser, which can also be, informally, called a driver.

I submitted a final report saying that the project was poorly understood, and that there is no way it could be accomplished within the time and budget they had originally projected. They seemed to understand this. That’s good news.

I could have taken the project on, getting paid to do it, and knowing it would go overtime and budget, Once again, ethics and integrity won out, and I took no pay because I realized it would do nothing but hurt the client.

All is not lost though. Within a few days I got called up because of my angry rant on line regarding the original employment and unethical business. This time, however, the project is a solid, stable, well documented, well researched, better paying project. Not as good as the unethical business would pay me, but enough that I'll be comfortable. Additionally, the owner basically said if I prove my worth, he'll raise my wage and quickly.

At any rate, I aced the interview. I have the job. Doing the right thing seems to bring good karma.

The commute is painfully long (and expensive, $15 for a round trip, more or less) but its pleasant traveling, and the job site also has a direct link with my university, in case I need to swing by there again. In general, lots of good stuff.

The best part is? In addition to the Content Management System that is the major focus, the owner wants some emphasis on developing new projects, just in case that one revenue stream dries up, and he is quite ok with us focusing our efforts on new and out there ideas. Awesome!

He wants more programmers than just me, so I gave one of my classmates a reference. If I can end up pair programmed with him, I will be a very happy code monkey.

A final lesson: once upon a time I had to take a minimum wage job doing telemarketing. Not exactly the most glamorous job available, but I needed something for two months, and the advantage of a high turnover job is that they're always hiring. My manager (who, I might add, was one of the most awesome people I have ever met) told me I was overqualified, but gave me a shot anyway.

The job morale for telemarketing was poor, but I determined to do my best. "Whatever you do, do it well," I said. So I did my best. I managed to be the top salesperson three weeks in a row, and sold something like ten thousand dollars worth of tickets. That's a -lot- by telemarketing standards.

It was the sales experience on my resume that really caught his eye. Interaction with customers is a key part of this job.

Whatever you do, do it well.

Biting Big

2007-06-06T15:41:00.000-04:00

Oh wow.

Well, I have the job. The job, in this case, involves writing some software for a Ryerson professor who wants something to control his high powered nanomachine laser. I saw some very pretty examples of the laser in usage -- like the Ryerson crest etched onto a human hair. This stuff looks awesome.

It's a project that no one at the company wants to do, and I'm starting to understand why.

It has a faint, familiar feeling. I remember this feeling before, the feeling of, "I'm biting off way more than I can chew." The last time I felt this way I was writing an app to put together printed circuit boards. That was painful. This looks even moreso. I need to talk to device drivers, but I don't know much about those specific drivers. I have to find out quite a bit.

There's no SQL (I'm not sure why I was told there was) but there is a lot of GUI design. The scariest part of the GUI design is that I'll basically need to write specialized CAD software. That's a little outside my range of experience. Does anyone know how to draw Bézier curves?

The ideal language for this project looks to be C#, if only because everyone at the company knows it, and if I need help I can get it. I know some of C#, but not as much as I know about other languages. VB.net might be a better choice for -my- skills, but if I want help from other people, C# is a good move.

The current project pays half as much as the unethical job I gave up -- but with a strong promise: complete this and I'll be hired on as a full time employee with benefits. In short, this is a long job interview.

It needs to be done for the start of September, or so I understand it. So I have three months to write a fairly extensive GUI, figure out how to talk to device drivers, and figure out the calibration mathematics to keep it all running. Ideally, I want to aim to get it done in half that time, so that the testing process can be simplified.

The one thing I dislike the most is having to work more or less alone on this. I'd really rather be pair programming. I wonder how the company would react if I asked to pull another developer in on this project. Studies show that two paired developers can easily be twice as productive as a single developer working on his own. The company would have to pay more money for more hours early on, but ideally the project would be finished in half the time.

I'd ask, but the real problem I have is that this is an extended a job interview. They won't be able to evaluate my skills very well if I'm working with someone else.

I guess I should figure out some milestones and work out the basic timeline before I start considering bringing other people on staff.

Waiting

2007-06-06T10:10:00.000-04:00

Well then. My interviewer is late. I just called him on his cell phone -- after all, for all I knew he was in the office and didn't know I was there. Well, as it turns out, he's having some car trouble and will be here in a few more minutes. I'm killing time and calming my nerves by writing.

The office is nice. Clean, minimalist style, quiet working environment, very easy to get to via the TTC, total commute time will be under an hour, even if I have to take the bus from home. There's a Druxies just downstairs, which is also pretty good. The people here are also very friendly, at least the ones who talked to me.

They have lots and lots of Microsoft plaques on the walls, going all the way back to 2001. Clearly this company has been around some time, and Microsoft knows who they are. At any rate, it looks like I'll be programming on a windows environment if I get the job. I'd really like to work here.

Incidentally, there are a few ladies here too, writing code. That's good to see.

My interviewer should, ideally, be here soon. I can only hope.

Ready

2007-06-06T08:53:00.000-04:00

I'm writing this on the subway towards my job interview. I'm not too worried. I've got good skills, both personal and computer wise, and my experience isn't shoddy, even if it is somewhat light. I understand the high level theory of writing code, and my algorithmic skills aren't terrible.

What worries me is language specifics. Even the stuff I'm excellent at, like Visual Basic, I haven't touched in ages. Right now my mind is clearly in "Ruby" mode, and that will make it difficult to switch out in an instant for an interview. Sit me down in front of a code completing IDE, and I'll be just fine. (I wrote some practice apps to do just that.) But if they ask me to code on a whiteboard, that might be a little harder.

Fortunately he said he values attitude and communication, and I'd like to think I'm half decent at the both of those. So I'm relaxing, clearing my mind, and preparing myself for the interview.

I am ready.

Justice

2007-06-01T15:21:00.001-04:00

There is justice in the world.

I posted an angry rant on Craigslist, talking about my experience, listing my skills, and venting about the fact that my qualifications didn't have 5+ years of alphabet soup. I was just blowing off steam, I had no idea that someone would actually read it.

Twenty minutes later, I got an email in my inbox saying "Nice rant, call my cell, I might have something for you."

We talked. They're doing some very interesting work with laser etching of nano-materials. It uses my signals and systems experience, and apparently no one else wants to do that. It's a job right in the sweet spot of hardware meets software, in short, exactly the kind of thing that I would be good at.

Ahem, hell yeah!

I have a job interview scheduled. Maybe I'll get it, maybe I won't. But it looks like there -is- justice in this world.

Conclusion

2007-05-30T18:55:00.001-04:00

I'm home. I'm finally home. The drive was brutal.

I've had plenty of time to think about my experience. Here are the lessons I've gleaned from it. Perhaps you too can learn something.

Evil prevails because good men do nothing. A lot of people talk about righting wrongs in the world, yet, surprisingly, many have told me (with regards to this company) that it isn't worth my time. What can one lone person do?

Alone? Not much. However, this scam that is being run only works because companies are lax. Big financial firms have lazy HR departments. There is no other way to describe it. Or, as seemed to be indicated, the HR departments have plants in them, which are deliberately saying they are checking things when they aren't.

I think that what's going on is a clear case of C-Y-A. As long as the coder with the fake resume does decent work (which is to say, that he isn't a complete and total moron, based on some of the horror stories I've heard) then HR has no real reason to worry. Who cares, as long as he can code, right?

Wrong. Finance is based, fundamentally, on trust. After all, a bank tends to only hire people with experience working with cash. This is because trust breeds trust. If the retail store says you worked with access to the cash register and they never had a problem, maybe they can trust you with the vault.

Your bank holds your financial information and agrees never to sell it out. Your financial information is only as secure as the least trustworthy person who works at this financial institution.

So, how do you feel knowing that there are untested, untrustworthy people, willing to lie about their experience, working for major financial institutions on Wall Street? Does it make you upset? It makes me upset.

It makes me even more upset that people who actually have some actual, legitimate experience are getting shafted because they won't lie. I worked hard to get what experience I have. Does this mean I won't be able to progress because I'm honest?

I had one friend recommend that I report these people to the FBI. Another suggested the SEC. But that would, at best, shut down the one company. I'm aiming a little bigger.

What I need is for the big technology blogs, you know, the things every programmer reads, to become aware of these basic facts. There are consulting firms which will lie about the experience, there are programmers working with financial information right now that are not qualified, it can be found out with a minimum of research by the HR department and -- this is the big one -- consumers have the right to know who is writing this kind of software, and they deserve better. If enough people at HR take a few moments to make some phone calls, this house of cards might actually fall over.

This will probably require a more detailed story than the disjointed one I bashed up. I'm just a lone coder, after all. In the end, who knows? Nothing might come of it.

But, nevertheless, I have to try.

And I -still- don't have a job! Argh!

I did the right thing, and I didn't even get a lousy T-shirt.

2007-05-30T00:02:00.000-04:00

I'm writing this at midnight from a McDonalds in Pennsylvania. I'm coming back home. It's official. Lie, lie, and lie some more. That's the entire business model. I met up with the HR Rep, and we talked about the contract, which they themselves didn't understand, as they contracted it out to another overzealous lawyer. Idiots.

The rationale for lying is as follows. One: you won't get caught. Two: everyone does it anyway. They seemed to really think that my only concern is getting caught!

The other employees seem to be ok with this lying thing. Suddenly I'm wondering the only honest person in the room. Is this why I can't get employed: because everyone else lies their way to the top?

At times like these, I find inspiration from the weirdest places. This time it came from a web comic called It's Walky. Those of you who read it probably already know what I'm going to say. "Act with integrity. No regrets."

So here I am. I've left the company, and its promise of big dollars for only a little tiny bit of my soul. Nevertheless, I have my integrity.

Unfortunately, integrity doesn't pay very well.

Learning

2007-05-29T15:14:00.000-04:00

The past 24 hours have been a blur. I've been alternating between terrified, paranoid, and wondering if I actually heard what I thought I heard. I mean, for all I know, they could set out to ruin anyone who speaks poorly of them. There's no way they could keep things under wraps for that long.

I've learned a few things. One, Recruiter is either sleazy or incompetent, and probably both. He doesn't know his job, and what I'm promised keeps changing. I've decided to discount everything he says. What I need to do is talk to the management.

So, we met up with HR Rep. HR is an East Indian woman, with a sophisticated dress and a confident mannerism. She's talked about the benefits of the company, which seem to actually match our demands. Fixed salary, a definite endpoint to any contract, and an explanation for any discrepancies that have shown up so far.

I'm missing two things, though. One, where is the contract? I need to see what they want me to sign. I need to see that above all else. Two, they have to explain the resume thing. If they don't explain that, I'm not going to sign, period.

Time to meet with the sales people. Let's see what they have to say.

Lies

2007-05-28T11:42:00.001-04:00

So I'm at The Company office. It's not bad, actually. The network has Internet, and the computers are all fairly high power. I'm going to need to format and reset my machine to clear out the last user's hardware, but we can do that in good time, and we've been told we're allowed to do that.

The previous batch of trainees are half employed, half not, as best I can tell. One previous trainee, who I met up with, started talking about the training. I'm going to call him Hangover, because he a.) seems to be the last one out of the office b.) has this dull, unfocused look in his eyes. Also, I didn't get his real name. His English isn't quite up to par, which probably explains why he's having a hard time getting hired. Recruiter did mention that the biggest obstacle to getting hired was, in fact, the language barrier.

At any rate, I'm getting the impression that the training we will be given isn't quite up to the standards promised. We were promised quite a large amount of material, and it seems now that some things, like Perl, will be skipped entirely.

On the other hand, looking at the previous computers, I can't help but notice that there are a lot of computer games installed. Hangover indicated that a lot of the previous batch played games. Clearly independent learning will be required, and the Company doesn't have the resources to stop us from floundering. And, now, I understand why they want to pay us if, and only if, we can get ourselves employed at a vendor.

Incidentally, the training, which was supposed to be 3 months, has been reduced to six weeks. That might seem bad, except that it turns out the trainer previously worked for Big Financial Firm, and only gave lectures on the weekends. Since his contract is over he's now training us at The Company full time, so we end up having more working days, but less days in between.

Oh! Hangover is giving the group a lecture on what he learned. Notes are as follows.

The trainer will be teaching us core java, which he is great at. The pace will be brutal. That's ok, I know core java. We'll be learning J2EE, but we'll need to self-educate ourselves on things like Swing, JMS, and so on. Translation, be proactive with education. Last of all, some focus on bonds, stocks, and so on, as well as interview techniques.

Hangover's public speaking voice is excellent. His accent has dropped, and he speaks carefully and confidently. This is not the person I was speaking to a half an hour ago!

Apparently we can use either Oracle or Sybase as the backend. We can use either one we want. I need to see if I can use both. I have great resources here, but nothing is going to be spoon-fed.

Once we finish the training, we apparently have mock interviews with the salespeople. Salespeople! We are a product, and someone will try to sell us. I'm trying to decide if that's scary or not.

The post-lecture questions continue. Oh...

Oh my...

I just found something out. They backdate our resumes. The Company intends to place us as a contractor, using someone that they've already set up in the target financial company. They want us to say that we have, say, six years of experience, and if the customer then calls The Company, they'll back it up.

Incidentally, this means we can't switch to full time for a while, because if we do, then they run a much more complete background check, and our true history might come up. Now, as for me, I already have a few years of experience. Maybe I can convince them to let me keep an honest resume.

I'm looking at Hangover's resume, which he left beside me, and he's supposedly worked for four major financial companies, starting in 2000. All of them are false.

I suddenly feel ill. So this is what the catch is: we lie and because we're backed by a big Company, we never get caught. I can't let this happen. I have to do something about it. I just have to figure out what.

Morning

2007-05-28T08:55:00.000-04:00

I am way too chipper this morning.

I was the first one awake, which isn't normal for me. Breakfast consisted of Cheerios and some hot apple cider. Some of the others don't seem to be up and about yet. In all fairness, I hadn't even planned on getting up until now. 8:00 seems like a perfectly respectable time to be awake when work is a 20-minute walk away, and work starts at 9:00. 6:45 might be a bit much.

The Internet still isn't up, but I think that's just because someone hasn't punched in the right numbers. When I try to connect to the router at home, I get sent to a "Welcome to Generic ISP" web page. That alone tells me that they've got something resembling service. Of course, since I don't know the access codes for this place, I can't update it.

Actually, on second check, no one knows the access number for this place, including Recruiter. Fortunately if I stand in the back yard, I can get internet access from another house.

We're supposed to tour the Company office today. I wonder what that will have in store.

Here

2007-05-28T02:02:00.000-04:00

So, I've made it to the guesthouse.

I am not entirely impressed.

First of all, the Internet won't be active until Tuesday. This alone should be cause for annoyance. Every last one of us is a graduate of Computer Science or Computer Engineering -- and there's no Internet? At all? That's not even humane!

On a more serious note, the place is unfinished. Apparently, in all the rush to get us down there (a rush which, I might add, was entirely caused by their deadlines) it seems that the Recruiter couldn't manage to ensure that the place

a.) Was clean
b.) Was supplied with toilet paper (we have a roll stolen from the Company office, yes, one of those huge public bathroom rolls)
c.) Had beds

That last one should be cause for alarm. Yes, some of us have sleeping bags on the carpet floor. I'm not one of them, but I am so very not impressed with this set up.

Recruiter is claiming that the previous occupants of the guesthouse took things with them when they left. Now, that might be the case, or it might not be the case, but either way, I am not very happy.

I'm beginning to get the impression that Recruiter doesn't actually care about us except to get us working. To him we're just a paycheque, or a bonus. He's not training with us, or working with us, he isn't responsible for anything other than getting us down, signed, trained, and working with the Company.

This couldn't be made more evident than after the aforementioned ticket that Driver got for trying to keep up with Recruiter. You see, after this, the Recruiter left us to our own devices, driving ahead and more or less letting us figure out how to get down there on our own. Why he chose to do this instead of just slow down didn't dawn on me until we got to the house: he wanted to try to fix as much of it up as he could, so it would be neat and tidy before we reached the Company office.

Of course we did get down there -- later than the others -- and by an entirely different route. The drive itself was gorgeous. Driver is, indeed, a good driver, a safe and cautious one. I'd rather be in his vehicle than running with Recruiter.

I'm going to need to think of better pseudonyms for all my coworkers.

One thing I realize I didn't bring enough of, hangers. There's not enough hangers for all my clothing, least of all each of my pants. Why didn't I think to take those? Ah well, I can worry about it tomorrow when I go shopping.

That being said, the house isn't all bad. It's big enough for us all, easily, though what Recruiter calls a "Bedroom" is a stretch. Nevertheless, we all fit out of one another's way, and there are enough bathrooms that we're all more or less ok. There's air conditioning, and the place is cool enough once all is said and done. If Recruiter comes through on his promise and fixes things up -- really I'd settle for him having a vacuum cleaner in the house so I could make this room a little more tidy -- I'll be happy.

I gave Mom a call when I got in, but she seemed to be certain I was using my cell phone and wanted to get off the line as quickly as possible. I was actually using the company phone, and was allowed as much time on it as I wanted, but there isn't enough time to explain that to someone who already is urgently convinced the conversation needs to be made as short as possible.

I would write more, but for now my air mattress is calling. I will update tomorrow, hopefully, with more sleep. Until then, dear reader, goodnight.

On The Road

2007-05-27T14:56:00.001-04:00

Well, we're off.

We've split into two groups. Recruiter -- the Toronto contact who arranged all of this -- is speeding down the highway at insane speeds. Behind him are two of my coworkers, who I'll call Driver and Shy.

Driver, as his name might suggest, is the one who is doing all of the driving on this trip. After getting some food into him, he seems awake enough despite having already started his journey at something like four in the morning. He's a bit of a car geek, which is pretty cool. Shy is just that. He answers when spoken to, but doesn't seem to want to involve himself in any conversation, even when invited. He's a nice guy though.

We made it past the boarder with minimal trouble. The guard found out we were all computer people, and wanted to know if a line on his laptop meant bad monitor or bad drivers. After all was said and done, he never even asked where we would be staying or how long we would be there.

Recruiter is a mad fast driver, and keeping up with him is a pain. Driver got pulled over for speeding, and it wasn't really his fault. I have no idea if the company will cover that or not. I hope so. I am glad I wasn't the one driving.

Yay for Wi-Fi hotspots at rest areas. We ate some Arby's, and its just about time to pack up and get on the road again. Six hours or so left until we reach my new home.

Packed

2007-05-27T00:47:00.000-04:00

My bags are packed.

The company has agreed that, yes, in fact, that contract they sent me isn't fair, and even upper management seemed surprised at what the contract actually implied. It looks as if the contract was the work of an overzealous lawyer, and not, in fact, indicative of the company culture at large.

Anyway, they're taking me down there sans contract, and once down there we can work something out. We, as in me and the other employees. That is good news. If the other future employees all agree with me about the contract, we'll be in a much better position to negotiate something good.

You know, I always figured I'd have a job before I started planning a union.

But, anyway, things are taken care of. I've said my goodbyes to friends, family, and other loved ones. I've packed everything I can reasonably take this trip. I'm headed to the States.

Now, to try to get some sleep.

Shenanigans

2007-05-25T20:06:00.000-04:00

I'm supposed to leave in two days. In theory, everything should be in order. I got myself all packed, I have my contracts all ready. Really, I should be set to go, no problem whatsoever.

Here's the problem:

I got a new contract. The terms of the contract are not in my favour whatsoever. The have the ability to set my hours at their whim, set my wage at their whim, and I can't get out of the agreement without paying heavy fines. It was also set that even if they couldn't provide me with work, I wouldn't be able to leave and work elsewhere.

In short, complete and total bovine end product.

I revised the contract, sent it back, and then told them that what they sent me, as it stood, was unacceptable. They're now working on a new version, and I should get an adjusted contract before I go. One thing is for sure, I'm going to read everything they send me very carefully.

I now need to figure out if they just have an overzealous company lawyer who wrote a very zealous contract, or if the entire company motto is "screw the employee."

I have a feeling this blog might soon be "Canadian Maple is Unemployed Again."

The Pursuit of Happiness

2007-05-21T22:03:00.000-04:00

Sometimes its easy to forget how lucky I am.

The family has decided to watch "The Pursuit of Happyness." Good movie so far, though I haven't reached the end yet. (Yes, I'm blogging during the movie. What can I say? I didn't go into computer science because I dislike technology.)

The basic premise is pretty simple. A poor, broke, ex-Navy man can't make it as a salesman, so he applies for an internship as a stockbroker. One problem is that the internship has no salary, salary that he needs. Another problem is that only one intern will get the job, the other nineteen are out of luck.

I won't spoil the ending. Besides, the story isn't really what struck me, although the acting is excellent. What struck me was the sheer desperation of being poor, of not being able to make rent. Most of that is the direct result of not being educated.

I got a head start on my education thanks to my parents, who covered my first year of education outright, and most of my second. I was able to cover most of it after there, but that was -after- getting employment I would never have obtained without the first bit of education.

Now I'm going down to a job in the USA, a job with excellent pay. I can take this offer because I've got the money to get me down there, and the money to get me through the unpaid training. If I were broke and unsupported, I doubt I'd be able to take the job. Never mind the fact that the only reason I -have- the job offer is because of the education.

I've already seen some frustrations creeping up in this job. There's lots of little things that you'll be hearing about along the way. Nevertheless, I'm still lucky beyond measure that I can do this.

Quite a sobering thought, really.

I'm Going to New Jersey

2007-05-20T15:42:00.000-04:00

I'm going to the United States of America. In fact, I'm leaving in one week.

I suppose that's not too surprising. A Computer Science undergrad can't find too much well-paying work in the great city of Toronto, at least not without a great deal of work experience. There's lots of money to be made south of the border, though, so count me in as part of the great brain drain.

So far the plan is for over two months of additional training, followed by placement on a project that needs me. The training will be held at a small IT Firm in New Jersey. After that, the goal is to work in New York. Most of the clients of the IT Firm are in Manhattan. While I could find work elsewhere, the opportunity to work on Wall Street is very tempting.

So, for now, Maple Almond is aiming for the Big Apple, to see what fortune brings. That might change over time, or not, we'll see,

For someone that has to leave the country in one week, I'm very, very calm. Maybe the fact that I'm about to uproot my life and settle down elsewhere hasn't quite set in. But, for now, you're welcome to come along for the ride.