What's that? You hula at work?

Update time. Nothing really new to muse about.

First, the most important thing. It looks like Joss Whedon (or somebody with more power) decided to put "Dr. Horrible" on Hulu.com.

What do you mean you haven't heard of Hulu? *sigh* Geez, people.

OK, so back up a bit. Hulu.com is an online video streaming service set up by NBC Universal. If you don't know what video streaming is, I'll let you work your Google muscles, because I'm guessing they need some exercise. Don't forget to warm up by searching for "cute kitten photos" or something else simple first -- we don't want you cramping up or pulling something. Basically what this means for us is that we can watch TV and movie content from NBC, Comedy Central, Fox, and several other content providers for free -- online, on demand. Alright, it's almost free -- they will show you some short commercials, but it's not a bad deal.

So back to what I was saying. Joss or the powers-that-be have decided to put "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" on Hulu for our (free!) viewing pleasure. I've known this for a few weeks now, but I forgot to update the blog. In any case, I can now provide you a link to the content, and you don't have to part with your $3.99 to see it. Now you can watch ads for Degree for Women instead.

Dr. Horrible on Hulu.com

Of course, if you had gone to my previous post and went to the Dr. Horrible web site, you would have already seen it by now. You can watch it there, too, although it's still technically through Hulu.com (some day when you're older I'll teach you about "embedded content").

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So there's that.

In further updates, the job is working out fairly well. Sometimes I'm just twiddling my thumbs (or doing things like updating the blog), but I usually have something to work on. I'm being paid fairly, and I seem to be appreciated. I think they'll be happier when I've been here about 6 months, but that's really an issue with the contract rules the government clients have.

I have all the benefits of a small company: lots of freedom, a voice that gets heard, my own office, and people know my name. I also get all the downsides, though: lack of guidance, sometimes incredibly slow days of work (but not always), and the issue with the boss's opinion being the only opinion except my own. Luckily I can handle most of the downsides, as I can find some direction on my own (and have the power to make decisions), I don't mind wasting a little time if it's not every day, and I have pretty strong opinions and can back them up. Of course, there are lots of little ups and downs to small companies, but the same thing exists in big companies in different ways. I'm making my place, and I think I'm at least convincing the boss that I'm pretty slick when it comes to this software stuff :-)

I imagine I'll be here at least a year, and more if it works out. I'd like to say I feel really positive about a long-term relationship here, but I honestly don't have a positive or negative feeling about it. I like the place and the people for the most part, and I think they're a serious company. Right now I'm just along for the ride and trying to do good work. If it works out, that's great. If not, that's OK, too -- there are plenty of other opportunities in Huntsville. That's part of why we came here. Ideally, I'll get to grow with this company, make a ton of money, and love what I do. But worst-case scenario, I'll have some solid experience to take with me and hopefully nice things to say about "the last place I worked".