Lifenation - pronounced similarly to hyphenation, as in, to lifenate. Life!

I'm sitting here eating my supersharp cheddar cheese cubes that made up part of my breakfast. They are delicious.

So what is going on with El Zorro? Well, my company got mentioned in an Apple press release along side JJ Abrams. Awesome? Awesome!

Then, on Tuesday I was the recipient of the Steely-Eyed Missile Man award at work. Steely-eyed missile man was a term used in NASA in the 60's and 70's to denote someone that came up with quick, creative solutions to difficult problems, or has otherwise distinguished themselves in an exemplary manner. To be called a steely-eyed missile man was the highest honor, and at work it means the same thing. A lot of the time, the award is given to teams, so to receive it as a solo dev is a very nice thing indeed.

Not only that, it is time for salary review. I don't need to explain what happens at salary reviews, especially considering recent events. As of late, I have been told by multiple people that I will certainly be moved to mid-level developer (I'm still a junior and this is my first salary review), and that the only thing stopping me from being considered a senior developer is time on the job, not skill. Which is a) completely understandable and b) I'm okay with that.

Even crazier, but it seems that I may be some sort of genesis for the company. Several months ago, we hired a senior system architect. He didn't have much Objective-C experience, so I was paired with him to help him understand the idiosyncrasies of Objective-C. After talking with the guy for a bit, it was obvious that he really knew his stuff, so I started asking him in-depth questions about program architecture and design patterns, having discussions and such. In essence, sort of a mentor thing. Fast forward to now. I'm being cited as a proof-of-concept and there is serious discussion about implementing a program to change how the company works as a whole, based on how I and the senior architect worked together. I'm Patient Zero for the Code Zombie plague, if you will. My friend's words, not mine.

Braaaains….

(Life is awesome, and may get awesomer)