... at least according to the systems administrator

by Rebecca Farr

1) My first Chronicle holiday party at the American Legion

This was in 2009, and I had only been working at the Chronicle for two months. There were a few thousand people at the party, live music and dancing outside under the tent, karaoke upstairs, wonderful food and drinks, and everyone dressed up. There was almost a full moon and weather cool enough that it felt good to be outside with long sleeves and clear skies. There's a great view of the city from the back lawn, and I remember a cannon. I had never been to a party that big. It turns out this was the last really big Christmas party for a while. Because of hard economic times, the subsequent Christmas parties, while just as dear and yummy, have been more homey and small, for a few hundred people, on the office property.

2) Getting a good-bye hug from Louis upon leaving that same Christmas party

This one is surprising and funny if you work at the Chronicle. Louis Black is the Editor of the paper, with a capital "E." He writes the entertaining and insightful "Page Two" column. Louis is hard to describe: kind of cranky and charismatic at the same time – let's just say he is generally not huggy or publicly affectionate with the staff. It was a magical party.

3) Watching Nick chase Zach's pet piglet at the spring party

Nick Barbaro is the publisher, just as charismatic as Louis and a smidge less cranky. I found out after I got this job that the publisher is kind of like the CEO at the computer companies where I had worked previously: way at the top of the food chain, and partners with Louis, above, in owning the paper. In addition to being really smart and even fairly technically adept, Nick is quite athletic and definitely not your typical CEO type. Zach was a Classifieds advertising rep at the time. The pig got loose, which entertained the children and some of the adults. There was enough of a crowd and stuff going on, new babies to meet, etc., that I lost track of the pig situation. Suddenly, the crowd parted and I saw the piggy running the length of the parking lot, with Nick running like mad after the pig and a boy running like mad after them. The pig was a piglet, really, and Nick is 6½ feet tall or so, so it was quite a visually interesting chase scene.

4) South by Southwest

This one is almost impossible to explain. For me, it is partly about being this close to these most amazing Interactive, Music, and Film festivals and partly about having gotten help and advice on computing or networking problems from the really stellar SXSW technical staff.

5) Working the Hot Sauce Festival voting booth

The Hot Sauce Festival is another of the amazing parties the Chronicle puts on every year. A huge crowd of 10,000 or more shows up with cans of food for the Capital Area Food Bank. I go to make sure the voting computers are okay. We have four old eMacs, each probably about 15 years old, that are still hanging in there through the windy years and rainy years. The people are a ton of fun, and the artful logo T-shirts, designed by the Chronicle art staff, are my favorites! Some years, people try to buy the voting computers as souvenir antiques.

6) Margaret Moser's superenthusiastic and delightfully dramatic greeting upon our first introduction

Margaret is one of the writers who has been with the Chronicle since the beginning. She doesn't come in to the office every day, so I had been working for a week or so before we met. We were introduced, Margaret asked a few clarifying questions. When she got it that I was really the new "computer lady," she threw her things on the floor, then dropped to the floor herself. This was the most enthusiastic greeting I have ever received, and I shall treasure it always.

7) Opening the BubblePlex meeting room windows and securing them with cotton rope and cleats

Our main meeting room for some years was the back patio, which has a wavy metal roof and walls, windows, and doors made of corrugated plastic nailed onto sturdy wooden frames. This entry originally read "boat cleats," but a sailor among us told me that boat cleats are made out of a different kind of metal and these are just regular cleats. All I can say is that if a hurricane comes up this far, or perhaps if a tornado touches down, the ropes will stay wrapped around the cleats even if every other part of the BubblePlex gets smashed to bits.

8) First Friday TLM drinks, particularly the Obama Rocks

2008 was an election year. Everyone was so hopeful. I started in October, so my first "First Friday" was in November, election month. At that time, there was a longstanding tradition of having alcoholic drinks served at the Team Leaders Meeting on the first Friday of the month. These days, we drink tea or water and tell stories about the clever drinks of years past. The Obama Rocks had a thin slice of a pear garnishing each glass.

9) All the vintage computers

See No. 5 above. Not everyone's computer is 10+ years old, but mine is. ;-)

10) The proofreaders' witty banter

I'm so lucky – my office space is separated from the proofreaders' desks by a very thin wall that doesn't filter out much (or any) sound. They mostly have advanced degrees in English or journalism or writing. They are artists and acrobats of the English language, and I adore overhearing their wordplay and discussions of grammar, turns of phrase, movies, music, parties, and absolutely everything! It's pure intellectual delight!

11) Going to lunch with Production

Just imagine going to lunch with a group of artists at the top of their game. Not only are they really, really good artists, but they are really bright and quick and producing art every week whether they feel like it or not. These people are beautiful, and they bring beauty with them wherever they go. I bask in it when I get to go to lunch with them.

12) csoo!

csoo is the alias of our office and credit manager, Cindy Soo. She is the office mom and makes sure that everything at the Chronicle runs smoothly. There's just nothing Cindy Soo can't do or take care of. Cindy is self-effacing, as reflected in her trademark signature, which is all lowercase. Thank you, Cindy Soo!

13) Having Raoul as my personal DJ

For the first 2½ years I was here, Raoul Hernandez, the Music editor, sat just on the other side of the proofreaders. His former desk is now part of Prooferville. Raoul played an amazing variety of music, rarely if ever repeating anything. Work is work, but if you have someone playing music that you really enjoy almost all the time, it can make the work feel like play.

14) Learning about gaffer's tape

It's awesome!

15) Making Cat 6 cables in the BubblePlex

See No. 7 – the BubblePlex is the absolute best meeting room ever.

16) Holding Bennett during TLM

Bennett is one of the twins – our Marketing Director Erin Collier's sons. Bennett is a baby who just loves jumping, and he jumped through an entire Team Leaders Meeting while I provided support for the jumping by holding him.

17) Having a parking space with my own initial: "R"

This isn't exactly my parking space .... The big curvy letter "R" was left there from when the Chronicle's west campus property belonged to SXSW. That was Roland Swenson's parking space. Now it is mine. :-) As long as I get to work early enough ....

18) Morning yoga, outside under the trees with Kimberley, James, Tofte, and others

Management gave me permission to lead yoga practice twice a week during work hours. Editorial staffers Kimberley Jones, James Renovitch, and Kristine Tofte were my most consistent companions, each of them logging more than a year of consecutive practice days – a lovely time.

19) Celebrating Arbor Day under the tree

Arbor Day is celebrated somewhere in the world almost every day. There's a great big tree in the middle of the field between the Chronicle buildings.

20) Chain saw fun in the driveway

There are often surprises at The Austin Chronicle, and often they are quirky or eccentric. Once, when I was walking back to the office after hearing a friend had died, Nick offered to let me have a turn with the chain saw on some fallen limbs he was working on. Great therapy.

21) Climbing up on the roof with Cindy Soo

Either the phone or air conditioning service people left a nifty ladder with extensions on top that made for an easy mount/dismount from the ladder onto the flat roof, so we went up. Great view of the atrium from the top, as well as I-35, Fiesta, etc.

22) Taking Blue to Camp Doug

Doug is Doug St. Ament, an artist in the production department. Doug loves dogs and all animals – the count changes, but I think he has six dogs, three cats, three horses, and a donkey or two. My dog, Blue, spent a week with Doug and his wife Sarah, and she told me she had the best time there of her whole life.

23) Playing midnight volleyball at the holiday party with lights clamped to the volleyball net

This one is self-explanatory.

24) Playing volleyball against the gorgeous Facebook team

This was a great time. A group of Facebook employees came over to play volleyball with us. They were gorgeous in every way. And we were, too.

25) Headers by Nick, Mike B., and Scott

If you've gotten this far, you already know that Nick is the Chronicle publisher; Mike B. works in Classifieds, and Scott is the Chief Technology Officer at SXSW. These guys can all return the ball better using their heads than I can using my hands. I mean, they can aim it and everything!

26) When I finally get a serve over the net and both teams cheer

I was always bookish and interested in math and science rather than sports in school, so I had never been the object of cheering while playing sports. This did more psychological good for me than years of talk therapy.

27) Playing multiball

Sometimes conditions are just right and we will play some games of multiball. We follow regular Chronicle volleyball rules, except with two balls and both teams serve at the same moment. This is a very challenging game.

28) WVL "antics"

WVL rhymes with "weevil" and stands for Winter Volleyball League. We divide into four teams and have a tournament in the fall and winter. The games are played Monday through Friday at 5:15pm sharp; best 2 out of 3 games wins. Two teams play per day. The teams have clever names for themselves. Last year after WVL ended, Doug came up with the name for next time: Antics. This is considered a particularly good name because ants and ticks are both bugs, kind of like weevils – get it? So ever since, at all kinds of interesting moments, mostly outside, someone will point and call out "antics!" or say, "That was Antics ...".

29) Watching my first "batter's choice DJ" softball game

The Chronicle has a team in the Alternative Softball League. They collected each batter's favorite song, and they play the song when that team member is up to bat. I'm not sure if this makes them win more, but it certainly adds color when you are sitting in the stands watching.

30) Watching the World Cup at Nick and Susan's

Susan Moffat is the ultimate hostess – the food is great, the soccer is great, and the company is great. I didn't know I liked watching soccer before this year!