Space Buster!

Awesome! I love my iPod Touch.

While waiting for network access at my new job, I played these free games to help pass the time. I started playing again the other day. I only had a few levels left.

Not sure if it knew I almost won or if they pushed out new free levels, but they did and it has been fun.

I need a life. Lately I've spent a lot of time learning SharePoint - which is arguably work related.

What's next?

The more I work with SharePoint, the more frustrating it gets. Everything I do gets extended feature-wise. If I really felt against the wall, I'd be more worried or negatively motivated.

Anyway, everyday the dynamics at work changes. For good, unlike my last job. Actually it didn't change much at all. Certain people were always upset regardless of what was going on.

Well, that was my rant for the day. I enjoy my job and the associations.

Permission to speak freely

I recall one network admin that was very good at his job. So good that after he was let go for some reason, they hired some security expect to test the network. I don't think they found anything.

I recall being pretty offended by the search, but when i talked to the former co-worker he said he was glad. He knew they would find the network in tip-top shape.

At another job, there was a network admin who had all these back doors to the system and used them after he got let go. I thought it was kind of funny at the time. I worked for con artists and they didn't do anything about the security holes. It was not long after that the dot-com bubble burst...

Week1 of the new job

It's all good. Well, like I expected, I'm waiting for a computer. It would have been very impressive if I was given everything ready to go. Oh well, there was a lot of reading I had to do anyway.

I think i just skipped part pf the chapter of the Legacy of Ashes book. I took my large headphones to work yesterday. It worked well on the noisy metro.

It's a short week. Turkey Day and Friday will be a personal day off unless I get a computer today - which I doubt.

Oh yeah, I'm on a seemingly great team. One with a DBA and well defined procedures! So, I'm very excited to work with these people.

New job!

Well, I guess I need to take back what I said about DHS. Maybe not. I start my new job with an agency that has been around for a long time. Should be fun.

I'm going to miss the building, a few people, and some of the challenges (new technology to learn), but I'll have many other things to learn. I will have to tour the building after hours. OK, there is no maybe about that.

Glad it is a holiday. One less day at the place.

Know your audience

When I stepped through the code yesterday I noticed something curious. Something I barely remembered doing. Something that was the cause of much trouble. At the time, I guess I thought I was being clever, even though I knew it was bad form.

Note to self. Never call on an event handler just because it has some functionality you need.

Anyway, watched the movie W. It left me with a couple impressions. Notably, I think i respect H. W. Bush more the Jr.

Do I work for Nazis?

They promise the world and think I'm some kind of code machine or monkey. It's not a matter of mindlessly grinding out code. It takes time, and I plan on taking it. If it doesn't meet their deadline, they can fix it.

I want to do it right the first time. Especially if I have to maintain it. They complain because some apps are unmanageable/

It's not my job to educate them on any subject. Tell me what they want and get out of the way until I get it done. I'm not a monkey, I'm a professional. That's right, if they every stepped out of the isolated world they live in, they might notice many things.

Ride like a dog

Poor management decision. Bad for morale. Bad for development of good, manageable code.

Did some XML serialization. It was pretty slick. My bridge rocks and is half the size and more efficient than the formally purposes one.

Two more days and I go on a long vacation. No computers.

Harddrive issues

It's almost painful on the ears to hear all the problems the Harddrive has. Most of the time it's not around,other times my podcasts drown out the noise. At other times I get so involved in what I am doing I block out all sounds.

Started playing with the new Visual Studio. I seriously wonder who really uses XAML or Linq? Pronounced Zammel and link.

Anyway, I need to go. Just wanted to post something.

Work extra hours?

Oh goody, can I? Um, no thanks. What little social life I do have, I'm going to enjoy it. Besides, they worry too much and I'm prepared for the royal screw job.

For some reason, my boss thinks I bill the client directly. Meaning my hours worked go straight to the the client. I'm salary and work for a stupid company. If the company can't bill the client if I decide to go on vacation that is their problem not mine.

I can't convert the plethora of sick time to paid time off because, as stated above, I work for a cheap, stupid company. They don't even contribute to the 401k; however I do get cheesy gift cards every now and then.

Yesterday, in wake of the bad news I here about in the US alone, I started to feel like it was OK that the small company I work for can't afford all the cool benefits I got from OAK. But my Boss enjoys his armada of cars, his fancy plantation home, and what ever else he's got that could have been put to better use... like matching on the 401k.

They should not have to think

Oh wow, wouldn't want that now would we?

So, I was given "free reign" to do these unspecified pages, but almost every thing is "wrong" and needs to conform to whatever they got in their head. I played the "I don't care" card and explained to them to just tell me what they want to see.

Well, of course they don't know what they want and they aren't technologically savvy enough to understand what can be done. So, I do what I can and change it up when they finally decide what they want.

If they keep changing their mind, that's job security?