Corporate Idiocy

Gotta love working for big corporate.

After 6 weeks writing a very sweet billing entry system (with all the bells and whistles), and sitting on my hands tweaking it for five weeks while I wait for a copy of the main production database to test against, the fecking project gets dropped. The day I get my database, it gets dropped. What a complete waste of time. Idiots.

Oh well, I guess it saves me having to debug the bloody thing, or maintain it, or deal with luser questions... so there is a bright side to it all in the end.

Even better, I go to Europe in two weeks for about 7 weeks. Coolies.

Potty Training

I got this email from my brother today, which is a gem. Thought I'd share it in it's unedited glory...

The players in the email:
Dan - My brother, and father of Snail
Snail - My niece, more properly known as Sarah, 18 months old-ish

---

Newsflash.....
We broke new ground this morning - Sarah had a win on the toilet!! The beginning of the end of nappies is upon us. Giddy Up.

Let me talk you through it...

We have been talking up the potty to the snail for the past couple of weeks. She does like sitting on it though she also likes putting her bath toys in it so I'm sure it's full potential has never been realised. So, on the weekend we bought one of those padded seats that goes on the toilet. Now that is the gear. Complete with glow in the dark stars and a convenient hook for stowage when not required, it really is a 5 star appliance.

After a lengthy sales pitch and a couple of familiarisation sessions over the weekend, Sarah was starting to see the benefits over the potty. However, it was really after breakfast this morning that things stepped up a notch. The snail gave the signal and it was game on. As we had practiced in our training runs, I had the tap on promote just the right ambience and after a couple of minutes we were rewarded with a small though deeply satisfying plop.

It was high fives all round with much back slapping and frivolity. Sarah was all for a celebratory round down at the local though we had to remind her that it is still early days, and she shouldn't take her eye off the ball just yet.

Updates will follow when more news comes to hand.

Dan

(Under)employed at last

Well, I got a job. And I thought sitting around at home all day watching crap tell was boring. This new job is driving me nuts. The network is like a home network (200-odd employees on a feckin' workgroup - no domain controller!), the processes are non-existent, the software has more band-aids than a Johnson and Johnson factory... Need I go on.

And I'm bored. Granted I've only been there two days, and so am still finding my way around the joint, but still. In two days I've been assigned two things to fix. Total time to fix them was about 25 minutes. So I've filled the other 15 hours and 35 minutes just sitting there, installing crap (getting my own personal wiki going for amusement), looking through the network (cos there's no domain controller, there's no security on the directories), and more sitting there.

After I finished my 25 minutes work this morning, I asked what the test and deploy process (what process?) was, and got told, with a straight face, that I was working too quick and needed to slow down...

This job is going to be the death of me. My brain will rot through inactivity.

Birthday...

Oh, and I turned 31 the other day. Yay me!

Now, where's that grey covering hair dye...

Unemployed Bum

Well, I'm still unemployed, and LOVING it... (aside from the whole no money deal). Had another interview today. Do you think that you can be too honest in an interview? I told them that while the contract might be for six months with an almost guaranteed extension until hell freezes over, I really didn't want to go longer than six months. Not really sure how well that went down, but what can you do...? I have no idea if I'm going to like working for big corporate (probably not), or if big corporate is going to be able to put up with my shit (again, probably not), so I have no plans to over commit myself.

Guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

(PS. How much do recruiters suck? The correct answer is 'shitloads' - they would have to be the most annoying semi-sentient beings on the planet, apart from certain right wing western politicians, engin IT staff (who still haven't rung me back), people who are intolerant of other people, the Dutch..... oh, and Hugh Jackman.)

All over, red rover

Well, after nine years, I've left Redgum and am currently unemployed for the first time in my life. Sitting down at the moment writing my first ever resume, which has got to be the most boring things to do known to man (after plastering and painting interior walls).

It's all a little strange to be honest. I guess we'll see how it all goes in the near future as yours truly tries to find his first ever "real" job.

On another note, I got a tre cool coffe grinder to match the espresso machine. Way happy. Hope you all had a good Christmas.

A little less cranky...

Day 5. Still going strong...

Cranky pants...

Still cranky, but not as much...

The Very Cranky Caterpillar

... and he was still cranky ...

Feeling cranky...

Grrrrrr.