“I am Enzo! The baker!”

June 17, 2004

Well thankfully I got a big project out of the way yesterday at work, and so I could take a breather at the end of the day. For close to the last week, one of my coworkers and I have been putting the latest version of our software through some basic tests getting it ready for release. We haven’t done a software release in about six or seven months, so this was something that was long overdue and fixed a few outstanding bugs that still get reported every week from our latest public build. We were both confident that the software was OK, but for appearance’s sake and for a paper trail, we had to do some basic tests in multiple configurations. That wasn’t too hard, really, but it was fairly time-consuming and tedious. He got the short end of the stick though: he had to dig through six months of updates to our software from our internal tracking system and compile every bugfix that had been written for the readme file that is bundled with it. Poor guy. And I just had to do the testing.

Along that same note, though, I feel though something else is about to be dumped into my lap shortly. I casually asked my boss yesterday what kind of internal bug tracking system we use, and I suggested an alternate that I’m familiar with. What’s likely to happen is that he’ll put me in charge of implementing it, which would be an interesting situation since I have no experience deploying the software, just casual usage when reporting bugs for Mozilla, Firefox, or Thunderbird. Additionally, he started sending me information about two contracts that we have with other companies for synchronization stuff, so I feel like I’m about ready to get in over my head times two. And lastly, today I essentially got put in charge of all website and email stuff. Joy. I’ve done similar things for my own personal website and at home, but I’ve never been put in charge of corporate stuff. Looks like I have a steep learning curve ahead of me. That’ll teach me for being honest on my resume, eh? I think part of the reason why that responsibility got put on me is that my boss is going out of town for the next two and a half weeks or so, and someone needs to be able to do web and maila dmin stuff while he’s away. The system is already set up, I just have to make sure that it stays working while he’s gone.

It’s tempting for me, however, to think of ways to improve the system that’s already there. I’m one of those people that doesn’t believe in “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and more often than not, I get myself into trouble. But I always learn from my mistakes and gain experience with what I break, but unfortunately, I can’t say that I learn not to mess with things. Someone stop me if I try and upgrade the version of Apache web server that’s on the public web server or something else along those lines. If I make any sweeping changes, I’ll need a lot of prep time and some practice before doing so.

If you visited my website yesterday when I meant to post this update (this first half was written on Wednesday, this is Thursday now), you may have noticed that my website got all funky for awhile. For some reason the default template decided to hork up a hairball, and I spent an hour or so trying to bring it back to life. Thankfully, I was successful and also managed to fix a couple of outstanding bugs in the layout that I’d meant to do for a long time. One of these days I’m going to sit down and get all my damn pictures posted, I will. In the past I’ve made excuses of not doing it because I’ve been playing that damned game or something, but that’s no longer and issue. I’ve decided that since I’m not playing as much as I used to for a variety of reasons, I’m going to suspend my account temporarily, maybe pick it up again later. Work has kept me busy enough that I feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth (or rather, my sister’s not getting her money’s worth since she’s been paying for my subscription), and I don’t want to waste the money. My only reservation is that I fear I may lose my character I’ve invested so much time in, so before I do all that I want to inquire with customer service and make sure.

Today I’m going over to my Dad’s and having dinner with him and my stepmom, plus Martin will be there so I can say hello and pick up my last paycheck from him. It’s not a whole lot compared to my bi-monthly paychecks now, but hey, it’s money that I didn’t have before. I’m also doing laundry over there, and since I made a deliberate effort last night to convince myself to NOT get up at 5:15 AM this morning, I may go jogging on his treadmill, too. I knew I’d be too tired, plus I ate a fairly large dinner last night and I was so full that the idea of exercise didn’t appeal. Damn my good cooking skills! I’ve always had the problem of where when I make something, I’ll keep eating it either until A) it’s gone or B) my stomach hurts so much that I regret ever picking up a fork. I need to learn self control, perhaps. And smaller portion sizes, come to think of it. But it was just spaghetti with homemade sauce, so it’s not like I ate a whole meatloaf or something. Lots of carbs, though. But that’s just my way of protesting the Atkins diet and being able to eat my yummy pasta sauce that I’ve made even better since I made it for my Dad. And last night while I was watching a bit of The Godfather on TV (hence the title of the entry from that classic scene in the film), I found a way to make it even better. Next time, Gadget. Next time….

Today it’s supposed to get up to 90 degrees in Portland, at least that’s what I heard earlier in the week. Viva la summer weather. I’m wearing a white t-shirt (that’s a little too big for me…curse me and my habits of buying XL t-shirts instead of L), shorts, and sandals, though, plus I’m in a temperature-controlled office environment, so I’m confident that I’ll get rhough the day while remaining comfortable. I don’t plan on going out for lunch (I’m still eating cereal every day both because it’s healthier and because it’s cheaper than going out), and maybe just walking down to the Shell station down the street to buy myself a soda. 90 degree weather is a cinch, anyhow. At least it’s not humid like it was in Beloit.

So that’s where I am. Have a good Thursday, all, and I’m sure you’ll hear from me again before the week is out.

Posted in Beloit, Geekery, General