Busy as a bee, but still around.

July 28, 2004

I took a look at a few of my past entries earlier today after a Google search for something that turned up my website (OK, so I was Goigling myself again, yes, I’m that narcisisstic) and I noticed a dramatic change in my writing style since even January. Yes, our writing styles change over time, but I’ve found that the quality of my writing has gone way down. I’m not talking about technical style, mind you, but rather in my general attitude. I read through some of my old posts and I felt like I was reading someone else’s work, that’s how different it was. Oh well. I know part of the reason why my writing has changed so much since then, though I know that it’s not by far the only reason. The fact of the matter is that I’m a different person than I was just six months ago, and my writing has reflected that.

We always talk about how we’re “a different person” (and by we, I mean society) than who we used to be, and in many cases I’d agree. Some people can change a lot of things about them but I think that in the core we’re the same throughout our whole life. I’ve heard a theory that the person you’re like when you’re five is relatively the same person you’ll be later in life, and I think that in most cases that’s the truth. My Dad tells me that both my sister and I are *exactly* the way we were as babies/infants/toddlers, though I suspect that there’s a good deal less changing of soiled diapers. Probably as much food cleanup with my sister as there was when she was that age, but the only difference is that now she does it…most of the time. I kid, I kid. Maybe. But the fact remains that with that theory we’re incapable of changes to our personality and the like. I think I mostly agree with it. I’m probably the same person I was six months ago but outwardly I’m different. It’s probably a combination of things.

Work has been off-and-on hellish, which is part of the reason why my updates have been coming less frequently. Friday is supposedly the deadline for the two projects that we have going on right now, and while I’m mostly confident that we can have one of them done in time, the other one is going to take probably an extra week at the rate it’s going. I don’t fault our programmers, who have been pretty much on task and quick about getting things added or fixed, nor do I fault my own schedule of testing (says he who is at this moment writing instead of working), but I blame the client. I’m sure they blame us, somehow, but really, we’re writing a product that will synchronize Outlook and various PDA’s to their website and their website is so buggy I can’t delete a calendar item, and until about an hour ago I was unable to navigate the site at all. And it’s been this way, off and on, for the last ten days or more. We haven’t sent them a build showing our progress report since July 20th mostly because even with all the fixes that have been checked in by the programmers, I can’t test any of them. Nice website.

So I put all my effort into the other project. Testing is nearly complete on it, and short of random bugs that I can’t anticipate, I think it’s a pretty good piece of software that’s about ready to go. Of course, my boss keeps asking me where we are in testing the OTHER software, the one with the broken website. I finally had to say to him today, “Look, I can’t do ANY testing for this project until they fix their site.” That seems to quiet him up a bit, even though I think he’d known that the whole time. He tells me that after talking with them (for about the fourth or fifth time) in the last ten days that they say the website should be back up and running and fully operational tomorrow.

Right. The day before we submit our software to them. Uh huh. Maybe they should get us their logo and icon, give me their changes for the helpfile, and get their site back up and running. And maybe this wasn’t the best of time for their lead programmer to take a vacation. Or maybe he just slipped off into the night and CALLED it a vacation, either way. In any case, it ain’t getting done by Friday. Even if the site is 100% operational tomorrow, I have to both test all the fixes that have gone into the software AND run it through the standard tests. Plus finish up testing the other software. This is why we need two QA people here, but until that happens I’m flying solo and under a lot of pressure to work on something that can’t be worked on.

C’est la vie.

Tivo’s still working out fine. I’m having such a busy week, though, that I don’t have time to watch anything that it’s recording. This weekend is going to be a mad “ER” watching time, assuming I can find the time then. Last weekend I managed to clear the buffer on my Tivo since I had nothing else to do, but now I have about three pages of it full of episodes of “Law & Order”, “Married with Children”, “Friends”, and of course, my daily episodes of “ER”. I don’t really care about the syndicated shows (with the exception of “ER”) since I’ve seen them all already, but I hope that I can find the time to watch my first-run shows when those come on as well as the movies I recorded. I managed to clear the buffer last weekend only because I had nothing else to do, and while my sister was living it up at a bachelorette party Saturday night I was at home eating peanut butter out of a jar watching TV in my boxers. Well OK, that’s not entirely true. I made a nice pasta dinner and had two glasses of wine, but to be honest, the boxers part was true. It was SO hot last weekend, and it got up to 100 on Saturday. Even into the evening it was hot, and with no air conditioning and fans to just blow the hot air around my only respite was not moving and taking off layers. The pair of shorts that I’m currently enamored with fit very well and look good, but alas, they’re made of heavy cotton and are not good in hot weather.

So what’s kept me busy this week? Mostly just not being at home. Monday was a pretty normal day that begin with me hauling my butt out of bed at 6 AM and ended with a cereal dinner while watching TV, but Tuesday was a bit more hectic. I went to the baseball game I talked about last week with my Dad and some of his coworkers, and short of catching a fly ball and having player sign it, I’d be willing to wager that’s about the most fun I could have at a baseball game. We were supposed to meet downtown at the Rock Bottom Brewery at 5 PM, which necessitated a hurried trip home from work and then rushing over to the transit center to catch a MAX. I made it downtown at 4:55 and was the first one there, so my Dad and I got a table outside and his friends slowly wandered up. We had a couple of pints there (which I didn’t have to pay for, thanks Angela), made it up to the ballpark a little late, but since we were in a suite we didn’t have to step over people. I was happy to see that not only was food provided there, but cold beers were also waiting for us. So I had a little more beer and a few slices of pizza, as well as a nice Caeser salad. And then they brought out these cookies at the end that were fantastic! As a matter of fact, my Dad took a few home, so when I go over there tonight I might steal one if they’re still around….

Er, yeah, anyway. The game itself wasn’t that good, but standing around and talking to people in the suite was great. We could wander around the suite, watch the game on TV if we wanted to (though we had a fantastic view), grab food without missing a beat, etc. We even had our own personal server who was just a little too good at her job, since I set down my almost-empty bottle of beer for a moment and then turned around to find she’d taken it away. I hadn’t seen her and the bottle had only been down for about a minute, so it was like it vanished into thin air. I also got my picture taken with the mascot, which was kind of cool. I had forgotten my camera in the rush to get out of the apartment, so I’ll make sure I get a copy and, uh…I guess add it to the queue of pictures to be added to my website when I get off my duff and do something about that. Great time overall, and thanks for inviting me Dad. In the end, I didn’t have to fork over a cent, and checking the PGE Park website today revealed that given the price of renting a suite there, I’m unlikely to ever do it on my own. So when the opportunity arises again (IF the opportunity arises again), I’ll make sure that I beg, borrow, or steal my way into that party.

Tonight, as I briefly mentioned, I’m going over to my Dad’s to do laundry–I mean have dinner. Sorry, slip of the tongue. Last tiem I ate over there was for my sister’s birthday at the beginning of the month, so it’s about time to go and grace the household with my presence. Tomorrow night I’m going to still another baseball game with three of my coworkers, though I’ll have to sit with the riff raff and not in a suite. That’s OK. It’s Thirsty Thursday, and since one of my friends who’s going lives a couple of blocks from the park and at least one of the others is taking the buss, I have a feeling the alcohol will be flowing. Still, I’ve decided to cut back somewhat on my beer intake (did I mention that before? I think I did), I’m driving home, and it’s still $3.50 for a cup, I won’t have that much. It’ll be fun to go with my coworkers, though, whether I drink a lot of beer or not. Emphasis on the not, mind you. With the polish dogs I typically eat there I get enough caloric intake at the ballpark as it is, I certainly don’t need to add two or three cups of beer on top of that EVERY TIME I go. Now if I did that every time I went out to McMenamins, or brought food home, then that would be a lot of beer. Wait, that’s what I WAS doing. So yeah, I’m cutting way back. I’m concerned about my health from a weight perspective and not a liver perspective, but I’m sure that they’re both important. I can just SEE my weight, that’s all. Out of sight, out of mind.

So here I am, midway through another week. Few weekend plans, pretty much only getting up in the morning to come in to work. Maybe when these two projects are finished I’ll be able to have a little more fun at work, and by that I don’t mean more web surfing. I just mean a more enjoyable time when I’m not under constant pressure to get something done that I can’t do. Whee.

I’ll try and write again soon. I’ve heard comments about how my entries are being sporadic, but I haven’t has as much time during the day as I used to. I’ll try and do it in the evenings, then, instead. So until next time, stay loose.

Posted in Beer, Geekery, General