Joys of Paperwork

Another day, another meeting.

As near as I can tell, the only thing that was settled yesterday in that meeting was that the product sold does not match what we currently can offer or in some cases or want to make ourselves responsible for. Oh and that GB has been off working in a vacuum again so the software he has is no longer compatable with what we have. I have to admit, he is the poster child for why a company needs a coding standard though. Maybe, if I really have an impact here, I can help craft a coding standard that isn't cumbersome.

Just realized I forgot my flash drive again today. Fantastic. I've got my pda with me though. At least there is that.

I was told I need to burn my vacation before the end of the year or lose it. All 249.37 hours which is 6 weeks. Bear in mind this is not counting the 80 hours I'm allowed to carry over to next year. I just about can say "Hey.. I'll see you guys in January!". Not that I would, its not right to do something like that. I'd probably get fired if I tried it.

It's funny though, I collect massive amounts of vacation, get told "you have to use it." Then when I try to use some, I'm told "uhm ok.. but we *really* need this done/fixed!!"

Anyway.. I need to try and get some work done before I wind up in meetings and being a manager. bleah.

Setting Standards

Well, the powers on high have decided to "take a step back and get our bearings"... whatever they really mean, I'm not sure I want to know. What it means for me is that I'm now on the "Architecture team" (team of 2 by the way) and we are to create a corporate software architecture and standard. Which in layman's terms mean I meet with R almost daily for a theory/bs/problem solving session for an hour to two hours (or more at times). I personally feel like nothing's getting done. He thinks we're making *great* progress. Guess it all depends on your point of view.

Standards have a place, they really do. Put a coding standard in place and anyone can pick up the code and maintain it with little hassle over how it was written. But coding standards more times than not go WAY too far, forcing developers to pay more attention to how they spell variables than what they're supposed to be coding! I just don't feel right about it I guess. In the end, I'm more of a contractor / consulting guy I think. I was good at it too, I actually had customers specifically request me during contract negotiations back then! How cool is that?

Well, maybe this coding standard stuff won't take too long. Maybe it just feels like its gonna take months and really it'll take a few weeks. Not that we have a few weeks to spare really. R's not aware of the code and backend pieces that already exist... it'll take time to get him up to speed on 5 years of software evolution.

Oh those crazy humans

Ok, just got out of the presentation. Just what is it about people to think they are automatically being fooled? I run the software, the AI does its job quite well (pats software on the head in praise) and the tech guy starts with the questions ... absolutely thinking this is all smoke and mirrors! lol

Course the tech guy was doing his best to get at the algorithms and code. I gave him just enough so he could shoot himself in the foot if he tries this on his own I believe. If he's *really* slick, he may figure it out. But it sure won't be quickly!

On top of that, we had a guy come through to be interviewed. I'm terrible at giving interviews. I never know what to ask. And if the person is very sure of themselves jeez.. that makes it worse. I think the worst one I dealt with was one guy that was so sure of himself, he started asking pointed questions about how he could get my job!! Dude had nerve, I wouldn't have tried that.

Demo Day

Today is the day I do the 'show and tell' to a customer about the AI. I have to remember that I do NOT need to drown them in technobabble. Something I know I'll launch into quickly, especially when I get nervous.

Not sleeping much lately, mostly from nerves. I'm really torn about this saturday, whether to troop or not. I feel obligated to go for a variety of reasons and in some small way I do want to go. I'm just so TIRED. I go to bed tired, I wake up tired, I got to be again just a little more tired than I was before. I keep thinking I need to get away from everything for awhile.

Well time's almost there for me to go present.

Public Speaking ...

Unless you're a bit of an exhibitionist or just *really* like people, its the 'public' part of 'public speaking' that gets to most people.
A customer is coming into work tomorrow for a big demo on our software. Naturally what they really want is not what our software does.. but also as usual, we've got the various components (sometimes they even work! lol) we just have to put them together in the right spot. I wrote and designed 90% of all that collection of "duct tape and bailing wire" so I get to be in it. Mostly to talk about the artificial intelligence I wrote to read/process those financial docs. Not that the AI is done mind you, something like that really never is. As long as people are making new documents, that AI is never really done. But anyway.. other than my boss, myself and one person from the customer the rest of the room will be filled with non-technical people. So I have to figure out how to talk intelligently about the AI without boring the non-technical people to absolute tears.

Got a new entry up for Star Wars Spec Ops. I really like this one, I had fun with it. Though next part I need to do some more character development of the bad guy and a few other characters. So Clang and Doc may get a rest from me trying to beat the snot out of them for awhile!

Got a trooping event this weekend.. not totally up for it. I really need to get sleep and take some time to putter about doing something minor for just 'mental therapy' sake. Lately I feel like I've been so hard so constantly I'm not sure how to operate unless I'm in a crisis mode for something. LOL... I bout freaked out this past weekend cause of that too! Didn't have anything pressing, just some minor little errands to do. But I actually invented pressure on myself so I could function! How's that for messed up? I can't believe I have to relearn how to relax... oh well.

Monday Monday

Not much to blog about today. Last week was a bit long, mostly filled with a stretch of "quickly code/test/release/repeat" every few hours. But, as far as I know, both projects were delivered on thurs and fri. Truckload of eDocuments created.. I've no idea how many. "Lots" probably applies here! lol

In addition, I'd been working on some reporting software for TRE Consulting based on some spreadsheet reports. Thankfully, I got that done. That was as hard in its own way as what I had been doing for financial doc processing! But I got that done too. Both slowed me down considerably in getting any writing done. But I managed a little. Another round of editing and the next part of Spec Ops written and edited. I like what I've got for Spec Ops... but I'll do one more pass through it. For 'Cold Case', after I get these changes typed in, I'll add in one more small passage, polish it and start getting a list of writing agents.