And this post will close out 2015 and welcome in 2016.
I'd like to start off by saying this is (was) the Monday before New Year's Eve/Day... so it's the end of the year for those of us who use the Gregorian calendar. I'm going to admit a bit of ignorance here, as it took me a little bit of internet searching to come up with the Gregorian calendar. I'm not sure how it is where you live, but in my neck of the woods, "Gregorian calendar" is not really an everyday household term.
Having said that, it's now the second week of 2016.
For the long-suffering readers of this blog, this means that the author has been fairly busy. So busy, in fact, that even the participation in his favorite MMO, Rail-Nation, has suffered.
Not to worry, though, as my e-life takes second place to my IRL life.
So, what's up IRL in 2016?
Well, for starters, Mr.T. and I had a meeting about the SUL, and came up with a goal: to finish the basic remodel of the SUL by May 30. I like this goal; however, the problem is this: every time we make a goal like this, overtime sets in.
Now, don't get me wrong- overtime pays for these upgrades. It's just that when I put in overtime, there's less time to do projects at home.
In the interest of publishing something, I'll close here. I hope the next post will be more interesting!
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
06.04.16 update: the remodel is still nowhere near done!
Showing posts with label Rail Nation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rail Nation. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Monday, October 5, 2015
"How was your weekend?"
A typical Monday-at-work will often early on experience the "How was your weekend" question. It's pretty safe, really, and it's pretty much a soft question- there's almost NO way that this ice breaker can fail. Please note- I said ALMOST.
"Weekend" means the end of the workweek: no work, no school. Downtime. Sometimes, occasionally, it means that despite prior commitments, stuff that needs to get done at home, or an astronomical event that last occurred in 1982 and won't happen again until 2033, you have to work.
I'm trying really hard not to sound like I'm complaining, but the plain fact is this: I do not relish working on Sundays. Sunday has always been the quieter day of the week for me- relax, maybe catch a sporting event on TV, and do a bit of home-related stuff (grass mowing, etc.).
Not this weekend, though. This weekend was nonexistent for me.
I rolled into the office around 2230 on Friday night. It looked like a fairly busy night from the start; I had no way of knowing exactly HOW busy it would be. Busy ended up being NINE hours of overtime of Friday, and another SEVEN on Sunday. The downside to all of this was no weekend. The upside is overtime pay. We just had a few medical expenses (optometrist, veterinarian), so the extra buckazoids are much appreciated. Still, my "weekend" is shot. Gone. Nonexistent.
It's now Monday, approximately 1000. I had stuff I wanted to do that won't get done today because my sleep is totally hosed. Yes, the money is great- and needed- but the time lost to work cannot be recovered. Friday ended up being a 15 hour day, and Sunday was another seven hours (hmm, that sounds familiar!).
It is now Tuesday. We're so busy that I already have 21.5 hours on the clock, and only eight of these are "straight" time- the majority are overtime. And this week shows no promise of slowing down... I predict major overtime for at least the next three days.
Wednesday update- sixteen hours of straight time, and nineteen of overtime. Crazy night.
Thursday- I think the O.T. now is ~22 hours. And my supervisor has even more.
Friday- The week has officially ended with 29.5 hours of overtime. I am going in to work (tomorrow) for the second Sunday in a row.
So, here I sit on Saturday afternoon, decompressing. I'm in the Secret Underground Lair, trying to finish this blog on one computer and playing Railnation on another PC. I'm tired beyond words, but not exactly sleepy... I still have things on my mind.
Sunday- One is not required to work overtime in my company, but as the reader can see, we've been busy. My supervisor has put in as much overtime as I have (and possibly more), so I went in to the office today. I had anticipated a "light" day- boy, oh boy, was I ever mistaken. I ended up working on three projects in addition to the one I was there for. Total time on Sunday? 13.5 hours. Adding insult to injury, Jennifer had a lovely roast for dinner which I missed out on. I had also planned on a nap- which obviously never happened. Lastly, as I had anticipated a "light", short day, I didn't bring a lunch. Fortunately, I am prepared for situations such as this, and grabbed a canned pasta meal from my emergency office supply.
The last day I had off was two Sundays ago. Not bragging. Not complaining- I get paid to do this. I'm just stating a fact.
That's all from the SUL (Secret Underground Lair) for now. No data news to report, no Arduino progress report, and no Raspberry Pi update.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
"Weekend" means the end of the workweek: no work, no school. Downtime. Sometimes, occasionally, it means that despite prior commitments, stuff that needs to get done at home, or an astronomical event that last occurred in 1982 and won't happen again until 2033, you have to work.
I'm trying really hard not to sound like I'm complaining, but the plain fact is this: I do not relish working on Sundays. Sunday has always been the quieter day of the week for me- relax, maybe catch a sporting event on TV, and do a bit of home-related stuff (grass mowing, etc.).
Not this weekend, though. This weekend was nonexistent for me.
I rolled into the office around 2230 on Friday night. It looked like a fairly busy night from the start; I had no way of knowing exactly HOW busy it would be. Busy ended up being NINE hours of overtime of Friday, and another SEVEN on Sunday. The downside to all of this was no weekend. The upside is overtime pay. We just had a few medical expenses (optometrist, veterinarian), so the extra buckazoids are much appreciated. Still, my "weekend" is shot. Gone. Nonexistent.
It's now Monday, approximately 1000. I had stuff I wanted to do that won't get done today because my sleep is totally hosed. Yes, the money is great- and needed- but the time lost to work cannot be recovered. Friday ended up being a 15 hour day, and Sunday was another seven hours (hmm, that sounds familiar!).
It is now Tuesday. We're so busy that I already have 21.5 hours on the clock, and only eight of these are "straight" time- the majority are overtime. And this week shows no promise of slowing down... I predict major overtime for at least the next three days.
Wednesday update- sixteen hours of straight time, and nineteen of overtime. Crazy night.
Thursday- I think the O.T. now is ~22 hours. And my supervisor has even more.
Friday- The week has officially ended with 29.5 hours of overtime. I am going in to work (tomorrow) for the second Sunday in a row.
So, here I sit on Saturday afternoon, decompressing. I'm in the Secret Underground Lair, trying to finish this blog on one computer and playing Railnation on another PC. I'm tired beyond words, but not exactly sleepy... I still have things on my mind.
Sunday- One is not required to work overtime in my company, but as the reader can see, we've been busy. My supervisor has put in as much overtime as I have (and possibly more), so I went in to the office today. I had anticipated a "light" day- boy, oh boy, was I ever mistaken. I ended up working on three projects in addition to the one I was there for. Total time on Sunday? 13.5 hours. Adding insult to injury, Jennifer had a lovely roast for dinner which I missed out on. I had also planned on a nap- which obviously never happened. Lastly, as I had anticipated a "light", short day, I didn't bring a lunch. Fortunately, I am prepared for situations such as this, and grabbed a canned pasta meal from my emergency office supply.
The last day I had off was two Sundays ago. Not bragging. Not complaining- I get paid to do this. I'm just stating a fact.
That's all from the SUL (Secret Underground Lair) for now. No data news to report, no Arduino progress report, and no Raspberry Pi update.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
A conundrum
I had thought of using the plural of conundrum in the title of this, the 126th edition of A homegrown DBA exploring #notsobigdata, but I ran into a small problem: it seems that there is some disagreement as to exactly what the proper plural is. Not having a foundation in any language from whence this word may or may not have originated, I will defer to the OED's verdict: conundrums. And, for those of you who never knew a world without the internet, Google did not put a red squiggly line under the OED version, so it must be correct. Now, if only the Urban Dictionary (sorry, no link; I tried to keep this safe for viewing anywhere) would second this motion....
I suppose the thing that brought all of this up was a situation that happened at work recently. A few months back, my boss asked me to confirm or deny a certain habit of a coworker. This made me somewhat uncomfortable, and my boss was quite aware of it, but it was an important matter and he needed to get an answer specifically from me, as I was the only human being who could verify the matter (it probably could have been settled through the review of certain electronic records, but for some reason that avenue was not explored). I told my boss quite honestly that I could not confirm the allegation. Recently, however, I found myself in a position to revisit the question- hence, the curiosity of the plural of conundrum. My problem was this: I was quite uncomfortable when the topic was first broached, and I answered the questions honestly, all the while giving my colleague the benefit of the doubt. Recent events, however, put me in a position to conclusively verify what my boss had suspected, and so I found myself with no choice but to reopen the matter and confirm the allegation.
To say that things like this make me uncomfortable is an understatement. I can usually "fake it 'til you make it" in most social or business settings, but when it comes to coworkers and serious stuff, I'm an invertebrate.
In other news, I'm in the final "era"of my very favorite online game, Rail Nation. I say this also with mixed feelings, as this will probably be the last round I play for some time. Rail Nation is an RTS (real-time strategy) game, and has players from all over the world. I love the game- what's not to like: it's trains. Think the original Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon- if you liked that game, chances are you'd love this one. But, as much as I love this game, I need to take a break from it, as it's a major time suck.
Continuing from my previous topic, there are two programming languages which were not on my laundry list of things to learn. I can't believe I omitted HTML5 and CSS3. I actually have a tiny bit of experience with HTML, having once had as one of my many job responsibilities the title of "website administrator" for a company that really didn't want to do business on the web. And these folks were all engineers!
No data news to report- this work situation has really unsettled me. And there's a reason for it, but I'm currently not at liberty to discuss it.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
I suppose the thing that brought all of this up was a situation that happened at work recently. A few months back, my boss asked me to confirm or deny a certain habit of a coworker. This made me somewhat uncomfortable, and my boss was quite aware of it, but it was an important matter and he needed to get an answer specifically from me, as I was the only human being who could verify the matter (it probably could have been settled through the review of certain electronic records, but for some reason that avenue was not explored). I told my boss quite honestly that I could not confirm the allegation. Recently, however, I found myself in a position to revisit the question- hence, the curiosity of the plural of conundrum. My problem was this: I was quite uncomfortable when the topic was first broached, and I answered the questions honestly, all the while giving my colleague the benefit of the doubt. Recent events, however, put me in a position to conclusively verify what my boss had suspected, and so I found myself with no choice but to reopen the matter and confirm the allegation.
To say that things like this make me uncomfortable is an understatement. I can usually "fake it 'til you make it" in most social or business settings, but when it comes to coworkers and serious stuff, I'm an invertebrate.
In other news, I'm in the final "era"of my very favorite online game, Rail Nation. I say this also with mixed feelings, as this will probably be the last round I play for some time. Rail Nation is an RTS (real-time strategy) game, and has players from all over the world. I love the game- what's not to like: it's trains. Think the original Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon- if you liked that game, chances are you'd love this one. But, as much as I love this game, I need to take a break from it, as it's a major time suck.
Continuing from my previous topic, there are two programming languages which were not on my laundry list of things to learn. I can't believe I omitted HTML5 and CSS3. I actually have a tiny bit of experience with HTML, having once had as one of my many job responsibilities the title of "website administrator" for a company that really didn't want to do business on the web. And these folks were all engineers!
No data news to report- this work situation has really unsettled me. And there's a reason for it, but I'm currently not at liberty to discuss it.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
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