Watt's Up Musings of an original geek

Well tomorrow I was supposed to begin my vacation. I’d be on vacation until the end of the year, but I have a few things to do so I’m going in to work instead. This means that I’ll take another day off at the end, that is, on January 4th. I’m even considering taking a half day on Thursday too, because I have an important conference call to do, and I’m releasing the very first version of some software then. That means I’ll be back to work on the afternoon of Jan 5th. Even if I’m off I think I’ll do some work at home.

I’ve been doing some programming and I’m psych’ed. Today I really looked forward to going in and working on it. When I got there I started to add to it. Then after an hour at about 9:08 AM I happened to look at my daily calendar, and realized that I had an all day meeting to attend. Oh no! So I stopped my programming and I went to the meeting. Then on top of this meeting I had promised to have lunch at work with my daughter. Because this requires her to be signed in I had to get the paperwork done yesterday. I couldn’t cancel it and anyways she’s worth it. I left the meeting at 12:30 PM. In addition, she didn’t have the car so I had to drive home and pick her up and drive back to work. This alone took about 20 minutes. Regardless we did have a nice lunch and it was nice to talk together. Then I drove her home and returned to work at 2:00 PM. In the meantime I missed a crucial demo and shortly the meeting ended at 3 PM. I returned to my office, talked to some of my co-workers, and soon it was time to go to running class at 4:30 PM. As a result, I barely did any programming today yet I was so psych’ed. Oh well there’s always tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to it.

I did my running this morning, and although my stomach was a bit upset afterwards, I felt really good doing it. Upon returning I had a nice hot shower, and lunch with Katie. Then I went out, rented a DVD for tonight, and bought fixins for Swiss Steak, a recipe handwritten by my Mother and handed down from my Paternal Grandmother. It requires me to beat round steak into submission and cook it with tomatoes, celery and spices. I can’t wait to eat it over a bed of rice. I remember fondly when I was growing up. It cooks for hours to further tenderize it. While waiting, I’m sitting in a quiet house, covered by a blanket, reading a good book, smelling the food on the stove, and appreciating that it’s been a nice day. Ahhhhh.

Kathy is away on her yearly trip to Williamsburg, Virginia with stitching friends, and Katie’s at work. So the house is real quiet. Katie’s job started yesterday, so today is her second day. Her shift is from 5:00 AM to 5:30 PM. She’ll work each day until probably next Tuesday, and have it and Wednesday off. I think Monday is overtime, but I’m not sure of that. Then her week starts all over again. This is all to help bankroll her next two semesters at university. It’s the same job as she had last summer, that is, it’s at Dell as a temp employee breaking down computers. I think this means that her team unloads truck loads (yes, semi-trailer trucks) of previously manufactured new machines (never opened or used ones), takes them apart and puts the components and CDs back into the line to be re-manufactured. In any case the job start-up has been tough on her – the early starting hour and the long shift. I’ve tried to help her by making her lunch so it’s ready when she comes home, and taking her out to dinner. I doubt I’ll keep it up, but I just wanted to get her over the first few days, and in my own way I wanted to tell her that I’m proud and happy with how hard she’s working. She’s quite something.

At work I’ve been doing some planning which I find boring, but it’s got to be done. We’re trying to estimate how much time it will take to do a programming job. It’s based upon some existing programming so I’ve used that as a basis for comparison. Also I’ve used the time and size of the previous work. Given that I’ve calculated that it will take a number of person-years to accomplish. Now I’ve got to figure out how to make it take less resources.

In addition I’ve been doing some protyping to understand the work and to help me find a better way to accomplish the tasks. I much prefer doing this kind of work. I find it very creative. I think I’ve found a reasonable way to do one part of it too. Each day I’ve been changing and polishing this prototype as I learn more. I’m proud of it and want to make it the best it can be. Now I’m on to another piece of the system. So I’m just a techie at heart.

I’ve been on vacation the past week and it was nice. I’ve done some programming work at home when and if I wanted to. Then other times I’ve taken it easy, or seen a movie, or did house work, or put up Christmas lights outside.

It’s been fun, and now I’m looking forward to going back, because I know it’ll be only 2 1/2 weeks before I’m off again.

I give thanks for many things… my family – my sweet wife, talented children and loving relatives – they are my ground and my infinity; my friends and acquaintances – both new and old, some MIA, and some not yet met – they share with me their own traveled roads; my job and company – providing income, inspiration and mental challenges to me these many years – it is a “national treasure”; my health – with it’s ups and downs over the past two years, but overall it’s been an up – my face might not work just right, but what’s behind it still seems to; my hobbies – running which keeps me physically challenged, and makes me feel alive; my country – for the freedoms it allows me and the diversity of people and ideas which keeps things unique, interesting and never dull – a wonderfully delicious stew. For all these things and more, I give thanks.

I’m on vacation this week. Yet I still woke early, and went running. Then I made meatloaf – something I haven’t made in a while. I especially like it cold with ketchup. It seems like I’m on a cooking binge. So this afternoon I made two apple pies. Yet I’ve been doing some work at home. Just chillin’.

Well Katie arrived home from her college yesterday. We’re dealing with her return as best we can. However, we had to curtail some of our feedoms since she’s arrived. After running class I would wash my clothes as soon as I got back and go up statirs in the buff, but that’s got to stop. Also prior to her return it’s been especially quiet, but now things will again start – the chaos that follows her like a cloud will return. Picture Charles Schultz Peanuts cartoon and his character “PigPen” with the dust cloud following him everywhere. Oh well, we’ll deal with it for a few weeks knowing that this too will end when she returns to school in January. Maybe she’ll get a job that works her hard, real hard, and she’ll be gone all the time or trying to catch up on her sleep. Kinda like a zombie that no longer lives in this world but a nether world. Here’s to dreaming. P.S. She is watching me write this so I’m trying to make this blog posting really wierd to get a rise in her.

Woohoo, the Amazing Race has begun again on TV. Ahhh, now something to look forward to each week. At work things are moving along – the bored and misued job continues, but I’m unable to find anything on the subject, so little progress is being made. Even the project manager has been assigned one of the modules and she can’t find anything for her module so she’s gotten very frustrated. I sympathized with her and we commiserated today on the phone. Yet, I have another job that I’m planning, so I’m trying to figure out what to do without actually doing it, which is hard for me. I’m a do-it kinda guy. Anyway the person who I’m doing it for is happy, so that’s good. Tomorrow, I have one more thing to plan and estimate and then I will present it in the afternoon.