Posted: Sat 25 October, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Driving, Getting Old(er), Stupidity, Thoughts, Work-related |
As I wrote yesterday, some of the stuff of the last few months has affected me in a number of ways, none of which I’m all that great at explaining at the time.
The work and jobs I’ve been doing this year haven’t left me in a good place, and I’ve found that (as on other occasions) it affects me more than I’m actually happy about.
I value myself to some degree by the work I do – and I like doing good work. Being part of a grinding factory of make-work bullshit isn’t my thing, and that was the kickstarter this time, a three-month contract with a company in Cambridge that was almost local-government in its use of people and make-work self-justifying crap that signifies the environs I really hate working in.
The work I did there was negligible – it wasn’t even relevant – which never helps. The next one was just bad, totally demoralised staff and an obsession with everything being “Agile” and a “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP), which appears to be techie-code for “Yeah fuck it, that’ll do”.
The idea of MVP is a good one in a startup business, or one that’s launching. It means that you do the basics, get it ready and get it out, then continue improving, adding functionality, listening to customer demands and the like. However, when you’re in a business whose product has been available for a while, MVP means basic “do what the customer requested”, but without any thought for knock-on effects, or even how that functionality affects or integrates with existing code and setup.
From there, the next role was more challenging, but owned by an asshat. Lots still ongoing on that one, but at least it’s over.
But when all’s said and done, it all affects me – and more than it should. More than I admit, probably even to myself. It leaves me demotivated, and not wanting to work on my own projects – whether web/tech-based, or just writing. You’d think – and logic would dictate – that when I’m down about my paid-work being shit, I’d want to rectify that with producing decent stuff outside of work. But it doesn’t work like that – if I’m not happy with what I’m doing, I don’t want to do more of it.
With the excessive work hours at the last place as well, I didn’t really have time. I felt like I was existing only to commute, work, and sleep. Never a good place to be.
About the only positives to come out of it all have been that I’ve learned ever more about things I really don’t want to do, more warning signs about working with/for douchebags, and some more writing ideas when I get back into the mood for it.
Posted: Mon 28 July, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cyclists, Domestic, Driving, M1, People, Stupidity, Thoughts |
Things I see regularly on my current commute that just worry me more than they possibly should…#
- Riders of powerful bikes on the M1 wearing t-shirts and shorts.
- Rear passengers in cars reclining with their legs hanging out the windows
- Front passengers reclining with their feet on the dashboard.
All of these setups worry me – in all cases, if anything were to happen, they’ll be injured far, far worse than they would be if they were sitting properly.
Of course, none of it is really my problem. I just can’t help noticing, and being somewhat concerned.
Posted: Fri 13 June, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Domestic, Stupidity, Web Development, Work-related |
For some reason, my quality control this year on the jobs I’ve taken on has been very flawed.
Admittedly, with the current one I had my reservations from before I started – but what I’d been told about the product itself was sufficiently of interest to make me still want to work there for a while. Mind you, I hadn’t actually seen the product at that point – and it turns out that it’s not a fun product, and isn’t actually doing what I thought it was (or what was described to me pre-start)
Before that was the Cambridge contract, which was dire – but at least I stuck it out for the three month duration. Very much Not My Thing.
The previous bad one (also in Cambridge) was actually last year now, so I suppose it could’ve been worse, and at least I’ve been doing some fun stuff in between.
Usually it’s the case that the really bad ones lead to me looking around and being available for something really cool, so I’m vaguely optimistic about whatever’s coming next.
I just hope that’s the case this time. I’ve had enough of soul-destroying roles for the moment…
Posted: Sun 13 April, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Creativity, Cynicism, Geeky, News, Security, Stupidity, Technology, Thoughts |
Last Friday there was a big(ish) story in the BBC and Media about the convicted paedophile who is requesting his laptop – complete with ‘non-obscene’ images of one of his victims. Dorset Police were quoted in the story as saying it would be ‘unlawful’ to delete/remove those images from the laptop, because they’re not technically obscene or showing nudity.
Now, aside from the fact that there’s something so blatantly wrong with this entire process (and why wasn’t the laptop just removed/destroyed as part of the evidence and ‘proceeds of crime’ bollocks?) then surely this is a perfect opportunity for a tragic IT-related ‘accident’?
Make sure it’s believable, could happen, and is feasible, and it’d be the devil’s own job to prove anything.
For example, a liquid spillage. Or leaving the machine next to – I don’t know – some kind of large magnet. Maybe the metal scanner in a doorway. Or just mis-filed in such a way that a) it can’t be found or b) it got destroyed. Lost property, IT security, avoidance of possibility for divulging person information.
There are many, many ways in which this could’ve never been an issue. The mis-filing and “sorry, can’t find it” would be easiest (and probably hardest to be disproved) but any of them would work nicely. It’s more of a problem now, because they’ve admitted that a) it exists and b) it’s currently in an OK state. Ooops.
Posted: Fri 28 March, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Films, Finances, Getting Organised, Kindle, Reading, Stupidity |
I am, on occasion, a bloody idiot. Last night was a prime example of that.
I went to the cinema to see the new Captain America film, and also had a meal. Because I was out like that, I took my Kindle, and because it was chiffing cold, I also took a jacket. (I’m normally pretty immune to cold, and don’t bother with jackets or coats at all)
When I got to the cinema, I put the jacket down by the side of the seat, with the Kindle in its inside pocket.
When I left the cinema, I also left the jacket – because it’s not in my mental software to get it, I completely forgot about it. I am, in short, a complete fucking idiot.
I went back this morning first thing (I had a day off anyway, for a number of reasons) to see if they’d found it, but no-one had handed it in. I’ll check again, just in case it’d been held over somewhere, but the odds are that the jacket and the Kindle are gone.
Of course, things could have been so much worse. It could’ve been an expensive coat/jacket, I could have left my wallet in the jacket as well. The Kindle could have had my payment details in it, or personal information. A couple of years ago, the loss of something like this would have knackered me, would have led to some financial juggling and so on just to replace it.
Now though, I’ve already registered it as lost, ordered a replacement, and it’s really not a big problem. It’s annoying – and of course a reminder that I’m a fucking idiot – but it all could have been so much worse. Indeed, it’s gone some way to showing me the changes that have happened over the last year or so, and in that, it’s no bad thing.
Posted: Wed 26 March, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, News, People, Stupidity, Weirdness |
Some days I pretty much despair of the human race. (OK, OK, most days. Nearly every day.)
Yesterday’s example was caused by this story in the BBC about a pheasant ‘terrorising’ people at a farm in Cambridgeshire.
From the story…
A delivery driver was trapped for 20 minutes after the bird blocked his way, flew at the bonnet then chased his van.
“One young girl was having her first driving lesson on our land and could not move the car because the pheasant would not leave it alone.”
“I don’t think we’ll see our delivery driver for a while either,” Mrs Hamilton added.
I’m sorry, but if you’re in a vehicle, and being ‘terrorised’ by a pheasant then
- You’re a pathetic wanker of the first order
- YOU’RE IN A CAR. Run over the sodding thing. Job done.
Posted: Wed 19 March, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, People, Stupidity, Work-related |
When I’m writing websites and the like, I set up a number of test users so I can test various areas of functionality.
I used to give them names like Drew Peacock, Tess Tickle or Mike Oxlong – but stopped due to them being read out loud and discussed in meetings with board members and the like. (Which is very amusing, but can lead to certain levels of embarassment when the person demonstrating hasn’t actually made the connection until they’ve said the names out loud) So now I use names like “Testy McTestTest” instead, which should stand out as, you know, a made-up name.
Today though, no, that wasn’t the case. Having done some test signups for a particular piece of site functionality (on the live site, as it was final testing) yesterday, I was copied in on an email today where a colleague decided that the site had been ‘hacked’ because there were four or five Testy McTestTests with different settings on each one. (and all using the email address test@test.com) No other damage, nothing – but obviously “we’d been hacked”
It’s taken every ounce of tact I have (which admittedly isn’t a great deal) to not call the person in question a fuckwit.
Mind you, everyone else on the mailing list (including Board members, Managers, and my line manager) appears to have clearly seen the sarcasm in the response “Apologies for the confusion caused – I will work to ensure that any further test signups are flagged as test signups in a clearer fashion“.