Life

Stardate 57011.3 (01-13-2004)

Just when you think reality TV can't get more stupid that A Simple Life, they go and do it. My big, fat, obnoxious fiancé looks like it tops the rest. The adage of you can't go wrong appealing to the fun of humiliated others is alive and well for the networks.

The KC Chiefs continue their long run of not winning a playoff game. They did ok, but it doesn't matter if you can't stop the other team. There is a reason that Peyton Manning is sharing the MVP award, and this shows it. The game between Green Bay and Philadelphia was better. I felt sorry for Brett Favre, but he does have a ring, so I was rooting for the Eagles. The playoffs this year have been good, with three going into overtime. I hope that doesn't mean the Super Bowl will be a blowout.

I'm almost finished with the goal of planning the finances for the year. Last year I didn't get started until July, and gave up after September. I might try a five year plan. I hate doing financial stuff, though. Last week I was pulled into trying to solve a report problem at work for a client. Two amounts that should have been the same were off by about one hundred dollars. They kept trying to tell me my program was to blame. I asked if the two amounts were calculated the same, and was told yes, of course. I dug into the data and after a half an hour came up with the second amount. During all of this, three people are yammering at me to look at this and that. I kind of tuned everyone out and focused on path I was traveling. Most everyone went away after this. Another hour was needed to work backwards to the first amount. The problem and the solution were obvious by then. I called another senior developer, and she confirmed what I had found. Two of the people were happy to have the solution, as they had been working on this for more than a week. The other hasn't said a word to me since then. I have no idea what he expected, but he asked me to look at it, and I did.

Contrast this with the problem I was asked to look at today. A developer was putting together a custom data export for a client using a template I designed in 1995. The application was aborting in a library I wrote to detect memory faults. I showed him the problem (he allocated a 2K buffer, and then stuffed 15K of data into it). Memory faults are supposed to take days or weeks to track, but this was solved in five minutes. I suppose its a point of view, but I don't understand why some things are supposed to be difficult.

I found out this week we have another new CIO. He wants to reorganize so that developers can share talents and technology. I wish him well, but I am pessimistic. The seem to be a number of personality clashes. I am thinking bungee boss.

Patrick had his first basketball practice Monday. He really enjoys it. This is good, because it is a pain. Rachel and Patrick have youth religious ed from 5 to 6 in Layton, and then we rush to get to the practice in North Ogden by 6:30. Rachel's practice is exactly when I did NOT want it to be; Wednesday, 6:30 to 7:30. Thank goodness for VCRs. One of ours began to eat tapes this week, and at that led to a discovery. The plain VCR is almost extinct. No one sells them. You can get a VCR/DVD combo, or a VCR/TV combo, but not just a VCR.

The Admiral's Banquet was fun. Craig Richard Nelson was entertaining, and April said a few people looked almost normal. I couldn't figure out who she was referring to. Maybe they were not members of the group. I was a little concerned about Karrie Buck. She looked very tired. She had surgery the week before, and I was wondering if it was wise for her to come.

If you get the impression from most of this entry that I am feeling a little disgruntled with life, you'd be right.

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