One Year

Stardate 57040.1 (04-01-2004)

It is officially one year since I started this blog. I've wondered off and on during that time if anyone will go back over them years later. I have not commented on much of the happening of the world at large, so they would not make good memoirs. I am somewhat surprised it has lasted this long. In school, I could never write essays or stories very well. Actually, I probably could, I just didn't want to do so. I would either not get started or not figure a way to finish a story. It's weird, because I love to read, and I do enjoy doing this.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or at least hang around a long time. I got another call this week about paying the hospital bill when I had the problem with my foot. I explained that it had been taken care of, and I will fax the letter to them. For good or bad, I am getting to be an expert at providing documentation. A few years ago, AT&T kept shutting off the cell service, citing nonpayment. We would fax a copy of the canceled check to them, and it would be restored. The next month, the pattern would be repeated. The bank we use tracked it down to a missing zero in the AT&T account number on the checks after four months. Since they could not identify the account, they simply credited it to another guy with my name. That in itself was stupid, since the account was in my wife's name. What really made me mad was when she talked to a service person, they traced it to the other guys account. Then they told my wife I must be leading a double life. Far be it to admit they might have made a MISTAKE.

People at work have been in a panic the last few days. A message went around about a software audit, and the newest head of the division is intent on being absolutely clean. A shareware text editor that is used a lot is now forbidden. What is strange is that it had been submitted for approval, but no one every heard anything again. Some of the developers are in a bad mood as a result.

I've been watching the Indian consultants with amusement. I am getting the impression these guys are strictly Win32 programmers. They finally got access to one of the internal Unix servers. They then transferred the files for the applications they are maintaining to the system, included the Windows project files. These are not at all useful. I know they have not gotten anything to compile, since the directory structure is missing pieces and there is a mix of 32 and 64 bit libraries in the project build files. With all the stories of how great, smart, and wonderful these guys are, it's a relief to see they are not supermen. This was another interesting article on the subject.

I got caught up in reading some of this guys anti-Windows rhetoric. He flooded a few blogs with how Windows sucks compared to Linux, blah, blah, blah. It was fun, because he obviously based most of his stuff on hearsay. Zealots are comical in their persistent view that they are right, everyone else is wrong, and nothing you say will make any difference. He has mellowed out, and installed Windows. I'm not a Windows supporter, but it gets things done. Unix is much better at creating automated tasks, which is what I wish computers did more of. It seems that Windows went the other direction by demanding you spend time with it. It reminds of a book call Virus by Graham Watkins I read.

Here's to more years of blogging.

End of Entry