July 24th

Stardate 57072.7 (07-27-2004)

Unless I have my headphones on, it's hard not to hear numerous conversations around me. I overheard someone talking about the need for constant learning in software development. C++, Java, .NET, C#, Perl, Python, and VB are just a few of the languages, not to mention concepts like procedure oriented programming, object oriented programming, aspect oriented programming, patterns, libraries, APIs, etc, etc, etc. SO I wonder if the need for constant study is necessary in other professions. Certainly doctors must keep up on the changes in medical practice. My first two vehicles had carburetors and circular air filters, both common items then. I have not seen a car with a carburetor in years, and both my cars have rectangular air filters. Anti-lock brakes and air bags were only available on expensive cars, and now are on all models. So auto mechanics need to keep up with changes. I suspect that this is true of many jobs. Even McDonalds changes the menus, which means someone may need to learn more than how to flip a burger. So change happens. Scary sometimes, but it does.

WinFS is Microsoft's latest attempt at unifying file formats. They want to do away with proprietary formats for different software, so that programs can share data. It seems complex when explained here and here.  Kind of a strange attitude, since they were very conscience of anyone trying to add the capability to read Excel and Word files. They are moving to XML on just about everything.

July 24th is a local holiday. The Mormon leader Brigham Young came over yon hills to the east, looked at the valley, and said "This...is the place?" I've always contended (to myself, anyway) that those words were a question, not a statement. The people around him just heard it wrong. Of course, I've heard he was very ill at the time, and being carried on a litter. Maybe it was a mumble. Anyway, Saturday is a state holiday. I don't get time off because my company's headquarters is now in Minnesota. One more temporal digression here, Friday I was looking for things to do with the apricots we were given in the cookbook. Pie is the obvious conclusion. Scanning the recipes, I came to the shocked realization we had all the necessary ingredients for banana cream pie, sans bananas. So Saturday I went on the weekly grocery store run and fixed that. That afternoon the kids and I proceeded to make it. It tastes like banana cream pie, but the filling never gelled, so it ended up a gooey mess. I think I know what I missed, so I'll have to try again.

After that we went to Layton's "A Taste of the Town", where for $5 you get to sample stuff from a variety of local restaurants. I read in the paper that the price was lowered from last year ($7) because the turnout then was low. They seem to have rectified that. I didn't sample much, because there were long lines and I has three boys in tow (my own two, and a neighbor boy). I do know I won't be ordering from Jethro's Pizza. We did not like it. Coldstone Creamery was great. 

That night we did fireworks. I didn't get very many pictures of it this year because I was too busy lighting sparklers and the like. Not a loss, considering I have not updated the photo scrapbook since last Halloween. The kids, including some from the neighborhood, lost interest in the display in about five minutes anyway.

Sunday July 25 Rachel went to Camp Cloud Rim for the week. She was excited. Last year when I went to pick her up, she cried for a while because she did not want to leave. It's much cooler this year, so we will see how it goes.

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GS Camping

Stardate 57072.4 (07-24-2004)

Rachel and April went to camp this week. It wasn't as much fun as they had hoped. The main activity is horse riding. The stable is about a mile hike from the campground. When they got there, they found out you had to be at least nine years old, which cuts out about half the troop.

I and the other developers met with the new team. Of course, we went around doing introductions, and one guy mentions he has been there 8 years. This sets a precedent, and I am put upon to mention I have been there 16 years. One guy in the group kept after me the rest of the day: "You've been here 16 years?", "16 years, really?", and "I would think you should be a VP by now." It's not a union job, so seniority doesn't count for much. I am pretty high on the list of people who have been there the longest (in the top five).

Moving to the new team, even part time, has caused some tension. People are not happy about it. The least happy is the guy who is taking on much of my old responsibilities. I think he will do fine. I was thrown in the fire with no help several times. I did hear that a number of the developers on the new team quit recently, and I wonder if this has anything to do with performance reviews have been handed out lately. Someone else told me it was because the three of us were assigned, and they quit because we would take all the credit for their hard work. Credit is usually reserved for executive level, so I don't see how this could be.

I have had a reoccurrence of sciatica. My right knee is weak, and I have difficulty flexing my right foot out without pain. It resolves itself in a few weeks, but it does dampen my ability to do things (sleep, for one, since it is hard to do when I have pain shooting down the back of my leg that gets worse when I lie down). There are many causes, but I suspect it's due to my sitting for long periods of time. I normally get up and walk around every hour at work, but have been intent on a number of things, so this has fallen off. I did start doing it again this week. I've also been out pulling weeds, and I have gained some weight. I have been relatively inactive after being busy building the deck. It's been more than a year since the last occurrence, so I am writing this down to try and find out why it occurs.

The deck is still waiting on the railing, which is a special order.

The 35th anniversary of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon was last July 16th. I really did not see to much about it, although I did read a "where are they now" about Micheal Collins, 'Buzz' Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong.

I saw this in the paper, and it struck me for some odd reason :).

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Rachel ACT Up Plsy

Stardate 57072.0 (07-20-2004)

I am one of three to be chosen to help out with the project that will eventually replace what I am doing now. Three of three would be my designation, along with the department manager and another senior developer. We joked about it with "you will be assimilated, resistance is futile". I did find out there were a few others assigned, but these are the two who are best suited for pulled off what they want to do.

Chuck's training went well, for the time that we had. I think he wanted the group to be more impressed by the C++ standard library. They were kind of quiet. I liked the things he showed, but now I wonder if I will get a chance to use them. I did download the Digital Mars compiler (formerly Symantec, formerly Zortech). I hope to have a little time to play with C++. One project that should be easy is to do a word count on the logs, and see how many words I used over and over. The hard part is getting rid of the HTML tags.

Patrick has been accident prone lately. He fell getting out of the pool, and has a nasty bruise on his chin. There are other bruises and cuts on his arms and knees. One set of scrapes came when he tried to ride through a puddle, swerved to miss a garbage can, slipped, and smashed into it. I told him that water can make tires slip like that. Friday we headed to the staff meeting for the Ticonderoga. It had rained just before, and it was wet. Patrick asked me why cars don't slip in water the way his bicycle did. I told him they do, and when it is raining, you need to drive more carefully. I was impressed he made the connection.

Rachel was in acting camp all last week. We went on Saturday to see the play they worked on (parts of the Wizard of Oz). I was wowed by the acting. All the kids spoke clearly, and it was fun to watch. Rachel had a good time. She has good artistic qualities. She likes to act, draw, and make up stories. Patrick is more like me, in that he has mechanical aptitude.

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Performance

Stardate 57071.2 (07-12-2004)

Got my performance review last week. It went about as expected. I do well at my job. It's been busier than normal the last few months, so I can't complain of being bored. Installing VS .NET has given me something new to play with. I am still trying to figure out the COM interface to automate creating projects. I had serviceable macros for this in version 6, but they are not supported in .NET. The documentation is a little lacking on the interface. 

I replace the battery in the van over the weekend. It seems like we go through a battery about every three years.

Friday was a farewell lunch for a fellow employee. He's not leaving the company, just moving to Minneapolis. He's a good guy, smart, and he came up with a lot of good ideas and different ways of looking at things. During lunch the conversation turned to work, and of several people who were being let go. Their jobs are moving to Minneapolis as well. There was also discussion of the large corporation attitude and the mixed messages you get about how well a company is doing, but there is a limited amount of money for raises, tools, etc.

I was told after the last Mountain Con meeting that I don't speak up enough. I know, but the problem is I tend to analyze to death what I want to say. Therefore I don't say much of anything. I read an article in the Reader's Digest about Donald Trump. He says he rarely uses the 'You're fired' in real life. He gave ten tips about being successful, and one is to make your accomplishments known, because no one else will. It must be bothering me, because I dreamed I was on 'The Apprentice' last night. I don't usually remember my dreams, and this was strange since I know I wouldn't last on that show. I was doing ok just by not being noticed. The dream ended like that as I had to get up for work.

Frisky goes back to the people to gave him to us. It's sad, and Patrick has now realized what this means. But there isn't any real choice. The medication is not working as well as it did, and he is waking up coughing in the night.

I don't think it was as hot this year as the last few years, and the weather report tonight confirmed it. It's been in the low 90's, but I remember it being in the triple digits in June of last year.

Chuck Allison is up to do some training this week. It's good to see him again.

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Fireworks, The Tree in the backyard

Stardate 57070.8 (07-8-2004)

We went on a hike Sunday, and then to a Stingers game. The game was really crowded, but I guess that would be so since it was about the only place where you could see fireworks on the Fourth. I did my traditional watching of BYU's "A More Perfect Union".

Monday, Patrick, Rachel, and I rode our bikes to Layton Commons Park. There were a lot of booths, but most of them were selling food. Patrick won a live fish. We went later to see the fireworks. The fireworks were louder this year, and there were a bigger variety. The fish, Timmy, died yesterday.

I watched some of the pre-race interviews of the contestants of "The Amazing Race 5". The rules have changed a little, and there are angry cries on the message boards. So long as the show does not degenerate into a bunch of backstabbing, changes are ok. Thinking of all the shows that are about schemes to get others off, I am reminded of "The Kobayashi Maru" by Julie Ecklar. It describes some of the academy adventures of Scotty, Chekov, and Sulu have before and after the 'no-win' test, as well as Kirk's solution. Chekov's story revolve around a class being dropped in an abandoned moon base for a night, and told to survive when one of them is an assassin. All of the cadets work hard to undermine each other with traps and such. The briefing after was scathing. They were told that James Kirk saw the intent of the test, and established a safe zone, where the price of entrance was disarming and sitting out the test in the middle of a room. No one was 'killed', and the class was given high marks. It's not real, I know, but how many people would have thought of that?

Taldren, the maker of Starfleet Command games, closed it's doors last week.

The big tree in the back gets cut down today. It hasn't bloomed, and is getting dangerous. Still, it's the only tree we have at the moment.

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