Category: Rant

AOPA Online – Enough is enough

Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has a great response to the latest fear-mongering over the Liddle crash. It’s addressed mostly at Mayor Dailey in Chicago, but also takes swipes at other General Aviation (GA) bashers like Hillary Clinton.

AOPA Online – Enough is enough

You know, for a Republican, New York’s Mayor Bloomberg is a pretty good guy. And he’s also a pilot with more ratings and experience than me. When he says that GA is not a threat to his city, why can’t other people, especially New York Senators and Congresscritters listen to him?

Stress, stress, and more stress.

I’m a contract programmer, a damn good one. I’m on a project that is based in Rochester NY, but which also has a programming team in China. Also, because I got this job through personal contact and reputation rather than through a headhunter, I’m very well paid. I’m sure it isn’t an exaggeration to say that the whole China team probably costs about the same as I do.

So my continued employment is probably dependant on being more productive and better than a whole team of Chinese PhDs. And so far, I’ve been doing that. Often the code they produce shows a lack of understanding of the tasks they’ve been set, or of the approach that we’ve been taking with the rest of the code that they have to work with. Although, to be perfectly honest, the biggest factor keeping me ahead of them is the fact that our higher ups are not capable of producing a clear set of requirements – but I can sit down and talk to them and build a clear picture of what is needed, or talk to the other developers and kick stuff around. I can even go to customer sites and talk to the end users. But even so, I feel a continual breathing down my neck.

Right now, we’re on a big push to produce some major new code for a new customer. I’ve been working my ass off. My code “lives” in between the user interface one of my fellow local programmers, and a module that is being produced in China. Fortunately, by working 50-55 hours a week for the last month or so, I’ve managed to keep ahead of both of them.

I’m going to see my daughters this weekend. Life events have conspired to keep me from seeing them for a while, and I need to see them this weekend. Unfortunately, I also have to do a bunch more work this weekend. Assuming I only work my “normal” 10 hours on Friday, I need to do at least 5-10 hours this weekend. That’s going to cut into the time with my daughters a bit.

I’ve got a very sore front tooth. I have a referral to a peridontist about that, since the gum is receeding so far it’s exposed much of the root. But I haven’t had time to go. And this evening walking out the car, my knee locked up in an extremely painful manner – it does that every now and then, and there’s nothing I can do about it except try to hop on the other leg. And now, right now, just to top it off, I can feel a bit of soreness swallowing. Which means that by Monday I’ll having a full grown cold, which means my productivity will be halved.

Putting the Democratic Party on notice

I’m with orc, in his post Crossing the line.

I’m putting the Democratic Party as a whole, and candidates individually, on notice: If you don’t come out strongly and clearly against this torture bill and any other attempt to legalize illegal detention and torture practiced by this administration, you will not receive one penny from me. You say that will leave the House and Senate in the hands of the Republicans? So what? If you’re not against torture, then you have demonstrated that you wouldn’t be any better than them on the most important issue facing this country.

The future of America is at stake. Take a stand, or fade into oblivion.

If MMORPG gamers acted the way in real life that they do in-game

I guess I’m going to have to marry my girlfriend. Sure, I don’t know anything about her, but I’ve completed all the girlfriend quests and I need to level up.

I keep encountering players who just run from quest to quest, ignoring any of the detail along the way. It’s like the game is something to be gotten through as quickly as possible. I tried to praise the art and mood of the game on the forums, and got jumped all over by people complaining about the frame rate or how low resolution the beta graphics are, and how so many of the animations suck. It’s as if all the art and beauty that the designers slaved over is inconsequential because it doesn’t help them level up.