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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 29 April 2010 02:44 am |
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Hey Nancy,
I think you're right. It's surely a part of it. She doesn't like to get the better of her taken in a deal. So, that's maybe one reason why she crunches the hours out of me.
Well, at least the last 3 days have been quite peaceable. I'm doing some development work, no pressure. Wow, what a rare feeling. Don't expect it to last.
D is really upset with two members of the team. He wants to down grade them. I dunno. I would have a tough time doing that. Even though they are kind of skating on the back of our work. Another guy is kind of middle. I know he let me down on a couple of key questions he said he would answer. So, he's partially guilty. Even I couldn't fully participate last time, due to this work proposal - but I did my share, and had a nice diagram ready.
Those guys really are taking advantage. One guy goes down the cape every weekend, apparently. Let's us do the work. Full of excuses. The other guy is always sick, sniffles during meetings on skype. It's really annoying - B kept asking him to put it on mute, and he wouldn't. I do know if he's eating or what. It's weird. He kind of like too dumb.
Anyway, I worked out a couple of hours tonight. I also worked out last night. I'm floating between 166 and 168 or 169. Basically, I'm not working out hard enough.
I've been watching these really vapid shows on TV in the gym. one is called "The Hills", I think. It's about all these beautiful young people who own their own home on Malibu beach and have parties all the time. I didn't get the sound, but who cares? The dialogue is probably inane. I find a show like that offensive. I don't know why. I don't even think the babes are that hot. I think it's like this, everyone is supposed to super-hot and ultra-cool and fun-loving. It's like too much candy. You get sick of it after like five minutes. Maybe if I heard the sound, it would be better.
Tonight, there was a slightly less vapid show about this super studly guy who can easily pick up any babe he wants at a bar, due to height, physique, looks and cool. But, he drives an old car and is stuck getting waiter jobs and such. It's much more realistic than the hills, where these 20-something own multi-million dollar homes with no visible means of support. And why do the all have to be so hot? I mean, first of all, why not just make it a bikini-fest, like that show with Pam Anderson, that used to be on? Here, they are dressed in jewelry and wear hats, some of them, and it's just annoying.
So, anyway, I was going to try to do some homework tonight. I'm feeling kind of tired though.
Oh, yeah, we had a presentation on Monday. It went ok, but, M is really a loose canon. It's embarrassing. At first I thought he would be the leader, but now it's clear he doesn't have the bandwidth to contribute significantly. S maybe is a little better, but he really doesn't care, and is always playing around on his phone. That's why D is so #%@&! off. I should be too, because it's because S didn't answer the questions he promised to that I had to pull the all-nighter. I wonder if he even realizes that.
Anyway, gripe, gripe, gripe. I'm going to try to get a little work done.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 30 April 2010 04:31 am |
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What an easy week it was work-wise. I just did programming, nobody bothered me, no pressure, I could work at my own pace. It was such an unusual feeling, I could barely believe it. I could actually live with a job where all I had to do was programming. I've got to get back to that, somehow.
I think the boss is easing up a bit after all the work she's been laying on me. I told her Saturday at that I haven't been able to even mow the lawn this year. Anyway, this won't last. But at least school will be over in 1.5 weeks.
Speaking of which, I will say the good news. First of all, I got an A on my last paper. I got my oral participation mark for the semester too, an A-. Which is good, but basically means I'm going to to get an A- for the semester, because the oral is 40% of the mark, and every other paper I/we've passed in has been an A- as well. which means my gaudy 3.97 GPA will take a nose-dive. Too bad. I am a bit disappointed. But I'll still make the dean's list.
But here's the reason I'm logging in: I also got an email from the alumni association, saying I am officially a member. I guess that means no matter how much I screw up this last week, the prof still thinks I'll pass the course. I must admit, I did get a bit of a thrill out of it. I'll flash the ring, too. Once I order it. If I do. It's not cheap.
We also watched the first installments of Madmen from last season. Maybe I was just tired, but it wasn't quite as good as I remember it. But Don Draper has the coolest voice possible. Man, I would love that voice.
Anyway, I was around 166 this morning. I'm sure I'm around 168-169 now. Tomorrow I might exercise early. Or, I might work on the paper. It will be a good day.
Last edited on 30 April 2010 12:03 pm by jackbenimble
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 30 April 2010 11:00 am |
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Jack, congratulations on your alum status, you must be thrilled. You had to work really hard to get where you are, take time to enjoy it, you've earned it  .
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 May 2010 04:11 am |
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Thanks so much Hiker. The last class is only about one week away. I'm sure I'll find stuff to do once it's over :)
So, I finally did my best to add some functionality to this diagram for the final presentation. I think it will fly. I sent it to the group for comments.
The three core guys in the group, D myself and B, intentionally planned a meeting for tomorrow because of course the two slackers are unavailable on weekends. It does tick me off that if they had contributed anything of use, some of these papers could have been A instead of A-. They just don't care. Especially S, he's bright enough. I think. M is probably hopeless. We just don't want him to sink the ship in Saturday's final presentation. They spent a bit time putting together the the presentation and the final paper. There was no attempt to address anything that we had gotten downgraded on. Do they think they are doing us a huge favor by taking the work we did and appending it together?
I had a decent day. Except, I got caught in a 3-hour rathole for what should have been a 10-minute change. I finally called C, and he figured it out in about a minute. Anyway, he's been working with the stuff longer than I have. Well, at least this week, I got to do software again. R didn't really bug me, although she did pull her usual 4 pm phone call on Friday. But it was really a pretty good week.
We had a photographer in class for our last presentation, and some of the pics got posted. Want to know who he took the most picture of? Me, while I was presenting. I had a nice green shirt and black pants and shoes on. I wasn't jeans and sneakers and sweats - I made a little effort. Clothss make the man. He also took a lot of pix of the best-looking of the 3 girls in class.
Got some jogging in today. It was nice down at the beach. I did some jogging on the beach proper, as opposed to the sidewalk as I normally do. It's not that tough to do it right after the tide goes out, and it's a lot easier on the joints.
I think I'll get up nice and early tomorrow, and then head to the gym. Then I'll come back and work on the paper a bit more and see what the guys have to say about my diagram. Then we meet at 2 in Boston to put everything together, and rip the slackers.
Last edited on 1 May 2010 04:15 am by jackbenimble
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 2 May 2010 10:27 am |
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Played tennis yesterday with my bro. I wanted to get revenge on him for his tie-break victory, and we were tied 2-2 when I guy I know a little bit from the tennis courts came over and said hi, wanted to know if we were interested in doubles. I had seen him and his buddy hitting around, and they looked very impressive.
But, I thought, well my brother's been playing well - they invited him to join the double's league he had been subbing in at his tennis club - and played all winter. So, what do we have to lose?
Sure enough, and much to my amazement, we won 6-4 6-4. We were pretty equally matched, although they were up 4-3 in 3rd set when I had to go.
It's really a joy to see how much my brother has improved. He's just a little guy, too small to have distinguished himself in sports, and I usually beat him to the point where he almost quit. But he's probably about as good as I am and probably going to surpass me if he keeps playing in winters. So more power to him. It will be good for my game, too - it's better to play against people who are a little bit better than you are.
Last edited on 2 May 2010 10:28 am by jackbenimble
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 2 May 2010 10:55 am |
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We had a grueling 6-hour work session yesterday to finalize the document for school and review the presentation for this Saturday. Then we went out to dinner and I got a glimpse of the nightlife in downtown Boston.
I'm going to edit and clean up the document today, and prepare my presentation. I might also do a little bit of work-work.
If I can just hang in there for one more week, we will be done on Saturday.
I'm am starting to think about what to do once I graduate. One of the things is going be to focus on a single goal, at a time. Another is do my taxes.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 3 May 2010 01:56 am |
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Basically I committed the day to getting the final paper in shape. M had given it a try, and we probably could've merged our stuff in with his. But, he didn't even fix up a chart that he had been told was wrong in class - what kind of credibility is that?
We got our mark on the final paper today. It was an A. I ran through the calculations. Even if we ace the final presentation, I can only get a 94.75. That's just a smidgeon short of an A. It's an A-. 90-95 is an A-. Blah. So, even if I like get a 55 on the final, it will still be an A-.
I know I'm fixated on that stupid mark. I mad at S. He got an A- for oral participation, and he never said anything. He just played with his phone. Maybe I tried too hard, or something.
So, I'm getting sleepy. Work tomorrow. We have to visit this lab somewhere. I will go to class after that. The second to last one. I'll say a few comments - try to push oral participation mark up to an A.
My wife is getting sick of me talking about this class. Probably everyone reading this blog, too. What else can I talk about?
I've been playing a little guitar. I recently revived "Sympathy for the Devil". That is really a loud, raucous song on acoustic, you're really banging away. I also revived "Every Rose has its Thorn" and a chorus of "It's a hard Days Night". Sometimes I play "Love the one your with". But my definite favorite to play is "Fire and Rain". It's so peaceful and sad and beautiful. And you can mess around with it a little bit do.Last edited on 3 May 2010 01:57 am by jackbenimble
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 4 May 2010 12:49 am |
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| Hey Jack!! I love that you're still finding time to mess around on the guitar. And the last week of school too, congratulations, that's such a major accomplishment AND you'll have more "me" time now hopefully. That, and the 4-hour work week, and you'll be all set. :)
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 6 May 2010 11:31 am |
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Thanks MM!
Yeah, countdown to the last day is growing short indeed. We had a skype meeting last night to go over the final presentation, and the final paper has already been submitted. D did a terrific video on Camtasia, although I think we need to change the music. We have a meeting Friday downtown, then we make our presentation on Saturday. Then there's a party afterwards which will probably last an hour. Then, free at last, free at last - free, at last.
Monday the boss came after me about not being done with something. We conferenced in the guy from India who had told her I should be done, and I got out a kind of an explanation. But, she didn't want me working on it because she's discontinued work on this medical product. I'm glad I pushed for it because I wanted to do some real development work.
But she wanted it done *now* so I drafted the help of one of the guys who's actually been working on product to help me figure out what to do. The thing has been totally restructured since when I last worked on it, and I really didn't even know how to figure out where the web page parameters from the data-table were getting generated. It's event-driven, which means the code which gets executed on the click of data table could be anywhere.
Luckily, the kid was able to work with me for an hour or two and we got it done. It showed me how little I had worked on it, and also how little I know about how to work with javascript in general and the YUI javascript library.
I then talked to the India guy an asked why he had told her I should be done, and walked him through each phase of the 4.5 days I had spend on it. The first 1.5 days were pure setup - things had changed a lot. The next day was spend migrating code and figuring out what I had done before and getting that working, and testing it.
The next day was spent replacing the previous search with the new search, and testing it with the various parameters. The last day was spend setting up a test database, and I ran into an unfortunate snafu, which took me 3 hours to figure out - it turned out I had to run a "clean" to get rid of old code. And basically starting to look into setting up the address part of it.
So he said he hadn't known about the setup issues and exactly where the code was at, so he had just kind of blurted out that I should be done. So I got *blamed*, tossed under the bus and yelled at. Part of it was S always gives the most optimistic picture to R, and part if it is R doesn't really get development - she's only done a bit if it. An part of is, I missed out on the development phase of the product, as I was off writing proposals. So I'm still in a learning curve on it, while some of the other guys are through that.
Anyway. I spent Tuesday night preparing for an a.m. meeting with S, because I wanted to get a timeline for the next thing I'm going to working. I think all told it's going to take 10 days. During the call, I walked him through all the options, which had taken me a couple of hours to prepare, and gave him an outline of what needed to happen.
He doesn't want to release a timeline, he things R will think it's too long. He says, let's take one day at a time. So we agreed that yesterday would be analysis.
Yesterday actually went well. I was in a piece of code I had worked on before, it's Axis2 which I learned about doing my last Web Service, and I'm fresh and current on it. It's not my *first time* working on it, like things usually are around here. And so I think this one is off to a very good start. I'm looking forward to today's work. But there is still plenty to do. I hope R doesn't come up to me and say "I thought this was going to take a couple of days" again.
Last edited on 6 May 2010 11:45 am by jackbenimble
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 7 May 2010 03:44 am |
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I had a reasonable day today. I've been able to work on this cool utility for a couple of days and it's turning out well. I'm ahead of "schedule" because
1) It's java
2) It's Axis2 web services which I learned a couple of months ago
3) It's leveraging a service I already worked on to make in more generic.
Ok, guess what? Two more days until my final class. The presentation is Saturday.
Tomorrow will be a nice day working from home on the the program. I will have a meeting in town at to rehearse for the presentation, at 5 pm.
I watched Madmen again tonight (we're watching last season's series, 3 shows at a time). It's pretty good.
Mother's Day Sunday. Got to do my taxes. Couple of parties on 12 and 13 of June. Got to make a dentist appointment to finally get my tooth replacement.
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 7 May 2010 04:01 am |
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| Busy, busy. Yay for the last class!
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 7 May 2010 11:07 am |
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Jack, good luck on your final presentation. You have worked really hard and I am sure you are going to blow thier socks off  .
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suenos
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 7 May 2010 02:58 pm |
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Darn Jack - graduation looms and I'm soooooooo proud of ya!!!! You've worked hard and sacrificed a lot - I'm just crazy happy for you that you've succeeded so well and are at the end of the road. And if the big O does end up at your commencement - please just don't go throwing any shoes - cause nobody looks good in orange, class ring or no .
What you wrote about your boss and your salary - I gotta tell ya, that made a big bell of understanding and scary recognition go ding ding ding in my head. I think you are dead on about the connection between your salary and her attitude. It suddenly made me realize that was exactly what was going on with my own boss and me - I mean his approach was much nicer than your boss, but he had zero problems expecting, no demanding, that every bit of my personal time was sacrificed at the alter of his business. After my promotion I became the 2nd highest paid employee in the company - and I now realize that when he looked at me he didn't see (or care) that I had a real live life outside of work hours - he just saw his $$$$ and was determined to get every penny worth. In retrospect, I think his personal feeling was the same as your boss: "I'm not paying you that much money to eat/sleep/party/study/whatever, I'm paying you to do whatever it takes to make more money for ME." You know, like a feeling that they've not just bought our time for a specified duration of the day, but a feeling of having bought our very lives. I guess that's one of the drawback of working for an independently owned company rather than a corporation - the business owners literally see their employee salaries as coming straight out of their own pockets....it can make for interesting expectations.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 7 May 2010 03:27 pm |
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Suenos, Hiker, MM - thanks for the encouragement!
Suenos, the part about her expecting more out of me due to the money I'm getting paid - which is only in line considering my years of experience in this part of the country should get - but sometimes you don't view things that way. But it's not that easy to find companies willing to pay the same rate, unless you really blow them away - it's competitive out there, still.
Don't worry - I won't throw any shoes at the big O. I doubt he shows up - it's just a rumor. I should be clear - I'm not 100% opposed to him. I think it's probably the best thing possible for American race relations, and relations with the rest of the world, that we got a black president. That right there is probably worth the price of admission, regardless of his other (ahem) policies which I have trouble with.
Alright, I'm supposed to be working. But, I got up at 5, jogged the beach with the sunrise, right next to the water. It was beautiful. Then I got my cards ready for my presentation and practiced them. Came out 3 minutes, after a couple of tries. Just right. Check my suit and tie. Talked to S in India of Skype, and we're on the same wavelength. R has started a branch in India for cheap labor, she was talked into it by S. So, I'll be doing more work with those guys as things move forward.
Weight's holding steady at 167.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 9 May 2010 04:36 am |
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Free at last, free at last - free, at last.
After years of grueling course-work at Harvard's night school, I have finally graduated. Our team made the final presentation today, in front of a panel of 3 very picky Harvard professors. Although the outcome was never in doubt, they did present some of the teams with some very awkward questions.
We presented last. I had my cards ready, and my part of the presentation flowed very nicely. I spoke more slowly and calmly than usual, and it just worked. Also, D had prepared a video of our application using Camtasia, and did such a nice job, the class actually applauded at the end
The scary part, the Q&A session, started out extremely well. The toughest professor, who teaches a Software Architecture course, complemented our presentation and specifically said the architecture was well-defined and explained. D publicly gave me a pat on the back at that moment, sort of letting everyone know it was me who had constructed that part. A generous gesture like that shows a lot of maturity in a younger guy and I felt somewhat gratified. Plus, since that prof wasn't really gunning for us, none of the others ones did either, so we were off the hook. We did answer a few questions without much of a problem.
I walked back down to the garage with the Software Architecture prof. I knew him from having taken a course with him, and he again complemented me on the architecture. I said, well your course helped. He kind of shrugged that off, but he mentioned that he thought I was going to take the software engineering track as opposed to the information management sytems track. I told him, I really wanted to take his capstone course and that concentration, but I didn't have the math background, and I would've had to have taken some extra courses, and I didn't really have the time or the money. But he said, the management course helped, and people who understand the technical aspects and can communicate in terms of business are really in demand. So, it was a good conversation, because that was something I had wanted to explain to him.
At the party afterwards, a classmate actually complemented me on my speaking voice (the mike helped) and a very pleasant lady (a former student), asked if I worked for IBM, since I had such a good knowledge of one of the IBM components. I told her, no, I had just reviewed the documentation, and she said she was impressed. I kind of wished I had struck up a conversation with her earlier - she was pretty nice.
I also got a chance to talk to the prof - she came over and sat beside us toward the end. She's a very accomplished and charming woman who had done a lot of technical work before she switched to managment. I told her the course was great, I learned a lot. and it helped with my speaking skills, which she perhaps politely implied she was surprised about. I wish I'd had more time to chat with her, but again it was getting toward the end.
D, who lives in Japan, wants to meet up when I travel there next spring. I was actually complemented by that - this is a kid who is a fast-tracker and will absolutely be a CEO or top executive of a company someday - but I said, yeah, I'd love to. D and B and myself are going to go to some fancy dinner the graduates get invited to, in some special Harry-Potter type dining hall. I'm bringing the wife - it will be a thrill for her to be in a luxury setting besides a music concert theatre.
Then I came home and crashed for a couple of hours. Reality started hitting - it turns out the boss said the extra cost per month on on health was $60 when it turned out to be $200! And we've got to give up $11,000 to the Roth IRA. I think we're still eligible because we had some disaster due to floods a month ago, but I have to check with Vangaurd. And I have a wierd virus that has rendered my computer unusable - I'm using my wife's right now.
But, I'm just thinking, I'm a Harvard grad. True, it's the night school, which has this kind of a stepchild reputation. But, you know, it really is a Harvard University degree. That's a big deal, especially once you get further out from the Boston area.
And the best part of it is, now I can focus on other things - Japanese, Guitar - starting my own business - finding a new job - whatever.
In the word's of the immortal Alice Cooper - school's out - forever!
Last edited on 9 May 2010 04:47 am by jackbenimble
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suenos
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 9 May 2010 11:39 am |
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Ya start out quoting MLK and end up with Alice Cooper....gotta luv ya man!
Seriously, you done good baby! I knew you were smart (heck, 99% of the time when you talk about work or classes, I don't even know what you're talking about) and now, Mr. Harvaaaaad Graduate, I'm convinced you are brilliant. I love that you said "I'm going to do this thing"...and then, no matter what, you just went and did it. And, you were saying about the classmate who's really smart but was humble and decent enough to give you credit for your part - the cool thing is that you do that all the time and it's one of things that I think make you such a wonderful human being. Over and over you are always reflecting about the positive accomplishments/features/contributions of this or that person at work or in class. Honestly, I could go on (and on) about the positive aspects of you as a human being that are revealed through yours posts (without your realizing it)...but then your head would swell up really big and your cap would look a little silly perched on top
Enjoy your "fancy dinner" with the wife and relish the satisfaction of a hard job well done.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 9 May 2010 12:29 pm |
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Thanks a lot for your kind words Suenos! This was one post that I wanted to get down to some level of detail, to capture the day a little bit. I took one course in 2003, and the rest of them from 2005 to 2010, so it's been nearly a decade in the making. Well, 1/2 a decade, say, because the 2003 course was intended to be a one-off. And I really had to take a couple of semesters off due to work. At any rate, I am going to have a lot of fun dropping the H-bomb from now on. I figure - maybe 5 minutes into any conversation is appropriate. What do you think ;)
Seriously, I'm looking forward to my school-free life. On the agenda for today is a jog on the beach, getting the lawn mowed, additional battling with this computer virus, visiting my Mom for Mother's day, reminding my daughter to call her Mom (you know how kids are), filing for a tax extension (I know it's late, but I think we are eligible because of some flood extension) and maybe doing just a little bit of work. Maybe.
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 9 May 2010 05:55 pm |
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Hey Jack - congratulations! When you make up your mind to do something...you deliver. One of the things I really like about you is that regardless of what it is, you never go halfway, you always give it your best effort. Harvard Grad - woo hoo!! I am hoping that this leads to something new and exciting on the job front for you.
Have fun dropping the H-bomb - you've earned it, baby!
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 10 May 2010 01:43 am |
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Thanks, MM! I was talking to my neighbors today, and I kicked around the idea of mentioning it, but the timing wasn't quite right - you know, it's mother's day and everything. You've got to drop these things in casually, you know :)
Well, anyway I got some some things crossed off my list today. I got some exercise in, mowed the lawn, played a bit of tennis, went over my Mom's for a little mother's day party, and then came home and got rid of the virus on the computer. I also spend a couple of hours working, because, I want to get off to a good start tomorrow. Well, S is kind of pressuring me to come up with something to show R in the next couple of days. The company needs to get more rational - everything has to be done yesterday, there aren't any schedules, you're always expected to be "finishing up" in a day or two. It's not a rational process. The time it takes is the time it takes. This stuff can get complicated very quickly. When you're working with XML, for example, you are building your meta-data along with your data. It much things much more difficult to think about - especially considering the bloated syntax Java has for dealing with XML.
Anyway, what I didn't get done was the tax extension - i have find out from my wife where she put the tax papers, although if I really felt like it, I'm sure I could dig it out.
Well, I'm listening to "Wish You were here" right now, it and kind of fits my mood right now.
I'm glad I did the bit of work that I did.
I will also have to figure out what's going on with the medical bill tomorrow. 200 buck more a month? Owwch.
I've really got to refocus on eating better. I'm probably pushing 169 by now. I need to drop 10. Maybe that will be my first post-graduation goal. a nice, easy one to start out with. Well, at least, well-defined :)
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 10 May 2010 02:38 am |
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I was thinking about what Steve Jobs said in his graduation speech to Stanford in 2005. What he said was "follow your gut - follow your instinct". Any my instinct tells me Japan.But the economy sux there, China and India are what it's all about. But, what the heck, the can still use programmers in Japan. Heck, I'm even legal there, since I'm married to a Japanese. I'm starting to think my next project will be to get my butt over to Japan and make it happen. My wife won't be happy. Neither will my daughter. I don't know. It's what I want - at least for now.
Last edited on 10 May 2010 02:13 pm by jackbenimble
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 10 May 2010 10:32 pm |
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| Hey Jack, a whole new world is opening up for you, it must be hard but you have lots of time to make any big decisions. My mother in law in Japanese and she's been back a few times to visit but she is really, really glad to be out of there. It sounds like your wife isn't jumping at going back either? Boy or boy, the choices you now have. I'm sure it's great, thrilling and also somewhat imtimadating.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 11 May 2010 02:04 am |
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There's no doubt about it Hiker - my wife is perfectly happy right here in the USA and has absolutely zero desire to go back to Japan. If I were her, I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same way.
But, that's something we'll have to see how it plays out.
I got rid of that nasty virus, except occasionally my CD drive pops open for no reason, and I think my system running a bit slower. But that might the new version of mozilla.
here's what I ate: a salad with cheddar cheese, a few more slices of cheddar cheese, a big chocolate chip cookie, and a smaller cracker, and a small chicken sandwich from Wendy's.
I worked out for a couple of hours tonight, and this time I really worked at it, now that schools out and all. I kept the pulse rate up in the 170s for much of the last 1/2 hour, occasionally ranging in to the 180s. So, I'm at about 167 right now. My goal is to get down to like, 160, but that's maybe pushing it.
It's so nice to be out of school.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 11 May 2010 10:57 am |
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Ok, I'm in my second normal day of non-school-hanging-over-my-head.
I was just browsing through Zen habits, and one of the things they said was "live every moment as if you chose it". In other words, don't be making judgments about whether things are good are bad. They just are.
I know I tend to get bitter or jealous or angry about this or that. But, going from that approach, I wouldn't get like that, would I?
Of course, saying it is one thing and doing it is another!
Well, today I'm going to hand over 5 grand to my wife in the form of an IRA. I don't have to do it. But it seems kind of mean not to, since I'm fulling funding my own.
Of course she doesn't "work" work, but, you know, she keeps house, she's pretty and elegant, she's been in a better mood recently. We may end up together, in which case the money will help. They always say fully fund your IRAs. I actually tried to do it yesterday.
But then again, five grand is a lot of dough. The problem is, I might be out of work. Now that I've graduated, I would like to maybe take a month or two off. Or get laid off. And it might end up being handy to have an extra five grand around. That's a few months worth of survival.
hmmm....well, hmmm...I mean, if we were happily married it would be a no-brainer. But what if I manage to somehow divorce? Why should I give my hard earned-money away to someone I'm not married to? I've got to think about myself - no necessarily take the path of least resistance.
Not being happily married really confuses this whole issue. It will again, next year, and next year. Each time I'm giving a chunk of my money away to someone who has really fought hard against me on many occasions.
Plus, maybe it will give her motivation to find a real job, if I don't fund it for her. Then, she can fund her own.
She actually floated the idea of only funding my own.
I feel kind of guilty not doing it. Like, it's what I *should* be doing. I've got to do the right thing, and being greedy about money doesn't feel like the right thing.
Money. Lack of money is the root of all evil.
Plus, we could put it into paying down the mortgage. That would be a good thing. She gets 1/2 the house anyway - for some reason I put it in her name as well as mine. Now that's money you really can't get at. But it might be a good compromise. We would split the house. I'm going to offer that as a suggestion.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 11 May 2010 12:02 pm |
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Ok, I just talked to my wife and that's out of the way. The 5k will go to the mortgage.
At least that investment will go toward more money coming to us when we
sell the house.
I may end up regretting it, but, it seems like a reasonable compromise.
Ok, I have to get ready for work.
I'm going to need to develop a routine for the mornings. I'm productive then.
At night, I'm too bushed to get anything done.
My goals:
Instill quality in all things I do
Gain confidence through various techniques
Gain financial independence using techniques from 4-hour workweek.
Lose 7-10 lbs.
Japanese
Guitar
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suenos
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 11 May 2010 02:44 pm |
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| What happened to your ideas about Canada? Is that off the table?
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 12 May 2010 12:18 am |
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Hey Suenos,
It's not totally off the table. Part of the problem is I checked into the divorce laws in Canada, and they are incredibly tough. Part of the problem is they're almost as bad as the US when it comes to vacation time. And part of the problem is that, well, I'd still be married. And part of the problem is, well, I really like Japan.
What I need to do is become financially independent. Then, all my problems will disappear :)
Actually, I feel pretty good right now. Ok, I skipped working out tonight. But I only had a salad, some cheddar cheese, on of those healthy-choice-wrap-things, a small chicken sandwich, and a couple of little bags of peanuts. Well, that's more than I thought. But, I won't eat anything else. I was 167 this morning, not bad.
I also feel good because I have nothing I have to do. I'm done with school. And I have a master's degree to boot. It feels good to have one of those suckers. I didn't know I would like that feeling so much.
Another reason is, I finished a program today, and the boss is off my case for now. I'm starting a new one tomorrow, it should take just a few more days. All programming, no proposals. That will probably start up again next week.
My health insurance doubled, but I'm still only paying $400 month for a family plan. That's where Montreal would come in handy. But, health care isn't expensive in Japan either.
The secretary says the boss told her everyone has two weeks vacation. She said I should ask about it. I don't doubt it's true. It's like the health plan. There was no announcement made - it just doubled.
So if she takes it back down to two weeks, I will be better off looking for a new job. I'm already kind of planning on it. I will miss my three nights alone, though. It's fun to not have to worry about bothering someone else all the time.
Last edited on 12 May 2010 12:20 am by jackbenimble
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 12 May 2010 11:57 am |
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I applied for a job last night - one at a college which pays less, but has much more vacation time, etc. You have a 180 day trial period - ouch. That's a long time to be on the chopping block.
But i have to face facts as well. Despite my recently-achieved Master's, my age may be working against me in a young man's market place. !0 years younger would be better. Then again, I might be applying for a job 10 years from now, so, 52 looks good from that perspective.
There best way is to achieve success with my own business. Now that I'm out of school, I have more time to work on that. But, I'm relaxing a bit too.
I have to consider getting out of my current company, and getting a job which allows more free time on my own. Thus the application to the college.
The health plan as always is a big issue. Basically, it will cost me $1000 bucks a month probably for a minimal health plan. Right now it's only costing me $400 because work subsidizes 60% of it.
But, with vacation going down to 2 weeks (although she promised me three, the change to two is the works), I've got to consider getting a new job to get out of this situation.
I have a couple of things working against me, too. For enterprise level work, I'm missing two key skills - Hibernate and Spring. I somehow managed to get through this whole Master's program without picking them up. At work, we haven't used them.
One thing I have for sure is web services. I can claim exposure to front end, javascript and css, from a Lamp course I had, but my experience is far more limited there. Of course, I'm still solid in Java.
Ideally, I would get a job that allows me to learn these technologies on the job.
I would also like to learn Flash, which is already huge on the internet (70% of sites use it), and is now coming to the exploding mobile phone market. But, my bread and butter is back-end stuff, and also networking technology to some extent.
Well, one of the more solid things on my list is to re-release my access application with some corrections. Also, of done a version of it in PHP, which looks good and I could release a free website, to get some attention. That would also involve some programming. That would improve my PHP/Javascript credentials.
But, I'm also thinking of starting a blog on learning japanese. That would be fun and something I would enjoy.
One thing I know for sure, is I'm good at Java. But so aren't a million other guys.
What it comes down to is, even if she goes to the two weeks, should I stick around?
The two big benefits are working from home on Fridays, and the three nights to myself during the week.
Right now is a good time at work. She will be busy with a demo today, and I am slated to spend a few more days enhancing this web app I'm working on.
Today I'm going to be kind of dragging, because I stayed up late doing that job application. I'm going to try to get 1/2 sleep in...
"exploding mobile phone market" "flash" "android"
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 12 May 2010 12:17 pm |
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Reducing people's vacation time is defiinitely not a way to retain people. Not only that, people NEED time off so that they can be sharper and more productive on the job. I am convinced that your boss has a screw loose. That being said, be cautious of what your next career move is. Don't knee jerk over this, make sure the next job that you land is one aligned with your goals and learning interests. If this new job fits, then Good Luck!
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 12 May 2010 12:17 pm |
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Reducing people's vacation time is defiinitely not a way to retain people. Not only that, people NEED time off so that they can be sharper and more productive on the job. I am convinced that your boss has a screw loose. That being said, be cautious of what your next career move is. Don't knee jerk over this, make sure the next job that you land is one aligned with your goals and learning interests. If this new job fits, then Good Luck!
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 12 May 2010 11:02 pm |
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Thanks, Mol. We'll see on the vacation - the secretary says she keeps changing her mind about it.
I wasted a bunch of time this afternoon on getting a file written. I wanted to use one created by grails, and I had gotten it to work before. But, somehow that file got lost, and when I created the new one, the trick I used before didn't work.
What I should've done is just created a generic file and worked with that. But I stubbornly tried different things. Finally, at the end I gave in and went with the generic file. We'll see what happens on the grails end, if they ever use it. It's not a requirement, but it's a limitation.
Well, back to proposal writing. I've got to come up with a 5-page paper in the next couple of days. It shouldn't be too bad - but if I had kept my mouth shut in the meeting, I could've avoided it altogether.
Oh well. I skipped the gym last night. I actually was going to drive back from my appt. and watch the celts beat the Cavs, but instead I just played guitar and celebrated my newfound freedom for school work. I also stayed up kinda late applying for that job.
I was 168 this morning. I kind of didn't eat to well, having a small frozen pizza, a chocolate chip cookie, about 8 tea-biscuits, and two small bags of potato chips. And I'm not done, yet.
But, I will exercise.
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 May 2010 11:00 am |
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| Hi Jack, I just wanted to say I agree with Mol, I do think that boss of yours has a screw or two loose. That being said a job is a job and in this market it is better than nothing. My son got an associates in graphic design almost 3years ago and he could not find anything, even the most basic entry level job and he was willing to take anything. He ended up working at Olive Garden to pay the bills and now it looks like he wasted his time and money because with a 3 year old degree...not going to be a lot of job offers in his field. Now I know your situation is very different, first of all your degree is a doctorate from Harvard no less, and you have been working in your field so I don't mean to compare the two, just pointing out how bad the job market is in our area is. I am sure you know that, but something will come along. I lost my job at 55 and thought I would not find one as good but it ended up I found one I like better, pays better, people I work for are better, work from home which I love....everything is better except ironically the vacation time is worse. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your diary, just wanted to say you will find that job, and if vacation time is a priority for you, then education is a great place to look. And untl you do...just ignore that crazy woman as much as you can.
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suenos
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 May 2010 04:15 pm |
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Jack, I know you know Bob Dylan (and I'm blushing here because until yesterday i knew I'd heard the name but really don't think I've ever heard any of his music)...but do you know "Ballad of a Thin Man"? I stumbled on it by accident yesterday when looking for some different running tunes...and I've been playing it almost obsessively ever since...in fact I'm listening to it right now! I've just never heard ANYTHING like it...something about the combination of the voice and the lyrics and the bare bones instruments (I think I only hear a piano and a guitar?) behind them just seem crazy powerful...like "THIS IS MUSIC"...so, I'm wondering if it's just because it's so far from what I normally listen to that I'm only imagining it's that good and to someone with a real musical ear and background (like you) it's only "so-so"? And yes, I know this is a totally random question which has nada to do with nada important...but hey, sometimes life is just random ya know and even the dumbest questions stick in our heads until we get answers . So tell me, did I really just stumble on a really, really great song in which case it makes sense to play 5 million times in row?
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 May 2010 08:15 am |
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Hey Suenos,
I've only gradually become of aware of just how great Dylan is over the years, and I'm no expert on music. I play a bit of guitar and music does please and cheer me up - including this "Ballad of a thin Man", which you've just brought to my attention. It's a very cool tune, kind of catchy, kind of spooky creepy, and I love the refrain "Do you Mr. Jones????". So I would say you have chosen a gem there. You have my blessing to play it to your heart's content;). Just kidding, obviously any tune that you like, you should wear out the proverbial grooves on. But, since it is Dylan, no one will argue with you anyway. Nice pick.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 May 2010 08:49 am |
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Hiker,
You're not hijacking my diary by any stretch. It does me good to hear your words of encouragement. I actually just have a masters degree, not a doctorate, but I'm more than happy with that.
I especially like how you said you found a job at 55 that you liked better than your previous one. I find that encouraging because I'm 52 and didn't plan on being looking at this point - I wanted to ride it out with the current company. That was a mistake.
Btw, it's official - the 3-weeks vacation have been rolled back to two. I really haven't been able to sleep well. It's yet another broken promise, another lie, another exploitation by this lying, demanding woman. Well, she's let the power go to her head, I guess. She's willing to use and step on people. If that's the karma she wants to generate, then that's on her.
In the meantime, it cuts down on my vacation by a week. I've got to cheer myself up a bit. I'll do so by
1) Playing some of my favorite songs
2) Listing some positives:
1) It's not the end of the world. There are still two weeks vacation, and I've only taken a day so far this year.
2) Now that I have my Master's, whatever new job I get I can give my full attention
3) I'm a software developer - it's a profession that pays the bills, and which I enjoy.
4) I have been at this job 7 years now. No one can accuse me of being a short-termer now, something which I had been accused of before.
5) The job market is picking up.
6) Dice.com has 69,650 jobs listed - it's getting closer to the pre-recession 70,000 milestone every day.
7) I can act up at work, and maybe get laid off, and collect while I update my skills.
8) I'm healthy, if a touch overweight.
9) I'm doing more development, less proposals recently.
10) I don't plan to just quit - I will bide my time, and get the right opportunity.
Last edited on 14 May 2010 08:51 am by jackbenimble
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 14 May 2010 10:24 am |
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Your boss sucks. I am going to be so glad when you end up getting the last laugh.
Have a great day. :)
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suenos
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 May 2010 02:32 pm |
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Hiya Jack!
Taking my usual, annoying, Pollyannaish "there must be a pony under all that #%@&! so keep digging" stance, I gotta point out that even though the current situation with your boss sucks...been there, done that, I feel your frustration....it helps to remember that we are always in the middle of a life that is still unfolding - like actors being handed a script one scene at a time...it's entirely possible that dealing with the great suckage of your job/boss today is really an essential experience that you have to go through to lead you to something wonderful that's going to happen in the future. Think of every single person who has ever achieved anything really worthwhile and/or meaningful- and no matter who they are the common thread is always an underlying foundation of living through and ultimately overcoming adversity....two words for ya: "Nelson Mandela". Do ya think that, even once, during his 27 years in prison, especially during the period when he was sentenced to the hard labor camp, he had any idea that his destiny was to become the elected president of SA?
Okay, that's my pep talk of the day...I know right? But, just sayin'.
eta: thanks for your permission to indulge in my newfound Dylan obsession! If music had a taste that song would be a pint of Ben & Jerry's on a hot summer day!
Last edited on 14 May 2010 02:38 pm by suenos
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 May 2010 05:45 pm |
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Mol, Suenos,
You guys are awesome. I love ya, man. Er, men. I mean - women. Whatever :) I love you guys!
I just read a really great quote - check this one out.
"Confidence comes from lack of insecurity".
My insecurity is stemming from losing the money from my job, to pay the bills and stuff. But, I just asked my wife and check this out. We have enough in cash in the bank I can put my hands on today that we could make it through 8 months. Probably more since I have no more school expenses and also wouldn't be renting the room and gas costs would go down. We'll also get a tax refund, probably a couple of grand.
It's not like I can't find something - it's just it will be probably a significant drop in pay, probably for much the same bulls**t I deal with now. That's the real problem. Putting up with the boss-man, wherever and whoever he or she might be.
My ace up the sleeve is equity in the house - I own significant percentage of it. If things get really bad, I sell and we rent somewhere with a pile of dough in the bank. Maybe I should just let it come to that. Or do that.
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 15 May 2010 02:25 am |
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Jack,
One of the best things my development coach did for me last year was force me to do the what-ifs. I was so scared of my own shadow - scared to quit, too unhappy to stay, afraid of trying something new and not being successful, afraid I couldn't get another good job - it all boiled down to finances - and when we broke it apart and looked at what I might happen, it helped me to realize that I would be able to land on my feet. People do it all the time...everyday people, let alone someone brilliant with a fresh master's from Harvard, like yourself. I know you've already had the epiphany, but I thought I'd share that I went through the same thing...and having confidence in your ability to manage life's financial/employment curve balls...well that starts enabling you to make wiser, healthier job choices.
I'd be looking...but for something specific meeting your goals. Meantime, if you want a day off - call in sick. What's she going to do - seriously? If she fires you, you get unemployment and get to look for something else full time - all during the summer so you can enjoy the weather and go for a jog every day.
Ah, amazing what perspective can do.
P.S: Love ya too, man.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 May 2010 05:12 am |
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Mol,
It's good to know that you went through that process and it worked out for you. And I am very appreciative of your encouragement. Funny, I never realized it, but encourage contains the word courage - obvious in retrospect..
So I did a couple of things today. First, I finished off this paper. It turned out to be tougher than I thought. All these government proposals have these sneaky little tricky rules. Even a five pager with a quad chart. I kept going over the rules and running into things I hadn't realized I needed to do. Finally, I think I matched them all. Actually, this last semester was good practice, because we were constantly going over what they asked for in the assignment and trying to word it the same way it was asked.
I'm trying to up the quality of my work. This kid, D, who is really brilliant, talked about quality. I realized that for some reason, i shoot for an A+ in my school work, but maybe a B or B+ at work. I'm going to turn that into A+ work. Nice and neat - not just working code, but code that's pretty to look at. Or proposals. Appearance is extremely important - not just content. It can make your reputation. It's not just hitting the deadline that counts.
The other thing I did was I started working on learning this technology called "Hibernate". It's about Object-relational mapping. A lot of the jobs out there want that, along with Spring. Hibernate is java-based, and it should not take long to pick up the basics. Then I'll I'll learn Spring. then, I'll put together a simple project and put it on my resume. I need this skills because I want options, and they are java-based. I already know bits and pieces of it.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 16 May 2010 09:07 pm |
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My initial reaction to the reduction back to two weeks in vacation has kind of worn off. I'm feeling a bit more optimistic.
I'm watching the Celtics play Orlando, and one of the commercials was the players were saying, to win championships, you need more than just talent. You need hard work - dedication - you have to care about winning.
And I'm thinking, why don't I apply this to myself? I have been playing around in this dead-end company because I cut a good deal, but now she's cutting back. I've been playing at guitar, pretending I'm going to start my own business. Ok, I've had school.
But what I need to do is update my computer skills. This weekend I just went through an online tutorial about hibernate. I also learned a little bit about maven, while I was at it. It wasn't easy, there were many bugs in the tutorial, but I got through the whole thing. I know more about it than I did before.
Next I need to get this whole Spring thing going on. Spring is a framework for developing enterprise application. At it's heart are two concepts - AOP, or Aspect Oriented Programming, and Dependency Injection. I read about it this weekend at Borders.
So, what I'm going to do right now, until I get my new job, is spend my free time updating my skills. I don't have school in the way now. I want to open up my options. The best part of it is, I really don't mind this stuff. I'll pick up the guitar again once I'm settled in my new situation.
Last edited on 16 May 2010 09:09 pm by jackbenimble
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 16 May 2010 09:24 pm |
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We picked up my daughter at from school yesterday. The ride back went quickly - she is such an interesting conversationalist, so entertaining. She is one of these people who can repeat conversations and skits, something I've never been able to do. She's been working out, too, something she's never really done before. She wants to learn to play tennis too. I will probably hit the ball to her for a few times. It'll be fun.
I played tennis today. Unfortunately lost in doubles, in a tiebreaker. I actually double-faulted on the last point, ouch. No big deal, though - I was 164.5 when I got home.
I don't know if I can watch the rest of this game. The Celtics are playing well. Ray Allen, I love that guy. Of course, my man Rajon is the key.
We got an A on our final presentation. That makes my average score 94.75. still an A-. But, she could give me a break. I mean .25 points? It was clear that i was the one of the driving forces behind the paper, along with D. I did the architecture - what the application would do was my idea. I made a nice final presentation. When we talked, I was usually the one who did the talking with her, especially toward the end. Why do I care, anyway? It's the job situation that counts.
I might go to Border's, and pick up a book on technical interviewing.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 May 2010 02:09 am |
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Got through Monday (today) ok. I was finishing up a white paper, or rather make edits to it that the boss suggested, plus doing some work on this program which nobody will ever use, but is interesting. And it's programming.
The problem is we don't have a *real* project to do right now. Another words, nothing funded. That means there is going to more proposal work.
Since she cut down vacation/sick time combined to two weeks, it means that I could go to the greenest startup and still get more time off. Two week plus sick days at least.
I think she screwed up my W2. It looks look she's counting her match to my 401k (4%) as income to me. Gee, that would only cost me at least a thousand bucks if I hadn't caught it. I'm checking with the IRS to make sure I have it straight. I want to make very sure I'm right on this before I take to her.
Went to the gym, had a decent workout - and weighed 168 when I got home. How did that happen?
I've decided that I'm going to get more into a "frugal" lifestyle. Before, I held out hopes of becoming financially independent. I still do, but I recognize that, first, maybe it ain't gonna happen, and second, with a wife and daughter to support, and a mortgage, and 5 to 6 grand a month expenses, and my top earning years boiling down - it makes sense. Plus, spiritually, it's a good thing. I buy too much stuff, anyway. There is a lot of free stuff to be had if you look for it. Why buy expensive computer books, when I can pick up all the info on the internet?
I'm getting very, very sleepy. And it's only 10! Well, if I go to sleep now, I will be up by 5 or 6. I'm planning to go through a tutorial on Spring MVC. I'll get started on that tomorrow.
Last edited on 18 May 2010 10:23 am by jackbenimble
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 18 May 2010 04:15 am |
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| Frugal living is always a great practice. In the book "The Millionaire Next Door" they talk about playing both good offense and good defense. Good offense is earning a good salary, but playing good defense is being smart and frugal about spending. Playing a good defense is actually the key to it all. I have a few friends, younger folks, who do things like go to happy hours with free food, etc, they know when all the freebies and cheap things are...good luck, a little thinking ahead can save a lot of money!
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Hiker
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 May 2010 11:07 pm |
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| Jack, we all have too much stuff, I think trying to live frugally is a great idea. It takes some work and some planning but it can be done. Anyone who has accomplished what you have is certainly able to live with less. Of course none of us want to but if we learn it then we have more for later. I think 2 weeks including sick days is ridiculous, boy your boss is really something, she may be able to get away with it it in this economy but things will turn around and people will remember. I guess she never heard about treating people well on the way up because she are going to see them all again when she is on her way down...and she will be. I am a perfect example, I got my current job from someone who used to work for me and my current boss is a guy I hired when he was right out of college. I treated them well (so they tell me) and it has paid off for me. This will come back to bite her but that doesn't help you very much now.
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suenos
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 19 May 2010 02:51 pm |
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| Hiya Jack! Yay for your daughter being home - is it for the rest of the summer? And, too funny, as soon as you free up a bunch of time from school you start filling your time with other projects - pretty smart though to be so proactive about some of the skills you already know you need. Hopefully there will still be some music time in there cause I very much remember that last summer you practically "promised" Zen and I that you were going to do a street corner routine (you on guitar and wife singing) and put it on YouTube this summer....ha! I never forget stuff like that.........Being frugal is weird (in the sense that you said it's a good thing spiritually) just from experience, when it comes from a place of fear, not so much, when it comes from a place of release, very much. I'll let you figure out that one.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 19 May 2010 08:30 pm |
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Mol, Hiker, Suenos - thanks for chiming in with your thoughts of frugal living. Suenos, you are right. The guitar has been weighing heavily on my mind. I really feel badly about not jumping into it - it's like a lifelong dream - when I'm finally getting the hang of it.
But, I'm being realistic - nailing down a few new skills, especially really widely used ones, will make me more hire-able, increase my options. I'm in a kind of fix - I don't want to be here, but I can't move due to the technology bypassing me. It's like Warren Zevon said - Send lawyers, guns and money - Dad, get me outta this.
It's not *that* bad, but if I'm going out there, I want to be fully prepared. Maybe she will just lay me off, and end it all :)
Oddly, she's just added life/long/short-term disability. Pretty good benefits, for small company. I wonder why she did that?
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 20 May 2010 11:48 am |
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Last night after work, I went to the bookstore and read a chapter and 1/2 on Spring. It's a widely used framework in the industry, and something I've never really looked at. I had read Chapter 1 last Saturday. So I'm making progress there.
I also ordered a couple of books off of Amazon. One is common technical interviewing questions - how to write a linked list, search algorithms, etc. I fear these the most because it's hard to come up with an answer under pressure, especially if you've never really studied the stuff much.
The other is a book on Spring. Not the one I'm studying, but a different one. I read reviews. The one I ordered is better for actual coding, the examples are more complete, but it's less conceptual than the first. So when I finish the first one, I'll start in on actual coding with the second one. It seems like a good plan.
I'm also interested in learning how to program for Android, Google's OS for smartphones. It's java-based, so I have running start on it. The Android OS is taking off, and outsells Iphones in North America. Hard to believe, but true. Smartphones are a growing area, and it might be a good idea to jump right into that, rather than spending time in Enterprise. It's just that I'm pretty familiar with enterprise concepts.
I got a letter from a recruiter yesterday, and responded, but didn't hear back. I was a bit disappointed - usually you hear right back when they contact you directly. I wonder if I have too much networking and not enough business on my resume for the position? Or maybe they want you to fill out the application on their site.
The boss and her counterpart in India were both after me Tuesday about the status of this service I'm working on. I decided to deliver a version of it which is not feature-complete to my mind, but I don't think either of them cares particularly. The guy in India just wants to say "it's done", and my boss want me to start working in a different area. I get the message.
I'm looking forward to the weekend. I will spend a lot of time at Borders going through the Spring book. I'm also going to see the Celtics. It's absolutely amazing - here they are, crushing opponents who were deemed to be unbeatable - Cleveland, and now they are up 2-0 on Orlando. It looks very much like they are headed for another final, most likely against LA. It would be sweet if they could hang another banner from the roof of the Garden. Interestingly, I have only seen parts of a couple or three games. This would've been unthinkable in the past, but my life right now not about watching sports on TV.
My poor guitar - I haven't touched it this week. Sigh. I just feel like I can't take my focus off of upgrading my skills and getting into a better situation. I'm sure i'll play it a bit at home this weekend.
Last edited on 20 May 2010 11:51 am by jackbenimble
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suenos
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 21 May 2010 08:23 pm |
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Hiya Jack!
I read a long time ago that you should try to interview for several positions that you feel underqualified for - not because you expect to actually land the job, but as a way to find out first hand exactly what skill sets are being emphasized by the people doing the hiring- plus the more often you interview, the more confidence you gain...I have no idea if this is valid or nonsense. Personally, I haven't had to actually interview for a job in EIGHT YEARS!!!! so I'm kinda intimidated by the whole thing.
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6301 |
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Posted: 22 May 2010 02:16 am |
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Just stopped by to check in on ya and wish you a good weekend.
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jackbenimble
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 22 May 2010 01:17 pm |
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Hey Suenos and Mol! Top o' the morning to ya!
So, I met D and B last night - we were supposed to go to the faculty club for a reception, I got there late, and they were just coming out red-faced at being under-dressed - apparently it was a suit and tie event - somehow they didn't get the word. I had been going to skip it, but B invited me along yesterday. Some how the three of us have become kind of like the three amigos - they are both funny, and D is a brilliant guy. I picked up from him the importance of an emphasis on quality. B is actively recruiting him to join his company, and kind of politely offering me the same thing, but it's clear he's trying to grab D. I don't begrudge him that.
I did figure out once I got home, that I had beat D in our GPA battle - it looks like he'll end up with a 3.95, while I'll have a 3.97. This might mean I get some kind of academic award like "Class Marshall for Academic Excellence", or something, because you are supposed to get that if you have the second best GPA. Mathematically, a 3.97 is second only to a 4.0 if you take 12 courses, so technically I should get it. We'll see. It will be nice addition to my resume, for sure, if it comes through.
I played a couple of games of chess in the square after they left with a "Play with the Chessmaster" guy. Not surprisingly, he beat me both times. I wasn't thinking that well, and I'm out of practice. He kept managing to limit my options, and I wasn't getting any inspiration. He wasn't slashing or daring or anything. He just gradually ties you up in knots until you're done.
I'm maybe going to play some tennis today. Commencement is Thursday, and I'm thinking I'll go through the whole thing, the morning ceremony and everything. It will be a long day, though.
Ok, I'm going to Celtics tonight, and playing tennis this morning. I'm trying to decide which computer book to study in the meantime.
Short week next week, I'm taking Thursday off for Commencement, and the holiday weekend I'll be off to the cape.
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