Useless Conversation

[Chimpy]

My question is: were you able to stay out of trouble?

No. There were dozens of times that people made changes that caused major service interruptions and no one even knew who made changes, much less what the change was.

Of course, this is a company that didn't believe in using individual usernames for their linux traffic shaping servers. They had 2 logins total: root which the devs and NOC all used to log in (and NOC also all logged in through the same proxy server in the main office so you could not even tell who made the change by machine ID) and the one that the tier 2 support reps used (which they never changed the password to, since you could not SSH into the servers unless you were on the HQ ip range).

[Paelos]

Today I also find that I wish I had gone to that Excel pivot table class.

Usually they are pretty useless. However, they seem to be the gold standard for the "are you an Excel whiz?" question.

"Yes, I can even do pivot tables!"

[Minvaren]

I don't think HP actually read the contract before they signed...

This has been my experience in recent dealings with an HP-sourced service.  That, and few things could be solved without meetings.

[ghost]

I love talking to outsourced phone help lines staffed by folks in India.   

[Morat20]

Currently I am trudging through a decade-plus old GUI, written by someone whose reach exceeded his grasp, and trying to somehow bring it into line with the rest of the product.

I am lucky in that, as a product aimed at engineers, what they want is stripped down and simple. However, I have four pages of just plain dumb things -- bugs, graphical glitches, bad formatting, ridiculous color choices, idiotic sizing -- that I have so far noticed.

After that I have to standardize the fonts, layout, and colors and then try to reorder the buttons and layouts to something a human being would actually use.

And then I can start on upgrading it to handle all the new awesome shiny math stuff our engineers can do.

[Yegolev]

Today I also find that I wish I had gone to that Excel pivot table class.

Usually they are pretty useless. However, they seem to be the gold standard for the "are you an Excel whiz?" question.

"Yes, I can even do pivot tables!"

I must be one of those weirdos that actually uses a pivot table to view relevant data from a DB extraction.  Today I wanted to use a logical OR in a label filter but seems there is no function for that... not one I can see anyway.  MS needs to get on board the regex wagon.

[Paelos]

Since I typically do huge DB extractions for audits, the search and sort functions work better for me than any pivot table could without the effort.

[Trippy]

I must be one of those weirdos that actually uses a pivot table to view relevant data from a DB extraction.  Today I wanted to use a logical OR in a label filter but seems there is no function for that... not one I can see anyway.  MS needs to get on board the regex wagon.

Regexs are for communists. Are you a communist?

[Murgos]

Besides, I don't even want to think about how MS would subtly screw up regexp syntax.  I'm sure that it would look like something that would be valid but do something completely different.  And insert random characters into your registry.

[Sky]

try to reorder the buttons and layouts to something a human being would actually use.

In my experience this is probably the wrong approach when dealing with engineers. Go for something aesthetically pleasing or elegant on paper that is counter-intuitive and barely functional in reality.

[lamaros]

So, I have recently acquired a car for the first time in my life.

It has been raining nonstop here for the past few days and my car has developed a bit of a leak around the aerial/brake light in the back windscreen, leaking through to the ceiling of the car and dripping a little on the back seat. Have only had the car up here for a few weeks and so I just rang up a service centre in the area. Guy sounded like he didn't want to look at it at all, saying that it was a "big job" requiring water testing and etc and rushing me off the phone asap...

Yay, the hunt for a not-useless mechanic begins... 

[Minvaren]

...or a tube of silicone sealant.   

Finding a competent mechanic is similar to finding a good GP, and just as rare.  Lots of referrals, talking and watching.

[SnakeCharmer]

I spend a fair amount of time outdoors and tonight was the first time I've gotten a tick in probably 20 years.  Little bastard was latched onto my leg right near my ankle.  Now I'm all paranoid about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  Yeech. 

On top of that, my son said he brought Bob inside.  "Who is Bob?" I asked.  "My frog".   "What frog?"  "The one I found outside.  I named him Bob"

[Rasix]

I would not be happy if Bob made it into my house.  The Colorado River Toads we get here are scary shit.

[Ingmar]

Some people seem to get lots of enjoyment or a feeling of importance from being the roadblock which stops work in the enterprise.  Currently this is the leader of one of our change management systems.  Fortunately the "light side" CR group slapped down a control grab by the "dark side" CR group.  Or CR leader, really.

Don't ask why we have two independent change systems.

One for SOX, and one for ISO, *duh*.

[Sand]

Really, finance person?

Thank you for the note and follow up.  Could you please be so kind to send all the supporting documents for the approval of this PO.  I need the SOW,  summary of project and how this vendor will contribute to it,  beneficiary of the *** project (*** **?),  if applicable the vendor release form or price comparative analysis , and any other support documentation.

Also please confirm that these expense has been approved as part of your latest UPD or LBE departmental expense budget.

I understand that you may have already discussed this with ***, but as she is out I will appreciate resending the documents directly to me.

I'm pretty sure I've whined about this person before.  The approval for this PO requisition has been sitting her her queue for a week now, there is no freaking reason for it to take this long.  I get she's finance but asking if it's part of our budget?!?  She apparently needs to be briefed by her underlings each time something comes along at her approval level.  This is why we try to keep our POs at her underlings approval level (I can explain directly to my finance person) and or we push it above this woman's level so the requisition will go to her boss for approval.  Because anything that hits this woman's queue takes forever to get approved and moved along the queue.

Because we really just love arranging everything with the vendor, getting the SOW set up, signed by the vendor and our department, then waiting 3+ weeks just to get the PO before the vendor can start work.  Does wonders for the project timelines.  

Have you passed that feedback on to her boss? Might help. Or from your boss to her boss.


Also I hate ticks. True fact- You could wipe ticks from the face of the other without any other major negative impact on another species. They give me the creepy crawlies.

Oh and Yegolev you have one other option. Become a consultant! Open your own boutique IT consulting firm.

[Merusk]

Just heard that Captain Planet is set to make a comeback on CN.

I laughed at first, then they pointed out it's been 20 years so it's ripe for the "nostalgia curve."  I just don't know what to say about that.

[Bunk]

Some people seem to get lots of enjoyment or a feeling of importance from being the roadblock which stops work in the enterprise.  Currently this is the leader of one of our change management systems.  Fortunately the "light side" CR group slapped down a control grab by the "dark side" CR group.  Or CR leader, really.

Don't ask why we have two independent change systems.

One for SOX, and one for ISO, *duh*.

Ok, seriously assholes - this is the place I come to forget about those acronyms.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Really, finance person?

Thank you for the note and follow up.  Could you please be so kind to send all the supporting documents for the approval of this PO.  I need the SOW,  summary of project and how this vendor will contribute to it,  beneficiary of the *** project (*** **?),  if applicable the vendor release form or price comparative analysis , and any other support documentation.

Also please confirm that these expense has been approved as part of your latest UPD or LBE departmental expense budget.

I understand that you may have already discussed this with ***, but as she is out I will appreciate resending the documents directly to me.

I'm pretty sure I've whined about this person before.  The approval for this PO requisition has been sitting her her queue for a week now, there is no freaking reason for it to take this long.  I get she's finance but asking if it's part of our budget?!?  She apparently needs to be briefed by her underlings each time something comes along at her approval level.  This is why we try to keep our POs at her underlings approval level (I can explain directly to my finance person) and or we push it above this woman's level so the requisition will go to her boss for approval.  Because anything that hits this woman's queue takes forever to get approved and moved along the queue.

Because we really just love arranging everything with the vendor, getting the SOW set up, signed by the vendor and our department, then waiting 3+ weeks just to get the PO before the vendor can start work.  Does wonders for the project timelines.  

Have you passed that feedback on to her boss? Might help. Or from your boss to her boss.

Oh, it's known about at the higher levels.  Like division head 3-4 steps down from CEO higher levels.  We're still stuck.  Earlier this year we had a change notice making it's way through the system that got stuck at this woman.  After 30 days in the system with no action, it was automatically purged and we had to restart the whole process over again.  The second time around of going through approvals (which included the division head I mentioned), we managed to get the Finance approval 3 days before it would have purged from the system again.  Her quibble?  The wording on the change notice only lists the final PO total amount and doesn't mention what the "not to exceed" (padding/contingency) amount is.  But the change notice in the system shows the NTE amount when you're looking at it in a list, so she said the totals didn't match and she wasn't signing it.   

[ghost]

I spend a fair amount of time outdoors and tonight was the first time I've gotten a tick in probably 20 years.  Little bastard was latched onto my leg right near my ankle.  Now I'm all paranoid about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  Yeech. 

On top of that, my son said he brought Bob inside.  "Who is Bob?" I asked.  "My frog".   "What frog?"  "The one I found outside.  I named him Bob"

We have an assload of geckos running around in the house.  I don't even try to shoo them out any more.  I figure they're killing bugs, so have at it.

[Lantyssa]

On top of that, my son said he brought Bob inside.  "Who is Bob?" I asked.  "My frog".   "What frog?"  "The one I found outside.  I named him Bob"

Awesome.  I used to do that to my mom.  Only with snakes.  She's deathly afraid of snakes.

[SnakeCharmer]

I spend a fair amount of time outdoors and tonight was the first time I've gotten a tick in probably 20 years.  Little bastard was latched onto my leg right near my ankle.  Now I'm all paranoid about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  Yeech. 

On top of that, my son said he brought Bob inside.  "Who is Bob?" I asked.  "My frog".   "What frog?"  "The one I found outside.  I named him Bob"

We have an assload of geckos running around in the house.  I don't even try to shoo them out any more.  I figure they're killing bugs, so have at it.

I don't mind the geckos at all except when you find their corpses behind couches or whatever.  Or Jack (our Boxer) comes out of no where and pounces on one.  And I love frogs.  But I don't necessarily like frogs in the house.  Just hope I can get to Bob before Jack does.  85 pound boxer vs frog on hardwood/tile isn't a good combination.

[ghost]

We've got a Dachshund (the expensive one) that hunts scorpions.  She's got this funny little dance she does and she starts pointing like a Shorthair whenever she finds one.  It's hilarious.  We used to have a pointer and I think that's where she picked it up.

[Rasix]

Geckos that make it inside our house just end up being snacks/toys for the cats.  They scream too, which is something I didn't know before having cats.

They don't scream as much now since they cats found out that we take the lizards away.  So, it's a quick death and all I usually find is a foot or a puddle of blood. 

[ghost]

More evidence that cats are evil.

[Morat20]

try to reorder the buttons and layouts to something a human being would actually use.

In my experience this is probably the wrong approach when dealing with engineers. Go for something aesthetically pleasing or elegant on paper that is counter-intuitive and barely functional in reality.

You're probably right. Still, if you're traversing the text fields and checkboxes top to bottom and left to right, why the fuck is the "OK" button at the top left? Why is it not at the bottom right? Where, you know, your MOUSE POINTER is once you've filled in all the data and are ready to run the stupid simulation?

FYI: Any materials engineers out there? I'm curious if anyone here actually uses the software. :)

[RhyssaFireheart]

How come no one ever told me cherries are good to snack on? 

I'd never eaten cherries before until someone brought some to our last gaming session and now the admin has a bowl of them on her desk.  Except for the whole pit thing (which really isn't a huge deal), these make an awesome snack.  Good thing I'm going grocery shopping tonight!

[Bunk]

 

You've never had cherries?

Ok, I'll be nice and warn you - do not sit and eat a whole bag full in one sitting, regardless of how good they taste. Your digestive tract can thank me later.

Oh, and yes, it is possible to tie a cherry stem in to a knot in one's mouth.

[Nebu]

Good thing I'm going grocery shopping tonight!

Let me recommend Ranier cherries. 


You can thank me later.

[Paelos]

Aaaaaaand we're back to fruit again in this thread.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Bunk - nope, not to eat just as a snack like that.  Grapes - eat them all the time.  It just never dawned on me to pick up some cherries to eat like that.  And I had a feeling eating a whole pack of cherries at once wouldn't be a good thing.

Nebu - I'll check them out tonight at the store.

Paelos - at least we aren't talking about apples this time. 

[Sky]

My first tomato from my proto-garden is imminent.

Though I hesitate to photograph it because I don't want to get yelled at for all the weeds :) NOT THE WEED, just regular old 'yeah, I should weed that' weeds.

Also, my last count was 9 honeycrisps, though at least 2 will have to go soon because they're too big for the branches, about 2-3" in diameter right now.  

fakeedit: HAH

[RhyssaFireheart]

At least you started with tomatoes before segueing down the rabbit hole. 

[Bunk]

Sky: I love my TV Kael Honeycrisps an' hug my TV Kael Honeycrisps an' call it 'George'.

[Rasix]

Make sure those Honeycrisps are in 3D.