Thursday, December 23, 2004
It’s not Fair.
It now seems that both Little Miss and LSW have managed to kick this bug, although little miss is very clingy. However, there are now smiles and giggles as opposed to the screaming of the last few days. All I can say is thank the lord for calpol. But until I kick this bug, I’m not going to get much sleep.
At Work, I’ve been putting the new quality procedures though their paces. It adds about a third to development time. Bet we won’t get any more time in our time plans. It’s will remove time from the testing department and add more pressure to the developers.
Presently, there are only two of us. And we’re developing a system where we charge about a third of a million. I suppose if you include the Project manager and the 2 Testers in the costs as well. It’s going to cost us about half that to write it. How much profit must they make out of our little team and where does it go?
The answer is quite simple, upstairs is another development department which doesn’t seem to work as well. Any progress we make financially seems to be killed off by up above.
The game is still progressing slowly. I’ve had to recode the network layer because of latency issues with one of the communication protocols. It feels like I’ve wasted all of last week working with the old protocol but, as I keep on reminding myself, this is a research project.
At Work, I’ve been putting the new quality procedures though their paces. It adds about a third to development time. Bet we won’t get any more time in our time plans. It’s will remove time from the testing department and add more pressure to the developers.
Presently, there are only two of us. And we’re developing a system where we charge about a third of a million. I suppose if you include the Project manager and the 2 Testers in the costs as well. It’s going to cost us about half that to write it. How much profit must they make out of our little team and where does it go?
The answer is quite simple, upstairs is another development department which doesn’t seem to work as well. Any progress we make financially seems to be killed off by up above.
The game is still progressing slowly. I’ve had to recode the network layer because of latency issues with one of the communication protocols. It feels like I’ve wasted all of last week working with the old protocol but, as I keep on reminding myself, this is a research project.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
It now seems that both Little Miss and LSW have managed to kick this bug, although little miss is very clingy. However, there are now smiles and giggles as opposed to the screaming of the last few days. All I can say is thank the lord for calpol. But until I kick this bug, I’m not going to get much sleep.
At Work, I’ve been putting the new quality procedures though their paces. It adds about a third to development time. Bet we won’t get any more time in our time plans. It’s will remove time from the testing department and add more pressure to the developers.
Presently, there are only two of us. And we’re developing a system where we charge about a third of a million. I suppose if you include the Project manager and the 2 Testers in the costs as well. It’s going to cost us about half that to write it. How much profit must they make out of our little team and where does it go?
The answer is quite simple, upstairs is another development department which doesn’t seem to work as well. Any progress we make financially seems to be killed off by up above.
The game is still progressing slowly. I’ve had to recode the network layer because of latency issues with one of the communication protocols. It feels like I’ve wasted all of last week working with the old protocol but, as I keep on reminding myself, this is a research project.
At Work, I’ve been putting the new quality procedures though their paces. It adds about a third to development time. Bet we won’t get any more time in our time plans. It’s will remove time from the testing department and add more pressure to the developers.
Presently, there are only two of us. And we’re developing a system where we charge about a third of a million. I suppose if you include the Project manager and the 2 Testers in the costs as well. It’s going to cost us about half that to write it. How much profit must they make out of our little team and where does it go?
The answer is quite simple, upstairs is another development department which doesn’t seem to work as well. Any progress we make financially seems to be killed off by up above.
The game is still progressing slowly. I’ve had to recode the network layer because of latency issues with one of the communication protocols. It feels like I’ve wasted all of last week working with the old protocol but, as I keep on reminding myself, this is a research project.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Another Sleepless Night
Admittedly it wasn’t as bad as Sunday night but it’s wearing us down. LSW is beginning to kick her virus and to truthful I think Little Miss is as well. This just leaves me. I keep on loosing focus on the screen because of the headache. It got so bad last night that I couldn’t sleep, that and Little Miss’ wake up calls ever two or three hours.
Work continues to be weird. Do this task and then halfway through, Oh no this needs doing instead. I’m pulled from pillar to post and nobody seems to know which should have priority. I’m too ill to put my foot down. I’m turning into a clock watcher instead.
I even started working on the game at five in the morning.
Work continues to be weird. Do this task and then halfway through, Oh no this needs doing instead. I’m pulled from pillar to post and nobody seems to know which should have priority. I’m too ill to put my foot down. I’m turning into a clock watcher instead.
I even started working on the game at five in the morning.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Now, all three of us are ill. I think LSW is the closest to recovery but I’m getting worse. It’s hard to concentrate and I’m worried that I’m coming down with a fever. Little Miss was really unsettled last night. I really needed to sleep to hopefully get rid of this illness. No chance.
I’ve received a real knock on the game. The communication protocol is not working properly and I’ve since discovered that using the RFCOMM protocol for a realtime game will make the game unplayable, so I’ve got to rewrite the communication protocol, which is going to take a while.
Work continues to be odd. I just can’t work out where I stand.
I’ve received a real knock on the game. The communication protocol is not working properly and I’ve since discovered that using the RFCOMM protocol for a realtime game will make the game unplayable, so I’ve got to rewrite the communication protocol, which is going to take a while.
Work continues to be odd. I just can’t work out where I stand.
Friday, December 17, 2004
Day of Hell.
Little Miss is ill. We’ve been up almost two nights in a row. I’m exhausted and LSW is not much better. I think I’ve had three hours sleep. Work has been a pain. An urgent build had meant no Lunch and no Breakfast after the ‘fun’ we had last night. So I’m starved, tired and very very grumpy.
Work has chosen this day to tell us our work is crap and they want to put in more procedures to ‘help improve quality’. Nine weeks, I keep telling myself, Nine Weeks. That’s when we should get our next bonus and then I can start looking.
No work on the game because of Little Miss’ problems but I’m in a position to test the link between two mobiles now.
Work has chosen this day to tell us our work is crap and they want to put in more procedures to ‘help improve quality’. Nine weeks, I keep telling myself, Nine Weeks. That’s when we should get our next bonus and then I can start looking.
No work on the game because of Little Miss’ problems but I’m in a position to test the link between two mobiles now.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
What a Pair of Lungs !
LSW went out to visit a friend last night. We put Little Miss down and she fell asleep without a problem. LSW then disappeared leaving myself, some chores and a baby monitor for company.
Little Miss decided to wake at 8:30 and my first attempt at feed my little girl from a cup was an abysmal failure. LSW was already on her way back, but by the time she arrived. I was pacing the baby, uttering reassuring words to try and calm her and wondering how come a ten minute journey felt so long.
The poor wee thing was screaming the place down when LSW got in and the look of panicky guilt said it all. How she’s going to manage when Little Miss is in nursery, I have no idea.
I’m going to have to practice feeding though.
Little Miss decided to wake at 8:30 and my first attempt at feed my little girl from a cup was an abysmal failure. LSW was already on her way back, but by the time she arrived. I was pacing the baby, uttering reassuring words to try and calm her and wondering how come a ten minute journey felt so long.
The poor wee thing was screaming the place down when LSW got in and the look of panicky guilt said it all. How she’s going to manage when Little Miss is in nursery, I have no idea.
I’m going to have to practice feeding though.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Run Ragged 2.
The weekend was hectic. More cleaning of house and Baby bottoms than I care to think about. Both myself and LSW both think that Little Miss is Ill. The poo is green and she’s been really clingy. Not that I’m complaining, there is nothing better than the feeling of your baby being glad to see you.
We’ve got her onto solids. Baby Rice in-fact. She can’t get enough of it. She grabs the spoon and shoves it into her mouth and smiles. She’s now five months old. How little time has passed since she arrived has really hit me. It feels like years. LSW is now fretting about going back to work.
On the subject of work, we’ve got two weeks of full work before we’re off for Christmas. I’ve got some new work to deal with, but nothing too taxing, good job too because I need things to be little bit easier. There seems to be some blood letting upstairs. Twenty people have been ‘let go’ because they have the wrong skill set.
Financially we made it though this month, with about 20p spare. Things will be easier next month because the car’s paid off.
I’ve been getting congratulations from the folk who’ve read the story. It’s strange really, getting “I was moved to tears” messages off people you don’t know. Still, it does the ego good.
There has been a lot of progress on the game, One final push and I’ll have the coding out of the way. Then the real trouble starts. Testing. The most difficult part of any computer project is testing it so it doesn’t fall over.
As a programmer, if you do miss a really obvious bug because you didn’t test things properly, That’s like someone shouting from the highest tower, with a megaphone big enough for everyone in the world to hear that “You can’t program Sh*t”
We’ve got her onto solids. Baby Rice in-fact. She can’t get enough of it. She grabs the spoon and shoves it into her mouth and smiles. She’s now five months old. How little time has passed since she arrived has really hit me. It feels like years. LSW is now fretting about going back to work.
On the subject of work, we’ve got two weeks of full work before we’re off for Christmas. I’ve got some new work to deal with, but nothing too taxing, good job too because I need things to be little bit easier. There seems to be some blood letting upstairs. Twenty people have been ‘let go’ because they have the wrong skill set.
Financially we made it though this month, with about 20p spare. Things will be easier next month because the car’s paid off.
I’ve been getting congratulations from the folk who’ve read the story. It’s strange really, getting “I was moved to tears” messages off people you don’t know. Still, it does the ego good.
There has been a lot of progress on the game, One final push and I’ll have the coding out of the way. Then the real trouble starts. Testing. The most difficult part of any computer project is testing it so it doesn’t fall over.
As a programmer, if you do miss a really obvious bug because you didn’t test things properly, That’s like someone shouting from the highest tower, with a megaphone big enough for everyone in the world to hear that “You can’t program Sh*t”
Friday, December 10, 2004
Now What ?
The Good
The shower seems to be fixed, the final chapter has been published (and getting good reviews) and I’m making a breakthrough with the game networking code. Little Miss is sleeping longer and LSW is getting more sleep.
The Bad
The car is still not running as well as I’d like. I don’t know if I should take it back and have it looked at.
The Ugly
The Finances are in a right state. I always knew that this month would be the tight but this is unbelievable. My savings have been wiped out, there’s no money left in the bank and we’ve got another week of food to get. Looks like I’ll have to use the overdraft and that will be a right pain to pay back.
The problem is the final payment for the car, nursery fees, the garage bill and Christmas. Looks like we’ll have to have a sit down and sort out the bills.
The shower seems to be fixed, the final chapter has been published (and getting good reviews) and I’m making a breakthrough with the game networking code. Little Miss is sleeping longer and LSW is getting more sleep.
The Bad
The car is still not running as well as I’d like. I don’t know if I should take it back and have it looked at.
The Ugly
The Finances are in a right state. I always knew that this month would be the tight but this is unbelievable. My savings have been wiped out, there’s no money left in the bank and we’ve got another week of food to get. Looks like I’ll have to use the overdraft and that will be a right pain to pay back.
The problem is the final payment for the car, nursery fees, the garage bill and Christmas. Looks like we’ll have to have a sit down and sort out the bills.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
That’s a day off?
My respect for LSW mothering abilities is growing. I took the day off yesterday and so we went into the city to get the last three items of Christmas shopping. It was exhausting. I was up at six in the morning because Little Miss wouldn’t go back to sleep after a feed.
By the time we left the house at nine-thirty, I was so pepped up on coffee that I was shaking. After six hours, two double strength coffees and the inane ability to fight your way through the Monday (!) crowds, we had two presents. It was manic! LSW commented that she couldn’t believe how many fake burbary cap mothers were using the mother and baby facilities like a smoking room.
At least the cars fixed (expensive!) and FiL and I fixed the shower. I now appreciate these things so much more, even though I’m not quite sure about the fan belt. The car begins to shudder if you take your foot off the accelerator above 2000 rpm. I’ll wait for a few days because the Engine Management System might need time to readjust after the batter has been disconnected for too long.
The game is stalling. I’ve recently got all the graphics back from the artist and they look very good. However, the Bluetooth communication is a lot more complicated than I originally thought.
By the time we left the house at nine-thirty, I was so pepped up on coffee that I was shaking. After six hours, two double strength coffees and the inane ability to fight your way through the Monday (!) crowds, we had two presents. It was manic! LSW commented that she couldn’t believe how many fake burbary cap mothers were using the mother and baby facilities like a smoking room.
At least the cars fixed (expensive!) and FiL and I fixed the shower. I now appreciate these things so much more, even though I’m not quite sure about the fan belt. The car begins to shudder if you take your foot off the accelerator above 2000 rpm. I’ll wait for a few days because the Engine Management System might need time to readjust after the batter has been disconnected for too long.
The game is stalling. I’ve recently got all the graphics back from the artist and they look very good. However, the Bluetooth communication is a lot more complicated than I originally thought.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
There are too many leaks in my life !
The car is still in the garage. They are blaming Ford for the missing part they need to put the timing belt on. The shower has now been disassembled. It couldn’t handle the pressure from the water pipes and probably has been leaking for a good couple of months. Still it’s under warranty so at least we don’t need to buy a new £200 shower.
There were too many problems for client twos latest release and Scooter is not best pleased (mostly because he’s the one who gets it in the neck). Mind you all the bugs we’ve found so far relate to the developer who was fired a few months ago, so we’ve got a “get out” clause. Probably the last time we can use that.
LSW doesn’t want to go back to work. She would like to spend more time with Little Miss and to be honest, if we could afford it then she could. LSW couldn’t sleep for some reason last night and was well grumpy this morning.
She has recently purchased a Breast Pump. To me it looks like some kind of torture apparatus but I was assured, (not very convincingly) that it wasn’t going to hurt. It will mean that Little Miss can be fed by me, while LSW goes off and does something more interesting instead!
There were too many problems for client twos latest release and Scooter is not best pleased (mostly because he’s the one who gets it in the neck). Mind you all the bugs we’ve found so far relate to the developer who was fired a few months ago, so we’ve got a “get out” clause. Probably the last time we can use that.
LSW doesn’t want to go back to work. She would like to spend more time with Little Miss and to be honest, if we could afford it then she could. LSW couldn’t sleep for some reason last night and was well grumpy this morning.
She has recently purchased a Breast Pump. To me it looks like some kind of torture apparatus but I was assured, (not very convincingly) that it wasn’t going to hurt. It will mean that Little Miss can be fed by me, while LSW goes off and does something more interesting instead!
