MoBlog: Apology Denied!
:[
What's worse - they seemed to have stopped making the yoghurt I (occasionally) eat. No more yoghurt evar.
Pump up the jam!
Today isn't a total write-off. I've learnt about jam. And preserves. And Jelly. And conserves!
Take heed:
And then I ignorantly ask:
And the reply:
And because I'm curious:
And the reply?
And again, curiously (but ignorantly?):
Think again, g'friiiend:
Thanks pal.
Take heed:
jelly = spread made only with juice
jam = spread made with partial fruit
preserves = spread made with fruit hunks
the difference is in how it's cooked and prepared ;)
And then I ignorantly ask:
it often gets labelled as the one thing though, right?
'need me some jam!'
And the reply:
jelly is always clear, made from fruit juice.... jam is always processed whole fruit (envision in a blender) ... and preserves is someone chopping them into hunks and throwing them in ;)
And because I'm curious:
what about marmalade?
And the reply?
that's a type of preserves
made with citrus fruit
And again, curiously (but ignorantly?):
and preserves are the same as conserves?
Think again, g'friiiend:
conserves is jam ;)
usually from a mixture of fruits
instead of just one
Thanks pal.
MoBlog: A protest against the crackdown on jay w
A protest against the crackdown on jay walking?
Java is Insecure
Java is insecure.
There, I've said it. I'm not a Java developer, and I really don't know the
ins-and-outs of Java development, but that doesn't stop me being ignorant like
the rest of them.
I'm at work, and a few minutes ago there was a mini-PHP bashing session. First,
the guy opposite me was explaining to me how PHP is vulnerable to SQL injection
attacks. My response was implying that he should stop coding Java applications
without Hibernate (or any other DAO/ORM) and see how far that gets him with
security. The same thing for PHP - I use ORM/DAO tools to assist my development
(not only is it more secure, but i find it much more productive. Win!).
The problem I find is more about education. As a developer, he
understands SQL injection, and if necessary, he could protect himself
against it. In an ideal world there's automated tools that manage the protection
for you (because human error is just too common). It seems too many PHP
"developers" are not educated enough to deal with the implicit risks involved in
using PHP, or (as mentioned), the human error/laziness kicks in, and security is
overlooked. Maybe there's not the budget for it. Either way, PHP itself is not
at fault.
So then I migrated over to join the slightly larger group of people bashing PHP.
As I arrived, I was immediately recognised as 'the guy' that would have a vague
idea about what was in question. They were discussing how a site had been
developed in PHP and there was talk of issues integrating a mobile side of the
app, and a guy chirped in saying 'well, I'd probably want to use Java for that'.
Understandable, he knows Java - it's only natural. He mentioned that it was
because they have libraries to assist with that kind of stuff, and went on to
say that PHP couldn't do that same stuff. That's where he crossed the line.
Honestly, I have no idea if PHP has libraries to help out, but that's far from
the point. He was saying how he can use a single tag to generate a different
sized image based on the client's mobile device.
So, the fact that Java has libraries written makes PHP an inferior platform?
I just find it awfully arrogant. I mean, I entirely understand where he's
coming from, and I agree that too many PHP applications are insecure and do
things the "long way", but they don't all have to be like that. What was Java
development like before Spring, Hibernate and whatever else is a buzzword in
Java these days? I remember talk of EJBs and Struts, which was all met with
winces of agony - no one wanted to do it. Same deal? Did that make Java any less
attractive? Apparently not.
This is awfully one side, and trust me, I know there's a right tool for every
job. But I think blind language bashing is just cheap ignorance.
There are many, many more facets to the PHP vs Java argument which people
should be much more considerate of. Java, whilst being powerful, is certainly
not the tool for every job.
Go team.
Many more days like this to come, I anticipate.
There, I've said it. I'm not a Java developer, and I really don't know the
ins-and-outs of Java development, but that doesn't stop me being ignorant like
the rest of them.
I'm at work, and a few minutes ago there was a mini-PHP bashing session. First,
the guy opposite me was explaining to me how PHP is vulnerable to SQL injection
attacks. My response was implying that he should stop coding Java applications
without Hibernate (or any other DAO/ORM) and see how far that gets him with
security. The same thing for PHP - I use ORM/DAO tools to assist my development
(not only is it more secure, but i find it much more productive. Win!).
The problem I find is more about education. As a developer, he
understands SQL injection, and if necessary, he could protect himself
against it. In an ideal world there's automated tools that manage the protection
for you (because human error is just too common). It seems too many PHP
"developers" are not educated enough to deal with the implicit risks involved in
using PHP, or (as mentioned), the human error/laziness kicks in, and security is
overlooked. Maybe there's not the budget for it. Either way, PHP itself is not
at fault.
So then I migrated over to join the slightly larger group of people bashing PHP.
As I arrived, I was immediately recognised as 'the guy' that would have a vague
idea about what was in question. They were discussing how a site had been
developed in PHP and there was talk of issues integrating a mobile side of the
app, and a guy chirped in saying 'well, I'd probably want to use Java for that'.
Understandable, he knows Java - it's only natural. He mentioned that it was
because they have libraries to assist with that kind of stuff, and went on to
say that PHP couldn't do that same stuff. That's where he crossed the line.
Honestly, I have no idea if PHP has libraries to help out, but that's far from
the point. He was saying how he can use a single tag to generate a different
sized image based on the client's mobile device.
So, the fact that Java has libraries written makes PHP an inferior platform?
I just find it awfully arrogant. I mean, I entirely understand where he's
coming from, and I agree that too many PHP applications are insecure and do
things the "long way", but they don't all have to be like that. What was Java
development like before Spring, Hibernate and whatever else is a buzzword in
Java these days? I remember talk of EJBs and Struts, which was all met with
winces of agony - no one wanted to do it. Same deal? Did that make Java any less
attractive? Apparently not.
This is awfully one side, and trust me, I know there's a right tool for every
job. But I think blind language bashing is just cheap ignorance.
There are many, many more facets to the PHP vs Java argument which people
should be much more considerate of. Java, whilst being powerful, is certainly
not the tool for every job.
Go team.
Many more days like this to come, I anticipate.
The End of a Chapter
I can haz a new job. It seems to mark the end of a chapter in my life - or perhaps a stanza or some such. I'll be doing really the same thing in the new job as this one, but the fact is I'll be doing it for (and with) different people.
It has been an interesting lead-up to today over the last four weeks. Ever since I handed my resignation notice in, it's been somewhat of a lottery every day wondering if today was the day that the directors would let people know that I was leaving. See, there was a girl at my work that left just a week or two ago. She gave at least four weeks notice, but the directors didn't announce it until within a week of her leaving - but by this stage, everyone (that cared) already knew that she was going. The directors weren't fooling anyone. Anyway, today had come, and still very few people knew that I was leaving.
It got interesting when I was asked by Alex if I'd be able to do some work for her some time over the next couple of days. I told her I couldn't, she asked why I couldn't, I told her that I wouldn't be here, she asked where I was going to be, and I told her that I put my four weeks notice in four weeks ago. She was pretty shocked in general, and was even more stunned that no one had told her. It was quite honestly the most awkward moment I've had at Sputnik. It's certainly not my role to tell all of the staff that I was leaving. This moment alone is complete testement to why I'm leaving in the first place.
So after that, somehow word got around a little bit more that I was leaving, and I guess the directors then realised that today was indeed the day. A bit of a scurry later, Neil (the guy managing the project I've been focussing on over the last couple of months), had a chat to Go, and came to talk to me. He was pretty worried, and Go was super-stressed in general - half a day surely wasn't enough time to initiate the handover that was really, really necessary.
So whilst at lunch, I missed a call from a number I didn't recognise. When I got back to the office, Rob (a director) caught me as he was heading out. He asked me what my availability was like for the remainder of the week, and if it was possible that I'd be able to stick around until the end of the week because "we forgot to be super organised" about my departure. I told him that I was available, and I let him scurry out. Seriously though, how many weeks of notice do I need to give for a company to get organised? How hard is it to plan a hand-over?
On top of this, Rob emailed me a few weeks ago asking when my last day was going to be. I told him it'd be the thirteenth, but I was willing to see out the week if required/desired (as my current boss is away ill - I'd help out with the transition as much as possible in his absence). In reply to that email, I got nothing at all. The ball was entirely in their court, but it was ignored. I don't know if they made assumptions from that, but I was never in the loop. All I needed was a quick reply saying 'okay, cool, if you stayed the whole week, that'd be good'.
So after Rob left, I realised that we didn't really discuss much at all about how it was to pan out. So I drafted an email to Rob basically saying that I'm finishing up today, if I came back tomorrow, it'd be as a freelancer, and I want $95 an hour to do it. I also said that I wasn't sure that I'd need to be there for the entire two days, but it seemed that some documentation was needed, so I'd focus on that, and if necessary/desired, I could complete some programming asks that were outstanding.
Some time then elapsed, and Rob took a while to return to the office. When he did, he pulled me aside to have a chat about what I put forward to him. First, he started by saying that from the conversation we had, he was implying they'd just extend my employment by a couple more days - meaning I'd be on my already average pay-rate until Friday. I told him that today was the end of my notice period, and four weeks is plenty of time to organise what they wanted, and that if I were to return, it'd be as a freelancer. He then asked how much I wanted to work for, so I told him $95 (just as in the email). He wasn't too impressed, I guess, and asked if that was my best/final/something offer. I told him I'm willing to listen if he wanted to negotiate, so he then actually had the stupidity/balls to ask what I would actually work for. Again, I told him $95. He made a comment that $95 an hour is significantly higher than my current rate, and I told him that I hadn't anticipated on being at work for the next two days, so it'd need to be worth my while to come in. I figured that was fair - if I get paid the right money, and he needs a bit of work done, it's mutually beneficial, right? Of course not! He then asked again if that was final figure, and asked again the exact dollar value of what I was willing to work for, so I again told him that it's $95, and that if he had another figure in his mind, this is the part of negotiation where he puts forward his ideas. Instead of negotiating (which was his idea in the first place?), he stated that "I'm not playing this game", told me that we were done, and walked off.
Really, I think it was a bit of a stubborn move on their behalf, and a bit of a bold one. In reality, I was willing to work for much less than that, but he wouldn't even engage me at all, so it's lose/lose for them. See, all of the documentation and hand-over stuff hasn't been done at all. Nothing. So even half a day at $95/hr for me would likely save them that much money quite easily. Instead, they'll take someone else off their project (already with pressing deadlines) to spend a day trying to work out how it works, make the minor changes, and then get back to their project again. No deadlines will move back at all, just that someone's going to have to work a whole lot more in order to make up the time. So yeah, they still have my phone number and my hourly rate. I'm willing to help them out, but it's gotta be worthwhile for me. But Jesus, they had four entire weeks to do this. Instead, they got nothing. Sucks to be them.
So, when Cummo was leaving, he shook my hand and told me not to be a stranger and to drop by some time, and that I knew where the beer fridge is. I kinda paused and told him "yeah, but I totally don't drink". Haha, it was kind of amusing, just how little they really knew me, you know? But yeah, I'm appreciative anyway, it's a nice gesture. I'll probably take them p on it some time.
But on a soppier note, I'm really going to miss the dudes there. Lunchtimes will likely never be as humorous, and day-to-day musings will likely never be quite so quirky. There are a lot of really talented, interesting people at Sputnik. It's just the (lack of) management that's ruining the experience for everyone. It wouldn't have taken much at all, and I'd still be moderately happily working for them. They'd have a decent worker for a relatively decent pay rate.
So yes, I'm thankful for my time there, but I'm out there rolling the dice to see what the next phase of life has in store for me. The future is still surely bright, but I'll really miss being there. Thanks for the good times and the smiles and the mutual dissatisfaction and the free beer (that I never drank) and everything else that was good. I'll be in touch, for sure.
I can has a stick.
It has been an interesting lead-up to today over the last four weeks. Ever since I handed my resignation notice in, it's been somewhat of a lottery every day wondering if today was the day that the directors would let people know that I was leaving. See, there was a girl at my work that left just a week or two ago. She gave at least four weeks notice, but the directors didn't announce it until within a week of her leaving - but by this stage, everyone (that cared) already knew that she was going. The directors weren't fooling anyone. Anyway, today had come, and still very few people knew that I was leaving.
It got interesting when I was asked by Alex if I'd be able to do some work for her some time over the next couple of days. I told her I couldn't, she asked why I couldn't, I told her that I wouldn't be here, she asked where I was going to be, and I told her that I put my four weeks notice in four weeks ago. She was pretty shocked in general, and was even more stunned that no one had told her. It was quite honestly the most awkward moment I've had at Sputnik. It's certainly not my role to tell all of the staff that I was leaving. This moment alone is complete testement to why I'm leaving in the first place.
So after that, somehow word got around a little bit more that I was leaving, and I guess the directors then realised that today was indeed the day. A bit of a scurry later, Neil (the guy managing the project I've been focussing on over the last couple of months), had a chat to Go, and came to talk to me. He was pretty worried, and Go was super-stressed in general - half a day surely wasn't enough time to initiate the handover that was really, really necessary.
So whilst at lunch, I missed a call from a number I didn't recognise. When I got back to the office, Rob (a director) caught me as he was heading out. He asked me what my availability was like for the remainder of the week, and if it was possible that I'd be able to stick around until the end of the week because "we forgot to be super organised" about my departure. I told him that I was available, and I let him scurry out. Seriously though, how many weeks of notice do I need to give for a company to get organised? How hard is it to plan a hand-over?
On top of this, Rob emailed me a few weeks ago asking when my last day was going to be. I told him it'd be the thirteenth, but I was willing to see out the week if required/desired (as my current boss is away ill - I'd help out with the transition as much as possible in his absence). In reply to that email, I got nothing at all. The ball was entirely in their court, but it was ignored. I don't know if they made assumptions from that, but I was never in the loop. All I needed was a quick reply saying 'okay, cool, if you stayed the whole week, that'd be good'.
So after Rob left, I realised that we didn't really discuss much at all about how it was to pan out. So I drafted an email to Rob basically saying that I'm finishing up today, if I came back tomorrow, it'd be as a freelancer, and I want $95 an hour to do it. I also said that I wasn't sure that I'd need to be there for the entire two days, but it seemed that some documentation was needed, so I'd focus on that, and if necessary/desired, I could complete some programming asks that were outstanding.
Some time then elapsed, and Rob took a while to return to the office. When he did, he pulled me aside to have a chat about what I put forward to him. First, he started by saying that from the conversation we had, he was implying they'd just extend my employment by a couple more days - meaning I'd be on my already average pay-rate until Friday. I told him that today was the end of my notice period, and four weeks is plenty of time to organise what they wanted, and that if I were to return, it'd be as a freelancer. He then asked how much I wanted to work for, so I told him $95 (just as in the email). He wasn't too impressed, I guess, and asked if that was my best/final/something offer. I told him I'm willing to listen if he wanted to negotiate, so he then actually had the stupidity/balls to ask what I would actually work for. Again, I told him $95. He made a comment that $95 an hour is significantly higher than my current rate, and I told him that I hadn't anticipated on being at work for the next two days, so it'd need to be worth my while to come in. I figured that was fair - if I get paid the right money, and he needs a bit of work done, it's mutually beneficial, right? Of course not! He then asked again if that was final figure, and asked again the exact dollar value of what I was willing to work for, so I again told him that it's $95, and that if he had another figure in his mind, this is the part of negotiation where he puts forward his ideas. Instead of negotiating (which was his idea in the first place?), he stated that "I'm not playing this game", told me that we were done, and walked off.
Really, I think it was a bit of a stubborn move on their behalf, and a bit of a bold one. In reality, I was willing to work for much less than that, but he wouldn't even engage me at all, so it's lose/lose for them. See, all of the documentation and hand-over stuff hasn't been done at all. Nothing. So even half a day at $95/hr for me would likely save them that much money quite easily. Instead, they'll take someone else off their project (already with pressing deadlines) to spend a day trying to work out how it works, make the minor changes, and then get back to their project again. No deadlines will move back at all, just that someone's going to have to work a whole lot more in order to make up the time. So yeah, they still have my phone number and my hourly rate. I'm willing to help them out, but it's gotta be worthwhile for me. But Jesus, they had four entire weeks to do this. Instead, they got nothing. Sucks to be them.
So, when Cummo was leaving, he shook my hand and told me not to be a stranger and to drop by some time, and that I knew where the beer fridge is. I kinda paused and told him "yeah, but I totally don't drink". Haha, it was kind of amusing, just how little they really knew me, you know? But yeah, I'm appreciative anyway, it's a nice gesture. I'll probably take them p on it some time.
But on a soppier note, I'm really going to miss the dudes there. Lunchtimes will likely never be as humorous, and day-to-day musings will likely never be quite so quirky. There are a lot of really talented, interesting people at Sputnik. It's just the (lack of) management that's ruining the experience for everyone. It wouldn't have taken much at all, and I'd still be moderately happily working for them. They'd have a decent worker for a relatively decent pay rate.
So yes, I'm thankful for my time there, but I'm out there rolling the dice to see what the next phase of life has in store for me. The future is still surely bright, but I'll really miss being there. Thanks for the good times and the smiles and the mutual dissatisfaction and the free beer (that I never drank) and everything else that was good. I'll be in touch, for sure.
I can has a stick.
A Weekend in Review
What a productive weekend! Here's a re-cap:
Best weekend in a long time.
- Went to the markets, scored the weeks worth of meat and veges
- Went to Prahran, got a bike pump, a tyre tube and tyre levers - all at 25% off!
- Tried to leave Prahran, ended up with a cheap iron and tried to find a neck warmer
- Went to St Kilda to look at a house (if you'd call it that) to buy
- Went to the city, bought some snowboard wax
- Spent too much money on hot chocolate
- Still in the city, went to the food and wine expo - the food part was pretty awesome! Lots of sample bags.
- Came home for a quick nap
- Went for dinner back in the city
- Came home, levelled up a little in FF3
- Slept a solid ten hours
- Got out of bed, ate French toast, levelled up some more
- Waxed a snowboard (for my very first time!). I'd pretty much call it a success.
- Changed a bike tyre tube
- Took the aforementioned snowboard to the shop for edge repairs. Received positive feedback on an awesome wax job. Found out that doing the edges will mean I need to re-wax the board. Sad.
- Hired a lawnmower, had my credit card declined twice. Stupid new credit card.
- Mowed the lawn - what was once near foot-long grass is now roughly inch-long. Take that, lawn!
- Caught up on my feeds, chilled out
- Managed to score another nap
- Assisted with the pile of dishes
- Ate some pretty sweet chicken
- Written two blog entries, released sfPropel13 plugin
- Went to Safeway for the weeks worth of groceries
- (to the tune of 'Living on a Prayer') - Ohhh, the hunk is here. Oh ho, he's living in a wheelchair!
- Re-wrote this entire list after losing it the first time
Best weekend in a long time.
sfPropel13 Plugin
I've finally bundled up my Propel 1.3 plugin for symfony - sfPropel13.
Extract it into your plugins directory, follow the readme.txt, and hopefully enjoy some speed improvements.
Remember, it's very alpha - I'm not expecting a whole lot of it to work very perfectly. For me, though, the basics work just fine. The admin generator and whatnot might be a whole other story, but see how you go.
I'll set up the plugin wiki page and whatnot soon, I just wanted to get something out to let a few other people play with it and see how they go.
Download sfPropel13
Good luck!
Extract it into your plugins directory, follow the readme.txt, and hopefully enjoy some speed improvements.
Remember, it's very alpha - I'm not expecting a whole lot of it to work very perfectly. For me, though, the basics work just fine. The admin generator and whatnot might be a whole other story, but see how you go.
I'll set up the plugin wiki page and whatnot soon, I just wanted to get something out to let a few other people play with it and see how they go.
Download sfPropel13
Good luck!
What I Know About (the) Google
I took off early at work last Wednesday, which meant I missed my last monthly meeting at Sputnik Agency. That was kind of sad. I raced home, got changed, packed my bag and winged my way on up to Sydney.
Once in Sydney, I flipped the few dollars for the train out to Merrylands, where I got a chicken kebab (which was awesome) and headed up to Danesh J's for a night loaded full of..sleep. I hiked off early in the morning, and this is the first time I've really had anything positive to say about Sydney. At the train station, I purchased my (more-expensive-than-Melbourne) ticket, and waited at the platform. A voice-over came over the loudspeaker, saying that the train was cancelled. NO ONE CARED. Why? Unlike Melbourne, the next train was a mere two minutes away. And if I missed that one, there was another in about three minutes. And when I got on the train, there was still room to move - no seats (although, if I were keen, I could have snapped one). Connex are a long way behind on this one.
Anyway, I got to Redfern and made my way to the Warehouse-thing. When I got in the doors, I was already impressed - a large, dark hall with a lot of people, a bunch of plasma TVs and some really good food. I had arrived - Google Developer's Day 2007 (Sydney).
First, I found Gil and Sammi (Sputnik allies!), and swindled some juice. Orange, yeah? Win. Secondly was a trip to the breakfast table - I grabbed a chocolate muffin. Not expecting much, but I was hungry, so I chomped in. It was actually really good, so I ate another. Before the day had even started, I was more impressed than ever.
So the curtains opened after a good half an hour of us watching the current Google searches, and taking time to laugh at the people in the 'Bloggers Lounge'. We made our way to front-row, centre, right in front of the speaker.
After the intro, and subsequently the keynote, came the developer of Gears. Google Gears, primarily for offline use of online applications, but also for low-priority background "threading" in JavaScript, really blew me away. I picked it early that his slideshow was an example of Gears (who didn't?), but it was really awesome seeing him hacking at SQLite and updating his slideshow in real-time. Before I realised they actually released Reader with Gears support, I already had Gears installed and was sync'ing it for offline use. My only real criticism of it at this stage is that I'd like to see some kind of DAO, because although they recommend named parameters for querying and whatnot, I know people will use it terrible. That, and it'd be just like maintaining old PHP scripts - spaghetti code intermingled with SQL queries - the dream of every developer, right?
I forget what the next session was about, I was too busy reading about and playing with Gears. I think it was Mapplets or something. Reverse mashups, kinda, which was interesting, but not anything at all compared to Gears.
A large chunk of the rest of the day was a blur. I remember the GWT talk (Google Web Toolkit) - which was basically writing an interface in Java, and having it compiled down to browser specific JavaScript. They claim that because it's compiled and loaded for specific browsers, they can take advantage of, say, unrolling loops and avoid loading/parsing cross-browser compatible script so the performance is amazing. I've not yet had a look at what it can do - I'm a bit concerned about how it'd be for skinning/styling, and for interacting with your own backend, but still I'm sure it has a lot of potential. Hrm.
There was a bunch more said about mapping - how to customise Google Maps, how to tweak KML, what's coming up in the new version of KML, etc. Nothing too exciting, though, really.
More interestingly, though, we witnessed and experienced some things that one only dreams of. You know, like when Sammi approached the MC of the day (David O'Loughlin) with the line 'Hey, Kochy! I watch your show all the time' - he didn't seem to really get it, though.
What else? We saw (and video-taped) a guy sitting outside, stroking his calves (as in legs - not cattle) for a solid 20-30 minutes.
We were interviewed by the guys with the video cameras, which was funny. We were talking about what Google products we use and what we thought about the day so far. When I was speaking, Gil started stroking my hair, and Sammi started blowing in my ear - it was pretty funny.
Oh man, I forgot! Lunch was amazing. There were four tents set up - we only went to one end, and we got to choose between curry and 'American' food (I think the other end had Asian and something else). It was really good food, and completely free. HABEEB IT.
At the end of the day, drinks were served so Gil and Sammi smashed some beers. As the night drew closer to an end, the girl to guy ratio got way better - I think at the best stage, there must have been around 10 guys to every girl (as opposed to roughly a hundred guys to every girl throughout the rest of the day). We were standing around and we thought we saw a kid get busted trying to steal a little crate of beer, so we asked his supervisor and she straightened out what apparently really happened. Lame.
We started chatting to the guy that made Greasemonkey (and Gears), which was interesting. He seemed pretty fixated on talking about getting drunk. Where to get drunk, how much he'd been waiting to get drunk, if we were getting drunk, etc. As soon as we started talking about Gears and stuff, he stopped caring and tried to get away. Which he did. For a moment. I chased him down and demanded a hug. After that, he wandered back over and kinda said 'uh, just.. just for future's reference.. Americans, we, uh, generally we don't really do hugging'. I laughed, and I laughed, and I laughed. Sammi and Gil did the same. Oh we laughed. Now he thinks Australians like to hug.
Later on in the evening when pretty much everyone else had gone, the Google guys decided to bail. For some stupid reason, the Gears/Greasemonkey guy came over to us and shook Sammi's hand. Sammi hugged him. Then he kinda stood there, and I spread my arms. "Come on, just one more for old time's sake!" I said and approached him. Apparently he got a really pissed off look on his face, but I hugged him anyway.
A guy had previously come over and asked if any of us wanted to split a cab, which I jumped on. We labelled him as "Dad". My dad. When we left to go outside, Gil and I waited for Sammi (while he pee'd), and dad said he'd wait outside. He started walking off, then started looking around all shifty, then..he started to run. He ran outside across the warehouse. Awesome.
Outside, we saw a van with 'Edi's Ring' on the side of it. On the read bumper was a sign that read "Edi's Ring values safe driving". More awesome.
So from there, I split the cab with dad. I made it out alive, which surprised Gil and Sammi.
On the plane ride home, I was reading my Reader feeds offline, and I was totally the coolest guy on the plane. I found that a bunch of blogs had images linked externally, which obviously didn't load, which was a bit of a pain. But still, overall it was a good way to kill time. I can see how it'd be easily applied to Google Docs/Spreadsheet or Gmail (well, "easily" in a 'I'm an accounts service manager and you're a client' way) for some awesome offline radness.
For a bit more of a feel for it, the photos are all up at http://picasaweb.google.com/developerday/GoogleDeveloperDaySydneyAustralia
Overall, for a free day put on by Google, it was worth every cent.
Once in Sydney, I flipped the few dollars for the train out to Merrylands, where I got a chicken kebab (which was awesome) and headed up to Danesh J's for a night loaded full of..sleep. I hiked off early in the morning, and this is the first time I've really had anything positive to say about Sydney. At the train station, I purchased my (more-expensive-than-Melbourne) ticket, and waited at the platform. A voice-over came over the loudspeaker, saying that the train was cancelled. NO ONE CARED. Why? Unlike Melbourne, the next train was a mere two minutes away. And if I missed that one, there was another in about three minutes. And when I got on the train, there was still room to move - no seats (although, if I were keen, I could have snapped one). Connex are a long way behind on this one.
Anyway, I got to Redfern and made my way to the Warehouse-thing. When I got in the doors, I was already impressed - a large, dark hall with a lot of people, a bunch of plasma TVs and some really good food. I had arrived - Google Developer's Day 2007 (Sydney).
First, I found Gil and Sammi (Sputnik allies!), and swindled some juice. Orange, yeah? Win. Secondly was a trip to the breakfast table - I grabbed a chocolate muffin. Not expecting much, but I was hungry, so I chomped in. It was actually really good, so I ate another. Before the day had even started, I was more impressed than ever.
So the curtains opened after a good half an hour of us watching the current Google searches, and taking time to laugh at the people in the 'Bloggers Lounge'. We made our way to front-row, centre, right in front of the speaker.
After the intro, and subsequently the keynote, came the developer of Gears. Google Gears, primarily for offline use of online applications, but also for low-priority background "threading" in JavaScript, really blew me away. I picked it early that his slideshow was an example of Gears (who didn't?), but it was really awesome seeing him hacking at SQLite and updating his slideshow in real-time. Before I realised they actually released Reader with Gears support, I already had Gears installed and was sync'ing it for offline use. My only real criticism of it at this stage is that I'd like to see some kind of DAO, because although they recommend named parameters for querying and whatnot, I know people will use it terrible. That, and it'd be just like maintaining old PHP scripts - spaghetti code intermingled with SQL queries - the dream of every developer, right?
I forget what the next session was about, I was too busy reading about and playing with Gears. I think it was Mapplets or something. Reverse mashups, kinda, which was interesting, but not anything at all compared to Gears.
A large chunk of the rest of the day was a blur. I remember the GWT talk (Google Web Toolkit) - which was basically writing an interface in Java, and having it compiled down to browser specific JavaScript. They claim that because it's compiled and loaded for specific browsers, they can take advantage of, say, unrolling loops and avoid loading/parsing cross-browser compatible script so the performance is amazing. I've not yet had a look at what it can do - I'm a bit concerned about how it'd be for skinning/styling, and for interacting with your own backend, but still I'm sure it has a lot of potential. Hrm.
There was a bunch more said about mapping - how to customise Google Maps, how to tweak KML, what's coming up in the new version of KML, etc. Nothing too exciting, though, really.
More interestingly, though, we witnessed and experienced some things that one only dreams of. You know, like when Sammi approached the MC of the day (David O'Loughlin) with the line 'Hey, Kochy! I watch your show all the time' - he didn't seem to really get it, though.
What else? We saw (and video-taped) a guy sitting outside, stroking his calves (as in legs - not cattle) for a solid 20-30 minutes.
We were interviewed by the guys with the video cameras, which was funny. We were talking about what Google products we use and what we thought about the day so far. When I was speaking, Gil started stroking my hair, and Sammi started blowing in my ear - it was pretty funny.
Gil, Sammi and I being interviewed
Oh man, I forgot! Lunch was amazing. There were four tents set up - we only went to one end, and we got to choose between curry and 'American' food (I think the other end had Asian and something else). It was really good food, and completely free. HABEEB IT.
At the end of the day, drinks were served so Gil and Sammi smashed some beers. As the night drew closer to an end, the girl to guy ratio got way better - I think at the best stage, there must have been around 10 guys to every girl (as opposed to roughly a hundred guys to every girl throughout the rest of the day). We were standing around and we thought we saw a kid get busted trying to steal a little crate of beer, so we asked his supervisor and she straightened out what apparently really happened. Lame.
We started chatting to the guy that made Greasemonkey (and Gears), which was interesting. He seemed pretty fixated on talking about getting drunk. Where to get drunk, how much he'd been waiting to get drunk, if we were getting drunk, etc. As soon as we started talking about Gears and stuff, he stopped caring and tried to get away. Which he did. For a moment. I chased him down and demanded a hug. After that, he wandered back over and kinda said 'uh, just.. just for future's reference.. Americans, we, uh, generally we don't really do hugging'. I laughed, and I laughed, and I laughed. Sammi and Gil did the same. Oh we laughed. Now he thinks Australians like to hug.
Later on in the evening when pretty much everyone else had gone, the Google guys decided to bail. For some stupid reason, the Gears/Greasemonkey guy came over to us and shook Sammi's hand. Sammi hugged him. Then he kinda stood there, and I spread my arms. "Come on, just one more for old time's sake!" I said and approached him. Apparently he got a really pissed off look on his face, but I hugged him anyway.
A guy had previously come over and asked if any of us wanted to split a cab, which I jumped on. We labelled him as "Dad". My dad. When we left to go outside, Gil and I waited for Sammi (while he pee'd), and dad said he'd wait outside. He started walking off, then started looking around all shifty, then..he started to run. He ran outside across the warehouse. Awesome.
Outside, we saw a van with 'Edi's Ring' on the side of it. On the read bumper was a sign that read "Edi's Ring values safe driving". More awesome.
So from there, I split the cab with dad. I made it out alive, which surprised Gil and Sammi.
On the plane ride home, I was reading my Reader feeds offline, and I was totally the coolest guy on the plane. I found that a bunch of blogs had images linked externally, which obviously didn't load, which was a bit of a pain. But still, overall it was a good way to kill time. I can see how it'd be easily applied to Google Docs/Spreadsheet or Gmail (well, "easily" in a 'I'm an accounts service manager and you're a client' way) for some awesome offline radness.
For a bit more of a feel for it, the photos are all up at http://picasaweb.google.com/developerday/GoogleDeveloperDaySydneyAustralia
Overall, for a free day put on by Google, it was worth every cent.
A new dawn
Well, today was no ordinary Wednesday. It started with promise, but that soon dissipated. I got into work to see something like 200 emails in my inbox, which is always a good sign. Someone came over saying 'the site went live last night, but they cannot proceed through the checkout'. Great. Stupid story short, it wasn't my fault. Essentially it's pretty much the fault of my boss, really - or rather, it's his responsibility. So that was a good feeling in itself, that something considered major wasn't actually my wrongdoing.
So we get that fixed up, and the rest of the day is UAT changes for another system I'm working on. It was a slow day, at best. It's kind of at the stage now where it's the annoying little things that they consider showstoppers that really aren't so bad.
But the interesting part comes when I was supposed to have a meeting with my boss. This is the follow up to the last review meeting almost a month ago now, during which he made it clear that I was not 'committed' enough, which we've been trying to have for a few days now. Well, it had to be today, because he goes in for surgery tomorrow (oh hey, my boss has cancer). So, after being postponed, what, five times already this week, he decided a phone call would be satisfactory. Basically, he said that 'I haven't been around a lot, so I can't tell if you've improved or not, so I want to keep you on trial until I return [note: a month at best], plus two weeks so I can monitor the situation'. That totals over five and a half months of probation period, primarily because he's not here.
I really don't want to get started on how piss-poor he is as a manager to start with, but this is blatantly just unfair.
But, coincidentally, I've been looking for a new job. Whether or not he was happy with me today, I'm still being paid less that I deserve, and working more hours to boot. Not that I'm all about the money, but I want what's fair. My boss has said it to me (and to others) that I have much more skill than what they were looking for, and that they employed me to do (as in, they only really wanted a frontend web builder, but they got..me!), so they've got me doing much more than just building HTML templates. So, why am I not being remunerated to reflect this increase in responsibility - to me it's only fair - I have more skill, so I get more compensation, as opposed to them having to hire a number of people to do just what I do.
In any case, during my last review meeting, I was told I'd be given a new contract and a list of key areas to improve upon. Since then, I've seen and heard nothing (except for a "oh, I've been a bit busy, but I'll email you the documents this afternoon"). Only to be told today that he didn't "feel" (his word specifically, as he hadn't been there a lot to witness) that I'd made any improvement. Improve on what? Well.. stuff. You know. Work 'n' junk. But really, I have been putting in more effort. Honestly, I'd made an effort to be more courteous toward the same staff that demand the impossible time and time again. I have helped 'the new guy' a whooole lot to keep him on track, and I've fit a heap of other project work around my current major project. Granted, for the majority of the time I've been leaving at knock-off time, but that's why it's knock-off time. I don't see much sense in staying later than necessary, but never mind. I've been doing more billable hours than ever, too. Guh, it's just stupid. I did make a conscious effort to improve, despite wanting to leave. I guess there's a sense of pride and self-worth at stake, but really, if they're going to be stupid about it, then I'm happy to leave.
After I got off the phone, I let Tim talk for a good ten minutes to my new superior guy, as he explained the ins-and-outs of how he'd be in charge of me now, before I took my resignation letter to another Director. He was a bit taken back, and took me into a meeting room and kind of asked 'is there any reason for it?' and I explained how I feel that 'the trial period is to determine if I'm in or out - by Tim's effort and reaction, I'm certainly not in, so I'll make the decision - I'm out'. He stated that he doesn't know the full back-story, so he respected the decision, and was sorry that I was not happier in my position, and that was about it.
Fun!
So what am I walking into? I hope it's in general just a better managed office. It's, I suppose, a 'medium' sized company - it's no Megacorp Inc, but it's not bad. 37.5 hours a week, 9-5 styles. 30% more money. That's about it. Really, the work is likely to be less interesting (from all gut feelings), and possibly less 'satisfying' work, but I'm looking forward to the experience.
Oh, the ultimate kick in the nuts? They basically offered my job to the contractor that sits opposite me. He's not bad, but I've had to hold his hand a lot of the way. Insane. He's really not that they need right now. They need more than just one, too. I mean, given that the studio manager left yesterday, and the technical director leaves tomorrow for a month, and the 'main' developer is away for three more weeks. Their solution(s)? Essentially, just lump the work on the existing staff, on top of their daily duties. That doesn't make any sense at all. Stupid. Maybe it does make sense, whatever, that's why I'm not a Director.
In the end, I'd really like to be able to stay at Sputnik - there's a lot of talent there, and it's really good - it's just there's an alarmingly dangerous pattern of mismanagement. All of the 'cutting edge' projects (which is a big drawcard to working there) seem to go to the same people, over and over. Granted, they're good at them, but seriously, it's boring for the rest of us. Sigh. Word is that there are quite a few more people ready to leave. Not sure if that's just the advertising game, or if they're in trouble. I'm guessing they'll land entirely on their feet, though. We'll see.
So we get that fixed up, and the rest of the day is UAT changes for another system I'm working on. It was a slow day, at best. It's kind of at the stage now where it's the annoying little things that they consider showstoppers that really aren't so bad.
But the interesting part comes when I was supposed to have a meeting with my boss. This is the follow up to the last review meeting almost a month ago now, during which he made it clear that I was not 'committed' enough, which we've been trying to have for a few days now. Well, it had to be today, because he goes in for surgery tomorrow (oh hey, my boss has cancer). So, after being postponed, what, five times already this week, he decided a phone call would be satisfactory. Basically, he said that 'I haven't been around a lot, so I can't tell if you've improved or not, so I want to keep you on trial until I return [note: a month at best], plus two weeks so I can monitor the situation'. That totals over five and a half months of probation period, primarily because he's not here.
I really don't want to get started on how piss-poor he is as a manager to start with, but this is blatantly just unfair.
But, coincidentally, I've been looking for a new job. Whether or not he was happy with me today, I'm still being paid less that I deserve, and working more hours to boot. Not that I'm all about the money, but I want what's fair. My boss has said it to me (and to others) that I have much more skill than what they were looking for, and that they employed me to do (as in, they only really wanted a frontend web builder, but they got..me!), so they've got me doing much more than just building HTML templates. So, why am I not being remunerated to reflect this increase in responsibility - to me it's only fair - I have more skill, so I get more compensation, as opposed to them having to hire a number of people to do just what I do.
In any case, during my last review meeting, I was told I'd be given a new contract and a list of key areas to improve upon. Since then, I've seen and heard nothing (except for a "oh, I've been a bit busy, but I'll email you the documents this afternoon"). Only to be told today that he didn't "feel" (his word specifically, as he hadn't been there a lot to witness) that I'd made any improvement. Improve on what? Well.. stuff. You know. Work 'n' junk. But really, I have been putting in more effort. Honestly, I'd made an effort to be more courteous toward the same staff that demand the impossible time and time again. I have helped 'the new guy' a whooole lot to keep him on track, and I've fit a heap of other project work around my current major project. Granted, for the majority of the time I've been leaving at knock-off time, but that's why it's knock-off time. I don't see much sense in staying later than necessary, but never mind. I've been doing more billable hours than ever, too. Guh, it's just stupid. I did make a conscious effort to improve, despite wanting to leave. I guess there's a sense of pride and self-worth at stake, but really, if they're going to be stupid about it, then I'm happy to leave.
After I got off the phone, I let Tim talk for a good ten minutes to my new superior guy, as he explained the ins-and-outs of how he'd be in charge of me now, before I took my resignation letter to another Director. He was a bit taken back, and took me into a meeting room and kind of asked 'is there any reason for it?' and I explained how I feel that 'the trial period is to determine if I'm in or out - by Tim's effort and reaction, I'm certainly not in, so I'll make the decision - I'm out'. He stated that he doesn't know the full back-story, so he respected the decision, and was sorry that I was not happier in my position, and that was about it.
Fun!
So what am I walking into? I hope it's in general just a better managed office. It's, I suppose, a 'medium' sized company - it's no Megacorp Inc, but it's not bad. 37.5 hours a week, 9-5 styles. 30% more money. That's about it. Really, the work is likely to be less interesting (from all gut feelings), and possibly less 'satisfying' work, but I'm looking forward to the experience.
Oh, the ultimate kick in the nuts? They basically offered my job to the contractor that sits opposite me. He's not bad, but I've had to hold his hand a lot of the way. Insane. He's really not that they need right now. They need more than just one, too. I mean, given that the studio manager left yesterday, and the technical director leaves tomorrow for a month, and the 'main' developer is away for three more weeks. Their solution(s)? Essentially, just lump the work on the existing staff, on top of their daily duties. That doesn't make any sense at all. Stupid. Maybe it does make sense, whatever, that's why I'm not a Director.
In the end, I'd really like to be able to stay at Sputnik - there's a lot of talent there, and it's really good - it's just there's an alarmingly dangerous pattern of mismanagement. All of the 'cutting edge' projects (which is a big drawcard to working there) seem to go to the same people, over and over. Granted, they're good at them, but seriously, it's boring for the rest of us. Sigh. Word is that there are quite a few more people ready to leave. Not sure if that's just the advertising game, or if they're in trouble. I'm guessing they'll land entirely on their feet, though. We'll see.