complaints r us

i got a call from the boss, informing me to check my mail at the first opportunity. here's what i received:

Hello <contact's boss>,

With regards to a complaint relayed to me this morning I am reporting the following:

Nature of the problem:
Client complains that the code that used to work with the previous version of the API, does not work with the current one.
Specifically, client's code <technical details> to access <technical details>.
<technical details> are not available using this logic.

Investigation results:

<technical explanation>

This <technical details> has NOT been changed since the very first implementation of the above method back in version 1-5-0 (September 2005).

Conclusion:

Client's developers had misinterpreted the result they were getting as a change in the API behavior.

Apparently, the above API methods were never applied to <technical details> until now. Different <technical details> settings understandably produced different results: the <technical details> were not retrieved.
Client's code took an execution path that was not tested before and its
logic failed.

The failure was wrongly blamed on the new version of the API.
In fact, the API worked as it was supposed to. It was the client's code that failed to account for the conditions described above.

My conclusion has been communicated to <me>, the client's developer.

Sincerely

<my contact>

and here's my response:

<my boss>,

In the specific case cited below, <my contact> is almost correct. What he failed to mention is the distinctive lack of documentation that has caused us many problems from the very beginning. It's not that there isn't any documentation at all: the documentation is simply not meaningful, and as such doesn't comply with world-wide standards adopted for a very good reason. As a user of the API, I need to know more than just the inputs and outputs of a function, I need to know WHY we need it or HOW it works.

In most cases, I've simply had to guess at the usage for the functions we've been given; considering that there are differences between the internal names for functions and values and the <support company> application itself, I've had to spend a lot of time deciphering these same functions with our dealers, just to figure out which data we SHOULD be testing with.

"<technical explanation>"
When we began dealing with this specific bug, <my contact> informed me that I was handling it incorrectly, and that I should try instead to access <technical details>. When I tried that, I got no relevant information at all (although, according to the API, I should have received the same QUANTITY of data, I received nothing), and simply requesting that data eventually led to our application crashing because it used too much memory. That doesn't make much sense, considering the fact that we retrieve plenty more information from the other functions.

In addition to that, we suffered a few setbacks when the new version was released. Specifically, the API itself was changed, which meant a rewrite of the basic functionality of our applications was required. Not just that, but it was flawed, and that meant we had to wait until a new version was released. Changing the API structure is not appreciated in the slightest, releasing a new version that isn't fully tested is even more frustating.

In all cases, I've found <my contact> to be extremely helpful, so there are no complaints there. Singling out this incident from all the previous ones does not accurately reflect the situation, nor the nature of our complaints, so I would be most grateful if you were to pass this on to all concerned parties.

Thank you,
<me>

now, that's the politest way i know to say "go fuck yourself" in business-lingo.

gimme a war face!

i woke up at 5am this morning to do some laundry, slept badly for another 1.5 hours, then commenced with the day.

the guy in charge of instructing us in the new systems began aggravating me first thing. he's really pushing my buttons.

then i had to deal with getting access to my pc - they've essentially switched everyone's passwords. that took a solid hour. very frustrating.

the morning was pretty sucky, overall. lunch was alright, after lunch was quite good. got some important things moving, and managed to find a gift spot left for us before he got released.

in one of the sections of our system he was responsible for, he coded a block ass-backwards. it didn't add anything bad to the system, it just didn't do much to fix the problem it was written to solve. brilliant, spot. we spent the afternoon learning in-depth about everything connected to that section... stuff we really didn't want to know, but i've solved the problem, and all that's left is to tie up loose ends in the morning before releasing the patch to production. our new TL was horrified when we explained to him that the procedure was so simple, and that we're not planning on doing any serious documentation.

different standards, i guess :P

i had supper with the mongoose, then rushed off to work to deal with a problem on our servers. turned out that somebody installed a different "flavour" of the JRE on the server, and none of my apps worked anymore. that took a good half an hour to figure out, and two seconds to fix.

i spent the rest of the evening finishing a couple of projects. by the end i was left with a major problem in the primary one... we then discovered that it's not because of a bug. it's a problem because there's no documentation, and the function isn't SUPPOSED to work as advertised. so much for "does what it says on the tin".

unfortunately, i was alone with the boss, who took an unhealthy interest in what was going on, at the exact point at which i was forced to rethink everything. he put me under enough pressure with constant questioning that i began fumbling. not cool.

i did eventually figure things out, but i don't think the boss has such a high opinion of my work after having seen me stressed. AAARGH!

so i left work *just* in time to catch the bus, and now i've got even less time to shower and sleep than usual. swak.

at least the plan for tomorrow is good. half a day to finish with this problem code in the army. then to get ready for the wedding, and go through to meet SxS. yogi's getting married tomorrow!! DAMN!!

and then fun stuff until sunday. that'll be much better.

happy birthday!

hah! i remembered it's my mommy's birthday today! so i drew this picture and sent to her - i'm sure if i'm laughing when i look at it, so is she :D

if you have my mum's number, please call her to wish her! i think that would be really special ;)

cancellation

no sushi for me. it's too late. bedtime, then :(

daylight in the office

what nice experience! i was utterly wasted after last night, but we got quite a lot done and there's a totally different sense of what day-work is when it's enjoyable.

umm. yeah, that's about it. now waiting for SxS to come and pick me up, we're off to serious sushi at yakimono tonight ^_^

over-dressed

well, i dressed up really nicely. even broke out the serious watch. i bussed through to the train station, then took the train (using my soldier's id, nobody caught me ^_^) to herzeliya, and SxS picked me up from there.

we went through to a nature reserve atop cliffs overlooking the ocean. it was absolutely stunning. we built a huge bonfire, and we left after sunrise having spent the entire night talking, singing songs and eating amazing food. it was my turn to braai - being the least experienced of the south africans, i was a little nervous of the responsibility; but it definitely turned out alright ;)

the entire night was simply a pleasure.

mmf and i returned with yogi to crash at his place. i spent a few hours completely out on the universe's most comfortable couch, and was woken up with some really exciting news. it's in potentia, so there won't be further mention of it, aside from to say that i spent the next couple of hours online learning some very interesting things.

isn't that cryptic? for those who know me really well, and what i really plan on doing with my life: this could be a solid step in the right direction.
*jumps up and down, flapping arms wildly*

yogi just dropped me off at home; i'm gonna shower - 'cause i'm DIRTY (mud, sand, and the remains of bloodsucking insects all over me) - and then i'm off to work.

מסת"עלבית (mistalbet)

i wish all the bugs i have to deal with looked this good.

mistalbet is a slang word for mocking and ridiculing. today i turned it into an acronym for mistovev al bet, which means going around in working uniform. it worked out really well ^_^ (israeli's aren't so big on word-play, so it's unique AND good!)

alright, so i woke up in an incredibly good mood this morning. what a pity my mood was ruined when i realized that i was already half an hour late, because i'd forgotten to set my alarm. i hurried, and managed to get the bus on time to only be an hour late in total. on the way, some guy called me up to play a prank on me - he couldn't have had better timing. i was under so much pressure that i took him seriously, and got even more stressed than i already was.

and then i had to deal with everyone and their mother making snide remarks about my tardiness.

the entire day was spent fixing bugs, and learning the new systems. we discovered that the guy in charge of teaching us might be released very, very soon - this means that the three of us who're new will be the only ones with a clue, and the kid and i are under enough pressure with upgrading our systems.

in short, we're screwed. i took the kid and the new girl aside, and we agreed that any spare moment will be spent making sure that she gets to a point where she doesn't really need us. that's not going to be easy.

it's weird being home when the sun's still up. kinda nice, actually. now for a hurried shower, and then i'm rushing off to the bachelor's. i wish i didn't have such a crushing headache. i'll have to drown it out... somehow... ;)

it's not google's fault...

.. it's mine. of course i won't find any help if i'm trying to do the impossible. vainly attempting to convert a stream of binary into decimal, without using the standard formulae. so i've just wasted my night and my brain hurts. that sucks ass.

oh, and i had to put up with a complete dick on irc; he didn't understand the question i was asking, and behaved like those op-kiddies i'd forgotten about. nothing pisses me off more than people who are less-than-polite because they think they have some kind of power because there's a snail next to their name.

ok, i'm sure there are things that piss me off more. but that's taking the title right now.

with a few tears, simply exceptional

what an ingenious buy - empire of the sun just blew my mind, again. beautiful, beautiful movie. i watched the documentary (with narration by martin sheen), and it's really good.

now for a bit more c++, and i'm still undecided as to whether or not a mission to the lizard for a drink or two is in order.

30+ casualties, 3 survivors

i just played the brazil mission. the first time i didn't realize that the enemy syndicates were going to blow up my escape vehicle, so i got trapped and had to restart.

the second time i just <persuaded> everyone on the level. including the syndicates in the enclosure before driving through. i drove out in two cars; about 30 people (civilians, guards, and syndicates) in the front, including 3 of mine, and the last of mine taking the rear. so far, so good.

i'm almost back at the evac zone, when i register that the front car is emitting a signal... ok, so i have to destroy it as well. i stop the cars, intending to get everyone out the way before blowing it to shit. as the 30+ people start moving, my trooper in the rear takes the intiative and runs EVERYONE over. time bombs explode, both cars burst into flames, and there're dead and dying (well, on fire and screaming, at any rate) all over the place.

"MISSION COMPLETE", i take in. WTF?! turns out three of mine from the front car miraculously survived, so i'm all good. all i could do was stare.

---

i woke up slowly, and immediately began with the chilling, aside from getting the idea behind writing a basic operating system. most of the day has involved reading, napping, semi-cleaning (fuckers stole my squeegee-thingum while they were "working" in my apartment), and a little bit of gaming for the last 2 hours or so. i'm now going to the cafe to buy smokes... i already made a mission, and completely forgot... nevermind. it's my day off, after all :D

dog day afternoon

i woke up pleasantly enough, talked to the cousins (found out that it's not a good weekend to go to the kibbutz), ran laundry, listened to great music, and arbed.

around 4pm i began a slow walk through to central tel aviv (hungry and indecisive, i was contemplating buying breakfast of a hamster - or rat - from a pet store i passed), and joined spot at a coffee shop. we sat over coffee, i had an enormous salad for second breakfast. first breakfast was a bag of bamba that i'd eaten on the way - an israeli peanut-butter fling-type snack that i've only recently begun to enjoy (it's because i'm used to such terrible food in the army, i'm sure of it).

we walked back to his place, where his mother began harrassing me about helping him out with employment - turned out afterwards she misunderstood me completely, but whatever. then we parted company and i walked through to a friend's place, a tiny apartment very near the beach. we sat outside and talked crap for about 4 hours before spot joined us (i think he was in herzelia), and after a bit we went to a nice bar close by.

i drank a bit much. i felt it. i missioned off for cigarettes, and just before i arrived at the store somebody tossed a glass bottle out their window and it landed in the street - everybody in the area froze and began staring, but we couldn't find the culprit.

i got smokes and a bag of chips (the alcohol's effect made me realize i hadn't eaten anything, so i went for a healthy dinner), and walked back to the bar with my eyes to the sky.

i hadn't finished my chips, so i stood reading billboards - i had to read everything twice, and in general the second reading was worse than the first. so fuzzy! i was feeling very relaxed. so relaxed that i didn't notice that while the bouncer was checking me, i tipped over his glass. he picked me out for it afterwards, but left me alone... i assume he realized i'd closed in on my limit.

after the bar, spot and i got some iced-coffee (i had to take advantage of the half-price special for tel aviv residents), and discussed general foreign exchange mechanisms and operating system development. it was an incredibly loopy conversation. loopy. i said it. aaaargh!

i took a taxi back, and walked around all the dodgy neighbourhood kids. i'm in no state for a fight right now. it was a good decision too - they're all excitable, and there was an incident while i was at the cafe getting smokes. so i'm back home, still not in the most useful frame of mind, feeling good, and about to sleep the sleep of kings.

absurb!

thanks moonflake ;)

as for the boss being unhappy with my conjectures (and i was playing them down), he spent the rest of the evening walking around looking troubled. that's not good. i felt really bad.

i got done with work, then walked to the lizard. good times, good times. chilled there for a bit, spot joined me, and then we walked to the lincoln. i was already quite drunk, so i chilled with the alcohol, but my game was buggered. i thoroughly enjoyed it, though.

after an hour or so i walked back to the lizard, stopping in at work to get my bag. the security guards gave me a hard time about signing the guest list. i'm not a guest, dammit! i need a card or something!

went back to the lizard, witnessed some guy and his "girlfriend" having a tiff - we didn't interfere because it'll just make it worse for her, but damn i wanted to hit the fucker. i really do hate that shit, and i feel sorry for the girls who're dumb enough to get involved with people like that. but i'm certainly not going to spend the next while looking out for her... she's not my type.

a friend gave me a ride home, playing some wicked, wicked trance at top volume. i didn't want to get out of the vehicle. it's late now, definitely time for a shower and a good morning's sleep. if only we weren't in the middle of another prolonged dust-storm.

baking day

twice in particular that i truly noticed the intelligence of my decision to wear working uniform - when changing into it in the morning, and when changing back to dress uniform in the evening. what a difference!

i managed to sort myself out for inspection this morning, which went quite quickly. that actually counts as a highlight.

it was one of those horrible, clammy, dusty days. i was kept super busy, mostly just having my time wasted by our client section. as for yesterday's work, after a lengthy argument this morning we realized that we just had a major case of miscommunication. we're all good. aside from the girl in our room who hates my music. i've begun listening with headphones only, but the damage is apparently done.

humans.

oh, and i got a lecture about my behaviour affecting the new girl. the dude's got a point, so aside from improving my appearance regarding work ;), i had a chat with her to explain exactly what my stance is on everything. truth is, even on the stressed-out days i don't really act as if i'm working. i'm not a slave, i don't need to give up my sense of humour.

as for work, work is fun :) i seem to have offended the guys supporting us though... i sent our contact the following in ICQ:

When do you expect to have an Administration API ready for us?
it is work in progress -- a month probably
Will that month include all QA testing?

anyway, i have a ticket for canada - leaving on the 19th and coming back on the 2nd. i've cleared that with the army, and i've cleared that with my boss. i also cleared sunday night with the boss - so the bachelor's party for yogi is now hard & fast in my todo list.

the boss asked my opinion on our support company: i didn't want to lie to him. unfortunately, he's really not happy with my perspective. bummer.

well, back to work.

working uniform

i slept just fine last night, and switched into working uniform as soon as i got to base. MUCH better. today involved Sorting Stuff Out, socializing, doing completely retarded work (in my opinion, assigned to "keep me busy"; assholes!)... i guess nothing special happened today. but it was way more comfortable.

i got annoyed with yogi - he gave a client my phone number when the guy had some questions. AT MOST give him my email address. the last thing i need to be doing is dealing with people who communicate at a completely different level from me. it's hard enough to communicate with the users on our side because the technical languages we speak are so different.

and i especially don't want people to call me when i'm on base, as there's no way i can help them anyway.

work tonight was great! two of my projects are complete and running nicely, two of them have been joined into a single project that's pretty much complete, and the primary project ran into another brick wall where all we can do is wait for them to fix the problem on their side.

day over.

pizza - bad.

great pizza - worth it. good pizza - bad. bad pizza - worse. i really do need to keep repeating this to myself, as i made the unfortunate mistake today of partaking in aforementioned devil-food for lunch. whenever i sin, and i feel terrible afterwards... i never suspect (until i'm feeling better) that it's because i'm bloody lactose intolerant and i can't seem to get that to sink in to my own head.

and it was bad pizza, just so's you know.

and look what showed up when i searched for the pizza image:

i guess it's google's way of telling me that i'm strongbad for the day.

it was a long day, very tiring regardless of my aforementioned stupidity. that weird girl was being strange at me today, that made me uncomfortable. turns out i'm not the only person it bothers - a lot of the base has designated her one of the most messed-up, and considering that "special" is the sort of soldier our base caters for, that's quite a powerful reputation.

i finally finished the developer crap i've been working on. no satisfation, just relief that it's done. until the next task. i had some meetings today regarding our systems, and they seem to have gone okay. at least, my superiors appreciate my stance on the whole thing, which is incredible in the army.

work: got stuff done. lots of stuff. i discovered that the later versions of java have modified the Vector class, so spot's agreed to update me on that. my googling factor's always been low; in this case i couldn't find a damn thing that made sense.

due to a limited ("you damn right it's limited! no cup-holder, no back seat...") api, the primary app's development has taken another twist. this thing is killing me. fortunately, all the other projects are going smoothly.

the meatrix: the most annoying and rediculously WRONG thing that keeps finding its way into my mailbox. granted, it's got an amusing sense of style, but the whole concept of "meat is murder" and whatever other rubbish gets spewed on the "topic" upsets me no end.

lacking in appropriate expletives

#$@!!%$@ing bus companies. i just waited more than half an hour before giving up, and then i had to walk a ways anyway because it wasn't the right line. couldn't they post a bloody sign to say that the bus route's changed due to roadworks? no, of course not. that would be considerate of people who need to take the bus at 23.30.

*blood-curdling roar*

i don't know that i worked so much today (in the army). lots of today just kind of happened along. memorables (really, in no particular order): teaching c++ for about half an hour; almost finishing the stupid developer thing, and spending an hour studying code that was fine (i didn't know you need to BUILD the thing at EACH AND EVERY run); some good down-time with a really cute girl from the farm; chilling with spuzz; lunch with the mongoose; being excused from the team meeting (my commander realizes that i can't deal with too much hebrew all at once).

i worked a LOT afterwards. grootbek just got hired by the company we share offices with (he's already bitching and planning on ditching), but he did manage to remember to bring the video of my last taekwondo fights. it's only taken me two years to get hold of them - bastard sportsmaster had the fucking thing all along >@

i worked on three or four projects concurrently, and had tons of trouble with the support company. i have a list of things to do, all of them urgent, and simply not enough time. did i mention i love this job? i LOVE being overloaded with REAL work. i HATE being overloaded with bullshit like i have been in the army for so long.

there's possibly a workaholic in every one of us. careful, guys!

i overheard a lover's spat (one-sided from a phone, next to my desk while i was working so i couldn't avoid it), and an interesting question was raised. what makes us like / dislike certain people more than others? is it fair to put a thing like that into words? the second you voice a reason for disapproval you can probably name quite a few people with that same trait, where you ignore it because of the positives. this paragraph brought to you by mental masturbation, inc.

no c++ today, even though i've thought a lot about the problems i was presented with. no time!

c? i warned you :P

i got most of my work done, then left a few minutes early to get the earlier bus. which i'd missed. anyway, nothing too eventful on the way home, aside from learning a new army-word: "sambas". acronym standing for "milling around the base for no reason." that's a big part of my job! or at least, that's what i tell people who get inquisitive.

i've spent the past hour pouring over this c code... and being reminded of bits i'd forgotten regarding operator overloading and friend functions and so on. i'm happy. unfortunately, i couldn't actually do anything to check myself, as the only compiler i have installed (and i'm too lazy to download something useful) is the microsoft one, which sucks balls and refuses to link a perfectly valid file. suck.

it's late, i gotta get to bed. i'm being all responsible, you know ;)

siesta!

so i left my apartment more or less on time this morning. i got caught on the way out with the information that they need to do some more shit in my apartment. hmmm... dodgerrific. making my stance clear waylaid me a little, and so i watched my bus drive off just before i got to the stop.

i eventually got to base around 8.45, slightly late. first priority: deal with all our systems going down. happy sunday! turned out that this time it was due to a power failure. once that was sorted out, i went to the cafeteria and chilled for a long-ish while.

and bought myself a really fun-looking hebrew children's book. the pictures are really pretty ^_^

by the time i got back, it was pretty much time to go with the team for lunch. we went to a restaurant in herzelia pituach that wasn't bad, as such... i've been to better. the enormous hamburger and the chili con carne was good, though - i was completely stuffed by the end of the meal.

got back to base, spot was already there (after he'd made me stress in order to sort him out permission to get through the gate). we spent the next hour or more just walking slowly around the base, greeting people and sorting out welfare and travel arrangements and so on.

it turns out that i can leave the country for a maximum of 14 days. INCLUDING the two days i leave and return. fuckers. so my holiday's down to 13 days.

anyway, i got back to my office with about 45 minutes to finish the code i've been sitting on for about a week now. at 17.29 i signed off with everything complete and one bug (not related to my work, it appears) to check in the morning. good timing!

i came to work, tested my mailing code (it runs ever-so-nicely on linux :D), discovered some more applications they need done (and double-time, too), and have just come back from a quick bite to eat. also in the pipeline is some c++ code that a guy from the base wants help with. priorities, priorities!

high alert and leashed fury

i spent the late afternoon / evening reading more king rat, more shadowrun short-stories, chatting online, and napping for a short while. and i talked to my mom for ages (my phone properly died during the conversation) about all sorts of things, which was really nice. turns out tgtbt is going to harvard this year ^_^

then i went off to the lizard.

due to the fact that we have many arsim in our area, and coupling that with my memories of that "fight" from january, the walk there got me totally hyped up and ready for action. fortunately (as usual) nothing happened, but my mind was in that special place reserved for breaking bones in a rush of adrenaline.

i spent an hour or so talking a lot with the mongoose and the bartenders, and that was most enjoyable. productive, even. a guy i know rocked up, and we talked about all sorts of crud. every conversation did me some good. could be to do with my general lack of social interaction this weekend.

at some point i was reminded of why i owe my mom so much for my studies. there were months where the divorce made her life really, really hard - and still i was taking money for studies and food and so on. one can argue that that's a mother's job, but the bottom line is that she really suffered for me to be educated, and i will be forever beholden to her for that (ignoring everything else, of course :P).

the owner of the lizard invited me to partake in the pizza he'd ordered. i'd had a bit to drink, i was feeling a mite peckish, so i enjoyed some. i'm so paying for it now - i hope i can sleep. whenever i eat pizza at night i get this horrible, icky feeling around the area of my solar plexus. thank you, lactose intolerance!

anyway, i spent an hour talking to the bouncer - he's really into martial arts, and he taught me all sorts of things. at the same time it's nice to be thinking about fighting, but it sucks because i'm not realistically going to be able to train for another 10 months. maybe once i've moved into my new apartment, and i've saved some money, i'll get myself a serious punching bag and dress it up to get some playtime in.

long walk home, now it's shave, shower, and bedtime. then back to the routine - and i'm actually looking forward to it!

lucky?! luck has NOTHING to do with it!

so there wasn't a "tonight" yesterday, i ended up going to bed and busying myself with some much-needed dreaming. i feel much better for it :)

i woke up and spent a few hours working... just reducing the amount of pressure i'll have on sunday, of course :) the clowns released another, supposedly less-buggy version of their api... they changed shit around again, but as usual didn't include anything in their javadoc. fortunately, i've begun receiving heads-ups from my POC there :S

i played some syndicate, but the colombia (columbia? i'm too lazy to check) mission was piss easy and took forever, so i wasn't left satisfied. lots of reading, i did - specifically king rat, and a couple of the shadowrun short-stories that zenstar linked to. great stories!

my jerusalem cousins picked me up, and we went to her place to celebrate her birthday. too - much - good - food. as usual. one of the jerusalem cousins plays mean table-tennis, but not much better than mine, so we played a lot of that. i haven't properly enjoyed that game in many years.

people say that it's lucky when a bird shits on you. it is lucky - FOR THE BIRD, 'cause we can never catch the fucker. what's lucky is when the bird-dropping misses you by a few inches. THAT'S lucky. i'm feeling LUCKY >D
i just smiled at the splash that missed me, and carried on.

i just got in, and have nothing to do but relax for a while. i like it.

oh, and sagirl sent me this:
Ole has a point -

Ole vas vorking at the fish plant up nort in Dulut vhen he accidentally
cut off all ten of his finkers.
He vent to da emergency room in the Clinik and vhen he got dar da Norsky
doctor looked at Ole and said, "Let's have da finkers and I'll see vhat
can do.
Ole said, "I haven't got da finkers."
"Vhat do you mean, you hafen't got da finkers?" he said. "Lord-it's 2006
Ive's got microsurgery and all kinds of incredible techniques.
I could hafe put dem back on and made you like new! Vhy didn't you brink
da finkers?"

Ole says... "How da fock vas I suppose to pick dem up?"

cute.

it's not the end! THEY'RE KILLING ME!

good lord NO!! NOOOO!!

i cannot BELIEVE that there's a 23rd episode of prison break! i don't think my little heart can take anymore. it's probably turning black already.

and here, just cause i liked this picture:

i went out for a bite to eat after posting, sat in the sun with a toasted sammich, just enjoying the feeling of doing absolutely nothing, and not having loud drilling, crunching and exploding noises in the background.

i napped a couple of hours when i got back, then woke up and began attacking the problem of sending mails through our work server with a java app. it took a couple of hours to figure out all the niggly bits; mainly because i wanted to understand what i was doing, not just use somebody else's code. good thing, that: there were plenty of server-specific things i needed to mess with, and i couldn't just work with trial-and-error.

i'm very, very proud of myself. it's actually easier and quicker to send mails with my little proggie than to use the web interface i've been hassling with :)

and i get a little thrill each time i use it with my hotmail account as a parameter, and messenger's little box pops up with a link to it >D

once done, i tortured myself with episode 22. it is THE SHIT. but it doesn't end. and that boggles my mind. boggle. anyone remember that game? i hated it.

now listening to mutha fm's live stream, nick e louder playing funky, funky tunes. solasso feat foster child - hypnotised just got me groovin' :)

so that was my day. i hope that there's a night, too!

promises, promises

well, if that doesn't just beat all. i just walked into the guy who's ACTUALLY responsible for what's going on. he explained everything fairly clearly, and has promised me that the last week was exceptional (ly bad, from my side), and for the next while it's all supposed to be smooth. at least i know who to take out now if that's not the way it is, and that makes me feel better.

exploding concrete

... i didn't finish last night. turns out our support side doesn't have a QA team. apparently, we're the first people to use the new api, and that means bug-finding on OUR side. that's SERIOUSLY professional of them. all i could do was clean up my code to production level, and now i just have to wait for the fixes to come in.

assholes.

just before midnight, i said goodbye and left work. i got myself a beer on the way home, and was planning on combining it with the final episode of prison break, before crashing like a king. my plan was foiled when i discovered that some pricks had renamed full-length pr0n to prison.break.e01s22.xvid.hdtv.lol (or whatever). good pr0n, but not prison break. FUCKERS!!!

so i settled for the first half of titan ae, and then went to bed disappointed. i needed closure, dammit!

bedtime was about 2am. i slept beautifully. until 8.30am. the sound of concrete exploding right outside my door was enough to get me up. i'm completely paranoid that they're going to forget which side of the corridor they're supposed to be working on.

so no chance of me getting back to sleep. now i've got rammstein and slipknot playing full-blast in the hope that they'll somehow get the hint. i already called the contractor again. i reminded him that he promised to get back to me yesterday. i got silence in return. i asked him what's going on. he replied, in a stupid voice, "i'll get back to you."

"like yesterday? great. bye." wtf? how do i deal with something like that?

i dunno what today's gonna look like, but if i have electricity and no new holes by the end of their work-day, i'll be extremely happy.

TGIT

today started off brilliantly. i got all the information i needed before leaving for the apartment-subsidy thingy, so i simply arrived at the base late. i walked in on a huge breakfast - we had to suffer a talk i didn't understand, first.

and then i stuffed myself.

our first problem of the morning got me running around the base, going from office to office to clear things up. i ended up in the office of a major (the rank of most of the section commanders), where for the first time since basics i felt i had to behave like a soldier. not a problem, but weird.

i discovered that one of the guys in our previous section not only knows all the system passwords for our stuff, but has network access as well... i'm now on a mission to block him. it's not that he'd do any damage on purpose, but it's never good to have security holes.

to do so i had to go down to the farm, where there's no cellphone signal. as i came up, on my way with a really cute girl to go sit in the cafeteria, one of my teammates jumped out of nowhere and informed me that we were on our way to the firing range - awwww! so i had to say goodbye quickly (she seemed offended), and we missioned to my primary base.

where none of us were allowed in. i've joked for a while now that i'm probably the only person from that base who can't get in. today wasn't funny.

my primary commander just so happened to be off base, so i couldn't get her to help me. and her secretary's a total bitch, so there was no point in trying there. although i did anyway, and got nothing for it.

so i called up mntns and within minutes i was in - by myself, admittedly, but in. i found the range and signed up, then went for a drive with one of the drivers (that girl i complained about relatively recently, "letting herself go" - although it's not that bad ;), it's just not perfect like it was), and i finally sorted out my entry into the base! it's only taken a year and a half, but i can finally go there whenever i want ^_^

we waited for ages, over an hour methinks, and it was a lot of fun. finally my turn was coming up... and they informed me that my name had been removed from the list, owing to time constraints.

BULLSHIT. what a friggin' waste! so i found mntns to say hi; when i walked in, she was busy doing something, and the girl who sits opposite her got excited to see me - i take that as a good sign. we spoke for about two seconds before she got back to work, it was crowded in there with soldiers begging to be dealt with (and i know how much that can suck), so i left and rejoined my group (who'd finished the range), and we went off to azrieli for sammiches (AWESOME roast-beef, i had), then returned to base.

i confronted the discipline officer and told him to make damn sure next time that that doesn't happen again. funny thing about him (we were talking about it while waiting our turns): he's frighteningly observant, he's smart, he has a sense of humour and is pleasant to deal with, and he's dedicated. what the HELL is he doing as a discipline officer? the army couldn't find a better use for him?!



fixed some problems, went on another mission to sneak ip addresses from my previous section, then played some volleyball. now, it wasn't REALLY volleyball. for me, it was more an excuse to stare at the nice piece of ass that plays with us from time to time. everybody SUCKED. the net was about 2cm higher than my head. it was just silly. eventually, i just sat on the side to watch intently.

got back to my office, discovered that my new TL totally digs the music i brought, cleared everything out for the weekend, and made my way to work.

i'm still being hit by the changes from yesterday. they're driving me insane. but i will finish this thing tonight, because i'm absolutely sick of it. now for a smoke-break and some concentration.

crazy day

how do i best describe today in one word? NUTS.

on the bus to the base this morning, i was totally engrossed in oliver twist, and had my earphones in, bopping my head to wicked beats. suddenly one of the earphones was ripped out, and the strange girl in front of me was waving a newspaper under my nose.

"you want to read the paper?"
"i can't read hebrew."

i replaced the earphone. 20 seconds later there's frantic movement in my peripheral vision. i look up, and she's waving a stick of gum at me.

"no, thanks."

geez.

on base there was plenty of work, we were completely swamped with many different and unpleasant things the entire day. most of it was developer, and i managed to get the rest of the team scratching their heads and thinking "where did we go wrong?" :) [that smile's for my not being alone]

just before lunch, we had a farewell ceremony for one of the tech-support commanders. it was nice, and the food was good. what was really weird was afterwards running into one of her soldiers - i asked him why he hadn't been there, and he mumbled something about "why should i have been?", before scurrying off.
personally, as much as i hate my previous commanders, i'd still go and do the official goodbye thing. strange.

---lunch was amusing. a few of us from the section went to the mess hall, and ran into s'belle and a friend of hers. we were both on top form, and we all spent lunch (which wasn't too good, but not the worst i've ever eaten) in hysterics. afterwards, she was frantically messengering me [is that a legitimate verb now?] to find out if my friends also think that we look like a couple. i used a lot of little-people's words to explain to her that i've been out of primary school for a while, that i'm not interested in anybody else's opinions of me whatsoever, and that the only thing i'm interested in when it comes to her is sex. and i'm still not sure she grasped all of it. it may have been too much at once.

just after lunch, the new girl came up to me with a forlorn expression on her face. she's heard me ranting and screaming in frustration, so what does she say (in a soft, sad voice) when i ask her what's up?

"i hate developer, too."

now if that didn't start the funniest series of quotes and arguments, i'll eat my own head. *thump, thump*

i was informed by the other south african that we were to meet in the afternoon with somebody from the airforce about aerospace software engineering. hell, i'd sign on extra years for that!

two minutes before we were scheduled to meet, he postponed. buggrit.

i went to work, and got busy fixing a bug from last night. it drove me nuts, especially when i found it and it wasn't at all related to the problem area i'd been looking at. urgh!

after sorting everything out, we began moving it all to linux. that was fun. what wasn't fun was its not compiling at all. when we figured out that the problem wasn't on the coding side, we also discovered that our support had forgotten to inform us of a new version release. we installed the new version, and suddenly NOTHING compiled. so much for backward compatibility. i hear that the development team got into deep shit when we alerted them of the problem. our side was filled with sardonic laughter.

i dealt with it anyway, only to discover that they'd introduced something called log4j, which needs to be initialized in a certain way. and if it's not correctly done, it screws up everything. much time wasted on fixing that, then discovering that JApplets don't run on remote consoles. i'm learning more things all the time.

by the end i managed to get the most crucial application running and loaded on the server, and i have a good idea of how to correct the same problems on the primary application. but i have to be done by tomorrow, and that's probably going to result in me working late. TGIT (friday's our day off, don't forget).

on leaving the premises, i suddenly registered that the reason i'd been struggling the entire evening was that somebody had changed my resolution to a setting that should have been labelled "ridiculously high - too high for a small screen like yours". and i hadn't actually noticed.

tomorrow morning i get to miss inspection, i'll be sorting out rent subsidies. sounds like fun.

---waiting for the bus after work, i was accosted by two arabs. i had no problem with giving one of them a cigarette, but i was put immediately on guard when they started taking an interest in my service. i managed to brush them off with bullshit, but i was ready to deal with an attempt at kidnapping. not a nice feeling at all.

and just before the bus came, they started telling me about heroin and how i should stay away from it. having a cousin who enlightened me from his first-hand ordeal about the horrors of getting hooked on that shit, i'm in no particular need of guidance from strangers. especially ones i'm already wary of.

---my door wouldn't open when i got home. i forced it, and discovered that they've got loose cables sticking out of the new hole in my floor. tomorrow's talk is going to be interesting. but i do have electricity!

anyway, the positive has outweighed the negative on this one. i absolutely loved returning to development under linux, and i've achieved a lot in relatively few hours.

who's cool, and has two thumbs? fonzie... and me!

split personality

in breaking with my unintended tradition of selecting pictures of females which are supposed to depict whatever i'm feeling at the moment, i've made the portrait above my choice for today's post. the other contender can be found at the end of the post. it bothers me that i have so much difficulty finding appropriate pictures.

anyway, to summarize my day (and so-far week, too), i have found two things which impress me no end.
1) i live two completely separate work lives. during the day i work with absolute shit, during the night everything goes back to normal. and in each phase i pretty much forget whatever's going on in the other.
2) i'm wasted during the day. the whole day. all i ever want to do is sleep. it's been like that for most of my service, but most of my service i've been able to get some shuteye. now that i can't, i'm beginning to be less sleepy on base. at the same time, i get to work in the evening, and i'm instantly motivated and i can feel the level of my brain activity rising. and i REALLY wake up the second i walk through my door and discover electricity.

erm, so basically my day was spent working away on one thing or another. and playing about an hour of GOOD volleyball. enjoyable. the first few points were played with one hand, as spot kept me on the phone with the other - and i STILL managed to play well. that was hilarious ^_^

oh! lunch was actually okay! i'm dying, people - no other explanation suffices.

some little bitch aggravated me - i called up our client unit to help them, and she was seriously rude. then she hung up on me. i sent an email to the second-in-command of their section (i know her personally), and was informed that it will be dealt with. don't be unpleasant to people you don't know, that's what my mommy taught me (actually, that's an emphasis. she taught me not to be rude to anybody. with possible exceptions).

my pull-ups are increasing.

real work: i learned a LOT of interesting shit tonight. and my additional work turned out to be less of a mission than i thought. give us a "hell yeah" for decent coding! HELL YEAH!

bonfire night sans the bonfire

well, i did leave work - a little later than anticipated, the boss got hold of me for a chat. fortunately, his cellphone interrupted us, so i signalled for him to call when he's done. he hasn't, which possibly means i'll speak to him tomorrow.

anyway, i slowly wended my way to wait for the bus, then got in about two more pages of oliver twist. during the walk home, i was reminded that tonight is the jewish bonfire night, celebrating a remarkable (celebrating something unremarkable would be silly) victory over the romans... you really should read the entire entry, the last bit is especially true and quite frightening when you're not used to little kids doing such serious scavenging!

and my apartment's as i left it!

pity about missing all the fun with the team, but i am rather happy with the work i did. i kind of did some thinking, though, which got me more work to do.
*sigh*
i love this job. and i'm having to think, in new and exciting ways, about internet security :) your timing on the hackers quote was impeccable, zen!

ooh! downloading the final episode of prison break! ooh!

fluttering eyelids

half an hour of continually interrupted rem sleep this morning. my brain and body have the WORST timing.

setting the tone for the day, i spent it all as a zombie. unfortunately, my new team-mates expected me to WORK. the kid left to a week of guard duty in the sticks, continuing to leave me alone to the evil that is developer.

i started the day on base having to defend myself against a retarded monkey in a uniform, who was deeply concerned about my goggles. instead of punching him, which i really wanted to do, i made him look like a complete fool in front of his little friends. not as satisfying as i would like, i hate when people get on my case for shit that doesn't concern them.

fortunately, i found spot's php book, which i've found incredibly useful. cunning language, that.

i worked the WHOLE day. i drank too much coffee, too. then i came here, and spent 4 hours working solidly. now i's a goin' HOME. my graft was good, but it's really way past my bedtime.

adrenaline

i'm completely suped up and ready to fly - the 21st and penultimate episode of prison break is intense as hell. *breathes deeply*

i didn't get as much work done as i would have liked, but at least i have a good game plan. it's now rather late, and i still have to shave and shower - i feel like going for a run, though. that episode just made the last couple worth struggling through. more than made up for it.

*buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

am i repeating myself too much?

wow. "wow" doesn't really cover the extremity of my good mood this morning. i woke up slowly, took my time, and even remembered to write my mommy an email for mother's day.

my way to the base involved lots of head-banging (on the bus too - shameful!) with a big smile on my face. my morning ROCKED... literally, hard-rocked ;)

i abused some of my morning privilege to chill with the mongoose and others in his section, including printing some poetry for my wall (moonflake, tai1, and myrdeminggala's, all stolen from moonflake's poetry corner), and things were great.

then i had to spend the rest of the day (aside from lunch) fighting the urge to rip apart everything i could see. please don't tell me you can't see the resemblance:

=

larry ellison is demonspawn, sent to earth to destroy our civilization as we know it, by torturing software developers until they submit to his will: either leaving the discipline altogether, or becoming subjugated oracle devotees who are convinced that they love what they're doing.

oracle's development tools are the bane of my existence. imagine you're working in an environment, where you need to move some objects from one block to another. in any other visual environment, moving or cutting and pasting may be a bit tricky, but it's definitely possible.

using "oracle developer", i can't copy because i can only have one instance of each of the items i'm referring to. so i do what any rational person does - i cut. then i paste. only no pasting occurs. my items have disappeared. i'm familiar with the undo button, but it's greyed out. my only option is to revert to my last save. ignoring the fact that i hadn't done that yet, i'm still stuck with the same issue once i've sorted that out.

when my violent outbursts began to bother the people in my immediate environment (i promise this isn't the only thing that doesn't work properly), they tried to tell me that i was doing something wrong. i obligingly let them try to do it "their" way. not one person managed to do anything. and i stopped being the only person making a noise.

"maybe it's your pc? i've never had that happen to me before!"
because you've never tried it before. somehow. the guy who said that opened the original file on his pc, and the same thing happened.

eventually i had to redefine each item individually - because it's somebody else's code, that meant figuring it all out first. that wasted more time. then i wasted over an hour on something because the guy in charge of operations forgot to show me something important.

i didn't notice the time until he did - by which stage i was late for work. so i rushed to the bus, more head-banging and feeling better for not having to deal with satan's masterful plan to reduce our tech-workforce to blubbering crazy homeless people, and got to work in time for a serious meeting.

the meeting lasted about an hour and a half, and i'm still not quite sure that we agreed on anything. i'm very confused.

fortunately, i discovered that i did something right (by accident, i promise!), and the work i was assigned to do today i completed on thursday. yippee!!

made of marshmallows

i got around to those work-relateds, and i completed them - in my opinion, of course - quite nicely.

i spoke to my mom for a while, we made holiday plans and discussed idiotic things. we got into a discussion about the apartment my parents own in israel: my father, who thank the lord has departed, in his infinite lack of compassion and wisdom, left sweet bugger-all to anyone except my brother. my sister is the one in the family who really needs it - she has three kids she's been (and still is) supporting, and they need monies to get educated. now, this wouldn't be too much of a problem if my brother wasn't selfish and completely unsympathetic.

the way we understood it, because the apartment wasn't mentioned in the will, its value should have been split between us four siblings. i was relying on that to be able to pay back my mom (it's mother's day tomorrow!) for my education, but it turns out that legally the will did cover that. swak.

the positive that came out of that conversation: my mother, sister and i form the core of my immediate family, and although times are and have been rough, we're okay. her kids are mostly okay, and beginning to take charge of their lives. i'm okay. my mother's okay. and that really is the bottom line. and at least (when it's necessary and i'm out the army and on my feet) my sister's kids have someone to go to when they need help (me).

i phoned about viewing an apartment, but the guy told me to call during the week. then it took forever to get going to the lizard... primarily because i was being all relaxed, but also because the drawstring on my pants broke, and it took me forever to figure out a way to thread some rope (the spacing is PERFECT for string, which made this more complicated). i am mcguyver with my lighter and a bic pen.

i took a slow walk to the lizard, and all in all it was fun. it was a nice crowd, the music was good as usual, and some interesting people showed up to keep me occupied.



after a shooter and two beers, on top of a long week and some hardcore weekend, and a never-ending walk home, i feel like i've taken two strong doses of mdma. i'm made of marshmallows, i'm warm and comfortable and everything in my mind is slow and squishy. and i like it. to shower! to brush my teeth! to sleep so well i cry in the morning!

did it really all begin with chilli fries?

no. it really all began with a guiness. then came the chilli fries.

i napped the entire afternoon, eventually getting up and ready... lazily... and walking... lazily... into tel aviv. i had an hour to kill before meeting up with my cousins, so i walked down to the beach-front and enjoyed guiness and chilli fries while catching the tail-end of the sunset.

it was very nice.

she called me, and began the conversation by calling me all sorts of names. then she asked why i would do something as stupid as leaving my current apartment. so i told her. she became more amiable, eventually laughing at my situation. much better, that is.

i then went to meet the cousins, and we spent about 2 hours playing pool. and discussing personal and family matters. it was fun! i haven't seen them in years, and there was plenty for us to be shocked and horrified about.

i got a package from my mommy. including dubbel zoute drop. YEAH!!

on the way to the zamir, i met up with a guy from our base, and we side-tracked a bit to a nice little bar on king george. had a drink - he kept thpitting while he talked, drove me insane - and then headed for the party.

it was a slow starter, but it picked up nicely, and i had a LOT of fun. eventually we were joined by the mongoose and his girlfriend: the mongoose told me to go hit on her, so i walked up to her and told her i'm willing to bet that i kiss better than her. didn't work, which is a good thing ;)

what i was thinking about a lot during the night:
every good-looking girl in the club. i managed to find at least one thing about each one that i found a turn-off. no shit. i'm going to be lonely this year.

some songs really got me good - one in particular is panic! at the disco - i write sins not tragedies. and my chemical romance - helena's good too.

so the mongoose and co gave me a ride home, and i showered and crashed. i just got up a couple of hours ago, and aside from not having done any of the work-relateds that i should have, i've finally seen the 20th episode of prison break. good thing i was warned i'd be annoyed. DAMN. i have to see the 21st, and then close the goddamn door on it.

you can't stop me!

[image left out on account of my wondering how odd it would look if i suddenly stopped putting 'em in. but i don't think i'll stop putting 'em in. i feel like something's lacking. is it just me?]

who slept brilliantly?

i'm listening to guano apes - planet of the apes, part of the new additionsto my collection consisting of:
slipknot - 9.0: live,
guns 'n roses - greatest hits,
empire of the sun,
apocalypse now redux.
i'm very happy with my new purchases, and am now out of coupons.

so i made some phone calls about apartments, and went through to azrieli. great breakfast - it's becoming traditional to eat at shinto - and then tower records. then i did some normal shopping, and came back. i've now got a working light above my bed (for when i have electricity :P), i've hung out the washing, and i think it's naptime.

tuned in!

almost turned on, but mostly excited. right now i'm happily bouncing in my seat to tune raider's set on mutha fm, and she's doing a fine job of putting on grindingly funkalicious beats. wicked!

straight after posting, i finished cleaning up and doing a final debugging. as far as my job is concerned, i'm all done! wheeeee! and it's SO pretty. i - am - thrilled.

i rushed off, actually having to sprint a bit to catch the bus, and have gotten home to electricity and good music. i'll get around to showering and crashing, but right now things are just dandy ^_^

rend(er)ing (torn)

i had to play a bit more empire at war last night. i discovered that tutorial 3 is just as boring the second time around... and having more of a clue made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

i hope that's just because it's the tutorial.

so i got to sleep around 1.30, and woke up at 6.30. i made it to the base on time, made myself a sammich, and went to the inspection. as i'm no longer allowed to go the firing range (me being an exemptionist and all), just before the discipline commander arrived i made a show of tearing up my firing range report into tiny pieces, to everyone's great amusement.

when it finally came to my turn, after half an hour, he asked it of me - so i gave him my exemption papers.
"what's your point?" he asked. "show me your report."
"i don't need one! i'm not allowed to go!"
"bullshit. i *know* how this works."

"oh, shit" i thought.

fortunately i managed to appease him by being enthusiastic and asking him to help me get organized... good thing i didn't have to fake that, i actually enjoy the range. and the new range is awesome - it's somewhat like laser-quest, with a modified REAL m-16, and a virtual range filled with terrorists popping out at you. so that's on the menu for next week ^_^

i spent the day unhappily in the office. lots and lots and lots of work. no downtime. and i was wasted from the very start. umm. i suppose i enjoyed some bonding with my teammates - they're starting to enjoy my wackiness and they're getting into the spirit of things :)

a few of us went out for lunch, and i am fascinated by the amount the i ate. i don't remember when last i managed to get that much food down - it was all good, and i was actually capable of continuing!

work tonight has been great. i really am almost done, and the support from overseas has been agreeable - they've realized that my requests aren't at all arbitrary, and they're putting them into the upcoming release. yeah!

and aside from that, i've gotten to the stage of cleaning up my testing code and making it pretty. i like this stage :D

a little earlier, i took a break with one of the guys here and went through to the lizard to say hi and have a beer. the mongoose was "too busy" to talk, but fortunately i got an early warning not to go to the party there tonight (not that i have the energy): it's a drag party. i think i'll pass, thanks.

righty-ho, back to work i go.

i can't think of an appropriate title

it's hard to describe the feeling of coming home, after a long day, and being grateful for electricity.

having said that...

i blame the following on my still being shocked about two days ago: i obviously missed the part where after agreeing to take the tenants into account, they warned us to keep everything covered in plastic. i walked in to discover that sometime today, it rained wet cement in my apartment. my favourite (and almost famous) pvc jacket is now rock solid. and a very dirty grey.

not that i want to seem unappreciative or anything, but they are so paying to replace it. but i'm fucked if *i* know where to get a new one.

--- rant rant rave rant --

anyway, this morning was fantastic. i was comfortable brushing my teeth, using the toilet, and getting dressed with music in the background. and i'd slept well.

i got to the base more or less on time... only half an hour late, because we got stuck in a traffic jam. right outside the main gate. and the bus driver wouldn't open the doors. i was going to say let us alight, but there's something about that that doesn't seem right. sorry for the rhyming. and sorry for pointing it out.

the kid put his back out weight training last night. when he described the event, and informed me that it occurred on the last of the set, i gently reminded him that if he'd done any more than that it would have been rather silly.

anyway, he got three days off - next time my neck's out, i'm definitely doing the same.

i had to.

i spent the day erasing emails, being cheeky to my previous section commander, double-checking code that i didn't understand, and chilling with anybody i could find.

during one of these periods of nothing, i was sitting with some girls and talking loads of trollop. some guys rocked up, and i was apparently the only one there who didn't notice their strange behaviour. it appears that they're "undercover", and had come to pay us a visit and test us for malicious qualities and subversive behaviour.

i probably shouldn't have told them my ideas for being released on "mentally unfit". whatever. although i would have felt better if i hadn't mentioned duck porn.

i went straight to work, and work was good. i got some serious kinks worked out, and it looks like there's a chance that i'll be done by the weekend. in which case, i'm going to be relieved of real programming as they abuse me with php.

i almost missed my stop on the way home, and i blame oliver twist. every chapter sucks me in completely... what a great read! although i could do with a bit more punctuation sometimes, the man certainly knows how to lengthen a sentence to rediculous, erm, lengths. that's me being literary for you.

drum tobacco. after rolling a not-bad ciggy and enjoying it, i thought i'd buy some - i remembered it being cheaper than normal cigarettes.

not at NIS 50 (about R75) for standard-sized shag. cheeky fuckers!

an angel doesn't make love...

... an angel is love! name THAT movie.

well, it doesn't mean that i trust those insidious darths (ooh-err... maybe a little too much star wars, too soon). but i can say that having electricity makes me feel like a 'bean again!

now for a shower, a shave, some dishwashing, some gaming, and some online apartment-hunting.

okay, scratch the gaming, i need to sleep!