Let's talk about you...

[bdi]

About 3 months ago a lot of people here had started new jobs and lives were going in a lot of new directions. Well, it seems that most of those directions are moving away from the forums because there are less and less posts. So, whenever you get a chance, let's hear about it. How are things going for everyone? Enjoying it. New plans for the future? Anything new and exciting coming up for anyone?

[Ankou]

Things are going... not sure yet if they're good or bad. So many crazy things happened for me all at once that it was almost too much to take on. Because of that I'm still not sure how "good" the job I started is.

On the one hand there's never going to be a shortage of work. I was told that the site(s) basically needed a face lift. Then when I got down to looking at the HTML I noticed that a face lift is the last thing theses sites need. The coding is SO bad it makes me sick. And images are being used for way too much - heading tags use to be all images but I'm slowly taking care of that as time allows.

The worst thing though is that I've hardly had any time to work on the site. I keep getting "pushed" into other roles that aren't really web related. Image work for the magazine, created a DVD for them, helping the IT guys with stuff, etc... so that's a bit frustrating.

The one good thing is that I can't help but look like a god to them. Since no one there has any (real) web experience they don't realize how quickly someone who's been doing it for 10 years can make the changes they need. What use to take the previous guy a week to do takes me a few hours. No, I'm not joking either. It comes down to the shortcuts I know and the stockpile of code that I have from all the years of doing this.

Do I enjoy the job? No, not really. It's only been a couple of months and in that time they've already sucked all the passion I had for web design out of me. Mainly because they don't see the potential of their site if they'd just let me make some changes. But the most common reply to my suggestions is, "No we like it the way it is." Then why hire someone to do the site if you don't want to make changes???

I considered going back to running my own business but that would be drumming up new clients and/or getting back the old ones. Which means that even if I started a project today it could take a while to get back to making the money I was before. So I think I'll float on this job for a while and see if things get better and in the mean time start looking for side work. Of course that's once everything else in my life that was turned upside down gets put back into place.

New and excting things coming up... I leave for New Jersey/New York Thursday night. My first time out there and I'm ready to live it up! I bought a digital camera about 2 months ago and I've been snapping shots like a mad man with it. So Jersey and New York look out because I'm coming and looking for some good shots.

Other than that.... not much else that I can think of that's worth mentioning.

[Algorithms]

Things are good. The startup is going good, finally making some profits. The consulting is keeping me extra busy. Recently started offering on-site training for corporations looking to use Python.

Working on writing a book about developing highly available, scalable services in Python and C++

Been fortunate enough to go on a couple vacations lately.

I read the forums still, but as you noticed the Python and C++ forums have been kinda dead, hehe, so I don't post much.

Algo

[WannaBe]

Lets see... At home I been fading through many wip (work-in-progress) projects; as starting new ones :-S

My game engine is going into its third revision.
Resource Data file format is in its second.
Working on four php based web projects; all that do different things :-S.
Also working on a multi-sql browser just for giggles.

Work wise I've been going head deep in networking code in VB6 and VB .NET '05 (learning .NET as I go).
Multi-Threading in VB .NET is slick

Life wise; as most know I moved from CO to CA , room-mates as you know him (beam-me-up Scotty) 'Sentax'. Which I probably drive him up the wall. ;-D

Oh I got a speeding ticket that caused me to get my drivers license suspended for a year :-S for those that don't know.

Sold my car (1971 Ford LTD) for $50!

umm.... yeah I mostly just sit in front of a computer so I'm boring. leave me be.

I would probably be posting question topics but I seem to ask Josh first... maybe I should just post anyway? more content right?

#Peaches for Now#

[theraje]

Recently got over a small bout with Bell's Palsy (lateral facial paralysis - couldn't move the right side of my face) caused by an ear infection. It only lasted about a week-and-a-half, where it normally lasts at least a couple months.

Asked a couple girls out (no, not at the same time... I'm not Adam ), but got turned down both times. I'm 26 now, and have never been on a date... yeah, I think if I'm destined to die during sex, it will be while masturbating.

I've also been doing a lot of research into programming for mobile phones. The BREW (C/C++) stuff seems like a lot of headache-inducing garbage (not to mention very expensive). The J2ME (Java) stuff seems about the same, but cheaper. Either way, I get to upgrade my phone, so that might be cool.

Other than that, I've just been fooling around on my XBox 360. Oblivion FTW!

[bdi]

Ankou -
It sounds like you are dealing with one of the pains of going from working on your own to working in a company. Yeah, I feel for you there. Generally, especially in small companies, the stuff just doubles over from one thing to another, and you're not allowed a lot of freedoms. There are ways to make time for those things though. Remember your comment about being a miracle worker and far exceeding expectations. Remember that you can still exceed expectations without exceeding them by quite so much. And there you just created some time to fix those things that you know will form a foundation for your future supporting the site.

Have fun on the trip. I probably already missed you, but I'm sure you will give us an update of how it was once you get back. We need more stories around here, especially happy ones.


Algorithms - Alright, stop the press! Startup? Did you tell us about that? Or maybe it was during the time I wasn't visiting forums while I tried to put things back together. At any rate, I'd love to hear more about it. Is that the consulting? High Availability and Scalability are what it's all about in corporate networking environments. If you can push those things it will go well.

Congrats on the vacations too! You can't work all the time, and while that's easy to tell other people it's always hard to fit it in yourself. It's amazing how different you can look at things after you get back and your mind is clear. Any good stories? Go crocodile wrangling or anything fun like that?


Wannabe -
You're a programaholic. Maybe you should ask some of those questions here, or submit solutions as content or source code. Then others can learn from them too.

Congrats on the job. Of course, I've said that before. Driving over 100 will get your license suspended. Just learn from it and the year will go by fast. Congrats on the $50. I would be tempted to frame it and put it on the wall along with a photo of the car.


theraje -
Good to know the Bell's Palsy is cleared up. I'd swear there were a lot of times I meant to ask and would forget until you mentioned it. Sorry about that. Maybe you should try the asking a few girls out at the same time. You never know, they might be into that.

I talk to you way to much on IM to come up with a good response here.

[Ankou]

Didn't miss me yet, I leave tonight after work. I thought I'd check in here before I left for work this morning. I'll have some stories (and pictures) when I get back.

You're right about the job, of course. It's a big transition going from working for yourself and calling all the shots to being told what to work on, and not only that when it's "Good Enough". I'm not a "Good Enough" kind of web designer. I think it's necessary to go above and beyond what the user expects. If you can't do that then at least make a site they'll want to use - I don't get to do either.


So bdi - how's things with you?

[bdi]

[natriss102]

I'm enjoying school (not really... that's not really possible). In fact I have a 150 question fill-in-the-blank test tomorrow in American History. Kudos to anyone who knows who Sandra Day O'Conner is without looking her up. I'm working now (that summer's over... go figure) at Sonic. Go ahead, laugh it up but at least I'm in the company of fellow teens. It's a showing of "clerks II" every time.

I haven't done any coding in what seems like forever. Well, I'm in Basic Programing Concepts at school and, you guessed it, we're working with BASIC. I learned most of that stuff back in 6th grade, so it's fairly smooth sailing. Plus I'm not really one of the nerdier kids in that class . It's sad though. I've basically thown in the towel on the-debriefing... it's one year registation date just rolled around. Since it's automatic widthdrawl, I'm now paying $80 for an error 404 page . Anybody got any beginner projects? I might as well make use of that space.

Things are slowly improving as time goes by. Last December marked the beginning of a pretty big recession in my happiness and view of life which reached it's trogh over the summer. Funny how things can go from bad to worse. Friends betraying you, rejected by organizations and people, and the general decline of self-worth you get from spending too much time sitting on your ass by yourself. But I talked to a few VIPs and staightened a few things out, getting my life back in order... or at least at a managible level.

My schedual varies now-a-days. Either I'm bored out of my mind or I'm so busy I don't have time to think. Lately it's been more of the bored part though, as my manager has forgotten to schedual me for the past 2 weeks. Feel free to drop me an im whenever you feel the same way.

Homecoming's coming up. Can I get someone to go with me? I'm taking wagers.

Oh, and someone busted into our school and knocked out a few doors and windows. $30,000 in freakin damages.
...sweet

[aschenta]

A few months ago a friend got me a job in Dearnborn, Michigan doing .NET web development so I moved back to Windsor from Toronto. Moved back in with my mom... I know but I'll save a ton of money and women didn't throw themselves at me before so oh well. The job isn't great but it's a hell of a lot better than my last job and significantly higher pay too. Have to cross the border twice a day which sucks major. Takes longer and longer as the US gets more paranoid... stupid trucks. On the bright side I did get to lease a new car (shown below). The insurance is killer though


(2007 Dodge Caliber)

[theraje]

That's one sweet car. I'm envious.

[natriss102]

jelous too

[bdi]

[theraje]

[WbHack]

I don't program a damned thing anymore, but i do run the occasional SQL query and/or figure out a proc for someone. Seattle going well (i've been on long term assignment for 5 mos)... probably will be a job offer this week, actually. came home to take inventory of my stuff, because what i pay 795/month for in tucson equates to about half there... so i need to dump a full bedroom and half my furniture before going.

[Hrqls]

uhm ... will keep it short

- bought a new house (its still being built, probably ready in the summer of 2007), busy with sorting out the new kitchen, bathroom and garden (and rest of the house )

- very busy at work, lots of projects, too busy so that my course of C# has been postponed to december , learning C# by trial and error

- been to china for 2 weeks in august, still have to sort through my pictures (3000+, 9+gb), but enjoying them in my screensaver

- trying to get some high rankings on brainking in my spare time

- reading assassins apprentice by robin hobb again (and noticing that she has signed it with "to my beloved boyfriend" for me (ok my gf made her write that in a signing session, but its fun to read it the other way as well )



(hmm at brainking there are interviews being done ... 1 person is picked, everyone can submit questions for that person (to the one who will be doing the interview), the picked one will answer them (or some ) and it will be posted somewhere .. a bit like this thread )

[bdi]

[Hrqls]

i will ask around here in the netherlands if they ever heard of any narf

sure you can have the old house .. its an appartment (a bit more than 100 square meter, 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 bathroom without bath (but with shower, without shower cabin, so you can pretend to be the whole bathroom to be a large shower cabin ), 1 small kitchen (open to the living room), 1 toilet (yep thats bad, especially for my gf after we ate curry ), 1 large walk-in cabin, 1 small room (for washer/drier/ironing/..), a balcony to the east, and a small cabin downstairs (hmm btw its on the 7th floor (6e verdieping in dutch), but there is an elevator which works most of the time ), rent = 580 euro

(it doesnt come with a job though .. sorry )

[Moto]

Hey people,

This used to be OneAngryGoat, and all those other usernames I couldn't keep track of.

I've been out of programming for awhile, I think my last job using any programming was using VB for GIS for a public works department. That contract ended over a year ago. Things have been pretty tight this last year, and the winter was pretty rough for finding work, but things are starting to get busy again, finally.

Recently wrote a function to automatically generate random set lists using VBA for excel for a band, and was surprised that I was able to pull it off, I never was very good at that sort of thing.

Anyway, Adam, I see you're back in the motor city area, I know someone who sometimes hires contract programmers there, if you're interested.

Take care everybody,

John

[WannaBe]

I never thought behind "OneAngryGoat" would be "John"

Yo, I think everyone left....