ENOUGH!!!!

Hmmm..... told some people the next time they hear about me & tihngs at school it'll probably be on the news...

As in, I've finally snapped and I'm taking people with me.

There's 2 people in this room at 7:45 in the morning. 34 computers. 1 faulty monitor. Guess where the other guy's sitting?

The monitor blinks and someone at some point decided the best way to handle the blinking was to smack your hand on the monitor.

2 people. 34 computers. WAH-BANG!

I'm about to snap.

The Axe.... It does fall...

Ever have to turn on a friend for the sake of others? I mentioned in my previous post that we have 2 idiots on our production project for graduation who have cost us countless hours of prep work for a project due in 5 days.

5 days!

After confronting them with the information on Wednesday, one didn't even bother coming in on Friday to continue working. All his stuff is missing and when we finally heard from him almost 3 hours after he was to arrive, he said it should all be there. So, again, 3 more wasted hours.

Yeah, I considered this guy a friend, but he's cost the rest of us too much time and too much stress. To me, that's just as bad a stab in the back as anything else.

So, I've asked him to be "fired" from our team.

That means he doesn't graduate with the rest of us. It's a tough decision to make, but in making it I lost one friend and gained 16 others.

Gonna be an interesting week.

Call Me Grumpy

Reading another blog (hey brat) about complaining and not being able to do anything about it and had to share a story from yesterday's production class and how I got a little too 'shouty' with some of the people... who'd probably just end up fired if this were the real world.

We've been having a problem with the overall 'layout' of our production. The file is only available to one person at a time, and technically, we only have one person working on it. A few weks ago, we encountered a major problem and we needed to delete the majority of the contents of the file and re-import each piece with an extra piece of coding. Time-consuming, for sure, and the rest of this poor guy's tasks have taken a backseat while we fix this problem.

For my graduation portfolio, I'm using the same program and I discovered I can have more than one instance of the program open at the same time and work on one aspect in one window and somethign completely different in the other. As long as I save them under different file names, I can then copy and paste from one to the other later on. So, now we know that more than person can work on the file at one time. My immediate subordinates were ecstatic because it meant that we can effectively increase productivity by 500% at the least. I also did some research and found a quick fix to the problem we encountered before which meant I could fix the problem in 30 minutes instead of the 6 weeks it's taken this one guy.

Another guy is supposed to be helping him with the file and he's been slacking as normal (see, I said they'd be fired). Well, I sit down to talk to these two about the fixes we've found and how to best implement them and what they can expect to happen over the next week (our production is almost on schedule and is set to wrap on August 25).

They both knew about the fixes months ago. They just didn't think anyone would care.

I.
Could.
Kill.

6 weeks we've been waiting on a major fix that should have taken 30 minutes and they knew.

17 weeks we've been waiting for a major compilation of the file and they knew. The knew they could have several people work on it and they failed to tell anyone. Geez!

And people wonder why I was yelling at them.

You call that an interview?

Interview
n 1: the questioning of a person (or a conversation in which information is elicited); often conducted by journalists; "my interviews with teen-agers revealed a weakening of religious bonds" 2: a conference (usually with someone important); "he had a consultation with the judge"; "he requested an audience with the king" [syn: consultation, audience] v 1: conduct an interview in television, newspaper, and radio reporting [syn: question] 2: discuss formally with (somebody) for the purpose of an evaluation; "We interviewed the job candidates" 3: go for an interview in the hope of being hired; "The job candidate interviewed everywhere"

So, I have my exit interview tomorrow as school is quickly coming to a close. Some of my classmates, knowing my lengthy work experience, asked me just what an exit interview was all about. So, I explained to them that it was basically a 'post-mortem' of someone's career: what was good, what was bad... how improvements can be made.

The career counsellors at my school apparently don't know the definition of 'interview.' Some classmates had their 'interview' today, which consisted of 15 minutes of "facts" from the counsellors (including the large percentage of grads from June who are now employed... 2 of them as grocery clerks) and then 30 minutes of signing contracts, release forms, and such.

So much for questions and answers.... idiots.

I know one guy who's asked them not to bother helping him find a job.

Breathing is Temporary

So, the "big-date-that-none-of-us-knew-about" came and went with little to actually do. Things were reviewed and accepted as they were and then we were told "you have a week" to clean things up. BS.

The second part of my Friday had a short presentation (the really big one for the project is August 25th, so don't expect any news about that one until the 25th or 26th) and we were given the thumbs up on our project. Yay. Too tired to be any more enthusiastic than that.

On Monday, the completion date of August 17th for all of our portfolio items was pushed back to September 11, which is a week before the semester ends. The people who announced it then asked if any of us were concerned about the new due date.

I raised my hand.

I want to know why they couldn't announce this earlier so that every bleary-eyed person in the room hadn't spent the entire weekend awake and stressed trying to complete their work on time. This is the same group of people requesting an exit interview with us tomorrow and think we'll promote this school to others. Fat chance.

So, able to breathe again. For now.

Thursday Marathon

I've been home from class since about 2:00 this afternoon and on the computer almost the entire time and just now taking a break for some food. Grabbed a couple of burritos from Taco Del Mar and have 30 minutes before it's time to get into childcare mode again (oog).

Once 10pm hits, it's straight back to the computers and work, work, work until 6 tomorrow morning when I pack everything up and head to school for a full (ergh) day of classes, which I don't normally have. At 5pm, I head for home, sleep, and maybe a cold beer or two!

Tomorrow's deadline #1 for my portfolio items. We were told on July 3rd that our deadline was the end of August, not the 11th of August...

I'm pissed, but mainly I just feel like dying.

Down

I've really been down on my work as I move ever closer to graduation. I just don't feel like I've progressed at all over the past month or so. We've been given deadlines and although none of those have hit yet, it still bothers me that I'm nowhere near where I think I should be in order to finish everything up.

I have my first deadline on Friday and another one next week, on the 17th. The first deadline is to have one item for our graduation portfolio complete and we were only told this last week. Those of us who are organized have been balancing out all the aspects of our portfolio in order to finish for the 9-week deadlin were originally given (another 3 weeks away). So, at the moment, everything's stalled at 75% completion and suddenly I have a new due date. I'll have something done, but maybe this will convince the instructor that I'm no longer "fine" and maybe some feedback would be helpful at this stage of the game.

Speaking of games....

Our major major graduation project is running fairly smoothly with only minor hiccups over the past couple weeks. It's a big project (in our little world) and we're seeing interest from several companies. I've had a recurring dream where a big-wig decides to hire the entire team and I jump in and say: "Sounds great, but can I make a few suggestions?" --just in order to keep the lazier ones from riding on the success of the majority who have worked their tails off to get this project done.

I can be a bastard when I need to.

Caffeine Free

So 'Sky' asked what was up with 'SC', better known as Sex Caffeine. Sky wants to hear more about SC.

But there is no more.

I wrote her a message in June and never heard back. Nothing. Until last week.

I mentioned in a previous post that my wife was going to be working just down the hall from the offices that SC & I shared. Eventually, I knew, the two would cross paths --but I had no idea what the outcome would be. I got a message from SC the day I knew the 2 had talked and she just wanted to know what I was up to. I just don't feel like replying. 2 years ago, there would've been a quick reply and a reply close to 2 pages in length. Now? Nothing. I've just had enough.

And not just of her, but of a lot of things. I'm just tired.

Past in the Present

Had a blast from the past today.

We took the kids to a local agricultural fair so they could see up close and personal all these farm animals they always see on TV. Yeah, the draft horses and 3,000-pound bull really opened their eyes. It was quite cute and eventually my son insisted he say goodbye to all the animals before we actually left.

While we were making our rounds through the amusement rides, I got a forceful tap on the shoulder and I admit it took me a few moments before I realized it was someone I used to work with a few years ago. I honestly thought she was one of the ones who'd never talk to me again after the rumours started spreading around the office. I'd seen her one day about a month after I left and she kind of jumped and headed off in a different direction. So, either she didn't see me, or she just doesn't care anymore.

Anyway, there she was talking to me and asking how everything was --quite surprising-- and we ended up chatting while our kids had a chance to go on some rides. She was pregnant when I'd left work.

It felt good to know that people still think of me and, better yet, think fondly of me. I get confused some days when it seems I've sent an email (just a quick "hey" message) and I get no response. I usually end up deleting those people from my contact list. But here, today, was the second person in a week to start asking me questions.

The other one was Sex Caffeine.

I haven't replied to her message though.

Time to Rest

Originally my post today was going to be about my birthday yesterday, even though the 'party' is tonight.

My cat died this morning. He was 12 years old, suffering from diabetes and a few days ago had one too many ravenous attacks on food mistakenly left out . My assumption is the 1-square foot or so of aluminum foil he ingested finally did him in. He could barely walk anymore and was struggling and drooling with every motion. He didn't even want breakfast, which is a far cry from where he was just a few days ago. He'd run over his brother just to get at the food. Today, he just nudged his brother's shoulder (my assumption, he most likely was just falling over and hit his brother) and made his way out of the room.

He's gone now. He gets to rest and not suffer any longer. I'm taking this a lot harder than I thought. His brother's still so strong and vibrant and there was just no comparison between them anymore. He literally wasted away in front of us and was maybe 1/4 of his weight from a year ago.

My mother's taking care of everything now that it's over. The rest of my life can't hold for me to handle anything and I have to put on a brave face this afternoon for a ton of production things.

I'll miss being greeted at the door at the end of a hard day and harder drive.

Rest in peace, buddy. You've earned it.

No Boom

Yeah, the house thing didn't happen. As usually happens, it was refreshed and transferred to a new owner 7 hours after it was ready to collapse. So, nothing happened.

Pooey.

Mental Breaks

I'm working on one computer and taking mental breaks on this one. I think I mentioned before that I'd gotten a new system for my "birthday" (which is actually this week) a few months ago. I'm working on various 3D models and such on it and on this one, answering a multitude of emails and MSN chats.

I also have an online game running at the same time. It's an online RPG which has been around for a very, very long time and has some unique aspects to it: like building/designing your own home.

My character has a very nice house on the beach of an island. It's fairly quiet and kind of remote from the busier areas of the "world." I like it. I wish I could keep more stuff in it, but I'm usually hitting the maximum limit for the home. I have a second account too, with I think I bigger home. It's in a bad location, though. Not for other players, but monsters that 'spawn' right outside the door. Think of it like a log cabin in the woods, but grizzly bears enjoy sunning on your front proch.

Anyway, I've often heard of "player run" events when a house collapses due to age. Essentially, it means the owner has either moved to a new location ~or~ they've stopped playing altogether and their account is now cancelled and the house is decrepit. Whatever the case, when these houses collapse, it becomes an event because there's usually something valuable inside that people can try and grab when the house finally goes down. Traditionally, there are a huge number of player-killers waiting to murder anyone trying to grab something so the entire area turns into a gigantic battle zone. Every once in a while, though, a house collapses in a safe zone. And I'm watching one of those right now.

The way a house collapse works is that the house sign states that the house is "like new" for an hour, then it progressively gets worse. It's not an instant thing, though. It can take up to ten days as it goes slightly worn, somewhat worn, fairly worn, and greatly worn. Each stage takes 1-2 days to occur. It's usually 24-36 hours for each stage. 10:30 yesterday morning it went from 'Fairly' to 'Greatly' and less than 45 minutes ago, it finally went to the final stage: "In Danger of Collapse."

So, one of my mental breaks is watching/waiting for the house to fall. I have a characterwho's hiding just outside the house and I'll activate another character on a different account who will move in with a couple of pack horses to try and grab as much as humanly possible!

So far, there's only one other person waiting. But this final stage can be anywhere from 12-24 hours to finally collapse. Obviously, I"m "busy" tomorrow morning, but I hope it happens tonight instead.... Gonna be a long night, but it could pay off if I get something good!

My other mental break/distraction these days is the daily Sudoku in our morning paper. From Monday through Sunday, the puzzles get progressively more difficult and I'll admit I didn't like doing them when I first tried them a few months ago. 2 weeks ago, I sat down to really try and managed to finish every one through every level of difficulty. It's a good break as I can concentrate on something that's entirely different than anything else I'm working on at the moment.

And there was this lengthy useless post --yet another break! :)

Where I R

I'm losing track of days at the moment. I've been busy, very busy, with school and it eats into a lot of my time. I'm not forsaking my family at the moment either, though, as I usually take care of the kids all afternoon and evening on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This means if I'm working on my homework (which essentially is 6 hours' worth a day), I'm doing it until 2am or so. It works fine on Monday nights, but Tuesday nights are nasty because I have to get up to commute to school Wednesday morning at 5. So, if I'm lucky I'm getting 3 hours' sleep between 2am and 5am Wednesday morning. Yeah.... not good. Needless to say, I'm not getting much work done as I'm pretty tired these days by 1am.

The heat's not helping with sleep either. I didn't sleep at all Sunday night/Monday morning and then spent 2 extra hours at school in a meeting. It was a one-time-only meeting, so I couldn't miss it. It was with a producer from THE big company in the area and I didn't want to pass it up. WE had a good talk and I felt better afterward, but couldn't wait to get home and grab some sleep.

And, as if with traffice in the area, even leaving just after 2pm, it took 2 hours to get home. I have to write my rant on traffic very, very soon.

School's going fairly well, but I feel like I'm falling behind schedule now. Apparently, I'm supposed to have my first "item" complete for my demo reel by Monday. It was supposed to be the following Monday, but the instructor forgot when the holiday was so she moved everything up a week. Nurtz.

Technically I have 75% of my portfolio demo reel stuff done. But whether or not I have one 'complete' item.... I'm not so sure. Time will tell, I guess.

I am having difficulty with the one instructor from the class I've switched sections on twice. He has a tendency, after showing us how to do something in class, to say "give it a try." What he should say is "Do it. And I'll come around and see how you're doing with it." He doesn't, so if we feel it's not helping us with our portfolio items, we ignore it. Then he gets mad at us for not having it ready next class. And that comes with a lengthy lecture about our attitude toward work and how we're not going to make it in the industry if we don't do what we're told. Now we're getitng much more defensive about it, though. We've argued with him that he's showing us something that isn't compatible for a majority of the class and we're not seeing how it could be useful to what we're doing. If he just switched a few things around, everyone would listen to him and do what's asked of us, but for now... it doesn't fit. So it ain't happening.

Still thinking about my driving rant.

Schedule Changes

So, when I started my final semester, I had a class Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday afternoon.

It sucked.

After successfully challenging the latest fluff course (yay!), I got to knock off the Tuesday morning slot. Nothing wrong with having Tuesdays off, eh?

My Thursday morning class was risky. We'd heard on our first day that 'Loser Boy' had passed yet another course because the instructor didn't want to teach him again. Ugh. There are only 2 sections for this course and they both occur on Thursdays. So, I had a 50-50 chance of having Loser Boy in a class yet again this semester. Is it too much to ask for a semester free from him??

With class starting at 8:30, I was well early and set up to start my day by 7:30. At 8am, Loser Boy walked into the computer lab and I knew my day was ruined. The registration office opened at 9 and I was standing there when the windows opened, with a completed section transfer request form in-hand. My "reason" for switching sections? The traffic --in the mornings it's horrible (which I'll discuss later). So, no problem. I got my section switched (the Dean was standing there too when the office opened. As I discovered over the rest of class that day, 5 others also switched. And it was all because of Loser Boy.

So, into week #2 we go and I'm now scheduled for the Thursday afternoon class. I leave at 11 to get to a 1pm class (yep, gave myself 2 hours to get the 60km to class) and arrived a few minutes late thanks to bad traffic and skirting around an accident only to be caught by a train. Needless to say, I was incredibly p.o.'d by the time I arrived in class and some of my classmates saw how mad I was. "Yeah," said one, "I'd be mad too." This confused me because I hadn't explained to anyone why I was running so late.... then I looked across the lab and there sat Loser Boy.

He'd switched from the mornings as well.

That could be the end of the story, miserable as it is.... But, it's not. The instructor was incredibly confused as there was barely anyone left in the morning and nearly standing room only in the afternoon. He muttered that he hoped some people would switch back... and I was quick to volunteer. And 3 others followed suit.

So, there's the end. I'm in on Thursday mornings again and hopefully Loser Boy hasn't done the same. The Dean, upon receiving my request to switch back, had a good laugh --I'm sure he knows why.

Helmet.... Anywhere a helmet?

Once again, my grad project has taken on babysitting proportions once again. Although I'm the #1 guy on the team, I have 3 subordinates working more directly with departmental leaders. 2 of these leads quit over our 2-week break (and I was happy to see them go as they were both incredibly disorganized)... one of them was responsible for all the art in our project, but kept losing work that people had done. So, when we needed to refer to things, it was nowhere to be found. So, then a whole new piece would need to be done, taking precious time away from other work....

We can't find those either.

The other guy was responsible for writing up a 30-or-so-page document explaining the design process behind our project and to add a "story" to give some credence/logic to what we were doing. He failed miserably and 4 people trying to help had their suggestions set aside and never "sussed out" enough for anyone's taste. It got so bad, that when we asked him to describe some characteristics about a specific person in the design, he couldn't do it. So, he was gone too.

So, now we have 2 new people and I really wonder how much futher along we'd be if they'd been in control of their areas from the start. They're both incredibly organized and totally dedicated (but not to a fault, they're both willing to step away whenever necessary, which is good: we can't have an emotional connection or people fall apart when basic pieces are cut).

The problem now is: the 2 guys who are out are causing nothing but trouble. They're spreading rumours about things changing and generally freaking out a number of people on the project. No one likes hearing about change, but they don't seem to understand how little time we have left until mid-September. Hell, this is supposed to be done in August!

So, once again I'm dealing with children in their 20s.... I really hate it.

Through to the next round

It was late yesterday, with the course challenge deadline looming, that I finally got confirmation that my challenge was accepted.

Mine was the only one accepted. 6 others were denied. The Dean refused to review the challenge requests himself mainly in part because most students in the program complained about the class, seeing it as a waste of time & money.

As long as I'm out, that's all I care about. Mean? Yes, but there are some who really need the course... and I just proved that the squeaky wheel doesn't always get the grease.

Welcome to the real world, kids. Wear a helmet.

Waiting Game

My course challenge request is in and now I play the waiting game to see what's up. The Dean said he wouldn't look at it --even though he's been talking to me for over a month about expecting me to challenge. He's passed it off to a career counsellor to see if I have enough to challenge.

If he doesn't act as an advocate for me, I go above his head.

The class was actually scheduled for this afternoon, but I didn't bother going. Even if after fighting for the course challenge, I still probably won't go. If I don't officially graduate because I wouldn't take a course that has no meaning to my program --so be it. It's just another lame-ass excuse of a class this school has forced us to take.

If I'd known a year ago about course challenges, I would've skipped a couple other horrible Tuesday classes too.

Grr. More on this (get it? moron?) later...

Forum for all

I'll admit I regularly check a number of forums for sites of interest. I check a couple of hockey forums (although I tend to stray if there's too many Go Leafs! posts) and I check a great deal of comic book forums. Those ones surprise me the most. I remember when I was a kid one of the reasons I was told I had excellent spelling skills was because I actively read. I read comics and some books, but mainly comics. But reading those forums.... ooh me head!

I have to say, though, that there's been some mighty fine quotes of late:

From a comics forum, on a thread regarding 'Da Vinci Code and the Holy Bible:

"I read the Bible. But I'm a comic reader. When Jesus died, I said to myself 'No way is he staying dead.'"

And from a hockey forum, regarding free agency signings:

"Anyone who uses the phrase 'most stupidest' must have a point."

Sorry, I just had to share because they've had me giggling for hours.

A Pox..... Now

My daughter's best friend came down with chicken pox a couple days before my last semester ended the second week of June. So, one of my "plans" over the break was to take care of my little girl with yet another illness. Sure enough, just before my break, she got sick.

It wasn't chicken pox, though. She had an ear/throat infection, which she gets at least twice a year. So, we just waited for the spots to appear.

On Saturday, I made the traditional pancakes and strawberries for our Canada Day breakfast (been doing it for about 7 years now). My daughter cam out of her room.... covered in spots. She's got the familial timing down, proving once again it's hereditary. Yep, 2 days before I return to the mega workload and stress of my graduating semester, I have a very spotty little girl.

If anyone saw "There's Something About Mary" and Woogie got those nasty boils around his eyes, including one right on the edge of his eyelid.... picture that and you have my baby girl. And, of course, one that close to her eye can't have any calomine lotion on it. So she has to suffer with that one.

So, now according to plan, my son should have the pox around mid-July, just in time (there's that timing thing again) for his birthday. And he's going to be one miserable S.O.B. when he gets them.

My in-laws said he'd be miserable and I simply replied he'll be exactly the same, but with spots.

I Thought Monday was a holiday...

In Canada, our big holiday is July 1, not July 4 like it is in the US. Most places --every place, but my school-- close down on the Monday when July 1 is on a weekend. But, yeah, I'm at school. They shut down on June 30th "for the sake of the students."

Nice.

It's 7:20 and I'm having a bad day.

I got maybe 3 hours' sleep last night (more about that in a later post) and left for school at 6 this morning. My carpool partner moved an hour closer to the school, so he hops the bus to get to class. No more HOV lane for this hoser. Leaving at 6 means I have 2 and a half hours before class starts, which should be just enough time. Forgetting we're the only place open today, it took me about 45 minutes to get here.

So, now that I'm here I can print off my course challenge request. Oh, but wait! Apparently I have no more print credit left. It's day 1 of a new semester and I can't print anything! Then, I figure I'll just put the information on my memory stick and submit that to the Dean. No can do. My memory stick is no longer attached to the lanyard. I've lost it and the homework that was due this morning. Yeah, homework due at 8:30 on day 1. And it's all gone.

I check around campus (I'm one of only 2 people here right now) and it's nowhere where I've walked. I check the car, but seeing as how I only sat in my car, it should be obvious it isn't on the drivers' seat. So, I call home and my wife searches around. No such luck. She checks the garage, but there's nothing there either.

I'm swearing.

I go
back to the car and start rummaging through the trash under the seat (oops --gotta clean that soon) and when I move a gas receipt, something heavy falls from the side of the seat. Sure enough, it's my memory stick somehow caught between receipts from last week's road trip (more on that later too).

So, now I have my memory stick, but no print credits "left" with which to print.

Argh.

And I'm still not looking forward to this semester.