Saturday, June 14, 2008

The good things about my new job:

  • It's nothing but programming. No proposal writing, requirements gathering, design sessions, customer support, etc. like my last job; just the pure unadulterated fun stuff that I like.

  • My time sheet takes about thirty seconds to complete, instead of the fifteen minutes of my last job.

  • Magazines on the lunchroom table include Scientific American, my favorite magazine, which was a good omen on my first day.

  • My boss is wickedly smart. Maybe even the smartest guy I've ever met, and I've met a lot of smart people. But he's also really cool and down-to-earth. It seems like he could do the job of any of the twenty or so people under him, but he doesn't micromanage.

  • There's a MAME arcade emulator machine in the lunchroom (built by same boss). There's also an XBox.

  • I have my pick of hardware, software, and books, plus a hefty yearly training budget.



The bad:

  • Eight hour days instead of the Australian standard of seven and a half. I typically worked that much anyway so it's no big deal.

  • It's all guys, save the receptionist.

  • Pernicious Microsoft influence, now that we've officially been acquired. So far it's been no big deal. We have, though, been "discouraged" from working on open source projects.

  • More pressure. I've already had a few work dreams.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Just got back from a lovely weekend away at a cottage (which was dog-friendly) in the nearby spa resort town of Daylesford. We did a whole lot of nothing for the long weekend, which was nice. The dog enjoyed herself too, but I still hate it that there's no way to explain to her what's going on -- she never knows if we're staying someplace forever or just for a visit.

On the way back we took a stroll around Hanging Rock, but failed to mysteriously disappear.

Interesting disclaimer on TV prior to a program we watched -- it was something like this:
SBS advises Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders that the following program contains voices and depictions of dead people.