October 25, 2007
Dear Everyone:
I finally got a GIL3 computer, but I refused to give up my GIL2 computer, with good reason. (More on that in a bit.) So how do you fit two computers on one desk?
Well, for starters, they’re both laptops, which don’t take up all that much space. And there’s a switchbox that allows me to use the same external keyboard, mouse and monitor for both machines. In addition, for some time now I’ve had a two-tier metal shelf on my desk, so the laptops are sort of set up like bunk beds, one on top and the other below it.
In fact, our manager thought it looked a lot like a server stack. The Information Technology (IT) guy who set the GIL3 laptop up even helped me “stack” them, although he lovingly looped the cable-lock through some power lines while he did it.
So now I can switch back and forth from one computer to the other by quickly hitting a combination of keys on the keyboard. That means the switchbox can sit on the back corner of the desk, behind the monitor where it’s out of the way.
The reason I refused to give up the GIL2 computer is because of something called “eRoom”. (The reason software companies come up with such silly names for their products is because all the really good names were either already taken or “registered” to prevent anyone else from using them.)
eRoom is a “collaboration” tool, meaning it’s a
place to store electronic documents where all the team members can get
to them, regardless of where the team members are physically located.
So we have people in the
Bay Area,
“Hobby” and
However, at the moment, GIL3 and eRoom don’t quite see eye-to-eye. They don’t play well together. And right now, the most important work I’m doing is in eRoom. So I have to use the GIL2 computer to do it.
Remember the
So, while I’m trying to get to know the new Windows Vista operating system, with all its cool features and infuriating idiosyncrasies, I still need to “get the wash out” and that means a lot of bouncing back and forth between the old and the new. As for the File Plan: My “unofficial” metrics show us at rationalizing context diagrams, 99% complete; integrating those rationalizations into the actual File Plan, 96%. As of today. Expect changes tomorrow.
And just in time because we’re going to be having a
full press workshop all next week.
The Good News is: I
don’t have to fly to “Hobby” for it.
Instead, in an effort to cut back on costs, we’re going to have a
“virtual” workshop with the Bay Area folks in
In other news…
The company has a metric called Days Away From Work (DAFW). That means if someone gets injured while on the job, and it results in them being out of the office for one day or more, it counts as a DAFW. Our operating company, Information Technology Company (ITC) recently passed a milestone of 4 million hours without a DAFW. Yippee. It means the company president got a “Zero Is Attainable” (ZIA) award from the CEO.
In recognition of our contribution to this he sent us each a cute little canister of customized M&Ms printed with ZIA and GIL 10 Years (because GIL officially began 10 years ago.) Again with the yippee.
Programming Note: Because of the aforementioned Workshop next week, I don’t know if there will be a Letter. These workshops can get very intense and leave you too exhausted to do anything else. I don’t even know if I’ll be home in time for Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween. Not that I get that many at my place.
Not like “Jeannie” who swears they bus them in to her neighborhood. Last year, her favorite was an entire family dressed as vegetables. Everyone have a Safe and Happy Halloween.
Love, as always,
Pete
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