June 21, 2012
Dear Everyone:
I’m beginning to get into something of a routine.
The
alarm goes off.
I hit the venerable Snooze Button.
Repeat.
Eventually, I concede that I really,
really do have to get up and
go to work. Shut off the
clock, turn on the TV to a channel with local news.
The traffic report is not exactly necessary, since my “commute”
is less than 3 miles; but knowing the weather forecast is always useful.
Actually get out of bed.
Etcetera.
I originally posted a list on the wall in the
kitchen to make sure that I remembered all the things that I need to
take with me.
Breakfast
Breakfast medications
Cell phone
Lunch
Lunch medications
MP3 player
Nook (or
book)
And so on…
Have to have the “Smart Badge”.
Can’t even get into the facility without it.
Likewise any company computers.
Food and medications are also a “must-have”, so I
generally get everything together that I can the night before.
I even have a reminder in my computer that pops up each evening
to make sure I get it done before the brain goes dead.
I only forgot the Nook once and had to settle for
something else to read at my half-a-lunch-hour.
And I take the music with me every day, even though I seldom
actually listen to it. Never
know when you’ll need to drown out the loud phone call in the next
cubicle.
But lately, I don’t even look at the list.
I have “everything” because I’ve been doing it for “so long” now.
How quickly we fall into familiar patterns.
I may even take the list down, one of these days.
It’s like the notices all over the inside of the
front door, intended to remind me to take that cell phone with me.
Unlike the “younger generation” it’s not “second nature” to have
it with me at all times. I
seldom use it, so I don’t always think of it.
But when there’s an emergency, like the car won’t
start in a shopping center parking lot, there’s nothing like it.
Especially now that there are not “public phones” on every
corner. In the “Good Old
Days”, Superman ducked into a convenient phone booth to change
identities. I wonder what he
does now.
Meanwhile, at the office…
I continue to hurl at
Warp Speed through “test
scripts” with very little idea what I’m doing or why, complicated by the
fact the “Ludmilla” is constantly “updating” said scripts with new
information.
Example:
“Actual (Critical) dates section of Cap Proj fields for Phase 3
and Phase 4 not mapping correctly.”
Well, gosh darn those date fields!
Who told them they could just “map” wherever they wanted to?
Question: Where,
exactly, are they supposed to be mapping to anyway?
At which point “Ludmilla” races through an
example while I try to both follow and take notes:
“Step One: Open an
existing Capital Project”.
Step Two: Wait, where are we
again? How did we get here?
Why is James Bond battling with a
Samurai Warrior in a
Viennese
crystal factory? I’m
confused. (Again.)
I suspect part of the problem is "Ludmilla"
knowing too much and not being able to explain (that takes too much
time!) and once again, Management-By-Telepathy (MBT) just doesn’t work.
Grrh.
Nevertheless, the number of “defects” that I’m
supposed to be “retesting” is steadily declining.
And, of course, while testing one “fixed” defect, one finds any
number of new ones.
“Ludmilla” can’t resist chasing after these tangents whenever they pop
up. I try to “stay the
course” and make a note to follow up the newly discovered “problems”
later.
It will be interesting to see which one of us
gets to the “finish line” first.
Love, as always,
Pete
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