the boredom of ramfree17

Just venting.

I think I am nearing the “warning” levels of my stress tolerance. I am now easily affected by the inconsideration of everyday strangers. I haven’t been awake for more than 4 hours and my temper already flared with:

• The jeepney driver who stopped in the middle of the road, checked out the “prospective” passenger in the sidewalk, and then start again when I was overtaking his vehicle and directly in line with his vehicle. This is one of the reasons why I hate driving. This person needs to be hit by a “driving for dummies” bat.
• In a tight two lane street (the breaker of a floodway circuit) that already have a lot of vehicles parked smatteringly on each side, a pedicab driver stopped in the middle, and then exhanged a long bantering with a pedestrian who he has just passed by. Here is your stupid and inconsiderate sign, and a generous amount of honking as a bonus.
• The elevator going up to the office floor only has a few passengers since it is still early. I normally go to the back since I dismount at the next to the top floor being serviced by the elevators but since this time I was near the door. In the floor before my stop, a female rider carrying 3 bags: a typical oversized female handbag, a paper bag, and a laptop backpack, alighted. The problem was that the backpack was only slung using one of the straps so it was dangling and it hit me. Since the woman was from the same company as I am (we are occupying that floor also), I just smiled and raised my right hand in a typical open-palm pinoy fashion to sign “no worries, everything is alright”. Then the frigging woman (I refuse to call her a lady), stopped when she was out of the elevator door, and gave me the evil eye. Here is your stupid and inconsiderate sign, if you have been careful to make sure you carry your belongings securely then your heavy laptop bag won’t have dangled and hit me. And I don’t care if you are a manager, you deserve to be hit by a large etiquette bat in the head.
• The Indian support engineer handling my ticket that got redirected to the India support team (WHY oh WHY?). My tickets are usually handled by the Manila server team who are much more competent at this. Even with me painstakingly exerting every effort to make my ticket description as detailed and complete as possible, the engineer had the gall to send me an email with this thinly veiled ultimatum:
  

  After reviewing the ticket, it has been determined that some information will have to be verified from you before we proceed with your request. Please refer to the questions/clarifications below:
  1) Managers approval required
  2) Kindly let us know in which project id needs to be created

  or reply to this email with your answer/s on or before <28-05-2008>.

  Your reply is very important to us as we aim to provide quality services through better management of tickets. Please note that failure to provide the information needed on or before the date mentioned above may result in ticket closure.

  Why am I mad? Because I have attached the approval in the original ticket, all of the details are already in the description, and I created the ticket yesterday (>>May 28, 2008< <) at 7PM (GMT+2), received the reply at 9:45PM (GMT+2). Apologies to all of my friends in the support business but this one needs to be bashed by a big “reading comprehension” bat.

As they say in the street: Ang aga-aga, pinapainit nyo ang ulo ko! (It’s still early and you are already testing my patience!)

File system consistency check you all.

Goosefraba… Goosefraba…

Now I feel better.

ciao!

Tags: Rubbish, Work by Erin
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ciao!

Tags: Work by Erin
2 Comments »

Last night was my first night of putting interoperability of Linux to a personal test. I work for a Microsoft-centric company so every time I need to do active meeting sessions with counterparts then I have to boot into Windows to ensure that nothing goes off in the middle of the meeting. This is because meetings like those entail a lot of opening of project office documents, searching mails for references, and other stuff. The project documents are also a work of their own since I think the person creating the base templates are certified MS Office template designers (if there is such a thing).

My new project requires me to handle late Tuesday night calls since we are conferencing three very distributed time zones (Manila, Madrid, California). Conference calls are done using Skype since I don’t have IDD capability at home nor am I willing to do the call on my prepaid SIM. Since I already have Skype installed yesterday on Archer, I tested a conference call using Skype’s echo123 service. I was able to hear my recorded message so that portion is not a problem. My headset has a small static sound but I think it has something to do with the connection between the headset and the speaker audio out port. The only possible stumbling block would be the mail searching portion and the documents that needs to be referenced in the call.

An hour before I have already downloaded all reference materials off the web mail interface of the company’s Exchange server. That reminds me that I have the Exchange server because it keeps on kicking my Firefox connection whenever I open a message. The sidebar is OK but the main area gets a “Connection is lost” message. IE doesn’t have this problem when I am in Windows but I wouldn’t install ie4linux just for this now that Metrobank already supports non-IE browser. If anybody knows how to make Thunderbird connect to an Exchange server then let me know although the configuration might also be painful. I couldn’t even configure Outlook in my desktop to connect to the Exchange server *even* after using the company supplied configuration utility. I might even try using Evolution during the weekend.

Anyway, I just created a new Firefox Windows and opened all possible mails that may be referenced in the call so I wouldn’t search for it. I then tried opening all Excel, Word and PowerPoint attachments using OpenOffice.org (2.4). OOo was able to open them all which is admirable enough but I have the following nitpicks:

• For MS Word document some of the formatting especially on tables are misaligned.
• The OO.o Writer is showing too many artifacts like ruler margins and such that could be done without.
• Default rendering size for the spreadsheets were too tiny.
• The comments on the Excel spreadsheet are showing far from the cell they are attached to. I have to scroll just to see them.
• Default rendering size for the presentations are also tiny. I had to play with the zoom control for a bit until I finally hit the “Optimal” option. Why wouldn’t the Optimal option be selected as the default?

Understandably, the nitpicks above are minor and there might be some preferences that could be set to remedy them but I am not using OO.o that frequently aside from a view-only app. The resulting documents from OO.o saves require too much effort to correct to make it my mainstream application for work documentation.

Back on the topic of the call, everything went relatively smoothly although my Skype cannot connect nor message the contact from Madrid. I can see his status is online but for some reason our Skypes just couldn’t communicate. The conference call had to be initiated by the contact from California.

This whole blog post might be seen as petty since there isn’t any groundbreaking achievement but I don’t care as this is a personal achievement about Linux and Windows interoperability. While Linux cannot fully replace Windows right now, Windows’ share of the home computing time is getting smaller.

ciao!

Tags: FLOSS, Work by Erin
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The first thing that comes into my mind when the word “change” is mentioned are the cliches “The only things constant are taxes and change.” Too obvious? Maybe.

Tomorrow I will start something new in work. It will be the first time in more than five years that I will be transferring to a new office (just an office and not company ). When I was pirated joined the company I stayed for two weeks in the office near Glorietta but for the rest of my stint I was in the oldest company residence in Ayala Ave. I shifted projects and cubicle areas but they we all located in the 3/F of that building. Since my work affords minimal chances of going onshore, it has also been a private joke that I am being “fermented” in the building.

Since March of this year I was working on an “ever challenging” project that is not really a part of the “solutions group” that have nurtured me since I joined the company. Eventually I had to move out to the office in Mandaluyong since the resources working on the project is there. I have previously experienced packing my stuff before I go into onshore assignments but last Friday was different since I know I may not come back again on that floor. Much as I may quip at that floor looking like the insides of a barracks or bomb shelter I already have grown accustomed to its confines. I have spent many nights there, sleeping in near impossible locations like aligned movable bins or on top of conference tables much like what I would imagine a corpse would be in an embalmer’s table.

Journeys are always two-sided. I am leaving behind a significant history but I am opening new pages for new experiences. I am going out of my comfort zone to see if I can pit my almost non-existent skills in a new environment. In my old environment I have gotten a reputation and familiarity that I am able to do most of what I want due to tenure in the area wherein only 3 more people beats my longevity with the project group. In my new project I am going to start afresh with a new set of managers, and a new set of people. Thankfully two peers will hopefully join me by the second quarter of this year. By that time they would be a welcome relief since I will definitely lean on their technical skills and moral support that can only achieved when you have gone through “hell” with them.

Right now I have two bags full of stuff that I have brought home and I am not sure how long it would take for me to prepare their new home for them. But I am pretty sure that the time will be sooner that I think.

ciao!

Tags: Work by Erin
5 Comments »

I wasn’t able to say a face-to-face goodbye to my “adopted” protege when she had her last day in the company since my wife and I are leaving for our annual vacation to Bohol and I was working from home the previous day. I never liked good-byes anyway and it isn’t like I will not be communicating with her after her stint with the “COMPANY”.

I have already experienced leaving a company and, many times over, have experienced being the one left in the company. Each one is hard but this one is special so I decided to write a homage to Joypo. I can’t say I am devastated since I am actually happy for her. I don’t know if its eagles or condors, but some birds teach their young how to fly by dropping them from the safety of their nest. I won’t grab the whole credit for mentoring this specific hatchling but I think it is my due to say that I have some contribution in kicking her quiet @$$ over the edge.

For those interested, her name is not really Joypo. I have this habit of encoding the names in my phonebook and that is the name I gave her number. It is actually my wife who coined the codename because when she first talked to Joy she said she is very respectful that she inserts “po” (the Filipino term for respect) that she started referring to her as Joypo. We have a lot of friends with that name so it gave an easy to recall distinction.

Enough of the segue. Let me just list down the reasons why this lone wolf has taken an interest in taking this hatchling under my spiny wing:

• She was my real first subordinate. My supervisor then advised that I need to learn how to manage somebody if I want to better my chances of getting promoted to a lead position. Joypo was my first victim.
• Since our work as all-around tech support and interim project infrastructure admins were very technical in nature and requires some hefty lifting (miniaturization was not that prevalent back then), I was actually expecting to get a male subordinate. Instead I got this wiry lass. But she proved me wrong by being my yardstick of what qualities a “DevArch” apprentice should have.
• She was my gender equalizer. I still laugh about the amount of flak I received when I actually made her lift and transport whole workstations from one cube to another. I just shrugged my shoulders to my “critics” and said it is part of the initiation for the team. Every devarch should experience lifting workstation. Funny thing is that it became true.
• I vowed that any devarch apprentice should just have the technical capabilities and I will handle fitting them with horns needed when coordinating with external resources. Joypo, with her uber-religious background, gave me a challenge. I think I was able to grow her some sharp horns. Unfortunately she also uses them on me. /lol
• I admire her guts. She actually gave me a prayer book. ME! A PRAYER BOOK! I wasn’t an agnostic back then but what the hell? I think I still have that prayer book in my cabinet. No offense Joy, I just have this habit of not being organized when it comes to my possessions. I value the thought more than the actual physical object.
• I value her honesty and inputs even if she doesn’t think so. Once I asked her if she thinks I am a good leader. She bluntly replied “Opo, kahit nakakainis na kayo minsan (Yes, even if you are sometimes irritating)”. I couldn’t feel more validated and prouder.

I think I am obligated to talk her out of leaving but I don’t think that makes sense coming from somebody who has left a previous company for greener pastures. I would only do such thing if I don’t think the person has thought things through but I had no doubt Joypo has already weighed all the possibilities.

So see you around kiddo. This industry is too small and too connected to be a stranger.

Me and Joypo in her farewell libre

ciao!

Tags: Garbage, Work by Erin
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