Office Monkey

Everybody needs some monkey sometime

Loss of a role model

It’s truly a sad day for fans, young and old. It’s apparently not enough to be successful, and loved by people. No, you have to choose to ruin others, and harm innocents, just to get your kicks. How do things like this come up? It’s not like someone thinks of it idly; no, there has to be long, long time spent planning where you’re going to build your fighting ring, where you’re going to get people to bet.

It’s just a sad, sorry state of affairs, and I feel the loss personally. I had a great deal of respect and admiration, and a large amount of jealousy, I’ll admit, for somone who did what I could only dream of doing.

A fighting ring? Come on, it ruins your life, and others.

Wil, how could you?

Filled under: Day-to-Day, Song By: Andrew Tags: 
 Posted on: August 23, 2007 No Comments »

My favorite scientist quote of recent times

“Don’t use science on me when I’m sick!” — Mandrina last night after I referred to Newton’s First Law of Motion as to why she wants to stay in bed while sick.

That wasn’t the quote, but I wanted to give her a mention.

“Maybe she felt insecure about all her approach behavior, since you didn’t kiss her or otherwise clearly indicate your interest.”

This is how a scientist calls you a pussy.

From a Men’s Health article on subverbal communication. I’m most definitely not interested in picking up women (or men), but it was a neat headline: “Women are trying to tell you something: They want you.” Or words to that effect.

Filled under: Uncategorized By: Andrew Tags: 
 Posted on: August 3, 2007 No Comments »

Sometimes what happens in Vegas comes home with you.

Fortunately, I had married Mandrina months ago, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.

First, a pointer to Xaan‘s and Nightsinger‘s excellent write-ups of things I’m too lazy or preoccupied or self-centered to write up myself. Also, thanks to Jamie for deciding scandously to have a 21st birthday celebration in Vegas. Was a fantastical trip, although I could have done with more love from the gambling. Okay, I would have settled for just a little less hatred.

Second, I’ll writeup my memories, but stick them behind a cut so that my front page doesn’t suddenly grow huge again.

Read more

Filled under: Woman By: Andrew Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted on: July 10, 2007 4 Comments »

Again, jaw hanging open, but this time in a good way.

I get rather alarmed at work when I’m told that someone’s idiocy is to be expected, as they’re: new, young, inexperienced, poorly trained, etc. I just expect better.

On the other hand, every so often I run across something truly brilliant, and feel humbled (Any book by Don Box). Today, I ran across “Duff’s Device.”

I’d heard of it before, but never bothered to actually look at the code. It’s an optimization for something I rarely have to deal with in real life.

Looking at the code today, I was at first confused by what the big deal was… then saw where the “do” was located, and was struck by the brilliance. Pick up the odd-numbers-out at the start, rather than at the end…

Only click the link if you don’t mind feeling impressed, and feel comfortable in your knowledge of what exactly a compiler does. Assembly language knowledge might help cushion the wtf factor.

Filled under: Office By: Andrew Tags: , ,
Posted on: June 29, 2007 No Comments »

Inconceivable!

I just went to clean off my white board (dry erase). It has notes from yesterday’s laborious explanation of the under-the-covers functioning of CoCreateInstance, so that my intern would hopefully be able to solve his own problem without my help (it didn’t).

I picked up the same eraser I used to wipe off the same board yesterday. I was erasing ONLY green, same as yesterday.

Somehow, my eraser left tons of black remnants all over my not-perfectly-clean-but-still-serviceable whiteboard. Black. I haven’t used black in weeks.

The only theory that comes to mind is that someone swiped my eraser and replaced it with this other one. Which is, in a word, inconceivable.

Filled under: Office By: Andrew Tags: ,
Posted on: June 28, 2007 No Comments »

Different places, different work styles

Within an hour, I asked two coworkers to provide either myself or our shared lead with information related to the performance of someone I’m responsible for (my intern).

The guy who’s been with the company for a few years immediately told me not only what he had asked, but the context, and his impressions.

The guy who’s been with the company for a few months didn’t even say he was going to tell our manager; he just said, “Okay.”

It would make things easier for me if I know what he knows, but it’s more important that management knows how he’s doing. It just makes things more convoluted this way.

Filled under: Office By: Andrew Tags: ,
Posted on: June 27, 2007 No Comments »
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