A local Science Fiction club has asked me to help them run their annual Star Trek convention (the same one I spoke at last year).
I was kind of expecting to come in from the outside, analysing a working process and making suggestions for improvement.
This was not the case. The phone call I received went something along the lines of “Hi. We don’t have a venue, we don’t have a date, we haven’t actually done anything about arranging this con. What are you going to do about it?”
Sure, I may be the unchallenged South African expert on all things Trek, but how exactly does that qualify me for running a convention?
Okay, I’ve got some experience running conventions too… but a Health and Fitness Expo is very different to a Gaming Convention which, in turn, is surprisingly different to a Star Trek convention. I’m at somewhat of a loss.
*shrug*
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
Yes! It sucks! I know! Goddammit!
The last month and a half have been very very busy at work.
We went live at a new site at the beginning of the month, which required a lot of overtime to get everything ready initially, and then some rather difficult hours since then sorting out all the bugs and teething problems.
After using it for a month, most of the users have become relatively adept at using the system, and the bulk of the queries receive now are the really complicated things – like “How do I generate multiple invoices with overlapping Purchase Orders in three different currencies with all kinds of weird markups and discounts?”
However, the users aren’t happy. They don’t like the system. It’s awkward, slow, excessively complicated and so internally inconsistent that it even confuses us.
Several times a day I hear “On [our old system] we could do this and this and that. Why can’t we do it on [the new system]?”
Apparently there were business reasons for going with our system over the old one. Something about stricter controls on what the users can do. Fine. Why buy a whole new system to do that? Why not just fix the old one?
Our system is not designed to do what they’re using it for. They’ve bought a (very expensive) donkey to do the work of a horse. Sure, they can both pull a cart, but just try and race a donkey.
I’ve voiced my concerns to whomever would listen, but it’s far too late. Too much money has changed hands for us to back out now… we’re just going to have to take this donkey (now pumped up on steroids and stimulants, fitted with the finest Nike trainers and shaved for aerodynamic reasons) and get as much speed out of it as possible.
But I swear, if I hear one more user say “This is such a shitty system! You’re not helping us, you’re making our jobs more difficult!” I am going to grab its empty, little head, and twist it until it comes off.
We went live at a new site at the beginning of the month, which required a lot of overtime to get everything ready initially, and then some rather difficult hours since then sorting out all the bugs and teething problems.
After using it for a month, most of the users have become relatively adept at using the system, and the bulk of the queries receive now are the really complicated things – like “How do I generate multiple invoices with overlapping Purchase Orders in three different currencies with all kinds of weird markups and discounts?”
However, the users aren’t happy. They don’t like the system. It’s awkward, slow, excessively complicated and so internally inconsistent that it even confuses us.
Several times a day I hear “On [our old system] we could do this and this and that. Why can’t we do it on [the new system]?”
Apparently there were business reasons for going with our system over the old one. Something about stricter controls on what the users can do. Fine. Why buy a whole new system to do that? Why not just fix the old one?
Our system is not designed to do what they’re using it for. They’ve bought a (very expensive) donkey to do the work of a horse. Sure, they can both pull a cart, but just try and race a donkey.
I’ve voiced my concerns to whomever would listen, but it’s far too late. Too much money has changed hands for us to back out now… we’re just going to have to take this donkey (now pumped up on steroids and stimulants, fitted with the finest Nike trainers and shaved for aerodynamic reasons) and get as much speed out of it as possible.
But I swear, if I hear one more user say “This is such a shitty system! You’re not helping us, you’re making our jobs more difficult!” I am going to grab its empty, little head, and twist it until it comes off.
TrekToday - J.J. Abrams To Direct 'Star Trek XI'
TrekToday - J.J. Abrams To Direct 'Star Trek XI'
Could it be true? Paramount is pulling their collective head out of their collective ass and have decided to make another Trek movie?
I remain sceptical about it... the scriptwriter from Armageddon and a concept that sounds dangerously like Dead Poets' Society meets Dumb & Dumberer don't bode well.
But hey, at least it's new Trek... who am I to complain?
Could it be true? Paramount is pulling their collective head out of their collective ass and have decided to make another Trek movie?
I remain sceptical about it... the scriptwriter from Armageddon and a concept that sounds dangerously like Dead Poets' Society meets Dumb & Dumberer don't bode well.
But hey, at least it's new Trek... who am I to complain?
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
MTV Crazy Monkey actor found dead : Mail & Guardian Online
MTV Crazy Monkey actor found dead : Mail & Guardian Online
I never met the guy, but I enjoyed his work, and was looking forward to meeting him someday.
This is a sad day indeed.
I never met the guy, but I enjoyed his work, and was looking forward to meeting him someday.
This is a sad day indeed.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
A small step for man
Forty-five years ago today, mankind took one of its transcendental leaps and crossed a formidable boundary for the very first time.
A Russian cosmonaut named Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin climbed into a vessel named Vostok 1 and was fired at hundreds of kilometers an hour into the sky.
The rocket engine he had been strapped to was powerful enough to push him up through Earth’s gravity well to an altitude of 315 kilometers and allowed him to make a full orbit of the planet before returning safely to Earth 108 minutes later.
Yuri Gargarin went boldly where no man had gone before, and his name will be forever remembered along with men like Orville and Wilbur Wright, Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong.
A Russian cosmonaut named Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin climbed into a vessel named Vostok 1 and was fired at hundreds of kilometers an hour into the sky.
The rocket engine he had been strapped to was powerful enough to push him up through Earth’s gravity well to an altitude of 315 kilometers and allowed him to make a full orbit of the planet before returning safely to Earth 108 minutes later.
Yuri Gargarin went boldly where no man had gone before, and his name will be forever remembered along with men like Orville and Wilbur Wright, Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
First Contact Day
In the Star Trek universe, the 5th of April is a very important day.
In 2163 the 5th of April saw the first time a Human Being travelled faster than the speed of light. And subsequently official First Contact with an advanced alien race, our distant cousins, the Vulcans.
That event led, eventually, to the formation of the United Federation of Planets: an institution dedicated to preserving and protecting diversity.
Today we, as Trekkies, celebrate the optimism of Gene Roddenberry's vision of humanity's future... A future in which humanity sets aside its differences and becomes a major player in a much larger community.
In 2163 the 5th of April saw the first time a Human Being travelled faster than the speed of light. And subsequently official First Contact with an advanced alien race, our distant cousins, the Vulcans.
That event led, eventually, to the formation of the United Federation of Planets: an institution dedicated to preserving and protecting diversity.
Today we, as Trekkies, celebrate the optimism of Gene Roddenberry's vision of humanity's future... A future in which humanity sets aside its differences and becomes a major player in a much larger community.
Monday, April 03, 2006
I'll do it, but I don't have to like it
I understand that in IT, sometimes it’s necessary to pull a few extra hours in order to get your systems running by deadline.
I understand that pulling those extra hours means sleep deprivation, junk-food overindulgence, separation from loved ones and sense-of-humour failure.
The way I have been treated by this company in the last week feels like abuse. It feels like I have been forced, against my will, to work ridiculous hours. (I have worked 21 of the last 24 hours).
And before you say "Yes, but it's your decision."... that's obvious, but it's not as simple as that. When you work for a living, you do exactly that: you work so that you can live. If you don't work, you can't live, because you don't have food.
So when your boss says "Please do this" what he's really saying is "If you don't do this, you will starve to death." He may as well be holding a gun to your head.
Yes, I know, I'm oversimplifying. There are laws in place to prevent exploitation of workers and so forth. But all those do is change the gun your boss is holding from an AK47 assault rifle to a mushroom-pellet gun: if you fire it enough times in the right spot, it'll eventually do the trick. It'll just take a lot longer and be a lot more painful.I need to get out of this company.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
You know what it’s like…
It’s 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, and you’ve got a meeting at 4 across town. You’ve just pulled onto the freeway and you’re bracing to start some of the most artful traffic dodging ever there was.
But something glitters in the corner of your eye… a familiar and unwelcome glow that you’re certain wasn’t there a second ago. You reluctantly glance down, knowing what you’re going to see, and being afraid of that knowledge: the fuel warning light.
Some hasty inner monologue ensues… you glance at the needle on the fuel gage, and try to do some mental maths: 1 degree = 5 kilometers? You bloody well hope so.
It’s peak hour… there is only just enough time to get where you’re going, assuming the gods of traffic and weather are smiling upon you. Trying to stop at a petrol station will add at least 15 minutes to the trip – 15 minutes you don’t have.
So you floor it, and hope against hope that the few remaining drops of motion-lotion will be enough to see you through.
You’re half-way there when the needle drops off the bottom end of the little white line… but she’s still going, so you keep at it, even though you know you’re asking for trouble.
That’s where I am now. Two days into a week of 12-hour working days, and over an hour left of the day. The nasty cold I’ve picked up has been like a leaky fuel-line and my gauge dropped off the bottom end hours ago.
My brain is sputtering and my eyes trying to force themselves shut. I don’t know how I’m going to get home.
The only beacon of hope I have to head towards is the knowledge that the Coolest Girlfriend in the Universe is waiting for me at home with a hot meal and all the love I need to feel better.
I just hope I make it that far.
Monday, March 27, 2006
I've been tagged
Ok, I’ll bite.
Four jobs I've had:
High School Teacher – Science and Biology
Floor-space salesman
Assistant manager in a box factory
IT nerd.
Four movies I can watch over and over:
Edward Scissorhands
Big Fish
Kung Pow
Four places I've lived:
Kensington,
Braamfontein,
Germiston
Northcliff,
Four TV shows I love:
Star Trek
Friends
The Most Amazing Show
Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows I haven't seen:
Lost
Battlestar Galactica
Firefly
The new, post-Enterprise, Star Trek show. It has yet to be made, but I have faith.
Four of my favourite dishes:
Lasagne
Gnocchi di-patata alla gorgonzola
Chicken-mayo toasted sandwiches
Ice cream
Four sites I visit daily:
A host of blogs
A host of webcomics
Four places I've been on holiday:
Stellenbosch
The Waterberg
Springbok Flats
Groot Marico
Four albums I can't live without:
Jem – Finally Woken
Norah Jones – Come away with me
Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Californication
Metallica – Metallica (AKA The Black Album)
Four places I'd rather be right now:
Commanding a Starship
Home
The moon
A place the sole purpose of which is to be a venue for people who have decided to chew glass.
Four other people I’m tagging:
Hide
Picto
Taz
Zara
Thursday, March 23, 2006
batjaj
It means Day of Honour. The Klingons celebrate it every year, and so do many Trekkies, such as myself.
March 23rd was chosen because it is the anniversary of the first appearance of Klingons in Star Trek, back in 1967.
The Day of Honour is a day when every Klingon examines himself and his actions over the last year, and tries to determine if he has acted with honour.
In matters of honour, a warrior is accountable only to himself. He must judge himself fairly, but privately. For this reason I won't be spilling out a full audit of my activities over the past year for your reading pleasure.
Instead, I encourage each of you to look within yourself this batjaj, and examine your actions... Look at your intentions, your words and the results thereof. Ask yourself, "If I were in that situation again, knowing what I know now, would I react the same way?" And, most importantly, take the answer of that question to heart... Use it to influence your daily actions and attitudes, so that when next batjaj comes around, you may judge yourself less harshly.
Qapla'
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