Journal Entries
I'm a cleaner!
Posted May 15, 2003
I currently have a day or two's work as a 'cleaner'. (No - not the mop-and-bucket kind, nor the 'Leon' one.)
I took a free programming test with an online skills testing company (it was a sample/beta test for something they are close to finalising), and came sufficiently high (3rd or 4th out of 400) that I got offered the job of looking through the whole test for things that need improving, relevance of answers, etc, and ceaning up the relevant entries.
It also involves adressing the comments from the beta-testers who bothered to comment, but most seem to be of the form "lame question", "u r testing my patience", or "there is no right answer" (when there definitely is), and can be quickly sidelined.
It will probably end up being two good day's work for $300. I could have rushed it in a day, but I prefer to do a good job, I'm otherwise unoccupied at present, and it is fairly interesting.
It's also rather heartening to be recognised as more-than-competent as a programmer. Despite *knowing* I'm pretty good, outside confirmation every now and then does help the old ego. Though I suppose I should feel a bit guilty, it does also warm the heart a little to be reminded how many bad programmers there are out there.
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Latest reply: May 15, 2003
Not *more* damn mines...
Posted May 2, 2003
Another trip underground on Wednesday, but in a mine rather than a proper cave. Much less scenic, much smellier, and somewhat dodgier in parts.
Were those rotten lumps of wood *actually* holding up that huge roof slab, or were they just put there to help hold back rubble at the side of the passages?
Was that odd sickly-sweet smell near the shaft we passed just due to infallen plant material rotting, or was it another dead sheep?
Would we find another way past the collapses to the bottom of the big shaft? Did I care? (No, and no)
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Latest reply: May 2, 2003
Back from Skiing
Posted Mar 23, 2003
And wishing I was back in the Alps.
It *was* rather an in-at-the-deep-end experience - after 4 hours of (group) lessons and a few hours practice in the UK before going, I spent 7 hours every day following my friends, who are all much better skiers than me. Still, that seems to be the traditional way for potholers to learn.
Just greens and blues (including much falling over on the latter) on the first day, with an easy wide red (Glacier) on the second. Getting better by the day, I had few falls on day 3. Days 4 and 5 were fall-free apart from the very end of an off-piste trip (Grande Motte -> Vez via the Tour de Pramecou) when I learned what happens when the skis embed themselves in powder snow at speed - I catapulted straight forwards off the skis and skidded face down across the snow, much to the amusement of the people on the lift directly above me.
Day 6 started with an tiring off-piste trip on fragile-crusted powder (several over-the-front spills), and the afternoon included a 'easy' red with 'a couple of steep bits' which were negotiated mainly by sideslipping (when I wasn't falling down the icy slope).
In the week, I did almost all the open greens and blues (some quite a few times) in the Tignes/Val D'Isere area, and even a couple of easy short reds with success, and realised some of the good and bad things about off-piste, and the perils of *real* reds.
My knees seem to have recovered from the shock of the powder-crashes, and I'm feeling pretty fit. I *must* keep cycling to try and stay that way. It looks like we picked a good week to go - it wasn't terribly busy, and the snow stayed pretty much OK despite the constant blue sky and hot sun. I expect in a couple of weeks things could be *much* thinner unless there's another decent dump of snow.
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Latest reply: Mar 23, 2003
Skiing
Posted Mar 12, 2003
I'm off to France in a few days for my first ever ski trip.
I hope to return to sunny Stafford in one piece to resume the tedious job-searching business.
I really should write journal entries more often, but tend to put them off until I feel I've acheived something, and that's been a rare feeling of late - even if/when I do do something useful and difficult, I was generally confident before I started that I'd succeed, so completion is rather an anticlimax. One of the perils of ageing, I guess.
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Latest reply: Mar 12, 2003
Jobhunting II
Posted Jan 9, 2003
Well, I had the games company interview in early December, but *still* haven't heard back - I guess I must be on the second-reserve list at best. 
I have got a second interview for a rather more official job - it would be rather a change of style, but would be secure employment in every sense of the word. However, the mills of government grind exceedingly slow for this kind of employment, and it could be some months before I know if they actually want me.
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Latest reply: Jan 9, 2003
Potholer
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