v31.3: Why?!

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

It has been awhile hasn't it?  Sadly I've been so busy first thing in the mornings that I haven't had much time to post.  Work has been.... work, and as such hasn't been much fun lately.  You make the best of it though and hope every day that something good will happen and things will turn around.

-slurp-

Of course work isn't as bad as I make it out to be.  There are always stressful times and split decisions that need to be made to keep people busy and promote morale.  We're trying to roll out a new web application to the company I'm contracted to and it has been met with many road blocks and set backs.  Some days I do everything in my power to stop from pulling my hair out, other days seem to fly by and things seem to go fairly well.  At the end of the day we all have a job to do and I need to make sure my boss, my boss' boss, and my customer boss are all happy.  Since they seldom see eye-to-eye, it can be a very tricky job to juggle.

-slurp-

Recently we started to outsource some work overseas.  It has been met with many challenges and I often sit at my desk, shake my head and ask "Why?!".  You've heard the saying, "You get what you pay for."?  Well that same saying rings true when you start thinking about outsourcing work.  Yes, our counterparts overseas work for much less than we do but I have to sit and wonder how things that seem so simple to me turn into difficult issues for them.  Some of it comes from the communication barrier that exists; obviously English isn't their first language and when given instructions, often times get confused and they perform tasks incorrectly.  We've had a number of issues (that I know about) with our team there, most of it is simple stuff that could have easily been avoided had extra care been taken.  Granted, these folks are under the same stresses I'm under and are all very new to their position.  Some of them have little to no experience using UNIX based operating systems and are faced with many challenges when it comes to executing simple commands that I use on a daily basis and take for granted.

-slurp-

Enough about work.  It doesn't make me happy to talk about it so I doubt it makes you any happier to read about it.  Truth be told, I have no specific topic to talk about tonight, I just felt like writing a little bit and felt what better way to vent frustration AND pump out a musing than to sit here and type random sentences in no orderly fashion.  In fact, I think I'll switch gears a little bit and talk about something random.

-slurp-

Speaking of gears, let's talk about the Automatic Transmission for a minute.  I'm sure you've driven a car with an automatic transmission before, you may even own one.  Back over 70 years ago, there was no such thing as an automatic transmission.  Everyone who drove an automobile drove a standard.  If you were lucky enough to own a vehicle with a semi-automatic transmission (also known as a Fluid Drive introduced in 1941) you, for the first time, were able to start your vehicle without the need to depress the clutch.  You still had a clutch and you still needed to shift gears, but these bad boys could be started without the clutch and had an overdrive "mode" that clicked in automatically when you reached a certain speed.  Think of it like the early overdrive.  Of course this only paved the way for other changes and eventually the world saw a fully automatic transmission car where no shifting was required.  It is almost too easy.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, the time has come for me to unwind from the day.  Tomorrow brings more challenges and so I need to ensure I'm mentally prepared, if that is even possible.  Take care, sleep tight and remember to fluff the pillow before you go to sleep, it makes a huge difference.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al