Doors

Not the band, the program. I found myself trying to get in the DOOR last week. Once in the DOOR the world inside was quite confusing with many menus and scripts to get used to. I needed to use this beast for work. In theory it could be a very useful program, however for the document and requirements I'm trying to use it for it's quite pitiful. Too many things need to be done through special procedures, to the point that my efficiency dropped to somewhere near 25% this past week. Throw in the motivational challenge of getting up for a DOORs session and it's a wonder that I got anything done all week. Herein lies a problem I see with all software systems. They're really designed with the coder in mind. The coder thinks it is "neat" or "cool" that certain features do certain things. However, seldom does the program actually help the end user do his job. Most end users I know loathe the software tools forced upon them and prefer stuff they can customize to suit the job. After all, when running a business your goal is to create your end product, not spend all your time learning software tools. Rant done.

In other news things changed rapidly after my previous post. In the summer, I found myself suddenly involved helping specify a system for a new product within my company. I thought I was leaving in the fall and was thus looking forward to a relatively calm summer. Alas this was not to be my fate. I reasoned at the time that the reason I should get involved -- which eventually led to me getting hired in October -- was that it would benefit me to be employed so that I could leave when it worked better for me. I had my typical idea of leaving to go back to school. I don't know why I find the thought of pounding out assignments so alluring, but my reasoning ran that I could get myself into something I would rather be doing. That was the fall. Then the winter came and I got somewhat down. I did have a great snowboarding trip out to Banff after Christmas that was fun if somewhat anxiety provoking. I got in a good amount of XC skiing in the winter leading up to the Gatineau loppet. I proudly pounded out a 2 hour 29 km race and placed around 100 overall. I was very pleased. The next week-end I went to Tremblant for an annual trip with some friends. The first day of snowboarding went well. The rock band fun was good times. Then on Sunday on my second run I stupidly fell on a steep face and popped my left elbow. I subsequently spent many hours in pain and at various branches of our health care system. Currently I'm rehabilitating my joint to expand the range of motion. It seized up from a combination of inactivity in a sling and the actual soft tissue damage. I expect maybe by late June I'll have my range of motion back.

Now, in a complete twist of fate I've been presented with the 'opportunity' to go to France to work on a new product. Well, actually it's to add new features to an old product. But anyway, I would work with or for a fellow who got mixed up in our little start-up and hung around. I think he would be good to work for, if somewhat demanding. I think that the work would be a bit repetitive because I'd be developing the same system that we developed for our current system. I'm sure living in France would be interesting. I am 50/50 on it. I like the idea, but the idea seldom lives up to the actual experience. Basically I would be jumping blind. I keep telling myself that worst case I end up back in Canada, possibly without a job. Best case the project goes well and I'm a rising start in ALU.

Yet still I yearn to write. To spew words onto the page with meaning in mind. And more engineering is not going to give me that. I just read a good Bruce Lee quote: "If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of." If that's true then I'm doing a good deal of time wasting and indeed life wasting.

Stanley Cup Playoffs are on. Penguins - Flyers; Stars - Red Wings. I'd like to see Penguins - Stars in the final, but realistically it will be Penguins - Wings. I suspect the Wings win it in 6.

No wine and women and song and such. Nada. Sigh.