Jay McGavren's Journal

Yeah. something like that.

> From: [my boss] > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 > To: [me] > Subject: FW: question > > Jay, the award program question has arisen again. I know > you are busy with [project x] and [project y] work. Do you > have time to look this over and come by to discuss it? > > > From: Liz > > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 > > To: [A lot of people, including my boss] > > Subject: RE: question > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > We’ll need to get some input from our technical team on > > this one, since it was my understanding that the system > is > > set up so that 2005 awards automatically expire on > December > > 31, 2006 unless the property is a repeat winner in 2006. > > Could someone please look into why the 2005 award winners > > are still displaying award logos on [our].com? > > > > Thanks, > > Liz

I fished through my e-mail archive, and dug this out…

> From: Liz > Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 > To: [my boss] > Cc: [me]; [somebody else] > Subject: RE: [xxx] Awards Mystery > > Hi Mike, > > [snip] > > If we were to update the business rule for these > properties, what would the timeline look like for making > the change (see below)? [snip] I realize this isn’t > ideal, but it is urgent that we address the issue because > properties are noticing every time their award logo > disappears from the site. > > The business rules for the 2006 program are: > [xxx] winners with 2005 dates expire on 12/31/07 > [xxx] winners with 2006 dates expire on 12/31/07 > [yyy] winners with 2005 dates expire on 12/31/07 > [yyy] winners with 2006 dates expire on 12/31/07 > Please let me know how you think it would be best to > proceed. > > Thanks, > Liz

By the way, I do not want the prior post to cast any sort of negative light on my boss, who is awesome and whose hair is not remotely pointy. (Indeed, he has no hair at all.) And no, I’m not saying that because I have to.

Released my first Ruby app last night…

http://code.google.com/p/itunes-control/

…it’s just a simple command line controller for Windows iTunes, but the groundwork is laid for much cooler stuff. After jumping through some hoops I was able to make it a standalone app (no Ruby installation required), in addition to an ordinary Ruby gem. Future releases will likely have installers for Mac, Linux, and Windows alike, with no additional switch-flipping on my part.

Did anyone ever actually try to build an app with JAX-RPC before it was unleashed on an unsuspecting world? You wouldn’t believe the contortions I have to go through to do a simple thing like altering SOAP headers.

I desperately want to switch to the newer JAX-WS, but that framework no longer allows the message format that our vendor wants. (Yeah, there’s a good sign.)

*&*&$&%*&*%*&*&$&%*&*%*&*&$&%*&*!!!!!

You’ve probably seen “purewhitenoise.com - Distant Thunder” as my currently playing music a few times… it’s simply an hour-long recording of a thunderstorm. I have it set up to loop on my MP3 player, and I listen to it through the most soundproof earbuds I can find, for my entire workday.

Do you know why I go to such lengths to block out external noise? I mean, aside from the constant blabbing emitting from my neighboring cubicles? I’ll tell you:

CornNuts.

There is a lady a couple cubes over. She meets the Webster’s definition of “cat lady”: single, probably always will be, owns multiple cats, and likes to bore people with stories about them. And aside from constantly coughing like she’s going to die tomorrow, she chews CornNuts. She does so loudly (for there is no other way to consume something so crunchy, except maybe swallowing them whole).

So in addition to the yammering, coughing, and banging of drawers by my neighbor (who I think takes his aggression out on his furniture so he doesn’t go postal, but that’s another post), I get to listen to loud chewing noises all day. This is not a recent development; she’s been grinding away on these things for the year and a half I’ve worked here, probably longer.

What I really want is a ban on open-plan offices, but failing that, I would settle on a ban on CornNuts. I’d just ask her to stop, but I’m afraid I’d look crazy.

Maybe I am crazy. But it’s the CornNuts that made me that way.