Grrrr...
My technical design document:
If the file cannot be opened, call the Error method of the Log Manager with the message “Could not open [file name] for reading.” and return an error value.
The Indian developer’s code:
$log->error(“Could not open [$file] for reading and return an error value”)
Look, I’m impressed that they know as much English as they do (by and large). But that doesn’t mean they know enough to be used for outsourcing.
And then they’re making mistakes that I wouldn’t make no matter what my native language is. Here’s one example:
| elsif(($response =~ /HTX000F0/) | ($response =~ /HTX160F0/) | ($response =~ /HTX000F0/) | ($response =~ /HTX161F0/) | ($response =~ /UTX1XXF0/) | ($response =~ /HTX000F0/)) |
Never mind the illegibility of that statement for a moment; why did they test for the same value three times?
It would have been a lot easier (and cheaper) to just code this myself.
Read more...Gulp...
My name didn’t appear, but my current project was among a handful of priority projects mentioned in a State of the Business letter BY THE CEO.
So much for flying under the corporate radar.
Read more...From Gizmodo:
> This is it, folks. We have seen the future, and it is tiny > sombreros for consumer electronics.
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/sombrerowearing-webcam-019430.php
Read more...Just got off a conference call with the developers in India. Veena, the technical lead, usually heads up the discussion, and I can understand her just fine. But then she put Harish on, who needed to ask some technical question, and I swear all I heard was: “muttermuttermutter prompt muttermuttermutter code muttermuttermutter that?” It didn’t help that this was over a staticky trans-Pacific connection. All I could do was stammer “Uh, can you repeat that?” Finally Veena interjected that she thought they could answer his question on their end.
Wonder if any of the local colleges offer a class in Hindi?
Read more...Everyone duck - I'm ejecting my PC!
> You cannot eject your computer because one of the devices > in the docking station,’ ECP Printer Port (LPT1)’, cannot > be stopped because a program is still assessing it.
> SYMPTOMS: > When you use the Microsoft Cordless Phone System to answer > incoming calls, you may be unable to listen to your voice > messages from a remote location. > > CAUSE: > This behavior can occur if you forget the remote access > number for your mailbox.
> These errors are specific to version 1.0 of The Neverhood. > -The putt-putt shadow in world two above the teddy boom pod > is wrong. > -The dark upper right hand corner of the funny eye speaking > video sequence is distorted. > -When Klaymen grabs the rope ring from the right side, he > descends facing the left, but switches sides in the Tree > room. If he grabs the rope from the left he stays on the > same side the whole way down.
> When you use Microsoft ActiMates Interactive Barney with > the ActiMates PC Pack Transmitter, your computer, and Fun > on Imagination Island, you receive the following error > message: > Barney Not Found.
These were found via Funny Microsoft Q Articles.
Read more...My “holiday”...
The new XBox Media Center is installed on my console… I have it set up to play a playlist on startup, which points to files on my PC (via Samba). All I have to do is press the power button, and voila - music. (I can of course switch to a new playlist if I don’t like the default.) I also purchased a DVD Playback Kit (basically just an IR remote), which Media Center can read. I can turn on my visualizer (G-Force) at the push of a button.
Lenny, by the way, loves Audioslave. He’ll dance to a song, and clap his hands and shout “yaaaaaay” whenever it finishes. He’s also absolutely hypnotized by G-Force (kinda like me). He’s been pretty restless the past few nights with his mom gone, so it’s been helpful in getting him to sleep (with the Audioslave on mute, of course).
I didn’t feel like chasing him around yesterday, so we drove up to Payson (he’s always calm in the car). Saw the Willow forest fire on the way up - it looked harmless enough, with a few helicopters flying in water and cute white puffs of smoke coming off the mountainside. When we stopped in Payson for lunch, I was surprised to see a notice posted in the Wendy’s that they were closing the highway the next day for a “backburn operation” due to the fire.
We drove through Payson and on into the pine-covered mountains (far from the fire); ah, it was gorgeous. I went on for nearly an hour before turning back.
Passed back through Payson, and then the whole landscape was covered in foglike yellow smoke - I came to realize it was from that same “harmless” fire we’d seen that morning. Traffic was still flowing normally, though, and we weren’t coughing at all, so I drove on home.
Arrived safe and sound, let the frantic dog out of the bathroom, and called it a night.
Read more...YEEEEEEHAAAAAWWWWWW!
> Eve, > > We would like to facilitate the transition of Jay McGavren > to IT as soon as possible. > > Can you please advise on what we need to do to make this > transition smooth and very quick (need him for some > projects ASAP)? > > Thanks, > > Julie > > Julieann [XXXX], PMP > > [My Company] > > [Julie’s Phone]
Read more...20 Questions to a Better Personality...
You are an SEDF–Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you an evil genius. You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting.
Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well–even those you have known a long time–because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable.
You are not to be messed with. You may explode.
Read more...OK, this is getting seriously weird - another person greeted me by name in the hall today, and I have no clue who they were. Have I actually met these people, but my memory is going bad? Or have I gained that much of a reputation?
Read more...Back at work...
…after spending a day home sick. (Lenny was out sick with me - he had a fever of 103, which has since come down, though his cough is still terrible.) I also just got over a case of the hiccups - that had been running for over 24 hours straight. :P (Well, except when I was sleeping.)
I had a bizarre dream this morning… I was watching a trailer for a comedy by Pixar, that pitted God (the Hebrew one) against various figures from Buddhism in a barrel-chucking battle royale. Pixar depicted Yahweh as a bit of a hillbilly, I must say. :P
Read more...