I just finished editing Alex's (my son) report about Duke Ellington:
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Duke Ellington
Duke was born in 1899 in Washington D.C. He started playing piano at the age of seven. When he was nineteen, he started playing music for ladies. Duke was a composer. Duke did not attend college. When Duke was nineteen, he would play at pool halls and country clubs. Duke was in a band called the Washingtonians. Duke formed a new style of Jazz. Duke won 13 Grammy Awards. Duke played a lot of musical instruments, including saxophone and trumpet. In 1939, Duke hired Billy Staryhorn. Duke played baseball. Duke played pool a lot. To Duke, one-and-two was not music. After his lesson, he kissed his piano. On one summer night he formed a whole new way of playing jazz. But with practice, all Duke's fingers rode the piano. Duke died on May 24, 1974, in New York.
THE END
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It looks longer printed out...
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Dark Castle Disaster and ....
Dark Castle. New band. First tour. Skip Iowa. Skip the Twin Cities.
Two dates in North Dakota.
3/07/2009 Casa Del Kotex - Indianapolis, IN w/Cough
3/09/2009 Subterranean - Chicago, IL w/Battlefields, Irepress
3/10/2009 Borg Ward - Milwaukee, WI w/Battlefields, Irepress
3/12/2009 The Aquarium - Fargo, ND w/Battlefields, Irepress
3/13/2009 The Red Barn - Williston, ND w/Irepress
Who books this stuff?!?
The subject of Technical Writers as hourly employees v. salary employees reared its ugly head on Techwr-l. Beelia brought it up when she posted:
You all may remember that a tech writer sued Sun Micro, contending that she had not been paid for all hours worked.
Now it appears this has gone to class action:
http://schubertlawfirm.com/practice-areas/technical-writers.html
There has been some discussion on this topic before, but now that writers are being solicited to join the class action suit, I think it would be a good idea to re-open the question.
I personally do not want to be an hourly employee, and I think this is step backwards for our profession.
What do you all think?
Bee
Suzette Leeming replied in part:
On the one hand, I prefer to be deemed a professional and paid salary for a set number of hours. If a few extra hours are needed occasionally to satisfy a deadline, that's part of the job.
On the other hand, I am seeing more and more companies take advantage of their staff (not just techwriters) and expecting them to work ridiculous hours, without extra pay. Sometimes this is because of reduced staffing trying to maintain the same amount of output, but sometimes it's because a company is reluctant to increase their staffing levels even though the
workload has increased. And, why should they, if they can get an existing staff member, as a salaried employee, to work 50%+ more hours for no additional pay.
To which Milan Davidovic <http://altmilan.blogspot.com/> quipped, "That wouldn't be possible unless we agreed to it."
And that seems true. Yes, I have over 1000 hours of work sitting on my desk. Yes, it's even scheduled out through the first week of September. And yes, I have a new name for my list, courtesy of Sue Heim, a member of the HATT list. She saw an edited copy with nothing but project numbers and the assigned week and called it a "List of Things to Do Before You Die" list.
Despite my work amounting to a "Bucket List," I am convinced I can complete the majority of my work by June 1st if I dedicate myself to doing so. This means that when I am not working @ work, I should be working @ home and attempting to clear items from my list. Whether I actually fulfill this ideal and am able to complete the majority of items by June 1st seems a worthy goal. However, reality is that my evenings are tied up with other priorities and, frankly, I don't know if I would be able to keep up with the demands of this type of schedule post June 1. I think it is one thing to expend a lot of effort to get caught up - it is another thing to keep that amount of effort continuous in an effort to NOT get that far behind again.
But, frankly, the whole reason why I am in the situation I am in is that I am doing two full-time positions. We need to hire someone, we won't, so I will continue to have two jobs for the immediate (thinking through 12/31/09) future.
Finally, as I assemble this post while the kids are getting ready for school:
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Starr
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 6:00 PM
To: 'techwr-l List'
Subject: Re: Converting space-aligned text
Microsoft Word
Do a search for{2,80} (that's literally a space, not the word space enclosed in angle brackets) with the *Use wildcards* checkbox enabled and replace with ^t. That'll replace any occurrence of anywhere from two to 80 spaces with a single tab character.
I never knew that was possible! I will have to remember that for the future...
Two dates in North Dakota.
3/07/2009 Casa Del Kotex - Indianapolis, IN w/Cough
3/09/2009 Subterranean - Chicago, IL w/Battlefields, Irepress
3/10/2009 Borg Ward - Milwaukee, WI w/Battlefields, Irepress
3/12/2009 The Aquarium - Fargo, ND w/Battlefields, Irepress
3/13/2009 The Red Barn - Williston, ND w/Irepress
Who books this stuff?!?
The subject of Technical Writers as hourly employees v. salary employees reared its ugly head on Techwr-l. Beelia brought it up when she posted:
You all may remember that a tech writer sued Sun Micro, contending that she had not been paid for all hours worked.
Now it appears this has gone to class action:
http://schubertlawfirm.com/practice-areas/technical-writers.html
There has been some discussion on this topic before, but now that writers are being solicited to join the class action suit, I think it would be a good idea to re-open the question.
I personally do not want to be an hourly employee, and I think this is step backwards for our profession.
What do you all think?
Bee
Suzette Leeming replied in part:
On the one hand, I prefer to be deemed a professional and paid salary for a set number of hours. If a few extra hours are needed occasionally to satisfy a deadline, that's part of the job.
On the other hand, I am seeing more and more companies take advantage of their staff (not just techwriters) and expecting them to work ridiculous hours, without extra pay. Sometimes this is because of reduced staffing trying to maintain the same amount of output, but sometimes it's because a company is reluctant to increase their staffing levels even though the
workload has increased. And, why should they, if they can get an existing staff member, as a salaried employee, to work 50%+ more hours for no additional pay.
To which Milan Davidovic <http://altmilan.blogspot.com/> quipped, "That wouldn't be possible unless we agreed to it."
And that seems true. Yes, I have over 1000 hours of work sitting on my desk. Yes, it's even scheduled out through the first week of September. And yes, I have a new name for my list, courtesy of Sue Heim, a member of the HATT list. She saw an edited copy with nothing but project numbers and the assigned week and called it a "List of Things to Do Before You Die" list.
Despite my work amounting to a "Bucket List," I am convinced I can complete the majority of my work by June 1st if I dedicate myself to doing so. This means that when I am not working @ work, I should be working @ home and attempting to clear items from my list. Whether I actually fulfill this ideal and am able to complete the majority of items by June 1st seems a worthy goal. However, reality is that my evenings are tied up with other priorities and, frankly, I don't know if I would be able to keep up with the demands of this type of schedule post June 1. I think it is one thing to expend a lot of effort to get caught up - it is another thing to keep that amount of effort continuous in an effort to NOT get that far behind again.
But, frankly, the whole reason why I am in the situation I am in is that I am doing two full-time positions. We need to hire someone, we won't, so I will continue to have two jobs for the immediate (thinking through 12/31/09) future.
Finally, as I assemble this post while the kids are getting ready for school:
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Starr
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 6:00 PM
To: 'techwr-l List'
Subject: Re: Converting space-aligned text
Microsoft Word
Do a search for
I never knew that was possible! I will have to remember that for the future...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
I was a PPP last night
Regina had their pre-Gala at the gym. Before that, we met up with some couples we know at the Blackstone restaurant. I played one game of pool while we waited for the others to arrive. I was a PPP (Pitiful Pool Player). The first ball I knocked down the hole? The 8 ball. It was pathetic. I was embarassed. After that, I couldn't establish a flow to my shots. I missed way too many easy shots.
After that debacle, I had a delicious grilled chicken sandwich with cheese and bacon on it, plus some seasoned french fries. The Miller Lite pints tasted very good too.
The pre-Gala was fine. You walk around and socialize with your friends and donate money to the school. They serve adult beverages as well as lots of donated snacks.
We left a little after 9. The kids had put themselves in bed - not requiring a babysitter has its perks - and after checking on them, we watched the last part of "Revenge of the Nerds." I had forgotten that Dr. Mark Greene was in that movie.
Today, Karen is going to bake for the bake sale that is happening tomorrow @ church. The purpose of the bake sale is to raise money for an electronic drumset that will be used in our new building. The advantage of electronic drums is that you can hook them into the sound system. The biggest problem I have playing drums @ Mass is that I can only hear the piano. Keith, our bassist, has his amp facing out towards the congregation so I can't really hear him. The speaker that the vocalist come out of is pointed at the congregation so I can't hear them either. I am planning to play drums tonight @ 5:15 Mass after taking last week off while our Music Director was visiting friends in Texas.
It's actually kind of an easy weekend for us. Alex and Megan have their piano recital on Sunday - they have to be there @ 1 and the actual recital is @ 2 - and then I have a meeting @ church from 6:30-8:30.
After that debacle, I had a delicious grilled chicken sandwich with cheese and bacon on it, plus some seasoned french fries. The Miller Lite pints tasted very good too.
The pre-Gala was fine. You walk around and socialize with your friends and donate money to the school. They serve adult beverages as well as lots of donated snacks.
We left a little after 9. The kids had put themselves in bed - not requiring a babysitter has its perks - and after checking on them, we watched the last part of "Revenge of the Nerds." I had forgotten that Dr. Mark Greene was in that movie.
Today, Karen is going to bake for the bake sale that is happening tomorrow @ church. The purpose of the bake sale is to raise money for an electronic drumset that will be used in our new building. The advantage of electronic drums is that you can hook them into the sound system. The biggest problem I have playing drums @ Mass is that I can only hear the piano. Keith, our bassist, has his amp facing out towards the congregation so I can't really hear him. The speaker that the vocalist come out of is pointed at the congregation so I can't hear them either. I am planning to play drums tonight @ 5:15 Mass after taking last week off while our Music Director was visiting friends in Texas.
It's actually kind of an easy weekend for us. Alex and Megan have their piano recital on Sunday - they have to be there @ 1 and the actual recital is @ 2 - and then I have a meeting @ church from 6:30-8:30.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Adler's Appetitte & a cool Job
Here's a show in Waterloo I would be interested in seeing...
Wednesday, March 4th
Adler's Appertite
Adler’s Appetite – led by legendary drummer of GUNS N ROSES and star of the smash hit VH-1 series “Celebrity Rehab” STEVEN ADLER and featuring an all-star band with members of QUIET RIOT, FASTER PUSSYCAT and ENUFF Z’NUFF – are embarking on a full U.S. tour for the first time ever! Performing the iconic Guns N Roses album “Appetite For Destruction” in its entirety along with other classics and some surprises, this promises to be one of truly can’t miss Rock N Roll events of 2009!
Openers TBA
Show Time 9PM
Doors @ 8
Cost $12 adv, $15 dos
Here's a cool job: http://www.songkick.com/jobs#communitymanager that I just stumbled upon. I'm monitoring various websites for information about the lineup for Memphis in May. I am not going - my nephew makes his First Communion that weekend - but I am always going to be curious who is going to show up. As far as I know, there is no delegation from Iowa heading to Memphis.
Wednesday, March 4th
Adler's Appertite
Adler’s Appetite – led by legendary drummer of GUNS N ROSES and star of the smash hit VH-1 series “Celebrity Rehab” STEVEN ADLER and featuring an all-star band with members of QUIET RIOT, FASTER PUSSYCAT and ENUFF Z’NUFF – are embarking on a full U.S. tour for the first time ever! Performing the iconic Guns N Roses album “Appetite For Destruction” in its entirety along with other classics and some surprises, this promises to be one of truly can’t miss Rock N Roll events of 2009!
Openers TBA
Show Time 9PM
Doors @ 8
Cost $12 adv, $15 dos
Here's a cool job: http://www.songkick.com/jobs#communitymanager that I just stumbled upon. I'm monitoring various websites for information about the lineup for Memphis in May. I am not going - my nephew makes his First Communion that weekend - but I am always going to be curious who is going to show up. As far as I know, there is no delegation from Iowa heading to Memphis.
Success & a Slew of Ideas in one Post
First, I contacted my bank and I can now access my account online.
There was a lot of activity on the e-mail lists I frequent. I read the dumbest thing I've ever read on the Internet. This is probably not *the* dumbest thing, but it is pretty high up there after "Bob Rock destroyed Metallica." On the Dreamweaver e-mail list, someone actually posted this:
hi,
i'm a student struggling with no job. i downloaded the trial version of cs4 but i cannot afford to pay for it. does anyone have a serial number that can share? you can send it to me directly if you don't want o post it in public.
thanks for your help,
To which frequent posted Al Sparber replied:
"Try this one: GO127-TO453-JA692-IL413"
The original poster was banned from the list and that is a good thing. The barrage of "Are you kidding me?" replies would have destroyed the fragile ego of a wanna-be thief.
I like posts from Gene Kim-Eng, a frequent poster on Techwr-L. He always seems to have constructive advice for whatever issue is being discussed. Today, regarding why users do not read the manual, he wrote
"Most users don't read their docs because they know they can call tech support and have someone else look up the information for them.
I once worked with a small company (not named because as far as I know they're still doing this) where we dealt with users not reading the docs (we're talking about people who often called us because they didn't know they were supposed to defrag their hard drives periodically) by putting a blurb in the sales and warranty material that said tech support was free for one year, after which they would need a "support contract," and the free support countdown clock started with their first call to tech support. In reality the company had no desire to charge for support and didn't even have a process in place to write "support contracts," but simply telling people they had a year of free support that started expiring with their first call resulted in a substantial drop in calls from people who just needed to do things like defrag their hard drives."
Elsewhere on the thread, it was mentioned that those users who say the doc is bad are the ones that either refuse to read it - so how would they know? is what I'd like to know - or who skim over the important warnings that are included in the doc. It brings to mind the story that was circulated as fact - and that has been since documented as an urban legend see http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp - about the person who sets the cruise control, gets up from his seat, and wins a lawsuit because the manual didn't say they couldn't set the cruise control and get up from their seat.
Fourth, one of my favorite topics - embedded help in software came up.
From: HATT@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 10:22 AM
To: HATT@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [HATT] Developing Embedded Help (User Assistance)
I'm looking to connect with anyone out there who has experience developing embedded user assistance. Later this year, I hope to be developing embedded user assistance for a web application and have a few questions.
By embedded help, I mean the set of tool tips and pop-ups that appear when the application user hovers the cursor over a field or a help icon. This is not a help system in that there will be no index or table of contents and there will be no dedicated pane, either within the application or outside, for displaying the help content. It is likely that links within the pop-ups will open a new browser window where we will have a page of more extensive content.
The application is being developed in Microsoft Visual Studio for .NET. The developers are using a toolkit from Telerik called RadControls for asp.net.
As I understand it, all the pieces of help are simply HTML, which I can create in almost any tool. However, have you used tools designed specifically for embedded help?
During the design phase, how do you plan the set of chunks in terms of what is on the application screens?
With embedded help—and no help authoring tool—how do you manage the numerous chunks of content?
To which I replied, off-list:
I have not encountered a tool specifically for embedded help.
I use Dreamweaver for my HTML coding but you can use pretty much anything that suits your needs.
I’m not sure what you mean by this sentence:
During the design phase, how do you plan the set of chunks in terms of what is on the application screens?
In my experience, your chunks of content will be dictated by the user interface and where the user can access that content. That is to be worked out with your programmer. If you’re asking how to divide up a screen into chunks of content, again, the UI should dictate that. I saw a design yesterday where there is a pseudo group box but instead of being a box, it is actually a border with a Help button at the far right. The user clicks that button to get access to help about the fields in that section. You need to identify where the user can access help and where it makes sense to break things up. Again, the UI should aid you in this.
I wasn’t sure from your statement about not having a HAT if you didn’t have a HAT or if you thought you couldn’t / shouldn’t use a HAT because you don’t have a TOC or Index. From my perspective, just because you do not have a TOC or Index does *not* mean you can’t use a HAT to organize your topics. In fact, I have one web app I document where there are Help buttons on each screen. There is no TOC, there is no Index, there is no search. However, I use RoboHelp to organize my topics. I also took the time to create a TOC and an Index for my own navigation in and among topics so that I can find the topic I need to in some way modify. However, for this app, I do not generate Webhelp. I merely take the HTML files that are in the project folder and give the programmer those that are then included with the install.
I do know that getting buy-in from your programmers is key and essential to nourish.
Fifth, I neglected to mention the encounter my son and I had the other day with Wikipedia.
My son (4th grade) had to do research on Duke Ellington. I suggested typing "Duke Ellington" in Google. One of the first hits was for Wikipedia.
"No," he told me. "I can't use that. Someone can write that and I can't use it."
I chuckled. "Someone" wrote all the content on the website that we ended up citing as a source and, to take it a step further, someone wrote all the content on the Internet. Not the same someone but the Internet is a true community effort. I know what my son was getting at - that anyone can change a wiki entry - but it was humorous how it had been translated to a 4th grader.
One of the bands I like is called Let Me Run. They are embarking on a national tour. Guess what state they skip? Yep. Iowa.
Mar 12 Mad Maggies Elgin, Illinois
Mar 13 Reggies Chicago, Illinois
Mar 14 The Wedge Bar St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 15 TBA Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 17 TBA Peoria, Illinois
Mar 18 Moria Indianapolis, Indiana
I introduced my daughter to the J. Giels Band & Loverboy tonight. The ending of "Centerfold" came on the oldies rock station and she liked the "Na na na na na's" in that song. Immediately after that was Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend." I have a weakness for Loverboy. I saw Dokken open for Loverboy in 1986. I count it as my first concert, though I have faint memories of seeing Whitesnake opening for Quiet Riot, but I can find no evidence of actually being there - no ticket stub. So, anyways, Loverboy earned high marks from my daughter.
How about some Opeth since they are not coming to Iowa? Perfect.
And for something less metal:
Finally, and I do mean finally, here is a great song from one of my favorite bands of all time. I realize this is a lot to ingest and believe me, I've been making the roungs and only posting the best of what I've seen.
DOKEEN!!!
There was a lot of activity on the e-mail lists I frequent. I read the dumbest thing I've ever read on the Internet. This is probably not *the* dumbest thing, but it is pretty high up there after "Bob Rock destroyed Metallica." On the Dreamweaver e-mail list, someone actually posted this:
hi,
i'm a student struggling with no job. i downloaded the trial version of cs4 but i cannot afford to pay for it. does anyone have a serial number that can share? you can send it to me directly if you don't want o post it in public.
thanks for your help,
To which frequent posted Al Sparber replied:
"Try this one: GO127-TO453-JA692-IL413"
The original poster was banned from the list and that is a good thing. The barrage of "Are you kidding me?" replies would have destroyed the fragile ego of a wanna-be thief.
I like posts from Gene Kim-Eng, a frequent poster on Techwr-L. He always seems to have constructive advice for whatever issue is being discussed. Today, regarding why users do not read the manual, he wrote
"Most users don't read their docs because they know they can call tech support and have someone else look up the information for them.
I once worked with a small company (not named because as far as I know they're still doing this) where we dealt with users not reading the docs (we're talking about people who often called us because they didn't know they were supposed to defrag their hard drives periodically) by putting a blurb in the sales and warranty material that said tech support was free for one year, after which they would need a "support contract," and the free support countdown clock started with their first call to tech support. In reality the company had no desire to charge for support and didn't even have a process in place to write "support contracts," but simply telling people they had a year of free support that started expiring with their first call resulted in a substantial drop in calls from people who just needed to do things like defrag their hard drives."
Elsewhere on the thread, it was mentioned that those users who say the doc is bad are the ones that either refuse to read it - so how would they know? is what I'd like to know - or who skim over the important warnings that are included in the doc. It brings to mind the story that was circulated as fact - and that has been since documented as an urban legend see http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp - about the person who sets the cruise control, gets up from his seat, and wins a lawsuit because the manual didn't say they couldn't set the cruise control and get up from their seat.
Fourth, one of my favorite topics - embedded help in software came up.
From: HATT@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 10:22 AM
To: HATT@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [HATT] Developing Embedded Help (User Assistance)
I'm looking to connect with anyone out there who has experience developing embedded user assistance. Later this year, I hope to be developing embedded user assistance for a web application and have a few questions.
By embedded help, I mean the set of tool tips and pop-ups that appear when the application user hovers the cursor over a field or a help icon. This is not a help system in that there will be no index or table of contents and there will be no dedicated pane, either within the application or outside, for displaying the help content. It is likely that links within the pop-ups will open a new browser window where we will have a page of more extensive content.
The application is being developed in Microsoft Visual Studio for .NET. The developers are using a toolkit from Telerik called RadControls for asp.net.
As I understand it, all the pieces of help are simply HTML, which I can create in almost any tool. However, have you used tools designed specifically for embedded help?
During the design phase, how do you plan the set of chunks in terms of what is on the application screens?
With embedded help—and no help authoring tool—how do you manage the numerous chunks of content?
To which I replied, off-list:
I have not encountered a tool specifically for embedded help.
I use Dreamweaver for my HTML coding but you can use pretty much anything that suits your needs.
I’m not sure what you mean by this sentence:
During the design phase, how do you plan the set of chunks in terms of what is on the application screens?
In my experience, your chunks of content will be dictated by the user interface and where the user can access that content. That is to be worked out with your programmer. If you’re asking how to divide up a screen into chunks of content, again, the UI should dictate that. I saw a design yesterday where there is a pseudo group box but instead of being a box, it is actually a border with a Help button at the far right. The user clicks that button to get access to help about the fields in that section. You need to identify where the user can access help and where it makes sense to break things up. Again, the UI should aid you in this.
I wasn’t sure from your statement about not having a HAT if you didn’t have a HAT or if you thought you couldn’t / shouldn’t use a HAT because you don’t have a TOC or Index. From my perspective, just because you do not have a TOC or Index does *not* mean you can’t use a HAT to organize your topics. In fact, I have one web app I document where there are Help buttons on each screen. There is no TOC, there is no Index, there is no search. However, I use RoboHelp to organize my topics. I also took the time to create a TOC and an Index for my own navigation in and among topics so that I can find the topic I need to in some way modify. However, for this app, I do not generate Webhelp. I merely take the HTML files that are in the project folder and give the programmer those that are then included with the install.
I do know that getting buy-in from your programmers is key and essential to nourish.
Fifth, I neglected to mention the encounter my son and I had the other day with Wikipedia.
My son (4th grade) had to do research on Duke Ellington. I suggested typing "Duke Ellington" in Google. One of the first hits was for Wikipedia.
"No," he told me. "I can't use that. Someone can write that and I can't use it."
I chuckled. "Someone" wrote all the content on the website that we ended up citing as a source and, to take it a step further, someone wrote all the content on the Internet. Not the same someone but the Internet is a true community effort. I know what my son was getting at - that anyone can change a wiki entry - but it was humorous how it had been translated to a 4th grader.
One of the bands I like is called Let Me Run. They are embarking on a national tour. Guess what state they skip? Yep. Iowa.
Mar 12 Mad Maggies Elgin, Illinois
Mar 13 Reggies Chicago, Illinois
Mar 14 The Wedge Bar St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 15 TBA Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 17 TBA Peoria, Illinois
Mar 18 Moria Indianapolis, Indiana
I introduced my daughter to the J. Giels Band & Loverboy tonight. The ending of "Centerfold" came on the oldies rock station and she liked the "Na na na na na's" in that song. Immediately after that was Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend." I have a weakness for Loverboy. I saw Dokken open for Loverboy in 1986. I count it as my first concert, though I have faint memories of seeing Whitesnake opening for Quiet Riot, but I can find no evidence of actually being there - no ticket stub. So, anyways, Loverboy earned high marks from my daughter.
How about some Opeth since they are not coming to Iowa? Perfect.
And for something less metal:
Finally, and I do mean finally, here is a great song from one of my favorite bands of all time. I realize this is a lot to ingest and believe me, I've been making the roungs and only posting the best of what I've seen.
DOKEEN!!!
Monday, February 16, 2009
How to Get Rid of a Telemarketer... & Work Musings
I worked as a telemarketer from 9/1/92 until 12/1/92. In that time, I learned some things about the industry. I learned that it is nice for a telemarketer to actually talk to someone who is interested in talking.
Poor guy that got my number tonight. I wasn't that nice guy.
It's between 8 and 9. I'm watching "24." Phone rings. "Hello?" Silence. "Hello?"
In broken English, a male says, "Hello, may I please speak with ..."
I don't think I let him finish his sentence. "Dude," I said, "24 is on. I'm not talking to you" and I hung up the phone. Normally, I will talk to whomever wants to talk to me. I've taken surveys and such and I always reserve the right to not disclose information over the phone, like who I do business with. That is no one's business but mine.
We had Cable Company A. We had dial-up. I wanted to get away from dial-up and go with someone who could offer cable & DSL on the same bill. I talked to Cable Company A. They insisted that they had to drill from the outside into my house and they would not run any wiring within the house. That just didn't make sense to have 3 separate holes in my house because we wanted cable TV in the basement, in our bedroom, and in the living room. I called Cable Company B, who we already had our local phone service with and inquired about getting cable and DSL. I asked that they come to my house before the day of the install so they could look at my house, look where I wanted to have the wiring done, look at my drop ceiling in the basement, look at where they would have to come up through the floor to the bedroom, and to look the whole situation over. An installer and an assistant came out, spent about 10 minutes looking at every thing. When they felt confident they knew what they were getting into, they left. A week later, they came back, installed my DSL and cable and every thing has been fine since. However, Cable Company A must have me on their "try to get this customer back" list. They have called several times to ask me about going back to them. I have very pointedly said, "No. They were uncooperative when I wanted new service and they lost my business. I don't foresee ever going back. I know how to get in touch with them, if I ever need to."
Meanwhile, no status change regarding my online bank account. I cannot remember how to get into my bank's online banking system. I can remember many things but that tidbit of info has escaped me. I will contact my bank tomorrow, have them reset my login ID/password and be on my merry way.
At work today, I knocked a couple things off my project list. Specifically, #89 and #114 are done except for some brief loose ends. I realize #89 and #114 mean nothing to anyone but me.
I am making progress on the tables to tableless conversion. Less than 50 to go for my end-user project and only 800 for the internal doc. I hope to finish end-user by March 1 and internal by April 1. Those are aggressive goals.
No Way Out PPV last night. Just now caught the results:
Dark Melina (c) defeated Beth Phoenix Singles match for the WWE Women's Championship
1 Triple H defeated Edge (c), The Undertaker, The Big Show, Jeff Hardy, and Vladimir Kozlov Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship
2 Randy Orton defeated Shane McMahon No Holds Barred match
3 Jack Swagger (c) defeated Finlay Singles match for the ECW Championship
4 Shawn Michaels defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield Singles match; If JBL had won, he would have became the owner of Michaels' name and likeness.
5 Edge defeated John Cena (c), Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Mike Knox, and Kane
Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Poor guy that got my number tonight. I wasn't that nice guy.
It's between 8 and 9. I'm watching "24." Phone rings. "Hello?" Silence. "Hello?"
In broken English, a male says, "Hello, may I please speak with ..."
I don't think I let him finish his sentence. "Dude," I said, "24 is on. I'm not talking to you" and I hung up the phone. Normally, I will talk to whomever wants to talk to me. I've taken surveys and such and I always reserve the right to not disclose information over the phone, like who I do business with. That is no one's business but mine.
We had Cable Company A. We had dial-up. I wanted to get away from dial-up and go with someone who could offer cable & DSL on the same bill. I talked to Cable Company A. They insisted that they had to drill from the outside into my house and they would not run any wiring within the house. That just didn't make sense to have 3 separate holes in my house because we wanted cable TV in the basement, in our bedroom, and in the living room. I called Cable Company B, who we already had our local phone service with and inquired about getting cable and DSL. I asked that they come to my house before the day of the install so they could look at my house, look where I wanted to have the wiring done, look at my drop ceiling in the basement, look at where they would have to come up through the floor to the bedroom, and to look the whole situation over. An installer and an assistant came out, spent about 10 minutes looking at every thing. When they felt confident they knew what they were getting into, they left. A week later, they came back, installed my DSL and cable and every thing has been fine since. However, Cable Company A must have me on their "try to get this customer back" list. They have called several times to ask me about going back to them. I have very pointedly said, "No. They were uncooperative when I wanted new service and they lost my business. I don't foresee ever going back. I know how to get in touch with them, if I ever need to."
Meanwhile, no status change regarding my online bank account. I cannot remember how to get into my bank's online banking system. I can remember many things but that tidbit of info has escaped me. I will contact my bank tomorrow, have them reset my login ID/password and be on my merry way.
At work today, I knocked a couple things off my project list. Specifically, #89 and #114 are done except for some brief loose ends. I realize #89 and #114 mean nothing to anyone but me.
I am making progress on the tables to tableless conversion. Less than 50 to go for my end-user project and only 800 for the internal doc. I hope to finish end-user by March 1 and internal by April 1. Those are aggressive goals.
No Way Out PPV last night. Just now caught the results:
Dark Melina (c) defeated Beth Phoenix Singles match for the WWE Women's Championship
1 Triple H defeated Edge (c), The Undertaker, The Big Show, Jeff Hardy, and Vladimir Kozlov Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship
2 Randy Orton defeated Shane McMahon No Holds Barred match
3 Jack Swagger (c) defeated Finlay Singles match for the ECW Championship
4 Shawn Michaels defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield Singles match; If JBL had won, he would have became the owner of Michaels' name and likeness.
5 Edge defeated John Cena (c), Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Mike Knox, and Kane
Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Forgetfulness
I use online banking and I cannot remember my login ID. It's not like I never use it - I check our accounts daily - it's that I just sat down last night and I cannot remember it. I have successfully locked myself out of my account but it can't be reset until Tuesday because - of course - the bank is closed Monday for President's Day.
I don't *need* to see my account info - it's that I'm *used* to being able to see it when I want to see it.
I don't *need* to see my account info - it's that I'm *used* to being able to see it when I want to see it.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
How to mark Stuff in Doc as new...
There was a question posed on Techwr-L that asked about how to specify that text is new.
Rick Stone started out the following idea by proposing creating styles. To flesh that out a bit more, here's a simple example.
I have Body-Text defined as this in my CSS file:
p.Body-Text
{
font-size: 1em;
font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 1.5em 6.5em;
}
I would create Body-Text_release_whatever and define it as:
p.Body-Text_release_whatever
{
font-size: 1em;
font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 1.5em 6.5em;
color: yellow; <== replace "yellow" with whatever color you want. } For a brand new paragraph, you'd have: [p class="Body-Text_release_whatever"]Blah blah blah.[/p]
And then assign all the changed text that style.
If you need text within a paragraph, do something like this:
.release_whatever
{
color: yellow; <== replace "yellow" with whatever color you want. }
So, for a paragraph with changed text, you'd have:
[p class="Body-Text "]Blah blah blah [span class="release_whatever"]this is new info[/span] and that's why the Earth is flat.[/p]
You may have to define something for each of your CSS styles, but as long as you're religiously applying styles for each change in text, you can manage it.
Then, after "release whatever" is cut, you'd edit your CSS file to 'up' the version and do a find and replace, looking for "release_whatever" and apply your regular styles. OR, totally removing the tags.
An additional option would be to NOT get rid of the "release_whatever" style. You would go to your CSS file and make two simple changes.
First, for your p style, you would remove the color from the style definition.
p.Body-Text_release_whatever
{
font-size: 1em;
font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 1.5em 6.5em;
color: yellow; <== remove this }
Second, you would change your span style to not be yellow.
.release_whatever{color: yellow; <== replace "yellow" with whatever color your other text normally is }
Doing things this way would mean that you could easily come up with a list of changes that were made for a specific release. When the specific release was no longer "new," you would remove the color attribute that made it stand out and it would look exactly like your other text.
Rick Stone started out the following idea by proposing creating styles. To flesh that out a bit more, here's a simple example.
I have Body-Text defined as this in my CSS file:
p.Body-Text
{
font-size: 1em;
font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 1.5em 6.5em;
}
I would create Body-Text_release_whatever and define it as:
p.Body-Text_release_whatever
{
font-size: 1em;
font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 1.5em 6.5em;
color: yellow; <== replace "yellow" with whatever color you want. } For a brand new paragraph, you'd have: [p class="Body-Text_release_whatever"]Blah blah blah.[/p]
And then assign all the changed text that style.
If you need text within a paragraph, do something like this:
.release_whatever
{
color: yellow; <== replace "yellow" with whatever color you want. }
So, for a paragraph with changed text, you'd have:
[p class="Body-Text "]Blah blah blah [span class="release_whatever"]this is new info[/span] and that's why the Earth is flat.[/p]
You may have to define something for each of your CSS styles, but as long as you're religiously applying styles for each change in text, you can manage it.
Then, after "release whatever" is cut, you'd edit your CSS file to 'up' the version and do a find and replace, looking for "release_whatever" and apply your regular styles. OR, totally removing the tags.
An additional option would be to NOT get rid of the "release_whatever" style. You would go to your CSS file and make two simple changes.
First, for your p style, you would remove the color from the style definition.
p.Body-Text_release_whatever
{
font-size: 1em;
font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 1.5em 6.5em;
color: yellow; <== remove this }
Second, you would change your span style to not be yellow.
.release_whatever{color: yellow; <== replace "yellow" with whatever color your other text normally is }
Doing things this way would mean that you could easily come up with a list of changes that were made for a specific release. When the specific release was no longer "new," you would remove the color attribute that made it stand out and it would look exactly like your other text.
Neighborhood Gossip & Knitting
My neighbors and I were outside the other night and the subject of attendance at Carver-Hawkeye Arena came up regarding the men's team. My neighbor told me that when he was listening to a men's basketball game the other night, the radio announcer noted that women brought knitting to the games and were doing so while watching the game.
Not during 1/2 time or during timeouts - knitting during the entire game.
Tickets for the game that night was ~$22 for a ticket, plus $5 for parking, and usually, $9 for concessions if you get a hot dog and Coke.
Someone paid ~$40 to go to the arena and knit.
Granted, with our disgraceful display last night v. WI, fine. I wouldn't have wanted to see it all either.
However, that's not the way I attend games. We stay until the end - and stood through the women's 3 OT victory over PSU. When I took my 10 year-old son to a men's game against MSU, we were down 12 with ~2:00 left. People starting leaving. Isn't the game of college basketball 40 minutes long? My son made me proud when he started saying, very loudly, "Where are you going? The game's not over?!?"
Some have said that people leave early to get ahead of the traffic, which can be bad due to the area's layout. However, we stayed until the end of the game and wow - traffic went very swiftly. I guess I shouldn't complain about people leaving early.
Not during 1/2 time or during timeouts - knitting during the entire game.
Tickets for the game that night was ~$22 for a ticket, plus $5 for parking, and usually, $9 for concessions if you get a hot dog and Coke.
Someone paid ~$40 to go to the arena and knit.
Granted, with our disgraceful display last night v. WI, fine. I wouldn't have wanted to see it all either.
However, that's not the way I attend games. We stay until the end - and stood through the women's 3 OT victory over PSU. When I took my 10 year-old son to a men's game against MSU, we were down 12 with ~2:00 left. People starting leaving. Isn't the game of college basketball 40 minutes long? My son made me proud when he started saying, very loudly, "Where are you going? The game's not over?!?"
Some have said that people leave early to get ahead of the traffic, which can be bad due to the area's layout. However, we stayed until the end of the game and wow - traffic went very swiftly. I guess I shouldn't complain about people leaving early.
14 Years Later... The Question is "Would I dive into the Source Code Pool Willingly?"
It was a busy night. We tend to follow specific shows that, unfortunately, all end up being on Thursday.
1) Survivor (Survivor: Tocantins - The Brazilian Highlands was produced in 2008 and will premiere on February 12, 2009. We have a Survivor pool @ work and I have Debra Beebee, 46, Middle School Principal. I hope she wins so I win the pot.)
2) ER (9-10)
3) the Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice cross-over event (8-10)
4) TNA wrestling ... (8-10)
It started out as a busy day on Techwr-L as well. List member David Downing asked whether software documenters should learn to read code. He wrote that:
One reason programmers tend to make bad documenters is that they think in terms of the mechanics of the program, rather than in terms of the tasks the end user needs to perform. [A] technical writer who starts reading code might start thinking this way as well.
This is my take on it. I am cruising online and I find a CD review of Metallica's "Death Magnetic" CD. As I read it, I can't help but notice that the reviewer has a mastery of the band's material. I read explanations that describe how track such and such is very similar to track such and such on their previous release. I read about chord progressions in track "This" being similar to track "That" on their second release. By reading the review, I -trust- the reviewer's opinion because they are able to explain, in-depth, how the current CD is either better, the same, or worse, than previous releases. The writer is able to pick the important details and eliminate the fluff or irrelevant aspects of the release. They tie the review in a neatly wrapped present. It is easy to read & tells you everything you need to know about the release in order to decide whether or not to purchase it.
Now, apply that to tech writing. I'm reading online Help and read a paragraph that talks about a "Processing" option. The explanation goes into the depths of what is processed, what files are processed, how the files are changed, where you will see evidence that the process updated something, etc.
In the first example, did the reviewer have access to the Metallica release as it was being recorded or to the early demos - the source code? Probably not. They were able to write meaningful prose by fully understanding where the release fit into the big picture.
The same is true in software doc. I do not believe you must have access to the source code in order to fully understand the software. I need to understand what the software does and how it does it, but do I have to read the source code to learn that? Not if I have access to the programmers and SMEs who wrote the source code or designed the source code.
Reading source code would be one tool in your toolbox for writing meaningful doc. This is a touchy subject for me. My mentor @ job #1 was very set in her ways that tech writers did not belong in the source code any more than programmers belonged in doc "source code" files. If there was a question about how something worked, you should ask the programmer. One day, I was instructed to ask the programmer for the valid values for a field. I went to the programmer to ask him. He showed me how to go into the source code - in display mode - and what to search for in order to find the info I needed to write my doc. My mentor's face turned red when she saw what I was doing. "You do not want to be responsible for messing up their code!" she told me. I didn't tell her that I was in display mode - that I couldn't update anything - but I don't think that would have mattered to her.
The problem with asking the programmer, though, is that sometimes the programmer knows what they are doing and sometimes they are just doing what they are told to do so your mileage may vary. Yesterday, I was creating the UI for a new menu option that generates a report that is sent to a 3rd party. I saw the 3rd party referred to as both "APPLES" and "Apples" so I asked how that company should be referred to on the menu option. I asked the programmer who had added the menu option. She said, "I don't know. I've seen it both ways." She suggested asking a trainer, who happened to be gone yesterday. In the meantime, I asked a 2nd programmer, who googled the name and found reference after reference of "Apples." I made the menu option say "Apples." This AM, the trainer wrote back that it should be "APPLES."
The point? There are always multiple opinions in regards to everything that comes up. If reading source code helps you do your job, by all means, read the source code. In my 14 years of experience - today is my 14 year anniversary of my first day @ job #1 - it is not essential.
1) Survivor (Survivor: Tocantins - The Brazilian Highlands was produced in 2008 and will premiere on February 12, 2009. We have a Survivor pool @ work and I have Debra Beebee, 46, Middle School Principal. I hope she wins so I win the pot.)
2) ER (9-10)
3) the Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice cross-over event (8-10)
4) TNA wrestling ... (8-10)
It started out as a busy day on Techwr-L as well. List member David Downing asked whether software documenters should learn to read code. He wrote that:
One reason programmers tend to make bad documenters is that they think in terms of the mechanics of the program, rather than in terms of the tasks the end user needs to perform. [A] technical writer who starts reading code might start thinking this way as well.
This is my take on it. I am cruising online and I find a CD review of Metallica's "Death Magnetic" CD. As I read it, I can't help but notice that the reviewer has a mastery of the band's material. I read explanations that describe how track such and such is very similar to track such and such on their previous release. I read about chord progressions in track "This" being similar to track "That" on their second release. By reading the review, I -trust- the reviewer's opinion because they are able to explain, in-depth, how the current CD is either better, the same, or worse, than previous releases. The writer is able to pick the important details and eliminate the fluff or irrelevant aspects of the release. They tie the review in a neatly wrapped present. It is easy to read & tells you everything you need to know about the release in order to decide whether or not to purchase it.
Now, apply that to tech writing. I'm reading online Help and read a paragraph that talks about a "Processing" option. The explanation goes into the depths of what is processed, what files are processed, how the files are changed, where you will see evidence that the process updated something, etc.
In the first example, did the reviewer have access to the Metallica release as it was being recorded or to the early demos - the source code? Probably not. They were able to write meaningful prose by fully understanding where the release fit into the big picture.
The same is true in software doc. I do not believe you must have access to the source code in order to fully understand the software. I need to understand what the software does and how it does it, but do I have to read the source code to learn that? Not if I have access to the programmers and SMEs who wrote the source code or designed the source code.
Reading source code would be one tool in your toolbox for writing meaningful doc. This is a touchy subject for me. My mentor @ job #1 was very set in her ways that tech writers did not belong in the source code any more than programmers belonged in doc "source code" files. If there was a question about how something worked, you should ask the programmer. One day, I was instructed to ask the programmer for the valid values for a field. I went to the programmer to ask him. He showed me how to go into the source code - in display mode - and what to search for in order to find the info I needed to write my doc. My mentor's face turned red when she saw what I was doing. "You do not want to be responsible for messing up their code!" she told me. I didn't tell her that I was in display mode - that I couldn't update anything - but I don't think that would have mattered to her.
The problem with asking the programmer, though, is that sometimes the programmer knows what they are doing and sometimes they are just doing what they are told to do so your mileage may vary. Yesterday, I was creating the UI for a new menu option that generates a report that is sent to a 3rd party. I saw the 3rd party referred to as both "APPLES" and "Apples" so I asked how that company should be referred to on the menu option. I asked the programmer who had added the menu option. She said, "I don't know. I've seen it both ways." She suggested asking a trainer, who happened to be gone yesterday. In the meantime, I asked a 2nd programmer, who googled the name and found reference after reference of "Apples." I made the menu option say "Apples." This AM, the trainer wrote back that it should be "APPLES."
The point? There are always multiple opinions in regards to everything that comes up. If reading source code helps you do your job, by all means, read the source code. In my 14 years of experience - today is my 14 year anniversary of my first day @ job #1 - it is not essential.
Knew, I thought
One of the greatest and underrated heavy metal songs of all time is "I Thought I Knew it All," a song on the Megadeth 1994 release Youthanasia. Rarely does heavy metal get it right. This song has good vocals, a good riff, thoughtful lyrics, solid drums, and an overall, well, positive vibe about life.
I Thought I Knew It All
Somewhere there's a reason
Why things go like they do
Somewhere there's a reason
Why somethings just fall through
We don't always see them
For what they really are
But I know there's a reason,
Just can't see it from this far
Maybe I don't like it, but I have no choice
I know that somewhere, someone hears my voice
I thought I knew it all
I thought I had it made
How could it end this way?
I thought I knew
Somewhere there's a reason
Why things don't go my way
Somewhere there's a reason
That I cannot explain
Just like the change of season,
Just may not be my turn
But I know there's a reason,
The lesson's mine to learn
I Thought I Knew It All
Somewhere there's a reason
Why things go like they do
Somewhere there's a reason
Why somethings just fall through
We don't always see them
For what they really are
But I know there's a reason,
Just can't see it from this far
Maybe I don't like it, but I have no choice
I know that somewhere, someone hears my voice
I thought I knew it all
I thought I had it made
How could it end this way?
I thought I knew
Somewhere there's a reason
Why things don't go my way
Somewhere there's a reason
That I cannot explain
Just like the change of season,
Just may not be my turn
But I know there's a reason,
The lesson's mine to learn
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
More Touring Woes
This is Opeth's concert tour:
Wed 05/06/09 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
Fri 05/08/09 Omaha, NE Sokol Auditorium / Underground
Sat 05/09/09 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
HELLO!?!? How do you get from Chicago, IL, to Omaha, NE?!? You drive through Iowa?!? Why couldn't they have added Iowa City or Moline, IL, or Des Moines, IA, or Cedar Rapids, IA, to their tour? They have a free night - Thursday, 05/07/09.
But, actually, I'm kind of glad they are not playing in Iowa. 05/07/09 is my wife's birthday. Even if they were playing, I would not miss her birthday to see Opeth.
Wed 05/06/09 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
Fri 05/08/09 Omaha, NE Sokol Auditorium / Underground
Sat 05/09/09 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
HELLO!?!? How do you get from Chicago, IL, to Omaha, NE?!? You drive through Iowa?!? Why couldn't they have added Iowa City or Moline, IL, or Des Moines, IA, or Cedar Rapids, IA, to their tour? They have a free night - Thursday, 05/07/09.
But, actually, I'm kind of glad they are not playing in Iowa. 05/07/09 is my wife's birthday. Even if they were playing, I would not miss her birthday to see Opeth.
C v JS
BAMM!!!
That thud was the revelation by my friend Phil that Joe Satriani - guitar legend - is suing Coldplay because Coldplay has a song that sounds a lot like Satriani's song. For a technical breakdown of this issue, here's a guy who may or may not know a lot about the guitar. Remember, I'm a drummer - look up to the top of this blog for a reminder - so my guitar theory is zilch. Here's a summary:
|
Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for music plagiarism for the Verse section of their song, "Viva La Vida," - claiming that the Chorus of his 2005 song, "If I Could Fly," has the same; melody, harmony & rhythm.
Satriani's Lawsuit states, "substantial original portions," of his 2005 instrumental piece, "If I Could Fly," were copied. The copyright infringement suit was filed in Los Angeles federal court on December 4. Satriani has asked for:
1). A Jury trial.
2). Damages.
3). Profits from Viva La Vida.
|
So I thought, "Enough guitar mumbo jumbo! Where's the double bass?" So I found this:
and called it a wrap.
That thud was the revelation by my friend Phil that Joe Satriani - guitar legend - is suing Coldplay because Coldplay has a song that sounds a lot like Satriani's song. For a technical breakdown of this issue, here's a guy who may or may not know a lot about the guitar. Remember, I'm a drummer - look up to the top of this blog for a reminder - so my guitar theory is zilch. Here's a summary:
|
Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for music plagiarism for the Verse section of their song, "Viva La Vida," - claiming that the Chorus of his 2005 song, "If I Could Fly," has the same; melody, harmony & rhythm.
Satriani's Lawsuit states, "substantial original portions," of his 2005 instrumental piece, "If I Could Fly," were copied. The copyright infringement suit was filed in Los Angeles federal court on December 4. Satriani has asked for:
1). A Jury trial.
2). Damages.
3). Profits from Viva La Vida.
|
So I thought, "Enough guitar mumbo jumbo! Where's the double bass?" So I found this:
and called it a wrap.
SDLC
From Techwr-l today:
From: CL T
"Agile/XP is one of those "things" you either DO or do not. It doesn't work"half-assed". Stories are the key to everything.
Documentation is simply one of the stories. As for the writer being left out of the loop? That's why I always advise "get your foot in as many doors as early as possible". Even though TechWriters have been around a while, there still seems to be a need for Training. Companies, developers, engineers, managers, etc. need to know how to work with us from time to time. Documentation and knowledge of products does not appear by magic or osmosis."
Really? I wholeheartedly agree.
Got an e-mail today from my (cool) manager about a project that is coming up. She forwarded the requirements doc to everyone in the dept. Not more than two hours later, I got an e-mail message from a Support Team Lead, asking if there was any doc for the same project. Now, this project isn't even in programming yet - as far as I know - so there is nothing to document. I've often imagined having doc ahead of programming - instead of being 1000+ hours behind, but that's crazy!
From: CL T
"Agile/XP is one of those "things" you either DO or do not. It doesn't work"half-assed". Stories are the key to everything.
Documentation is simply one of the stories. As for the writer being left out of the loop? That's why I always advise "get your foot in as many doors as early as possible". Even though TechWriters have been around a while, there still seems to be a need for Training. Companies, developers, engineers, managers, etc. need to know how to work with us from time to time. Documentation and knowledge of products does not appear by magic or osmosis."
Really? I wholeheartedly agree.
Got an e-mail today from my (cool) manager about a project that is coming up. She forwarded the requirements doc to everyone in the dept. Not more than two hours later, I got an e-mail message from a Support Team Lead, asking if there was any doc for the same project. Now, this project isn't even in programming yet - as far as I know - so there is nothing to document. I've often imagined having doc ahead of programming - instead of being 1000+ hours behind, but that's crazy!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Red Rag Top to Queen to LOG
I am not a country music fan - I don't own more than a handful of country CDs and I can't even think of any right now - but I like this song.
https://youtu.be/ mUARa-bsh5U - Red Rag Top by Tim McGraw
I've also rediscovered my passion for Queen. The best lyric in "Killer Queen" is "To avoid complications / she never kept the same address." Love it.
But then, of course, I got distracted. Lamb of God is coming out with their new studio release in March - less than 1 month away!
Two Masses Never Hurt Anyone & Big Shot
I am going to Mass for the second time this weekend today @ 11. Megan spent the night at a friend's house so I am picking her up @ 10 and then taking her to 11 Mass. We went last night to 5:15 and, of course, I jammed out by playing. We played "Sing of the Lord's Goodness" and it's in 5/4. I spent much of my spare time trying to get more familiar with the rhythm of that song and when we played it, I was the most comfortable I've ever been playing in 5/4. I wasn't mimicking the piano rhythm - I was actually playing closer to what Joe Morello did in "Take Five." I also played well with the other songs - it was a good gig.
We have always liked the original "Beethoven" movie. I have seen the 1st sequel, and that was okay, but then I lost track of it. There's a brand new movie out and we rented it last night. It started out really lame, but eventually, tied into a story about making a movie about a dog. The movie was first going to be about a white foo-foo dog, but that dog gets dog napped so they hold an open audition. Beethoven wrecks the set and the director and producer love it. That sets up a plot line where the movie is going to be about Beethoven. What eventually happens is that the film becomes a film about filming the very first Beethoven movie.
I still fell asleep because I was tired but that's beside the point.
We have always liked the original "Beethoven" movie. I have seen the 1st sequel, and that was okay, but then I lost track of it. There's a brand new movie out and we rented it last night. It started out really lame, but eventually, tied into a story about making a movie about a dog. The movie was first going to be about a white foo-foo dog, but that dog gets dog napped so they hold an open audition. Beethoven wrecks the set and the director and producer love it. That sets up a plot line where the movie is going to be about Beethoven. What eventually happens is that the film becomes a film about filming the very first Beethoven movie.
I still fell asleep because I was tired but that's beside the point.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
List & Not *my* Good-bye, but one I have to Acknowledge
My list @ work is 108 entries long with 1000 hours. I am now scheduled through the week of 7/27/09. Keep in mind, though, that schedule does not include any UI development time.
As a matter of fact, I did not work on documentation for more than a few minutes this week as I worked feverishly to get the update out the door. I burned 49 x 3 CDs on Friday, plus put labels on all of them. Then my manager and I assembled them into envelopes to go out the door.
I spent the last part of the day releasing UI changes and trying to get organized. On Monday, I have UI changes to make that have to be released on Friday, 2/13. I also have to prepare for the next update's 'cut' of help which won't have much more in it than what is done now.
We all got an e-mail message yesterday, stating that one of our fellow employees is no longer an employee. My ex-co-worker and I had been working together for the 10 years I've been at my employer. Previously, he worked with me at my first TWing job. He was in Sys Admin then and, to date me, he'd be excited because he freed up a few more MB so that my Windows 3.1 PC would run a bit faster. He was scheduled to receive his 10 years of service recognition last night but since he was dismissed, he didn't come. I am bummed that I won't see him @ work. I hope he lands on his feet. I had lunch with him in the break room on Thursday and, over the years, we went to lunch several times. Prayers are being offered for him.
I'm taking my godson to Planet X today. I am to leave my house by 9 and it's 8:05. Should be a good day. I will be gone from 9-3:30. Tonight is 5:15 Mass, followed by supper. Tomorrow, it seems hard to believe, but the only thing on the schedule is Alex's basketball practice from 6-7.
Gotta go.
As a matter of fact, I did not work on documentation for more than a few minutes this week as I worked feverishly to get the update out the door. I burned 49 x 3 CDs on Friday, plus put labels on all of them. Then my manager and I assembled them into envelopes to go out the door.
I spent the last part of the day releasing UI changes and trying to get organized. On Monday, I have UI changes to make that have to be released on Friday, 2/13. I also have to prepare for the next update's 'cut' of help which won't have much more in it than what is done now.
We all got an e-mail message yesterday, stating that one of our fellow employees is no longer an employee. My ex-co-worker and I had been working together for the 10 years I've been at my employer. Previously, he worked with me at my first TWing job. He was in Sys Admin then and, to date me, he'd be excited because he freed up a few more MB so that my Windows 3.1 PC would run a bit faster. He was scheduled to receive his 10 years of service recognition last night but since he was dismissed, he didn't come. I am bummed that I won't see him @ work. I hope he lands on his feet. I had lunch with him in the break room on Thursday and, over the years, we went to lunch several times. Prayers are being offered for him.
I'm taking my godson to Planet X today. I am to leave my house by 9 and it's 8:05. Should be a good day. I will be gone from 9-3:30. Tonight is 5:15 Mass, followed by supper. Tomorrow, it seems hard to believe, but the only thing on the schedule is Alex's basketball practice from 6-7.
Gotta go.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
100 Mile Day
I drove 100 miles today.
My day started with driving Megan to her derm appt in Coralville.
Then I drove to Regina to drop her off.
Then I drove to work in CR.
Worked from 9-ish to 12-ish
Then I drove to Swisher to drop off our taxes.
Then I drove to the banks by Westdale to do some business.
Then I drove through the BK drive-thru.
Then I drove back to work by 1-ish.
Worked from 1-5.
Then I drove to North Liberty to get Megan's prescription.
Then I drove to Trendz in IC where the kids and Karen were getting their haircuts.
Then I drove Alex back home.
That is when I checked the trip gauge and saw that I had driven just over 100 miles today. I know this because I put gas in the truck this AM and reset the trip tracker gizmo.
Now I am home for the evening. Finally.
Alex is going to bed @ 8. Grey's and Private Practice have a crossover episode, but ER is new too. I'm voting ER.
Work has been such that I haven't felt compelled to sit in front of a PC @ night. It is crazy busy. There have been some 'victories' as far as assembling the Mass Release that I need to complete tomorrow.
I got the install and update .exe files created and the bulk of stuff for one of the other CDs. I walked through the .exe files that are on the CD with my manager watching so she could see the correct files are being distributed. We also verified that the version in the documentation matches the version of the software that is slated to go on the CD.
I have 3 CDs x 49 to make. I use a 7 tray CD burner. I have the 49 CDs for each CD broken out. I have all the CD labels printed and all of the memos that have to be sent with the CDs printed.
Tomorrow, I need to assemble all three CDs - I'm waiting for my co-worker to finish some work so I can do some final prep for it and burn one of the CDs.
I am hoping that by noon, all CDs are burned. Then, I will need to put the CDs into envelopes and get the packaging done. Then we deliver them to the Front Desk, who ships them out.
If there is still enough time in the day, I may actually get to work on some documentation. It's not likely, though. I have other things that have a higher priority - mainly cleanup from the update that needs to be done - that will take at least a couple of days next week. I will not get 40 hours to work on doc unless I work additional hours, which may need to be done.
The only thing is, though, that the next release's online Help is to be cut 2/13/9. Those of you paying attention to this blog know that I have work scheduled out to June. And I'm going to get it all done by Friday, 2/13/9. I'm not counting on it. There is no way to get nearly 800 hours of work done within 120 hours, though. The 120 comes if you consider 5 days x 24 hours.
So that's not going to happen. It's 7:00, I'm hungry, and posting this.
My day started with driving Megan to her derm appt in Coralville.
Then I drove to Regina to drop her off.
Then I drove to work in CR.
Worked from 9-ish to 12-ish
Then I drove to Swisher to drop off our taxes.
Then I drove to the banks by Westdale to do some business.
Then I drove through the BK drive-thru.
Then I drove back to work by 1-ish.
Worked from 1-5.
Then I drove to North Liberty to get Megan's prescription.
Then I drove to Trendz in IC where the kids and Karen were getting their haircuts.
Then I drove Alex back home.
That is when I checked the trip gauge and saw that I had driven just over 100 miles today. I know this because I put gas in the truck this AM and reset the trip tracker gizmo.
Now I am home for the evening. Finally.
Alex is going to bed @ 8. Grey's and Private Practice have a crossover episode, but ER is new too. I'm voting ER.
Work has been such that I haven't felt compelled to sit in front of a PC @ night. It is crazy busy. There have been some 'victories' as far as assembling the Mass Release that I need to complete tomorrow.
I got the install and update .exe files created and the bulk of stuff for one of the other CDs. I walked through the .exe files that are on the CD with my manager watching so she could see the correct files are being distributed. We also verified that the version in the documentation matches the version of the software that is slated to go on the CD.
I have 3 CDs x 49 to make. I use a 7 tray CD burner. I have the 49 CDs for each CD broken out. I have all the CD labels printed and all of the memos that have to be sent with the CDs printed.
Tomorrow, I need to assemble all three CDs - I'm waiting for my co-worker to finish some work so I can do some final prep for it and burn one of the CDs.
I am hoping that by noon, all CDs are burned. Then, I will need to put the CDs into envelopes and get the packaging done. Then we deliver them to the Front Desk, who ships them out.
If there is still enough time in the day, I may actually get to work on some documentation. It's not likely, though. I have other things that have a higher priority - mainly cleanup from the update that needs to be done - that will take at least a couple of days next week. I will not get 40 hours to work on doc unless I work additional hours, which may need to be done.
The only thing is, though, that the next release's online Help is to be cut 2/13/9. Those of you paying attention to this blog know that I have work scheduled out to June. And I'm going to get it all done by Friday, 2/13/9. I'm not counting on it. There is no way to get nearly 800 hours of work done within 120 hours, though. The 120 comes if you consider 5 days x 24 hours.
So that's not going to happen. It's 7:00, I'm hungry, and posting this.
Monday, February 2, 2009
On Expanding our language...and a Passion for Clarity
John Garison wrote this on Techwr-l today in response to Stuart Burnfield, who wrote:
I don't really see that. I'm talking about the case where a company has decided to invent or adapt a small set of terms, presumably for marketing reasons. If they have a bunch of products called SnogWrite, SnogDraw and SnogHelp, reams of brochures about how they're all SnogTastic!(TM), and posters on every bus stop in the country saying "Snog Me!", do you go along with snoglets or do you argue that applets is the industry-standard term?
Back in the day, we not only had to define, but explain how to docertain new terms and actions like Click, Double-click, Right-click,Drag, Drop, and Mouse-over. The same thing happened 75 years ago whenthe phone company went away from operators handling every call tocustomers being able to dial their own (using, gasp, a rotary dial) andthey had to introduce new terms and teach people what a dial tone was,what a busy signal was, and what a ring tone was.
Are these jargon? At one time they were. Now they are common parlance.
We are still in the early days of computing yet, and new technologyappears almost daily. Some of it is more widespread than others. I wouldventure to say that some of Mr. Pogue's (let's follow the NYT StyleGuide here) complaints are valid, others (dialog) are borderline. Anynew technology is going to either require new terms or re-use existingterms often in a way that is equally confusing. We need to adapt. Weneed to go through a learning process where outliers have some troublewith new words and features.
So how do we handle this?
Rule one: Know your audience. We as technical authors can usually assumea higher standard of expertise in our readers than Mr. Pogue can in hisreadership. He writes for a general public audience. many of hisreaders, but not all, will know what dialog means. In the audiences Iwrite for, they all know. If they didn't. I'd consider some sort ofonline glossary of terms where they could find out what I mean.
It's that, or this scenario:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "itmeans just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.""The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so manydifferent things.""The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."/Through the Looking Glass./
I enjoy reading the posts from Sarah Stegall, a member of Techwr-L. Recently, it seems like she has hit the nail on the head regarding issues that arise for discussion. When Stuart Burnfield commented
Merriam-Webster has an entry for "fraudster", but even if it were a made-up word, your company has every right to invent it
Sarah jumped in with this rant:
No, it does not. The English language does not belong to one company, it belongs to all of us. No one person or body of persons has the right to arbitrarily re-define words, make up words, or change words. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING that I have encountered in more than a dozen years in this business pisses me off more than the arrogance of marketing departments that freely and obliviously play hob with a thousand year old language--of which they are, largely, ignorant.
I have risked my job more than once, refusing point blank to mangle my native tongue in order to suit the whims of a marketing director who can't even spell. He does not have the right to re-configure this language. If anyone does, poets do. Nobody else.
Don't bother arguing with me on this point. On anything else, we can agree to disagree, but on this one I am not rational.
Sarah
Locked, loaded and ready to rock
The passion is admirable.
I don't really see that. I'm talking about the case where a company has decided to invent or adapt a small set of terms, presumably for marketing reasons. If they have a bunch of products called SnogWrite, SnogDraw and SnogHelp, reams of brochures about how they're all SnogTastic!(TM), and posters on every bus stop in the country saying "Snog Me!", do you go along with snoglets or do you argue that applets is the industry-standard term?
Back in the day, we not only had to define, but explain how to docertain new terms and actions like Click, Double-click, Right-click,Drag, Drop, and Mouse-over. The same thing happened 75 years ago whenthe phone company went away from operators handling every call tocustomers being able to dial their own (using, gasp, a rotary dial) andthey had to introduce new terms and teach people what a dial tone was,what a busy signal was, and what a ring tone was.
Are these jargon? At one time they were. Now they are common parlance.
We are still in the early days of computing yet, and new technologyappears almost daily. Some of it is more widespread than others. I wouldventure to say that some of Mr. Pogue's (let's follow the NYT StyleGuide here) complaints are valid, others (dialog) are borderline. Anynew technology is going to either require new terms or re-use existingterms often in a way that is equally confusing. We need to adapt. Weneed to go through a learning process where outliers have some troublewith new words and features.
So how do we handle this?
Rule one: Know your audience. We as technical authors can usually assumea higher standard of expertise in our readers than Mr. Pogue can in hisreadership. He writes for a general public audience. many of hisreaders, but not all, will know what dialog means. In the audiences Iwrite for, they all know. If they didn't. I'd consider some sort ofonline glossary of terms where they could find out what I mean.
It's that, or this scenario:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "itmeans just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.""The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so manydifferent things.""The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."/Through the Looking Glass./
I enjoy reading the posts from Sarah Stegall, a member of Techwr-L. Recently, it seems like she has hit the nail on the head regarding issues that arise for discussion. When Stuart Burnfield commented
Merriam-Webster has an entry for "fraudster", but even if it were a made-up word, your company has every right to invent it
Sarah jumped in with this rant:
No, it does not. The English language does not belong to one company, it belongs to all of us. No one person or body of persons has the right to arbitrarily re-define words, make up words, or change words. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING that I have encountered in more than a dozen years in this business pisses me off more than the arrogance of marketing departments that freely and obliviously play hob with a thousand year old language--of which they are, largely, ignorant.
I have risked my job more than once, refusing point blank to mangle my native tongue in order to suit the whims of a marketing director who can't even spell. He does not have the right to re-configure this language. If anyone does, poets do. Nobody else.
Don't bother arguing with me on this point. On anything else, we can agree to disagree, but on this one I am not rational.
Sarah
Locked, loaded and ready to rock
The passion is admirable.
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