DarqByte

I’m experiencing one of those random slowdowns that we get at my work from time to time. Usually I’ve got a pretty hefty workload of things to do, so I’m always working on something or talking to somebody or what have you. But my task list this week is pretty bare.

Actually, this is going to be an interesting week indeed. My boss is out this entire week in Jamaica (the bastard! ) and that leaves me pseudo-in charge. Well, probably not. I’m not really in charge of the other guys on my development team, although by default everything tends to funnel through me anyway because our business side and other people need a central contact point for our group.

So I’ve already been dealing with meetings and meeting requests that normally go to my boss, and had to field questions that normally go to him. I actually welcome this kind of stuff. I was talking to Laura last night about how I’m really looking forward to this week because I get to do some of the things that lead developers around here get to do, which is the position I currently aspire to.

So learning a little bit here and there about what my boss does that I didn’t already know. He’s been gone before and I’ve been “the guy” before in those cases, but some things in our group and our business side are a little different than they were the last time I fulfilled this capacity, so it’s always interesting stuff. I relish new challenges and growth in my career, so this has been exciting, even if it’s temporary and my boss is,a t this point, better at it than I am because he’s been at it longer (and he’s just in general a good boss anyway).

And now I get to deal with one of our vendors becoming inaccessible… Something he normally does… Be back soon…

Holy crap… They’re down for the count… I’ve already called them and gotten a response saying “Yeah, we’re having network issues.” And now we play the waiting game, where about 80% of all of our transactions time out…

And they’re back. They were down for almost 40 minutes. That’s crazy bad. We had tons, absolute tons of calls time out and probably caused our clients to lose a decent chunk of change per transaction. WTG…

So anyway, back to learning. In addition to learning (and doing) some of the stuff that my boss normally does, since my workload is relatively light, I also have to opportunity to take some time and learn version 2.0 of my co-worker’s code for the system he is primarily responsible for.

He’s a smart cookie. Getting to delve into his new code base has taught me a few things about some design patterns I’m not using, as well as the Zend Framework that he uses heavily. He also likes using the Reflection feature of PHP, something I don’t use particularly often.

I might know a lot about PHP and be a certified PHP engineer, but there’s always room to learn, especially from him. I do enjoy learning, especially if it’s something I’m interested in and have the time for.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about things that motivate me. Just about anything, really. Any arena or motivating factor.

For example, sadly, money motivates me a lot in my work. It’s not the sole reason I work, no. I really do enjoy my job, the systems I work on and my coworkers. So there are other motivating factors there.

Right now, my desire to look better and be in better shape are the two primary motivating factors for why I’m working out more often and am on Weight Watchers. It doesn’t hurt that Laura‘s doing it too.

This line of thinking has gotten me to comparing myself with other people. There are times when I feel dissatisfied with where I’m at in my career and life in general. Right now I’m at a relatively high point. I’m very happily married, we have our own house, I’ve got good friends and there really isn’t a lot of conflict in my life. Really, the top item on my list of things to improve upon is my job. I want to be a lead developer. I’m not.

So I’ll use the lead developer desire as a starting point here. Since I want to be one, I end up comparing myself with some of the other leads here. I ask “Do I know as much as them? What are my skills in comparison?” When I ask those questions, I know I match up. I know I have good programming skills. Then I get to things that are more related to a lead position, such as “Can I lead well? Can I delegate? Will I properly fulfill the requirements of such a position?” I think I can. I’m fairly certain I can. But I won’t know unless given the chance.

I also end up comparing myself to my programmer friends a lot, such as Andrew and Steven. I don’t know a whole lot about Andrew from a programming perspective, but I do with Steven. His drive to learn is simply amazing. I wish I had it. I think I did one day, but I don’t have near that kind of drive any more. There are too many things to do in the day and ways I like to spend my time to be able to truly learn how he does.

I end up feeling like I come up short when I compare myself to Steven. He knows a lot more languages than I do, for starters. I’m mostly a PHP expert. He works in C# for a living and also codes in other languages personally, and has prior experience with languages that he’s not currently using. So does this turn into a motivating factor for me?

Oddly enough, no. There was a time when I was highly competitive. To an extent, I still am, just in other areas. Areas I know I have a chance in, I guess. But just because I feel inferior to someone in some way doesn’t mean I’m going to up and strive to be better than them. That’s not the right motivation. Although I do have my competitive drive to thank for getting me into programming in the first place. That, and a former friend.

All of this ties in nicely to a personality test I took yesterday. Laura also took one too, you should go read hers (via her blog post). I am an ESFJ personality. Before reading further in my blog here, you really should go read it first… Done? Good.

At first, when I was reading a different description of ESFJ, I wasn’t sure how fitting it was for me. But when I read the one I just linked to, it all clicked. That is me in a nutshell. It explains so much about me it’s totally crazy. The parts where I like to be liked, like to control my environment, like structure… Ohh yeah. That’s me.

I can get theoretical sometimes, but not very often, and I do sometimes question the rules when I disagree with them… I’ll usually end up following them, though. After reading my personality profile, a lot of my motivating factors and lack of motivation in some areas are completely understandable.

Just some interesting stuff. Right now, I’m motivated by hunger. Must eat my yogurt!

Now I’m wondering how many other tech companies have regular Nerf Wars…

http://pcweenies.com/2009/03/25/work-force-logic/

Wow, what a weekend I had! It was absolutely totally awesome!

So yeah, as I said before, Laura and Randy colluded in secret to give me Friday off. I had no idea, so I woke up at 6am like I always do and started my morning routine. Put my contacts in, flossed my teeth, started brushing my teeth… Then Laura comes in the bathroom earlier than she normally does in the morning. She says “You have the day off today.”

Through my toothpaste froth I say “Huh?” “You have the day off today. You don’t have to go to work.” “What do you mean?” Thus, I get the explanation that Laura has coordinated with Randy to give me the day off to start my birthday weekend. And that she let me wake up so that we could get an early start…

And then she starts packing. Apparently we’re headed out of town and I need to pack through Sunday. Thus began our road trip. At one point, Laura admitted to me that we were headed to California via the I15, since I’d figure it out relatively quickly once we hit the 15. When we got to her parents’ house, I thought that perhaps we were headed to Disneyland because they allow you in for free on your birthday…

Not much else to report until we hit the 15-215 split in California. Usually, if I remember correctly the 215 is used to go to San Diego. And we didn’t take it. Further fuel for L.A. and perhaps Disneyland. Eventually she had to give me the directions because we were approaching some quick turns in succession so she couldn’t handle looking at the directions and driving. Destination was Anaheim, and I couldn’t figure out why we were going there.

Eventually we ended up damn close to Disneyland, so I figured it out. I’d forgotten that Disneyland was in Anaheim, haha.

We did some shopping around in a couple of malls. We each got a new book to read and I made sure to get a copy of Watchmen. that was such a gook book and movie. We headed back to the hotel and read for a bit, then we scooted on off to Morton’s for my official birthday dinner. Man, that place is so good, so yummy. I know I totally annihilated my diet that day.

So Saturday was Disneyland! We got park hopper tickets so we could head on over to California Adventure as well, and they have some good rides there too. The Tower of Terror was pretty nifty, as was California Screamin’ and Soaring over California.

Andrew & Amber also ended up meeting us there. It was pretty neat to see them, I wasn’t really expecting it. Grabbed lunch with them and hit a few rides with them while we were there.

For dinner, we headed out to this jazz restaurant in Downtown Disney. They had some really good food and their Bananas Foster was great. They had this jazz quartet there that was really good. Played their own stuff as well as some well-known stuff. We wrapped up by hitting up the Lego store and I got another Star Wars set. Good times!

Sunday was pretty much just wake up, hit up Ikea with Andrew & Amber, and drive home. We got a few things at Ikea that we’ve wanted, like some picture frames for Laura’s 365 pictures to put up on the walls.

It was a great weekend, had tons of fun! And now I’m old. A quarter of a century. Mid-20s… Wow.

Totally awesome! Laura and Randy (my boss) colluded in secret to give me a day off today. She’s having us take a weekend trip somewhere, but I don’t know where. Totally awesome! We’re actually on the way right now. They totally rock!

Today is a mixed bag for me. A very interesting mixed bag. On the good side, I’ve got three good things this morning.

Good thing number one is that I got a birthday gift this morning! Even though my birthday isn’t for two more days. Actually, I also got a gift yesterday in the mail, from the Parker clan in upstate New York. Since I know Katie reads my blog, I’ll thank them here, because they rock. Gift cards for video games are always an A+ in my book!

Anyway, good thing number two is that I have a soccer game tonight. Thursdays are almost always better than the previous three weekdays, not only because it’s so close to the weekend, but because I get to play soccer that evening.

And good thing number three that… Well, it’s better than #2 but I can’t decide if it can beat out #1. But without further ado… I’m under 200 pounds! It’s taken me a little longer to get here than I’d have liked, but I have finally broken under the 200-pound barrier. It’s been awhile since I’ve been under 200 and I’m very happy now that I’m here. Hopefully Morton’s on Saturday won’t break that.

And now… For the bad news. The Vice President of Software Development here at my work is, well, no longer here. He was a really good guy and I liked him a lot. Looked up to him in many respects too. I’m pretty bummed that he’s not here anymore. I don’t really know the reason why he’s gone, but I’d rather not speculate. It’s a big downer because he was very well-liked here among the developers. Kinda sucks.

So that’s my mixed bag for the day.

So I’ve decided that the break room TV they put in here at work is a bad idea. At least, it’s a bad idea until people get some proper TV manners and they potentially make regulations on channels.

Yeah, that totally sucks. Everybody was super-hyped about us getting a nice flat HDTV in the break room to watch while we’re in there. I have to admit, it’s nice to have something to just drool and watch while eating lunch in there, because otherwise there are lots of awkward silences and you have to look at people eating. Haha.

However, there’s a standard decorum and protocols in place for watching TV. At home it’s pretty easy, and at parties, easy. Restaurants control their channels so that’s easy too. But when you’ve got a TV in a break room for a company as diverse as mine, with a remote control readily available… Hell breaks loose.

There’s a sharp divide at my work between left- and right-leaning ideologies. The developers are all mostly left-leaning politically and the business side is mostly right-leaning. This is never really an issue, but it presents itself when you walk into the break room and specific news channels are on… Many a time have I heard my fellow developers groan and make comments when they walk into the break room and the TV is on Fox News.

So there’s issue #1. It’s somewhat helping bring politics into the workplace because news stations frequently bring up political situations. Issue #2 comes from the whole “who has control of the TV.”

For example, the other day I was sitting in the break room watching ESPN. It was on when I got in there, nobody else was in there. I was eating and watching various sports highlights and the like. Two other people come in and start eating lunch too… And one of them walks up, takes the remote, and changes the channel. Without asking me if I was watching that. Remember kids, I was there first. You’re supposed to ask.

Would I have said no to the channel being changed? No. I wouldn’t have minded at all. But they just assumed they could take control of the TV despite my watching it before they got in there.

So yeah… This TV thing is an issue, at least I can see problems arising from it. There needs to be guidelines. People need to use common sense… Such as asking if it’s ok to change the channel when somebody’s already watching it.

So I’ve decided to enlighten all of my countless readers with this tale of the escalating Nerf War here at my work. Yes, I’m well aware that other workplaces have their own Nerf wars, including some great YouTube videos.

In any case, I actually have the claim to fame here of having started our Nerf War. See, we’ve got different development groups here at work, and about a year ago, we used to be right next door to another development group. Really, it was a simple war back then. There were no Nerf guns involved. There were some foam objects that would inevitably get thrown back and forth to mess with the members of the opposing development team, but that was about it.

Sure, occasionally objects such as Starburst candy would get tossed, but nothing major. Combat was pretty limited and sporadic. Nothing big.

At some point, I get a Nerf gun for home use. Laura and I used to room with a couple people in a house in the way south of the Las Vegas valley, and one of our roommates and I would occasionally break out with a Nerf battle. Me with my six-shooter Maverick, he with his 8-shooter Firefly.

This went on for a short while, but it soon occurred to me that I could get another gun (another Maverick, actually) and bring it in to work. Thus, my team would have a tactical advantage over the other development team at work.

Well, obviously it worked. It didn’t get used very often, but when it did, it was the deciding factor in the battles. Unfortunately, the other development team was moved to another building as part of a restructuring of our company. We didn’t have any neighbors for awhile, and thus no battles ensued.

Soon, however, another development team moved in next to us. One of the members of this team in particular seemed to be edgy about the fact that we had a Nerf gun. Of course, it didn’t help that the lead developer of this team now next to us used to be a member of the one that left, so she was well aware of prior battles.

At some point, things started escalating. The edgy member of the now-opposing team eventually loaded up a Longshot, and soon modded it to shoot faster and longer than before. Thus, the Great Nerf War had begun.

Things held at status-quo for some time with my Maverick versus his Longshot. He would often win the accuracy battles, but I was no slouch either. The only problem was that he was well-shielded by natural work items such as computer monitors, whereas I had my entire left side available to shoot at.

Eventually, we degraded to stealth tactics. I would prep my gun well in advance for an onslaught of shots, waiting until the moment when he would not be expecting the barrage. He soon followed suit.

As our little skirmishes kept going, he was apparently plotting to expand his team’s arsenal of weaponry. A KB Toys store near my work was having a liquidation sale and he scooped up some guns to give to his cohorts. A Maverick for the team lead, as well as a couple of guns like the Secret Strike and a couple others I can’t find online.

Now my team was definitely outgunned. We had a slingshot that a member of my team occasionally used to fire off a dart, but it was slow and tough to pull off. I was vastly outgunned now.

At some point, one of the guns made its way over to our team and now resides with my lead. He and I would team up from time to time to barrage the other team, but we’d end up getting more shot at us as time went on. We came to get much better at dodging incoming darts.

A special event soon took place. Apparently, another development team that’s in the middle of our floor of the building had brought in a few of their own guns, and requested to commission all of the guns that my team and our neighbor team had in possession.

Now I must tangent off a bit. This other development team has been in a war of words, so-to-say, with one of our senior-level managers. A friendly war of words, I should clarify. See, they’ve been wanting their cubicle walls to come down, and the senior-level manager has been resisting, simply for the point of resisting.

Now that you have context… This other team assaulted the senior-level manager with all of the Nerf guns they could find. This came after a flurry of printouts between both sides saying things like “Tear these walls down,” haha.

A few days after that event, one of the members of the opposing development team acquired a Recon, which of course has made things tougher on my team to compete, as we have not been upping our arsenal.

Battles continued to happen sporadically, until the lead of the opposing team started enforcing a daily moratorium on shooting until 3pm, which is an hour before most of us are done for the day. We have mostly held to this cease-fire in my team as well, given that a full-scale war is more fun, rather than us just shooting at them and not being able to retrieve our darts or get any shot at us for us to shoot back.

That is basically where things stand right now. Almost every day both sides are prepared to pepper the other with darts when 3pm rolls around. I also just received word that the lead of a fourth development team has acquired a Nerf gun, although I’m not sure what.

I should also note that the senior-level manager that got shot at eventually acquiesced and let the walls come down. He did, however, arm himself with a battery-powered Nerf knockoff, but it’s mostly for show.

We’re somewhat considering getting a Vulcan, which would definitely help balance the war a little bit since we’re running with two of the six-shooter Nerf models compared to their current armament, which is two 1-shot guns, a Maverick, a Recon and a Longshot.

Ah, the joys of office warfare.

I’ve decided I’m not satisfied with where I am at in life. This decision I’ve come to isn’t some huge revelation or anything. I mean, everybody should strive to improve their situation, be it financially, emotionally, socially or something else (politically?). But I’ve just come to the conclusion that I’m nowhere near satisfied with my life.

This has nothing to do with my married life. I’m totally 100% happy with Laura. There’s absolutely no question there. Home life is really good, I get along with my family very, very well, I feel I’ve got a really good set of friends…

I’m talking about lifetime accomplishments here. My career. Things I want to do in life. It’s tough to keep things in perspective because I’m only 24 years old. I’ve got a long life ahead of me, plenty of time to do things and advance my career. But I’m still dissatisfied with where I’m at right now. There’s so much I want to do that I wonder if I have enough time in my life to do it all, unless somehow I achieve immediate success in some of these areas.

I named this post Wikipedia because I want to do something big enough to have my own Wikipedia article. Yeah, I know that being on Wikipedia doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it does have its standards on the level of importance and relevance to society in order for something to be posted on there. My video game website, OMGN, is listed as a source on quite a few articles, but still nothing major.

It’s kind-of like when artists say they feel they’ve arrived when Weird Al Yankovic parodies their style or a particular song. I think that having my own Wikipedia article listing some cool accomplishment of mine, I’d feel that I’m important enough to society to slake my thirst for, well, importance.

In any case, besides having a Wikipedia article to boost my ego (haha), there’s just a lot that I want to do in life.

OMGN

I really want to be able to get OMGN running as well as it was in the summer of 2006 during E3 coverage. The traffic OMGN is receiving these days isn’t way below what it was getting then, but it isn’t as high. I really want to improve the quality of the site and actually have enough of a monetary flow to pay a couple writers and an editor. Unfortunately, that’s a long ways away and I don’t have enough time to dedicate to OMGN to build it up that big.

Lead Development

I’d like to become a lead developer in the near future at my work, and then continue moving upward into more managerial positions. Not a lot of software engineers / web developers / whatever the hell you want to call me make it that far, nor do they even want to. But I do. I want to see more of the business side of my profession because I want to learn both sides to it. Knowledge is power.

Master’s Degree

I’d love to get my master’s degree in Computer Science. I know I can do it, I’ve taken the undergraduate equivalents to a few of them at UNLV, the only difference from the graduate-level course being I didn’t have to write up a big report.

Teach

I want to teach some day, preferably in the high school grade levels. The only way that will work, of course, is if Laura and I are in a financial position for me to make that little money. Otherwise, it’s collegiate teaching for me. Either way, this one has to wait until we have more money for a) me to not need a high-paying job, or b) me to get my master’s degree then likely a PhD.

Work For Myself

This could be accomplished via OMGN getting really big, but I eventually want to end my “working career” by working for myself. I want to run my own business, have employees, all that jazz. If that happens, it means I will have achieved a nice success in building something that is truly mine to offer.

Those are just a few things I want to do in life… I have a feeling I won’t get to them all, but for now, I’d really like to not feel like a tiny, tiny fish in a universe full of monstrous sea life. I mean, what quantifiable positive impact do I have on society as a whole? Not much… Not much.

Really, I’d just love to find funding for OMGN. That’s my top choice right now. Well, funding, or for some inexplicable reason it takes off and funds itself.

On a side note: Don’t go galavanting off thinking you’re going to write a Wikipedia article about me that is meaningless! I’ve already seen Wikipedia remove articles that didn’t offer any useful information. :p