Shouting Into Space

My manager today decided to cancel all of her current one-on-ones including mine (I prefer to call them one-to-ones - so they don't sound like a wrestling match). She noted that she'd setup "quarterly goal review 1-1 focused exclusively on career development" and that she would "work with each individual to determine whether a weekly 1-1 is appropriate."

It's amazing that managers, whether new or seasoned, don't fully grasp the importance of one-to-one time. In here defense, she does have around 17 direct reports now - but that's a failing of her managers. I thought about sending her the Manager Tools link to their podcast on "the single most effective management tool - the one-on-one" but I figured I'd look like I was telling her how to do her job. Obviously, that wouldn't go over too well. Maybe I could leave an anonymous note with the link to Manager Tools on it...

Instead, I think I'll listen to the podcast again myself and the next time I talk to her, (probably at my quarterly one-to-one) I'll try to bring up some of the points Mark and Mike make. Also, I think I'll privately review (and possibly fill out) the Manager Tools: 1-on-1 Key Points and Prep Form (PDF). After I've done that, I'll start looking for a new position. I don't have time for inattentive and overburdened managers anymore.

I'm so sensitive to everything. My skin and body is sensitive to pain, and hot, and cold. My mind is sensitive to the emotions and mannerisms of people around me. My stomach and intestines are so sensitive to food. My ears are sensitive to sound and my eyes are sensitive to the details of the world.

As I tried to fall asleep last night, hearing a light tick from a watch somewhere in the house, feeling pain in my legs and back, feeling full from dinner and worry about what the new week would bring, the analogy struck me.

If the universe is a body, I am a nerve.

I moved out of my old apartment about a month ago and finally my ex-apartment manager got around to sending me my deposit check. So it took a little while, but I was happy to finally get it - that is until I opened it.

Of my original $500 deposit, I received a check for $155. What a joke! I kept this apartment in immaculate condition and certainly expected a full refund. Instead, my manager charged me for the apartment and carpet cleaning! That's $240 and definitely an expense that shouldn't be borne by an ex-tenant.

To add insult to injury, the check I got wasn't even signed. So, since I have to send it back anyway, I'm sending a nasty little letter contesting the deductions also. I wanted to pull the apartment owner in on this too so I figured I'd send a copy to him. Unfortunately, the owner works very hard and staying hidden from his tenants (wonder why). Not a problem though as I found the owner's address through my count assessor's office with ease.

I'm interested to see how much they'll give me back. I certainly hope, for their sake, the refund all $395 (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on the othe $105). One thing I can't stand is when people nickel and dime you or try to take advantage of honest people. I'd never run my business like that since all it ever does is embitter your ex-clients and turns everyone against you eventually.

So it seems that the manager of Parkwood Terrace apartments, Ash Laing, is what I like to call an asshole. I'll certainly work to turn everyone off to Parkwood Terrace and I'll see how many apartment guides I'll be able to sully their name in. Don't screw with people is a good philosophy to do business by. Too bad this bastard doesn't know that.

I purchased and finally received an OvoLab Phlink. I've connected it to my Mac Mini (my home automation server) and haven't gotten much further than running the software and calling it a few times. Eventually, I plan on setting up full control of my home X-10 system but of course, like anything fun, it takes some time to do it.

So far I've noticed some issues with hanging up and not leaving a message. Phlink seems to leave the telephone connected and never really hangs it up. I'm hoping it will be a transient problem - the kind that only happens when you're playing around with something that isn't set up properly yet. I noticed a few reports of the same behavior on the Phlink forum but never really saw a definitive solution. Further experimentation will certainly be called for.


Hopefully I'll get everything set up to the point that I have total control over my house from a few button presses on my cell phone! Isn't technology great?

I started working for a new group around mid-September and inherited an old (5 years or so) shell-script build system. Most of it is in KSH (I really prefer BASH) but alot of it is so poorly written and thought out that I have a hell of a time trying to fix/enhance it. Every time I need to do something to the scripts I oscillate for an hour on whether I should try to work my change into the existing script or just take the time to re-write the whole thing!

I was Googling today for some thoughts about writing shell scripts and found a great article about writing robust bash shell scripts. While I don't use everything mentioned in the article, I was happily surprised to find that I do use more than a couple of them.

Of course, one reason for my irritation with the system I've inherited is that it doesn't use any. Before working in this group, all SCM infrastructure I'd done was built ground up by myself. I feel for those poor developers that get stuck trying to enhance old code now that I've really gotten a taste of how hard it can be. I imagine there is alot more nasty build system scripts out there than there are good ones but I'll certainly try to even the odds a bit by making my scripts as robust, readable and commented as possible.

Hopefully someone who comes three or four years after I'm one will be pleasantly surprised when they have to add something to my scripts!