2 beers and a whopper : the athlete’s choice
Oct/091
This headline was brought to you by twitter, the letter L and the number 9.
I have an assignment to do. Ergo, bloggo. If blog was in the latin vocabulary, that would probably be correct even.
I’m sort of a nerd, (no, really?) so when I do something sporty it feels extra special.
I scored a goal at soccer last night. We drew with the undefeated team, and for over half the game we had a 1 nil lead.
In fact, we won 1 nil for the period of time I was on the field (i.e. 80% of the game). It’s a silly social futsal league, but hells yeah.
Also I am ok at cricket. And when I met Lizzie’s friend Jack who was formerly James’s roommate Jack I was all ‘actually we played footy once’. He remembered, and said ‘oh yeah, and there was this other guy who was pretty good and he’d played before’. I got to tell him that yeah, totes, that was actually me.
Yesterday also featured significant programming success for TRS. And after all of that I watched TV with izzy, which actually means I get to put this post in the triangle day category. Woo hoo.
Hat-trick
Jun/094
So I’m 3/3. Or, from a more accurate perspective, 0/3.
It’s been a year since I was writing this. I remarked a few weeks ago to Steve that it would be pretty interesting to see a graph of post count over time, and how it related to what was happening in my life.
And holy shit, it is pretty revealing. Clearly I’m an angst blogger.
(an aside: I really love how Office 2007 makes graphs look acceptably presentable)
Also, since this blog is a year old, it has been given a theme (as promised in the first post) and upgraded to 2.8
I had an exceedingly interesting week. Some of it was recounted in the last post, so I’ll skip to Tuesday. I thought I’d have to go to Australia Post on work related secret business, but apparently not. It was a shame, as I had actually been looking forward to wandering up to Lane Cove in the middle of the day. It was one of the small joys I had in the second half of last year, in that semester of pain, penury and strife. It’s nice to have the freedom to walk about in the middle of the day, even if I allowed myself only the time required (35-40 minutes) to go directly to the sushi bar and return.
That actually makes it sound like I was exceedingly diligent in my time keeping and habits, which is such a massive whopper. Anyway…
I didn’t have to go to Australia Post, so I instead went straight to Bulga to ’study’ with James. We actually did pretty well, for about two hours. By that stage, however, we were entirely bored with the subject, and the remaining four hours before the exam were occupied with football, food and Xbox. On the whole, this struck me as an ideal balance.
Then the exam: harder than I had been lead to believe it would be. Such is the inevitable result of hubris. I still did fine, though. I was the last (of the three of us) to depart the exam. I’m blaming the invigilator, and my lack of a timepiece. I was sitting there for 20+ minutes, waiting for the time at which I would be permitted to leave. I was expecting it to be more like 45 minutes, so the difficulty was definitely a blessing.
After the exam, we went for one beer. That sentence accurately captures our intent, but is in fact as big a lie as the one suggesting I had a work ethic. We drank several beers, and then several schnapps, and then had about as much fun as you’re allowed to have at QVB Stand C. That evening was in no way a sensible idea, but it turned out to be a most enjoyable one.
Wednesday: interview/assessment day at Optiver. I was hungover. I have no idea how I did the initial programming quiz, and especially no idea how what I wrote convinced them that I should be interviewed.
Optiver has the coolest office I’ve ever been in, and the whole day was quite an experience. I was damned lucky that I’d chosen DS&A for my elective this semester. It’s the first step taken towards being the kind of programmer they actually want there. It is also the only step I’ve taken towards that path, and it’s not certain in my mind that I want that path. I still don’t know what I want from my career. I think it actually needs to be more rounded than just being a developer.
I’m getting sidetracked…
I thought it went well on the whole, but it was clearly going to come down to how much they wanted to trust in my potential. To skip ahead somewhat to Friday: not enough. They will not be offering me a position.
There was actually some interesting feedback along the lines that they didn’t think I was passionate enough, weren’t sure I truly wanted to be a developer, weren’t sure I wanted to work there. I guess they read me pretty well, better than I even knew myself. I had doubts about working there, and I didn’t bother to address them before the interview. I should perhaps have gone in with a plan, or at least a conscious effort to play the interview game.
What’s the point though? They interviewed me, a nearly completely honest version of me, with limited garnish. We weren’t a fit for each other. That’s fair enough, and possibly saved a lot of trouble later on.
Wednesday’s meeting was unremarkable, I guess. The chicken katsu afterwards was nice (when it arrived). The sang chow bow spring rolls were not quite as good as I’d hoped for.
Thursday was not a heap of fun. The question posed on Sunday was answered, in the negative. Over email, so I was trying to appear sufficiently busy at work whilst also retreating into my head and composing a reply. One day, someone will say something to my face. One day, it might even be an affirmative response. Being in a different city is a pretty good excuse for the former, though.
The usual suspects were suitably generous in their consolations.
Even more so than last time, I’ve surprised myself with the generally philsophical response I’ve had to the happenings. I think things generally work out. When I’ve got my ego up a bit, I usually extend this thought to ‘things generally work out to my benefit’.
It’s pretty weird, writing obliquely about someone whom I know reads this blog. (p.s. hi)
Then again, I’ve basically been doing that for a month. I wonder if you realised.
Yesterday (although it was still today when I started composing) was a better day, but mostly only at the very end. Three very cool things happened. One was getting out the SMH Friday cryptic crossword. Even if it took four other people and we spent nearly 90 minutes, it’s a pretty sweet achievement. DA (the Friday compiler) is an utterly devious bastard, and normally quite inscrutable.
The second thing was going out for a sneaky 2:45PM Friday beer at the Redoak. (ssh!).
I chased Optiver, and finally got the news they had promised would be delivered sooner. When you don’t hear something positive right away, it’s often fairly safe to assume the negative is on it’s way. (This was not the third cool thing, this is:)
I then chased my manager, who had been saying that he wanted to talk to me for over a week. He’d quite like me to keep working there, and said some rather ego boosting things. I definitely ended the week in a good way.
It’s funny, though. Without making any effort to curry favour at ING, or indeed trying very much at all, I’ve still managed to impress people. Yet another analogy for the benefits of just being yourself?
It’s a nice offer to have, but I have no desire to work full time next semester on anything which is not for Three Ring Solutions. I also consider that the offer from IBM has benefits that go beyond just a place to work. Assuming that offer is still on the table, it’s where I will be next year.
On the bus, on the way home, I finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I really liked it, but I’m not sure whether it was the P&P or the &Z which was most entertaining.
I actually intended for this post to just be a couple of graphs, possibly with captions, and now I have in excess of 1200 words.
mostly to scale.
One outlier bucks the inevitable trend, vs the goal
Sample data available for one flow only.
Whoops, 2am.
Long weekend
Jun/090
Long weekends are awesome, never more so than when they involve time off work. The best part is that it’s not even over. I have an exam today and an interview/assessment day tomorrow. I always quite liked exams – I think it’s because I’m lazy. An exam is always quicker than an assignment. Plus, you know… I’m Captain Ego.
Oh, and the fact that it’s 35 multiple choice questions in 3 hours, the lecturer has promised not to be brutal and I’m sitting on 99% so far doesn’t hurt my confidence either. Doesn’t feel like they’re really trying. I should be less conceited though: I’m very fortunate in my ability. I should celebrate finding an assessment easy rather than complaining that it wasn’t hard enough.
I can barely believe I wrote that.
I’m still going to wear my special examination tshirt though. And I’m still writing this instead of studying.
No idea what to expect of the interview thing, or if I even want it. But you have to at least try and take the opportunities, right?
Kinda feels like another occasion for short thoughts.
It’s pretty weird when I’m the most prolific blog writer of my friends, but also nice.
I’m capable of the most ludicrous thoughts.
I’m kinda angry at myself for not being myself. I like me is not just an amusing quote on a tshirt from a pretty geeky source, I thought it was one of my main philosophical tenets. I forgot it a little.
I may, on occasion, drink too much.
I should stop assuming I know what people are thinking.
Plans suck. Monday was essentially unplanned, and better for it.
Just quietly, Night at the Museum 2 was ok.
Dr Horrible was excellent. I want my gloves back.
I may overuse elipses… (You can’t tell in this post, because I’ve refactored. And that one doesn’t count because it’s ironic)
I have theories about 13 months, about graphs, about the cyclic nature of time. And occasionally some sensible ones as well.
I actually had fun for every minute of this weekend, even when I didn’t.
Atlassian
May/094
I really feel like I shouldn’t start another blog by referring to how long it’s been since I last put pen to paper. (You know what I mean. It’s a far better phrase than the digital equivalent, which I suppose would be some variant of ‘phalanges to typographic input device’).
Of course, in not referring to said situation, I have inadvertently referred to it. It’s a paradox. There’s no escaping it. Let’s move on.
I’ve been planning to nerd-up and get stuck into some serious Java/OO study in preparation for tomorrow – I have an interview with Atlassian. Mind you, the notion that I should devote significant time to some sort of development boot camp has been in my head since before Easter – I just haven’t done anything about it.
Tomorrow, I will be assessed in three different ways.
- Technical interview
- Whiteboard session
- Coding test
The technical interview is what makes me imagine that I need to revise all the OO concepts. I was surfing around the net in places like StackOverflow, and I came across something excellent by Steve Yegge - http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/five-essential-phone-screen-questions
I’ve got a handle on nearly everything in his list of OO terms, but I want to make sure everything’s fresh enough in my mind that I can shoot off some answers with confidence.
Thinking about what other people had to do in their IBM technical interview, I wonder if I should have a quick look at UML? Use cases and class diagrams, perhaps.
The coding test is pretty much an unknown quantity. I don’t know if they’re trying to weed out the kind of people who can’t do the fizzbuzz test, or if they’ll give me something insane. I’m going to spend a little bit more time going over the ProgFun/AppProg notes, and hopefully coding a bit more Java in Eclipse. (I realised that it’s my preferred editor, but that I’ve spent 98% of my time in Eclipse doing PHP…)
The whiteboard session will hopefully be a differentiator. The idea is apparently that I will be explaining a project I’ve worked on. I can talk about the fabulous Charter Tools project, which gives me the opportunity to discuss the high level view of how the UI, Data and Logic are all separate and will be deployed into three different environments. I can also get into more details about how the lovely cakePHP framework operates (Dispatcher, Routes, Controller (+Components), Model (+Behaviours), View (+Helpers, Layouts and Elements)).
I also decided that I probably won’t be the best programmer they interview. I haven’t got the hardcore technical credibility of someone who did a full-on programming major, or some sort of software engineering degree. Hence, this blog. I may not be the best programmer there tomorrow, but I’d be bloody surprised if anyone could write better than I could. I’ll hopefully be ahead of people when it comes to work experience and projects too.
So I guess the ultimate point of this post was to write about something, to reassure myself that I can still compose coherent thoughts in written communication.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t mention the weekend. It’s been a while since I’ve had one so interesting. I’d promise to write about it in a subsequent post but I would probably never get around to it, so here’s a brief summary:
Sunday – watched the Swans win against Richmond, cursed Seven for their contempt in only providing a delayed, abridged telecast, actually exercised for once.
Saturday – woke up in Ultimo, travelled to the new company office, had a relatively productive day and then spent the evening laughing at Dylan Moran.
Friday – survived the day at work, travelled to Ultimo, bought a case of beer, farewelled the Korean and made a mad dash to see a hilarious Adam Hills show at the Enmore Theatre. Returned to Bulga for more drinking and some Boston Legal. Also spent a large portion of the evening denying my true nature as a socially inept IT nerd by talking to an actual human female… possibly even the best bit?
I’m claiming it as a Triangle weekend, anyway.
Oh, and no one bothered to guess the songs from my last post… Anthem for Saving the World, Battle of the Heroes, The End Of All Things, Homecoming and One Last Shot equates to Halo, Revenge of the Sith, Return of the King, Gladiator and Pirates of the Caribbean. I didn’t actually think anyone would guess.
I need to get on with the studying thing, but I think I’ll pop down and catch the last bit of Rajasthan’s innings.
End transmission.
Rawr
Oct/081
I am awesome.
Except at blogging at semi-regular intervals, that is. It’s been a while, possibly because I am lacking in deep/dark thoughts that I need to distill. It’s been a welcome change of pace – fun as it can be, it’s also exhausting. This, then, is a somewhat lighter post than has been the norm round these parts.
It’s been a month since the last post, so I really can’t even begin to try and recap what’s been happening since then. My awesome weekend was worth writing about though.
First up – the first cricket game of the season. I got a call on Friday telling me that I’d been picked in A grade, which was pretty bloody surprising on a number of levels. I’ve been selected as a bowler again, which is still a novel concept to me. Through every level of cricket til I finished school, I’d always been a batsman first and foremost.
The actual game was pretty successful – we won, and I bowled nicely for four overs. The fifth over was a valuable learning experience – I need to think a bit more about what I’m doing with each delivery. I love the idea of playing on turf again, especially as a bowler. There’s just so much more fun to be had when the ball actually spins.
Next: themed birthday part of a friend. He’s been having the seven deadly sins – this was Wrath (or, as he put it, ‘things that kick ass’). I went as Captain Hammer, and actually got a nice amount of recognition. It’s an easy costume if you’re willing to just suck up the cost and order stuff online – seeing as I’m still employed, I had no qualms about doing that. Postage is a bitch though.
It was also encouraging to have fun while still staying sober. I don’t actually think I’m even close to having an issue with alcohol, but there was a tangible mentality amongst some of the party goers that the only way they could possibly enjoy themselves was to get drunk. It’s nice to not be in that crowd.
I was sober because I was driving – but as of a few days ago, I’m eligible for my full licence. Woot! I don’t intend to abuse the BAC limit of 0.05, but it’s handy to know that if I have a beer in the afternoon, I can drive somewhere in the evening. The absolute zero limit was remarkably annoying in that regard.
Sunday: slothful idleness, until I finally roused myself into doing some university work. I finished said work at about 4:30AM, but there’s an enormous sense of accomplishment when you conquer a tricky bit of programming. It’s the eureka adrenaline – I’ve written about it before. I was feeling very, very mighty for 10 minutes, then I crashed and went to sleep. It’s not a smart long term move, as it’s now 1:30PM and I haven’t achieved anything today. Totally worth it though.
I’m really hungry, so it’s off to Lane Cove I go, in search of sushi. There was something else I wanted to write about, but it really needs another post anyway. As a teaser/ note to self: precipitous epiphany.
Triangle Day
Jul/082
I’ve been thinking about triangles recently.
On reflection, that’s a statement that requires a bit of explanation, so here goes:
Triangles have three sides. (This will probably not shock anyone)
People have three sides.
I’ve been calling the sides mind, body and soul/spirit/heart/personality/emotion (this last one occasionally defies classification). I guess it’s approximately equivalent to the three types of journeys that we suffered through in HSC English – imaginative, physical and inner. I realise now that the concepts of journeys wasn’t awful – far from it. It was the examination and assessment that caused me to dislike that whole Area of Study (and indeed, the entire bloody year).
Anyway, I think that probably three months ago, I wasn’t happy with two of those sides – not so much a triangle as a single point. Of course, the point was pretty large (it refers of course to the mind, which I consider to be my greatest asset) but nonetheless, it was just a point. Over the past three months I’ve developed my physical side, and emotional side. It’s not yet an equilateral triangle, but I’m not done yet.
To finally address the actual subject of this post, a ‘Triangle Day’ is what I’m now calling a day where something good happens for each side of my triangle. Tuesday was a TD.
I learned something at university (well, I attended a lecture, and listened to most of it. I imagine that I learned something.)
I ran around a bit and kicked the footy with Steve and James (despite a spot of dampness!)
Something else happened that was good. I don’t really want to write about it though. I feel like that would be viewing it from an overly objective standpoint, and I still have a great deal of insecurity about this side. It’s almost like writing transforms feelings to facts, and I’m scared that the facts don’t add up to what I feel.
I could be deluded, but I think I’m ok with that delusion at the moment. It’s a rather pleasant one.