You GO Girl!

My new job deals with cosmetology software. As a guy, it's a completely foreign world of mani's and pedi's and waxings and threadings and dreds and dye chemistry and relaxers and on and on.

If eight years in Los Angeles didn't, a year of this should make me fully Metro.

Real Life Conversation # 22

I don't know how you girls do it. White girls I mean.

Hmm?

Go out with white guys. I mean, I know I am one, but.
We're so bland and geeky and wimpy.

There are lots of sexy white guys.

Well I can tell you - there aren't many of 'em in software development.

Maybe girls go out with white guys, you know, because they have Power.

(snorts) I don't even have power windows.

I'd tell ya, but then I'd have to...

It's 1:12am in the smoke-filled bowling alley bar. I take a deep pull of my Bud Light and lean toward the girl behind the counter - a haggard teen who's spent too much time under the heat lamps - too many sweaty hours toiling over hot grease.

"Hey Baby. I'm in Software Development. Heh. And from one who knows, let me compliment your software, sweetheart. Heh Heh Heh. How's them cheese sticks comin?"

~~~~~

OK - I don't really drink, when I do it's at home, and I would never say that. I am in software development, if you can call it that. I test games. Yesterday I wrote a bug report describing incorrect punctuation. Pow! Yeah.

I'd totally eat cheese sticks though.

I've been blessed with the permission to work on this project from home, which has turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. Work is work, but it's tough to be disciplined enough to keep my ass in the chair and get my work done. Also it's hard when 8 hours have gone by and I haven't written up as many bugs as I'd like.

When you're at work, in the office - when your 8 hours are up, you go home. Now, when my 8 hours are up, I look over the list to see I have only written 6 bugs, when my personally-set quota is 15, and decide to keep at it for a few more hours. I'm not complaining, but this is something to consider before you agree to work from home.

My current piece of software is a joint venture between USC and the U.S. Military. You would think that these sources would make the software pretty damned thrilling, but you'd be wrong. It's definitely interesting, and I've learned a lot, but thrilling it ain't.

It's not thrilling because it's not a game - it's a simulation. And while EA and Konami can make exciting simulations, the U.S. Military has so many more mundane things it could (and did) choose to simulate. Like peeling potatoes, or scrubbing latrines - this isn't what my current project is about, just a for instance.

When I met the man in charge of the project, he solemnly shook my hand and told me "You're doing the Lord's work." which really threw me for a loop. I've never worked for The Lord before. I hear he's kinda strict. And he only gives you one day off a week. The Dental is supposed to totally rock, though.

This is my job.

Compose: Grab/drag note, preview audio plays only in columns overlapping resident notes

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~~~~~

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On the Compose screen, at the notes editing view - the user can 'Grab' and drag a note around the grid. While doing so, preview audio for the dragged note will play - this may be to provide the user a better idea of where to drop the note. However, the preview audio plays only when the dragged note occupies the same column as another note.

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~~~~~

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1. At the Compose screen,

2. Highlight the 'Open Song' hotspot and activate it.

3. Choose 'New Song' and load a blank song.

4. Highlight the track editing console and activate it.

5. Click on any track cell and choose 'Edit Notes'.
6. At the note editing grid, place at least two separate notes -

(Observe the audio which plays as the notes are placed).
7. Point the cursor over each of the notes, one at a time -

(Observe the audio which plays during mouse-over).
8. 'Grab' one of the notes and move it around the grid without releasing it.
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Notice: If a dragged note (Note 'A') occupies a column containing a resident note (Note 'B'), Audio pitched for the current position of Note 'A' will play. (But only if Note 'A' is wider than Note 'B')
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Frequency: 100%

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Expected Result: The correct, expected functionality is not obvious in this case.
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1) It's possible that preview audio is not intended to play for floating notes that have not yet been placed.

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2) If preview audio should play before a note is dropped into its new position, it should always play the audio - whether it occupies the same column as existing notes or not.

A Hellish Cacophony of 'Dear God Make It Stop'

A while back I mentioned that my new job which started in January was all about a music game - and that I would post here any songs I created that were any good at all.
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Well here it is Mid-March-ish and I have no songs worth posting even for their laugh factor. Sad and true. Tiny deaf children with tiny broken toy pianos make better music than I do.
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Granted, I had no contact with music-making growing up, never played an instrument, or even met someone who did. There was a rumor about a kid who once met a guitar, but he lived in the next county.
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But hell, I'm a halfways lucid adult - I should be able to pick up some basics and throw something together, right? RIGHT?
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No.
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My Dad is an artist. He can just look at a pencil and it will dance across a piece of sketch paper as if bewitched - and when he's done, the result is without a doubt Suitable For Framing...Personally, I have a hard time drawing a stick figure. My stick figures look mutated and unhappy. "Please erase me and then burn the paper" they seem to say.
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After Dad had spent over twenty years in the Army, he went back to college for another degree. In college he had to write a lot of essays, and creative writing has never been his strong suit - he taught himself English when he was 7 years old, so I can certainly understand.
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If there's one thing that I am slightly decent at, it's stringing words together. So the fact that the opening sentence of an essay was a huge source of stress for Dad was bizarre to me - as odd as my complete inability to hold a drafting pencil by the correct end was to him.
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The jury is still out on the whole Nature VS. Nurture thing, (seems to me to be something of both) but people definitely seem to be born with an aptitude for certain skills.
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Music is definitely not one of mine. Yeah.

Long Day - Went Fast

Well today was a whirlwind of last minute work on the game - we played the same level like 40 times. We took a quick look at 2 Player, and found a crash bug which is now fixed.

I need to mail my college application signature page and finish the online grant form - Cindy laid out the tax info for me.

I go to Ohio in like 14 days! How cool is that? It'll be really nice to get to spend some time with the family. Last time was only for two days, and that's just not enough!

It's Friday night and I'm still at work. They're trying to decide whether we're on call or coming in for sure tomorrow. Funfun.

What's Up With That??

Working on the 2 Player Mode on the job. They are debating whether to keep 2P or drop it entirely. I think it should stay in. Even a decent 2P is better than no 2P, you know? It's not like this is a commercial product - thank goodness - I can't imagine worrying about network code for online multiplayer and all that fun.

Cindy is gearing up for her Manager's conference - bummer to be without my Sweetie for over a week. (Insert sad face here)

And then I'll be in Ohio for about a week. Lots of traveling for us this year!! Busy Busy.

Working on my web site in the mornings and evenings, blah blah same news every day.

The DDR dance pad is definitely messed up - it's my fault, and I want a new pad. I'll try to make do with this one and see if maybe I can fix it. If I need a new one, how much can I really mess up the broken one if I open it up?

Keen!

Well that's neat - work is ending early today to take us to see 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'. I have plans with Ed to see it tonight, but how can I pass up the chance to see it for free?

The day has been pretty slow, yet again... Lots of hurrying and waiting. Hopefully next week will be all about writing bugs on 2 Player mode.

Liz is applying for a lead position at Universal. She'd be a great lead, I hope she gets it.

Fruitfully Delicious!

It's the noon hour and I haven't done any work since I got in at 10. We're supposed to be testing the 2 Player version of the game, but it's not ready for prime time just yet. As of last Friday we were supposed to be working on 2 Player - still nothing, and this is Wednesday. Today we're not even pretending to work on anything. Not even trying to look busy.

I got up early, rode the bike, showered, and worked on the web site. I wasn't into the web work at first this morning - but about the time I had to leave and go to work, I was enjoying it and wishing I could stay longer. I left the page I reworked on screen for Cindy to look at, and she seems to like the changes. I like them too.

I need to get back into the habit of getting up early to work on it, now that overtime at work is no more, and I have no real excuse. Plus, I'm going to Ohio soon and want to have something good to show! I need to change all the pages from reading 'Mystery Interactive' to 'Fiction Interactive' in the text. The first page I did wasn't that bad.

I'm thinking of having the main Fiction Interactive logo with all the genres around it - mystery, horror, romance, etc. I'm going to grey out the choices other than 'mystery' and set up a voting system that will allow the readers to decide which genre will be active next. Cindy recommeds 'erotica' as the most popular one, and she's probably right. Cindy is helping me with logo ideas for the front page. She's a great help - I couldn't do it without her.

Cindy is trying to prepare me for the Jimmy Buffet concert - she's so tickled we're finally getting to go - the last few years, there's always been some reason she could not go. This year, it will happen! I don't mind going, she's been waiting for years! The music is nice and Mr. Buffet isn't gonna live forever!

Craving Apple Fritters and Milk

We've submitted the final candiate of the game, here at work - just last night in fact - so this should mark the end of overtime, for a few weeks at least. I guess it depends on what the guys up north find during their evaluation of the build we gave them.

I got some good work done on the web site last night. I really don't know why I go home and work some more after working all day, but I do it. I guess I know that if I don't work on the site every day, it will never get finished.

I got the story selection page reorganized after browsing the web for ideas on layout. Everything on the web is so damn tiny. All the buttons, icons, and text is mini mini. I fear for the day when my eyes go bad and I can no longer enjoy the internet.

Got a bad headache last night about midnight, and it took about an hour and a half for the advil to kick in. Cindy was a sweetie and took a walk with me around the apartment complex. It was cooler outside, but still very humid.

I'm considering an air conditioner. You can get them for about $130 nowadays. We're usually pretty good to go with the weather, a nice breeze is usually blowing. But there is about a month every year that is pretty uncomfortable. I'd say that $130 is worth being comfortable for that month... Plus, what if this is just a hot year? And we suffer for months before breaking down and buying an AC.

IKEA Dreams and Stranger Things

It's been an okay day. We got lots of work done, verified many fixes. We're supposed to get a new build sometime soon. This will probably be a 12 hour day, but we've been bracing for this, so it's no surprise.

I got fed up with the living room layout last night and did some re-arranging. It looks a lot better now - all we need is a room full of new furniture, end tables, lamps, area rug.

Because of this re-arranging, the guest room is now a crowded mess. I just shoved everything from the living room into the guest room. I need to dis-assemble the bed and stow it in the closet. That will free up a lot of room.

I'm tempted to say "screw the laptop" and just go on an IKEA spending spree. I don't know, though... I think the couch we wanted is no longer available in the color we liked. Hmn. We probably waited too long on that one. That's the way things are at IKEA - buy it when you see it, or next time it will be gone.

Grumpy Du!

Du: New Speak - Origin: Brat1
Short form of "Dude", corrupted to mean any person, especially one with whom we are sympathetic.

Uses:
Lil Scampery Du = A small and cute child.
Lil Old Du = An elderly person
Good Du = A productive or well behaved person
Excellent Du = A hard worker or especially thoughtful person
Bad Du = Naughty or lazy person

So yeah, I was a grumpy du this morning. The day has definitely improved. I have a new stash of fruit in the fridge, and I had some tasty lunch. I don't know what to expect for tonight - overtime I mean...

I think we're about to get a new build, so the evening depends on how the build turns out I suppose. I went home around 7:30 last night, so I could work late tonight without hating life too much. Especially since it's hot out and work has AC.

Sore, Sunburned, Surly.

Tuesday as Monday - my whole week is going to be off kilter now. Holiday weeks are always kind of odd. People stagger in from whatever wild weekend they had, sore, sunburnt and surly. Brian came in but went home within about 30 minutes - sick with a cold.

It was nice having a day off for a change. It's been really hot the last few days, so it was difficult to relax at home. Cindy had most of yesterday off and we went out for lunch, and spent time in a bunch of different air conditioned retail outlets.

I got some work done on the web site - I'm reworking it into its new "Fiction Interactive" format, which will take a bit of massaging on each page. I need to change the references from 'case' to 'story' and update the logo on every page.

I'm grumpy today, and I don't know why. Maybe just tired. I avoided caffeine cause I know it makes me edgy... I ate a good breakfast, and had some fruit... I am craving bad foods, deep fried and with lotsa gravy. I will be good, and eat the food I brought with me. Something batter dipped and salty sounds yummy though...

Here I am on Sunday

Where am I? Come on, you can guess... Work! That's right. Supposedly it's just for a few hours, but we'll see what happens. The tiniest issue could blow up into a big mushroom-cloud of doom.

Cindy works this evening, I think she's just going in for a few hours to close the store and do some paperwork.

I have a headache. It's hot in here cause the air conditioning computer won't respond. I want to go home. Oh well, at least I am making overtime pay.

Working. Weekend. Me No Like.

Not much new going on, working and sleeping mostly. I was planning on getting some web work (art) done at work, but by the time I got photoshop installed on my work PC, it was time to get to work. Oh well, I'll be prepared from now on.

I'm trying to resist the urge to completely redo the layout of the mystery interactive site. I think I'm going to have to do it though. It needs redone to fit the 'Fiction Interactive' rename. Sigh. When will it ever end? I'll start coming in to work early, instead of trying to get work done at home. The commute will be quicker earlier in the morning, and there will be less distraction while here at work.

I really wanted to have a Fiction Interactive story ready for my visit to Ohio... It does not seem that this will happen now. Granted, I thought I would have a month off to work on it. Grrr.

Fiddling While the Gold Master Burns...

The 'gold candidate' is due soon - our deadline is Friday, and I'm not feeling urgency. I know we're gonna be late with this game, I feel it in my bones, and it seems that I'm the only one. People are wandering in whenever they please, enjoying lengthy lunches, and leaving by 8pm. This is not a development team concerned about meeting their deadline. If this were my game - if I were the producer, I'd be five kinds of pissed.

The producers should be here, at least one of them, making sure that all that can be done is being done. But they are not here, and so that sense of ugency is missing. Hey, maybe the contract for the next game is already signed, and they're not concerned. I don't have enough information about future projects to guess. But this project AINT READY TO SHIP.

All this means lots of OT for me, and likely a healthy dose of DT too. Demon Laptop torments me from the possibility realm of "gee golly wouldn't it be nice..." (Like Demon Alcohol, you know... Demon... Oh never mind).

Doing DDR in the mornings, it's a nice switch from riding the bike. Cindy's been talking about a treadmill lately. Pretty soon here, we're gonna have to turn the spare bedroom into a gym. If we use the stuff, I don't mind spending money and space on exercise gear. Especially when it's fun like DDR.

Still toying with the idea of the bike riding game... Flash game might be pretty easy... Hmn. Maybe someday.

Cindy still hopes for us to move to Florida some day. They keep getting hit with storms... I tell you, Florida isn't a safe place to be in this era of global warming.

Thickly and Sticky

It's a still, humid day today. It was hot at 7am. I was glad to come to work where I could enjoy air conditioning. I was given a new PC on which to test the game, because my old one was producing really long load times, and a bunch of A and B issues. I think Eugune worked some dark magic on these new components, just to get these bugs closed.

I went to Fed Ex during lunch and shipped back the violin that arrived in error. Hopefully in a week or two I'll get my money back from Sam Ash. $200 is nothing to sneeze at. After Fed Ex, I went to the grocery store and got a bunch of fruit, more cereal, some draino, you know the usual.

Speaking of the violin, I need to get Cindy some lessons before we forget about it and we realize it's been a year since she got it, and never touched it. She was playing with it the other day, but you really need lessons to get rolling. Maybe some day I'll get a dulcimer. Hey, if Cindy, Liz and I ever learn to play, we could be a band. A Violin, Guitar, and Dulcimer would sound pretty good together.

I was hoping for a laptop for my birthday this year (was gonna split it wi Cindy), but it doesn't look like it's in the cards. We've been trying to pay off the dentist (Just a few more months) and the truck needs a bunch of work - new tires, air conditioner switch, and it's been running rough lately. Maybe it's just old, but I'll have to see what Frank (Our Mechanic Extraordinaire) can do with it.

I'd like to get new furniture, too. The stuff we have in the living room really needs to be trashed. Ah well, never enough cash to do everything.

Step by Step With the New Solution...

The home computer is fixed! I gave in and did the scary thing - I told the truth. I told one of the programmers that I'd taken the game home and installed it.

He was very nice and told me how to fix the problem. I was worried about his reaction, but he took it in stride. Now I wish I'd asked sooner, instead of waiting for like 3 days. Now we have our desktop icons, taskbar, and start button back. You miss those icons when they're gone, let me tell you!

Things are hopping at work, lots of new bugs have been entered - most of them French and Spanish text - and we're supposed to be Gold on Friday. I'd be amazed if we were actually ready. We need at least another week. There's a lot of bugs left in this game, I can feel it.

Cindy's Regional Manager was very pleased with the store on her visit, which is good. Cindy has really been sweating this visit and putting in lots of extra hours. I'm glad they paid off!

She works too hard. And of course, she's salary, so no extra cash for all that work. If I can help it, I won't take a salaried job again. It's the only thing that keeps an employer from working you to death. There's always more work to be done.

Early Morning Cold Chicken

I'm at work.

I figured it was just as easy to get writing done at work as it would be at home. I don't really like the desk setup we have going on in the kitchen. So I'm eating Cindy's Sunday leftovers from Mimi's Cafe for breakfast this morning, hence the reference to cold chicken. We have a microwave at work, but sometimes I'm in the mood for cold chicken. Sometimes cold pizza too.

The home computer is still messed up, largely because I have stopped trying to mess with it. Ed's latest suggestion is to restore 'last good configuration' or something along those lines. I'd like to back up all our folders before I try any 'revert to old' steps - I'd hate to lose anything.

This will probably be a very busy week, about a hundred new issues were entered yesterday, and I'm sure there are plenty more where they came from. This project will not be complete on time, what project ever is?

So there will be overtime aplenty. Good thing too, my truck could use some new tires and it's running kind of rough. And the air conditioning switch is going out. The AC works fine, but the low-med-high switch only works on high. Better than no AC, but still.

Rubber Sex Fetish Garments, and etc

I got to leave work early last night (after only 8 hours!) because my work computer crapped out and the programmers were huddled in a concerned fashion around it.

I don't think anything conclusive was found, the only thing they found was nothing. I keep getting corrupted assets during my installs. I think that's what you get when you install over a network, instead of with a disc, and don't ghost between installs.

Cindy and I went out to eat at the weird A&W Burger/Long John Silvers fusion in Manhattan Beach. Gotta love those frosty mugs, they make your root beer all slushy, as God intended.

We ended up at Target and spent much money. I got some new clothes, mostly, and the Kill Bill 2 DVD. I got this freaky shirt. It seems nice and normal, just a white shirt. Until you put it on, then it turns into a weird rubber sex fetish garment - which was not the intent.

Oh! I also got some of those rubberized anti-slip mats from the household items section. We're using them under the dance pad for DDR. It helps the slippage factor.