Work, Florida, Libertarian Papers
News, Work ·Sunday January 29, 2012 @ 14:36 EST (link)
General status and a few comments since I've been here a couple months (started November 14). I can't get too specific with certain things: when I was interviewing they couldn't even tell me how many developers they had (small competitive vertical industry), so presumably I can't reveal that either (and I'm sure signed something to that effect). Like at Microsoft, I have an office with a door; I would guess maybe half the developers do, and there are some open plan or shared offices. (Unlike at Microsoft, I also have a window outside—but no window to the hallway—which is nice, but it gets pretty hot at certain times of the day.) I'm working in C++ (also safe, since their job descriptions say as much), Windows (MFC projects, but it's not so bad). There's no problem parking in front of the building (which you can go find with Google Street View if you want). I tend to get in earlier than at Microsoft (0830 here, 1030 there), to be there when most people are there, and of course leave a little earlier too. It brings back memories of getting up pretty early when I worked in Toronto, to avoid the subway rush. I'm not sure I can say which project I'm working on, so I'll provide a link to the Learning Systems Group and leave it at that.
As in Word, the code base is quite old (20 years I think, vs. Word celebrating 25 in 2010), and has naturally developed some cruft. Fortunately, my manager believes in continuous refactoring, provided that features get developed according to schedule and there's some business justification. Some interesting features for the upcoming release—naturally I can't spill anything there, but I'll post something after we ship if I can be at all specific. I'm working with a good group of people; only one of the people that interviewed me, though (and the interviews asked good questions). We go out to lunch a couple times a week; frequently Mexican-style places (but usually not staffed with people of Mexicans descent; not far enough south perhaps?), although there's one guy that's more adventurous and we go for Thai etc.
After hours and when I have time I've been working on a code review tool (Apache, mod_wsgi, Python 3, Javascript, and PostgreSQL, with Mako templates for separation, jQuery and jQuery UI on the client side, and mod_auth_sspi for domain user authentication; the username is used by the system). Since it's server-based, I can and may also write a .NET—WPF—client for it; except for one request that sends back XHTML rather than JSON (it helped with SPOT), all of the server requests are already suitable, and WPF looks like a fun toy and a good technology to learn. I could also maintain a persistent server connection to get immediate updates rather than polling periodically like the web client does.
So, Florida. We haven't done a lot of traveling yet; the apartment, once organized, is about the same. The bedroom furniture was a bit of a trick to get in since the door is diagonal and cuts off one side, but it's all worked out just fine. We solved the sliding block puzzle of the living room after the movers left and it's spaced pretty well. There are a few boxes here and there and the study isn't set up—we just use our laptops on the couch—so other unpacking happens as the spirit moves. We've found the equivalent stores for groceries, and a Costco, and Amazon doesn't charge tax here so that's a bonus. In a way it's nice to have a garage, but since our other exclusive parking space is in front of it, sometimes not as convenient to get in and out. We'd like to take a drive down to the Keys; after the first time for the novelty, though, we've been recommended to take the ferry. In May we're heading up to Canada for Sharon's wedding anniversary; no big trips before that, except Honey might go up for her mother's birthday in March.
I finally got around to finishing and submitting my article for the journal Libertarian Papers; I'm happy with it, although they (or rather, the new editor, Matt McCaffrey, who took over for Dr. Stephan Kinsella just this month) may have a few editorial or style changes for me to make still. It's good to get that finished; Dr. Kinsella had recommended some style fixes, terminology clarifications, and further reading I may have wanted to incorporate; I made the style fixes right away but just got the rest done this weekend. It's an article about punishment, specifically questioning one aspect of Dr. Walter Block's ideas on the subject.
It is also my birthday tomorrow. We're going to go out to eat at the end of the week.
Books finished: Foundation, The Colour of Magic, God Emperor of Dune.
