Job

So I’ve been in my new position for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve been having some uneasy feelings, which is normal. I’ve lost all of the day-to-day responsibilities from my old position but they haven’t been replaced by similar day-to-day responsibilities in the new position, so its hard to know if I’m being all that useful yet or not. I knew all of this going in. My main task now is to be writing up requirements for a new system we will help design and hopefully have fully operational in a few years. I think our whole team is a little lost because we haven’t been given a whole lot of direction from our superiors on how to go about doing this. Today is really the first day that I’ve thought that maybe everyone else working on this is as lost as I am. I don’t think any of us junior folks have done anything like this before.

We are selecting a software vendor in the next week, and it appears that everyone’s approach is to wait until they get here and let them tell us how to design everything. This is not a great idea, as I think this is what happened during the design of the current system and it ended up being a little too different than what our stakeholders wanted. Right now we have a high-level document provided by our stakeholders and everyone has been assigned a part of that to turn into a requirements document. It looks like most of our team is taking the high-level document and rewording and reformatting it into the requirements document. That seems like a waste of time to me. I mean, if we’re just going to do that why not just tell the vendor to read the high-level document instead? I’ve been taking a different approach and have been reading the high-level document, then asking myself what a software vendor might need to know to implement it, and getting a bit more specific as I put the requirements document together. Sure, I’m making a lot of stuff up that hasn’t been discussed, but I assume we’re all going to get together at some point to review and revise these documents. I say it’s better to have some idea down, even if it’s completely wrong, because that way we won’t forget about that particular detail and we’ll all have a chance to fix it. It would be worse to start working with the vendor with just the high-level stuff and totally rely on them to fill in all the details. We should take as much control of the project as possible, since we are more responsible for it then the software vendor will be. Anyway, I spent all day today working on this and I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress. I hope I’m doing the right thing.

Memorial Day

I made it out to Galveston on Sunday (Seawolf Park), to see what remained of my first ship. Here it is:

I only severed on her for a year and a half, and that last half a year was spent in drydock decommissioning her, but when I found out her sail was being turned into a monument only a few hours away, I had to go check it out. I never thought I'd see anything of her again after April 1997, so it was fun to touch that sail again.

You may have noticed this post has more pictures than usual. I finally bought a digital camera on Saturday. I wouldn't expect an album worth of photos from me ever, as I still think taking pictures is mostly a pain in the ass. But you will see a few. Here is my first action photo, a Coast Guard helicopter dropping a wreath into the channel after our memorial ceremony on Monday.



Our ceremony got rained on pretty hard, so some parts had to be cut short. They had to cancel the F-16 flyover, but hey they're just F-16s so that's no big deal (heh). We did what was important and that was to honor the memory of those who served and died for our country. I hope you took a moment on Monday to think of them and hope you continue to do so.

Galveston

I thought I might go hash in Galveston on Saturday, since I will be there Sunday and Monday for a Cold War memorial dedication. But I am starting to think I'd rather just chill at home on Saturday. What is wrong with me?

I guess I am thinking the three day weekend is going to be too busy being away and its going to seem like I didn't have a break. Yet I need to get away.

Don't Worry, No Puns in this Post

This afternoon I caught the last hour or two of the annual O Henry Pun-Off. This is the kind of thing that my family would really enjoy to see, because they love the corny stuff. There are several events, the one I caught features two or three competitors in a round who rotate making puns on a theme (such as animals, countries, etc.) The only confusing thing is figuring out what qualifies as a pun. I'm sure the rules make it perfectly clear--follow the link if you really want to know. Each contestant gets three strikes for rule violations, or if they can't even start to make a pun in the count of five, they're out. It was fun to watch (but as expected, sometimes not particularly funny), and I bet if I practiced punning now I could be a strong competitor next year. The down side being that if I start practicing now, no one will want to talk to me next year.

I hope to see some of you tomorrow at my gig. If you even show up for a couple songs that would really make me happy! By the way, I not only play keyboard, but I also play harmonica, tambourine, and cowbell. I am a responsible cowbell player, so just because you say we need more cowbell doesn't mean you're right, or that I'll play more cowbell. I play cowbell where it is needed, and rarely more than that. I have cowbell restraint.

Someone post a link to the skit, I'm too lazy to find it.

Frank Erwin Center

Hey, we got a gig at the Frank Erwin Center. I'm not kidding!
This Sunday at noon and its free. Stop by for a few minutes if you're still curious.

I Won the Hot to Trot 5K

Not the race but a door prize ($25 gift certificate to Run-Tex). As far as the race goes, I'm satisfied. I didn't get to bed 'til 3 last night because I had a gig, so even getting to the race itself was a challenge this morning. As it was the first race I've ran in I don't know how long, all I really cared about was not stopping. I got very slow at times but I did meet this goal. Once I saw my mile split of around 10:30 however I realized I was gonna be pissed if I didn't finish under 30 minutes, which would've only happened if I stopped running. This is because the first mile was all uphill and the last two were downhill, and dodging the slower runners the first mile. I finished at 28:06, a 9 minute mile pace. It was harder than I thought it would be. I need to start running longer and slower on my regular runs.

I ate and crashed for a nap when I got home. I guess the nap turned into something longer, like the second half of a normal night's sleep. Because now it is 9 PM and I am slowly waking up. I had planned on going to a birthday party tonight but am not really feeling up to it so I think I'll just chill at home.

LJ's w/a Laptop

So it must be time for an update. The weekend sucked. Except for Friday. Friday was the Mad Cowboys and that is always a great time. But, I barely got out of the apartment the rest of the weekend. Saturday I managed to get to Fry's and I actually bought some DVDs to use in my $20 Fry's DVD player. I never buy DVDs and had mixed feelings about doing so.. I mean, I figured I was in a bad mood because I couldn't motivate myself to do anything or go anywhere, and enabling myself to watch even more TV doesn't exactly help. One of the DVDs I bought was Season 2 of Sealab 2001. Man I loved that show.

Sunday the only thing I managed to do was go for a run around Town Lake. Actually it was a little bit farther than I usually go, but not by much. Probably between 3 and 4 miles. I didn't run Friday or Saturday so I really had to go do it. I wish it had been more exciting, or eventful, because it appears now that may have been my last worry-free run for awhile. Monday my right knee started behaving strangely and I fear it is going to affect my running. The good news is that today I bought a knee brace and ran with it with no problems, so maybe thinks are okay. But stairs and steep hills cause pain, as does sitting down. I guess I'll have to get it checked out, but if anyone has any joint care related advice in the meantime, I'm all ears.

Finally Getting Serious?

Okay, last week I bought some real $100 running shoes. I'm still running consistently. I made myself take a day off yesterday because my left calf was feeling strained, but I still felt bad that I took a day off. So maybe the addiction is finally taking hold. I'm also thinking of finally signing up for a race. I don't know why, but 5K seems too short... it shouldn't since I can't even get myself to run 5K without stopping yet. So 5K is probably appropriate. Chuy's Hot to Trot 5K is Saturday, May 13. Is anyone else interested?

My Stupid Short Haircut Will Not Grow Fast Enough

Come on!