Work, Work
This week I've started documenting the work I've done so far so that the next guy who takes over my project (tentatively some poor fresh grad or college student looking for summer work) will be able to figure out where to go from where I left off. Writing about what you've done has always been a more tedious process than actually doing it, at least for me. It's not more *difficult*... it's just more blah. I spent half the afternoon today making a chart in Powerpoint that shows how the major components in the application relate to one another. Then I spent the other half figuring out how to fit the darn thing in Word. I got it in there, but there was quite some shoving involved.
Yesh?
I didn't talk much to anybody today. I talked to Gretchen a bit. She's putting a show together for peeps to show their art, be it their writings, their music, their paintings... whatever. It's for a book or something, too.... I'm a bit fuzzy about the details. Anyway she started by asking me if I wrote or drew or made any music. I said "errr yeah all those things". Then I tried to show her the piece I did for snk-capcom, but I couldn't find it, so I wound up showing her the Flash thingy I did for the photos section of my Tripod website (hmmm okay out of context that last sentence was probably a little wrong). She got a laugh out of that. Then I played the tracks I did with CCL when I was in Chicago. She thought I sounded like a guy from Smashing Pumpkins. I was like "Huh??? Ok". Maybe I'll tell her about this blog tomorrow. If I do, Well Hi, Gretchen!
Wot?
Aside from that, I didn't talk to anyone else. I think I heard Ray speaking in the conference room for a bit, but I didn't see him after that. I used to sit in the conference room all day, but then I got moved out to a brand new cubicle they set up last week. This is my in-between spot... when I start the test automation job they'll probably move me again, this time to what they call the war room. It's called the war room because, well it looks like one. It's a big square room with a big board on one wall onto which they can project their big battle plans as they discuss them, and there's a big coffee pot that keeps the big troops awake during the big briefings. Fun. Fun.
Off I go, then!
I tried not to get too comfortable in my little cubicle, since I know I may not be in it long, but I can already tell I'll miss it some when they move me. I haven't filled the shelves or anything, but I just love how snugly I fit in there with my laptop in front of me and a tablet PC just off to the right. The tablet PC I borrowed from Ray. I used it to test an installer for my application... I just wanted to know if I could get it to work on another box (it did, by the way). The tablet PC is just the coolest thing. It comes with a 'pen', and a program called Journal, and you can write on it like it was a piece of paper. The cool part is that Journal can convert my handwriting to text, and considering how bad my handwriting is, it does a darn good job of it. There've been times over the past two weeks when I'd scribble on it when I was bored. I want one bad, but I can't really think of a good reason to get one right now. I mean, a notepad costs like 5 bucks. I did use it today, though, to take notes while I was looking through my code. Did I need to? No. Did I feel cool in a geeky way? Hell, Yes!
Sunday, March 28, 2004
I've been going to church on Sundays earlier than usual for the past few weeks. I usually get there a little past 9am and do some reading... it's been helpful, especially recently. My mind's just been all over the place. Matt and I got together at Borders this past Wednesday. Among other things, he asked if I'd be up for becoming our small group leader. He stepping down this summer, because of reasons I won't talk about here, but they're related to other things that I've been thinking about. Basically it boils down to my favorite Brent principle: "People suck". And there's been some messy stuff going on lately. Matt's been a real champ, I might add... I don't envy his position, and he's held up the way any man should under the circumstances.
I told him I wasn't going to consider being small group leader yet, not because of the stuff Matt's had to deal with (apparently whoever takes over next won't be inheriting Matt's situation... the powers that be will see to that), but because I was still in a mode of transition. I mean, all I have is a temp job at NetLearning. So I told him nope, not in my current situation, because I might still be gone in a couple of months. Well, the next day, Raymond comes up to me and tells me they're trying to get a new testing position approved at NetLearning, and he's gonna have me do the stuff related to that position after I'm done helping Dave on the network diagnostic thingy (yeah my language is real technical, can you tell?). Once the position is approved, they'll post it, get resumes, but most likely the guy who gets the job will be the one who's been doing it already, namely, me. So I'm thinking, ok a few months from now I might have a permanent job. Still too late to take over from Matt in summer.
The next day, Ray's talking to Dave and he tells him we're looking at about 20 more days I and Dave will be working together, and then I'll be moved to the new thing, and after that maybe in a few weeks it'll be permanent. Ok so it's been upgraded to a couple of months is what I'm thinking. Then today, Sunday morning, I bump into Ray at church and we talk to Gretchen Paxton for a bit after that, say hi to her parents who are visiting, and Ray says to them I'm working a temp job now but we're looking to get me into something permanent in a couple of weeks. I'm going 'man whatever negotiating technique I'm using must be working great'. And of course my technique involved saying absolutely nothing about it at all. The whole thing is pretty much being placed on my lap. Hey! No complaints there!
What this means, though, is I'm going to have to tell Matt some time soon that, yes I'm probably going to be in a position to lead small group. I guess the question is whether or not I ought to. It might not seem like a big deal to some people, but the way I look at it is this: The closest thing to a small group leader described in Scripture is, really, a pastor. There's no other equivalent, at least scripturally. Some folks say the closest thing is actually Jesus, and the twelve were his little small group. Well, that's fine except if I was ever in a small group with twelve other guys, I'd get out of there... that's one frikkin' large small group.
So a small group leader is probably a pastor, of sorts. And what's the description of a pastor in scripture?
"Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. "
That's from 1 Timothy 3. Obviously we have to make allowances here... most of the guys at YAMs aren't married, and there aren't enough of em to go around fascilitating all the small groups there. But the principle laid out in this passage is clear: The guy in charge must have his house in order. "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?". And in the case of single guys, I guess he must know how to manage his own life. Yahoos need not apply.
Now, obviously, Matt wouldn't ask me to do this if he thought I was a yahoo. He cares about the folks in our small group, and he's not about to do anything he'd think would be damaging. I look at what God has to say about folks in that position, though, and I'm thinking, if this is something I'm gonna do, I'm going to have to just grow up. No more 5-hour MU-ing sessions. No more hiding in my litttle pc hole on weekends. No more thinking around in circles and feeling sorry for myself.
Well, I've got some time to consider all this... Fellowship does require small group leaders to be church members, and that means taking a membership class, and then there's a leadership class after that. Even if I do decide to give this a shot, mayhaps I'll be sifted out by the process :p. I don't know. I just don't know.
I told him I wasn't going to consider being small group leader yet, not because of the stuff Matt's had to deal with (apparently whoever takes over next won't be inheriting Matt's situation... the powers that be will see to that), but because I was still in a mode of transition. I mean, all I have is a temp job at NetLearning. So I told him nope, not in my current situation, because I might still be gone in a couple of months. Well, the next day, Raymond comes up to me and tells me they're trying to get a new testing position approved at NetLearning, and he's gonna have me do the stuff related to that position after I'm done helping Dave on the network diagnostic thingy (yeah my language is real technical, can you tell?). Once the position is approved, they'll post it, get resumes, but most likely the guy who gets the job will be the one who's been doing it already, namely, me. So I'm thinking, ok a few months from now I might have a permanent job. Still too late to take over from Matt in summer.
The next day, Ray's talking to Dave and he tells him we're looking at about 20 more days I and Dave will be working together, and then I'll be moved to the new thing, and after that maybe in a few weeks it'll be permanent. Ok so it's been upgraded to a couple of months is what I'm thinking. Then today, Sunday morning, I bump into Ray at church and we talk to Gretchen Paxton for a bit after that, say hi to her parents who are visiting, and Ray says to them I'm working a temp job now but we're looking to get me into something permanent in a couple of weeks. I'm going 'man whatever negotiating technique I'm using must be working great'. And of course my technique involved saying absolutely nothing about it at all. The whole thing is pretty much being placed on my lap. Hey! No complaints there!
What this means, though, is I'm going to have to tell Matt some time soon that, yes I'm probably going to be in a position to lead small group. I guess the question is whether or not I ought to. It might not seem like a big deal to some people, but the way I look at it is this: The closest thing to a small group leader described in Scripture is, really, a pastor. There's no other equivalent, at least scripturally. Some folks say the closest thing is actually Jesus, and the twelve were his little small group. Well, that's fine except if I was ever in a small group with twelve other guys, I'd get out of there... that's one frikkin' large small group.
So a small group leader is probably a pastor, of sorts. And what's the description of a pastor in scripture?
"Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. "
That's from 1 Timothy 3. Obviously we have to make allowances here... most of the guys at YAMs aren't married, and there aren't enough of em to go around fascilitating all the small groups there. But the principle laid out in this passage is clear: The guy in charge must have his house in order. "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?". And in the case of single guys, I guess he must know how to manage his own life. Yahoos need not apply.
Now, obviously, Matt wouldn't ask me to do this if he thought I was a yahoo. He cares about the folks in our small group, and he's not about to do anything he'd think would be damaging. I look at what God has to say about folks in that position, though, and I'm thinking, if this is something I'm gonna do, I'm going to have to just grow up. No more 5-hour MU-ing sessions. No more hiding in my litttle pc hole on weekends. No more thinking around in circles and feeling sorry for myself.
Well, I've got some time to consider all this... Fellowship does require small group leaders to be church members, and that means taking a membership class, and then there's a leadership class after that. Even if I do decide to give this a shot, mayhaps I'll be sifted out by the process :p. I don't know. I just don't know.
Friday, March 19, 2004
I'm really tired. I finally got a prototype of this graphing app I'm making in Visual C++, though. All in all, not bad for a week's worth of work. I learned a new programming environment (or at least got to where I'm not completely lost in it), used it to interface with a MySQL database, and graphed its data using a third-party library. I'm well on my way to finishing a functioning MFC application. Maybe now they'll bump my salary up a little :).
I need to go looking for an external hard drive for my laptop now. The poor thing only has 650 MB of HD space. I found one at Best Buy last week going for 200 bucks, but it's exactly what I want... 20GB, and it's only a little larger than a wallet. It was a bit pricey, though, so I'm gonna try my luck at Circuit City tonite. Then, more Mu-ing!
Sigh, no life, no life.
I need to go looking for an external hard drive for my laptop now. The poor thing only has 650 MB of HD space. I found one at Best Buy last week going for 200 bucks, but it's exactly what I want... 20GB, and it's only a little larger than a wallet. It was a bit pricey, though, so I'm gonna try my luck at Circuit City tonite. Then, more Mu-ing!
Sigh, no life, no life.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
One good thing about having a job in Knoxville is that I can now make commitments to stuff at Fellowship or at YAMs and at least be able to say I'll be around to do those things for a few months. Last night I had my first practice session with Amanda Hopkins' worship team as a *member* member and not just a fake member of the team. They did something different too last night, before practice started: a pot luck dinner! Those are always fun, and I hadn't done one in a while.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to cook, so I bought KFC chicken strips. Tyler got pizza. Ken did a shrimp boil. Deb made basmati rice (I *have to get me a box of those!). Amanda made this sugary... fruit... thing. It was good. We stuffed ourselves silly and talked about how if you put together the name of a cool pet you had, and the name of the street you first lived on, that'd be your name if you were a soap opera character. Well I had to fudge the street name because if I'd used the name of a street in Malaysia they'd just go "huh?", so I used the name of the street I lived on when I first came to Knoxville. And it turns out I'm Ranger White, IT consultant.
But even if we lived in a soap opera world with soap opera names, there would still be no camels in India.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to cook, so I bought KFC chicken strips. Tyler got pizza. Ken did a shrimp boil. Deb made basmati rice (I *have to get me a box of those!). Amanda made this sugary... fruit... thing. It was good. We stuffed ourselves silly and talked about how if you put together the name of a cool pet you had, and the name of the street you first lived on, that'd be your name if you were a soap opera character. Well I had to fudge the street name because if I'd used the name of a street in Malaysia they'd just go "huh?", so I used the name of the street I lived on when I first came to Knoxville. And it turns out I'm Ranger White, IT consultant.
But even if we lived in a soap opera world with soap opera names, there would still be no camels in India.
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