Observations

That Story Where I Write A lot About Tea Kettles

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Since way before I met her M has had an old-school metal tea kettle. She uses it to heat up tea and hot water for her coffee funnel. It’s as basic a solution as you can get. It also works surprisingly well. In the past year or so I’ve started to use it to heat water for my French press.

The thing with boiling water on a stove is that it can take a few minutes. I never thought anything of it. It was just how long it took to heat water. When we got to England we needed to heat water for coffee. I can’t remember if we brought our kettle in our luggage and the stove didn’t work. Or we simply did not have our kettle. In any event our stove was not working when we first moved in. We needed coffee. That meant we needed to buy something.

I knew about existence of electric kettles. I even remember my friend “A” who came from England to the US talking about how bad they were in the states. At the time I didn’t quite understand what he was complaining about. American electric kettles if I recall take around the same amount of time to make hot water then boiling it on a stove. If I’m wrong on that that is my recollection. I don’t really have direct knowledge on it. Going into this situation however that was what I was thinking. Electric kettles are slow.

I made one of our several trips to the local Sainsbury’s those first few days and picked up a cheap electric kettle. Once I got home I set it up and started to make enough water for 2 cups of coffee. I remember turning on the kettle and preparing to go do something while it heated the water. I got distracted talking to M for a moment. By the time I got back to realizing what I wanted to do the kettle clicked off indicating the water was done. At the time I thought something was wrong with it because it took maybe 1 to 2 minutes at most. I poured the water into the filter and sure enough it was the perfect temperature.

For what I am told the high-power quick teakettle is thanks to a more powerful power grid in England. I know everyone talks about the fact that the US is 110v and England is 220v however to see it in action was pretty interesting.

The electric kettle was so effective that M even agreed to get rid of her vintage stovetop one. That was a major development in our house.

The lesson here (if there is a lesson to learn) is even if someone explain something to you sometimes it doesn’t fully click until you experience it yourself.

The Busiest Day of The Year

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Today was the busiest day of the year for me at work. As it turns out this statement is true on several levels. My current company has a bi-annual event that generates the highest volume of web traffic on one of our sites. We literally began planning for today back in June during our last event. Because of the work shifts we ended up doing, and problems creeping up throughout the day today was also probably the hardest work day I have had since I started working at this job last February.

The odd thing is I kind of liked it regardless of the craziness. There is something about being in the thick of issues with the pressure mounting and you having to make split second decisions that has an odd attraction. I guess I am still sometimes an adrenaline junkie from my days volunteering as an EMT in College. The other alluring aspect of today is you see six months of work put to good use (hopefully), and for me all my skills as an engineer and a manager put to the test. The result is exhausting physical and emotionally, but in the end very rewarding. During our last event in June I commented afterward that if you are in an operations group and you don’t secretly enjoy such days you are in the wrong profession or lying to yourself. I still think that to be true.

The day did have its high and low points. In the end I know now that I have to handle a few personnel issues, and our systems performed better than anticipated. All in all a mixed ending for a roller coaster ride of a day.

Where is the Drama Free Line Please?

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Have you ever wished they had a special line at the store (any store will do) that only took credit cards. Just a simple line where you walk up and hand the clerk your stuff. The clerk then proceeds to ring up everything and everyone who is on that line won’t begin to question if the computer is wrong, or the sale price didn’t ring up, etc. You are permitted to complain if you are buying something for $9.99 and it shows up at $100 or other outrageous errors, but generally you have to be a real grown up to be on the line, not just look like one.

If you accepted the responsibility of getting on this special line you couldn’t ask for discount card applications. You couldn’t try to combine a store credit card with a gift card. You couldn’t ask for gift wrap, or returns. You couldn’t ask questions about the product(s) you were buying. You would just get your stuff put nicely in a bag and you would thank the clerk and walk away. Typically I prefer if workers at the store spoke intelligible english, but on this special line it shouldn’t matter since you wouldn’t have to say anything beyond hello, and thank you to the clerk. So the question is where can I find this drama free line? I am on a quest to find it. I have a theory that this line does exist, and it is at the local DMV and quickie mart in the lost city of Atlantis. If anyone knows of any other locations please let me know! I have my credit card in hand!

Why Do Some Stores Treat You Like a Criminal?

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Why do some stores in NYC treat their customers like criminals? I know most places out of NYC don’t do it, but some chains especially electronic stores like Best Buy seem to be treating everyone who buys something like a criminal these days. Every time I buy something at Best Buy I get badgered to show my receipt to some one at the door before I leave. It use to not be this way. I am a customer. Treating your store like a police state does not encourage me to go back and spend lots of money.

A few months ago on a consumer blog I read that unless a store is a members only store like Cosco, I am under no legal obligation to show my receipt if asked when leaving a store. I have tested this theory several times at Best Buy (hasn’t happened at CompUSA since I decided to try this) and so far I have not been stopped when I just ignore the guy at the door and continue on my way out. Is it sad that a small part of me wants one ignorant employee to try and stop me one time?

On the flip side I just got a new monitor at the Apple Store and walked out without a receipt (they email you a pdf of your receipt if your email is on file) and no tags or anything on the box. I asked the clerk about getting out of the store with no receipt and they were like you have to buy the monitor before we can give it to me from the back, so I don’t need a receipt to leave the store. See not treated like a criminal. And to make sure I compare apples to apples (no pun intended) I have bought computers at Best Buy that they can only get from the back of the store and I have still been asked for a receipt. How can some stores get it right, and others so wrong?

The RCN Monopoly

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The building I live in has an exclusive deal (aka monopoly) with RCN to provide Cable & Phone service. That sucks for me since I am paying more for less service than I had with Time Warner. I am home sick today so I decided to call RCN and make some changes I have wanted to make on my account. I never watch HBO so I wanted to save me the $10 (yes ten bucks) on that, and I also wanted to see if I could get a HD DVR box. The good news is I can get the DVR. The bad news is I have to pay $50 for them to install it for me. First of all I need someone to bring me a box, not install anything. I don’t want them touching my TV. Second, they were like you can come in and get the box yourself if you want. I am up for that. The only problem is in the biggest city in the country they only have one office. It is only open monday through friday 9AM – 5PM and they close for an hour at lunch time. I don’t get how a service place like that can operate like that. OK so I will go with my existing cable box and get the new one. It isn’t because of the $50, it is because they couldn’t tell me when they would be able to send someone out to me.

My next issue I had was the actual process of removing my HBO. The first guy that I got on the phone right away was more than able to add services to my account, but when I wanted to remove something I had to get transfered to the “retention department”. So I waited on hold for 10 minutes before I got someone on the line. Now both CSR’s were very friendly and helpful. I am not bashing them, I am commenting on the company. I feel there is a difference. This new retention CSR was more than happy to take off my HBO, and even try to throw in some promos to keep me spending. I didn’t bite. During this process I have to have my package upgraded since I was on an old package deal whatever that really means. So my account gets upgraded and she removes HBO from my account. Then the CSR tells me what my new monthly total will be after tax’s. I was surprised since it was within $1 of what I was paying for the exact same service with HBO. I question the rep on this and she magically is able to change my plan again (still the exact same features minus the HBO) and I am now saving the $10 I though I was saving by removing HBO. So even if the rep was helpful and friendly I have to wonder if I was intentionally getting screwed? How can they do some magical plan changing and then remove a feature from my account and I am paying the same amount as I was before? It just sounds shady to me. I need to wait for my next bill or two to see how this really plays out.

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And The Band Played On

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That is what they said of the band on the titanic as the ship sank. I cannot fathom why. I understand the logic that people use when trying to explain it, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. I bring that up because I get the same feeling when I think about my current employer. It seems like people are delusional about how things are. Moral is fine I heard someone in a key position say. I guess he was in the band, because 5 people giving notice in less than two weeks time out of an office of 60 doesn’t give the air of great moral.

I wish them luck. Maybe I am over reacting, but all my friends and people I trust don’t seem to think so.

Work Ethic

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Here I am sitting at work with 7 more business days until I leave for my new job. I am winding down everything I have been doing, and answering questions from everyone who asks about this or that. Since others in my group are leaving soon we are all in the same boat. You would think that we would be the last to show up to work each day and the first to leave in the evening. Scary thing is that we are not. Take yesterday for example. Monday night I asked myself why I was getting up so early to goto the office normal time (for me at least) when 3/4 of the development team staff get in after 10AM. So I set my alarm for an hour later than normal. I figured I would sleep in a bit and maybe get some stuff done at home before heading into work. I wasn’t that busy on Monday anyway. Well even with getting up an hour later and puttering around my apartment for a while I still only came to work at 10AM. The funny thing was I walked in with a developer who ALWAYS does that. When I got to work at 10AM at least half the dev staff still wasn’t in the office. I just don’t get it. Even if these people are working allot at home (tend to doubt it though) the perception this type of work ethic gives off is terrible to everyone else. Is it me? Others in my groups say the same thing, so I don’t think it is me being overly sensitive.

If you are asking, hey maybe these guys work late so they can come in late. That is what I told myself for a while. But when my team comes into work on time every day and over half of them stay much later than any of their development counterparts you get to wonder what are these people doing? I would like a 10:30 to 6PM (6:30 maybe) job with an hour lunch built in. That doesn’t account for the playing with remote control cars or other stuff people do to waste time throughout the day. No wonder why some departments keep needing to hire more staff.

On the plus side as I said at the beginning of this post I only have 7 more business days to go. My exit interview is tomorrow with HR. I will be honest when asked questions, so it will be interesting.

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Bored, oh so Bored

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Since I gave my two weeks notice I have had not that much to do. In larger organizations a person in my position would very likely be asked to leave after giving two weeks notice. It is simply a security precaution. I would get my 2 weeks pay but asked to not show up anymore due to the level of access I have. At my current company they really need to have transition information so everyone that is staying (the few that are) can get up to speed as much as possible. In theory the two weeks transition is a good idea, but in practice it is not.

What have I done so far this week? I wrote up an document outlining the major areas of concern that people should look out for with regard to ongoing operations. I wrote a doc showing were most information regarding the department can be found. Oh, and I cleaned up my office. I got rid of most of the crap out of it, and wiped my laptop so it can go into storage until someone needs to use it. I had a meeting with my boss to go over some items and went to a staff meeting yesterday.

All told out of 16 hours this week of work, I probably needed to be in the office 3-4 of them. The thing is I am done with the major stuff I have to do. I don’t know what else I will be doing for the next 8 business days? Tomorrow I am going to our data center with my boss so he can get his security account setup and see our cage, but after that I don’t think I have much planned.

I am trying to swing it so I can take most of next week off. I have floating holidays that I am going to loose if I leave and I will be available in case of any issues anyway so I think it is a good trade off. My boss seemed to agree but he still has to authorize the time off in our HR system. If I get the days off I will be able to do some heavy sleeping and maybe some xbox playing. Not sure what I would do at home for that many days, but it is better than being stuck in the office. I will hopefully have an update soon.

The room is flooding and all I have is this dixie cup!

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Due to restrictions placed on my by my current employer I am unable to discuss what happened at work today, or my feelings about everything. I think you can figure it out. Lets just say I feel like I am on a runaway train and have no way of getting off. No the world is not going to end, but things are going to be interesting for a while.

All in all I had a horrible day. It was more frustrating than anything else. I wrote extensively about it on my private work blog. One day it may see the light of day, or not.

Manditory Tipping?

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I saw this article today and I got a little ticked off. When did the percentage of tipping go up? I try to stick to double the tax or about 15%. That varies based on the service provided to me at the restaurant. I don’t know where someone thinks a mandatory 20% is fare. So you can provide really bad service and still automatically add 20%? I don’t know what pissed me off more about this, article. The mandatory part, or the fact that the amount they want to tack on is 5% more than what I have always thought as a fair tip. If you are concerned with cost of living adjustments, the tip goes up whenever the price of the meal goes up, so the percentage doesn’t have to change.

I am not being cheap. I regularly tip 20-25% if I get good service. Especially if I am traveling by myself and get good service I have given really big tips. I just get aggravated by people expecting more and then not providing good service. I don’t care what the article says about statistics of how people tip. If I get bad service you get a bad tip, and vice versa. About half the time I go out to eat in the city I get bad service, I am not going to reward someone for that. That is not saying everyone is bad, I also get some great service, but I should be able to dictate when I tip well or not so well based on the level of service I get. That is the whole idea of a gratuity, deal with it!

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