Week 48, 1999 ,Svenson

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1999-11-29     Monday

My my, a tremendous drop in temperature (9C) and a sea change in weather. Well, heu, overcast windy and a few drops of rain.

A problem cropped up with TeleSales in Belgium. Return orders and credit notes don't get a shipment date because they don't pass trough the logistics module. For these the shipment date must however be set by the order entry program itself. Not a difficult problem. So I changed the program tested , folded and sent it to the opco's.

At about half past five we started on the changes and compilations of the files. This is a bit tricky because we may not lose data nor database relations, both of which are destroyed by a regular compile. This was finished by about half past six.

At around seven, with only Jos and me remaining, we could start compiling the programs. To compile we had to select every program manually from a list and confirm its compilation. That means four key presses (C + enter + F5 + enter) per program, not counting the page up and page down keys and the ticking off from our list. I didn't count but with a total of 2042 programs it does add up.

Then we had to keep an account of which programs returned compilation errors to pass them on to the teams for fixing.

And of course I still had to drive home. I dropped in bed by 01h40. To get up again at 5h45.
And Yes I like to do that (ocasionally).

1999-11-30    Tuesday

Still the same weather as Yesterday and the days before.

We got the remainder of the programs checked and parceled out the errors among the other programmers. There were in fact not many errors, about 10-15 programs and a few files. The files of course cause a lot of programs to fail but the programs themselves don't need attention. That is a bit like COBOL program, you mistype one character and the compiler list about 200 errors.

Tomorrow will be the closing of the fiscal year which always creates a spurt of panic support calls. This year will be worse because of the implementation of the McKinsey recommendations. We don't expect real problems but a lot of calls because the reports are organized differently.

There was some discussion among the daynoters about posting a picture of oneself on the daynote page. To comply with the request I dug out a photo and scanned it in. Unlike the photo I post on my week pages,which is handled by some image enhancement program, the one on my day page is the raw image. It is, thank god, a bit fuzzy. I scanned it in from my security pass because that is the most recent photo of myself. The others I have are even worse. Yes the colours are shifted a bit (well I guess more than one bit) on the red side but not much.

I've got some sleep to catch so ...

Adios

1999-12-01     Wednesday

I know it is boring but so is the weather. It's overcast, alternatingly dry and wet, no real rain mind you, and unseasonably hot (10°C).

To get the files and programs compiled correctly we did use a separate environment. All the files, even the unchanged , are copied there. All the programs that in any way access the changed files were copied as well. Now that all the compiles are done we can find out which programs actually required code changes. The source for all the others must be removed again. We do that because otherwise the Opco's get lost of unchanged programs. Distribution is online so w must keep the size to a minimum. And Opco's may have local alterations, ex special VAT routines, for every object we send out they have to check and compare the changes we made with their adaptations. So we send only the actually changed objects.

Filtering out the unchanged stuff cost most of the day.

I didn't even have time to read all the Daynotes. I only got Tom (always, even if I don't have time), Brian, Bo and Dan. I did get the mail read though. Seems like a generation conflict is brewing :-/

I noticed that my photo is a bit dark. High time to get a better one. Photo that is. Although if I could get a better head ....

And most of the gang are jumping to the redirection method. I tried it some time ago and I didn't like it but then I didn't do anything about caching. Now it looks to work acceptably. Although I notice that different browsers handle this differently. Ex Opera will jump back (back button) to the redirecting page only if I clicked the link in that page, if I wait and let the redirection work than the back button skips the redirection.
Of course Communicator and MSIE act, subtly, different.

1999-12-02     Thursday

Finally there is some change in the air. It's cooler, 5°C, there are large breaks in the clouds, even some sun and it stayed dry all day.

Small problems with the 7.9 action are still cropping up but it really is a minor affair.

I parcelled out a program change for the 7.9 release to Dimitri. The Belgian problem involving order comments was solved in TeleSales but we are currently unable to send out a patch. To get them over it I have to come up with a program on the AS/400 that will temporally correct the errors. Of course they want it yesterday.

I have been losing time more than using it today, but then what can be expected from an owl?

1999-12-03     Friday

The change which started yesterday did not work out. It is back up to 9°C with clouds and a few splotches of rain. The wind did pick up even more, with gusts of up to 100Km/h.

The correction program for the comment problem in Belgium is also required for Germany. I succeed in building it faultless on the first try. After testing I send it out to Belgium and Germany. America and France probably need it as well, unless they don't use the comment function. If they need it we can send it immediately.

The program I passed on to Dimitri requires a change to the key for a file (=index) so I first checked this out. As there are no problems with it I let him do the change.

And I start investigating the specifications for another new program.

I leave early, well 17h00 is early for me, to get at the dentist in time. The appointment was for 19h00 and normally I drive for about one and a half hour. In stead of getting home first I barely manage to get at the dentist in time. Traffic is a problem on Friday evenings.
The nerve and tooth have been well behaved since placing the temporal filling last Friday so now I get a permanent filling. Placing a permanent filling doesn't hurt at all, even the drilling out of the temporal one is painless, but it takes a long time. And at the end your mouth and tongue feels like they have been using a Microsoft program (sucking death bunnies trough pipes :-> ).

1999-12-04     Saturday

It is still overcast but the clouds are so thin that the moon and Venus are, hazily, visible. The temperature has dropped to 3°C which is noticeable cooler that the last week. And the wind has dropped a few notches as well.

I went shopping a bit too early, 8h30, and most shops were still closed. The modem I ordered at Masset hasn't jet arrived. Of course. This is typical for Masset, he has good stuff at good prices but a lousy ordering and stocking system. If you need something it is worth looking there but if he doesn't have it in the shop and you need it you best go somewhere else. If you can wait several weeks it is worth ordering. I want that modem for Aria, to be able to get online with Linux. This will take a few weeks so I can wait.

Our Crown Prince, Philip, is getting married today. The result is that all the TV programs have been cancelled and are replaced with one long special program. Lots of heads-of-state are invited and about all the ruling and no-longer-ruling royal families are present. Lots of security around as well. Of course most of the public is enthusiast or at least interested but the impression is that the press is trying to blow up the public opinion with more coverage and more comments than necessary. After days of prepping up and pre reporting people are getting bored with the press. They (the press) are just lucky that the bride, now Princess, Mathilde is a natural beauty with just the right attitude to capture her public, all smiles but no exuberance.

I didn't post yesterday. I could have but I didn't even try. I did type in the daynote but it was quite late and I didn't want to go up to the attic anymore. The problem is that there still isn't a fixed stair to the attic so I have to handle a trapdoor with build-in sliding stair to get up. As long as the fixed stair isn't in place the floor in front of the desk cannot be laid. And without floor it is rather uncomfortable working so I keep Harper, my main system down in my bedroom and only struggle up to the attic for internet stuff.

I shifted my raw picture to the bottom, that way you don't have to look at it when you start reading. Another advantag is that it only gets loaded after the text is displayed. With luck you have read everything before you get scared away by my face :-)

1999-12-05     Sunday

With the thermometer at 1°C and the beginning of frost there is the promise of a fine day. Halfway trough the morning however clouds start to drift in. Apart from a short but intense shower of under cooled rain and ice the day remains unremarkable and bland. When we switch cars, I am off first tomorrow, at 19h00 there is already a serious layer of frost. With rain expected tonight on a frozen ground commuting tomorrow might be interesting.

Running, with only a T-shirt in these temperatures may not sound very intelligent but it sure prevents overheating.

Later my brother comes along to install a new electricity loop in the garage. This eats time and doesn't get finished as planned. No surprise here.

The newspapers and radio journals remark on the relative low-key public reception of the royal wedding. For once they are right to blame it on coverage and hype overload by the press. Everyone is blaming 'the Press' as if they aren't part of it. No surprises here either.

The World Trade Conference concludes without a , well ... , conclusion. The blame, because someone must be blamed, is laid at the organising committee. Which surprises nobody.

Is there anything surprising going on these days?

Yep, did find something surprising. I have two sites which, currently are mirror images of the content of the E: partition on Miona. I build my pages on Harper, then copy them, via a diskette, over to Miona. From there I FTP them to my accounts at Mailbank (sjon.svenson.com) and at iTool (sjonsvenson.com). When I brows from work I see the same on both sites. Browsing from Miona however the images from iTool are not rendered, those from Mailbank are normal. Now WTF is going on here?