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11^th December 2001, 11:38

If you had an infinite number of monkeys, with an infinite number of PC’s
running Windows 2, they would still never come up with a program so poorly
designed and implemented as this one.

Just trying to document it makes me want to go out into the carpark and
scream. I want to jump up and down and shout at the programmer it’s so bad.
It’s just awful throughout. You keep thinking that it can’t get any worse. I
promised myself that I’d not get pissed off with the quality of the
internal software I’m documenting. But I can’t do it. I just *can’t*. It’s
so unremittingly awful. Every dialog has at least one fault. At no point do
you think “Oh, that’s a nice feature”. It’s actually managed to hit the very
low level of quality at which I think “christ, I could do better than
that”. I’m trying to work, but it’s so frustrating. It’s infurating
to try and explain something – and it ends up being 2 pages of explanation
for something which should simple and could be simple with a better
UI, but just because it’s so badly designed it can’t be easily explained.
Things are completely counterintuitive. Things don’t work. Dialogs are
missing things they should have. The window titles have grammatical errors
in. It’s just AWFUL. ARGH!.

And even that rant hasn’t managed to reduce my anguish to a level where I
can work. I just sit here and stare at this damn software trying to work out
how someone can allow something so bad out. It’s like the Yugo, where I was
driving along and suddenly I thought “how could any self-respecting
engineer have allowed these cars out of the factory. How could anyone have
designed this and thought ‘yes, that’s good enough’?”. It’s like that.

Not that it matters, I’ll probably be made redundant on Wednesday, and
frankly, right now that’d be a godsend. It’d take the “I need to sort out my
life” decision out of my hands, I’d actually have to do something,
and I wouldn’t feel so bad, because this company did employ me knowing that
I was going to be off work for a month and a half after just six months
working for them. And despite the generally fairly miserable time I’ve had
here I do feel that was quite generous of them. The fact I’ve got RSI in
both hands is obviously something that pushes me to do it, but it’s not been
so bad the last week. Although I can definately feel it in my left hand
(which is bad, because it’s traditionally been the right hand that’s worse).

I notice that the surv
ey isn’t going quite the way I wanted…or maybe it is. I dunno. Do I want to look like an Anime
character? Hrm… Anyway, at some point I’ll pop up some of the comments.
Well, I might. It depends *g*.

Apparently my pelvis is changing shape. Well, k reckons so, I can’t tell.
I ache that’s for sure. I can’t sit comfortably in my office chair anymore.
My back hurts like hell while I’m at work. I spend half the day just
shuffling myself around in my chair.

Hrm, I don’t have enough (any really) Divine Comedy. Also I want to hear
the strokes track. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to download MP3s at
work….So I’ll just have to put up with the stuff I’ve got here.

Anyway, enough of this. I’ve got a program to stare at.

—

Kate E

9^thDecember 2001. 15:58

God I’m tired. I don’t even know *why* I’m so tired, I mean, I know I didn’t
get to sleep until past 3am, but still, I slept until midday and I still feel
like hell. I’m a bit pissed off because my weekend seems to have vaporised. I’d
forgotten how short weekends are when you’re working.

One minute you’re going “yay! It’s friday afternoon”, and the next it’s
monday morning and you’re crawling into work. I need longer weekends that’s for
sure. I’m actually just waiting for the parrot stuffing I’ve put on the wall to
dry – then I’ll put some more there, and hopefully, after a bit of a scrape,
that wall’ll be ready to be painted.

Pfer.

I’m so tired.

Sorry, that’s made a big impression on me.

Anyway, so, I managed, after much work to find a dvd I’ve been after for
*ages*. Imdb told me it didn’t exist, but after a stroke of genius on my part I
managed to find it. Malcolm is a
film I taped many years ago, and have really wanted a better copy of since I got
it. It’s taken me years to track it down, and so I’m quietly pleased with myself
for finding it…

At the other end of the scale is the DVD I picked up from the petrol station
on my way home from work. I actually saw it on my way to work, and mentioned it
on IRC at lunchtime. R then told me to get it – although she claims she was
joking…..This Classic title
sounded so awful it was irrisistible:

Anyway, so I’m looking forward to watching that one….

Something else passed through my mind. I can’t remember what it was.

Oh, yes. :-P to Rachel. See, now, my diary doesn’t just go: I’m so
depressed/I’m so fucked up etc…

So :-PPPP

*grin*

That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for putting in, but it’ll do. Oh, I
remember, but I can’t be arsed to do it now. The “Do I look like an anime
character in this photo” poll. I’m not going to say which photo, incase I
suddenly…oh sod it. Let’s do the Survey….or you
can just see the results so
far.

—

Kate E

8^thDecember 2001. 20:38

Okay, okay, it’s just another test. But this one was so wrong that I had to
post it…how could it be so innacurate?!

Take the What Cat Are You? test by webkin!

—

Kate E

6^thDecember 2001. 20:38

I’d forgotten how much of an effect work has on me. And I only did a half day
today….but I feel fairly throughly miserable after it.

It doesn’t help that I’m tired anyway, although at least people, well, a few
people seemed to actually be *talking* to me. Which was nice.

However, the fact remains that it’s really *really* not what I want to be
doing, and continuing to do it is making me depressed. I don’t really know what
to do. There’s no way that I can do the ambulance training thing now, because I
can’t *lift* anything, not for another 2 months.

And I don’t know if k’s still interested in doing this shop thing – although
I suspect not.

*sigh*

What I’m fairly convinced of is that I can’t continue to do this. No. I
*know* I can’t carry on doing this. I need some evidence that I’m going to stop
doing this in the near future, be it sending an application to Avon ambulance
service, or talking to banks about starting this shop, or whatever. Something
has to happen.

—

Kate E

5^thDecember 2001. 23:03

Well, I thought I ought to do a diary entry, before I get attacked, again,
for not doing enough diary entries….not that I have anything particularly
earthshattering to say.

I’m tired…been decorating. We’ve *almost* got one wall sort of painted,
ish. Maybe. Perhaps.

Well, it looks sort of okayish.

Missing riding my bike something chronic, I keep giving it longing looks when
I go past. I was going to get a bike cover today so I could take the panels over
to Mike for spraying….did I mention I appear to be becoming some kind of local
character….[Long pause because Rachel’s standing behind me which makes it hard
to write]

I didn’t? If I did I’ll tell you again anyway. Yes, I was wandering past the
pub when my favourate mechanic leapt out. Well, okay, wandered out of the pub,
well, kind of fell, he seemed to be a little the worse for alcohol. Anyway,
offered me a drink etc…sadly, well, not sadly, happily I was off to see
Bottom, so I couldn’t stay for a drink, which was a shame ‘cos I’d’ve not have
minded having a pint with him.

Anyway, so, I went to see see Bottom, with k, which was *excellent*.

And back to the pub moment, so, I wander off down the street, then I’m
accosted by the bloke from the kebab shop, for a quick chat….

So, yes….

odd.

I think my mind’s really wandering far too much for this atm. I just can’t
keep track of anything for more than a few minutes. Not only that – I need some
sleep. It now being midnight….

Yes, so I think I’ll go to bed.

—

Kate E

29^th November 2001, 17:07

Sheesh, I’m knackered.

At the moment I just get tired really, really easily. I’ve spent the
afternoon, well, hrm, about 2 hours of the afternoon trying to tidy up the
study/computer room here. Just sort of scooping up rubbish and throwing it away
– and moving all the CD’s into a pile… You can kinda see part of the desk this
computer lives under now which is good. But that 2 hours has really taken it out
of me. I just feel very, very tired. Which makes me worry about going back to
work, hrm, in…[pause to check, yup, it is that close] 1 weeks time.

I mean, I’ve been sat at this computer all day, and yes, that hasn’t worn me
out – but I’ve got an hours drive there and an hours drive back…..that makes
me a bit nervous – especially in a car as heavy as the Cavalier.

*sigh* I wish the golf was still on the road, that’s nice and light to drive,
although parking is a bastard…. That’s the other thing that worries me –
things like parking and low speed manouvering, I’m not sure I’ve got the
strength for it yet.

Well, I guess I’ll find out.

Bah, no new e-mail for me. For whatever reason, since coming back I’ve not
had any particular desire to look at cartoons, there are a few which I normally
looked at. 3, I think. Alice, User Friendly and Dilbert. But I just can’t be
arsed at the moment. Perhaps it’s because I’ve got more important things on my
mind….

Things that have been stopping me sleeping recently. Well, that’s not true,
not stopping me sleeping completely; I sleep for an hour at a time, then wake
up, then there’s I dunno, 10, 20 minutes of hanging around, lying there – and
then I drift back to sleep.

Which may be another reason why I’m quite so tired.

So, anyway, in other news, I’ve been trying to get my webcam working
again….well, working for the first time in linux. My webcam is sadly one of these – meaning
that I have to attempt to persuade this driver
to compile. Fat chance.

So, it continues to sit, perched atop my monitor without a chance in hell of
working. Why Logitech won’t release the information about this camera christ
knows, it’s not like they have to support the driver. But Nooo. Bastards.

If they didn’t make such decent mice/keyboards I’d boycot them. Still last
webcam I buy from them. Sigh. The latest drivers even refused to work in
Windows, which was amusing. I guess it may have packed up, that’d be about right
for my hardware. Anyway, if anyone knows how to make this sodding driver
compile I’d be grateful for the info.

I’ve been slowly coming to the conclusion that my printer (a venerable
HP890c ‘Professional Series‘ printer) is never, ever going to work again.
Since HP said as much, essentially. So I’m thinking its time has come, time to
throw it away. *sigh* It’s only 4 years old, and its page count can’t be that
high. Christ, I think I only got through 3 colour cartridges in all that time.

Although I guess there’s been quite a lot of black and white printing. I
dunno.

Anyway. I guess it might as well go in the bin.

Hrm, probably time for the second bath of the day. Trying to get the
willpower for it, although right now I’d just like to go to sleep. That’d be
the nicest thing to do. *sigh* I appear to have caught a cold – which means I
can’t go and see my dad. At all. Until it’s completely gone. And with my immune
system’s reputation? *sigh*

—

Kate E

27^th November 2001, 20:16

Another tedious little test entry I’m afraid:

In an alternate dimension I’m Chthon

As Chthon, I’m subject to fits of rage and hurling fireballs. I should calm down and watch out for powerlines.

So there y’go.

I’ve not really been up to much – well, quite a lot of pottering about, even
as far as pottering all the way to Bath and back, but apart from that I’ve not
really done much.

Oh, and reading Bill Bryson. Let me point out that reading Bill Bryson isn’t
the best thing to do when dilating. You’ll be happilly reading about some
horrible creature that’ll kill you and then suddenly, and without warning you’re
in hysterics over some comment….and….well, it’s hard to not launch the
dilator. That’s all I’m saying.

Yes.

Oh, what else…there must be more…No. No, I think that’s about it. Oh,
except that I’m considering becoming an ambulance tech…..yes. That’s probably
actually about it.

—

Kate E

22^nd November 2001, 14:58.

I just took The Horrible Affliction Test and apparently….

I’m rabies!

Transmitted by rabid animals, I’m most commonly found infecting creatures
such as raccoons, skunks, bats and foxes. But don’t worry, I affect humans too, causing either paralysis or hyperactivity in your
advanced stages, and ultimately death.

My most famous symptom is hypersalviation – that delightful foaming at the mouth that we have come to know
and indeed love. However, I can also cause hallucination; think of the fun I can
have at parties!

Take the Affliction Test Today!

—

Kate E

20/11/01, 14:19

Well, I’ve just spent an entertaining few minutes – actually I’ve just realised it’s been half an hour – turning the multiple entries on each day diary entries into multiple entries in a single file. Which means I’ve only got to put 18 entries up instead of nearly 60….

It appears that’s 80k of mindless rambling…..

—

Kate E