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20 minutes till lunch time

By hulver (Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 06:51:54 AM EST) (all tags)

Obsessing about food.

D2's birthday.

Highs and lows, ups and downs.

Work.

Food

I'm feeling hungry all the time. Part of it is boredom. When I'm bored I want to eat. Eating gives me something to do, it's pleasurable. Eating > boredom.

D2

It's D2's birthday on Monday. 5 years old. 5 years! A lot of time has passed, seemingly in a blur. I'm trying to make it a habit of not wishing time away. It passes fast enough as it is.

Up / down

My brain is playing jokes on me. One day I'll be optimistic. Happy at everything, nothing can get me down. Other days I'll be the other way around.

Work

I'm increasingly surprised at how a large company can get anything done. It's similar to physics I suppose. The more mass a company gains, the harder it is to stop, and it just carries on regardless of the fuckups. Like an oil tanker though, it takes a long time to change course.

I had my first experience of a cancelled project the other day. Too many layers in this company. People spend too long talking about doing, instead of actually doing.

An "urgent" request came up. This project needs doing. We've had a quote externally, but they can't do it in time. Can I do it? Fairly simple. Knock something up in a day. It'll be fully tested in and ready by the end of the week. Exactly when they want it for.

Quick meeting (a miracle in itself) and off I go. Half a day later I've got a functioning site, built from scratch, just waiting for the layout of the pages.

Boss tells me that they've decided to go with the outside company after all. This external company has said they can bring more people in and work overtime to get it finished in time. Several layers above have approved this, so that's what's happening. Despite the fact that I've nearly finished the job.

Too many layers, too much crap. I'm amazed we get anything done.

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20 minutes till lunch time | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

wankers by martingale (2.00 / 0) #1 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 06:59:32 AM EST

At least the FIA is immune to that kind of thing.
--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$

Breakfast. by blixco (2.00 / 0) #2 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 07:33:23 AM EST

I'm eating my usual breakfast burrito (scrambled egg and hash brown wrapped in a decent tortilla, with green chili that I have to add myself, so I keep some here at work).

Eating for me lately is mechanical. I don't get hungry...most days I skip dinner because I'm just not into it. I'll stare at the shelf of frozen dinners and think: meh. Too much work. Not the "cooking" (re-heating) but the actual eating is too much work. I'm just not interested in food.

I don't know if it's the pain meds, the pain itself, the SSNRI that I take (Cymbalta, which I do not recommend because you can't stop taking it), or what.

Breakfast is pretty much a chore.

In re: dieting, my sister in law has started tracking her diet and weight at a web site, and blogging about it on a myspace page. She's lost 4 pounds this way. So I think you're on the right track, it's good to write about it, keep tabs on what you eat and what activity you have.

I don't recommend my diet. It's not that much fun.
---------------------------------
Taken out of context I must seem so strange - Ani DiFranco

Hungry. by Evil Cloaked User (2.00 / 0) #3 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:04:03 AM EST

I hit a very strange eating cycle recently. I drink so much coffee and water these days that I pretty much always feel full. As a result, I almost never feel hungry. When you're happily walking along feeling pleasantly full and generally sated and then out of nowhere you hit a sugar crash because you're really not full at all, well, it's a pretty strange experience.

--
Still, I think most of the problem is just a mental hurdle to overcome, - Cloaked User

delaying the eating by alprazolam (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:17:18 AM EST

gum helps sometimes.

I'm a big fan of water by mmangino (4.00 / 3) #14 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:09:11 AM EST

it helps you a couple of ways, 1) it can help fill you up, and 2) you spend half your day going to the bathroom.

[ Parent ]

: Fizzy water with a slice of lemon in by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #33 Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 05:41:43 AM EST

Is something you'll actually look forward to and relish as well.
--------
It's political correctness gone mad!
[ Parent ]

Bring fresh fruit to work by lm (4.00 / 2) #5 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:32:06 AM EST

If you get bored and eat an orange or an apple, it will add less to the bottom line than candy.

Bummer about your canceled project. My first canceled project was canceled after a over nine months and thousands of man hours were spent on custom features. France Telecom put pressure on their Orange France subsidiary to cut costs and our company made the top of the list of expensive vendors and they canned the whole project.

My response was to laugh. The employer I was with at the time certainly could have provided the same service much more inexpecisvely and competently than they did if upper-level management were making sane decisions. The term clusterfuck doesn't begin to describe it.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic

Upper management by hulver (2.00 / 0) #7 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:37:27 AM EST

Too many layers again. They make insane decisions because they're too far from where the actual work is done. Protected from the truth by layers of middle management that don't want to stick their neck out.
--
smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

Middle level managers by lm (2.00 / 0) #8 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:53:38 AM EST

One of the programmers I used to work with had just gotten promoted to manager. The week after a new round of layoffs were announced he went ballistic in the cafeteria. He was practically shouting, ``if they want to save money, what they should do is lay off all of the vice presidents and outsource their jobs to MBAs in India willing to work for twenty thousand a year because they couldn't possibly make worse decisions.''

Then he turned around to find one of the executive vice presidents standing right behind him getting a cup of coffee.

I loved working with that guy. He was the right sort of loose canon. When he was still a programmer in a staff meeting we were told some bad news by our boss and this guy says, ``well, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only asshole sitting at this table.''

As far as I know he still works there.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

middle management by Merekat (2.00 / 0) #20 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 11:25:25 AM EST

middle management does stick its neck out more than people think. The problem is, to actually get attention, we probably have to set ourselves on fire.

[ Parent ]

Maybe some do by hulver (2.00 / 0) #22 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 11:38:05 AM EST

Not here though. Our middle managers are like scared little pussy cats, as soon as the bigger cat of upper management comes around they lay on their back with their tummy in the air, begging not to be gutted.

The worker mice are toyed with, not listened to.
--
smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

heh by Merekat (2.00 / 0) #23 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 11:47:01 AM EST

When my cat lies on her back with her tummy in the air, it is a cunning trick to lure you to go 'aw, isn't that cute' and attempt to tickle her tummy. At which point she then tries to take yer arm off.

I suspect from context that your middle managers aren't up to multilayer strategies like that.

[ Parent ]

: I wish they were by hulver (2.00 / 0) #24 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 11:55:55 AM EST

Some upper managers could do with their arms shredding a bit.
Metaphorically speaking of course.
--
smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

Middle management by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #27 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 12:26:38 PM EST

They are the guys getting yelled at from both above and below.

I put a toe in that pool ten years ago, and then ran very far away.
----
_{ウセーバラケダ}
[ Parent ]

Fresh fruit by paperdoll (2.00 / 0) #11 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 09:24:37 AM EST

I agree bringing fresh fruit is wonderful. The best thing is to cut it up at your desk and eat one peice at a time it stretches the process and gives your hands something to do. I eat when I'm bored too.

[ Parent ]

Oranges by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #26 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 12:25:07 PM EST

Particularly good because of the effort involved in peeling gives your hands something to do.
----
_{ウセーバラケダ}
[ Parent ]

5 years old by jimgon (2.00 / 0) #6 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:33:02 AM EST

My second daughter will be five in October.

Wishing Time Away by priestess (2.00 / 0) #9 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 09:09:56 AM EST

Does it actually make time go quicker? In my experience kicking the clock makes it seem to go slower, not faster. If you're worried time will go by in a blur, presumably you should clockwatch MORE, not less ;)

Pre......
---------
Yes! The Conspiracy Really Exists...

No, that's clock watching by hulver (4.00 / 2) #10 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 09:16:31 AM EST

Wishing time away is "I wish it was payday" one week after your last pay day.
--
smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

: Yeah by priestess (2.00 / 0) #31 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 03:55:05 PM EST

Which always seems to make Payday further way, no?
I suspect the truth is that it doens't matter what you wish for, time will keep ticking at the same rate reguardless.
pre............
---------
Yes! The Conspiracy Really Exists...
[ Parent ]

Our D2 turned five yesterday by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #12 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 09:29:52 AM EST

Our D1 turns ten a week from today. July is a busy month for bdays.

I'm obsessing about food, too. by ambrosen (2.00 / 0) #13 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:00:04 AM EST

Can't seem to get enough of the bloody stuff. Also, I've got 20 minutes to write up everything I've eaten for the past two weeks. Better step to it.

Why did I buy this by paperdoll (4.00 / 1) #15 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:24:19 AM EST

cheese danish. I haven't eaten it yet but I bought it and it's staring at me. 310 calories for a thing no bigger than my fist. I hate it but I want it. I have fruit and good snacks here but the danish calls.

Cheese Danish? by hulver (2.00 / 0) #16 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:32:50 AM EST

Those fiends.

I'm a weak person. I can't resist free food. Somebody bought ice creams for the entire company, it would have been rude to refuse.
--
smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

: Aahh by paperdoll (4.00 / 1) #17 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:40:31 AM EST

polite eating, I'm definately a victim of it as well. "Hey I went out of my way and spent my hard earned money to buy donuts for everyone. What do you mean you don't want one, are my donuts not good enough for you?" I hate that bitch I always take one.

[ Parent ]

Stop shortchanging us! by ambrosen (2.00 / 0) #18 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:45:42 AM EST

What did you have for lunch? Was it as good as my rice cakes with soya cheese followed by soya yogurt? I bet it wasn't.

12" of hot meaty goodness, with added cheese. by hulver (4.00 / 1) #19 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:54:49 AM EST

Sub from subway. I compromised, as I had a craving for a pizza.
--
smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

I was asking about food, by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #21 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 11:26:30 AM EST

Not sordid details about grubby encounters in subways.

Mmm, bread.

[ Parent ]

sigh... by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #28 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 12:30:21 PM EST

I hate globalism. Twenty years ago, what Americans called the long sandwich in a roll varied by regain. A sub, a rounder, a hero, a hoagie...the name was different one state over. Now I hear that someone ten thousand miles away had a sandwhich with the same damn bread and the same damn toppings wrapped in the same damn wrapper that I'll likely have tonight.

Oh well. Hopefully at least the surly cashier was a different ethnicity.
----
_{ウセーバラケダ}
[ Parent ]

If it's any help by DullTrev (2.00 / 0) #29 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 01:32:47 PM EST

I had a barm cake. Not as good as the stotties I used to get back home, but it'll do.

--
DFJ?
[ Parent ]

: Thanks by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #30 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 02:28:14 PM EST

Nice to know someone in this world is still eating stuff I have no clue about.
----
_{ウセーバラケダ}
[ Parent ]

[grumble] by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #25 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 12:23:39 PM EST

I've had lots of experience with cancelled projects...but in my case, they lasted years.
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_{ウセーバラケダ}

: There is that by hulver (2.00 / 0) #32 Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 04:20:23 PM EST

At least I only wasted a day on it.
--
smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

20 minutes till lunch time | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback