tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70018972012-01-21T10:00:17.438+13:00A wandering description of my life, trials and tribulations in the land of the long white cloud. This will be a very me, me, me journal so expect a lot of navel gazing. However, knowing me, I'll probably end up talking a lot about work.Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.comBlogger731100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-80585732212512906262008-01-02T21:35:00.000+13:002008-01-02T21:39:14.484+13:00

Hi!After some time, I have decided to move my blogging efforts to Wordpress. Blogger has been great but I find Wordpress a bit more attractive, if slightly more restrictive.See you on the other site.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-13373842064261865672007-10-16T23:36:00.001+13:002007-10-16T23:53:51.668+13:00

BlogJet looks like a cool tool. A very sparse interface with just enough buttons for simple blogging. It reminds me of w.bloggar but without the preview feature. However, that isn’t a killer issue for me since I haven’t been clever enough to work out how to get that preview looking like the real post. Posting Attempt Number OneLet’s try posting…The first time I tried that it just crashed and

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-86629517126770523142007-10-16T23:12:00.000+13:002007-10-16T23:14:39.964+13:00

Yet another enormous gap since I last posted. Well, I am making yet another promise to do better but we shall see. Perhaps I should aim to post every other month. That is a nice strain free schedule I could probably keep up with.Lets see, shall we.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-35905570874952945922007-04-01T23:03:00.001+12:002007-04-01T23:03:59.769+12:00

Broadband is available to many people in New Zealand.Its most common form is in ADSL. The biggest provider of ADSL is Telecom through its ISP called XTRA.I have had Xtra as my ISP since late 2000. Back then the only option was dial-up and whilst Xtra was not the cheapest, nor best, it was reliable and I had few quibbles. Finally, a few years back, affordable ADSL became available and I signed up,

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-85588803257585574792007-04-01T17:27:00.001+12:002007-04-01T17:29:33.331+12:00

New Zealand is a small country tucked away at the bottom of the world. Around 4 million people live here making it a wee bit more populous than Costa Rica and a bit less populous than the Central African Republic. Economically, out GDP per capita places us between Brunei and Israel. Population densitywise we fit in between the Sudan and Paraguay.Having emigrated from the UK back in 2000 when

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-64129302707620581682007-01-02T19:21:00.001+13:002007-01-02T19:52:41.893+13:00

For the holidays we headed up to Auckland at 0700 on December 25th. Qantas provided breakfast in the form of half a sun-dried bagel with some warmed cheese in it. It was very tasty if a bit mean looking. I mean, come on, half a bagel? Why not provide mini-bagels instead?We were met at the airport by Geoff and Robert. We spent the day with Geoff, Steph,, Robert and Geoff's parent David and Beth.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-28043652580841473082006-12-20T23:16:00.001+13:002007-01-02T19:45:33.038+13:00

Is this (or this) my my one true self?Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Near

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-69455513146741171622006-11-30T23:17:00.001+13:002007-01-02T12:57:00.928+13:00

So, Don Brash is out and a new man (naturally) is in. He is called John Key and he isn't a battle-hardened political hack. He is one of the new breed. A bit like Don a few years back. He has been in politics for five years.Anyway, to business. He sounds like the real deal:"I grew up in a state house, brought up by a solo mother. The fact I was given an education by the state and lucky enough --

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-35435288577670516232006-11-26T22:02:00.001+13:002007-01-02T12:57:16.985+13:00

The weather was awful for almost the entire day. We had a brief interlude of sunniness between 12 and 2 and then normal services returned.Ah well, at least the garden got a good drenching.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-2023261077934870562006-11-25T10:49:00.000+13:002007-01-02T12:57:56.926+13:00

I am not the most perfect type II diabetic in the world. However, things are getting better.Three months ago, my HbA1C was 12.3. Ideally it would be around 7. For those without diabetes it should be 6.This time around, it had dropped to 11.4. Not amazingly good but a significant drop.What have I been doing in those three months?Not a lot. I have taken my pills and done some occasional exercise.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1159923596896222302006-10-04T13:48:00.000+13:002006-10-04T13:59:56.916+13:00

I am seeing a few (see here Good Agile, Bad Agile) blogs that are anti-Agile. Some of it I even agree with.I posted a reply to Jeff Atwood's recent article on this subject.My take on all this is that a lot of damage has been done to Agile by those who engage in evangelising development approaches. I have no problem with Agile as long as it sticks to its core of people and relationships. I have a

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1156670284095354432006-08-27T21:18:00.000+12:002006-08-27T21:18:04.150+12:00

Another update to Bubbles. They have added some cool sounds and it is in the English this time.My scores so far are not as good as my previous ones.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1147503821921245782006-05-13T19:03:00.000+12:002006-06-19T21:48:57.070+12:00

When I first arrived in New Zealand back in August 2000 I worked for a company that developed software for telcos their Intelligent Network layer. After a few months, I started hearing a lot about something called the Object Browser. It took me some time to pluck up the courage to ask someone what the Object Browser did. It turned out that the Object Browserwas responsible for providing the IN

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1147161456840963602006-05-09T19:57:00.000+12:002006-05-09T19:57:36.846+12:00

Well, I am still a diabetic. The last few months of 8km cycles in the morning and evening, most days, has not managed to lower my blood glucose levels in any significant fashion. So, its time to try tablets.I am now the proud owner of "180 Metformin HCL Tablets 500mg (MET)". I am to Take ONE tablet with food TWICE a day.Actually, I am the owner of 179 tablets, having ingested the first one a few

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1138224693413937082006-01-26T10:31:00.000+13:002006-01-26T10:31:33.470+13:00

I am a type II diabetic. Until now I have been controlling my condition via diet and exercise. However, that might be changing.Today I took delivery of a new glucose measuring device (a.k.a. meter). My old meter's testing strips are no longer subsidized by the NZ medical service so I had to change to a new meter. Thankfully, I was allowed to swap my old meter for one of the new supported models.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1138099459512934862006-01-24T23:44:00.000+13:002006-01-24T23:44:19.543+13:00

In Bubbles the bubble colours that are inserted into the box are always made up of a combination of colours that are present just before the insertion operation happens. Thus, if you can cut down the variety of colours that are on the screen before this happes, you can get large swathes of the same colour being inserted. Thus, a single cannon shot can blow away a large amount of the (just)

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1136927414399335592006-01-11T10:10:00.000+13:002006-01-11T10:10:14.460+13:00

Met up with Mike and Maureen last night after their marathon drive around New Zealand in a campervan. It was great to see Mike after so long. Mike and I worked together at Microware's UK office before I left for NZ at the end of August 2000.Mike was full of stories about what happened after I left the UK and how things are going at his new job. He certainly seems to have landed on his feet after

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1136415389284719622006-01-05T11:56:00.000+13:002006-01-05T11:56:29.290+13:00

Yep, another one of those Nerd tests. It doesn't make for pleasant reading, for my other half anyway.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1136412834345550332006-01-05T11:13:00.000+13:002006-01-05T11:47:30.216+13:00

Whist reading this article by Martin Fowler, I took a brief look at his link to the white paper on the Inkblot application. What I read made my blood boil. Is there any humility left in this world anymore?We describe how a small, successful, self-selected XP team approached a seemingly intractable problem with panache, flair and immodesty.The italics are my own, not those of the article's

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1136262435595673362006-01-03T17:27:00.000+13:002006-01-03T17:27:15.660+13:00

This is a maddening game. It just leeches time out of you. Initially it seems impossible to get a score over 2,000. Eventually, your addiction leads to higher scores. My highest to date is 72070. Take a look at this if you don't believe me.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1136247755610731372006-01-03T13:22:00.000+13:002006-01-03T13:22:35.613+13:00

Wow, a twelve month contract with an hourly rate of 50-70GBP. That would make a helluva dent in my mortgage. But could I handle the a year back in the UK, Cambridge?Lets see ... 70GBP times 35 hours times 48 weeks gives a grand total of 11760GBP which is around 309473NZD.And it's embedded work. Or something like it.Note to self: follow this one up.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1136247140423790052006-01-03T13:12:00.000+13:002006-01-03T13:14:10.140+13:00

Well, that job just was not for me. No hint of embedded work at all. The company is squarely placed in the middle of the educational market doing math, physics and electronics simulation software.Like I said, not me.The only thing that really annoyed me about the application process is how the recruiter was very keen to get me to send a C.V. He was very keen to see what I thought of the company.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1134163320454864012005-12-10T10:22:00.000+13:002005-12-10T10:58:47.490+13:00

I have seen this job description and wonder if it is me.I have the basic qualifications. The idea of managing a team of 12 both excites and frightens me. It is exciting because a team of that size can do really big things. It frightens me because I have only ever managed a team of four before. However, a team of 12 software engineers will be a mix of senior and junior engineers so I guess that I

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1131416762153466682005-11-08T15:26:00.000+13:002005-11-08T15:26:02.153+13:00

Now what I should have done before I started tweaking about with PM8 was to use NTBACKUP to backup my C drive to a backup file on my large drive.It's all so obvious in hindsight.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1131580036861663852005-11-08T12:47:00.000+13:002005-11-10T12:50:37.986+13:00

This is the second day of frustration I have had this week. Thank god there is a public holiday on Friday. I am having really trouble getting through things.Productivity low. I'm spending too much time in introspection.Shit, where is my career going?Ah, but I don't really mean career, do I? Come on Gordon, be honest with yourself, you mean life, don't you?Well, maybe I do.I am one of those

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1131255569528033322005-11-06T18:39:00.000+13:002005-11-06T18:39:29.526+13:00

It's a Windows XP reinstall day.How did I get here?Well, all I did was:Install a new hard drive, partitioned it, formatted the partition.Copied everything off the D partition of my original hard drive to the new hard driveUsed Norton PartitionMagic 8.0 to mark the D partition for deletionApplied the delete operationRebootedThe partition delete went okThe computer reboots againThe computer reports

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1130985515939621282005-11-03T15:38:00.000+13:002005-11-06T18:36:40.193+13:00

It's a Windows XP reinstall day.How did I get here?Well, all I did was:Install a new hard drive, partitioned it, formatted the partition.Copied everything off the D partition of my original hard drive to the new hard driveUsed Norton PartitionMagic 8.0 to mark the D partition for deletionApplied the delete operationRebootedThe partition delete went okThe computer reboots againThe computer reports

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1130707591057199092005-10-31T10:26:00.000+13:002005-11-01T09:29:07.210+13:00

I am quite amazed by what Charles Petzold, the doyen of Win32 programming, has to say about Visual Studio and how it reduces the quality of your code and the ability for those that write on programming to use its output in their articles.I have to say this all seems very similar to my experience. I am not a Win32 programmer but my experience of using VS these last two years has led to me to

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1129958150987812862005-10-22T18:15:00.000+13:002005-10-22T18:50:24.396+13:00

I see that the Slacker Manager thinks that Flock is the bees knees. Frankly, I have found it very unstable and have given up using it. Its looks currently outstrip its ability by quite a margin.I'm sticking to w.bloggar for the foreseeable future.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1129936937662286142005-10-22T12:22:00.000+13:002005-10-22T17:58:34.283+13:00

Well, I am getting more and more impressed with w.bloggar. It is easy to use and the upload/download from my blog (you're reading it so a link isn't really necessary) on Blogger is solid as a rock. I know this is a side affect of the quality of the underlying api and my use of a broadband connection; but, it feels great.I can thoroughly recommend it.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1129805018884751092005-10-20T23:43:00.000+13:002005-10-22T12:16:37.486+13:00

I am trying to use Flock now. It looks like a remodelled version of Firefox but with a slightly different UI. Anyway, the idea behind it is a way to synchronize bookmarks across machines with an ability to handle blogging as well.I'm not really sure what I think of it yet since I have had the alpha version grab 92% of my cpu at one point whilst it went off into its own internal la-la land.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1129804484317285242005-10-20T23:34:00.000+13:002005-10-21T16:45:23.356+13:00

Now I'm giving w.bloggar a go as an authoring tool. Looks better than the current version of Flock so far. And solid as a rock!

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1127354804896532062005-09-22T13:50:00.000+12:002005-09-22T14:09:39.420+12:00

What is SNMP?What does RFC stand for?These are just some of the questions I heard float around the office this morning. They were being asked of a less experienced programmer by a far more experienced programmer; one who had been around the block quite a few times.This is on top of what happened a few weeks back when I handed everyone on the team a copy of Yotam Medini's STL Quick Reference guide

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1116206341198945692005-05-16T13:15:00.000+12:002005-05-16T13:19:01.203+12:00

My other half sent me a link to a job in the UK the other day. At one time my career was on track for this kind of job. I may not have had the Symbian experience but I was definitely heading down that route. Since the move to NZ my career has been on a sort of hold and I can't, at this time, see me ever getting to this kind of position.And this is getting me to thing about what I really want out

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1105083399937758472005-01-07T20:36:00.000+13:002005-01-07T20:38:28.370+13:00

Ever wanted to sleep for a couple of seconds in a batch file on Windows 2000? Well, here is the answer, and it's a beauty: The Windows 2000 Resource Kits provide sleep.exe to allow a batch file to sleep for n seconds. You can emulate this behavior by using the PING (Packet InterNet Groper) command: ping -n seconds+1 127.0.0.1>nul To sleep for 15 seconds, type: ping -n 16 127.0.0.1>nul

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1104730583724909602005-01-03T18:36:00.000+13:002005-01-06T23:34:57.520+13:00

I just love reading Joel's stuff. He is the Windows programmer whose advice I do not find patronizing. His latest article on why people should continue to take CS cources is, as usual, spot on. I agree with his take on IT jobs being outsourced to India. Sure, lots of jobs have moved there but those aren't the kind of jobs that were secure anyway. You need to prove, almost every day, that what you

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1103919432499775182004-12-25T09:11:00.000+13:002004-12-25T09:17:12.500+13:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you. Well, the christmas spirit has hit and I feel wonderful today. I got up a wee bit later than I would on a work day and give my home office desk a bit of a tidy and now my mouse can run free over the surface. Pauline is sleeping in bed. No snores, so she must really be off in the land of dreams. The weather is quite dull and very un-seasonal. At

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1103530536740297412004-12-20T21:12:00.000+13:002004-12-20T21:15:36.740+13:00

Well, my Jetsream Upgrade Debacle blog entry hasn't attracted a single comment so far. I wonder if anyone has actually read it yet. The lack of comments would seem to imply a strong "no".

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1099958031464385822004-12-10T23:03:00.000+13:002005-08-04T21:20:01.956+12:00

Ah, the joys of ADSL. Tis a wonderous thing to be able to communicate at 256kbps instead of 56kbps (if you are lucky; normally, it is more like 40kbps, or even 28kbps).I signed up for ADSL service with Telecom New Zealand (TNZ) back in April of this year (2004). Due to an internal screw up with order codes, my first month's service was a 10GB usage at 256/128kpbs. Excess usage would (supposedly)

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1101510431398918732004-11-26T23:41:00.000+13:002004-12-10T21:13:30.166+13:00

I need some personal headsapce. Today, I got up and drove into work with my partner. I went straight to work and thus lost my normal personal time at McDonalds where I read a book and drink some coffee. When I got to work I continued with my current task (implementing JModalWindow support into our application). At 9.30 we had a Stand Up meeting. We are trying to implement some Agile practices.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1099737931138216692004-11-06T23:44:00.000+13:002005-10-24T09:47:42.993+13:00

Kiwis are abysmal drivers. Sometimes it feels as if I am driving in a third world country. Indicators appear to be optional extras that are only invoked when a major maneouver (i.e. a U-turn) is required. Signalling at roundabouts is terrible. The government's safety mantra to "Keep Left" has resulted in a nation of drivers that hug the shoulder so closely that they spend most of their time

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1097527148595977402004-10-12T09:39:00.000+13:002004-10-12T09:39:08.596+13:00

This is a great way of thinking about spaghetti code in OO.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1096535838505270412004-09-30T21:10:00.000+12:002004-09-30T21:17:18.506+12:00

In response to Keeping Your Job: Assignments Nobody Else Wants I wrote the following. I think that it says a lot more about me, and what is currently worrying me, than it helps Joe. Joe, You have no idea how similar your situation feels to mine. --- joe.fair@cexp.com wrote: > team, where they use a _lot_ more java and struts > (very marketable) than my > last team. However, since I know

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1096107056672045882004-09-25T22:10:00.000+12:002004-09-25T22:10:56.673+12:00

Neil Gunton: Computer Programmer, Software Developer, Consultant, Ashland, Wisconsin This guy has a site well worth visiting. I have only read his article on rewriting code. It is in the same vein as a similar article on Joel Spolsky's website. This is mostly a reminder to myself to take another look at Neil's site later on when I have more time.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1095323300788348832004-09-15T20:24:00.000+12:002004-09-16T20:28:20.786+12:00

Jonny and I had a short (nearly 2 hours) chat today on the state of things in the team. He tells me that I am verry diplomatic and always say the PC things but that he doesn't want to hear that now. He just wants my gut feel on how I think things are. So I tell him. Two hours later we break up and get back to work. No doubt, he'll be doing the same thing tomorrow with Clare.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1094459812086905542004-09-06T20:32:00.000+12:002004-09-06T21:50:10.486+12:00

I spoke with the recruiter today and was informed that the guys I had my wee chat with are awaiting a reponse to their job offer from their preferred candidate. They interviewed three people and offerred the position to someone else. I'm one of the backup options.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1093765974303424492004-08-26T19:47:00.000+12:002004-08-29T19:52:54.303+12:00

I took some time out to have a wee chat with the engineering manager at another company today. I normally would not have bothered but they are looking for a software development manager and it is the kind of job I aspire to. The big win for me would be the opportunity to define the software approach of the company. It's a big task, and I don't know if I can completely bring it off, but I'd love

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1093344956208265942004-08-24T22:54:00.000+12:002004-08-29T19:45:12.350+12:00

Got the number wrong. ATR are making 35, not 30 positions redundant.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1092953946919457672004-08-20T10:00:00.000+12:002004-08-20T12:09:52.043+12:00

Well, I'm writing this at work and all I can say is how very alone I feel. None of my co-workers is here yet: Jonny is on holiday, Clare is taking the day off and Noam will be in late. On top of that, there is much discussion going on about the latest news from ATR down the road. The news is that they are looking to make 30 positions redundant. Unfortunately management there hasn't yet worked

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1092881964660981772004-08-19T14:19:00.000+12:002004-08-19T14:19:24.660+12:00

Great Hackers: "The people I've met who do great work rarely think that they're doing great work. They generally feel that they're stupid and lazy, that their brain only works properly one day out of ten, and that it's only a matter of time until they're found out." I often feel like this way. I want to be great but secretly suspect that I am not. Maybe it's time to look for a better work

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1091320858027314992004-08-01T12:38:00.000+12:002004-08-01T17:21:31.153+12:00

Ok, I did a few of those personality tests and the result came out as follows: What Classic Movie Are You? personality tests by similarminds.com What Famous Leader Are You? personality tests by similarminds.com

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1090536854129917512004-07-23T10:54:00.000+12:002004-07-23T10:58:05.663+12:00

"There was no great planning in what we did, the company evolved. You have to follow the river - it's the same now. There is no magic formula, but don't hire MBAs." If only Microware had known to follow Dr. John Warnock's advice; maybe it would still be around today, and be a success.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1090379962714347852004-07-21T15:03:00.000+12:002004-07-23T00:03:39.126+12:00

We only do software ... I strangled the scream that was welling up inside me. If there is one thing I dislike about generic software jobs it is the attitude that we only do software. I feel that this attitude fails to accept that software is part of a system, albeit often a crucial one. In my case, the system is an innovative scientific instrument. This is not a piece of software that exists

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1090365690209680262004-07-21T11:04:00.000+12:002004-07-23T00:04:52.873+12:00

Well, yet another reason to quit this job and move one. I am getting fed up with being cut off mid-sentence and told that what I am about to say has no bearing on things. This time it was Clare. I was about to describe my experience of ramping solid state detectors and why you had to do so when she cut me off mid-sentence, telling that what I was about to say wasn't important. That left me

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1089787782899935782004-07-14T18:47:00.000+12:002004-07-14T18:49:42.900+12:00

Well, I've been back at work a grand total of three days now and it feels great. Looks like my brief trip home to see the family has topped me back up. I wonder why I put it off for so long? Wait a second, I remember now; it was the 27 hour trip to get there that stood in the way.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1089526671947855202004-07-11T17:57:00.000+12:002004-07-11T18:17:51.946+12:00

Just back from my holiday to the northern hemisphere. I was visiting family and some friends. I tried visiting my old university supervisor but missed out because he had already left on his vacation. Never mind, I bumped into an old classmate who now teaches there. Bookwise, I managed to hold back and not go overboard. The new additions to the Milne library are: Web Design In A Nutshell (2nd

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1087203096387368082004-06-14T18:31:00.000+12:002004-06-20T23:21:53.446+12:00

I had breakfast this morning with my previous boss (lets call him XXX). He had just returned from the UK and suggested breakfast at Drexels whilst he was still running on UK time. We got to talking about life, what we want to do and how we intend to achieve it. XXX is very interested in economics and would like to make a career out of it but where would he start on the salary scale? With a bit

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1086904342092120352004-06-11T09:52:00.000+12:002004-06-11T09:52:22.093+12:00

Well, the car is back. However, the front passenger door has been damaged in the trailing edge corner. I saw this when I inspected the car but it hasn't been fixed. The front passenger-side mirror is covered in scratches, presumablby from when the hide the car at night so they could ride in it the next day. The number of scratches on the passenger-side door has increased significantly. The

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1086256606251730212004-06-03T21:53:00.000+12:002004-06-05T19:50:57.126+12:00

Guess what, the insurance company wasn't aware that my car had been recovered. Turns out the investigator had not passed the good news onto the insurance company. No matter, a quick phone call and all that was sorted out. By 13:30, the insurance assessor was appointed. With a bit of luck he will manage to give my car the look over today, failing that, ... tomorrow. Then I will have some idea of

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1086256317807393562004-06-01T21:45:00.000+12:002004-06-03T21:52:41.113+12:00

Today I met the insurance investigator. He was appointed by my insurace company to investiagte the theft of my car. He seemed like a nice enough bloke and I totally failed to detect any hint of ex-policeman about him. He recorded everything I said whilst filling in part of the insurance claim. I went to quite some length to emphasize how keen I was to have Archibalds, the main Subaru dealer, do

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1086255889774498672004-05-31T23:31:00.000+12:002004-06-03T21:46:55.796+12:00

The car was found by the police tonight. They called me up and I dutifully ran out to look it over. It is difficult to list all the things that may now be wrong with it since I'm not all that hot on the underlying mechanics of cars. However, the thieves managed to destroy the driver-side door lock. Once more they destroyed the ignition barrel. There is something at the bottom of the ignition

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1085887872711727892004-05-30T14:42:00.000+12:002004-05-30T15:31:12.710+12:00

If you see a black Subaru Legacy GT Wagon with registration ZL1852 please call the police because it has been stolen. We parked the car on Oxford Terrace near the Centenial Leisure Pool yesterday morning at midday. We were having brunch with some friends at The Bohemian. After that we went into town to do some shopping. Just as we were walking back to the car, Pauline asked me what or

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1085312024725592372004-05-23T22:59:00.000+12:002004-05-23T23:33:44.726+12:00

Well, what did I do this weekend? I finally re-read Programming Ruby by Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt. I bought this book a few years back and have only managed to get around to reading it again. Ruby is a very impressive language. It is fortunate to have Andy and Dave as advocates. They write well about it and use simple, but powerful, examples to show its power. Andy and Dave are the Pragmatic

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084953104824386042004-05-19T19:47:00.000+12:002004-05-19T19:51:44.823+12:00

Welcome to our newest addition to the household ... a Compaq 2577 Notebook. Very classy, and quite inexpensive. Unfortunately, it beat out the Sony that we looked at last weekend. Pauline bought a handy little rucksack carrier to go with it. She's loaded it up with her other Firestarter materials (i.e. The SPFE Handbook, Fire Dynamics and Enclosure Fire Dynamics). It weighs a bit but ... she's

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084874895611955232004-05-18T22:03:00.000+12:002004-05-18T22:08:15.610+12:00

I really need to change the time I play badminton. The gang of us that played at 6:30pm was quite big at one point but now we are down to an average of 5 people. The 8pm class is starting to look better with 20+ people playing most weeks and the quality of the players being very high. I finally managed to break into a sweat tonight when I played with 3 of the other regulars (a grand total of 8

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084780458090963782004-05-17T19:12:00.000+12:002004-05-19T19:55:23.113+12:00

You know how it is? You decide you can't make do with dialup any more so you 'upgrade' to ADSL. Well, that's what I did around about a month ago. I took my pay rise and decided to use it for my monthly ADSL charges. Thankfuilly, my employer has a business account with one of the main electronics distributers in New Zealand so I was able to purchase a DSL-504 router at a good price. At the time

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084676733271943952004-05-16T14:43:00.000+12:002004-05-16T15:05:33.270+12:00

I have just had a very frustrating afternoon trying to buy a notebook computer with my Partner. My partner has started a distance learning course. She is about two thirds of the way through here first unit and the final exam is approaching. Unfortunately, she will be away on holiday when her exam starts. Being a distance learning course, the exam has been structured with distance learning in

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084659773552476922004-05-16T10:20:00.000+12:002004-05-16T15:26:10.266+12:00

Well, here we go as I enter the world of blogging. I manage to keep a daily notebook on what I do at work and I have managed to do that every work day for the last couple of years. I wonder how I will get on with this blog. I did try starting one before when I first moved to Christchurch from Wellington but I did not have the tools to make that easy - no high speed internet from home and no easy

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084677855841991102002-08-16T15:23:00.000+12:002004-05-16T15:24:15.840+12:00

Well, time moves on and things change. We have a visitor with us at the moment. Eileen is from Pauline's home town and is currently living in Queenstown. She has popped up to Christchruch for a short visit. Eileen arrived at the house last night and joined us for dinner with Joshna, who attends the same course as Pauline. Joshna is slightly frightening since she has knows the script of The

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084677802512426112002-08-16T15:22:00.000+12:002004-05-16T15:23:22.513+12:00

At work things move on. I seem to have gleaned enough undertsanding of the existing code to make better progress. I managed to get a bit more working. We had a works evening out. Unfortunately, Steve and Phil could not be there but Simon, Helen and myself managed to turn up. We were joined by Pauline, Sally, Wayne, Judy and Helen's husband. We had quite a few drinks at The Bohemian before moving

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084677736200961762002-08-15T15:21:00.000+12:002004-05-16T15:22:16.200+12:00

Finally managed to get the hang of this API at work. Progress is a bit slow with the legacy GTK stuff still in place but progress is being made. I met Pauline at The Yellow Rocket Cafe in Cathedral Square for a lunchtime coffee and a bagel. They serve good strong coffee. We mused over our housing situation and looked at the latest copy of Harcourt's Bluebook. As usual, the best ones (i.e. the

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084677677094392362002-08-13T15:20:00.000+12:002004-05-16T15:21:17.096+12:00

Spent most of the evening in waiting for a Mortgage Broker to turn up so that we can discuss the finer details of what we can, and cannot, afford to buy/build. I ended up reading Multitool LINUX instead. Signed up with Z-talk for low calling rates so I can call Allan in Eindhoven.

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001897.post-1084677608416112882002-08-08T20:18:00.000+12:002004-05-16T15:24:59.363+12:00

The blog starts here! We're living in Christchurch now and I now work for Bluewater Systems Ltd. Pauline has signed up for a course at Canterbury University in Computational Tools for Management Science. We have done a bit of snow boarding at Mount Hutt. Both of us fall down a lot but, so far, we have both escaped major injury. Pauline hurt her wrist on the first trip and then banged her

Gordon J Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03732557930836637657noreply@blogger.com0