fun

last couple of days at work were spent trying to get the other teams work checked as well as trying do the work our team has been assigned and has to get delivered. its all just chaos. we must have half a dozen 100grand a year project managers but god only knows what they are doing. coupled with the fact there is a team of 3 well paid systems admins that appear to not only know little about computers but can not read a server application install sheet, and its a recipe for chaos. i feel sorry for the senior guy in our team of 3 systems admins because he has just had a tsunami of work dumped on him, from the other work stream.

in a chat with the senior guy in our team, he asked me how the next set of trading application servers were looking, that had been recently built by the other team and had been handed over to the application team. he had been told they had been double checked and it was looking good. unfortunately i had to temper his optimism by saying i had taken a quick look over them and he should expect them to be sent back due to incomplete/incorrect config, and with perfect timing, a few hours later, the app owner sent an email listing what was wrong with all but 4 out of 12 servers built for him.

every time i walk past the team of 3 systems admins that are on this part of the project they are always huddled in a meeting room or the dining area having a meeting. i hardly ever see them at their desks. stop talking about shit and start doing shit. there are a couple of guys in that team in particular who are chancers. one of the guys in my team was telling me that one of the other guys had been contracting at merryl lynch and barclays capital and jp morgan before. jesus, they must set the bar really low at those places, because he is absolutely useless. i know a guy at merryl and he is very good indeed. god knows how this chancer got in. genuinely useless. if he did not come to work ever again, i guarantee it would not place any extra burden on the rest of the team to make up for the work he would have done, because he does very little and even then, its wrong.

from my own experience there are ways for chancers and inept people to hide in large investment banks where the teams are big and where the complicated processes are a ready made excuse for not doing something you have been tasked with. in a smaller environment like a hedge fund which does not have 5,000 people in london and you are not working in a team of 30, its easy to get exposed and these guys are. 1 of them has been there over a year, but he was working with the guys that i work with now and they must have been papering over the cracks in work, because he is in a team of inept people and he is not distinguishing himself in a team where the bar has been set very low already by the other 2 people.

i suspect the remainder of my contract from now till december is going to be spent rushing to hit deadlines that have already passed for getting the stuff ready from the other team, whilst trying to fit in the work i am supposed to be doing. the 3 of us in our team could have delivered all the work for both teams, had we had been given everything in the right order and in time. as it stands deadlines have already been missed for lots of application servers built by the other guys and we are trying to just get stuff delivered that should have been done weeks ago. it was a manageable piece of work for 3 competent people to deliver in 6 months. unfortunately we only have 4. still, i guess its just no fun when there is no pressure.

today i have mostly been listening to sharam - fun. the video is shot in san francisco and is based on the car chase scene in the film 'bullit', which features a dodge charger and a ford mustang. coincidentally i had been looking up the prices of renting a new dodge challenger (which is the new equivalent) in LA for a week at the end of the year. its a reasonable price, so am planning on getting one. song is very good as well.

too young

the one remaining project manager that was working on part of the project has been demoted as things were not working out very well. there are 6 of us techies, and we have been split into 2 groups, one building infrastructure like domain controllers, SCCM servers, ESX servers and stuff like that which is what the team i am in does, and the other team is building application servers used by parts various of the business.

my team is run efficiently by our team leader and we are delivering everything we have been asked to deliver with out too much drama. the other team of 3 techies and managed by the PM that talks too much, just have drama all the time and are always looking stressed and whining about something. it came to breaking point a today on that team and the PM has been demoted and the technical team lead from our team is going to be heading it all up and we have been asked to help out with the application servers and get them delivered as soon as possible as they have already missed their deadline.

we had a meeting amongst our own team of 3 and our team leader and one of the other guys didnt sound like they were looking forward to working with the other 3. i kept my mouth shut, but the other team seem like a bunch of idiots. this afternoon i was asked to make a start on going through and checking the servers they had built and that they had said were ready to be handed over to the trading department, and there was a lot of stuff missing that still needed to be done on it. come on guys, the shit isn't ready and they are just going to be sent back to you asking for apps to be installed or configured, which was what the trading team requested at the beginning on the requirements sheet. they are making themselves look like amateurs. you can read cant you?. it says it needs oracle on it, so why is it not on there???.

anyways, thankfully our team of 3 can only come out of this looking good. the deadline is gone and we have been parachuted in to salvage it. if we can get this stuff done and handed over i think everyone will be relieved. thing are getting quite political and fraught amongst the project manager running the project. i heard that the project was already £3,000,000 OVER budget and they might have to spend a bit more as well. as always i am going to keep my head down and get the work done as quick as i can. its been good enough to get things delivered for our side of the project so it should be good enough to get this other stuff delivered as well.

in other sad news, i heard that the younger brother of a guy that i used to play football with when i was a kid, died last friday. about a year ago i randomly bumped into him after not seeing him for about 15 years. he was about 3 or 4 years younger than me and him and his brother moved away when we were still little kids. it was good to see him and he told me he was working for an energy trading firm in the city and was a trader. seeing as he came up from the same neighbourhood as i did, it was good to see someone make a success of their career. too many of the kids i grew up just seem to have bumbled along. anyways, last friday he was going to work as normal, and got on the bus and then appears to have had a heart attack and died there and then. very sad indeed. he is the 3rd person from the kids i grew up in my neighbourhood that has died in the last couple of years. far too young to be gone.

today i have mostly been listening to the gaslight anthem - the 59 sound. a song about someone dieing too young.

right where it belongs

the end of another weekend. they are golden, and i better enjoy them while i can, because we had a meeting a few days ago at work and it looks like there will be lots of weekend work coming from mid september to december. will just need to keep thinking about the money and california.

had a couple more calls about jobs at an investment banks and a hedge fund but turned them down. told them i was available in december.

went out on friday night with a friend of mine and some of the other guys from football, and it did remind me how lame my friends could be at times. one of my friends who wants to go to portugal in the new year, just wanted to sit in a really quiet pub all evening. it was dead in there, but he seemed really relucantant to go anywhere else. i was suggesting lots of other places where there might be a bit more atmosphere, but he didn't want to go. it was like pulling teeth. at least when the rest of the guys turned up, we did move on, as he was completely outnumbered in his opinion.

shit, i really dont want to go to on a week long holiday with him. not after my previous experience on a trip with my other friend. anyways, he couldnt organise himself out of a wet paper bag, so its unlikely that he would have come along anyway. just to plant some doubt in his head already, i told him i have been looking at tickets to los angeles in the new year, which is when he said he wanted to his trip to portugal, which by the sound of it consisted of nothing but trying to visit as many football grounds as he could and not much else. i love football more than any of them. i played for my school team from primary school, to high school, where i was captain, and every summer holiday from the age of 8 till 18 at school, but i dont want to spend a week driving around obscure stadiums and sitting in quiet pubs.

i dont do anything exciting in cali. i go to the beach, do some shopping, go to the beach, see some bands play, go to the beach, do some sightseeing, go to the beach, eat out, go to the beach....etc, and that does me just fine.

went to the gym this weekend. was warm but cloudy yesterday when i went. torrential rain when i was leaving the gym and i got soaked again. nice weather today, and i did a 15:43, with out emptying the tanks. got held up in a few places and so i didnt push 100% at the end. was surprised when i checked the time. next weekend if its dry, i hope my record will be broken.

today i have mostly been listening to nine inch nails - right where it belongs. great song, great performance and very interesting visuals to go with it. words, music and pictures to make you think a little. i suggest watching it in highdef and full screen to get the full effect.

pop

Got a call today about a permanent role going at another hedge fund and if i would like to go for it. It was good money and sounded like a good opportunity but i told them i would pass. I cant leave this project i am working on, halfway through. People would remember my name and its a small world amongst contractors in central london and i dont want to get a bad reputation which could stick with me. To use a metaphor, the smell of shit lingers longer than the smell of roses.I hope a job like that comes up again at the end of the year or beginning of next year. That would be perfect.

Speaking of shit, the chancer rejoins the bank we worked at last year, again on monday. I have a friend who still works there, but is trying to get transferred out, and he sounds he is looking forward to working with him in the same way you would look forward to a trip to the dentist. I am only speculating, but i suspect the chancer got 'found out' for being a chancer at his current contract and so ass-kissed his way back into his old job. He might be feeling quite pleased with himself but i suspect the number of people who refer to him as a chancer has increased.

everyone gets found out in the end.

weather is bloody terrible in london these days. its probably about as miserble as it could possibly be without raining all day. just dark grey skies all day and we did have a rain shower this afternoon. its so depressing. its not like we have great summers, but this one has been particularly shite. coupled with the fact that i wont be going to cali next month and will only be able to go at the end of december at the earliest, i think i will be on my knees by the time that comes round.

anyways, in a form of mental escapism i am reading voraciously. am just finishing a book about the attempted coup de'tat in indonesia in 1965 and have ordered a book all about the central african nation of congo. in a couple of months i will have to hit the computer books again as i will have to upgrade my vmware vertification so i need to make the most of the time i get to read other things.

today i have mostly been listening to robyn - call your girlfriend. they played this at my gym last weekend. i like a bit of everything and i dont just listen to nine inch nails, janes addiction and the cure. this is some well crafted pop which everyone can appreciate.

A&A

the project manager that was running our project had his last day on friday and we went for leaving drinks at lunchtime. its on occasions outside the office that people tell you what they really think, and i found out my team leader, who comes across as confident and is very good, was actually quite low on confidence and was considering his future at the company, where has been for 9 years. in all honesty, he actually shits on 95% of the people i have ever worked with, but because he hasnt put himself on the market he doesnt know where he stands. i tried to tell him he would be fine if he ever tried another job at another firm, but i wonder if he will go.

he also had a few choice opinions about a couple of other people on the project. one of the guys who is the technical architect for the whole project is "out of his depth" and "just a blagger" (bullshitter, chancer). he is not a big fan of the remaining project manager either. its interesting to hear other peoples opinions on things. i was already a bit sceptical about the other PM because he talks fat too much and is a bit of a drama queen, and i dont really trust people who talk too much. thats just me i guess.

anyways, it was a productive week, but i can see problems coming up in the project, especially now that there is going to be no one running it all. this could go wrong, but thats not my concern really. all i have to do is do the work that i am given to do. its not for me to express and opinion or offer advice. if someone asks me, then i will, otherwise like a good contractor, i shall keep my cakehole shut.

weather was nice and mild this weekend and i cycled both days. was on a monster ride yesterday and i knew it was fast, but then i got to a traffic light just as it turned red and i timed it and i was stopped for 50seconds. i then rode another minute to my gym and when i stopped the clock on my track timer app, it was at 15:58s. argghhh!!!, am sure i would have dipped below 15 mins had i not got stuck at that light. i rode again today and i did 15:48s. my legs feel good, especially after an extended 90 minutes of 5 a side football on thursday night as well. my form is good. will have another crack at it next weekend.

thats all folks. have a lovely week.

today i have mostly been listening to angels and airwaves - anxiety. enjoy.

at about this time of year i would normally be counting down to a week or two in new york and/or california next month, but not this year. its going to hurt in september.

riots

my posts are usually dull consisting of gym, work, home, gym, football, work, blah blah blah.

this post is going to be different. on this occasion i am going to write about the riots going on and peoples reaction to them. skip it if you are not interested in my 2p worth.

about 4 days ago, a black guy got shot whilst being arrested by police and after that there was a protest by the family and local community wanting answers to the circumstances in which he got killed. the police didnt say anything and as the crowds dispersed a large group of youths started rioting and smashing things up, and its since spread across others areas of london and its gotten ever more serious. so serious in fact that the prime minister had to leave his £1000 a night holiday villa in italy to deal with it.

anyways, people have been writing on facebook (as usual), about how these kids should be punished and how they had no discipline and be made to join the army??. i merely pointed out that instead of dealing with the symptoms, people should maybe look at the causes of the trouble, namely welfare cuts, poor social housing, poor education, chaotic home lives, high youth unemployment and other similar issues which contribute to young people not feeling they have any prospects or hope and so they dont care about a society that doesn't have anything to do with them and so dont feel bad about smashing things up and fighting symbols of authority (police).

that statement was met with a torrent of criticism universally from everyone, which surprised me. i rather naively thought that there might be one person who might look at the issue as something more than the criminal vandalism it is and ask why are they indulging in criminal vandalism on such a scale, but not a single person did.

i just thought it was a sorry state of affairs and i think peoples reaction to the riots are a reflection of why the rioting takes place in the first place. people looking for simple, direct, easy explanations that dont involve them. there is a lot of talk about how the rioters are ferrel kids and not taking responsibilty but not a word on the responsibilities of government or society.

the government has over the last year announced cuts in welfare to single mothers, who lose benefits when their children reach school age, so as to make them work, as if raising a child is not considered work. its not paid work on minimum wage at a supermarket but it does have benefits for the individual and society but the government dont acknowledge that. they have also announced cuts to housing and education and policing.

i have been reading a lot of books recently about grave crimes commited in argentina and chile in the 1970s in the dirty wars, and the genocide in rwanda in 94 and i am currently reading about the mass murder in indonesia in the late 1960s. in each case its people targeting another set of people with in their own country and seperating themselves from them and targeting them and exterminating them, be it communists, marxists, tutsi's or whoever. one of the comments by a friend of mine who is a reasonable and nice person on facebook said, it was time to 'clear this country out and start again'. thats the type of rhetoric used in rwanda, indonesia or cambodia.

i am not saying there is an imminent genocide, but i just thought it was interesting that you read about views like this expressed in central africa or asia or latin america and a few shop windows get smashed and a few cars get burnt out and normally reasonable people start saying shit like that here in london in 2011. i also thought it was interesting that people got so upset about it whilst at the same time our government is bombing the capital city of libya.

i read that there had been 6000 bombing raids over Libya by NATO in the last 4 months and our government has spent £250m on it so far. politicians say its for the benefit of libyans to depose a despot and its bombing with a noble cause. its not reported but i imagine the damage done by 6000 bombs must be extensive and the loss of life must be massive. no one says anything about that on facebook, but footlocker gets looted and everyone shits themselves and they start coming out with extremist rhetoric. the looters and rioters are ignorant because they have no education, dont know better and many come from broken homes. they have an excuse, but we shouldn't.

today i have mostly been listening to rage against the machine - bulls on parade.

.....on tv this evening they said that the guy who got shot by the police at the beginning of all this. didnt fire at the officers and that the story about a police officer being shot during the arrest was a fabrication made up by the police.

15:33....again

my legs felt good yesterday and i did a 16m 53s time to my gym, and yet i got held up in places with traffic and i knew i could have taken a lot off that time had i had a clear run. today i gave it another shot at my record and there are a few lights and turns in the first 6 or 7 minutes that can make or break an attempt at a record time, and this time i managed to catch them ok. i got held up at one place but i knew it only cost me around 5 or 6 seconds and i kept pushing. i knew my legs were good today because there were a few places were i was catching up with cars and overtaking them.

going around regents park i hit a headwind and it was very hard going, and then to top it off i had to come to a complete stop on the fastest stretch of my route because some idiot double parked in the middle of the road and there was no way past. it cost me around 15 seconds at least, but i kept pushing all the way to my gym and when i stopped i got my mobile phone out which has my route tracking and stopwatch app on it, and it was at 15m 33s, which is exactly what my record is. strangely enough i didnt feel as wrecked, physically as i thought i would be and had i not hit a headwind and not stopped on my fastest section i think maybe 15minutes would have been in danger.

...and then on my way home i got caught in a thunderstorm and got soaked to the skin.

today i have mostly been watching an episode from a series called wonders of the solar system. it was on tv a couple of years ago, but i bought it on bluray and i watch one of the episodes at least once a month. its fascinating and very profound. if you have the means i recommend seeing it. you might think differently afterwards or at the very least you will learn something.

shine like stars

the heat came and went. its back to grey skies and it drizzled a bit on my cycle home from the gym. what horseshit of a summer we have had so far. went to the gym early as i got invited to a bbq at a friends place this afteernoon. to be honest i wasnt really looking forward to it because i knew no one else there, but i felt i had to go to show my face as i hadnt seem my friend for about a year. anyways it turned out better than i thought it would and there were some nice people there.

work has been ok this week, but there is a tension in the air amongst the project manager running our project. the senior PM that hired me and who seemed like a good guy got told that his contract was not to be renewed and he is leaving next week. the plan was for him to run the project to completion at the end of the year. the guy that made the decision is the same guy that was skimming 30grand a year from the other PM in my previous 'ugly' post.

anyways, in the team of 3 techies that i work with, the other 2 guys that have been there longer are not that happy that the PM we worked with has been binned. also the remaining PM on our project is now looking for another contract as well, because he figured if they could get rid of one of the PMs so suddenly, they could do it to him and he hates the guy that he will now have to work for. its all kicking off. slightly worrying thing amongst all this drama, is that there is a piece of work related to a datacenter integration project that needs to be delivered by the end of the year, and its looking increasingly difficult for that target to be hit, especially if the remaining PM leaves, then they are royally fucked.

i think its all going to get rather ugly, but as usual i will just keep my head down and get on with any work that i am given. actually i am really quite liking sitting on my own away from everyone. i have no one watching me as i come and go and when i am given work to do, i have no distractions and i just get on with it straight away and get it done. if i get bored and fancy a chat i just go upstairs and talk to the rest of the team and then go back to my floor. this week at work should be interesting.

today i have mostly been listening to glasvegas - shine like stars. wicked tune.

hot

its been hot hot hot the last couple of days, and its been great, despite the fact that its a deeply unpleasant experience travelling on the underground in this weather and i am a magnet for weirdo commuters. i am sure its not just me being paranoid, but why the fuck do other guys stand so close to me, up to the point of touching. i was on the train the other day and whilst all the seats were taken and it was standing room only, there was enough space for this guy to stand away from me, but he insisted on standing right beside me and bumping into me constantly. eventually i moved away. what the fuck!?. today exactly the same thing happened. space to stand away from me and this guy insisted on picking a spot right near me. argghhh!!!.

anyways, on the train i read sometimes and i have just finished reading the condor years, by john dignes, again and its a very informative book for anyone interested in history. ordered my next book to read and it arrived a couple of days ago and its this. some more light reading on my commute.

anyway despite being molested for 45 minutes on the train every morning, work is good because i am being given more work to do and it means the days are flying by. am learning one or two things as well, which is a bonus. being a contractor you just expect to be given all the dull boring repetitive admin shit that no one wants to do, and you take it for granted you are being paid not for your skill, but to be given shit. well, not in this case. am getting involved in some interesting work. i guess its the novelty of doing new things and i suspect after a few weeks of it, it will be boring, but for the time being its very good.

speaking of repetitive admin shit, the chancer looks like he is going to go back to the bank we were worked at 6 months ago. clearly he has been found out at the bank he went to, and it appears that the fellatio he indulged in a few weeks ago, might be coming to fruition. what a sorry state of affairs. a friend of mine who still works there in the team we were in, texted me and said he was dreading working with him. i told him not to worry, as now he will look like a hero by just being competent. he wont even need to try to shine in comparison to the chancer.

today i have mostly been listening to bush - little things. they are back together and touring. i might go and see them, maybe.