I’m back in the office today after working from home yesterday. I’m taking the day today to build up my new desktop (biggerbetterfasterstronger) and clean up some of the stuff that’s gotten left behind due to other projects.

I’m still working on that demo project (and will be for the next five weeks) and the more I work on it and see their requirements the more irritated I get. First, they’ve not allocated enough time to get done what we need to get done. Second, they’ve specified that, basically, we can’t use a database server to store the data - it has to all be in static files. Third, they want it so that Joe Schmoe can just grab it, install it, and run it.

Riiiiight.

The thing I’m really irritated with is that they don’t understand what truly needs to go into this thing. Just because it’s a demo doesn’t mean it’s not a fully robust application like our actual product.

Hey - shouldn’t a product demo be a demo of your actual product? One would think, right? Apparently not.

Anyway, they want this thing to be this silver bullet for all things demo - magic wizard interfaces that configure the thing, ultimate customization for the front end… last I checked, our product doesn’t provide that sort of thing. What makes them think we can do it for the demo?

Ah, the executive mindset. If only I had the same opportunity to wear blinders all day long and not employ any creative problem solving skills.

I’ve processed all of the Enchanted Forest trip pictures and as soon as I get an account on the gallery that’s set up on this server, I’ll post them along with commentary.

I’m working at home today because of the delivery of my new dining room set (a bar-height bistro table and two stools) which occurred a short while ago.

I find that, while it’s nice to be in a comfortable environment and get things done, there are too many things around here that I’d rather be doing, so it becomes difficult to concentrate at times. The cats demand attention, my Halloween costume needs to get done, things need to be cleaned…

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, there’s merit to working in the office, since there aren’t all of the other things to do. You either work… or work. Plus, working at home, I could get my schedule too screwed around. I’d be working at all different hours, some days I’d skip it, some days I’d live at the computer… who knows how consistent I’d be?

I think if I did work from home, I’d have to have, like, a home office or something, somewhere that implies “work” and not “other things to do.” Then maybe.

Of course, I need a house first… which isn’t happening on the current paycheck.

Re: my new table, I’m liking it quite a bit. It looks really good. It sits high (which I like), but that means it’s also closer to this stupid ceiling fan we’ve got in the dining room (which I don’t like), so, since you’re closer to the lights, you’re hella hotter. I’ve unscrwed a couple of the bulbs so it’s not as hot, but now it’s sorta dark. Argh! Can’t win for losing.

Jenn’s started us on Atkins today, so it’s low-carb living for a while. I guess we’ll see how that goes. I know I could stand to lose the gut.

The Rundown is not a deep and meaningful art film focusing on character development and subtle subtexts that intertwine themselves to create a complex storyline.

The Rundown is the most fun I’ve had at the theater in a long, long time.

The Rundown stars The Rock as a guy named Beck who works as a collector for a loan shark. Beck doesn’t want to be in the business, but he owes the loan shark, so he’s doing his time. As a last mission, the loan shark sends Beck into the Amazon jungle to retrieve his son Travis, played by Seann William Scott.

Beck heads into the jungle and havoc ensues. He runs into trouble with the local warlord (played by Christopher Walken), he gets mixed up with the rebel army fighting the warlord, and he keeps managing to lose his target, Travis.

In the end, of course, everything works out, but it’s the journey that’s the fun. The movie starts you right out with a great fight scene and doesn’t slow down. The humor is great, the characters are quirky, the action is brilliant. This is everything an action movie should be, and I’m disappointed that they don’t turn more out like this.

The Rock finally really establishes himself as a viable action star (we all knew he was, but this part was made for him). Seann William Scott shows us he can be a character other than Stifler. And Christopher Walken… well, I mean, it’s Christopher Walken, man! How could it be bad?

This one’s definitely worth paying full price for, and maybe even twice. I’ll definitely be getting it when it’s out on DVD. If you haven’t seen it - go right now. If you have, see it again. Yes, it’s that good.

My dining room table is in at the shipper’s warehouse, but they only deliver between like 10 and 4, so I’ve got a two-hour window in which I need to be at home tomorrow so they can bring me my goods. I told my boss that and he said I should just work from home tomorrow, so I think that’s what I’m going to do. I haven’t really done too much work from home before, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m sure that the trade-offs will quickly appear; while some distractions won’t exist (phones, other people), others will rear their ugly (or, in some cases, cute) heads (my bad cats).

Regardless, I should have a table by 4:00p tomorrow, which will be sort of nice and sort of not. I was enjoying the fact that my apartment looks ten times bigger when there’s no table, but I’m kind of tired of sitting on the floor when I need to do any sort of writing or whatever.

I still need to post the Enchanted Forest pix, but I have downloaded them off my camera and they’re almost ready to go. You can really see the shortcomings of my shitty little camera in them - bad lighting, nothing is centered in the frame - but I guess they’re better than nothing.

I also need to do some more work on my pMachine implementation. The home page is pretty much done, but the entry pages haven’t even been started yet, and there’s definitely some fine-tuning to be had. It looks good, though, and I can’t wait to move over. It offers so much more functionality. You guys will love it.

I totally lost sleep over this stupid demo thing I’m supposed to be doing for work so I came in this morning and was like, “Look - I’m good, but I’m not a magician. You guys want help? Fine. You want me to do like 700 pages of work in five weeks of half-time work? I don’t think so. Not really what I signed up for.”

Besides which, I don’t get paid nearly enough to be putting in 80 hour weeks for this shit.

So I’m stressed, and probably vastly undercaffeinated, and I think maybe I need a job that doesn’t involve computers. Maybe something like costume design or sculpting.

I went to Enchanted Forest this weekend with Jenn’s gaggle of girls. I took pictures, and when I get a chance I’ll tell you all about the trip and post the photos in the gallery.

I also went to see The Rundown this weekend and loved it. Again, if/when I get a chance, I’ll post a review and let you know how you need to just go see it right now.

Oh, and I went to the fabric store to get some fusible interfacing for my costume and came to the conclusion that, if I’m ever single again, the fabric store is a great place to find hot single chicks.