bad news at work
One of the guys on the team, the one who said "Good people don't seek power," been with the company damn near forever, hasn't shown up for work. People who are in on Friday told me he was not in on Friday. Team lead called his cell on Monday and just got a vague "he's sick." He did not come in the rest of the week, either. With the exception of the bullshit mandatory overtime they pull on us, he shows up for work.
Apparently, someone else on the team has the same doctor as him and got some details. She was talking to someone else while I was on a call Thursday, but I distinctly heard "respiratory failure" get mentioned. He's a diabetic smoker. An unrepentant smoker, he's outright said he'd still drink if he hadn't come down with diabetes. Skinny as hell because of his diabetes, not from being a health nut. And probably the oldest guy on site, definitely the oldest *looking* guy on site.
If he doesn't get better, this is another hit to the RTL team. Had one guy get hit buy a car crossing the crosswalk to the parking lot. He came back, after months of rehab, but not as a RTL. His doctor would not clear him for full-time work. Another guy took off for greener pastures. Still no forward progress on pay-raises, and no word about another RTL class to make up for the attrition.
I haven't had a raise since 2012, not even a bull-shit trivial cost of living raise. Why don't I take off? I guess me and this job is like an abusive relationship. It took me so long to get this job, I'm afraid of being unemployed and eating with my credit-card again. And there's that "no car" thing limiting *where* I can work.
Also, I've been itching to pull the trigger on a new computer. Dropping AMD and going Intel and fixing to get 4K graphics with it. Plus a custom cooling loop with Koolance quick-disconnect fittings. Initial research on ibuypower and pcpartpicker says it'll cost me about $4500 to do an 8-core rig myself or $7500 to have ibuypower do it for me.
But I'd really like a 10-core system, and the official release was last projected at 2nd quarter 2016, which is now. Maximumpc.com (I don't care what they call it now, I get there by typing maximumpc.com) says the initial engineering samples have been distributed for preliminary benchmarking. And nVidia just announced the 1080GTX. You better believe it I'm staying Team Green.
I've given Mom her annual big honking check for Mother's day. That plus parts for a new masterbuild are going to make my checking account so very tiny. I can make plans around $10.50/hr. Hell, I could probably make long term plans around $10.00 a week! I can't make long term plans around "Company X is hiring $15/hr to start, oops, they filled all positions before you could even look them up online. Sorry!"
Apparently, someone else on the team has the same doctor as him and got some details. She was talking to someone else while I was on a call Thursday, but I distinctly heard "respiratory failure" get mentioned. He's a diabetic smoker. An unrepentant smoker, he's outright said he'd still drink if he hadn't come down with diabetes. Skinny as hell because of his diabetes, not from being a health nut. And probably the oldest guy on site, definitely the oldest *looking* guy on site.
If he doesn't get better, this is another hit to the RTL team. Had one guy get hit buy a car crossing the crosswalk to the parking lot. He came back, after months of rehab, but not as a RTL. His doctor would not clear him for full-time work. Another guy took off for greener pastures. Still no forward progress on pay-raises, and no word about another RTL class to make up for the attrition.
I haven't had a raise since 2012, not even a bull-shit trivial cost of living raise. Why don't I take off? I guess me and this job is like an abusive relationship. It took me so long to get this job, I'm afraid of being unemployed and eating with my credit-card again. And there's that "no car" thing limiting *where* I can work.
Also, I've been itching to pull the trigger on a new computer. Dropping AMD and going Intel and fixing to get 4K graphics with it. Plus a custom cooling loop with Koolance quick-disconnect fittings. Initial research on ibuypower and pcpartpicker says it'll cost me about $4500 to do an 8-core rig myself or $7500 to have ibuypower do it for me.
But I'd really like a 10-core system, and the official release was last projected at 2nd quarter 2016, which is now. Maximumpc.com (I don't care what they call it now, I get there by typing maximumpc.com) says the initial engineering samples have been distributed for preliminary benchmarking. And nVidia just announced the 1080GTX. You better believe it I'm staying Team Green.
I've given Mom her annual big honking check for Mother's day. That plus parts for a new masterbuild are going to make my checking account so very tiny. I can make plans around $10.50/hr. Hell, I could probably make long term plans around $10.00 a week! I can't make long term plans around "Company X is hiring $15/hr to start, oops, they filled all positions before you could even look them up online. Sorry!"