The Singularity is Near
I actually thought I posted last week... Apparently not. Whoops.
Anyway, Ice Skating was AWESOME! I had a great time, and only fell twice, thanks both times to people running into me. So, I didn't get too wet. It was very similar to Roller Skating (as opposed to Roller Blading) in that you move the same sort of way, just instead of the 4 wheels and a lot more to balance on, you're on a thin blade. It was hell on the ankles though. I felt that the following day!
I've now been at my new job for 4 weeks, and still loving it. It's very busy, and the weeks fly by, seriously, I don't know where they go. I'm getting used to their systems, and beginning to get a good grasp on most of it. It's a little hard going into a job, and being made the primary point of contact for some systems, but there's no documentation on those systems... I've written a huge amount of documentation the last 4 weeks.
Another great thing about this job, is that, they always thank their staff for their hard work. They use the right psychology, and everything is appreciated and nothing is taken for granted. I can see why their retention rate is so high. This is something I'm fairly unfamiliar with, as with Paragon, everything was taken for granted, and it was a very rare occasion for them to thank staff for their hard work. Although, their retention rate was very low!
Paragon have been calling me lately, they're having trouble with the billing, and want my help. I've helped them where I can, but now bills are almost 3 weeks late (they were supposed to be out by the 12th of July, and it's now almost August). With their latest issue, they ignored an obvious earlier problem (only 16 records were in the database, rather than 150,000+), and went straight to trying to generate bills and all bills came out with zero charges, and thus doing irreversible damage to the database. When they called me, I asked if they read the documentation, and the bit where it tells them that over 150,000 records should be in the database before they try to generate bills. They had read it, but didn't think it would matter. I told them that if it didn't matter, I wouldn't say that it did. Idiots...
I said to contact the company who support our billing engine, and get them to guide them through a rollback, since I've never had to do that. They then said that I can just come in and help, to which I replied that I can't because obviously I work all week. They turned around and said I can come in on a weekend. I said that I'd charge if they wanted me in, no way am I worked for free to fix something they screwed up, and they said they'd get back to me. So far, they haven't. I don't expect them to. They won't be prepared to pay.
I recently got into Battlestar Galactica. It's really, really good. I'm a pretty big sci-fi fan anyway, and this show has drawn me in. It's got a great plot, and the characters are also very well written. It also isn't as far fetched as some of them can be (for example, they have nuclear weapons).
I recently finished a book called The Singularity is Near, by Ray Kurzweil. As a very broad overview, It discussed the future of technology. It was a fascinating insight, and if technology progresses the way Ray describes it will, it's going to be a very interesting future indeed, and I cannot wait. For example, he talks about nanobots that will be able to transport oxygen though our body, much more effectively (thousands of times more effectively) than our red blood cells can, and thus negating the need for us to require breathing, but "those who find breathing stimulating will still be able to do so if they wish". He talks about Quantum Computing, reverse engineering the human brain, downloading/uploading our consciousness into new "bodies", full-immersion virtual reality, having non-biological parts and living ten times longer than we do now. He also estimates that we'll be getting more of this sort of technology by the mid 2020's and early 2030's. I should point out, that this book was not a sci-fi book. He makes a point by saying the human body 2.0 will be around by the late 2030's. He also estimates that by 2019, $1,000 will buy a personal computer that has as much raw power as the human brain, which is about 1019 cps. Some of this might seem very far-fetched and like some kind of science fiction movie. I think some of the predictions might be off by a bit though, but who knows. To find out more, go to, this website or read the book! It's very interesting. Just be warned, that's it's highly scientific, and might be hard to understand at times.
I want to go and see the new Batman movie so badly! Everyone who's seen it raves. Hopefully, this week some time...
Anyway, Ice Skating was AWESOME! I had a great time, and only fell twice, thanks both times to people running into me. So, I didn't get too wet. It was very similar to Roller Skating (as opposed to Roller Blading) in that you move the same sort of way, just instead of the 4 wheels and a lot more to balance on, you're on a thin blade. It was hell on the ankles though. I felt that the following day!
I've now been at my new job for 4 weeks, and still loving it. It's very busy, and the weeks fly by, seriously, I don't know where they go. I'm getting used to their systems, and beginning to get a good grasp on most of it. It's a little hard going into a job, and being made the primary point of contact for some systems, but there's no documentation on those systems... I've written a huge amount of documentation the last 4 weeks.
Another great thing about this job, is that, they always thank their staff for their hard work. They use the right psychology, and everything is appreciated and nothing is taken for granted. I can see why their retention rate is so high. This is something I'm fairly unfamiliar with, as with Paragon, everything was taken for granted, and it was a very rare occasion for them to thank staff for their hard work. Although, their retention rate was very low!
Paragon have been calling me lately, they're having trouble with the billing, and want my help. I've helped them where I can, but now bills are almost 3 weeks late (they were supposed to be out by the 12th of July, and it's now almost August). With their latest issue, they ignored an obvious earlier problem (only 16 records were in the database, rather than 150,000+), and went straight to trying to generate bills and all bills came out with zero charges, and thus doing irreversible damage to the database. When they called me, I asked if they read the documentation, and the bit where it tells them that over 150,000 records should be in the database before they try to generate bills. They had read it, but didn't think it would matter. I told them that if it didn't matter, I wouldn't say that it did. Idiots...
I said to contact the company who support our billing engine, and get them to guide them through a rollback, since I've never had to do that. They then said that I can just come in and help, to which I replied that I can't because obviously I work all week. They turned around and said I can come in on a weekend. I said that I'd charge if they wanted me in, no way am I worked for free to fix something they screwed up, and they said they'd get back to me. So far, they haven't. I don't expect them to. They won't be prepared to pay.
I recently got into Battlestar Galactica. It's really, really good. I'm a pretty big sci-fi fan anyway, and this show has drawn me in. It's got a great plot, and the characters are also very well written. It also isn't as far fetched as some of them can be (for example, they have nuclear weapons).
I recently finished a book called The Singularity is Near, by Ray Kurzweil. As a very broad overview, It discussed the future of technology. It was a fascinating insight, and if technology progresses the way Ray describes it will, it's going to be a very interesting future indeed, and I cannot wait. For example, he talks about nanobots that will be able to transport oxygen though our body, much more effectively (thousands of times more effectively) than our red blood cells can, and thus negating the need for us to require breathing, but "those who find breathing stimulating will still be able to do so if they wish". He talks about Quantum Computing, reverse engineering the human brain, downloading/uploading our consciousness into new "bodies", full-immersion virtual reality, having non-biological parts and living ten times longer than we do now. He also estimates that we'll be getting more of this sort of technology by the mid 2020's and early 2030's. I should point out, that this book was not a sci-fi book. He makes a point by saying the human body 2.0 will be around by the late 2030's. He also estimates that by 2019, $1,000 will buy a personal computer that has as much raw power as the human brain, which is about 1019 cps. Some of this might seem very far-fetched and like some kind of science fiction movie. I think some of the predictions might be off by a bit though, but who knows. To find out more, go to, this website or read the book! It's very interesting. Just be warned, that's it's highly scientific, and might be hard to understand at times.
I want to go and see the new Batman movie so badly! Everyone who's seen it raves. Hopefully, this week some time...