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January 27, 2006
You know you're on a death-march project when...
I'm out in California this week, and it's super-crunch time, but things are at least looking better these days, and I'm getting past concerns of stability to focus on performance tuning instead. But still, it's a lot of long hours, which inspired me for...
You know you're on a death-march project when...
- You feel guilty for knocking off early after only working 11 hours that day, and yes, that's after subtracting out the time for meals.
- You've said, "I think I'm going to take Saturday off."
- You've followed that by saying, "but don't tell my boss -- he doesn't know."
- You have more unused vacation days than teeth.
- You're working so late that the facilities department is shutting off lights and A/C because no one would be in the office at that time of night.
- You're checking your email before breakfast.
- You're doing it at the office.
- You're taking the laptop back to the hotel to work in bed.
- And you're actually working in bed.
- It's easy to find your car in the parking lot when you leave. It's the only one there.
- You're afraid to show off your art at work, not because it's risque, but because you don't want to have to explain how you found the time to make it when there's still so much left to get done.
- The big social event of your day is when dinner arrives in the conference room.
- You want to take advantage of the chair massages being offered, but just like everyone else, you can't fit it into your schedule.
- You start to feel healthier just because your stress-induced health problems aren't as bad as your boss's stress-induced health problems.
- You speak fondly of the shorter hours you had back at your start-up company.
And the way you really know you're on a death march project...
But no, I'm not feeling burned out or bitter. Not at all.
(Feel free to add your own entries in the comments.)
Life in General by Dan | Permalink | Comments (2)
January 21, 2006
Apparently, there is pornography on the internet...
This wonderful little video lets us know that, evidently, the internet is for porn. It's work-safe as long as you've got headphones.
Tinfoil Beanie by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)
January 17, 2006
Fall From Grace
Well, my ticket design didn't win, but as I said before, it was worth doing it just to be doing something creative again. Here it is:
I've included it in two orientations because I designed it with the intention of someone holding it in their hands and being able to flip it back and forth. I've also removed the text announcing the event, etc.
Render by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)
January 14, 2006
Render News and Yet Another Boring Pin-up
With the pressures of work, the holidays, and a little break to play World of Warcraft, I hadn't done any rendering for over a month. I'd forgotten how relaxing it can be to do that kind of work. Fortunately, I've got MAW to remind me.
There's a contest for the Burning Flipside ticket design, and I'd been meaning to do something with that ever since the theme was chosen in early December, but I just hadn't found the time. Fortunately for me, MAW prodded me enough to spur me into action. So, last Sunday I did the bulk of the necessary work and then did various test renders and tweaks over the course of the week, finishing up with the final renders and compositing on Thursday, a day before the deadline. It came out pretty well, but no, that's not it down there. They're doing the judging on Monday, so I'll know how I fared soon enough. The winner gets two tickets, but in truth, it was worth it just to get back into the artistic groove. I hadn't realized how much I was missing it.
Anyway, after doing something cool that I couldn't immediately share, I figured I'd knock out something quick. Hence, I cranked out "Yet Another Boring Pinup". Actually, it's YABP #2 since I did one of the same title last fall.
Any similarities to MAW are purely the coincidental results of the artist's lustful thoughts.
Render by Dan | Permalink | Comments (0)
January 07, 2006
Happiness Is An Orange Tower
MAW and I went down to the university last night to take some pictures, and look what we found:
Purty, ain't it?
Photography by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)
January 04, 2006
New Year's Resolutions
I'm not actually listing them here, but I thought I'd talk a little about last year's. My resolutions aren't the typical "I must change my entire life" plea that ends by February. They're more like the kind of performance goals your boss sets for you in your annual review. For 2005 I came in at 47.7% success, which was down from the last two years of breaking through the 50% line, but it was a rough year.
A few key successes in 2005 included:
- Did quite a bit of blog-writing, and I set up my neighborhood's website in a much easier-to-use blog system.
- Another successful NaNoWriMo attempt.
- Read quite a few books.
- Did quite a bit of art and photography -- got a little bonus from that one.
- I did a lot with my kids and pushed Tommy back onto the standard growth chart. MAW helped with that bit, of course.
- I did a lot in the Flipside community and met a lot of new people.
But of course, 47% doesn't come without some failures:
- My office is still a mess.
- I now have two unfinished novel drafts.
- My health is pretty crappy, i.e. overweight, high blood pressure, plus this new stomach problem.
- It was a pretty bad & stressful year at the office.
We'll see how I do this year. Maybe this will be the year I break through 60%.
Life in General by Dan | Permalink | Comments (0)