Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

The other day we ordered a large whiteboard for our office.  The board arrived some time later, complete with a bunch of whiteboard markers and whiteboard eraser.  Gladly we put it up and started writing our plan for the world domination.

A few moments later, when we tried to do some corrections, we realized that we can’t really eraze much from the whiteboard. Hmmm.

Marker theory check.  Are all of them marked as “whiteboard markers”?  Yes.

Marker practice check.  We tried to write something with each one of them and then tried to delete it.  Only greek could have been erased easily.  Turned out that four markers (black, blue, red, and green) were from a total of three different brands.  Red and blue were from the same maker.

Because we were rather pressed on time, we covered the whole whiteboard with green text and diagrams.  Then we called the bookshop and asked to bring us more markers of the same brand with green.  People in the bookshop were rather puzzled by the request, but confirmed that we will receive more markers the next day.

The guy that brought the markers tested them on the board and saw that they could have been easily erased.  Then he tried the other ones and saw that it was almost impossible to eraze them.  Then he asked for a knife.

It was our turn to feel puzzled and confused, but we found a knife for him.

… five seconds later, it was our turn to feel really stupid.  Apparently, the whiteboard was covered with transparent plastic film to protect its surface.  It was absolutely invisible and looked and felt exactly like the whiteboard surface itself.  Once the film was peeled off, the new shiny surface of the whiteboard was revealed.   And, of course, all whiteboard markers - old and new - could be used normally.  We tested them all and we could eraze everything easily.  The magic moment!

I would like to take this opportunity and thank the guy from the bookshop, who solved a big problem of ours, and … didn’t laugh in our face, like many would do in a similar situation (tech support stories anyone?).  As a matter of fact, he didn’t even smile.  I bet he had a blast once he left our offices, but that doesn’t matter, because it was, indeed, funny.

As some of you already know, I’ve changed my job. For the last year or so I used to be the Senior Developer, System Administrator, Project Manager, and so on and so forth at mmVirtual Ltd, which is one of the top web design and development companies in Cyprus.

Starting from today, I am employed as Senior Web Developer at EuroOrient Ltd. This company is in the financial services markets. I will be a part of IT team, working for the first time with my brother. Most of my time will be spent on taking all FxPro web sites to the next level.

In the meantime, I will still be doing IT consulting and occasional development for mmVirtual Ltd., as well as a few other companies that I managed to develop some relationships with over the last couple of years. While I mostly do system administration and technology assessments for them, I see that my career is moving more into web development area. I am a frequent user of web development techniques and technologies, but I feel that my programming skills need a lot of improvements. So if you see a change of focus on this blog, don’t be too surprised - I have a lot of catching up to do (pointers and suggestions are much appreciated, by the way).

Celine Roque of Web Worker Daily makes yet another observation that makes one nod his head in agreement:

There’s a slight irony about being a web worker and staying in your home office most of the time.

The post goes on to suggest a few ways to spice up your life, in case you are a web worker…

There is this fun side to working in the office - you get to listen to all those small talks, little arguments and what not. Here are some quotes from the recent discussions. I’ll remove the names to protect the innocent.

- I don’t like football!
- What do you mean you don’t like football? How is that even possible for you not to like football. You do.
- No I don’t!
- Even you kid loves football. Look at his pictures, he’s always with the ball and in football clothes…
- Dude, the kid is just a couple of years old. He doesn’t know what he likes and what he doesn’t. He’ll play with whatever you throw at him…

- If I remember correctly, you were married and now you are divorced, right?
- Yes. I was married twice.
- Some people… they never learn…

- Are you going to eat with us?
- I’m on a diet.
- Again?!!
- Still…

- What are you planning to do then?
- I will be a teacher in the public school.
- Teaching what?
- Computers.
- Listen, if I will ever know that you are teaching computers in school, I’ll come over and personally kill you.
- Why? You think I am alone like this? Other teachers aren’t much better anyway.
- I don’t care. I warned you. And you know what?
- What?
- I don’t have a limit of killing just one person. If there is more like you, I’ll take care of all of you…

Here is an insightful bit from this comment in this Slashdot discussion:

Someone I know went for a job interview with (I think) Vodafone. Their open-plan office was set out according to the OSI model — physical layer people at the end, application people at the other end, and everyone in order in between!

Talk about integration of technology and corporate culture…