Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

I just got another revelation on how important little things are in our lives.  Take, for example, your office job (if you ever had one).  When I mention your job, you probably think of the office, salary, annoying clients, evil boss, and things like that, right?  Or at least something along those lines.  Well, how about some tiny things which can make or break your day, every day?

• Parking space. Is there a parking place?  Do you have to spend half an hour driving around the building in order to find the hole to squeeze in?  How many traffic rules (running red lights, forbidden U-turn, etc) do you have to break to even drive into your parking space?  Is  your parking space in mud or tarmac?  What happens to it after the rain?  Is there any shade for those extra sunny days?  How often is you car locked by another one when you want to leave for lunch?  Or maybe you had to punch the crowds for two hours in the public transportation to get to your office?
• Water closet (aka WC, bathroom, toilet). Is there one in your office or do you have to take an elevator trip every time you want to wash your hands?  How busy is that place?  Does it have all the essentials like paper, water and door locks?  How clean is it?
• Kitchen (food and drinks).  Can you have a cup of coffee at your desk?  How about a coke?  A sandwich?  Do you have to pay for it?  Can you get any snack at all when you stay late?  How far is your lunch?  How expensive is it? Are there any cups, teaspoons, toothpicks, towels or paper tissues, salt, catchup?
• Stationary. Do you have to bring your own notepads?  How long does it take you to find an empty CD/DVD for that extra backup?  How pens are there in your immediate reach that actually work?  Does it take you more than 5 seconds to find a calendar?  How about a calculator?  Can you get one while still on the phone? Do you even have a phone?  What about an extra network cable?  Printer cartridge? A4 paper?
• Smells.  Does it smell like food in your office?  Do they smoke in there?  How often do they clean their ashtrays? Maybe it’s this guy right next to you?  Maybe it’s a flower, and only in spring?
• Temperature.  Is thre any air condition?  How about a heater?  Can you even close that window behind you?  How sensitive are other people in the room?

I can go on and on an on…  Brings the memories, doesn’t it?

Caught this excellent quote in gaping void post:

A lot of people in business say they have twenty years experience, when in fact all the really have is one year’s experience, repeated twenty times.

Well said, indeed. I’m working with computers for 15 years or so.  I’d say I have only about five years of experience with these damn things.

Here is a question for technical people among your - how much time does a person need to learn HTML?

The reason I am asking is that I gave to one of our newer colleagues a whole weekend (from Friday evening until Monday morning ) to do it.  I promised to unleash all my fury and beat him severely with a stick, if I will find something that he doesn’t know by Monday 09:00am.

Now, before you will call me cruel, I’ll give you a couple of more details.  The person who I gave the task isn’t just a random fellow from the street.   He’s someone holding a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from a known UK university.   He has also studied Computer Science in USA and Cyprus, and even has some experience in the field of programming and web development.  So, yes, I would have expected him to know this stuff already, but somehow it happened that he doesn’t, and now he’ll have to catch up with it.

Also, when I gave out the task, I was as soft as I usually am.  So, I  provided the person with all the necessary learning materials, including digital copies of O’Reilly books, famous web sites, and relevant Google queries.

Am I fair with my timing?   How much time would you need to learn HTML?  Should I beat up the person on Monday even if he learns it inside out?  These are the questions rushing through my head right now…

This Web Worker Daily post reminded of an observation that I made about my workspace. There is one thing that shows if I care about the workplace, work, and the environment, or not. It’s a cup coaster.

I often have a cup of coffee or tea close the computer I am working on. I always, and I mean always use a cup coaster at home. That’s the only place I always care about. When I move to a new office or change a job, I always use cup coaster too. I’m usually excited and truly interested about new places. I care.

If I lose interest, my cup coaster tends to disappear. Either it falls on the floor and hides under the table. Or it brakes. Or the cleaning lady takes it away. Or something else happens to it. Never do I do it intentionally though. It took me some time to notice this…

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve officially became a podcaster. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately and decided to try to make one of my own.

My Pod Voice - is my new podcasting project.

I haven’t yet decided on the format and regularity for this show though. That is because such decisions need more information than I currently have. I am just sort of getting it out of the door and will improve it along the way.

The first episode has no music or any special sound effects. I’m just talking about my, myself, and my projects. (I was surprised to find out that I can talk for more than half an hour on such a simple subject.)

This whole thing is still pretty rough, as I am really a newbie in this area. If you have any ideas on how I can improve either the website or the podcast, or any suggestions on the direction that I should take, please let me know. Thank you.