my brain hurts…

It’s business planning time, and so I’m reading project proposals for next year and helping build development plans and budgets. The good news is — they like us, we’re popular, and lots of people want us to do things for them. The bad news is — they like us, we’re popular, and lots of peoploe want us to do things for them. And so there are going to be some interesting and fun challenges ahead. Fortunately, it seems they’re also willing to fund out the projects…

Hey, how many times can you look at your boss and says “30 more xserves” and not have him laugh? Or twitch? I can handle that. My role will change somewhat, recognizing that I simply don’t code any more, but instead, tell other people what to code (and I’m learning how to not tell them HOW, but WHAT…)

A busy time, again/still. We were supposed to ship 2.0 of The Beast end of june. Didn’t happen, for various reasons. July, we had three smaller projets due, so we tabled the Beast. I’m happy to say that two of the projects were done early and going live on time. The third, which of course the one with high management visibility, looks to be slipping, but not because of me (thank god) — or not really because of anyone. It’s one of those projects where you spend most of your time hauling people out of sinkholes, and it doesn’t matter WHAT date you set, you’ll miss it, because you keep finding stuff that nobody thought to schedule or put in the requirements (or in my case, some stuff people added to the requirements and forgot to tell me about, and the requirements changed so often I didn’t notice…). It hasn’t always been a fun project, but it’s been a fascinating learning experience in getting to know how other parts of the company work and what they expect, and the next phases will go much smoother because of it. (I hope. sometimes, chaos wins, no matter how big your whack-a-mole hammer is…)

So we’re busy rebooting 2.0 of the beast, and plan to be coding next week. And trying to get it out the door, because we need it.

Oh, and on July 5, I shut down Apple’s last USENET server. we were down to about six users. So far, two have complained. People who know me probably understand this has more meaing to me than might be obvious — more so because my first real contacts with Apple were when I came over and helped them figure out some problem with their usenet feed…. go figure.

I’m supposed to be packing — but I’m not. Making a quick run down 101 to visit the parents. Nothing serious, just wandering in to do a few things for them, then drive back saturday. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to southern cal in july. Just turn up the airco, okay?

And laurie and I have made the hotel reservations for the august trip. Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Portland. I am ready NOW. I’m going to try to do some photography of downtown portland, and laurie is going to show me around Lake union and the fremont district – and in Victoria, we’ll eat well and relax. Vancouver’s getting the short visit, so we have time in Seattle. I am hoping to explore gastown some more and work on my photos, and maybe chinatown. we’ll see.

Unfortunately, the Lions are on a road trip when we hit vancouver. ohwell…

God, it’s midnight. I’ll pack in the morning. sigh.

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