My Yuki's Fan Club's Journal

1:34pm: NaNo is not going to be won by me this year - not by a long shot. On the positive side though, I have done a lot more planning out what is going to be happening, and one part that was getting me very bogged down (the investigation of the murder that is kind of central to the story) is beginning to fall into place again.

Ian pointed out that it possibly wasn't the best story to attempt for this, because there in no way I could finish this story in 50,000 words!

Part of it has been other things on mind, part of it has been a lack of discipline in doing the writing, part of it has been not wanting to hog the PC all the time.

But in general... I've written most of the final scene, and I like that. I've written the bit where Kisa and Andrew meet, and like it too. And I've written other bits & pieces, have done a lot of planning, and think I actually have a plot for the murder investigation, which is good. It started off as the thing that had to happen for the actual story to work, but now it's working out in my head, to a certain extent, in its own right.

In other news, my mother called last night and I'm feeling stressed about it. She reckons she might have someone to buy the flat as it is, and wanted to know how much I wanted for it. I need to do some research on that. But the whole conversation made me wish I hadn't involved her in this at all. i don't like her being in my life to this extent, and I really don't want her to be overly involved in Peter's life.

1:01pm: Emailed Naz Sarkar - hopefully the new Reading West MP taking over from the very wonderful Martin Salter) to see if I can help... time to get involved in politics again!

12:51pm: Slight rant
One of the developers is driving me up the wall. This morning he was talking about his set-up & issues with his tenants at home. (He rents & sublets spare rooms).

He doesn't let the tenants have a key to the back door in case they don't lock it all the time.

One of the tenants persuaded him to give a back door key. After a few weeks, the back door was found to be unlocked (while tenant was in the house) and now developer is complaining that he has to spend £25 getting the locks changed so that the tenant no longer has a back door key.

I pointed out that not being able to unlock a door is a fire hazard.

He said that isn't an issue because he isn't going to have a fire.

Aparently everything in his house is completely safe, and it is not possible to have a fire there. Obviously the tenants' rooms don't have anything in them either.

So I asked - OK, say you can control it all that much (which I didn't accept) - what if someone in the flat next to you leaves a chip pan on?

"That's their problem not mine."

Then he explained that I had to understand that when you go into his house, it's a whole different set of rules, and that normal Earth laws don't apply there; he is in control. No, he wasn't kidding.

We ended up with my saying that earth laws probably would apply if he got done for manslaughter...

At the moment I'm wondering how legal this is and how I find out where he lives so I can encourage his tenants to complain to the fire brigade!

Later on...

There's a case that's been re-opened that he was working on. It was a little contentious at the time it was first done, because we disagreed on how the report should give the figures (long story short, I thought they should be correct, he thought that they would "do") - I ended up going to the on-site pharmacist and the BAs and writing up & getting approved proper requirements for this report with worked examples, and refused to pass the bug until the report matched the requirements. I think he got irritated at the time at what he regarded as my being overly stubborn & unyeilding. Especially when it took about 6+ tries to get it to a stage that I would accept.

One of the issues on which I failed it the first time was that, under certain circumstances, the report will fail to be produced at all. This got fixed.

It's now broken again after another fix to this report (making it SQL2008 compliant).

There was a separate bug raised for the failure, but talking to the Test Lead, it was decided to re-open the original as well, so that it didn't get lost, and close them both off when it was fixed. (One reason for this, by the way, is that any time anything is done to this report I want to test the WHOLE thing again 'cos it's fairly fragile.)

So the developer is pissed that I've re-opened it. I explained that it doesn't need any work done to it apart from the related fix, and they will both be closed at the same time.

He didn't agree.

It ended up with his saying "So we'll close that one then."

"No - it needs to stay open until it's all fixed."

He completely ignored what I had said, walked back round to his desk, and said "So are you closing it then?"

"No."

"OK... so do you want to do it, or will I close it?"

"No."

I think he was surprised - and irritated - that I just refused to have it closed.

Gah... he's gone through how supermarkets are deliberately causing waste so as to get people to buy more (theory - if the food is sold as close to the best before/useby/sell by date as possible, then it will go off in the home, therefore people will have to buy more to replace the wastage, therefore supermarkets keep the fresh stuff in the store-room for as long as possible so that they can sell stuff that will go off before it's eaten & increase their profits) to people on the dole...

One quote (talking about soap powder):

"Anyone who sells me a product and tells me how much to use each time is ripping me off."

I usually try not to engage!

12:26pm: Jobs at mine
Software testers (CLOSING DATE ON MONDAY!)

( Read more... )

Systems Architect

( Read more... )

Chief architect
( Read more... )

Database Developer
( Read more... )

1:29pm: Oh yeah... and speaking of Peter, little bugger decided to give me a fright this morning and didn't move about for ages! All ok now, but wishing he had chosen a less scary time to have a long nap!

1:22pm: Novel is not going well - lots of planning, lots of working out where plot is going, only 2167 words actually written.

Part of me is thinking that this year might not have been the best to start with Peter on way and working overtime for the past couple of weeks (which should now be over). On the other hand, the majority of my actual word count was done yesterday, and if I can increase it a bit & keep going, it might still work out!

At the very least, I'll have a good basis to continue with it. And I love the story - it's gone from very simple to ludicrously complex to somewhere in the middle. I've been playing with the idea for some time now, and worked out the perfect ending a couple of months ag which made me very excited about it. Now I just need to get to the end :-) I have it pretty much written in my head.

Maybe I will write the ending next. It should flow fairly easily.

I haven't decided whether to put in an epilogue or not :-) it would be nice, but then again it might be better to leave some things assumed.

I'm going to finish off the part where two of the main characters meet and fall in love, and considering posting it here. Part of me doesn't want to because I think that it would be embarrassing for anyone to read it, but then I think that that is kind of the point of writing a book? I think I may have to publish (if I get that far) under a pen name so no-one knows it was me!

How's everyone else who's doing it going?

12:41pm: NaNoWriMo
Not going as well as I'd hoped. Overtime at work & generally being knackered has not helped, but going to be doing a lot more over the next few days!

I've finally decided on a name for one of the major characters, Andrew. My original name for him, Fergus, has now been given to his best friend (or at least, they start out as friends!).

Interestingly, when I was trying to flesh him out - I knew him very well, but not what he did for a living - it occurred to make him an architect.

All of a sudden he looks like Henry Fonda!

(No, I'm not giving him the surname Davis... but having a character with the name Davis/David McCardle is very tempting!)

Ooh... actually, I think I know who could get that name... one of the police that get involved...

9:10am: PS ...

No, considering introducing inflexible shifts does not equal bringing back flexible working!

Trying to spin it that way just confirms in my mind that you are dishonest.

In completely unrelated news (ahem) I got an unsolicited email from an agent that appears to say that RM are hiring again...

1:31pm: Oh yeah... flicking through channels a couple of nights ago, and they had "50 greatest TV endings".

So I watched to see where Goodbye, Farewell & Amen ended up... expecting number 1 to be honest, 'cos what could beat it?

Number 6!?!?!?!

Behind Blind Date!!!?!?!?!?!

Grr.

Never mind. At least they did mention that it still holds the record for the most watched finale to any TV show.

7:27am: Wrote 311 words yesterday... not the best start, but we had a Monkey home last night. Today should be better!

Names are an issue though...

1:14pm: OK... possibly not so bad... typing at about 30wpm (I'm a bit faster, but thinking time!) works out at being able to do this if I spend about an hour a day on it.

Of course, it won't work out that neatly, especially with thinking time! but it is doable.

1:12pm: OK, I've gone and done it...

Signed up for http://www.nanowrimo.org/ ... writing a novel in a month during November.

I've been playing with the outline for long enough, thinking I'd do it someday... OK, here it is!

I think.

I hope it will be OK!

Also aware that I've been falling behind on other things as well, so not 100% sure taking on something else is such a good plan!

1:34pm: Mage was fun last night. We had the wonderful scene of the Euthantos, Mr Brown, accusing Clarissa of being an infernalist (yes, for those of you who recognise the name, I am re-using one of my favourite NPCs). He then gave a fantastic summary of how they managed to end up with 3 vampires trapped.

So on with the plot... they needed some hospital records for research on exactly what is going on. So they called the VA to ask at which hospital the records would be held.

Didn't ask him to check the records for the information - that would have been too easy. Even when he asked them "is there anything else you need?"... (I was proxying the VA).

To the hospital! Mr Brown, Thomas Goodensnake (Dreamspeaker) and Mr Von Brugen (Hermetic Mummy) all went to the hospital, and then tried to work out what to do after locating the records room.

Von Brugan died. (To cause a distraction.)

It worked... everyone crowded around his body, and the other two managed to sneak past & break into the record store room.

It was massive... they had to get a few successes to find the file they wanted, with each roll being 2 minutes.

Thomas did OK - found it after a few minutes. Unfortunately, just as he put his hand to it, Sean (player of Mr Brown) got a 3-point botch.

The file he was trying to tug out pulled the shelving down on top of him... making a huge crash just as Von Brugan's resuscitation was successful and he was acting confused.

This was when Mr Brown had the ingenious idea of setting fire to the records office.

With the fire, the evacuation and Von Brugan's dying again, they managed to escape. Of course, they are on CCTV.

(Oh yeah... and Von Brugan blew up an ambulance on the way out to cover the fact that his body was no longer in it.)

11:40pm: Question Time
So glad they let him on... he made an arse of himself. Very satisfying to watch!

8:56pm: MAGE MAGE MAGE MAGE MAGE MAGE MAGE !!!
IC contacts are starting to be formed, and looks like being a lot of fun :-)

1:01pm: Started off as a really good day - apart from a little panicking. Had a meeting with test manager and new test lead (she's been in QA for ages & is lovely) in order to give an overview of what we do in maintenance, how we managed cases, etc. It basically became my showing off all of the good things I've put in place to bring it under control since I started, and test manager wants to extend this process, including the spreadsheets with all the neat macros I've written, to the other half of the company's maintenance team.

So apart from feeling self-conscious & worrying I was showing off too much, I thoroughly enjoyed that!

Then we get an email round saying that the systems architect has resigned. Which is a bit of a blow. He was in charge of the developers in maintenance, and is a really lovely guy. We got on great; he knew all the ins and outs of how the system worked, always ready to help out or give advice, never made you feel silly for not knowing something, and has a sense of humour and personailty that just clicked with me - besides which, he's into SF & interested in science in general, so lots of interesting chats. I still have a couple of his books that I need to get back to him.

Anyway, not not in such a good mood any more. Out of curiousity I checked back email to find out the date I started thinking that my time at this company was limited (28/7). I had just found out that I was pregnant, which is why I didn't start looking immediately for a new job, but thinking that that could have been a mistake.

Today is very quiet, so getting to tidy things up and work on a couple of projects of my own - like getting together a library of test script sections that can be plugged together in modular form to take some of the time out of writing scripts, and generally make a couple of streamlining tweaks I've been meaning to when I had time for a while.

In other news... Christmas party. Service desk manager wants a proper sit-down do. A lot of other people don't want to spend >£100 for a night out if they bring their partners. One alternate suggestion is just get a buffet in a function room of a local pub & go there. I'm not going to go to the expensive one.

Went shopping with my mother for maternity wear at the weekend. That was frustrating and amusing. She has decided that my dad has to buy me a cot for my christmas. She's also found the one that he should buy in mothercare. My dad finds this hilarious ;-)

(Oh... and Siddles is to buy the mattress and Assa is to buy the bedclothes for it.)

I'm finding the relationship there stressful and annoying - it is a good thing to be nice to her and not shut her out of my life or Peter's life, but I am finding it difficult. Added to that is the fact that she is being financially generous makes my feel guilty about not wanting her around that much. Yes, I made the decision to include her in the big forgive-a-thon, but that doesn't mean that it is an easy thing to continue contact.

Other amusing/frustrating bits were when she was giving the benefit of her experience as a mother (yeah... you almost got your parental rights terminated, so you were doing well there, right?) and making shit up about when we were young. I didn't call her on it, but she is so full of it! ("Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.")

So... successful meeting, very good friend resigned, maternal issues... feeling better after posting :-)

12:32pm: Hey, Assa...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8306582.stm

9:28pm: On the off-chance... if anyone has experience with a Beckman Coulter N5 submicron particle analyzer, do me a favour & comment here http://community.livejournal.com/callahanians/650139.html

Fankoo!

11:42pm: Up
We went to see this tonight - it is very wonderful. Yes, I cried :-)

12:45pm: To Assa - work won't let me reply to you... very true.

12:57pm: Random updates
Birthday was last week - unfortunately was off work, which was irritating. Today I brought in cakes to work for belated birthday, but as I was tired at weekend had to bring in some bought cakes :-( However, they disappeared quickly while mine remained uncut... next year I'm not buying any, they can eat mine and like it! ;-)

Aparently I don't look 37, which is nice to know!

A lot less sore today, which is good. It's weird noticing when it doesn't hurt to move about.

Upcoming things...

Pizza day. Need to arrange trip to Glasgow. Or persuade family to come down here!

Michael's birthday.

Lizzie has dentist's appointment a week on Wednesday.

I can't wait for Mage: The Age of Wonder to start in November! It's going to be so much fun. I have absolutely no idea what I'll play in it yet. Not SoE, I don't think; Ian, Sean, Alden and possibly Luke & Eddie are genning a cabal of Etherites. While it would be fun, I think something different could be good.

Front page of metro was a survey which showed that just over half of people want the death penalty re-introduced. I'd have preferred it if the huge drop in support for it had been mentioned as more than one sentence towards the end of the article. Depending on how you calculate it, the number of people in favour of the death penalty has dropped 28% or 21% in the last 15 years. That's a cause of celebration for me, even if we still have a way to go.

I'm also wondering why this merited the front page? It's a survey. An interesting one, yes, but not that important.

Apart from anything else, it will never be economically viable for us to bring it back, as that would involve leaving the EU.

I need to book tickets for trains over Christmas. We're going to Malaga be train this time; partly because it'll be more comfortable for me as I'll be fairly big by then; Peter will be over 26 weeks by then (28 weeks pregnant) and I'm already the size of a normal 5-6 month pregnant woman due to fibroid.

This probably needs its own post, but I am so lucky to have my Ian. He makes me incredibly happy, and I love him to bits.

Ian suggested last night that I might want to take an OU course next year. Peter's expected birthdate is 11/3/10, so it might be possible to work it around then if I'm not at work for a while. It would be nice to get into studying again.

9:00pm: Ladies and gentlemen...

May I introduce you to Mr Peter John McAuley!

6:28pm: Got a site upgraded to latest SQL server today!

It's been a frustrating few weeks waiting for it to go out... delighted that it finally has.

I'm getting excited about the new mage larp. I have actually not got a huge amount of experience PLAYING mage, so I'm really looking forward to it.

I also can't wait for scan on saturday :-)

6:12pm: FFS...
And there was me in a good mood.

Someone has a Daily Mail and I saw the headline...

"NEXT STOP UK"

I know what sort of crap the racist shits will have written. This makes me depressed.

1:02pm: Woo Hoo! They fixed it while I was talking about books :-)