I've been spending most of the last couple of weeks working, playing Diablo II
and driving around. Driving around is the most fun.
I really like exploring. I've been wandering around the parts of this town that are too far away to walk or bike. I've
also been going a bit further. Saturday, I took to wondering where Northfield Dr went and ended up
in Guelph. So I explored Guelph a bit. I like the downtown. They've got some
fabulous architecture... Much nicer than Kitchener, where their first inclination when they see an old buiding (that
hasn't burned down yet) is to tear it down and build a mall that no one wants.
Driving is still a bit tense, though. I only like it if I'm the only car on the road. This doesn't happen very often.
One irritating complication I've found around town is that, while there are lots of 4-lane parkways to get you around
places, they have this annoying tendency to merge back to 2 lanes just as traffic really picks up. Or "right land must
turn right" or "left lane must turn left." They never give you enough notice (and heaven help you in winter, when the
snow and slush cover up the little arrows on the road). Which is one of the reasons I'm doing all this exploring stuff.
I want to expand the map in my head.
Owning a car has also helped me to become a more efficient consumer. I've bought stuff in the last couple weeks I've
been meaning to buy for months, but never thought it was really worth the effort to lug all that junk home. Now I can
happily accumulate all sorts of stuff. That's good. At least that money isn't going into gasoline... I just ticked over
1300km and I've only put $40 into it ('course, it came with a full tank, only half of which was burned off on my trip
back from Belleville).
A little not popped into my inbox this morning. "It is with regret that I must announce the termination of [this
guy]'s employment with [this company]. I wish [him] all the best in his future endeavours." Full stop. "This guy"
was the person I'd been working with for the last few weeks on the project I've been working on.
I know that companies really have to terminate/fire/lay off people, and they do more harm than good being wishy washy
about it. I know that it's a hard thing to do for all involved and there generally isn't a nice way to do it. But it
really sucks. Personally, I think trying to discuss the problem before-hand is good, but I can't say that that wasn't
tried in this case. I guess there was cause (even though labour laws aren't what they used to be, wrongful dismissal
still isn't very nice). I don't know. Maybe we'll talk about it at the next team meeting. More likely it'll be something
about how he "just wasn't a fit for our organization" or somesuch and that will be that.
I do have sympathy for the managers. This isn't easy or fun. My problem is that in order to do my job well, I have to
put myself in the mindset that I'm working for a sort of extended family. I may not like all the members of that
family, but "like" isn't really relevant. The problem is that you don't just casually (or not) discard family members.
That's where the analogy breaks down. That's what leaves me feeling a bit shaken.
(The "team" analogy doesn't work very well for me. Even back when I played softball, eons ago, I couldn't really relate
to the "team" as any sort of cohesive unit. Most often, the coach was a jerk, too. Except for my dad, of course :).
But anyway, this has happened before and it will happen again, I'm sure. With any luck, not to me. :P
In happier news, I got a call from the dealer, and my car arrived today. Now all I have to do is fax him some insurance
papers by Friday and I'll be driving it back to Waterloo next week. Hm... insurance...
I've been a little stressed out lately. Never mind geopolitics, I have my first major project as a developer due
tomorrow.
Despite getting to work after 11 this morning and missing the team meeting (and I was worried about looking bad by being
late yesterday, because I had an errand to run before work), I actually pulled everything together and got everything
done by around 7 tonight. Which means I didn't actually work any overtime—which I disapprove of on principle, but in
this case, I figured I should to make up for all the slacking off I've done.
This feels really good, actually. I said I'd be done by the end of the month, and I'm done. People were willing to let
it slide (again), but I dug in and said "It will be done by the end of the month, dammit!" and lo, it was. They
doubted me, and I proved their doubts groundless. There's still some clean up work I should really do, but what I
promised I'd do, I did. Vindication! And it's kinda cool, too.
So I think I'll reward myself with a car. I deserve it, 'cuz I'm pretty darn amazing, if I do say so myself. :)