What have I been up to lately...
Things are basically unchanged. I've neglected my blog for a long time, so let's catch up.
- I have won a cool prize playing Google's Davinci Code Quest.
Yep. I am a big winner! The contest was 24 puzzles that had to be completed. One puzzle was released each day. The first 10,000 to complete all 24 puzzles won a replica Cryptex (see pic below.) Basically though, it boiled down to the first 10,000 that completed the last puzzle. From what I have seen, you had to have completed the last puzzle within about 11 minutes of when it was released. I completed it in 7. Also, because I am one of the 10,000 finalists, I get to play the final round, which starts this Friday. It's pretty exciting I guess, though I doubt I have much chance to win. There is only 1 grand prize winner. The grand prize is 4 trips (NY, Paris, London and Rome) and a bunch of electronics from Sony.
Image of the Cryptex that I won.
- I have become, unfortunately, the Access Guru.
Sounds like a good title, but it really sucks. My company thinks that they can just use me to create whatever Access db/app they dream up. It all started because I created a "letters database" for my supervisor and a couple other people in the area. It's pretty basic... it allows them to input some info into forms, saves it, then allows them to print out preformatted letters. Now because I did that, they are dreaming up all kinds of things they want me to do. The main problem I have with this is that I am being paid to be an Administrative Assistant. If they want me to do all these Access programs, then I think I should be getting at least Analyst pay. It feels like they are taking advantage of me so that they don't have to pay the IT department to create software for them. (The IT department charges a per hour rate for the other departments... kinda wierd too.)
They came to me with a huge project. I can't go into too much details, of course, because I want to keep my confidentiality safe for now... They want to integrate a web app with no direct database access into an Access program. It's a screwed up system to begin with, we do not "own" the web app therefore we cannot make changes to it and the web app itself is going to go through a major upgrade in about 3-4 months, so anything I do know will need a major upgrade at that time. I haven't started this project yet, as they just came to me with it last week. Can I just say I don't want to do it?
- Related... my department loves Access, so I reported them!
There's one "major" Access program that is used by my department. It's against company policy to hold passwords in an Access database, but this one does. And it's unlocked, so that anybody could view anyone else's passwords. Brilliant! So I reported it. The other day, I had a meeting about the new Access DB that I mentioned above and they read an "annonymous tip" they received through the audit channels. Hmm, they all wondered who it was. My lips were sealed.
- Need a website?
I have been doing freelance web programming since January when I found the site scriptlance.com. It started as just something to do, but I've actually made some decent money doing it. Now I found a guy from New York City that owns a web developement business and I work part time for him. He pays hourly almost as much as I make here. I'm considering quitting working here so I can do that full time. I have less than 2 months left until I am vested at this job, so I wouldn't quit it until then. But then I have to worry about health insurance and related benefits too, so who knows.
You might ask why I don't just find a job as a web programmer locally? I have tried. It's pretty difficult because of a couple reasons: This market is very picky about degrees and experience and I don't have a degree and my professional experience is limited even though my personal experience is more, and most companies in this area use Microsoft web development tools where I am most familiar with other tools.
If you're interested...
Both of these are my personal sites:
WackyQuote
DIYAutoTech
I have one more personal site in development. I'll let you know when it's finished, but I'm not really putting much time into it. Too many other projects to do first.
As far as other peoples projects...
Mostly I have done just some scripting and customizing lately. No full sites that I can show you yet. I am working on one large site, but it's not released yet. Going to be going into testing starting this weekend. When it gets released, I can post here if anyone is interested.
So there you have it. Sorry I've been "in hiding."
- I have won a cool prize playing Google's Davinci Code Quest.
Yep. I am a big winner! The contest was 24 puzzles that had to be completed. One puzzle was released each day. The first 10,000 to complete all 24 puzzles won a replica Cryptex (see pic below.) Basically though, it boiled down to the first 10,000 that completed the last puzzle. From what I have seen, you had to have completed the last puzzle within about 11 minutes of when it was released. I completed it in 7. Also, because I am one of the 10,000 finalists, I get to play the final round, which starts this Friday. It's pretty exciting I guess, though I doubt I have much chance to win. There is only 1 grand prize winner. The grand prize is 4 trips (NY, Paris, London and Rome) and a bunch of electronics from Sony.
Image of the Cryptex that I won.
- I have become, unfortunately, the Access Guru.
Sounds like a good title, but it really sucks. My company thinks that they can just use me to create whatever Access db/app they dream up. It all started because I created a "letters database" for my supervisor and a couple other people in the area. It's pretty basic... it allows them to input some info into forms, saves it, then allows them to print out preformatted letters. Now because I did that, they are dreaming up all kinds of things they want me to do. The main problem I have with this is that I am being paid to be an Administrative Assistant. If they want me to do all these Access programs, then I think I should be getting at least Analyst pay. It feels like they are taking advantage of me so that they don't have to pay the IT department to create software for them. (The IT department charges a per hour rate for the other departments... kinda wierd too.)
They came to me with a huge project. I can't go into too much details, of course, because I want to keep my confidentiality safe for now... They want to integrate a web app with no direct database access into an Access program. It's a screwed up system to begin with, we do not "own" the web app therefore we cannot make changes to it and the web app itself is going to go through a major upgrade in about 3-4 months, so anything I do know will need a major upgrade at that time. I haven't started this project yet, as they just came to me with it last week. Can I just say I don't want to do it?
- Related... my department loves Access, so I reported them!
There's one "major" Access program that is used by my department. It's against company policy to hold passwords in an Access database, but this one does. And it's unlocked, so that anybody could view anyone else's passwords. Brilliant! So I reported it. The other day, I had a meeting about the new Access DB that I mentioned above and they read an "annonymous tip" they received through the audit channels. Hmm, they all wondered who it was. My lips were sealed.
- Need a website?
I have been doing freelance web programming since January when I found the site scriptlance.com. It started as just something to do, but I've actually made some decent money doing it. Now I found a guy from New York City that owns a web developement business and I work part time for him. He pays hourly almost as much as I make here. I'm considering quitting working here so I can do that full time. I have less than 2 months left until I am vested at this job, so I wouldn't quit it until then. But then I have to worry about health insurance and related benefits too, so who knows.
You might ask why I don't just find a job as a web programmer locally? I have tried. It's pretty difficult because of a couple reasons: This market is very picky about degrees and experience and I don't have a degree and my professional experience is limited even though my personal experience is more, and most companies in this area use Microsoft web development tools where I am most familiar with other tools.
If you're interested...
Both of these are my personal sites:
WackyQuote
DIYAutoTech
I have one more personal site in development. I'll let you know when it's finished, but I'm not really putting much time into it. Too many other projects to do first.
As far as other peoples projects...
Mostly I have done just some scripting and customizing lately. No full sites that I can show you yet. I am working on one large site, but it's not released yet. Going to be going into testing starting this weekend. When it gets released, I can post here if anyone is interested.
So there you have it. Sorry I've been "in hiding."
posted by lookingbusy at
3:22 PM
2 Comments:
Hey sweetie, congrats on the davinci prize, and good luck on the next round of competition. I don't need a website, but if I know anyone who does, I'll send 'em your way!
By
DaMasta, at 5/20/2006 4:13 PM
I got to get your wacky box I like to call it up on my new site!
It's still on my old one I'm just lazy:-)
Glad your at blogshares your the kind of people I like to associate with and I am forgetting the rest!
Congrats on winning the prize!
Good luck looking busy at work!
By
Chris, at 6/01/2006 1:44 PM
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