Chill

Haven't seen the insides of a woman in months. But work is predictable, paying for the bills, and more. Feels just like the first year at college.

At some point, I'll get back to studying. But first, relax.

Some say the leopard hunts in darkness. But it seems to me that surrounding yourself with excited, screaming, yelling people is a good way to ensure that you're never the easiest target of attack. Then again, the latter is a defensive strategy, whereas the former is offensive, I suppose.

Google "apps"

Such a pleasant day. Nothing to worry about. No crashing web applications. No weird new languages. No crises at work. No operations falling over. No responsibility. Just wash dishes, follow house rules, and go home. I wonder how long this will last.

All my application letters read like this. :-S But honesty is still the best policy, I find.

"Hello.

While there seems to be just one job offered by X in Y that both interests me, and does not disqualify me based on minimum requirements, there seem to be a plethora of jobs available in Z.

However, I am still not exactly sure how how my diverse experience and generalist interest are best suited to serving X operations. So I must again, state that it would be nice if we could have a chat about where I might best fit in.

The five jobs I have included in this job cart are merely the first five which interested me at the Z office, which did not disqualify me based on minimum requirements. I remain open-minded and curious to know where YOU would see me delivering the best value for money, to X.

I have ten to twenty years to commit to a project, and would be willing to consider a career at X, should one be available.

Jerng"

And now that PWC has dragged Booz's branding down to its level... I guess we're going to see a massive pop in the supply of consultant job applicants over the next few months...

... not that I would know how any of this really works.

Green Architecture

Following a discussion on LEDs vs other lighting options, and energy efficiency.

Two things I'm designing into my next F&B outlet:

1. dry/ventilated space for drying cloths/other stuff; maybe by putting the air-conditioning compressors indoors

2. natural air-flow to aid cooling, and to minimise air-conditioning usage; always hated those machines - worst thing on earth; so much more efficient to have air-cooled spaces with iced drinks

MHL

TIL about mini-HDMI and MHL ports on phones. Bye bye desktops - I don't think I need you much anymore...

Selling Out (By Accident)

Day 20 of operations - granted, it was due to supply-chain mismanagement, and not primarily cost cutting. Sigh.

Job Shopping Checklist

Cursory prep for meetings to discuss potential employment.

Checklist:

1. The outcome does not matter.
2. Determine deliverables and timelines.
3. Determine price.
4. Shoot the shit.
5. Have fun, and learn something about the target organisation.

Revisiting

Chucked out job apps for McKinsey & BCG for the first time since 2008. Will be very surprised if they take me seriously. Meanwhile, #occupyBed.

Following this, I sleep in till past noon for the first time since time immemorable - okay, just a matter of weeks, I suppose. I wake up looking forward to a predictable day. So shift over at 11pm, truck home, two hours of hobby time, sleep, wake, shift begins at 2pm. It starting to feel like a normal life.

Meanwhile at job applications I think: I don't need work life balance - I just need more work.

Update: The mastery of mediocre aesthetics, enables the political mastery of massive profit. Be a pleb. Do the right thing. 

First Encounters with SHB Rio Azul

How we (start to) do stack traces in coffee...

2:00pm: "Salty."
2:30pm: "Fish."
3:00pm: "Salt fish."
4:00pm: "Berry aftertaste. Still salt fish."
8:00pm: "Pourover is also salty."
8:30pm: "HOLY MOLY - look at the %-size variance in bean size. AND THEY LEFT THE PEABERRIES IN THE ROAST... D:"

SCAA coffee grading error rate classification.

Spend enough time doing flavour (dependent variable) profiling of espresso, with water pressure (up to 10 bar; independent variable), and you start to worry about the vapour pressure of every !@#$%^ chemical in your coffee...

... it seems however, that for the most part, pressure simply determines the flow-rate of water through the puck, and that is what we're really trying to control when we pressure-profile.