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Journal cyranoVR's Journal: Montreal 12

Journal by cyranoVR

It occurs to me that it's been over a week since Montreal and I have yet to write about it.

The Tournament
Basically, it was a mediocre tournament for me results-wise - but that's ok because this was a "practice" competition. However, of the bouts I lost, there was only one - my first one - where I felt that I didn't fence my best (my first bout - but I quickly recovered). In the first round, I got to fence the #1 ranked Canadian, plus another top Canadian fencer. I was finally eliminated by another top-canadian fencer (ranked 8th, I think) - a big lefty who scored on a lot of direct attacks :-[. So, all in all, it was a successful tournament.

MrsVR also made the 32, missing the top-16 by 1 point. And our teammate, mayal, won her event!

I had some problems with my left achillies tendon...soreness, probably from tendonitis. Also, my shin splints were acting up. So, I only took lessons the week following the tournament and spent a lot of time icing it.

My training goals for the next few weeks are 1) rehab my left achillies tendon and shins, so that I can 2) work on keeping distance from direct attacks.

Steak Tartar
After the competition, MrsVR, mayal and I went out to a bistro near our hotel where I had Steak Tartar. It was pretty good! I don't understand why people have these hangups about certain foods - sushi, for example.

A Stupid Fight
On the drive back from Montreal, MrsVR and I had a really dumb fight. It went something like this:

MrsVR: We need some help estimating the cost of a database.
Me: Ok
MrsVR: How much would it cost?
Me: Ummm...what sort of database?
MrsVR: A database of events. People could search the events by location, date...
Me: Ok, is this a web site application or distributed software?
MrsVR: It's a database ok? You tell me!
Me: Ok, these days you would do something like this on the web, so for maximum $50 a month you could rent a server to host the application...
MrsVR: Listen, you have to buy a computer to develop the application yes?
Me: I don't think so...
MrsVR: Somebody's going to have to write the application, and then we'll have to buy a computer to host it!
Me: I think whoever you hired could write the application for about ($amount/10) - and you could rent the computer for almost nothing.

[About 10 mins of arguing over whether or not we'd have to buy a computer follow.

During the course of this discussion, I figure out that MrsVR foresees the main cost of the project being maintaining and updating the database content]

MrsVR: You're going to have to pay somebody to update the database, yes?
Me: Just get some college student intern to do it for minimum wage, geez.
MrsVR: They're not reliable!

[More bickering on this topic]

[Eventually, I learn the backstory: MrsVR has been charged with investigating this project, and has to come up with plausible reasons why it will cost more than $amount. She's pissed at me because I keep thinking of reasons that it could cost less than a $amount However, nobody in her team wants to do this project, and the only method they have to bring it down is cost! Which brings us to our conclusion:]

Me: So you want me to come up with a business plan that costs more than $amount? Well why didn't you fucking say so. It'd take me about 0.0001 seconds to find some asshole who will overcharge us to write an application

MrsVR: Dammit, you should have figured that out to begin with! That's why you'll never be a manager.

Of course, I'm leaving a lot more backstory out because it's nobody's fucking business. And MrsVR will probably jump in here (or in meatspace) to claim that I was a dumbass, etc. But the point remains: ESTIMATING THE _TRUE_ COST OF A SOFTWARE PROJECT IS NIGH IMPOSSIBLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE LEFT TO MAKE UP THE SPECIFICATIONS ON YOUR OWN *wheeze*

Somebody back me up on this!

UPDATE: 11:47 AM EST
Looks like I'm sleeping on the couch again tonight. DAMN YOU, SLASHDOT!

This discussion was created by cyranoVR (518628) for Friends and Friends of Friends only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Montreal More

Montreal

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  • Yes, you need more info to give a good answer.

    "What are your specifications & what budget range were you thinking of?"

  • i've known and had many different managers. not one of them ever seemed to have any clairvoyant abilities. if you don't either, i don't see how that will stop you from being a manager. it might even be a bonus for you that you don't.
    • MrsVR has made the point that managers/directors are universally left to figure out all the specifications on their own.

      I.e. the Board says "we want a web site" and you are left to figure out everything else.

      My point is that you go back to the board and get as much information as possible from them, rather than just "making a guess" about what they want.
  • I used to get shin slints a lot when I jogged. Swimming every other day was the best way I found to get rid of them without stopping jogging.
  • Women need to realize that men do actually value different things in general. Thus we think differently. Once we add in things like how hard it is to read minds, then there's no way that we can give a good answer. How is anybody supposed to know that you were supposed to give a more expensive quote?
    • Women need to realize that men do actually value different things in general.

      Where the fuck did this chauvanistic comment come from? Some of the best IT project managers I have known were women.

      You know what? Go fuck yourself.
      • Some of the best IT project managers I have known were women.
        Sure. I believe that. However, in general, they do value different things. It's impossible for 2 totally different groups to value the same things.
      • You know what? Go fuck yourself.
        I think that that is extremely rude. Judging by your previous comments, I'd say that you misunderstood me. Misunderstanding is not a big deal. It's the fact that you disrespected me, and also because you didn't even take a moment to check whether you understood or not.

        By speaking to me with such foul language, you destroy what little friendship we do have.

        Are really going to stand by that statement that I quoted?
        • You insulted my wife. She called me at work upset about your chavaunistic comment, as well as the fact that I provided a venue for it. If you don't think that gives me a right to tell you to fuck off, well, you can fuck off. Consider: in a more noble time, I might have been required to Challenge you to restore her honour.

          I wonder: would you have made your little comment had I removed the gender pronouns of the anecdote. Because, after all, they were truly irrelevant. I've had worse exchanges with mal

          • would you have made your little comment had I removed the gender pronouns of the anecdote

            Absolutely not. However, that doesn't change the fact that what I said is true. Women do think differently than guys, which isn't bad at all. In male-female relationships, women do tend to more often have expectations that you know what they are thinking and that's where the problems begin. Men have other problems. I wouldn't know what they are, though, because of my own blind spots.

            This isn't about who is superior and

  • Look, I don't have any more specifications than you have. I'm making this up on the fly, and we cannot assume that we're going to be able to get the best deals out there since nobody involved has a lot of time. You can rule out volunteer labor, plus this thing needs to be updated frequently. The easy answer is always, somebody else tell me what to do, but we don't have that luxury, something you seem to have forgotten.

    As a department head and director, I am frequently called upon to determine viability for
    • Just make an educated guess.

      Suffice to say, making an "educated" guess implies having *some* information at all, as opposed to a big, fat zero.

      Recall that you started by asking about the software/hardware side of things, but then got frustrated with me because I didn't factor in manpower costs (in fact, from my personal experience with projects such as these, database updates is not a significant factor).

      Suffice to say, we will conclude this discussion in meatspace.

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