Jambo's recent activity

  1. Comment on Software development is nonlinear system in ~comp

    Jambo
    Link
    Preamble: I'm tired and crabby so this may come off as scathing. It's not, I've been programming some 8 or so years now and can agree on the concepts the author is speaking about. In practice,...

    Preamble: I'm tired and crabby so this may come off as scathing. It's not, I've been programming some 8 or so years now and can agree on the concepts the author is speaking about. In practice, it's not so easy but in an ideal world, they're not far off.

    I think a lot of dev success comes from a strong project manager or just manager in general. When it all falls on the dev, things get really hard, really fast. I would kill to have a guy go out and get requirements, have meetings for me, understand the problems that the client faces and get back to me with the bare necessities so I can focus on what I do best, which is writing good and efficient code. It's much, much harder to be good at MY things if I end up wearing everyone else's hats... now I'm not super good at any one thing, I'm just kind of good at tons of things and really shitty about getting everything done in a work day.

    I'm coming up on the end of a project currently that has taken us (me and my 1 coworker) roughly a year to complete. About 4 or so of those 12 months have been mostly coding, while maybe 2-3 were spent on interruptions and day-to-day minutiae. I spent a LOT of time gathering information, building a scope of work, building documentation on how the existing system works, the problems, the requests, requirements etc. I mean a LOT of time.

    Being here now, within 3 or so weeks of shipping, I feel my efforts spent preparing amounted to a failure. I didn't have enough detail, I missed topics that should have been discussed a long time ago so that by now I wasn't running around trying to get a plan together. I thought I was being overly thorough and I missed things that have really slowed me down, causing tons and tons of overtime, stress, depression, burnout and honestly I thought about quitting my job over this multiple times. I love my job, I've been here going on 10 years now. This is the first project that has ever kicked my ass like this. I feel defeated because when I was building out those docs, I felt like I was making everything easier. In practice, they weren't used at all, it was a total failure. Now I'm overworked, tired, stressed, and I can't think of anything other than this project. I have dreams about it. I'm not joking, I eat sleep and breathe this project right now.

    Thinking is a skill. It's easy to think too much about the wrong thing, and miss a big problem all together. It's especially hard to do well when you're part of a small team (think "Jack of all trades"). I'm not saying I don't think about problems, I spend ~50% of my day thinking. Some days I don't produce a single line of code. Some days I'm just putting together a plan. But it is very hard to get into 'the flow' when there are interruptions, fix-it tickets, special reports, outages (thanks crowdstrike...), etc. Hell, with such a small team (my 2 man team), if one of us gets sick we're basically both not getting anything done for the day because there's too much overhead and the person who is here can't concentrate at all on any meaningful amount of progress.

    Yeah, this is indicative of a poorly managed department. I'm part of the problem, my IT director is a part of the problem, and the company culture is a part of the problem. People have no problem pinging me in our chat app instead of going through the ticketing system. Things get lost, balls get dropped. All that to say, it's not always rainbow and sunshine. I would love to get out of bed at 6am, stretch, go for a morning jog, get to work, peacefully contemplate and gingerly type my problem away, but reality is a bitch and that basically never happens. In reality, I'm getting dragged into meetings all day, getting nothing done so I ended up sending a report to the CEO at 1am last night, I finally get to bed and my kid wakes me up cause she peed the bed at 3am, dog is barking at the rain at 5 and I drag my sorry ass out of bed at 8:25 to be at work at 8 (ofc I work from home).

    The part I think that mostly rubbed me the wrong way was the section on taking care of myself. Sure, all that sounds wonderful, but how? When do I have time to go out with friends? What friends? I haven't had a friend since high school. Of course that's sad, and of course I should fix that and work on myself and be better to myself. My diet sucks, my mood sucks, I'm depressed, tired, in a rut and it takes such a monumental effort just to take a shower some days.... how will I ever live up to how I should be doing things?

    There's a lot we SHOULD do, and it's easy to point out the best path to the best version of yourself, the problem is taking the step is so incredibly difficult sometimes.

    Sorry, this mostly turned into a therapy session. I probably shouldn't have posted it, but I do think reality vs "how you should be doing it" can be extremely difficult to sync so I hope I at least made that point, even if poorly.

    9 votes

  2. Comment on CrowdStrike code update bricking Windows machines around the world in ~tech

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    Apparently so... I'm not happy - I'm going to try to get around it with the link from Lapbunny but I think I'm screwed

    Apparently so... I'm not happy - I'm going to try to get around it with the link from Lapbunny but I think I'm screwed

    1 vote

  3. Comment on CrowdStrike code update bricking Windows machines around the world in ~tech

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    I'll definitely try it! thanks

    I'll definitely try it! thanks

    1 vote

  4. Comment on CrowdStrike code update bricking Windows machines around the world in ~tech

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    Our entire company has crowdstrike (falcon sensor) on our workstations

    Our entire company has crowdstrike (falcon sensor) on our workstations

    2 votes

  5. Comment on CrowdStrike code update bricking Windows machines around the world in ~tech

    Jambo
    Link
    My laptop was affected but I have the added bonus of somehow having bitlocker enabled on my machine.... None of my accounts show this machine has bitlocker and I've never set it up, I don't really...

    My laptop was affected but I have the added bonus of somehow having bitlocker enabled on my machine.... None of my accounts show this machine has bitlocker and I've never set it up, I don't really know what I'll do, I guess just wipe the drive and cry.

    7 votes

  6. Comment on Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur | Official trailer in ~games

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    It looks like an incredible league. I wasn't too into necropolis and my work kept me really busy so I didn't play much at all, but I can see myself sinking way too much time into SoK I can't wait!

    It looks like an incredible league. I wasn't too into necropolis and my work kept me really busy so I didn't play much at all, but I can see myself sinking way too much time into SoK

    I can't wait!

  7. Comment on Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur | Official trailer in ~games

  9. Comment on How to take care of a new cutting board? in ~food

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    Valid, and I did mean to say 'food safe' variants, whoops on that one. With the amount of flaked off Teflon coating or plastic cutting board shards I've probably consumed, I don't consider it...

    Valid, and I did mean to say 'food safe' variants, whoops on that one. With the amount of flaked off Teflon coating or plastic cutting board shards I've probably consumed, I don't consider it overly dangerous (for my own personal safety) so I don't mind using it, but I do agree that it is very good knowledge to have so thanks for pointing it out!

    3 votes

  10. Comment on How to take care of a new cutting board? in ~food

    Jambo
    Link
    Don't dishwash it, the high heat and humidity will delaminate the board. A simple scrub with some dish soap is all it needs, and dry it with a towel and leave it out to fully dry. Don't let the...
    • Exemplary
    1. Don't dishwash it, the high heat and humidity will delaminate the board.
    2. A simple scrub with some dish soap is all it needs, and dry it with a towel and leave it out to fully dry. Don't let the soap sit on the board. Soaking the board may seem like a good idea to let the soap penetrate, but this is not good for the life of the board.
    3. Oil the board around 1 time per month with a non-spoiling oil. Don't use things like vegetable or avocado oil. Food grade mineral oil is ideal. Apply generously, let sit for a bit, wipe off excess.

    That's really about it. People get nervous cutting raw meats on cutting boards so they go overboard on cleaning but it's not necessary and will shorten the life of the board dramatically. Wood has antimicrobial properties and keeping the board oiled will stop fluid transfer deep into the board.

    Edit: also, I still tend to use a board for meats and a separate board for veg, though between cooking sessions it matters not. I just typically am processing multiple ingredients at once and I like to have it sunk into my head which one is for which task

    Edit2: the board will gather stains over time. This is normal and does not mean the board is dirty. You can sand most of it out if you really want to but the board will patina, don't worry about it.

    31 votes

  11. Comment on Nvidia RTX 50 graphics card family TDPs 'leaked' by Seasonic in ~tech

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    The problem they are facing and the reason this is happening is they have to produce a stronger card than last year to keep investors happy, but they're hitting the limits of what silicon chips...

    The problem they are facing and the reason this is happening is they have to produce a stronger card than last year to keep investors happy, but they're hitting the limits of what silicon chips can accomplish without pushing more power through them. This issue is exacerbated by the high heat output as well, there are diminishing returns on how much "bang for the watt" we can achieve now that we have pushed these chips this far and transistors this small.

    This is also why they have been heavily invested in software for things like DLSS, they are somewhat cooked on hardware so they're trying to find things they can do to the resultant image to reduce processing cost without the user seeing or feeling it (in quality or latency).

    I'm interested to see if they will eventually find a way to reduce their instruction set (like apple did when they went away from traditional CISC processors) to reduce the amount of work a gpu has to do without interfering with the capabilities of the card. I'm also interested to see what happens after silicon, like graphene. I'm sure whatever it is will be quite pricey for us consumers for a good long while.

    20 votes

  12. Comment on Black magic chocolate cake made with condensed tomato soup in ~food

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    https://chatgpt.com/share/ba4c275c-5db3-48c2-9c62-0228dc590c53 I went ahead and asked and it did a few web searches instead of giving me sources for it's original text. However, even those...

    https://chatgpt.com/share/ba4c275c-5db3-48c2-9c62-0228dc590c53

    I went ahead and asked and it did a few web searches instead of giving me sources for it's original text. However, even those "sources" it found, they were all talking about spice cakes, not chocolate. I asked about it, which caused another web search.

    It could be that it's more concerned with cake in general and doesn't consider the types an important detail when making the original claims that it came from Campbell's. This is an excellent reminder to always (always!) double check the info you get from these LLMs, they aren't search engines or encyclopedias, they are effectively just very fancy next-word-guessers.

    6 votes

  13. Comment on Steam - Game Recording Beta - A new built-in system for creating and sharing your gameplay footage in ~games

    Jambo
    Link
    This is good timing, I'm getting frustrated with geforce experience/gamebar corrupting my clips and leaving me with a useless pile of bits. I'll definitely check this out!

    This is good timing, I'm getting frustrated with geforce experience/gamebar corrupting my clips and leaving me with a useless pile of bits. I'll definitely check this out!

    7 votes

  14. Comment on Your dishwasher is better than you think in ~life.home_improvement

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    Alec has a knack for making an entertaining 30 minute video about something minor or mundane. Ask me to watch a half hour long video about blinkers? No thanks... Oh wait it's a technology...

    Alec has a knack for making an entertaining 30 minute video about something minor or mundane. Ask me to watch a half hour long video about blinkers? No thanks... Oh wait it's a technology connections video? On second thought ...

    25 votes

  15. Comment on Need help BCCing entire Outlook autofill contact list in ~comp

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    This is the way, I'd send it to some high traffic clients to cover the bigger jobs and say "ok boss, all done!" and move on with life.

    This is the way, I'd send it to some high traffic clients to cover the bigger jobs and say "ok boss, all done!" and move on with life.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    I personally think it's still a good time to play smite 1, though I don't typically play conquest (the main 3-lane mode), I play assault (ARAM) overwhelmingly but sometimes jump into arena. I stop...

    I personally think it's still a good time to play smite 1, though I don't typically play conquest (the main 3-lane mode), I play assault (ARAM) overwhelmingly but sometimes jump into arena. I stop playing for months at a time (mostly when Path of Exile leagues come out) so I feel like I can't keep up with metas in conquest.

    1 vote

  17. Comment on Games where the campaign serves as the tutorial? in ~games

    Jambo
    Link
    Path of Exile, for sure. It's an immense game but mechanics are somewhat slowly presented throughout the campaign and then in endgame you specialize with your atlas into the mechanics you like...

    Path of Exile, for sure. It's an immense game but mechanics are somewhat slowly presented throughout the campaign and then in endgame you specialize with your atlas into the mechanics you like doing. Even basic game functions like linked sockets can be challenging for new players to grasp right off the bat but it does some hand-holding so long as you don't skip the tutorial screens that pop up

    1 vote

  18. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Jambo
    Link
    Work has been painful lately and I don't get to game as much as I used to, but I still sneak away for a couple hours here and there. I've been playing a fair bit of PUBG again after years away. I...

    Work has been painful lately and I don't get to game as much as I used to, but I still sneak away for a couple hours here and there.

    I've been playing a fair bit of PUBG again after years away. I have always thought the gunplay in pubg surpasses every other BR I have played. I don't typically play on my own, I like duos and squads because there's more activity and less bunkering down in a house waiting for someone to let their guard down. I was nudging my friend group to give it another shot and they were not keen on it because helldivers was still relatively new and they were having fun, so I let it go for a bit till one of my friends brought it up on their own in conversation, which got the ball rolling. We've been having a blast playing the last few weeks.

    When no one's around and I don't have a mission to do, I'll play Smite, which is kind of like league of legends but in a 3rd person view and not top down. I have been playing since original closed beta on and off and it's my go-to for a quick couple of games on lunch break etc. Smite 2 is coming soon which I hope will revitalize the player base. We'll have to see how well received it is but it looks promising. It's practically the same game but rebuilt from scratch on UE5 to enable a lot more creative space to work in.

    If all else fails, a couple of rounds of Balatro can kill a few minutes :)

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Mini split confusion (efficiency and sizing) in ~life.home_improvement

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    I may have to get my buddy chatgpt involved to get it filled out right but I'll definitely do this, thanks!

    I may have to get my buddy chatgpt involved to get it filled out right but I'll definitely do this, thanks!

  20. Comment on Mini split confusion (efficiency and sizing) in ~life.home_improvement

    Jambo
    Link Parent
    Haha West is my hometown so I've got some family recipes but I can't ever get them to come out quite like grandmas. You need about 2 truckloads of butter and sugar to get close :) funny that...

    Haha West is my hometown so I've got some family recipes but I can't ever get them to come out quite like grandmas. You need about 2 truckloads of butter and sugar to get close :) funny that Colorado is one of our "if we ever get outta here" spots, even had our honeymoon there.

    Thanks for the info! I'll definitely look into these.

    1 vote