Stress-o-Meter
Work seems to mostly consist of raising my stress level lately. It seems like every time I turn around someone's implementing a procedure which I think is either non- or counter-productive. Today's riff involved setting deadlines for pieces of projects which don't really need deadlines, in my opinion. Doing so, I think, doesn't help get the project done faster, and is demoralizing if the deadline isn't met. And as a time management and feedback tool I find it sorely lacking compared to simply having a weekly update in person.
I'm also finding that e-mail is a severely limited tool in trying to solicit feedback. I get so much mail sometimes that anything that's not either (1) personally intriguing to me, or (2) directly related to what I'm working on right that minute gets shelved until some indeterminate future point when I can deal with it. And sending around attachments asking me to fill out spreadsheets with my opinions, estimates or progress is highly nonproductive, especially if I find the metrics of the spreadsheet to be unclear or useless.
The concept of an "e-mail attachment" is truly one of the least useful concepts ever devised for the Internet.
It's frustrating to be looking forward to the weekend on Monday. I think there comes a point where the feedback I provide to my boss is about five times more inhibiting to me than it is useful to anyone else.
We mostly sat around and talked, and went up and down State Street and shopped (I bought a game called Mississippi Queen, which is yet another German import; those folks are making some of the best games around), and Jim & Susan bought books and CDs and a few comics. For dinner we went to Porta Bella - a good Italian place in town where my friend Karen took me for my birthday last month. We met a woman who is a friend of Susan's, as they thought we might have some mutual interest. She seemed nice enough, but it's not clear how much we have in common with each other (and it sounds like that was more-or-less her reaction to me). So I don't know what will come of that. Maybe she'll read this journal entry and be grossly offended.
(Okay, I'm exaggerating. But it is clear that many people feel uncomfortable about or otherwise just don't "get" the notion of keeping an on-line journal. I'm not so sure I "get" it either, and I do sometimes wonder whether it's doing little more than adding to the stress in my life.) It is a bit sobering to actually encounter someone in a context which could actually lead to a dating situation, after many months of not really meeting anyone where there was even the smallest chance of anything happening. (It's been well over a year since I last dated someone.) I brings a certain grounding in reality to my outlook, which I think is a good thing. Beyond that, I'm not sure what I think.
On another note, Jim has this illusion that I'm an aspiring writer, in the science fictional sense. Okay, I'm exaggerating again, mainly for his benefit since I know he reads this journal (hi, Jim!). My response to that is that he's more "writer" and I'm more "aspiring". The reality is that I write a little, but only rarely, and without a whole lot of seriousness so far. I take pains not to describe myself as a writer because I don't think it's really justified. (I'd at least like to get something in submittable shape before I do that.) Maybe this is splitting hairs, but frankly I think it's a little insulting to real writers to use the appellation for myself at this point.
|
|
|
|
