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Journal FortKnox's Journal: Did ya miss me? 17

Journal by FortKnox
Well, some of you may have been graced with some comments by me recently ;-), but I've been not around the ./ community much the past few weeks.

Where have I been?
Well, I was on the bench[1] for a while, and that makes me nervous. Bencher's are the first people you look at during lay-off periods. Not saying that there was or is going to be a layoff period, but the market isn't fully recovered, and I just bought a house (and have a family, etc...) so I was nervous. So most of my benchtime was spent doing something productive.

Then I got reassigned. The problem with consultants and assignment... usually the first couple weeks you don't have an environment setup. This is where I was. I was sharing a computer with someone else (peer programming sucks, btw). And today I got setup with my own box. So I should be around some more to write JE's, comment in other JE's, flame back at java-hating trolls, etc...

Its a company I was at before, and they pretty much don't mind much, but they had a recent change in security, and AIM isn't allowed anymore. I'll try to setup a proxy and see if that works, though.

Also, this weekend I hope to upgrade my server (finally) and get something interesting put up.

[1] on the bench is a consulting term. When you are between assignments, you are at the consultant company headquarters keeping your resume up to date, and doing anything to make yourself more sellable. Although its nice to be on the bench for a week between assignments (nice relaxing week), anything longer is either boring or scary (depending on the market).
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Did ya miss me? More

Did ya miss me?

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  • Congrats on getting another assignment. We lost a contract guy here two weeks ago and he sat on the bench less than a week. He took the first offer he got which moved him from Detroit to St. Louis. Kind of extreme if you ask me especially since he just bought a house here which made me think of your situation. Would you move for a new assignment?

    Java-haters, huh? Well, this isn't about java specifically but the JavaOne banner they are running here on /. has to be one of the most blurry images I've ever se

  • Almost as much as Java. ;) Seriously, you can't do file transfers or direct chat or audio or video or basically anything that requires you have the correct open on the firewall.

    But it's probably better than nothing. ;)
  • Good to see you on /. again ^_^

    I am truly honoured to have journal comments by the great FK. When I think back, it was mostly (*cough*all*cough*) because of you and Xer friending me when I started posting rather than lurking that other people started to read my journal in the first place. Now look at all the trouble you've caused as a result of that! ^_~
  • I know what "on the bench" means. There are other terms like "on the beach". Yeah, I'm also a consultant and know the funs of being "on the bench". Currently at client, and they only have one internet PC in this openspace, which we have to use all. So esteem yourself lucky ;-) The company network is separated from the internet. I can't even send emails....

    Anyways, glad to hear you're back. Let's just say that I didn't notice too much... I had unfortunately other things around my head :-(

  • That is what we used to do. If it looked like I would be rolling off a project and didn't have another one lined up, we'd go on a trip. Might as well since vacation and bench time count against your utilization the same anyway.

    Now her vacation is scheduled a year in advance, so it doesn't work so well.

  • I know some peeps at accenture (What a dumb-ass name!) who whenever they are on the bench they get pulled into contract bid proposals; if you aren't making money you are working on making money- but maybe thats just the kind of position THEY were in...

  • I probably would have missed you more if I hadn't been travelling. Glad to here you're not still riding the pine.

    I went to Texas twice in the last 3 weeks. One nephew graduated from UT, Austin. I toured the state capital building the day the Democrats defected to Oklahoma.

    Last weekend I went to Houston to see my other nephew graduate from High School.

    I had visions of loosing my software job after being photographed kissing major hooters at underage student drinking parties like the Iowa basketball coach [wayne.edu]

  • You know what I thought of when I saw that subject line? BREASTS!

    ~SW, openly mocking slashdotters since 2000

  • You and Em were/are MIA. I was starting to get a little worried.

    I still haven't seen anything new Polls out of Em's camp. I guess he's busy with new housr stuff.

    I'm glad to see your back, and working, Good Luck!

    Sean D.
  • Links to your journal with a comment of "Fishing for compliments with dynamite", so yeah, we missed you. In turn vacation starts 10/11/2003 at 1700EDT, 5 days in the beautiful Virgin Islands.

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