Just another short blurb tonight (lol). Just another fantastic day at work today; a colleague had issues with a program he had developed, and QA (quality assurance) was testing; he was informed by QA either late last week or this past Monday that ‘something was wrong’, and I’ve been helping him try to determine the root cause. The irony here is he’s a seasoned cobol programmer (and I’m not), … [Read more...]
Working with a colleague, trying to determine why “Read-only” checkbox is checked on MS-Windows file.
July 4, 2024 By
Thrivent reflections – followup to a post from 2019-05-24
May 24, 2020 By
Huh. How things rapidly changed after I wrote this post a year ago. A month after this, myself and twenty others in the IT dept were given four weeks notice that we were to be laid off at the end of July; the VP mentioned below (Sanjaye) was subsequently arrested for child abuse (teenage daughter/step daughter), leading to his termination; And lastly, within just three weeks of the actual … [Read more...]
Don’t you hate this when it happens?
November 17, 2018 By
Get home, unload the backpack/briefcase of some personal papers and iPad, and then notice no work laptop. Ninety nine percent sure it’s still on my desk at work, but that nagging one percent says, it fell out of the backpack between the office to the bus, or getting off the bus. I would expect someone would be chasing me down, yelling about a busted laptop on the bus floor or sidewalk concrete, … [Read more...]
Releasing new software once again at zero dark thirty
November 11, 2018 By
Up at 4:45 am to do a software application release/install, with a colleague. Fortunately, this can be accomplished at home. install went fine without any issues. Our testers/validators are scheduled to start testing at 7. Will have to wait until 8 for them to finish with that before (maybe) heading back to bed for a few hours. My body/head does not like getting up this early. I remember doing … [Read more...]
Getting up early for work
October 25, 2018 By
It is “dark zero thirty” here on the bus, at 6:45 am. Senior management has scheduled a day long Demo session (by the vendor), starting at 8am, of the new application(s) we’ll be using in the near future. I do not like getting up at 6am, that is a perfectly good waste of precious REM sleep for me. We’ll see if I will fall asleep by mid afternoon, in the video conference room, with my fellow … [Read more...]
Random thoughts, state fair booksale, ServiceNow
October 6, 2018 By
Facebook asks, “What’s on your mind”, at 5:30am this morning? Insomnia - maybe. Acid reflux - nope, not this “morning”. Tinnitus - definitely a yep. Take your pick. My pal Rick went to the State Fair Grounds yesterday for “Half Price Books” book sale. All books were $2 or less. He picked up twelve books for $20. Guess I’m going to get my butt over there this morning and see if I can pick up a … [Read more...]
Crabbing about Mass Transit and having to work on a Saturday
August 12, 2018 By
There is not much that I crab about or get irritated with these days, but this morning takes the cake. I had something to do at work today, an all day long thing (upgrade of a product I support). Knowing 35w is under construction/closed, I drove to the MOA train station (actually the 28th ave. station), got on the train, anticipating the usual 30 min ride to downtown. Halfway there, at 38th … [Read more...]
Good day at work – probably was coding a new enhancement
July 31, 2018 By
Gotta be quick, we’re about to pull into the (Beautiful Downtown) AV transit station. Had a great day today work-wise. Yesterday wasn’t so bad either. In fact, had a great week last week as well. Most of the time work is just ordinary, but there are some days when it’s really fun and not the usual boring, or not challenging enough routine. Hope everyone out there had a good day too. BigB. 😉🤓 … [Read more...]
IT departments – different standards, different policy/procedures
August 19, 2016 By
It's interesting: "large" (Fortune 500) companies with IT depts, each of them have their own way of doing things, their own policies and procedures, etc. Unisys was a bit "loosey-goosey" with the app I worked on, allowing the developers to move new code into production (I.e., having privileged / admin access). While, both Wells Fargo and USPS, definitely did NOT and do NOT allow this to be done … [Read more...]
Home from Appleton, WI – Thrivent first week
August 19, 2016 By
Well folks, I'm home. It was a "longish" week, traveling to Appleton, WI for the new job ("on-boarding", "orientation", and meeting most of my colleagues). In a way, it was good that I got to do this - meeting my Appleton colleagues gave both myself and them a chance to put a face to a name, etc. Left Appleton this afternoon around 3:30, getting home at 8:30 pm (after stopping for a 5guys burger … [Read more...]
First day at Thrivent
August 15, 2016 By
Day one over. Mostly on-boarding stuff, getting access to all things Thrivent. Reading some docs. Met two members of my team who are based here (both are almost straight out of college and are really nice fellows). The third member is based in MPLS and is on vac this week (but I've already met him during the interviewing process). The HQ here is a really nice, relaxing, gorgeous (huge) campus, … [Read more...]
Scope of Thrivent’s Headquarters.
August 15, 2016 By
Haha. 30 to 45 mins early. I didn't scope out the "office" location (via goggle satellite maps), until this morning. The HQ is in the middle of a rural area, having a huge open field campus. The building itself is quite large, more spread out than tall. Attached are the satellite views. A bit nervous. … [Read more...]
Finally employed again!
August 2, 2016 By
So here is the (new job) scoop: My recruiter at the contract agency called around noon today, saying I got the (contract-to-hire) job at Thrivent Financial. Yea! Of course there was a sticking point, which we then worked out without further issue. She then called back (a couple of hours later) letting me know the start date is 8/15. When I was first contacted about this position), the job was … [Read more...]
Getting ready for the Thrivent interview
July 28, 2016 By
Why is it that I find myself ready thirty minutes before I actually have to leave? Been getting myself ready now for oh, going on forty or so years - I should know how long it takes to "get ready". Then, I usually arrive thirty minutes early, having to sit in the car, twiddling my thumbs. Super cautious, I guess. High noon at the OK (Thrivent) Corral. (yes, I'll be wearing my suit coat.) … [Read more...]
Third Trivent Financial interview scheduled for Thursday
July 26, 2016 By
Thrivent Financial job update: Three weeks ago, initial 15-20 min phone "get to know you" interview with director in Appleton, WI. Last week, three person video conference interview with mgr (WI), team lead (MPLS) and a non-team tech (WI). Not sure if mgr is the mgr of the team I would be on, or mgr of other teams. Got the impression they were mgr of other team(s), but could be mistaken. Call … [Read more...]
Thrivent Interview
July 21, 2016 By
"Exciting" day for me. Face to face interview at Thrivent Financial, with a panel of three. Two of the three were in Appleton, Wi, so we used video conferencing to include them. The guy in the room with me is the team lead. One of the people in WI was the manager, and the other person in WI was just a techie type, but not on the team that I would be on. Overall, I think the interview went great. … [Read more...]
Initial interview with Thrivent
July 7, 2016 By
Had an initial "get to know you" thirty min phone interview with an IT director at Thrivent Financial last night (for the Appleton WI contract-to-hire position). And, my recruiter just called - Thrivent wants a face to face interview with me, scheduled for 7/21 (due to hiring mgr/director now on vac until then). Fortunately, Thrivent has a huge office presence here in the TC, and so this next … [Read more...]
Recruiters – faux pas
June 30, 2016 By
Had a very awkward realization just now. One of the two recruiters I spoke with on the phone yesterday, sent me a LinkedIn invite a few minutes ago. The person I was saying "no mam", "yes mam" to, is male. In my defense, their name is Abhinav, and seemed to have a high pitch accent. In no way is this post making fun of them - I'm quite embarrassed by this. … [Read more...]
Maps – Houston, and Appleton
June 29, 2016 By
I love maps. I really do. I can stare at them for hours. I absolutely love looking at them. But, sometimes, even when I look at these things for hours, some stuff doesn't "sink in". Like, I know, the Twin Cites is way, way north of Detroit (where I grew up). Way, way, north, meaning, if you drew a horizontal line from Detroit, moving West, Minneapolis would be way, way north of that line. I … [Read more...]
Recruiters calling…Houston and Appleton
June 29, 2016 By
Had a recruiter contact me (today) about a six month contract job in Houston, and a second recruiter (yesterday) for a contract to hire position in Appleton, WI. This second one I'm not so sure about, since it seems to be from one of those recruiter job mill firms that send out hundreds of emails (not bothering to see if you are qualified or not), with them hoping to get a bite on their line … [Read more...]
