< Notes...

I applied for a manager’s position. It was only posted for a week, inherently lowering my expectations. To make a long story short, I don’t think I will get the chance to fill it, perhaps not even to interview for it. The thing is, I wholeheartedly believe I can be a good manager.

I know everyone on my would-be team; some I have known for a very long time. I know how to do some of their duties. I know their capabilities and some of their drawbacks. I know what some of them, if not all of them, would want from a manager. I know how I shouldn’t manage, because I have experienced that myself. I am very conscientious about my workplace and meticulous about my work. Anyway, I tried.

SharePoint, or OneDrive, or whatever name they are giving these days to Microsoft’s enterprise storage (part of their “Office 365”), just gobbled up the many changes collaborators made on a document I shared. Incredibly enough, I saw the changes as they were happening yesterday, yet today they are no longer. Infuriating, to say the least.

I find it funny when people announce that they will share their screen “really quick”, then proceed to sing-song softly, or talk to themselves about what they are doing, or why things are not working the way they want them to. 😂

Due to my personality, I tend to be impulsive, and rather terse when answering to emails. That’s changing thanks to AI. LLM’s ability to rewrite emails and take away sarcasm and conveying my reasoning, all while keeping a professional and collaborative tone is very, very helpful.

Every Wednesday our manager brings bagels for everyone to enjoy. I haven’t counted them, but easily three dozens, plus a few cream cheese pots—including “fancy” flavoured ones. We are all very, very thankful to him. Thank you, Jim!

What brings me here, though, is someone doing ala “The Muffin Tops”, just with bagel tops. I mean, what kind of a psychopath will take the top of a bagel, and leave the bottom behind? That’s it, that’s the note.

As I finished the note on Crocker’s Rules, I came across Radical Honesty, which I think is pretty neat too.

“The Radical Honesty technique includes having practitioners state their feelings bluntly and directly, even if it may be in a way typically considered impolite. Avoiding all “white lying” is said to lead to a more truthful relationship with themselves and others.”

Having always liked/wanted a direct communication at work, that is, preferring that people “gets to the point” in the most efficient manner, coming across Crocker’s Rules is never too late.

“Crocker’s rules encourage being tactful with anyone who hasn’t specifically accepted them. This follows the general principle of being ’liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send’.”

If anything “good” has happened from being mandated to come to office on Wednesdays that’s bagels. Today’s are still warm, and so delicious! I wrote good between quotes, because, well, carbs. 😅

It is 2025, and most Linux distributions do not ship exclusively i386 ISOs. Yet, people get their amd64 machines, and straight they go to install packages—and their libraries—within the i386 architecture. Currently adding around 1TiB of i386 to our mirrors. 🤦‍♂️

At a workplace that wholly uses Microsoft products (like O365), having access to Copilot—specifically the premium version, not the standard chat—will likely create a form of classism.

“First-class” employees, granted access to the premium tool, will gain a significant advantage. The model’s assistance will help them with tasks ranging from trivial to complex, ultimately boosting their productivity. “Second-class” employees, who lack access, will be at a significant disadvantage when it comes to efficiency and output.

That dreadful random time on a Sunday when it suddenly sinks in that tomorrow is, yet another, back to work day. 😩

I really cannot stress this enough. Please, don’t say “I have a question”, just ask the question. From “No Hello, here are some examples:

• “Hey man, what’s up? also, any idea when that thing’s due?”
• “Hi there! Hope you’re well. I’m after the latest deck, when you get a sec :)”
• “Hey, if you’re not busy, could you update those NFRs?”
• “Etc.”

“What do you think about coming to office on Wednesdays?” — “We would rather not, no. Not a good idea.” — “OK, let’s start coming to office on Wednesdays as well, so three days a week onsite.”

Why to ask then?!

Only three days on the Star of the Seas, and we all want to go back to be cruising. Oh, and certainly do not want to be at work! LOL. Oh well, it is what it is.

Rob, our crazy—his own words, not mine—ex-coworker and friend came by the office today. He talked shit about Trump, and Fanny Mae, but we truly enjoyed his visit. We love Rob!

Brought some kisses to the office, and without showing them to anyone I asked: “Does anyone wants a kiss?”. One of my cubemates was fast to reply: “Not from you!” 😂

Found a co-worker who thinks like me when it comes to Fridays. “Is it Friday already? Oh gosh, two more days and it’s back to the office!” 😅

Co-workers were talking about that huge storm the other night. They were saying it felt worse than our last hurricane. I was stumped! There was no storm near my house, and I even went out to water partner’s plants, because “they were thirsty”—her own words. Then partner called me to tell me about the storm. We did had a storm, and it was something out of this world, she said. Constant lightning, and thundering, and lots of rain (late night). And… I slept through it all! 😅

Our manager just told us that he will be leaving the team 1 August 2025. We knew he was leaving, just didn’t know when. Now we know, and we wished him well. Onto the search for our fifth and—final?—manager we go!

“Don’t let the words, and actions of others cloud your weekend, mate!” – I say to myself. It is hard to do, but “the weekend is ours”. I will not let them take it from me.

Thanks to the diligence of a former manager, I receive the same emails twice each day, every day. He subscribed me to technical bulletins—and some alerts—with my formal email, and an alias. It is easier to delete than trying to figure out which is using the alias, and trying to unsubscribe.

Working physically—as in, not remote—at one of our datacentres today. Last time I went there was at the end of year 2022, let’s see how much it has changed. I expect visible changes in our cage, as we are trying to vacate it. Off I go to waste over an hour on commute!

I am forced to use Outlook at work, as we use O365. Outlook has sucked for quite a while (since birth?), but the “new look” Microsoft is going to soon enforce is the very worst. Horribly looking, and it makes Outlook even more so slow.

Today’s, on a Team’s meeting while still driving home:

• K.:
• “New microphone? 🙂”
• Me:
• “In the car. 😂”
• K.:
• “So, yes! 😄”

First time in three years that I had to join a meeting while commuting. Ran an errant for Kim at lunch, and extended a bit over.

Just realised that, ever since we started micro-managing our time in September 2021, I have worked over 40 hours every week consistently.