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IOWA book (was ADV: Want to write...

khaines

12/15/2004 3:00:00 PM

My head has been in a hole for the last several weeks due to many _bad
things_ happening all at the same time. Likewise, my work on an IOWA rapid
app development book has been stalled for a while because of bad things
combined with a work crunch. Things seem to be calming down, work is
catching up, and I'm getting paid, which is always good. So, I am getting
ready to start working on the book again.

That said, any of you (Stefan, Daniel...) who want to help with ideas,
proofreading, etc..., drop me an email at wyhaines@gmail.com. I could
certainly use the help and feedback.


Thanks,

Kirk Haines



4 Answers

someone

5/7/2007 6:28:00 AM

0

On Fri, 04 May 2007 23:51:36 +0200, Pibbur
<oopsREM.OVE512@tele2ca.psno> earned a wedgie by saying:

>P? Wed, 02 May 2007 21:40:34 +0200, skrev Dalboz Dragon
><beerstud948@yahoo.com>:
>
>> I know I haven't been around much lately. Read on to find out why.
>>
>> I've been extremely unhappy in my job for a while now. It wasn't
>> really something I had planned to do and just stumbled into it a few
>> years ago. Things have gotten really bad lately. I won't go into
>> details, but heavy workloads with no end (or even attempts to
>> alleviate it) and frequent arguments with my supervisor have pretty
>> much done it. A couple of weeks ago, I got into a huge fight with my
>> supervisor. Basically, I and everyone else have been killing ourselves
>> for quite a while because we are grossly understaffed, then she sends
>> out an email to everyone saying we aren't working hard enough; after
>> three years of killing myself with work and without a vacation, that
>> pushed me over the edge.
>
>This is not good, being unhappy at work can be very taxing.

It used to be better. There used to be more incentive for working our
asses off, but then my company got bought about a year ago, and
everything has sucked since then. They pretty much expect everyone to
keep killing themselves, but now give absolutely no incentive
whatsoever, and people have been leaving left and right.

>Going back to university was the second smartest thing I've ever done (the
>first one was marrying my wife). At that time I had a family, with 2
>daughters, which meant I had duties both socially and economically. In
>that sense studying was more difficult now. school. On the other hand I
>was much more dedicated and mature. I won't bother you with details, but
>it went fairly well.

I have no wife, not even a girlfriend (I'm still trying to get rid of
that stalker, though; long story; don't know if I've mentioned it
here), and no kids, at least none that I know of. So I have no other
obligations other than to myself. Of course, it also means that I have
to completely support myself, and I have no one to help cover the
bills if anything goes wrong. Oh well, maybe I'll meet a cute coed
while I'm there. Although since I'll be starting at a community
college, they'll all probably be fresh out of high school and think of
me as an old fart...

>Is there an age limit to when you could do something like this? Well, you
>don't live forever,

Speek for yourself.

>and obviously you have to do it while still alive.
>Other than that - in principle no. I would do it again if I felt the need
>and now I'm 52. The one important thing in my opinion is dedication, other
>issues have a tendency to sort themselves out then.

I don't think that will be too much of a problem. Carrying my
education through to the end point (Ph.D, or wherever medical school
might end, if that's what I choose) has always been a personal goal.
And for the last few years, I've been working my ass off at work, so
I'm already in the mindset of working long, hard hours.

>Of course there may be practical restrictions, whether you will be
>accepted for a second term at uni and such. I don't know much about
>education in the US, so I can't give you any advice there.

I'm looking into that.

>What about med. school? Again there may be a big difference between the
>american system and the norwegian one, but in general you should be
>prepared to do much work. In my experience med. school was siginficantly
>harder than studying computer science. There's a lot of very detailed
>information you have to learn (I still know the names of every bone in the
>body and most of the muscles). You have to be able to handle that to get
>through, and that demands a certain intellectual capacity. But apart from
>that, the most important factor is again dedication. If you want to go to
>med. school, by all means try that.

See above.

>Then there's the aspect of working as a doctor. And I hated that. If I
>back in the seventies had known what I now know about myself, I wouldn't
>have started med. school. But I didn't, and I can't say that I back then
>had any indication that actually using the education would be a problem.
>It's partially a lottery, and I'm sure that these things happen in other
>professions. On the other hand, medical education can be used in
>surprisingly many connections. There's a lot of different specialities in
>medicine - consider for instance the difference between a pathologist and
>a psychiatrist. In my case, maybe if I had tried harder, I could have gone
>for one of the specialists, maybe in a laboratory, maybe in pathology - at
>least the patients don't speak to you there. That is one thing I'll never
>know.

I may look into that. I'm not sure about patient work myself just yet.
My cousin was a research doctor though. He specialized in medicine,
but took a career in research instead and never actually saw any
patients. The only reason he got out of it as far as I remember was
that a lot of his work was government funded and he got fed up with
the bueracracy.

Do you mind if I ask what you did with you're other degree? Did/do you
still work in the medical field in some capacity?

--
Dalboz Dragon -=(UDIC)=-
Dispenser of the Holy *SMACK!* (Not to be confused with *SLAP*)
--------------
d+++ e+ N+ T+ Om+ U1!2!47'S'9!K!L u- uC+ uF- uG++ uLB+ uA+
nC++ nH nP+ nI++ nPT nS+ nT o oA+++ y+++ a29
--------------
We are all but figments of Chuck Norris' imagination.

someone

5/7/2007 6:28:00 AM

0

On Sun, 06 May 2007 20:10:46 -0400, erimess earned a wedgie by saying:

>On Fri, 04 May 2007 23:51:36 +0200, Pibbur
><oopsREM.OVE512@tele2ca.psno> wrote:
>
>> maybe in pathology - at
>>least the patients don't speak to you there. That is one thing I'll never
>>know.
>
>Well, maybe you don't, but I'm fairly sure the patients in pathology
>don't speak to you. :-)

Only if you're very quiet...and smoke weed beforehand...

--
Dalboz Dragon -=(UDIC)=-
Dispenser of the Holy *SMACK!* (Not to be confused with *SLAP*)
--------------
d+++ e+ N+ T+ Om+ U1!2!47'S'9!K!L u- uC+ uF- uG++ uLB+ uA+
nC++ nH nP+ nI++ nPT nS+ nT o oA+++ y+++ a29
--------------
We are all but figments of Chuck Norris' imagination.

Pibbur

5/7/2007 11:01:00 AM

0

P? Mon, 07 May 2007 08:27:58 +0200, skrev Dalboz Dragon
<someone@somewhere.com>:

> On Fri, 04 May 2007 23:51:36 +0200, Pibbur
> <oopsREM.OVE512@tele2ca.psno> earned a wedgie by saying:
>
....>

> Do you mind if I ask what you did with you're other degree? Did/do you
> still work in the medical field in some capacity?

I work at the IT department at our local hosptial, developing software.
Knowing how the users think has it's benefits, so I am using my medical
education to some degree.

--
Pibbur Dragon ( -==UDIC==-)
d++ e++ u++ 4567'!S'!89! a52
"- Luce, pater tuus sum"
"- Minime! Minime!"

Ashikaga

5/7/2007 3:01:00 PM

0

On 110khz Dalboz Dragon shrieked:
> Pibbur earned a wedgie by saying:
<snip>
>>This is not good, being unhappy at work can be very taxing.
>
> It used to be better. There used to be more incentive for working our
> asses off, but then my company got bought about a year ago, and
> everything has sucked since then. They pretty much expect everyone to
> keep killing themselves, but now give absolutely no incentive
> whatsoever, and people have been leaving left and right.

The management has a lot of effect on it. In my previous work place, I've
heard people said the culture is just not there anymore. People quit in
droves in my work place too and I am one of the few with good tolerance for
abuse so I stayed for one year too long.

I do not know why people would expect people to work hard without giving
incentive or give happiness to their employees. They probably think if
they pay you, you'd work hard. Doesn't work that way.

From your other post, it seems your boss was under a lot of pressure from
above and she wasn't acting like herself anymore. That happens in my place
too (and apparrently not uncommon). One could get stressed out but if it's
the manager who got stressout the effect is umbrella-like. They need to
know the stress ends with ourselves. I always try not to let people feel
my stress and make sure there is a positive working environment. Perhaps
that's why they thought I was always working happily. Though I knew it's a
bad feedback, but I was stuck in the middle and I could choose 1) let the
management know I am not happy so they can correct it, or 2) conceal it so
people working with me don't have to spend thought on management issues and
work (relatively) happily. I chose the latter of course, but it doesn't
make me happier.

Not sure if that experience applies to her, or you more importantly, but
that's something to think about. Dealing with stress has a lot to do with
knowing oneself, and that's one possibility.

--
Ashikaga - a28 5/7/2007 7:38:56 AM