Not sure how that compares with other mornings, since this is the first I decided to start counting.
Yesterday did indeed being one of the best days at work than I've had in a while, and all because of the very distinct absence of a key person.
Now it can be argued that they've been out of the office before in recent days, and even when they are here, there's no guarantee that they'll interfere with my overall process, but...
Imagine you've got a bear in your building.
It's in a different room, though, so you're safe. Ish.
Would it not be better if that bear was in some other building?
Yeah.
It's... it's kinda like that, lol.
Anyway.
I read an article about the whole... "Iran thing" this morning. Couple of things stuck out.
But Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson defended the president, saying he "evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act" and that there's "tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties".
And also:
However, Article II - which lays out the president's powers - says that "the president shall be Commander in Chief of the Army [and Navy]", and sources at the White House have told the BBC they see this as the rationale for the strikes on Iran.
Huh.
And here I thought the Air Force owned the aircraft that struck Iran.
Weird.
And yes, I understand that as time has gone on, we've adapted the guidance for his Commander in Chief role to further encompass the whole military.
But golly, it's fun to be petty.
Especially when leadership started it.
And man, oh man, do I absolutely detest Pete Hegseth.
Dude follows Big Orange around like a goddamn lost puppy that nobody wants.
And I love me some puppies.
I also looked into this War Powers Resolution people have started referencing again.
Apparently its been put to work four times in the past, and... well, it's subjective to as to whether or not those cases were... appropriate?
I just don't understand why we did it.
I keep on seeing reports that Iran and their nuclear program represented an "imminent threat".
But—and I had to make sure I fully understood the word since I thought they changed it—"imminent" is defined as "about to happen".
From what I understand, that wasn't the case.
Though I freely admit to having trust issues, I feel—and I know I'm not alone here—this was akin to setting the house on fire to get rid of the mosquito you kept hearing.
Except the mosquito survived.
And she's rallying the troops to come back in full force.
...My take on this is that it's all to play nice-nice with Israel.
We got your backs, brohs.
Which is... fine? I guess?
Except that I also believe we need to stop being Team America: World Police.
Especially when the area we're policing doesn't... seem to give us that much in return? Mostly seems to be things to spite Iran, lol.
But yes, I do agree: let's support and defend the downtrodden.
The weak.
The poor.
But let's face it: Israel has shown that they're anything but any of those things.
They're the spicy chihuahua that'll easily eat your face if given the chance.
Before I forget...
Yesterday, one of the folks in my row asked how to leave a group text.
I zeroed in on "group text" and said "you can't".
But another of the folks said that it's absolutely possible. You just press the "leave group" button.
And that got to me.
Group texts !== group chats.
Group texts use SMS/MMS/RCS, and because of that, it means that if someone in your group is using an Android device you're kinda boned. Your options are to block the group or mute it, and there's no guarantee that it'll stick.
But he was insistent it was possible.
A wager was made.
If he was able to leave the group text, he'd be good. If not, he'd have to eat an entire dill gherkin.
Which is a big deal because he's made it clear that he can't stand pickles.
He showed me on his own phone a group chat he was in, and that there was indeed an option to leave the group.
But I continued to express my concern to him that Android devices would remove that option.
And then he admitted he was unsure.
So.
Got home, grabbed my phone, grabbed my other (Android) phone, and started a group text.
And he was unable to leave it.
"but i can just block the group and i'm fine lol"
And so he did.
At the end of it all, I don't know where fully to stand on it, but I'm leaning in the "don't force a guy to eat a food he doesn't like" direction.
Sorry, Steve. Hope you didn't already buy the pickle.
Kinda considering taking Thursday and Friday off as PTO.
...To maximize time away from the bear.
Pain has started to come back in my belly, despite the Motrin.
And though I know I prolly should get it checked out...
That's generally not my thing.
I've got a long and storied history of injuries and general discomfort that I usually choose to wait out.
It'll get better on its own.
And it's not helped by the fact that my disability rating is still up in the air.
They progressed forward to the "preparing decision letter" stage yesterday, so I'm cautiously optimistic that this'll be the attempt that gets me to that 100%.
Until then, however...
My overriding goal is to remain as chronically broken as I possibly can.
Since medical appointments can spring up at any time.
And I gotta be ready to ace those tests.
Final gripe of today is the meeting we had yesterday for one of our projects.
The customer is a good dude—I do legitimately like the guy—but he can get a bit long with his meetings.
And it's not helped that the project lead doesn't control meetings by any remote stretch of the imagination.
The development team we've got on the project are brilliantly capable, but they're left idling due to the constantly shifting target that is the end requirement.
And both of them absolutely refuse to operate based on assumptions.
Which I get.
This project has been going for at least a year now.
And though the dev team has made solid progress (read: we have a solid foundation now as opposed to zero then), I feel like the overall requirement is simpler than the customer (and various stakeholders) are making it seem.
It's a hiring tool.
Where new employees are invited to apply.
Various people at the company weigh in on potential candidates and decide whether or not they're a good fit.
To me, it seems like the process should literally just be:
At each stage, the interface is simple: yes/no options with textarea for comments by that particular stage.
Overall package has an interface for anyone at any time to make comments on the applicant.
All in all, I'd say that as described here, the project should be... a week.
At least going by my reckless development standards.
...With a different language.
Meh.
Oh well.