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I'm working on a USB video driver. The way it works is quite complex so I ported from Linux rather than writing from scratch:
#define spin_lock_t IOSimpleLock *
Some things didn't have such simple ports, so I guarded them with #ifdefs. Then my coworker removed all the Linux-specific code as well as the ifdefs. Sucks to be him when it's maintenance time.
I get a big check when it goes to beta. I'm going to donate a good chunk of money to homeless shelters, soup kitchens and rescue missions.
And I'm going to buy a car.
The car won't help much with getting to work - because of the all-day rush our here in Portland, I'll stick to the light rail. But it might be worthwhile to drive instead of taking two busses to get from home to the North Portland light rail station. I expect that will cut my commute from two hours to ninety minutes.
More important to me in the short term is that I can go places where the busses don't go. Like the beach, the desert and the mountains.
I like to camp in the desert.
Say that ---^ in Reno and you get a 10-day involuntary hold for being a danger to yourself. That's because "camping in the desert" is a local euphemism for "committing suicide".
"But I'm not from Reno! I really _do_ like to camp in the desert." My pleas fell on deaf ears.
A good chunk of Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Northeast California is a desert.
I get another big check when we ship. There will be quite a lot of work between beta and shipping; I have to support multiple dongles, as well as harmony with the competitor's dongle, as well as some other featureful things.
I'm going to get my stuff out of storage in Canada. I don't know yet how much that will cost but I'm guessing three grand.
I'll get my piano back. I mean like a real piano, with wires and wood.
It was way out of tune when I recorded this. I later had it tuned, but I wanted to record its memory in case tuning it broke some of the strings. While they could be replaced, the new wires would spoil the distinctive voice of the piano that I had lived with since I was a toddler.
In my experience, if you enjoy my recordings, you're not right in the head. One of my two biggest fans has Borderline Personality Disorder - I met her by playing a piano in a nuthouse - and Schizotypal Personality Disorder.
I also have a Fatar controller in storage. It doesn't make sound, I have to use a MIDI Sound Module for that. But it has a hammer-action mechanism that makes it feel like a real concert grand.
I also - presently - have an M-Audio ProKeys 88sx Lightweight Stage Piano. I bought it for playing open mics.
The Hell am I going to do with three pianos? My apartment is tiny! But I cannot bear to part with any of them.
Lately I've been writing down my favorite artists when they're played on Radio Paradise. Then ever couple of weeks I go to a real good record store and buy a half-dozen CDs. I've got over a hundred artists in my list, I'm going to be enjoying lots of new music, with the approval of the MAFIAA.
Ah! The privileged life: a couple weeks ago I bought parmesan cheese for my spaghetti.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @07:50PM
When one is out of work, the full time job becomes Looking For Work. When one spends 50 hours per week on the job search, it is a full time job. It is not going well.
For the first few years, they all complimented me on my stellar resume, my educated background, and my wide variety of skills. They told me there were plenty of jobs available, if only I would just go away and apply elsewhere. Some had very specific suggestions about where elsewhere should be. A few literally referred me to each other. Never mind that they were not hiring at all and the successful candidates were internally promoted. Outsiders who applied off the street were wasting their time.
A wide variety of skills is bad to have. It gives an excuse to focus on that one skill the successful candidate will not need professionally in the role and tell the applicant to go seek a role with that skill requirement. Just go look on Monster, they say, find something else. Never mind the job boards are full of fake jobs which are reposted every week or every month and which are never ever filled. Fake jobs keep HR busy posting fake jobs. Fake jobs create excuses to hire H1Bs when no applicant has the exact skillset required. Fake jobs make work for recruiters who keep soliciting applicants for jobs which have already been filled. Whatever the reason, fake jobs are everywhere.
Small businesses arguably could use a variety of skills since small businesses cannot afford many employees, and the employees would need to perform a variety of tasks. It is a purely hypothetical argument because small businesses have been going out of business for the past decade. Nobody is hiring, and storefronts lie vacant for years. Those businesses which are barely surviving have already shed staff to the point that the owners themselves are doing all their own work. There is an economic depression on, despite how much the few successful people vehemently try to deny it.
For a few years, they ignored me entirely. Apply, no acknowledgement, no rejection, nothing. I was not needed on the fake jobs scene, not even for the charade of keeping up appearances to make the fake jobs look real.
This year, things are looking down. I am in demand again. Recruiters call me almost every day now. I have interviews every other week. Yet everybody always asks the same question.
"But why aren't you working?"
Hobby projects to hone skills are not real work, which is why one does not get paid. If only Looking For Work counted as paid work, I would have been working for pay. I should have gotten paid to be the designated loser in every interview for a position which was filled by internal promotion. I should have gotten paid to be a perpetually unsuccessful applicant who helped to grease the wheels of the fake jobs scene. Then my life and career would be great.
How much time am I wasting on this comment? Too much. I might have no income, but even I have other plans for this day. My time is worth nothing, and still you people are not worth my time.
I know, I think I will take the advice of The Mighty Buzzard: find a cock which is not being sucked, [soylentnews.org] and suck that fucking cock with confidence! [soylentnews.org]
Signing off now.
Fuck MDC.