'Tis Done ...

A bittersweet day Thursday, the 19th instant.

Spent the day making sure the new kids knew where I'd put all of my accumulated knowledge, such as it is, in the official (unclassified) notebook for our project. Much of it was given in cookbook fashion, to wit ...

• Push the button on the bottom of such and such ...
• Make sure the light comes on ...
• Now click the right mouse button and select such and such in the menu presented ...

And much more along those lines. It's one thing to teach someone which buttons to push, it's quite another to try and convey what one should be looking for while doing so. I mean it's all well and good to see things when everything is working correctly, then there is the -

Uh, was it supposed to flash like that, freeze up, then start over?

Um, no, no, it really shouldn't do that. Try it again, success is "yup, it did it again," failure is "ah crap, it worked that time." Now we need to run it again, over and over, to see if the failure reoccurs. Oh yes, we need to turn up logging as well, so if it does fail, the developers can try and figure out why.

Passing that sort of knowledge along is much harder, it can take months, if not years, of experience to see a thing and say, "Well that wasn't quite right, was it?"

So I left them with, "if you see anything which seems even a bit off, show someone."

There's a lot of experience in the lab I left behind me, but the thing is, they have other things they need to be doing, not just shepherding the newbies through those difficult early months.

I mean if it was easy, we'd have these guys do it ...

Source

And based on my experience, those types tend to gravitate towards managerial roles.

That being said ...

Spent much of the day going around and saying bye to folks I know and people I've worked with. Sure I'll see some of them outside of work, it's not outside the realm of possibility, but I won't be seeing them frequently.

There are quite a few people at work that I will miss a great deal, good people, very good at their jobs, and a joy to work with. Them I will miss dearly.

Now, how about that cake?

Our boss ordered that cake early in the week, it's readily apparent that the cake decorator didn't really understand the assignment. Though they did remark that writing "quitter" on the cake was "mean." So maybe that's why they spelled it wrong?

(Also the cake decorator doesn't have a nautical background, otherwise they'd know that the phrase is "fair winds and following seas," yes, that finial "s" is important.)

The boss was somewhat mortified when she picked up the cake and saw the result. But being a very practical person (which makes her an awesome boss) she quickly realized that a messed up cake was better than no cake.

She was, of course, right.

My reaction made her feel better. "What I only get one following sea? And yes, I am quite the quitter. I see what you did there."

Oh dear, what will they do without me?

Probably get more work done, but they won't laugh nearly as much.

Time to reflect on my new state in life. It's different.

I am looking forward to getting more sleep.

Oh, the cake was absolutely delicious, so at least the baker knew their business.

Time for a ...

Ciao!