February 8, 2010

There was one job in particular I had that was the absolute *worst* when it came to interruptions. It was so bad I couldn't get anything done in any given day. Eventually it got so bad, I logged my time down to the minute for an entire day to show my boss how stupid my co-workers were in wasting my time. Here's the log for your amusement.


***  THOUGHTS ON AN AVERAGE DAY OF ACCOMPLISHING NOTHING: 5/1/91

0800 Began day by checking Microsoft online; no answers yet.

0810 Began reviewing experimental statistics in order to better
     prepare myself for the lighting analysis sure to come
    
0820 Had brief discussion w/Deign re: lighting problems.  He informed
     me of the tests Ken would be running today.
    
0835 Spent time answering a bunch of Dick's questions re: his home computer

0845 Returned to studying statistics

0850 Interrupted by Ann: her machine was "locked up" (she tried to open
     more than one session of Word at a time)  I explained how to tell what
     programs were already running and how to reorganize her desktop.
    
0900 Returned to studying statistics

0915 Interrupted by Scott: he needs access to Ann's old WordStar dox; I
     reminded him (for the 3rd time) that he has had access for over 2
     months now.
    
0920 Returned to studying statistics

0930 Returned to my office to review lighting vs. temperature data obtained
     so far; began working through covariance/correlation equations trying
     to verify results and understand Martin's "shortcuts".
    
0945 Interrupted by Ann: her computer "locks up" when "going into Telemagic"
     - there was some sort of problem opening an index file.  The software
     was very clearly asking:  "ERROR PROC SETLIN(0) Could not open file
     XXXXXXX.NTX Retry (Y/N)?"  I pressed 'Y' - everything works.

1030 Martin arrives - spent time going through some issues re: the lighting
     data just studied; all hypothesis verified.
    
1035 Ken completes a couple of tests and gives me the data; I begin working
     with it courtesy of Excel.
    
1045 Go over results of newest data with Martin; discuss the various options
     open to us at this point.  The only option I see is some sort of
     "power limiting" circuitry (via a current follower?)
    
1055 Talking to Mr. Wiesdyke? of Duro-Test lighting re: our hypothesis on
     why the lights are behaving as they are.

1115 Returned to working on lighting data analysis.  Discussed several
     different possibilities with Martin from an EE standpoint.

1125 Interrupted by Scott: he wants to know if he can delete several files
     of some unknown origin; I answer that I don't know.

1128 Return to discussing lighting data with Martin; decide to produce a
     few graphs to get a better handle on just how solid our relationship
     between ambient temperature and current draw is.

1132 Interrupted by Scott: he wants to know if he can delete several files
     of some unknown origin; I _again_ answer that I don't know.

1135 Return to creating graphs of lighting data.

1145 Took a brief break to check online: no answers yet.
    
1153 After consulting the Excel manual we've got the data in the format we
     wanted.  Confidence levels are _extremely_ high; current draw is
     positively related to temperature.  Martin and I continue to go over
     a couple different possibilities.

1225 Went to lunch.

1323 Returned to lighting discussion from before lunch.  Eventually decided
     that shields were no good to us, and we wanted to talk to Deign about
     our "power limiting" idea.

1335 Began to work on the Graph Window tools for C.U.R.E. rewrite.  Problems:
     no matter what style I give my test window, it's not visible until the
     user does something that prompts a redraw.  InvalidateRect/UpdateWindow
     doesn't seems to do anything at all; I don't understand.  I also cannot
     get a simple DialogBox call to work from within the DLL.

1345 Interrupted by Ann: when she prints her document it doesn't come out
     looking right.  We (Martin & I) tell her to make sure the correct
     printer is selected and try again; it works.

1355 Returned to Graph Windows.

1410 Interrupted by Ann: she gets errors while trying to check her network
     printing queue.  Her suspicion is that Scott is doing something goofy
     with print requests.  Sure enough, it's a strange error I haven't seen
     before; it implies that two different programs are trying to access the
     COM port at the same time.  I reset the printer, the queue, and her
     computer; that seems to take care of it.

1425 Interrupted by Ann: she still can't get her document to print and is
     unable to check her network printing queue again.  This warrants some
     further investigation.

1435 Interrupted by Elena: she's getting some kind of error when trying to
     run TeleMagic; I tell Ann not to touch anything - I'll be back in a
     minute after I fix Elena's problem.

1440 Elena has the same problem Ann had earlier: I press 'N' and fix it.

1442 Return to looking into Ann's printing problem.

1445 Had Ann tell Scott to cease printing _any_ documents for a few minutes
     while I look into the problems.

1450 My tests are interrupted by Scott's printing of his proposal document
     again - I have to start over.

1500 Aha!  I've discovered the problem.  Someone has changed the settings in
     Ann's WIN.INI file; Windows thinks it owns the COM port.  Thus, when
     the network tries to grab it, all hell breaks loose.  I fixed this over
     a month ago; it was a tricky fix, though, and I don't remember how.
     My fault, I should have written it down.  No telling how long ago some-
     one made the changes - I can't rely on Ann's backups.

1505 Arrive at temporary solution; I've got to lock everyone but Ann out of
     the laser until I can get in touch with Artisoft to determine how to
     fix the problem (again).

1510 Checked online: still no answers - returned to working on Graph Windows.

1518 Interrupted by Elena: her machine is giving her a problem we saw the day
     before while trying to run TeleMagic; I prescribe the same remedy: try
     a Magic Rebuild - this seems to solve it.

1520 Return to working on Graph Windows.

1525 Interrupted by Elena: it happened again - I need to look into it.

1530 Interrupted by Scott (while diagnosing Elena's problem) - he can't seem
     to print to Ann's laser.  I inform him that I've had to lock it out.
     Since his fax "has to go out by 5:00 pm" I assure him that I WILL get
     it printed out if he'll put it on a disk for me.

1545 Ran a host of tests on Elena's machine - I can't find anything wrong,
     I didn't fix anything, but it works now.  My suspicion is that her
     machine is slowly crapping out somehow.

1550 Got Scott's document printed and copied it to Ann's hard drive so the
     two of them can work on it there.

1600 Returned to Graph Windows.

1605 Interrupted by Ann: she can't open the proposal I just copied onto her
     machine; I tell her which directory it's in and the file name.

1608 Returned to Graph Windows.

1612 Interrupted by Ann: she still can't get the document opened.  I go into
     her office; she's still trying to open it from the A: drive - I open it
     myself.

1614 Returned to Graph Windows.

1628 Interrupted by Ann: she can't save the document - she's trying to save
     it to the A: drive (again).  I spend some time going over the basics of
     opening/closing a file with her.

1638 Returned to Graph Windows.

1645 Interrupted by Ann: she can't "get into Word" - I check it out.  She's
     already got Word running (just like earlier today) - I again explain
     how to solve this "problem".

1650 Returned to Graph Windows.

1725 Went off the clock.