Today was an off day for me. The last four days have been pretty hectic at work as I've been working longer than normal to get my stuff done by Monday. We all are working hard now. Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to finish all the major points of my project, while Thursday and Friday were spent getting the minor points done. The only thing left is some installation and configuration issues which I don't know what to do about. Tomorrow I'm going in to finish up a secondary project. Well, at least as much as I can since I have dependencies on other groups who have not quite come through.

The thing about writing software, or probably doing anything else for that matter, is that doing enough to get the job done is half the work. The other half is making it look nice so that other people can use it. I can write a program that'll do what I want it to do and I can do it quickly. But it'll be ugly to use. I don't mind complex configuration files, I know what the output really means, I know the weird errors that will crop up. But an end-user product has to be more understandable. People don't like having to know that this button works this way in this situation and that way in that situation, they don't want to see "error 15" messages and they don't want to spend an hour configuring it and then it not working because they forgot to dot an 'i' or cross a 't'. Hence, all that usability stuff takes a lot of effort to do right.

One thing about these deadlines is that everyone works late. Midnight rolls around and we still have most of the group working. It's a nice feeling of camaraderie and shared hardships. And we can order food at company expense, so there's a nice dinner in it too. It makes me feel good to be in this group, with these people. Who knows how long it will last, but I am enjoying it now.

Michael left the group today. He is going to work at a pre-IPO which may have good prospects at earning him a lot of money. But he brought up a good point: after two years, the group going from four to twenty-something people, we have only lost some four or five people. In an industry where the average turnover is about four years, that's pretty good. It's a testament to the work environment, to the people of the group, and to the software we write.

There are only like two different foods we eat when we order. One is Amici's, which is an Italian place. They deliver pizzas and pastas quickly, usually a little over half an hour. New York style pizza, so it's thin and oily, although they do have vegeterian and "healthy" pizzas. A bit pricey but good. The other place is Ocean-something or Seafood-something Restaurant. It's a Chinese place which also delivers in about half an hour, no matter what we order. Chinese food tends to be cheaper than other foods, don't know why. We usually get one entree per person and a lot of rice. It's also quite good.

Meals are a good time to relax, take a break from work. Find out how everyone else is doing. And talk, about our work, about our industry, about life. Some- times the topics are weird, such as why people eat Tiger ~parts~ to give them more virility. Strange facts that Michael usually brings up. He's been the most interesting personality in the group. The most talkative, opinionated, and with the most esoteric knowledge. I'll miss him.

Outside of the Scripting section and E-mail sections, which keep to themselves since they're on a different floor, our group has a dozen people, of which Michael will be the third to leave. One left because he didn't feel appreciated, a second wanted a change of scenery and is now in Australia, and Michael wants to make his millions.

Strange that now I have the third longest seniority in the group. I don't feel like it, mostly because I still feel that I'm just a little over my head. Not the best developer in the group, by far. Not too sure if I'll ever make Senior Developer, since I don't have that kind of initiative or expertise yet. Oh well, I'm happy for now, that's all I can ask for, really.