Category: Life
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iTunes: What a crappy bit of software II – The SQL
After three or four years of pretty much daily usage, I finally ran out of space on my first iPod. This was one of the old (but not oldest) 60gb models, and I’d already taken the precaution of not ripping all of my CDs to it – leaving off dozens of Zappa bootlegs, but recently I’d run out off space and had to start removing stuff I just don’t listen to that often, such as all of my Orb CDs, and my early Stone Roses B-sides. But then of course I’d get a real hankering to listen to something that… Read more
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Corporate America is taking the piss
As a contractor, I’ve been fortunate to work for the same client for some 16 years. Admittedly this has actually been for six different legal entities, and via four different agencies / consulting companies, but always for the same corporation. During those years, I like to think that I’ve built up a good reputation as a solid, reliable worker. So I was somewhat miffed recently to find out that I was now – after 16 years – to be subject to a full background check and drug test. It turns out that this is an annual check, and was brought in as part… Read more
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“My Fellow Americans…”
When I first moved to the United States, it was to work as a consultant on a new SAP project. One of the other consultants was a Cuban called Gil (the name stuck with me…), and during my first week there, he gained his U.S. Citizenship. The team organized a big hoopla to celebrate, decorating his office with the Stars and Stripes, getting in a cake, and so on. During the festivities, the consultant’s supervisor described how Gil had originally come over on a boat without a cent to his name x years ago, and now here he was, “living the American… Read more
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Owen Anderson is a Crook – Official!
One of the things about being an ‘independent’ contractor/consultant is that everyone assumes that you have loads of money. Sure, you may get a bit more in your pay packet than Johnny Punchclock, but there are a lot more factors to take into consideration – things that a salaried employee’s company shells out for. One of these things in moving expenses. I’ve been fortunate in that my work has taken me to a number of different places: from England to Belgium, from there to Singapore, then to the U.S., then back to Belgium, and finally (so far) back to the… Read more