Geek :: INTP

Don’t “task” me

I was in a weekly conference call the other day. We’re rolling out Windows 7 in June across the enterprise (that’s the plan, anyway) and so many of the in-house applications my team supports are going to need to be reinstalled, but their installers are outdated and often non-functional.

So, I took it upon myself to write a generic installer that I could configure with XML. Since most of our existing installers were .vbs files, I used that initially. But a case was made for a UI, and so I implemented it in .NET using the same schema and granted it a user interface.

Though the software was still under development and prone to change, it was pretty stable and worked better than anything else we had, and so instead of fixing the existing .vbs installers, people just starting configuring the app installer I made for use with these additional applications.

The thing is, how to actually do that was kind of passed around by word of mouth. I had a pretty XML schema diagram that Visual Studio spit out, but I think my team members either didn’t know about it or couldn’t understand it. In addition, they were configuring applications in different ways, and this provided an inconsistent experience for the user.

So a member of the team, a business analyst who’s been working on this Windows 7 project (making sure our supported applications actually work in that environment), asked me if I could give a presentation regarding how to go about configuring the app installer, and I agreed.

Then she asked me to set up a meeting for it, and I balked.

Not because I don’t know how to set up a meeting, or that I find it a particularly onerous task, but because I realised that I was being “tasked” by someone. It’s a technique of manipulation and dominance. So I gently pushed it back, and she coyly jumped on me, asking why I wouldn’t just schedule the meeting for Friday at 1pm?

“I don’t appreciate being tasked” was my reply.

Then the meeting organizer (another peer of mine) saw fit to order me to do it, and rather than raise a big stink about it in the tail end of this meeting I accepted the tasking.

In my subsequent research to make sure I’d used the term “tasking” properly in that context, I found that I couldn’t find it anywhere. I imagine it’s from a book that I’ve read. I expected to find this filed under “techniques for psychological manipulation” somewhere, but I haven’t had any luck.

Is anyone else familiar with this term? Can someone provide a reference to it for me?

You do things a little differently, don’t you?

> You do things a little differently, don’t you?

This comment was made to me by a guy I met at a programming Meetup this evening. I had actually forgotten that I’d RSVPed, and had gone hiking earlier in the day. When driving back, I realised that I was late for the event, but not too late, so I just showed up … in my hiking outfit.

Today, I wore my Elkommando hiking kilt and my Vibram Fivefingers (Kangaroo leather). It was the kilt that prompted the comment. But it’s definitely true. I do do things a little differently.

I wear minimalist shoes instead of “normal” shoes. This includes normal appearing things like my Inov8 Roclite 312 GTX, the normal until you really look at them Sockwa G3, and the “do you use those for running?” Vibram Fivefingers.

I sometimes wear a kilt. Often this is for hiking, but I wear it both at home and around the town as well. I like it.

I sleep in a hammock. Not just while backpacking/camping, but at home - instead of using a bed. I don’t even have a bed anymore. Just a hammock. And when my daughter spends the weekends with me, she sleeps in a hammock too.

I don’t use cable. I actually have cable, but I don’t use it. Between Hulu, Netflix, and torrents, I’m good to go. More video content than I can handle, without the egregious expense.

I don’t own a house. I don’t rent an apartment. I rent a room in a house. Right now, that’s the first floor of a 1880s victorian farmhouse. It’s huge. It’s quiet. I have an “upstairs neighbor” in my landlord, and I see him every few days.

I use all kinds of “best of breed” abnormal equipment. It’s surprising how often the outside world catches up to me after a few years. Being a geek is now widely accepted, and even fashionable. Vibram Fivefingers are mainstream. Speaking of mainstream, have you heard of “A Game of Thrones”? Yeah, me too, ~15 years ago.

I play designer board games. You may have heard of Settlers of Catan. The games I play are like that, only they won’t bore you out of your skull. A good board game can be very energizing and exciting.

I watch anime - Japanese cartoons. I’ve seen a lot of it, and I really enjoy the format. I actually prefer anime to live action in many cases. I almost always watch it in the original Japanese, with subtitles.

I am “a little different”. And that’s okay. If you embraced who you really are and what you enjoy, you might find out that you’re a little different too.

Well, I’ve seen a fair amount of the new anime shows this season, so here’s my take:

Aku no Hana had a very distinct art style and slow pacing. It definitely felt like a movie, and I get the feeling that things are going to go crazy in the next few episodes.

Suisei no Gargantia’s first episode reminded me of Macross Frontier a bit, mostly for the art style and initial setting. Very high quality animation.

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteieru was a bit generic, but I didn’t dislike it.

Oreimo’s first episode of the second season was a bit lackluster, but I enjoyed the first season so I’ll probably give it at least a 3 episode try before dropping it.

Shingeki no Kyojin lit it up. I’m very interested to see where this show will take us.

Red Data Girl was definitely good stuff.

Photokano has been compared to both Amagami SS and Kimikiss, so it’s pretty much a “must watch” for me. The first episode was mainly character and setting introductions, so I really have no idea what to expect going forward.

Karneval gave off a fujoshi feel. It was actually pretty cool, but I’m definitely leery. I’ll probably give this one a pass and circle back once we’re maybe half a cour in.