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From: Paul on 22 Jan 2010 22:08

I guess it is just a consequence of age, but I sure have found myself
far less tolerant of incompetence and foolishness lately. Like
especially the last three or four months. :)

At work, I find myself having to remind myself that the most people
take forever to get to a point, or to see something that is really
obvious to me. Usually because it took me a week to figure it out for
myself the first time.

Ah well, I long for the days when I could just sit and write COBOL and
CICS programs.
It was fun then. Perhaps not as well paying, but fun.

Any of you guys notice the same thing?

From: Bill Gunshannon on 23 Jan 2010 09:38
In article <4b5a683a$0$12422$bbae4d71(a)news.suddenlink.net>,
Paul <paul-nospamatall.raulerson(a)mac.com> writes:
>
> I guess it is just a consequence of age, but I sure have found myself
> far less tolerant of incompetence and foolishness lately. Like
> especially the last three or four months. :)
>
> At work, I find myself having to remind myself that the most people
> take forever to get to a point, or to see something that is really
> obvious to me. Usually because it took me a week to figure it out for
> myself the first time.
>
> Ah well, I long for the days when I could just sit and write COBOL and
> CICS programs.
> It was fun then. Perhaps not as well paying, but fun.
>
> Any of you guys notice the same thing?

All the time!!!

bill


--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
billg999(a)cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>
From: Anonymous on 23 Jan 2010 18:20
In article <4b5a683a$0$12422$bbae4d71(a)news.suddenlink.net>,
Paul <paul-nospamatall.raulerson(a)mac.com> wrote:
>
>I guess it is just a consequence of age, but I sure have found myself
>far less tolerant of incompetence and foolishness lately. Like
>especially the last three or four months. :)
>
>At work, I find myself having to remind myself that the most people
>take forever to get to a point, or to see something that is really
>obvious to me. Usually because it took me a week to figure it out for
>myself the first time.

First, as my Sainted Paternal Grandfather - may he sleep with the angels!
- used to say, 'Never use yourself as a comparative... you'll only be
disappointed.'

Second... in most instances I'd say it did not take you 'a week to figure
it out for (your)self the first time', I'd say it took your preceding
lifetime of being exposure to stuff, learning how to form/see
relationships between stuff and then calling that result 'figuring it
out'. We not only stand on the shoulders of preceding giants... we also
stretch and tilt our heads and turn things inside-out, according to our
experiences and (dare I invoke it) temperments.

>
>Ah well, I long for the days when I could just sit and write COBOL and
>CICS programs.

Do you long for the days of 'you guys start coding while I find out what
the user really wants' or 'Well, that's nice... but what'd be Really Neat
is if we could carry last year's period-equivalent totals someplace, you
can fit that into 131 columns' or 'Hey, it's 2:am and the Prod run blew
up with a DISPLAY of 'Call Programming' or 'I know that's what I told you
but it's not what I want!'?

Those, in my experience, are just as much a part of humping code as the
the delight of 'Hey... it can work if I just work check through the field
character-by-character not forwards but *backwards*...' or 'I can cut the
delay for the SORT by checking the range, writing the records to VIO and
pulling them back in only if the PARM contains an 'S' or 'I can increment
that alpha by a REDEFINES into a binary, adding 1 and 88'ing for A-H, I-R
and S-Z so the only hardcode test is for a Z at the top of the routine'.

>It was fun then. Perhaps not as well paying, but fun.

I recall being taught that Aeschylus said 'Great hardships make for later
entertainments'... and after a few decades of coming up with solutions
there aren't as many New Problems I see, true, but the pay's enough to
take care of my needs and wants to the point where my accountant,
annually, says 'Can't you come up with some more deductions anywhere?'

>Any of you guys notice the same thing?

I barely know what *I* notice, let alone anyone else... but as I've been
saying for a few decades 'Life is Good... and It just keeps Getting
Better'. I didn't live in a house with a dog, ever, until I got my pug,
Killer... and now I don't know how I managed to sleep without a nightly
snore-serenade.

DD

From: Pete Dashwood on 24 Jan 2010 05:37
Paul wrote:
> I guess it is just a consequence of age, but I sure have found myself
> far less tolerant of incompetence and foolishness lately. Like
> especially the last three or four months. :)
>
> At work, I find myself having to remind myself that the most people
> take forever to get to a point, or to see something that is really
> obvious to me. Usually because it took me a week to figure it out for
> myself the first time.
>
> Ah well, I long for the days when I could just sit and write COBOL and
> CICS programs.
> It was fun then. Perhaps not as well paying, but fun.
>
> Any of you guys notice the same thing?

I'm finding this... in reverse!

I am more tolerant now than I was when young. I've NEVER dealt well with
stupidity (my own, or others...) but at least now I don't do the Donald Duck
act (Throw my hat on the floor and jump up and down on it going "WAK! WAK!
WAK!").

I think when people are going round the houses and you have limited time,
you can assist them to get to the point (without being rude, necessarily...)

Yes, sometimes, people without the benefit of 4 decades and change in IT
can't see something that is obvious to me, but I'm more inclined to explain
and help them "get it" than I used to be.

I don't "long for the days when I could just sit and write COBOL and CICS
programs", even though I did enjoy those times. I enjoy writing C# and LINQ
instead... every bit as fulfilling, maybe even more so. I enjoy extending my
boundaries with lamba and functional programming (although I don't have
nearly enough "playtime" to do as much of this as I would like), getting
into more advanced C#, getting my head around concepts that are new to me,
solving problems that people say "can't be done" (I've done 2 of these in
the last month, both relating to legacy COBOL and solved with modern OO
COBOL, as a transition to a New Technology end point - very satisfying :-)),
trying to expand the Company and grow awareness of it and what we are doing.
It's all challenging and very exciting. It is also full on. I work every day
of the week, but "work" is fun when you enjoy doing it. (I do force myself
to take time out... as it is Summer here it is very hard to be indoors some
days... :-))

I don't plan to retire yet... :-)

Pete.

--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."


From: Alistair on 24 Jan 2010 14:05
On Jan 23, 11:20 pm, docdw...(a)panix.com () wrote:
> In article <4b5a683a$0$12422$bbae4...(a)news.suddenlink.net>,
>
> Paul  <paul-nospamatall.rauler...(a)mac.com> wrote:
>
> >I guess it is just a consequence of age, but I sure have found myself
> >far less tolerant of incompetence and foolishness lately. Like
> >especially the last three or four months. :)
>
> >At work, I find myself having to remind myself that the most people
> >take forever to get to a point, or to see something that is really
> >obvious to me. Usually because it took me a week to figure it out for
> >myself the first time.
>
> First, as my Sainted Paternal Grandfather - may he sleep with the angels!
> - used to say, 'Never use yourself as a comparative... you'll only be
> disappointed.'
>
> Second... in most instances I'd say it did not take you 'a week to figure
> it out for (your)self the first time', I'd say it took your preceding
> lifetime of being exposure to stuff, learning how to form/see
> relationships between stuff and then calling that result 'figuring it
> out'.  We not only stand on the shoulders of preceding giants... we also
> stretch and tilt our heads and turn things inside-out, according to our
> experiences and (dare I invoke it) temperments.
>
>
>
> >Ah well, I long for the days when I could just sit and write COBOL and
> >CICS programs.
>
> Do you long for the days of 'you guys start coding while I find out what
> the user really wants' or 'Well, that's nice... but what'd be Really Neat
> is if we could carry last year's period-equivalent totals someplace, you
> can fit that into 131 columns' or 'Hey, it's 2:am and the Prod run blew
> up with a DISPLAY of 'Call Programming' or 'I know that's what I told you
> but it's not what I want!'?
>
> Those, in my experience, are just as much a part of humping code as the
> the delight of 'Hey... it can work if I just work check through the field
> character-by-character not forwards but *backwards*...' or 'I can cut the
> delay for the SORT by checking the range, writing the records to VIO and
> pulling them back in only if the PARM contains an 'S' or 'I can increment
> that alpha by a REDEFINES into a binary, adding 1 and 88'ing for A-H, I-R
> and S-Z so the only hardcode test is for a Z at the top of the routine'.
>
> >It was fun then.  Perhaps not as well paying, but fun.
>
> I recall being taught that Aeschylus said 'Great hardships make for later
> entertainments'... and after a few decades of coming up with solutions
> there aren't as many New Problems I see, true, but the pay's enough to
> take care of my needs and wants to the point where my accountant,
> annually, says 'Can't you come up with some more deductions anywhere?'
>
> >Any of you guys notice the same thing?
>
> I barely know what *I* notice, let alone anyone else... but as I've been
> saying for a few decades 'Life is Good... and It just keeps Getting
> Better'.  I didn't live in a house with a dog, ever, until I got my pug,
> Killer... and now I don't know how I managed to sleep without a nightly
> snore-serenade.
>
> DD

You may knock snoring but the act of snoring loudly saved the life of
one hostage in the Iranian embassy siege in London (1985?). The man's
snoring was so loud that it disturbed the captors and other hostages
so he was released early.
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