My poor delicate computer hands
4 blisters, 2 bits of flesh missing and 3 splinters is the inevitable consequence of manual labor when applied to computer hands.
Sheds are cheapish (world steel prices jumped at the end of February), cement is not, so to cut costs I volunteered to be a concreter’s laborer for our new shed.
Dumpy, form work, key joint, boxen. These are the terms that haunted me for 4 days as we prepared the ground for the slab. A 500mm drop over the length of the shed is offset with 3 dump trucks of metal dust and road base. A Bobcat can shift a lot of dirt, but the final mile always requires a slave/Dave.
“Don’t knock the fu#@ing boxen Dave! It’s level I am not doing it again!”
“Sorry Rob”.
Saturday morning and the cement trucks are due at 7:00AM. An inch of rain overnight ensures that I am up early to clear the holes out and make sure that the case of beer in the fridge is cold. According to concreter legend, if you don’t have a cold case of beer ready after the slab is poured, the cement will crack like a botox injected face in 20 years.
4 hours later, the beer is good, hands are bandaged and the cement is setting nicely.
I keep telling clients that software development is like building a house. Get a good foundation (the db specifically) and most issues will be cosmetic. Screw up the foundation and no amount of paint is going to fix it. Imagine trying to build a 10 story building on a slab meant for a split level home. It might just stay upright, but the slightest tremor and it’s gone.
Legacy Comments
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Tim
2005-03-16 |
re: My poor delicate computer hands I hear you brother... i just had a tree stumper and a bob cat in to level my yard to a moonscape. Then I did the reno thing, built a pergola, gravel, playground and sawdust, retainers, garden edgings, you name it. Some highlights: At the gravel supplier: gday mate, I need 5 meters of this scoria. BRing it in small trucks because I need it dumped in certain spots. Deliver in three laods at hourly intervals so I can work backwards with the spreading. No problems says the guys. THen they role up with the whole lot in one massive load and dump it in my drive way. This means two days of shovel and barrow for my poor computer hands, and the project schedule took a pounding. I couldn't help but think of it like an IT project. MORAL: NEVER TRUST VENDORS Hardware store: I looked at Mitre 10's website "how to build a pergola" page. Went in with all the details to mitre 10 store to get the gear. I made the mistake of explaining that I had downloaded the info from their website. The beefhead guy actually laughed out loud which made me feel inadequate. Screw him anyway, I built it and it survived the first storm. Another IT project. MORAL: WHEN YOU USE A PUBLISHED METHODOLOGY THE "EXPERTS" WILL LAUGH AT YOU |