Only 90s Web Developers Remember This – The guys on my team were sharing this today as a bit of a funny joke. I laughed (“HA HA”) but really? I felt a little pang inside. This was my professional life for the 90’s. Damn, feels like a long time ago!
Category: Computers
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Fitbit Force recall
WHAT?! “Fitbit halts sale of Force fitness band, issues recall due to skin irritation.” I’ve had my Fitbit Force since just before Christmas, and I totally love it. I haven’t had a single problem. And that’s kinda weird, because jewellery with nickel in it usually causes a reaction on me. But I wear my Force fairly loose, so maybe the fact that I get some air flow in there is helping. I’m definitely not sending mine back. I love it! I loved my One as well (which the Snook now uses*), but I underestimated how much of a difference the wristband form factor would make. I only take it off to shower or swim, and a full charge lasts more than a week. If you’ve got a Fitbit, feel free to friend me…* I actually lost my Fitbit One at the company Christmas party. Dejected, I ordered my Force and then contacted support to get them to remove my One from my account. (The reminder to sync on my dashboard was making me sad.) To my surprise, they offered to replace it! So I got a brand new one, which the Snook is now using. Amazing service. I’m a total Fitbit evangelist now.
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A big step up…
So some amazing stuff has happened in the past week. I mentioned last month that my job was going well and that I was taking on additional responsibilities. At the start of February I was struggling with the increased workload, so someone else was brought on to help with my team’s day-to-day stuff. It all came to a head last week when rumours of a massive restructure started swirling. I thought maybe I’d been groomed to move up a step on the ladder. Wednesday morning I found myself in a meeting room with the CIO, where she drew out the new org chart and then offered me a spot … several levels higher than what I’d been imagining. I was pretty floored. I needed to give them an answer ASAP, so the Snook met me in the city for an emergency pow-wow at lunch. Yes, the position came with a nice raise, but it was also a big step in terms of responsibility (and probably workload). It’s also my first ever opportunity to move into people management, something that I hadn’t been interested in before but I’d been learning a lot about from working with Jody. I just couldn’t turn it down. So I accepted that afternoon. My new title is TV Development Director, and I’m responsible for the entire TV side of web development at Mi9. IS THAT CRAZY OR WHAT?
The week since the offer has been a rollercoaster. Unfortunately the restructure wasn’t as positive for some other people, which has meant a little bit of guilt over my good fortune. I haven’t had much time to meet with and support my circle of work friends, mostly because I’m trying to finish handing off my IM role as quickly as possible while getting up to speed on the new one. Sunday night a routine deployment for my team turned into a four hour incident that I had to manage via Hipchat from home. I’m having daily one-on-ones with the CIO and trying to figure out what the boundaries of my job actually are. There are a lot of holes on my team structure, so I also need to get involved with recruiting ASAP. I’ve had to draft emails to be sent to the entire technology team. Last night I left work at 6pm, which was my earliest night in some time! I’m really hoping things settle down quickly.
But there are still high points. The CIO said that the reason she felt comfortable offering me the position after only eight months was that several people high up in the organisation had pushed for me to do it. A LOT of coworkers and friends gave me wonderful congratulations and feedback last week, both at work and on social media. And on the weekend the Snook took me over to Broadway to buy a new MacBook Pro, which I’d been coveting for some time but hesitated buying.
So far 2014 is definitely looking up!
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Photo post
Dear Kristy: Congrats on your new role. Love, Snookums -
What IT Pro Roles Pay Across Australia | Lifehacker Australia
What IT Pro Roles Pay Across Australia | Lifehacker Australia – Note to Snook: We’re not moving to Brisbane anytime soon.
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‘Q*bert’ and the video game marathoning trend in the aftermath of ‘The King of Kong’ – Grantland
‘Q*bert’ and the video game marathoning trend in the aftermath of ‘The King of Kong’ – Grantland – Great article. I never really like Q*bert. Something about the way the pyramid was skewed made it very difficult for me to control, and my Q*bert was forever leaping off to his doom.
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Desperate search for geniuses goes to ends of the Earth
Desperate search for geniuses goes to ends of the Earth – Atlassian really care about hiring the best staff, don’t they? *crosses fingers*
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Easter Show Entries 2013
It’s time again for the Sydney Royal Easter Show Competition, and this is my SEVENTH year entering. (Good grief – really?!) I’ve entered a lot of items over the years, and some of them have been awarded with ribbons. A recap:
- 2007: Cabled Jacket of Doom and Argyle Kitty Kat Cardigan
- 2008: Road to Golden (Highly Commended)
- 2009: Na Craga (Highly Commended)
- 2010: St. Brigid and the Magic Pudding
- 2011: Snook’s Hipster Cardy
- 2012: Rhiannon Socks, Sam Sawnoff, and Bokaclava (Second Place for the socks)
Needless to say, Win the Easter Show has been on Hermione’s To Do list for a very long time. This year I again sent in three entries.
Catriona Vest
This is a pattern I’ve had in my Ravelry queue for a long time. I bought the wool (Pear Tree Merino) from Kylie in a destash last year and it seemed like the perfect choice for it. I made a few significant modifications: I adapted it to be knitted in the round up to the armholes, and I mirrored the cables to be symmetrical. I also dug around on Ravelry to find someone who had charted the cables, which was really helpful. (Why Debbie Bliss is incapable of including a chart, I have no idea.) I really, really like the finished vest. The wool was a great choice, and it makes the cables stand out. I entered this in the Sleeveless Garment category (no more Aran for me; I’m not that masochistic) and I think it’s probably my best shot at a ribbon. I’m also really looking forward to wearing it this winter! More photos and details on Ravelry.
Juno Regina
In the end, my first real lace project took me nearly THREE YEARS to finish. I started this in 2010 and I’ve been working on it in fits and starts ever since. That middle bit was a total slog! I’m happy with how it turned out though, and it’s destined as a (very late) wedding gift for my friend Kriti Sahni. The pattern is of course from Knitty, and the wool is Morris Empire 2ply. Special thanks to Fiona for lending me her blocking wires! (Although I had a nightmarish time blocking it. I somehow managed to catch a thread on the sink plug and pulled out a long loop! I spent like an hour hunched over it laboriously adjusting stitch tension to repair it.) Frankly, I’ll be thrilled for this just to be exhibited. The lace category is notoriously competitive, and – my fake rivalry with Reecie notwithstanding – I don’t really stand a chance. Again, more details on Ravelry.
Self-Replicating Mittens with QR Code
You may have seen these as there have already been some photos on the blog. Basically, the idea was prompted by my Girl Geek talk last year on Knitting Geekery. I got excited about the idea of making a “meta” knitted object, where the item’s pattern was encoded into the item itself. After some brainstorming and research, I settled on a QR code. I knew that other people were using them on knitted items with some success. I wanted my code to be as simple as possible, so I needed to use a URL shortener to mask my intended address. I settled on using Google‘s, reasoning that it was likely to be around the longest. (Though who knows these days, right?) Google also conveniently generate the QR code for you! Then it was just a matter of knitting it. I did several test patches, but none of them worked. I tried fairisle; I tried Swiss darning; I tried cross-stitching over the knitting. I just couldn’t get any of them to successfully read on my iPhone. I was thisclose to scrapping the whole idea. With less than a week to go, I made one last attempt using very thin baby wool and the thinnest needles I had (2mm). Still no go. At the eleventh hour, I decided to try blocking the hell out of it. I cut a piece of paper to square and aggressively pinned the wet fabric to it. Suddenly – IT WORKED! I couldn’t believe it. I shared a photo to Twitter and other people got it to work too. Hallelujah! Then it was just a matter of knitting another patch and sewing them to the mittens (which I’d already finished). I set up the target page once I dropped them off at the Show. (I included a note explaining the concept and warning the judges that the website would give away my identity.) Anyway, I’m very happy with them. I entered them in Creative Knitting, but truth be told the knitting skill required was minimal. They’re more of an Art piece than anything, and I just hope people will get the concept. If nothing else, the folks on Twitter seemed to like them! Again, details on Ravelry.Edited on 16/03/2025: Google are killing the URL shortener in 2025, which means at some point the QR code will stop working. Bastards.
The Arts Preview Night is Tuesday, so I’ll know then whether I can finally cross that pesky To Do item off my list!
