YouTube Sucks

Actually it's not just YouTube, it's a conspiracy between YouTube, Adobe and the enthusiastic knuckleheads who expect this stuff to work. Half the time when I try to play an embedded YouTube video on some other site besides YouTube, it will hiccup, stall, drag it's feet and generally be a real pain to watch. Go to the YouTube site to watch it and it plays FINE. Dadburn commies. You know, it wouldn't be so bad if you could just wait until the entire video finishes downloading. Then you could play it without any of those EXTREMELY IRRITATING interruptions. But NOOOOO, hitting the pause button means that the download grinds to a halt, so the only way to get the whole thing is to let it play out, which generally means leaving the room. I suspect that turning down the sound and minimizing the window, or covering it up with solitaire will only suspend it. It KNOWS if you are watching or not, and if it is not front and center on the screen the download will be suspended.

Leviton

Clowns, I'm dealing with clowns. I was supposed to have an interview with Leviton tomorrow morning. I get a call from the agency yesterday, they want to know if I can start as a contractor today. Well, sure, I guess so, I don't have anything else pressing going on. Seems the last contractor they had in there had a "family emergency" and had to leave in a hurry. So we go through a bunch of phone tag and I talk to their technical guy for 30 minutes about data structures and syntax and interrupts and message passing and several other arcane embedded programming topics. So now I'm waiting around to find out if I am really supposed to go in today or not. Tech guy goes into a meeting and doesn't come out. Everybody else involved (agent, Leviton HR) go home. Kiss this project goodby.

No call this morning. I finally call the agent to find out what's going on, or rather to complain about being jerked around. While I'm on the phone she get's a call from Ginelle, Leviton HR. Turns out the tech guy that interviewed me is upset that he already interviewed me once before. He didn't realize it until he talked to me, recognized my voice. He had my name, but he didn't recognize that and HR didn't complain.

OK, here's what bugs me. I interviewed once before with this guy FIVE months ago, and he is looking to fill the spot RIGHT NOW and he's irritated that he interviewed me before? What is this? How am I supposed to know this was the same position? I have worked on projects that did not take three months, much less five, and I am supposed to know this is the same job? If he wanted to avoid this, why didn't he use the same agency as last time? Why did he use a different agency? What is the matter with these people?

If they are hiring for the long term, witness their preference to discard me because I interviewed with them once before, then why do they need someone to start TODAY? Stupid.

They are a funny company. They brought in the manager's pet pick for this job to interview with people, and everyone who interviewed him hated him. He was a condenscending, sneering, jerk. Technically he was great, but he put everyone off, so they didn't hire him.

All this makes me wonder if the BS might be extra deep, and the previous contractor left because he was fed up with it. I think there is some kind political war going on between a pointy-haired boss and the geeks.

So I don't know if I am supposed to go in for an interview for a regular full-time position tomorrow or not.

Note: It is now two months later. It has taken me this long to getting around to sanitizing this story.

Update December 2016 replaced missing pictures.