Most people whom I've met in the computer field are not dumb. They're not genius-level, but they're not dumb. So why is it that no matter how they decide to bill for their time, there's a reason why it isn't quite right?
If they bill by the hour, there are tasks that take a significant amount of time and benefit multiple customers -- so who gets billed? If they bill by the task, how do you decide how much to charge when the task is easy for one customer and hard for another? If they bill by resources used, how do you allocate the tasks that take few computer resources but many mantime resources versus the reverse?
And then there's the customer who says that they're so big and so important, be damned to you and how you want to bill them, this is how you're gonna bill them. And here's the stuff, incidentally, that'll be free from now on. Including things that they want that they just thought up. And your management.... caves. Because their management caves.
To me, it comes down to the question about 'why do accountants use LIFO and FIFO, anyway?' Because one size doesn't necessarily fit all.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Classy
I learned that the Alliance Francaise (which, surprisingly, does not have a branch in our town) teaches one day Immersion classes at four levels in Philadelphia. I called them, they did a brief interview in French, and, voila, I'm signed up for a class in three weeks, at their Basic level (second of four). Amazingly, the woman actually understood my garbled French. Well, mostly. She did say I was difficult to classify, as I knew some basic things but didn't know some beginner things. She said if I was willing to work hard, I could do it. She doesn't know that I spend four hours a day now on it.
Hot damn. I can hardly wait.
Hot damn. I can hardly wait.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Izzard
Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. I should be watching French in Action. What right have you to be so damned funny?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The first step...
...is admitting that you have a problem.
Not only do I spend about four hours a day on French, but I start to feel guilty if I'm reading something and it's not about the language.
Not only do I spend about four hours a day on French, but I start to feel guilty if I'm reading something and it's not about the language.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Progress
I tell my wife that I'm not making as much progress with French as I'd like, and that is true.
I spend about four to five hours a day on it (of which perhaps three hours is actual work, and two or so is what can I find to distract me from this?), but I do not have the skills yet. I am beginning to conclude that learning a language isn't like building a house, where you can approach it in an orderly, optimal fashion. At least, it isn't for me. I review the French in Action videos (one per day); each is a 26 minute video, and I spend about two hours on it. I run through a section of Rosetta Stone, which now seems intolerably slow to me (though I know that one of their core principles is repeat, repeat, repeat, it gets old). I listen to the Book2 phrases project when I'm at the gym, for about 20 minutes. And before I go to sleep, I leaf through a French language review book.
I know that I'm slowly getting better, but it's not like being able to say To be able to speak fluently, even with limited vocabulary, I have to be able to do A, B, and C; so far, I can do A and part of B. It's more like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and hoping to eventually see a pattern. A little grammar over here. Something resembling a possessive pronoun down there. A couple of words. Words, especially. I cannot say how many times I've muttered something that sounds like French, but isn't, just to keep the feeling of progress going. The Book2 phrases for a while used Elle et lui a lot, and I would chant that phrase as if it were my mantra. Elle et lui. Elle et lui. Elle et lui. Still, not as much progress as I want. I want to be able to string together sentences, and speak.
On the other hand, I just switched my bookmark for Google Translate so that it now comes up to the 'translate French into English' page, rather than the reverse, because I'm more likely now to have a phrase I want to try out -- does this even make a phrase, let alone, does it make sense? -- than to have a phrase in English that I want to translate into French. So that's something.
I spend about four to five hours a day on it (of which perhaps three hours is actual work, and two or so is what can I find to distract me from this?), but I do not have the skills yet. I am beginning to conclude that learning a language isn't like building a house, where you can approach it in an orderly, optimal fashion. At least, it isn't for me. I review the French in Action videos (one per day); each is a 26 minute video, and I spend about two hours on it. I run through a section of Rosetta Stone, which now seems intolerably slow to me (though I know that one of their core principles is repeat, repeat, repeat, it gets old). I listen to the Book2 phrases project when I'm at the gym, for about 20 minutes. And before I go to sleep, I leaf through a French language review book.
I know that I'm slowly getting better, but it's not like being able to say To be able to speak fluently, even with limited vocabulary, I have to be able to do A, B, and C; so far, I can do A and part of B. It's more like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and hoping to eventually see a pattern. A little grammar over here. Something resembling a possessive pronoun down there. A couple of words. Words, especially. I cannot say how many times I've muttered something that sounds like French, but isn't, just to keep the feeling of progress going. The Book2 phrases for a while used Elle et lui a lot, and I would chant that phrase as if it were my mantra. Elle et lui. Elle et lui. Elle et lui. Still, not as much progress as I want. I want to be able to string together sentences, and speak.
On the other hand, I just switched my bookmark for Google Translate so that it now comes up to the 'translate French into English' page, rather than the reverse, because I'm more likely now to have a phrase I want to try out -- does this even make a phrase, let alone, does it make sense? -- than to have a phrase in English that I want to translate into French. So that's something.
Train Station
I'm in the middle of a French in Action video where I'm not getting squat. Time for a golden oldie...
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Setting A Course
From Monocle magazine, which I enjoy though don't read all that often (at ten bucks a pop, it's a bit too expensive for me) --
How to Chart A Steady Course
1. Keep focused on what lies over the horizon
2. Don't be distracted by trends or fads
3. Know what you stand for
4. Maintain a diverse talent mix
5. Invest in seeing the world
6. Be tyrannical when it comes to details.
7. Change tack the moment it's no longer fun.
And speaking of talent, we just found Talenti Gelato. Quite good!
How to Chart A Steady Course
1. Keep focused on what lies over the horizon
2. Don't be distracted by trends or fads
3. Know what you stand for
4. Maintain a diverse talent mix
5. Invest in seeing the world
6. Be tyrannical when it comes to details.
7. Change tack the moment it's no longer fun.
And speaking of talent, we just found Talenti Gelato. Quite good!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
FIA is Reasonable
It took almost an hour, over the course of a day, of playing and replaying one specific sequence, but I now know: the phrase that the woman in the FIA course was saying was Elle est tres raisonnable. The key was figuring out that estrezz was in fact est tres, and that what sounded like zessenabluh was raisonnable. It's an hour of my life that I'll never get back, but I'm pleased nonetheless.
For a free course -- and even if it wasn't -- this French in Action is pretty good.
For a free course -- and even if it wasn't -- this French in Action is pretty good.
Regrets
Even when I hadn't gone to it often, I find myself sad when a bookstore closes. I think And if you hadn't ordered from Amazon so frequently...?
Even 20% off discounts don't quite make up for the transient sense of culpability.
Even 20% off discounts don't quite make up for the transient sense of culpability.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Listening
When I started listening to the French in Action series, I was cheered by the thought that each video was only half an hour long. Pfft, do that standing on my head. Now I find that while the video is half an hour (actually, about 27 minutes, less the intro and closing credits), it takes me about an hour, if not longer, to go through it. I have to continually replay to hear what they said, and to understand it. There are no translations. They repeat a lot, and the sentences are simple, but still. I have to work at it. Frequently, in five minute chunks.
So when I hear Elle veut regarder la television d'abord, et travaille apres, mais sa mere ne pas d'accord -- and I get it -- I'm pleased more than the accomplishment probably warrants.
Now, if I can just get someone to say that sentence to me. In French. Slowly.
So when I hear Elle veut regarder la television d'abord, et travaille apres, mais sa mere ne pas d'accord -- and I get it -- I'm pleased more than the accomplishment probably warrants.
Now, if I can just get someone to say that sentence to me. In French. Slowly.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Pense
I don't think about French all the time.
I do wake up thinking about it, and remembering dreams wherein I spoke in French (and now, just a little bit, understood what I said). I buy dictionaries of French, I read simple stories in French, and I look at articles and videos that are in French and about French. When I see a new one, like these You Tube videos on the language, I perk up. (Though I get just a tad irritated when they translate Prenez-vous les cartes de credit? as May I pay with a credit card? and I think No it's not, it's Do you take credit cards? Picky, I know. ) I find myself wondering if its just as 'right' to say Je ne travaille pas as Je travaille pas (I think, no - the first is better). I have this laptop's language bar enabled so that I can switch the keyboard to the United States-International setting, thus facilitating keying in accent marks like this - é. And when I see that Google Translate has an option to remap the keyboard to the French style, I nod and smile. I don't use it, but that it's there pleases me. Oh, and I have flashcards in the car to glance at while stopped at traffic lights.
But I don't think about French all the time. Really.
Sometimes, I think about violent right wing rhetoric.
And then I dive back into French. It's safer.
I do wake up thinking about it, and remembering dreams wherein I spoke in French (and now, just a little bit, understood what I said). I buy dictionaries of French, I read simple stories in French, and I look at articles and videos that are in French and about French. When I see a new one, like these You Tube videos on the language, I perk up. (Though I get just a tad irritated when they translate Prenez-vous les cartes de credit? as May I pay with a credit card? and I think No it's not, it's Do you take credit cards? Picky, I know. ) I find myself wondering if its just as 'right' to say Je ne travaille pas as Je travaille pas (I think, no - the first is better). I have this laptop's language bar enabled so that I can switch the keyboard to the United States-International setting, thus facilitating keying in accent marks like this - é. And when I see that Google Translate has an option to remap the keyboard to the French style, I nod and smile. I don't use it, but that it's there pleases me. Oh, and I have flashcards in the car to glance at while stopped at traffic lights.
But I don't think about French all the time. Really.
Sometimes, I think about violent right wing rhetoric.
And then I dive back into French. It's safer.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Investing
There are few things as profoundly depressing as talking with our Ameriprise advisor.
He starts every yearly session with a recitation of how badly the economy is doing -- and not just here, but everywhere. Towns, cities in default. Massive deficits here, slashed governmental and local workforces there. Nobody is hiring, nobody is growing. Gloom abounds. We walk in thinking hey, we're doing pretty well, we've got a goodly amount saved and invested, and within fifteen minutes we're looking for a piece of cardboard to scratch out a Will xxxxxx for cash sign. We decided that it's his way of saying '"Look, I can guarantee you two percent, but only for a year, and maybe even three, but past that, forget it. Be lucky to stay even, keep what you got. "
I wish that he'd just say that.
He starts every yearly session with a recitation of how badly the economy is doing -- and not just here, but everywhere. Towns, cities in default. Massive deficits here, slashed governmental and local workforces there. Nobody is hiring, nobody is growing. Gloom abounds. We walk in thinking hey, we're doing pretty well, we've got a goodly amount saved and invested, and within fifteen minutes we're looking for a piece of cardboard to scratch out a Will xxxxxx for cash sign. We decided that it's his way of saying '"Look, I can guarantee you two percent, but only for a year, and maybe even three, but past that, forget it. Be lucky to stay even, keep what you got. "
I wish that he'd just say that.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Learning French
Learning French? Want resources? This guy has resources out the wazoo. And so far as I can see, they're good ones, too. Most of which, I never ever heard of before -- like the free French In Action videos. Now I know where Rosetta Stone got their idea...
Monday, February 14, 2011
Learning to Improvise
From Seed Magazine:
"Aaron Berkowitz, a cognitive ethnomusicologist, who took on the task of demystifying improvisation as the focus of his dissertation work at Harvard, has a theory. He likens the process of learning to improvise to that of learning a second language. Initially, he says, it’s all about memorizing vocabulary words, useful phrases and verb conjugation tables. Your first day, you might learn to say: How are you? I’m fine. “These are like the baby steps beginning improvisers take. They learn the structure of the blues. They learn basic chords and get the form down,” said Berkowitz. But they’re still very limited in what they can do."
First day, huh? Still -- a fascinating article.
"Aaron Berkowitz, a cognitive ethnomusicologist, who took on the task of demystifying improvisation as the focus of his dissertation work at Harvard, has a theory. He likens the process of learning to improvise to that of learning a second language. Initially, he says, it’s all about memorizing vocabulary words, useful phrases and verb conjugation tables. Your first day, you might learn to say: How are you? I’m fine. “These are like the baby steps beginning improvisers take. They learn the structure of the blues. They learn basic chords and get the form down,” said Berkowitz. But they’re still very limited in what they can do."
First day, huh? Still -- a fascinating article.
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