X-Treme Programming

Hello everybody!
Here we are once more time. This time they waiting's been short than the last time, probably it is because a) I have more time to develop my creativity (even losing about three hours by day in travels, and "gifting" one hour more to my company thanks to bus times, see last publication); or b) I am so less tired after job-sessions than before by far. I'd bet a combination of both. However I am here again and I am plenty of news to spread.

My first month with the new job has been interesting. I've had a chance to feel confortable with the place, knowing more about the business step by step (though sometimes such step means be push into a spiking hole, I'll expand it later) and knowing more about the application we have to maintenance while the new one is developing (if it is someday), knowing better the people whom I have to work with (I'm still liking them), and, resuming, feeling like I am one more member in the team.

In the other hand, I've realize another significan disadvantage. It is relating to the traveling (what else?), not about the time but about the money. Transport in this country is not cheaper, that's known by all, but this is crazy. I have to take a tube from my house, East London, Zone 2, to Waterloo Station, Central-South, Zone 1. This ticket, is off-peak if I don't get delayed at mornings, £2.30 each; once I get Waterloo, I have to get my all-lovely-train to Weybridge £15.40 out and return ticket; and from Weybridge, if every happens on track, I can get a bus which drop me at office's door (yes, 30 minutes before my must-in time) whose tickets cost £2 each. Thereby, if I don't oversleep, and tube-train combination don't delay I spend about £25 per day. If something goes bad, I have to pick a taxi from Weybridge to the office, which cost about £5 (this have happened two times till now, and no one because of my, but the train...). According all of this, and since my girlfriend doesn't seem to quitting from her job, everything points to me buying a car.

Getting a car is not an exiting idea to me, I don't like drive, I don't like have a car (costs, maintenances, responsibilities, dependencies...) and I don't know a damn about them, so I'm afraid to be deceived by any of these cunning knaves who fill this city. But probably I'll do it finally. I don't wanna expend so much money on this, and if I can chose I prefer a diesel motor, to expend even less on fuel, but right now it's so early to say anything.

Turning back to the job. As I said I like it, actually a big amount of my energy have to be focused to fix any raised bug in the old application (from now on Old Sorax, hopefully I'm not revealing any company secret) with, common sense'd say, shouldn't be too much as this application is being used for six years or so, but If you don't mind a small literally touch in this, we can compare a good application with a tough castle, but modern and prepared to be changed, with sockets and plugs to add, remove or replace different parts of this castle. A bad application can be like a small settle, with thin wooden planks stuck at ground in a way that you couldn't move it if you want, but a wind with strength enough could break the wall in bits. This application is none of those. This one is a maze made with Jenga blocks, you have to go over the corridors (and got a dead end many times) to find the wall you wanted to move, and when you find it, probably the wall and the ones touching it fall down because you sneeze to close of them.

My job, sometimes is moving walls, or create new ones, but sometimes I have to find a hole in these walls and plug it, what is like sneeze but ten times stronger. I actually find this pretty entertaining, and let me be closer the rest of the people in the office, which is good to my English skill and to my social life (someday my girlfriend won't can say all my friends are actually hers) and, to be honest, fixing bugs is my favourite part of a developing job, even when I have to deal at same time with three Critically-Critical-Dead-Threaten ones as have happening latest days (headache is my middle name)... Maybe I have something broken on my head, but I actually enjoyed it, even when I stare at the code and I can see how it is staring me back with evil intentions.

But working is not every I have been doing. I have had time to take some beers with my colleague in
here, yes, who was gonna say I was gonna drink beer with a relative frecuency. It's true I never was a beer lover, but I've found these ale beers more interesting than usual lagers we can find in Spain. In addition, spend a time with people outside job environment is really thankfully.

Besides I have spent more time with my girlfriend's mates, whom are, at this moment, the closest thing I have right now to actual friends (with a exception of my workmate whom I hang out to take beers). A couple weeks ago we went together to Thorpe Park, a theme park near to here. It was awesome. I had lots of fun, and I loved it. This parks reminded me a little to my childhood theme park, both are small compared with others like Warner Bros Park or Disneyland, and both don't concern too much about decorates and atrezzo, they just care about rides. Those rides were so exciting and one of them, my favourite, named Colossus, was really thrilling. It was funny when I was perfect posing in all the pictures on the rides, looking at the camera and smiling or so... but what can I say? I have years of experience posing at rides to get the perfect picture.