Driving Karma

I like driving, always have done. Ever since I had my licence and got used to doing longer journeys I've often found I can relax by hitting the road with something good to listen to and possibly a particular direction in mind.

Part of my enjoyment of driving, particularly good country roads, is to drive them at the limit. Not speeding, not dangerously, but if there's a decent straight bit of tarmac, with the occasional interesting bend then I want to be at the limit and it can at times be a bit frustrating when stuck behind someone going significantly slower than that.

Strangely I don't enjoy my morning commute all that much. Yes it's country roads which are interesting to drive so I guess it might be a case of familiarity breeds contempt but I actually believe it's because I get stuck behind a slow driver more days than not.

Today however was very different, on the way in the roads were clear and I felt like I had the road to myself and mentioned this to my colleagues at work. I may even have suggested that my thoughts to all the other drivers in Hampshire to get out of my way had finally worked and that karma might come back to bite me.

Turns out I may well have been right. About an hour before I would normally consider leaving an email arrived which indicated my normal route home was closed. Fair enough, I'll take the motorway, it'll just mean working slightly later than normal to avoid the worst of the jams. Then it turned out that the motorway was jammed due to a broken down lorry. This meant that my smooth journey in was going to be complemented with a slow, queue laden journey home.

Fortunately it was as bad as it could have been, but certainly wasn't as interesting, and the motorway definitely crawled in places. Looking back on both journeys I don't think that they're going to necessarily change how I view driving on the road, especially my commute, but perhaps I'll be just a little less smug if it's a good run in.

A post about work

I don't often talk about my job in any great detail, mostly because I get the impression it wouldn't be that interesting for anyone that isn't in the trade, and because I can get away with saying I work in computing, or that I work for IBM.

There have been several changes in what I do in the 6 years I been working there full time but I've stuck with the same team because it's always provided a challenge, whether that's going to Poughkeepsie for a month to write a book, or being put in charge of a group of people and told to produce something by the deadline.

The latest 'opportunity' (which I'm sure is management speak for more work) to be sent my way is to act as a design architect for one of the systems we use. From a personal note, this is very cool, the sort of role I've wanted since I started, and without sounding too bigheaded I think it's a job I can do well.

However there is scope to get things horribly wrong. While I may be in charge of the direction things take, I can't micromanage every little detail of the work, nor can I reject something because it isn't exactly how I'd have done it myself.

After a week in the role I've a list of requirements and plenty of ideas, just need to sort out how and when they get done. Good times.