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Issue 14

Angie returns in triumph to the old firm, and finds herself at the sharp end of the top-secret Project X. First though, there’s the small matter of Ed and the Third Day...

Monday
Six months ago I thought I’d never want to see the old firm again, but after the horrors of InterDesign A I’m really glad to be back. This time it’s as a Systems Consultant (the same as Carl and Denny), and on a much bigger salary. By the look of things the Desktop team’s been finding client-side COM a lot tougher than expected, with the result that I’m being treated like a returning heroine, which suits me fine. On the other hand, working my notice in Florence wasn’t much fun - Carla was all smiles while she thought I might change my mind (I even got to go to Milan!) but when she realised I wouldn’t she and Kate turned really nasty. Still, that’s behind me now, and I’m already focussed on Mission Impossible, aka sorting out Drivers Allowances Phase II.

Tuesday
The change in Carl and Denny is amazing. Before, they treated me like dirt but now it’s strictly peer-group stuff, with them asking for my opinion (and even advice) and offering theirs in return instead of simply telling me what to do. I even sit with them now, in a little three-desk enclave, and their ‘C++ Mafia’ title has been officially replaced by ‘The Active Platform Heavy Mob’, which includes me. Denny’s just back from TechEd in Amsterdam, and although he drops ‘Windows DNA’ into the conversation at regular intervals, he’s a lot more subdued than I expected. I ask Carl if anything’s wrong, and he just says “search me, Ange”, then walks out laughing. At this, Denny glowers, calls Carl an unprintable name, and returns to his OLE DB manual. They may be my peers now, but they’re still pretty weird.

Wednesday
‘Mission Impossible’ is becoming an all too apt name for DA II, with ‘Can of Worms’ a fast-emerging alternative. Bill Hammond still won’t sign it off, because it keeps forgetting to add Third Day supplements. The problem’s almost certainly in the server-side rules, and these belong to Ed, my replacement as Senior Developer, who clearly doesn’t like the Prodigal Daughter poking around his code. I don’t like poking around it either, because it’s some of the sloppiest I’ve ever seen and I’m scared it’ll collapse if I touch it. I wonder if I ought to say something to Kevin or Mike, but decide that discretion is the wiser option given that I’ve only just come back. If Ed calls me ‘love’ once more though, all bets are off.

Thursday
A Project X planning session, so secret that I’ve been told to use the cover of Drivers Allowances to explain why Mike and I are having meetings with Bill Hammond. Project X is about the firm joining a pan-European consortium, which means our trucks delivering to Euro-partners’ distribution warehouses, and vice versa. The IT implications are massive, and involve shared applications plus data interchange between a wild and wacky assortment of existing systems, mostly via PPTP. Our contribution to the shared-apps pool is none other than Drivers Allowances, which explains why Hammond and the other directors are so worked up about Phase II - and why I’m back here on a nice fat salary. Suddenly I feel a huge responsibility on my shoulders, but also a real thrill - this is serious stuff, a world away from Franca’s posh frocks, and I’m right here at the sharp end, which is where I belong.

Friday
I’ve found the Third Day error, and sure enough it’s in Ed’s rules. The pressure’s on me to deliver results so I give him a short, sharp lecture on variable scoping, fix it myself, and tell him to run a test. If looks could kill I’d be on my way to the morgue, but he does as he’s told, which is all I care about right now. Also looking murderous is Denny, who reacts to Carl singing ‘77 Sunset Strip’ by threatening to castrate him. I demand an explanation, and Carl says that on returning from Amsterdam Denny was subjected to a full-body search after a Customs officer mistook him for a known cocaine dealer. I collapse laughing, and recover to find Ed snarling that the DA test ran OK. On seeing Ed’s expression Carl and Denny start laughing too, and Ed storms out, leaving all three of us in fits. It really is great to be back!

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Issue 14 - Contents

< Previous Angie -- Next Angie >

   Issue 1
   Issue 2
   Issue 3
   Issue 4
   Issue 5
   Issue 6
   Issue 7
   Issue 8
   Issue 9
   Issue 10
   Issue 11
   Issue 12
   Issue 13
   Issue 14
   Issue 15
   Issue 16
   Issue 17
   Issue 18
   Issue 19
   Issue 20
   Issue 21
   Issue 22
   Issue 23
   Issue 24
   Issue 25
Issue 26
Issue 27
Issue 28
Issue 29
Issue 30
Issue 31
Issue 32
Issue 33
Issue 34
Issue 35
Issue 36
Issue 37

And the adventure continues at the HardCopy web site! More