Michael Bolton

So the new Lonely Island CD came out, “Incredibad“. I’ve been a fan of their work for a while now. They’re the same guys behind internet hits like “Lazy Sunday”, “Dick in a Box”, and “Jizz in my Pants”. But that’s not the only songs I like from them. They’ve been making music for a while, and they love mixing hardcore rap with innocent nerdiness, which is what I think, makes them so funny. I mean, I’ve never heard a rap song about being on a boat, with such absurd levels of swearing.

So why am I talking about the CD? Because I bought it and I love it. Its so hilarious, yet so “gansta“. I was stuck in traffic today, on my way to work, but I wasn’t annoyed or even angry. I was happily rapping along with the song today, on my way to work. Then something happened to me. Someone pulled up beside me, who was “racially different“. I suddenly felt awkward and looked awkward… I guess its hard to explain. Here’s a clip that sums it up quite nicely.

It didn’t bother me, until I got to work. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks….I AM MICHAEL BOLTON! No! Not the singer! The one from the movie, Office Space! How so? Let me list the ways.

1. We’re both programmers
2. We both work at a small company
3. We both have access to payment data, that needs to be “rounded off”. What happens to that money lost? Who knows?
4. We both have glasses
5. We both like rap…a lot…

I guess the only thing that distinguishes myself from him, is that I don’t feel an urge to utterly destroy a printer, and the fact that I really truly enjoy my job.

Its quite challenging, mainly because its my first real expose to a slew of microsoft technology, meaning I have to pretty much absorb it all at once:

• Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS)
• Infopath
• Access + VBA
• C#
• Microsoft Biztalk (This one is actually quite complicated… damn orchestrations!)
• Virtual PC
• SQL Server
• Internet Information Services (IIS)
• ASP
• .Net
• etc…

I actually was quite surprised by how much software Microsoft has out there, and how much of it is meant for developers. So what do I think of all these products? I’m not too sure I like them or not. There’s a problem I run into, most of the time. The software is great for setting up the projects. MOSS for example, was extremely easy for me, setting it and getting it up and running was fine. The problem always came, when my bosses would ask for more functionality. It would always lead me down an dark alley, extensively hacking the original install, and changing all sorts of things, in order to mold it into what I want. I hate that. I want it to either do what I want it to do, without any overly complicated workarounds.

But all has not been wasted. All these months, all these efforts, and I’ve learnt so much. Not just about these products, but mostly about what technology works, and which ones don’t. I guess the best lesson, would be to choose the best technology for the job. But in order to do so, you have to actually play around a bit to get a taste of everything. You can’t choose the prettiest flower if you’ve only seen one type. So I’m grateful that I’ve been able to be exposed to so many things and still love the job.