Barbie gets interrupted again

Ok, Barbie, I know you had your heart set on getting that bug fixed, but there's another interruption.

Our system gets translated into other languages. That means someone has to send the words off to the translators. That's me. Actually, it's the tech writer, but I give them to him.

But today's challenge is, a tester wants to test the translation. But we don't have the words back yet.

So I thought we could make some fake translations, half install them, run a compile, pull out the language files, and then undo all our changes. Then send those files to the tester. Will she work out how to install them, do you think?

Turns out yes, she did. Our tester has a Masters degree.

Were you keeping notes on all those procedures, Barbie? We'll probably have to do this again one day. That's right, keep those devices charged.

Barbie gets really fixing

So, we've stopped the error message. Problem solved? Nope, we need to work out what that missing code was supposed to do . Or rather, what the original code would have done if we had originally wanted to do the thing we now want to do. Yeah.

 

What should it do? Clue's in the name. It's named along the lines of "verb - noun", so I guess we just have to verb the noun.

Then it will be lunch time. Didn't you bring lunch? I did. But I do like to treat myself to a bought one sometimes. We rather like spicy Asian food around here. And cake.

Barbie, we are NOT having macarons for lunch. Oh, you were thinking of afternoon treats? Well, that's perfectly sensible.

Barbie gets fixing

Ok, Barbie, back to the original question. The problem is, it can't find a piece of code. So we need to either make the code be there, or make it stop looking.

 

Trying the first one … there we go, I've just added an empty thing that doesn't do anything. It means it won't find a gap. Can you test it for me, Barbie?

 

Yes, testing is your job! We test stuff about every five minutes.

Yes I have a lot of pens. I use them to mark up printouts. The different colours help me think. That one's a stylus too.

Barbie handles an interrupt

OK, Barbie, quick interruption. A tester just found an issue in a patch that's about to go out. But the boss suspects it's been there forever, and so do I.  Testers eh? They just test everything!

I've run through the steps. She's right, the thing does happen, but ... is it a problem?

Let's think about that. 

Shh, I'm thinking. That's part of the job. You think too.

Ok, I've thought about it, and I'm pretty sure this is just "interesting behaviour", not a fault.

Oh, look, I've found it on the issue tracking system - it was reported six years ago. By me. I think that proves that nobody will mind. Case closed!

Can you email all that to the boss? Yes, I know he's sitting right there. Official answers go in writing.

Barbie gets caffeinated

You know how I said we drink tea here? Well, at 10.30, we have coffee. That's just how we do it. Bring your reusable cup, the barista knows what I want.

Are you keeping notes on your iPad, Barbie? Good idea. Never know when you'll want to refer back to something. Hot tip - keep your notes in the cloud. Then you can read them from home.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

No seriously, you'll be able to read the same notes on your phone or laptop if you need to. 

Barbie works on a defect

Now we're getting down to it. Check the issue tracking system - next thing on my dashboard is a defect to fix. Looks like, when we connect one of these things to one of those things, the result isn't stable. Why would that be? Ah, when we wrote it, we never expected to be connecting these with those. OK, let's fix it!

I've recreated the issue - I had to get another developer to help me decipher the user-speak.  Before we go on, let's write out the "steps to reproduce", and add that to the issue tracking system. After we're done, this will go through at least one tester, can't have them waste time. Too.

Barbie gets logged on

First things first. Let's check our emails.

Let's see... New procedures for producing beta releases. Cool. Proposed naming for new classes. We'll review that. Work drinks tonight. Yay! 

Oh, self funded work drinks. Ah well. The other kind is pretty rare.

Barbie starts her day

No, Barbie, we are NOT starting the day with fancy coffee. We drink tea around here, strong, and plenty of it. We're going to have to get you a tea mug.

Nice laptop, by the way.

My new intern

I have a new intern at work. She's a software developer. Well, the box says "Game Developer", but I think she should be doing the real stuff, like me.

She's Barbie! First Barbie I've ever had.

OK Barbie, first we're going to have to get you a desk. You can't sit, so this tissue box will do for now.

And lose the headset, we're here to work.

My links won't load in Facebook on my iPad!

Here, I'll do some trouble shooting for you.

If you

- have an iPad

- use Facebook

- use the Facebook app

... then you might one day see this problem. 

The Problem:

You read a Facebook post, and the person who posted put in a link to something - a joke, a recipe, an article. You click on it. But it takes ages to load. Or it never gets there.

First thing you can do (to get around it today):

- while its trying to open, click on the three dots in the top left hand corner. That opens a little menu, including "Open in Safari". That should work.

Second thing you can do (to stop it happening):

- when you are in the normal Facebook view, click on the down-arrow next to your name. That opens a little menu including "Settings"; choose that

- one of the options is "Browser"; choose that

- there's only one option, "Clear Data". Choosing that seems to fix the problem.

All of this suggests that the Facebook app is not so well behaved. But don't miss out on reading those jokes, recipes and articles!

Just love those adult colouring books...

We got a pretty new quilt cover just recently. And it comes with an activity!

So I got out my best colouring pencils...

Phew, that took frickin' ages!

Trash and Treasure goodies

Yesterday's scout hall Trash and Treasure was fun as ever. Here's some of the goodies:

So that's a real Portmeirion dish (I think it's a mini casserole dish, missing its lid), an Australia stencil like we used in primary school (it says "note, Tasmania to be drawn freehand"), and an old medicine bottle. Cool stuff!

A lovely little walk

I have an app on my phone, that I use sometimes to track my exercise. It works for walking and biking - it tells me how fast I'm going, and keeps a handy map of where I went. That's nice when I find a pretty tree, and want to go back to it.

But sometimes I forget its on, and it runs for hours. It often collects hours of me sitting at my desk at work - that's a bit boring.

On Friday I mapped a walk around the block before dinner (and forgot to turn it off). The next twelve or so hours were disappointing, exercise-wise. But on Saturday morning, I got up early to go to a Trash and Treasure sale at the scout hall. And the whole trip got captured!

Here's me "walking" - actually driving - to the scout hall.

Here's me parking the car, walking away, walking back later, and finally driving away.

And here's me walking around inside the scout hall.

See, you don't get workouts like that when you just go from A to B!

Nice day's trash and treasuring

I had a pleasant morning at a church fete today. The loot includes a Twinings tin, a Wade cottage, and a real grapefruit knife!

The Scintillating Diamond Encrusted Peacock of Montmartre

Just getting my NEW craft room organised, and look what I unpacked! This is one of the treasures we brought back from Paris. You know how all the famous jewellers have beautiful showcase stores in Paris? Well, I do like a bit of jewellery. 

This peacock is richly encrusted with diamonds, of which only a few have come unglued and popped out. The peacock's tail is - well, let's say, metal. And its eye, an emerald as green as the deep blue sea. Oh, wait, that should be, green sea.

All this for one euro at a flea market. That's about A$1.50. 

If you go to Paris, here's the web site you need - http://brocabrac.fr/index.php?dept=75 . That's Brocabrac, the local site for advertising markets, big ones and small ones. Garage sales are not allowed, so local markets are regular. The link I've given you is for department 75 - that's Paris itself. It's in French, so bon chance!

Sent from my iPad

Awesome Melbourne tourist attraction!

Check it out, it's a rock! Actually it's a super cool glacial Antarctic rock, brought from Mawson station and put here to commemorate the centenary of the Victorian Royal Society. That was back in 1959. I worked across the road from here for years, and I didn't come over to read the plaque until much later when I was visiting the city with the kids.

It's on the corner of Exhibition and LaTrobe streets, so go and see the Antarctic rock!

Crashing good time

Jeff finds out how to crash the Coles self checkout machine... But isn't able to fix it!

Jeff's getting new glasses

What do you think of these ones?

How about now? He looks just like that guy from that movie. No, not that guy. The other one.

The Dragons of Collingwood

Ever wondered how they demolish huge buildings? Well, now we know - with DRAGONS!

The car park we used to use every day suddenly closed, and we had to make other arrangements. Turns out, the historic brewery on that site is being restored and turned into accommodation. That involves demolishing the old silos (I asked, they are in poor condition and had to go).

So, each day when we go by, we are getting to see the demolition progress. Today we discovered just how they are taking down those huge, reinforced silos. With a dragon!

Have a look and see for yourself. The white crane is holding up a screen that stops any rubble from falling in the street (it's still open, after all). The yellow machine is clearly a dragon.

See what I'm saying? That dragon is eating the concrete day by day!

Here's another look at that powerful dragon!

Frog Shower in Ballina

We take a break now from the fascinating life and doings of ME, to focus on my wonderful MUM (you can call her Judi). Mum is retired (i.e. permanently on holiday) with Peter in Ballina on the northern coast of New South Wales. Gorgeous place to visit, too.

She enjoys showing me cool things from around her home, like lizards that come to feed, or interesting plants in bloom. Lately, though, things have got super interesting - she has FROGS in the shower. She doesn't have a blog or anything, so I must share them for her.

This is the first one that arrived. He's on the floor of the shower, and not really perturbed by a nice lady using the shower.

This is the second day of the Frogpocalypse. Her comment was "Frodo has been promoted to soap monitor".

Third day, and she says "This is bobo, Frodo's little brother. I think he is an architect as he is very interested in buildings".

Another look at Bobo.

And then we have Bobo and Frodo together : "I went out for the day, but brother Bobo turned up in the spare wheel cover on the caravan, Peter brought him to me and we quickly decided he was a new member, the proof is in the next picture."

I think we can all congratulate Mum on some very fine frog reporting. All photos have been taken with an iPad, and in the shower, so we can forgive any technical flaws.

Please keep the updates going, Mum!