They're Baaaack

Everyone is back from their trip to MA. While they were out, they had the network guy move their cubicles (probably a little further away from me) for whatever reason. Of course one of them had to write a big gay "Thank you!!! for moving us!!!" on the network guy's whiteboard (actual punctuation).

As soon as they got back, I found myself riding up in the elevator with Mr. Kitten (aka "I'm hanging in there"). For the first time since I've been working here (maybe even ever) he was cheerful. He had such a swell time in MA doing all sorts of fun team activities. They went bowling together, went to a baseball game together, ate at the best restaurants together, etc. I really missed out. But on the plus side, I got to learn that even without the dreary self-pity, Mr. Kitten still annoys the shit out of me.

Unfortunately, the other programmer on my team has been out sick since they returned, so I can't get the real story. Doubtless the 24/7 force feeding of syrupy sweet rah rah extreme teamism may have had something to do with his illness. I just hope he wasn't at the bottom of the hill when the snowball came around, if you know what I mean.

Today is also demo and planning day. I went to the meeting and found that it was only me and my "manager." The other programmer is out sick as I mentioned and the sales guy just plain isn't there.

I didn't bother demo'ing anything since no one cares anyway. When it came to iteration planning, I laid out a high level plan for a two week iteration. I got the passing nod followed by some overly general "maybe we could do <blank>" statements. Meanwhile, no one has gotten us the market research, beta test customers, or equipment access we've been whining about for months. So pretty much business as usual.

Since we're only meeting every two weeks, it seems like someone thought we should cut the available meeting time in half (I'm fine with not meeting at all). I found this out when I heard the sales guy bellowing about how he's likes college basketball in the next conference room, so at least he had a good reason for skipping the meeting. He then poked his head in and reminded my manager that they have a meeting scheduled with someone else. I really have no why no one knows what's going on on this project.