Friday, March 28, 2008

This is my initial post to my new blog. It is intended to be a site where mainframers, crossworders, non-video game players, theatre aficionados, and fishermen discuss whatever they want to. I would like to start the conversation with the continuing spate of outsourcing by the large corporations in this country of green screen technology. From my vantage point, the competence level is relatively low, and the costs in low productivity far outweigh any perceived economic advantage that they think they are accomplishing. I have personally met a small group of the replacement programmers, and while they are all young, bright, and enthusiastic, their lack of experience is a daunting challenge to producing high quality programming. Add to that the increasing upward mobility available to them and the resulting turnover, and we end up spending all of our time retraining.

Visited my Dad on the occasion of his 88th birthday in Florida last week and managed four rounds of golf, 3 dinners out, two shows (The Full Monty at the old Burt Reynolds dinner theatre, and Company locally produced in Stuart), and one great birthday party. The golf was predictably bad (4 month layoff, no short game, and a marvellous tendency to hit the ball right - frustrating for an avowed pull hooker) averaging about 103 with 17 lost balls in the process. No comment on the dinners, which were all fine but unmemorable. The Full Monty was a great surprise to me. Totally forgettable music, but remarkably entertaining. I would definitely recommend it to anyone out for a good time. Company is iconic, and presented brilliantly with an on-stage pianist participating as an actor. Dad's birthday party was a blast, and there was lively political discussion (Dad, a Democrat in his youth, republican up until our current president), is now a fervent Obama supporter. I cut out some snippets from Obama's website (he is apparently ready to quadruple the federal budget) and sent them to him. 'Campaign rhetoric, he doesn't mean it'. Oh well. Typical Florida party with everybody having a ball then leaving at 9 on the dot.

Off to the hospital (another story for another time)


Dave

The Dinosaur Programmer

The blog for the rapidly diasppearing American mainframe programmer.