Techno-Gripe #

24 February 1999

Having access to things and places isn’t something that is usually much of a barrier to me in my everyday life; I guess I’m lucky like that. I’m able bodied, educated, with a car and passport, so I don’t really worry about accessibility. But today the overly-secure nature of the IT working world dumped on me from a great height, and made it virtually impossible to do my job. Over the course of the day, I’ve had to borrow three people’s user IDs of various ilk, and somebody’s security pass to get into a testing room. Compounded with having to telephone people asking them to run programs for me, and the fact that I don’t have access to the necessary drive to document my work, and it’s all beginning to get a little bit annoying.

OK, so obviously security is a big concern for all companies, and more IT managers should go take a look at http://www.l0pht.com sometime, but when it gets to the stage that people you contract to perform a task are unable to do so without great hassle, you perhaps need to lighten up a bit. OK, techno-gripe over.

That question again - “what do you want for your birthday?”, asked by people who’ve known me for eons (like, say, my mother), and who’re running out of ideas. I’m not much help - I’m too much of a happy contented bunny at the moment, possession-wise. Also, I don’t much feel like celebrating another birthday, the years are starting to tick by far too quickly, and each annum I seem to achieve less than the previous one. I’m not being intentionally miserabilist here - I’m sure there’ll be a few drinks knocked back with friends in a week or so, but it won’t feel like anything special, just an ordinary drinking sesh’. Today, however, is my eldest niece’s eighth birthday, and that does seem worthy of celebration. So, happy birthday Hannah!

I am no longer devoid of music mid-week, as I’ve brought an old Panasonic stereo up here with me - hurrah! This week’s music selections include NME C96, the debut Jack LP, Philophobia by Arab Strap, and the splendid Moon Safari by Air. It’s amazing how much more at home I feel when I’ve got a few of my CDs with me.