Archive for the 'Work' Category

Big News

Marty March 11th, 2008

Some days are better to go to work for than others. Yesterday was one of those days. I was focused at work, and got a lot done, which is always nice since there are times that I struggle with staying on focus. Then came ‘the talk’ in my grand-boss Brendan’s office… Continue Reading »

In 2008, I pledge to…

Marty January 28th, 2008

Well, it took almost a month, but here they are - my future broken resolutions for the year (√ = a stretch goal) Continue Reading »

2007 in Review

Marty January 6th, 2008

It’s been a long year. I don’t know that I have ever worked this hard day in and day out to make it through a year. But at the same time, I gave me the opportunity to do a lot of great things. Among the highlights: Continue Reading »

That Light…

Marty November 7th, 2007

Well, I finally feel like I’ve gotten somewhere with the projects that I have been working on, both at my ‘real’ job and the side projects. A big shout out to VanK, Man of JavaScript Mystery for his work on my UPenn project, aka the Polls from the 7th Level of Hell. Now, I just have to put to bed the Project That Shall Not Be Named, Continue Reading »

Dim

Marty September 26th, 2007

Mental Speed Limit: Slow I’m feeling pretty down and stupid at the moment. I’ve really been stressed about a project that I’m working on, and it seems like I can’t get my head around the most simple of concepts. Van has been a life-saver so far, happily making up for my coding naivety with fix after fix because I’m just not getting it. Continue Reading »

A Question of Etiquette

Marty September 25th, 2007

I had a situation yesterday that I was unsure what to do. I was in the men’s room and suddenly heard somebody retching in one of the stalls. What does one do in this situation? Do you ignore it - to save that person’s dignity? Or do you ask if they are okay? Continue Reading »

Is it Friday Yet?

Marty September 13th, 2007

This has been another really long week … and it’s not even done yet. It looks like it’s going to be the second straight week that I’ve put in 65+ hours between my ‘real’ job and the side job that Van and I are working on (I knew that I shouldn’t have let my XHTML/CSS skills get rusty). Continue Reading »

Another Crazy Week

Marty August 31st, 2007

It’s been another crazy week at work - both the day job and the side job I’m working on with Van. I can’t seem to get caught up, and I’m exhausted. But there’s a lot more to do - I’ll be working on the UPenn stuff all weekend. It’s a bit depressing how much I’ve forgotten code- and CSS-wise since I have been doing so little of it. I feel like a rank amateur trying to code these pages to make them look nice… *sigh*. Hopefully I’ll have something worthwhile to show on Monday Tuesday.

A look back…

Marty February 14th, 2007

I’m currently working on a project for a hemophilia product from a major pharmaceutical company. In the midst of working on it, there is a reference to another product that triggered a memory of a past project - one that I did when I was working for Waresoft. Back then, it was a project coming up with a combination of Flash, HTML and JavaScript tools for Humate-P, made by ZLB Behring.

In this project, I was tasked to do three things:

  1. Update a flash animation comparing Humate-P and other products
  2. Create a dosing calculator that allowed a user to put in their weight and the amount of Van Willebrand factor (VWF) they wanted in the bloodstream
  3. Create handy chart for the doctors to see a complete list of comparable weight and VWF levels

Well, since I was thinking about the old project, I went to see how it was looking - and it’s up and running on their site. It works pretty well, too. You can see the different aspects of it here:

Humate-P Densitometric Analysis - click on the “Click here” link at the top of the page to launch Flash.

Dosage Calculator

Complete Dosage Chart

Granted, I only adapted and improved the first, and got a TON of help from Van in creating the JavaScript for the Dosage Calculator, but I think it turned out pretty well. I remember that trying to sync up the voice and animation in Flash was a major nightmare; ironically, knowing Flash 8 a little better now, I realize that there was a much easier way to do it than I did. Oh well, stuff happens.
Aahhh, the salad days…

Where there’s smoke…

Marty January 26th, 2007

Big excitement at work yesterday when the place started filling up with smoke. The conversation between my co-worker and I:

ME: Hmm, do you smell smoke?
Chris: Yeah … I think I do.
ME: But not an unpleasant smell - is it … is it…?
Chris: It smells like incense.
ME: Do we do that around here?
Chris: Who knows … could be.

[ chatter from outside ]

ME: Wait, are they talking about the smoke out there?
Chris: Yeah - maybe we should be concerned?

[ from outside: "it's like a fireplace at Christmas" ]

ME: She’s right. Kind of odd to be smelling here, though.
Chris: Think we should be concerned now?

[ from outside: “Hey, is that smoke coming from your office?” “Yeah, I think it is.”

ME: Yes.

Continue Reading »

Next »