26 July 2001

I meant to mention this a while back. It was very refreshing to walk down Folsom Street and see an auto body shop moving INTO a building rather than moving out so it could be torn down for more overpriced, oversized yuppie condos. Who knows? Maybe it will actually be fun living South of Market again one of these days now that the carpetbaggers are dropping like flies. But I’m not holding my breath.

Also fun: the really old Simpsons episodes which have sequenced back in on the local carrier. Yes, the animation sucks and the voices all sound wrong, but those shows from the first season have a certain texture and depth of characterization and plot that even those from the second or third season lack, classics though they may be.

Not fun: the website which wouldn’t die.

I mentioned this hellish situation a while back and it hasn’t gotten any better, even though the damned thing goes live tomorrow. It’s database-driven, using some proprietary technology for which they refuse to provide decent documentation. I do not have FTP access, so I have to email test pages to the bitch (there’s no better word) and wait a day to see if they work. Which is always fun since I’ve had precious little instruction on how to put the damned things together in the first place.

Today, I sent three pieces of code, specifically asking if any of them would work. She reposnded by informing me that I’d sent her three pieces of code and wondering which one I intended to use. I kept myself from answering her and informing her that if she (a) had read my mail and (b) weren’t a fucking idiot, she’d know the answer to her question already.

I think my vaguely polite response mentioned something to the effect of “some guidance would be very much appreciated”. I’ve been complimented on my tact before.

My only joy here is knowing that her company will be out of buisness soon, given their inabilty to communicate and their complete lack of customer service (yes, there have been many other issues). I only hope that my client doesn’t suffer when this happens. I like my client; I just dislike their choice of database/e-commerce vendors.