In which we wonder if digital is better

Within the last 5 years or so I've been switching a trend to using online services for games (such as Steam or PSN), music and movies (iTunes and Amazon.com) instead of purchasing physical items.  My main driver for this is longevity - I may not keep around the CD or DVDs, but I can always log into one of those services and re-download it at any time.  A nice secondary perk is "going green" and not wasting physical items that would end up going into landfill eventually.  In keeping with this trend, I've even re-bought games on Steam that I do not currently play (such as the Dawn of War series) or songs on iTunes just so I have them "in the cloud".

I've been trying to figure out if I should make a full switch, rather than still buying some physical games.  For example, I just received a pre-order of "Ys Memories of Celceta" on PS Vita, but I could have purchased the same item on the PSN store for the same price (well, in full honest, I bought the Silver Anniversary Edition since I'm a longtime Ys fan, but that doesn't back the point).  In some ways having something physical provides that "instant gratification" aspect, as I can pop in the disc at any time and play/listen/watch immediately.

But is it worth it?  Sadly, digital purchases match the physical purchase price, even though there's no packaging associated with a digital purchase.  This is likely a turn off to most consumers.  Maybe one day we'll see this change, and the trend will shift towards digital purchases.

In which we find out why he's creating a blog at 6:00 AM

My job focuses a lot on projects, either ones initiated within the infrastructure groups, or through engagement by the various business areas.  As such, one weekend a month I end up having to work starting late Saturday until after-the-sun-comes-up Sunday.

Normally I don't mind it too much.  I work from home in comfy clothing and my comfy chair, so I can stay focused on my work without too much distraction, and it gives me an opportunity to goof around during my downtime, such as watching an entire season of a TV show on Netflix (currently loving on Leverage), or play an MMO for awhile (tonight I leveled my Conjurer from 22 to 28 mostly on FATEs in Eastern Shroud).

However it's incredibly frustrating how much politics goes into these events.  The amount of paperwork is mind boggling - I'm pretty sure several of these organizations were trained by the IRS.  However, there were several changes I wanted to make this weekend, but because the "powers that be" decided their changes were more important, mine were scuppered until next month.  So even though I'm not making any changes, I still have to be to validate that other people's work doesn't break the software I support.

My manager tried to sell this to me as "making sure I don't have to work this weekend", which is BS since I did have to work this weekend.  Pushing me out only means I have to work another weekend next month.  Two for one is not a positive thing when late nights are involved.  Plus I go oncall next week, which means I'm saddled to my phone while recovering from sleep deprivation, which will repeat again next month when I'm oncall after the late night work weekend.

What is most frustrating is that I'm nearly 20 years younger than the average age of the people in my work group.  There's pros: I work with people who have been in this industry for 20+ years and have already worked out all the kinks, so I learn from experienced professionals who have "been there done that".  A number have taken me under their wing, and it's been through their efforts that I've been able to succeed at my job.  The cons?  I'm treated like the young pup on the playground, and some of the old dogs don't want to share.  Others are threatened that I'm trying to show them up and refuse to back or support me for fear that they may lose their job.

This weekend was a prime example.  It didn't matter that I made my case that the changes were completely passive, and would not disrupt any other activities.  The fact that they have been in the testing environments for the last 6 months wasn't not accounted for.  What mattered is that someone else decided they didn't want anything I'm doing to mess up their projects, and seniority fell in their court.

Rage!!!

That's my rant.  Just let me do my job and go home.  I'm not looking to advance up the corporate ladder - I'll be quite happy spending the next 10-20 years as a senior engineer - and I have no desire to ever go into management in an IT organization.  I've been sitting here watching an IM chat for the last 9 hours waiting for someone to say "everything is good", after which I'm taking my caffeine crash to bed for the next 3 hours before the noise level of the house wakes me.  This is not an aspect of the job that I would consider desirable.

Welcome to my ramblings

In which he rambles too much

Hello there!  I've been debating writing a blog for awhile, but have always questioned the value of posting random thoughts to the world at large.  However, thanks to the efforts of caffeine and late night working, I happen to find myself quite malleable to the concept!

Who am I

I'm a young IT professional-slash-gamer geek.  I am in my early-to-mid 30's and work in IT at a major insurance company, where I support middleware applications on servers and mainframes, with a focus on the latter.  For those not familiar with the buzzwords, I support products that move data from one place to another on lots of different computers, sort of like the IT equivalent of the post master.

In my spare time I read, watch movies, play board and video games with my wife and son, and generally try to stay out of trouble.  I'm fairly introverted, so I stay close within my circle.

Favorites!

Books/Series: Anything by Simon R Green, particularly the Nightside series; The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher; The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch; The Elenium by David Eddings; The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently series by Douglas Adams.

Movies: The Princess Bride (I'm a romantic at hear!); We're the Millers; Eurotrip; V for Vendetta

TV: Currently watching Castle (<3 Nathan Fillion), Marvel Agents of SHIELD, Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who (Tennant is my favorite Doctor), and Sherlock.  Other favorites include Firefly, Eureka, and Leverage.

Video Games: Currently playing Final Fantasy XIV, StarCraft 2 and Tales of Xillia; all time favorites including Final Fantasy IV and VI, the Ys series, and Portal/Portal 2.

Board Games: A huge fan of deck builders, currently loving Ascension and Warmachine: High Command, other favorites include Agricola, Boss Monster, and Compounded.

Web sites: Touch Arcade, BoardGameGeek, Kickstarter, Simon R Green fansite, Ancient Land of Ys