What made you happy today?

[bogle]

I was IT and it was financially great, but it did suck the life out of me with 24/7 support every day. Plus I was considered a deficit and they wondered what exactly did I do   When you explained your job their eyes would gloss over and you knew they either just didn't get it or were bored out of their mind. 

[Gjk]

@C8RKH when aircraft EIS there will always be a bit of teething trouble. The 737MAX was a bit of an exception.

[C8RKH]

Airbus A320 and A330 seem to have had a few issues too!

That's one of the reasons that autonomous vehicles on the road scare the absolute shit out of me. I have little confidence in the computer programmers today as most of them just seem to cut and paste other peoples code.

I cut my teeth on Assembler 370, mainframe machine code some 38 years out and that was when mainframes had 16mb (yes, mb's) of memory and if you were lucky 500GB of disc!

[Gjk]

Every single aircraft in the sky at the moment will be flying with a deferred defect. No machine is perfect but, you can fly on with certain defects.

[C8RKH]

Yup. My daughter works for an airline and am aware re the defects...

[910Esprit]

Airbus Max  - No thanks.  Its only the software that makes it flyable (usually).

I too spent a career on 370 architecture machines  (a homogeneous environment that supported all applications on a single platform)  Many problems of recent years arose when computing became fragmented (eg mainframes interfacing with 3rd party packages or the Web) etc and you have a nightmare mixture of different platforms and operating systems all trying to interface with each other on different upgrade cycles and ongoing incompatibility (I would wager this is what's caused some large projects to fail or spectacular banking failures etc).   That's one of the reasons why cloud computing is 'the future' for now.   But I do wonder what will happen to pricing when it becomes ubiquitous.   

I always thought it was strange that IBM didn't licence a version of the MVS/TSO (mainframe) environment that could have easily have run on modern small or mid-range machines, allowing customers a viable alternative to the prohibitively expensive mainframe costs, which are pretty much pricing themselves into obscurity for commercial use.

(sorry I seem to have slipped into a mainframe IT forum mode...) 

[Steve V8]

Finally finished a shit job for shit customers.

Steak and chips for tea (that's dinner to you posh people), no spiced Bacardi in the cupboard but there was a bottle and a bit of Baileys...there was.

There was also a list of parts required to complete my engine build, F**k it, I'll face the consequences of both tomorrow 🤪

 

[oneshot]

I did a degree in Computer Science over 40 years ago. I started work on bespoke assembler - we developed our own CPUs. 7Mbytes of memory and battery backed RAM (that was subject to a patent) for backing store as disks weren't quick enough.

The problem with the IT industry is that there are not enough properly qualified people for the jobs so the companies take on the self taught. I wrote a blog many years ago after one of the many public IT failures that it was time the industry was regulated and anyone working in it should be properly qualified and chartered. 

I am a chartered engineer (CEng) and a Chartered IT Pofessional (CITP) - it should be mandatory that to work in the IT industry (especially on critical systems) that you have one of these qualifications. Then we wouldn't have as many cock ups.

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, oneshot said:

Then we wouldn't have as many cock ups.

Still have the same number of cocks in the Industry though!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Back in the early 1980s in our school, only the thick people did computer science.
 

Just sayin’. 
 

Of course the good ones all got rich.

[Bibs]

Epic Sunday roast in a lovely Kentish country pub... 

[jep]

Exige S1 off the shopping list....🙂

[Bibs]

Wait, what? Pics?!

[jep]

Your shopping list....weak gag, v weak clearly. 

[MPx]

30/4/22 - Blew Lionel's engine at Combe

1/12/22 - Eventually got a slot to drop off Lionel with PNM for a rebuild

22/11/23 - Finally rebuilt and picked up today.  Drove the 300miles home with a big grin on my chops all the way...

 

[Gjk]

Got a freebie from the missus! Yes, I know it’s not Lotus…. 

 

[johnpwalsh]

What made me happy today. Looking back over the last twelve months and realising I haven't had time to update anything on our projects on the forum for a bloody long time. So here's a potted version of this year.

5 Excel's rescued, got up and running and moved on to new enthusiasts for completion.

3 Eclats, as above.

2 Elites as  above.

2 M100 Elans.

Projects.

Excel SE nearing completion then off to France early next year.

S1 Esprit. Complete strip down and nut and bolt restoration. Paintwork completed and back from the body shop just last week, chassis repairs all done, chassis blasted, painted and ready to  start the rebuild. Box's and box's or parts arriving weekly now although some parts have had huge waiting times.

S2 Esprit will be started to in the new year with a partial restoration to be used as a runabout by the owner for the season until the S1 is complete.

Esprit 180 engine out ready for a refresh, then a mechanical restoration on all moving parts.

Esprit S4 SE completed annual service, clutch issues finally sorted out after a year of experimentation and rectifying another '' specialist's work.

Another Excel SE prepped for sale for her owner and now sold on his behalf.

Participated in the sale of another M100 for another member where I managed to match a buyer with a seller.

Assisted god knows how many people around the globe from Australia, Germany, Quebec, France, Ireland and all over the UK on where to find parts, given pointers on where to find information etc.

Covered thousands of miles with the trailer being towed behind the trusty old Volvo XC90, The Iveco Daily tilt slide ( which has been a godsend and saved my lifting heavy ramps) again, covered thousands of miles and some of those with a car on the leaf and another in the trailer being towed behind.

Our club, Club Lotus North East Scotland had a fantastic return since Covid to one of the UK's biggest classic, veteran and vintage shows with 40 plus cars on site both on the Saturday and Sunday.

2024 will be our 15th anniversary of the show and it's going to be a cracker with over 40 car's already booked for both days and a promise of a couple of specials to be available on stand.

The down side of the year means it's yet another year that my own S3 Turbo Esprit has sat in her bubble waiting for me to get my hands back on her. Next year maybe.

I seem to remember the long suffering Mrs saying to me 3 years ago. Retire she say's, you will have more free time for you hobby she say's. Now a kick in the but off 70 and no bloody chance of that. In fact, looking to get a BIGGER shed lol.

Ah well, saves may going to the pub.

[Escape]

Glad to read your update John! I was thinking just this week it had been a while and hoping you and LotusRescue were doing well. 😉

[C8RKH]

13 hours ago, johnpwalsh said:

Now a kick in the but off 70 and no bloody chance of that. In fact, looking to get a BIGGER shed lol.

Sounds like you need an Apprentice John. I'm a spritely 56 (57 in Jan) and bugger all use with a spanner (though I am enthusiastic slow learner!) but I do make a great cup of tea!

It's great to hear that Lotus Rescue is thriving and I'm really looking forward to your Esprit being completed - Ice blue iirc, which is my favourite Esprit colour.

[johnpwalsh]

9 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Sounds like you need an Apprentice John. I'm a spritely 56 (57 in Jan) and bugger all use with a spanner (though I am enthusiastic slow learner!) but I do make a great cup of tea!

It's great to hear that Lotus Rescue is thriving and I'm really looking forward to your Esprit being completed - Ice blue iirc, which is my favourite Esprit colour.

Hired Andy. That is if you can accept ultra low wages, working in bloody freezing cold conditions at this time of year. Put up with loads of wind up's and bullshit from the guys next door. Oh, and you have to give the boss the use of your car over the summer FOC of course. The Ice Blue Esprit will be on stand as an ongoing restoration project at one of the UK's largest classic, veteran and vintage car shows in 2024 which of course is Glamis. Get your ass booked in for the weekend. and any others who would like to display there car and support our club. Entry is very cheap for the weekend and we have a great night out on the Saturday. You don't have too attend both days. Bib's, time for you to visit Scotland's beautiful countryside with over 2,000 exhibits.

[Escape]

It started yesterday, but continued into the early hours today, and it definitely made me happy: I went to a charity metal festival, with part of the revenue going to the animal shelter where I volunteer. Me and a good mate went and had a great time, singing along with a local, pleasantly disturbed rock/punk band. I had been 20 years since I last saw them and even longer for my mate, and still we had no trouble remembering the lyrics.

For those interested, the band is called Belgian Asociality, but most songs are in dutch. 

Now I'm remembering I'm actually too old to party that late but I wouldn't miss it for the world! 😄

[ChrisJ]

Just back from dropping off my laptop as it was my last day at work today - thank god, really crap company.

Looking forward to Saturday evening.

[C8RKH]

Nothing more satisfying than leaving a crap company behind @ChrisJ. I was working at a toxic place earlier this year and got out. Laughed my socks off when the CEO posted yesterday on a platform how excited he was for next year and urging all good sales people to contact him.  In three years they have gone through 5 sales directors and numerous really good sales people. They're so crap they don't realise how crap they are!

Anyways, hope you have something else lined up and something that will give you a more positive experience. I've not looked back once since I left them and am having the best time I've had in years.

[ChrisJ]

They outsourced all the new development to India and then got rid of two of us who had been there the shortest time - less than 2 years. Getting a nice payoff this month - which I'm surprised they offered, Thing is there is now only one person remaining (in the UK) to support their only existing product. Do I give a shit - nope, just glad to be out of it as it was the worst software I've come across in 40+ years,

I'm doing training from now until Easter to bring my tech knowledge up to date, as all the new stuff has bypassed me - which has stopped me passing the 2-3 interviews I've had. Got a couple of African trips lined up as well, plus needing to visit the USA and some universities with my daughter - so timing is quite good. Plus there's a lot of international hockey to watch over the next few months as well.

 

[johnpwalsh]

On 02/12/2023 at 12:30, C8RKH said:

Sounds like you need an Apprentice John. I'm a spritely 56 (57 in Jan) and bugger all use with a spanner (though I am enthusiastic slow learner!) but I do make a great cup of tea!

It's great to hear that Lotus Rescue is thriving and I'm really looking forward to your Esprit being completed - Ice blue iirc, which is my favourite Esprit colour.

Here's the 1st one for you then Andy. Kettle will be kept close to hand and as long as you can read a schematic/witing diagram/parts lists, your good to go. There is an S2 and an S4 to follow after this one.