Software release, end run, and wildfire!

Today was the day - we released the latest version of our software. Things went pretty well, overall, although we did have one little hiccup that cost us 45 minutes of re-work. When all was said and done, the new software ran well.

Right in the middle of the release process, phones rang and emails flew - one of the product teams at The Company tried to use our system to distribute a malformed and very dodgy system update, and our code balked.

Various threats, arguments, and Secret Conclaves ensued - man, the phones were ringing off the hook. This bunch was obviously trying to subvert the whole systems update process to hide one of their previous errors.

As for me, I was thrilled to have no part of it whatsoever. I just did my thing, sang my little song, and when the new release was verified correct, I said, "See you on Monday!" and walked away from it. A lot of people are getting really worked up over all this, but I am not among them.

M had a little excitement this afternoon - a group of kids playing with fireworks set off a major wildfire next to his subdivision. At one point, they had slurry bombers overhead, news crews interviewing residents, an evacuation order, and prime-time coverage on CNN. The fire crews got the thing under control after several hours, though, and no homes were lost. The whole mountainside next to them burned to a crisp, but they're all right.