Alas, I have discovered the pitfalls of working for a computer company. One branch of the company resides in California and writes code. One branch here does support. Sadly, we're under both sets of laws. So if I want to write some software in my spare time, I have to basically let my employer know I'm doing it, ensure they wouldn't consider it a conflict of interest and that they don't want to do it, and then I can do it without worrying if they'll steal it from me.

Oh freakin' yay.

I suppose I can see why it works this way, and it's kind of good to have a written notice that they won't steal your code, but it's just annoying as hell that I have to wait on other people before I can do something in my own spare time. Sure, sure, legally if it's in my spare time it's mine. Yes, but we all know the American law system; should-be and real-life rarely mix well there.

Feh.