My day went pretty well...no emergencies (thank you, Lord) but a few issues crept up in the late afternoon. I figured it was nothing to concern myself with, but I kept an I open anyway. Since I came to work early (7:30) I decided I would leave at 4:30 or so, providing things went well. My wife was working and I knew the dogs would need to get out before she got home at 6 PM.
The afternoon was cloudy and storms were forecast for the afternoon and evening. At 3:00 PM the sky turned black and the wind picked up. Local radar showed a storm coming and I knew the dogs would be nervous. The rain started coming down HARD and did so for about 3-45 minutes, then it let up to a heavy sprinkle. At 4:15 PM, I decided to go home to take care of the dogs. I planned on logging in to work when I got there so I could make sure things were covered. I got home and let out the two dogs so they could relieve themselves. Just as the first one finished, BIG drops of rain fell...soaking me and the dogs in seconds. Once Little Man (the slow poke pottier) finished we went in the garage to dry off before we went in.
I fed the dogs and nuked some dinner while the laptop was booting up. I had been offline for an hour so I needed to check a few things during my last 60 minutes of employment slavery. Once the dogs finished I washed their bowls, put the clothes that were in the washer into the dryer, and checked on work. Nothing needed attention so I looked at a spreadsheet my wife made to try to clean it up. There was not much I could do to tweak it...I personally would not have made it the way she did, but it is her project, not mine so I left it alone. I ate dinner and waited for my wife to come home.
My time of release from the grip of corporate hell (6:00 PM) arrived so I logged off and washed my dinner dishes. My wife came home and we chatted before she ran to her Women's Ministry meeting at 7:00 PM. I called my mentor at church to see if he was available for me to help him with a problem he is having with his Epson R220 printer and Filemaker Pro 7. He told me he was available and I went over to help...or at least try to.
"Ted" My mentor turned on the PC, fires up the printer and launches Filemaker Pro. He loaded the file he has trouble with (actually any Filemaker file gives this printer problems) and attempted to print it. He got an error (a very cryptic one at that) from Filemaker saying "Sorry, unable to print (error)" or something similar.
Since it never went to the print spool, I am thinking this is a config issue, so I start looking for things...I find nothing. I search the web for 1.5 hours and still cannot find anything. I found one post from someone who has this problem but no answer to it. About ready to give up, I decide to give customer service a try. I go to the support page and find the number. The instructions state I have to give the license key to the tech before they will take my call. I ask Ted for the key and he does not have it. He states the software was purchased for him by his boss and that he believes that it was purchased on E-bay. RED ALERT! Almost every software sale I have seen on E-bay was for pirated software. Ted's boss told him that when he ordered the software it had a disclaimer that no phone support was provided. There was no key with it when he got it. My guess is that it is a bogus copy.
Ted asks me if we can call tech support anyway and plead our case. I tell him that at best, he will have to buy a full blown copy of the newest version of Filemaker before they will help. Vendors are pretty strict about pirated software.
By they way, if anyone knows how to fix that issue, let me know. Thanx.
I left Ted's house at 8:15 or so and went home to walk the dogs. I got about half way through my walk when it started raining again and by the time I got home, the dogs and I were pretty wet. I dried them off and got int dry clothes and started to watch TV...nothing but local coverage about the storm that is moving east...right for us. It had already done some damage west of us and was moving at a good clip towards my town.
My wife got home just before the storm's heavy rain and fierce winds kicked in. Water was pelting the west side of the house causing water to seep under the front door. I put an old towel there to absorb anything that came in. My wife and I chatted while I surfed the web, but I realized that I was growing sleepy, so I went to bed. One things about storms that I like...they relax me. I could (and have) slept though a hurricane. I did not wake up until about 4;30 and since I really could not get back to sleep, I laid there until the alarm went off.
I got up and got ready to walk Little Man. The walk was peaceful and stress free (no manic paper carrier hurling rolled papers at every turn like I face most mornings) but when I walked down the alley to deposit some trash, I notice the recycle bin has been overturned, spilling a good bit of its contents in the alley and the yards of a few of our neighbors. I spent several minutes picking up the wet, but clean bottles, cans, and papers and put them back into the closest can. The stuff was scattered over three yards, no including our own. While under normal circumstances this would have angered me some, I just blew it off. My sleeping during the storm calmed me.
I left the house after performing my normal ritual and drove the typical route to work. Pecan Hollow golf course is along the way (situated right next to a sewage treatment plant...lol) and this morning it was under water...it had rained that hard last night. No golf today for the fans of link action.
As I drove to work, I noticed how clean the city appears after a rainstorm. The smell of ozone is still present (until the smell of diesel and gasoline smog hide it) and the air has a crispness to it. I really enjoy feeling of post storm. The torrents of water strip away the dirt and grime of the city and for a few hours, she is clean. After her inhabitants wake and begin their day, she quickly becomes soiled with the filth of humans in motion. Our cars and tools cover the freshly scrubbed surfaces with a layer of stink that will cling to everything until the next cleansing storm rolls by.
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