Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Harvester of Sorrow (And Weeds)

Work, overall, went well. We had a couple of minor issues but they were sorted out pretty quickly. I have come to the conclusion that either our off-shored help thinks we work 24x7 here or they have no concept that 4:00 in the afternoon for them equates to 3:00 AM to us. Trust me when I tell you that I am not in front of my PC at that time.

Our security manager has been in and out of our office a lot the past few days. He is not very comfortable with the idea that the building will lose power from the grid this weekend, even though we have a UPS system and a generator back up. It seems the company that was outsourced to handle our facilities (which happens to be one of the largest companies of its kind) has not ran a "full load" generator test in over a year. The generator has been tested (to see if it will fire up properly) but not really put through a thorough testing for over a year.

Why is the building coming down? The land lord needs to do some serious work in the sister building this weekend and there is one main power feed into the two buildings here. If one loses power, they both do. Why does that frighten us? This building hosts one of the three main data centers our customer has in the US...if we lose power and the Jennies do not kick in, we are in trouble. If the guys from facilities are half as clueless as the Sec Mgr says they are, we are toast. I am so glad I am not on call this weekend. I pity my TL/colleague...he is on call.

After I got off work, I drove to Home Depot to pick up a few things I needed to finish my yard work. I got a new air filter for the mower (2.5 years on the original was a tad too long) and a pack of edger blades (after finding the right ones in a different area than the others). I had planned on getting some lawn bags, but HD was out. I initially thought they had just moved them again, (HD tends to move quick selling merchandise from place to place, just to keep shoppers alert) but the associate told me they had very in stock and if they were not by the front door, they were out. Since there was none by the entrance, I paid for my merchandise and left. I figured I would just stop at Kroger and get some bags since they always have some, but when I got there, they were out as well. Since I did not have any bags, I would be forced to mulch and not bag for the first time in 10 years.

I got home and let the dogs out and fed/watered them and then I changed into yard work clothes (old shirt, shorts, socks, and shoes). After cleaning up after the dogs, I ate a cold cut sandwich and washed it down with a glass of iced green tea (with ginseng and honey). It was just about 6:30 and that would give me 2 hours to change the edger blade and the air filter, mow, trim, edge, and clean up our yard.

While I was performing my tasks, a few things surprised me. First, the heavier edger blades did much better than the lighter, thinner, cheaper generic blades. The cut along the sidewalk was much cleaner. Next, the mower ran a lot better with a new air cleaner.. Third, I cut the yard much quicker when I do not have to bag. As long as I can bag it a couple times a month, I think I will mulch every now and then and see if that helps my weed issues.

After my adventures in lawn care, I walked Little Man. At first he did not seem into the walk, but about half way around, he began acting like his old self again. By the time I got him back home, he was running up and down the hallway like he did years ago. I really miss the old "Little Man". I am gonna cry like a baby when he dies.

Once the dog walk was over with, I showered and watched the first 1.5 hours of IFL Battleground that I missed Monday. The fights were pretty good, but two of them ended early due to shoulder injuries. I do not think I have ever seen that before.

After IFL, I read my e-mail and then hit the hay. I was tired after my adventures and needed some much deserved rest.

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