When I got to work yesterday, the phone rang moments after I removed the forwarding to the on-call guy. It turned out to be my TL. he was feeling a bit run down and under the weather, so he decided to stay home. He apologized profusely for "leaving me hanging" but I told him not to worry. I knew things would be okay...busy or not.
About an hour after that I got a call regarding one of the extranet servers so I reacted quickly to get the right people involved. It did not take too long to get resolved and for that I was thankful.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. While I was not able to enjoy my lunch away from my desk and I had to work over an hour, it still was not too bad. My only scare came at 4:45 PM when our hotline rang (we close up shop at 5:00 PM). I realized it was not a trouble call since it came from an internal extension. It turned out to be one of the LAN guys asking for the on-call number of one of the teams in Europe. He had a management server that was down and needed help. It was not a customer facing issue, so I was not needed, but he needed the number nonetheless.
After that info was given, I was able to forward the phones to the on-call guy and head home. When I got there, my dogs (who had been in crates all day) were very happy to see me. I let them out, fed and watered them and they were very happy.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Very Thankful!
Tuesday was another busy day (I ended up staying over just to get things under control) but Wednesday was much better. While I was busy with the follow-up paperwork to all the issues we managed the previous 2-3 days, it was a lot better than trying to run new issues. I normally am not a paperwork type of guy but I will take that over constant phone calls any day.
Last night my wife and I went to care group, but I really was not into it. The food was very good (lots of veggies and meatloaf was the main course) but I just had too much on my mind with the current situation at work. I realize I have it much better than some, but it still is disheartening to have an obligation to be on call and not get any compensation for it. I really need to find a way to let go of this anger and get a better attitude about my job.
I slept pretty well last night, although I got to warm. I find that odd since the furnace was not on, I was not wearing PJ's, and I tend to get cold at night, not warm. When I woke and got out of bed, then I realized I was getting cold, so I dressed appropriately and took Little Man out for quick walk.
The rest of my morning went pretty much as usual, with the exception of my TL called in sick. He is a pretty healthy guy but the past two weeks have been pretty hard on both of us and I guess he just caved first. I was going to ask him if I could take today off and tell him he could have Friday off, but it looks like that is out of the question now. I bet he tells me to go home early tomorrow if things remain calm. I won't count on it, but I am sure that is what he will do.
The weather is back to waht I expect Texas fall weather to be like...50-60 in the day, 35-45 at night. Not bad, really.
Last night my wife and I went to care group, but I really was not into it. The food was very good (lots of veggies and meatloaf was the main course) but I just had too much on my mind with the current situation at work. I realize I have it much better than some, but it still is disheartening to have an obligation to be on call and not get any compensation for it. I really need to find a way to let go of this anger and get a better attitude about my job.
I slept pretty well last night, although I got to warm. I find that odd since the furnace was not on, I was not wearing PJ's, and I tend to get cold at night, not warm. When I woke and got out of bed, then I realized I was getting cold, so I dressed appropriately and took Little Man out for quick walk.
The rest of my morning went pretty much as usual, with the exception of my TL called in sick. He is a pretty healthy guy but the past two weeks have been pretty hard on both of us and I guess he just caved first. I was going to ask him if I could take today off and tell him he could have Friday off, but it looks like that is out of the question now. I bet he tells me to go home early tomorrow if things remain calm. I won't count on it, but I am sure that is what he will do.
The weather is back to waht I expect Texas fall weather to be like...50-60 in the day, 35-45 at night. Not bad, really.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Cry Hovok And Let Loose The Dogs Of War
It has been a very busy past two days here at work. The third party (normally is our competitor) who upgraded our customer's SAP instance has been frantically working to patch an ever growing number of issues that has cropped up after the "upgrade". Not that we could have done much better. This systems is so customized that I would not want to support it.
With all the issues they are patching, we are required to coordinate the communications. Normally this is not too much for two 40 something year old guys to handle, but since we have had 3-5 new issues per day (we currently have 3 open for our region alone) it is getting to be a bit much. At least neither of us is on call this week, although my colleague is on call the next and I go on the week after that.
I have not gone out to do any geocaching since Friday so since the weather was nicer today, I nabbed a couple P-n-G's (Park-n-Grabs) during lunch. I was pleased and embarrased that I was able to get both of them as soon as I walked up to GZ (ground zero). I am beginning to get an eye for the urban caches. I still have trouble with the ones out in the wild. I think the reason for that is because some of the ones in the rough are placed by urban cachers and they "over hide" the caches. That is must my humble opinion.
The weather is looking up the rest of this week...at least until Saturday. It is suppossed to rain again and that means no caching for me if it does. Oh well.
With all the issues they are patching, we are required to coordinate the communications. Normally this is not too much for two 40 something year old guys to handle, but since we have had 3-5 new issues per day (we currently have 3 open for our region alone) it is getting to be a bit much. At least neither of us is on call this week, although my colleague is on call the next and I go on the week after that.
I have not gone out to do any geocaching since Friday so since the weather was nicer today, I nabbed a couple P-n-G's (Park-n-Grabs) during lunch. I was pleased and embarrased that I was able to get both of them as soon as I walked up to GZ (ground zero). I am beginning to get an eye for the urban caches. I still have trouble with the ones out in the wild. I think the reason for that is because some of the ones in the rough are placed by urban cachers and they "over hide" the caches. That is must my humble opinion.
The weather is looking up the rest of this week...at least until Saturday. It is suppossed to rain again and that means no caching for me if it does. Oh well.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Yeah...Fall Is Here
Texas weather is interesting as you can never tell what it is going to be like. It can swing from 75 and sunny to 40 and wet in a day or so. Of course I have also seen days where you need A/C and heat all within the same 24 hour period. You gotta love it.
Thanksgiving day weekend has been wet and cold. Thursday it was cold, Friday it was cold, Saturday and Sunday it has been wet. Walking the dogs has been fun. We come back and we all need to dry off before we come back into the house. At least it is supposed to clear and dry up over the next 4+ days.
I poke with "Mickey" today. His wife "Mary" is healing very nicely from hysterectomy. They had invited us up on Friday but I did not go...I still was in a pretty crummy mood. I sent him an e-mail explaining why I did not go...he did not tell me if he received it or not. If he did I can tell he did not understand it.
Mickey was also telling me about this new job he will be starting next month. They are offering him $12k more a year, a signing bonus, and six service years to start. I had to admit that I was a bit jealous at first then I asked him about on-call and he said, "I don't know, I never asked." Right now on-call is a rather sore subject with me since my employer is doing away with the on-call pay we get, even though we are still required to be on-call at least one week a month. I am not happy about losing the 5% I get for being on-call and I am not happy that the decision is one that has been made by the business unit I am in...not the company in general (if I am reading the info correctly). It seems my business unit gets the short end of the stick no matter what happens. One good example is bonuses. Last year our group got the smallest percetage of the company. Now one would think that since we received the smallest we must have had the poorest percentage (we received half of what the other groups received), but that is not true. Our group contains the support that is needed to maintain the accounts the other groups signed up (you know the groups that got the larger bonuses). Now do not get me wrong. Getting a bonus of 4.1% was nice, but getting a 9.4 percent bonus would have been nicer. I am betting that is what we get this year...half of what the other groups get.
The overall outlook looks rather grim. I am losing on-call pay and expected to maintain the same level of service or greater, the amount of carry over vacation I can have is now limited to two weeks (I currently have three to carry over and I only use about two a year so if I do not increase my usage, I am going to lose vacation in three years), the cost of benefits went up about 5%, the co-pays went up, and I cannot guarantee that any raise we get will cover the cost of living (we have received two raises over the past two years - one was 2% the other was 1.8%). The longer I stay at this job the more it seems that I am losing money.
I know...be happy that I am employed. I am...really I am but why must I always be in a losing situation? If I could just get a cost of living increase and leave my benefits alone...please?
I am wondering if this is God's way of telling me to keep my eyes open for a better opportunity.
Thanksgiving day weekend has been wet and cold. Thursday it was cold, Friday it was cold, Saturday and Sunday it has been wet. Walking the dogs has been fun. We come back and we all need to dry off before we come back into the house. At least it is supposed to clear and dry up over the next 4+ days.
I poke with "Mickey" today. His wife "Mary" is healing very nicely from hysterectomy. They had invited us up on Friday but I did not go...I still was in a pretty crummy mood. I sent him an e-mail explaining why I did not go...he did not tell me if he received it or not. If he did I can tell he did not understand it.
Mickey was also telling me about this new job he will be starting next month. They are offering him $12k more a year, a signing bonus, and six service years to start. I had to admit that I was a bit jealous at first then I asked him about on-call and he said, "I don't know, I never asked." Right now on-call is a rather sore subject with me since my employer is doing away with the on-call pay we get, even though we are still required to be on-call at least one week a month. I am not happy about losing the 5% I get for being on-call and I am not happy that the decision is one that has been made by the business unit I am in...not the company in general (if I am reading the info correctly). It seems my business unit gets the short end of the stick no matter what happens. One good example is bonuses. Last year our group got the smallest percetage of the company. Now one would think that since we received the smallest we must have had the poorest percentage (we received half of what the other groups received), but that is not true. Our group contains the support that is needed to maintain the accounts the other groups signed up (you know the groups that got the larger bonuses). Now do not get me wrong. Getting a bonus of 4.1% was nice, but getting a 9.4 percent bonus would have been nicer. I am betting that is what we get this year...half of what the other groups get.
The overall outlook looks rather grim. I am losing on-call pay and expected to maintain the same level of service or greater, the amount of carry over vacation I can have is now limited to two weeks (I currently have three to carry over and I only use about two a year so if I do not increase my usage, I am going to lose vacation in three years), the cost of benefits went up about 5%, the co-pays went up, and I cannot guarantee that any raise we get will cover the cost of living (we have received two raises over the past two years - one was 2% the other was 1.8%). The longer I stay at this job the more it seems that I am losing money.
I know...be happy that I am employed. I am...really I am but why must I always be in a losing situation? If I could just get a cost of living increase and leave my benefits alone...please?
I am wondering if this is God's way of telling me to keep my eyes open for a better opportunity.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thankful
Wednesday ended well and I was able to leave a bit early (got three caches on the way home) and had a meager dinner (I do that a lot) before watching some MMA videos on MMA Linker. Oddly enough there are a lot of vids there.
Thursday morning my wife and I got ready to go into downtown Dallas to assist in feeding the displaced. It was a huge operation that was organized, but it needed more leadership. I manned the dessert table helping hand out pie, cobbler, and cookies. It was cold (a cold snap has come through the area) and windy but I was okay. My wife started off cold (imagine that) but warmed up after she moved around a bit (just like I said she would). We only stayed two hours. My wife was tired and my back was sore (I get this way when it gets cold) and there were a lot of helpers there.
I hate downtown Dallas. Maybe by biases are beginning to come back but I really feel unsafe when I am there, especially in the neighborhoods we have gone to help out. My wife still walks around like a victim (she never really is observant or plans her route...she just walks) and I am constantly pulling her over out of the way of small groups of people. Yes, I am sure I am over reacting but I am a protector...that is what I do.
We got home and I had a big lunch of leftover whatever (we did not cook this year) and napped on the couch on an off the next couple of hours, doing little else the rest of the day.
"Black" Friday is the day that I do the last bit of yard work of the year. This year it was cold and I had not gotten my supplies yet. I am beginning to become a procrastinator. I got up and headed over to Lowes (I prefer Home Depot, but my wife had a coupon for Lowes) with a small list of things to get. I got them all but the crock pot my wife wanted...they were out of stock. The trip took an hour, not for traffic, but because I am not used to the way Lowes is laid out. Once I got home I was able to start my tasks.
I started cutting the grass (It had no been mowed in over a month but still was not very high) after spending 20 minutes trying to get the mower started. It finally fired up and I mowed both ours and our neighbor's yard but I was exhausted by the time I finished that first part. Once that was done I pulled out the edger and the trimmer and tidied up both yards. That went quickly because the borders had not grown much either, and that the ground was dry. I was very grateful for that.
One the edging and trimming was done, I pulled out the all organic weed killer and fertilizer I picked up at Lowes. I did not do it for me, but because my wife is really beginning to keep her eye open for natural products. I am not sure how well it will do, but we shall see.
After all that I only had one thing left to do and that was to blow all the grass clippings and the spilled fertilizer back into the yard. That usually is the fastest part of job and today was no different.
Once I was done, I grabbed my geocaching gear and headed out the door. To sum up a long story, it was the most disappointing 4+ hours I have ever spent. While I managed to grab a couple memorable ones (an ammo can that has gone untouched for 7 months and a difficulty 4 nano) I struck out on about 8 or so...maybe more. I did not plan at all for this trip and it showed. Normally I will spend a couple of hours online mapping out my route and reading about what I am looking for (taking notes or printing up key info) but this time I just packed and left.
I got home defeated and tired and unusually hungry. Then I realized that I last ate a full meal the day before at lunch and only coffee, juice, and a banana since. Wow.
I guess that one of the reasons why I did not pay much attention to my hunger was that I have a lot on my mind. Money is becoming a bit tight and I feel that I am fighting an uphill battle. My wife has 2 part time jobs (that total 20 hours a week) that she is quitting and with my pay cut in March and our scheduled debt payments running until June or so (not counting the house), I am beginning to stress out.
"El Gee, God will provide."
Yes he will, but he wants us to use good sense or his blessings will be minimal. I feel that we are not doing all we can. This has monopolized my thoughts the past week.
All in all I am thankful for what God has blessed us with. He has kept me employed in an industry with the same company for a long time with a minimal impact on pay (have only gained 10K in raises in 6+ years). He has kept me warm and dry, fed and clothed. He has blessed us with three very good, reliable vehicles and we have only about $7k in debt, not counting the house (that is car and credit card debt).
Yes He has been good and I am thankful. Now if he can only reduce my stress level :-) .
Thursday morning my wife and I got ready to go into downtown Dallas to assist in feeding the displaced. It was a huge operation that was organized, but it needed more leadership. I manned the dessert table helping hand out pie, cobbler, and cookies. It was cold (a cold snap has come through the area) and windy but I was okay. My wife started off cold (imagine that) but warmed up after she moved around a bit (just like I said she would). We only stayed two hours. My wife was tired and my back was sore (I get this way when it gets cold) and there were a lot of helpers there.
I hate downtown Dallas. Maybe by biases are beginning to come back but I really feel unsafe when I am there, especially in the neighborhoods we have gone to help out. My wife still walks around like a victim (she never really is observant or plans her route...she just walks) and I am constantly pulling her over out of the way of small groups of people. Yes, I am sure I am over reacting but I am a protector...that is what I do.
We got home and I had a big lunch of leftover whatever (we did not cook this year) and napped on the couch on an off the next couple of hours, doing little else the rest of the day.
"Black" Friday is the day that I do the last bit of yard work of the year. This year it was cold and I had not gotten my supplies yet. I am beginning to become a procrastinator. I got up and headed over to Lowes (I prefer Home Depot, but my wife had a coupon for Lowes) with a small list of things to get. I got them all but the crock pot my wife wanted...they were out of stock. The trip took an hour, not for traffic, but because I am not used to the way Lowes is laid out. Once I got home I was able to start my tasks.
I started cutting the grass (It had no been mowed in over a month but still was not very high) after spending 20 minutes trying to get the mower started. It finally fired up and I mowed both ours and our neighbor's yard but I was exhausted by the time I finished that first part. Once that was done I pulled out the edger and the trimmer and tidied up both yards. That went quickly because the borders had not grown much either, and that the ground was dry. I was very grateful for that.
One the edging and trimming was done, I pulled out the all organic weed killer and fertilizer I picked up at Lowes. I did not do it for me, but because my wife is really beginning to keep her eye open for natural products. I am not sure how well it will do, but we shall see.
After all that I only had one thing left to do and that was to blow all the grass clippings and the spilled fertilizer back into the yard. That usually is the fastest part of job and today was no different.
Once I was done, I grabbed my geocaching gear and headed out the door. To sum up a long story, it was the most disappointing 4+ hours I have ever spent. While I managed to grab a couple memorable ones (an ammo can that has gone untouched for 7 months and a difficulty 4 nano) I struck out on about 8 or so...maybe more. I did not plan at all for this trip and it showed. Normally I will spend a couple of hours online mapping out my route and reading about what I am looking for (taking notes or printing up key info) but this time I just packed and left.
I got home defeated and tired and unusually hungry. Then I realized that I last ate a full meal the day before at lunch and only coffee, juice, and a banana since. Wow.
I guess that one of the reasons why I did not pay much attention to my hunger was that I have a lot on my mind. Money is becoming a bit tight and I feel that I am fighting an uphill battle. My wife has 2 part time jobs (that total 20 hours a week) that she is quitting and with my pay cut in March and our scheduled debt payments running until June or so (not counting the house), I am beginning to stress out.
"El Gee, God will provide."
Yes he will, but he wants us to use good sense or his blessings will be minimal. I feel that we are not doing all we can. This has monopolized my thoughts the past week.
All in all I am thankful for what God has blessed us with. He has kept me employed in an industry with the same company for a long time with a minimal impact on pay (have only gained 10K in raises in 6+ years). He has kept me warm and dry, fed and clothed. He has blessed us with three very good, reliable vehicles and we have only about $7k in debt, not counting the house (that is car and credit card debt).
Yes He has been good and I am thankful. Now if he can only reduce my stress level :-) .
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Frazzled
It has been a very busy last two days for us at work. There were some major updates to the SAP system that our customer uses and there have been no shortage of problems because of it. The nice thing is that the SAP environment is not supported directly by my company, but by a third part (a competitor) that our customer decided to use instead of us for application support. You get what you pay for.
The issues have kept me and my TL busy all of Monday and Tuesday. So far we are all caught up on our paperwork, but there is still one issue outstand and that does not count what could come up today. The good news is that we are off the next 4 days and are not on call...our group in Brazil is on call for us since we have Thanksgiving holiday Thursday and Friday.
So, what am I going to do this long weekend? Well, my wife and I are not cooking, nor are we eating a traditional holiday meal. We will be assisting a church in Dallas feed the displaced on Thursday.
On Friday, I will be working on the yard, doing the last cut of the season, trimming anything that needs it, and applying chemicals (weed-n-feed). I do not plan at looking at it again until late winter.
Saturday I will do my normal chores and most likly go geocaching. I will have to move a couple of caches that some of the other cachers think are too close to residential areas. I agree somewhat, but I think that stealth is needed in urban settings. I was able to plant, check up on, and remove both of the ones in question without any problems, but then again, I knew where they were.
Sunday will be my rest day as well as my time at church and Sunday school. There most likely will be other things as well, but I won't know until they happen.
I am looking forward to four days off. I want to clear my mind of all work related issues since I am not overly happy about the current changes that are happening.
The first is our vacation carryover is changing. Starting in 2008, any unused vacation is put into a separate bank and we have 3 years to use it. We will not be allowed to carry over more than 80 hours per year (I get 160) so we have to use it rather quickly. Why is this a problem? I work (yet again) in a department that really cannot afford to let me or my colleague (who is in the same boat, vacation wise) off for any length of time without putting major stress on the other. using the three weeks of vacation carryover in three years PLUS the vacation I normally accrue will be hard without driving my colleague insane. The same goes for him when he tries to go on vacation.
The second has to do with our on call pay. It is going away. None of us are happy about that. Now what they have done is offered to up our base pay 2% to make up for the 5% on call differential we are losing, for a net loss of 3%. Now IF we get a raise this year (we have been getting them every other year), we would be getting closer to what we had, but we would still be down at least 1%. "Raises" in my division have been 1.8 to 2% each time we get one...once every other year and we are not scheduled to get one this year.
If you couple the loss of 3% pay, the increase in our cost of the benefits, the higher co-pays, no raises, the cost of gas to get to work and not being able to telecommute...I lose a lot. Then I get to look forward to my wife quitting her parttime job so we lose even more. Best guess is that I stand to lose $1,000 a month or so (all factors together). Can you live on $1,000 a month less? I guess I need to get more clients in my PC repair gig.
Now in all fairness I know God will provide for us. He is not going to let us starve or put us out on the street. However, like most Americans, we enjoyed a quality of life that has been slowly diminishing over the past 6+ years...sometimes I get afarid that I will not be able to do my part.
Well, the morning has been quiet and I am happy for that. As long as my lunch is still in the fridge (we were given a catered lunch yesterday but I forgot and brought mine anyway...I left it here overnight), I should be in very good shape.
The issues have kept me and my TL busy all of Monday and Tuesday. So far we are all caught up on our paperwork, but there is still one issue outstand and that does not count what could come up today. The good news is that we are off the next 4 days and are not on call...our group in Brazil is on call for us since we have Thanksgiving holiday Thursday and Friday.
So, what am I going to do this long weekend? Well, my wife and I are not cooking, nor are we eating a traditional holiday meal. We will be assisting a church in Dallas feed the displaced on Thursday.
On Friday, I will be working on the yard, doing the last cut of the season, trimming anything that needs it, and applying chemicals (weed-n-feed). I do not plan at looking at it again until late winter.
Saturday I will do my normal chores and most likly go geocaching. I will have to move a couple of caches that some of the other cachers think are too close to residential areas. I agree somewhat, but I think that stealth is needed in urban settings. I was able to plant, check up on, and remove both of the ones in question without any problems, but then again, I knew where they were.
Sunday will be my rest day as well as my time at church and Sunday school. There most likely will be other things as well, but I won't know until they happen.
I am looking forward to four days off. I want to clear my mind of all work related issues since I am not overly happy about the current changes that are happening.
The first is our vacation carryover is changing. Starting in 2008, any unused vacation is put into a separate bank and we have 3 years to use it. We will not be allowed to carry over more than 80 hours per year (I get 160) so we have to use it rather quickly. Why is this a problem? I work (yet again) in a department that really cannot afford to let me or my colleague (who is in the same boat, vacation wise) off for any length of time without putting major stress on the other. using the three weeks of vacation carryover in three years PLUS the vacation I normally accrue will be hard without driving my colleague insane. The same goes for him when he tries to go on vacation.
The second has to do with our on call pay. It is going away. None of us are happy about that. Now what they have done is offered to up our base pay 2% to make up for the 5% on call differential we are losing, for a net loss of 3%. Now IF we get a raise this year (we have been getting them every other year), we would be getting closer to what we had, but we would still be down at least 1%. "Raises" in my division have been 1.8 to 2% each time we get one...once every other year and we are not scheduled to get one this year.
If you couple the loss of 3% pay, the increase in our cost of the benefits, the higher co-pays, no raises, the cost of gas to get to work and not being able to telecommute...I lose a lot. Then I get to look forward to my wife quitting her parttime job so we lose even more. Best guess is that I stand to lose $1,000 a month or so (all factors together). Can you live on $1,000 a month less? I guess I need to get more clients in my PC repair gig.
Now in all fairness I know God will provide for us. He is not going to let us starve or put us out on the street. However, like most Americans, we enjoyed a quality of life that has been slowly diminishing over the past 6+ years...sometimes I get afarid that I will not be able to do my part.
Well, the morning has been quiet and I am happy for that. As long as my lunch is still in the fridge (we were given a catered lunch yesterday but I forgot and brought mine anyway...I left it here overnight), I should be in very good shape.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Recap
I know it has been a few days since this blog has been updated but I have been a little busy and when I have had time to update it I have not been motivated to do so.
Friday was moderately busy at work during the day but the issues were all resolved before I went home, which meant as long as I did not get called that evening, I was off the hook.
Friday evening was pretty low key. Since I was on call we did not do anything but watch a little TV. I did work on a clever bit of camo for one of the hides I planed on placing this weekend. I think it turned out pretty well.
Saturday morning came and I treated myself to a pot of coffee, the first I since I burn my mouth (quite seriously, I might add) a couple of weeks before. I walked the dogs and then got ready for the men's breakfast at church. It went pretty well, but I felt moved to share a concern with the group regarding the direction the men's ministry was heading. My thoughts were not received overly by some, but a few of the men thanked me for bringing it up.
After the breakfast and cleanup, went home and started cleaning the house some. I spent about 2 hours on vacuuming, stripping the beds, and such before I decided to go kill a few hours locating some of the more difficult caches I had missed in previous weeks.
I had a very good time hunting the caches and only missed one I wanted to get but got a couple of very tough hides. I came home hot, sweaty, and a bit sore (there was a good deal of climbing on some of them) but very content. After I got cleaned up my wife and I went out for ice cream...you know, on a date. It was a pretty nice treat and both of us had a pleasant time.
Sunday was a bit different than most. First, we got a call from Soldier Boy...HE IS BACK HOME IN THE USA! My wife and I were very happy to hear his voice and we talked to him as long as we could before he had to go. Welcome home, son.
While we had Sunday School, the Christian school affiliated with our church put on a performance for us. It was a musical and while the acting and the production we good, the story was hard to follow and the Christian message was rather weak. Overall I would say a 3 out of 5 stars.
After the performance I went back home (my wife was not feeling well) to see if my wife was feeling better. She was not so I went out to lunch on my own, depositing a refund check from the hospital and grabbing a cache (a very well done one at that) before I headed back. You could tell the holidays are approaching because traffic is already starting to get heavy. It took me twice as long to get to the other side of town as it normally does.
Once I got back I walked Little Man and placed a cache 1/10 of a mile down from the last one I placed. I used the modified camo I made the other night and was pleased with the results. I walked back and checked on my wife but she still was not feeling well, so I went to the church Thanksgiving dinner (we had signed up to help set up the dining hall) by myself.
I helped set up, ate a good dinner, and cleaned up before coming home to take care fo the dogs and check on my wife. She was feeling better, but still a bit under the weather. I was not feeling bad, but I was tired so after talking to my mom, I hit the hay early.
Friday was moderately busy at work during the day but the issues were all resolved before I went home, which meant as long as I did not get called that evening, I was off the hook.
Friday evening was pretty low key. Since I was on call we did not do anything but watch a little TV. I did work on a clever bit of camo for one of the hides I planed on placing this weekend. I think it turned out pretty well.
Saturday morning came and I treated myself to a pot of coffee, the first I since I burn my mouth (quite seriously, I might add) a couple of weeks before. I walked the dogs and then got ready for the men's breakfast at church. It went pretty well, but I felt moved to share a concern with the group regarding the direction the men's ministry was heading. My thoughts were not received overly by some, but a few of the men thanked me for bringing it up.
After the breakfast and cleanup, went home and started cleaning the house some. I spent about 2 hours on vacuuming, stripping the beds, and such before I decided to go kill a few hours locating some of the more difficult caches I had missed in previous weeks.
I had a very good time hunting the caches and only missed one I wanted to get but got a couple of very tough hides. I came home hot, sweaty, and a bit sore (there was a good deal of climbing on some of them) but very content. After I got cleaned up my wife and I went out for ice cream...you know, on a date. It was a pretty nice treat and both of us had a pleasant time.
Sunday was a bit different than most. First, we got a call from Soldier Boy...HE IS BACK HOME IN THE USA! My wife and I were very happy to hear his voice and we talked to him as long as we could before he had to go. Welcome home, son.
While we had Sunday School, the Christian school affiliated with our church put on a performance for us. It was a musical and while the acting and the production we good, the story was hard to follow and the Christian message was rather weak. Overall I would say a 3 out of 5 stars.
After the performance I went back home (my wife was not feeling well) to see if my wife was feeling better. She was not so I went out to lunch on my own, depositing a refund check from the hospital and grabbing a cache (a very well done one at that) before I headed back. You could tell the holidays are approaching because traffic is already starting to get heavy. It took me twice as long to get to the other side of town as it normally does.
Once I got back I walked Little Man and placed a cache 1/10 of a mile down from the last one I placed. I used the modified camo I made the other night and was pleased with the results. I walked back and checked on my wife but she still was not feeling well, so I went to the church Thanksgiving dinner (we had signed up to help set up the dining hall) by myself.
I helped set up, ate a good dinner, and cleaned up before coming home to take care fo the dogs and check on my wife. She was feeling better, but still a bit under the weather. I was not feeling bad, but I was tired so after talking to my mom, I hit the hay early.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Cold Blast
All you people in the northern regions...try not to laugh.
It got a bit chilly last night. At lunch I was sweating as I was searching for a couple of geocaches but by dinner time, the wind was blowing and it was a lot colder. When I woke up this morning and got ready to walk "Little Man", it was in the upper 30's...the coldest yet. Now do not get me wrong, it is still warm here in Texas (it is about 60 right now) but the cold snap came on very sudden.
Work so far has been pretty light. Nothing much was going on before lunch so I had no problems leaving to grab a cache during my lunch hour. I debated which one to try so I went back to one of the ones I struck out on yesterday (in one of the green belts in Richardson) and hit pay dirt, although it took me 30 minutes or so to do find it. It was camo'ed pretty well and I am sure a passerby will not find it too easily. It was not on the side of the belt I thought it was on which is why it took me so long to find it.
I came back and ate my lasagna and let my TL go on his lunch break. I chatted with a couple of people regarding the situation here at work and we all agree things are not looking too bright for us, but at least we are still employed.
I do not have any plans tonight so I am not sure what the evening will bring. Maybe I will hit a cache on the way home...there are a couple that I have not gotten yet but I am not sure how easily I can grab them as I drive home.
We shall see.
It got a bit chilly last night. At lunch I was sweating as I was searching for a couple of geocaches but by dinner time, the wind was blowing and it was a lot colder. When I woke up this morning and got ready to walk "Little Man", it was in the upper 30's...the coldest yet. Now do not get me wrong, it is still warm here in Texas (it is about 60 right now) but the cold snap came on very sudden.
Work so far has been pretty light. Nothing much was going on before lunch so I had no problems leaving to grab a cache during my lunch hour. I debated which one to try so I went back to one of the ones I struck out on yesterday (in one of the green belts in Richardson) and hit pay dirt, although it took me 30 minutes or so to do find it. It was camo'ed pretty well and I am sure a passerby will not find it too easily. It was not on the side of the belt I thought it was on which is why it took me so long to find it.
I came back and ate my lasagna and let my TL go on his lunch break. I chatted with a couple of people regarding the situation here at work and we all agree things are not looking too bright for us, but at least we are still employed.
I do not have any plans tonight so I am not sure what the evening will bring. Maybe I will hit a cache on the way home...there are a couple that I have not gotten yet but I am not sure how easily I can grab them as I drive home.
We shall see.
A Trend
My morning at work was about hte same as it has been the past couple of days, which is a good thing. Nothing major going on and it gave me time to work on a report that I needed to knock out before too much time had elapsed.
At lunch I attempted three caches...one near a church hidden in some hedges (I really dislike these types of hides) and two along a green belt a mile or so from my office. I was unable to get the one at the church but got the first one at the green belt (which was Halloween themed) and struck out on the second at the green belt due to a lack of time. I cam back and ate my lunch at my desk and worked on a power failure issue at our customer's main site in Plano.
Before I went home I noticed that our peer in Mexico raised an issue with our third party provider on an old ticket but he failed to update the log. I was concerned since I was on call and I did not want to get stuck with a bad situation. Long story short, I did not have to work it but I did get a phone call at 11:30 PM (after I had been asleep for 30 minutes or so) asking me to make a change to the ticket. Why I had to be called for this I am not sure.
Since I was not obligated to any issues I went to care group with my wife. We had a good time and enjoyed pleasant conversation until we had to go home.
I stayed up working on some caches I plan on hiding soon then I hit the hay. Of course I was woken up at 11:30 but that is part of the job...
At lunch I attempted three caches...one near a church hidden in some hedges (I really dislike these types of hides) and two along a green belt a mile or so from my office. I was unable to get the one at the church but got the first one at the green belt (which was Halloween themed) and struck out on the second at the green belt due to a lack of time. I cam back and ate my lunch at my desk and worked on a power failure issue at our customer's main site in Plano.
Before I went home I noticed that our peer in Mexico raised an issue with our third party provider on an old ticket but he failed to update the log. I was concerned since I was on call and I did not want to get stuck with a bad situation. Long story short, I did not have to work it but I did get a phone call at 11:30 PM (after I had been asleep for 30 minutes or so) asking me to make a change to the ticket. Why I had to be called for this I am not sure.
Since I was not obligated to any issues I went to care group with my wife. We had a good time and enjoyed pleasant conversation until we had to go home.
I stayed up working on some caches I plan on hiding soon then I hit the hay. Of course I was woken up at 11:30 but that is part of the job...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Burst in BLog Traffic
I was checking my web logs the the other day and noticed a huge increase in traffic (about 40 hit) early in the week. I did some digging and noticed it was all regarding Ron Arlt, the person accused of conning more than one person...a few of them women with romantic ties to him.
The traffic came mostly from one person, the first one to publicly blog about it. (IIRC). She had left a comment on my blog stating that she was surprised there was still that much interest in him. Well dear, if he is still conning people, there still will be interest. Besides, we know he is narcissistic, so how do we know that he is not driving up my hits? Hmmmmmmm?
Work went well yesterday. I had a call on the way in, but it was nothing to really worry about. We only had one other issue to work on and it was resolved just after the clsoe of business. so I was minimally impacted.
The rest of the evening was ho-hum...just a little TV then I hit the sack pretty early...10:00 PM or so.
Oh, I did manage to get a cute "frog themed" cache at lunchtime yesterday. It is harder to get them at lunch because I have gotten most of the ones in the immediate area that you can get without being noticed. If I travel too much further out, I w will not have time to get there, search for the cache, get back and eat. I think there are less than a dozen that I can still nab at lunch in this area and most of those are good hides or they are in a highly visible spot. Oh well.
The traffic came mostly from one person, the first one to publicly blog about it. (IIRC). She had left a comment on my blog stating that she was surprised there was still that much interest in him. Well dear, if he is still conning people, there still will be interest. Besides, we know he is narcissistic, so how do we know that he is not driving up my hits? Hmmmmmmm?
Work went well yesterday. I had a call on the way in, but it was nothing to really worry about. We only had one other issue to work on and it was resolved just after the clsoe of business. so I was minimally impacted.
The rest of the evening was ho-hum...just a little TV then I hit the sack pretty early...10:00 PM or so.
Oh, I did manage to get a cute "frog themed" cache at lunchtime yesterday. It is harder to get them at lunch because I have gotten most of the ones in the immediate area that you can get without being noticed. If I travel too much further out, I w will not have time to get there, search for the cache, get back and eat. I think there are less than a dozen that I can still nab at lunch in this area and most of those are good hides or they are in a highly visible spot. Oh well.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Almost Pleasant
I am on call this week (work week only, I hope) and it started off pretty well.
I left work a little early (30 mins) and decided to grab a multi-part cache on the way home that is in a park not too far from our house. I had been by once to get it, but I let the clues mislead me. Once I realized how it was hidden, it was a piece of cake.
I got home and had dinner with my wife (Salmon on a bed of baby greens) and it was great. I had a few Greek olives alone with the fish and I was in heaven. Oh the flavors!
After dinner I got ready for the trustee meeting at church. The meeting lasted about 2 hours or so and we covered a lot of issues. Of course a lot more will come up in the upcoming weeks but that is to be expected.
I got home and walked the dogs and then checked my e-mail before heading to bed. I was tired. I was still that way when I got up the next morning. I was pretty much in a fog all morning long...even on my way to work. Not sure why.
I left work a little early (30 mins) and decided to grab a multi-part cache on the way home that is in a park not too far from our house. I had been by once to get it, but I let the clues mislead me. Once I realized how it was hidden, it was a piece of cake.
I got home and had dinner with my wife (Salmon on a bed of baby greens) and it was great. I had a few Greek olives alone with the fish and I was in heaven. Oh the flavors!
After dinner I got ready for the trustee meeting at church. The meeting lasted about 2 hours or so and we covered a lot of issues. Of course a lot more will come up in the upcoming weeks but that is to be expected.
I got home and walked the dogs and then checked my e-mail before heading to bed. I was tired. I was still that way when I got up the next morning. I was pretty much in a fog all morning long...even on my way to work. Not sure why.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Just Another Day
Sunday arrived and departed much like any other day for me. While I enjoy Sundays, sometimes they can be a bit mundane and today was no different. It started off like it normally does with a quick walk of the dog and my morning bible reading (I have skipped coffee the past few days since I have a nasty burn in my mouth that has not fully healed and I do not want to aggravate it). I attended church and Sunday School as usual ad after that was over, my wife and I grabbed lunch at Fuddruckers. I was getting a headache so my wife gave me a couple of Tylenol and it eventually subsided. Lunch was good and afterwards we filled up the gas tank in her van and headed home. By the time we got home the headache was mostly gone and my wife had already started her Sunday afternoon nap. I was not sleepy so I worked on a a small cache I wanted to hide near our house. Once it was complete I dropped it off and submitted it to geocaching.com for approval. This makes hide number 5 for me. None of them have been as good as the first, but I have not found the perfect area yet in which to place a fun one.
After I placed the cache I sat down for a few minutes and watched some "Man Versus Wild" on Discovery. When it was over, I got cleaned up to get ready for the monthly service that takes palce on Sunday Night. We call it "Voice of Faith" and it is all singing and prayer.
After the service I tried calling my mom but the line was busy so I gave up and went to bed. I was tired for some reason (I tire easily nowadays it seems) and decided to get as much sleep as possible. When I woke, I found my wife up and working on the PC. She had been up since 4:00 AM (I get up at 5:00) and had a littany of things she wanted to do. I left her to herself as I walked Little Man around the block.
I got back and my wife started feeding the dogs. With that, I started my routine to get ready for work. When I arrived, the feeling of dread had already sunk in. We were told of layoffs coming soon and one of us are very happy. The whole building is quiet (even during the busy parts of the day) and everyone looks glum.
I have dodged 5 layoffs so far and if God wants me someplace, he will put me there no matter what happens. That is why I am not going to worry...It is not in my hands.
After I placed the cache I sat down for a few minutes and watched some "Man Versus Wild" on Discovery. When it was over, I got cleaned up to get ready for the monthly service that takes palce on Sunday Night. We call it "Voice of Faith" and it is all singing and prayer.
After the service I tried calling my mom but the line was busy so I gave up and went to bed. I was tired for some reason (I tire easily nowadays it seems) and decided to get as much sleep as possible. When I woke, I found my wife up and working on the PC. She had been up since 4:00 AM (I get up at 5:00) and had a littany of things she wanted to do. I left her to herself as I walked Little Man around the block.
I got back and my wife started feeding the dogs. With that, I started my routine to get ready for work. When I arrived, the feeling of dread had already sunk in. We were told of layoffs coming soon and one of us are very happy. The whole building is quiet (even during the busy parts of the day) and everyone looks glum.
I have dodged 5 layoffs so far and if God wants me someplace, he will put me there no matter what happens. That is why I am not going to worry...It is not in my hands.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Well, I Had To Hand It Over
The issue at work did not get resolved while I was there so I had to hand it over to my TL who is on call. I hated to do it but it was not going to get resolved on my watch. I hope he did not have to stay up for it.
I got home and vegged out for a while then hit the hay. I was tired and needed rest.
The next morning I got an early start on my chores. I wanted to get them done before I got my hair cut at 10:45 and I was able to accomplish that without too much trouble. Before I left I had time to print up some of the geocaching notes that I would need for the day. I had a plan and I hoped to stick to it as best as I could.
After getting my hair cut I hit the road and started my quest for geocaches. I started at Allen Premium Outlets and grabbed two there. Both were pretty easy although one had me a bit puzzled for a few minutes. After I grabbed those I cruised by Star Creek Park and picked up a very good hide there. The guy who hid that one is really good at using the natural items to assist in the hiding process.
I left Star Creek and headed north to a cemetery that had 4 hides in it. All 4 were in the back (to give you an idea how big it is all caches have to be at least 1/10 of a mile apart from each other) and I was able to get them all without any trouble. As a matter of fact I was able to get all 7 in just over an hour.
With that accomplishment under my belt, I decided to head over to another area that had a couple of ammo cans hidden (Ammo cans are what cachers strive for...they can hold a lot of goodies and are harder to hide). I struck out while wasting about 1-2 hours looking for the next 4 hides on my list and I was getting a bit depressed. I drove back down to Stacy road and headed towards 4 that I did not get last week and when I arrived I realized that there was more bush whacking needed than I wanted to do after wasting so much time on the ammo cans. I decided to drive towards Lucas and see about picking up a few there.
I pulled up a road that looked familiar and zoomed out my GPSr. It showed 2 within a mile so I drive up and picked up those two. Okay...I was up to 9. My goal on any Saturday is a minimum of 10 so I zoomed out my GPSr again and noticed 2 more about half a mile away in a new, nicer subdivision. I pulled in to the park and headed off into unknown territory. I found the first one pretty quickly. It did not look like it belonged and when I lifted it, I was rewarded with a film canister and a log. Once it was signed, I moved on to the other one in this area which was about 800 feet away in the woods.
I followed the path until I was sure that I was not going to get any closer to it then I headed off into the brush. It did not take long until I found the ammo can (my first solo ammo can find) and opened it up. It was packed with cool stuff. I did not go through it all because I had been out for 4 hours and needed to get home. I did however sign the log and trade few items. I took a tube of "Shoe Goo" (the sole of one of my Wolverines was coming lose so this was needed) and a geocoin and left an old Mexican coin and an MRE accessory pack. Once all was packed back up, I headed back to the GeoDak and went home...stinky but mostly happy. I would have loved to get other 6 or so that I had wiffed on, but those are for another day, I guess.
I got home and vegged out for a while then hit the hay. I was tired and needed rest.
The next morning I got an early start on my chores. I wanted to get them done before I got my hair cut at 10:45 and I was able to accomplish that without too much trouble. Before I left I had time to print up some of the geocaching notes that I would need for the day. I had a plan and I hoped to stick to it as best as I could.
After getting my hair cut I hit the road and started my quest for geocaches. I started at Allen Premium Outlets and grabbed two there. Both were pretty easy although one had me a bit puzzled for a few minutes. After I grabbed those I cruised by Star Creek Park and picked up a very good hide there. The guy who hid that one is really good at using the natural items to assist in the hiding process.
I left Star Creek and headed north to a cemetery that had 4 hides in it. All 4 were in the back (to give you an idea how big it is all caches have to be at least 1/10 of a mile apart from each other) and I was able to get them all without any trouble. As a matter of fact I was able to get all 7 in just over an hour.
With that accomplishment under my belt, I decided to head over to another area that had a couple of ammo cans hidden (Ammo cans are what cachers strive for...they can hold a lot of goodies and are harder to hide). I struck out while wasting about 1-2 hours looking for the next 4 hides on my list and I was getting a bit depressed. I drove back down to Stacy road and headed towards 4 that I did not get last week and when I arrived I realized that there was more bush whacking needed than I wanted to do after wasting so much time on the ammo cans. I decided to drive towards Lucas and see about picking up a few there.
I pulled up a road that looked familiar and zoomed out my GPSr. It showed 2 within a mile so I drive up and picked up those two. Okay...I was up to 9. My goal on any Saturday is a minimum of 10 so I zoomed out my GPSr again and noticed 2 more about half a mile away in a new, nicer subdivision. I pulled in to the park and headed off into unknown territory. I found the first one pretty quickly. It did not look like it belonged and when I lifted it, I was rewarded with a film canister and a log. Once it was signed, I moved on to the other one in this area which was about 800 feet away in the woods.
I followed the path until I was sure that I was not going to get any closer to it then I headed off into the brush. It did not take long until I found the ammo can (my first solo ammo can find) and opened it up. It was packed with cool stuff. I did not go through it all because I had been out for 4 hours and needed to get home. I did however sign the log and trade few items. I took a tube of "Shoe Goo" (the sole of one of my Wolverines was coming lose so this was needed) and a geocoin and left an old Mexican coin and an MRE accessory pack. Once all was packed back up, I headed back to the GeoDak and went home...stinky but mostly happy. I would have loved to get other 6 or so that I had wiffed on, but those are for another day, I guess.
Friday, November 09, 2007
I Wonder How Will This Turn Out
Two days in a row we have had a peace. No issues have been raised and things have been nice. This afternoon while everyone else was in a very important meeting that I did not get to go to (another story), I worked with our third party provider trying to get as certain module of SAP up and running for our customer. This started off bad and got worse as the hours drifted by.
First, the help desk gave me the wrong description to the problem. There were screen shots, but they did not match the issue reported. Since I am not familiar with this, I pass on to the third party.
Next, the third party says that they can only work via e-mail since they work from home. I am not sure where that came from since I sure as heck have to call people when I work at home.
Finally, the third party states that since there is a chage freeze, they cannot upload the code that needs to be put on the productions servers and the customer will just have to wait until the freeze is over with...in January. The tech working on the issue did not understand that the cahgne freeze is in place for non-critical issues...high priority issues are immune from this.
We have engaged the management of the third party and they are working with the tech to rectify the situation.
We hope.
First, the help desk gave me the wrong description to the problem. There were screen shots, but they did not match the issue reported. Since I am not familiar with this, I pass on to the third party.
Next, the third party says that they can only work via e-mail since they work from home. I am not sure where that came from since I sure as heck have to call people when I work at home.
Finally, the third party states that since there is a chage freeze, they cannot upload the code that needs to be put on the productions servers and the customer will just have to wait until the freeze is over with...in January. The tech working on the issue did not understand that the cahgne freeze is in place for non-critical issues...high priority issues are immune from this.
We have engaged the management of the third party and they are working with the tech to rectify the situation.
We hope.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Maybe I Spoke Too Soon
Yesterday at lunch I decided to go to the Army-Navy Store to see what goodies they had that a new geocacher like myself could use. While the store was full of hiking, camping, military, and law enforcement gear, it all was a bit expensive. I opted for a roll of olive drab duct tape to help hide my caches.
While at the store, I stopped by and grabbed two caches. One was right out side the store across the street near a small park and was similar to one that gave me fits before, so I knew what to look for. While I was looking at it, an old woman cam walking by mumbling. I normall would not have paid much attention to her but she was wearing (and I am not kidding folks) A TIN FOIL HAT. My only guess was that she thought my GPSr was reading her mind. Scary.
Since I had 30 minutes left to kill from my lunch, I decided to drive by and see if I could find he puzzle cache I solved a few weeks ago. it did not take me long to locate, sign, and return the cache. Once back into my GeoDakota it was a short 5 minute drive back to the office. Not bad for 45 minutes or so.
The afternoon was quiet. No calls and no issues to deal with. This was a welcome change from the previous days work. I looked and it had been just about two weeks since we last had a free day from issues. I guess I will enjoy it while I can.
I got home with a bit of a headache (tension) and my mouth was sore from the recent hot dog burn (by the way, 1 minute is too long for two wieners in the microwave. I just thought I would share that) so talking and eating was (and still is) painful. I was not sure I wanted to go to care group, but I decided that I needed to go. We had three visitors join us and it really was nice to have them. We spent too much time on some missions stuff and that left very little time for prayer, so we had to cut things short to allow a few of the more senior members to go home on time.
We got home and took care of the dogs before we went to sleep.
I got up felling better than I did the night before but still kinda rough. I walked Little Man and let The Golden out to pee before feeding them. In the process I dropped The Golden's ceramic dog food bowl (it was full of food by the way), breaking it and sending the dog and the food flying. Of course the first thing out of my mouth was "son of a b@tch!", which was not what a Christian should be saying...ever. Oddly enough I did not even realize it until my wife brought it to my attention. I really need to pray more that God will remove those words and thoughts from my mind. I feel horrible when it happens and I know it disappoints my wife.
Thankfully, the rest of my prep to go to work was uneventful!
Since the morning started off on the wrong foot, I stopped grabbed a cache on my way to work. It was only about 300 feet out of my way on an overlook of Plano. I am surprised I have never noticed this before. There is a nature preserve near by that is supposed to have two more caches hidden, but these will be hikes...no park and grabs like many others in the area.
Well, I guess I will get back to monitoring things.
While at the store, I stopped by and grabbed two caches. One was right out side the store across the street near a small park and was similar to one that gave me fits before, so I knew what to look for. While I was looking at it, an old woman cam walking by mumbling. I normall would not have paid much attention to her but she was wearing (and I am not kidding folks) A TIN FOIL HAT. My only guess was that she thought my GPSr was reading her mind. Scary.
Since I had 30 minutes left to kill from my lunch, I decided to drive by and see if I could find he puzzle cache I solved a few weeks ago. it did not take me long to locate, sign, and return the cache. Once back into my GeoDakota it was a short 5 minute drive back to the office. Not bad for 45 minutes or so.
The afternoon was quiet. No calls and no issues to deal with. This was a welcome change from the previous days work. I looked and it had been just about two weeks since we last had a free day from issues. I guess I will enjoy it while I can.
I got home with a bit of a headache (tension) and my mouth was sore from the recent hot dog burn (by the way, 1 minute is too long for two wieners in the microwave. I just thought I would share that) so talking and eating was (and still is) painful. I was not sure I wanted to go to care group, but I decided that I needed to go. We had three visitors join us and it really was nice to have them. We spent too much time on some missions stuff and that left very little time for prayer, so we had to cut things short to allow a few of the more senior members to go home on time.
We got home and took care of the dogs before we went to sleep.
I got up felling better than I did the night before but still kinda rough. I walked Little Man and let The Golden out to pee before feeding them. In the process I dropped The Golden's ceramic dog food bowl (it was full of food by the way), breaking it and sending the dog and the food flying. Of course the first thing out of my mouth was "son of a b@tch!", which was not what a Christian should be saying...ever. Oddly enough I did not even realize it until my wife brought it to my attention. I really need to pray more that God will remove those words and thoughts from my mind. I feel horrible when it happens and I know it disappoints my wife.
Thankfully, the rest of my prep to go to work was uneventful!
Since the morning started off on the wrong foot, I stopped grabbed a cache on my way to work. It was only about 300 feet out of my way on an overlook of Plano. I am surprised I have never noticed this before. There is a nature preserve near by that is supposed to have two more caches hidden, but these will be hikes...no park and grabs like many others in the area.
Well, I guess I will get back to monitoring things.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Repeat Of Last Week?
At least I am not on call! This week has been busy and it is only Wednesday morning...I can imagine what the rest of the week will be like. We have been averaging three incidents a day for the past couple of weeks when we normally have 1-2. These have been longer and harder to deal with and being on call for them is no fun.
I voted yesterday morning and it was quick and painless, unless you count the fact I had forgotten which poll we voted at. Once that was done, I was able to get to work on time. I let my TL go early so he could vote on the way home and he seemed to appreciate it.
Yesterday I nabbed to caches that made me happy...one that had eluding me for weeks and the other was my first multi part cache. Multi-part caches give you coords to one area and then you must find the coords to the second area. I was blessed in that the coords were not very far away from each other...just across the street to be exact.
Last night I had a one on one session with "Larry", my student in "One on One Discipling". We had not met in almost eight months I was worried he had given up. While he was late, he has not given up. I am happy he takes his walk with Christ seriously.
This morning I had my dentist appointment, so I skipped my normal morning coffee. the visit took all of 26 minutes to check int, get my teeth cleaned and examined, and check out. I like that !
On the way to work I stopped off to grab the last of the TMNT caches hidden by the "Garland Goonies". I found three of them very quickly but had trouble with the other two. Today I close that chapter in my geocaching book.
Not sure which one I will go after today. I need to research a bit.
I voted yesterday morning and it was quick and painless, unless you count the fact I had forgotten which poll we voted at. Once that was done, I was able to get to work on time. I let my TL go early so he could vote on the way home and he seemed to appreciate it.
Yesterday I nabbed to caches that made me happy...one that had eluding me for weeks and the other was my first multi part cache. Multi-part caches give you coords to one area and then you must find the coords to the second area. I was blessed in that the coords were not very far away from each other...just across the street to be exact.
Last night I had a one on one session with "Larry", my student in "One on One Discipling". We had not met in almost eight months I was worried he had given up. While he was late, he has not given up. I am happy he takes his walk with Christ seriously.
This morning I had my dentist appointment, so I skipped my normal morning coffee. the visit took all of 26 minutes to check int, get my teeth cleaned and examined, and check out. I like that !
On the way to work I stopped off to grab the last of the TMNT caches hidden by the "Garland Goonies". I found three of them very quickly but had trouble with the other two. Today I close that chapter in my geocaching book.
Not sure which one I will go after today. I need to research a bit.
Monday, November 05, 2007
When Four Days Feels Like Seven
Whew...I am finally off call. This was one of the more difficult ones only because of the late night wake up calls from the help desk we are associated with. While it was only four days it felt more like an entire week.
The rest of Sunday went well. I tough my Sunday School class and even made it through the service without getting called. After service, I drove home (since my wife and I cam at different times) to let the dogs out before we went to lunch. When I got done with the dogs, I noticed my truck was leaking coolant like crazy...a scary thing since I just had the truck worked on Friday. Needless to say my wife and I dropped the truck off that afternoon so the guys could look at it and correct the problem. I hope it is their fault and not the radiator...we do not need any more big expenses right now.
After we dropped the truck off my wife and I grabbed some bagels for lunch. It had been a long time since I had bagel with hummus on it and it did not disappoint. While I have had better bagels, this one was not bad.
We got home and my wife spent the afternoon talking to her friend in Alabama. I dozed on and off while I was trying to watch a bad Harrison Ford movie (Hollywood Homicide) on TV. and eventually I got up and fed then walked the dogs before we went to the party that was being thrown for one of our church members who recently became a US citizen.
The rest of the night was quiet and I went to bed early since I was (and still am) very tired. At least Sunday night was quiet!
The rest of Sunday went well. I tough my Sunday School class and even made it through the service without getting called. After service, I drove home (since my wife and I cam at different times) to let the dogs out before we went to lunch. When I got done with the dogs, I noticed my truck was leaking coolant like crazy...a scary thing since I just had the truck worked on Friday. Needless to say my wife and I dropped the truck off that afternoon so the guys could look at it and correct the problem. I hope it is their fault and not the radiator...we do not need any more big expenses right now.
After we dropped the truck off my wife and I grabbed some bagels for lunch. It had been a long time since I had bagel with hummus on it and it did not disappoint. While I have had better bagels, this one was not bad.
We got home and my wife spent the afternoon talking to her friend in Alabama. I dozed on and off while I was trying to watch a bad Harrison Ford movie (Hollywood Homicide) on TV. and eventually I got up and fed then walked the dogs before we went to the party that was being thrown for one of our church members who recently became a US citizen.
The rest of the night was quiet and I went to bed early since I was (and still am) very tired. At least Sunday night was quiet!
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Notice The Hour...
No, this is not a misprint...I am blogging at almost 1 AM. This weekend on call has not been friendly this time around.
Friday night I got a call at 11:00 PM regarding an R&D app in Canada that went down for maintenance and did not come back up properly. I had never worked a call like this and could not find a number for the on call team. I caved in and called another team asking for help but they never returned my call, which was very odd. The customer was understanding and agreed not to press the issue until the next morning. I stayed up until 2:00 AM researching the case and got up again at 7:00 to finalize it. The sad news was that it was not even supposed to have been raised to us. The team who work with that app are to be called directly, skipping me. Nice of them to tell me after the fact.
At midnight the same night I get a call from a third party provider asking me to push an lower severity issue that if not solved in 36 hours, will become a high priority. I transfer the case to the proper team and note the ticket, with intentions of calling on it the next morning. When I get up, I see my European peers (who work 24x7) have already called to push on it so I do not have to.
I get up the next morning and finish issue number one, have my coffee, walk the dogs, and eat my breakfast. I have some chores to do so I do them and am done by 1:00 PM. After a quick lunch, I decided to grab some local geocaches (keeping my phone handy and sticking close to home...no more than four miles away) and nab seven of them:
The Great Pumpkin - A new hide in a new park just west of us.
RR Ghost Nightmare - A Halloween themed cache with one of the best containers I have ever seen.
Rockin' - A cache I have tried and missed twice before...deceptively easy. I felt foolish for missing it.
Old Railroad Dam - A historical spot just north of us.
"Bag" - The Ticket - One of the hardest to get to I have ever seen. Briar factor seven.
Score! - A mystery/puzzle cache I solved two weeks ago but have not had time to nab.
Stacy Ridge #1 - The furthest cache I have done from my home coords yet (not counting the ones near work) at 3.2 miles away.
I DNF'd (Did Not Find) on two: A multi (Where, Oh Where Could My Little Cache Be?) because of an abundance of "muggles" (non-cachers) and "Balance", which is in a bog. Yes a bog. I spent 45 minutes looking for that one and finally gave up.
Even though I DNF'd on two, I still had a great time and did all this in three hours.
After I got home I found my wife working on some yard work, so I joined in on the fun. We worked for about 2 hours and then I grabbed some McD's for dinner (using some of the cash I earned doing PC work) and then my wife grabbed some Braum's ice cream for dessert. Not the healthiest we have eaten but it was tasty.
I walked the pooches and then watched some TV before falling asleep on the couch. That brings me up to the current situation. At a little before 1:00 AM I got a call from the third party vendor who called me the night before. The issue they called me about had still not been completed. and only had 12 hours left. I found this odd since my European peers had already called about it. I called the team in Slovakia and they assured me it would be handled ASAP. I called our third party vendor and gave them the news and told them I would call them back as soon as it was complete. I hope for my sake it is soon.
While this may seem like nothing to those who are on call and get called all the time, this just caps off a very busy week for us. We have averaged two high priority calls per day over the past week and it is beginning to wear on me. Considering that I traded on call with someone I think I got the short end of the bargain.
At least the caching was good.
Friday night I got a call at 11:00 PM regarding an R&D app in Canada that went down for maintenance and did not come back up properly. I had never worked a call like this and could not find a number for the on call team. I caved in and called another team asking for help but they never returned my call, which was very odd. The customer was understanding and agreed not to press the issue until the next morning. I stayed up until 2:00 AM researching the case and got up again at 7:00 to finalize it. The sad news was that it was not even supposed to have been raised to us. The team who work with that app are to be called directly, skipping me. Nice of them to tell me after the fact.
At midnight the same night I get a call from a third party provider asking me to push an lower severity issue that if not solved in 36 hours, will become a high priority. I transfer the case to the proper team and note the ticket, with intentions of calling on it the next morning. When I get up, I see my European peers (who work 24x7) have already called to push on it so I do not have to.
I get up the next morning and finish issue number one, have my coffee, walk the dogs, and eat my breakfast. I have some chores to do so I do them and am done by 1:00 PM. After a quick lunch, I decided to grab some local geocaches (keeping my phone handy and sticking close to home...no more than four miles away) and nab seven of them:
The Great Pumpkin - A new hide in a new park just west of us.
RR Ghost Nightmare - A Halloween themed cache with one of the best containers I have ever seen.
Rockin' - A cache I have tried and missed twice before...deceptively easy. I felt foolish for missing it.
Old Railroad Dam - A historical spot just north of us.
"Bag" - The Ticket - One of the hardest to get to I have ever seen. Briar factor seven.
Score! - A mystery/puzzle cache I solved two weeks ago but have not had time to nab.
Stacy Ridge #1 - The furthest cache I have done from my home coords yet (not counting the ones near work) at 3.2 miles away.
I DNF'd (Did Not Find) on two: A multi (Where, Oh Where Could My Little Cache Be?) because of an abundance of "muggles" (non-cachers) and "Balance", which is in a bog. Yes a bog. I spent 45 minutes looking for that one and finally gave up.
Even though I DNF'd on two, I still had a great time and did all this in three hours.
After I got home I found my wife working on some yard work, so I joined in on the fun. We worked for about 2 hours and then I grabbed some McD's for dinner (using some of the cash I earned doing PC work) and then my wife grabbed some Braum's ice cream for dessert. Not the healthiest we have eaten but it was tasty.
I walked the pooches and then watched some TV before falling asleep on the couch. That brings me up to the current situation. At a little before 1:00 AM I got a call from the third party vendor who called me the night before. The issue they called me about had still not been completed. and only had 12 hours left. I found this odd since my European peers had already called about it. I called the team in Slovakia and they assured me it would be handled ASAP. I called our third party vendor and gave them the news and told them I would call them back as soon as it was complete. I hope for my sake it is soon.
While this may seem like nothing to those who are on call and get called all the time, this just caps off a very busy week for us. We have averaged two high priority calls per day over the past week and it is beginning to wear on me. Considering that I traded on call with someone I think I got the short end of the bargain.
At least the caching was good.
Friday, November 02, 2007
It Figures
We had a pretty good day yesterday at work. The phones were ringing, but there was nothing of any great importance until 4:50 PM...10 minutes before I went on call. My TL took a call and got the ball rolling for me and he stayed until 5:30 PM to make sure things got started before he handed it off to me. Nice guy...and I mean that.
I take the issue and get a call back about 7:00 PM from the tech who was investigating it. He could not see a problem on their end so he asked me to have the message queuing admin look into it. So at 2 AM or so CET, I called the on call admin and he looked, but after an hour, he could not find anything. Then then told me to have the customer reboot the OCR machine. Well that was not going to happen any time soon since the customer was not at work. (Sigh) ... another wasted 4 hours.
I called the customer and gave her the info. Needless to say she is not the friendliest person I have dealt with in the past few months. She agreed to wait until morning and then come in to work to reboot hte machine and call me with the results. She says she gets to work at 6:30 AM, so she has had an hour to do this but so far I have not heard from her or the third party who normally supports the app.
(Sigh).
I hope today is similar in the workload, MINUS the last minute high priority ticket. And if the weekend is issue-free, all the better.
I take the issue and get a call back about 7:00 PM from the tech who was investigating it. He could not see a problem on their end so he asked me to have the message queuing admin look into it. So at 2 AM or so CET, I called the on call admin and he looked, but after an hour, he could not find anything. Then then told me to have the customer reboot the OCR machine. Well that was not going to happen any time soon since the customer was not at work. (Sigh) ... another wasted 4 hours.
I called the customer and gave her the info. Needless to say she is not the friendliest person I have dealt with in the past few months. She agreed to wait until morning and then come in to work to reboot hte machine and call me with the results. She says she gets to work at 6:30 AM, so she has had an hour to do this but so far I have not heard from her or the third party who normally supports the app.
(Sigh).
I hope today is similar in the workload, MINUS the last minute high priority ticket. And if the weekend is issue-free, all the better.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Tidbits
Yesterday was busy, but not in a very bad way. We had a lot of calls but only one issue that we had to formalize. My TL stayed 30 minutes over to insure things went smoothly.
At lunch I was able to snag two caches in a nearby park. These were quick and well thought out...just the way caches should be. I still prefer fewer quality caches than mass amounts of poorly done ones.
I got home and found my wife working on several things at once but dinner was not one of them. Now don't get e wrong, I don't expect a home cooked meal every night but if you PLAN on cooking then stop early enough to get it started...not when it is time for you hubby to be home. Since I was hungry and did not want to wait, I just picked up some take out and came home to enjoy it with my wife. Having a little cash from my side job helps.
My wife spent the evening grooming the dogs and bathing one of them (Little Man) and I walked him before the kids hit the street begging for candy. Little Man does not like trick or treaters.
About 10 PM or so I noticed a lot of flashing lights on our street. A fire/rescue truck, and EMT, and 2 police cars pulled up in front of the house diagonally across the street from us. They were there 20 minutes or so then left, so I a guess it was nothing too serious.
I go on call tonight for the the guy in Mexico. It should be okay, but I am expecting to be busy. I have the city council meeting tonight so I am not sure if I will be able to stay for it all or not. So far I have not been able to hang in there the entire time when I am on call. Maybe this time will be different.
At lunch I was able to snag two caches in a nearby park. These were quick and well thought out...just the way caches should be. I still prefer fewer quality caches than mass amounts of poorly done ones.
I got home and found my wife working on several things at once but dinner was not one of them. Now don't get e wrong, I don't expect a home cooked meal every night but if you PLAN on cooking then stop early enough to get it started...not when it is time for you hubby to be home. Since I was hungry and did not want to wait, I just picked up some take out and came home to enjoy it with my wife. Having a little cash from my side job helps.
My wife spent the evening grooming the dogs and bathing one of them (Little Man) and I walked him before the kids hit the street begging for candy. Little Man does not like trick or treaters.
About 10 PM or so I noticed a lot of flashing lights on our street. A fire/rescue truck, and EMT, and 2 police cars pulled up in front of the house diagonally across the street from us. They were there 20 minutes or so then left, so I a guess it was nothing too serious.
I go on call tonight for the the guy in Mexico. It should be okay, but I am expecting to be busy. I have the city council meeting tonight so I am not sure if I will be able to stay for it all or not. So far I have not been able to hang in there the entire time when I am on call. Maybe this time will be different.
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