Christmas in May?

Well, I feel like a kid. Santa Clause dropped off two presents today and promises to bring another in a few weeks.

First present was a new laptop (HP Compaq nc6400) to replace the ANCIENT (733 mhz, 256 megs RAM) desktop that I use on the customer network. It came loaded with Vista and after much wailing and gnashing of teeth (okay, I am exaggerating) I have it on the network and loaded with Firefox. To be honest I don't use their network machines all that much but if they want to give me a new toy, go ahead. I would have preferred to have a desktop since I have to lug a laptop home every night but I was told that locking my office is sufficient when I am gone. We do have security officers working 24x7.

The next toy is a Garmin eTrex GPSr. It is an 2000 model and does not have a data cable, but I figured I could play around with it some. It will not be a great geocaching unit but it will be good to test with.

The third toy (that will be delivered in a few weeks) is a HP Compaq nc6510b laptop to replace the HP Compaq nc6000 I was issued 4 years ago. Our company has a program to only support PC's that are 3 years old or less. The new laptop that I get in a few weeks will be the work horse.

I asked what I was to do with the old "unsupported" laptop when my new one comes in and I was told, "Well, you are supposed to have them recycled but if you want to use it as a test machine, have fun!" It looks like I will be trying out Linux on it in about a month. Sweet.

Well, work has not been too bad today. We have had a couple of issues each day that we have worked on and I have cleaned up three of them. Rumors are floating around (duh!) and the natives are getting restless.

The management has told us they expect this building to close down and for us to be moved to the "main" building in 6 months or so. It is a bit further to drive, but I think it will be okay as long as we can work from home two days a week like we do now.