Courtesy of "Basic Instructions" and Scott Meyer. Very funny stuff.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
This Would Be Funny If It Were Not True
Courtesy of "Basic Instructions" and Scott Meyer. Very funny stuff.
Winding Down, Ramping Up
Today I am marking two events...winding down the work week and ramping up to go to WV to visit family and friends.
Work this week (with the exception of early Monday morning) has been light weight, and for that I am thankful. My colleague who is on call has had a nice light week so far. Now, to be honest, all that could change in an instant but as long as I can make it to 5:00 PM, I am ready to begin my down time.
It took a couple of days to decompress from my last on call. Monday and Tuesday I found myself carrying my mobile phone with me everywhere just like I was on call. I even took it with me to my church board meeting Tuesday night.
My wife has decided to go back to work part time (10 hours a week or so) for the same guy that she worked for last time, doing mostly the same work. There are a few differences this time however. The first is that she will be getting a raise. While not "big bucks" (a little less than half of what I make), it still will help get us past this lump of debt that we are facing (surgeries).
The next difference is that she will not be doing payroll. The guy has outsourced that and it works much better than it did with him trying to maintain things. While my wife was doing most of it, it was a mess when he was out of town and to get him to sign the checks. Besides, Quickbooks was constantly crashing on his PC...I could never get it stable. This time my wife will be doing all his invoicing, which he does manually. She understands his system (she is the only one who does) and he asked her to come back and get things back to normal after the person who replaced her left it in a mess.
The final thing that is changing is...she gets to work from home. She is not required to come into the office! And the nice thing is when she does have to go in (for whatever reason) her boss is giving her a gas allowance. Not bad at all.
To celebrate we went out to Mimi's Cafe, one of her favorite places in the world to eat. I ordered light (citrus shrimp, asparagus, and a salad) and my wife ordered heavy (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and veggies) but I really wanted dessert and saw that they had a chocolate chip pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream that looked wonderful, so I ordered it. My goodness, it was enough for two, maybe three people. I ate half of it (I have a big appetite for sweets) but I was stuffed. I had to walk a lot last night to work that off. Heck, when I work up at 6:00 this morning I was still not hungry. Good thing I guess since to day is a fasting day.
I woke up an hour later than normal (we had a power outage yesterday and I slept in and changed my alarm time) and let the dogs out. It still looked like it would storm (It stormed all day yesterday) but I need to cut grass or the yards will be a jungle when I get back.
I fed the dogs and then logged on to check e- mail. I took the time to update my PDA and my GPSr with geocaches to grab along the way to WV (I loaded 500 or so, knowing I will get less than 10% of that...I wanted a good pool to pull from) and began packing things for my trip. While I am not as thorough as my wife, there are things I make sure I pack. Since geocaching is a big part of this trip, all my geocaching stuff will be packed (I still need to get things out of the truck) and all my OTC meds. Since I am prone to sinus issues, I need to be prepared.
I am looking forward to this trip. I have only grabbed caches in a couple of locations outside of TX while travelling and this will be a good opportunity to add a couple of more states (AR, TN, KY) to my states cached list. Fun times ahead!
Work this week (with the exception of early Monday morning) has been light weight, and for that I am thankful. My colleague who is on call has had a nice light week so far. Now, to be honest, all that could change in an instant but as long as I can make it to 5:00 PM, I am ready to begin my down time.
It took a couple of days to decompress from my last on call. Monday and Tuesday I found myself carrying my mobile phone with me everywhere just like I was on call. I even took it with me to my church board meeting Tuesday night.
My wife has decided to go back to work part time (10 hours a week or so) for the same guy that she worked for last time, doing mostly the same work. There are a few differences this time however. The first is that she will be getting a raise. While not "big bucks" (a little less than half of what I make), it still will help get us past this lump of debt that we are facing (surgeries).
The next difference is that she will not be doing payroll. The guy has outsourced that and it works much better than it did with him trying to maintain things. While my wife was doing most of it, it was a mess when he was out of town and to get him to sign the checks. Besides, Quickbooks was constantly crashing on his PC...I could never get it stable. This time my wife will be doing all his invoicing, which he does manually. She understands his system (she is the only one who does) and he asked her to come back and get things back to normal after the person who replaced her left it in a mess.
The final thing that is changing is...she gets to work from home. She is not required to come into the office! And the nice thing is when she does have to go in (for whatever reason) her boss is giving her a gas allowance. Not bad at all.
To celebrate we went out to Mimi's Cafe, one of her favorite places in the world to eat. I ordered light (citrus shrimp, asparagus, and a salad) and my wife ordered heavy (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and veggies) but I really wanted dessert and saw that they had a chocolate chip pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream that looked wonderful, so I ordered it. My goodness, it was enough for two, maybe three people. I ate half of it (I have a big appetite for sweets) but I was stuffed. I had to walk a lot last night to work that off. Heck, when I work up at 6:00 this morning I was still not hungry. Good thing I guess since to day is a fasting day.
I woke up an hour later than normal (we had a power outage yesterday and I slept in and changed my alarm time) and let the dogs out. It still looked like it would storm (It stormed all day yesterday) but I need to cut grass or the yards will be a jungle when I get back.
I fed the dogs and then logged on to check e- mail. I took the time to update my PDA and my GPSr with geocaches to grab along the way to WV (I loaded 500 or so, knowing I will get less than 10% of that...I wanted a good pool to pull from) and began packing things for my trip. While I am not as thorough as my wife, there are things I make sure I pack. Since geocaching is a big part of this trip, all my geocaching stuff will be packed (I still need to get things out of the truck) and all my OTC meds. Since I am prone to sinus issues, I need to be prepared.
I am looking forward to this trip. I have only grabbed caches in a couple of locations outside of TX while travelling and this will be a good opportunity to add a couple of more states (AR, TN, KY) to my states cached list. Fun times ahead!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Abysmal
Abysmal - a·bys·mal /əˈbɪzməl/ [uh-biz-muhl] –adjective
1. of or like an abyss; immeasurably deep or great.
2. extremely or hopelessly bad or severe: abysmal ignorance; abysmal poverty.
(Courtesy of Dictionary.com)
That describes the lunch my wife and I had Sunday at Hong Kong Palace in Allen, TX.
My wife and I left church in search of lunch on Sunday. We left later than normal so we knew we would most likely get in some long lines. My wife was in the mood for cheaply priced Asian food of some sort so we stopped at Hong Kong Palace for a quick bite. I was on call so we had to pick something close.
HKP was written up in the local paper a couple of years ago as the best budget priced "Chinese-style" joint in town. We had been there countless times and enjoyed the meals immensely, so there was no reason to suspect anything different this time.
When we pulled up, we noticed a sign that said "Grand Opening". We thought this odd since it has been in business for over two years. Then I noticed in very small letters, "Under New Management". The alarm bells went off, but when we got inside, we noticed it was about half full. One half of the clientèle was Asian, the other half WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant...my term for your average Joe and Jane White Folk) so I figured all was good to go.
We were greeted and seated at a clean table and were given cheesy paper takeout menus opened to the dinner menu (even though it was lunch time and they had lunch specials). The server, a mid 40's Asian woman (I think she was Korean, but I am not 100% sure) who spoke very little English asked us for our drink orders. My wife requests her typical "water with 3 slices of lemon/lime" and I request a diet soda.
"Coke?", the server asks.
"Whatever diet soda you have will be fine" I proclaim.
Our drinks are brought out. My wife's water is missing the lemon she requested and my diet is (and I am not kidding here, folks), "Big Value Diet Cola"...in a can with a cup of ice (in which we were charged $1.50 for later). I just look at my wife and smirk. She asks the server for the lemon and the server takes our order.
I order Hunan Chicken and Shrimp since I enjoy hot/spicy Asian food. My wife, not pleased so far is disappointed that they do not have Lo Mein on the menu for lunch (they only make it for dinner) so she orders Teryaki Chicken instead. The lunch menu starts is $6-8 per entree.
When asked what kind of soup we want, my wife orders her customary Won Ton soup, but yet again, they state that they only make that during dinner. My wife says that she does not like the other choices (Hot and Sour or Egg Drop) and the server says she can have the cook make it but she will have to charge extra for it (Well that is what she meant. What she said was rather unintelligable). We agree, hoping to make the most of the lunch that is rapidly goining down hill.
The spring rolls are brought out along with my soup. My wife's soup has not been brought out and there is no explanation on why (although we figured it was because the cook was making it). We munched on rather unremarkable spring rolls while I was able to eat my soup. My wife asked me how it was and I told her, "Well, it is hot and it is sour...waaaay too sour." Little did I know things were going to get worse.
My meal was brought out 15 minutes later but yet again, my wife's was not with it. I waited patiently while my wife looked at me, then told me to begin. I refused and continued waiting until her's came out.
When her meal finally arrived, it was a sliced chicken breast with a touch of Teriaki seasoning and sesame seeds on top of a bed of stir fried rice and a side of mostly cold mixed veggies. My wife took inventory of the food and picked at it, eating what she could.
When I got started, the first thing I noticed was the overpower taste of black pepper. Most "Chinese-style" food does not use a lot of black pepper, even in the hot and spicy dishes. I know this since I cooked in a Chinese-style place many years ago. The taste was not like any Hunan style food I had ever had in the past. Once I got over the taste (well, somewhat...it was pretty overpowering) I noticed my food was sitting in a pool of grease. Now, admittedly I am not the sharpest lightbulb in the cookie jar, but how is chicken and shrimp greasy? And to be honest, I am not even sure what I had was chicken.
The more I tried to eat (I was very hungry) the less I could stomach it. Without asking, our check was brought and we noticed they did not charge for the soup. They did charge me $1.50 for a generic diet soda so I figured we were even. When I laid my debit card on the bill to pay for it, the server came and picked it up. However, she did not bring it back, a young man did. In his broken English, he explained the soup should have been charged and was not so he took the liberty of adding it to my check. How thoughtful of him.
Before we left and before we paid), I went over the table behind us. The people seated there came in just in front of us and were finished way before we were. Like us, they refused a to go box. I decided to ask them if their meal was as bad. The woman asked me why I wanted to know and I told her our story. She said her hubby could not stand it and she doubted she would be back. It looks like they had a winner of a meal as well.
I plan on writing a letter to explain to them how horrible things were. Not for a refund, but to help them out. If this is what the new management is like, they really need some help.
I came home and ate some fruit and some yogurt for the rest of my lunch and had a couple of turkey wraps later on after my stomach stopped protesting the crud I attempted to consume a few hours earlier at HKP. Such a shame. HKP was once a great little Chinese place with good service and fairly priced, enjoyable food. Now I would not send an enemy there.
1. of or like an abyss; immeasurably deep or great.
2. extremely or hopelessly bad or severe: abysmal ignorance; abysmal poverty.
(Courtesy of Dictionary.com)
That describes the lunch my wife and I had Sunday at Hong Kong Palace in Allen, TX.
My wife and I left church in search of lunch on Sunday. We left later than normal so we knew we would most likely get in some long lines. My wife was in the mood for cheaply priced Asian food of some sort so we stopped at Hong Kong Palace for a quick bite. I was on call so we had to pick something close.
HKP was written up in the local paper a couple of years ago as the best budget priced "Chinese-style" joint in town. We had been there countless times and enjoyed the meals immensely, so there was no reason to suspect anything different this time.
When we pulled up, we noticed a sign that said "Grand Opening". We thought this odd since it has been in business for over two years. Then I noticed in very small letters, "Under New Management". The alarm bells went off, but when we got inside, we noticed it was about half full. One half of the clientèle was Asian, the other half WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant...my term for your average Joe and Jane White Folk) so I figured all was good to go.
We were greeted and seated at a clean table and were given cheesy paper takeout menus opened to the dinner menu (even though it was lunch time and they had lunch specials). The server, a mid 40's Asian woman (I think she was Korean, but I am not 100% sure) who spoke very little English asked us for our drink orders. My wife requests her typical "water with 3 slices of lemon/lime" and I request a diet soda.
"Coke?", the server asks.
"Whatever diet soda you have will be fine" I proclaim.
Our drinks are brought out. My wife's water is missing the lemon she requested and my diet is (and I am not kidding here, folks), "Big Value Diet Cola"...in a can with a cup of ice (in which we were charged $1.50 for later). I just look at my wife and smirk. She asks the server for the lemon and the server takes our order.
I order Hunan Chicken and Shrimp since I enjoy hot/spicy Asian food. My wife, not pleased so far is disappointed that they do not have Lo Mein on the menu for lunch (they only make it for dinner) so she orders Teryaki Chicken instead. The lunch menu starts is $6-8 per entree.
When asked what kind of soup we want, my wife orders her customary Won Ton soup, but yet again, they state that they only make that during dinner. My wife says that she does not like the other choices (Hot and Sour or Egg Drop) and the server says she can have the cook make it but she will have to charge extra for it (Well that is what she meant. What she said was rather unintelligable). We agree, hoping to make the most of the lunch that is rapidly goining down hill.
The spring rolls are brought out along with my soup. My wife's soup has not been brought out and there is no explanation on why (although we figured it was because the cook was making it). We munched on rather unremarkable spring rolls while I was able to eat my soup. My wife asked me how it was and I told her, "Well, it is hot and it is sour...waaaay too sour." Little did I know things were going to get worse.
My meal was brought out 15 minutes later but yet again, my wife's was not with it. I waited patiently while my wife looked at me, then told me to begin. I refused and continued waiting until her's came out.
When her meal finally arrived, it was a sliced chicken breast with a touch of Teriaki seasoning and sesame seeds on top of a bed of stir fried rice and a side of mostly cold mixed veggies. My wife took inventory of the food and picked at it, eating what she could.
When I got started, the first thing I noticed was the overpower taste of black pepper. Most "Chinese-style" food does not use a lot of black pepper, even in the hot and spicy dishes. I know this since I cooked in a Chinese-style place many years ago. The taste was not like any Hunan style food I had ever had in the past. Once I got over the taste (well, somewhat...it was pretty overpowering) I noticed my food was sitting in a pool of grease. Now, admittedly I am not the sharpest lightbulb in the cookie jar, but how is chicken and shrimp greasy? And to be honest, I am not even sure what I had was chicken.
The more I tried to eat (I was very hungry) the less I could stomach it. Without asking, our check was brought and we noticed they did not charge for the soup. They did charge me $1.50 for a generic diet soda so I figured we were even. When I laid my debit card on the bill to pay for it, the server came and picked it up. However, she did not bring it back, a young man did. In his broken English, he explained the soup should have been charged and was not so he took the liberty of adding it to my check. How thoughtful of him.
Before we left and before we paid), I went over the table behind us. The people seated there came in just in front of us and were finished way before we were. Like us, they refused a to go box. I decided to ask them if their meal was as bad. The woman asked me why I wanted to know and I told her our story. She said her hubby could not stand it and she doubted she would be back. It looks like they had a winner of a meal as well.
I plan on writing a letter to explain to them how horrible things were. Not for a refund, but to help them out. If this is what the new management is like, they really need some help.
I came home and ate some fruit and some yogurt for the rest of my lunch and had a couple of turkey wraps later on after my stomach stopped protesting the crud I attempted to consume a few hours earlier at HKP. Such a shame. HKP was once a great little Chinese place with good service and fairly priced, enjoyable food. Now I would not send an enemy there.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I Cannot Explain It Any Simpler
Dear Lord...why are some people so hard headed?
One of my issues that I took up on Friday afternoon ran into a snag on Friday evening. The customer reported the problem with one system, but the problem was really in another one. Well, that is not a huge deal...we can get the case assigned to the right team and it will get worked on. Well, as I am investigating the issue, I do not find any support phone numbers which usually means one of two things:
1) Support is not offered 24x7. The techs only work 8-5, Mon-Fri THEIR time (that time being CET).
2) Our customer has not given us the scripts for support so we can't do anything until they do.
When I called the customer back I told him that most likely it was scenario "1" but I was not 100% sure. I told him that I would investigate further by calling a few people "in the know" and see what they could offer. He was not too happy about that, giving me the perception that I should somehow pull the support's contact info out of my posterior. You cannot offer what you do not have!
Well over the next four hours or so I called several people, none of which had even heard of this system (I finally found out that it is a locally supported app in Finland. Oh, the group that supports it is actually a sub group of our customer, so we are not even in the loop, but I digress). I am a little deflated...I hate being defeated, but I had to call the customer and tell him that after scouring the customer databases as well as our databases and calling 2 knowledgeable groups, I still was no closer to finding support info on this.
Shortly after that I get an e-mail from the customer's manager and the local site manager. Not to mention a call from my boss. I explain the situation as best as I can to them all and the only one that seems to grasp it is my boss. I then begin to wonder if my abilty to to verbally convey information is impeded someway, so I explain the situation to my non-IT wife and she seems to understand. What gives?
The next morning I see two e-mails regarding the situation. One is from the client manager who asks me why I have not started working this as a priority case and the other from the customer complaining that he has not heard from me since 9:45 PM the previous night. Well, that stands to reason, since I told him that I would only contact him if the support teams worked on this system 24x7. Since they did not, I did not call him.
Then later than morning my boss calls me to ask me if the client manager gave me the contact info yet. I was a bit perplexed. The client manager has this information? WHY didn't he give it to me? Then my boss told me that the client manager was going to call an escalation manager in Europe to hunt down the names and numbers of the support team and forward that info on to me, but had failed to do so yet. I then start looking thought the attachements to the e-mails in my inbox and see an attachement e-mail (in Swedish) that I cannot read. Not that it mattered...I could still tell that there was not a name, e-mail address, or phone number in it, so the point as moot.
My boss calls me one more time to tell me that he is going to call the client manager and tell him until he finds the contact info (scripts) that he cannot call us anymore. It must have worked. It has been quiet ever since. However, once the business day starts in Finland, I bet I will be getting a phone call...somewhere around 3:00 AM my time. Joy.
I guess I should go to bed early tonight.
One of my issues that I took up on Friday afternoon ran into a snag on Friday evening. The customer reported the problem with one system, but the problem was really in another one. Well, that is not a huge deal...we can get the case assigned to the right team and it will get worked on. Well, as I am investigating the issue, I do not find any support phone numbers which usually means one of two things:
1) Support is not offered 24x7. The techs only work 8-5, Mon-Fri THEIR time (that time being CET).
2) Our customer has not given us the scripts for support so we can't do anything until they do.
When I called the customer back I told him that most likely it was scenario "1" but I was not 100% sure. I told him that I would investigate further by calling a few people "in the know" and see what they could offer. He was not too happy about that, giving me the perception that I should somehow pull the support's contact info out of my posterior. You cannot offer what you do not have!
Well over the next four hours or so I called several people, none of which had even heard of this system (I finally found out that it is a locally supported app in Finland. Oh, the group that supports it is actually a sub group of our customer, so we are not even in the loop, but I digress). I am a little deflated...I hate being defeated, but I had to call the customer and tell him that after scouring the customer databases as well as our databases and calling 2 knowledgeable groups, I still was no closer to finding support info on this.
Shortly after that I get an e-mail from the customer's manager and the local site manager. Not to mention a call from my boss. I explain the situation as best as I can to them all and the only one that seems to grasp it is my boss. I then begin to wonder if my abilty to to verbally convey information is impeded someway, so I explain the situation to my non-IT wife and she seems to understand. What gives?
The next morning I see two e-mails regarding the situation. One is from the client manager who asks me why I have not started working this as a priority case and the other from the customer complaining that he has not heard from me since 9:45 PM the previous night. Well, that stands to reason, since I told him that I would only contact him if the support teams worked on this system 24x7. Since they did not, I did not call him.
Then later than morning my boss calls me to ask me if the client manager gave me the contact info yet. I was a bit perplexed. The client manager has this information? WHY didn't he give it to me? Then my boss told me that the client manager was going to call an escalation manager in Europe to hunt down the names and numbers of the support team and forward that info on to me, but had failed to do so yet. I then start looking thought the attachements to the e-mails in my inbox and see an attachement e-mail (in Swedish) that I cannot read. Not that it mattered...I could still tell that there was not a name, e-mail address, or phone number in it, so the point as moot.
My boss calls me one more time to tell me that he is going to call the client manager and tell him until he finds the contact info (scripts) that he cannot call us anymore. It must have worked. It has been quiet ever since. However, once the business day starts in Finland, I bet I will be getting a phone call...somewhere around 3:00 AM my time. Joy.
I guess I should go to bed early tonight.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Rounding The Corner
I am coming up on the end of my work week. I still have three more nights of on call (plus two days) but since I took it "one day at a time", things have moved quickly. As a matter of fact, this week went by quicker than most. Then again, I was busier than normal.
Of course the week can't just end peacefully. It tried to. Today started off with a bang and then died. It was slow all day long until the help desk calls me up (okay actually they IM'ed me) about two issues the customer deemed "critical". The first one was a tool that is considered business critical but it is not down. According to what I have read, it is just running slower than they want it to. I was very hesitant to make this a high priority case until I received some additional info from the manager. I eventually caved, but I think he may be mostly right.
The second case that "demanded" high priority status was not in any way shape or form high severity for Friday evening at 4:30 PM CDT. One person, ONE SOLE PERSON, could not connect to his home drive (Windows) and he wants it raised. He is not even a mid level manager. He then claims that others are having "intermittent" problems. Our server team had the ticket and since they were not overly busy they looked at it and found the server up and responding. It had been up for 27 days.
My guess is that it is a LAN issue. They have a kludged together network bootstrapped to the WAN of the company that bought them (our main customer) and they have had issues from day one...mostly their own. Software that is buggy and does not work well, strange configs that boggle the mind, etc. Needless to say I shot that request down.
I can only hope that the one issue I raised gets resolved quickly. I hate wasting yet another weekend playing "the waiting game" with the third party support this tool has.
I know it sounds wierd, but I am looking forward to Monday...I will finally be off call and on Friday I will be hitting the road, God willing.
Of course the week can't just end peacefully. It tried to. Today started off with a bang and then died. It was slow all day long until the help desk calls me up (okay actually they IM'ed me) about two issues the customer deemed "critical". The first one was a tool that is considered business critical but it is not down. According to what I have read, it is just running slower than they want it to. I was very hesitant to make this a high priority case until I received some additional info from the manager. I eventually caved, but I think he may be mostly right.
The second case that "demanded" high priority status was not in any way shape or form high severity for Friday evening at 4:30 PM CDT. One person, ONE SOLE PERSON, could not connect to his home drive (Windows) and he wants it raised. He is not even a mid level manager. He then claims that others are having "intermittent" problems. Our server team had the ticket and since they were not overly busy they looked at it and found the server up and responding. It had been up for 27 days.
My guess is that it is a LAN issue. They have a kludged together network bootstrapped to the WAN of the company that bought them (our main customer) and they have had issues from day one...mostly their own. Software that is buggy and does not work well, strange configs that boggle the mind, etc. Needless to say I shot that request down.
I can only hope that the one issue I raised gets resolved quickly. I hate wasting yet another weekend playing "the waiting game" with the third party support this tool has.
I know it sounds wierd, but I am looking forward to Monday...I will finally be off call and on Friday I will be hitting the road, God willing.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Facing The Undesirable
I once read that when you are in situation that you are dreading, the best way to get through it is to break it up into manageable chunks. I never really gave it much thought until I realized that being on call without any pay (or comp time) was something that I really dreaded. So I thought I would give the technique a try. Oddly enough, it seems to help.
Since my rotation is for seven days and nights, I just keep telling myself, "Make it through the night and tomorrow will take care of itself." As long as I only focus on the present day, things seem to go well.
I am on my fourth day of on call, one more day left of the work week and then two days of weekend. After that I work for four days then I am off until September 2nd.
One day at a time. And everyday I ask God for the strength to get through one more day.
Oh, I understand that many of you wonder why I put up with the on call if I hate it so much. Well to be honest, every job I have interviewed for has had either on call or 60 hour weeks. At 40 something, I am too old to live by a phone that rings at all hours.
Since my rotation is for seven days and nights, I just keep telling myself, "Make it through the night and tomorrow will take care of itself." As long as I only focus on the present day, things seem to go well.
I am on my fourth day of on call, one more day left of the work week and then two days of weekend. After that I work for four days then I am off until September 2nd.
One day at a time. And everyday I ask God for the strength to get through one more day.
Oh, I understand that many of you wonder why I put up with the on call if I hate it so much. Well to be honest, every job I have interviewed for has had either on call or 60 hour weeks. At 40 something, I am too old to live by a phone that rings at all hours.
Trend
What is it with Indian (India) buses plunging into rivers, ponds, and gorges? CNN has an article on this today (11 dead).
It seems we have these stories every other month. What gives? No guard rails? Bad drivers?
February 1988 - 35 dead
March 2001 - 40 dead
June 2002 - 46 dead
April 2006 - 64 dead
January 2008 - 38 dead
April 2008 - 39 dead
July 2008 - 17 dead
I am sure there are more, but I figured this was a good enough example.
I am not trying to be morbid...I just find it fascinating.
It seems we have these stories every other month. What gives? No guard rails? Bad drivers?
February 1988 - 35 dead
March 2001 - 40 dead
June 2002 - 46 dead
April 2006 - 64 dead
January 2008 - 38 dead
April 2008 - 39 dead
July 2008 - 17 dead
I am sure there are more, but I figured this was a good enough example.
I am not trying to be morbid...I just find it fascinating.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Oh What A Night!
On call is never "fun". It can be quiet, but never is it fun. Last night was about as un-fun as you could get.
I went to bed about 10 PM. When I am on call it pays to go to bed early since you never know when you will get called. Well I got called at midnight. I was up for 20 minutes, then went back to bed. I was then called again at 1 AM but this time I had to stay up an work an issue until about 3:00 AM or so. At 3:30 AM, I was called again and then I was able to sleep for...1.5 hours. Yes, I was back up at 5:00 AM.
I walked and fed the dogs, then I went back to bed at 6:00 AM. I slept until about 7:30 AM when I got up for good.
Yeah, that was rough, but the good news is I have only had one calls so far. While I am sure I will get more (I had three I worked on yesterday), at least it is not busy now.
It could be worse. An update to SAP was rolled out last weekend and there could be a multitude of little things that need corrected. That happened last time we did a big SAP update. It took months to straighten out.
That being said I am going to take a nap at lunch time (God willing) and get some more rest. While it will not be like a real nights sleep, it will help.
Now if I can just get the ground to dry up so I can mow a couple of lawns.
I went to bed about 10 PM. When I am on call it pays to go to bed early since you never know when you will get called. Well I got called at midnight. I was up for 20 minutes, then went back to bed. I was then called again at 1 AM but this time I had to stay up an work an issue until about 3:00 AM or so. At 3:30 AM, I was called again and then I was able to sleep for...1.5 hours. Yes, I was back up at 5:00 AM.
I walked and fed the dogs, then I went back to bed at 6:00 AM. I slept until about 7:30 AM when I got up for good.
Yeah, that was rough, but the good news is I have only had one calls so far. While I am sure I will get more (I had three I worked on yesterday), at least it is not busy now.
It could be worse. An update to SAP was rolled out last weekend and there could be a multitude of little things that need corrected. That happened last time we did a big SAP update. It took months to straighten out.
That being said I am going to take a nap at lunch time (God willing) and get some more rest. While it will not be like a real nights sleep, it will help.
Now if I can just get the ground to dry up so I can mow a couple of lawns.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Snapshot
I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to dinner on Friday night by the owners of the rental property across the street from us. We met them when we moved in and immediately liked them. They are from Mexico City and have two children. Both work for one of my company's competitors but I try not to hold that against them. Amazing it has taken seven years to have dinner together.
Dinner was nice. It was far from extravagant but it was homemade Mexican food. The children were very well behaved. We stayed for a couple of hours (the women talked in the kitchen while the men watch the Olympic opening ceremony in the living room.
Saturday morning I had coffee with a BiC. We caught up and talked about his web site that he wants to start. He is a good guy and has a huge heart. I had mentioned that I wanted to do hike near 901 (North of Bonham) that includes several geocaches and he was vey excited to come along when we get the details worked out.
I left from the coffee shop and went to get my hair cut. Having thinning hair and a balding head means the visit is not very long. Next thing on my list...go home and vacuum.
I managed to get most of the house vacuumed before my wif's good friend came over. They chatted for a good while and my wife told me that she (my wife) would finish the final room, the kitchen. I took her up on the offer and headed out to do some caching. I had a great time.
When I got home I ate a quick dinner and then walked the dogs. I really needed to cut grass (it was not high but the window to cut it was slowly closing) but I was just too tired. I figured I would just cut it on Sunday. God had other plans!
Sunday arrived and we made it to church as usual. My wife chatted with the associate pastor regarding leading a care grouup this year and at first I was against it. I do not have time to create a curriculum. But then the AP told me that his plan was for me and my wife to facilitate a video series that we are doing now (The Truth Project), we both agreed.
We went to lunch at Fuddrucker's in Plano. As usual,the burgers are great. I just wish the service was better. I had the manager run into me in the aisle and while he did say he was sorry, it did not sound very sincere.
We got home and I realized I needed to cut grass, but my voice of reason (my wife) asked me to not labor on Sunday. I told her that with me being on call the upcoming week and having a few other things to do as well, it was going to be hard to get it cut. She told me not to worry, so I just put it aside. I sat down to read yet another Tom Clancy thriller when I dozed off. I was asleep for two hours when I finally got up. I guess I really was tired.
We got ready for the once a month Sunday evening service at church after we both grabbed a light bite to eat. After the service we came home and as we were taking the dogs out for their evening walk, I noticed a rabbit on the sidewalk...laying on his side not moving. When I got closer it attempted to get away but it's back legs were not moving. It was attempted to crawl away on it's front legs only. There was not blood, so I suspected my neighbor had been shooting at rabbits again with his pellet gun. He hit one once before and crippled it and I had to perform a mercy killing on it to keep it from suffering.
Well, I had to do the same for this one as well. This one was a lot more active than the last one so it was a bit harder to perform the act, but at least it went quicker this time. I took the creature around back, laid him on the ground against a brick wall and gently placed my foot against him. I took my air rifle and pumped it up 15 times, chambered a BB, and fired into the back of the rabbit's skull. It immediately went limp. To make sure he was out, I fired another round into the back of his skull. When I was reasonably sure he was gone, I wrapped him up and placed him in a double plastic bag.
When I caught up with my wife she asked me if it was over and I said yes. She has a soft spot for critters and did not want to be around when I did what I had to do.
I was once asked, "Why kill, it? It will die eventually."
I consider leaving a creture to die a lot less humane than my alternative. A couple of rounds in the back of the creatures skull is quick and mostly painless. Leaving an injured animal on a sidewalk only invites cruelty from ignorant teens and children not to mention dogs, cats, or coyote's not being as merciful as I would be.
Well, after the walk, went to watch the Olympics for a while, but decided to read a bit more before I went to bed. Monday starts a new round of on call for me. To make things even more interesting, I am working solo this week while my colleague is on vacation. w00t!
Dinner was nice. It was far from extravagant but it was homemade Mexican food. The children were very well behaved. We stayed for a couple of hours (the women talked in the kitchen while the men watch the Olympic opening ceremony in the living room.
Saturday morning I had coffee with a BiC. We caught up and talked about his web site that he wants to start. He is a good guy and has a huge heart. I had mentioned that I wanted to do hike near 901 (North of Bonham) that includes several geocaches and he was vey excited to come along when we get the details worked out.
I left from the coffee shop and went to get my hair cut. Having thinning hair and a balding head means the visit is not very long. Next thing on my list...go home and vacuum.
I managed to get most of the house vacuumed before my wif's good friend came over. They chatted for a good while and my wife told me that she (my wife) would finish the final room, the kitchen. I took her up on the offer and headed out to do some caching. I had a great time.
When I got home I ate a quick dinner and then walked the dogs. I really needed to cut grass (it was not high but the window to cut it was slowly closing) but I was just too tired. I figured I would just cut it on Sunday. God had other plans!
Sunday arrived and we made it to church as usual. My wife chatted with the associate pastor regarding leading a care grouup this year and at first I was against it. I do not have time to create a curriculum. But then the AP told me that his plan was for me and my wife to facilitate a video series that we are doing now (The Truth Project), we both agreed.
We went to lunch at Fuddrucker's in Plano. As usual,the burgers are great. I just wish the service was better. I had the manager run into me in the aisle and while he did say he was sorry, it did not sound very sincere.
We got home and I realized I needed to cut grass, but my voice of reason (my wife) asked me to not labor on Sunday. I told her that with me being on call the upcoming week and having a few other things to do as well, it was going to be hard to get it cut. She told me not to worry, so I just put it aside. I sat down to read yet another Tom Clancy thriller when I dozed off. I was asleep for two hours when I finally got up. I guess I really was tired.
We got ready for the once a month Sunday evening service at church after we both grabbed a light bite to eat. After the service we came home and as we were taking the dogs out for their evening walk, I noticed a rabbit on the sidewalk...laying on his side not moving. When I got closer it attempted to get away but it's back legs were not moving. It was attempted to crawl away on it's front legs only. There was not blood, so I suspected my neighbor had been shooting at rabbits again with his pellet gun. He hit one once before and crippled it and I had to perform a mercy killing on it to keep it from suffering.
Well, I had to do the same for this one as well. This one was a lot more active than the last one so it was a bit harder to perform the act, but at least it went quicker this time. I took the creature around back, laid him on the ground against a brick wall and gently placed my foot against him. I took my air rifle and pumped it up 15 times, chambered a BB, and fired into the back of the rabbit's skull. It immediately went limp. To make sure he was out, I fired another round into the back of his skull. When I was reasonably sure he was gone, I wrapped him up and placed him in a double plastic bag.
When I caught up with my wife she asked me if it was over and I said yes. She has a soft spot for critters and did not want to be around when I did what I had to do.
I was once asked, "Why kill, it? It will die eventually."
I consider leaving a creture to die a lot less humane than my alternative. A couple of rounds in the back of the creatures skull is quick and mostly painless. Leaving an injured animal on a sidewalk only invites cruelty from ignorant teens and children not to mention dogs, cats, or coyote's not being as merciful as I would be.
Well, after the walk, went to watch the Olympics for a while, but decided to read a bit more before I went to bed. Monday starts a new round of on call for me. To make things even more interesting, I am working solo this week while my colleague is on vacation. w00t!
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Yeah!
"We can't drill our way out of this problem." As in:
1. The bank account is about to be overdrawn. We can't deposit our way out of this problem.
2. Your bedroom is a mess. You can't tidy up your way out of this problem.
3. I'm hungry. I can't eat my way out of this problem.
4. We're out of food. We can't go grocery shopping our way out of this problem.
5. We are disgusting, fat tubs of goo. We can't exercise our way out of this problem.
Courtesy of American Digest dot Org
No, I realize that drilling is not the complete solution, but I liked it nonetheless.
Oh here is one more:
"When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"
1. The bank account is about to be overdrawn. We can't deposit our way out of this problem.
2. Your bedroom is a mess. You can't tidy up your way out of this problem.
3. I'm hungry. I can't eat my way out of this problem.
4. We're out of food. We can't go grocery shopping our way out of this problem.
5. We are disgusting, fat tubs of goo. We can't exercise our way out of this problem.
Courtesy of American Digest dot Org
No, I realize that drilling is not the complete solution, but I liked it nonetheless.
Oh here is one more:
"When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Surprise Phone Call
I was in bed reading last night when my phone rang at approximately 9:30 or so. It was Stupid Bill.
I had not heard from SB for quite some time, despite the fact I have called and e-mailed him half a dozen times. I asked how things were going and he said, "Bad. Dude, things are realled F'ed up here. After several minutes, I get him to open up. All I will say publicly is that it has to do with his ex-wife.
We talk (mostly he talks and I listen) and when I get a chance I ask him why he has been dodging my calls/e-mails.
"Dude, I have not been talking to much of anyone lately." To that I cried, "SB, that is BS. (I just like the way that looks in print!) I know you have been talking to Monica for weeks."
"Uh, yeah." he replied.
"SB, I have called and e-mailed you half a dozen times." I tell him point blank.
"I only got your last message a few days ago." He retorts.
I then tell him my trip to WV is scheduled and I should be there on the 23rd of August.
He then begins to inquire on the route I will be taking so I tell him: 30 from Dallas to Little Rock, 40 to Nashville, 65 into KY, then pick up the Blue Grass Parkway...
"Dude, I just live 20 minutes south of The Blue Grass Pkwy."
Then I tell him what I had planned on doing when I came up...that is up until he went off the grid. "SB, I had planned on driving to your house and arriving late on Friday night. I figured I would crash there and we could catch up on Saturday. I could spend the night Saturday night and leave Sunday morning."
"Dude, I would love to meet you someplace. What do you normally do when you drive up from TX?"
I then told him about the camp ground that I stay at outside of Jackson, TN. I told him I drive there, set up camp, spend the night and then get up and start driving the next morning.
"Do you still take the Blue Grass Parkway?", he said.
I told him that I never change my route and then he said, "How about I meet up with you Saturday at E-Town (Elizabethtown, KY). We could drive up together and catch up. Then when we get to WV, we can go our separate ways until you head back. I mean, after we see each other's folks, that is."
I agreed but I told him that he did not need to meet me at E-Town. I looked at the map and he was not that far out of the way for me to swing up to his little town and pick him up. He said that there was no reason for me to leave the highway. I smelled something fishy. Could it be that SB is embarassed of his current situation?
I really don't know, but that is what I suspect. The rest of the gang (including some of his female running around buddies) are happily married and SB is not. Most of us are moderately successful (we have homes and jobs and dependable vehicles and maybe a little savings) and SB is not.
Well that is it. I stayed up until about 11:00 or so talking to SB and he will call me back so I can stop someplace to pick him and his gear up and then we will continue to WV. I am not sure what the plan will be once we get into Huntington but we will figure it our. We could drive to his folks place which is 90 minutes south of my final destination and then we could stay the night or I could just drop him off and continue on. He may just want to come into town with me and he can see if someone can put him up for the night. Mom does not have the room in her small house...
Okay RycheRox and KD...that is what is going on so far. More to follow.
I had not heard from SB for quite some time, despite the fact I have called and e-mailed him half a dozen times. I asked how things were going and he said, "Bad. Dude, things are realled F'ed up here. After several minutes, I get him to open up. All I will say publicly is that it has to do with his ex-wife.
We talk (mostly he talks and I listen) and when I get a chance I ask him why he has been dodging my calls/e-mails.
"Dude, I have not been talking to much of anyone lately." To that I cried, "SB, that is BS. (I just like the way that looks in print!) I know you have been talking to Monica for weeks."
"Uh, yeah." he replied.
"SB, I have called and e-mailed you half a dozen times." I tell him point blank.
"I only got your last message a few days ago." He retorts.
I then tell him my trip to WV is scheduled and I should be there on the 23rd of August.
He then begins to inquire on the route I will be taking so I tell him: 30 from Dallas to Little Rock, 40 to Nashville, 65 into KY, then pick up the Blue Grass Parkway...
"Dude, I just live 20 minutes south of The Blue Grass Pkwy."
Then I tell him what I had planned on doing when I came up...that is up until he went off the grid. "SB, I had planned on driving to your house and arriving late on Friday night. I figured I would crash there and we could catch up on Saturday. I could spend the night Saturday night and leave Sunday morning."
"Dude, I would love to meet you someplace. What do you normally do when you drive up from TX?"
I then told him about the camp ground that I stay at outside of Jackson, TN. I told him I drive there, set up camp, spend the night and then get up and start driving the next morning.
"Do you still take the Blue Grass Parkway?", he said.
I told him that I never change my route and then he said, "How about I meet up with you Saturday at E-Town (Elizabethtown, KY). We could drive up together and catch up. Then when we get to WV, we can go our separate ways until you head back. I mean, after we see each other's folks, that is."
I agreed but I told him that he did not need to meet me at E-Town. I looked at the map and he was not that far out of the way for me to swing up to his little town and pick him up. He said that there was no reason for me to leave the highway. I smelled something fishy. Could it be that SB is embarassed of his current situation?
I really don't know, but that is what I suspect. The rest of the gang (including some of his female running around buddies) are happily married and SB is not. Most of us are moderately successful (we have homes and jobs and dependable vehicles and maybe a little savings) and SB is not.
Well that is it. I stayed up until about 11:00 or so talking to SB and he will call me back so I can stop someplace to pick him and his gear up and then we will continue to WV. I am not sure what the plan will be once we get into Huntington but we will figure it our. We could drive to his folks place which is 90 minutes south of my final destination and then we could stay the night or I could just drop him off and continue on. He may just want to come into town with me and he can see if someone can put him up for the night. Mom does not have the room in her small house...
Okay RycheRox and KD...that is what is going on so far. More to follow.
Friday, August 01, 2008
I Should Have Expected That
After blogging about the high cost of electricity yesterday, I noticed a large increase in visits to my blog. One visitor in particular was from TXU, the local "primary" electricity provider...the one most people use by default.
Yes, the cost of electricity is high. I am concerned that not only is the price is high but the demand will be as well. Why hasn't the federal government helped the situation by offering better rebates/grants to people who get solar/wind power? The grants are very limited and the amount that is covered is TINY compared to the overall cost.
If money was no object and I could start over, my home would have solar and wind power. With the way the wind blows around here, would doubt that I would have much trouble keeping the batteries charged. And of course we all are aware of how much sunshine we get here in the Dallas-Forth Worth area...painfully aware.
Yes, the cost of electricity is high. I am concerned that not only is the price is high but the demand will be as well. Why hasn't the federal government helped the situation by offering better rebates/grants to people who get solar/wind power? The grants are very limited and the amount that is covered is TINY compared to the overall cost.
If money was no object and I could start over, my home would have solar and wind power. With the way the wind blows around here, would doubt that I would have much trouble keeping the batteries charged. And of course we all are aware of how much sunshine we get here in the Dallas-Forth Worth area...painfully aware.
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