I am flying solo AND on call this week. My colleague is on vacation after working last week solo (but he was not on call) and I hope he is enjoying it. It did not appear that he had too terribly hard of a week, but any week solo is not fun.
I can only hope that Monday is not any indicator of what the rest of the week will be like. It started with the call forwarding system we use to route calls to the on call person going crazy and routing calls to Latin America (sorry Fabio and Armando) instead of me. I fixed that issue and then I was told of an issue with SAP that seemed to take our partner way too long to fix. The issue was finally resolved but the customer was not available to verify so I had to let that issue simmer until the customer gets in the office.
A little later we had an issue in Canada with a few of the RnD servers. I called the Unix guy on call and he looked into it, thinking it was a LAN issue since he could not connect to any of the servers on a particular switch. He called one of the on site people to check the switch but they could not find anything wrong. Finally he asked them to check the console that he connects to the other servers from and it was down. Once that was rebooted he could get in and check the other servers. He had them back up pretty quickly.
At close to 5:00 PM, I got another call stating that one of the oldest Windows servers we have (it is running NT 4.0) was having issues and no one could connect. The Wintel team (who is in Malaysia) could not remotely reboot it so an on site person was called in to do it but once he did it would not come back up. He tried calling me but the forwarding had messed up again and the calls were again going to Latin America. I did not find this out until this morning at 5:00 AM. I had finally gone to bed at midnight after being up 18 hours (working most of it). I yet again removed the bogus forwarding (wiping out the schedule completely, using a direct forward to my line) and now await the calls. As I sit here I still have two open cases, one most likely solved and the other one no closer to being solved than it was wen it was opened 14 hours ago. I guessed we missed the deadline on that one!
Pray for me!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Where In The World?
Merry Christmas!
I realize that it has been over two weeks since my last post and I am sorry. I want to say that I have been too busy but that would be a lie...I just really have not had much to blog about. But now that I am back to work (I had last week off) and the Christmas season is over, the shopping is done, and my life is almost back to normal, I hope to get back into the groove of blogging several times a week.
So, what is new with me? I guess to make it easier, I will go by categories:
Work - I have had the last week off, but I did log in a few times to see how my colleague who had to work solo over Christmas was doing. It looks like for the first few days of the holiday he was steady but it appears it slacked off the last few days and for that I am thankful since I am working solo this week AND on call. Did I mention that our customer is running end of year reports in SAP and those servers will be hammered hard the next week or two?
I am not sure if I mentioned it before but work has decided to go back to the policy of supplying mobile phones to us instead of reimbursing us for usage on our personal ones. Now most of the guys at work are pleased with this but I am not. My wife and I have two phones on a family plan (1400 min, unlimited nights and weekends) and those numbers are well known for friends and family and I do not want to port my number over for work. So that leaves me carrying two phones and my personal one probably will not get used as much. I would like to drop our Family plan down but the next lowest is 700 minutes and that is not quite enough plus it does not have unlimited nights and weekends (it has 5000 minutes which is more than enough but I really want the "unlimited" tag).
I received my yearly review and was given a favorable rating. We were given bonuses and mine is supposed to be 4.51%. There will be no raises this year so we get to live on the same pay (minus the increase in benefit costs) as last year but my wife is now working two part time jobs (each one day a week) and that will make up for what I lost and then some.
Health - I am pleased to report that I have now broken new ground and weighed in yesterday at 178 lbs, down from 192 on Nov 11th, 2008. I only have three more pounds to lose and I will be where I want to be at 175...I may go as low as 170, but that is negotiable with my wife. All I can say is I feel better (no headaches) and my clothing fits better. I owe it all to a lot of prayer and a web site that kept me honest as long as I tracked my food consistently. I started off with 2300 calories a day and worked my way down to less than 2000, with many of those days clocking in at 1500 or less. I kept my walking up, started doing some push ups and sit ups several times a week and I have also hiked a few times since I started this endeavor.
I have been eating a bit better with more fresh vegetables, fiber, and water and less fast food. My wife has noticed a difference in me.
Family - This one is mixed. I have called my mom several times over the past few weeks and the news from her is positive. My sister and her husband have bought a plot of land out of the city limits and plan on selling all three homes (their's, mom's, and my brother in law's mother's home - she is deceased). My sis and her hubby plan on building a home for themselves and my mom wants a medium sized mobile home to live in on the property. It gives her independence but still allows sis to keep tabs on her. Hopefully that will all take place this year.
The only other real family is our son, Soldier Boy and we have not heard from him since August. I saw him when I was back in WV visiting (he drove down from PA to attend a family function with his bio-mom) and we got to chat for about an hour. It is sad that we have not heard from his since...not his birthday, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. We sent him a check but it has not been cashed yet. Lately I have been having disturbing dreams that involve him and I am not sure if that is God warning me or just my parental concern. Well, nonetheless I am not tryin to let it bother me too much. Kids will do what they want and parents cannot stop them.
Pets - The Golden is doing very well and has been a lot more playful with me than normal. She actually whines when I don't take her out Geocaching with me! My wife told me that once the dog gets "dirty" again and needs a bath that I can take her out on a caching run...OH BOY!
Little Man is a completely different story. My wife and I believe he may have Cushing's Syndrome. While is is almost 15 years old, he has really slowed down the past six months. He really is not the same dog. We are mentally preparing for him to pass on in 2009. I am going to be one sad man on that day. Little Man and I have been pals for almost as long as me and my wife have been married (we got him after we had been married six months as a 4-6 month old puppy).
Life in General - I have been offering some PC help to a couple of people at our church (pro bono) as well as some paid work as well. I have not been actively looking for extra work since my normal job keeps me busy most of the time.
Faith - I finished my goal of reading the bible in a year a whole month early. While I still read the bible every day, I am not trying to read it in one year. I have done that for the last three years (reading the bible chronologically) but this year I am going to study it more. It will mean more work, but I think I can handle it.
I have noticed a problem lately when praying outloud. My wife and I try to pray together each night and lately I cannot seem to articulate what is on my heart. I am not sure why, I have not had that problem in the past, once I got over my initial fear of praying in public. I guess I need to pray about that more...maybe God will open my eyes to what I need to see.
Well, I am sure there is more and if I can think of anything else, I will post about it.
El Gee, signing off.
Oh, one more thing, hop on over to my geocaching blog to see how I ended the geocaching year.
I realize that it has been over two weeks since my last post and I am sorry. I want to say that I have been too busy but that would be a lie...I just really have not had much to blog about. But now that I am back to work (I had last week off) and the Christmas season is over, the shopping is done, and my life is almost back to normal, I hope to get back into the groove of blogging several times a week.
So, what is new with me? I guess to make it easier, I will go by categories:
Work - I have had the last week off, but I did log in a few times to see how my colleague who had to work solo over Christmas was doing. It looks like for the first few days of the holiday he was steady but it appears it slacked off the last few days and for that I am thankful since I am working solo this week AND on call. Did I mention that our customer is running end of year reports in SAP and those servers will be hammered hard the next week or two?
I am not sure if I mentioned it before but work has decided to go back to the policy of supplying mobile phones to us instead of reimbursing us for usage on our personal ones. Now most of the guys at work are pleased with this but I am not. My wife and I have two phones on a family plan (1400 min, unlimited nights and weekends) and those numbers are well known for friends and family and I do not want to port my number over for work. So that leaves me carrying two phones and my personal one probably will not get used as much. I would like to drop our Family plan down but the next lowest is 700 minutes and that is not quite enough plus it does not have unlimited nights and weekends (it has 5000 minutes which is more than enough but I really want the "unlimited" tag).
I received my yearly review and was given a favorable rating. We were given bonuses and mine is supposed to be 4.51%. There will be no raises this year so we get to live on the same pay (minus the increase in benefit costs) as last year but my wife is now working two part time jobs (each one day a week) and that will make up for what I lost and then some.
Health - I am pleased to report that I have now broken new ground and weighed in yesterday at 178 lbs, down from 192 on Nov 11th, 2008. I only have three more pounds to lose and I will be where I want to be at 175...I may go as low as 170, but that is negotiable with my wife. All I can say is I feel better (no headaches) and my clothing fits better. I owe it all to a lot of prayer and a web site that kept me honest as long as I tracked my food consistently. I started off with 2300 calories a day and worked my way down to less than 2000, with many of those days clocking in at 1500 or less. I kept my walking up, started doing some push ups and sit ups several times a week and I have also hiked a few times since I started this endeavor.
I have been eating a bit better with more fresh vegetables, fiber, and water and less fast food. My wife has noticed a difference in me.
Family - This one is mixed. I have called my mom several times over the past few weeks and the news from her is positive. My sister and her husband have bought a plot of land out of the city limits and plan on selling all three homes (their's, mom's, and my brother in law's mother's home - she is deceased). My sis and her hubby plan on building a home for themselves and my mom wants a medium sized mobile home to live in on the property. It gives her independence but still allows sis to keep tabs on her. Hopefully that will all take place this year.
The only other real family is our son, Soldier Boy and we have not heard from him since August. I saw him when I was back in WV visiting (he drove down from PA to attend a family function with his bio-mom) and we got to chat for about an hour. It is sad that we have not heard from his since...not his birthday, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. We sent him a check but it has not been cashed yet. Lately I have been having disturbing dreams that involve him and I am not sure if that is God warning me or just my parental concern. Well, nonetheless I am not tryin to let it bother me too much. Kids will do what they want and parents cannot stop them.
Pets - The Golden is doing very well and has been a lot more playful with me than normal. She actually whines when I don't take her out Geocaching with me! My wife told me that once the dog gets "dirty" again and needs a bath that I can take her out on a caching run...OH BOY!
Little Man is a completely different story. My wife and I believe he may have Cushing's Syndrome. While is is almost 15 years old, he has really slowed down the past six months. He really is not the same dog. We are mentally preparing for him to pass on in 2009. I am going to be one sad man on that day. Little Man and I have been pals for almost as long as me and my wife have been married (we got him after we had been married six months as a 4-6 month old puppy).
Life in General - I have been offering some PC help to a couple of people at our church (pro bono) as well as some paid work as well. I have not been actively looking for extra work since my normal job keeps me busy most of the time.
Faith - I finished my goal of reading the bible in a year a whole month early. While I still read the bible every day, I am not trying to read it in one year. I have done that for the last three years (reading the bible chronologically) but this year I am going to study it more. It will mean more work, but I think I can handle it.
I have noticed a problem lately when praying outloud. My wife and I try to pray together each night and lately I cannot seem to articulate what is on my heart. I am not sure why, I have not had that problem in the past, once I got over my initial fear of praying in public. I guess I need to pray about that more...maybe God will open my eyes to what I need to see.
Well, I am sure there is more and if I can think of anything else, I will post about it.
El Gee, signing off.
Oh, one more thing, hop on over to my geocaching blog to see how I ended the geocaching year.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Good Weekend / Bad Food Day
I will start off on a positive note...I had a pretty good weekend. While I will not go into details (you can get that on my other blog), I did manage to go geocaching, not once but twice this weekend. I went out solo on Saturday and out with 9key (the guy I have cached the most with) on Sunday. A grand time was had both days.
Sunday was a bad food day, but in retrospect I still did not do too badly. I skipped breakfast (I only had coffee with flavored creamer) and by lunch time I was hungry (not starving, just hungry) and had a hankering for Taco Bell...to be precise, a Volcano Box from Taco Bell. If you have not had a Volcano Box, you are missing a tasty and affordable treat. You get:
* A Crunch Wrap Supreme
* A Burrito Supreme
* A Volcano Taco
* Cinnamon Twists
* Large drink
...all for $5. Mind you it is well over 1200 calories and more than the recommended daily allowance for fat and sodium, but it was soooooooo good. All in all I still finished out the day eating less than 2000 calories thanks to fruit, cereal, and milk for dinner. I guess you need to treat yourself once in a while.
And to all of those people who were kind enough to respond to my blue/gray post...Thank You for your thoughts. It was nice to get supportive e-mails instead of pity. Me haaatesssssss pity.
Sunday was a bad food day, but in retrospect I still did not do too badly. I skipped breakfast (I only had coffee with flavored creamer) and by lunch time I was hungry (not starving, just hungry) and had a hankering for Taco Bell...to be precise, a Volcano Box from Taco Bell. If you have not had a Volcano Box, you are missing a tasty and affordable treat. You get:
* A Crunch Wrap Supreme
* A Burrito Supreme
* A Volcano Taco
* Cinnamon Twists
* Large drink
...all for $5. Mind you it is well over 1200 calories and more than the recommended daily allowance for fat and sodium, but it was soooooooo good. All in all I still finished out the day eating less than 2000 calories thanks to fruit, cereal, and milk for dinner. I guess you need to treat yourself once in a while.
And to all of those people who were kind enough to respond to my blue/gray post...Thank You for your thoughts. It was nice to get supportive e-mails instead of pity. Me haaatesssssss pity.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Blue? Gray.
The last time I made a blog entry I was feeling a bit blue. I don't feel quite as isolated as I did earlier on but I still have a lot on my mind. Work and all that it encompasses is the primary but also is the fact I am not much into the commercial / festive side of Christmas. We don't decorate and attend very few holiday gatherings. I guess the biggest part of that is my fault. As the head of the house hold I am supposed to be the leader but I just have not been able to get in "the holiday mood" the past few years. I guess it would help if we were not empty nesters or if we traveled to see family during the holiday, but some things just cannot be changed.
I have no problems with the spiritual side of the season. My faith is strong and I do a lot of reflecting during the seasons of Christ's birth and death. I guess I just see the rampant commercialism of Christmas and feel betrayed. Everything is geared for the secular side and it robs me of some of the joy this season offers. I guess if I could separate the two and scale the holiday back some I would fare better but I seem to have trouble doing that.
My weight has been slowly dropping each week. I have been dieting for almost a month and have lost eight pounds. I recently cut my caloric intake from 2200 to less than 1600 per day in an effort to loss some fat. My goal is to be at 175 pounds by end of February.
I have not really increased my exercise level much since the weather has not been cooperative and that has kept me from doing any hiking in the local WMA (wildlife management areas) or even taking extended local walks. That has really put a crimp in my geocaching time. I have about three more weekends of geocaching left to do this year and I still hope to reach 1000 by years end.
A new wrinkle has surfaced at work. It seems that my employer has decided to start providing and paying for cell phone and usage. For the past 4 years, we have provided our own phones and service and the company reimbursed us. Now the switch is interesting because back when we were hired, we were issued cell phones to use, paid for by the company. The issued the phones and they paid the service...we never saw a bill. Then one year after hire, that policy stopped and we were told to fend for ourselves but the company would reimburse us for any work iusage. Since I was getting on call pay (5%) I never bothered with getting reimbursement for my mobile phone usage. However, they stopped paying on call back in April and I have started submitting an expense report for part of it. But that is going to change, yet again. Sigh.
Now to add to THAT, I am on a call now and the guy whom I am speaking to is telling me that on call is going away all together. That would make my personal life a lot more livable but that throws a whole new set of issues that I need to chew on before I blog about them. Double sigh.
I have no problems with the spiritual side of the season. My faith is strong and I do a lot of reflecting during the seasons of Christ's birth and death. I guess I just see the rampant commercialism of Christmas and feel betrayed. Everything is geared for the secular side and it robs me of some of the joy this season offers. I guess if I could separate the two and scale the holiday back some I would fare better but I seem to have trouble doing that.
My weight has been slowly dropping each week. I have been dieting for almost a month and have lost eight pounds. I recently cut my caloric intake from 2200 to less than 1600 per day in an effort to loss some fat. My goal is to be at 175 pounds by end of February.
I have not really increased my exercise level much since the weather has not been cooperative and that has kept me from doing any hiking in the local WMA (wildlife management areas) or even taking extended local walks. That has really put a crimp in my geocaching time. I have about three more weekends of geocaching left to do this year and I still hope to reach 1000 by years end.
A new wrinkle has surfaced at work. It seems that my employer has decided to start providing and paying for cell phone and usage. For the past 4 years, we have provided our own phones and service and the company reimbursed us. Now the switch is interesting because back when we were hired, we were issued cell phones to use, paid for by the company. The issued the phones and they paid the service...we never saw a bill. Then one year after hire, that policy stopped and we were told to fend for ourselves but the company would reimburse us for any work iusage. Since I was getting on call pay (5%) I never bothered with getting reimbursement for my mobile phone usage. However, they stopped paying on call back in April and I have started submitting an expense report for part of it. But that is going to change, yet again. Sigh.
Now to add to THAT, I am on a call now and the guy whom I am speaking to is telling me that on call is going away all together. That would make my personal life a lot more livable but that throws a whole new set of issues that I need to chew on before I blog about them. Double sigh.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Not Fishing / Health Update
I am not sure what is wrong but I am just not myself this past week. I was to attend a care group Christmas party on Wednesday and I did not go. Tonight I am supposed to be at a Christmas party for the leadership of the church (I am on the board of trustees) but I have no desire to attend. I wonder if I have S.A.D.
I am on an island right now...an emotional one. I feel disconnected from just about everything and everyone...even my wife. I only come to work to get out of the house...I hate being here. I am also on call this week which means when I am not at work I am at home...shivers.
At work we just signed a new contract with our customer and the conditions of that contract are different than before. Many of the ways we used to work will be changing and they don't make a lot of sense to me. That is a big deal...I have trouble adjusting to things that don't make sense to me. Maybe that is why I never joined the military...I cannot just "do things" because I am told to...they have to make sense.
I have asked the powers that be what benefit the changes have to either party and those same powers cannot answer the questions. They are just doing what they are told...being "sheeple". I sometimes wonder how long I can take being here. Will I lose it and walk out, quitting on the spot, risking our home and standard of living?
Not only am I on an emotional island, but I am irritable...nothing seems to bring me joy. I feel about a million miles away from God and prayer is not coming easily. My thoughts wander, my words hollow and meaningless. I feel like a hypocrite.
The Christmas season seems to bring out the worst in me. I have no desire to buy gifts for those I love nor do I have the desire to receive them. About the only thing that is appealing is the evening walks. Those who put up lights have them lit and it really brightens my mood...until I get back home. I would stay out longer but it is generally cold and my poor 15 year old dog cannot handled being out long.
I am not sure why I am even posting this...I am not fishing for sympathy...just the opposite. When people notice (I tend to cover it up pretty well most of the time) and offer sympathy, it irritates me. I don't want the sympathy.
On to a cheerier subject, I am down to 185 lbs and most of the time I have been able to keep my appetite under control. I fasted for 24 hours the other day and when I woke up this morning I was only mildly hungry so I had a small breakfast and no lunch. I am still drinking 62 ounces of water at a minimum each and every day and I think that is helping a lot.
I have been reading a lot lately on dietary concepts...not diets per se, but concepts on how our bodies react to food. One that I read that was interesting (although a little weird) stated that our bodies have a weight point that is determined on how "tasty" our food is. It said that if we eat mostly tasty food our bodies associate the taste with appetite. If we eat food that is more bland, we convince our bodies that the food is only fuel and it will only crave what it needs.
There was more to this but that was the main concept. It was part of a diet called "Shangri La" and it advocated consuming a small amount of light olive oil or sucrose water a couple of hours between meals and then eating meals that are bland or unfamiliar. The idea is kinda kookie but it got me to thinking about how much processed food we as Americans eat each day. I figure the more processing that is done with food the less our bodies need to do to digest it and digesting food actually does burn calories. Not to mention that unprocessed foods will fill you up and will not be completely digested so they will be eliminated by the body naturally.
It is amazing how obsessed I have become with what I eat. I keep a log on "The Daily Plate" and it has been helpful in showing me what foods I need to cut down on or avoid all together.
I am on an island right now...an emotional one. I feel disconnected from just about everything and everyone...even my wife. I only come to work to get out of the house...I hate being here. I am also on call this week which means when I am not at work I am at home...shivers.
At work we just signed a new contract with our customer and the conditions of that contract are different than before. Many of the ways we used to work will be changing and they don't make a lot of sense to me. That is a big deal...I have trouble adjusting to things that don't make sense to me. Maybe that is why I never joined the military...I cannot just "do things" because I am told to...they have to make sense.
I have asked the powers that be what benefit the changes have to either party and those same powers cannot answer the questions. They are just doing what they are told...being "sheeple". I sometimes wonder how long I can take being here. Will I lose it and walk out, quitting on the spot, risking our home and standard of living?
Not only am I on an emotional island, but I am irritable...nothing seems to bring me joy. I feel about a million miles away from God and prayer is not coming easily. My thoughts wander, my words hollow and meaningless. I feel like a hypocrite.
The Christmas season seems to bring out the worst in me. I have no desire to buy gifts for those I love nor do I have the desire to receive them. About the only thing that is appealing is the evening walks. Those who put up lights have them lit and it really brightens my mood...until I get back home. I would stay out longer but it is generally cold and my poor 15 year old dog cannot handled being out long.
I am not sure why I am even posting this...I am not fishing for sympathy...just the opposite. When people notice (I tend to cover it up pretty well most of the time) and offer sympathy, it irritates me. I don't want the sympathy.
On to a cheerier subject, I am down to 185 lbs and most of the time I have been able to keep my appetite under control. I fasted for 24 hours the other day and when I woke up this morning I was only mildly hungry so I had a small breakfast and no lunch. I am still drinking 62 ounces of water at a minimum each and every day and I think that is helping a lot.
I have been reading a lot lately on dietary concepts...not diets per se, but concepts on how our bodies react to food. One that I read that was interesting (although a little weird) stated that our bodies have a weight point that is determined on how "tasty" our food is. It said that if we eat mostly tasty food our bodies associate the taste with appetite. If we eat food that is more bland, we convince our bodies that the food is only fuel and it will only crave what it needs.
There was more to this but that was the main concept. It was part of a diet called "Shangri La" and it advocated consuming a small amount of light olive oil or sucrose water a couple of hours between meals and then eating meals that are bland or unfamiliar. The idea is kinda kookie but it got me to thinking about how much processed food we as Americans eat each day. I figure the more processing that is done with food the less our bodies need to do to digest it and digesting food actually does burn calories. Not to mention that unprocessed foods will fill you up and will not be completely digested so they will be eliminated by the body naturally.
It is amazing how obsessed I have become with what I eat. I keep a log on "The Daily Plate" and it has been helpful in showing me what foods I need to cut down on or avoid all together.
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