I had not gone after any geocaches at lunch for a quite a while so yesterday I decided to go after a new one not far from the park where I normally eat my lunch. To make a long story short, I met two geocachers, coinpopper and duckman972. The cache I found was owned by duckman972 (he hid it on his propery and he saw me looking for it) so that is how we met and coinpopper and I were both driving around looking for the cache at the same time but I was able to park and sign it before he got to GZ.
Duckman972 is new and has less than 10 finds while coinpopper has been caching for just about a year and has over 1500 finds. Think about it. This man has found (on average) more than 4 caches each and every day for a year. I thought I was a man possessed when I grabbed 100 in my first month. I give him credit, he is dedicated.
I have been caching since mid September and I have about 250 finds. That is about 50 per month. Now to be fair, my first geocaching expedition was back when I was visiting family and friends in WV. Those same friends took me out one cool afternoon and we snagged 4 caches near North Bend State Park. 3 of the 4 were pretty good and only one of them was rather lame. I finished my vacation, came home, created an account on geocahcing.com and logged my 4 finds. It was not until the end of September that I started geocaching on my own and to make things more challenging, I did not use a GPSr unit until after I had found 40 on my own using just Google Maps. I guess finding 40 or so caches in about 2 weeks was not too bad considering I didn't have a GPSr.
Near the middle of October, my wife's (former) boss, who also happens to be the head trustee at church, let me borrow his spare (and rather old) Garmin "indefinitely". I had told him that funds were tight but I would buy one as soon as I could, most likely with part of our tax return or some of my year end bonus. Well the year end bonus came and went, thanx to bills and the fact it was a lot smaller than expected. I guess in many ways that is good because I have done research and now know which unit I need to buy. Hopefully (God willing) I should be able to order one in about two weeks.
Once I had the borrowed GPSr, I needed to upgrade the software (it was 4 years out of date) and learn to use it. To be honest, the old GPSMAP 176C is not overly user friendly and does not have great features for caching, but it works just fine as a freebie. I will say it is very rugged. A few weeks ago I was out caching and slipped and fell (rather hard, actually) on some muddy rocks. The unit flwew from my hand had BOUNCED off the rocks, popping the antenna off. I thought for sure it was ruined, but I power it back on and it worked just fine.. The antenna popped back on and after I cleaned all the crud from it I was ready to go again.
Geocaching is a very interesting hobby. It combines many of my favorite things (technology, nature and hiking) and adds an element of critical thinking and problem solving. To be able to find some of the micro caches (and even some of the nano sized ones) takes a sharp mind. I cannot count the times I have found a hid that just amazes me on the creativity and craftiness of the hider.
I am not shy about telling people about my hobby. While some people scoff at it, saying it seems silly to "hunt for tupperware in the woods using billion dollar satellites", others are fascinated by it. It is the thrill of the hunt/hide that drives me...enought that I have hidden several myself in the Allen and Richardson area. Of course, none of mine are hard, but they are fun, nonetheless.
I tend to go out caching once a weekend, two times if there is nothing going on around the house. Sometimes I cannot go out due to my on call rotation at work. I am required to respond within 15 minutes so caching can be difficult unless the caches are close to home and I have grabbed most of those. I also cache once in a while during my lunch hour, but again, that is limited. I cannot go too far nor can I go tromping off into the woods in my khakis and polo shirt. When I started caching, I used to make it a goal to get one at lunch at least three days a week. However I have cut back on that, mostly because the caches closest to work have all been found and second, I do not want to become "obsessed" with geocaching. Do you think I am kidding? Geocaching is not called "Geocrack" for nothing. People can become so competitive that the hobby rules their life. You have people who are obsessed with getting as many caches as they can and others who are driven to be the "First to Find" (FTF) every cache they can. Let me give you an example. Last weekend I placed three caches in the Allen area. Tuesday night, the geocaching admins published them. Three of the local geocaching diehards made a mad dash to see who would be FTF. One of the teams, a husband and wife team from Lucas, went out in their PJ's looking for them...trying to be the FTF. All this was documented in the cache logs. I like geocaching, but I am not sure I am going to go that far to find caches. I will admit that it did make for some funny reading when I went back to review the logs.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
At Least I Still Have A Job
$Colleague stops by my office to ask me what I thought of my raise. I told him I was not aware I was getting one. He told me to check our online pay stub, so I did. I compared the current one (we get paid on Friday) with the last one:
* My pay went up .20 / hour. You read that correctly... twenty cents per hour. I am sure fast food workers get better raises.
* My net pay went DOWN $1.28 per paycheck, due to an increase in out of pocket benefit costs ($17.28 per pay check)
* My gross pay just increased $416 per year.
Next step? The cut our on-call pay next month. That 5% now becomes 2%.
At Least I Still Have A Job
* My pay went up .20 / hour. You read that correctly... twenty cents per hour. I am sure fast food workers get better raises.
* My net pay went DOWN $1.28 per paycheck, due to an increase in out of pocket benefit costs ($17.28 per pay check)
* My gross pay just increased $416 per year.
Next step? The cut our on-call pay next month. That 5% now becomes 2%.
At Least I Still Have A Job
Mid-week Update
It is Wednesday. I am sitting in the office by myself to allow my office mate a much deserved day off. I got in shortly before 7:00 and checked the threat board and my work e-mail to see if anything needed attention. God was being merciful...all was calm.
On Sunday hid three new caches in Allen. They were published on Tuesday night.
Monday we had the trustee meeting at church and it was over by 9:00 PM. I came home and watched a little TV and then went to bed.
Tuesday, the trustees, the board, and the search team met with the pastoral candidate. Both he and his wife are young (mid 30's) and seem like good people. I thought she was funny, almost comedienne funny. She has a "Dallas Chic-ness" about her but I cannot put my finger on exactly how.
As I was checking my personal e-mail, I notice that the caches that I hid were published and several people scrambled to be the "First to Find" (FTF) them. The notes on the logs were hilarious...some of the funniest I had read in weeks. It almost makes me want to hide a few more...just to see the scramble.
I got a call from one of the local gurus (Tizom) today while I was at lunch. he was at the park looking for the ever elusive "Brass Monkey" hidden by Langly. So far only one team has found it. I have offered to go with Tizom som time to look for it, but I guess he couldn't wait. He still has not found it. If he can't find i, I am sure I do not have a prayer.
On Sunday hid three new caches in Allen. They were published on Tuesday night.
Monday we had the trustee meeting at church and it was over by 9:00 PM. I came home and watched a little TV and then went to bed.
Tuesday, the trustees, the board, and the search team met with the pastoral candidate. Both he and his wife are young (mid 30's) and seem like good people. I thought she was funny, almost comedienne funny. She has a "Dallas Chic-ness" about her but I cannot put my finger on exactly how.
As I was checking my personal e-mail, I notice that the caches that I hid were published and several people scrambled to be the "First to Find" (FTF) them. The notes on the logs were hilarious...some of the funniest I had read in weeks. It almost makes me want to hide a few more...just to see the scramble.
I got a call from one of the local gurus (Tizom) today while I was at lunch. he was at the park looking for the ever elusive "Brass Monkey" hidden by Langly. So far only one team has found it. I have offered to go with Tizom som time to look for it, but I guess he couldn't wait. He still has not found it. If he can't find i, I am sure I do not have a prayer.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Things Will Pick Up
Last week went mostly slow but over the weekend they did another SAP upgrade and the last time that was done we spent 2 months slogging through the aftermath. We had more critical cases each and every day...why should this upgrade be any different?
The city council meeting last Thursday was one of the most boring I have ever attended. I kept nodding off and nothing on the agenda was interesting...yawn.
Friday was more of the same...slow at work. There was one issue that was started a few days earlier, but it was complex and was only going to be worked on during European business hours, so we had little to track during our shift.
Saturday I decided I would geocache in the morning instead of the afternoon like I normally do. I had to wait until 9:30 before I could leave since my wife had people dropping stuff off at our house before 10 AM and she as not going to be home. After the drop offs, I went over to Brockdale Park, and equestrian and hiking park in Lucas,Texas. It is a long hike...9 miles round trip. I managed to get 10 of the 12 that were there. I would have gotten all 12 but 1 was a night hike and the other, which was a multi, was missing a set of clues so it was impossible to find the last stage. Bummer, since I found all three stages and the final one, which led to the cache, was missing the coordinates for the final stage. Nonetheless it was a nice 5+ mile hike. I got home about 3 PM.
I vacuumed half the house when I got back and then helped my wife install some window film in the living room. The film my wife chose blocks large amounts of UV and heat. It also is hard to see through unless there is light on in the house. It is tricky to work with but worth the results.
Sunday we went to church as usual. There was a guest speaker who had a great message on unity that really hit home with many of us. We grabbed a couple of bagels with cream cheese for lunch and then stopped by Target to get a bathroom squeegee to replace a ripped one. On the way back we saw an SUV or a van that had flipped over on 75 North...we could not ell if anyone was inside but I did not see any that looked hurt.
After we got home I decided to go place a few geocaches. While I was out I found one that had been recently revived. It was not hard but it was in a very busy area.
I got to work right on time (for me...10 minutes early) and checked the threat board to see what needed to be handled. All was well, then my boss called me to tell me one of the guys (whom he backs up) has a family emergency and will not be able to do his job and my boss wanted to know if I would do t for him...on top of my regular duties. I told him no as politely as I I could. My colleague was not in yet and since we have to drop what we are doing to work on critical issues, I would not be able to do the other guys job. While he was not happy, I think he understood.
I am not going to try to do both jobs. First, it is not possible and all it will do is set me up to fail. Second, my boss the that other guy's backup...not me. Besides, we are going to get busy with the fallout from the weekends changes and I do not have time for problems caused by another group.
The city council meeting last Thursday was one of the most boring I have ever attended. I kept nodding off and nothing on the agenda was interesting...yawn.
Friday was more of the same...slow at work. There was one issue that was started a few days earlier, but it was complex and was only going to be worked on during European business hours, so we had little to track during our shift.
Saturday I decided I would geocache in the morning instead of the afternoon like I normally do. I had to wait until 9:30 before I could leave since my wife had people dropping stuff off at our house before 10 AM and she as not going to be home. After the drop offs, I went over to Brockdale Park, and equestrian and hiking park in Lucas,Texas. It is a long hike...9 miles round trip. I managed to get 10 of the 12 that were there. I would have gotten all 12 but 1 was a night hike and the other, which was a multi, was missing a set of clues so it was impossible to find the last stage. Bummer, since I found all three stages and the final one, which led to the cache, was missing the coordinates for the final stage. Nonetheless it was a nice 5+ mile hike. I got home about 3 PM.
I vacuumed half the house when I got back and then helped my wife install some window film in the living room. The film my wife chose blocks large amounts of UV and heat. It also is hard to see through unless there is light on in the house. It is tricky to work with but worth the results.
Sunday we went to church as usual. There was a guest speaker who had a great message on unity that really hit home with many of us. We grabbed a couple of bagels with cream cheese for lunch and then stopped by Target to get a bathroom squeegee to replace a ripped one. On the way back we saw an SUV or a van that had flipped over on 75 North...we could not ell if anyone was inside but I did not see any that looked hurt.
After we got home I decided to go place a few geocaches. While I was out I found one that had been recently revived. It was not hard but it was in a very busy area.
I got to work right on time (for me...10 minutes early) and checked the threat board to see what needed to be handled. All was well, then my boss called me to tell me one of the guys (whom he backs up) has a family emergency and will not be able to do his job and my boss wanted to know if I would do t for him...on top of my regular duties. I told him no as politely as I I could. My colleague was not in yet and since we have to drop what we are doing to work on critical issues, I would not be able to do the other guys job. While he was not happy, I think he understood.
I am not going to try to do both jobs. First, it is not possible and all it will do is set me up to fail. Second, my boss the that other guy's backup...not me. Besides, we are going to get busy with the fallout from the weekends changes and I do not have time for problems caused by another group.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Fed Up
My first choice for president, Fred Dalton Thompson started late and quit early. My heart sank. Did he even want the job? Then my number two choice. Mitt Romney states he plans on stepping aside. What happened to choice?
I am NOT going to vote for the lesser of 2 evils any more. The Republican party has broken my heart for the last time. I grew up Democrat, registered Indy, and voted Republican for a long time. I am a registered Independent so in 2008 I am going to vote that way.
Oh, save all your arguments about "voting for a man who cannot win is throwing your vote away". That argument is total rubbish. I do not buy it.
Write in Steve Adams for President 2008.
I am NOT going to vote for the lesser of 2 evils any more. The Republican party has broken my heart for the last time. I grew up Democrat, registered Indy, and voted Republican for a long time. I am a registered Independent so in 2008 I am going to vote that way.
Oh, save all your arguments about "voting for a man who cannot win is throwing your vote away". That argument is total rubbish. I do not buy it.
Write in Steve Adams for President 2008.
Ouch
My back has really been sore lately. I tried Aleve but it did not seem to have much of an effect on the pain, so I started stretching (as painful as that was) and it seemed to help. I remember that after I had my back surgery and I had healed, I ended up getting sacroiliitis a couple of months later. This feels just like it. I am sure the only cure will be my "Aleve Therapy" and stretching. Joy.
Work has been slow, but I am thankful for that. My week of on call was light and so far it has been the same for my office mate. While we still have been getting calls, many of them have not been severe enough to get us involved. With it being slower, my office mate has ad time to get caught up on some older nagging issues that he let sit while we took care of the more important issues. Now it looks like he is all caught up.
One of the Swede's was given notice that he is to be laid off in 30 days. While it is not a good thing, at least he is in good shape financially. He is not married, nor does he have any kids. He has his car and house paid off and has no other debt. He can live quite well on half of his salary and has been saving quite a bit of money. He will eventually get a job but it may take a while,so being debt free is a big plus for him. I am envious.
Well, I do not have a lot planned this week other than the city council meeting tonight and some geocaching this weekend. I will also need to write up an agenda for the Trustee meeting on Monday.
I will be working solo on Wednesday to allow my office mate a day off. He is in a similar situation with vacation and needs to burn as much as he can. So far the Wednesday off deal is working pretty well. While I have not taken every Wednesday off, I have taken one off each month so far this year. I may take two off this month, manbe not.
Oh, if I have not mentioned it yet, Sim City has been release as open source and has been ported to Unix and Linux (sorry Windows users) so far as "Micropolis". It has been hard not to play it all day when it is slow at work :)
Work has been slow, but I am thankful for that. My week of on call was light and so far it has been the same for my office mate. While we still have been getting calls, many of them have not been severe enough to get us involved. With it being slower, my office mate has ad time to get caught up on some older nagging issues that he let sit while we took care of the more important issues. Now it looks like he is all caught up.
One of the Swede's was given notice that he is to be laid off in 30 days. While it is not a good thing, at least he is in good shape financially. He is not married, nor does he have any kids. He has his car and house paid off and has no other debt. He can live quite well on half of his salary and has been saving quite a bit of money. He will eventually get a job but it may take a while,so being debt free is a big plus for him. I am envious.
Well, I do not have a lot planned this week other than the city council meeting tonight and some geocaching this weekend. I will also need to write up an agenda for the Trustee meeting on Monday.
I will be working solo on Wednesday to allow my office mate a day off. He is in a similar situation with vacation and needs to burn as much as he can. So far the Wednesday off deal is working pretty well. While I have not taken every Wednesday off, I have taken one off each month so far this year. I may take two off this month, manbe not.
Oh, if I have not mentioned it yet, Sim City has been release as open source and has been ported to Unix and Linux (sorry Windows users) so far as "Micropolis". It has been hard not to play it all day when it is slow at work :)
Monday, February 04, 2008
Something To Look Forward To?
Well, I survived my house arrest (on call). It was one of the lighter on calls I have had and for that, I am thankful. I only had 2 nights with anything to follow up on and no calls came in after hours. No bad.
Since I was on house arrest and many of the caches in the area are beyond my 15 minute radius, I decided not to go out geocaching (shocker!) this weekend. I cleaned the house some, spent time with the dogs, went to church and Sunday School and finished out season two of "Lost". It was a very quiet weekend.
Solder Boy called this weekend and he talked to my wife for a while. He was visiting my sister
I called my mom on Sunday as I normally do and realized that she does not have enough to keep her occupied. Every time I call she walks about how much the creek has risen or dropped (she can see the creek from her front window). I asked her if she was worried about flooding and she told me that she wasn't, she just like to keep track of the rising water.
My mom does not get out of the house much and only really does anything on Sunday's with church and visiting a friend afterwards. I am afraid she has too much time on her hands and needs something constructive to do.
I hope I do not follow that path. I want to stay interested in various things and keep my brain healthy.
Since I was on house arrest and many of the caches in the area are beyond my 15 minute radius, I decided not to go out geocaching (shocker!) this weekend. I cleaned the house some, spent time with the dogs, went to church and Sunday School and finished out season two of "Lost". It was a very quiet weekend.
Solder Boy called this weekend and he talked to my wife for a while. He was visiting my sister
I called my mom on Sunday as I normally do and realized that she does not have enough to keep her occupied. Every time I call she walks about how much the creek has risen or dropped (she can see the creek from her front window). I asked her if she was worried about flooding and she told me that she wasn't, she just like to keep track of the rising water.
My mom does not get out of the house much and only really does anything on Sunday's with church and visiting a friend afterwards. I am afraid she has too much time on her hands and needs something constructive to do.
I hope I do not follow that path. I want to stay interested in various things and keep my brain healthy.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Electric Eye
A while back it was announced that Google Maps would be offering a street level view of cities that goes beyond normal satellite images. Google as well as other companies would be driving around taking pictures to offer a virtual tour of the city. The cities were announced and low and behold, Dallas has made that list. I found this out quite by accident when I used Google Maps to zero in on a set of GPS coords to assist me when I geocached. When I got the page, I was surprised to see a street level option that allowed me to look at the front yard of the address as if I was driving by it myself. Now this has already cause a stir in some bigger cities (San Fran and New York) because the photographers have caught some rather...interesting things on film, such as a case of plummers crack (complete with thong), and a young man picking his nose.
Now I work in the suburb of Dallas that this picture was taken and now I am beginning to worry about my chances of being filmed while doing something completely innocent (scratching, adjust clothes, etc) without my knowledge. Camera angles are tricky things and what may look innocent at one angle looks obscene at another.
Be careful out there...you never know who is watching.
Oh, by the way, I finally got my wife to watch "Lost". While she is not hooked, she did admit it was a good show.
Now I work in the suburb of Dallas that this picture was taken and now I am beginning to worry about my chances of being filmed while doing something completely innocent (scratching, adjust clothes, etc) without my knowledge. Camera angles are tricky things and what may look innocent at one angle looks obscene at another.
Be careful out there...you never know who is watching.
Oh, by the way, I finally got my wife to watch "Lost". While she is not hooked, she did admit it was a good show.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
What I REALLY Meant To Post
I am not sure why yesterday's post was so short. I had actually meant to include a few other things but instead of saving it, I posted it.
I took 8 vacation hours yesterday and went geocaching near Lake Lavon and picked up 6 there then grabbed 2 new ones in my town, as well as a puzzle cache I had solved a few weeks ago. It was hidden in the same type of location I had been looking at for some time but have not gotten around to using yet. Actually I did the local hides first then the lake.
One of the caches was pretty cool. It was called "20 questions" and required you to call a phone number and answer 20 geocaching related questions in order to get the coords. I did that at work the day before and then went yesterday to nab the cache. Fun stuff.
The hides at the lake were pretty basic but out far enough that they most likely will not get muggled. 4 of the 6 were hidden by 9key and the other two were hidden by a couple of less prolific but still quite talented cachers.
Yesterday's little foray boosted my total to 240 caches found. Not bad since I did 4 with friends and then did not start caching until the end of September and then I was not using a GPSr until a few weeks after that. Until I got the GPSr from a friend who is letting me borrow it indefinitely, I was just using Google Maps. if you want a challenge, cache without a GPSr. I think I got my first 30 or so via Google.
Even thoguh I took 8 vacation hours, I still was required to be on call that night, which did not bother me much. The week had been slow so far and the little geocaching outing on Wednesday helped break up the week. When I go back from caching I checked work and did not see anything pressing, so I cleaned up and took care of things until I had to go on call. When that time came around, one issue was handed over to me that enede up taking all night and as we speak still has not been resolved. I do not have to run it today since it has a daytime owner. I am just responsible for the on call at night.
I took 8 vacation hours yesterday and went geocaching near Lake Lavon and picked up 6 there then grabbed 2 new ones in my town, as well as a puzzle cache I had solved a few weeks ago. It was hidden in the same type of location I had been looking at for some time but have not gotten around to using yet. Actually I did the local hides first then the lake.
One of the caches was pretty cool. It was called "20 questions" and required you to call a phone number and answer 20 geocaching related questions in order to get the coords. I did that at work the day before and then went yesterday to nab the cache. Fun stuff.
The hides at the lake were pretty basic but out far enough that they most likely will not get muggled. 4 of the 6 were hidden by 9key and the other two were hidden by a couple of less prolific but still quite talented cachers.
Yesterday's little foray boosted my total to 240 caches found. Not bad since I did 4 with friends and then did not start caching until the end of September and then I was not using a GPSr until a few weeks after that. Until I got the GPSr from a friend who is letting me borrow it indefinitely, I was just using Google Maps. if you want a challenge, cache without a GPSr. I think I got my first 30 or so via Google.
Even thoguh I took 8 vacation hours, I still was required to be on call that night, which did not bother me much. The week had been slow so far and the little geocaching outing on Wednesday helped break up the week. When I go back from caching I checked work and did not see anything pressing, so I cleaned up and took care of things until I had to go on call. When that time came around, one issue was handed over to me that enede up taking all night and as we speak still has not been resolved. I do not have to run it today since it has a daytime owner. I am just responsible for the on call at night.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Mid Week Update
Edwards and Guiliani are out. Now that means little to me since neither were candidates I would support. Every test I have taken to show which candidate I would support puts Thompson (who is out now) Romney (who being outpaced by McCain), and Huckabee (who has no chance at all). With all that in mind, my choices are some liberal democrat I can cannot stand, McCain, or Ron Paul, if he runs as an Independent.
Can I please pick, "None of the above?"
Can I please pick, "None of the above?"
Monday, January 28, 2008
Monday, Monday
The weekend has come and gone and with that, Monday is here...time for me to start my week on call or as prefer to call it, "house arrest". It appears that I get to be on house arrest during most of the month end closing reports, meaning that the likelihood of getting called just went up about 300%. Joy.
Now to be honest, it could be worse. While I am not happy at the fact that starting in March we are no call and do not get paid anything for it, at least I am employed...for now.
I had a mostly good weekend. Friday night I watched a few more episodes "Lost" (season one) and finally finished up the first season on Sunday night. Although I would have preferred to go out, finances will be tight until we can get some debt paid down. The good news is that we have made great progress and are on track to be debt free (sans the house) in a few months. However, to do that I have to make some massively huge payments (that we have budgeted for) during that time. The payments include all of our entertainment budget as well as part of our dining out budget. It is a small sacrifice but it will be worth it.
I did some geocaching (as I usually do on weekends) and had a pretty good time...snagging a total of 12 in two days. I could have had more but when I push myself I tend to make mistakes...sometimes ones that hurt!
Sunday was the usual Sunday school and church and our month church pot luck lunch (which was a soup and sandwich lunch and it was great!). Attendance was down due to several families leaving after last weeks rather heated business meeting. While they will be missed, I do not want to hold them back from doing what they see as they need to do. I wish them well.
I ended my weekend by finishing up season one of "Lost" and later talking to my mom. Not an overly exciting life, but I am not 20 anymore.
Now to be honest, it could be worse. While I am not happy at the fact that starting in March we are no call and do not get paid anything for it, at least I am employed...for now.
I had a mostly good weekend. Friday night I watched a few more episodes "Lost" (season one) and finally finished up the first season on Sunday night. Although I would have preferred to go out, finances will be tight until we can get some debt paid down. The good news is that we have made great progress and are on track to be debt free (sans the house) in a few months. However, to do that I have to make some massively huge payments (that we have budgeted for) during that time. The payments include all of our entertainment budget as well as part of our dining out budget. It is a small sacrifice but it will be worth it.
I did some geocaching (as I usually do on weekends) and had a pretty good time...snagging a total of 12 in two days. I could have had more but when I push myself I tend to make mistakes...sometimes ones that hurt!
Sunday was the usual Sunday school and church and our month church pot luck lunch (which was a soup and sandwich lunch and it was great!). Attendance was down due to several families leaving after last weeks rather heated business meeting. While they will be missed, I do not want to hold them back from doing what they see as they need to do. I wish them well.
I ended my weekend by finishing up season one of "Lost" and later talking to my mom. Not an overly exciting life, but I am not 20 anymore.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Freudian Slip?
On The Today Show Weekend Edition, Lester Holt (who is in SC covering the primary elections) made a comment while talking about Barack Obama. Mister Holt said something to the effect of, "...Barack Obama has been sort of the 800 pound elephant in the room that no one wants to deal with...".
"800 pound ELEPHANT"? Isn't the euphemism, "800 pound GORILLA"?
After hearing this I started thinking, "Is this a Freudian slip or was it done on purpose?" So as I usually do I hit the web and started searching for "800 elephant" and found a couple of hits on message boards and they were followed up by someone who stated that two euphemisms were being merged.
With that in mind, I googled "elephant in the room" and found a great entry on wikipedia that helped me understand. It seems that an "elephant in the room" is "an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed." I had not heard that one in before, but then again, I try not to keep up with many "old sayings".
So where does that leave us? Well it appears that the reporter, Mr Lester Holt has fused to euphemisms...or did he? If he meant to call Barack Obama the "elephant in the room", he is not being a reporter, he is giving us he personal opinion by saying that Obama is "the truth".
Now if Mister Holt was using the euphemism that I am familiar with, the "800 pound gorilla" ("one that is dominating or uncontrollable because of great size or power" - Mirriam-Webster Online), then he could be accused of using a racial slur towards a black candidate...something that he would not want to do.
Of course those who want to make a far stretch could say that he was picking Republicans since the elephant is the symbol of the Republican party and an 800 lb one would be very small. However I doubt that was the reason since the reporter, Mr Holt, was speaking complimentary of Mr. Obama, who is a Democrat.
Bottom line? I think Lester Holt merged two well known (to many) euphemisms and made a mistake. However it is still very obvious he supports Barack Obama. The media should be REPORTING the news, not commenting on it. Leave that to the people.
"800 pound ELEPHANT"? Isn't the euphemism, "800 pound GORILLA"?
After hearing this I started thinking, "Is this a Freudian slip or was it done on purpose?" So as I usually do I hit the web and started searching for "800 elephant" and found a couple of hits on message boards and they were followed up by someone who stated that two euphemisms were being merged.
With that in mind, I googled "elephant in the room" and found a great entry on wikipedia that helped me understand. It seems that an "elephant in the room" is "an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed." I had not heard that one in before, but then again, I try not to keep up with many "old sayings".
So where does that leave us? Well it appears that the reporter, Mr Lester Holt has fused to euphemisms...or did he? If he meant to call Barack Obama the "elephant in the room", he is not being a reporter, he is giving us he personal opinion by saying that Obama is "the truth".
Now if Mister Holt was using the euphemism that I am familiar with, the "800 pound gorilla" ("one that is dominating or uncontrollable because of great size or power" - Mirriam-Webster Online), then he could be accused of using a racial slur towards a black candidate...something that he would not want to do.
Of course those who want to make a far stretch could say that he was picking Republicans since the elephant is the symbol of the Republican party and an 800 lb one would be very small. However I doubt that was the reason since the reporter, Mr Holt, was speaking complimentary of Mr. Obama, who is a Democrat.
Bottom line? I think Lester Holt merged two well known (to many) euphemisms and made a mistake. However it is still very obvious he supports Barack Obama. The media should be REPORTING the news, not commenting on it. Leave that to the people.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Work And Weather
It has been a rather cold week for us in North Central Texas. An Arctic blast pushed through a few weeks ago and has not really left. If the forecast is correct we should however see that trend reverse. The next four days are supposed to be in the 60's and 70's during the day.
It is currently raining a cold, miserable rain outside, just above freezing. Almost any place else in the US it would be snowing but not here. It will not be until February before we have a chance at getting our annual snow/ice storm and then it is not a sure thing. Last year we received neither.
Work has been (mostly) slow the past two weeks, which has been good. However it looks like today will be much busier. They have already had 11 high priority cases opened so far worldwide at it is only a little after 8:00 AM.
I was told by one of the long time employees who transferred over to this company the same time I did that he is quitting. He does not have a job yet but he is not really worried. He is quite tired of the way things are going and feels it is time to move on. I cannot say I blame him. I as well am getting a bit tired and frustrated. And with no improvements in sight, I can only pray things will improve.
It is currently raining a cold, miserable rain outside, just above freezing. Almost any place else in the US it would be snowing but not here. It will not be until February before we have a chance at getting our annual snow/ice storm and then it is not a sure thing. Last year we received neither.
Work has been (mostly) slow the past two weeks, which has been good. However it looks like today will be much busier. They have already had 11 high priority cases opened so far worldwide at it is only a little after 8:00 AM.
I was told by one of the long time employees who transferred over to this company the same time I did that he is quitting. He does not have a job yet but he is not really worried. He is quite tired of the way things are going and feels it is time to move on. I cannot say I blame him. I as well am getting a bit tired and frustrated. And with no improvements in sight, I can only pray things will improve.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Potpourri
Yesterday the high in my neck of the woods was 32 degrees. Five hours south in San Antonio it was 70 degrees. Freaky.
This morning one of the account managers asked to have a weekly meeting with the guys on my team. Now I find this odd because we do no report to him and the only time he comes around is when he needs us to help him. That is not an insult...we are mostly reactionary. When we see him come around, he is usually getting his butt chewed out by a customer and he needs us to investigate.
I am not sure what we can fill 45 minutes with. he was pretty vague in the meeting request sent via Microsoft Outhouse, err Outlook. I guess we shall see.
I received an e-mail from the Elder at our church regarding the fracas that took place at church on Sunday. He was asking for input regarding a formal announcement to the congregation explaining the situation. I have not responded yet. I will see him tonight (at care group) and give him my thoughts then.
It seems that 9key, the local geocaching funny man has hidden a few more caches in the area. I guess that as long as the weather holds, I will have more fun this weekend.
I managed to watch a couple more epi's of "Lost" last night. That show is very addicting.
This morning one of the account managers asked to have a weekly meeting with the guys on my team. Now I find this odd because we do no report to him and the only time he comes around is when he needs us to help him. That is not an insult...we are mostly reactionary. When we see him come around, he is usually getting his butt chewed out by a customer and he needs us to investigate.
I am not sure what we can fill 45 minutes with. he was pretty vague in the meeting request sent via Microsoft Outhouse, err Outlook. I guess we shall see.
I received an e-mail from the Elder at our church regarding the fracas that took place at church on Sunday. He was asking for input regarding a formal announcement to the congregation explaining the situation. I have not responded yet. I will see him tonight (at care group) and give him my thoughts then.
It seems that 9key, the local geocaching funny man has hidden a few more caches in the area. I guess that as long as the weather holds, I will have more fun this weekend.
I managed to watch a couple more epi's of "Lost" last night. That show is very addicting.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Note On The Break Room Wall
To summarize, the company I work for is trimming down the break room offerings. In the past they have provided tea (reg, decaf, herbal), coffee (reg and decaf), and hot chocolate (regular, sugar free, and mini marshmallow) as well as the cups and stir sticks to go along with them.
To paraphrase the note as best as I can, "we are moving to a more standardized offering for our break rooms. We will still provide regular and decaf coffee and tea, as well as regular hot chocolate. Hot water and napkins/paper towels will be provided as well. Feel free to bring in your own herb or specialty tea to enjoy during the day..."
Now my question is...are cups cups/stir sticks going to be provided? My sarcastic comment back is, "Why, how nice of you to a) allow me to bring in my own beverages and b) provide the hot water. You are so generous!"
I am grateful that they provide hot beverages...I really am. I have worked in places that made everyone pitch in to buy coffee and filters. And at least the break room has a table to sit at. At one time it didn't.
Just one more sign that companies are going to squeeze every dime they can out of us before they kick us to the curb :-)
To paraphrase the note as best as I can, "we are moving to a more standardized offering for our break rooms. We will still provide regular and decaf coffee and tea, as well as regular hot chocolate. Hot water and napkins/paper towels will be provided as well. Feel free to bring in your own herb or specialty tea to enjoy during the day..."
Now my question is...are cups cups/stir sticks going to be provided? My sarcastic comment back is, "Why, how nice of you to a) allow me to bring in my own beverages and b) provide the hot water. You are so generous!"
I am grateful that they provide hot beverages...I really am. I have worked in places that made everyone pitch in to buy coffee and filters. And at least the break room has a table to sit at. At one time it didn't.
Just one more sign that companies are going to squeeze every dime they can out of us before they kick us to the curb :-)
Remember Me?
Infrequent updates are now becoming the rule instead of the exception. For people who check this blog once a week or month, that is not a big deal. However, there are a few hardcore "El Gee junkies" who check this out daily and when I miss days, I feel that I am letting them down. I am sorry.
Saturday was pretty much a standard day for me with regards to chores and hobbies. I took care of the vacuuming, stripped and made the beds as well as helped out with laundry and dishes. My wife cooked and took care of a lot of the dog duties as well as assisting here and there. Mostly it was a 50-50 split.
After lunch I made my normal geocaching run, hitting grabbing seven or so (some of them were really nice, others just so-so). I made my way back home just as the sun was going down.
Sunday started out very typical with Sunday School and church service. However before teh sermon could be preached, a couple of...outspoken members of the congregation began asking questions about the search for a new senior pastor. The Admin board and the associate pastor agreed to meet after the service to discuss the issues. I was dreading the discussion. Little did I know how bad or which direction the meeting would go.
Maybe I should backtrack a bit to discuss the search process, jsut to give you an idea what has been going on. First a committee was formed of 7 people to provide a candidate for the admin board to consider. This entailed about 100 hours of work going over about 300 resumes. The 300 was reduced to three and the team voted on their choice. It took three votes but they decided on candidate A. That candidate was submitted to the board and the trustees (of which I am one) to meet and later the candidate would discuss salary wit hthe trustees. That meeting went okay and he was informed of the salary we were thinking of. It was at this point, WEEKS after he was first interviewed, that tells us what he wants as a ball park. We inform him that we have researched the issue and told him the median salary, which was "all inclusive", meaning benefits, base pay, and housing. He appeared to understand and agree. The next meeting was with the trustees a couple of weeks later to finalize the package. This is where the first major issue was noticed. The candidate's attitude appeared to be very "materialistic" when it came to money and he did not seem to be flexible with his pay. We were not sure if he had legitimate needs or not...he never let us know (however he did let the search team leader know a few days later). The candidate told the trustees that he would pray about it and call the contact (the associate pastor) the following day. Before he left, we told him about the finances of the church and offered to work with him in a variety of ways to reach his goal., but he was rather from about his requirements. Even the associate pastor was trying to get him to relax a bit. Needless to say the candidate did not call the next morning, but e-mailed the group in the afternoon (when I saw the e-mail, I was very offended. It appeared he was justifying his salary requirements based on his qualifications). The next day the leader of the search team met with the candidate to get feel for what went wrong in the meeting he had with the trustees. The following day (Thursday) all of us met to discuss the outcome of the candidate/search team leader meeting. The meeting lasted 3-4 hours and defined what each member thought about the situation. It was clear that at least 3 of the 13 member group were not happy with the outcome/choice.
Saturday the admin board met and voted on the candidate and then met with the candidate to give him the news. When he was told that he was not chosen he was given the option to ask questions but he declined. That brings you up to speed on the process.
The meeting on Sunday after church began with our elder giving the congregation an overview of the process, much like I described. After he was finished, he turned over the floor to the other members of the board to fill in gaps. The board was very open, but not derogatory at all to the candidate. The outspoken members who had asked for the meeting began asking questions but focused on the financial aspect of the process. The team tried to tell them that financial was just one part of the decision and that the candidates attitudes sent up several red flags that could not be ignored. That is when things got ugly.
The "outspoken" members began making comments about our associate pastor that were completely uncalled for and it really bothered me. It was the wrong forum and process for that, and to make matters worse, the associate pastor's wife and 19 year old son were in the room trying to keep from responding. It was not a scene that I would call "Christian".
After that meeting was over, I went to McD's to grab some lunch and then went home and took care of the dogs. I did not want to be in the house so grabbed my geocaching stuff and headed out for a couple of hours. It was good therapy. I came home and got cleaned up and ate some dinner before watching some TV and going to bed.
I did not have to work on Monday (MLK Day), so I spent a large part of my day watching the first 9 episodes of the series, "Lost". Okay I must admit...I am hooked. It is a great show, at least from what I have seen so far. I cannot wait to see more!
Well, you are now up to date. Hopefully I can be a bit more diligent on my updates in the future.
Saturday was pretty much a standard day for me with regards to chores and hobbies. I took care of the vacuuming, stripped and made the beds as well as helped out with laundry and dishes. My wife cooked and took care of a lot of the dog duties as well as assisting here and there. Mostly it was a 50-50 split.
After lunch I made my normal geocaching run, hitting grabbing seven or so (some of them were really nice, others just so-so). I made my way back home just as the sun was going down.
Sunday started out very typical with Sunday School and church service. However before teh sermon could be preached, a couple of...outspoken members of the congregation began asking questions about the search for a new senior pastor. The Admin board and the associate pastor agreed to meet after the service to discuss the issues. I was dreading the discussion. Little did I know how bad or which direction the meeting would go.
Maybe I should backtrack a bit to discuss the search process, jsut to give you an idea what has been going on. First a committee was formed of 7 people to provide a candidate for the admin board to consider. This entailed about 100 hours of work going over about 300 resumes. The 300 was reduced to three and the team voted on their choice. It took three votes but they decided on candidate A. That candidate was submitted to the board and the trustees (of which I am one) to meet and later the candidate would discuss salary wit hthe trustees. That meeting went okay and he was informed of the salary we were thinking of. It was at this point, WEEKS after he was first interviewed, that tells us what he wants as a ball park. We inform him that we have researched the issue and told him the median salary, which was "all inclusive", meaning benefits, base pay, and housing. He appeared to understand and agree. The next meeting was with the trustees a couple of weeks later to finalize the package. This is where the first major issue was noticed. The candidate's attitude appeared to be very "materialistic" when it came to money and he did not seem to be flexible with his pay. We were not sure if he had legitimate needs or not...he never let us know (however he did let the search team leader know a few days later). The candidate told the trustees that he would pray about it and call the contact (the associate pastor) the following day. Before he left, we told him about the finances of the church and offered to work with him in a variety of ways to reach his goal., but he was rather from about his requirements. Even the associate pastor was trying to get him to relax a bit. Needless to say the candidate did not call the next morning, but e-mailed the group in the afternoon (when I saw the e-mail, I was very offended. It appeared he was justifying his salary requirements based on his qualifications). The next day the leader of the search team met with the candidate to get feel for what went wrong in the meeting he had with the trustees. The following day (Thursday) all of us met to discuss the outcome of the candidate/search team leader meeting. The meeting lasted 3-4 hours and defined what each member thought about the situation. It was clear that at least 3 of the 13 member group were not happy with the outcome/choice.
Saturday the admin board met and voted on the candidate and then met with the candidate to give him the news. When he was told that he was not chosen he was given the option to ask questions but he declined. That brings you up to speed on the process.
The meeting on Sunday after church began with our elder giving the congregation an overview of the process, much like I described. After he was finished, he turned over the floor to the other members of the board to fill in gaps. The board was very open, but not derogatory at all to the candidate. The outspoken members who had asked for the meeting began asking questions but focused on the financial aspect of the process. The team tried to tell them that financial was just one part of the decision and that the candidates attitudes sent up several red flags that could not be ignored. That is when things got ugly.
The "outspoken" members began making comments about our associate pastor that were completely uncalled for and it really bothered me. It was the wrong forum and process for that, and to make matters worse, the associate pastor's wife and 19 year old son were in the room trying to keep from responding. It was not a scene that I would call "Christian".
After that meeting was over, I went to McD's to grab some lunch and then went home and took care of the dogs. I did not want to be in the house so grabbed my geocaching stuff and headed out for a couple of hours. It was good therapy. I came home and got cleaned up and ate some dinner before watching some TV and going to bed.
I did not have to work on Monday (MLK Day), so I spent a large part of my day watching the first 9 episodes of the series, "Lost". Okay I must admit...I am hooked. It is a great show, at least from what I have seen so far. I cannot wait to see more!
Well, you are now up to date. Hopefully I can be a bit more diligent on my updates in the future.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Cold And Depressing
I still cannot seem to get warm. Two days of colder than normal temps have really put a damper on things. I normally have no problems nuking my lunch in the microwave oven at work and then driving to a nearby park to eat it, but the past two days have not left me with the desire go. In stead, I have been eating lunch in the break room (it has one table and 4 chairs). I hate the break room.
After lunch today I walked down to the now empty NOC (Network Operations Center for you non-IT folk) and looked at it. Depressing. At one time it had 15 people working in it around the clock monitoring network conditions around the world. That function has been outsourced and off shored and the room is empty. I have a picture of it at home and if I remember I will post it.
I stood in the room looking at the large, lifeless displays on the wall, remembering the days when this room was alive. One TV had CNN on and the other had the weather channel while the two projection TV screens had a map of the wold with all the network connections on it. I spent a lot of long hours...nights, weekends and holidays in that room. I really hated the job but it was important. Too bad it was so poorly managed...it may have been fun if it wasn't.
Wandered from desk to desk fondly remembering where everyone sat. The desks are all empty now. All the PC's, phones, and monitors are gone. The war rooms (small conference rooms in the NOC) have been converted into junk storage rooms. The nice tables and chairs removed to some unknown location.
Back when I worked in the NOC, each time someone quit or was let go I moved to get a better spot on the floor. The desired place to be was the back row. The room was designed in a terrace/stadium style with each row a little higher than the one in front of it. I started in the front, on the bottom row but eventually secured a spot on the coveted upper deck.
The only access to our data center was through the NOC...and that was by design. Being set up that way we saw everyone who came to and from the data center. The manager said it was a "line of defense" for the servers. Woo hoo.
I escaped the NOC before it was officially shut down. I went on to do some project management and was moved to an office near the middle of the building, about halfway between the NOC and the front desk. Eventually everyone was either laid off, quit, or found other jobs within IT. The last two to leave were laid off and had been working nights not because we needed them to, but because they were the original night shift guys and did not want to move over to day shift. It really did not matter when they worked...the NOC has not been used as such in over a year. How they were able to stay on as long as they did amazes me.
I looked at the digital world clocks on the wall and realized that it was bout time to go back to my desk and wait for my phone to ring. A quick pit stop at the bathroom as the only thing left to do before I subjected myself to another (un)healthy dose of reality.
As I go back and read this I realize it is one of the more depressing/somber entries I have written in awhile. Blame that on my lack of sleep. I was up until midnight last night, mostly because of an emergency church metting, and had to get up at 5 AM. Needless to say I am a bit tired.
After lunch today I walked down to the now empty NOC (Network Operations Center for you non-IT folk) and looked at it. Depressing. At one time it had 15 people working in it around the clock monitoring network conditions around the world. That function has been outsourced and off shored and the room is empty. I have a picture of it at home and if I remember I will post it.
I stood in the room looking at the large, lifeless displays on the wall, remembering the days when this room was alive. One TV had CNN on and the other had the weather channel while the two projection TV screens had a map of the wold with all the network connections on it. I spent a lot of long hours...nights, weekends and holidays in that room. I really hated the job but it was important. Too bad it was so poorly managed...it may have been fun if it wasn't.
Wandered from desk to desk fondly remembering where everyone sat. The desks are all empty now. All the PC's, phones, and monitors are gone. The war rooms (small conference rooms in the NOC) have been converted into junk storage rooms. The nice tables and chairs removed to some unknown location.
Back when I worked in the NOC, each time someone quit or was let go I moved to get a better spot on the floor. The desired place to be was the back row. The room was designed in a terrace/stadium style with each row a little higher than the one in front of it. I started in the front, on the bottom row but eventually secured a spot on the coveted upper deck.
The only access to our data center was through the NOC...and that was by design. Being set up that way we saw everyone who came to and from the data center. The manager said it was a "line of defense" for the servers. Woo hoo.
I escaped the NOC before it was officially shut down. I went on to do some project management and was moved to an office near the middle of the building, about halfway between the NOC and the front desk. Eventually everyone was either laid off, quit, or found other jobs within IT. The last two to leave were laid off and had been working nights not because we needed them to, but because they were the original night shift guys and did not want to move over to day shift. It really did not matter when they worked...the NOC has not been used as such in over a year. How they were able to stay on as long as they did amazes me.
I looked at the digital world clocks on the wall and realized that it was bout time to go back to my desk and wait for my phone to ring. A quick pit stop at the bathroom as the only thing left to do before I subjected myself to another (un)healthy dose of reality.
As I go back and read this I realize it is one of the more depressing/somber entries I have written in awhile. Blame that on my lack of sleep. I was up until midnight last night, mostly because of an emergency church metting, and had to get up at 5 AM. Needless to say I am a bit tired.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Bits and Bytes
Brrrr...it is cold outside...okay so it is not as cold as it is in Canada, but for where I live the wind chill has not gotten above freezing all day. The actual air tem is only slightly above freezing. Needless to say I did not leave the building at lunch. No way. I have been living in TX long enough that I do not want to be cold.
I went to care group last night even though I did not really want to. It turned out well enough and I learned some interesting things (about our pastorl candidate) that I cannot post in this blog. Needless to say I am very shocked at the news and now I have to go to a meeting this evening to work through this issue. Sigh.
I got a very pleasant surprise this morning when I woke up. My wife walked both dogs (in below freezing temps) and did the dishes...all before 6 AM. Wow. I guess now I am going to have to do something nice for her :-)
Today, work has been busier than all last weeks days combined. I guess it was bound to happen. We had 10 days or so of slow and today we get busy.
I read an article that Time-Warner is considering charging for the amount of bandwidth their customers are using rather than just a flat monthly rate. Supposedly it will work similarly to mobile phone rate plans. That is going to suck. Why not just go after the people who are hogging all the bandwidth? Maybe this will be a good thing for us. We do not download much, unless I miss an episode of a TV that is broadcast on the web and if we pay for what we use per a pricing plan, maybe I can go to a lower usage plan and save money.
I went to care group last night even though I did not really want to. It turned out well enough and I learned some interesting things (about our pastorl candidate) that I cannot post in this blog. Needless to say I am very shocked at the news and now I have to go to a meeting this evening to work through this issue. Sigh.
I got a very pleasant surprise this morning when I woke up. My wife walked both dogs (in below freezing temps) and did the dishes...all before 6 AM. Wow. I guess now I am going to have to do something nice for her :-)
Today, work has been busier than all last weeks days combined. I guess it was bound to happen. We had 10 days or so of slow and today we get busy.
I read an article that Time-Warner is considering charging for the amount of bandwidth their customers are using rather than just a flat monthly rate. Supposedly it will work similarly to mobile phone rate plans. That is going to suck. Why not just go after the people who are hogging all the bandwidth? Maybe this will be a good thing for us. We do not download much, unless I miss an episode of a TV that is broadcast on the web and if we pay for what we use per a pricing plan, maybe I can go to a lower usage plan and save money.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Dreary
That is the word that sums up the weather outside. Typical for a Texas winter day, but it still is enough to give you a case of the blahs.
Work has been slow and for that I am grateful. While I prefer it to be steady, I will take slow over busy any day.
We have care groups tonight but I am not sure I am going to go. I am not in the mood to be around other people today and going to care group means...being around other people. besides, I am a little achy...I got over my cold but now I have body aches...flu?
I grabbed a couple of geocaches on the way home last night (they were literally by the road I drive on) and looked for one more but it was hidden well enough that I could not find it in the meager amount of time I gave to find them. No worries. I want it to stay fun.
I have not heard anything back from the gentleman I interviewed with last week. Now, I realize that he told me I would know by Friday but if I am being turned down, I would rather know sooner than later.
Thanx to Fox online, I was able to watch "The Sarah Connors Chronicles" season premier that I missed the night before. Having the episodes online 1-2 days after they are broadcast has been helpful for me. Now if I could only get the Sci-Fi channel to do it ... ;)
Work has been slow and for that I am grateful. While I prefer it to be steady, I will take slow over busy any day.
We have care groups tonight but I am not sure I am going to go. I am not in the mood to be around other people today and going to care group means...being around other people. besides, I am a little achy...I got over my cold but now I have body aches...flu?
I grabbed a couple of geocaches on the way home last night (they were literally by the road I drive on) and looked for one more but it was hidden well enough that I could not find it in the meager amount of time I gave to find them. No worries. I want it to stay fun.
I have not heard anything back from the gentleman I interviewed with last week. Now, I realize that he told me I would know by Friday but if I am being turned down, I would rather know sooner than later.
Thanx to Fox online, I was able to watch "The Sarah Connors Chronicles" season premier that I missed the night before. Having the episodes online 1-2 days after they are broadcast has been helpful for me. Now if I could only get the Sci-Fi channel to do it ... ;)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
More Outside Help
It appears that Citibank is going to need an influx of money from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Singapore. 12+ billion dollars worth of influx. Ouch. I have a Citibank card that I keep for month to month and online purchases. We also have a couple of other credit cards that have small balances on them (with no interest) that will be paid off soon, but not soon enough for me.
The housing market is really causing a lot of grief for banks. Countrywide is being bought out by Bank of America to bail them out of problems...mostly because of people defaulting on mortgages. We should have seen this coming. Low interest rates lured people into buying more home than they could afford and when those ARM's (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) matured and the real interest rates hit, people started defaulting. I am so glad that 1) I got a fixed rate mortgage (and refi'd when the rates dropped again) and 2) bought only the house size we needed. It may be small by most people's standards (1650 sq ft), but it is enough for two adults and 2 dogs.
I wonder how many more banks will need outside help before this is all over? And is it really good to have a financial institution partially owned by foreign investors?
The housing market is really causing a lot of grief for banks. Countrywide is being bought out by Bank of America to bail them out of problems...mostly because of people defaulting on mortgages. We should have seen this coming. Low interest rates lured people into buying more home than they could afford and when those ARM's (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) matured and the real interest rates hit, people started defaulting. I am so glad that 1) I got a fixed rate mortgage (and refi'd when the rates dropped again) and 2) bought only the house size we needed. It may be small by most people's standards (1650 sq ft), but it is enough for two adults and 2 dogs.
I wonder how many more banks will need outside help before this is all over? And is it really good to have a financial institution partially owned by foreign investors?
Monday, January 14, 2008
Grilled Cheese Sammiches
SoBo came over on Saturday to have lunch with us. As I previously blogged, he wanted grilled cheese sandwichs since he had not had a good one in 2 years. We gladly obliged him.
I started that day off by doing a little Geocaching, picking up a couple that I had whiffed on in the past and grabbing a new one that had been placed in the area. I tried for a couple more, but I could not find part of the puzzle for one and the other I fell very sure has been muggled.
Since SoBo was coming over at noon, I had to cut my trip short, so I came home and waited for him. My wife got home a few minutes after I did and I helped her unload the groceries from the van. SoBo called after the van had been unloaded and told us he would be over in a few minutes.
SoBo and my wife ate grilled cheese while I ate some fish tacos that needed to be eaten before they went bad. For dessert we had SoBo's (and my wife's) favorite, cheesecake. That only added to his satisfaction. He stayed for a while (1.5 horus) and then left to go take care of things he needed to do before he returns to the east coast.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house. It is not my favorite past time but it needed done.
Sunday after church, SoBo met us at The Macaroni Grill for lunch. It had been a while since we had been there and we looked forward to eating some fresh Italian food while chattting SoBo. Unfortunately, the service was well below what we are used to and the food was only so-so. I was not even in the mood for Tiramisu!
After chatting with SoBo for a while longer, we went outside. We chatted a few more minutes then he gave me a hug good bye. I would not get a chance to see him again until I travel to WV this summer. Hopefully he will have his own place by then.
After lunch I contemplated going out and doing a couple of hours worth of geocaching, but I decided against it. Instead I stayed home and washed up a small mountain of dishes and read. I lead such an exciting life.
* By the way, SoBo is just short for "Soldier Boy". I do not use real names in my blog, only nicks and aliases.
I started that day off by doing a little Geocaching, picking up a couple that I had whiffed on in the past and grabbing a new one that had been placed in the area. I tried for a couple more, but I could not find part of the puzzle for one and the other I fell very sure has been muggled.
Since SoBo was coming over at noon, I had to cut my trip short, so I came home and waited for him. My wife got home a few minutes after I did and I helped her unload the groceries from the van. SoBo called after the van had been unloaded and told us he would be over in a few minutes.
SoBo and my wife ate grilled cheese while I ate some fish tacos that needed to be eaten before they went bad. For dessert we had SoBo's (and my wife's) favorite, cheesecake. That only added to his satisfaction. He stayed for a while (1.5 horus) and then left to go take care of things he needed to do before he returns to the east coast.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house. It is not my favorite past time but it needed done.
Sunday after church, SoBo met us at The Macaroni Grill for lunch. It had been a while since we had been there and we looked forward to eating some fresh Italian food while chattting SoBo. Unfortunately, the service was well below what we are used to and the food was only so-so. I was not even in the mood for Tiramisu!
After chatting with SoBo for a while longer, we went outside. We chatted a few more minutes then he gave me a hug good bye. I would not get a chance to see him again until I travel to WV this summer. Hopefully he will have his own place by then.
After lunch I contemplated going out and doing a couple of hours worth of geocaching, but I decided against it. Instead I stayed home and washed up a small mountain of dishes and read. I lead such an exciting life.
* By the way, SoBo is just short for "Soldier Boy". I do not use real names in my blog, only nicks and aliases.
Why Even Bother Moving?
Again I read the news and become frustrated and confused. The Guardian (A UK newspaper) is reporting on yet another honor killing.
Honor killings, if you are unfamiliar with them is the process of killing females for disgracing the family. This horrible practice is barbaric and yet it is still practiced by SOME "radical" Muslims today. There have been a couple of high profile news articles on it in the past few months, one in Canada and the other in my neck of the woods, Texas. Both stories were similar. The girls were becoming too "westernized" and were beginning to slip away from the ways the family practiced. All three girls that were killed had non-Muslim boyfriends and wore non-traditional western clothing outside the home. This infuriated the fathers who in turn killed the girls. In the Canadian case, the girl was held down why the father strangled her. In the Texas case, the father shot both daughters and then fled.
My simple question to you all: If you do not want to assimilate to western ways, WHY MOVE THERE?
By the way, if you want to keep up to date with many of the atrocities that radical Islam perpetrates, read, "The Religion of Peace", also know as TRoP. If you do, you will see that I am not as crazy as some think I am.
Honor killings, if you are unfamiliar with them is the process of killing females for disgracing the family. This horrible practice is barbaric and yet it is still practiced by SOME "radical" Muslims today. There have been a couple of high profile news articles on it in the past few months, one in Canada and the other in my neck of the woods, Texas. Both stories were similar. The girls were becoming too "westernized" and were beginning to slip away from the ways the family practiced. All three girls that were killed had non-Muslim boyfriends and wore non-traditional western clothing outside the home. This infuriated the fathers who in turn killed the girls. In the Canadian case, the girl was held down why the father strangled her. In the Texas case, the father shot both daughters and then fled.
My simple question to you all: If you do not want to assimilate to western ways, WHY MOVE THERE?
By the way, if you want to keep up to date with many of the atrocities that radical Islam perpetrates, read, "The Religion of Peace", also know as TRoP. If you do, you will see that I am not as crazy as some think I am.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Meeting With A Soldier (updated)
Our son came back from Kuwait around Thanksgiving time but this week was the first we have been able to see him. He moved to Maryland to live with his bio-mom. Some part of me uspset about that but I have to remember that he needs to spread his wings and live his own life.
Soldier Boy had coffee with my wife on Monday and the next day we went out for a gourmet burger (that is what he said he wanted) and chatted for a couple of hours while we enjoyed the food. On the way there, my wife and I decided not to bring up anything about SoBo living with his mom or anything about family or pet health. My wife said that health conversations tended to bring Sobo down. I agreed.
When we got to Scotty P's, we ordered and SoBo tried to pay but I refused his offer. While we waited for our food, we talked and after the meal was over, he began to open up a bit more.
He began to describe life with his mom. While he was not derogatory, the picture he painted was a sad one. It appears that his mother does not work, not that she has too, but if you are going to be home all day you should have more than the TV to keep you occupied.
I got the impressions that she was trying to win SoBo over by doing little things for him. I guess this is natural since he has not been in her life for 16 years, but the way SoBo described it just sounded so sad. "I really hate that mom is home alone while I am down here finalizing things and visiting." I asked him why he felt bad. Was her husband gone? No he was just working his normal hours. I think she is suffering from depression.
My ex-wife, (SoBo's mom) has had five kids (Sobo, his older sister (who has 2 kids of her own and one on the way), the twins, and another boy) by 4 different men and has been married 3 times. She lost custody of SoBo and his sister 17 years ago and lost custody of her other three children some time later (most likely within the past 7-10 years). It really is sad. I honestly feel quite sorry for her.
Since SoBo brought up his mom and had been carrying the conversation so far, I asked rather innocuous questions and soon found out that she still harbored very negative feelings towards me. Now I am not denying her right to be hurt or even mad at my part of our failed marriage, but to be bitter after 16 years is just a bit much.
SoBo had told her about some of the things in my life that are new and good (my faith, good marriage, etc) but she kept bringing up things that were no longer relevant. "Your dad used to Play D&D, he had a Satanic book (The Necronomicon), etc." Her only real complaints were from our first two years of our five year marriage. Needless to say we both did pretty mean and stupid things, but my mean and stupid stopped (as far as I can remember) after the first two years. Hers went on the entire five years.
I will admit, I was a lousy husband and I made a lot of mistakes, but I made sure that I did not continue living a destructive lifestyle. Accepting Jesus Christ changed all that. The problem? My ex-wife (SoBo's mom) cannot accept that. She is still stuck in the past when it comes to me, more specifically the first two years together.
I have tried to open up dialog with her to tell her that I am sorry for my part in our failed marriage. I was told that she had replied to the e-mail that was sent regarding this, but I never got it. Maybe it is a good thing that I did not.
Sobo went out of his way to compliment mis mom's current husband. He told me that her husband is intelligent and very patient...something that she needed. He also runs the house, but not in an authoritative way. Looking back (hindsight is always 20/20) that is exactly what my ex-wife needed. She needed a man to be in charge and take responsibility. That is something that I failed at until about 4 years ago.
Our son seemed a bit hurt that his mom is still stuck in the past, so I changed subject and we continued on discussing his plans for the future. He slipped back into talking about his mom a couple of times so we just kept it light. It is sad that he has to carry this baggage. It is hard to accept that I am 50% of the reason he has the issues he has. I was not a strong man when he was younger and that is what he and his mom both needed.
What is really quite interesting is that I have rarely thought about my ex until God placed it on my heart to ask her for forgiveness for the things that I did to undermine our marriage. And I am sure she would not be in my mind at all if SoBo was not living with her and talking about her when we see him.
I guess if there are any men out are reading this who are not the leaders of their household, then take my advice and be the strong dependable man your wife expects you to be.
The next day our son stopped by to drop off stuff my wife could recycle and chatted a bit more. He told us we would see him before he went back to the East coast. I hope we do. I have not heard from him since Wednesday, but he asked if he could come over and have lunch with us Saturday. We asked him where he wanted to go and he asked my wife if she would cook for him. "Sure!" she exclaimed, "what do you want?"
"Grilled cheese sandwiches." he replied. "I have not had a real good grilled cheese in at least 18 months."
Grilled cheese it is.
Soldier Boy had coffee with my wife on Monday and the next day we went out for a gourmet burger (that is what he said he wanted) and chatted for a couple of hours while we enjoyed the food. On the way there, my wife and I decided not to bring up anything about SoBo living with his mom or anything about family or pet health. My wife said that health conversations tended to bring Sobo down. I agreed.
When we got to Scotty P's, we ordered and SoBo tried to pay but I refused his offer. While we waited for our food, we talked and after the meal was over, he began to open up a bit more.
He began to describe life with his mom. While he was not derogatory, the picture he painted was a sad one. It appears that his mother does not work, not that she has too, but if you are going to be home all day you should have more than the TV to keep you occupied.
I got the impressions that she was trying to win SoBo over by doing little things for him. I guess this is natural since he has not been in her life for 16 years, but the way SoBo described it just sounded so sad. "I really hate that mom is home alone while I am down here finalizing things and visiting." I asked him why he felt bad. Was her husband gone? No he was just working his normal hours. I think she is suffering from depression.
My ex-wife, (SoBo's mom) has had five kids (Sobo, his older sister (who has 2 kids of her own and one on the way), the twins, and another boy) by 4 different men and has been married 3 times. She lost custody of SoBo and his sister 17 years ago and lost custody of her other three children some time later (most likely within the past 7-10 years). It really is sad. I honestly feel quite sorry for her.
Since SoBo brought up his mom and had been carrying the conversation so far, I asked rather innocuous questions and soon found out that she still harbored very negative feelings towards me. Now I am not denying her right to be hurt or even mad at my part of our failed marriage, but to be bitter after 16 years is just a bit much.
SoBo had told her about some of the things in my life that are new and good (my faith, good marriage, etc) but she kept bringing up things that were no longer relevant. "Your dad used to Play D&D, he had a Satanic book (The Necronomicon), etc." Her only real complaints were from our first two years of our five year marriage. Needless to say we both did pretty mean and stupid things, but my mean and stupid stopped (as far as I can remember) after the first two years. Hers went on the entire five years.
I will admit, I was a lousy husband and I made a lot of mistakes, but I made sure that I did not continue living a destructive lifestyle. Accepting Jesus Christ changed all that. The problem? My ex-wife (SoBo's mom) cannot accept that. She is still stuck in the past when it comes to me, more specifically the first two years together.
I have tried to open up dialog with her to tell her that I am sorry for my part in our failed marriage. I was told that she had replied to the e-mail that was sent regarding this, but I never got it. Maybe it is a good thing that I did not.
Sobo went out of his way to compliment mis mom's current husband. He told me that her husband is intelligent and very patient...something that she needed. He also runs the house, but not in an authoritative way. Looking back (hindsight is always 20/20) that is exactly what my ex-wife needed. She needed a man to be in charge and take responsibility. That is something that I failed at until about 4 years ago.
Our son seemed a bit hurt that his mom is still stuck in the past, so I changed subject and we continued on discussing his plans for the future. He slipped back into talking about his mom a couple of times so we just kept it light. It is sad that he has to carry this baggage. It is hard to accept that I am 50% of the reason he has the issues he has. I was not a strong man when he was younger and that is what he and his mom both needed.
What is really quite interesting is that I have rarely thought about my ex until God placed it on my heart to ask her for forgiveness for the things that I did to undermine our marriage. And I am sure she would not be in my mind at all if SoBo was not living with her and talking about her when we see him.
I guess if there are any men out are reading this who are not the leaders of their household, then take my advice and be the strong dependable man your wife expects you to be.
The next day our son stopped by to drop off stuff my wife could recycle and chatted a bit more. He told us we would see him before he went back to the East coast. I hope we do. I have not heard from him since Wednesday, but he asked if he could come over and have lunch with us Saturday. We asked him where he wanted to go and he asked my wife if she would cook for him. "Sure!" she exclaimed, "what do you want?"
"Grilled cheese sandwiches." he replied. "I have not had a real good grilled cheese in at least 18 months."
Grilled cheese it is.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
House Arrest
I am on my last night of house arrest (that is what my wife and I call on call) and I am glad that at least the weekend has been (mostly) quiet.On Monday I only had one call and it was in regards to an issue that was already being worked on. Tuesday was a holiday but I still was on call. It was quiet. Wednesday I went in to the office for the first time in almost two weeks. It felt a little weird and I was still trying to get over my cold. I only had one important issue (and report) to deal with but there were a few calls that had to be fielded.
On Thursday there was a few more calls but it was the afternoon that was busy. It quieted down enough that I could go to the city council meeting that night.
Friday I did not feel great so I worked from home. I was busy all day and to make matters worse, I was unable to log on to the customer VPN from home. While I was able to do most of my work (I could still connect to our VPN), I had to rely on others to help with the other part. I hate relying on people to do my work.
The work on Friday never seemed to stop. At one point I had 4 open issues I was dealing with and the phone kept ringing. Finally by Friday night at 10:00, things calmed down.
I got up Saturday and went to our men's breakfast at church to listen to a local soldier returning from Iraq speak. I honestly did not think the message was appropriate but that is just my opinion.
After the breakfast was over I came home and cleaned the house and ate lunch. After lunch I picked around a while then decided to pick up a cache or two that were new (and close). While working on the first one I was called but due to traffic noise (it was close to a busy road) I missed the call. Luckily, the agent who called left a very detailed message. While it was not a case I would handle, I praised the guy for being thorough.
Once I handled that issue, I thought about going back out but decided against it. I ate dinner with my wife and watch a the last few episodes of "Heroes". I cannot wait for chapter 3!
Today was very typical with Sunday School, church, and lunch with my wife. I got home and changed clothes and kicked around the idea of going out after a few caches...mainly the ones I wanted to get the day before. To make a long story short, I went out, had a great time (it was good therapy and I did not get called from work), and got a milestone 200th cache from my favorite cacher, 9key. I took a few pics but I will only share one. It is a novelty cache, but it was pretty well hidden.
I am glad that today is my last night on call. It is really hard on the mind to live at the end of a toll free number 24 x 7 one week a month.
Whine Whine Whine
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Is It Really About "Stuff"?
I have noticed that is is quite popular to brag about the Christmas gifts they received from friends and family. I have caught myself doing it a few times in the past and to be honest, it made me feel pretty bad. I know that we get excited when someone takes the time to buy a very nice (and quite possibly expensive) gift for us...it is natural to do so. However I think we need to step back take a good long hard look at what we do at Christmas and not focus how much we get, but what we give.
If I told you how little we spent on Christmas this year, you would no doubt call me a miser. As a matter of fact, we had one of the smallest (in total cost) Christmases we have ever had. Now I will admit one of the motivators to keep this Christmas "simple" was the desire of both me and me wife to get out of debt. As a matter of fact, our biggest present to each other was paying off the van. Now both of our vehicles are paid for, free and clear.
To be honest, I really wish that my wife and I would not exchange presents at Christmas. While the symbolism is important, proof of my love for my wife (or hers for me) should not be how much we spend, but how much we show it. I think we both received one of the best gifts ever this year. I was home for more than a week (some of it was vacation, some holiday, some work from home) and we did not lose our tempers at all...and that did not cost us a dime. We were around each other most of each day and not a cross word was spoken. Housework was divvied up fairly, we both cleaned and washed dishes (I even dusted two rooms in addition to vacuuming part of the house), and dog duties were split so I was not the only one to feed and walk them. Again...it cost us nothing.
My wife and I both come from humble beginnings but enjoy nice things. We have however, realized that the love of nice things can get you in serious trouble. We are not blessed with great wealth (I support our family with my modest income) but we are in a home (10 years old, 3 when we bought it), have two paid off vehicles, and have limited debt (we still owe on two knee surgeries for our Golden). For that we are thankful.
With that being said, I would like to "spoil" my wife a little if I could afford it but both me and my wife know that we need to take care of our debt first. But why does it have to be at Christmas and why does it have to be a competition? My wife said something a few years ago that floored me. She would rather buy things for each other all year long as they go on sale/as we can afford them then buy them near the holidays and get them all at once. Oh sure, I still want to get my wife a laptop and I would love to get a GPSr so I would not have to keep borrowing one, but God will give us the resources when it is time. He has been good to us even when we have not been good stewards in the past and now that we are being good stewards, he will honor that commitment we have made to him.
I do not want you to think I am against having nice things...I am not. However I think we get out of balance when it comes to Christmas. My father was a very generous man who gave his family a lot even though he had very little. He often worked overtime and side jobs to be able to get the little things he wanted his family to have. While I would certainly do the same, I also realize that I cannot overextend myself carelessly.
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.
If I told you how little we spent on Christmas this year, you would no doubt call me a miser. As a matter of fact, we had one of the smallest (in total cost) Christmases we have ever had. Now I will admit one of the motivators to keep this Christmas "simple" was the desire of both me and me wife to get out of debt. As a matter of fact, our biggest present to each other was paying off the van. Now both of our vehicles are paid for, free and clear.
To be honest, I really wish that my wife and I would not exchange presents at Christmas. While the symbolism is important, proof of my love for my wife (or hers for me) should not be how much we spend, but how much we show it. I think we both received one of the best gifts ever this year. I was home for more than a week (some of it was vacation, some holiday, some work from home) and we did not lose our tempers at all...and that did not cost us a dime. We were around each other most of each day and not a cross word was spoken. Housework was divvied up fairly, we both cleaned and washed dishes (I even dusted two rooms in addition to vacuuming part of the house), and dog duties were split so I was not the only one to feed and walk them. Again...it cost us nothing.
My wife and I both come from humble beginnings but enjoy nice things. We have however, realized that the love of nice things can get you in serious trouble. We are not blessed with great wealth (I support our family with my modest income) but we are in a home (10 years old, 3 when we bought it), have two paid off vehicles, and have limited debt (we still owe on two knee surgeries for our Golden). For that we are thankful.
With that being said, I would like to "spoil" my wife a little if I could afford it but both me and my wife know that we need to take care of our debt first. But why does it have to be at Christmas and why does it have to be a competition? My wife said something a few years ago that floored me. She would rather buy things for each other all year long as they go on sale/as we can afford them then buy them near the holidays and get them all at once. Oh sure, I still want to get my wife a laptop and I would love to get a GPSr so I would not have to keep borrowing one, but God will give us the resources when it is time. He has been good to us even when we have not been good stewards in the past and now that we are being good stewards, he will honor that commitment we have made to him.
I do not want you to think I am against having nice things...I am not. However I think we get out of balance when it comes to Christmas. My father was a very generous man who gave his family a lot even though he had very little. He often worked overtime and side jobs to be able to get the little things he wanted his family to have. While I would certainly do the same, I also realize that I cannot overextend myself carelessly.
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year
All is quiet on New Years Day (queue U2 music...)
A couple of days since my last post and not much has changed.
Health: My cold has settled in my chest and I feel so-so. I also ache from a bad tumble I took while Geocaching solo on Sunday afternoon in Richardson. I am a little sore but nothing is broken...not even the borrowed GPS that hit very hard on the rocks.
Work: I am on call this week, starting yesterday. I had one call (last night) but it was for an open global issue. I think I am on call for today but I am not sure so I am just staying home...not that I feel like doing much anyway. God knows I will be busy enough tomorrow and beyond!
Geocaching: I missed my goal of 200 caches by the end of the year. I ended up with 191...9 short of my goal. It is still more than 60 a month (I started late September) or almost 3 a day. Not too shabby. I had planned on caching with 9key on Sunday but his family time needed to come first...something I fully understand. Plus he is a football fan and the Cowboys were playing.
Weather: is about normal for this time of year here in Texas, albeit a bit cooler. That should change by Friday when it moves up around 60 and Saturday when it will be close to 70. No rain forecast for about a week.
Not much more to blog about. I have a lot of things that need to be done but to be honest I am not motivated to do them. I am not sure I ever will.
A couple of days since my last post and not much has changed.
Health: My cold has settled in my chest and I feel so-so. I also ache from a bad tumble I took while Geocaching solo on Sunday afternoon in Richardson. I am a little sore but nothing is broken...not even the borrowed GPS that hit very hard on the rocks.
Work: I am on call this week, starting yesterday. I had one call (last night) but it was for an open global issue. I think I am on call for today but I am not sure so I am just staying home...not that I feel like doing much anyway. God knows I will be busy enough tomorrow and beyond!
Geocaching: I missed my goal of 200 caches by the end of the year. I ended up with 191...9 short of my goal. It is still more than 60 a month (I started late September) or almost 3 a day. Not too shabby. I had planned on caching with 9key on Sunday but his family time needed to come first...something I fully understand. Plus he is a football fan and the Cowboys were playing.
Weather: is about normal for this time of year here in Texas, albeit a bit cooler. That should change by Friday when it moves up around 60 and Saturday when it will be close to 70. No rain forecast for about a week.
Not much more to blog about. I have a lot of things that need to be done but to be honest I am not motivated to do them. I am not sure I ever will.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
How You Doin?
I would have liked to have posted more, but I have not had much to post about. Wednesday it rained pretty much all day, so we did very little...certainly no geocaching. We watched some TV (we finished up "Heroes" season 1 and started season two yesterday) and cooked/cleaned up, but mostly we rested.
On Thursday, I was stir crazy so my wife let me go out geocaching while she we shopping with the gift cards she received for Christmas (she got some good bargains, but selection was unusually poor this year. I guess the retailers did better than they thought. Of course she spent some of it on me but that is just how she is. She has fun shopping no matter who she is buying for.
My geocaching adventure spanned 6 hours but only netted me 5 caches. The reason for that was I went after several hard ones and spent quite a bit of time trying to get to some of them...I was on the wrong side of the creek a lot of the time. I managed to get 5 of 7 I went after, which is not too bad. One of them was a terracache, my first ever. Terracaching is just like geocaching but instead of "park and grabs", terracaches will require at least 1/2 of a mile of walking or be very technical in nature. The one I found was on a trestle along an abandoned rail line. It was hidden very well...much better than I would have expected. There was a geocache there as well, but I could not find it. The geocache was rated a 4.5 stars on difficulty because most GPSr's cannot lock on to a signal with that much steel above them. That and the hide is a micro and while I think I understand what it is, I need to go back to see if I am right.
Friday, my last official day of vacation before the weekend, I did not go out geocaching, even though my wife told me she did not mind. Instead, I dusted and vacuumed the living room and dining room. We had not dusted in a while and since my wife had dust some and vacuumed half the house the day before I figured I could do my part...so I did. Out side of goofing off on the web, watching a little TV and eating, the only other thing that was done constructive was that I caught up on my work e-mail (which reminds me I need to do a little work today...I have a report I need to write).
I contacted one of the local geocaching gurus and we agreed to go and do a little caching in a Richardson park tomorrow after we get out of church and finish with lunch. My wife thought it was a great idea. While we will not have a lot of daylight to work with (3-4 hours tops) I should be able to get a few caches in.
Tonight we are going to Mickey and Mary's for dinner. Bob and Christi will be there as well as Bob's son Rick. While we are not close to Bob and Christi, the evening should be fun, none the less.
I am not sure what all I need to do today since a lot of the house work has bee completed, so I need to ask my wife before I get involved too much with anything.
I had failed to mention that on Thursday when I went to bed, I thought for sure I was coming down with the flu. I felt terrible but after a good nights sleep, I woke up feeling great. Now I still have some chest congestion, but overall I feel great.
How are you doin?
On Thursday, I was stir crazy so my wife let me go out geocaching while she we shopping with the gift cards she received for Christmas (she got some good bargains, but selection was unusually poor this year. I guess the retailers did better than they thought. Of course she spent some of it on me but that is just how she is. She has fun shopping no matter who she is buying for.
My geocaching adventure spanned 6 hours but only netted me 5 caches. The reason for that was I went after several hard ones and spent quite a bit of time trying to get to some of them...I was on the wrong side of the creek a lot of the time. I managed to get 5 of 7 I went after, which is not too bad. One of them was a terracache, my first ever. Terracaching is just like geocaching but instead of "park and grabs", terracaches will require at least 1/2 of a mile of walking or be very technical in nature. The one I found was on a trestle along an abandoned rail line. It was hidden very well...much better than I would have expected. There was a geocache there as well, but I could not find it. The geocache was rated a 4.5 stars on difficulty because most GPSr's cannot lock on to a signal with that much steel above them. That and the hide is a micro and while I think I understand what it is, I need to go back to see if I am right.
Friday, my last official day of vacation before the weekend, I did not go out geocaching, even though my wife told me she did not mind. Instead, I dusted and vacuumed the living room and dining room. We had not dusted in a while and since my wife had dust some and vacuumed half the house the day before I figured I could do my part...so I did. Out side of goofing off on the web, watching a little TV and eating, the only other thing that was done constructive was that I caught up on my work e-mail (which reminds me I need to do a little work today...I have a report I need to write).
I contacted one of the local geocaching gurus and we agreed to go and do a little caching in a Richardson park tomorrow after we get out of church and finish with lunch. My wife thought it was a great idea. While we will not have a lot of daylight to work with (3-4 hours tops) I should be able to get a few caches in.
Tonight we are going to Mickey and Mary's for dinner. Bob and Christi will be there as well as Bob's son Rick. While we are not close to Bob and Christi, the evening should be fun, none the less.
I am not sure what all I need to do today since a lot of the house work has bee completed, so I need to ask my wife before I get involved too much with anything.
I had failed to mention that on Thursday when I went to bed, I thought for sure I was coming down with the flu. I felt terrible but after a good nights sleep, I woke up feeling great. Now I still have some chest congestion, but overall I feel great.
How are you doin?
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Out Of The Loop
It has been almost a week since my last update (this feels like confession!) and while I really do not have an excuse, I will just blame it on the Christmas season like everyone else does ;) .
Let's start with work. My colleague called off Wed-Fri last week, allowing me the honor of working by myself. I felt kinda bad for him since he found out he had a sinus infection...he was in real pain and work was not possible. I was glad for my sake it was slow.
On Friday I received my yearly review, which could be summed up with, "You are a great employee, we have big plans for you and $Colleague, but we have no real money to offer you...maybe we can work on comp time instead."
I need not remind you that my company had a fantastic year but my division was pulled down (supposedly) by one account (ours did very well) and getting a bonus that was less than the one my wife (who used to work part time for a small roofing company) got. My bonus was less than half of one weeks take home pay...yes, my bonus was 1/8 of my monthly take home pay.
When I asked about real raises (we tend to get them every other year and we got one last year), my boss said he would not know until February or so...they tend to show up in March. Now in March we lose our on call pay, but gain 2 percent as compensation. If we qualified for a raise then it would be on top of that. I will not hold my breath. The guy who told me about the bonuses was dead on in regards to the amount and he told me our raises would be less than 1 percent. At least we get something. Other than that bit of news, my review was very shiny.
Moving on to Christmas...I finished my shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. I felt like I cheated my wife (I had plans to get her a Wii and a laptop) but lack of a real bonus shot that plan out of the sky. We settled on meager gifts for each other this year...mostly clothing and gift cards. It has been a while since I have spoiled my wife at Christmas.
There was a service on Christmas eve at our church that went well. I had a small reading to do as well as a prayer (my wife had one as well) and overall the service went well. During the candle lighting service at the end, my candle kept going out and I had to keep getting it relit...somewhat humorous although it was not meant to be.
My wife and I opened gifts Christmas Day around 10 AM or so. We were both up much earlier and she was dying to give me my gifts (I had a Geocaching Christmas) so after a few hours of her looking a bit down, I agreed to open gifts.
After the gifts had been opened and the wrapping paper/boxes cleaned up (recycling what we could, trashing the rest) we fixed lunch. The hardest part of cooking lunch was already done...the turkey was already done (my wife started it at 4 AM) we just through together some sides (it was just me and her for lunch) and enjoyed the meal. We had a great lunch together.
After lunch we got dressed and put in a few hours of Geocaching, collecting some stragglers I had missed in the past. Many of these were not hard, but took patience and one even had me climbing a cedar tree about 20+ feet. I dropped the lid to it and since my wife was with me, she was able to retrieve it and keep me from climbing all the way down to get it. All in all we nabbed 7 and did not whiff on any of them. I even found the oldest active cache in our town, although it took a while...even in the winter the overgrowth made it difficult to spot.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning up, eating a light dinner (salad) with more pecan pie for dessert. Once that was done, I walked the dogs and settled in with my wife to watch 3 more episodes of "Heroes". Two more to watch and season one will be complete.
I am off all this week but I will be working next week solo while my colleague takes his vacation. I think he got the better end of the bargain, but I am not going to complain. I will get to see how well I can handle working a busy week on my own. Look on the bright side...I have only 4 months to go until vacation!
Let's start with work. My colleague called off Wed-Fri last week, allowing me the honor of working by myself. I felt kinda bad for him since he found out he had a sinus infection...he was in real pain and work was not possible. I was glad for my sake it was slow.
On Friday I received my yearly review, which could be summed up with, "You are a great employee, we have big plans for you and $Colleague, but we have no real money to offer you...maybe we can work on comp time instead."
I need not remind you that my company had a fantastic year but my division was pulled down (supposedly) by one account (ours did very well) and getting a bonus that was less than the one my wife (who used to work part time for a small roofing company) got. My bonus was less than half of one weeks take home pay...yes, my bonus was 1/8 of my monthly take home pay.
When I asked about real raises (we tend to get them every other year and we got one last year), my boss said he would not know until February or so...they tend to show up in March. Now in March we lose our on call pay, but gain 2 percent as compensation. If we qualified for a raise then it would be on top of that. I will not hold my breath. The guy who told me about the bonuses was dead on in regards to the amount and he told me our raises would be less than 1 percent. At least we get something. Other than that bit of news, my review was very shiny.
Moving on to Christmas...I finished my shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. I felt like I cheated my wife (I had plans to get her a Wii and a laptop) but lack of a real bonus shot that plan out of the sky. We settled on meager gifts for each other this year...mostly clothing and gift cards. It has been a while since I have spoiled my wife at Christmas.
There was a service on Christmas eve at our church that went well. I had a small reading to do as well as a prayer (my wife had one as well) and overall the service went well. During the candle lighting service at the end, my candle kept going out and I had to keep getting it relit...somewhat humorous although it was not meant to be.
My wife and I opened gifts Christmas Day around 10 AM or so. We were both up much earlier and she was dying to give me my gifts (I had a Geocaching Christmas) so after a few hours of her looking a bit down, I agreed to open gifts.
After the gifts had been opened and the wrapping paper/boxes cleaned up (recycling what we could, trashing the rest) we fixed lunch. The hardest part of cooking lunch was already done...the turkey was already done (my wife started it at 4 AM) we just through together some sides (it was just me and her for lunch) and enjoyed the meal. We had a great lunch together.
After lunch we got dressed and put in a few hours of Geocaching, collecting some stragglers I had missed in the past. Many of these were not hard, but took patience and one even had me climbing a cedar tree about 20+ feet. I dropped the lid to it and since my wife was with me, she was able to retrieve it and keep me from climbing all the way down to get it. All in all we nabbed 7 and did not whiff on any of them. I even found the oldest active cache in our town, although it took a while...even in the winter the overgrowth made it difficult to spot.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning up, eating a light dinner (salad) with more pecan pie for dessert. Once that was done, I walked the dogs and settled in with my wife to watch 3 more episodes of "Heroes". Two more to watch and season one will be complete.
I am off all this week but I will be working next week solo while my colleague takes his vacation. I think he got the better end of the bargain, but I am not going to complain. I will get to see how well I can handle working a busy week on my own. Look on the bright side...I have only 4 months to go until vacation!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Pattern Forming?
Not only does the lack of cold weather and snow keep it from feeling like Christmas, but the inability to join the other people at an off site Christmas party held during business hours does not help matters any. I think I have been to about half of the Christmas parties they have thrown for us over the past 6 years I have been in Texas.
My wife is right...I need a new job.
My wife is right...I need a new job.
Oh Well
Day two of my colleague being out sick...he has a sinus infection. He had been coughing (a dry raspy cough) on Monday, so I told him to leave early. Yesterday he called me while I was on the way to work (I usually show up early) to let me know. It was not busy at all, however we had one issue come up 1 hour before I left that I had to hand over to this weeks on call grunt (He is in Brazil) and another came up after handover. There were problems with both, but I think we have them all straightened out. Thankfully Wednesdays are historically slow days. If the averages hold true, I should have 1 or 2 issues to deal with today.
One drawback to my colleague begin out is that I cannot report the extra time I am working into our time entry system. They closed it out on the 18th and we cannot make any changes to it. Any changes I make will be after the fact and may not even be allowed. I know it does not affect my pay, but I like to be as accurate as possible.
With my colleague being out, I am pretty much stuck in the office all day. 9-10 hours is a long time to be siting at your desk and not being able to go to lunch or take a real break. Cry me a river, El Gee...cry me a river.
I have not been geocaching in a while. I have been on call or the weather has not been cooperative. I was hoping to do some Saturday, but it looks like God has other plans...it is supposed to rain. I guess he really wants me to finish cleaning my office at home.
We still have not sent out any Christmas cards. My wife wanted to do them last weekend but something got in the way and we did not do them. We have gotten 20 or so...pretty much our average. My wife sends out 3 times that number each and every year...many to people who do not reciprocate or even write us e-mails. Normally I will send out an e-letter to everyone a week or so before Christmas, but this year I just have not been motivated to do so. Even if I did try, I am not sure what I would write.
I noticed that the last two van payments cleared the bank on the 18th. I had one scheduled for the 14th and one for the 17th. Odd how they both cleared on the same day. With that, the van is paid for. We now only owe on 2 knee surgeries for our dog and our house. With God's blessing, we can have the surgeries paid off in 2007. Doing so means paying a lot of money each month (two dog knees cost about the same as an average used car) but I am so tired of debt I am willing to suffer a while longer (we have been paying a lot of money on debt the past year or so) just to get out. I still plan, however to take a real vacation again. So far, the past 4 or so have all been in cash. If we are blessed even more, I can go visit my mom during 2008 in WV and not cut so many corners, like I have been the past 2 years.
One drawback to my colleague begin out is that I cannot report the extra time I am working into our time entry system. They closed it out on the 18th and we cannot make any changes to it. Any changes I make will be after the fact and may not even be allowed. I know it does not affect my pay, but I like to be as accurate as possible.
With my colleague being out, I am pretty much stuck in the office all day. 9-10 hours is a long time to be siting at your desk and not being able to go to lunch or take a real break. Cry me a river, El Gee...cry me a river.
I have not been geocaching in a while. I have been on call or the weather has not been cooperative. I was hoping to do some Saturday, but it looks like God has other plans...it is supposed to rain. I guess he really wants me to finish cleaning my office at home.
We still have not sent out any Christmas cards. My wife wanted to do them last weekend but something got in the way and we did not do them. We have gotten 20 or so...pretty much our average. My wife sends out 3 times that number each and every year...many to people who do not reciprocate or even write us e-mails. Normally I will send out an e-letter to everyone a week or so before Christmas, but this year I just have not been motivated to do so. Even if I did try, I am not sure what I would write.
I noticed that the last two van payments cleared the bank on the 18th. I had one scheduled for the 14th and one for the 17th. Odd how they both cleared on the same day. With that, the van is paid for. We now only owe on 2 knee surgeries for our dog and our house. With God's blessing, we can have the surgeries paid off in 2007. Doing so means paying a lot of money each month (two dog knees cost about the same as an average used car) but I am so tired of debt I am willing to suffer a while longer (we have been paying a lot of money on debt the past year or so) just to get out. I still plan, however to take a real vacation again. So far, the past 4 or so have all been in cash. If we are blessed even more, I can go visit my mom during 2008 in WV and not cut so many corners, like I have been the past 2 years.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Race To The White House
I have not politi-blogged in a while. While some of the news is interesting, I really have not bee compelled to blog about it. However yesterday I did some thinking about our choices for the presidency.
The candidates running frighten me. While I realize that no candidate will be the "ideal" choice for the bulk of America, that candidate should reflect the views (or the majority thereof) of the citizens. Initially I thought I had made up my mind on who I wanted, but lately I am not sure. I also thought I knew what I wanted in a candidate, but again, lately I am not so sure.
My candidate needs to have a tough stance on border/homeland security...that I am positive of. He/she also needs to have a pro-life stance on abortion. The candidate should favor a small government (which less spending supports). Those things are important to me. The candidate should also understand the constitution in regards to religion. While I do not want to see a theocracy, I feel that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values (monotheism, morals, etc) and our laws should reflect that.
Early on I had supported the presidents choice to invade Iraq, but I get the feeling that what we think Iraq needs is not what they think they need. I am not sure the people in that part of the world are ready for a democracy of any kind. They are so used to living under tyranny that they do not know how to deal with real freedom. Should our troops stay there and keep trying or should we turn it all over to the fledgling government and let them deal with it? I am torn.
Our economy is also important to me. I have a small IRA and a larger 401k plan that has lost all of last years gains over the past 2 weeks. These are not bad funds mind you, but ones that historically have grown over the years. It hurts to see my money go poof!
While not a die hard Republican, I have voted Republican in the past (I am a registered Independent) and could vote Republican again if the candidate is right.
Thompson and Romney both looked good for awhile, but lately Huckabee has gained momentum. Guilianni is not even on the radar for me and my wife since he supports a woman's right to choose and we are both pro life.
My wife is leaning towards Huckabee and I am favoring Ron Paul, currently, however I still have a lot of research to do. I do not want to make a blind choice.
The candidates running frighten me. While I realize that no candidate will be the "ideal" choice for the bulk of America, that candidate should reflect the views (or the majority thereof) of the citizens. Initially I thought I had made up my mind on who I wanted, but lately I am not sure. I also thought I knew what I wanted in a candidate, but again, lately I am not so sure.
My candidate needs to have a tough stance on border/homeland security...that I am positive of. He/she also needs to have a pro-life stance on abortion. The candidate should favor a small government (which less spending supports). Those things are important to me. The candidate should also understand the constitution in regards to religion. While I do not want to see a theocracy, I feel that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values (monotheism, morals, etc) and our laws should reflect that.
Early on I had supported the presidents choice to invade Iraq, but I get the feeling that what we think Iraq needs is not what they think they need. I am not sure the people in that part of the world are ready for a democracy of any kind. They are so used to living under tyranny that they do not know how to deal with real freedom. Should our troops stay there and keep trying or should we turn it all over to the fledgling government and let them deal with it? I am torn.
Our economy is also important to me. I have a small IRA and a larger 401k plan that has lost all of last years gains over the past 2 weeks. These are not bad funds mind you, but ones that historically have grown over the years. It hurts to see my money go poof!
While not a die hard Republican, I have voted Republican in the past (I am a registered Independent) and could vote Republican again if the candidate is right.
Thompson and Romney both looked good for awhile, but lately Huckabee has gained momentum. Guilianni is not even on the radar for me and my wife since he supports a woman's right to choose and we are both pro life.
My wife is leaning towards Huckabee and I am favoring Ron Paul, currently, however I still have a lot of research to do. I do not want to make a blind choice.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Typical Monday
The one good thing I can say about yesterday is that it went by quickly. We had five new issues we had to coordinate...all of which occurred before lunch. With all that in the morning, we spent the afternoon "cleaning up", meaning doing all the required paperwork. Look at it like this. I am detective and after the case is solved, I have to send my captain a report. I write the report, post it on an internal web site, create a "ticket" in the report system, link it with the original report. IF any third parties are involved, I have to go one step further and create a report in a separate system they third parties have access to. Depending on how complex the issue, it could take all day to write the reports.
When quitting time rolled around, I handed over the phone line to my relief who works in Brazil. He was happy to hear that nothing was ongoing and that all he had to do was answer the phone if it rang. Once handover was complete, I headed off to Family Christian Bookstore to pick up some last minute gifts for my wife. I am not a good shopper. Nothing looked like something she wanted. I did manage to pickup a few little things for her but nothing substantial other than a gift card.
Traffic was pretty heavy (I left work at 5:00 PM) and the drive to the store plus shopping time and the trip home was almost two hours. We only live 15 miles away and i was only in the store for 45 minutes. I really don't like being out during this time of the year.
I got home, exhausted and was greeted by my wife (who called me as I was en route home) with a hot plate of spaghetti. A salad and some crusty bread would have been nice, but her day was kinda stressful and expecting her to have the perfect meal is a little unfair. I ate what she made, paid her a compliment, and then walked Little Man. By the time I got home and checked e-mail and opened my snail mail, I was exhausted.
When quitting time rolled around, I handed over the phone line to my relief who works in Brazil. He was happy to hear that nothing was ongoing and that all he had to do was answer the phone if it rang. Once handover was complete, I headed off to Family Christian Bookstore to pick up some last minute gifts for my wife. I am not a good shopper. Nothing looked like something she wanted. I did manage to pickup a few little things for her but nothing substantial other than a gift card.
Traffic was pretty heavy (I left work at 5:00 PM) and the drive to the store plus shopping time and the trip home was almost two hours. We only live 15 miles away and i was only in the store for 45 minutes. I really don't like being out during this time of the year.
I got home, exhausted and was greeted by my wife (who called me as I was en route home) with a hot plate of spaghetti. A salad and some crusty bread would have been nice, but her day was kinda stressful and expecting her to have the perfect meal is a little unfair. I ate what she made, paid her a compliment, and then walked Little Man. By the time I got home and checked e-mail and opened my snail mail, I was exhausted.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Looking Forward To Monday
Most people do not like Monday's, but this week I was looking forward to it. Monday means I am off call. The only bad news is I go on call in three weeks instead of four due to a scheduling snafu. Yeah, I am on call the week of New Years (at least I am off the week of Christmas)...the week our customers close the books for the previous year. Any bets on how that week will go?
I got called five or six times this weekend. On Friday night, someone in Canada called (along with three colleagues) stating they could not connect to e-mail. Had the customer read their e-mail, they would have known about the maintenance that was taking place during that time.
On Saturday morning, I go a call regarding a web service that had failed yet again (the fourth time in a week). By the time I was notified, our global team was already working on it, so I was free.
Sunday afternoon and into the evening I was called every few hours regarding e-mail in the US. Had most of these people read their mail, they would have known about the maintenance on the US servers during that time. Only the last call was a valid issue and it was still related to the maintenance (the server needed rebooted). I did get a call from one of the techs telling me DNS was not working properly on the customer domain. At the moment it did not affect customers so I called the tech who handles DNS issues and left him a message. I figured that if I got a customer call I could always follow up with the tech.
I slept well until 1:30 AM when I got up to use the toilet. Once I got up I could not fall asleep for a couple of hours. I had this happen once before a few weeks ago. I was dead by the end of the day.
Since I am not on call, I am very much interested in finalizing my Christmas shopping today if at all possible. It really does not feel like Christmas around our house. We have not decorated in a few years...no tree, lights, wreath...nothing. My wife has taken a very anti-secular stance and does not want to get into all the decorating. I am sure that I could get her to change her mind but I am not sure it is worth the hassle.
I have really enjoyed walking the neighborhood and looking at all the lights. There aer some great displays in our town.
I called mom last night and she informed me that our son, Soldier Boy, had stopped in for a visit. I am glad that he finally made it in to see her. It has been a long time.
I got called five or six times this weekend. On Friday night, someone in Canada called (along with three colleagues) stating they could not connect to e-mail. Had the customer read their e-mail, they would have known about the maintenance that was taking place during that time.
On Saturday morning, I go a call regarding a web service that had failed yet again (the fourth time in a week). By the time I was notified, our global team was already working on it, so I was free.
Sunday afternoon and into the evening I was called every few hours regarding e-mail in the US. Had most of these people read their mail, they would have known about the maintenance on the US servers during that time. Only the last call was a valid issue and it was still related to the maintenance (the server needed rebooted). I did get a call from one of the techs telling me DNS was not working properly on the customer domain. At the moment it did not affect customers so I called the tech who handles DNS issues and left him a message. I figured that if I got a customer call I could always follow up with the tech.
I slept well until 1:30 AM when I got up to use the toilet. Once I got up I could not fall asleep for a couple of hours. I had this happen once before a few weeks ago. I was dead by the end of the day.
Since I am not on call, I am very much interested in finalizing my Christmas shopping today if at all possible. It really does not feel like Christmas around our house. We have not decorated in a few years...no tree, lights, wreath...nothing. My wife has taken a very anti-secular stance and does not want to get into all the decorating. I am sure that I could get her to change her mind but I am not sure it is worth the hassle.
I have really enjoyed walking the neighborhood and looking at all the lights. There aer some great displays in our town.
I called mom last night and she informed me that our son, Soldier Boy, had stopped in for a visit. I am glad that he finally made it in to see her. It has been a long time.
Friday, December 14, 2007
It Will Be A Miracle
Yesterday was quasi-busy for us...quasi because things were slow up until 1 or 2 PM, then we received a trickle of issues that bled over into my night, allowing me the pleasure (smirk) to put in 5 more hours of OT this week (we are up to 12 so far).
The most agonizing of these started around 3 PM or so. Our customer's Corporate IT Team (CITT) called and asked us to raise the priority of a case regarding the time entry system they use which is tied to SAP. One of the modules that calculates vacation has gone wonky and while this is not normally a high sev, we are at the end of the year and all calculations have to be perfect to close the books.
I get the case and investigate. The partner group (major IT provider) who supports this app has a tech (consultant) working on the issue, but they have stopped working because they cannot connect to the DB. Up until last year, DB issues were theirs to deal with, but that now has been passed to us. Instead of CALLING the DB for support, she E-MAILS them and then puts the case into a pending status until she gets and answer. I decide to step in and get a DB and the consultant talking. I set up a confcall and we begin working. She works with the DBA for 10 minutes or so then she says she has to drop off, but she wants me to call her in 5 minutes. I agree. I try to call her several times but no luck. She does not pick up. I ask the DBA to try to call her a couple of times before he leaves and he agrees. Both he a and I are trying to get out of the office. Him to his wife and me so I can be on call the rest of the night.
I get home and take care of the dogs (feed, water, let them out to pee...) and my phone rings...another priority ticket that I need to coordinate. No worries. I get that one started (after logging my laptop onto the VPN and calling the tech working on the issue) and decide to call the consultant from the earlier case. To my surprise she has not even TRIED to log on to the DB. She spends the next 5-10 minutes making excuses on why she has not resolved the case yet. She could not get in touch with the DBA, she was not home (it was 3 :00 AM and she was on call), she can't make international calls...cry me a river, PLEASE. We have had nothing but problems lately with this sort of thing from the thord party provider our customer has chosen to support their software. We cannot blame them because we singed the contract to "manage" IT for our customer no matter who they chose to support them. It makes a hard job...interesting to say the least.
Well anyways, after listening to this consultant from a land far, far away I ripped into her on the merits of cooperating, her lack of dedication, etc and how I was going to file a formal complaint. If I manage to escape getting written up by our management for "unsportsmanlike conduct" then God is really watching out for me. I pulled no punches, stopping short of swearing. I was mad.
A couple of hours later I get confirmation the issue appears to be resolved. I wonder if my temper tamtrum helped or hindered that?
The most agonizing of these started around 3 PM or so. Our customer's Corporate IT Team (CITT) called and asked us to raise the priority of a case regarding the time entry system they use which is tied to SAP. One of the modules that calculates vacation has gone wonky and while this is not normally a high sev, we are at the end of the year and all calculations have to be perfect to close the books.
I get the case and investigate. The partner group (major IT provider) who supports this app has a tech (consultant) working on the issue, but they have stopped working because they cannot connect to the DB. Up until last year, DB issues were theirs to deal with, but that now has been passed to us. Instead of CALLING the DB for support, she E-MAILS them and then puts the case into a pending status until she gets and answer. I decide to step in and get a DB and the consultant talking. I set up a confcall and we begin working. She works with the DBA for 10 minutes or so then she says she has to drop off, but she wants me to call her in 5 minutes. I agree. I try to call her several times but no luck. She does not pick up. I ask the DBA to try to call her a couple of times before he leaves and he agrees. Both he a and I are trying to get out of the office. Him to his wife and me so I can be on call the rest of the night.
I get home and take care of the dogs (feed, water, let them out to pee...) and my phone rings...another priority ticket that I need to coordinate. No worries. I get that one started (after logging my laptop onto the VPN and calling the tech working on the issue) and decide to call the consultant from the earlier case. To my surprise she has not even TRIED to log on to the DB. She spends the next 5-10 minutes making excuses on why she has not resolved the case yet. She could not get in touch with the DBA, she was not home (it was 3 :00 AM and she was on call), she can't make international calls...cry me a river, PLEASE. We have had nothing but problems lately with this sort of thing from the thord party provider our customer has chosen to support their software. We cannot blame them because we singed the contract to "manage" IT for our customer no matter who they chose to support them. It makes a hard job...interesting to say the least.
Well anyways, after listening to this consultant from a land far, far away I ripped into her on the merits of cooperating, her lack of dedication, etc and how I was going to file a formal complaint. If I manage to escape getting written up by our management for "unsportsmanlike conduct" then God is really watching out for me. I pulled no punches, stopping short of swearing. I was mad.
A couple of hours later I get confirmation the issue appears to be resolved. I wonder if my temper tamtrum helped or hindered that?
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Cat Is Out Of The Bag
While this is not official, I can be 95% sure it is accurate (it came from a manager who is rahter upset at the whole issue). Our company bonus this year will be around...$700...before taxes and our annual (smirk) raise will be less than 1%. While I am thankful that we get at least something, I am rather hurt by the fact that the company had a FANTASTIC year...one of the best...and we get this token bonus and pay raise. Now to be fair, I work for a group that is not in the mainstream. The main group will get more but considering that the group I work for was in the red this year, we get very little. I guess it is fair...sort of.
In the 6 years that I have been working in Texas, my salary has gone up 10%. To put that in perspective, let's pretend that I make 40k a year. Now imagine my raises each year for six years to get to $44k a year. Just add that to the list of things that make me feel that my company is looking for ways to get us to quit:
* Vacation accrual capped at 80 hrs per year. I get 160 hours per year. Currently I have 135 hours built up that I cannot possibly use due to the way my dept works. It will be set aside for 2.5 years and if I do not use it in that time (while still accruing the 160 per year) I lose it.
* Pension plan has been terminated. They did raise our 401k plan to match dollar for dollar up to 6%. While it is not as much as my pension, at least it is something.
* On-call pay is being taken away. That premium was 5%. We were told our base pay will go up 2% to help offset the loss. Yeah....2% != 5%.
* The cost of our benefits has gone up again as well as the cost of our deductible.
I am really trying hard not to be bitter, but it is losing battle. The on call part is the most upsetting because my group is one that is pretty visible to the customer we support. We have a hotline that can be called 24x7 that we pick up. We work nights, weekends, and some holidays (we usually trade around). With only two people locally (and two in Latin America), when one person is out, it really puts the rest of the team in a bind. Taking all the time off we have is darn near impossible without causing problems for the other guys.
We are constantly being told to work harder and make a difference on the account we support. My question to mgmt is...if you want to cut what you are offering to us to do the job, why would we work harder for less?
Sorry for the rant, but coupled with a ton of things to do tonight (I am on call...fun) today has not been a party.
In the 6 years that I have been working in Texas, my salary has gone up 10%. To put that in perspective, let's pretend that I make 40k a year. Now imagine my raises each year for six years to get to $44k a year. Just add that to the list of things that make me feel that my company is looking for ways to get us to quit:
* Vacation accrual capped at 80 hrs per year. I get 160 hours per year. Currently I have 135 hours built up that I cannot possibly use due to the way my dept works. It will be set aside for 2.5 years and if I do not use it in that time (while still accruing the 160 per year) I lose it.
* Pension plan has been terminated. They did raise our 401k plan to match dollar for dollar up to 6%. While it is not as much as my pension, at least it is something.
* On-call pay is being taken away. That premium was 5%. We were told our base pay will go up 2% to help offset the loss. Yeah....2% != 5%.
* The cost of our benefits has gone up again as well as the cost of our deductible.
I am really trying hard not to be bitter, but it is losing battle. The on call part is the most upsetting because my group is one that is pretty visible to the customer we support. We have a hotline that can be called 24x7 that we pick up. We work nights, weekends, and some holidays (we usually trade around). With only two people locally (and two in Latin America), when one person is out, it really puts the rest of the team in a bind. Taking all the time off we have is darn near impossible without causing problems for the other guys.
We are constantly being told to work harder and make a difference on the account we support. My question to mgmt is...if you want to cut what you are offering to us to do the job, why would we work harder for less?
Sorry for the rant, but coupled with a ton of things to do tonight (I am on call...fun) today has not been a party.
Confused
I found this reader comment on Michelle Malkins's blog:
"Let me see if I have this straight.
If you name your son Muhammad, but strangle your daughter to death for not wearing a hajib, you’re devout.
If you name a teddy bear Muhammad, you must be jailed, lashed and perhaps beheaded.
I think my head is going to explode. Maybe Rosie O’Donell can explain why Islam is moderate and Christianity is extremist, because I’m lost."
Maybe someone more intelligent than I am (e.g. most of my readers...) can explain this to me. BTW if you do nto read MM's blog, you need to.
On a side note, I received my free copy of the Qur'an the other day from a group in Houston. I was amazed how quickly it arrived. Had this been something I needed from our state or federal government, I would have waited weeks.
The copy I ordered is fro educational purposes. Anytime I find a quote that is referred to I want to look it up and put it in context.
"Let me see if I have this straight.
If you name your son Muhammad, but strangle your daughter to death for not wearing a hajib, you’re devout.
If you name a teddy bear Muhammad, you must be jailed, lashed and perhaps beheaded.
I think my head is going to explode. Maybe Rosie O’Donell can explain why Islam is moderate and Christianity is extremist, because I’m lost."
Maybe someone more intelligent than I am (e.g. most of my readers...) can explain this to me. BTW if you do nto read MM's blog, you need to.
On a side note, I received my free copy of the Qur'an the other day from a group in Houston. I was amazed how quickly it arrived. Had this been something I needed from our state or federal government, I would have waited weeks.
The copy I ordered is fro educational purposes. Anytime I find a quote that is referred to I want to look it up and put it in context.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Cold Winter Dreams
What gives with the Texas weather? 80 degrees one day, 30 the next, 70 the day after, 30's the next. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Monday was a pretty busy day for us. we had seven high severity request...six before 8:30 AM. Usually that many requests coming in have several that are related but according to those who know...that is not the case. I am glad Tuesday was a lot quieter...we only had three requests, which is the normal amount.
I have hidden a couple geocaches in the past 3 days. One is hidden in a park near our house and one is hidden in a park near my work. Both were found the same night they were published. Some grocachers are serious when it comes to being FTF (First To Find). I am glad I am not that addicted.
I am still watching season one of "Heroes". It is not bad...some epi's are better than others but overall I like it. It can be dark, but it is also humorous in places. It has piqued my curiosity enough I will watch season two when I can get it.
I really have not been in a blogging mood so bear with me as I go through this phase. I am sure it will pass.
Monday was a pretty busy day for us. we had seven high severity request...six before 8:30 AM. Usually that many requests coming in have several that are related but according to those who know...that is not the case. I am glad Tuesday was a lot quieter...we only had three requests, which is the normal amount.
I have hidden a couple geocaches in the past 3 days. One is hidden in a park near our house and one is hidden in a park near my work. Both were found the same night they were published. Some grocachers are serious when it comes to being FTF (First To Find). I am glad I am not that addicted.
I am still watching season one of "Heroes". It is not bad...some epi's are better than others but overall I like it. It can be dark, but it is also humorous in places. It has piqued my curiosity enough I will watch season two when I can get it.
I really have not been in a blogging mood so bear with me as I go through this phase. I am sure it will pass.
Monday, December 10, 2007
I Would Like To Blame It On The Holidays...
...but that would be lying. I have not been updating this blog very often (once every 3 days or so) and I guess I am falling down on my duties.
We started off last week at work on a tear...we were busy. By the end of the week it had slacked off and i was looking forward to my last weekend off before I went on call. I actually will go on call again in three weeks instead of four to allow us to take our holiday time off. So I will be on call New Years. I hope that is a good thing.
Saturday the weather started out nice so I did my chores and ate lunch. After lunch my wife and I decided to do a little geocaching. We were out three hours, looked for six caches and found four. Not overly bad but not as good as when I am by myself. However with my wife along, I find a better percentage because she can help me look. As a matter of fact, she found one all by herself (she found stage two by herself and had a good idea about stage one) and helped re-camo some of the others that were found.
On the way home we stopped to get some hamburgers from Scotty P's. They screwed up the order but I ate it anyway. Scotty P's splits their hot dogs and serves them on hamburger buns...first time I had ever seen that. it tasted okay, but since I had hot dogs for lunch, a hamburger would have been better.
Sunday was pretty much the same old same old with the exception of my teaching a one on one discipling class with one of the younger Christians at church. After we made it through the lesson, I cam home and started watching "Heroes". I had the whole season and since I had not seen any of it yet, I wanted to get started. So far I like it.
We started off last week at work on a tear...we were busy. By the end of the week it had slacked off and i was looking forward to my last weekend off before I went on call. I actually will go on call again in three weeks instead of four to allow us to take our holiday time off. So I will be on call New Years. I hope that is a good thing.
Saturday the weather started out nice so I did my chores and ate lunch. After lunch my wife and I decided to do a little geocaching. We were out three hours, looked for six caches and found four. Not overly bad but not as good as when I am by myself. However with my wife along, I find a better percentage because she can help me look. As a matter of fact, she found one all by herself (she found stage two by herself and had a good idea about stage one) and helped re-camo some of the others that were found.
On the way home we stopped to get some hamburgers from Scotty P's. They screwed up the order but I ate it anyway. Scotty P's splits their hot dogs and serves them on hamburger buns...first time I had ever seen that. it tasted okay, but since I had hot dogs for lunch, a hamburger would have been better.
Sunday was pretty much the same old same old with the exception of my teaching a one on one discipling class with one of the younger Christians at church. After we made it through the lesson, I cam home and started watching "Heroes". I had the whole season and since I had not seen any of it yet, I wanted to get started. So far I like it.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Hats Off To Him
A few days ago I noticed an article on our internal we b page that criticized the way HR has been communication the reduction of our benefits and the actual reductions themselves. When I read the article, I immediately thought, "This guy has written what I have been feeling for weeks!" The quote that got me was this:
"...I wonder how much more can be squeezed out of us before the career becomes just a job — and the job is done just according to spec. If my pay and benefits are set by the industry benchmark, should the quantity and quality of the time I spend on the job also be industry-average?"
I took the time to send him an e-mail expressing my thanks to him for doing this . I figured that was the end of it. Boy was I surprised when I got this today after lunch:
"On the BCC: list are the 200+ people from all businesses and regions who wrote me notes over the past two days about the article. I am not “publishing” your names since I want to protect your right to privacy, but a big thank you to all who wrote. Some of your notes were quick thanks, some longer stories of how HR’s messaging and actions have impacted you and your teams, and a few were, sadly, “this is why I’m leaving” notes.
After years for either consulting with or working for large organizations, I was not surprised to hear from the majority of you that you thought writing the note was an act of “courage.” The right to free speech, unencumbered by the fear of retaliation, is an ideal and not a reality. However, my mother’s favorite quote about her son is that “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
Thanks again for your kind words. Keep the faith"
He also sent this message are some of the people he works with at Corporate Communications who have an interest in the article he wrote from a professional perspective.
On the CC: list were the people responsible for running the internal employee sounding off program.
He explains in the e-mail that the note "was written in September, and put in the queue for publication, after I read the August HR note announcing the change in the Layoff Compensation plan, not to be confused with the wonderfully timed Thanksgiving day note announcing more changes in the Layoff Compensation plan."
Amazing? I think so. Over 200 people wrote to him thanking him for speaking out is such a public way and on such a public forum. The other impressive thing is that corporate actually published it. Many companies would have hidden it some place and hoped it blew over.
I think that if this manifested into something that changed the path we are on we should be proud. One man speaks out, 200+ encourage, and history is made.
"...I wonder how much more can be squeezed out of us before the career becomes just a job — and the job is done just according to spec. If my pay and benefits are set by the industry benchmark, should the quantity and quality of the time I spend on the job also be industry-average?"
I took the time to send him an e-mail expressing my thanks to him for doing this . I figured that was the end of it. Boy was I surprised when I got this today after lunch:
"On the BCC: list are the 200+ people from all businesses and regions who wrote me notes over the past two days about the article. I am not “publishing” your names since I want to protect your right to privacy, but a big thank you to all who wrote. Some of your notes were quick thanks, some longer stories of how HR’s messaging and actions have impacted you and your teams, and a few were, sadly, “this is why I’m leaving” notes.
After years for either consulting with or working for large organizations, I was not surprised to hear from the majority of you that you thought writing the note was an act of “courage.” The right to free speech, unencumbered by the fear of retaliation, is an ideal and not a reality. However, my mother’s favorite quote about her son is that “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
Thanks again for your kind words. Keep the faith"
He also sent this message are some of the people he works with at Corporate Communications who have an interest in the article he wrote from a professional perspective.
On the CC: list were the people responsible for running the internal employee sounding off program.
He explains in the e-mail that the note "was written in September, and put in the queue for publication, after I read the August HR note announcing the change in the Layoff Compensation plan, not to be confused with the wonderfully timed Thanksgiving day note announcing more changes in the Layoff Compensation plan."
Amazing? I think so. Over 200 people wrote to him thanking him for speaking out is such a public way and on such a public forum. The other impressive thing is that corporate actually published it. Many companies would have hidden it some place and hoped it blew over.
I think that if this manifested into something that changed the path we are on we should be proud. One man speaks out, 200+ encourage, and history is made.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
It Takes Guts(y)
Recently I reloaded (from scratch) my Ubuntu Linux install. My previous install was and Edgy Eft, upgraded to Feisty Fawn, upgraded to Gutsy Gibbon. Since some boo-boos were made along the way (and considering Linux installs are faster than Windows installs), I reloaded.
In the past I used Automatix to get my machine tweaked for multimedia. I had read that in Fiesty, this was not really all the necessary since Ubuntu would try to find the codc you need to play a specific file. With that in mind, I decided to try updating multimedia without Automatix.
First, the basic install went well. I ran into some issues partitioning the HD (I dual boot and did not want to screw up my Windows partition) but I finally figured it out (it seemed harder than the last time I did this, but maybe I am just imagining that).
After the basic install, I ran into the "no link error" that I later found was a problem with the new driver I upgraded on the Windows side. That issue was resolved (this was not any fault of Ubuntu) and I then started trying things out.
While the details are fuzzy, I remember that I had some issues with Totem and some of the file types was trying to play. Ubuntu prompted me to allow it to search for the codecs and after it found and installed them, some played while others would not. I eventually found that for multimedia, I needed to add the Medibuntu repo's to give me full control over DVD's and other media.
For the most part, this was the most frustrating part of the install. All my Windows partitions (two of them fat-32 and one NTFS) were recognized, as was all my hardware. Everything "just worked", although I just realized I have not set up printing yet. My friend Knightmare Duck states this will be no problem at all.
I have not tried wireless with Gutsy yet, but Compiz, the 3D desktop effect package, has worked pretty well...much better than I had expected.
I tested my multimedia upgrades last night by watching a PC DVR recording of Battlestar Galactica - "Razor". Tehre was some flicker but the over impression was pretty good. Audio formats have played well.
If I were to judge this distro to previous Ubuntu releases, I would have mixed reviews. While having the eye candy work nearly flawlessly is nice, I would rather have multimedia work "out of the box". This is what the majority of the end users are going to want. If Linux is to be a serious threat to Mac OSX and Windows Vista, it needs to be more friendly towards multimedia.
JMHO.
In the past I used Automatix to get my machine tweaked for multimedia. I had read that in Fiesty, this was not really all the necessary since Ubuntu would try to find the codc you need to play a specific file. With that in mind, I decided to try updating multimedia without Automatix.
First, the basic install went well. I ran into some issues partitioning the HD (I dual boot and did not want to screw up my Windows partition) but I finally figured it out (it seemed harder than the last time I did this, but maybe I am just imagining that).
After the basic install, I ran into the "no link error" that I later found was a problem with the new driver I upgraded on the Windows side. That issue was resolved (this was not any fault of Ubuntu) and I then started trying things out.
While the details are fuzzy, I remember that I had some issues with Totem and some of the file types was trying to play. Ubuntu prompted me to allow it to search for the codecs and after it found and installed them, some played while others would not. I eventually found that for multimedia, I needed to add the Medibuntu repo's to give me full control over DVD's and other media.
For the most part, this was the most frustrating part of the install. All my Windows partitions (two of them fat-32 and one NTFS) were recognized, as was all my hardware. Everything "just worked", although I just realized I have not set up printing yet. My friend Knightmare Duck states this will be no problem at all.
I have not tried wireless with Gutsy yet, but Compiz, the 3D desktop effect package, has worked pretty well...much better than I had expected.
I tested my multimedia upgrades last night by watching a PC DVR recording of Battlestar Galactica - "Razor". Tehre was some flicker but the over impression was pretty good. Audio formats have played well.
If I were to judge this distro to previous Ubuntu releases, I would have mixed reviews. While having the eye candy work nearly flawlessly is nice, I would rather have multimedia work "out of the box". This is what the majority of the end users are going to want. If Linux is to be a serious threat to Mac OSX and Windows Vista, it needs to be more friendly towards multimedia.
JMHO.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
It Has Been Three Days
...since my last update. I guess the reason has been the workload, which is about the same as it has been the last two weeks. As usual, my colleague and I are in the thick of the issues and we are doing pretty well, even if he is on call this week. The number of issues has been the same, but the stress has been less. For that I am thankful.
The guy who took over my old job had announced that he was quitting, but it appears that he took the offer of a weeks vacation to see if quitting was what he really wanted to do. The stress on the poor guy has been very high and to be honest I was expecting him to snap. I know that when I did that role, I was ready to quit myself. No one likes to be on call and available 24x7x365...and that is what the role demands. Now according to one of the mid level mgrs, this has been redueced to 8x7x365...but I am not sure how long that will last. if a customer is awake somewhere in the word, we have to be as well.
My Linus box seems to be running well. I turned on Compiz effects (medium amount) and it slows down the boot by a few seconds and apps launch a touch slower, but the effects are worth it to me. Now if I ahd a slower machine, then I would have to turn them off.
The weather has returned to 60-70 during the day and 30's at night. It is supposed to be dry all week long until Sunday, meaning my wife and I can Geocache this weekend as a team again. I am looking foreward to that. Sunday is is supposed to rain.
The guy who took over my old job had announced that he was quitting, but it appears that he took the offer of a weeks vacation to see if quitting was what he really wanted to do. The stress on the poor guy has been very high and to be honest I was expecting him to snap. I know that when I did that role, I was ready to quit myself. No one likes to be on call and available 24x7x365...and that is what the role demands. Now according to one of the mid level mgrs, this has been redueced to 8x7x365...but I am not sure how long that will last. if a customer is awake somewhere in the word, we have to be as well.
My Linus box seems to be running well. I turned on Compiz effects (medium amount) and it slows down the boot by a few seconds and apps launch a touch slower, but the effects are worth it to me. Now if I ahd a slower machine, then I would have to turn them off.
The weather has returned to 60-70 during the day and 30's at night. It is supposed to be dry all week long until Sunday, meaning my wife and I can Geocache this weekend as a team again. I am looking foreward to that. Sunday is is supposed to rain.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Another Reason I Hate Microsoft
If you have read this blog for a while, you know I prefer Linux (especially Ubuntu) over Windows. While Windows "just works" most of the time, the crashing, obscure errors, lack of good programming in the software, etc has left me wanting more...ergo I use Linux. It may not be overly flashy, but it does work pretty well, most of the time. I have installed it on laptops and desktops as well as servers. It works good enough and is much more stable than Windows, IMHO.
The other day, I was updating my dual boot (WinXP/Ubuntu Linux) machine with all the latest patches from Microsoft. I noticed there was a new NIC driver (that was 6+ months old) that I had not installed yet (from Microsoft) so I let the "Windows Update" program do its thing. Once installed I rebooted and made sure everything worked.
The next day I go to log on to the PC, but since I am using it, I log onto Linux (I do not use Windows at home very much). The machine boots and the first thing I notice is that there is no network link. The router does not show a powered on machine plugged into it. I panic, thinking the on-board NIC has failed. I gather myself and reboot the router and cable modem (not in that order though) and then reset the IP address. Nothing. I am not getting any DHCP. I reboot into Windows and oddly enough, I am able to get online, so the NIC is not dead.
I reboot back into Linux and the same thing occurs. Frustrated, I grab my laptop and start looking for answers but find nothing. Puzzled, I decided to do a backup of all my important data (what little of it was on the Linux partition) and reload the machine since it has been upgraded a few times over the original install and was acting a bit funky sometimes.
After I reload the machine, I notice I am still not getting any network. Now I am really starting to panic because I cannot figure out why a fresh install cannot detect one of the most common chipset in the world for NIC's (Realtek 8139). I unplug the router and plug the cable modem directly into the PC...same thing.
I grab the laptop and frantically search the web (Googling "realtek 8139" and "gutsy gibbon") and hit upon the answer. It seems that the new driver I installed has a "feature" that turns off the NIC until WINDOWS boots up again. The Linux kernel tries to wake up the NIC but it can't (the kernel does not have the newest driver) so it just leaves it alone. The article said I had a couple of choices. I could: recompile the kernel with the newest drivers on the Linux side, turn on "wake on LAN" from the Windows side, roll back the Windows driver, or just unplug the power from the PC for 15 seconds when I want to boot to Linux.
Since my efforts to recompile the Linux kernel have not been successful in the past and unplugging the machine seems silly and that rolling back a Windows driver can be a disaster, I decided to just turn on the "Wake on Lan" feature in Windows and live with a mild security risk.
I think this "feature"is a pile of crap. This only affects people who dual boot Windows and another OS. When Windows shuts down, it puts the NIC into a "coma" that can only be reversed if Windows boots up or you unplug the PC. Turning off your PC does not stop the flow of power into the mobo. Only unplugging does that and you need to break the power to get the NIC to clear the "coma" flag that is set when Windows shuts down.
Argh. I hate Microsoft.
The other day, I was updating my dual boot (WinXP/Ubuntu Linux) machine with all the latest patches from Microsoft. I noticed there was a new NIC driver (that was 6+ months old) that I had not installed yet (from Microsoft) so I let the "Windows Update" program do its thing. Once installed I rebooted and made sure everything worked.
The next day I go to log on to the PC, but since I am using it, I log onto Linux (I do not use Windows at home very much). The machine boots and the first thing I notice is that there is no network link. The router does not show a powered on machine plugged into it. I panic, thinking the on-board NIC has failed. I gather myself and reboot the router and cable modem (not in that order though) and then reset the IP address. Nothing. I am not getting any DHCP. I reboot into Windows and oddly enough, I am able to get online, so the NIC is not dead.
I reboot back into Linux and the same thing occurs. Frustrated, I grab my laptop and start looking for answers but find nothing. Puzzled, I decided to do a backup of all my important data (what little of it was on the Linux partition) and reload the machine since it has been upgraded a few times over the original install and was acting a bit funky sometimes.
After I reload the machine, I notice I am still not getting any network. Now I am really starting to panic because I cannot figure out why a fresh install cannot detect one of the most common chipset in the world for NIC's (Realtek 8139). I unplug the router and plug the cable modem directly into the PC...same thing.
I grab the laptop and frantically search the web (Googling "realtek 8139" and "gutsy gibbon") and hit upon the answer. It seems that the new driver I installed has a "feature" that turns off the NIC until WINDOWS boots up again. The Linux kernel tries to wake up the NIC but it can't (the kernel does not have the newest driver) so it just leaves it alone. The article said I had a couple of choices. I could: recompile the kernel with the newest drivers on the Linux side, turn on "wake on LAN" from the Windows side, roll back the Windows driver, or just unplug the power from the PC for 15 seconds when I want to boot to Linux.
Since my efforts to recompile the Linux kernel have not been successful in the past and unplugging the machine seems silly and that rolling back a Windows driver can be a disaster, I decided to just turn on the "Wake on Lan" feature in Windows and live with a mild security risk.
I think this "feature"is a pile of crap. This only affects people who dual boot Windows and another OS. When Windows shuts down, it puts the NIC into a "coma" that can only be reversed if Windows boots up or you unplug the PC. Turning off your PC does not stop the flow of power into the mobo. Only unplugging does that and you need to break the power to get the NIC to clear the "coma" flag that is set when Windows shuts down.
Argh. I hate Microsoft.
Freaky Friday
Friday was a bit odd for me. As previously posted, my TL called off on Thursday, leaving me to man the guns solo. It was not not bad...only one issue to deal with and the paperwork was minimal as it was solved quickly. I left nothing to hand over to my Latin American helpers so I went home happy.
On Friday it was slow and my TL told me to leave early. So I left at noon (4 hours early...at least I can burn some vacation) and decided to hit a cache that is close by to the office that had just been unarchived. After that little gem (it was a micro) was found, I went to do some shopping.
I hate shopping and hate it even more during the holidays. Everyone is out and the pace is frantic. I was able to get most of what I wanted at World Market, then I came home. On the way home I looked for another cache but it is buried somewhere in a pile of pine needles, along with several small pine cones) and I just did not have the patience to sort through it all, so I just went home.
My wife did not get home until six or seven PM and while she was gone I just puttered around the house, doing little. I was not in the mood to do much so I didn't. The only thing I did was reload my Linux box, which I am going to log about later.
Saturday was cloudy and rather dreary. I spent the morning working on bills and finalizing my Linux install (mostly tweaking) and finally vacuuming the house. Once all that was done and my wife and I had eaten, she asked me if I was going out geocaching. I had not planned on it since the clouds were so heavy (cloud cover really affects GPSr reception). I had been looking at few caches in the area but was not sure when I would get them. I was telling my wife about one of them and how one of the cachers two year old child found one that had eluded many seasoned seekers for months. She grinned and told me that she sometimes thinks like a two year old so I asked her if she wanted to go. I was floored when she said "yes".
We got dressed in old clothes (the finds we were going after were in the woods), boots, and grabbed some bottled water. We were not going far (4 miles or so away) so the normal gear one would take would not be needed. We hopped in the GeoDak and headed to the site.
We found the area and started looking. I was pretty amazed that a .30 cal ammo can could be hidden in such a sparse area. There were so few places to look...now I see why it has plagued so many people. I checked the obvious areas first and my wife asked me exactly what we were looking for. I told her about some of the clues that that the cache owner left ("two cedars" and "replace the cloak") and told her my thought was that the cache was on the ground, covered with a home made cover of dirt, leaves, and cedar twigs. So we took sticks and started scratching the ground. We covered a pretty large area and I was getting just a tad flustered when my wife got up and moved to a new area. I got up and went to where she was and started moving leaves, branches and dirt and found a small wood frame. I moved a bit more dirt and saw it was the cache. I guess technically, it was buried (which is against the "rules") but to be honest, you did not have to "dig" for it, only move away a thin layer (1 inch or so) of dirt, wood particles, and leaves.
My wife and I rummaged through the can and I signed the log for both of us. She seemed disappointed that nothing of "value" was in it. I told her that the hunt is more of the spirit of treasure hunting, not actually getting something valuable. The object was to trade interesting items, not expensive ones, although I have been told of people who hide very difficult ones with real valuable prizes inside.
After we re-hid the ammo can (as good or better than we found it) we started off after one more of Jake in Texas's hides. While I had no idea where (or what) this one was, I figured my wife and I could at least try.
We started trekking west toward "Jakes Gecko" after leaving "Jakes Can". The path was slippery and choked with briars. I was afraid my wife would turn back, but she continued on. We got to a slippery slope near a creek bed and after I crossed (slipping but not falling) my wife fell and slid down the hill. I thought she might be hurt but the only thing bruised was her pride. She actually started laughing and I could only smile as I helped her up and across the creek as well as up the next hill.
We go to GZ (Ground Zero) but were unable to find the cache after 20 minutes or so of searching. Jake hides a mean cache and it is even harder when you do not have any clues. We turned around and found our way out (a tad easier than going in) and started back to the GeoDak. My wife asked me if there were any more close by, so I told her there were two that I had not been able to find withing a 1/2 mile. We walked to the first one and found it very quickly. I know I had looked in that area before and nothing was there. I later learned that the cache has been muggled 3 times in the past couple of years. We signed the log and walked back to the GeoDak and headed off to look for the last one of the day...another Jake in Texas classic, "Sleeping Candy Canes". Long story short: we could not find it. The weather started getting icky and we decided that two finds (with one of them being a Jake in Texas classic) was not a bad day. I personally like to find 10+ in an outing but when you get down to the hard ones, 2 or 3 is good.
On Friday it was slow and my TL told me to leave early. So I left at noon (4 hours early...at least I can burn some vacation) and decided to hit a cache that is close by to the office that had just been unarchived. After that little gem (it was a micro) was found, I went to do some shopping.
I hate shopping and hate it even more during the holidays. Everyone is out and the pace is frantic. I was able to get most of what I wanted at World Market, then I came home. On the way home I looked for another cache but it is buried somewhere in a pile of pine needles, along with several small pine cones) and I just did not have the patience to sort through it all, so I just went home.
My wife did not get home until six or seven PM and while she was gone I just puttered around the house, doing little. I was not in the mood to do much so I didn't. The only thing I did was reload my Linux box, which I am going to log about later.
Saturday was cloudy and rather dreary. I spent the morning working on bills and finalizing my Linux install (mostly tweaking) and finally vacuuming the house. Once all that was done and my wife and I had eaten, she asked me if I was going out geocaching. I had not planned on it since the clouds were so heavy (cloud cover really affects GPSr reception). I had been looking at few caches in the area but was not sure when I would get them. I was telling my wife about one of them and how one of the cachers two year old child found one that had eluded many seasoned seekers for months. She grinned and told me that she sometimes thinks like a two year old so I asked her if she wanted to go. I was floored when she said "yes".
We got dressed in old clothes (the finds we were going after were in the woods), boots, and grabbed some bottled water. We were not going far (4 miles or so away) so the normal gear one would take would not be needed. We hopped in the GeoDak and headed to the site.
We found the area and started looking. I was pretty amazed that a .30 cal ammo can could be hidden in such a sparse area. There were so few places to look...now I see why it has plagued so many people. I checked the obvious areas first and my wife asked me exactly what we were looking for. I told her about some of the clues that that the cache owner left ("two cedars" and "replace the cloak") and told her my thought was that the cache was on the ground, covered with a home made cover of dirt, leaves, and cedar twigs. So we took sticks and started scratching the ground. We covered a pretty large area and I was getting just a tad flustered when my wife got up and moved to a new area. I got up and went to where she was and started moving leaves, branches and dirt and found a small wood frame. I moved a bit more dirt and saw it was the cache. I guess technically, it was buried (which is against the "rules") but to be honest, you did not have to "dig" for it, only move away a thin layer (1 inch or so) of dirt, wood particles, and leaves.
My wife and I rummaged through the can and I signed the log for both of us. She seemed disappointed that nothing of "value" was in it. I told her that the hunt is more of the spirit of treasure hunting, not actually getting something valuable. The object was to trade interesting items, not expensive ones, although I have been told of people who hide very difficult ones with real valuable prizes inside.
After we re-hid the ammo can (as good or better than we found it) we started off after one more of Jake in Texas's hides. While I had no idea where (or what) this one was, I figured my wife and I could at least try.
We started trekking west toward "Jakes Gecko" after leaving "Jakes Can". The path was slippery and choked with briars. I was afraid my wife would turn back, but she continued on. We got to a slippery slope near a creek bed and after I crossed (slipping but not falling) my wife fell and slid down the hill. I thought she might be hurt but the only thing bruised was her pride. She actually started laughing and I could only smile as I helped her up and across the creek as well as up the next hill.
We go to GZ (Ground Zero) but were unable to find the cache after 20 minutes or so of searching. Jake hides a mean cache and it is even harder when you do not have any clues. We turned around and found our way out (a tad easier than going in) and started back to the GeoDak. My wife asked me if there were any more close by, so I told her there were two that I had not been able to find withing a 1/2 mile. We walked to the first one and found it very quickly. I know I had looked in that area before and nothing was there. I later learned that the cache has been muggled 3 times in the past couple of years. We signed the log and walked back to the GeoDak and headed off to look for the last one of the day...another Jake in Texas classic, "Sleeping Candy Canes". Long story short: we could not find it. The weather started getting icky and we decided that two finds (with one of them being a Jake in Texas classic) was not a bad day. I personally like to find 10+ in an outing but when you get down to the hard ones, 2 or 3 is good.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Nervous Star, Nervous Ending
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.
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.
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.
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