Something that I seem to lack a great deal of the time.
Call to my mobile (via the hot line) comes in 12:30 PM my time, 19:30 Central European Time. The caller (an employee of our company) informs me there is a case that needs my attention. I get the case number and look it up and see that it is a local issue, not global. I inform the caller (like I did our customer a week ago) that local/regional issues outside of my region are not my responsibility. He. like the caller last week asks about the "follow the sun" concept. Again I state that follow the sun is for GLOBAL issues. Local/regional issues are handled by the local/regional mgr. The caller states "there is no local/regional mgr for that region".
Me - "Well someone must be filling in for them", I said, "Have you called $Danish mgr?"
Europe - "No."
Me - "Call him."
Europe - "What if he does not answer?"
Me - "Then, call me back."
To be fair, the job that is my "primary" one does not keep me busy eight hours a day, but that is why they give me several smaller, less important things to do on top of it. Also, the esc mgmt in Europe is going through a tough time right now. They are short one manager, another is new and does not like the role, and the main guy is on vacation, with the new guy backing him up. I was not asked to fill in for anyone, so I am not.
I have many problems with what is going on:
1) When an issue needs escalating, the process should start BEFORE the end of the business day while people are in the office. This case was opened at 9:30 AM CET ( 2:30 AM CDT). It was not escalated after 6 hours like it should have been (per the process), instead it was 9 hours after it was opened, already missing the first objective. It was a high priority case and the two teams that had been working on it took turns bouncing it back and forth. The Inc Mgmt did a poor job (in my opinion) of tracking it and now they want me to get involved? No.
2) "Follow the Sun" is for global issues and this was a local/regional issue. I should not have been called at all. I get called outside of business hours for issues in my region, so why shouldn't the other regional mgrs get called on issues after hours on theirs? They do...normally, but since there is a bit of confusion right now in Europe and they want to please the customer, they tend to make frantic calls.
3) The issue really is not too critical after business hours. It is a work flow system that up until 6 months ago was not in place. It is a convenience that is depended upon and now they view it as "critical".
4) Europe has enough people that they can hand off to each other. The America's has...me. I have no one to hand off to (although that may change) and I do not need more heartache...especially if the team in Europe cannot manage the case...it is not like they were massively busy today. The threat board had 4 hi priority cases to track all day long and 2 of those were WAN issues. I have no pity for the team not being able to keep up with 2 hi priority cases. I realize that I am biased on this. The team in the US (they work down the hall from me) have 8 years experience with this and are darn good. They can keep track of issues and make sure updates get sent out. To date, I have not had to escalate an issue they have managed.
I realize that I am venting/complaining but I really am tired of being treated like a door mat. I have been shoved into positions every time something needs done and to be honest it is getting old.
On a side note, three guys from our building are accepting early retirement. My old TL, the TL of the Windows/Extranet group, and a finance person. All three are feeling stressed and are looking to get into something that will not produce "Maalox Moments" 14 hours a day. One of the three told me that he tendered his resignation a few days ago (before he was accepted) and his boss refused it. The worm has turned.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Wild Wild West
This week has many of the ingredients of a massively busy week. Last week my boss asked me to sign up for three, 1-hour training sessions (being held Tues, Wed, and Thurs this week) and while I am sure I will enjoy them, I am not sure how useful those will be. It appears that my boss is throwing things at people he knows will give it their all and I just happen to be one of those people. Changes are heading my way and they may get a bit wild.
The rest of Saturday was pretty laid back and Sunday was pleasant as well. We went over to Jimmy and Collette's house for brunch after church. We brought a selection of juices/drinks that went over very well. When we go over, Jimmy likes to put everyone to work and I think that is a great idea. I had the fried apple detail and they turned out pretty good. Not as soft as Jimmy likes them, but they were not bad. Scrambled eggs w/cheese, pancakes, and bacon rounded out the feast. While we ate, we chatted about teens and issues that are facing them (Collette has a daughter living with her from a previous marriage, Jimmy has a teen daughter and 2 grown sons, while we have our soldier in Kuwait who is almost 20. We have things to chat about). We did not stay very long...maybe 4 PM or so. I wanted to take a nap, but it was too late and I knew if I napped I would be sorry later...maybe as bad as last week. Instead, I stayed up and called mom around 5:15 or so and talked (OK, I let her talk to me) for about 1.5 hours. Nothing new there.
While we were at church we noticed Mickey was there but his wife was not. We asked where she was and he explained to my wife that they got into a fight and Mickey stated he did not handle the situation well. During the service my wife asked if we could pray for him and his wife and he accepted. My wife opened up the prayer and Mickey closed it, leaving me in the middle. I really did not know what to say, but evidently what I said was purposeful because Mickey hugged me and told me he was glad I was his friend. Thank you, God for the words you placed in my mouth.
I watched a show on Discovery last night called, "Planet Earth" which is a mini-series. The episode I was watching was on the Arctic and the Antarctic. It was very interesting and educational. I can see why it is so highly rated. I learned quite a bit about Emperor Penguins and Polar Bears. The extremes they have to endure are simply incredible.
I got to bed at 10:30 PM or so...I was pretty sleepy. I slept well with the exception of a couple of not so pleasant dreams. I know why I had them and that is evidence enough I need to pray more, especially before I go to bed. The Enemy put all kinds of bad thoughts in my head and they invaded my dreams, giving me an uneasy feeling when I woke up. I feel better now, so I will use this as a learning experience.
The rest of Saturday was pretty laid back and Sunday was pleasant as well. We went over to Jimmy and Collette's house for brunch after church. We brought a selection of juices/drinks that went over very well. When we go over, Jimmy likes to put everyone to work and I think that is a great idea. I had the fried apple detail and they turned out pretty good. Not as soft as Jimmy likes them, but they were not bad. Scrambled eggs w/cheese, pancakes, and bacon rounded out the feast. While we ate, we chatted about teens and issues that are facing them (Collette has a daughter living with her from a previous marriage, Jimmy has a teen daughter and 2 grown sons, while we have our soldier in Kuwait who is almost 20. We have things to chat about). We did not stay very long...maybe 4 PM or so. I wanted to take a nap, but it was too late and I knew if I napped I would be sorry later...maybe as bad as last week. Instead, I stayed up and called mom around 5:15 or so and talked (OK, I let her talk to me) for about 1.5 hours. Nothing new there.
While we were at church we noticed Mickey was there but his wife was not. We asked where she was and he explained to my wife that they got into a fight and Mickey stated he did not handle the situation well. During the service my wife asked if we could pray for him and his wife and he accepted. My wife opened up the prayer and Mickey closed it, leaving me in the middle. I really did not know what to say, but evidently what I said was purposeful because Mickey hugged me and told me he was glad I was his friend. Thank you, God for the words you placed in my mouth.
I watched a show on Discovery last night called, "Planet Earth" which is a mini-series. The episode I was watching was on the Arctic and the Antarctic. It was very interesting and educational. I can see why it is so highly rated. I learned quite a bit about Emperor Penguins and Polar Bears. The extremes they have to endure are simply incredible.
I got to bed at 10:30 PM or so...I was pretty sleepy. I slept well with the exception of a couple of not so pleasant dreams. I know why I had them and that is evidence enough I need to pray more, especially before I go to bed. The Enemy put all kinds of bad thoughts in my head and they invaded my dreams, giving me an uneasy feeling when I woke up. I feel better now, so I will use this as a learning experience.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Battery
My wife has been complaining about the life on her freebie Toshiba laptop he past couple of months. She has told me many times that she routinely only gets 20 minutes life on the battery (wireless access). I started noting the time and found that she spends a lot more time than 20 minutes on the device...usually at least 45. Well, several days I came home and saw her laptop setting on the counter (we had the carpets cleaned so the laptop has a new temporary home) and one of the lights was pulsing...not flashing like it would if it were charging. I opened the lid and the laptop came to life...it was in sleep mode. Friday and Saturday when I came home, I noticed the exact same thing. I ask my wife about it and she tells me that when the laptop "dies" while she is working, she just plugs it in and then starts doing something else. I then informed her that the laptop goes into sleep mode to save her work and plugging it in does not give the battery full charge unless she lifts the lid and shuts it down properly. The only alternative to that is to turn off sleep mode then you take a chance on hosing Windows. She promised me she would start shutting it down properly but she still is concerned that she getting such poor performance. I then let her in on a secret...I ordered her a slimline battery for the DVD slot. I got noticed that it shipped on Saturday and should arrive by Wednesday. She was very happy. She rarely uses the CD/DVD-ROM so the batter should help her out a lot. Of course, if she does not shut it down correctly, then this will not be of much help but at least she can use the laptop longer without it "dying" in the middle of something.
The nice thing is that the slimline battery cost only $30, so if it does not work out well, then I have not lost much. It is a refurb and that does not really bother me...it was better than plyuning down $60 for a new slimline or $100 for the main battery pack!
The nice thing is that the slimline battery cost only $30, so if it does not work out well, then I have not lost much. It is a refurb and that does not really bother me...it was better than plyuning down $60 for a new slimline or $100 for the main battery pack!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting
Friday was not a bad day but the weather was not very pleasant. Wind and rain plagued us in North Central Texas and since we did not have our furniture in place, it turned out to be a boring night. I think the highlight of it was Law and Order. The work day was non-eventful as well. I even left early :).
I did get on the PC in the office to check mail and enter in some receipts. No real surprises other than $80 spent by my wife at Academy Sporting good on clothes for vacation. She does not buy much (more than I do but still not much more) so I was not worried. I like to be told that the money is coming out, though. I really want to be debt free (minus the house) in 18 months. The goal was 12 months but dog surgery moved out that date 6 months.
I woke up feeling pretty good and by the time I got up my lovely wife had already walked the dog. That left me time to make coffee and wake up. The only thing I had planned to do was go film a segment for a church production that we are doing next Sunday. I was needed at Lamb and Lion Studios at 1:00 PM and our pastor (who had to be there as well) offered to pick me up. We arrived at the studio and our pastor and one other man began working on the first scene that needed filmed. I used that time to study my lines (I had not been able to get the 10 or 12 lines down yet...shame on me). I struggled for about an hour until the first scene was done. Then it was my turn to get on camera with the pastor to do a short scene. It took 4 tries, but we finally got it. The only one that was left was the scene with pastor and his wife, who was playing Mary. Oddly enough, that only took one take and then we were done. 3 scenes, 3 hours.
I got home and changed the bedding in our room (vacuuming the mattress first) and then grabbed a bite to eat. I had lunch but it was light and I was beginning to get hungry. I had a couple of pork sloppy joes, some pita chips, and a Monster energy drink and then started moving stuff back into my office. I think the floor is dry now.
My wife is washing the dogs (she groomed them earlier) and I am helping with laundry. I have some dishes to do, but that will not take long. Other than that, I do not have much going on today. Maybe there will be some fights on TV to watch.
I did get on the PC in the office to check mail and enter in some receipts. No real surprises other than $80 spent by my wife at Academy Sporting good on clothes for vacation. She does not buy much (more than I do but still not much more) so I was not worried. I like to be told that the money is coming out, though. I really want to be debt free (minus the house) in 18 months. The goal was 12 months but dog surgery moved out that date 6 months.
I woke up feeling pretty good and by the time I got up my lovely wife had already walked the dog. That left me time to make coffee and wake up. The only thing I had planned to do was go film a segment for a church production that we are doing next Sunday. I was needed at Lamb and Lion Studios at 1:00 PM and our pastor (who had to be there as well) offered to pick me up. We arrived at the studio and our pastor and one other man began working on the first scene that needed filmed. I used that time to study my lines (I had not been able to get the 10 or 12 lines down yet...shame on me). I struggled for about an hour until the first scene was done. Then it was my turn to get on camera with the pastor to do a short scene. It took 4 tries, but we finally got it. The only one that was left was the scene with pastor and his wife, who was playing Mary. Oddly enough, that only took one take and then we were done. 3 scenes, 3 hours.
I got home and changed the bedding in our room (vacuuming the mattress first) and then grabbed a bite to eat. I had lunch but it was light and I was beginning to get hungry. I had a couple of pork sloppy joes, some pita chips, and a Monster energy drink and then started moving stuff back into my office. I think the floor is dry now.My wife is washing the dogs (she groomed them earlier) and I am helping with laundry. I have some dishes to do, but that will not take long. Other than that, I do not have much going on today. Maybe there will be some fights on TV to watch.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Lightning Strikes
The rest of my day went pretty well. I kept busy with the security documents during the afternoon and I think I am caught up on what I need to have done...I will know more today or Monday. I did not see the Sec Mgr yesterday at all...he may have been working from home. He lives out in the middle of nowhere and the only broadband access he can get is...cellular/wireless broadband. Gasp!
I left work just a few minutes early to go home and see if I needed to help my wife move anything back after the carpets had been steam cleaned. The carpets were still damp, but we were smart and had all the ceiling fans and the AC on to pull as much moisture out as possible. Since we could not move anything yet, we decided to have some dinner at Jalapeño's Mexican Grill on Greenville Avenue. The food is usually pretty good and the prices are fair. Service is hit and miss (Last night was okay. The server was not very outgoing, but he was prompt and polite) but generally it is a pretty good value.
While we were there, God put on quite a light and sound display in the form of thunder and lightning...some of which was powerful enough to rattle the windows of the restaurant. Long arcs of blue-white electricity raced across the sky in more of a side to side manner than the stereotypical sky to earth display that we are used to seeing. We rush homed to help comfort the dogs (The Golden hates storms...Little Man is indifferent as long as he is not out in one) and since the house was mostly off limits, we gathered in the spare bedroom (we did not do the carpet in there this time) doing little things to pass the time. I watched Battlestar Galactica on my laptop and after that was over, I chatted with Dayboy and Knightmare Duck (blog links to the right) for a while. Dakboy is worn out...he has had so much adversity the past 30 days that I am amazed that he and his lovely wife are still sane. Sicknesses, death, house issues, work issues...poor guy! I finally let him go so he could take care of feeding /changing his son...it was nice to chat with him but he needed to get back to being a father.
Knightmare Duck and I chatted for about an hour or so. He is a bit of a geek and likes talking PC's and OS's. He is also the driving force behind getting the BSOB memories preserved and organized online. A police officer by profession and a geek on the side, he also has started writing entries into the BSOBlog that have been pretty good. With some time he will be a good writer. He has a pretty good eye for parody and detail (the police work helps on the detail part I guess) and has started to show his own style. Keep up the good work, KD.
About 9:00 PM my time I signed off and went into the bedroom to read some more of Sister Helen Prejean's book "The Death of Innocents". It is getting harder to read in some spots because of the heavy Catholic overtones. No I am not anti-catholic, but the mainstream Catholic church has ideas that really do not mesh well with traditional Christianity. While her degree of detail and the imagery she provides is often very good, it is too political for me. I hurt inside to hear that innocent people have been executed for crimes that they did not commit, but that is not enough to sway me from believing that the capitol punishment is wrong.
After reading for a while and then playing so Spider Solitaire (I am so addicted to that game on the hard setting...4 decks), I decided it was time to rest. I never did take any Aleve but I was not hurting, so I just went to sleep.
I woke up and hopped up and noticed the carpets were dryer (but not 100% dry). I walked Little Man and took The Golden out to do her thing. My wife fed the dogs while I started my coffee. We moved the couch and love seat back into the main part of the house, but we put the little plastic protector squares under the legs to keep any moisture that was still in the carpet from ruining the wood and to keep any dirt from the legs off the clean carpet. After that was done I drank my coffee, checked e-mail, read my bible passages for the day (Judges 1-2), and finished my ritual before leaving for work.
I walked in an logged on the system to see that not only are there some end of month issues for our customer, but we are also having sporadic WAN issues as well worldwide, although they are beginning to slowly disappear. I would like to see this end of month go smoothly...while the past couple have not been perfect, they have been smoother than the end of 2006 was.
My back is a bit sore (go figure) so I better take a couple of Aleve. While I am up I guess I will check and see how the other guys are doing.
I left work just a few minutes early to go home and see if I needed to help my wife move anything back after the carpets had been steam cleaned. The carpets were still damp, but we were smart and had all the ceiling fans and the AC on to pull as much moisture out as possible. Since we could not move anything yet, we decided to have some dinner at Jalapeño's Mexican Grill on Greenville Avenue. The food is usually pretty good and the prices are fair. Service is hit and miss (Last night was okay. The server was not very outgoing, but he was prompt and polite) but generally it is a pretty good value.
While we were there, God put on quite a light and sound display in the form of thunder and lightning...some of which was powerful enough to rattle the windows of the restaurant. Long arcs of blue-white electricity raced across the sky in more of a side to side manner than the stereotypical sky to earth display that we are used to seeing. We rush homed to help comfort the dogs (The Golden hates storms...Little Man is indifferent as long as he is not out in one) and since the house was mostly off limits, we gathered in the spare bedroom (we did not do the carpet in there this time) doing little things to pass the time. I watched Battlestar Galactica on my laptop and after that was over, I chatted with Dayboy and Knightmare Duck (blog links to the right) for a while. Dakboy is worn out...he has had so much adversity the past 30 days that I am amazed that he and his lovely wife are still sane. Sicknesses, death, house issues, work issues...poor guy! I finally let him go so he could take care of feeding /changing his son...it was nice to chat with him but he needed to get back to being a father.
Knightmare Duck and I chatted for about an hour or so. He is a bit of a geek and likes talking PC's and OS's. He is also the driving force behind getting the BSOB memories preserved and organized online. A police officer by profession and a geek on the side, he also has started writing entries into the BSOBlog that have been pretty good. With some time he will be a good writer. He has a pretty good eye for parody and detail (the police work helps on the detail part I guess) and has started to show his own style. Keep up the good work, KD.
About 9:00 PM my time I signed off and went into the bedroom to read some more of Sister Helen Prejean's book "The Death of Innocents". It is getting harder to read in some spots because of the heavy Catholic overtones. No I am not anti-catholic, but the mainstream Catholic church has ideas that really do not mesh well with traditional Christianity. While her degree of detail and the imagery she provides is often very good, it is too political for me. I hurt inside to hear that innocent people have been executed for crimes that they did not commit, but that is not enough to sway me from believing that the capitol punishment is wrong.
After reading for a while and then playing so Spider Solitaire (I am so addicted to that game on the hard setting...4 decks), I decided it was time to rest. I never did take any Aleve but I was not hurting, so I just went to sleep.
I woke up and hopped up and noticed the carpets were dryer (but not 100% dry). I walked Little Man and took The Golden out to do her thing. My wife fed the dogs while I started my coffee. We moved the couch and love seat back into the main part of the house, but we put the little plastic protector squares under the legs to keep any moisture that was still in the carpet from ruining the wood and to keep any dirt from the legs off the clean carpet. After that was done I drank my coffee, checked e-mail, read my bible passages for the day (Judges 1-2), and finished my ritual before leaving for work.
I walked in an logged on the system to see that not only are there some end of month issues for our customer, but we are also having sporadic WAN issues as well worldwide, although they are beginning to slowly disappear. I would like to see this end of month go smoothly...while the past couple have not been perfect, they have been smoother than the end of 2006 was.
My back is a bit sore (go figure) so I better take a couple of Aleve. While I am up I guess I will check and see how the other guys are doing.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Aleve Time
I got home and found a note from my wife stating that she had gone to go work out at the gym. The dogs and been fed and let out and there was a load of clothes that needed to go into the dryer. She also requested I start moving some of the smaller items in to the spare bedroom so the rest of the carpets could be cleaned. Well, I knew what was going to keep me busy for a while.
I started the dryer and grabbed a handful of pita chips and a Monster Lo-Carb energy drink to hold me over until it was time for care group and I started to move furniture. I moved small stuff and managed to take care of my office before my wife got home. While she was in the shower, I grabbed the laptop and read my mail and checked the news. 20 minutes later we were ready to leave.
Care group went well, but again we did not get out until right before 10:00 PM. Of course that makes a long day for everyone so we decided to start meeting at 6:30 to see if we could be done my 9:00 or 9:30 PM. Everyone agreed that this was a good idea. We meet at our house next week since the host and leader will be out of town. I am going to lead, and my wife will play hostess. I think this will be fun.
I got home and walked little man and then my wife and I watch Jericho. It was a very tense episode and surprised me in some areas. There are a lot of things going on that are going to make the show even more intense in the upcoming episodes...I cannot wait.
I had planned on moving stuff after care group, but my wife wanted to watch TV. I did as well, but I was willing to wait until after we moved stuff...but that did not happen. Instead we both went to bed and decided to move stuff this morning.
I got up a bit tired, but nothing unusual (like what happened a few days ago)...my walk and my coffee soon had me alert enough to start moving things. My wife got up shortly after I was finished with my java so we started moving things until everything was out of the way. With that, I finished my routine and headed to work.
Upon arriving at my office, I notice I am one of the first to show up...which is normal. I fire up my laptop and check the threat board (Hi Sev issues) and see that the night was busy for Europe. They had seven new ones but at least three of them are closed. None of the others are global so I am not concerned at that time. I typed up my reports and sent them out to the proper people, read my mail (again today there was not much), and checked the ticket queues. I saw nothing important or that demanded my immediate attention, so I checked the internal webs sites for any news of interest. I found nothing exciting so I checked up with the Incident Mgmt Team to see how things were with them. Like me, they are looking at a good start. Things can change quickly here, but for now I will enjoy the peace.
I am sure my back will feel a bit worse after I get home and start moving things back into place so I will need to take a couple of Aleve after I get home and have dinner. I have a feeling it will be sandwiches or eating out (I hope cheap...we need to conserve a bit) but that is okay with me. I am a guy...food is food, mostly :-)
I started the dryer and grabbed a handful of pita chips and a Monster Lo-Carb energy drink to hold me over until it was time for care group and I started to move furniture. I moved small stuff and managed to take care of my office before my wife got home. While she was in the shower, I grabbed the laptop and read my mail and checked the news. 20 minutes later we were ready to leave.Care group went well, but again we did not get out until right before 10:00 PM. Of course that makes a long day for everyone so we decided to start meeting at 6:30 to see if we could be done my 9:00 or 9:30 PM. Everyone agreed that this was a good idea. We meet at our house next week since the host and leader will be out of town. I am going to lead, and my wife will play hostess. I think this will be fun.
I got home and walked little man and then my wife and I watch Jericho. It was a very tense episode and surprised me in some areas. There are a lot of things going on that are going to make the show even more intense in the upcoming episodes...I cannot wait.
I had planned on moving stuff after care group, but my wife wanted to watch TV. I did as well, but I was willing to wait until after we moved stuff...but that did not happen. Instead we both went to bed and decided to move stuff this morning.
I got up a bit tired, but nothing unusual (like what happened a few days ago)...my walk and my coffee soon had me alert enough to start moving things. My wife got up shortly after I was finished with my java so we started moving things until everything was out of the way. With that, I finished my routine and headed to work.
Upon arriving at my office, I notice I am one of the first to show up...which is normal. I fire up my laptop and check the threat board (Hi Sev issues) and see that the night was busy for Europe. They had seven new ones but at least three of them are closed. None of the others are global so I am not concerned at that time. I typed up my reports and sent them out to the proper people, read my mail (again today there was not much), and checked the ticket queues. I saw nothing important or that demanded my immediate attention, so I checked the internal webs sites for any news of interest. I found nothing exciting so I checked up with the Incident Mgmt Team to see how things were with them. Like me, they are looking at a good start. Things can change quickly here, but for now I will enjoy the peace.
I am sure my back will feel a bit worse after I get home and start moving things back into place so I will need to take a couple of Aleve after I get home and have dinner. I have a feeling it will be sandwiches or eating out (I hope cheap...we need to conserve a bit) but that is okay with me. I am a guy...food is food, mostly :-)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Walking In Sunshine
I will enjoy it while I can. It is currently not raining! We have had some rain the past couple of days (and we needed it) and we have more in the forecast.
Soldier Boy called from Germany. He is currently on leave and enjoying as much of Germany as he can during his two weeks. He spent the night in a cabin in the mountains last night and he said that it was a lot of fun. He has informed me that he has taken a ton of pictures. I hope he has!
This has been one of the better days at work. No stresses, all the high severity cases that could affect me have been closed, and I did a little administrivia for the Sec Mgr. It was about 1.5 hours worth of paperwork that i tucked in after lunch and in between mails and tickets. Overall not bad. Now if every day could be like this and I could work 7:30 - 4:40, Mon-Fri (with weekends and holidays off) and no on-call...El Gee would be happy.
Well, I think I am going to cut out 15 minutes early so I can go home and move stuff. I am sure it will not be fun, but it needs done before the carpet cleaners get there tomorrow. We also have care group and if at all possible, I would like to watch Jericho tonight (I can watch BSG anytime...). Of course there will be dog duties to take care of but hey, that is just part of the routine, eh?
Soldier Boy called from Germany. He is currently on leave and enjoying as much of Germany as he can during his two weeks. He spent the night in a cabin in the mountains last night and he said that it was a lot of fun. He has informed me that he has taken a ton of pictures. I hope he has!
This has been one of the better days at work. No stresses, all the high severity cases that could affect me have been closed, and I did a little administrivia for the Sec Mgr. It was about 1.5 hours worth of paperwork that i tucked in after lunch and in between mails and tickets. Overall not bad. Now if every day could be like this and I could work 7:30 - 4:40, Mon-Fri (with weekends and holidays off) and no on-call...El Gee would be happy.
Well, I think I am going to cut out 15 minutes early so I can go home and move stuff. I am sure it will not be fun, but it needs done before the carpet cleaners get there tomorrow. We also have care group and if at all possible, I would like to watch Jericho tonight (I can watch BSG anytime...). Of course there will be dog duties to take care of but hey, that is just part of the routine, eh?
Sleep Patterns Are Back To Normal
OK! Two normal nights of sleep in a row and I think all is well and good.
A lot of hot issues went on at work which kept me in "alert mode" all day long. The two that were lingering before I left (early, by the way) are still lingering...one with updates, the other does not have any...I need to make sure Mexico gets on the ball.
I got home and went into "dog care mode" (let them out to use the bathroom, food, water, clean-up) and waited for my wife to get home to see what she wanted to do about dinner. I snacked on Pita Chips while I waited. Not bad, but they needed hummus.
I checked e-mail ( a couple from church, a couple from the gang, but mostly spam) and did some updates to maximus, my new server . I forgot to set up samba so I could share files with Windows. A few minutes later, that was done. When that little bit of excitement was over with, I watched something on Discovery about lobster fishermen. Looks like the pay is good, but the work looks very hard, not to mention dangerous. My wife got home and we decided on leftovers so they would not linger and after a quick trip in the microwave oven, our food was done. We ate and cleaned up the mess and then retired to the living room. I needed to walk Little Man before it got too late...it was Law and Order night and we did not want to miss any of the new episodes.
We started watching L&O but as usual, my wife dozed off and on so she does not know how either episode ended. Both were pretty good. I never seem to tire of that show (all three varieties it) and look forward to Tuesday and Friday nights. Of course Mondays (24) and Wednesdays (Jericho) are great nights as well for TV.
I went in to the bedroom while my wife watched the news. I read for a little while but soon grew sleepy so I turned off the light and slept like a baby until 4 AM or so. I was actually awake at 4:00 AM but stayed in bed, dozing in and out until the alarm sounded at 5:00 AM. Once it went off, I bounced out of bed, ready for the day ahead.
I have a couple of major tasks at home today. We are having our carpets cleaned (the last guy did a lousy job) and I need to move all the stuff I can into the spare (empty) bedroom. Some things we cannot move so we will just leave them and ask the crew to work around them.
We also have care group tonight. I always look forward to it but as of late the mood seems to have changed. I cannot tell if it is because the leader/host is getting burned out or not. If that is the case, then we need to make changes soon.
I am not sure what the day at work will bring. There are always a ton of little things that seem to creep in. I really pray that things go smoothly and I can go home on time. I would like to get the stuff moved before we go to care group. doing it after would make it a long night.
A lot of hot issues went on at work which kept me in "alert mode" all day long. The two that were lingering before I left (early, by the way) are still lingering...one with updates, the other does not have any...I need to make sure Mexico gets on the ball.
I got home and went into "dog care mode" (let them out to use the bathroom, food, water, clean-up) and waited for my wife to get home to see what she wanted to do about dinner. I snacked on Pita Chips while I waited. Not bad, but they needed hummus.
I checked e-mail ( a couple from church, a couple from the gang, but mostly spam) and did some updates to maximus, my new server . I forgot to set up samba so I could share files with Windows. A few minutes later, that was done. When that little bit of excitement was over with, I watched something on Discovery about lobster fishermen. Looks like the pay is good, but the work looks very hard, not to mention dangerous. My wife got home and we decided on leftovers so they would not linger and after a quick trip in the microwave oven, our food was done. We ate and cleaned up the mess and then retired to the living room. I needed to walk Little Man before it got too late...it was Law and Order night and we did not want to miss any of the new episodes.
We started watching L&O but as usual, my wife dozed off and on so she does not know how either episode ended. Both were pretty good. I never seem to tire of that show (all three varieties it) and look forward to Tuesday and Friday nights. Of course Mondays (24) and Wednesdays (Jericho) are great nights as well for TV.
I went in to the bedroom while my wife watched the news. I read for a little while but soon grew sleepy so I turned off the light and slept like a baby until 4 AM or so. I was actually awake at 4:00 AM but stayed in bed, dozing in and out until the alarm sounded at 5:00 AM. Once it went off, I bounced out of bed, ready for the day ahead.
I have a couple of major tasks at home today. We are having our carpets cleaned (the last guy did a lousy job) and I need to move all the stuff I can into the spare (empty) bedroom. Some things we cannot move so we will just leave them and ask the crew to work around them.
We also have care group tonight. I always look forward to it but as of late the mood seems to have changed. I cannot tell if it is because the leader/host is getting burned out or not. If that is the case, then we need to make changes soon.
I am not sure what the day at work will bring. There are always a ton of little things that seem to creep in. I really pray that things go smoothly and I can go home on time. I would like to get the stuff moved before we go to care group. doing it after would make it a long night.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
I Love A Rainy Night
North Central Texas received some much needed rain yesterday evening. Walking Little Man in it was fun...really. I enjoy walking in the rain, I tend to do some of my best thinking when I am wet. It rained a better part of the evening. The lake levels are still down and the county says we will still be under "drought conditions" the remainder of 2007.
Dinner was excellent. My wife made broiled Salmon Spinach salad and I could not get enough of it...I wish she would have made more. She used a garlic Teryaki marinade and the fish came out yummy. With a little Blue Bell ice cream and a glass of milk, I was set.
"24" was on the watch list (actually the only thing on my watch list) last night. I am starting to pick out more and more flaws in the show and it is beginning to bug my wife. I guess I better cool it some or I will get kicked out of the living room.
I went to bed at a normal time (10:30) after "24" was over and after I had read a little of a book I am borrowing, "The Death of Innocents" by Sister Helen Prejean. It is a pretty good book so far. It is not one I would have picked up but a woman in my care group thought I might like it so she let me borrow it. It is a slow read for me because it is out of my interest genre, but it is pretty good nonetheless. I am still not against the death penalty and that is what the book is pushing, but I understand the drawbacks to it.
I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. I think my body is finally in synch with the sleep it needed and I think the rain helped. It knocked all the allergens out of the air so I am not breathing them all day long.
Well, time to get ready for work.
Ciao!
Dinner was excellent. My wife made broiled Salmon Spinach salad and I could not get enough of it...I wish she would have made more. She used a garlic Teryaki marinade and the fish came out yummy. With a little Blue Bell ice cream and a glass of milk, I was set.
"24" was on the watch list (actually the only thing on my watch list) last night. I am starting to pick out more and more flaws in the show and it is beginning to bug my wife. I guess I better cool it some or I will get kicked out of the living room.
I went to bed at a normal time (10:30) after "24" was over and after I had read a little of a book I am borrowing, "The Death of Innocents" by Sister Helen Prejean. It is a pretty good book so far. It is not one I would have picked up but a woman in my care group thought I might like it so she let me borrow it. It is a slow read for me because it is out of my interest genre, but it is pretty good nonetheless. I am still not against the death penalty and that is what the book is pushing, but I understand the drawbacks to it.
I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. I think my body is finally in synch with the sleep it needed and I think the rain helped. It knocked all the allergens out of the air so I am not breathing them all day long.
Well, time to get ready for work.
Ciao!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Hey Mon, It Not Be My Job
I "officially" take over my watch at 10:00 AM my time. From that point on, I am responsible to answer the bat phone in case our customer calls and needs something escalated. I am responsible for global issues only. Regional issues are for the local esc mgr to deal with.
At 10:05, I get a call from some European whose name is familiar, but I cannot place. He speaks to me in a rapid fire, matter-of-fact tone that befuddles my coffee deprived brain (just for the record, I am still sleepy...no kidding). He states that there is an issue that has "stalled", meaning that it is not being actively worked on and he insists that I call him back when I can set up a meeting (Ack... why does everyone want to have a MEETING all the time?) to discuss correcting this problem. I ask him if this is a local or global issue and he says global. He offers to e-mail me the info (thank you...had I just written it down I would still be sorting this out) and he hangs up. I get the e-mail a few seconds later and I read it. I investigate the issue and find out that it is a regional issue, only affecting one shop in Finland. I e-mail the European back and tell him this is not Global and the regional esc mgr will be handling it.
A few seconds later I get another e-mail stating that the regional esc mgr has already been called and he is on his way home and that since we utilize "follow the sun", any issue after 10:00 AM my time is mine, local or not and ge demands that I take ownership of the issue. Word to the wise, never demand anything from me when I am deprived of coffee.
I look up the regional esc mgr for that area and ring his mobile phone. He answers and I give him the scoop. I tell him that regional issues are the responsibility of the EM for that region 24x7. He asks about follow the sun and I tell him that we only use FTS for global issues. I then explain that Europe has three EM's and effectively three times the issues. If they were all handed to me at 10:00, then that would be a bit unfair, no? The light bulb goes on over his head and he agrees to look into it. We disconnect.
I send back another e-mail to the European person who makes demands of coffee deprived Yankees informing him that I had made contact with the EM and he would be handling the issue.
To be honest, I could have handled the issue, but it is not fair that 1) I was thrown into this job and I hate it. 2) Europe has three EM's for their markets and we have only me for North and South America, 3) If a call comes in at 2 AM from Brazil and needs escalating...I get the call, not Europe. Brazil is on my watch, and 4) WHY does Europe always wait until the end of their day to escalate something? The issue had the same impact at 5 PM (their time) as it did at 3 PM and the teams working on it were on site. This happens far too often.
At worst I was as matter-of-fact as the European was to me...at best, I made sure a regional issue that is not my concern was taken care of. Sometimes this job does not make me feel very Christian. I was not rude, but I was right to the point.
On a high note, being coffee deprived and sleepy has made me very creative. I spent a lot of time in between issues and during lunch working on stories.
Go me.
At 10:05, I get a call from some European whose name is familiar, but I cannot place. He speaks to me in a rapid fire, matter-of-fact tone that befuddles my coffee deprived brain (just for the record, I am still sleepy...no kidding). He states that there is an issue that has "stalled", meaning that it is not being actively worked on and he insists that I call him back when I can set up a meeting (Ack... why does everyone want to have a MEETING all the time?) to discuss correcting this problem. I ask him if this is a local or global issue and he says global. He offers to e-mail me the info (thank you...had I just written it down I would still be sorting this out) and he hangs up. I get the e-mail a few seconds later and I read it. I investigate the issue and find out that it is a regional issue, only affecting one shop in Finland. I e-mail the European back and tell him this is not Global and the regional esc mgr will be handling it.
A few seconds later I get another e-mail stating that the regional esc mgr has already been called and he is on his way home and that since we utilize "follow the sun", any issue after 10:00 AM my time is mine, local or not and ge demands that I take ownership of the issue. Word to the wise, never demand anything from me when I am deprived of coffee.
I look up the regional esc mgr for that area and ring his mobile phone. He answers and I give him the scoop. I tell him that regional issues are the responsibility of the EM for that region 24x7. He asks about follow the sun and I tell him that we only use FTS for global issues. I then explain that Europe has three EM's and effectively three times the issues. If they were all handed to me at 10:00, then that would be a bit unfair, no? The light bulb goes on over his head and he agrees to look into it. We disconnect.
I send back another e-mail to the European person who makes demands of coffee deprived Yankees informing him that I had made contact with the EM and he would be handling the issue.
To be honest, I could have handled the issue, but it is not fair that 1) I was thrown into this job and I hate it. 2) Europe has three EM's for their markets and we have only me for North and South America, 3) If a call comes in at 2 AM from Brazil and needs escalating...I get the call, not Europe. Brazil is on my watch, and 4) WHY does Europe always wait until the end of their day to escalate something? The issue had the same impact at 5 PM (their time) as it did at 3 PM and the teams working on it were on site. This happens far too often.
At worst I was as matter-of-fact as the European was to me...at best, I made sure a regional issue that is not my concern was taken care of. Sometimes this job does not make me feel very Christian. I was not rude, but I was right to the point.
On a high note, being coffee deprived and sleepy has made me very creative. I spent a lot of time in between issues and during lunch working on stories.
Go me.
Time Is (Not) On My Side
I had a sinus headache last night, so I took some Tylenol Sinus and started to feel better, but oddly enough, I got very sleepy. I was just finishing up my weekly call to mom (she talked for 50 minutes and I got about 10) when I decided to go to bed...at 8:00 PM. I just could not hold my eyes open...who drugged my tea?
I slept straight through the night and at 6:45 my wife says, "El, it is almost 7:00...you are going to be late.) It appears that my alarm did not go off...again. The problem is very intermittent, but I think I know what causes it, so I am testing it now.
Needless to say that my nice 2 hour wake up period was jammed into 30 minutes. No coffee, no bible, no dog walk, no breakfast...you get the idea. All I got was a shower, brush my teeth, get dressed, and pack my lunch. I took breakfast with me (gotta love oatmeal packets) as well as a Monster Lo Carb Energy Drink to sub for my morning coffee. I will read the bible shortly after I wake up.
A few thoughts from yesterday:
* Sitting on the couch with a Laptop on your lap for over an hour is ... hot. 'Nuff said.
* Church went well, luncheon was nice but the food was not so nice. I got the feeling people did not put much effort into their cover dishes.
* I Worked on a story for the BSOBLog (hence the "hot lap"). We are taking an event from "The BSOB Years" and each of us (me, Knightmare Duck, and Holmes...we are trying to get M'Wonga on board with it) are telling it from our point of view. So far it has been fun. We have three stories done so far and three more planned.
* Basketball game (UNC vs Georgetown) at 4:00 pm CDT today. Just as I had predicted, the 'Heels lost. They were very sporadic and the Hoyas had their way with them a majority of the game.
* The weather was wreaking havoc on my sinuses and they still hurt to some degree 12 hours later. Hmppph.
* As much as I love the metal of the 80's, I cannot watch the videos any more. It is embarrassing.
I slept straight through the night and at 6:45 my wife says, "El, it is almost 7:00...you are going to be late.) It appears that my alarm did not go off...again. The problem is very intermittent, but I think I know what causes it, so I am testing it now.
Needless to say that my nice 2 hour wake up period was jammed into 30 minutes. No coffee, no bible, no dog walk, no breakfast...you get the idea. All I got was a shower, brush my teeth, get dressed, and pack my lunch. I took breakfast with me (gotta love oatmeal packets) as well as a Monster Lo Carb Energy Drink to sub for my morning coffee. I will read the bible shortly after I wake up.
A few thoughts from yesterday:
* Sitting on the couch with a Laptop on your lap for over an hour is ... hot. 'Nuff said.
* Church went well, luncheon was nice but the food was not so nice. I got the feeling people did not put much effort into their cover dishes.
* I Worked on a story for the BSOBLog (hence the "hot lap"). We are taking an event from "The BSOB Years" and each of us (me, Knightmare Duck, and Holmes...we are trying to get M'Wonga on board with it) are telling it from our point of view. So far it has been fun. We have three stories done so far and three more planned.
* Basketball game (UNC vs Georgetown) at 4:00 pm CDT today. Just as I had predicted, the 'Heels lost. They were very sporadic and the Hoyas had their way with them a majority of the game.
* The weather was wreaking havoc on my sinuses and they still hurt to some degree 12 hours later. Hmppph.
* As much as I love the metal of the 80's, I cannot watch the videos any more. It is embarrassing.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Cool Down
Well the rest of my day went well. I gave up on MythTV for the time being. While having a PVR is tempting, it appears getting this little beast up and running will not be easy so I will wait until I can afford to waste hours on it.
My wife spent a large part of the day cooking and I helped her clean up. That is our rule, one person cooks, the other cleans. Works for us.
I went and grabbed Scotty P's for dinner (great burgers), walked Little Man and then vegged out in front of the TV/PC for the rest of the night. I watched The Dallas Dragons of the WCL lose to Los Angeles (that sucks) on VS, and then I caught Bodog Fighting Productions on ION. While new fighting shows are great...Bodog puts a little too much T&A on screen for me. I wish that MMA could be broadcast with out it. I guess that will never happen!
After Bodog, I hit the sack and got a good nights sleep. I woke up feeling pretty good (once I shook the cobwebs from my head...good coffee helps) so my walk with Little Man went smoothly. I got back just as my wife was getting ready to start her walk with The Golden. I fed Little Man and got The Golden's food ready so she could eat when she returned.
I quickly fired off a few e-mails and watered the foundation. I guess I need to get into the shower, read my bible, and eat. We have a busy day. Church, a luncheon, UNC/Gerogetown at 4 PM CDT, call mom, and the dog duties. I guess it is not busy...just normal.
Oh man, I forgot to go get sod yesterday...we need it and I think it is finally in. The home improvement stores have told me that it is in short supply and they did not have it last week. New construction must be taking it all...plus the drought conditions are not helping. It looks like we are still under water usage restrictions until 2008. Ick.
My wife spent a large part of the day cooking and I helped her clean up. That is our rule, one person cooks, the other cleans. Works for us.
I went and grabbed Scotty P's for dinner (great burgers), walked Little Man and then vegged out in front of the TV/PC for the rest of the night. I watched The Dallas Dragons of the WCL lose to Los Angeles (that sucks) on VS, and then I caught Bodog Fighting Productions on ION. While new fighting shows are great...Bodog puts a little too much T&A on screen for me. I wish that MMA could be broadcast with out it. I guess that will never happen!
After Bodog, I hit the sack and got a good nights sleep. I woke up feeling pretty good (once I shook the cobwebs from my head...good coffee helps) so my walk with Little Man went smoothly. I got back just as my wife was getting ready to start her walk with The Golden. I fed Little Man and got The Golden's food ready so she could eat when she returned.
I quickly fired off a few e-mails and watered the foundation. I guess I need to get into the shower, read my bible, and eat. We have a busy day. Church, a luncheon, UNC/Gerogetown at 4 PM CDT, call mom, and the dog duties. I guess it is not busy...just normal.
Oh man, I forgot to go get sod yesterday...we need it and I think it is finally in. The home improvement stores have told me that it is in short supply and they did not have it last week. New construction must be taking it all...plus the drought conditions are not helping. It looks like we are still under water usage restrictions until 2008. Ick.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
All Work And No Play...
Makes El Gee a dull boy...and I hate to be too dull!
I got home from a rather boring day at work and was very happy to find Mrs Gee had cooked spaghetti and green beans for dinner. After wolfing those down, I went out to mow my neighbors (and our) yard. It took a couple of hours to mow, trim, edge, and clean up, but I was done in time to watch Carolina play USC at 9:00 PM CDT. It was a great game that gave me a new found respect for Coach Roy Williams. We were outclassed and we still pulled of a victory by 10 points.
After the game I went to bed.
I got up and walked Little Man and had my coffee and started loading Ubuntu 6.10 on my new server...the towering hulk I call "maximus". I have now retired "megaserver". The initial load (using Xubuntu) failed so I tried the regular Ubuntu and it seemed to work. The machine is up and running quite well. It still needs tweaked, but it does what I want it to, for the moment.
After maximus was loaded, I went through the mountain of very old PC parts and got rid of a lot. I smashed 3 old hard drives and put the rest of the stuff on the porch for the city to come recycle. After that chore was finished (it actually was pretty fun), I started on the dishes and the vacuuming, stopping only for lunch. With that done I took a stab at installing the Hauppage Win TV tuner in the PC. After getting it to run in Windows, I rebooted in Linux mode and installed TVTime...the only problem was setting the default device and after reading the man pages I found that I needed to alter the xml file to tell it to look for my tuner card. Once I did that, it worked. I then got the wild idea of trying to get MythTV to work, but I am having issues, so I am going to give up for now. Mrs. Gee is hungry so I better go get some food.
I guess the day has not been bad. I have worked but I also have had a bit of fun.
I got home from a rather boring day at work and was very happy to find Mrs Gee had cooked spaghetti and green beans for dinner. After wolfing those down, I went out to mow my neighbors (and our) yard. It took a couple of hours to mow, trim, edge, and clean up, but I was done in time to watch Carolina play USC at 9:00 PM CDT. It was a great game that gave me a new found respect for Coach Roy Williams. We were outclassed and we still pulled of a victory by 10 points.
After the game I went to bed.
I got up and walked Little Man and had my coffee and started loading Ubuntu 6.10 on my new server...the towering hulk I call "maximus". I have now retired "megaserver". The initial load (using Xubuntu) failed so I tried the regular Ubuntu and it seemed to work. The machine is up and running quite well. It still needs tweaked, but it does what I want it to, for the moment.
After maximus was loaded, I went through the mountain of very old PC parts and got rid of a lot. I smashed 3 old hard drives and put the rest of the stuff on the porch for the city to come recycle. After that chore was finished (it actually was pretty fun), I started on the dishes and the vacuuming, stopping only for lunch. With that done I took a stab at installing the Hauppage Win TV tuner in the PC. After getting it to run in Windows, I rebooted in Linux mode and installed TVTime...the only problem was setting the default device and after reading the man pages I found that I needed to alter the xml file to tell it to look for my tuner card. Once I did that, it worked. I then got the wild idea of trying to get MythTV to work, but I am having issues, so I am going to give up for now. Mrs. Gee is hungry so I better go get some food.
I guess the day has not been bad. I have worked but I also have had a bit of fun.
Friday, March 23, 2007
And now...
*The Charges may be dropped.* RIAA is the worst company in the world.
* I still prefer Linux no matter what Symantec says...I am no fan of Symantec, BTW.
* Rights are good, but protecting our kids is important, too.
Random thoughts:
* I do not like having meetings just because the process says, "Now at this point, a meeting should be held..." People who know me know I hate needless meetings. I can get more accomplished with a couple of people on the phone or via IM/e-mail than I can when I have to call 15 people into a teleconference, 12 of them managers and the final three being the ones who get yelled at.
* If I were single again (Perish the thought) I would be a pack rat who specializes in books and computer parts. I thank my wife for keeping me in check and not allowing me to collect too much stuff (although I am sure she thinks the 2 totes full of misc parts is too much).
* If you go to your truck to take a nap at lunch time and you are not really tired, you will be by the end of you lunch.
*Friday's can be very boring when you have to be in the office and there is not really anything you need to do.
Toys in the Attic
My wife called me later in the afternoon to inform me that her boss had some stuff he wanted me to go through. The instructions were simple: Keep what you want/need, recycle the rest.
I went home and took care of the dogs and then walked over to the deli that I was going to meet my wife at and waited. While waiting I looked at a menu and was not very impressed so when my wife got there I told her we needed to go someplace else. We ended up eating at Arby's for much less and the food was probably just as good. As we drove home, my wife had to stop at Target and Kroger to get a few things so I stayed in the van to inspect the stuff her boss gave her
My wife brought home some office supplies (folders, printer paper), one of the "Left Behind" novels (gee, I only have 12-15 or so more to get), a 17 inch e-machines CRT, a 19 Viewsonic CRT, several keyboards, and a Compaq Presario 7998. All of it was caked with dust and smelled horrible, but I told my wife I would go through it.
When my wife got done running errands, I helped her unload the car and then took Little Man for a walk. Once I got back I began putting things where they needed to go. I took the 19 inch CRT and put it by the curb, along with a very old P1 box (sans the hard drive). The 17 inch CRT and one of the keyboards matched the PC I gave one of the guys at church (I blogged about that a while back), so I set those aside for him. The office supplies and the book were put away and that left the Presario for me to look at.
When I picked it up and looked, I noticed first that it had a Soundblaster Audigy sound card...an audiophiles sound card. Intrigued, I looked in the back and notice it had a dual head video card and a TV tuner card. Hmmm, someone spent a lot of money tweaking this machine. Since I was already in hyper curious mode, I researched the PC on the web and found out that it had a few goodies that came stock on this. While the machine is hardly a speed demon, it is much faster than megaserver (500 mhz AMD, 384 megs RAM) was. Here is what I learned about the machine:
Compaq Presario 7998
1 ghz Athlon prcessor (back in the Win98 days, this must have SCREAMED)
128 megs of RAM (it had been upgraded to 256 megs, thought they were mismatched)
Upgrade to Nvidia FX 5200 (128 megs RAM)
Upgrade to Soundblaster Audigy
Upgrade to Hauppage WinTV Tuner card
DVD-ROM reader
1 Seagate 40 gig 7200 rpm hd (Data drive)
1 Seagate 60 gig 5400 rpm hd (OS drive)
Zip 100 Zip Drive (with brand new disks)
Firewire ports
USB ports
Now this thing is the largest case I have seen in years...it is huge. The previous owner obviously spent a lot of money at one point making this machine into a real A/V toy. Now since the specs of this were better than anything on megaserver, I decided I would keep this. I would have transferred all the parts into the megaserver case (or even the old e-machines case I have but this board/case was ATX while the others were mini ATX. All I had to do was clean it up.
I spread out one of the old dog sheets (old bedding we use we need to keep dog fur off of furniture) and took the machine apart. It was disgusting to say the least. It smelled of cat and was caked with fur and dust. I took it out side and used a whole can of compressed air to blow out the majority of the crud, then as I was taking it apart, I wiped down each piece with a damp cloth, blowing dust out of the ports, slots, holes, and vents as I went. When this had been done, I wiped the case and mobo down with the same cloth (rinsing it very well each time) and let it dry. I had just enough compressed air to blow out any stray dust and fur I may have missed the first round. While it was not dust free, it will suffice until I can get some more during my lunch break.
When it had dried, I started putting it back together, omitting the things I did not want/need in it and replacing things that I wanted the box to have: This is what I decided on to use to replace megaserver:
* 256 megs of matched RAM (the board only has two slots and all I have spare is 128 meg sticks. The hunt begins for 256 meg sticks)
* 1 Seagate 40 gig 7200 rpm hd (OS drive)
* 1 Seagate 60 gig 5400 rpm hd (Data drive)
* 52x CD-RW (I will not be using this for multimedia so the DVD player is a waste right now, but it could be installed later if I decide I need it.)
* ATI 9200 video card (128 megs RAM) -- I have never used ATI in Linux before.
* Soundblaster Pro (I could have just left a card out but I had this lying around
* Basic 3Com 10/100 NIC
The Zip drive I did not re-install. The TV tuner card will go into my Windows box but I could work on making this a Myth TV box since I have the parts. I do not know if the "Win TV" card will be supported so I need to check before I waste a lot of time. The rest of the stuff I kept if it was better than what I had stored. I plan on going through it all again and recycling the old stuff. We love our environment.
I put it all together and tested it with a live Ubuntu 6.10 CD to verify that it was connected properly and all looked good. There was a small issue but that was quickly resolved (I had not pressed the power cord in all the way and it refused to power on), so with it reassembled and sitting in the spot megaserver once ruled, I went to bed. I was not going to start putting an OS on it at 11:30 at night. I can do that some tonight as well as tomorrow and Sunday. I have couple of basketball games to watch, a couple of yards to mow and a house to vacuum before the weekend is over. I am gonna be busy!
If I am not mistaken, the whole process took about 3.5 hours. Not bad really. I realize that the case is not dust free but it will be soon enough. I have time.
I went home and took care of the dogs and then walked over to the deli that I was going to meet my wife at and waited. While waiting I looked at a menu and was not very impressed so when my wife got there I told her we needed to go someplace else. We ended up eating at Arby's for much less and the food was probably just as good. As we drove home, my wife had to stop at Target and Kroger to get a few things so I stayed in the van to inspect the stuff her boss gave her
My wife brought home some office supplies (folders, printer paper), one of the "Left Behind" novels (gee, I only have 12-15 or so more to get), a 17 inch e-machines CRT, a 19 Viewsonic CRT, several keyboards, and a Compaq Presario 7998. All of it was caked with dust and smelled horrible, but I told my wife I would go through it.
When my wife got done running errands, I helped her unload the car and then took Little Man for a walk. Once I got back I began putting things where they needed to go. I took the 19 inch CRT and put it by the curb, along with a very old P1 box (sans the hard drive). The 17 inch CRT and one of the keyboards matched the PC I gave one of the guys at church (I blogged about that a while back), so I set those aside for him. The office supplies and the book were put away and that left the Presario for me to look at.
When I picked it up and looked, I noticed first that it had a Soundblaster Audigy sound card...an audiophiles sound card. Intrigued, I looked in the back and notice it had a dual head video card and a TV tuner card. Hmmm, someone spent a lot of money tweaking this machine. Since I was already in hyper curious mode, I researched the PC on the web and found out that it had a few goodies that came stock on this. While the machine is hardly a speed demon, it is much faster than megaserver (500 mhz AMD, 384 megs RAM) was. Here is what I learned about the machine:
Compaq Presario 7998
1 ghz Athlon prcessor (back in the Win98 days, this must have SCREAMED)
128 megs of RAM (it had been upgraded to 256 megs, thought they were mismatched)
Upgrade to Nvidia FX 5200 (128 megs RAM)
Upgrade to Soundblaster Audigy
Upgrade to Hauppage WinTV Tuner card
DVD-ROM reader
1 Seagate 40 gig 7200 rpm hd (Data drive)
1 Seagate 60 gig 5400 rpm hd (OS drive)
Zip 100 Zip Drive (with brand new disks)
Firewire ports
USB ports
Now this thing is the largest case I have seen in years...it is huge. The previous owner obviously spent a lot of money at one point making this machine into a real A/V toy. Now since the specs of this were better than anything on megaserver, I decided I would keep this. I would have transferred all the parts into the megaserver case (or even the old e-machines case I have but this board/case was ATX while the others were mini ATX. All I had to do was clean it up.
I spread out one of the old dog sheets (old bedding we use we need to keep dog fur off of furniture) and took the machine apart. It was disgusting to say the least. It smelled of cat and was caked with fur and dust. I took it out side and used a whole can of compressed air to blow out the majority of the crud, then as I was taking it apart, I wiped down each piece with a damp cloth, blowing dust out of the ports, slots, holes, and vents as I went. When this had been done, I wiped the case and mobo down with the same cloth (rinsing it very well each time) and let it dry. I had just enough compressed air to blow out any stray dust and fur I may have missed the first round. While it was not dust free, it will suffice until I can get some more during my lunch break.
When it had dried, I started putting it back together, omitting the things I did not want/need in it and replacing things that I wanted the box to have: This is what I decided on to use to replace megaserver:
* 256 megs of matched RAM (the board only has two slots and all I have spare is 128 meg sticks. The hunt begins for 256 meg sticks)
* 1 Seagate 40 gig 7200 rpm hd (OS drive)
* 1 Seagate 60 gig 5400 rpm hd (Data drive)
* 52x CD-RW (I will not be using this for multimedia so the DVD player is a waste right now, but it could be installed later if I decide I need it.)
* ATI 9200 video card (128 megs RAM) -- I have never used ATI in Linux before.
* Soundblaster Pro (I could have just left a card out but I had this lying around
* Basic 3Com 10/100 NIC
The Zip drive I did not re-install. The TV tuner card will go into my Windows box but I could work on making this a Myth TV box since I have the parts. I do not know if the "Win TV" card will be supported so I need to check before I waste a lot of time. The rest of the stuff I kept if it was better than what I had stored. I plan on going through it all again and recycling the old stuff. We love our environment.
I put it all together and tested it with a live Ubuntu 6.10 CD to verify that it was connected properly and all looked good. There was a small issue but that was quickly resolved (I had not pressed the power cord in all the way and it refused to power on), so with it reassembled and sitting in the spot megaserver once ruled, I went to bed. I was not going to start putting an OS on it at 11:30 at night. I can do that some tonight as well as tomorrow and Sunday. I have couple of basketball games to watch, a couple of yards to mow and a house to vacuum before the weekend is over. I am gonna be busy!
If I am not mistaken, the whole process took about 3.5 hours. Not bad really. I realize that the case is not dust free but it will be soon enough. I have time.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Random Bytes
* A headhunter called today. Indian, I believe who was calling about a job in Austin. I had a lot of trouble understanding him...he talked so fast that his words were coming out in a jumble. I kept telling him, "No, DALLAS, not Austin" and he kept asking me if I was sure. he then said something about e-mailing me at my g-mail account so I said, sure. I need to see what job board has me set for Austin and fix it, pronto. By the way, I never did get an e-mail from him.
* My wife called me while I was on lunch just to say she loved me. I am touched.
* I have 15 short stories started but only two are completed. I am far from a writer but I like to tell stories. I was hoping I could get one published if I could ever get one finished!
* It looks like I have more junk to go through...my wife's boss is giving her several items for me to either use or recycle. Joy.
* We have too many "Chicken Little's" working here. The sky is not always falling.
* A ten minute power nap can make a world of difference.
* My wife called me while I was on lunch just to say she loved me. I am touched.
* I have 15 short stories started but only two are completed. I am far from a writer but I like to tell stories. I was hoping I could get one published if I could ever get one finished!
* It looks like I have more junk to go through...my wife's boss is giving her several items for me to either use or recycle. Joy.
* We have too many "Chicken Little's" working here. The sky is not always falling.
* A ten minute power nap can make a world of difference.
Nothing At All
Lunchtime came around and I scarfed down my food so I could take a quick power nap in my truck the last 20 minutes or so that I had left. When I had returned (my nap was great!), I had several e-mails regarding an issue in Europe that had crippled communications for our customer. Now the issues is not something we work on...the WAN is their baby, but we still need to be aware of it. One of the e-mails was from a manager who was "a little concerned" and wanted the issue escalated. Please. From everything that I read and been told, the correct group was working on it. Not only that, but they knew exactly what the problem was and were in the process of correcting it. The outage lasted three hours total and while that sounds like a long time, it actually is not bad at all since it happened after European business hours. Reporting an issued, paging an on call tech and having that tech get back into town, diagnose, and repair the issue in three hours is not too shabby. Nothing to worry about...nothing at all.
The rest of my day went well and quitting time arrived quickly. I hopped in my truck and headed home to see my lovely wife and get ready for care group. When I got home I remembered that it was the day that the city allows us to run our sprinklers. Since I had not ran them in quite some time, I decided to test them. I ran each zone separately, adjusting the nozzles to actually spray in the yard, rather than in the street. After all eight zones had been tested and adjusted, I shut the system off and went inside. I took care of receipt entering (daily chore for me) while my wife rested on the couch. She had a rather full day and was run down so I let her rest in front of the TV watching "Mythbusters" and "It Takes A Theif" until it was time to leave.
I had to change clothes because working with sprinklers means spraying water and spraying water means getting wet. Dry clothes were put on and we left for Care Group.
Dinner at Care Group was baked catfish, Orzo pasta, lima beans, fresh pineapple, asparagus, and fresh brewed green tea. For dessert we had a great carrot cake from the farmers market. I was a very happy man!
After dinner we did the lesson, which was based on morality, more specifically, giving yourself margin in the area of sexual morality. It was actually more of a complex issue than I had expected, but Jimmy did a pretty good job. After the lesson we watched the accompanying video and talked. We had a couple of visitors come late to the group and they seemed very nice...I hope they come back.
After chatting for a few minutes we went home so I could walk Little Man and then watch Jericho that we had taped. My wife was rather disappointed that it was not on last night, but when I told her that the next 3 epi's sounded really good, he spirits lifted. We both really like that show.
With nothing pressing to do and realizing that we both were tired, we hit they hay about 10:30 or so. I was only able to read about 2 pages before I dozed off...I must have been tired!
I woke up about 30 minutes before the alarm went off (am I finally used to DST?) but laid in bed until the alarm sounded. With that I got up and started to take Little Man out, but I realized by wife and Grande Rojo (The Golden...Big Red) were gone, so I made my coffee before I left. My wife never locks up when I am home and if I leave, I lock up...so she would have been locked out. When my coffee was done, she had just stepped onto the porch so I took my cup o' joe (laced heavily with pecan creamer) with me as I walked Little Man.
Once I was back I completed my ritual and headed out the door to go to work. The drive was peaceful, only to be interrupted by the BiC who was having marriage issues. Now that his marriage is stable, he likes to give me the run down about his job...I guess we all need an outlet. He really enjoys talking on the phone much more than I do. I prefer e-mails or IM's to phone calls.
I got to work and found nothing pressing so I did my morning reports and checked in with a few teams to see how things were going and found out things were stable. I like good news.
The rest of my day went well and quitting time arrived quickly. I hopped in my truck and headed home to see my lovely wife and get ready for care group. When I got home I remembered that it was the day that the city allows us to run our sprinklers. Since I had not ran them in quite some time, I decided to test them. I ran each zone separately, adjusting the nozzles to actually spray in the yard, rather than in the street. After all eight zones had been tested and adjusted, I shut the system off and went inside. I took care of receipt entering (daily chore for me) while my wife rested on the couch. She had a rather full day and was run down so I let her rest in front of the TV watching "Mythbusters" and "It Takes A Theif" until it was time to leave.
I had to change clothes because working with sprinklers means spraying water and spraying water means getting wet. Dry clothes were put on and we left for Care Group.
Dinner at Care Group was baked catfish, Orzo pasta, lima beans, fresh pineapple, asparagus, and fresh brewed green tea. For dessert we had a great carrot cake from the farmers market. I was a very happy man!
After dinner we did the lesson, which was based on morality, more specifically, giving yourself margin in the area of sexual morality. It was actually more of a complex issue than I had expected, but Jimmy did a pretty good job. After the lesson we watched the accompanying video and talked. We had a couple of visitors come late to the group and they seemed very nice...I hope they come back.
After chatting for a few minutes we went home so I could walk Little Man and then watch Jericho that we had taped. My wife was rather disappointed that it was not on last night, but when I told her that the next 3 epi's sounded really good, he spirits lifted. We both really like that show.
With nothing pressing to do and realizing that we both were tired, we hit they hay about 10:30 or so. I was only able to read about 2 pages before I dozed off...I must have been tired!
I woke up about 30 minutes before the alarm went off (am I finally used to DST?) but laid in bed until the alarm sounded. With that I got up and started to take Little Man out, but I realized by wife and Grande Rojo (The Golden...Big Red) were gone, so I made my coffee before I left. My wife never locks up when I am home and if I leave, I lock up...so she would have been locked out. When my coffee was done, she had just stepped onto the porch so I took my cup o' joe (laced heavily with pecan creamer) with me as I walked Little Man.
Once I was back I completed my ritual and headed out the door to go to work. The drive was peaceful, only to be interrupted by the BiC who was having marriage issues. Now that his marriage is stable, he likes to give me the run down about his job...I guess we all need an outlet. He really enjoys talking on the phone much more than I do. I prefer e-mails or IM's to phone calls.
I got to work and found nothing pressing so I did my morning reports and checked in with a few teams to see how things were going and found out things were stable. I like good news.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Bits And Bytes
Some I/T and tech news for your enjoyment:
* Virginia ISP's silently block some web sites.
* This should make "Rob the Slob" happy.
* Walking on sunshine?
* Why is this even legal? If an individual borrows an unprotected wifi connection (to check mail for example), he goes to jail. If you work for Skyhook Wireless, it is part of the job. From their own web site:
Scanning
Job Summary: Skyhook is looking for drivers that are familiar with US metro areas to drive large sections of cities in order to passively gather wireless information. This is a full time position that is short/medium term. Drivers will be provided with a wi-fi scanning device and maps with specific target areas of the city. There are no stops, just driving and letting the device scan. Drivers should understand the following:
- This is difficult work and requires a systematic approach to achieve the objective
- Drivers must commit to 40 hours a week
- Drivers must have a license, a car in good working order, and insurance
- Some technological knowledge is helpful
If you like tech you need to check out www.slashdot.org ... the site is way cool.
* Virginia ISP's silently block some web sites.
* This should make "Rob the Slob" happy.
* Walking on sunshine?
* Why is this even legal? If an individual borrows an unprotected wifi connection (to check mail for example), he goes to jail. If you work for Skyhook Wireless, it is part of the job. From their own web site:
Scanning
Job Summary: Skyhook is looking for drivers that are familiar with US metro areas to drive large sections of cities in order to passively gather wireless information. This is a full time position that is short/medium term. Drivers will be provided with a wi-fi scanning device and maps with specific target areas of the city. There are no stops, just driving and letting the device scan. Drivers should understand the following:
- This is difficult work and requires a systematic approach to achieve the objective
- Drivers must commit to 40 hours a week
- Drivers must have a license, a car in good working order, and insurance
- Some technological knowledge is helpful
If you like tech you need to check out www.slashdot.org ... the site is way cool.
Wait For Sleep
The rest of my day at work was pretty good. Nothing major happened and although I had some training that I needed to view online, I was not motivated to do so.
I called my wife as was leaving to discuss with her the conversation with my boss and his boss. There was not much to say regarding it, but she was curious. When I got home I let out the dogs, grabbed the mail, fed the dogs and nuked some leftovers for me. I had to be at the city library at 6:30 to meet the student that I am leading through "One on One Discipling". "Harry" is a nice guy. He works at a local convention center setting up for events and conferences. He appears to be a little slow. Not only in speech, but in actions and thought. When I was asked to disciple him, the man in charge of the program (the one who took me through it) told me it would be a challenge because Harry is special case. We have only met twice in the past 30 days and we have only completed one chapter. God has some very ingenious ways of teaching us to respect and have patience with others.
The lesson went well and Harry did quite well considering his situation. He answered many of the questions quite well, but some of the questions that I thought were easy he did not answer. We discussed the answers and my thoughts on the matter and proceeded on.
The lesson did not take nearly as long as I had thought it would (although we did skip a lot of scripture reading in interest of time) and I was back home by 8:30 PM.
I stopped at the store for my wife to pick up a couple of things and noticed they had Breyer's ice cream pints on sale, 10 for $10. I grabbed two in addition to my regular list and went home.
After I got back I walked Little Man and then came back to watch "Law and Order: SVU". It was a repeat but it is one of my favorite episodes. Brian Dennehy starred as a dying ex-con who had a story to tell. I found it fascinating.
I was tired so I just went to bed and read for a little while, eventually falling asleep in the process. I woke up shortly after that and put down my book, took of my specs, and went fast asleep.
I woke up feeling pretty good, but I am having the hardest time waking up. I feel like I am just waiting to fall back to sleep. This would be a bad day to be handling major issues!
I called my wife as was leaving to discuss with her the conversation with my boss and his boss. There was not much to say regarding it, but she was curious. When I got home I let out the dogs, grabbed the mail, fed the dogs and nuked some leftovers for me. I had to be at the city library at 6:30 to meet the student that I am leading through "One on One Discipling". "Harry" is a nice guy. He works at a local convention center setting up for events and conferences. He appears to be a little slow. Not only in speech, but in actions and thought. When I was asked to disciple him, the man in charge of the program (the one who took me through it) told me it would be a challenge because Harry is special case. We have only met twice in the past 30 days and we have only completed one chapter. God has some very ingenious ways of teaching us to respect and have patience with others.
The lesson went well and Harry did quite well considering his situation. He answered many of the questions quite well, but some of the questions that I thought were easy he did not answer. We discussed the answers and my thoughts on the matter and proceeded on.
The lesson did not take nearly as long as I had thought it would (although we did skip a lot of scripture reading in interest of time) and I was back home by 8:30 PM.
I stopped at the store for my wife to pick up a couple of things and noticed they had Breyer's ice cream pints on sale, 10 for $10. I grabbed two in addition to my regular list and went home.
After I got back I walked Little Man and then came back to watch "Law and Order: SVU". It was a repeat but it is one of my favorite episodes. Brian Dennehy starred as a dying ex-con who had a story to tell. I found it fascinating.
I was tired so I just went to bed and read for a little while, eventually falling asleep in the process. I woke up shortly after that and put down my book, took of my specs, and went fast asleep.
I woke up feeling pretty good, but I am having the hardest time waking up. I feel like I am just waiting to fall back to sleep. This would be a bad day to be handling major issues!
You Still Haven't Found What You Are Looking For
People who read my blog:
1) Know me (personally)
2) Want to know how to get suds out of their dishwasher
3) Wonder what I think of my Ikea Sultan Evje Mattress
4) Have sciatica
5) Researching Russian scammers
According to the traffic logs...I personally think they are all lost :-)
1) Know me (personally)
2) Want to know how to get suds out of their dishwasher
3) Wonder what I think of my Ikea Sultan Evje Mattress
4) Have sciatica
5) Researching Russian scammers
According to the traffic logs...I personally think they are all lost :-)
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