Well it’s been a interesting couple of days. Some things got resolved with clients and money, and I am assured it’ll never happen again, that the last few months have been tight - so we’ll wait and see, but at the same time I am being firm, I am saying “if you say Go, it’s live” and even within 1 day of saying that, were at a spot now where the customer is upset, and I don’t blame him - but a good set of communication needs to be had, and folks need to really look at what they are buying before they just on a whim say “It’s good to go” when I said “Here’s the rough draft” - Crazy.
I am mostly alive, so tired lately, the last 2 weeks have been busy busy busy, some breaks, but I got to the point that the words out of my mouth, didn’t even sound right, like everything I said was wrong, I was a tad punchy towards friends etc. I probably need to issue out some apologies to a few people, but I finally crashed Friday after work, laid down on the couch, woke up Saturday at 5:30am - not what I had planned, but it was needed, and my brain has been doing much much better.
Some changes are on the horizon though, might be getting some cash here soon, meetings this week, also I am a ways into my taxes, thankfully TurboTax online saves last years, so most of the dialogs are filled out, just crunching the numbers now, which shouldn’t take too long, the system I have is pretty quick, but I am seriously considering getting with the program this year and trying to use a Quicken or something to manage Business funds, or get really crazy and hire an accountant - but let’s not get too carried away just yet.
Anywhoo - I should wrap up, clothes are in the washer, should be ready by morning, just need to be up long enough to switch things over then pass out on my couch here in the room, and then it’s off to the grind of the week, some powerpoint in the AM, need to tweak some DOS configurations as I think a FILES setting needs to be increased - but all in all, I hope that this week will be quick, painless, and give me plenty of time to crunch the numbers for taxes, get a check out, and get on with the year! New services coming to FH/TN - TN website is a priority this week as well, but lots to do, little time it seems, thanks for the prayers, the emails, and the occasional calls - they keep me sane. Night folks, have a GREAT week!
So this week was great, got a lot accomplished. Work has gone good, had some mini blips in our billing software (DOS App!) - did some packing and it half worked, half took an hour longer than normal (guessing it found + repaired some bad things) - this week has been incredibly smooth though, even have the house to myself for a few days.
Heck so well, we got to hang out with Cory tonight, well last night (aka Thursday) and it all went well, got to drive Cory by his old house, show him what used to be fields and orange groves we used to play in as kids, now housing lol - then we made the trek to his hotel, dropped him off, and I got this crazy idea to swing out and pick up a check that has been waiting for me for 3 days, and when getting there and looking around, said check was no-where to be found 
which just compounds my desire to really start shutting stuff off - not from the hosters who host on my rigs, this is a sold unit I manage, and the fees for it have not been paid going on 2 months now, so on Tuesday it’ll be officially 2 months of payments due.
I am not honestly sure what to do, this is one of those sticky situations - where the client is a friend, but as of late I seem to be more of an distant friend, and as his employee feels about myself and dan - part of me, and at the encouragement of others, it may be time to go our separate ways on friendly terms, vs. wait for me to explode - since I have taken the 9-to-5, I keep their servers running, but then also the occasional bit of side-work, which I do my best to keep up on, but this latest side gig, seems to be more and more trouble, and I don’t know if I am getting the full story or not, so not sure what’s up, but I am leaning towards enough is enough.
But I am trying to unwind, so I am just going to lay it at the Lord’s feet in prayer, and just pray his will be done in it all, because I don’t honestly know what to do in this situation, short of fight, and that doesn’t seem like it’d work.
Anywhoo - I need sleep, tomorrow is a busy busy day, need to get some things setup for a presentation, as well as get some other assorted things rolling on software upgrades, so I bid you all a good night, and happy Friday.
Tonight was much needed. Nephews, Niece, Dan, Val, Solomon, etc. a nice end to my day, which ended previously after work by being ditched for a meeting setup Monday, and then having my friend insulted as well as myself, basically told that I was a complete idiot as well as Dan who had no skills what-so-ever - not a fun thing in the least, I brought it up to Dan before the night started because it really bothered me and I didn’t want to let my friend be bad mouthed by this kid who has had very little experience in the world of Web Dev. basically call myself and Dan noobs - kindly told him to shut it - got Dan a little riled up as well - and rightly so.
The part that sucks and has me torn of course is A) I do business with this company. B) The owner and I have know each other for years, and C) $500 a month is nice when I get it, before the following month - so a tad frustrated already with the entire thing, then throw this on the fire - kinda just leaves me wanting to just walk away. As much as $500 would be handy, and the occasional 3-500 more for side work is nice, it’s still not my standard rates, and it’s still not getting paid on time so needless to say I am seriously praying the idea of just cutting ties, one less thing to worry about, and focus strictly on other side projects and jobs which pay me up-front, on-time, and what was agreed upon, plus I don’t have to deal with the drama of it all.
So thankfully this is all going down of course during the week my boss is gone @ my day job, and gives me some time to toy with it some more, but I honestly don’t know what I want to do, possibility of $800 extra a month on average is nice, but like so many if I have to wait over a month for even the local guy to pay me, it’s not helpful, and I spend more time chasing after the local boy than I do chasing after the guy on the east coast who owes me $5 for a month, $5 is simple, $800 is a car, insurance, and credit card payment! So big difference.
Anywhoo - if your reading this sir, and you know who you are, shoot me an email when your around, we need to chat a bit, or setup a time to discuss what’s going on, and get some level of resolution - but to everyone reading this, keep me in your prayers - busy busy, lots going on, still no speeding ticket stuff, and still haven’t had a chance to push my 9-to-6 concept…. so prayers are appreciated, but for now I am going to go talk to my pillow. Night!
Soooooo quite a weekend. Got to relax some over the weekend, a very very relaxed Saturday, got to eat food with my friends, and was even joined by the one, the only Dan-o! it was a good day, got some things done, projects finally just out of my court off into others, and a few more I plan to do the same with this week, just one at a time, bam bam bam, get them out of my court into the clients.
Then we lead into Sunday. 7am wake up, 730am out the door, arrive at church a little before 8, wearing pants *Gasp!* got to warm up a bit, didn’t realize we were also singing the congregational hymns as well, but no worries 
I made it thru, we sang our one special song, it was fun, I did ok, but I got to sing. Something I haven’t done at Church (well in a group) for quite some time, so it was indeed a blessing for me to really just get to belt it out with the choir - it was a fun day, followed up with a night @ The Hub, which was a little bare, but there is a group down in Mexico right now doing a mission trip, so I imagine some parents and high-schoolers who’d normally fill a row or two, were off across the border doing their thang.
We lost one @ the table tonight for Carrows (the Sunday Night Place) - so me and Scott snagged dinner, it was tasty, then I headed over to Poon Manor, and got to see Dan’s parents, the niece and nephews, saw the new game were looking to give a whirl, and just got to chat with Dan a bit, which was indeed awesome as with my work and such and him and val having a baby and all, sometimes things with work-able time tables get a tad sideways, but were making the time, and it’s good to see his family.
Anywhoo - that’s the rundown, after Friday off to recover from chicken-strips, I head back into a work week ready to tackle problems, get things ready to roll, and looking forward to some fun with Dan and Fam, as well as assorted other random fun soon! Hopefully the ticket will come soon, and I can figure out my budget, but sadly it looks like once again, I am going to be waiting on the apartment, not totally bummed, it is in the road-map, but one step at a time, God has a plan, and I am attempting to be more patient to let his time table happen, vs. my own So have a wonderful Monday, even if you think your getting a case of the Monday’s ignore it and remember the simple truth: “This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will be glad and rejoice in it.”. Night folks.
So what happens when you eat Chicken strips @ a local “brewery” feel sick, get thru the work day, only to get a 30m nap, then off to a evening with friends, tasty Chinese food, fun bowling, a piece of cheese cake and hot coco from Denny’s - well the Chicken wins. Oi.
Today I have taken my first sick day, probably one of the few I’ll ever take I’d imagine - just too tired to drive safely to work, still achy from puking my guys out this morning, and I got no sleep, so I am kind of half working from home, half taking it easy and laying on my bed, so far so good, been checking in on work email, got the work cell primed, but thus far things are running smoothly out there, granted it’s a 20 minute drive away, so if I am REALLY needed, I can always bum a ride from one of the rents, but I doubt I’ll need to.
All in all this week has been good though, some minor irritations at work, mainly resulted from some people letting their personal problems leak into their day-to-day job @ the office, throw in a time change… a little ruff, but I made it thru short of food poisoning, looking forward to next week - but also have some projects to get rolling this weekend, more tax work, get RM up and running, email upgrade tonight for Horde, also publish the new “Enhanced Email” setup pricing for FH, maybe get some time on TN if I can wing it, so a busy but hopefully relaxing weekend.
Well I have been sitting up too long, so I am going to head back to the bed to zone out a bit more, maybe drop in a movie - going to attempt lunch when it comes around, just not sure I’ll be ready for solid food just yet… soon. 
Have a lovely Friday everyone!
Soooooooo… how you all doing? This is the “its late, so brief blog” version of things, so here we go….
Backup at work is up and running, in the end with fakeraid I went with dmraid + RAID0 - so no real failure option, but at the same time, going to archive per-user to bzip and such sans media (personal mp3 files) and it’ll all be good, but it’s a rockin system, doing well.
Bowling - we have made it a weekly thing it looks like, as we are going Thursday night, but none the less bowling, so I’ll get to see if I can improve my game any from last week’s cosmic bowling. Crazy Girls in the lane next to us… long story.
Stargate - Ark of Truth is out, loved it. Bought it @ Target watched half of it at work while working on the backup server, but finished it @ home, rip’d it to Xvid for watching on-demand on the TV as well as a copy for the iPod… yes I love Stargate, I have all 10 seasons of SG1, and all of Atlantis. Good stuff indeed.
Shirts - got a few new ones, one came today, mainly artsy, also got one of a pigeon that says “I’m from the streets” looks cool, but I do need to do some laundry this weekend and get things ready, plus I need to find some clothes for Church and singing in the choir, may need to venture out to the GAP as their shorts/pants tend to fit me good.
Anywhoo… there it is, I am sure there is something I am leaving out, still waiting on my ticket, got to meet Solomon Poon, etc. etc. BUT it is time to goto bed soon, so I must wrap up, set out clothes for the AM, and get to it - bi-weekly meeting tomorrow, and more folks to get setup on the backup server. Fun Fun. Night all! Thanks for reading!
The whole thing with balance I am trying to find with the jump between the 8 to 5 grind and TN/FH is tough, not that it isn’t possible, it’s just a change in mindset, as well as making sure to take a break, relax, breathe, you know that sort of thing - and tonight a much needed break was had, a game of Catan, 2 Nephews, a Niece, 2 friends and 1 Solomon.
Such a beautiful baby, got to hold him for a little bit, he’s got some good muscles already pushing around as he laid across my chest more or less as I held him on the couch - just honored to get to meet him, hang out with the Poon’s - my buddy Lanie was there, as well as Blaine and Cameron, apparently Gavin had some sort of prior “thing” with a certain “lady” friend, geeze, what’s so special about a lady friend when you have cool people playing Catan? he was missed, but it was a fun evening, got to even give a piggy back ride, so I mean that alone sum’d up the evening.
It was a great break, and I have actually taken most of the night off, I do have some spot work here to do shortly with some domain renewals, cancelations, and I am also looking to move forward on some alternative email options for both FH/TN that are just standard POP3/IMAP (no fancy Exchange) but simple alternatives and see if I can’t package it with standard accounts over time and absorb the cost in and offer email managed off server, vs. on server, would let folks store more on box - but before I go into business mode, I want to find a snack, and relax a bit more, as tomorrow is Friday, which means every little project people forgot, will hit my desk!
Speaking of work though, the backup server is as such:
- ABIT IP35 Pro (Fancy)
- Intel Core 2 Duo (E6420) 2.13ghz (Conroe)
- 4 GB GeIL Ram (2 x 2GB sticks)
- 5 x Maxtor 500GB SATAII Drives (4 in RAID5 - other will be primary OS aka nothing critical for backups)
- 4 HotSwap Enclosures for the Drives
- Promise FastTrak PCI SATAII Controller (mixed feelings, but some positive reports)
- 750W Power Supply
- Other Assorted Goodies: ie. cdrom, floppy, Radeon X700
A nice little rig, but more I read about the promise card the more mixed I feel about it - but we’ll see how it goes probably Tuesday at this point since most stuff is shipping from CA, so it’ll be here probably Monday/Tuesday.
Anywhoo - sleep is nearing, so work must be done, I’ll write more tomorrow after bowling! Night folks!
