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.
You know it’s friday when your day makes the progression of the title today. What started off as a fair day, some minor blips, but nothing major, got things rolling, got around, got things lined up for a time-table of fun, but then after lunch things went down-hill, server ate it, find out all these end of month things as they happen, well except one - just insane.
So after that, I am driving home, as I am coming in the home stretch, a CHP pulls up and tailgates me with no lights on, so I move out of his way, then he suddenly gets behind me again, and lights up his lights and pulls me over - what was casual speed of traffic driving is suddenly 20 over (85 in a 65) - blah! Of course since I have no priors in over 18 months (more like 4 years) I am up for Traffic School (just like last time) - part of me wants to contest it, but again I just don’t want to 1 wake up for court that early to have a judge say “Sorry kiddo” and Two - I just want to clear it, point be gone with traffic school and move on, I have only had 1 other ticket ever, granted I have had a major accident once, but even that was over 6+ years ago? I dunno, long day, brain is tired.
So there it is, I could rant some more, but honestly - this day just needs to be put to bed, I’d considered going to see Solomon, but I think I am going to hold off as I don’t know if I am just tired, or fighting a bit of a cold myself, so better safe than sorry - Solomon isn’t going anywhere (unless Dan and Val are planning on leaving the country) so for now I am going to work on some EE code, was going to move it during my lunch break, but that didn’t happen with all my fun insanity today - continued prayers are still greatly appreciated, still finding all the balance in this job, my business, and downtime for myself.
Anywhoo for now, I am going to do something, not sure what, but something - maybe go cry in the corner - I hope everyone has a good Friday, a fun weekend, and all the toast they can eat… mmmmm… toast. Night/Afternoon and Good morning All.
I should probably be asleep or trying to get to sleep, however just too much on my mind - Money is tight, which seems to be my constant posting these days, just odd, how one day everything is up and up, and then the next, 5 bills hit at once, and whammo. Back to square one. This month though, I am not looking for rescue from my parents, as much as I’d love to have them help out (I know they would) I need to get this under control - I’ve cut back spending galore, heck trying to cut a few more things, but never seems to be enough.
Seems at least to me that I make exceptions for folks, customers I bend the rules for, friends I go above and beyond for, and time and time again it seems, all I get in return is broken promises from some, no respect from others, but then I have those I am thankful for and then some, the friends who’d give me the shirt off their backs if I asked - good friends are truly a thing I need more of anymore, they help me keep my sanity in this rough patch.
But with all that said, I am trying to remain hopeful. I dunno, I keep asking myself the age ol question “Who am I?” and while I have folks telling me that I am the 9-5 IT guy, the server guy, the computer nerd, etc. I keep finding myself asking the question late in all this oddness of things, and so far no reply, but sometimes you just have to wait for that answer to come I suppose.
Keep my dad in your prayers, he goes in Friday for a CT Scan of his head doctor says he has swelling, which is probably his sinuses, he’s always had problems with them, but this is a new guy and so far he’s been jumpy about everything, so we shall see - but also keep me lifted up, I am hoping for the best in all of this, that they’ll be some light at the end of the tunnel that isn’t a train, but again… time will tell. Happy Tuesday folks.
So today I went to check on my AppleCare warranty status, having bought the MacBook Pro last year - I knew I had only days before I had to get the AppleCare extention, and after missing the iMac’s I wasn’t going to miss this one, however according to Apple, I bought the laptop on the 19th (aka Today) one year ago, which by my post, is 2 days off from the truth.
So finding out the horror of many regarding AppleCare “lateness”, and not having a Apple Store (that’s another Dear Apple for another day) I zipped across town to CompUSA (Bleh) to snag a box, even though their site claims not to stock it, thankfully they did, and $349 later I walked out with a box and a worthless piece of software.
My note to apple is simply this - MAKE APPLECARE RENEWAL BE ONLINE! - for a company that made a fancy phone, and various things which key strength is the internet, you’d think they’d want to make it easy to protect their devices by buying, and renewing AppleCare online, no worry, no fuss, no mildly annoying CompUSA sales people - I mean they did it with iWork, you can buy the code online, why not do the same for AppleCare? Seriously Apple - do that, unlock the iPhone for use on other networks, a SDK for the iPhone, and a lower priced MacPro - I’d be happy and poor at the same time.
Hi My name is Chuck, I’m a broken individual. Lately I just think life is out to break me down a bit, or I’m fighting uphill on something I shouldn’t be with my business - I dunno. Another cancelation Friday, wasn’t expecting it in the least, and sadly the person hasn’t written back as to why they are canceling - but based upon the budget host they moved to, apparently $5 a month is too steep, I dunno. I wish I did, if there is a problem with websites, the hosting services currently deployed, I just wish someone would say “Hey Chuck, this is broken, can we get a fix?” - but such is the game I suppose.
I am not sure what I am doing, that’s the honest to God truth, I am trying to fight to keep the business going smoothly (which is easy enough), but at the same time trying to push forward in my own life, but I guess that’s not something easily done, especially on a tight budget of the “small business”, I have some thoughts in mind, and I am hoping to get a upgrade to the billing system which will make it’s built in affiliate program a tad more useable (requires a referral be with the hosting for X days before payout is given), but I am also going to really push with TN some larger “Business” hosting and business type services, laying off FH for a while, still some minor pushes here and there - but really finish up TN enough to get it smoothed out and ready to join in the fight.
But today, I get to pseudo transfer money from PayPal -> The Bank! Basically going to pull some cash from the ATM via the PayPal card, then walk inside, and deposit said money into the bank lol - they open in about 10 minutes, so such is my plan - but I think I’ll probably do a run downtown to the old office, see if the $200+ in checks showed up, and them give the kMan a call and see if he got anything at the new office, then if not, I’ll head to the bank to get this done and deposited.
Anywhoo - prayers are appreciated, I know one way or another things are going to get better, I still am hopeful that the job will magically call, but as it stands nothing has come in as of yet, but only a week out, and maybe mine is in a pile of “Let’s call him back, now who’s next?” and they’re sorting (a boy can dream can’t he?) - so there it is, my randomness for the day. More later I’m sure, just have to make it thru this day first
So - Halloween eh? Seem’s today is a trick more than anything lol - woke up to my bank account being much lower than I have down it would be, turns out some things I had been billed for last month just cleared, and some deposits still have not made it in (Yay for old Credit Card Processor!) - but hopefully over the next 2 days things will get better and better, as tonight one of the big ones should clear, which is good and bad, as it goes to PayPal directly, not to my WAMU account - yay? I dunno, Wamu’s recent “Online Banking Upgrade” quite frankly has a few good points, but the removal of a way to see pending holds on deposits and withdraws sucks.
I guess one thing positive about this morning (Roger don’t hit me) is I got IMAP support turned on for my Gmail account, so now if needs be I can utilize IMAP, so one positive thing, I am hoping more will follow here shortly, going to try for the 3rd time this week to square away some bills with the kMan, with the power outage yesterday that affected most of downtown, never got to get together with him to get the check - and considering his invoice with me is due Friday, I am hoping I can get things rolling ASAP with that, but sadly I’m not sure how it’s going to pan out and I fear for the worst, but hopefully with the billing system being all converted soon, I can have less worries on things.
Server related, I think if I can hold out a few more months, I may have some server alternatives - but I think long-term I am going to have to ditch the Friends server, unless funds really start coming in on a more regular basis, I think my paper invoices got out, but I think with the recent mail switch to the new building by means of a “Mail Forward” has more or less screwed the pooch for my mail, so I think I am going to need to snag a PO Box to get mail sent to, unless I go today and there is a pile of checks, which is what I am hoping for - but again, like many things not really expecting to happen.
Anywhoo - keep me in your prayers, things just are all over the map for me, my sleep is all out of wack, my brain is all over the map, its just all a tad nutty, but hopefully… Lord willing, it’ll all pan out here very soon. Happy Halloween folks.
It seems that more and more the theme of these blogs is budget - money is tight, business is fast, then slow - I get excited about things, then torn down by others - heck even just brought down by others in general, life is such a funny thing.
I find more and more people like me for my mind, and while the subject alone pokes fun at the idea of liking someone for their body vs. who they are - for me it’s a similar situation. In my lowly 27 years on this planet, I have learned a lot of things, I just have a mind that is like a sponge, and apparently it’s not all that uncommon as my niece shares a similar ability, she was quoting a movie this weekend, and when asked by how many times she had seen the movie she said “Once” lol - my mind is just like that, I can retain strange and sometimes useless bits of info, but at the same time know right where to go for information, or how to do a particular task - and thus folks rely on me since I think outside the box 99% of the time, but it’s also my curse as that part of my brain rarely shuts down.
I dunno, lately I have more folks relying on me - needing me to complete a task, and of course, in the end I am no closer to paying off bills, expanding the budget to get the apartment, I dunno - it’s the never-ending conflict in me, that strange middle ground in life of being “helpful” or being paid for a “job” and yet, when it comes down to it, folks would rather me simply be helpful and save their butt than pay me a wage - and I am not saying that there are not folks out there who are like helpfulness, several of my friends would give me the shirt off their backs if I was truly in need - but sadly as one friend and my father both put it “While honor is given, it is not always returned” - and that is so true - I can be honorable, I can go above and beyond to help someone, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll instantly return the favor.
Life is a funny thing - amazing how in a single day one can be up, can be doing great, then it all just slowly goes down-hill - I have seriously looked around at jobs, and I found one that I could probably handle, and it’d be a change of location, of course it’d mean moving about 20 minutes outside of Beverly Hills, but part of me is considering it - maybe break the cycles of some folks here who use and abuse this ol brain for their gain, but then when it comes to returning the favor - or even yet, bringing me on even part time, it’s not possible.
Who knows, it’s been a long day, a nice blend of good, a bit of bad, some fun chatting about business, and some time playing Halo 3, but I’ve officially been up for too many hours, maybe I just need a nap, or maybe it’s time I had a real wake-up call. Ah life. Night.
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.
(unless Dan and Val are planning on leaving the country) 
so for now I am going to work on some EE code, was going to move it during my lunch break, but that didn’t happen with all my fun insanity today - continued prayers are still greatly appreciated, still finding all the balance in this job, my business, and downtime for myself.
