Mostly Alive… Sorta. Yeah.

Soooo what a week thus far, 1 more day to go, but it’s been quite a ride. Apparently the cat is out of the bag finally, with the co-owner of the company coming in for a week, and an investor showing up, folks got the hint that the company may be up for sale - though from what I am gathering from long-timers, this has been attempted once before, and nothing happened, so time will tell - maybe they’ll give me an IT budget but hopefully tomorrow I can work out something for my hope of a firewall and 15 computers.

I have been considering my DVD renting practices, as it stands I am doing Netflix, but I am getting bored of it, the online watching is cool, but limited to Windows, not a HUGE deal, as currently my media rig is Vista, but Netflix seems to of slowed, I recall getting DVD’s quickly, but last took about 4 days to get, and when I did get it, snapped in two. I realize this happens, BUT with Blockbuster, I could take in the envelope and tada, new DVD, cost is the only thing that I am weary about when it comes to price, as it stands with Netflix, I am on the lowest plan with live watching, but even at unlimited 1 out, and unlimited in-store exchange, it’s $22 a month, BUT that does mean instant change, not wait 4 days for a new movie - so I am considering it after I get the last of these bills paid.

iPhone is doing well, T-Mobile’s data speeds seem very nice as of late, and since I got off the 2Wire DSL at work, much more stable wireless across the board, it hops between the Linksys’s just fine, and allows me access to my mail in a quick pinch, plus SSH, just need to get my key on there so I can easily get onto servers vs ssh -> home -> server.

Sleep has been better lately, for a week or so it was out of order, as it can become with me, and yet again someone suggesting that I may suffer from insomnia - again I suppose it’s possible, I just think I have a very different way of sleeping… yeah that’s it! But so far so good, some good rest and I woke up only a little groggy not flat out exhausted.

Anywhoo - more tomorrow as it has become my weekly blogging day it seems sometimes, but for now I am going to go and stare at some code… yay.

Email, Work, Sleep

So another day, another dollar? Okay so I may of made $2… just how it seems to go - today we found some crazy stuff happening with Email on a customer’s oldest server. It has been his longest standing server and it’s starting to show it’s age, but thankfully nothing major damaged, and things are still running … slow & steady, but running. Tomorrow I meet with the client to discuss some options, some I think he’ll like, others I think he’ll think I am crazy - but hey what’s new, everyone knows I am a tad nuts.

Work was fair today, Sales team is back after a week @ their annual sales meeting - things are starting to get back to their “norm” so to speak, still I am sure more settling back in, but all in all, it’s getting there! But I do hope to find out today (tuesday) if I can switch my hours from 8->5 to 9->6 - if so it’d be saweet - if not, it was worth a try, hopefully someone will give me a break now and again, I know I am their primary IT guy, but even I need a break now and again, not to mention a moment or two for work on my business - but even that has been a good balance lately.

Sleep though is what I am lacking as of late, I am trying to get back into a normal pattern, but sadly that hasn’t happened as of yet, so I am running on a few hours a night, maybe 3-4 if I am lucky, but at least it isn’t due to pain, that was not even a quality 3-4 hours of sleep - but I know I should wrap up, eat my food, and then crash out as morning is going to come, the day is of course going to speed by me, then I’ll be in not 1, but 2 - count em 2 meetings 1, with said customer above, but the 2nd with Dan about the Church website, which may be fun, may be not.

Anywhoo - that’s it, busy busy as always, more rumors about a 3G iPhone floating around… but I think really I am good with the EDGE model, I know I know - rumors of GPS, Lightsabers, etc. etc. etc. and we won’t know for sure until it finally arrives, but even then I imagine things like GPS and such will be paid additions, I mean come on - it’s AT&T and Apple - but if they get crazy and offer a upgrade for a low fee for trading in my unit as I purchased so recently, I may actually give AT&T wireless another try.. if not - I think I am going to have a friendly chat with T-Mobile and re-work my plan a bit…. but thats another rambling for another time. I’m off! Night folks!

Sleep….

Well it was a strangely quiet day today at the office. The entire sales team, vice president, and coo - are all at the company’s annual sales meeting this year in Sin City - but it was still busy, and yet I think maybe 2 people called/came to my office - so maybe things are finally calming down to the “2 days a week of work” idea that I was told was the norm even if not, so far I don’t mind the job, just wish I had 9-6 vs 8-5… but all in due time!

This morning I was supposed to goto court for my ticket (according to my ticket) but as of Monday they said to call back in 7 days for a new court date, so I am going on that, I mean why would the court lie? But tomorrow the plan is to try and get off work an hour early to goto Edison Middle School! My former Jr. High - as Dan’s nephew is playing Baseball, I want to go and have fun, but also take the camera to get some shooting under my belt, it has been a while since I was behind the camera, be nice to try and get some good shots of a game.

Sleep as the title of this post is what I am lacking at the moment, pain has kept me up a few nights, and the pain that was thru my neck and shoulder is finally getting enough where pain meds will put it to sleep, but part of me would love to take a day off, but I am trying to keep my sick days to a minimum, but I know sooner or later job and work will collide and I’ll need to do a half day, but I want to cross that bridge only when I come to it.

Anywhoo - going to call it a night (I hope), today was good though, first day with the iPhone as the primary phone, I am still considering the switch to AT&T, but not 100% on that yet, but for now I have my iPhone on T-Mobile, a new wallet, and a photo day! Life is good, just a tad tired, so hopefully sleep will come quickly. Night folks. Have a great Fake Friday.

iPhone? iPod Touch? Other?

So what do you do when you have incredible pain and can’t sleep? Well thankfully I have been researching other things so I sit and do research as to what I can do and where, as it stands I am not un-happy with T-Mobile, the service is good, it works, no issues - I have data, and it works, however I am wanting a better device for E-Mail and functionality on the go.

I have the T-Mobile Dash, which is just a HTC WM device, it does the job, but mobile IE and Mobile Email are lacking, they eat up battery, have horrible support for things like SSL, even properly signed SSL certificates on mail servers come back invalid, quite annoying - plus the screen is not a touch-screen like I enjoyed with the Treo650 and VersaMail, sure sure, web browsing on the Treo was lacking, but it too was limited, but loaded more efficiently than Mobile IE on WM6 upgrade on the Dash.

So I have started looking for a device that does the web, does email, and can be mobile - the big winner in that dept. without anything added is sadly the iPhone - why sadly? I am a modular guy, I like to be able to add in functionality, and yes while I can hack and jailbreak a iPhone my worry is support, especially if in a month or so they release a 3G model, and I am up the creek, no upgrade path, no support, just a really expensive paper weight.

I switched from the then Cingular -> T-Mobile ages ago, T-Mobile has been good to me, we have had our share of bumps along the way, but in the end like other companies I deal with, they have been big on making it right, Cingular on the other hand, gave me no such help, I was off contract, and wanting to upgrade and downgrade on different features, they didn’t like that, said goto a store, did that, no luck their either, so thus the move to T-Mobile was had, but as it stands if I picked up a iPhone + Plan, monthly I’d be spending less, even getting their #2 package.

But there in lies my issue… do I want to risk the iPhone, risk sucky AT&T service again? or have they changed? Are they truly a new company with a new name? I mean their maps show “BEST” service in my area, heck over most of the town, is it time for a change? I just called to check alone on when my account contract is over with T-Mobile on the off chance I wanted to switch, and of course that dept. has set hours, not a huge deal, but again another thing to consider.

Anywhoo there it is, my pile of options, the iPod Touch is on the list too, but I dunno, I mean if I can spend ~$85 (after fees and such) and get unlimited data, wifi @ starbucks, and the iPhone, without having to unlock it for any sim, it seems like a safe bet? Right? It’s a business expense, and I can always port my number, but so many choices, only know of one guy with a iPhone, he seems to enjoy it - but maybe I’ll sneak over to AT&T during lunch tomorrow and see if they have one in store I can play with…. hrm… what to do what to do…. for now I think I’ll go over and pass out hoping the pain in my neck and shoulders goes away. Thanks for reading my rant! Have a Fun Week!

Hello Weekend!

Sleep has been the big topic this weekend, me and my pillow have been chatting quite frequently, and I think in a minute or two I am going to go back and do it some more but in between the naps I have been looking at the iPhone & iPod Touch, there is a part of me that thinks “Overpriced, Under Featured, No Expandability” etc. I have not been a fan, I mean as a buzz item, it is cool, and the mobile web end of things is very nice - but as a user of PalmOS and PPC/WM I am used to the idea I can go out, find a app, and bingo, ready to go, sadly even with the release of the SDK it appears that Apple won’t allow any ol Joe to download and create.

That is my worry, while the iPhone would be handy for Email & Web, that’s really about it - even recent reports have noted that nearly +40% of iPhones are used primarily for data access, so that pushes me towards the Touch, but no camera, no mobile data, only Wifi - so no easy pick, and on top of that with a possible 3G version of the iPhone looming it may be wise to wait, but I have been looking at options from all camps with no real show-stopper, Palm seems to of gone the cowardly lion route and scaled back what used to be big bold moves at the pressure of the few, Windows Mobile, clunky, expensive TCO, and on that end for a more complex WM phone, usually larger, bulky, non-form-factor-friendly.

So needless to say I am looking still, I am sure there are those out there who could give me all the benefits for the iPhone, the part that is the “nail in the coffin” so to speak, is AT&T (Formerly Cingular) - never cared for their service, their CS in the past was a pain, and that “may” of changed, but not sure how their coverage locally has, so who knows - Verizon has told me they can get me a 1yr contract on a modem for Mobile “Broadband” but the thing I hate is everything else has gone unlimited with them, but their data has a 5GB cap, not that I’d use it, but for that rough month, it could be a pain, plus $0.49 per MB? If they made it GB I’d say “We have a deal!”

Anywhoo - that’s my rant, I have a bit of gadget fever, just with trying to be more flexible and mobile I am finding more road-blocks, the next area I am going to look is Verizon USB capable UMPC form factor systems, granted it’d be windows, BUT, I do own Outlook, and I’m not afraid to use it! Have a Blessed Sunday, and if your in the Bakersfield area, check out the Picnic in the Park - free goodies, fun, followed by service in the park as well - heck if you come find me, we may goto Carrows/Cindy’s/Denny’s afterwards and hang out (we do that sometimes… were cool lol) - Night Folks!

Silence, too noisy for Me.

Last night as I worked on my taxes, things were too quiet, the classics of my long nights played out, un-needed worry, strange fears, etc. - I have switched so much to a “normal” schedule it is very hard to work late late, but none the less I got things done and I am mostly alive… granted another 2 hours of sleep would of been handy, but none the less I am awake, taking my bosses panic’d calls as he is in NY and it seems his cables, pointer, and clicker for his presentation were all missing from his bag, so it’s been a interesting morning, thankfully it’s slowly rolling into afternoon/evening in NY, so he’s slowed in his calling.

Things with Me as of late. Tired. I seem to be always on the move, Home -> Work -> Play -> Work -> Sleep (repeat) of course there is the occasional meeting directly after work, or the straight to coding bit as well, keeps me going going going, I miss being able to take a afternoon nap, a photo friday, or the 2 hour lunch hanging out with fellow small business owners, but the check comes in handy, most days I enjoy my time here, but as the big “sales” meeting looms, folks are just plain cranky, short fuses, not everyone, but it’s starting to get more and more noticeable, but a local IT firm has contact me with some good solutions, I meeting tomorrow @ 10am with them to discuss some options, hopefully we can come up with something good.

If I were less out of it, and not actively fighting to stay awake, I would write more, but for now I think I am going to go look at a email issue, then hit the printer issue after lunch… or something.

Learning, Living, Change.

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!