So here we are at the start of a new week - busy, lots of planning ahead, I have appointments tomorrow afternoon as well as Friday, so I imagine the rest of the week will fill in soon - or at least it usually tends to - but I have a meeting on Friday about basically virtualizing all of the desktops which has me torn really, as I love the concept, but the single point of failure could mean a LOT of downtime in “theory” but if the sever is built properly, there should be no issue at all…. but I’ll find out more solid details Friday what these guys have in mind.
The billing issue seems to be getting there, I had hoped it’d resolve today, and I got the apologetic call, some explanation, but I think the payment idea I suggested is going to work, half in the first of the month, other half in the middle - so more or less the same as my work pay system, so not too shabby in the least, going to swing by there after work and pick up a check, and discuss some other things quickly, but hopefully it’s all good - and we can get a game plan going.
Lastly, I feel drained today, just really really tired, which is making me wonder should I go and rest, or goto pancakes & games @ Scott’s here after the meeting, but I am down for bringing OJ, but at the same time I think they’d understand …. if not I know they’ll come for me in the night and I’ll never be seen again…. all due to OJ…. sweet, tasty Florida Orange Juice.
Anywhoo - I am off, getting backups packed up, VM is lagging a bit, not unusual, I think that copy of XP has a leak in it somewhere - but going to get it offsite, shutdown, and off to downtown - so take care all, more later I’m sure!
Well it’s nearly Friday, this week has flown by, one minute were starting Tuesday, and BAM! Hello Friday. I am going to keep this brief as my brain is sleepy, and my hands keep forgetting to hit keys in the proper order, so this post is taking more work than it should!
Things, Friday night is the official posting of the FH newsletter it will unveil some things in testing, some things coming online this next week, and explain some upcoming options for hosting customers - rather exciting, I am looking forward to some exciting changes, and hopefully… prayerfully… restfully… they will all come about and really help to enhance services and give a good summer drive in new accounts.
Coming up rapidly on the 90 day mark for work, at which point I get health insurance again for the first time in a long time, also vision which means YAY! new glasses as these are bent and nearly broken, I want new frames… something mildly hip… but not too hip, but not the same as I have now, that’s for sure (as they have never fit my head right) - plus I want them to be transition lenses so I don’t have to carry several pairs of glasses.
Anywhoo - more news on things soon, some things not even being made public to my closest friends, but things are in motion, expansion, growth, new territory etc. should be fun, good crazy etc. For now I will say “Good Night!” - Happy Friday Folks!
So what a week, sick one day, feeling slowly but surely better again after my brush with heat stroke from Friday, after 28+ power blinks aka power goes on, power goes off, power goes on, etc. you get the idea - the week was going great, got in on Friday and the day started with something coming up right away - Cougar had some locked files and RT errors, so we needed a reboot, not a HUGE deal, happens now and again with strange files held open for no reason. So rebooted, and no issues for most of the morning.
The day went on as any other day, worked on code, looked at stuff, talked to Tiger Direct who wants business, and may get some - but just looked things over then blink 1, around 11:30am the power went out, nothing long-term, but a good minute or so and just as I was getting ready to head towards the server for a clean shutdown (it’s on battery backup) the power came back up - well I think it was a grid issue, with the heat already growing past 100F in some areas, it was getting hot, and my thought is restaurants were cooling things off for hungry folks coming in for lunch, so the power continued to blink from about 11:30am->1:30pm - and it got hot, and I didn’t get to have lunch till about 2:30pm - so a hard long day, but after fixing some issues with the server (for some reason it was setup by the last guy on DHCP! had to re-code IP’s in places) - I finally had the sales gals snag me some grub, and I got to sit, relax, eat - but I think the heat damage was already done.
The day ended nice though, got to share a lovely dinner @ the poon’s and hang out for a while, then it was to home to pass out, I was woken up early 6:59am on a Saturday… to find myself dead tired, but being txt’d which could be any number of things - however it was Rosie sending me a reminder of her Wedding today, but I felt like crap, so I passed back out again, and woke up around 11ish feeling bad, and the reason I think was my sinuses were completely dried out - thus I had a nose bleed or two, so I snagged some food, cleaned up, and took the day easy, including some sleep, some light chatting, and some more sleep, thus missing Rosie’s wedding.
What a day what a day. I have been drinking fluids like a madman, I just got out of a cold bath dropping my core temp down quite a bit, but I am about to go for my 3rd big glass of water, and find some food, the joys of life, makes me want to take another nap for now I’ll just go find some grub and veg a bit. Night folks.
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.
So Friday is now upon us. The week hasn’t been horrible, got to hang out with friends last night, till about midnight, and till about 11 tonight enjoying Iron Man opening night, some friends opt’d not to come, been a busy week, but I really wanted to go, so did Dan and Cam, so we loaded up in ol Red (Dan’s Truck) and went to east hills for the movie… like 12 people total in the theatre - as always fun. Hint hint - stay after the credits.
Tonight ended mixed I think, found out what the rock I heard hit me hit tonight while washing my windows and getting my car washed, my windshield looks like it smashed about 5 inches from the mirror mount, cracking a L shape into the windshield, haven’t noticed because it’s behind the mirror, thus invisible to me as I am driving, but it does need to be dealt with before it grows, breaks, other - but PTL it didn’t break on impact, a good windshield for sure, now it just needs some love, maybe while I’m in there get some tint on it! The joys of cars.
Lot on my mind tonight, lot been on my mind lately, I dunno, part of me really just wants a vacation, a break, I’ve done my own schedule so long, and I could fit in breaks, a breath, but today at work was just bam bam bam, one thing after another, and most of it was dump’d on me things someone else was given to do, but since they were busy, I got it, things which should simply be copied and handed out, are re-written by me, and placed in boxes, things which to me in my mind are “basics” of computers, folks either don’t know how to do it, or a frightened to do so in fear of the PTB coming down on them! I guess I am just blessed more than I truly realize - I have customers who learn, read, experiment, roll back a version if needs be, who handle some things on their own, but sometimes I think my old Drafting teacher is out to get me, he said I should be a teacher lol.
Anywhoo - I know part of my problem is I am still amp’ing down, but already way too tired to probably be up and be getting up in about 6 hours to goto work for 30m or so, then drive north to the accountant’s house and do some computer work…. so I will say Goodnight, and for the short end of my Iron Man review, here it is: Go See It. Night.
So in 2 weeks… I get to attempt my first large-scale migration while working a standard 9-5 job - now for my own clients migrations have gone over smoothly, most are aware of the issues that could happen, most manage their own websites and update application configurations, upgrade the software itself, they download their mail, backup their OWN copy just in case, it’s a rather impressive thing, I have some amazing clients - but in this case, some outdated software, lack of user involvement (most are created by the host + managed by the host) - not saying this is a bad thing, but in a migration in the past we had some issues.
This time it will be different. By Thursday there will be a drafted email blast to all customers on the affected servers, it will go out no later than Friday evening letting folks know 1 full week in advance that changes to servers are coming, that of DNS, location, configuration, etc. give a few risks involved, possible downtime windows, and going from there thru the weekend - aka “fun” it also means some money in my pocket as well which leads to the next thing. The Magic Number
The number is my cost of my ticket. I think it’s actually LESS than what I paid last time, so all I need to do is call in tomorrow, pay it over the phone, and do online traffic school, and ta-da, no pesky court date, no delays, paid, cleared, back to normal, and hopefully not another ticket for another 5 years, but it’s all in all just one last thing that has been hanging on my mind lately, so tomorrow I give a ring, make a payment, sign-up for traffic school, get it done, and then the budget can return to it’s previous state of increasing… which is now part of my flip-flop going back to the top one
I am picking up additional work with servers, granted I do need to iron out some details in regards to payment - aka need to get things on a monthly payment plan via card vs. check - I don’t mind check’s for small things paid up in a year, so 1 big check, but to do that would be a big big big big big check - but it’s something I plan to discuss on another day, other possible work is more of a fun thing I think I am going to do is 2 church related things, and I don’t get paid a penny! I may be helping Dan-o with the new Church Website, which is uber cool, and maybe, be singing for The Hub on Sunday…. sooooo work but a blessing!
Anywhoo - there it is, busy busy at work, and I could go into details, but honestly I get tired of talking about the 8-5 grind, it makes me tired, thus I am going to flip off the lights, sigh a sigh of relief on the ticket, and fall asleep watching some crazy movie (The Comebacks?) so I wish you all a very happy Wednesday! Keep it real, Rock on for Jesus, and Keep on Truckin (I think that’s all I’ve got) - night folks!
ps. Dan, Jake, Scott, Val, Gavin, Cameron, Blaine, Cory, Jeff, Matt, etc. etc. etc. Who’s up for 830p showing of Iron Man Thursday? Anyone?
So if the blogging increase is any measure of my stress level, it is true, things have calmed down, with taxes done and paid for, finances leveling out, a case of seasonal Gadget Fever, and of course finally getting my Christmas present from my bro ($50 @ thinkgeek) I did what any person trying to unwind would do… buysomenerdystuff for no other reason than you can Actually the mini-maglight kit and the wallet were two of my main purchases, the candle I wanted to try, as for my apartment I want to limit power, see how they work.
All in all though things are getting better, not perfect, still a LOT to do. This next week I start open talks about email, I had previously hoped to have it online, but the company started to make me nervous, their solution was overly complex, and I want something 1) Clean 2) Easy to Use 3) Fair Resale Rates - so the ball is in motion on that, and this next week calls will be made, and ideas will be formed.
The speeding ticket is getting interesting, apparently my court date is moved, as my ticket was barely entered into the system on the 4th, so I am going to call again on Friday and then again on Monday if no valid answer arises, I am going to simply go in and get a printed/signed proof of the date change as I have no desire to get a bench warrant out for me over a silly ticket - so I am going to do it right and get it going and done with.
Had dinner with the boys tonight, went to Cindy’s and had some grub, good chats, good time, I was also invited to another gather next Friday with a fellow PK and his friends, few I know at least 1 other guy he hangs out with, but had a good chat today as his company does some IT services locally, and would do wonders for us, so probably going to work with him to get them helping us re-structure the entire IT setup at work, so time will tell how that all goes, but if nothing else, more friends to hang out with.
Anywhoo - approaching midnight, and I want to get some sleep, of course I may drop in a movie, but I think even if I do, I am going to just pass out, but thanks to everyone for their continued check-ups on me and their prayers, it’s all getting there slowly but surely, and to anyone who wants to if you want to hit me up on IM during the day, feel free, I am not always at my desk, but my system is locked so no random person will start chatting with you - but I’ll get back to you sooner or later, just means I am wandering between buildings so with that said I am off, happy Friday’s Eve!
for now I’ll just go find some grub and veg a bit. Night folks.
but hopefully tomorrow I can work out something for my hope of a firewall and 15 computers.
looks like it smashed about 5 inches from the mirror mount, cracking a L shape into the windshield, haven’t noticed because it’s behind the mirror, thus invisible to me as I am driving, but it does need to be dealt with before it grows, breaks, other - but PTL it didn’t break on impact, a good windshield for sure, now it just needs some love, maybe while I’m in there get some tint on it! The joys of cars.
