Sorry had to say that - hello! I have been a sneaky one, server upgrades have nearly been a constant the last few days, lots of tweaks/patches/hotfixes, heck half way through tonight’s batch I noticed the version number went up 3 lol, from 13514 to 13517 - so getting one last patch before I visit my pillow again, or at least consider it.
Last few days have been good, with only a minor road bump, but such is life - got a new client today, another trying to decide what package they want, and me sketching out an ad for the new monthly special of 8 accounts - 8 accounts, when they are gone, they are gone - should be fun! 
I started watching World Trade Center last night/morning - and if my power hadn’t been all “eh” (thus the reason for the last post about using my phone for internet) I’d of watched the entire thing - very powerful - but I imagine it’s got that added punch because I remember 9/11 watching the news, and the news for weeks after - so I guess seeing this perspective really makes it hit home even more.
Made an order today, a 2GB stick of ram for myfruit (aka the macbook pro) it makes it have 3gb of ram, should help speed things up, also got a cool cover for it, transparent black (aka the apple logo shines thru) but should help keep the shiny metal shiny, also got a portable drive (120GB) and a external enclosure for 3.5 drives (standard hard drive) so I go through a hard drive pile here in the office - the BIG purchase was the new printer - does Network Printing/Scanning - also acts as a copier, so pretty nice!
Anywhoo - 4 servers to go, then its off to the world of sleep. Have a wonderful Friday folks.
So I have been asking around for folks to goto Pirates today, but no one wanted to go, and some folks I kept missing (ie. Jake) but today Jake caught me before he logged off to go home and said “Same group as Spidey 3, you game?” (or something to that affect) - and of course, I 100% am.
The cool thing about now having “mega plexes” here in bako, is that the one near our larger mall does big openings on ALL SCREENS - so tonight at 8pm - I will be going to the theater at the little mall, which isn’t huge, isn’t fancy seating, but:
- I have a gift card there.
- Closer to Home.
- Empty when the other theater does ALL screens.
So at 8pm tonight, I’ll be seeing what happens to witty jack, I missed pirates 1 in theaters but I saw 2 and now am definitely going to see 3, so pretty excited to say the least, just hope I can get everything I want to get done today done before 8pm, which I don’t think will be a major problem, but I do hope to swing out early (3pm or so) snag my ticket, so I can just go right in and find the crew, hopefully we don’t bother anyone too much this time 
and I think I am going to snag some snacks and find someone with a purse to smuggle them in, and just get the essentials (ie. popcorn + drink).
Today was an okay day, taste buds are all out of wack, so ate some food, and went “ACK!” spit it out, just didn’t taste right, so I then of course went back to working, and forgot to find something else to eat, which led to woozy chuck, not too fun, but I found some cheese, so I made some quesadilla’s in the pan - has held me over and heck its 2am!
I am also working on some pricing for my services, I have some folks I help out, but more and more I feel like I am becoming a full-time employee - or at the best “on-call” where when I get a call, it’s priority sounds like “DROP EVERYTHING AND DO THIS!” - granted in most cases, I know the person does not mean literally drop everything, but at the same time they are nervous and anxious, but still had one call (of 3) in which the person wanted me to “get to a terminal and fix this” - of course I had my hands full, keyboard was covered with papers - so really irritating, but the thing is, while I love to help these folks, my time anymore is becoming scarce and in the end I have nothing to show for it, not a step closer to the lenses I’d like for my camera, that 80gb iPod, or that 52inch LCD TV I want for my wall… (okay so not really 52, but a TV would be nice in general here in my room) - so I am going to write up some support plans, 2 by ticket, 2 by phone, 3 by the hour - just lay it out, various support levels, and see if I can’t get myself a few extra hundred a month in being on-call during business hours.
Have some stuff to pick up at the ol office #2 today, a chair, a filing cabinet, and a server - other things I need to get too - but all in due time - today should be mild at best, so I hope to either get the stuff before noon, or shortly after 2 (at the latest), and I may actually at this rate have a place to put it the chair I actually “need” as both my chairs here are old, and have literally fell apart, for instance no back on this chair, and the other has no arms or back - so a new chair will be handy, also going to pick up a AC unit for my window I think, and then re-arrange my wires/power/network a bit, to be better positioned.
Lastly on the docket today, is the re-tasking of 2 servers - I have 2 servers, they handle backups (one for servers, one for local) however the one for servers is old, clunky, and needs to be retired - so I am going to take the new 200GB drive and drop it in the BfP linux box, mount it in fstab and have myself a big beefy server - might re-task the older machine as a windows workstation for a family member, not sure yet.
But thats the status of things - so I say, have a good Thursday!
Been up since around 2:30am, played some, worked some, ate some - and now the day is really starting, heck even made an apple pie! But this morning I got a bit done, sync’d up the iCal’s on each mac with Google Calendar using Spanning Sync which works lovely, I figured $25 for a year was nothing because I’d imagine if Google was smart, they’d buy up the company and offer the functionality to Mac customers as they are always trying to balance the equation of services Mac vs. Win.
Also started piecing together my Uncle’s computer with the new parts, just waiting on WindowsXP Home to get here, purchased him a copy vs. my old copy of 2k I don’t use anymore, so $89 later and 3 days shipping, he’ll be running XP on a nice little AMD 2200+ - its a nice little machine, should serve him well.
No major plans today, really just working around the house a bit, doing my laundry now that the washer/dryer should be 100% work in the next 45 minutes, so my hamper is already down in size as I got my first load into wash, and the dryer part should be up and running soon once the venting system is working - so I should have a plethora of clothes very soon - top that off with a empty hamper - life is good
Anywhoo, off to my day - have a Good Fake-Friday folks!
Well Friday is nearly upon me (probably the rest of you too) been working a good chunk of the night, still have some to go, a site to get SSL setup for, but I need to get my phone setup here so I can do the calls to verify the SSL info, but should be a easy go, just need to get it setup in the next hour or so since the site’s IP will change.
Thursday was a good day, with only 1 real road bump to deal with, and it still has to be dealt with, but for the short term, I got the ball rolling with some changes - heck even found out about another office space should I need it, ladies at the old building are very cool, and said they had a spot they want me to come look at next week as a possibility, might not be a “jump into” sort of thing right away, but long term if I need an office again, might work out.
Currently uploading some things to the Friend server, downloading some songs from iTunes, and considering picking up a new iPod since my current iPod is starting to lag, and click a little, on top of the battery laggin, but it’s served me well, and plus I’d really like the newer ones so it sync’s my videos like shows/movies I have picked up, not sure if I am going to yet or not, but we shall see.
Brain is a tad scattered, but hey its 11pm, what do you expect? Maybe more later, or tomorrow, so much to do, so little time.
A long time ago, back in the days of starting a business, I made a few choices, I took some steps away from what was my at some level “expected” path and picked a different path, doing crazy things like forming FlockHosting which isn’t what I would call “super profitable” but gave me the joy and privilege of helping out Christians and Ministries get online afford-ably - another choice I made was in location.
When my brother and I got the office, one big thing we focused on was windows. We wanted light, we wanted a little bit of a view, we wanted to not be locked in a cave - like when I made changes in my business, I moved my office from the office where I am now to my home - and I never looked back - I think I may be at that crossroads again.
I spend a good portion of my day/job in front of a computer - working on personal projects, or working on favors for friends, or dare I say it, client tickets (as few and farbetween as those are) - but with so much time in front of a computer, in a room with artificial lighting just doesn’t cut it - a window, a bit of nature, fresh air, is always a must, and I think that’s where I am going with the office currently. I like the gang where I am, I mean let’s get the run down, my childhood pal, my long time friend who helped start my business, a site designer/programmer who is eager to learn/fun to chat with, ryan, and the rest of the wacky team of course who is sadly going away as part of that building shuts down - but its a wonderful group, but it’s not my office anymore, it’s not like I had setup on 19th - and that’s okay.
I’ve come to realize I have a blessed life, as much as I like to complain here and there, and let myself get down, unless one heckuva job offer, or one special lady enters my life, I think my crazy situation of odd nights of sleep (or no sleep), hanging out with some friends, family, and taking a day to just wander with my camera - thats more important to my sanity right now than a place to set my laptop, and while I am sure I’ll always have a place & a key to the office - I’ll probably only swing by to visit, or come in to work on the occasional project vs. make it my work home so to speak.
So the week of me continues, still awake, craving a swimming pool, and pondering the todo list for the day (which may include a nap) Have a good day all.
Lately I have begun to wonder what that light is at the end of the tunnel, and for the past few weeks it has been the train, and it runs me over a few times, and I get back up, step back, then lunge back into things, and give it another go to see if maybe this next time it’ll be daylight and I can move on from this tunnel of insanity.
But thus far, even 3 hours in the tunnel, I need 1 hour or so of step back, it’s just sad, and not really productive, or healthy - but such is life sometimes, but today I took a road over the tunnel for the day just to relax, and work on projects which for one needed a bit more quiet overall so I could do some testing on projects, and the testing went good.
So I started thinking about the “plan” to change life up a bit, and honestly, I don’t know what it would be, there are options, but I am thinking of maybe making a move in life, change of location, I have planned for mid-year to try to be in an apartment/house/whatever - but maybe something further out - maybe another state/town/country(hi jon!) but I really am starting to think a change of location might help my state of mind.
I love my friends and business folks here in Bako, but at the same time this is all comfortable, this is easy, this is sadly in some cases the same, day-in, and day-out - the bit from the last blog about not being able to help people who don’t want to be helped, very big thing in my life right now, just odd that folks feel I want something out of me doing something nice, but that is their choice I guess, in some cases it’s not all bad, folks simply don’t need my help anymore because their life has rounded out and is getting better, but for others, I almost feel like I have offended to even offer to help out.
So maybe a change of location is needed, not sure, something to surely pray about, biggest thing I’d be leaving here is Friends and Family, not like I have any business or romantic ties anywhere, so no major breakups - but maybe a new town, new opportunities, a place where folks don’t already have a pre-conceived idea about you, your simply “Chuck” and if people get to know you, then tada.
Other end of this, I may just simply be tired, long story as to why I am not sleeping, folks can call it insomnia, or chronic fatigue - but it’s neither, its sorting and figuring out a few things in life, lately I have sat up penciling or typing out thoughts and working on some choices with work, personal, etc. not to mention the joys of taxes, then I follow that up with a bit of winding down, so not a un-made choice, not a matter of being completely exhausted as simply a fact of life, but all by choice - so don’t worry that I have some sort of disease or syndrome, just how I work, wires have been crossed in my brain for decades now!
Anywhoo, prayers are appreciated, also for my dad who isn’t feeling too well, but for me just some clarity as to what I am supposed to do in life, not just in regards to a move, but in general, things since my birthday have been nuts, thankfully calming down, but still leaves me with some choices to make in the end which aren’t easy - but that’s it, the post I started last night totally erased, and a new fresh one down in under 10 minutes. Have a good Thursday folks.
So its been one of those month’s thus far, heck since I aged, things have been nuts. Let’s see, first extended downtime on the new servers (boy that happened early), overdrawn at the bank due to a billing mishap (billed 6 days early, 2 checks come in tomorrow that would of covered it all), sleep messed up, brain over-thinking again. Ah the joys of my life
All in all after today things feel better - parents helped out some cover the overages at the bank which helped a lot, brother offered to help as well keep me from getting more and more in the hole with overdraft - just one of those horrible timing things, but I have $33 in the bank, and in a few days even more, which still leaves me to pay back my parents but just crazy, plus messed up sleep probably really made it worse than it really was, as much as I don’t sleep, after several weeks of high stress, emotions, etc. sleep is one thing I really have to get caught up on.
Also started a project today, I need to work on it some tonight, this project isn’t work related, isn’t even friend related - this is me working on something I should of months ago, but with my crazy life, one thing pops up, then another, but made some awesome progress, going to work a bit more tonight/this morning - whatever this magical hour is - and then in the AM head to the office for a bit, and call more on this bill, and see what I can get ironed out.
So hopefully things with my budget level out, get a few extra bucks in the PayPal, make it through taxes (gonna be a pain this year, 2 1099’s), and hopefully figure out what the heck my brain is thinking on a few life choices, then put them to prayer and the ol heart (cuz this head over thinks things too much) - but thats me in a nut shell, tired, exhausted, tad insane (you all knew that though) but alive and blessed. Off to my project. Night!
