Some projects never seem to get done, and others get done in no time! One project at work I started was converting my live workstation which I inherited from the last IT guy, and make it a Virtual Machine for VMWare Player under Linux - so far so good, it’s running full screen over on the backup server, and I am thinking of simply leaving it there, it works, its got VMWare Tools, etc. it’s lovely and I think it’s actually a tad faster than the real thing (Backup Server has a LOT of RAM) - but the next step, after lunch (going to keep toying with it) is to make the move for the primary station to Ubuntu Linux, may do it sooner if I still can’t find anything wrong, but thus far I can do all my DOS apps, the new Windows based replacement for the DOS software, and backups seem to work too (until I hit locked files, but that’s normal).
In other news non-job related, I upgraded the home office to Road Runner TURBO, which is 15Mb/s and roughly on a good connect 2Mb/s up:
All in all it’s a nice upgrade, now I just need to complain to RR tech support to flush their ARP cache, and let newer routes converge in as about a month or so ago when there were some major backbone issues in CA they re-routed, and since then I am stuck routing through some very lagged path’s across the board - but for $10 more a month, the speed is still amazing, and when I downloaded some demos from Xbox Live, it was super quick indeed. Very nice.
More news, the Church website contract has been approved, Dan, Adam, Jake and Myself will be crafting a new website, as well as hosting it including their PodCasts etc. so it’s very nice indeed - plus a good group of friends will be fun, Dan, Adam and MySelf all worked back in the olden days of the .com slump, but now throwing Jake into the mix should add some very well crafted code and push the project to a greater ease for the church to manage and keep up the website.
Anywhoo - must get back to it, busy busy busy just wanted to take a breath and write things on my brain that were sitting there poking me - but stay tuned for more, hope to get a lot done in the next 4 days as the weather is cooler… Happy Fake Friday Folks!
Kinda, sorta, not really - okay maybe. I got home earlier, and just crashed out. Dead to the world I needed sleep, I woke up about 2 hours ago, but I am about to crash out again - just wanted to do something for lil ol me, aka upgrade the Blog.
I had read mixed thoughts/feelings about the latest upgrade to Wordpress, some liked it, some thought it was too sparse, some thought it mucked up things - honestly? I like it. Light, simple, some options aren’t exactly where I would think to find them, but such is change.
At some level I think the trade off of features/fixes should of given folks more to try, but as usual plugin conflicts for some were their un-doing - but a nice feature of the new system is live updating, which I know many groups will complain about the security of the concept, but it’s no different than that of Windows / Mac Update systems, you use / trust that product enough to do updates, why not your blog?
Anywhoo - all in all I think it’s pretty slick, it was a simple upgrade, sent my DB backup to Gmail, and uploaded the files, easy peasy - but for now, I am going to wrap up, and goto sleep, meeting @10am tomorrow, last day of “freedom” so to speak, as the boss-man comes back on Thursday, and I am sure he’s gonna have a pile for me. So I’ll say goodnight, and Happy Fake Friday!
A good day thus far, barely 5pm and so far so good, a large lunch (Subway FEAST), got my final mailings done for TN - included a letter about the switch to making invoices digital - worked on the books a bit to look at the move on servers come 2008, worked on code for RNKDF, basically wrote a small mail form app with some nice little features.
It was a cool day, and now I think I have my bedroom all figured out - picked out a TV for the room, and going to convert the current Linux rig into the Vista rig as planned, picking up a TV tuner so I an use Vista’s media center features, but it should be fun, plus from my couch across the way I can relax, veg out, and use the laptop.
Tonight is working on graphics for the Affiliate programs, and getting things rolling for that on the 3rd, as well as getting the new features ready for each site and ready to go for the big push thru December and into 2008.
Good stuff, looking forward to things moving forward, put the Google Ads on a few sites I sponsor and here on the blog, making about $1 a day - not a TON, but hey, every little bit helps - and all part of playing with Google AdSense on pages to really get a feel for it, as I have been toying with a website again, and have some folks still interested in interacting with it - so time will tell.
Anywhoo - back to it, more EE code to do, may have a extra leg on it to work on, extra $300 will come in handy on the budget, really need to get it up and up more, so we shall see! Have a good on folks, I am off to it.
What a week, seems like it went by insanely fast, thanksgiving was quick (but tasty), had the weekly Friday meal with friends, of course now I am here on a weekend, and sadly all I can think to do… Work. All in All projects are nearly done, some will be completed on Monday (Billing Shutdowns and such) - but this weekend is some final code bits, the RM project has been done in the realm of data conversion (all I was hired to do) but I am helping out with the layout adjustments to make it easy for him to update - just a few bits left to code, going to make all sub-areas pretty much the same, just need to make a homepage where he can edit and manage the main page.
So I am slow to work, I spent some time checking out the budget, and so far so good, it’s a tight month, but if all things come thru - ahead again, nice way to close out a month, I am hoping with 12/1 coming up soon I can get the Affiliate program going on both sides of the fence can encourage some folks to invite friends over to host with me, be nice to see some new faces, got 1 today, which was nice, but everyone keeps doing the “Simple” package - but such is the hosting game, folks get what they need, or are woo’d away with large product offerings with small dollar amounts attached… it’s going good though, hoping I can continue to get more coding projects - good infusion to the budget.
Anywhoo, I am going to go try and put in at least an hour on code, then take a break for a bit. Have a good Saturday folks.
My brain hurts - been a crazy start to a week, I think I may be sick. Weather change usually gives me a good run for my money - but all in all things aren’t too shabby around here, budget seems stable, customers are making an effort to get things squared away, and it looks like December 1 I will be canceling a number of services like Stamps.com, Old CC Processor, Old Billing Software, Old Support System - over $150 in monthly costs, so be nice to have them off the books, and hopefully before years end a few more new clients / projects to start the upswing into 2008.
Servers are still on my horizon, 8-Core’s is part of my nightly dreams lol - no but seriously, getting some new hardware is a big priority on my to-do list, I am going to try and keep hardware fresh each year, while a migration each year is a big deal, my hope is that this new provider will prove it’s ratings and customer reviews and give me a new more affordable, stable, and rock-solid support to rely on, not to say that my experience over the last 6 years has been bad with the current provider, they have had some changes which effect the business, so the new company will be the new home unless I hear horrible things before the move.
Code projects have been a big thing this week - and so far so good, got some headway on RM it’s really done, just trying to help out with the templates a bit since I know a bit more as I use Wordpress for CMS deployment a bit more than the site owner, so trying to get that nailed down and functional, pretty can come later since he mainly wants to get it online - so I think by Friday I’ll be good to go, 3 days before the due date, but at least they’ll be back up. EE is coming along, possibly some new functionality being added, which will score me $300 extra into the budget, so that’s a plus - but we’ll see.
Anywhoo - the day continues, I want to take a nap, sleep hasn’t been very restful lately, but I want to try and stay awake most of the day and only pass out towards the end of the afternoon if at all possible - so I’ll be getting off to work - I hope you all have a great Turkey Day here this Thursday! Take care all!
So the house thing seems to be a bust - little sad, but not too unexpected, apparently the property my rents looked at was in pretty bad shape, and would of cost a small fortune to as my mom put it “get the smell out” so their search continues, but I am not giving up hope of my own place soon.
Picked up a possible project, still working on the particulars for the quote, but I have been thumbing thru a SQL drop file here for a bit, and I think I have the project nearly laid out in my head, need to sleep on a few things, but I think it’s do-able, hope to make some headway on other projects over the next 2 days, both billing & programming, both are two key projects I really want to wrap up and have done and done right, so far so good, just need to really buckle down tomorrow, hopefully I can get some sleep tonight.
I looked in the mirror a minute ago, and I actually recognized myself - I dunno, just so much stress lately, and questioning why I do things in life, things I have taken for granted, things I am trying to change in my life, for a while there I didn’t seem like myself in some areas of my life, and I think I am getting there, still some changes down the road, still some rough patches ahead - but I think I am going to make it even got a good laugh tonight, and got to relax to some good TV (which is rare) but I dunno, I am just praying over a lot of things right now, jobs, opportunities, finances, everything, now if only God would add me to the share list on his Google Calendar for my life! Oh how much more simpler that’d make things.
Anywhoo - I appreciate all of you who keep track of me here, and those of you who keep me in your prayers - good to know I have friends out there who cover me in prayer! Take care all, have a good Tuesday!
Well life is going going going, money is still tight, but such is the game I suppose, but thus I have been working on stage 2 of things with FH website for starters, I haven’t migrated the website and such over, but for starters the new customer portal which now puts together billing, support, and knowledge base information, so no more multi-site logins - and while I loved the software that powered each, the catch was price, in the end, $100+ in monthly fees for billing & support systems… but moving forward I am very happy with the new system, it’s got some good features that customers have asked for, and no major code modifications have been needed, so major plus.
So the plan for this week I want to migrate more folks over, PayPal people are the starting folk - I am doing it by hand, while there is a “Importer” I am using this opportunity to split up things a bit, but also gives me a chance to update folks information that have on file, as on the previous billing system it was a bit of a pain, but also I want to use this time to get the current KB entries (even though limited) moved over, and on top of that also get a few videos finalized for setting up various OS & Softwares for using services - I have a few done, mainly just video, I do want to setup some Audio voice overs in time.
But the beat goes on, and enjoy The Office Season 3 right now here at 2:30am - trying to decide to wrap it up and head to bed, or keep working thru the night and make some more progress on things…. time will tell.
Anywhoo - have a good week folks, might not be a active posting week, but that too time will tell. Night
lol - no but seriously, getting some new hardware is a big priority on my to-do list, I am going to try and keep hardware fresh each year, while a migration each year is a big deal, my hope is that this new provider will prove it’s ratings and customer reviews and give me a new more affordable, stable, and rock-solid support to rely on, not to say that my experience over the last 6 years has been bad with the current provider, they have had some changes which effect the business, so the new company will be the new home unless I hear horrible things before the move.
even got a good laugh tonight, and got to relax to some good TV (which is rare) but I dunno, I am just praying over a lot of things right now, jobs, opportunities, finances, everything, now if only God would add me to the share list on his Google Calendar for my life! Oh how much more simpler that’d make things.
