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!

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!

1 Day.

Hi, My name is Chuck, this is my site - I think, it’s been so long…. I need a nap, but for a little bit of an update, I am alive, I am busy busy busy, been working like crazy in my wonderful 8-to-5 world, with a mix of FH/TN in-between - so far so good.

Tomorrow, 1 day from now, is my birthday. 28. Yowza. I have NO idea what I am doing to celebrate, there was talk of RollerRama, there was talk of bowling, but I imagine after my day tomorrow, the only thing I am going to want to do, is sleep - lol. But I do want to get together with friends, have a meal, hang out, eat some cake, etc. or such is my thought/plan - but as usual, down to the wire with me, I have no idea, nor have I had the time to honestly even think about it - work, sleep, work, sleep, hang out away from the PC, work, sleep. etc. that seems to be the “standard” as of late.

So tomorrow we’ll see - heck I am going to try to come up with something tonight, but then again I am going to start coding at 7, and probably not stop till 11 - soooo we’ll see what happens. For now though, I’ll say “farewell!” and head off to find something to drink.

Now that’s a Monday!

I have a amazing core group of friends, they are more like family to me, they are supportive, good company, and always a open ear, tonight we tried to get as many of us together, granted I know some folks Monday is not a good night, but the Foster’s were in town but leaving at 5, the Poon’s had a due date for baby, and yet somehow from a lunch with Matt we got ourselves together at Cindy’s for some grub, good company, and Uncle Chuck the Human Jungle Gym.

It was a good day overall, got some more stuff cleaned up in the office, organized a bit, got a laptop finalized and ready to go, all in all it was pretty nice - throw in the lunch and the dinner - a great time, and while I am exhausted and then some I would do it again in a heart beat - we sat, we ate, we talked, I played with Ethan, Evan and Carlie - even Jake had some fun with Evan, it was a good day that just had some really great high points to it, I hope the rest of the week has good stuff in it like this! If only everyone could of made it, Scott had plans already, and some folks have class on Monday’s so just not possible, but were going to setup something big and fun soon.

Anywhoo - busy week, got a copy of EE on the laptop, so I can work on it on the mac during the dead time, also have a few assorted things I am working on with FH/TN, and of course MLS has the Google Apps migration this week, I need to get the corp. card and get it paid for, as well as a few other purchases I need to make for building a small server to test a backup system, so lots to do! But for now I am going to zone a little to some TV, and then probably try to crash out early. Sleep will soon become my friend… I hope. Night folks! Thanks for the continued prayers!

1am… I’m back!

So it’s Friday finally, another week down, my first full week of the 9 to 5 job (okay so it’s 8 to 5, but there’s a hour lunch) - Thursday I went and snagged lunch and ate at the park, it was gorgeous outside - it was a great way to spend lunch and get a breath of fresh air plus eat some tasty food.

I got home at 5:25 after a long day, first meeting, good progress on Google Apps, and a growing To-Do of mainly “not a top priority” things to do - but so far so good, plus on the TN/FH side, things are going smoothly too - tickets have been low, and billing ran today with no issue, so things are sticking it pretty smooth.

So why am I awake at 1:30ish in the morning? I dunno! I crashed out earlier, was just dead tired, looked for food, found nothing, my mom brought me a thing of chocolates for V-Day, then I just remember turning off the TV, and waking up wondering if I beat my alarm to the punch, and boy did I, only 5+ hours early, so I am going to try and wrap up my email, the one ticket, and then find my pillow again and get some sleep before the alarm goes - but I’ll post something more complete as to all the fun I am having probably Saturday, but thus far I do appreciate all the prayers, folks checking in on me during the day via IM - it’s much appreciated.

Anywhoo - I am off, part of me is hungry, but part of me is more tired, so I am going to let the tired part win and get some more sleep under the ol belt. Happy Friday folks.