Back to Blogging?

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… buy some nerdy stuff 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!

Backup, Bowling, Stargate, Shirts, Anywhoo…

Soooooooo… how you all doing? This is the “its late, so brief blog” version of things, so here we go….

Backup at work is up and running, in the end with fakeraid I went with dmraid + RAID0 - so no real failure option, but at the same time, going to archive per-user to bzip and such sans media (personal mp3 files) and it’ll all be good, but it’s a rockin system, doing well.

Bowling - we have made it a weekly thing it looks like, as we are going Thursday night, but none the less bowling, so I’ll get to see if I can improve my game any from last week’s cosmic bowling. Crazy Girls in the lane next to us… long story.

Stargate - Ark of Truth is out, loved it. Bought it @ Target watched half of it at work while working on the backup server, but finished it @ home, rip’d it to Xvid for watching on-demand on the TV as well as a copy for the iPod… yes I love Stargate, I have all 10 seasons of SG1, and all of Atlantis. Good stuff indeed.

Shirts - got a few new ones, one came today, mainly artsy, also got one of a pigeon that says “I’m from the streets” looks cool, but I do need to do some laundry this weekend and get things ready, plus I need to find some clothes for Church and singing in the choir, may need to venture out to the GAP as their shorts/pants tend to fit me good.

Anywhoo… there it is, I am sure there is something I am leaving out, still waiting on my ticket, got to meet Solomon Poon, etc. etc. BUT it is time to goto bed soon, so I must wrap up, set out clothes for the AM, and get to it - bi-weekly meeting tomorrow, and more folks to get setup on the backup server. Fun Fun. Night all! Thanks for reading!

Good Morning!

So far so good - I crashed out and woke up at 1pm, so fair sleep, got some minor issues out the way, and on a whim installed Installatron on Trogdor, hit a snag, but the guys at Installatron were awesome and quickly got me a work-around, and now all friends on Trogdor will enjoy the benefits of this great auto-instaler, frequently updated, some nice scripts to choose from - a major enjoyment indeed. If the budget levels out, and once I get all these assorted cPanel lic. cleared, as well as various tid-bit bills I have officially phased out cleared off the books, I plan to install it across all servers.

Tonight will be a night to relax, possibly going and hanging out with Dan and the nephews, I hope my scrabble skills have not gone down-hill, as I am indeed out of practice. But this will be one of the last nights I imagine for relaxing as I head into things moving forward this week with a spot job, a coding discussion, and a job interview - but none the less I am hoping things all work out and move forward, for now though, I am going to hit the shower - and get dressed for a relaxing evening, one way or another.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers over these migrations! Much appreciated - always glad to know I have folks watching out for me even on something that to some may seem trivial like a server move, but every little bit of prayer helps! So again thanks a million, and now I will go forth, and become clean! More later.

Head Above Water

As much as I’d love to get the MH Bundle right away, it appears I am waiting a while this year, not by choice, but due to the fact that I am playing the “Got No Money” game - things are just piling up, and I am trying to get things done as quick as possible, trying to get jobs to be done, and get paid.

I really just want to take a nap today, and hope to wake up and things be better off, over $1200 that is on “hold” as folks scramble to get me money, some faster than others - but everyone’s got the same after-holiday stories, stolen cards, non-payment, etc. some folks I honestly think are just dragging their feet to show they are “in-charge” with me, and honestly, I think I am done playing this power struggle games, and getting fed up with being a door mat for folks, while as usual I get that “We’d hire you in a minute” comments from them, I get the suddenly empty wallet when it comes to paying me. *shrug*

I dunno, just really needed to vent a bit, and while I should be working on projects, I think I am going to work on a personal set of stuff, just need to separate myself from this business crap for a while today, I had a great lunch with Dan, fun playing some Halo3 with Scott last night, and while I know that while this junk is all going down, that I am blessed more than I truly deserve, just sucks when folks who claim to hold my friendship above all else, and value my work for their company are the ones who are giving me the shovels of crap on my head, it just really bugs me, and I need to step back and breathe.

So keep me in your prayers, a lot going on this week, server upgrades for Apache & PHP again, working on server migrations, and the usual song as of late, finances are tight. Thanks to everyone who checks in on me on IM from time to time, I appreciate it - I know things are going to level out soon, but just wish I was not in this place with some of this junk to begin with, but maybe some changes here soon will fix that all up. Time will tell. Have a good Fake Friday folks. Relax it up for me.

Tired.

So - another day down this week, drawing close to Turkey Day, needing to purchase AppleCare for the MBP soon, budget getting a little pick me up from all the extra work (ptl!) just now of course I get myself run down a bit, still feeling tired all day, plus stomach has been killing me, so swapping out a few food meals with protein shakes (aka Atkins Shakes) - as odd as it may seem, it helps to lighten the load on my ol gut.

Anywhoo - not a lot to say, heading to bed here shortly, going to try and get a solid night’s rest, not sure that’s possible, but hey I can try can’t I? Also very excited about tomorrow night, first full billing night on the new billing system (giggle) should be good! The joys of work, excited, happy, but tired - hopefully that’ll end soon. Night folks.

Good Morning! (sorta)

Toast - it’s the breakfast of champions. Been quite a morning, just got offered a house to rent for $500 (3 bdrm, 1 bath) pretty sweet deal, thought its all teetering on another property, long story more later, I just got an alert that a file had been uploaded to the /tmp folder on a server, checked it out, thankfully no-execute permissions, and /tmp is mounted noexec - so both big pluses - did some checks around the system, things look clean - so PTL for that - but the site my guess got nix’d by its CMS, which is highly highly outdated, but for now site is suspended, and waiting to hear back from the owner, I really want to move up to PHP5, Sushion, and SuPHP.

Got a call last night from the kMan about a emergency project with a movie company, really a hotfix, but invoice-able time so fun more so than the usual project as of late, but got it all squared away - made some money, so can’t complain too much, but I did get sleep last night, which I am very happy I did as when I’m on lack of sleep, and things like a site get hacked, tends to kick me into hyper-stress mode, thankfully I got in, removed the file, suspended the account, did the quick audit, so happy to have a cool head this early AM.

So quite a start to a monday, I do want to take a nap now (been up since 5am) but the day presses on, some PHP work is on the agenda, going to utilize some PHP5 magic & modules, so hopefully nothing else huge jumps up and bites me… unless it pays well, I may have a house to rent here soon

Headache …. argh

So I have a monster monster monster headache (yes, that’s 3 monsters) not sure what the deal is (crazy stress maybe?) but I am trying to chalk most of the oddness with finances lately up to change. I am trying to make change in my life lately, and it’s all part of the game I suppose! I have nearly $200 in monthly checks floating in la-la land, post office can’t find em, clients all say they sent em, I have two active merchant accounts as I phase the old one out, so I have money in two places - but all things considered, even with overdraft looming, I am trying to keep my chin up.

I have this big dream of things being awesome, new servers, new hardware/software, new clients, new contracts, good stuff all around, but as it stands, there’s a few road blocks here, thankfully I have started to clear a few, like with the mail situation above, I went and got a PO Box @ The UPS Store (easy to get to, and 2 months free), I am almost done with merchant accounts, should be able to full close down the other one by mid-November - and with the new billing system, and reduced expenses each month closing out things I don’t “NEED” my hope, my goal, is a more healthy budget overall.

It’s Friday - and my big hope for the day is that they have the mail issue sorted and there will be a pile of waiting mail, also that the kMan can have a check for me for his server goodies, but also that I get a chance to chat with him, as I think I found a way to upgrade his server AND keep his costs low, I’d love to just run away and have a Photo Friday, the weather being mild lately has green’d things up a bit, but life must be dealt with, and thus I am going to slide over to bed, lay down and hope my head stops ringing.

So… have a good Friday folks, I appreciate your continued prayers, who knows maybe Friday will be awesome and I’ll get a call with a job offer on that resume I sent in last week (A guy can dream, can’t he?) - but I just hope it all pans out, and a few stresses in my life at least subside for a while. Night folks.