Seems like as good a time to update this as any, since I'm once again sitting a work doing absolutely nothing while waiting for an upgrade to commence. For some unknown reason, I was informed that I had to get here 6 hours early for today's upgrade - scheduled to begin at 11:00 tonight and to run for 4 hours or so (and once again, I'll have my own little 5-minute part to play).
Seriously. 6 freaking hours early. And people wonder why I despise my job.
Theoretically, my boss and I will be chatting on Monday about another job opening that I spotted yesterday. It's the second of the two potential jobs that I mentioned a few posts back - the one that is basically systems administration, and the one that I really really want. I know that I'm qualified. The guy posting the job knows that I'm qualified. My boss knows that I'm qualified. The only question is whether or not my boss will once again block me from moving to another job, as he did last month (a move that - he knows - severely pissed me off). When I mentioned this new job posting to him yesterday and requested that we talk about it, I basically told him that I'm at the breaking point and he's going to lose me one way or another - either because I start working for someone else and supporting his team or because I start looking for a job with another corporation. May 10th is coming up, after all....
Last weekend was the North American brass band championships in Cincinnati, and the contest, by and large, went pretty well. There were the regular complaints about the venue, and there were the regular complaints about the judging (I kind of agree with those), but we had 23 bands and a couple hundred soloists show up and stayed pretty close to our schedule. I got a serious work-out over the two days of competing by running up and down 12 flights of stairs to take as many pictures as possible. My little pedometer told me that I cleared 5 miles each day and around 95 stories. My feet were, not surprisingly, pretty tired by Sunday. Got to spend some time with Amy, however. That was nice, as was her cornet solo ("I'd Rather Have Jesus"). She also got picked up as a ringer by the band that ended up winning the First Section, and the band that hired her to work with its cornet section a couple of weeks ago ended up taking 1st in the Championship Section - which *nobody* saw coming - so I'd have to say that she acquitted herself pretty well on the weekend.
Yard work began in earnest today with the mowing of the back yard. A few weeks ago, I trimmed the holly in the back yard and pruned a couple of trees that were trying to grow through the side of my house, but I'm not counting that work. The front yard is scheduled for tomorrow if the weather cooperates (and it looks like it will be another gorgeous day). I also need to trim the front hedges pretty drastically. I hate doing that because they look completely dead for the first month after I cut them back, but they're encroaching on my sidewalk, so.....
Not much else to talk about. Every day is sort of smashing into the next recently. Get up, go to work, go home, watch some television, go to bed early. Jenny and I nearly went to a minor league hockey game last night, but agreed - at around lunch time - that we were both too tired to do it. We could possibly reschedule that for tomorrow. It depends on how much sleep I can get tonight and how the lawn work goes tomorrow.
Hope everybody else is having a good spring.
TWD
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
beach weekend
Coming to you live from sunny Waukegan, IL, it's the newest entry into the soon-to-be world-famous Frowsy Noise!
Yes, it's a dreary Sunday afternoon and I'm writing this from the Illinois Beach Resort in Zion, IL, which is actually about 10 minutes north of the aforementioned Waukegan. I got here at about 6:30 Friday night and have spent the last couple of days walking around taking pictures of the snowy beach along the western shore of Lake Michigan, spending time with Amy (and, to a lesser extent, her folks), playing with her dog, and generally enjoying a few days away from work.
The weekend did not start we'll for Amy's mom, who fell sometime Friday afternoon and, after visiting a dentist to check the damage, learned that she'd broken her jaw. The poor lady subsequently had her jaw wired shut and will be eating through straws for the next month and a half.
That didn't keep her from attending church this morning, where Amy and I joined her, but it did rule out any choral performances. I believe she did stay after the service for hand bell practice, however.
Amy and I went to see a movie, Oz, The Great and Powerful, last night. I had high hopes for the flick, but it failed to live up to them. Might have been fun for kids, but it totally failed to engage me; and the 3D effects, while occasionally very good, did not justify the time spent in the theatre fighting to stay awake. Live and learn.
After church today, Amy and I had lunch at a diner near her house, and then went our separate ways - she to do some trumpet exercises and me to walk in the rain, maybe take some pictures, update this little blog, and see what's going on with the NCAA basketball brackets. We'll get together later today for a movie or something and tomorrow morning, early, I'll hit the road for home.
It's been a great couple of days, overall. I always like the time I spend with Amy and it's also nice to see some actual snow on the ground! Makes me miss my life as a Yankee.
TWD
Yes, it's a dreary Sunday afternoon and I'm writing this from the Illinois Beach Resort in Zion, IL, which is actually about 10 minutes north of the aforementioned Waukegan. I got here at about 6:30 Friday night and have spent the last couple of days walking around taking pictures of the snowy beach along the western shore of Lake Michigan, spending time with Amy (and, to a lesser extent, her folks), playing with her dog, and generally enjoying a few days away from work.
 |
| Went for a walk yesterday and found three deer looking for food in the snow. |
The weekend did not start we'll for Amy's mom, who fell sometime Friday afternoon and, after visiting a dentist to check the damage, learned that she'd broken her jaw. The poor lady subsequently had her jaw wired shut and will be eating through straws for the next month and a half.
That didn't keep her from attending church this morning, where Amy and I joined her, but it did rule out any choral performances. I believe she did stay after the service for hand bell practice, however.
Amy and I went to see a movie, Oz, The Great and Powerful, last night. I had high hopes for the flick, but it failed to live up to them. Might have been fun for kids, but it totally failed to engage me; and the 3D effects, while occasionally very good, did not justify the time spent in the theatre fighting to stay awake. Live and learn.
After church today, Amy and I had lunch at a diner near her house, and then went our separate ways - she to do some trumpet exercises and me to walk in the rain, maybe take some pictures, update this little blog, and see what's going on with the NCAA basketball brackets. We'll get together later today for a movie or something and tomorrow morning, early, I'll hit the road for home.
It's been a great couple of days, overall. I always like the time I spend with Amy and it's also nice to see some actual snow on the ground! Makes me miss my life as a Yankee.
TWD
Thursday, March 7, 2013
cars
This will have to be a short entry because it's a little after 8 o'clock and my alarm clock is set for 3:58 tomorrow morning. Shortly after that time, I'll hit the road for Waukegan.
Today at work was relatively hectic. In addition to a training class that's been going on for the last week - and will continue for three more - (I am constantly interrupted to open the doors for trainees because they don't have badges and I am the gatekeeper), I was being slammed by the IT department to put together workstations for them, get others fixed for them, and discuss ways that I could keep them informed of workstation problems in the future. I also had to complete a completely stupid "what did I do last month" spreadsheet for the finance department, which apparently hasn't figured out what should be counted as a capital expense in our department and so has had us doing this STUPID busywork for the last couple of months ("On February 9th, I spent 3.2 hours reading email..."). While doing all this stuff, I was also attempting to debug some code for a project I've been working on for the last 6 weeks or so, help technicians with installations, and keep one eye on a conversation going on with the rest of my group about next week's launch of our 24x7 schedule in order to make sure that I don't get stuck with an 8pm-7am shift of something (and that's not a joke...15 freaking years in this business and now I'm trying to avoid getting a shit shift that should be worked by somebody 1/3 of my age with 1/10th of my experience).
But I made it through the day. Got home and got packed for the trip, and am currently sitting in bed thinking about sleep.
So. Cars that I've considered purchasing. Top of the heap is still the Subaru Outback, but - mainly because I hate the idea of dropping 25 large for that car, I'm leaving the door open for other makes and models. The Nissan XTerra looks good, and I've also eyed the Toyota 4Runner and Sequoia, various flavors of Jeep (Cherokee, Liberty, etc. - not the Wrangler, though that would be a great thing to have in the woods), and a couple of Hondas (Pilot, CRV).
Basically, what I want is a car lets me do all of the following: cruise around the city in relative comfort and quiet - not a lot of road noise, leather seats, decent stereo, Bluetooth, aux in for ipod or phone, etc. However, I also need a machine that I can take into the woods several times a year. By that I mean, while not technically off-roading, about as close as one can get. The places that I go to camp are generally approachable only by hiking or by twisty, rocky, rugged, washed-out, narrow dirt roads. Yes, I have taken most of my former cars on these roads, but I haven't enjoyed it. The Audi particularly makes me cringe every time I hit a washout or drive over a section of corduroy. I want something that's close enough to being a truck - and that has enough ground clearance - to make me comfortable on these mountain forays. Next, I want something that I can sleep in in relative comfort. I want the back seats to lay down flat, and I'd like the front passenger seat to do likewise. This was one thing that I really liked about my PT Cruiser. When the seats were laid flat, I had an 8-foot bed in the car, and I could pull into a campsite during a football weekend, string up a tarp, and not have to bother with a tent. I also want a car with decent gas mileage - not spectacular, but 30+ - and without a massive cost of ownership (a la the Audi). Last, it has to be a manual transmission. I've done the automatic bit. I'm over it. I want a clutch and a stick shift (actually, I'd love to have a column shifter, but I don't think anybody makes those anymore).
So, as I continue to wonder if I should or shouldn't get a new vehicle, I'll also continue to winnow down the list - or maybe expand it - of potential cars. I've owned a lot of cars - but I want to get it completely right the next time around.
TWD
Today at work was relatively hectic. In addition to a training class that's been going on for the last week - and will continue for three more - (I am constantly interrupted to open the doors for trainees because they don't have badges and I am the gatekeeper), I was being slammed by the IT department to put together workstations for them, get others fixed for them, and discuss ways that I could keep them informed of workstation problems in the future. I also had to complete a completely stupid "what did I do last month" spreadsheet for the finance department, which apparently hasn't figured out what should be counted as a capital expense in our department and so has had us doing this STUPID busywork for the last couple of months ("On February 9th, I spent 3.2 hours reading email..."). While doing all this stuff, I was also attempting to debug some code for a project I've been working on for the last 6 weeks or so, help technicians with installations, and keep one eye on a conversation going on with the rest of my group about next week's launch of our 24x7 schedule in order to make sure that I don't get stuck with an 8pm-7am shift of something (and that's not a joke...15 freaking years in this business and now I'm trying to avoid getting a shit shift that should be worked by somebody 1/3 of my age with 1/10th of my experience).
But I made it through the day. Got home and got packed for the trip, and am currently sitting in bed thinking about sleep.
So. Cars that I've considered purchasing. Top of the heap is still the Subaru Outback, but - mainly because I hate the idea of dropping 25 large for that car, I'm leaving the door open for other makes and models. The Nissan XTerra looks good, and I've also eyed the Toyota 4Runner and Sequoia, various flavors of Jeep (Cherokee, Liberty, etc. - not the Wrangler, though that would be a great thing to have in the woods), and a couple of Hondas (Pilot, CRV).
Basically, what I want is a car lets me do all of the following: cruise around the city in relative comfort and quiet - not a lot of road noise, leather seats, decent stereo, Bluetooth, aux in for ipod or phone, etc. However, I also need a machine that I can take into the woods several times a year. By that I mean, while not technically off-roading, about as close as one can get. The places that I go to camp are generally approachable only by hiking or by twisty, rocky, rugged, washed-out, narrow dirt roads. Yes, I have taken most of my former cars on these roads, but I haven't enjoyed it. The Audi particularly makes me cringe every time I hit a washout or drive over a section of corduroy. I want something that's close enough to being a truck - and that has enough ground clearance - to make me comfortable on these mountain forays. Next, I want something that I can sleep in in relative comfort. I want the back seats to lay down flat, and I'd like the front passenger seat to do likewise. This was one thing that I really liked about my PT Cruiser. When the seats were laid flat, I had an 8-foot bed in the car, and I could pull into a campsite during a football weekend, string up a tarp, and not have to bother with a tent. I also want a car with decent gas mileage - not spectacular, but 30+ - and without a massive cost of ownership (a la the Audi). Last, it has to be a manual transmission. I've done the automatic bit. I'm over it. I want a clutch and a stick shift (actually, I'd love to have a column shifter, but I don't think anybody makes those anymore).
So, as I continue to wonder if I should or shouldn't get a new vehicle, I'll also continue to winnow down the list - or maybe expand it - of potential cars. I've owned a lot of cars - but I want to get it completely right the next time around.
TWD
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
and again
How do I keep forgetting to update this? Huh? HUH?
I even REMINDED myself to write something here yesterday - and immediately forgot to do so. See, I had to go into the office last night for a number of trivialities - a truly bogus conference call to go over various types of alarms and how to respond to them (uh...we've been doing this for the better part of a year, folks. We know what to do), mapping the layout of the call center workstations (why this had to be done last night - or any night, for that matter - is beyond me), and four separate systems updates with which I had nothing to do. So my plan was to sit at my desk and type an entry...and I completely forgot the plan. I ended up asking a bunch of questions that everyone knew the answers to on the alarms call, had a great time turning workstations on, writing down their host names in my little notebook, and putting together a pretty decent floor plan in an excel spreadsheet. I even tried to pay attention for about 5 minutes during the first systems call; but, as I usually do when I'm on a call that doesn't involve me, I lost interest and eventually just left at around midnight.
YesterDAY at work wasn't much more exciting than last night was. I finally got my laptop reimaged yesterday afternoon and spent much of the day reinstalling programs on it - many of them not approved by the corporate software Nazis (things like Office 2013, Visual Studio 2012, and various other apps that I use on a daily basis).
Today was more of the same. Installed a few more programs that I need, helped a technician who was having problems during an install at a customer's house, helped the IT guy (who's job I want) set up some command center workstations, paid some bills, wrote some code, drank some coffee, and left.
Then the fun began - or at least a little fun began. Today was bonus day - that glorious one day a year when we get our obscenely-large bonus check. Traditionally, I take the opportunity to pay off a credit card or a car - or make some other large and relatively responsiblee payment; and I also buy myself a toy that I otherwise wouldn't. Past toys have included a new refrigerator, a camera upgrade, a nice lens - one year I put a down payment on new windows; but this year I'm still waffling on whether or not I'm going to get a new car, so I didn't really want to spend a great deal on my toy. True, I've had my eye on the Canon D1x since I rented it several times last season - and I had indeed considered making it the 2013 bonus toy - but after much thought, I decided that I'll just rent it a few more times this year rather than dropping $3000 on it. I'd dearly love to have one of the things at my beck and call, but I'd also dearly love to be debt free and/or behind the wheel of a Subaru Outback (maybe I'll talk about my car research in tomorrow's post); so in the end I went with a much cheaper toy, but one that has also been catching my eye for the last couple of years: a GoPro sports camera.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that there is absolutely no way to consider this purchase to be anything other than a big boy's toy. It is highly unlikely that I'm going to be shooting any footage for National Geographic, Alpine Ski commercials, or the Survivorman television series - although the little camera that I got for myself is indeed capable of doing any of those things (as you'll see if you go to the link I provided). No, this is strictly for the type of filming that I've wanted to do for years, but the hardware to do it was always ridiculously expensive and/or crappy. The GoPro Hero3 that I bought shoots high-definition video (or 12MP stills); is waterproof, shockproof, crushproof, and coldproof; weighs in at about 2 ounces; and can be mounted on virtually anything - a bicycle, a shoe, my wrist, chest or head, a car, a roller blade....or a tripod. My camping buddy Brett and I have been experimenting with hiking videos since about 2000, and I now have the camera that will let me do some of those sequences that we've never been able to do.
First up, however, I'm going to see if I can do a time-lapse film of the trip from Atlanta to Chicago. It'll be a fun way for me to get used to the camera, and I do love time-lapse stuff.
So roll your eyes all you want to. It's my toy.
TWD
I even REMINDED myself to write something here yesterday - and immediately forgot to do so. See, I had to go into the office last night for a number of trivialities - a truly bogus conference call to go over various types of alarms and how to respond to them (uh...we've been doing this for the better part of a year, folks. We know what to do), mapping the layout of the call center workstations (why this had to be done last night - or any night, for that matter - is beyond me), and four separate systems updates with which I had nothing to do. So my plan was to sit at my desk and type an entry...and I completely forgot the plan. I ended up asking a bunch of questions that everyone knew the answers to on the alarms call, had a great time turning workstations on, writing down their host names in my little notebook, and putting together a pretty decent floor plan in an excel spreadsheet. I even tried to pay attention for about 5 minutes during the first systems call; but, as I usually do when I'm on a call that doesn't involve me, I lost interest and eventually just left at around midnight.
YesterDAY at work wasn't much more exciting than last night was. I finally got my laptop reimaged yesterday afternoon and spent much of the day reinstalling programs on it - many of them not approved by the corporate software Nazis (things like Office 2013, Visual Studio 2012, and various other apps that I use on a daily basis).
Today was more of the same. Installed a few more programs that I need, helped a technician who was having problems during an install at a customer's house, helped the IT guy (who's job I want) set up some command center workstations, paid some bills, wrote some code, drank some coffee, and left.
Then the fun began - or at least a little fun began. Today was bonus day - that glorious one day a year when we get our obscenely-large bonus check. Traditionally, I take the opportunity to pay off a credit card or a car - or make some other large and relatively responsiblee payment; and I also buy myself a toy that I otherwise wouldn't. Past toys have included a new refrigerator, a camera upgrade, a nice lens - one year I put a down payment on new windows; but this year I'm still waffling on whether or not I'm going to get a new car, so I didn't really want to spend a great deal on my toy. True, I've had my eye on the Canon D1x since I rented it several times last season - and I had indeed considered making it the 2013 bonus toy - but after much thought, I decided that I'll just rent it a few more times this year rather than dropping $3000 on it. I'd dearly love to have one of the things at my beck and call, but I'd also dearly love to be debt free and/or behind the wheel of a Subaru Outback (maybe I'll talk about my car research in tomorrow's post); so in the end I went with a much cheaper toy, but one that has also been catching my eye for the last couple of years: a GoPro sports camera.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that there is absolutely no way to consider this purchase to be anything other than a big boy's toy. It is highly unlikely that I'm going to be shooting any footage for National Geographic, Alpine Ski commercials, or the Survivorman television series - although the little camera that I got for myself is indeed capable of doing any of those things (as you'll see if you go to the link I provided). No, this is strictly for the type of filming that I've wanted to do for years, but the hardware to do it was always ridiculously expensive and/or crappy. The GoPro Hero3 that I bought shoots high-definition video (or 12MP stills); is waterproof, shockproof, crushproof, and coldproof; weighs in at about 2 ounces; and can be mounted on virtually anything - a bicycle, a shoe, my wrist, chest or head, a car, a roller blade....or a tripod. My camping buddy Brett and I have been experimenting with hiking videos since about 2000, and I now have the camera that will let me do some of those sequences that we've never been able to do.
First up, however, I'm going to see if I can do a time-lapse film of the trip from Atlanta to Chicago. It'll be a fun way for me to get used to the camera, and I do love time-lapse stuff.
So roll your eyes all you want to. It's my toy.
TWD
Monday, March 4, 2013
that was fast
Yeah. So I make it through two whole days of me "post a day" month before forgetting to update this stupid thing. I guess that doesn't portend great things for the rest of the month.
I actually have an excuse. Not a good one, but an excuse just the same: I was being productive yesterday.
Pretty much all day, even. As a result of that, I have a freshly-shampooed rug in the living room, lots and lots of clean laundry, a vacuumed bedroom floor, enough groceries to last a week or so, and my legs have carried me at least 5.5 miles further than they otherwise would have.
Granted, I still have a fallen flag pole in my front lawn and there's still a tree attacking the side of my chimney, but there will be time to deal with those things, right?
Work today was certainly nothing to write about. I'm still without the services of my laptop - this in spite of the fact that I called the helpless desk this morning and reminded them that I opened a ticket to have it reimaged on Friday. They assured me that somebody would call me within 2 hours. That was about 8 hours ago. So I installed some development tools on the loaner workstation that I'm using, tweaked some code, and sat in on a team meeting wherein our upcoming schedule change was discussed while not being discussed. By that, I mean that the incredibly managerial management staff decided to let us figure out how to provide 24/7 coverage.
We did this last August. I've been waiting to pull the trigger since then. Now that they've decided that we simply MUST have this round-the-clock coverage, it has been decided to think about it some more. And in the meantime, the moronic "on call" schedule will continue. Don't know if I've talked about our "on call" schedule - which, to me, has always meant, "When I am on call, you may call me if something goes wrong and I will try fix it." In THIS group, "on call" means, "I'll check my email for any signs of trouble 24 hours a day for a week."
Needless to say, when I'm on call, the email doesn't get checked. If there's a problem, somebody can call me - and I'll try to take care of it at that time. If the "on call" schedule is designed to provide 24/7 coverage, well...here's an idea: IMPLEMENT A 24/7 SCHEDULE!
Needless to say, I've been in a bad mood all day. That may be due in part to the fact that Mom died on this day three years ago. Yes, life has continued on. That doesn't mean that I don't miss her and wish that I could talk to her about this cluster that is my job.
Eh bien. As Ahab said to Starbuck, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Another day it will be."
TWD
I actually have an excuse. Not a good one, but an excuse just the same: I was being productive yesterday.
Pretty much all day, even. As a result of that, I have a freshly-shampooed rug in the living room, lots and lots of clean laundry, a vacuumed bedroom floor, enough groceries to last a week or so, and my legs have carried me at least 5.5 miles further than they otherwise would have.
Granted, I still have a fallen flag pole in my front lawn and there's still a tree attacking the side of my chimney, but there will be time to deal with those things, right?
Work today was certainly nothing to write about. I'm still without the services of my laptop - this in spite of the fact that I called the helpless desk this morning and reminded them that I opened a ticket to have it reimaged on Friday. They assured me that somebody would call me within 2 hours. That was about 8 hours ago. So I installed some development tools on the loaner workstation that I'm using, tweaked some code, and sat in on a team meeting wherein our upcoming schedule change was discussed while not being discussed. By that, I mean that the incredibly managerial management staff decided to let us figure out how to provide 24/7 coverage.
We did this last August. I've been waiting to pull the trigger since then. Now that they've decided that we simply MUST have this round-the-clock coverage, it has been decided to think about it some more. And in the meantime, the moronic "on call" schedule will continue. Don't know if I've talked about our "on call" schedule - which, to me, has always meant, "When I am on call, you may call me if something goes wrong and I will try fix it." In THIS group, "on call" means, "I'll check my email for any signs of trouble 24 hours a day for a week."
Needless to say, when I'm on call, the email doesn't get checked. If there's a problem, somebody can call me - and I'll try to take care of it at that time. If the "on call" schedule is designed to provide 24/7 coverage, well...here's an idea: IMPLEMENT A 24/7 SCHEDULE!
Needless to say, I've been in a bad mood all day. That may be due in part to the fact that Mom died on this day three years ago. Yes, life has continued on. That doesn't mean that I don't miss her and wish that I could talk to her about this cluster that is my job.
Eh bien. As Ahab said to Starbuck, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Another day it will be."
TWD
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