Trials & Tribulations

Yesterday was a good day. My deck was finally finished on my condominium. It got painted, closing a 57 day process that left me without a deck for some of the best weather of the summer. Still, when the maintenance guy who was painting told me that other decks in my vicinity are now going to be condemned for structural reasons, I knew that I was lucky and once again, “someone” is looking out for me.

It all started when my patio door was getting stuck, and I produced the letter that I received when I moved in, saying that my deck would be replaced last year and my patio door this summer. My jammed door was replaced and then the maintenance guys said they would do my deck the next day. Due to rotting support beams, it got kind of out-of-hand and became a really big project that a contractor had to be hired to fix.

I’m going to need to sell one of these days, and it would be hard to sell a condo with a condemned deck. Now I have the finest deck in the kingdom!

At my new tech job, I have been trying to re-image a bunch of laptops that need some serious updating. Each one has its own unique problems, and most share a problem of not booting up with the flash drive that initiates the process. I have also had network problems, software glitches and long talks to the HP call center in India. Finally, with some help from some amazing computer “wranglers” at the district office, things are generally going well (though not everything is fixed yet), and I am now handling the laptops that were previously handling me.

I was elated! I began taunting the laptops, as they were forced to connect to my ghost server. “Victory is mine!” I said. “You cannot defeat me! You are nothing but circuits!” I boasted to the stupid laptops! Yes, what a fine time I had!

Missionary Position

Why is it called the “missionary position?”
Is it the position favored by missionaries?
Is it a blatant reference to the many sexual improprieties perpetrated by a certain segment of religious clergy?
Perhaps it has nothing to do with missionaries.
Maybe it simply means that you are on a mission!
Merriam Webster online says it is a name given to the position by Trobriand islanders.
These people are from islands in the SW Pacific, in the Solomon Sea; attached to Papua New Guinea. Perhaps they noticed a lot of missionaries using this position.

Honor Comes from Behind?

In a world where no one seems to give a crap, at least my butt does.

We are Experiencing Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By…

Today I was planning to re-image ten laptops. Then the calls came in. We are experiencing network difficulties. It is in two phases. The wireless connection is unavailable in certain areas of the building. The other issue is some PC’s in certain rooms are alternating between connected to, and not connected to the network –and back and forth. This is happening on desktops wired directly into the network.

I’m waiting for a call from the Network Administrator, who is currently investigating an error message involving a bogus virus warning. In the meantime, I have a teacher who can’t wait for the situation to be fixed, and has swapped the teacher machine for a student machine. What was “accomplished” here, is that these machines had to be reset after the teacher’s attempts to fix the problem herself. The problem is not with the PC’s, but with the network. Impatience causes more work for me.

I believe that I shall never want for something to do on this job.

New Technology Job

My new job is going pretty well. On the seventh day, I had to re-image (clone) a whole computer lab. That was 25 PCs, and it takes a long time. It really has nothing to do with me being new, because I know the procedures; it’s just that there are a whole lot of them. I believe I have to log into each PC four times before I have all of the settings completed.

I was also encountering network problems too, and had to route around them to finish re-imaging. I think it might be one of our master switches, so I have Bob coming out to look at it. “I’ll be talkin’ to Bob,” (Blues Brothers reference).

I really like my new gig though. I’ve been keeping really busy, and I’m learning a lot of things.

Live & Let Live

On the anniversary of 9-11, I would like to stress the following ideal.
No matter who you are, you cannot and should not attempt to make anyone else adopt your personal set of beliefs. This includes your religious beliefs, ideological beliefs and so on.

Whether you are the President of the USA, a cowardly terrorist, or an immigrant who is trying to force your future in-laws to follow your one-thousand-year-old traditions, you have no right to expect others to live their lives the way your think they should.

Here in America, we are free to choose, though some would argue that “we are doing it all wrong.” I will not become a Muslim, simply because al Qaeda says that I should. I will not change my mind, and decide that the war in Iraq is a good thing because George W. Bush thinks that I should. I will not alter my core values because someone is threatening me.

I am an American. I am proud of the fact that I am an individual. I am proud of my personal convictions. I am a good person, even if there are others who cannot recognize it behind their closed minds.

On this anniversary of 9-11, I am happy to announce that the American spirit is not crushed. The American way of life is still intact. We may have wobbled a bit, but we didn’t fall. In so many ways, the experience has made us stronger, smarter and more determined. Finally, I am not swayed and I don’t respond well to threats.

Osama bin Laden’s Beard Color

As we approach the sixth anniversary of the cowardly attacks on civilians in the World Trade Center, Osama bin Laden is supposedly (according to al Qaeda’s media production company) going to release a new video, and why not? His others were such big hits!

What really caught everyone’s eye was the picture of Osama sporting a new, darker beard without all of the grey. Could it be that bin Laden has discovered Grecian Formula? It seems that the man, who lives in a cave and wears a dirty-white-cloth robe, is vain enough to dye his
beard! What a dork.
Hint, maybe it's an old picture...

Clearing Trails

While I haven’t been hiking as often as I would like, due to things like flooding, mosquitoes, heavy plant growth and lack of free time, I have wanted to get out into the woods again. I like the cooler months for hiking, and those long months are getting close now.

While I really enjoy hiking off-trail, I also use many of the existing trails. In fact, I am active in maintaining these trails when needed. Sometimes a tree or other plant may start growing in or across a trail. Then I need to remove it, by whatever means that I have available.

On other occasions, trees sometimes fall or are blown down by strong winds. Here again, if the logs aren’t too large, I will often remove them from the trail. Sure it can be difficult work sometimes, but a few minutes of effort to keep a trail open is well worth it.

New Job!

I (officially) started my new technical job today, with the new school year.