Y'know who bugs the crap out of me?
People who do not pick up on subtle, or sometimes not-so-subtle cues on the telephone. Especially on work related calls.
I'm a busy guy, and I assume that you are too. That's why when I talk to you, I'll usually ask you if this is a good time, or if I've caught you in the middle of something.
Its also why I try to pick up on subtle cues during the call. Are you talking to other people in the background about a problem with a server? Sound generally rushed and hurried? These are easy examples of cues that signal that this is a bad time for a long phone call.
If you have some information to share with me, great. If it takes you more than two or three minutes to share that information with me, we probably need to arrange a phone call, or you need to send me a long email.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Putting Out Fires
So I like to use the term "putting out fires". It means that I'm fixing problems and making things work.
Except today.
My phone rings.
"The lumber-tally computer is on fire."
So I raced down there.
The good news is that there was a fire extinguisher not too far away. Its also good news that it was not actually the computer, which is a very critical machine that we would be pretty much fucked, without. Instead, a heater in the booth, near the machine was on fire.
So when I say "Oh, I'm just putting out fires!", I might be serious.
Except today.
My phone rings.
"The lumber-tally computer is on fire."
So I raced down there.
The good news is that there was a fire extinguisher not too far away. Its also good news that it was not actually the computer, which is a very critical machine that we would be pretty much fucked, without. Instead, a heater in the booth, near the machine was on fire.
So when I say "Oh, I'm just putting out fires!", I might be serious.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Day 40: Workspace, cluttered
 |
| From 365 |
Sorry for the size switching. I'm still new at this, so you'll have to be a bit patient with me here.
I am a terribly cluttered person. There's no refuting it, or prettying it up. My workspace has been a mess, no matter where I work, for at least the last eight years or so. On the other hand, we've tried really hard to unclutter our home and personal life. We've done a good job of not accumulating 'shit', and by that, I mean things that will gather dust. Don't get me wrong, I can't claim that we live a totally frugal lifestyle. I have scores of DVDs, and an Xbox360 that sometimes goes for weeks neglected, but we've tried to cut out bullshit accumulation. Dragons to set on the mantle? No thanks.
But yeah, my workspace? Give me reams and reams of paper, and let me stack it up for weeks, and then ask me for some info from one sheet of paper amongst those reams. That's good stuff.
PS- I have three blackberries on my desk because I'm troubleshooting one, using the other for parts, and the third... hell, I don't even know what the third one is doing there.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Message Skipped
I gotta share this.
We have a salesperson up in the northeast who has a blackberry cell phone, as well as an IP phone in his home office. The IP phone is connected back to our main company phone switch, and behaves pretty much as though it was any other normal phone at our company.
Note that he has voicemail both on his IP phone and on his cell phone. This is important later.
Because he travels a lot, we have setup the voicemail on his IP phone so that if he receives a message, it will call his cell phone. It goes something like this:
Joe leaves a message on Salesguy's IP phone.
Salesguy's cell phone rings.
Salesguy answers and hears "This is the phone system calling, if you are Salesguy, please press pound to continue."
Salesguy hits pound, the system asks for his password, and then he can listen to Joe's message.
Well, Salesguy told me some time ago that its not working right. He can't get the messages. On further investigation, he says that when he's prompted to hit #, he does so, and hears "Message skipped", and never gets the voicemail message.
Huh. Weird. So I got my hands on his phone and tested it myself. I called and left a voicemail on his IP phone. His cell phone rang, I heard the voicemail system, pressed # when directed, and it worked like a charm. No problem.
I chalked it up to user error.
Well, he tells me that he is STILL having the problem. So I make a note to get with him when he's down next and sort it out.
Today, I get this email:
"My cell phone said I have 7 messages. The first one didn't prompt me to press pound if I was the correct person and just played my voice mail. The other 6 messages all prompted me to press pound and when I did, it announced that message as having been skipped. The same was true for all six messages."
DING!
I got it.
In case that is still mysterious to you, let me analogize it. You pick up the phone and call your friend Dave. You get Dave on the phone and say "Hey man, do you want to run to the comic shop with me?" Dave says "yes", and you go pick him up, and off to the comic shop you both go.
Or.
You pick up the phone and call your friend Dave. You get Dave's answering machine, and you say "Hey, just wanted to see if you wanted to run to the comic shop with me." When Dave checks his answering machine later, he hears your message. To which, for some reason, Dave answers by saying into the phone "yes", which obviously you cannot hear, because Dave is talking to his answering machine.
.
.
.
So what was happening was that he was getting voicemail on his IP phone. The phone system was calling his cell phone, but when he didn't answer or was out of the service area, it ended up in his voicemail, where it recorded a message asking him to press #. Which he did. Which the cell phone voicemail did not understand.
We have a salesperson up in the northeast who has a blackberry cell phone, as well as an IP phone in his home office. The IP phone is connected back to our main company phone switch, and behaves pretty much as though it was any other normal phone at our company.
Note that he has voicemail both on his IP phone and on his cell phone. This is important later.
Because he travels a lot, we have setup the voicemail on his IP phone so that if he receives a message, it will call his cell phone. It goes something like this:
Joe leaves a message on Salesguy's IP phone.
Salesguy's cell phone rings.
Salesguy answers and hears "This is the phone system calling, if you are Salesguy
Salesguy hits pound, the system asks for his password, and then he can listen to Joe's message.
Well, Salesguy told me some time ago that its not working right. He can't get the messages. On further investigation, he says that when he's prompted to hit #, he does so, and hears "Message skipped", and never gets the voicemail message.
Huh. Weird. So I got my hands on his phone and tested it myself. I called and left a voicemail on his IP phone. His cell phone rang, I heard the voicemail system, pressed # when directed, and it worked like a charm. No problem.
I chalked it up to user error.
Well, he tells me that he is STILL having the problem. So I make a note to get with him when he's down next and sort it out.
Today, I get this email:
"My cell phone said I have 7 messages. The first one didn't prompt me to press pound if I was the correct person and just played my voice mail. The other 6 messages all prompted me to press pound and when I did, it announced that message as having been skipped. The same was true for all six messages."
DING!
I got it.
In case that is still mysterious to you, let me analogize it. You pick up the phone and call your friend Dave. You get Dave on the phone and say "Hey man, do you want to run to the comic shop with me?" Dave says "yes", and you go pick him up, and off to the comic shop you both go.
Or.
You pick up the phone and call your friend Dave. You get Dave's answering machine, and you say "Hey, just wanted to see if you wanted to run to the comic shop with me." When Dave checks his answering machine later, he hears your message. To which, for some reason, Dave answers by saying into the phone "yes", which obviously you cannot hear, because Dave is talking to his answering machine.
.
.
.
So what was happening was that he was getting voicemail on his IP phone. The phone system was calling his cell phone, but when he didn't answer or was out of the service area, it ended up in his voicemail, where it recorded a message asking him to press #. Which he did. Which the cell phone voicemail did not understand.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Domain Permissions Freak Out
So we have a new salesperson. He's going to work out of his home-office in Indiana, but he's down here at our corporate office for a couple of weeks.
I got him a laptop, and got it setup, and decided not to put it on the domain, since he'll be using VPN to get back to our Terminal Server, where he'll access all of his stuff. So he's been down here for about two weeks, and I handed him the laptop a week ago, and have been tweaking stuff as we go, making sure that he has access to the stuff that he needs.
So today I'm fooling with some random small problem, when I go to browse to our network file server. I get in, and accidentally click on the wrong folder. Now what should happen is that he should get a little message that says "You don't have access, blah blah blah". But I don't. Instead, I'm right in. It also occured to me, right at that second, that I did not authenticate when I hit the file server. To put that in non tech terms, I accessed our secure file server without it knowing who the hell I was. I clicked through a few more folders, testing folders that were more and more secure, finally checking our super-duper-secure folder. I can get into them all. So, I spent just a couple of seconds completely freaking out.
If this laptop- which is just part of a default workgroup, not on the domain, hence, no permissions on the domain, it doesn't even exist as far as domain security is concerned- can access any folder on our file server.. maybe on our network? I remotely log onto our domain controller and start double checking security and share permissions. I start second guessing myself. "Well, I thought that security overrode share settings..".
I spend about 10 minutes in simmering panic mode, trying to figure out how the hell I can access all of this data - its not supposed to work this way. I'm even trying to figure out the likelihood of having been the victim of a worm or trojan that somehow botches network security.
Finally the brain cells start to really fire, and it occurs to me to check and see what account the domain controller is seeing, that is accessing the data. In other words, what credentials am I using to hit this data?
Administrator.
.......??? I'm not logged into the local machine as administrator.
Then it clicks.
I bet that while setting up this laptop, I hit the network and used the administrator credentials. But why is it caching them? Why am I not having to re authenticate? I even tried mapping a network drive with the salesperson's credentials, then unmapped it, and tried the data again - still administrator.
So now I'm trying to figure out how to uncache network logon info.
I start digging around on google. "clear network logon cache", nothing good. "clear share password network", nothing good. I start mixing and matching words, trying to get something. Anything.
And then:
rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr
It brings up a handy little screen that shows the stored logon info for network locations. I dig around a little more and find that on Windows Server 2003, its an icon in the control panel! Handy!
Whew.
I got him a laptop, and got it setup, and decided not to put it on the domain, since he'll be using VPN to get back to our Terminal Server, where he'll access all of his stuff. So he's been down here for about two weeks, and I handed him the laptop a week ago, and have been tweaking stuff as we go, making sure that he has access to the stuff that he needs.
So today I'm fooling with some random small problem, when I go to browse to our network file server. I get in, and accidentally click on the wrong folder. Now what should happen is that he should get a little message that says "You don't have access, blah blah blah". But I don't. Instead, I'm right in. It also occured to me, right at that second, that I did not authenticate when I hit the file server. To put that in non tech terms, I accessed our secure file server without it knowing who the hell I was. I clicked through a few more folders, testing folders that were more and more secure, finally checking our super-duper-secure folder. I can get into them all. So, I spent just a couple of seconds completely freaking out.
If this laptop- which is just part of a default workgroup, not on the domain, hence, no permissions on the domain, it doesn't even exist as far as domain security is concerned- can access any folder on our file server.. maybe on our network? I remotely log onto our domain controller and start double checking security and share permissions. I start second guessing myself. "Well, I thought that security overrode share settings..".
I spend about 10 minutes in simmering panic mode, trying to figure out how the hell I can access all of this data - its not supposed to work this way. I'm even trying to figure out the likelihood of having been the victim of a worm or trojan that somehow botches network security.
Finally the brain cells start to really fire, and it occurs to me to check and see what account the domain controller is seeing, that is accessing the data. In other words, what credentials am I using to hit this data?
Administrator.
.......??? I'm not logged into the local machine as administrator.
Then it clicks.
I bet that while setting up this laptop, I hit the network and used the administrator credentials. But why is it caching them? Why am I not having to re authenticate? I even tried mapping a network drive with the salesperson's credentials, then unmapped it, and tried the data again - still administrator.
So now I'm trying to figure out how to uncache network logon info.
I start digging around on google. "clear network logon cache", nothing good. "clear share password network", nothing good. I start mixing and matching words, trying to get something. Anything.
And then:
rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr
It brings up a handy little screen that shows the stored logon info for network locations. I dig around a little more and find that on Windows Server 2003, its an icon in the control panel! Handy!
Whew.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Math and Phone Companies
I'm no math wiz. Still, this one was pretty easy for me.
In their defense, this appears to be a 100% technical problem. All of the people that I've spoken with have been super friendly and understanding.. and just as importantly, able to do math.
We sent in a check for $1,722.34.
In their defense, this appears to be a 100% technical problem. All of the people that I've spoken with have been super friendly and understanding.. and just as importantly, able to do math.
We sent in a check for $1,722.34.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Productive/Procrastination
So, I have an admission to make.
I have not been very productive at work lately.
In fact, I have largely been the opposite of productive.
The problem? Distraction and procrastination.
So, I'm attempting to fix the problem (before it gets worse, or becomes a for real problem).
Oddly ironic, though, that I'm blogging this, and spent more than a small amount of time looking on the internet - lifehacker mostly - for productivity tips and such.
So, I'm still developing a strategy, but I have some ideas. I'm now going to link-dump. Maybe you'll see something interesting to you, but mostly, this is for me, so I can refer back to these links.
http://lifehacker.com/385592/create-a-crutch-activities-checklist-to-fight-time+suckers
http://lifehacker.com/380500/david-allen-on-the-curse-of-the-eternally-urgent
http://lifehacker.com/378062/five-best-gtd-applications
http://www.productiveflourishing.com/how-heatmapping-your-productivity-can-make-you-more-productive/
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-i-tamed-my-inbox/
http://www.lifeclever.com/decimate-those-someday-projects-with-triangulation/
http://ptm.sourceforge.net/
http://lifehacker.com/338143/bolster-and-track-your-productivity-with-work-break-timer
http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-download/monitor-application-usage-with-rescuetime-324076.php
http://lifehacker.com/software/ask-the-readers/how-do-you-clear-your-messy-desk-308506.php
http://lifehacker.com/370187/embed-your-to+do-list-onto-your-desktop
http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/the-art-of-the-doable-to+do-list-270404.php
http://lifehacker.com/386037/provider-extension-integrates-remember-the-milk-into-thunderbird
http://lifehacker.com/367935/use-an-alarm-clock-to-keep-organizing-tasks-on-track
http://lifehacker.com/356906/track-browsing-habits-across-systems-with-8aweek
http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-firefox-extension/track-browsing-habits-and-curb-procrastination-with-meetimer-291405.php
http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-windows-download/time-your-work-sessions-with-instant-boss-298550.php
http://lifehacker.com/software/timer/work-in-48-minute-increments-201004.php
I feel compelled to mention that this is not a clever trick by my subconscious, to procrastinate about work by blogging about procrastinating about work.... Also, I know that's a ton of links for stuff, and I'm not trying to give myself an unworkable anti-procrastination solution. Really I'm going for the spaghetti approach, where I look through all of those things, and try some of them to see what works.
I know what by biggest distractions are - my google feed reader, and D&D 4e forums. And wikipedia. My plan with those things is mostly to limit my time on them. I can, unfortunately, spend the whole day wasting time with those things. So, on top of reducing distractions, I also need plans for being better organized and more proactive... time management.
edit:
I noted my time-suckers. So that's the "less of", now a little "more of"
I need to do better about:
Cleaning out and keeping track of/organized with email.
Cleaning my desk and office area. It looks like a file cabinet hit a server rack at 200 miles per hour.
Using tools that I already have available to me to better keep track of projects, small and large.
I have not been very productive at work lately.
In fact, I have largely been the opposite of productive.
The problem? Distraction and procrastination.
So, I'm attempting to fix the problem (before it gets worse, or becomes a for real problem).
Oddly ironic, though, that I'm blogging this, and spent more than a small amount of time looking on the internet - lifehacker mostly - for productivity tips and such.
So, I'm still developing a strategy, but I have some ideas. I'm now going to link-dump. Maybe you'll see something interesting to you, but mostly, this is for me, so I can refer back to these links.
http://lifehacker.com/385592/create-a-crutch-activities-checklist-to-fight-time+suckers
http://lifehacker.com/380500/david-allen-on-the-curse-of-the-eternally-urgent
http://lifehacker.com/378062/five-best-gtd-applications
http://www.productiveflourishing.com/how-heatmapping-your-productivity-can-make-you-more-productive/
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-i-tamed-my-inbox/
http://www.lifeclever.com/decimate-those-someday-projects-with-triangulation/
http://ptm.sourceforge.net/
http://lifehacker.com/338143/bolster-and-track-your-productivity-with-work-break-timer
http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-download/monitor-application-usage-with-rescuetime-324076.php
http://lifehacker.com/software/ask-the-readers/how-do-you-clear-your-messy-desk-308506.php
http://lifehacker.com/370187/embed-your-to+do-list-onto-your-desktop
http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/the-art-of-the-doable-to+do-list-270404.php
http://lifehacker.com/386037/provider-extension-integrates-remember-the-milk-into-thunderbird
http://lifehacker.com/367935/use-an-alarm-clock-to-keep-organizing-tasks-on-track
http://lifehacker.com/356906/track-browsing-habits-across-systems-with-8aweek
http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-firefox-extension/track-browsing-habits-and-curb-procrastination-with-meetimer-291405.php
http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-windows-download/time-your-work-sessions-with-instant-boss-298550.php
http://lifehacker.com/software/timer/work-in-48-minute-increments-201004.php
I feel compelled to mention that this is not a clever trick by my subconscious, to procrastinate about work by blogging about procrastinating about work.... Also, I know that's a ton of links for stuff, and I'm not trying to give myself an unworkable anti-procrastination solution. Really I'm going for the spaghetti approach, where I look through all of those things, and try some of them to see what works.
I know what by biggest distractions are - my google feed reader, and D&D 4e forums. And wikipedia. My plan with those things is mostly to limit my time on them. I can, unfortunately, spend the whole day wasting time with those things. So, on top of reducing distractions, I also need plans for being better organized and more proactive... time management.
edit:
I noted my time-suckers. So that's the "less of", now a little "more of"
I need to do better about:
Cleaning out and keeping track of/organized with email.
Cleaning my desk and office area. It looks like a file cabinet hit a server rack at 200 miles per hour.
Using tools that I already have available to me to better keep track of projects, small and large.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
So. Frustrating.
So I posted recently, angry about some email forward I'd gotten from someone.
That was annoying... annoying enough for me to post on here about it, and argue the point.
Today, I got an email in my work email, from a coworker, addressed to all users in the organization, that contained a brief message expressing concern about what would happen if Obama was elected president, and a link to a video. The video is a thirteen minute vid that explores Obama's "three islamic names", his link with that nutcase pastor, his refusal to wear an american flag button, accuses him of anti-christianity, antisemitism, and marxism, etc etc etc.
I'm so fucking pissed.
Not only does the content of the video make me froth at the mouth a little, but someone sent it to everyone in the org. I've casually dismissed previous junk org-wide mailings, cause they're infrequent. But this?
I work in a place that leans pretty hard to the right. The company owner is hard core republican.
I don't feel like I can/should reply to everyone and dispute - both because I don't think its good form - and she shouldnt have done it in the first place, but also because I'm pretty sure that I'm solidly in the minority here, and don't welcome any politically-based discrimination or so forth. I don't even feel like I can email her and suggest that she not use org-wide mailings for political stuff, because I'm almost certain to come off as hating on her message.
I'm not trying to be nazi here - I'm down with everyone's right to their opinion - political opinion included. It pisses me off though when its incorrect, or when biased information is shoved down my throat. I try to avoid politics generally. John is right-leaning, and while we banter about politics from time to time, I try to keep it low-key, and am not into shoving anyone's face into anything.
And what's with the hating? I have yet to see video or email forwards about how McCain is the white devil who steals people souls and wants to invade a bajillion countries and hates black people.... So what gives? I'm not saying that we lefty folks are without bile or spite, but I am continuously astounded and horrified at the volume and tone of politico-spin-bullshit that comes out of the far right machine.
If you don't like Obama, and want to vote for McCain, that's fine, it is completely your right to do so, and you won't catch me badmouthing you for it. I can respect someone for not agreeing with the positions and policies that a candidate stands for. Its called reason. I have less respect when your position is "Well he has three islamic names."
Let me sum up:
Don't use your work email to send political messages to people who have not already asked you to do so. Company Use Policy, people.
If you want to send me a note, asking me to consider your candidate instead of mine, that's fine. Please do not spam me with it, insult me, or try to tell me that he is in fact Hitler in a bunny suit. I respect your opinion, please try to respect mine.
That was annoying... annoying enough for me to post on here about it, and argue the point.
Today, I got an email in my work email, from a coworker, addressed to all users in the organization, that contained a brief message expressing concern about what would happen if Obama was elected president, and a link to a video. The video is a thirteen minute vid that explores Obama's "three islamic names", his link with that nutcase pastor, his refusal to wear an american flag button, accuses him of anti-christianity, antisemitism, and marxism, etc etc etc.
I'm so fucking pissed.
Not only does the content of the video make me froth at the mouth a little, but someone sent it to everyone in the org. I've casually dismissed previous junk org-wide mailings, cause they're infrequent. But this?
I work in a place that leans pretty hard to the right. The company owner is hard core republican.
I don't feel like I can/should reply to everyone and dispute - both because I don't think its good form - and she shouldnt have done it in the first place, but also because I'm pretty sure that I'm solidly in the minority here, and don't welcome any politically-based discrimination or so forth. I don't even feel like I can email her and suggest that she not use org-wide mailings for political stuff, because I'm almost certain to come off as hating on her message.
I'm not trying to be nazi here - I'm down with everyone's right to their opinion - political opinion included. It pisses me off though when its incorrect, or when biased information is shoved down my throat. I try to avoid politics generally. John is right-leaning, and while we banter about politics from time to time, I try to keep it low-key, and am not into shoving anyone's face into anything.
And what's with the hating? I have yet to see video or email forwards about how McCain is the white devil who steals people souls and wants to invade a bajillion countries and hates black people.... So what gives? I'm not saying that we lefty folks are without bile or spite, but I am continuously astounded and horrified at the volume and tone of politico-spin-bullshit that comes out of the far right machine.
If you don't like Obama, and want to vote for McCain, that's fine, it is completely your right to do so, and you won't catch me badmouthing you for it. I can respect someone for not agreeing with the positions and policies that a candidate stands for. Its called reason. I have less respect when your position is "Well he has three islamic names."
Let me sum up:
Don't use your work email to send political messages to people who have not already asked you to do so. Company Use Policy, people.
If you want to send me a note, asking me to consider your candidate instead of mine, that's fine. Please do not spam me with it, insult me, or try to tell me that he is in fact Hitler in a bunny suit. I respect your opinion, please try to respect mine.
Monday, May 15, 2006
not forgotten
Hello Reader,
I have not forgotten my blog, I have simply been too distracted to get on here and do any real posting.
I'm sure there was some stuff I meant to post about in the last week or two, in fact I started a post last week, but never finished it.
We *did* go see Thank You For Smoking. It was very entertaining. I recommend it.
This past week I went to Montezuma, Indiana for business. My boss and I drove up there Wednesday afternoon and I got a tour of the mill up there, and we came back Thursday afternoon. Six hours each way. It was a long trip, but I got to meet the folks up there and see the operation.
The big thing that is coming up is our backpacking expedition. Krissi and I, as well as Maddie and Jason are going to go backpacking along the Buffalo River out in Arkansas this coming weekend. The kind of backpacking where you carry food, sleeping bag, tent, water, filter, and all the other stuff you need to live in the woods for 3 days straight. It'll be alot of fun to unplug for a bit. I'll be keeping a journal and reposting here for my (and your) entertainment.
This past Saturday, Maddie and I hit the pavement at 6AM for a seven mile run. It was a little exhausting. But it was super good. That same afternoon we packed up our full camping packs and set off on a test run. We did a two mile walk with them, and actually setup camp in a little park, just to test everything out. It went pretty well, and I'm glad we did it. It gives me a solid idea of what to expect. I'll be able to trim down what I'm carrying a little.
If there is more exciting stuff to share, then I've forgotten about it for the moment.
I have not forgotten my blog, I have simply been too distracted to get on here and do any real posting.
I'm sure there was some stuff I meant to post about in the last week or two, in fact I started a post last week, but never finished it.
We *did* go see Thank You For Smoking. It was very entertaining. I recommend it.
This past week I went to Montezuma, Indiana for business. My boss and I drove up there Wednesday afternoon and I got a tour of the mill up there, and we came back Thursday afternoon. Six hours each way. It was a long trip, but I got to meet the folks up there and see the operation.
The big thing that is coming up is our backpacking expedition. Krissi and I, as well as Maddie and Jason are going to go backpacking along the Buffalo River out in Arkansas this coming weekend. The kind of backpacking where you carry food, sleeping bag, tent, water, filter, and all the other stuff you need to live in the woods for 3 days straight. It'll be alot of fun to unplug for a bit. I'll be keeping a journal and reposting here for my (and your) entertainment.
This past Saturday, Maddie and I hit the pavement at 6AM for a seven mile run. It was a little exhausting. But it was super good. That same afternoon we packed up our full camping packs and set off on a test run. We did a two mile walk with them, and actually setup camp in a little park, just to test everything out. It went pretty well, and I'm glad we did it. It gives me a solid idea of what to expect. I'll be able to trim down what I'm carrying a little.
If there is more exciting stuff to share, then I've forgotten about it for the moment.
Monday, April 10, 2006
busy!
Hello!
Boy have I been a busy bee.
Let's see.
1. Guitar
2. Cars
3. Paintball
4. Jobby-job
a. Demotivators calendar
There, I made a list so I could remember what I'm on about today.
Firstly, Guitar! As I mentioned, a guitar has been picked up, and some learning started. Well I've been trying to play regularly. Every day at least a little, and I've been doing great at keeping up so far, sometimes to everyone else’s displeasure. So I've learned a a few chords, less than a dozen really, but I've gotten them memorized in my mind, and have been working on translating that to my fingers. I do okay fingering the strings blind, but end up moving up and down the frets a little too much. Practice Practice Practice. Maddie and I have found a few simple songs that we're trying to master. We've been working on the Johnny Cash version of Hurt, Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the horse with no name thing. I saw a recommendation to record some of how you're doing as you practice.. so I did. Listen at your own peril. Its my first guitar subject audio blog. [get it here, mp3 format, ~6 minutes, 2.2M] But its going well and I'm having tons of fun, and seem to be making good progress, having gone from "Oh look, a gee-tar" to "I can play these 8 chords, and slowly play this thing that sounds like a song".
Cars! Bleh! So, I've posted before about ongoing car trouble. To reiterate, we have an '02 saturn and an '89 berretta. The saturn we bought new, the berretta was given to us by Krissi's family. For the last couple years we've worked in the same building and so were able to for the most part carpool all the time, which was convenient. The berretta is paid for, and the Saturn car payments are pretty reasonable. Well, and to be brief, the berretta has been less than reliable in the past. We spent $500 on it just a month or two ago, and then this past Friday morning it refused to start. So we have two options: A- continue to dump money and time in the old berretta, hoping to stave off its inevitable demise. B- buy a car. Now like I said, the berretta is paid for, which is a big plus. Heck, a $300 a month car payment, which is, I think, low by most standards, is still $10 a day if you break it down. Last night I wondered to myself whether we needed another car for another $10+ a day. That’s like, practically an album off of itunes. Anyway, transportation is transportation, but it makes me consider getting a bicycle to carry me to and from work. So…. Saturday afternoon we set off to look at used cars. We knew what we wanted to spend, we knew what we could spend. We’ve been living from paycheck to paycheck for a long time (hoping that will change) and so don’t really have a cash reserve built up, so of course we were walking in with no money in our pocket to hand over, but could come up with some money down if they could make a deal with us and we could get them the money. Anyway we hit a car place in Memphis that made me think of William H. Macy’s character in Fargo. “Now that clear-coat…..” We did not buy a car from them. We then headed to a car lot in Southaven. We thought we were doing better, found a couple used vehicles, did some test driving, filled out some paperwork, went into the finance office and then they realized that we weren’t going to hand them $1,000. We made what I thought was a perfectly reasonable offer – to get the money within X period of time, but they didn’t like it apparently, and suddenly were incredibly rude and basically were like “get the fuck outta here.” So that was quite disappointing. Anyway, in a few weeks when we’ve squirreled away the cash, we’ll go try again at a place that isn’t the rude assholes at the Ford place in Southaven. So meanwhile, we’re doing one car. Fortunately my new job is right around the corner from the house, so Krissi drops me off in the morning before heading to her job, and will pick me up in this evening. It’ll work until we can remedy the car situation. But Bleah.
Paintball! Hot dog. Went and played on Sunday and had a blast. It’d been three months or so since I’d been able to go play, due to both time and money. It was awesome to get out and run and shoot some paint. I went to Cedar Hill Farm down in Hernando. Sunday afternoon turned out to be pretty slow for the park. There were some groups of two or three wandering around, and a couple larger groups, but really sparse. Andy joined me and brought his woman, just down from Ohio, and Andy and I played a few rounds of speedball. Then we started hitting up other groups of folks to jump in to games with them, and that worked out pretty okay as well. As the afternoon wore on we found ourselves staking out the speedball field with two or three other small groups of people, who together (much like voltron) made up about 8 folks, good enough for some good paintball action. A couple of experienced players, a bunch of newbies and in fact at least 6 people who were playing paintball for the very first time. So like I said, I had an absolute blast. Chase and Wes showed up and I got to do a few games with them as well before I, tired and painted up, headed back to Horn Lake/Southaven. Krissi and Maddie had been busy all day doing yard work, and so were sun burnt but satisfied with their labor. We finished up Sunday by watching the Sopranos (and of course continuing to strum away on the guitar).
Jobby-job! Well last week was my first week at the new job, and we’re good so far! Everyone is very nice and Jim seems like a pleasure to work with. I need a plant for my desk I think… Job related, and a little amusing.. my job is run by a gentleman who is the son of the founder (the first, if you’re counting). The grandson of the founder (the third, if you’re counting) is also working with the company, and the wife of the owner (the second, if you’re counting) also works sometimes with the company. So… I decided not to hang my Demotivators calendar near my desk this month. The reason? Well this month is Nepotism. Yeah, so I figured I’d wait until May to hang it.
So that’s what’s going on with me!
Boy have I been a busy bee.
Let's see.
1. Guitar
2. Cars
3. Paintball
4. Jobby-job
a. Demotivators calendar
There, I made a list so I could remember what I'm on about today.
Firstly, Guitar! As I mentioned, a guitar has been picked up, and some learning started. Well I've been trying to play regularly. Every day at least a little, and I've been doing great at keeping up so far, sometimes to everyone else’s displeasure. So I've learned a a few chords, less than a dozen really, but I've gotten them memorized in my mind, and have been working on translating that to my fingers. I do okay fingering the strings blind, but end up moving up and down the frets a little too much. Practice Practice Practice. Maddie and I have found a few simple songs that we're trying to master. We've been working on the Johnny Cash version of Hurt, Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the horse with no name thing. I saw a recommendation to record some of how you're doing as you practice.. so I did. Listen at your own peril. Its my first guitar subject audio blog. [get it here, mp3 format, ~6 minutes, 2.2M] But its going well and I'm having tons of fun, and seem to be making good progress, having gone from "Oh look, a gee-tar" to "I can play these 8 chords, and slowly play this thing that sounds like a song".
Cars! Bleh! So, I've posted before about ongoing car trouble. To reiterate, we have an '02 saturn and an '89 berretta. The saturn we bought new, the berretta was given to us by Krissi's family. For the last couple years we've worked in the same building and so were able to for the most part carpool all the time, which was convenient. The berretta is paid for, and the Saturn car payments are pretty reasonable. Well, and to be brief, the berretta has been less than reliable in the past. We spent $500 on it just a month or two ago, and then this past Friday morning it refused to start. So we have two options: A- continue to dump money and time in the old berretta, hoping to stave off its inevitable demise. B- buy a car. Now like I said, the berretta is paid for, which is a big plus. Heck, a $300 a month car payment, which is, I think, low by most standards, is still $10 a day if you break it down. Last night I wondered to myself whether we needed another car for another $10+ a day. That’s like, practically an album off of itunes. Anyway, transportation is transportation, but it makes me consider getting a bicycle to carry me to and from work. So…. Saturday afternoon we set off to look at used cars. We knew what we wanted to spend, we knew what we could spend. We’ve been living from paycheck to paycheck for a long time (hoping that will change) and so don’t really have a cash reserve built up, so of course we were walking in with no money in our pocket to hand over, but could come up with some money down if they could make a deal with us and we could get them the money. Anyway we hit a car place in Memphis that made me think of William H. Macy’s character in Fargo. “Now that clear-coat…..” We did not buy a car from them. We then headed to a car lot in Southaven. We thought we were doing better, found a couple used vehicles, did some test driving, filled out some paperwork, went into the finance office and then they realized that we weren’t going to hand them $1,000. We made what I thought was a perfectly reasonable offer – to get the money within X period of time, but they didn’t like it apparently, and suddenly were incredibly rude and basically were like “get the fuck outta here.” So that was quite disappointing. Anyway, in a few weeks when we’ve squirreled away the cash, we’ll go try again at a place that isn’t the rude assholes at the Ford place in Southaven. So meanwhile, we’re doing one car. Fortunately my new job is right around the corner from the house, so Krissi drops me off in the morning before heading to her job, and will pick me up in this evening. It’ll work until we can remedy the car situation. But Bleah.
Paintball! Hot dog. Went and played on Sunday and had a blast. It’d been three months or so since I’d been able to go play, due to both time and money. It was awesome to get out and run and shoot some paint. I went to Cedar Hill Farm down in Hernando. Sunday afternoon turned out to be pretty slow for the park. There were some groups of two or three wandering around, and a couple larger groups, but really sparse. Andy joined me and brought his woman, just down from Ohio, and Andy and I played a few rounds of speedball. Then we started hitting up other groups of folks to jump in to games with them, and that worked out pretty okay as well. As the afternoon wore on we found ourselves staking out the speedball field with two or three other small groups of people, who together (much like voltron) made up about 8 folks, good enough for some good paintball action. A couple of experienced players, a bunch of newbies and in fact at least 6 people who were playing paintball for the very first time. So like I said, I had an absolute blast. Chase and Wes showed up and I got to do a few games with them as well before I, tired and painted up, headed back to Horn Lake/Southaven. Krissi and Maddie had been busy all day doing yard work, and so were sun burnt but satisfied with their labor. We finished up Sunday by watching the Sopranos (and of course continuing to strum away on the guitar).
Jobby-job! Well last week was my first week at the new job, and we’re good so far! Everyone is very nice and Jim seems like a pleasure to work with. I need a plant for my desk I think… Job related, and a little amusing.. my job is run by a gentleman who is the son of the founder (the first, if you’re counting). The grandson of the founder (the third, if you’re counting) is also working with the company, and the wife of the owner (the second, if you’re counting) also works sometimes with the company. So… I decided not to hang my Demotivators calendar near my desk this month. The reason? Well this month is Nepotism. Yeah, so I figured I’d wait until May to hang it.
So that’s what’s going on with me!
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