Month: March 2005

Jim’s Last Day

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Today was Jim C’s last day. Well big Jim C, since we have 2 of them at work. I missed his goodbye lunch but I ended up at Dukes for drinks after work. Several of us showed up. I had 1 drink (big macon jar of Jack and lemonade) since I am still recovering from my issues last week. Of course that 1 drink was dam strong. We had a good time.

It kind of sucks when someone you like actually leaves your company. There are plenty (well a few, not as many as before) of other people that I would rather see go. He is moving back down south so it is not like he is punking out and going somewhere else. He is moving so we all will miss him! Well I assume everyone will miss him, but I don’t know that for sure!

On the bright side I was wide awake enough and feeling up to actually going to a bar. That is a big step from how I was feeling all last week, and most of this month.

I need to go put away laundry and then hopefully do some more writing. Until then…

IPCC Is a Go

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After months of negotiating (and years of thinking and talking about it) my company finally decided to purchase Cisco’s IPCC software. Gus and I started looking into this stuff way back in December of 2002. It didn’t pan out. We ended up going to Cisco Call Manager 3.3.2 with our incumbent ACD Zeacom Smartconnect. Call Manager was a vast improvement over our Avaya Magix system we were using so we were sort of happy. Unfortunately Smartconnect has major problems integrating with Call Manager. We have uncovered several issues that have taken us months to overcome. Other issues are not correctable.

As we grow the need for a new contact center software became apparent. We looked at the major players, Cisco, Genisys, & Aspect. We were slightly limited with our options because we were already on Cisco’s Call Manager IP phone IP-PBX. That made us need to look at Genisys’s and Aspect’s IP based products. The problem with them was that either very few or no one was using them on Cisco’s Call Manager (CCM). To me that was one of the two killer problems for our situation. The other problem was integration. As we saw with Smartconnect the “hooks” that tied the Software to our IP-PBX was critical. Cisco was great at selling the integration between CCM and IPCC. Of course you assume there will be tight integration between the two, they are both Cisco products. The other two companies (in my opinion) had problems proving the tightness of their software to CCM. And for a major purchase such as this, I needed to be totally comfortable with the software we were buying. Because even if no one said it, if this integration fails peoples heads will be looking at me as to why.

There is allot to be said by having “one throat to choke” when dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars of phone gear. The up hill battle for IPCC was proving to our business people that the ease of use and functionality of IPCC was on par with Genisys.

So my multiple trips to Boston, Philly, Kingston, etc, and endless conversations with sales guys and pre sales engineers have finally paid off. And if you know me, dealing with sales guys a fate worse than death (sometimes).

The next step is scheduling this massive upgrade to not interfere with our other major projects going on. Such as expanding into our new Call Center space downstairs, new Fulfillment system, and upgrades to our data center infrastructure.

As part of this upgrade we will also be upgrading our voice mail from smartconnect’s voice mail system to Cisco’s unity. We will also need/want to upgrade call manager to 4.x after we are done with the IPCC upgrade. This is because Smartconnect as of now does not support CCM 4.x, so that upgrade has to come after we move to IPCC.

This will be exciting but stressful.

Poker Night

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Saturday I went to play poker at Dan’s. Conventional wisdom said I should stay home and continue to rest. I should have, but I wanted to get out. We had a total of 8 players, many of them new to the group. Even though I was tired I figured a few hours of playing was ok. When I spoke to dan we both joked (but weren’t really kidding) that if I got tired I could just bet stupid and get out. That is exactly what I ended up doing. I was faring ok, and wanted to stay in until we broke jayson out of the game. Unfortunately I was getting tired and didn’t want to continue to concentrate. So I took a hand that I would normally never play and put a bunch of money in. Joe won. Then I did it again on the next hand with nothing and Joe won again. It gave him the ammunition (along with some other fantastic winnings from right before then) to come in second place. I kind of regret loosing, but I didn’t have the strength to continue, so I don’t feel that bad about getting out. Jenn eventually won the tournament. I have no idea how that happened, but congrats to her for doing it.

Other players included Joe, Dan (who even being tired I still managed to stay in longer than), Heather, Ed, Jayson, Jenn, myself and Dari’s cousin. Dari came by but didn’t play. I had a good time, but I should have left when I got out of the game instead of hanging out for a while afterward.

Insurnace Companies

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I am not a fan of insurance companies right now. I went to fill 2 prescriptions I got from my doctor today and found out some “problems” with one of them. Turns out that even though they were going to charge me $35 and not the traditional $5 co-pay for the drugs, I couldn’t even get one of my migraine drugs because my doctor needs pre-approval from my insurance company before I can get it. I am all for protecting from insurance fraud (since if asked that is the reason the company will probably give for the restriction) but come on. My doctor is prescribing me a drug that he thinks will help me, why on earth can’t I get it? I goto the doctor once a year (if that) and only get prescriptions. I have no major issues thankfully, and I get the run around. I am the perfect person to the insurance companies. They make money off of me. Why then can’t I get my dam drugs?

Not happy right now. Thankfully my doctor and my dad are trying to sort through the situation but it is the weekend. Hopefully the drug I did get works when needed. it is a knock off of Zomig, another drug I used previously. I am just not a fan of the way it makes me feel when I take it.

Lucidity

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For someone who has been unable to sit up and do most normal tasks, being lucid and able to get up and do stuff (any stuff) is like someone in the desert finding water. you want to drink it all, but you know you shouldn’t. that is how I feel now. I am lucid and want to do so many things I couldn’t before. But by doing too much I run the risk of relapsing. I feel almost able to go into work. But if I do I know I will overdo it. So I won’t. For now I am working remotely, and “trying” to take it easy.

I finally had semi normal moments last night around 7PM. I woke up from a nap and I could sit up without getting dizzy. that is always a good sign. this morning I am able to sit up and actually function. I will see how I feel later today!

Have A Green Day

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Well maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I have been a bit queasy recently so green reference should not be on my list of things to say. I got up and showered thinking I was good to go to work today. I felt not 100% but I figured I would try going in. Well while putting on my socks I realized I needed to lie down again. I didn’t get back up again until like 3PM. After further evaluation of my issues we think that I may be having a reaction to one of the drugs I was taking. My doctor is not 100% convinced but my dad and my brother in law (both ER doc’s) think it is entirely possible. if that is the issue, I need to wait until that drug clears out of my system.

So as Tom Petty said, “the waiting is the hardest part”. I am still waiting for the effects to wear off.

Still waiting,

and waiting…

It’s My Birthday, and I Don’t Really Care

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Today is my birthday, and this year I don’t really care. Why you may be asking? I feel like crap. I have been sick, and am still sick. I didn’t go to work today. I went to the doctor. I didn’t go out to eat for my b-day. no hanging with friends, & drinking. I did get blood taken though.

I don’t know how I made it to my doctor? it took a full hour on the subway. Then I waited a full hour until I saw the doctor. He poked and prodded for a while and then gave me a list of new prescriptions. he believes I am just having a cluster of migraines. Wow, I didn’t need to travel to him for someone to tell me that. he upped some med’s and gave me a bunch of different ones. Then he sent me to get blood work, just to be sure it wasn’t anything else.

The nurse took my weight with all my clothes and shoes on. It was higher than it has ever been. She said it didn’t matter since it wasn’t a checkup but put it on my chart anyway. When I got on the stupid gown and took my shoes off I weighed myself again and I was like 8 pounds lighter. Right in range I thought I should be. Dam chart is wrong!

Everyone was so nice. They were like “are you having a happy birthday”? dam DOB on all my paperwork. I was trying to be nice, but I was like I am here and feel like crap, how do you think my birthday is going? The blood lady was the funniest. She is getting ready to stick me with a needle and asks me that. I was like lady I am sick, at the hospital and you are going to stick me with a f–king needle, how do you think I feel? she was like, good point.

Thankfully I made it home with no issues besides a train full of annoying high school kids. Why do kids in packs larger than 3 think they are the only people anywhere they are? That is a question for another post.

I ended up in bed the rest of the night trying to sleep away the constant dull pain in my head. Lets hope the rest of my 31st year is better than my birthday.

Beware The Ides of March

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Actually I usually don’t, but this year Shakespeare was right. What normally is part of 3 fun days for me, turned into a nightmare. I got up early since I couldn’t sleep. I ended up going into the office an hour early because of it. About 2 hours into work I started feeling like crap again. I thought I was being smart and decided to go home. Well I didn’t decide fast enough. I ended up getting really sick at work again (aka puking). Thankfully I felt a bit better after that so I left for home quick. I felt like crap the rest of the day.

My dad convinced me to goto the doctor. I called and thankfully they had a cancelation the next day. I did nothing else but lie in bed the rest of the day. Man I felt like crap.

Mr. Non English Speaking Delivery Guy

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Hello Mr. non english speaking delivery guy. I have a few words to say to you. Since you don’t understand english I will write my frustration on this blog. See I can bitch you out all I want here since you don’t speak english, and probably don’t know what a “blog” is.

You see if I order food, and you deliver it I give you money. Since I am not a magician I give you more than it costs and I TELL YOU how much to give me back in change. Now depending on how good a mood I am in, and how quick you bring the food you get a tip out of that change. Now I almost always give a tip, and try to keep it on or around the traditional 15%. But you don’t really get a say in how much I give you. So if I give you a twenty dollar bill and ask for lets say $13 back, you don’t act like you are just off the boat and give me a ten back. And then when I repeat my self and say $13, you don’t give me 1 more dollar back. See the thing is you may not be the brightest bulb in the lamp, but unless you just got the job that day (and that is after all possible) you know how to count to 20 in english. And since the US government has been nice enough to put the actual number on each bill you can see that also. So by giving me a 10 back and go “ok”, is not ok. See I know you are playing me, so when I tell you 3 times how much change I want, I think you should give me the money. The $7 I paid has your tip in it. It was in fact a good tip, but if you proceed to be an ass, I may decide to ask for 15 back and say f—k your tip.

I am beginning to believe Jayson’s thoughts on the state of food service in this city. I have done food service before myself. Trust me I know it sucks, but unless you were a total ass to me, I treated you right. So why do people working now a days thing everyone else is stupid and play games with us? Of course I am the sucker because I will still order from whatever place I have a problem with if the food is good enough.

I don’t mean to put everyone down that is a delivery person. I won’t say the majority of you are good, but I would say about half. Living in NYC you rely on delivery more than most places. I mean the Domino’s delivery guy who came to my door during a blizzard (really have no idea how he biked over) got like a 40% for his outstanding work.

I leave you with this final question, if I goto mexico and order take out, will the delivery people speak French? English? Anything but the native language? Just wondering!

Old Friends

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Spoke to Gus for the first time in a month or so on the phone. We email back and forth but haven’t spoken in a while. He (hopefully) will be in NYC this week, so we are trying to goto dinner. He also was doing some work with VMware and needed a Windows 98 image. Since he knew I built every windows OS since 3.1 into a virtual machine he gave me a call.

As I mentioned earlier this week I have been emailing back and forth with an old friend from college (jennifer). Yes, I know I need to reply back to your last email. It is on my to do list Jenn!

I also recently heard from Lefty. He is still in jersey. I need to get together with him soon. Not sure if/when that will happen. You would think a few miles and a river wouldn’t prevent people from hanging out. You would guess wrong.