scott

Call Manager Upgrade

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Finally after 4 attempts (or at least I counted 4) we have upgraded our VOIP PBX to the latest version of Cisco Call Manager. Now we are happily (for now) running on version 4.1.3 release 2. This is a vast improvement over our previous version 3.3.3. Looking at version numbers doesn’t explain why, but trust me it was a needed upgrade.

We had so many false starts with this thing that I am happy that it is finally over. The problem is that the upgrade is over, but the upgrade was the first part of other enhancements we need to make. Everything else was held up by the upgrade. Hopefully Kai will pull it together and complete the other dependent tasks related to this upgrade now that we are on CCM 4.

I also hope this is the last time we have to use our current integrators. This upgrade was part of the original deal to install our IPCC system. Now that it is done I am going to shop around and try to find a new Cisco partner. I am going to lunch with our Cisco rep this week to discuss things. I am also going to lunch with another Cisco partner that our telecom rep knows. They are supposed to be a Cisco gold partner. I am keeping my options open for now. Soon I will need to pick someone to do our phone system in our office if we move to a new location.

xbox

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My home entertainment system now boasts a state of the art gaming console. Well, as of 2001 it was state of the art. I know I am a few years behind the times but I just picked up an xbox. I got one cheap off of ebay. I figured now I can brush up on my halo without looking like a fool in front of my friends. I really suck. Now I can also go online and play against John, Dave or anyone else without having to go over to their house. That means whenever they want to play we can do it, instead of planning a day a week in advance.

I already played a ton of Halo 2 on Friday. I got a head ache from the motion of the game. I used to get that allot when I played Doom or Half Life. I play till I can’t play anymore. I am honestly not a huge gamer, but every few years I get into a game and then play till I am done with it. The last time I did this was 6 years ago with Half Life. When I wasn’t working for a few months as a contractor when I was in Baton Rouge I played every night for like 3 months.

This time around I am playing Halo 2. I didn’t go with the xbox 360 since most of my friends who do play games allot said it is not worth getting it yet. I am getting my regular xbox supped up anyway so I can use it as a mini media center anyway, so why do I need a 360? No games that any of my friends will play are out on it anyway. I figure I will be fine with this purchase for a while. The xbox and a bigger hard drive barely set me back $150. You have to love ebay!

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File Server Moves

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Wednesday & Thursday I moved file shares in one of our offices to a new file server. I completed most of the leg work a week or so ago, but I had to go through and make sure everything worked. Now we are well along on our migration to our new 2003 domain for the entire company. James has also started moving users from our old domain in our NY office to the new one. So far no major complications. We had to tweak the site replication times, but nothing else yet.

Review Season

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I finally got to do James’ review today. It was only a few weeks late, but I hate it when mine is late so I know how it feels. I think it went well. His was the first this year. It works out that most people got hired in the beginning of the year so I have a few coming up. lets hope they all go as smooth as this one, but odds may not be in my favor.

Staff Out

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Danny was off Wednesday, then came in, but then took off today. Kai is out tomorrow due to an upgrade, and Jayson is on vacation from today until Tuesday. I feel like I am the only one not taking off. I know that isn’t true, but I have remembered I have not taken a day since December. I need to plan some sort of get a way. At least today was not too crazy with 2 people out.

New Guy

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After a month and a half of looking Kai finally got a new hire in our Call Center support team to replace Chris moving into our Development group. Tim started today. So far no feedback, but he was by far the best candidate in the group that I saw. Lets hope it works out like the previous hires did. I may have issues with the way Kai does allot of things, but he can recruit the right people even if takes way too long to do so!

Intel iMac

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I thought about it for a while and said I would wait. I really said I would hold off. I said I didn’t need another computer that was all in one. I said the mini was perfect. Then I heard great things about the new iMac. Office ran great dan said. Then I tried some new applications on my mini and stopped using them because the mini was so dam slow (man it is a great little box, but it really is slow). The final nail in the coffin was my tax return. I got around what I thought I would get. That meant disposable income. I could save it, but returns where meant to be spent.

I think I may have a serious problem. I think it is called eBay. eBay is my enabler. It allows me to sell stuff and buy newer stuff. It has gotten me into this mentality that I can buy stuff and sell it in a year or so and buy something else. It is more than a mentality. It is a reality that I have been living since like 2000. When this iMac gets to be not enough computer for me (and it might not for a while) I can goto eBay like I did with my last 20″ iMac.

I got picked up the iMac last night after work. Jayson (always willing to go with me to spend money) and I hit the apple store in soho after Danny, Jay and I had some dinner and drinks. It is always better to spend money after drinking! I had the new machine setup in like 15 minutes. The rewiring of my desk took all of today.

First impressions are good. So far Office installs and runs fine in rosetta. Cisco’s VPN which didn’t work at all finally came out with a universal binary on Friday. It was if they knew I went out and bought a new computer. Toast works fine even using rosetta, and they promise an update to universal binary soon. The only program that I want to install that may have a problem is the Missing Sync for Palm. Mark/Space does promise a universal binary by the end of march. For now I will sync with my work Powerbook.

More thoughts on the new computer soon.

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Archiving

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I finally broke down and bought Roxio Toast Titanium 7 today. I really wanted some of the advanced features it offered over the plain old burning of disks of the Apple finder. I am now able to take MPEG-2 files I DVR and back them up onto DVD’s. Not just as a file, but playable dvd’s in any normal player. My digital archiving and clean up continues. I probably should clean my apartment, but physical cleaning is less interesting!

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Tax Time

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Today I decided to do my tax’s. I was going to go to a professional with the hopes of a big return but I decided to do it myself. I have done my own tax’s using Turbotax for years, and my return didn’t really change much from last year so I didn’t want to bother with the higher fee (and possibly higher return) of going to someone. I did everything online and I already know how much I will get back. I should have it in like 10 days. Now that isn’t bad!

Now I just have to wait for direct deposit to give me my money!!!