scott

Saturday With Friends

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I tried to catch up on some work this morning. I had the time. I got up at 10AM. Still cannot sleep, but I refuse to take something unless I am sick. So no drugs for that for me right now.

I meet up with Alison and friends in the afternoon. She had friends from college come up from New Jersey and wanted me to meet them. By the afternoon I was feeling a bit out of it from a potential headache but I knew it meant allot to her for me to go. I met them at the Cheese Cake Factory. I had a light lunch/dinner. Her friends were cool. I had a good time, and I think they did also.

We walked around the mall for a while (see the MOB for some pictures) and then went to this new ice cream place. It was really good. They mash the toppings right into the ice cream as you stand there. It was the first time I went to the cheese cake factory and didn’t get cheese cake. The desert was good anyway. I wasn’t that hungry from the the headache. I barely ate my meal and had half the ice cream. it was still good.

We all went to Jillian’s to try and play some bowling. Don’t ask, it wasn’t my idea. They were having a party so we couldn’t play there. We then went to another bowling place by Alison’s apartment. That place also was busy for hours. Turns out people play leagues of bowling during the early evening on Saturday. Information that you don’t need to know.

We ended up at a bar and just hung out for a while. It was fun. we called it a night early because 4 of them had to drive back to jersey. Alison and her friend Alison went to the movies. I didn’t want to push the headache thing with going to a loud movie so I passed. Sean called from work when we were at the bar so I had something I had to do for work anyway.

End of day. FYI it is warm in my apartment right now. I hope for AC soon!!!

This blog entry was written while listening to Bent from the album “Beneath These Fireworks” by Matt Nathanson

Migraine Update

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When I started this blog I told myself it would server a small personal function to document when I had migraines and when I took medication. Not anything anyone needs to know about, but it saves me from having to keep it in a spread sheet. I write about my day in this blog anyway, so it just made sense. And yes I said I would otherwise have to keep this record in a spread sheet. The doctors tell you to do that so you know when you had one.

Well this week I have taken medication for my Migraines 3 days. Thursday I had to leave early because the drugs weren’t working and I didn’t think I was going to make it through the rest of the day. I left a little after 2PM. I went home and slept all afternoon and night.

Today I felt like I was getting one and then it never really took hold. That is good, but I felt down most of the day.

Why am I getting them? I think I know myself to know this by now. 3 reasons. 1, stress. If you know me you know what is going on at work right now. Short term bad stress, longer term things will be good. Second lack of sleep due to the stress. And lastly the one thing I cannot control; the weather. I actually get migraines from the weather change from cold to hot or vice versa. Lack of AC at work and at home is not helping. Work AC is an unknown right now. I don’t know how I can goto the office if we don’t have AC in May. As for my apartment it will get turned on when the wether gets and stays warm, or May 15. Which ever comes first. The good news is that my building has turned it on as early as April 4, 2 years ago.

This blog entry was written while listening to Hidden Track from the album “Retro Active” by Def Leppard

Blackberry Pagers

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My company uses several blackberry 950 pagers for our on call staff. People carry them and get automated emails when a server is having an issue. We get allot of them sometimes. Originally when we got pagers we used Skytel. They were good. Then we switched to Motient. They are good also. The coverage is great, but they just changed their pricing.

It used to be that you got unlimited email’s for $49.99 a month. Now that gives you 1 meg of downloads. You pay for everything over that. We have been going way over our quota. Our bills are upwards of $250 per pager. I have been looking for a solution for a few weeks, but my CEO asked about the bill yesterday. he was like how many pagers do I have? I explained the situation, and he agreed that a new solution should be out there.

So far all I can think of is buying Cingular or T-Mobile Blackberry phones and using their unlimited data plans for our paging. I am going to replace 1 pager with a bigger blackberry and see how it works out. It is just going to take a little time to get that setup.

This blog entry was written while listening to Mandolin Rain from the album “The Way It Is” by Bruce Hornsby

Bluetooth, Powerbook, And A T610 = Awesome

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I have had a new Sony Ericsson T610 for a little over a week now. Actually I am on my second one. The first one’s camera stopped working on day 2, so T-Mobile gave me a new one. So far this one seems fine.

This phone is nice, but the best feature is the bluetooth. I can sync with my Powerbook while the phone is in my bag. No more entering contact information into the phone. I know I could have (and have) done this on other phones, but the sync software on the pc and the usb or ir methods sucked. This is a breeze. Setup on the powerbook was easy too. I also got GPRS dial up to work. Now I can use my T610 as a modem anywhere I get good signal while using my Powerbook. I was just checking my mail on the rail road. The phone was still in my bag. Now that is technology that works.

The only kink is that the GPRS is slow, and on the train the signal is sometimes spotty. When I get good signal the connection rocks.

Projects

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I am now short handed in NYC. Ironically I fill a slot in one location a slot opens up in another locoation. The hunt is on for a new support guy. Until that happens allot of projects are being put on hold. Or at least their completion date is on hold. Yesterday’s workload was not bad, but it was the calm before the storm.

I finally got my server to build the new FTP system. That is on hold until I can find the time to work on it.

Our upgrade to the notification system is on hold since I won’t have time to do the documentation or the work on it for the short term. The list goes on and on.

This blog entry was written while listening to Bed of roses from the album “Keep The Faith” by Bon Jovi

Turnover

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The past few days have been some of the most difficult I can ever remember at work. At an company you always have turnover. People come and go. Some stay for a short time, and others it is hard to remember the office without them.

The other day someone I considered a friend departed. It was not easy for me. It was probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do in my professional career. It is always hard when someone leaves that you like, but this time was especially difficult.

There is so much more I want to say, but due to the public nature of a blog I cannot. Maybe I will write it all down, and post it in a year? I cannot harp on the past. The only thing I can do is move on to the next thing…

Documentation

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I have written about it before (i think) but in a technical job you never can have enough documentation. We take it for granted. In a smaller company you also know everyone who did work, so you just go ask the source of information for help. That is not a good way to do things.

My department has been attempting to write documentation for most day to day issues, and some more routine server / network issues.

The next step is to put that in a database of some kind. Gus likes Wiki’s. Not sure if what we want to do will be perfect for that software or not. There are tons of other forum or idea posting systems that we can use on linux.

For now I am content with just getting everything as a word document and worry about putting a UI on it later. Right now I need content. This process is really two separate ones with the same goal, but different content. What I mean is I am gathering how to’s from the support department at the same time as I am building a FAQ so to speak for the company at large. One will be very technical and for my departments use only. The other will be for everyone’s use and will answer simple questions about where or who to goto for information or how something is done in the company. Both projects are related because it is information gathering. Putting down on paper what has only been in peoples heads for so long.

Documentation is a slow difficult process. Unfortunately most technical documentation is not that good!

Backlog

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When you work in a real support environment you know about a backlog. The art of being so far behind you have a list or several lists to keep track of how old problems are. We use a ticketing system to track all outstanding issues. Each support request is considered a ticket. A ticket goes into a Queue. A queue is like requests such as all helpdesk tickets go in one queue. All production tickets go into one queue. You get the picture.

Yesterday at one point we had over 35+ open tickets between 4 people. Not sure if that is a record for us, but it was busy. Monday’s are like that.

The problem with the system is people. People are supposed to input requests into the system and we will prioritize it, and then put it in queue. Well people think they will get faster response if they go over to us and say “i have so and so problem”. It doesn’t work very often, but people still do it. Then we get the people who come over and are like “i put a ticket in 2 seconds ago but want to see when you would work on it, or here is more information than I wrote in my 2 line request.” Come on people, you are not going to get faster help if you bother us.

Long, Crappy Day

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Today was crappy. it was wet. I thought I lost my wallet, and ended up going to the subway and realized I didn’t have it. I went back to the office in the rain to find it on my desk. I never do that, so I was not happy with myself.

That was the end of the day. I am not on the Rail Road home. I am slowly unwinding from the day. Writing the blog actually helps me relax a bit.

I can sum up my problems today with one word. Frustrating. I cannot go into it, but it is something that is ongoing and it is just frustrating. Even more so since I cannot talk about it here. Read whatever you want into that statement. I am just saying sometimes work is frustrating.

I have to build a new FTP server that supports SFTP by friday. I still don’t have the hardware to run it on yet. That should hopefully arrive tomorrow or Wednesday.

The tech guys in Kingston may or may not meet some deadlines for new projects to complete. They are working on new user profile security. A major due date is Friday, and then the following friday.

Keith and I have to figure out how to rebuild the old call center in NYC. that will take some outside help. I need to move the remaining call center people to their new home, and then do some restructuring. That will be fun.

I want to go home and order some food and forget about everything in front of the TV. Not sure if that will happen yet.

Jury Duty

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I thought they forgot about me, but I have been asked (really sort of told) that my Government (City/State Government that is) needs me as a Jury alternate. I have to start calling some week in May. I postponed this last year, and they were supposed to call me to come in back in November. I guess they forgot or didn’t need me. Now I got the post card. Not too happy about it.

At least I am an alternate and I hopefully can get away with not showing up to the courthouse for a few days, and then HOPEFULLY spend only one day there. it is so boring to do.

Ironically my mom got called for the same week and status as me. She is also an alternate. Makes some sense. We have the same first initial and same last name. She also lives relatively nearby me. I wonder if we will get called to the same courthouse? Never know.