Took the day and went up to kingston to work. I got allot done. I also learned allot about what goes on day to day up there, and what the employee’s need from a support perspective. The weather was on my side and I was able to be home by 7:30PM.
Travel
Jayson’s Wedding
So for a number of reasons I am unable to goto the big wedding in vegas the week of thanksgiving. Actually, from what I have been told it wont be that big. it will probably be a blast. I am planning on going down to visit in December. I haven’t seen jay, joe, or gretchen in ages.
Dinner
I was planning on going to dinner with my parents tonight. The powers that be may have other ideas. I am stuck on the LIRR in Penn Station. There is a disabled train in the tunnel so we are going no where. We are already 15 minutes late with no end in sight.
This is the second time in 2 weeks that something like this has happened. I am not happy about this. I get to pay $150 per month for the privilege of sitting on a train and waiting.
I am delayed 25 minutes now and no end in sight. I wish I brought a book or synced avantgo before I left the office. At least I have 58% battery life on the powerbook now:)
The latest update. It has been 35 minutes delayed. We are now moving. They opened the doors telling passengers that they can get off and try to get on another one since we were delayed. I got upstairs and the entire concourse was packed with people. I ran down stairs and got back on the train just before the doors closed again. Like half the people on the train got off. 2 minutes later they announce they are going to back out of penn and go around to another track. then a minute later they said the tracks were clear and we left normally. the train was almost empty but we left. I am glad I decided to head back to the train, or else I would be stuck on a some packed local that would be delayed for ages.
Lets hope I can still make dinner. Well a cell phone call later confirmed that I did in fact miss dinner.
2 Days At Kingston
I did my 2 days in Kingston this week. I am on the train (Amtrak) heading home. Got allot done, and still more to do. We just brought up 10 computers from our NYC call center and are setting them up in Kingston. We now have over 32 stations setup with 10 more for training. We are well on our way to 48, the target for phase 1 of our build out. Then we move up to 85 stations soon after that.
I also just got a new help-desk person in Kingston. Kai started monday for us. He was originally hired as a call center supervisor but he had IT background and we liked him so we transfered him over. Sorry dave. the call center’s loss is our gain.
I will be in NYC the rest of the week, and Keith will be in Kingston Wed, & Thursday. I want all the building out to be done so we don’t have to spend so much time up there. It takes time to transfer the knowledge we have to the new people at the same time as we are deploying so much gear.
We just got 30 new phones. We need to program them. We also had 8 new people start Monday. It is busy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Of course a break now and then would be nice!
Off On The Road Again Tomorrow
Tomorrow I am off to Kingston again for 2 days of working up there. It is not that I don’t like the office or the people up there. I just like being near home. Sitting here tonight writing this, I think I have kicked the work travel bug out of my system. Of course I won’t turn down working in barbados or something if the office said they needed to send me there!!!
I am catching the early train up. Hopefully I only have to be there for 2 days. I want to be back for poker Wednesday.
I have grown used to packing extra clothes just in case I end up staying longer than I planned.
Their is just so much to do in both locations, I sometimes wonder if it will all get done? Someone else from work is now reading this blog. Whenever I hear that I get worried, then I realize that I A) don’t care if they read this, and B) would say pretty much all this stuff to people anyway so why should I care if they read it. It is posted on the internet.
We Have A Call Center, Well Sort Of!
Wednesday we finally officially started taking calls at my companies new call center. I was on a conference call with AT&T while they made the first test call. It was exciting, but melodramatic. After a few small issues the Customer Service Rep’s (we call them Part-solver’s) were taking calls. Not many calls mind you. We wanted to make sure the system worked before we send lots of traffic to it. We maybe got 100 or so real calls. Now that the system is up and running, it is time to begin hiring lots of people to take calls. It will take months to get the new center fully staffed. For now I am focusing on cleaning up things, virtually and physically. Joe doesn’t yet have a desk in his office so our stuff is sprawled all over 8 call center desks. I still have lots of work to do, but it is nice to have started taking calls.
I was able to leave to go home with Dan Wednesday evening. It was nice to be home. I rode back with him and 3 Rep’s who he brought from NYC. They were there so the new hires could see how things should go.
Tired And Nothing To Do
I am sitting in a hotel room in Kingston, NY on a Tuesday evening at 8PM. Their is absolutely nothing to do. I could goto the pool, but I would have to deal with screaming and splashing kids in the hot tub. I could go eat, but I am not hungry. Joe and I ate a late lunch. I could goto the hotel bar, but the last time Dan and I did that we saw one women and a bunch of old guys. That time we were both really drunk, so I wont do that alone and sober. Not that into whatever is on TV. I am tivo’ing anything I want to watch tonight anyway so what is the point. I am catching up on this blog and then I think I may have a movie or something I can watch on the laptop. I have to check what I have. Other than that I am out of ideas. I probably will goto bed early. I have a big day tomorrow. I hope to be back in NYC tomorrow night. Lets just hope things go well.
The Last Big Kingston Trip, Hopefully!
I am off to Kingston NY again for a few days. This week we officially activate this office. Tuesday we turn on the phone system and begin taking calls. I am going up today so I can do any last minute changes. Keith got allot done for me last week, but I need to finish up any loose ends. Joe is feeling better and will also get make sure we are good to go. I am scheduling myself to be “upstate” as we NYC people call it for 3 days, but if all goes well I may be back tuesday night.
Hopefully once the call center starts taking calls I can limit my trips to one and two day stints up there. that way I can catch up on issues in NYC.
Home At Last
I finally made it home. I was in Kingston from Sunday to Wednesday night. I ran out of clean clothes and I was really low on the med’s so I came home. Keith is up there today (thursday) and friday. I go back next week again. I actually have 2 days in the office this week. It is weird. I haven’t worked a full day at the office since Monday the 11th. It is the 21 now. Wow.
I got a ride home from Kingston from one of our Integrators from Expanets. I know I used to hate that company but the tech guys we are working with are all awesome. Chad our Cisco expert fixed up all our switches and call manager. I learned allot of stuff from him, but would have liked to learn allot more.
Keith is working on the desktop security profile for Kingston while he is up there. I already did 99% of the desktop ghost image for the computers we are starting with. I figured out the problem with Ghost 7.5 and our Compaq (HP) Evo 510’s. I was able to modify the disk we use with the with our older Evo 310’s.
I also got the White (voice) patch panel done Wednesday. It looks good, or as good as we can get it with the time we have. Joe will do the blue cables next.
Stress And More Stress
Yes I am stressing over this move. Dan and I just got back to the hotel from work. We went to the Hotel restaurant for dinner and drinks. We stay at the luxurious Kingston Holiday Inn while we stay in Kingston. It is ok as motel’s go. What is funny is that it is supposed to be the best “hotel” in the area. Everyone we ask says it is without any argument. I guess it is ok. Nothing special. I just like my apartment. I like travel, but travel for work is old for me now. I like working up in kingston. The new site is cool, but the staying overnight sucks. I just like sleeping in my own bed at night.
I hope to get to bed early for the first time in over a week. I wanted to blog a bit before then. I haven’t been writing much recently. I have been crazy busy as I have described, but also because for some funny reason I don’t feel comfy writing on my thinkpad when I am on the train. I commute with it every day now. That is good since it is my main machine with all my work on it, but because of that I don’t go many places with the power book. That means I don’t blog as much. when I get home at night I am tired allot so I haven’t been writing. Some people don’t know why I even keep the power book if I have a company laptop, but I like it and don’t think I would use my mac any different if I sold the power book and bought an imac. Well off to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be as productive as today.