Cisco Executive Briefing

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It sounds fancier than it was. Gus, Dave, Kai, and I went up to Cisco Systems Executive Briefing Center outside of Boston. We were getting the overview of their IPCC product from all the product managers and engineers working on the system. First off I will say I think the trip was worth it. I think there were some issues still unresolved by some of our team, that I think Cisco was able to handle.

We got up to Boston by noonish. Our account manager and his boss picked Gus and I up from the train and we drove the 40 minutes to the site. it is a nice new campus. We ate lunch, which was surprisingly good. Normally this sort of stuff is not what I consider good food. They had nice chicken dish with stuffing and potatoes. I was stuffed for hours after that. We meet a VP of sales or something who came down to make sure we were getting treated right. I am not sure what Gus said to whoever at Cisco but around August they started treating us really nice. Far better than I would expect from a company our size. Granted we do some advanced stuff for a company our size, but it is weird when the #3 guy or so at Cisco stops by your office for a meeting. I will say that Cisco is very responsive to questions or problems. Some of my / Gus’ comments have reached high levels. it showed with the presentation.

We got a really good overview of their IPCC product. I think Dave was pleased with what he saw. I was. I also got to see some nice warez from them. We checked out the color VOIP phone. Gus and I also test drove the video conference functionality of Call Manager 4.1. I even got to see the long rumored VOIP WiFi cordless phone. It was so cool. I want one for my house, but a practical deployment of it would be for the supervisors in the call center when we have 2 floors to cover. Check out the MOB for some of the really cool tech we saw. No pictures of the video conference system we used. Just trust me that it was way cool.

We had a long fact filled day. Then we rushed off to catch a late train. We made it to the station with 15 minutes to spare. I decided to upgrade to First Class. I figured I wanted good service one time, and I would pay for it out of my own pocket. I am on the train now. The seats are bigger. There are less people in the First Class car. I also got dinner and free drinks. The food is MUCH better than Biz class. I had a steak with potato’s, with chrem brule. I cannot spell it. I was not a fan of the desert anyway. I am sitting at a conference table for 4 by myself. It is roomy. I was hoping to take a nap, but I haven’t written a detailed blog entry for a while so I decided to take the time now. So was the upgrade worth the money? Probably not, but it is nice to get waited on and just relax sometimes. Amtrak for the money has the best upgrades. And that is saying allot since the Biz class on the Acela Express is nice as it is. Right now this is my favorite form of travel.

Another Week, Another Trip To Boston

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I am back on the Acela Express up to Boston today. Gus and I are on the 8:03 again. Dan couldn’t make it, so he bailed on us. David, and Kai are both driving and meeting us once we get up to the site. Today we are visiting the Cisco Customer Briefing Center. I have never been. I hear it is nice. 2 of our Cisco engineer’s are also on the train. I stopped and said hi to one of them.

I have been trying to (with mixed results) use my T610’s bluetooth connection to download email on my Powerbook. Not very reliable today. At least I have my blackberry with me. I got no movie watching done on the train. I just did work, and followed up on email. I have no life…

Targeted Advertisement, Not!

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I have been a user of an American Express card or another since I was a freshman in college (thanks dad). If asked I will tell you why I think paying the annual fee is worth it. Lets face it I think the fee is way too much, but they kick ass when you need help so I suck up and pay the membership fee each year.

Now I have to ask myself (and Amex) why then did I get a “personalized” offer to get a fancy Amex green rewards card? I haven’t had a green card since freshman year in college. Why would a company that I spend tons (for me it is tons, for them it is not so much) of money with, offer me a product that is significantly less than the product that I currently have from them? is it me or is that just retarded advertising?

My Thoughts, I Cannot Sleep

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I am getting to a point where I don’t know what to do about certain stuff anymore. I keep asking for help. Even though I am told the requests are not falling on deaf ears, it feels that way. Things miss target dates, people are not happy. Non important issues slip, and I am told not to worry, then people complain and it becomes the biggest thing in the universe, or that is the way it feels at the time.

Problems pile up. The solution, or so I am told is to let them pile up, and then we can make a case for help. To me when help finally comes, it will be way too late. We are supposed to be proactive, but I can barely get emergencies out of the way now a days. I am in a word, frustrated. I had to stop and think about writing this entry. I stop and think about allot of entries, but I know people I work for, work with, and work for me all read this. I decided I don’t care. I am writing what I feel. If I am wrong, that is fine. But for now I feel frustrated, and unable to make any dent in the problem.

A problem happened yesterday that plain old should not have happened. I have had plans for ages to replace a system that we know sucks. It is kind of an important system. The reason it hasn’t been worked on is, the current system sucks but it does sort of work. To evaluate a replacement will take total concentration for days. I don’t have that kind of time, so it gets put off to the side. If I decide to focus all my time on that, nothing else would get worked on. Their is no good answer.

Everyone I work with is frustrated with similar issues. We just have way to much to do. I cannot quantify what we do, so we cannot show that we are under staffed. I have been trying to get a program in place so we can track how much time it takes to do our jobs. it keeps getting put on hold, since it is “not a priority” to others. Not sure how I can get things done for others when we can not be efficient internally?

I want a solution. I am willing to work to a solution. I don’t want to act like a pain in the ass all the time. I don’t like feeling this way. I just have no idea how to fix the problem, unless something gives.

I have been hoping for a day off to just rest. Unfortunately I have been traveling for the past week. I don’t have the time to take a day since I have only been in the office twice in a week. That leaves Jayson all alone to do the work of 3 people. he is also strung out because of it. I can see it. I keep telling myself a day off will make me relax a bit. I am not sure if that is true, but I like to keep telling myself that. This week I wont have a chance to take off either. 2 days I am away, and I have to catch up from last week.

This post is not a bitch session. I am trying to express my thoughts. That was what this site was for. I don’t want to walk on egg shells since people are reading this. Nothing written here was intended to be an attach on anyone, or complaining. Just writing what I am thinking, since it is midnight and sleep wont come. Tomorrow will be a horrible day. Can’t discuss it now, but it will be a bad day. I can tell already. That is never good.

I want one good day. A day where things go right. People do what they are asked, and I am able to accomplish what I set out to do before I leave for work. Is that allot to ask for? Wow, I sound depressed. It is weird. I guess I am depressed. I love what I am doing, but not the way I am doing it right now. I just want work to be fun again. The weird thing is that my personal live isn’t awesome (no girlfriend), but it is not bad either. I am having fun outside of work. But I am just down about all the issues written above. I am looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. I haven’t seen it yet, but I hope it is somewhere nearby…

Painful Shoes

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Last week I went shopping and replaced my really nasty old Doc Martin’s. I got another pair like the ones I was tossing. My feet have been hurting like hell all week. It takes forever to break these shoes in but when done they feel great. If I tried on any other pair of shoes and they felt that bad, I would not buy them. With Doc’s it is expected.

Turns out according to Best of the 80’s Strikes Back if I was living in 1987 I would have street cred with my new Doc Martin’s. I thought that was funny when I watched that the other day.

I shouldn’t complain that much about painful walking. Gretchen had toe surgery Friday. She was limping around today.

We (Jay, Gretchen, Cari, Danny, & I) went to see the incredibles today. It was funny. We had to goto 2 different theaters before we found one that didn’t have a huge line. Thankfully we live in Manhattan

Road Trip 2

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Yesterday Gus, Dan, and I were off again on another road trip. This time one of our account rep’s drove us all down to Philly. We visited a cool client of theirs (names of vendor’s and clients are being obscured, sorry it is confusing to you). We checked out their ACD system and the phone system they use. I liked what I saw. it was a nice operation. I learned a bunch about the product we were looking at. Since we were in Philly I had a Philly Cheese Steak. it was good. I wanted a nap after it!

My problem was the really long drive there and back in the rain. I don’t like long car trips. I don’t mind the train or the plane as much.

I was also out of the office 3 days last week. I will be out again at least 2 days this up coming week. I am busy. That means jayson is over worked since he is alone (danny is helpful, but he has releases as his first priority). Then all the work I need to do is piling up for me when I return on monday.

After work I went back to Dan’s to hang out. Alyssa, Dari, and Jennifer came over also. I fixed his wifi point. Dan, DO NOT touch the dam point again. It didn’t take me that long, so no biggie. We hung out and played scatigories. I think that was the name. I won the first game, but sucked on the second game.

Road (Train) Trip

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Today I took a train trip with Dan, & Gus to the Boston area.  We visited a site that is running a call center software package that we are looking to buy.  It was a productive day, sort of.  We learned allot.  But I like doing, and not talking so I get bored sometimes doing this sort of stuff.  We did go over really cool stuff, so I was interested.

The travel was boring.  We took Amtrak’s Acela  Express to Boston.  I have taken the old meteorologic before but the Acela was nice.  At least I got to do some work for allot of the trip.  From NYC to the Boston area it was about 3:20 minutes.  We didn’t go to the end of the line though.  As Jayson put it today "I spent an hour less on the train than he worked all day".  Very true, unfortunately.

This was day 2 out of 3 that I was out of the office.  I stayed home yesterday from an overnight I did.  Today was travel, and tomorrow is more travel.  We are going to Philly to visit another site.  Tomorrow we are driving, or being driven down.  I would rather take the train, but Philly is closer than Boston.

More news about that trip after it happens…

The “Official” Cut Over To My New Computer

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I have been spending less time on my move to a new desktop (see past posts), but I am almost done. I think I am past the point of no return. Or shall I say I am now officially working off of that computer. What fine line did I cross to let me say that? Not sure. I am doing almost nothing on that computer yet. I think what did it was moving off 90% of what was on my firewire drive (plugged into my powerbook) over to the new computers drive. The final straw was importing my MP3 collection into iTunes for windows on the new computer. All 28gigs are now working on the desktop. Fear not, I can still listen to all that music on my Powerbook. I just shared out the itunes on my desktop. Now I can listen wirelessly anywhere in my apartment.

Like I said I am still using the Powerbook as my primary machine, but everything is now a network share off of the new desktop. I am also using the desktop as the DVR I originally planned.

I am also reformatting my iPod as we speak. I am setting it up so it will sync with my PC. I have never used the iPod with a PC so lets hope it is as easy as with my Mac? With it formated for a PC (FAT32), I can use it as an external hard drive and shuttle data back and forth between work and home. I can also use it to plug into a Mac or a PC. The limitation I had with it in Mac formatted mode is that I needed to plug it into only Mac’s. It was a pain to do that.

Once the iPod cut over is completed I will need to continue to install all the needed applications on my desktop. Now that most of the data copying is over, I can focus on configuring the machine more. New computers are time intensive to setup:(

Well the format of the iPod to FAT32 went ok. I am now installing my music again using my PC copy of the files. it looks like it is taking longer than on my Mac. Not sure what is up with that.

Play Date

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I had a play date today.  I went to my sisters (AKA Morgan’s Mommy) for dinner.  They are going to Florida tomorrow to see the grandparents, so I wanted to see them before they went.  Kids have a way about making you not want to leave them.  All night morgan wanted me to play with her.  My parents were over, and she usually gravitates towards my dad, but all she wanted was for me to read to her.  I think I read He bear, she bear like 20 times in a row.  It was very funny.  But I figured if she wanted to sit still on the couch next to me for a while reading, who was I to complain.  She showed me her dancing monkey.  that was cute.  She also vacuumed for me.

That kid was in rare form.  She was not stingy with the hugs and kisses either.  Some visits you have to beg steal and borrow to get 1 hug from that little girl.  Not today.  I know I am not impartial, but that kid is fantastic.  So funny, and fun to play with.

My parents came over and we all had dinner.  My sister (Morgan’s Mommy, as Morgan likes to call her) packed.  I wont see them for a week or so until they get back.