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.

OS X & It’s BSD Root

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Every time I talk to a hard core computer guy (or girl) and tell them I am into Mac’s now, they say “cool, have you done anything with the terminal?” Or something like that. Meaning have I used the BSD commands in it? Until today, not really. I finally had a project I wanted to do, and it required me to play with config files. I wanted to do something with Samba that would allow me to share other files besides my home folder on the network. I played around and got Swat to work. Swat is a web GUI based configurator for Samba. I know I could have just edited the smb.conf file, but I wanted to play with swat also.

Next up is playing with apatche a bit, and maybe try moveable type on a Mac. it has been done, and a mac is after all built on BSD!!!

Saturday Recovery

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Saturday I took it easy. I was semi recovering from Friday, and I had stuff I wanted to do around the house.

Even though I wanted to keep my desk area clear of extra cables, I broke out the KVM so I could build a new desktop machine. I had two in the closet. I had my Dad’s old Dell Dimension XPS 600r, and my old P-4 800 that I still had lying around. The P-4 is a better box, but I had problems with it the last time I was building a computer. I couldn’t remember what was up with it, but I still cannot get an OS to build on it. I ended up using my Dad’s old dell to put Suse 9.0 on it. I want to start using Linux again at home. My website still runs on a Windows 2003 server, but I don’t feel like a real tech guy if I let Gus host my blog on his moveable type setup. I at least want to try and get the system to work. If I don’t use it, I am cool with that.

Other than that I did some quick grocery shopping. I love fresh direct, but sometimes you want small stuff that doesn’t make using the service worth while. Also they don’t have everything so I still have to goto the grocery store every so often. I do need to make another fresh direct order this week. I am running out of food at home.

Friday Softball

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Friday was my companies first softball game. We got cool new jersey’s this season. I am again my lucky #3. It was an interesting game. I of course didn’t play, but I went to watch. If last year is any indication, in the beginning everyone wants to play softball. After a few games you get less and less people showing up. I think the sign up sheet had almost 40 people wanting to play. With that kind of turn out I don’t want to play. Not that into it, and I figure I would let others play that wanted to. I got a jersey in case they need players later when everyone doesn’t want to go to games. Either way it is fun to watch. We won 16 to 15. It was an interesting game.

Before the game Cari, Dari, & I went to dan’s to give him a gift basket. He has been out due to back surgery so he welcomed the company, even if it was for 5 minutes. We surprised him at his apartment. It wasn’t a good idea. He couldn’t get up to buzz us in, and his dad (who is staying with him after surgery) was out walking the dog. We had to wait till his dad got back before we could get into the apartment.

After the game we went to a bar near the field. We had a few drinks and pizza on Glenn our CEO. He played first base. It was cool of him to treat us.

Stuff To Do

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I wasted most of this evening already. My mom is out of town on vacation with some friends, so my dad is all alone. We went out to dinner tonight. After dinner I got home and checked my mail and did the usual reading the news sites, etc.

I then fixed my problem with my Powerbook & Bluetooth dialing the internet on my new Sony Ericsson T610 phone. Not sure that I did anything differently from yesterday but when I started over for the 3rd time it worked. More on that later.

I know I have other things I have to do. I need to probably do food shopping. Tons of work beckons me from the office. I also need some clothes that I have to buy off of some websites. One or two other things I think I have to take care of, yet what they are escapes me as I sit here and write. I am in my comfy chair listening to music and writing. All is right with the universe. If my doctor saw how I was sitting right now he would laugh and tell me “no wonder you get back pains”. I am just so comfy right now I don’t want to move.

I started taking my allergy medication again 2 days ago. I take Zertec. Today I finally noticed it working. My sinus’s are killing me. I was so stuffed up for so long it is weird how good it is to feel them clearing out. Man I never knew how much mucus a person can produce. Enough nasty thoughts for you tonight.

Now I a lullaby song came on and I am more tired than I was before. Great song but I need sleep. Maybe more writing tomorrow.

This blog entry was written while listening to When You Dream from the album “Stunt” by Barenaked Ladies