Category Archives: Work

New Hair Thanks to COVID-19

So… I’ve been a mostly-teleworker/extreme work traveler for the better part of 6+ years. This whole mandatory telework as part of COVID however, is a completely new journey for me.

So… What do you do when you’re trapped at home for (at the time) 52-days straight and your only human interaction is basically 8 hours of telecons all day every day and casting angry looks of folks in the grocery store because they can’t follow the newly constructed arrows on the floor to direct traffic and enforce 6-feet of separation?

Easy. You reach out to your very good hair stylist friend and hatch a scheme to execute a rather speakeasy-esque haircut… AND MORE!

A day in the life…

So, here I am again on this blog.  Hopefully I will get better at this whole frequent posting thing.  I know I’ve been slacking, BUT, I’m already WAYYYYY ahead of where I was with the first time I attempted this.  So today I discuss something that some of my readers may find hard to believe.  I’d like to think that it is a common thread for every career, not only IT work.  I’ll just come out and say it…

When I get home, the last thing I want to do is think about a computer.

I’d like to think this is the same for mechanics, plumbers, carpenters and the like.  I’m not saying that I’m not a geek, or I’m not extremely involved in the technology field, because both of those things would be a lie.  Lets face it, I’ve already admitted that I’m completely addicted to my Blackberry.  The problem lies in the fact that the majority of my day revolves around fixing computer problems.  At work every phone call, and every email, have something to do with a problem someone is having with our system.  I don’t mind that because these issues and problems keep me employed.  As long as there are problems, I have a job.  I guess its a good thing I have to work on aging hardware.

So, now to the real meaning of the post.  A few months ago, my laptop started acting up.  There were many things bothering me, among the biggest problem was that it would shock me when I put it on my lap.  Being relatively familiar with these machines, i deduced that electrical voltage freeing itself through one of the screws on the bottom couldn’t possibly been a feature of this model.  The thing is, at that point, work was a mess, so the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was call Dell and get the stupid thing fixed.  I have a really hard time talking to someone in a call center, knowing that I am more knowledgeable then they are about my issue.  So I dealt with it… For months.

I finally got the stamina to deal with one of these “Customer Service” representatives, and the process was surprisingly easy.  A word to the wise…  USE DELL SUPPORT CHAT!!!  The whole process took about 15 minutes, and I didn’t have to talk to a human.  Everything was sent to me in email as far as tracking and reference numbers.  I hate paper.  I love email.  The next morning an empty box arrived and I shipped my laptop off to the repair depot.  4 days later, my laptop arrived in perfect working order (from what I can tell).

I’ve had my laptop back now for just about a month, and writing this post is now the 3rd time I’ve actually booted it up.  While my laptop was away, I decided to treat myself to a 500GB laptop hard drive since the price dropped pretty substantially.  Now the second part…

Also while my laptop was away for repair, we had a rash of hard drive failures at work.  One in each server (total of 3).  Those weren’t really a problem.  All the drives are redundant, so I just ordered the replacements and put them in.  *sound of hands smacking together*  That’s that for the servers.  I also had 3 employee workstations lose their hard drives.  So I spent that whole week rebuilding systems – I HATE rebuilding systems.  Its so tedious and Microsoft releases so many updates, that they take hours to run.  I finally get everything done, which literally takes me all week.  I arrive home to find my laptop has arrived, and I am psyched.  Then it hits me…  I have to rebuild ANOTHER system, my own.

I really need to find a way to have all this stuff automated for me!

Dear God I’ve been babbling now through 3 episodes of COPS on G4.  I think it’s time to put this away for tonight.  Sorry for being boring!

it’s friday night… oh yes its…

… Friday night and I don’t feel like doing much!

Work has been crazy lately.  I’ll be able to blog more openly about it very shortly, and there is TONS to tell, so stay tuned.  As for tonight – I’m tired and mildly stressed tonight, so when I got home I ordered pizza from Papa John’s and turned on G4 TV because…  Well…  They play COPS all the time, and I like me some COPS.  I’ve always said that if you want to feel better about yourself and about your life, watch ONE episode of COPS.

Tonight for example has a suspect completely naked dancing on the hood of a car, propositioning the driver for sex, all while high on meth…  The interesting part…  The officer called her BY NAME!!!  Here is a hint…  If you are high on meth, dancing naked on the hood of a car at 3am and the police officer references you by FIRST NAME before he gets out of the car, you have royally fucked up your life.

Also as I’m sitting here I am having the weirdest headaches.  They only last for 3-5 seconds and happen about every 5 minutes…  I think its a sinus headache, so I just took some decongestants, but its the weirdest feeling.  Its also extremely annoying while trying to blog.

Work has kept me around my desk during most of the day, which doesn’t afford me much time to move around.  In the past I spent most of my day running around the factory working on systems, and got a decent amount of exercise which allowed my back to stretch out a bit.  Lately my back has been extremely tight, which i contribute to my lack of movement and the stress level.  It does, however, give me yet another thing to blog about – Elizabeth!!!

Elizabeth is the proprietor of “Joyful Living Massage” and might just have the most skilled hands on the planet.  I damaged my back when I was younger from a combination of Martial Arts and, don’t laugh, shoveling snow.  I have gone to a few massage therapists over the years, but I can honestly say that I have never felt as good as I do when I see Elizabeth for a tune-up!  I spoke to her and mentioned that I was going to write about her in my blog.  I’m not going to post her info for the inter-world to see, but if you would like me to put you in touch with her, just email or leave a comment here!

That’s all for tonight my subjects!