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!

look at this! two posts in one week!

So, I’m loving this blackberry client for WordPress! So far its really letting me use my other “down-time” to blog. I don’t tweet often, mostly because I don’t feel the need to update everyone on my life as it happens in real-time. So now, I can write a blog post throughout the day – say during *marathon meetings*.

I suppose I just need to get passed the personal “need” to post long blog entries. I know one doesn’t *have* to post long entries, but I feel that if there is a little substance to my entries, people are more likely to come and read. After all, I’m not a professional blogger, and I’m not writing to make money. My principle goal when I started this blog many moons ago, was to use it as a way of documenting the changes I made at work to our systems. A place to document little *gotchas*, so that others (or myself) could use them to implement systems of their own. I have an extremely low budget at work, and because of this, I am forced to look to the open source world to do my job effectively. The open source world has much to offer, and if you’re willing to give it some work, and patience, it can have a huge payoff in the end. More often than not though I find that I need to do the same process over and over, and because I am the only one doing it, I am often recalling the steps from memory.

Another purpose for this blog is to let you in on the moments of sunshine that my often off-the-wall friends shine into my life. We’ve all had some great times together, and it looks like they show no sign of slowing down. Over time I will post more personal experiences. Right now for example I’m waiting on another voicemail from angry-steph. We’ll see how that goes!

TTFN!

Testing posting from my Blackberry

So, I’m looking through the blogs I follow, and what do I see, but a page about a blackberry client for wordpress! This is the main reason why I haven’t been blogging so much. Right now, work is extremely busy, and I don’t have much time, or care, to *play* on the computer when I get home. I usually just want to unwind and relax.

But those of you who know me, know that I *always* have my blackberry on me. I’ve been searching for a blackberry client for WordPress since I’ve had a blackberry, and there are options. There aren’t many clients, and to be honest they all pretty much suck.

Tonight, while searching the blogs, I came across the piece of software that I’m using right now to write this post. It seems perfect. Its lightweight and responsive, yet supports just about anything I’d like to post. For anyone interested, the website to get the program is: WordPress App for the Blackberry

I’ll keep you… Posted…