So we get this office user yesterday...

Who has an old piece of shit NT4 computer, and we completely set up a thin client for her, she gets rather bitter and complains to my partner that she can't have a thin client, because she needs the floppy disk drive on it. Troy made the right move and just did what she wanted, gave her a tower we upgraded from old equipment. It isn't our place in the organization to make the decision of whether she is right or wrong. But I really, really wanted to go to her and ask what bug she had up her ass anyways, giving Troy all that crap. We are in a healthcare environment, don't ya think HIPAA would dictate that data doesn't leave our PC's here, and if she needs the drive so bad, where is she taking the data, home, another branch office? If it is the only option that should be acceptable, another branch office, she has a network drive that she can get at any branch. Save it there, if she needs it so bad. I bet her excuse would be that he works from home. Well, how would HIPAA deal with her then?

OK, I feel better now that I cleared my breath on that one...

When I took Bonzai's survey...

You are a Social Liberal (63% permissive) and an... Economic Moderate (55% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Now that Monday is over...

I finally got a full nights sleep again. God that felt good.

Went home early yesterday to help out with Chloe, and it turned out that Troy got swamped at work the minute I left, felt pretty guilty about that.

Tracy and I really need to get out for a night soon, and get in a break. It is really taking its toll on us these days. We hardly ever get out and do anyhting. Chloe has a tendency to stay up till 10 at night, and get up between 6 and 7, so quiet time has been sparce at best. We have gotta get Chloe to sleep earlier at night. We are going to go to the Nine Inch Nails concert in a couple of weeks, that will be a relief for us both.

Chloe has managed to get walking these days, she has managed to get about 10-12 steps in now, getting her around 10 feet from place to place. It is amazing to watch it all happen for her. Everything is brand new, kinda miss those days when everything was new to ya...

So how sick can a baby really get?

...That was the question asked this weekend, and the answer turned out to be "as sick as you you can ever imagine, then multiply it by about 1.2"

Lamens-speak for my babble: Chloe somehow managed to get her ear infection back that she should ave kicked 2 weks ago, and has 3, not 1 or 2, but 3 teeth coming in at the same time. And to toop it off, she caught sme sort nasty virus, that has had her in and out of a 103 fever for about 3 days. Wow, talk about the frustration that little girl has right now. As a result of this "Perfect Storm" of cooties she caught altogehter, Tracy and I haven't slept for more than 2 hour conscutively since last Friday. When its a virus, there isnt much a doctor can do but keep the body mantained till you can kick it yourself. that means for Chloe, shes shit outta luck till she can kick it on her own. Lotsa fluids, and no sleep, cuz she won't be taking any long naps through this illness. I Wish there was more we could do, but but al we can do is be there for her and comfort her till it passes. Makes me wish that I could stay hom with her, but I ain't gt no sick time, and we really need the check. This means that Tracy stayed home with her all day today, and she won't be a happy-camper by the time I get back today. Leaving early, gonna have to make up for it by skipping lunches.

This is the kinda stuff that tests how strong your marriage is. I can tell that much...

End of the week, finally

It is a good day. Still getting a check, still being productive.

Been working on a master laptop for the past 2 days that we will ghost an image of and then put it on about another 20 laptops. This is one of the few processes where my anal-retentive tendencies really pay off. It is really cleaned up, and well organized. Too bad nobody will notice that when it lands on their notebook later. Oh well, its the nature of the job to be the silent hero.

Been taking some pics at the job, will post them later on this weekend.

Lisa is coming back to town this weekend after quite a trying week in Ferndale. Been pondering the idea of trying to be a mediator for her and her roommate/cousin, with the hope that if they won't work out as roommates, at least they will still be able to be cousins still after all of this. This is me asking ya Lisa, ya think it would be of any help to you both if I had a talk with Eric? If I can help, gonna have to make it for the night of the Mike Doughty show at the Magic Stick. Crash on a couch, and travel back the next day...

I have so much shit to catch up on chore-wise at the house. It feels like there is never a free moment these days, Chloe demands so much attention, it is a tough thing to balance for us...

Might get out to a movie this weekend, I am pretty sure Lisa wants to see The Corpse Bride. Not my favorite choice, but I could think of a lot worse movies to see right now. I think I'll like it either way...

My only friend visited me at the office yesterday that I know in BC, Kari! Thanks for stopping by, for once, I didn't feel like such a loner out here. I'm gonna hold ya to that visit to Subway one of the lunches...

Sittin here at a users station burning time....

So, does anyone have any suggestions for Tracy and I for when Chloe goes on trips, and gets so excited when we go on location, on how we can settle her down, and get her to sleep the whole night, if its even possible?

Just curious....

Monday

Spent a nice weekend at home. Tracy's old roommates came over, they are fun to hang out with. Always nice to see Lauren and Jeff whe they can get to town. Doesn't happen much though, they live way over in Wisconsin. Anna brought her boyfriend William over, but he spent most of the evening taking a nap in our Papasan Chair. He sure was the life of the party... Jeff was fun, he gave me a good excuse to sit on the porch for a few hours and just kick back and relax. I really needed that.

Lisa had a troubling weekend, where some expensive jewelry got stolen. Besides the fact that the situation is terrible, what has me iritated is that the roommate most likely knows the guy who took the jewelry, but won't give the name out to the police for the police report. I'd be leaning on his ass for some names, but that's easier said than done... What makes that situation more entagled, is that the roommate is her cousin, which is making the tensions high for the extended family. Tough spot, i'm feeling your pain Lisa...

Chloe was quite the tornado this weekend, having all those people over really got her going. Her personality is truly starting to show, as she acted shy, then flirted all night with Jeff, when he was over. Very funny to watch...

Had to bury our pet turtle, Zoe this weekend, she passed on earlier in the week. Can't help but feel responsible for it, an animal like that depends on you for everything, they are trapped in the tank, and can't do anything about it. Zoe will be missed, even though they are not very animated creatures, she will always be my little quiet friend. She lived to be roughly 10 years old, being that she was most likely about 2-3 years old when we got her, she had a good life. She suffered through a few illneses along the way, but stayed strong. Having Chloe around I feel may have caused a lot of stress for her, and even a little more neglect than she could handle. She'll be missed, at least Chloe will be able to her in a few stray old videos, where we can remember her.

Saw this nice work in Photoshop, had to share

This just cracked me up, this ones for you Lisa....

So I hit the ball...

And for 1 minute, 24 seconds, I was a golden God. I dropped the ball less than 1 foot from the pin. Glorious moment. Made the guys at Plante-Moran annoyed too, I made sure to rub it in, after all, they are the bastards that made my life hell for a few months at the old place... Felt very liberating.

Got home, the wife was furious, I left her alone with Chloe for most of the evening, and Chloe was less than accomodating to her while I was gone.

I really hate coming home with the feeling that all hell is breaking loose, and there is a "bomb" of sorts waiting for me at the house.

But at least the golf contest was fun.....

Stand to be corrected about the games tonight

It is called the corporate cup, involving well over 20-30 different companies in BC, went to lunch and practiced a few chip shots with my assigned partner, a lady bout 40, who never golfs. she chipped 4 out of 9 into the 10 yard circle from 75 yards away, while I chipped in a whopping 0 out of 9. Yeah, I looked like a jackass. whats new... We'll have to see later....

Thursday

I got roped into a fundraiser for the YMCA, where I will compete against a bunch of other teams in Battle Creek (Including Christman Screenprint, surprisingly) in a closest to the tee 75 yard chip shot game. Should be fun, I look forward to it, perhaps maybe a celebration at Arcadia afterwards.....

Have a deptartment meeting this morning in about 10 minutes. Got an agenda in email for what we are going to discuss. Maybe its shellshock from powerhogs like Dale, but when I get an agenda now I feel like shit is always going to roll downhill to me.

It won't be like that, they are very happy with my work, but it always lurks in the back of my head now...

Somebody with a J.....

So I try to figure out why my wife is all freaked out about somebody on my frends list in Yahoo, I do some digging to find it a friend I came accross years ago, who got me into this beta called Yahoo 360. Can't say that we have talked in ages, but Tracy keeps asking me for a spell last night if we have something going on. So can I say for the record, NO, that ain't happening, and YES, people can have chat buddies who happen to be female and not be doing them on the side. Thanks for stirring up the controversy for us Lisa, you prick. How many guys are on your chat list that your not doing Lisa...?

Way too much drama for one blog today, I'm cut off I guess...

Job opportunity popped up / Long weekend

But I had to get to Novi to interview for it before 5pm today. Yeah, that's a lot of warning... Sounds like a manufacturing company in Lansing for better money than what I have right now. Involving a rollout of new equipment at multiple locations over 4 states. Sounds like a great opportunity, only one other admin there working, could have great potential. Hope the recruiter will call and offer an interview tomorrow perhaps. Probably not likely, I bet they will pick a someone from todays interviews, oh well, at least I am staying on the prospects, that's all I can really do.

Chloe is still working on geting back to her normal routine after this last hectic weekend. Had a 103 fever going up north, but refused to stay in town. Had a migraine, that stemmed from the fever, that lasted from Thursday that week until Monday, when naturally the entire weekend was over already. That really hurt like hell. And it really pissed off Tracy too, she was stuck dealing with Chloe nearly the whole time. Tracy's parents did a great job trying to lend a and when they were able, but overall it was quite a stresser for everyone involved. They all did get out a visit a few places, I'll post some pics later, it look slike they really had fun. Too bad I was in to much pain to do anything but sleep all weekend...

Some of the nice things about working in a healthcare environment

1) The toilets are spotless
2) On average, most desks are spotless
3) Lotsa computers!
4) I get a pretty little photo ID, that makes me feel like I can walk up to doctors and hang out like I know what I am talking about...
5) They see the need for adequate infrastructure, and actually budget for it (Except for the Citrix thing, I'll have to impose my opinion on that later...)
6) At least my place doesn't have ER, mostly professionals, so everyone gets here at 8, leaves at 5

So when I was at lunch today

I am talking to one of the System Engineers, he explains to me that they have some connections getting blocked somwhere through the pipe, between the router and firewall. He also pointed out that the traffic is making it through the switch just fine. I had to reply with "Well, ya got 99 problems but a switch ain't one..." He didn't get it. Damn propellerheads... I thought it was funny...

Paul Robbins comes over tonight

Armed and dangerous with his 2 laptops, we are going to get his stuff sharing files, printers, and purging the evil spyware, adware, and programs that just plain don't need to be there. He's saving me the grief of going out to Holly. Which after putting over 2 hours of driving per day, I don't think I could make it right now.

I bet its gonna be a long night.

Ya know it occurred to me...

That this organization has probably about 200-300 users, all slated to be on a Citrix farm of only 3 servers (Well, really 2 are being accessed by users. This things gonna run like a turtle until they can probably double the size of the farm...

Tried scrolling in MS word this morning, the lag time was so bad, it scrolled for about a minute after I let go of the mouse. Yikes!

Last night, Chloe got her first burn, when Tracy turned her back on her, she managed to reach the light on top of my turtle tank, and ge blisters on 2 of her fingers. I feel so bad for her, and I am going to feel worse when the blisters pop. Ouch!