Now that I understand more of the organizational structure

Technically, I work for the company called ITP. They are the contractor for a bunch of community organizations, but a majority of them are the county cummunity health buildings for Barry, Van Buren, Calhoun, and a couple of other areas. The actual building I am located out of is the same place that I have been all along, which is Summit Pointe. It is quite a vast operation, never quite realized it before. It is nice to have a bit more structure, rather than the ol' days of "do whatever you are willing to do" approach. I find ironic to say that, after leaving a place in the 90's that had so much organization, I couldn't help but think of everyone there as a pack of bureaucrats, that had no idea how to actually lead people. Then to want to have free reign like the 'ol place gave me, but have no leadership to provide the direction of where you want your job to go. I think this will give me the balance between the last 2 places.

First morning at the phones

It is my first day running system verification, and running the help desk phones all in one day.

Kinda nervous at the start, but I am warming up to it. What I am really not nused to is having another guy here, in fact 2, to do the running for ya when something comes up. I am so used to having to deal with situations from beginning to end, having help makes me feel guilty at first, but a relief shortly after. Never had tech help before I guess. Had to get my ass up at at 5:20 this morning to get here on time. That part was hard, but I can get used to it.

I'm in.

Got the word a couple of days ago, and Troy and I have both been brought on. Troy and I will be working as Network System Engineers. At least thats what they appeared to have titled us. We won't be officially in for 3 more months, as we need to fulfill the recruiters contract, but then we get to negotiate our positions. Wow, can't remember the las time a company let me actually negotiate.... More to come later today when I get a chance to get over a fantastic hangover!

Can this work week end already!

When you hear the ladies in another department discussing in-depth how they managed to breastfeed their babies, you know its a slow day.

All the geeks are whistling tunes like the the Star Wars Theme to themselves, you can tell everybody needed a break for a change.

Troy is out looking for apartments in Battle Creek which is annoying me today. He has the assurance that he will be working next week, and the week after that. Wish I could feel that, but it won't happen this week. In an effort to make myself not feel like a victim through this ordeal, I started to power out e-mails, and make phone calls to every recruiter that I have contacted in the past, and start to put myself back in their scopes. I have been telling them that I will be available to work within the next 3-4 weeks, but if they have something that has a option to hire, I will consider earlier options. The way I see it, the contract with Teksystems is up technically in a week or so. What I have to do this week is get the resume updated reflecting the new stuff I have done at Summit Pointe. Wil make me look more involved in IT...

Chloe has decided to give us more rest this week, by sleeping through the past few nights, with the exception of last night, she got up at 5. I feel like I actually might be able to stay awake past 10pm tonight, I am such a party animal these days. Chloe has also taken a liking to some morning television on Disney Channel. "Breakfast With Bear" seems to be her favorite lately...

Office meetings

Every time I hear I am going to one, it reminds me of the "Haunted Meeting" joke thats on Bob and Tom. But nevertheless, I had 2 today. First one was me mostly presenting my progress on the project. Found out that one of the branches that was going to take about 3 weeks in total is now cancelled, making my job shorter than I was expecting. They say there is another project to handle for the Engineers, but we'll see. The supervisor tells me that they are trying to see what they can do to get me in with the System Engineers at Summit Pointe, but he says they are encountering political issues, so that will be determined later as it progresses on. At least Troy called it how they said it when they mentioned it to him. I am doing my best to trust that the supervisors are doing everything in their power to make it work for me, but they mentioned that the decision is really up to ITP, the IT company that runs the show. I appreciate those guys, they really are trying their best to help me, but enevitably it will be out of their hands.

Then the second meeting, where the bosses boss comes in and says that there might or might not be a ASE (Associated Systems Engineer) coming in to work with the guys that I would be theoretically be working with. This troubles me, this must be the political part that I was hearing about. They also made it sound like it was likely going to happen too. Even though nobody is directly telling me that things aren't going to work, they won't say that they are either. I would like to be their ASE, if only they'd get me a chance to show them what I can do. I know that I am capable of doing it. More and more I am getting the vibe that I am going to get the shit end of this stick eventually. I am going to get emails out and start hitting up the recruiters for more work, at best guess, this is all going to come to a head in 3-4 weeks. Just in time for Christmas season, shit the luck...

What would really get under my skin is that Troy got work out of this and not me. I like him and all, but that would really bother me.

At least in the end, I can truly say that what I learned at Summit Point will truly help me later in future IT jobs. I really learned alot about the game, and about big business. I will never regret the time I spent there. I knew coming into it that it was a gamble on whether I would or would not get the job in the end. I had to take the chance, and I feel I did the right thing no matter what

Things I want to do this Winter

I have started to make a list of things I want to do this Winter, because I have to have something to look forward to in this miserably cold state when I usually sit on my fat ass and do nothing but watch TV. here's what I have so far...

• Cross-country skiing, maybe just out at Grand River Park
• Downhill skiing, perhaps up north, one of the Boyne tourist traps
• Build Tracy's planter boxes that I never got done this Summer
• Finish wiring, and and insulate the garage (practice for the basement)
• Complete the network in the house

Unfortunately even that list wouldn't typically get done in the time I have, but hey, its a good start.

Silly, maybe gross thought...

So, I was pising away a few minutes, and heard a segment on Bob and Tom (don't ask what it was about), and it had me thinking...

Why is poop typically brown?

You would think that if your body was doing its job right, it would make it a pale white or something....

Oh well, go enjoy lunch everyone....

Well, at least I thought they had a plan...

What the company has in store for me still remains to be seen. Since Troy has been gone, I am working over here by myself, and not a single person has sat down with me and discussed where the project is going, and what plans they have for me. What I need to do remains clear for the next month or 2, it is the same project that I have been working on. I know what has to be done for all of that. What I wish I had was some sort of job that I knew would be here for after a couple of months. I am hesitant to push the issue with them, don't want to make any assumptions that might cost me more than I could gain. All I can really do is sit and wait. I am rather jealous of Troy, sitting over in his new seat, but if what he heard is true for me, I would much rather be working with the Engineers than doing what he is doing. Well, time to go and recover more exchange data for the next few hours...

I hear the company has come up with a plan...

Troy heads out to lunch today, and passes on the info of what I have missed downtown since I was gone all morning at the Albion branch.

Effective next week, they are transferring Troy over to Tech Support, to take calls and be a front end interface to the users.

That will leave me all to my lonesome in the migration project until they get in a new recruit from the place that got us in. I will head up the migration team, getting the new guy up to speed, and after that, at least from what I hear, they are going to place me in with the Engineers, to do more back end work. Troy says it is permanent if we want to have it. I can't believe I am hearing that word "permanent," its been a while. Waiting to hear more from the supervisors later on. Will pass it on as I hear about it...

Whut, it's actually Friday......?

Wow, I can't believe it is already Friday. It has been a really long week for Tracy and I. Chloe has gotten into a rut where she wakes up every night at 3:30, and then falls back asleep, to only wake back up at 5:00 and then she is up for good. That has been happening all week, we have got to get her outta that routine, its killing us in the mornings. Maybe if I can muster up enough energy tonight, I will get a DVD or 2 in, I definitely have not gotten my money's worth from Netflix this month.

Work announced a new project this month that will keep Troy and I gainfully employed for at least one extra month from what was planned. That should keep me in work almost till Christmas. The next project is documenting the rooms and port numbers on the patch panels, probably putting it all into Visio. Then we will be reconfiguring all the thin clients to run from DNS, instead of WINS. Why we didn't do this to begin with is a good question, but hey, I am not in this place to tell people what do so.... anyways, that will keep us good and busy for a while. I have heard 3 people try to tell me that Exchange needs to run with WINS, that's such a falacy, the first time I fired up an Exchange server, I never had WINS running, that same server still isn't running it, and Exchange is still up and moving. Stubborn people, that may have been the case back in Exchange 5.5, but come on people, lets get a little more updated here. Okay enough techie speak...

Tracy found out yesterday that financial aid won't go through because she is only taking 3 credits. Something sounds strange about that, I never recall not getting a Stafford loan offered at that credit level. Could be the application, but I highly doubt it. Really wish I wasn't involved with it in general. Why am I filling out a FAFSA for Tracy, instead of her doing it herself? I really dislike having the problem dumped in my lap like its my fault.

Have been geting a few more people as clients working ths new job. Clinicians, Nurses, people like that. Its nice work on the side, when I can make the time for it at home.

Been watching the news about the Bird Flu thats heading our way. It doesn't worry me as much when it comes to my health, but it is Chloe that I am worried about. Going to that "germ pit" of a daycare makes me the most concerned.

Tommy visited me yesterday!

Dude, that made my day, thanks for coming by, great to see ya again!
Next time your in town, we'll get a lunch in, give me a call...

Working the scene today all by my lonesome...

Troy is gone today, leaving me at the helm for the client-migration. Kinda fun to just do it all from beginning to end on your own, sort of satisfying in its own way. Went an did something dumb this morning, dropped a big fat monitor on by pinkie finger, slashing about 1-1/2" of skin from it in a 1/8" wide slice. You would think in a healthcare organization granted that they deal with strickly mental health, that the would have a first-aid kit around, or at least someone with a pack of band-aids. But no, after asking 2 RN's, 4 clinicians, I resorted to 2 sheets of Kleenex, and packaging tape. Gotta do what ya gotta do, I guess. I hope this company starts to discuss options for the end of the contract here, which is tenatively up on the 3rd week of November. I know it isn't exactly coming up tomorrow, but I would love to get the job situaton nailed down. Still feels fluid to me, and I never like that much. The company is having trouble with their Exchange servers, and their existing engineers have pretty gave up on the problems, I keep trying to impress on them that I'd like to take a peek at it, but I don't want to step on any toes. Every time I get to take a peek, when I suggest something, they give me that "what the hell do you know" glance. I hate being the new guy, but ya gotta put the time in before people will know what your capable of. My time isn't yet, I'd have to guess...

Chloe is doing very well at walking around on her own now, moving freely from room-to-room at will. This seems to make her much happier now that when she sees something that needs investigating she simply gets up and goes to it rather than the "holler to be picked up" technique she is now famous for. Her personality is truly coming out these days. I used to say to myself that there is so much in our lives that is impressed on us by our environment. After watching Chloe for the last few months, you can see that some things, such as persistence, and determination, are definitely "hard-wired in" But it is remarkably like Tracy and I when we see it in her, it is very much like us in so many ways... It makes us feel like apologizing to our parents every now and then when we see how she won't give up on something, and then proceeds to show us her disappointment when she doesn't get her way...

The Nine Inch Nails show was fantastic, it was refreshing to see the band get a little more diverse, and play more variety from all of their albums. Really funny to watch all the goth girls in their leather, and lace. Good times... Got slapped a few times for that.

Tracy and I spent our first nght away from Chloe too last Saturday. Tracy only made one check-in call, then she loosened up. We really needed the break, we took advantage of every moment of it.

Almost the weekend!

Can't wait for the weekend!

Tracy and I get our first night away from Chloe since she was born. I bet Tracy is going to be a little on edge, but we are way overdue for the break. No offence intended Chloe, if you read this some day down the road, don't think of it in a bad way... We just need a night to take a breath, and regroup, that's all....

Troy and I have been working on Ghost images, and for the first 3 days, only to find out that we never ran SYSPREP, duh. We're such freaking tools sometimes.... Only admins will get my drift on that one, don't fret if it makes absoultely no sense... Your just not as dorky...

Chuck hasn't called me in over 3 weeks now, since he got home. I hope he is not mad at me for not visiting him when he was at the hospital.

I will catch up more later...