These are blogs I made but never posted when I was on vacation during 4th of July. They are a bit skewed in perspective, because when I wrote them, was when I was sick of everyone in the room fighting. I really thought I should capture it in text though...
Monday, July 3rd, 2006
Day started off with a big fight between Tracy, and her dad. It was the meeting of the minds, and when they finished, they still both believe they are right. What they really need to do is learn how to listen to one another, instead of shouting out orders to each other.
Chloe is doing really well up here, taking a nap while I write this. She really knows how to push the buttons and get what she wants these days. Her newest thing she likes to do is pull you by hand to do whatever she wants you to do. Really cute to watch, until she pulls you over to something she wants but can't have. Then it gets messy... She is also learning to make more sounds, some words come out of her mouth with such clarity now, it almost makes you think it was fake. For so many months now, the indistinguishable mumbles were getting so typical, but to hear actual consonants and vowels feels surreal at times. It has been a couple of weeks now since Chloe has had the tubes put in her ears. She is doing real well with it, I can already tell it is making a difference for her. I do have to admit that I never want to have to relive the trauma of watching Chloe get knocked out with the anesthesia. That was a eerie thing to watch when its your own daughter holding your hand when they do it to her.
I am having the worst fight with Clover in my yard. That's some really tough crap to kill when your trying to save the grass around it. I read somewhere that Clover seed can live dormant in the dirt for up to 20 years. That's tough stuff....
The job is going really well, it sounds like ITP is going to hire me in and make me an offer very soon. It has taken them 8 months after my contract had ended to get this offer together. I can already imagine them making some sort of crappy initial offer, maybe 5-10k less per year than what I make now. That would be my luck. If that is the case, it may be time to have the recruiter come up with some new assignments. I would hate having to leave, considering all the new projects currently going on, like VMWare ESX Server, and Cisco Call Manager. But I can't make that the one tie that binds me to this. That's what Frank liked to do to me.
I hope the rest of my vacation goes better than today, the last thing I want to hear more of this week is more bitching out of the family. Its also the last I need Chloe witnessing too. My recommendation is already in to go home. But I know Tracy, she'd rather stay here and suffer, just so she doesn't end up being the "bad guy."
Tuesday, July 4th, 2006
Before we all went to bed last night, Tom managed to fit in his next 2 bits worth in Tracy's face last night. This proved to me finally that 1) we really should leave now, and 2) Tom is not capable of having the sort of "heartfelt" that they both need right now. The bickering is quite childish and really not worth it on a weekend like this. It also puts me in an uncomfortable position of defending my wife from her own father. The type of discussion that would be handled "one-on-one" in my family. I hope she chooses to leave this and let us go home so we can enjoy the rest of our vacation. I can't help but reflect on their fights, an imagine what I would do. I know I sure wouldn't be letting Tom treat me that way for sure
Besides all the drama, it really has been a beautiful vacation weather-wise.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Sonic
I am really sick of Sonic, the fast food chain, advertising on our local cable band. That food looks awfully damn good, and I am sick of the fact that the nearest one to my house in in Anderson, Indiana. They really have a jackass in Marketing that likes to torment fast-food junkies like myself...
Offer Letter From ITP
Supposedly, the company I have been working for for the last 11 months has finally sent me an offer letter in the mail, and I will receive it most likely tomorrow.
After hearing how terrible they treated the rest of the gang for their reviews , I am not sure what to think of what they are going to offer me. If they don't at least match my current rate, I swear to God I will go apeshit on them, even if they are way over in Wisconsin!
I saw on their website what they consider my job position. Interesting to see it on paper. You would have been sentenced to death at my old company to have it all laid out like this in text...
My coworker Otto had a meeting with the president today, and he is stuck with a $10,000+ pay cut. I wouldn't be shocked if he left the job, they are putting him in a tough position.
The Lead Engineer, Jason apparently they treated well, I was glad to hear that, he really deserves it more than anyone. When network problems get past all of us, the buck always stops with him, they gotta take good care of him... He is the shit.
After hearing how terrible they treated the rest of the gang for their reviews , I am not sure what to think of what they are going to offer me. If they don't at least match my current rate, I swear to God I will go apeshit on them, even if they are way over in Wisconsin!
I saw on their website what they consider my job position. Interesting to see it on paper. You would have been sentenced to death at my old company to have it all laid out like this in text...
My coworker Otto had a meeting with the president today, and he is stuck with a $10,000+ pay cut. I wouldn't be shocked if he left the job, they are putting him in a tough position.
The Lead Engineer, Jason apparently they treated well, I was glad to hear that, he really deserves it more than anyone. When network problems get past all of us, the buck always stops with him, they gotta take good care of him... He is the shit.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Who is the wierdo that deemed this...
... is a fashionable thing to put in one's yard. What the hell's up with that. If you ever choose to be this hillbilly and put one of these in your own yard, get your head checked first.If you ever find yourself gazing into a ball like this, you need to quit drinking at that point, and go to bed, try to sleep it off...
Anyways, time to go to work, see ya'll later!
Friday, July 14, 2006
Chloe
That kid amazes the hell out me sometimes. Good god they sure do grow fast. Just noticed when she was standing next to a stool she used to be able to pass under and never hit, she looks down on now as it stands under her chin level. Since the tubes in her ears, we are now getting a consistent nights sleep and so is she. She is starting to try to talk and not just throw out single words, it is all babble, but I appreciate her trying... All I can do is nod my head and make up what I think she is saying and answer. Its kind of fun after a few beers to imagine what is coming out of her head, my answers to Chloe's questions make Tracy scratch her head in disbelief, but most of what comes out of my mouth does that too....
She is really having trouble sharing and playing with others, at least from what we see at home. Daycare could always be a different story, but when Amanda, our neighbors daughter comes over, she gets very defensive, and tends to take things from her. I hate to see it, and maybe its a phase...
She is really having trouble sharing and playing with others, at least from what we see at home. Daycare could always be a different story, but when Amanda, our neighbors daughter comes over, she gets very defensive, and tends to take things from her. I hate to see it, and maybe its a phase...
Net Neutrality
Something that will probably squash my cost-effective dreams of running my own VOIP system is Net Neutrality. If the big hogs like AT&T, and Comcast have their ways with good effective lobbying and legislators in their pockets get their way, the concet of Net Neutrality will be over for users of the Internet. To explain it as simply (probably oversimplifying...)as possible, Net Neutrality allows users to connect to whatever sites and resources they choose with out authorities inbetween such as your own ISP to choose their own preferences first. Nerds such as myself hate this concept mostly, because what it will inevitably do is make people who host their own services, like me to pay more for that traffic to pass on a network, such as Comcast. The effects of this are already prevalent, as I just recently lost my mail traffic on the Comcast network because they are running some sort of transparent proxy which catches my SMTP traffic, and they attempt to resolve it on their network. I have yet to call and discuss what I have to do to get mail traffic to pass, but I am sure that it will involve some sort of business-class pricing. Of course this rule is not new to Comcast, apparently, I have been getting away with pasing mail traffic for a long time, and it shouldn't have worked from the get-go... This type of restriction will not be the last one they ever pass, wait until they try to regulate SIP....
My workaround for mail is to run Dynamic DNS, and redirect it into another port. It irritates me to do it, but I am sure Comcast won't offer me a cheap resolve to this either....
My workaround for mail is to run Dynamic DNS, and redirect it into another port. It irritates me to do it, but I am sure Comcast won't offer me a cheap resolve to this either....
Screw the phone company
Being that I am fed up with poor customer service, and entirely far too high of phone bills for basic phone service, I have decided with the advice of my cohorts at the CMH to build my own VOIP server for home. Well, actually, it is already built. And it will be online when my last part shows up.
Here's what I did, (Skip this paragraph if you don't wanna hear nerd-speak...)
Build a server (or virtual server is even a better option) from a iso you can get from asterisk@home, now known as Tribox. This will enable you be be your own provider, like as if you were with Vonage. To get your own phone number, you need a SIP provider, the one I am using is from a company called EXGN. They allow you to have a local phone number practically anywhere, unlike Vonage, who as an example, will not give a local extension in Lansing, your phone number would end up with a Howell prefix. By having a local number, all the people that call me who usually don't have to call me long distance, still won't. This is where the only recurring charge happens. They charge about 1.4 cents per minute for outbound traffic, and you only pay about $8 a month for unlimited inbound traffic. What these 2 things give you is a DID, and the ability to send that traffic to any IP you choose, like your own ISP IP address. Now to circumvent the Vonage box you would be stuck buying typically, you need to get a a box just like they would give ya, like the one from Linksys, but without their locked in codes that only work with their system, like the one 1 bought. Once that last part shows up, all that has to happen, is I unplug the main line into the house, make the Linksys box an extension in the server, and forward my calls from the land line to the new DID I got from EXGN. The last step will be link the Linksys to any open phone jack in the house. Instant phone service!... Well, after a few months of tinkering....
Screw you AT&T, screw you TDS Metrocom, and even screw Vonage, but Comcast, lets be really good friends.... Hey if I could be my own ISP, I'd do it, so I have to keep at least 1 ally.
Here's what I did, (Skip this paragraph if you don't wanna hear nerd-speak...)
Build a server (or virtual server is even a better option) from a iso you can get from asterisk@home, now known as Tribox. This will enable you be be your own provider, like as if you were with Vonage. To get your own phone number, you need a SIP provider, the one I am using is from a company called EXGN. They allow you to have a local phone number practically anywhere, unlike Vonage, who as an example, will not give a local extension in Lansing, your phone number would end up with a Howell prefix. By having a local number, all the people that call me who usually don't have to call me long distance, still won't. This is where the only recurring charge happens. They charge about 1.4 cents per minute for outbound traffic, and you only pay about $8 a month for unlimited inbound traffic. What these 2 things give you is a DID, and the ability to send that traffic to any IP you choose, like your own ISP IP address. Now to circumvent the Vonage box you would be stuck buying typically, you need to get a a box just like they would give ya, like the one from Linksys, but without their locked in codes that only work with their system, like the one 1 bought. Once that last part shows up, all that has to happen, is I unplug the main line into the house, make the Linksys box an extension in the server, and forward my calls from the land line to the new DID I got from EXGN. The last step will be link the Linksys to any open phone jack in the house. Instant phone service!... Well, after a few months of tinkering....
Screw you AT&T, screw you TDS Metrocom, and even screw Vonage, but Comcast, lets be really good friends.... Hey if I could be my own ISP, I'd do it, so I have to keep at least 1 ally.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Chloe and the family up north last weekend
Chloe with her 2nd cousins Landon and JP
This jackass doesn't need to be captioned...
Chloe at Guthrie Lake
Chloe chillin' at the dock
Alright, The Vinman's Back
Time to take back the blog and get these here thoughts down. Many more to come on the 4th of July Weekend/Fiasco to come....
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