possibles:
shine on (1-5)
another brick 1/happiest days/another brick 2
wish you were here
money
comfy numb
brain damage/eclipse
that would actually make a decent short set. they could rework the end of comfy numb to do into BD/Ecl pretty easily.
for the second time, at the end of moving a couch, i've had help.
tonight on my way home from work after a stop at chez target JJ calls me, which saved me from giving into my urge to get something at burger king for dinner. things have been stressful at work so my will was feeling a little weak tonight, so it was nice to be distracted. anyways, she is in the process of moving (same building, but opposite corner on the 1st floor) and she has a lazy-boy style couch she needed to move. so during our conversation, i decided it would be easier to try and move it in 70's and humid rather than 90's and humid.
so after much man handling, we force it down a set of tight stairs, out the door, around the corder and at the last stretch, to bring it into her new apartment, a kind soul walking by asks if we could use a little help so he and i finish moving it in.
thank you kind sir.
when M&I bought my couch (futon really), a neighbor walking his dog helped us move my newly aquired futon couch upstairs. so you know that i'm now going to expect this the next time i have to move a couch. at least i told JJ i ain't moving that red behemoth again...
work today was better than the rest of the week. at least until 4pm. then it SUCKED. again. one of the weekend people in CI (MW) was having problems with the new phone system. he was getting referral calls when he should only get liasion calls, so he panicked, LJ panicked, DH passed the buck to me (he wanted to get out of there). so i spent 90 mins on the phone trying to sort it out.
fortunately, we were able to figure it out, but what should have taken no more than 5 mins took 90+ mins. at least i know have a much better understanding of the phone system than i did, which is a good thing. esp if i'm going to be the network person in the office. and the phone person. and whatever else i get to be.
whee.
so.
JJ, you're welcome. i'm glad we moved that beast tonight rather than in the middle of a hazy, humid 90+ degree day. and remember, proxy can be a bad thing. bad proxy. bad bad proxy ruining JJ's web surfing.
to the kind sir, thank you.
MW, you're welcome and quit your whining.
i should be able to get a halfway decent night of sleep for a change.
well, the new phone system is in progress. it does work, and we apparently have most of the offices online. at least to some degree. still have wells to do, but that is waiting on the T1 being lit up and us getting the router back from our outside networky people. then i can go over there and actually try to get everything working the way it sorta is here.
at our little meeting this afternoon, TK-8103 mentioned that a lot of people are referring to the new phones as their 'bat phone'. heh. i was the first person to call it that, and i am rather pleased that a lot of other people are calling it that as well. i've heard other people call it that, but it was nice to hear that it was more widespread than i thought.
in case you were wondering what my bat phone looks like, this is it here: ShoreTel 530
we also have the ShoreTel 210 for most of the office. IS, managers and reception are the primary users of the 530's. i've made a few calls on it and things sound like a phone (i realize that's the whole point, but it really doesn't sound too different from what i can tell). M commented that my voice sounded a little different when i left her VM the other day and it took her a moment to realize who she was listening to, but i'm sure that won't last long. i would be curious to hear what it sounds like.
at lunchtime today i saw something that made my day much to my delight. CD was forced to move cubes (closer to his boss) and he has his beanie baby (chopstix the monkey, with original tag) sitting on the top of his cube in the corner, and the way he has him sitting, his bright red monkey ass and tail are hanging down in the trainwreck's cube. all i could think of was how appropriate it was. the monkey is mooning trainwreck. so rather than scowl as i walk past her desk, i can't help but smirk that she has a view of red monkey ass. i thanked CD and asked him to let the monkey stay where it was. he thought that might be possible.
TK-8103 also mentioned that he liked how CD has been moved as well as you can now see CD's vader poster from clear across the office. (one of the main paths thru the office looks directly into CD's cube)
i think i may have to sneak out early again tonight. i left a whole whopping 10 mins early yesterday which got me stuck in traffic 10 mins sooner, but i did get home 10 mins sooner. M had cooked dinner (chix/broc stirfry) by the time i arrived only to have her proclaim she wanted to eat out. (she's had a rather stressful time dealing with her current client who seems to fail to comprehend that they are paying about 1/3 of what they are actually getting. big client which is why they were cut such a deal, but they don't realize just how BIG a deal they got). so into the fridge went tonights dinner and off we went. we tried this cafe in town that we've walked past a few times, but never gone in because it is on the high end for our dining range, but she picked it and we ate there. (used to be a fancy pizza/more upscale italian place). the food was quite good. she had the monkfish and i had the salmon and we shared a caesar salad. good portion sizes, and all in all a very enjoyable meal. plus we had live music (tuesday and wednesday nights) to dine by. i wouldn't mind going back, but it was a little steep. we even had a visit from the chef/owner who wanted to make sure that everything was ok. (it really was)
hmm...550, i guess i'll post and go. how time flies when you start typing away. maybe i'll post my a/c story later. suffice is to say, power drills and a/c, don't exactly go together...
| Your IQ Is 115 |
 Your Logical Intelligence is Above Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Exceptional |
yesterday, in a word, SUCKED.
i have a bat phone
at least that's what i refer to our new VOIP phones. we've only handed a limited number out to people, but we continue to work on getting the background stuff installed. and today, JD was doing a few things to some of the switches. and the network blew up.
literally, blew up.
died.
crashed and burned.
pushed up daisies.
worm food.
it SUCKED.
and how. our ENTIRE network was down for just over 3 hours. and THEN it had to come down for nearly 2 hours in the evening. at least that time it was a little more expected. we were able to let users know that the network was possibly going to go down. it didn't at first, but then it did.
there are apparently some loops that needed to be addressed, and JD seems to think that our little power-over-ethernet thing that powers the WHOLLY INDEPENDENT access points was causing problems.
i don't think so, but i was getting tired and frustrated so i let it drop for the moment. the good news is we could plug them into the p-o-e switches the phones use, so he did that which seemed to make him happy. unfortunately, the customer (in this case, ME) was not happy. i'll chat with my boss about it.
do we have issues with the wiring at work? hell yeah. and as it will be falling more and more into my domain, i'll do what i can to not only sort it out, but fix it, and document it. that's something we are sorely lacking, so that will be on my list of to-do's.
at least RB was back. altho he stepped in it first thing. he had to image and prepare to deploy by end of day (he was originally told tuesday, but that changed) 10 new PCs. fortunately, the new switches allow him to ghost the PCs pretty quickly, but it's still a pain in the ass. so he stayed late. i didn't leave until nearly 730, but it was nice to get out of there. even if it was overcast, and near dark under some clouds.
i think i may have posted something about this a long time ago, or maybe not so long ago, but i know i've talked about it with several people at one point in time or another, but i couldn't help but chuckle at the commercial for Pepsi/Diet Pepsi with Lime.
the question was raised (i don't recall who raised it first) that if the M&M's (you know, red and yellow?) are eating M&Ms in the commercial, wouldn't it be cannibalism?
well, the Pepsi Lime commercial has a pair of limes (pseudo jamacian accents) that question that. one says something to the effect of 'do you think we are drinking someone we know?'
on a related note, i think the diet pepsi with lime is a little too sweet for my tastes. it's ok, but i like the more subtle taste of diet coke with lime.
now if only if they would have the splenda diet coke w/lime. and cherry.
and you would figure that coke would have a site specific to new products rather than a generic site. it's kind of a weak web presence....
i stepped out of my apartment this morning and when i looked up in the sky, there was this white thing that hurt my eyes. all i could do was shrink away for a moment and try not to cry in terror.
i asked RB when i got in, and he reminded me that we worship the rain and when we are bad, it appears. TK-8103 wasn't sure what it was either. he said that CH had a weird experience when he went out for a smoke - there was this thing following him and when he moved his hand, it would move its hand.
i'm not sure what to think, but i think RB is right - we are being punished for something.
due to graphic violence, viewer discression is advised
hahahahahaha...i love that. the season finale of 24. my phone is off.
muahahahaha...
especially if i lived in/near Chicago
Chicago Crime Database
wonder how long before Boston gets one...
that seemed to be a mini theme for me this weekend.
saw episode III saturday night with M, TK-8103 and Mrs. TK-8103. i enjoyed it a great deal, altho all i could think of when there were scenes between anakin and padme was it was no better than an elementary school play with 1st graders doing the dialog.
A: i love you
P: i love you more
A: no, i love you more.
P: you are so beautiful to me. i love you.
A: no, you are so beautiful to me. i love you more.
*BLECH*
i think i've seen better written love stories in looney toons...
that aside, i really did enjoy the movie, and visually, it was very impressive. aside from the crappy i love you dialog, the only other thing that bugged me was the whole Padme being preggers thing. KS (Mrs TK-8103) pointed it out as we were walking out of the theater that when you are preggers, the FIRST thing that happens is your boobs get larger. (this was independently verified by TK-8103) and they made no compensation for that. she was carrying around a beachball in her belly, but was pretty much flat chested. then, the whole revelation (if you could call it that) where obi-wan asks if the child is anakin's was rather pointless (duh, who else was she seeing? M had an issue with that.) the birth scene was pretty bad too. a few grimaces of pain and out pops a pretty clean infant. a few more grimaces of pain, and out pops a second clean infant. if anything, the one time that padme looked semi-realistic pregnant was at the very end during her funeral procession. AFTER giving birth.
now, those points aside, i really did enjoy the movie (i figure i had better restate that) and it certainly was visually entertaining. you could see how anakin falls, how palpatine manipulates him into turning. the end with anakin and obi-wan fighting was well done, and mixing their fight with the yoda/palpatine fight was well done. i loved yoda's entrance into palpatine's office. R2 provided enuff comic relief, but not so much that it detracted from anything.
like episode II, cut out the majority of the lovey dovey crap and it really was a very good movie. and i have to agree with TK-8103, when it ended, i was wondering "isn't there more? how can it end now? it's too short! i want more!"
it was definately the best of the first 3 episodes, but i will stand by my statement that episodes I & II are a LOT better when you have the whole picture. it really is a pretty complete story about how a young boy rises and then falls. now i have to watch episodes IV thru VI to see the entire picture.
next topic: Dune
i finally finished reading The Battle of Corrin, the final book in the Butlerian Jihad trilogy. very cool and i couldn't help but wonder what caused the rift between the Atreides and the Harkonnen because that's one of the advertised bits of the story. well, when it happens (towards the very end of the book, within the last 50 pages of a 600+ page book), it just smacks you and you understand very quickly. suffice is to say, the phrase "the needs to the many outweigh the needs to the few". even if the 'few' are 2 million people. plus the way it wraps itself up, it shows how with the passage of time, how facts distort over time, as well as how what were made up stories become truths. very cool.
so now it's onto the next book. Robert Heinlein's "For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs" (amazon link). The nifty thing about this book is that it was written in 1938/39, prior to the events of 12/7/41 so the perspective of the story should be a little different. i'm looking forward to reading it.
yesterday, M, F & i went to the Hot Dog Safari at Suffolk Downs. it was an interesting experience. and one where i'm glad to say that i've gone, and i have absolutely no desire to go again. the lines are long, takes forever to get your free {insert food item here} because 1/2 the time is spent letting people cut thru the lines. i think the best part for me was while we were standing in line for our hoodsie cup size turkey hill ice cream, we were able to watch one of the horse races (the 4th one i believe, post time was sposed to be 2:08). first one i have seen since i went to saratoga on my birthday many years ago with the family (good time had by all). had a few hot dogs. kelly's hot dog, not so good. for some reason people around here seem to think very highly of kelly's. for me, i don't care for it very much. and i have given them a few chances to change my mind. every time, they have provided me with a bland and uninspired meal. their onion rings, the batter is nothing more than flour and water and then fried. their roast beef? dry and overcooked. i have yet to have a positive experience eating there. why did i think their hot dog would be any better? i think ballpark franks are better than kelly's...
kelly's and hilltop steakhouse baffle me. every time i have eaten at either place, the food is overcooked, bland and the service (esp at hilltop) is pretty lousy. yet somehow, people in the area seem to think of both in high regard. to hilltop's credit, the supermarket they have is pretty good, and the prices they have on their meats are very good, but they sure as hell have no clue how to cook a decent steak.
anyways, Boston Hot Dog Company (no discernable web presence that i could find) wasn't bad, they had the best selection of toppings (including cole slaw) of the samples we had.
The Sausage Guy line seemed to be the longest, and at the same time, i think provided the biggest 'eh, that wasn't particularly good' moment of the day. he has a reputation down by Fenway Park, but if what we had yesterday was a typical sample of what he serves, that was pretty bad. didn't help that there were no peppers, grilled onions, mushrooms or spicy mustard to help make it more enjoyable.
our favorite hot dog of the day was Pearl. it had the best snap (love that natural casing) and best seasoning of what we tried. a little ketchup and mustard, and you had a good dog.
by this point, we were pretty full, plus we were tired of dealing with the throng of people, so we headed off.
so that was it for my weekend. this morning i arrived at my desk to a rude suprise. some asshole clinician STOLE the power supply that i use for my laptop. in the past, someone borrowed it, but when i got in, it was neatly placed on my desk, cords wrapped up. i didn't like that they had used it, but appreciated that they had returned it before i had returned.
today, that didn't happen, so i asked my boss, BK and KS (not Mrs TK-8103) if they had seen anything, or been asked about a power supply. nope. FL stopped by to ask me an unrelated question and i menioned to him that it had been removed from my desk (the way i had it on my desk requires untangling it from a multitude of wires and fishing it out, so whoever stole it put some effort into removing it).
so, a short while later, i get an email asking DH if he can fill out an incident report, so i obtain one and fill it out and turn it in. i have a few spares that i use while configuring the laptops, so it isn't like i couldn't find one, but the fact that someone had the audacity to fish out my power supply, which by the way is not particularly visible. not only did i have it tangled in wires, but it's out of view with the only visible evidence of its existance being the plug that goes into the laptop. whoever did it a) was desparate for a power supply and b)_figured that i had to have one kicking around.
well, no more. i'm locking it up at night. of course this means that it was returned. sometime after lunch when i was talking to RB or TK-8103, someone left it on my desk, and they put it where i'd find it, but at a quick glance i wouldn't have noticed because i sat down and then saw it. (i knew it was mine because i had a knot tied in the cable)
this seems to be an ongoing issue with our idiot snob clinicians. if they see something they want or need, they just take it. i wouldn't have been so upset if the person who stole/borrowed it had left a post-it on my monitor saying "i'm sorry, but i needed to borrow your power supply. i'll return it ASAP. -guilty party". at least then i would have known who had it and i wouldn't have bothered to mention it to people. but no. no note. so i had to file an incident report. i was discussing this with DH and BK a bit, and they were saying if one of them decided they needed some privacy to make some phone calls or do some "work", they had no qualms of just walking into an empty office and sitting down, and if the person whose office it was happened to come back, would get nasty looks and asked to leave if the clinician wasn't finished doing whatever they thought was so important. i'm sorry, but the offices are given to managers, and you don't just decide that you want to work out of someone's office. BK was saying that he didn't mind if they needed to make a quick phone call, but to set up shop and then be possesive about your invading their territory, that's just plain wrong. but again, it just shows how much the management here kowtows to the union.
i truly believe, that the union that our RN's belong to are doing absolutely NOTHING to show me that unions (on a whole) are a good thing. if anything, they continually reinforce the movie/television stereotype of a union that whines and demands to be treated like a primadonna. i do understand that this isn't the case for all unions, but they sure as hell are doing nothing to help the 'union' cause.
oh well. at least i got my power supply back. and i'll be sure to lock it up before going home tonight.
i just finished watching episode II.
i watched episode I on sunday, more in part because fox was showing it and i knew if i watched it, i'd be frustrated at not seeing the whole thing from start to finish.
having read the book for episode III, episodes I & II really aren't that bad, and really do make a great deal more sense, so my feelings towards them aren't quite as negative as a lot of people's seem to be.
i enjoyed parts of I when i saw it (the pod race, the duel at the end w/darth maul) but i could see why people didn't like it. then when i watched II, i could see why people were frustrated. i think it's better than I was, but i, like lots of people didn't care for the whole love story side. cut that out and it's pretty good, but put it in, and it seems rather forced.
watching it just now, i still believe that Lucas can't write a love story if his life depended on it, but watching it from a more objective view, it isn't a bad story. especially how everything fits together. i've seen several references where hayden said that lucas told him very deliberately to be stiff during II.
and i'm fighting very hard with myself NOT to go flying down to the local theater to watch episode III. i'm not going to, but the temptation certainly is there. that's why i have tickets for tomorrow night where i'll see it with M, TK-8103 and KS.
when i finished the book for Ep III, i really felt i understood what Lucas was trying to do. when you have the whole picture, you really do understand the whole story.
it seems almost as tho it is an epiphany. i somewhat felt that when i finished the Dark Tower series. i've invested a percentage of my life into Roland and to reach the end of his journey.
i understand now.
i tip my hat.
so what am i going to do? i'm going to blog.
today was a pretty busy day. we had issues with the clinicians not being able to transfer which i came into, but that seems to have been resolved. not entirely sure if it was something i missed when i did some minor changes to our dbase server, or if it was a switch thing, but it's working now. DH hardcoded some IP addys in the switch which should help with the routing as well, and so far no complaints. i was able to get a work-around to work, so if nothing worked, there was an option, altho i wasn't looking forward to having to dump the fix on the near 200 laptops we have, not that i couldn't script it. but it would still be a pain in the ass.
the other problem was the PCs we have for some pharmacy students were not seeing the network, so that took a lot of time to try and troubleshoot. at first, i couldn't even get my laptop to recognize the network (bad sign) so i traced the wires and moved them around, then it did work. but the PCs wouldn't. moved the NIC in one PC to a different slot, that didn't work. moved the cables to a separate switch that needed to be lit up (no biggie, stole a cable and that was online) and i even throttled the ports back from auto speed to 10mb. that didn't work.
decided to try using a different NIC and after 20 or so mins of dloading drivers, finding a floppy, that did work. undid my changes on the switch. still worked. moved it back to the original port it had been plugged into. still worked.
so, it looks as tho my thought of picking up a bunch of inexpensive NICs might be a pretty good idea. DH seemed to think that was a good possibility, so we'll see what happens. i'd want to buy 1 and test it before buying a bunch, but i'll discuss that with him.
and now, there is finally some quiet time. just got a call from TK-8103 asking what theater my tickets were for (12) which match what his are, so we won't be screwed when we get there. that did present a little doubt in my head this morning as i bought the tix (what if we were in different theaters?) but it was nice to hear that we are in the same theater. saves that awkward "well it was nice seeing you" thing when we are all at the theater. well, time to go home.
later.
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