Random Access

Wednesday – 26 October 2016
Today marked my successful completion of another orbit of the sun while, simultaneously, eluding the grasp of The Dark Lady. In accordance with International Robert Neal Days past, I took today off from work. I also took the rest of the week off… because.

The past week was full. I don’t mean that in the sense of “I had so many things going on,” although, that’s not untrue. I mean it in the sense that I got to spend much of the week in the company of some rather fantastic people. The week started with breakfast with my high school classmate, James, and his family…

Breakfast with the Leventhals

…then there was stuff and things in the middle of the week (mostly work)…

…capped off with a co-birthday celebration on Saturday with Alex and some of our friends. And if I want to extrapolate a bit and add this past Sunday, there was dinner with the in-laws AND Sara’s grandmother.

It was a good week. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if there had been members of my side of the family involved. (There’s a tentative “something” in the works for Thanksgiving along those lines…)

Today was a quiet day; Sara and the girls let me sleep in. And I did. Then, I proceeded to spend a leisurely day full of… well… a lot of nothing. And it was perfect. Later, Sara and the girls came home and took me to dinner at the local Outback Steakhouse. We then came home for cake and presents. The ladies got me a humidor and a box of RubySnap cookies. Win-Win!  I wound up the evening (so far) with a cigar, some whiskey, and an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. There may even be some videogaming to close out the day.

Hello, 46. I look forward to getting to know more about you.

Stray Toasters

• This doesn’t really need an introduction:
  
• Dad Turns His 6-Year-Old Son’s Drawings Into Reality
• The Chicago Cubs won the NL pennant on Saturday, for the first time since 1945. Alex (mentioned above) is from Chicago and a Cubs fan; watching her watch Saturday night’s game was interesting. The win was a wonderful early birthday present for her. But, there are a lot of things that have happened since the Cubs last won the pennant:
  
• Tech’s gender gap is getting worse, not better, report says
• I voted last week. I can officially stop paying attention to campaign pablum.
  • I just confirmed that my ballot has been received.
• Titanfall 2 drops (no pun intended) on Friday. That might be another birthday present to myself. Now, I just need to figure out PC or console…
• Skateboarding in an abandoned nuclear missile silo

Namaste.

Friday – 14 October 2016
This morning, I came into work a couple hours early, so I could leave early and check out a ballet rehearsal. There were… issues… so, the ballet became a non-factor in my day.

::: fast forward a few hours :::

While on call with my manager and my east coast counterpart, a question about a maintenance repair on a server came up: We contacted our support company a couple of days ago to schedule service a server and drive array (Aw yeah, Titans! warranty repair!). The parts arrived today, but there was no word about the tech who was supposed to facilitate the repair.

For the rest of the story, please deposit 25¢ , I will copy the email I just sent to my coworker and boss:

1. Called [provider] to follow-up on tech dispatch – he was assigned the Incident, but waiting for the parts to be delivered. I asked to have the appointment sceheduled for Monday morning and hung up the phone.

2. Got a call from the receptionist’s desk… telling me that [tech] was here now.

3. [Tech] went in to start working on the server and arrays… only to find that they sent the wrong drives.
a. He changed the battery in the server
b. He’s shipping back the SSDs and requesting the proper SAS drives.

WHEEE!

And that’s how my day has gone, so far. Good thing it’s (almost) over.

#LifeInIT #ajobaintnuthinbutwork #TGIF

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 October 2016
Stuff and things and whatnot.

Namaste.

Wait. That’s not a proper post. I really should do one of those someday…

I guess that since I’m logged in, I should make like Nike and “just do it.” Now.

*cracks knuckles*
::: deep breath :::

The past few weeks have been good. Work’s been interesting. The company I work for has been (officially) purchased by a larger entity. So far, things are remaining status quo. I also got to spend about 36 hours on the east coast, thanks to a business trip. I was pleasantly surprised at how “green” things still were – I expected to see far more fall colors. Oh, well. That was only a slight disappointment, to be honest.

Team DiVa continues to astound and entertain me.

There was even a seven-year-anniversary in there, too.

Stray Toasters

• Kids really do grow up “so fast…”
• A couple of years ago, I had dinner with a high school classmate of mine. It’s about to happen again, as he and his family will be in town next this week.
• Luke Cage
  
  • Luke Cage Soundtrack Keeps It Real With Vinyl Release
    • Bulletproof Love
  • Misty Knight needs to appear on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Are you listening Marvel?)
• New York Comic Con happened last week. These next few things come from there:
  • Life-sized LEGO Harley Quinn Makes Her Debut at NYCC
  • LEGO Launches DC Superhero Girls Line
  • Marvel Comics Finally Announces a Ms. America Ongoing Series
• This, from woot.com, amused me:
  
• The Ultimate List of Hobbies for Men: 75+ Ideas For Your Free Time
• I built the third iteration of my Raspberry Pi Echo.
  (Actually, I just sat there while it built itself. Thanks, Amazon!)
• Bippity boppity boo.

Namaste.