DOAB, week of August 7, 2000

Introduction	Daynotes on a budget	My "Portal"
Master Calendar	The weekly journal of a PC geek	Why do this?
The "Real" Daynoters	Page Updated: 2:42 PM August 13, 2000

I'm still mucking about with the formatting, and attempting to resolve the issues (legal, moral, ethical, and cholesterol) related to bringing my previous "intranet" daynotes out into the light of day. I'm struggling with how much I can blather about knowing on the one hand and how much it's fair to reveal to the "outside world" (which I will be part of come Friday).

I did make a fair amount of progress on the dreaded calendar page. Ugh. That was stupid of me. But then again, that's how we learn.

Lunch today was one of the most delightful times I've had in the last few months. A couple of the ladies at work (I'd call them "women" but they deserve the more elegant term, for they are real ladies) took me out to lunch - One of them bought me one of my favorite meals. Hamburgers.

Now I know that the World-Renowned Dr. Keyboard is a real eater - I'm more of a minor-league variant thereof. That means I'm doing it on a budget. Still, I like "Fuddruckers". Their web site isn't quite in the same league as the current Dominik Favorite Restaurant, Joe's Crab Shack (don't miss the dancing crabs!), but they've got something Joe can't really hold a crab-claw to - BEEF. Good, lean, Ground Beef, pattied up and delivered onto your plate on a huge, soft and toasty bun, with a long line of condiments you can put on the burger. I've heard the stories about how they'll let the new folks in the chocolate factory eat all they want - they soon get tired of it. I tried that sort of aversion therapy with burgers - went to work at Wendy's. Sadly, it didn't work. I somehow managed to gain a whopping 130 pounds while working there (and I wasn't exactly svelte to begin with), and I still love burgers.

Enough - I'll have to get a tarp out to cover my keyboard. Anyway, I had the plain old Fuddrucker's 1/2 pounder and a basket of fries and a pop - went down the line with Jalapeno cheese sauce (on the burger AND plate for fries), Heinz Ketchup (brings up steam when it hits the bun, yum), honey mustard, shredded lettuce, and chopped onion. Yum yum yum. Hungry again thinking about it, drool drool slobber slobb/#!$

Sorry. Keyboard dried by more prudent brain cells. Returned to work and kept "busy" with the afternoon. That was about that day, pretty much.

Mrs. D is cooking up Salisbury Steaks in the kitchen as I write this - the smell (again) is overwhelming. Did I mention that Mrs. D has used the Weight Watchers program to drop a healthy chunk of weight? She's found plenty of recipes which taste just as good, have half or less of the fat, and are worth eating. Whyinthehell she's managed to drop over 60 pounds and I only about 10 is a crime, I tell you.

Off to unpack the first round of boxes of books, etc., from my soon-to-be-former-office. There's another shock, there.

Well, still searching for another employer to chance my hire - I'm really not such a bad sort; I'm very much like a puppy - one that's housebroken, capable of not making large messes on carpet, and very, very loyal. That, I think, is my problem. But that's my problem, and not yours.

Well, enough for that 5-minute lunch break. This afternoon, we pray devoutly that the Trusty Tempo gets my tuckus home, and thence back to drop everyone off tomorrow morning - then I go to the shop and mope around until they get the electrical pulsing thing resolved. One hopes it won't be too expensive. One hopes. More later.

Later: Wow. I continue to amaze myself. Not because I can walk upright, or drive down multi-laned freeways in a small car without getting run over by large trucks, or any of the other things that I'm sure my parents were frankly stunned to see me do, but more because I can figure this stuff out. After some brute force, a lot of whining, crying, and a good solid whack to the head, I did manage to get FrontPage to connect to this site. And that means MORE GADGETS! This, if nothing else, should frighten you. Greatly.

For those of you who've noted the gross abuse of the construction around here, I merely point to the top of the page - the fine folks at Tripod are willing to pay me for the number of impressions I get daily, and to accomplish that, I need to go through a central page. I'm going to re-vamp the header to give you links to everything you need here (sadly, there's bloody little here that's worth reading, but hey).

Mrs. D is in the process of "Forman-izing" a couple of tube steaks and some nice brats. For those of you who worry about my fat intake (sisters, mother, father, wife, children, and the assorted oddballs), allow me to assure you that the fine folks at Roehl Farms make wonderful brats, and even better "grillers". The Brats first - those of you who haven't lived in the upper Midwest, near a butcher shop or decent meat market, consist of those various meat parts which you really don't want to know about - but they taste very good. (Yes, mother, this came from the same little boy who freaked out when you brought home the dreaded "Hormel Potted Meat Product" with it's ingredients list - "Tripe, snout, lips..." gulp).

The "Formanizing" part - we acquired a George Foreman family-sized grill this last spring. Living in an apartment, it's difficult to barbecue. Or should I say, Barbeque safely (you pick the spelling, FrontPage likes both). About three years ago now, some fellow who was a few sandwiches short of a picnic decided to cook on his deck. Never mind the most obvious part about living in a totally wooden building, dry, windy day in April, or the ever-important "it's against the city ordinance and state law, you freaking moron" portion of the exercise.

Nitwit lights grill, goes inside to get food, comes out and realizes that he's got a bit of a problem - well, bigger than a bit, and no longer only his, because this flaming idiot (literally) lit his upstairs neighbor's deck on fire. Rather than running inside and getting the long tongs and a package of wieners (which is about what I expected from this intellectual flyweight), he actually managed to call 911 AND pull the fire alarm. The building was mostly evacuated by the time I happened to come home to pick up the diaper bag for my son's doctor appointment. I said a whole lot of "Oh Thank You God" prayers while watching the central section of the building across the parking lot burn - ended up that there were twelve apartments with direct fire damage (of course, the idiot who started the blaze wasn't one of them), another 15 or so with water damage, and the rest with significant smoke and water leakage (did I mention that they had a sprinkler system for inside?). The very worst parts were that there were two small children left home alone in one of the upper end units while the father ran down to a nearby convenience store for some milk - mind you, it's not something I would have done with six-and-four-year old children, so there's yet another nitwit in the whole disaster, but also, of the roughly 90 people/couples/families living in that building, only about 8 had renter's insurance. Now, since I have a waterbed, I pretty much have to have it, but I'm also unwilling to bet against myself. Especially when "myself" isn't the problem, it's the intellectual midgets who decide to cook with open flames on a windy day on their deck in a wood-framed building that worry me.

So - to bring this whole sordid tale to a sad end, we popped for a $100 Foreman grill - we'd seen it on a couple of info-mercials (sad what you'll watch when nothing interesting is on) and were impressed. Having one now, I can assure you that the grill itself is definitely under-advertised. It works VERY well, and is perhaps the single most useful kitchen gadget I've ever purchased Mrs. D, or things she's received as gifts. And this is at the tail end of a long line of weird stuff - an electric wok, a bread maker, electric ice-cream maker, cappuccino maker, electric fry pan, electric waffle iron, super-duper wide-slot toaster, electric pasta maker, and, I believe, one other electric grill. George, if you ever read this, you're great. The guy who invented this for you deserves a BIG raise... ;-)

After stopping this morning at the garage for a $450 repair to the tempo (now you folks see why I'm doing this on the REALLY CHEAP), I started playing around with my soon-to-be-not-mine cell phone. It has wireless web access, so I thought I'd try a little fiddling with access to my hotmail account. Lo and behold, yet another true geek moment for yours truly. I can now count them on the fingers of three hands - And some day I'll enumerate them all... More, hopefully, later.

Later: Lookee here - FrontPage will accept the changes! Ain't that kewl. Or however they're mangling the spelling these days. Kids. Sheesh.

Whew. After hauling home $90 worth of shampoo and such ($250 retail, I'm gonna miss that, I guess), and then another $300 worth of groceries, the usual problems start. Where the heck to put it all. It's probably easier when you're in a house, but a 2 bedroom apartment with one "pantry" closet of about 2.5 x 2.5 x 8 feet combined with a galley kitchen just doesn't work well.

I was noticing a lot of things today. Sort of a "last time I'll do THAT" type of thing. When I joined my present employer, I was a lowly Systems Technician. Which meant grunt and fix things. I rose rapidly (well, seven months) into a position called "Network Administrator" which gave me the same position I had before plus responsibility for servers, backup, disaster recovery for the "Data Center" (used to be basically a converted closet with computers packed in - now it's a fairly good-sized room with decent electrical and connectivity), and other headaches. Then, last year, we changed it to Information Technology Project Manager, which meant I dealt not only with people but with "projects" which we did a lot of. Then, finally, this spring, it was Information Technology Manager, which was created by dropping the "Project" from me auld title. Come to think of it we never did finalize that damned job description...

Anyway, it's somewhat bittersweet. I'm going to miss many of the people I'm working with now. As with any environment, you have both positive and negative connotations to certain individuals. I'll be particularly happy not to have to deal with one or two rather peculiar individuals who were both demanding and very ungrateful. However, in hindsight, it taught me a great deal - everyone, no matter their rank on the corporate ladder or their relative IQ (relative to a large boulder somewhere in a desert, I think), needs help. Some will thank you with words and a smile; others with rather lavish gifts (I once got a nice polo shirt; another time, a cold six-pack - you gotta love small privately owned companies with no regulations (yet) about booze in the workplace, and occasionally, equipment - some actually usable!). Some will thank you with friendship, and trust, which is in many ways far more valuable than anything else. And some will thank you with abuse. Perhaps I'm a masochist - Quite honestly, I keep helping them partially because it's my job description, and partially because it's a perverse delight - they're ranting and frustrated, I just practice being the opposite. Sometimes being a stubborn "Cherman" (as they used to say back in Stearns County) comes in handy.

So, I'm going to miss the old joint. It will be difficult. And yet, I'll be fine. As Andy said - "To Every Adversity There Is An Equal Or Greater Benefit" - quoth himself, many times over. Thanks. I will treasure and need that in the days to come. Now to rough out my schedule for next week. Sleep, eat, and find a job. That shouldn't be too hard... I hope.

Between what I've been through and what I'm going to go through, I'm certain I'll be just fine. I'm just scared.

I've joked quite a bit with people who are attempting to recruit me for various positions, when they ask what it is I want to do. I tell them, only partially in jest, that I'm "...looking for a position that pays me for lying down, breathing, preferably in my own bed." However this doesn't seem to be working. So I'm looking for work in my other strong suite, which is technology. If I could pick the perfect job, I guess it would be working with computers, and people. I like figuring out how to do things. Some people in technology look at the whole "tech support" racquet (Racket? I dunno) as a degrading line of work. Who wants to work the bloody help desk, unquote. You know what? I learn more, myself, from working there than from anything else I've done. It's been said many times, many ways - the best way to learn something is to teach others. Tech support is about teaching - if you don't want to know what you do, stay out of tech support. Besides, where else can you go to someone's desk, sit down, spend a few minutes doing something you know how to do, and in doing so, you not only get a sense of accomplishment for yourself, but you also get to resolve a problem for them. A problem, I might add, which has been plaguing them for a few weeks now and has, quite honestly, taken up quite a bit of their time, but it was only today that they got fed up enough with it to call you. These sorts of things are pretty fun, because not only do you get to solve a problem and get an "easy victory" for your own personal win column of the day, but also to get someone else back up, running, and with a renewed sense that they do know what they're doing?

Jarring segue - welcome to my mental madness - this paragraph serves as a break from the previous thought, and whacks your head into "and now, for something completely different" mode. I've been doing a lot of thinking about how this site came into being, and how I've morphed it a couple of times already. I think I'm going to leave the earlier sections alone, because perhaps what I've gone through will serve as some reassurance to others. Obviously, I can't be forthcoming as to the specifics of the agreement I've signed, which allows me the very great luxury of finding a job that I like, but I can't imagine that people aren't going through this sort of thing even today in a booming economy. Were this the '80s and early 90's with all of the downsizing that occurred, certainly. However, it still happens today.

For those perspective employers who might happen across this, I suppose that the conversation I had the other day will have to help. When I spoke to him who used to be the PHB over the technology around here, he said "...you are a scapegoat. It's nothing you did, and nothing you could have done. It's not the color of your hair or eyes or shirts or anything else. It's just one of those things." Or as I used to call them, a JOOTT. For pronounciation, see any man who's had a proctological exam.

That's enough for now. I've got lunch at Stuart Anderson's Cattle Company. I just hope I can put a dent in the thing the way my stomach feels. Flip-flop. Flip-flop.

More later, if I have the courage and intestinal fortitude... Stuart's, then cake this afternoon, and after that, happy hour. My daughter's looking forward to the event. I guess I'm doing the right thing as a parent.

Later: Well. After a burger and "firefries" at SACC (overrated, if you ask me - Fuddruckers is better burgers), we had cake at the office. Oddly enough, they picked out a McGlynn's cake, which is a place I worked for when I was at previous employer minus one (two jobs back, now). Then, we had happy-hour at Joe Senser's. A couple people whom I had hoped would show up didn't, but Clark did, which was nice. Of course, over the last two days, there were two additional departures which will cost them dearly.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that there are two old pieces of hardware which are literally useless there, and they're looking to dispose of them. If I stand under the right windows, I should be able to make a small profit from it. I'll get a learning environment, at least. Which should help.

When we finally got out of there, I got home, checked e-mail, and got a message from Todd Dominik - turns out his grandfather's brother was my grandfather. Wow. So, after all of this good feeling, and the rest, we get into the parking lot at home, and sure enough, the damned alternator light comes on. Bob Thompson says that an honest mechanic is a pearl beyond price - I agree whole-heartedly. I'm going to go down tomorrow and have them fix this - it's not good. But I know they'll do it. They haven't got much choice.

And now, we shop for books to help me learn what I already know so I can go get A+ Certification. Yes, I'll pay for it myself, and yes, I'll benefit. I think it's worth it.

Yes, it's bloody early. I awoke this morning and for some reason, Elton John's The Bitch Is Back was going through my head. Man, I hate that.

I'm going to work on some of the history of this site, and see if I can get that up shortly... One page at a time, I guess.

Well, I tried later, and after about three pages of typing, just when I hit "SAVE", the damned FP locked up. I'm not certain yet if the problem is Norton Utilities or something more sinister. I'm no conspiracy theorist, paranoid, or possessed of any seriously dangerous mental imbalances that I'm aware of, but I do know that occasionally programs develop absolute pathological hatreds of me. I dunno why.

Though, as I think about it, I probably know - I'd connected last night at a whopping 48,000 bps. My typical DUN speed is more along the lines of 44,000, although sometimes I get as low as 33,600. Figures.

Anyway, yesterday started with a whole lot of fiddling back and forth with the garage. First stop, no mechanic, no ideas, no parts. Called back when I got home (and Mrs. D had stiffened my backbone, I guess) and I ended up back there, for more waiting. Then, to the Farmer's Market - we picked up some longhorn cattle beef from the Northern Longhorn Alliance. Very condensed version - this guy made us a heck of a deal, but I now call him Mr. Evil - he's like a drug dealer in a way - he handed us a free package of cheddarwurst snack sticks, which are essentially beef and cheddar, about the side of a hotdog. So we ended up buying another package. He did point out, however, that Tiger Woods gets ten cents of every dollar he wins on the golf tour - the farmer gets about two cents for ever dollar's worth of beef you buy in a store. You get the opportunity, run down to the farmer's market, and look for the guys selling beef, pork, and other meats - they've got a lot of overhead (not that the produce farmers do not), but they take a heck of a lot more care when they sell direct. Let's put it this way. The folks at Roesch Farms typically take the top five to ten percent of their stock for their processing - they sell the lower-quality stuff to places like Hormel (sorry, spam-folk, but that's the truth). So when you go to your local Farmer's Market, you ARE getting the produce that's come from the top of the quality load.

So, anyway, after that we bought uniforms (and entered PLAID HELL in the process), hit the library, "Lupper" (cross between Lunch and Supper), hit the craft store for patches (and in the process picked up some good quality tee-shirts for about $3 a pop, less than half of what places like Target charge), got me some interview shirts (yes, I'm still unemployed), and got the kid's school supplies. Now, to work on the birthday lists...

Yesterday was a very very busy day - saw on the news last night that we spent 80% of our day yesterday running around in weather that didn't quite break the ninety degree mark, but our humidity was somewhere between 76 and 80 degrees. This put the "heat index" at up near 100 degrees. Alls I know is that there was a major yuck factor going on. One "benefit" of living in Minnesota... We get wind chills of -100^o in the winter, and during the summer, we get heat indexes of over 100^o. Call me sick, but I love the variety.

Now THAT'S annoying - apparently the time on this page is not showing up properly. I look at the page here in FP on my computer, and right NOW it says 9:27 am. My time zone is set correctly, and I've just changed the timestamp to indicate the time zone, which is -5 right here, right now. But when I publish this page, it reports that it's in a -4 zone, and the time's a few minutes short of an hour off. I'm guessing that this is coming from the server, but time to research. I'm beginning to understand why Mr. Syroid is hosting his own server. Then again, if I had both DSL and Cable modem available in this neck of the woods, I'd probably do the same (though I'm dying to hear how this fellow has managed to come by an AIX-based computer for his home server).

We had some wicked thunderstorms last night, and one "nearly" dropped power completely. I haven't got a UPS yet on these systems, but there are multiple layers of good-quality surge-protecting outlet bars (I typically purchase one to two new ones a year for household use - I get the good (but not $50 ones), and rotate them into computer use - then put the other ones elsewhere around the house). The cable TV went dark, and the computers dimmed, but didn't restart. We've been very lucky with the weather lately - I expected a real severe storm, given the dewpoints, the heat, and the constant presence yesterday of intermittent sun (computer people use the term "intermittent" but poets prefer the term "dappled" - yet another example of imprecise language usage <GRIN>)

Later: Yet more running around. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get through another four or five weeks worth of backlogs in the logs here and get them posted. Once I do, hallelujah, much rejoicing.

For those of you who miss the daily run-around, today we did Church, then after church was "donut Sunday" where we all hang out in the atrium and eat donuts. Then we ran to Home Depot and after about an hour of wandering, we bought a whopping $2.40 worth of lumber for a nice hardwood desktop for Rhiannon. Then, I get to the car (Jack was removed earlier because he was running in front of everyone), and find that Mrs. D has finally acquired her first plants of the year. Typically we've got something going on our deck railings, but this summer, between thinking about moving, deck remodeling, and so forth, she decided to can the deck garden. So that was fun. We then did Office Max, and I found a couple of scanners for $30 after refunds - one USB, one Parallel. Wow. Of course, the USB scanner is only 30 bit, and the parallel port is 36-bit. Time for research.

After that, I made a most unfortunate discovery. Near our home used to be a restaurant called Marie Callendar's. That place went out of business and was replaced after a few months by another called "Roadhouse Grill" - and it was there I had my REAL religious experience of the day... It was called the Bleu Cheddar Cheeseburger. They took a 1/2 pound of ground beef, grilled it up, and then put about three tablespoons of Bleu Cheese Dressing on top of the burger - THEN put a slice of cheddar and let it melt. And Melt. AND MELT. YUM. Of course, I'll regret it tomorrow morning - oatmeal and yogurt. Ugh.

Off to Rainbow, then home, and we really pretty much vegged the rest of the day. I did get my 11 resumes out though - and tomorrow I need to make phone calls... among other things.

Copyright � 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 John P. Dominik
Opinions expressed herein are my own, and my fault.
For further information, check out my other home page.

Daynotes on a budget

The weekly journal of a PC geek