..:: The inSanitarium ::..

Sometimes people surprise me. I realize at this point I shouldn't be shocked, but I am. I honestly don't consider myself a level 1 tech any longer... I've been in this field for many years and do a lot on the side to continue advancing my knowledge of the tech field. I spend countless hours reading, researching, developing and testing until I fall asleep on this keyboard sometimes. It's not fun all the time and it's surely not that glamorous... but I enjoy knowing what I know.

Users can get to me, but a lot of times they don't know any better, so I try to educate as well as assist. What really gets me is when another IT person, whom I need the assistance of because of their level of access(not necessarily their level of intelligence) to help me. What really bothers me is when a person can't read what I write to document what I've did. If I come looking for help that means I've exhausted ALL avenues of my skills. I realize that in my job sometimes asking for something to be done requires more than just resetting a computer... perhaps something that takes a bit of time. Trust me, if I had the access I'd do it myself... set me at a server and I'll go to town. Just irks me when I'm told exactly what I already know; exactly what I wrote to everyone. So when I get things back to me don't be surprised when I respond to you with "well, no shit!"

All in all things finally got fixed. I'd like to thank the people in my department for helping out and letting me bounce ideas off of you all; I appreciate it greatly and I appreciate the user's patience... probably one of the nicest and understanding people I've ever spoken with.

Today just didn't go well at all. I finally had to reimage my own machine... same software package for a year and a half! That's a new record for me... ever. What gets me here is that I don't control these images... I get a base image and have to configure and install the rest of what I need. Now I don't mind that, I like to have a personalized computer... makes working a bit easier when I know where I've put things; but when the base package doesn't even work, doesn't simply include Office. I'm speechless... just speechless.

Well this Monday started like all the rest.

I'm glad to see the new site is getting some traffic. Thanks guys!

I'd like to start off by saying please, if you don't understand something or don't know how to do something and you have to ask, I don't mind answering your question, but please, don't make an ass of yourself by not listening. Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder why I try.

So I had an interesting run in with windows genuine advantage today. I'm not going to focus on the lack of understanding terminology; but damn... this WGA stuff isn't nice at all. I've installed it on the laptop just so I can grab updates, but it's a bit rediculous that they require it for Office. Ok, so you piggyback the WGA install with Office updates, but the WGA is for the operating system. A bit misleading yes. Since it downloads with Office then a user suspects it's coming from Office. A valid belief for an end-user, nothing to mock. What a piece of crap; nothing like installing spyware on a person's computer Microsoft. Good job. If memory serves me correctly did MS not acquire a spyware company? So why is this any surprise to me that they'd stoop to such a low to install software that falls just short of hijacking your entire computer.

Ok, so enough of my rant on technology. Here's to all the updates by companies that will break a person's computer and/or ability to surf the internet. Cheers! You give us job security.

I'm happy to announce that HelldeskForum.com is now live!

Got the sweetest gift this weekend too; a fender electric guitar and amp. I mean wow, very cool and sounds awesome! If the person that gave it to me is reading this; thank you soooo much! Really put a smile on my face.

What a freaking boring day! Damn. Nothing good to report today... AT ALL! I'm training the new night crew but the phones are so slow; just nothing to do at all. Wish I had thought ahead and taken time off like everyone else for the long weekend... and another thing that pisses me off is the weather. It feels like crap outside; looks nasty, but guess what... no storms tonight. I need to move back to Oklahoma or Texas.

Sorry it's been quiet here; just a few updates right now.

I've spent days bringing our new night crew up to speed. First time I've done a total and complete training. I had 2 live webcasts from our studio at work last week; this was new to me... frankly it's kind of fun doing a live webcast.

Moving on... Something big is in the works; I'm not going to divulge too much right now; I'm still trying to get the development started but I've got the new name in place. Nothing there right now but an add from the host but I've got my banner up for now; hoping to get a little cranked out this weekend... So if you get a chance take a look at www.helldeskforum.com  I'm hoping it will become a great site! Lots of potential.

Well that's all for now; and yea, if you call me don't call me a fuck face while I'm at work... EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU! hahahaha

Nothing really new to report; just real busy with work and trying to stay out of the heat. I'm happy to say the corolla passed inspection and for sitting for 6 months without an engine it only had 2 error codes; nothing out of the ordinary, I knew something would show up.

I've been getting very short tempered with people lately. I realize people may think they're asking a stupid question when in fact they aren't... It's the rest that I know that repeatedly make an ass of themself in front of others or random people I meet that bother me, maybe by honking at me while I'm sitting at a red light. I truly think people are getting ruder by the day. Take this for example, do a google search for "How Not To Steal A Sidekick". This guy had a phone picked up from a cab and these people kept it and started using it. Now they threaten to sue him since he's posted his story on the web. Oh well. Deal with it; you steal something, you get the harassment you deserve, no one is making you keep it and certainly not making you use it. Transmitting your username AND password via the sidekick that doesn't belong to you... not smart. And the world is full of people like this, mostly working in the higher up areas of the government. I mean wow, how do these "law makers" actually survive each day. Doesn't walking and breathing become too difficult?

I dunno, I give up with people sometimes. On a better note, though, I'm finally done revamping a client's website... now fully compliant and looks nicer.

Well after 6 months or so of this toyota corolla being out of action it finally runs! Got ahold of a used engine with a lot fewer miles for real cheap; just 6 parts were more expensive. Left early on Friday and picked it up. I date anyone else to try, 26 hours total work... Tore is apart, rebuilt it and dropped it in, tuned it up and it purrs like a kitten. 26 hours. Cannot be done!

I am a believer. Well maybe not a full believer. Was talking with Kaos out front tonight, glancing around, and some orange blinking lights caught my eye. There were 7 of them that faded and moved out of view. No it wasn't South Mountain, those lights are red. Thinking I saw a UFO gave me the chills! This is from a different angle but this is what they kind of looked like.

I keep telling myself I'll get back on this and at least update the site. Got my latest project deployed. http://www.ambrosiaglassart.com

The weather is once again getting warmer. This summer I'll go back through certification for my Skywarn training. I really enjoy this laptop. Image editting is a breeze. Even started on eBay again, I'm really hoping it goes well. With gas prices any extra $$ helps. Because of the raising prices I have a bad feeling that storm chasing season won't even occur. At least I'll be ready... finally getting a replacement part for my AC in the truck and a couple of new tires. Finally.

What can I say, I'm thrilled at how this deployment has gone so far. Day 2, I'm ready to make a few changes... customize some pre-chat survey questions and make them more fitting to the organization's needs. Server bug showed it's ugly face right before we went live today but cleared up with no problem. I'm ready to just walk down to the server room with a can of RAID and take care of it. I'm glad to see, even though the links aren't on the public site yet, that people are interested in this solution. In fact there was a 100% increase in traffic today from yesterday and offline message counts are climbing rapidly.

So I'm glad that this is working... it's only been on the back burner for 2 years. Other than that not much else to report. Finally heard from Troy again... Dude, ya can't just run away into WoW. I wanna hang out but I'm just not into this WoW stuff everyone likes. I just can't figure out why it's addicting to people. Give me Diablo 2 anyday, or better yet Halo.

Other than that not much new going on. I've still got howmanybeers.com lingering in the back of my brain. I'd like to get some motivation for that going on, throw out some graphics and see what I can come up with. Hotornot was a hit and still is in it's own respects... so I think howmanybeers.com could be a potential money maker as well. I'd at least like to see it do fairly well traffic-wise.

Now that the weather is warming up some I'm reminded I NEED a discharge hose for the truck. No AC is beginning to suck. I keep putting it off and I'm going to end up like last year where it's backordered until December again. So with complaining about that I will leave you all now and get some rest. Please don't forget to turn out the light as you leave. Cheers!

Well this chat program at work has been on hold for 2 years, but it's finally deployed, been in my hands for almost 2 months but it's deployed and in pilot status right now... And the best thing is it worked perfectly!

So I'm diving head first into SharePointer server 2003, not the easiest software in my mind, but has great promise at work... and I just heard today that I get to actually sit down with a MS guy to help iron out any grey areas I may have.

So I went to the computer recycle at Red Mountain today, Trixxer was there and while we were watching over and helping the students he whipped out his blackberry. First time I've used the browser but it's nice to see that my efforts at XHTML compatibility was worth it, the site looked great!

I realize once again it has been too long since my last post. Hopefully some new change on the horizon.

I haven't received many hits on my resume on Dice and Monster since my last post here but have been told about a new training position at work. Hopefully this will come about and mean a raise or possibly a raise into management.

I am finally nearing the point of finishing this car I started working on 6 months ago. I'm ordering a new crankshaft and everything so I'm hoping within the next week it will be running once again!

Well I'm almost half way through this week. I'm tired. No matter what I continue to get tired. I can't seem to get my energy back, and more stuff keeps piling up. So tax season is upon us. I really want to tell the government to stick it; in the last 5 years we have, well I should say the government has, managed to build up trillions of $$ of debt. Ok, so cost of living goes up, gas prices keep climbing, and now I'm supposed to pay taxes after having them taken out all year long. I fail to see the fairness in this example, however when talking about the united states government, there is little fairness to be had unless you are a corrupt official set at world domination.

I am steadily growing more tired of the way life is... It's rediculous and pathetic. I'm lucky if I see any good in anything from day to day, and each thing I try to do is taken, and then thrown away. I've had this feeling for a while that nothing I do matters. I'm quite concerned actually. When did things take such a turn? How does one pull out of such a thing and make things better for #1 instead of just everyone else? I guess these are just life's mysteries that will remain unsolved throughout our times.

Anyways on a different note, I'm happy to say nothing is going well... Except submitting my resume to dice and monster. I've gotten some spam, I expected that, but I'm actually getting some decent hits. I'm hoping sometime soon a good one will hit and I'll be able to jump at the opportunity... I get the feeling things where I am currently are the best they will ever get... yet I feel there is much room for improvement there, I just don't see it turning around anytime soon, and the political crap that I deal with is just becoming too much of a burden. Seriously, how many times do I have to reitterate that AD is important to a network and I want access to such a resource; some people need to shut their mouth and not ruin it for others that have worked hard at gaining such access. Also, when one answers calls all day and spits out the same response, goes through the same process each time... Obviously your #1 suggestion to a caller is wrong so you go to #2 each time... How about opening up your brain box and actually thinking for yourself for once rather than dumming on. My IQ drops each time and I must reboot my brain in safe mode so as not to get bad sectors.

A long time ago I posted a resume on careerbuilder.com... I found that service was great if you wanted to be spammed. I've heard good things about Dice.com and Monster... It'll be interesting to see if I can get any results.