dossier's smart ass web pageHave made some minor updates to the site!


Well, it's been a while since I updated here. All of May was a total disaster. The generator chose to fail the same week as that UPS, and would start up at any change in voltage, not just when the city power stopped. Not a problem? Sheeeeyaah. When it starts, it cuts off city power and supplies its own power, which means there’s a momentary, total power loss. We went about 20 rounds with Entergy, the Master Electrician that installed the power for it, and the generator company, until the problem was determined to be a bad motherboard in the power transfer switch itself. And, since the accounting database had no UPS, it died, along with every other PC in the building (not just WWTS). We lost a drive in the array on it twice, while the accounting company we contract with futzed around with the new batteries.

The batteries were really interesting, there are 40 lead-acid batteries inside there, about 4x6x3, all arranged very carefully. Turns out it’s a Powerware UPS, the DataGeneral tag on the front is a franchise thing. There were two batteries that actually had started to melt, and 4 more that scorched.

Then right on the heels of that, Navigant moved ahead with the conversion of our office to their network. They wanted a fiber backbone in the building, and they were going to replace about 20 switches with 3 fiber switches. The fiber installation was interesting, and the switchover was a really long day-I was there about 18 hours recabling and assisting Eric and John with resetting the internet on all the PC’s. The next day was spent tracking down a few problems, but things didn’t settle down for a week or so, until I got the rest of the bugs worked out.

During this time, Navigant had decided that they *did* need a network person, but I only heard about it from a third person. I called about it, and had a 2 hour conversation with M, my boss in that regard, and at no time did I get the impression that they were interested in *me* fro the job. I waited until after the conversion to see what it would be like to work with the network engineers, and at no time did I feel like I was anything but a lackey. So, I called and declined the position, taking instead the programmers job K had offered me. Damn it, M was upset; he had apparently thought I was a sure thing. But of course, I had to hear this from another third party! An agreement was made that I would stay on in my current position until the company-wide conversion was complete, and then they would replace me and I’ll go onto scripting. The network part of my job as it was has all been taken over by the Navigant engineers, and the part that’s left is the boring part. Scripting will great at first, but it’s possible that it will devolve into redoing the same thing over and over again, but that’s the chance I’ll take to work with someone that really wants me there, and isn’t afraid to say so—being needed and part of a team is #1 on my job satisfaction list, and the lack of communication from the Navigant side pretty much sealed the decision.

I went back to Houston in May for the USA Team Handball Championships. Partyman’s team made the cut, and they were all there. We had a great time watching them play, getting caught up with old friends and just relaxing. I took a few pictures, http://www.zonezine.net/~dossier/HNTHB04/hnthb04.html and of course the official team picture is there as well.

June and July have been pretty quiet. We did get the backyard finally cut and cleared, and that was a job and a half! Boy Unit is in Florida now (called me from Key West yesterday) and the A/C went out—just in time for record-breaking heat. It’s been 100-110 with the heat index, and the dogs and I are living with fans and cold showers. They really appreciated that; they stood quite still and were very happy to get cooled off.

Borrowed an ungodly amount of money from my 401K yesterday in an effort to get into a debt reduction program. I can hope to be out from underneath the crushing load in about 60 months—it’s not going to be east, and my credit rating will be in the trash, but I swear it’ll be worth it. Also going to consolidate my Student Loans, and save some money there, too. I took a reduction in benefits on my cancer insurance, and I’m still looking for ways to cut back.

I heard an interesting thing on NPR this week on “The Infinite Mind”, about the reward system of the brain in regard to dopamine levels and how they relate to addiction, or the expectation of reward. It brought to mind something N said about the self-medication that depressed people attempt, and I can see how that operates. Wellbutrin targets the dopamine levels, as does Zyban, by regulating the peaks and valleys of an unstable dopamine level. I’m thinking I really need to start doing something about this for me.

Being alone in the house is strange. I’m reminded of the months I lived here in AR alone just after I moved. Of course then I had to struggle with the cancer, and so it freed me to deal with it in my own way without anyone else’s expectations or fear—but all things considered, I’d rather not be alone.

- posted by dossier @ 8:01:00 AM