On the Road

Well, for my tens of fans who follow my every move, the family and I are on the road. Our house and pets are being watched over by the ever vigilant COLLEGEGIRL, so we know they are in good hands.

Other than enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of Lenoir City, Tennessee (Lake Capital of the South) we made the discovery Dozer actually sounds a lot like Sean Connery.

I would not be surprised if he gets his own segment around here.

Terror in a Chinese Cookie!

OK, I don't know whether to be flattered, or terrified. We had chinese food tonight. The family and I were opening up our fortune cookies and laughing at the fortunes until we got to mine.

No lie. Here is my fortune verbatim.

"An admirer is concealing HIS affection for you."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who is he?

Oldest Boy

Oldest boy complains about the Wife's singing. Here is the IM exchange.

(9:19:29 AM) Andrew: Mom is singing the wrong lyrics to a song, while the song is on!
(9:19:43 AM) Houston: she is allowed to do it
(9:20:20 AM) Andrew: It is bothering me!
(9:20:37 AM) Houston: So sing a counter-melody with the correct lyrics
(9:21:57 AM) Andrew: Christopher says you smell bad
(9:22:21 AM) Houston: I hope he likes sleeping outside

Christopher will pay for his amusement when I get home. Revenge will be mine.

Sleepytime

OK, so my son Benjamen was getting him room made over by the Wife and me. When we came to discussing his bed I suggested we get rid of the bed as he never sleeps in it. Ben prefers to sleep on an old couch we left in his room as he thinks the bed is too "Soft."

Now before you freak out on me, he has sensory issues related to his Aspergers, so whatever makes him comfortable is what works for me. So the couch seemed sensible. We helped him clean and rearrange his room placing the play table his great grandfather made for him in the middle of the room. We also hung his new chair from the ceiling so he can spin and relax.

We came downstairs this morning to find Ben fast asleep...


on his play table.

Fun Fun and More Fun

So anyway. Here I am working the same call from last night.

(sigh)

After much poking and prodding the tech finally says "Oh yeah, we might have made a change."

Sheeze.

Good news is my company wants me to audition to be in a promotional video shoot. My response...

No thank you.

Sorry, but the last thing in the world they should want is a big ugly guy like me showing my mug as the face of the company.

Besides, they spend money on everything else, why not actors to pretend to be employees.

Another One From Our Finest

OK, so call comes in and I take it. I know the guy, nice guy not the hardest worker ever, but nice guy.

PBX reset today, he has an open ticket because this has happened before.

I look through the comments, the original engineer asked for a modem a week ago. So I ask if they got a modem hooked up and if the other engineer grabbed some trap info.

(pause)

Uhhhhh... no. Hang on, I'll set one up. Let me steal one from this server

(sigh)

How depressing. A PBX is going in the dirt, we are called for help and you don't even do the first thing we ask you to do.

What great customer service you are providing.

Tech Haiku

OK, to keep the tens of hits coming every week, here is my next TECH HAIKU.

I.T. calls today
My P.C. has a virus
Thanks tech from the field

Also. I AM BOUND AND DETERMINED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS WEEKS 100 WORD STORY.

Really, I am. I even had a middle of the night inspiration. This weeks subject is "Cheating." I am struck in the middle of the night by a certain sports celebrity doing steroids.

I think I can do it justice. If I can get off my rump and do it.

Amnesty

OK, so here is another political outburst. I try to keep these rare.

So if this new plan goes into place there is a method by which illegal aliens can go back through and get Legal Alien status. It will give them an easier way into the country but there will still be limits.

What happens to the ones who can't get in?

Why they will come across the border Illegally. Work in jobs illegally and drive down the driven down wages of the legal (formerly illegal) aliens.

So we wind up right back where we started. Thank you Government.

The Slow Downward Spiral

I am so discouraged with the Texas Rangers that I may have to start writing Haikus about them...

Wow, to think I am terrified of a series against the ASTROs.

(sigh)

Need to Smack a Data Guy!

OK, I am very frustrated with a data guy right now.

The complaint is that our proprietary signaling is not sending a MAC address to their Cisco Switch. Despite the fact that this is a layer two function and should be sent regardless.

Our guy asks the tech to run a sniffer trace on the VLAN and send it to us. The tech responds with, he thinks that has already been done and he will talk to the IT guy when he gets in.

This is what I have to look forward to now. Not only proving to Telco what their problems are, but now proving to the IT guys what their problems are and telling them how to fix them.

I still fail to understand with such a HUGE voice background as my company has, why the finger of blame seems to get pointed to us so much.