What a week!

I'm glad this one is nearly over. It started out okay - until I got to work Monday. I was faced with an epidemic of computers suddenly suffering strokes, heart attacks, and various other maladies. It was as if they had all suddenly decided it was time to retire and head for the old PC's home. Granted, the majority are nearing 5 years old, with some actually almost 7 years old - ancient in PC years. Since we purchased 55 at the same time, and most all are in constant use nearly 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, it comes as no surprise that they are suffering the same fate we humans do when we reach old age. They creak and groan when they are asked to move quickly, they are slow to get going after a nap, they have frequent lapses in memory, and some days they simply won't get out of bed. Monday I had to rebuild two of our most popular public access PCs. They simply went berserk. These two were given to us through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundaton's Library Program. They have been reliable machines despite their heavy use. The only downside to them was that they were still running Windows NT and we have moved to Windows 2000 and XP. As a result, I could not manage them from my desk as I do the others, and they did not communicate with our servers in quite the same way. Upgrading them to Win2K was an option, but making all the Gates software available and still taking advantage of the strict security profiles the Gates Foundation created is an ordeal, so I was not ready to do that yet. That all changed on Monday. They simply would not work properly. Then, they wouldn't work at all. Time to rebuild. They both now run Win2K and integrate perfectly with my network, but the Gates software is not yet available. I have not had time to make that happen yet. Since they are primarily used for the internet and word processing, the other software is not that big a deal (Encarta, Streets & Maps, and a couple other programs). Those two rebuilds took most of my day.

Then came Tuesday. I started getting reports of super slow computers at the public access stations. Two computers simply stop going anywhere, not quite freezing up, but moving so slowly they seem to be frozen. It appears the anti-virus is slowing them down as it attempts to update. Turns out these machines have a meager 64MB RAM, a BIOS that needs updating, and are just getting tired. I upgrade the RAM on one since the other one seems to be in constant use. I get the anti-virus updated and running as it should, and things seem to be moving along fine for now. I start checking the logs of the anti-virus distribution server and notice that three of my public computers and two staff computers are infested with spyware. No wonder they're running so slowly! Spybot Search & Destroy v. 1.3 t the rescue. This stuff is the best - and it's free (you can donate if you like). Despite my security measures, and due to a temporary change in security settings, three public computers did have spyware on them. I have far less strict security on our staff workstations (that is going to change this week). Some of our staff like to visit web sites that are notorious for spyware - like astrology sites, shopping sites, and "free stuff" sites. Two staff computers were so filled with spyware it took me four runnings of Spybot to clean them completely. I have banned the offending web sites from being accessed, but that doesn't mean the problem will end. I loathe spyware (don't we all). So, that was Tuesday. Oh, and that was the day my husband got the chip/dent in our Audi. And Tuesday afternoon my son tells me he has another paper due on Thursday that he needs me to edit for him. That's not a big deal, except in order to really evaluate his writing, I kind of have to know what he's doing his essay on, which means reading the book or papers or whatever. Fortunately, this one was on a very short book, more of a devotional really, by John Calvin, pretty much the "father of the Reformation." I enjoyed the book immensely. It did actually make me stop to consider my behavior as a Christian - something that could use a lot of work. I'm glad I read it. It also led me to look into the whole idea of predestination. I found some awesome websites with great insight into the doctrine. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the doctrine and decide how I feel about it. That has been the sort of bright spot in my week.

Wednesday did not start off well. First, my dad calls with computer problems. His computer is stuck at the screen that says "updating DMI pool" or something like that. Apparently it had been working fine. My mom was playing solitaire, went to show Dad an email, and it screeched to a halt. Dad did what most people would do, sadly, and hit the reset button. That's when it got stuck. He called me. Not seeing the computer (he lives in Montana, 60 miles from me), I could only guess what might be the problem. I thought maybe it just needed to reset the BIOS, so I had him go into setup and we tried a few things. Nothing. After 20 minutes on the phone I realized I'd have to have the offending box in my office. He would bring it to me Thursday. Then the library attorney calls. He has been trying for two weeks now to reinstall Windows 95 on his 7 year old PC that he decided to rebuild. He's had all sorts of problems, the main one being that he can't get his system to recognize his CD after he boots to the Win95 setup floppy. Unfortunately, he had replaced the CD since the computer was made and since he had made his recovery disk, so he had the wrong drivers. He wanted to put XP on it. After he read me the system specs I informed him XP would not run on it. I told him to bring it to me and I'd fix it for him - or he could buy a new Dell since, at 7 years old, he was running on borrowed time. I'm not sure yet which option he has chosen. Guess I'll know if I see him next week, PC under one arm, heading for my office. Then, my best friend's husband calls. He can't get his computer online when his anti-virus is enabled. He keeps getting some popup when he tries to connect. I finally realize the anti-virus firewall service is just asking him if the proxy client his ISP requires him to run is an okay program to allow to connect to the internet. Once we get to that - about 20 minutes into the call - I tell him to say "yes" and he connects. Then it's back downstairs to work on our filtered computers. I have built a new profile that loads faster than the old one, but in order to use it, I have to uninstall Office 2000 and install Office 2003 on each machine. The rest of the day, until 7:30 that night, is spent working on that. Intermingled with those projects, I am receiving drafts of my son's paper from him, making editorial comments and suggestions, sending them back for him to rewrite, send back to me for review, and so on. We finally finish that at about 7:00. He has to go get ready for the haunted house his dorm puts on every year. I finish up and go home, tired and aggravated.

Thursday morning I am accosted as I walk in the staff entrance. "Gina, I need your help with my computer. It won't do anything." I haven't even made it to my desk to drop off my purse or lunch yet. I sit down, start on her computer, and find that it too is infested with spyware. I'm going to have to implement some serious security restrictions on our staff profiles in order to stem this flow of spyware. It's getting ridiculous. That project took me an hour. I am no sooner walking upstairs to my office when I am told my folks are here. I greet them, take the offending PC from my dad, and head to the "hospital." I boot up the PC, jump into the BIOS, figuring I will find the ECD reset that he could not. Nope, it does not exist. Weird. So, I let it try to boot... yep, stuck at the "updating DMI pool" screen. Then Dad tells me something he didn't mention before. He had at some point changed the boot options form "C only" to "CDROM, C, floppy". After he did that, he got an error saying there was no CD in the drive from which to boot. Okay, so the DMI pool is updating but, for some reason, it won't boot and won't throw a hard drive error, no boot device present error, or something like that. Hmmmm. I put my XP CD in the drive and let it boot to XP. When I go into the recovery console I get a C prompt. I try to do a dir and get an error saying "can't enumerate directory" or something along those lines. Hmmmm. So, then I boot to the CD again and act as if I'm going to reinstall XP. I get to the screen that shows your hard drive and existing partition. Usually it will show the Windows folder and tell you an installation already exists, do you want to overwrite it. Or it will show you the drive and partition size, format, etc. This time it shows the drive as C but the partition as "partition unknown". Gulp. My folks are looking at the screen, then at me. I must have had a scared look on my face because they both asked "what does that mean?" I started to ask if they had important stuff on their computer, but stopped. I knew they did. Gulp. I told them to leave and come back after they'd run their errands and I'd figure out how to fix it. Trustingly, they did just that. Fortunately, my initial panic subsided and cooler heads prevailed. I realized this was likely just a corruption of the MBR (master boot record) and XP has utilities to repair that sort of thing. I rebooted into the console, switched to the CD drive, and ran fixboot c:. Quicker than you can say "Microsoft" it was repaired. I booted the computer, logged on, and began cleaning out more spyware than you can imagine.

My dad has a penchant for "free" "cool" software. Of course, almost nothing is free. The price is spyware. When my folks returned to see their computer humming along, a look of relief crossed both their faces. Then I gave Dad my sternest warning: "No more free stuff, Dad. Do not download anything unless I say it's okay!" I was in the midst of cleaning off all the old "free" programs he had installed, cleaning the registry, and dumping temporary files so I showed him what a mess he had made. He gets it now. He called me this morning to tell me he ran Disk Cleanup and freed up another 1GB hard drive space. He's a happy camper.

Then my uncle from California called. His computer is giving him the dreaded BSOD with an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error. I walk him through starting in safe mode and doing a system restore. Still won't work. We go back even farther. Nothing. It's a Dell, still under warranty, so I tell him to call them. I don't have time. I have to go downstairs and replace two floppy drives, rebuild another computer, and add more RAM to two.

On a happier note, my son is home from college for fall break. He picked me up from the body shop yesterday afternoon and we met my husband at Chili's in Coeur d'Alene for dinner. We drove home where our cat gleefully met our son at the door after hearing his car in the driveway. She adores him. He was hoping some of his friends from school would accompany him home, but that didn't work out. He's pretty disappointed, but he'll get over it. I'm thinking maybe his roommate, Nathan, might want to come back with us Saturday and go back on Monday with Jonathan. And then again, maybe he likes being in Mac almost by himself. Jonathan wanted Travis to come too, but he also opted to stay in the dorm. I guess a trip to some guy's parents' house isn't very cool - not like going to a ski cabin in Sun Valley or a condo on the beach. I promised both of them I'd cook whatever they like, but that didn't impress either of them. Oh well. At least we get to hang out with Jonathan for a few days. We are going to go over Saturday and help him and Nathan rearrange their dorm room. It's not arranged very efficiently at the moment. They did some measuring and figured out a much better use of their very limited space, so we offered to lend our assistance, which they gladly accepted.

So, maybe it was the full moon, the eclipse, PMS - who knows - but the week has been awful. I'm praying the weekend is much better.

Chipped already!

So, I just got a phone call from my husband. He starts the call by saying "you're not going to believe it..." Immediately I feel a churning in my stomach. You see, he drove the Audi to work today - 45 miles down a two lane highway notorious for frequent accidents, reckless drivers, etc. "What?!" I ask, choking back panic. "The Audi got two dents and three rock chips in the front fender. I'm just sick. Just sick." comes his reply in a voice filled with distress. "Okay, what do you mean dents - how big are they? How big are the chips?" "Big. Big and noticeable." My imagination is running wild. Did a piece of metal fly up and hit the car? A boulder? What? "Okay, how big? The size of a nickel, dime, what?" "Well, the rock chips are about 1/8" in diameter - the biggest one - two smaller ones right behind it, and the dents look like someone took a nail and just tapped it into the fender twice." Okay, so not huge like I was imagining, but chips and dents in our barely a week old car. Disconcerting, but not reason for panic. He has a tendency to overreact. I'll call our favorite body shop, the one that miraculously repaired my BMW when it was t-boned by an idiot driver two years ago, the one that flawlessly repaired a huge door ding in the passenger door of the Beetle when the wind whipped a co-worker's car door into my door two years ago, the one I know will fix this problem perfectly. It's in Spokane, but it's worth the trek. This shop, Precision Collision, owned by Gary Larson, is incredible. Gary is a perfectionist who won't let a vehicle leave his shop unless it is perfectly repaired. I trust him implicitly. He will fix the Audi. The insurance will cover part of the cost. It's not as awful as my husband thinks it is, but it is sickening to have to have body work done on a brand new car so soon. That's the "joy" of living in North Idaho. Needless to say, he won't be driving it to work again anytime soon.

The Ultimate Self-Help Book

I was conversing with some of my co-workers last week about the plethora of self-help books in print. During the course of our conversation it dawned on me that I could - and should - write the ultimate self-help/diet book. Heck, with my life experiences, I could write on virtually every topic imaginable. Well, okay, I could not write about how to stop smoking as I"ve never smoked, or substance abuse, as I have never abused any substance except food. On the other hand, I could write an encyclopedia on dieting. I've pretty much tried them all and had some measure of success with most. Of course, I've had an even greater measure of failure, as have most of us. It really does all boil down to calories in/calories out - in other words, eat less, exercise more. Now, if only I would follow my own advice.

But seriously, I think I should write the consummate self-help/diet book in the vein of Peg Bracken's "I Hate to Cook" or "I Hate to Housekeep" books. For those of you too young to remember her, Peg Bracken was the anti-Martha Stewart of her day. My mom owned every one of her books. They were nifty little paperbacks filled with wonderfully simple tips for creating tantalizing dinners, quickly making your house look spiffy for the impending in-law visit, or knowing which fork or spoon to use at that fancy company dinner you have to attend. She filled her books with humor, making the lessons "stick" that much better. I'm thinking some sort of humorous book that is helpful on an array of topics. Some chapter ideas are: Resolving Family Conflicts - Siblings, Parent/Child, Adult Children, Extended Family Relationships; Dealing with Divorce - Your Own, Your Parents', Your Children's; Building Blended Families That Work; Dos and Don'ts of Stepparenting; Successful Dieting; Preparing for and Going Through Menopause; Handling Empty-Nest Syndrome; Dealing with Depression - Yours, His, Theirs; The Joys of Grandparenting - The Reward for Raising Teenagers; Caring for Elderly Parents; Housekeeping for the Organizationally Challenged; Guilt-free Parenting for the Working Woman... and that's just a start. So, toss out Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, The South Beach Diet, Atkins, all of them. This book will replace them all.

Now, I just have to start writing it. Ideas for other chapters are enthusiastically encouraged, as are anecdotal accounts that could be incorporated in the book. I really should totally do this. Maybe on another blog. I'm pondering this idea. Suggestions welcome!

Photographic memory

I got a new digital camera! I had an Olympus C-404Z that I loved. I bought it very slightly used from a guy in town who upgraded to a Nikon 5MP camera about two years ago. I had all sorts of extras for the camera - lens adapter with three filters (UV, Polarizing, and fluorescent), AC adapter, remote, 128MB memory card, and memory card reader. I have taken hundreds of photos with it. It suffers from the usual digital camera weaknesses - slow shutter response, somewhat weak low-light focusing, and wimpy zoom - but overall it rocks. Well, I get emails from Costco.com regularly. About a month ago they had the Olympus C-755 UZ on sale for $479 with a $100 off coupon that was applied at checkout. What is so cool about the C-755? It has a 10x optical zoom! The only thing I really was disappointed about with my C-4040Z was the 3x optical zoom. I saw this camera and decided I had to have it. But how could I justify spending $400 on a new camera when my kid just went off to an insanely expensive college? I had a plan.

I am the library's resident photographer. Whenever there is some event that we want to memorialize photographically, they come to me. Sometimes, they don't come to me until moments before the event. Several times I have not had my camera with me at work, meaning we had to resort to disposable cameras as a means of capturing the event on film. Well, when I saw the C-755UZ I decided it was high time the library bought its own digital camera - MINE! So I planted the seed in my boss's ear. I mentioned all the extras, worth over $150, that would accompany the purchase, the fact that the camera was easy to use so anyone could take photos, not just me, and the fact that I had convinced him to buy the exact same camera a year ago, so he was quite well versed in its workings. He agreed it would be a wise purchase, but didn't give me the go-ahead. A month passed. I decided to order the camera anyway. I then sent out an email to the staff telling them my camera was for sale with all the extras for $425. I had a few inquiries but no takers. Then, Monday, my boss asked me if I still had my camera for sale. I did and I had it at the library. He inspected it and its accessories and then gave the finance department the okay to buy it from me! So, I have my new camera at a net cost of -$3.00!!

Now, how does it compare? I LOVE it! The zoom is awesome and the macro capabilities are even better than the C-4040Z. It has an electronic viewfinder so you get an accurate portrayal of what you're shooting. The shutter is still digital camera slow and low light focusing is still an issue, but I can live with those problems for the majority of my photographic endeavors. It takes the new xD memory cards. It comes with a 16MB card - much too small - so I wll be buying a 128MB or 256MB card, depending on price. Here's a very informative review of the camera from Steve's Digicams. I checked this out before I bought the camera and saw nothing to be concerned about. Now that I have the camera in hand, I find I love it even more than the C-4040z. I haven't had a chance to really play with it yet, but when I do I'll post some pics here.

Time to take the cat to the vet. This is an ordeal I am not looking forward to. Getting her into her cat carrier is a real test of wills. If she even sees it before I drop her into it, I'll have scratches all over my arms. I have to be sneaky, very sneaky. Wish me luck!

Hot Wheels

First, an update on yesterday

I survived my first performance review - giving one, not getting one. My assistant seemed to take the comments I had well, acknowledging her weaknesses as I had hoped she would (and as I did during my review). Unfortunately, she was pushing for a job classification change for which her job duties simply do not qualify her. Though the reasoning behind not giving her the classicification change were presented very well by our HR guy, and though I only supervise 12% of her duties (being my assistant only comprises an average of 5 hours a week of her 35 hours), she includes me in the blame for not receiving the promotion. Her other supervisor recommended her for promotion, but her recommendation was based primarily on her duties assisting me, not on her other duties. Well, quite frankly, her duties assisting me actually are categorized as being expected of someone two classifications below her current classification. At just 12% of her job duties, even if they did qualify for a higher classification, they don't comprise the majority of her duties so, again, she doesn't qualify for the promotion. Needless to say, she is not happy. Before the discussion about the promotion things had gone quite well. Sadly, I think her disappointment about the promotion overshadowed the rest of her review and she left a very unhappy person. Hopefully, she'll get over it sooner than later. I understand her frustration. She contends that she brings 40 years of business expertise to the job and that we are benefitting from that experience. That may well be the case, but the job doesn't require that expertise so, in fairness to other staff in the same classification, with or without years of expertise, we can't promote her based on that. A promotion has to be warranted by the work you do, not by what you could do or have done. If a doctor takes a job at Wal-Mart, they're not going to compensate him for his years of education or experience. He's going to get paid what the job pays. Unfortunately, she doesn't agree that she should not be compensated for what she brings to the table, despite her actual duties. Before we had our job descriptions and salary scale in place, previous directors and supervisors did just give random promotions. It sort of depended on how well you could argue your case, regardless of the actual merits of your case. If you could argue long enough, loudly enough, and hard enough, you usually got what you wanted. It was so unfair to so many deserving, but more "polite" staff that we finally wrote up job descriptions, classification qualification questionnaires, and a salary scale with written criteria for advancement. Now, when someone is promoted, there is a valid, documentable reason for the promotion. People who are adept at getting what they want through bullying, haranguing, or just plain wearing down their supervisors don't like the system we have in place now, but most staff agree that it is very fair.

Hot Wheels

So, one thing I didn't mention yesterday - we bought a new car. Previously, we had a 2002 VW Beetle TDI, a 2004 VW Jetta TDI, and our two older, paid for cars - 1992 Suburban and 1985 BMW 635CSi. Friday morning we had to take the Beetle to Appleway VW in Spokane to have the heated side mirrors replaced. They had stopped working last winter. Apparently there was design flaw, so they were replaced under warranty. While we were there, we decided to take the Audi A4 quattro for a test drive. We have always wanted one, but Tom didn't want to drive it up and down the highway to work and back, so we had never seriously considered one. The test drive was fun. It's a great car. It handles beautifully, has great suspension, Tiptronic transmission (the Porsche tranny that you can shift manually if you want to or drive in normal automatic mode), the most advanced all-wheel drive system available, and a host of other great features. It was a fun drive. When we got back, our salesman said the usual "so, let's do the paperwork", as if we were going to buy it. Yeah, right Paul. We jokingly said "you make it affordable, we'll do it" and walked back to check on the Beetle. When we got back, Paul had some numbers for us. Well, they were too high. He asked what it would take to do the deal. We told him the payments would have to be close to what we're currently paying and the initial outlay had to be virtually nothing. We went to eat lunch. When we returned, to our shock, he had put together a deal we could not pass up! So, we traded in the Jetta for an Ocean Blue Pearl Effect 2005 Audi 1.8T A4 AT5 with the Ultra Sport package, which means it has 18" alloy sport wheels and tires and a gorgeous ground effects package. This car is amazing. I am a huge BMW nut and this car actually makes me forget BMWs. I know, that's sacrilege, but it's true. The handling, the sound of the exhaust, the features... it is awesome! And the dealership treats us so well. A frequent complaint amomg BMW owners is how shabbily BMW dealerships treat them. We have been dealing with Appleway for 3 years now, having bought 5 cars in three years from them (yes, they love us there and I think we've set a record) . They have an awesome service department, awesome sales reps, and just provide overall excellent customer service. So, I just went from driving the Beetle daily to driving the Audi back and forth to work. We don't want to put a zillion miles on it, so Tom will only drive it one week a month. We'll likely keep this car instead of trade it in at the end of the lease. I love the color too! My husband was never keen on the Wheat Beige of the Jetta. He always wanted a silver one. This ocean blue is gorgeous, especially in the sun. Now we have a Marlin Blue Pearl Beetle (dark blue with purple pearl effect), an Ocean Blue Pearl Audi (sort of "Duke blue" - sort of), a Cosmos Blau (sky blue metallic - sort of a silver-blue) BMW, and a Teal Blue Suburban. Hmmm, I see a theme here. So, here's a photo of it from the Audi site.

Anyway, that's the new daily driver. It rocks! Surprisingly, it gets about 33MPG on the highway, which is pretty good for a 1.8 turbo with all-wheel drive.

Well, time to go to work again.

Brief update

I have been way too busy. As a result, my blog is suffering. Nothing worse than a blog that doesn't get updated, in my opinion. Readers stop visiting. So... a brief update before I head off to work.

College Life

Last weekend was Parent's Weekend at Whitworth, my son's college. Though we have seen Jonathan nearly every weekend since he left for college (it's only a little more than an hour away), it was still great being able to hang out with him for most of the weekend and see him in his environment, amongst his friends. We also had the pleasure of seeing his roommate' parents again. I really, really like them. JoAnn and I just seem to click. We talk easily about all sorts of stuff - mainly our boys, but about other things as well. Tom is great too, but I have to admit, when the four of us are together, usually JoAnn and I are talking together while Tom and Tom (both dads are named Tom) are talking together, so I don't get to interact with him as much as I do JoAnn. Regardless of what happens with our boys - whether or not they continue rooming together in the ensuing college years - I am sure JoAnn and I will remain friends. Meeting her was one of the best things to come out of Nathan being Jonathan's roommate.

As part of Parent's Weekend we took in a Whitworth football game. After a week of stunningly gorgeous autumn weather, things took a turn for the worse. Saturday started off cloudy and cool and soon became drizzly and cold. It didn't actually rain during the game, but it had rained so the bleachers were wet. The Harrisons had this great blanket thingee to sit on, but it was only big enough for 3 of us. They were generous enough to share it with Tom and me. JoAnn and I took up most of it, leaving both Toms to sit mostly on the wet bleachers. Thanks guys! You're the best! Though it didn't rain, it was cold with a slight breeze nipping at us throughout most of the game. We left with just a couple of minutes left in the game with Whitworth up 38-21 after taking full advantage of two fumbles by University of Puget Sound and an interception by Whitworth. We saw the end of the game as we walked to McMillan Hall, my son's dorm. After the game we "chilled" with Jonathan. Saturday night, we went to see A Man For All Seasons, put on by the Whitworth drama department. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The guys weren't having all that great a time though. Both were tired, it was warm in the auditorium, and they were both falling asleep so, sadly, we left at intermission. I love theater and had hoped seeing the play would spark an interest in the guys. This just wasn't the production to light that spark though. It was a bit difficult to understand the old English if you weren't paying close attention. Some of the actors didn't speak loudly enough so it was a little tough to hear their lines, and unless you have an interest in Henry VIII, which I always have had, that particular production can be a bit dry. Had they been doing Fiddler on the Roof, or some other more "active" production, the guys likely would have liked it better.

The following morning we enjoyed the worship service in the auditorium. Bill Robinson, the president of Whitworth, is one of the most captivating, engaging speakers I have ever had the good fortune of listening to. I would listen to that guy give a speech on how to unclog a toilet. He is amazing. I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting him, but hope to one day soon. He is the type of guy you listen to and think to yourself "I would kill to work for a guy like him." He's intelligent, articulate, humble, and funny. I can't say enough good things about him. I am so happy my son is at Whitworth. It is an awesome school with an awesome staff!

The real world calls...

Well, I have to go to work now. We have staff meeting today and then.....I have to do my first performance review of my assistant at our branch. I am not looking forward to it. I have some criticisms to make and I'm afraid of how she'll react. I am going to try to be positive and encouraging as I explain my concerns. I just pray it goes okay and she sees the criticism in the manner in which I intend it - as an attempt to help her do her job better. Cross your fingers.

Computer glitches

I know one sure-fired way to shock my co-workers, family, and friends. All I have to do is say "I HATE computers!" and they stare at me, stunned, mouths agape, as this blasphemous statement falls from my lips. The look says "if YOU hate computers...well, well, gee... what are WE supposed to feel?" After all, I am the resident computer geek, digital diva, or whatever other techno-centric name you use to describe people like me. I am supposed to love computers, all the time, no matter what. News flash... I don't. Well, I do most of the time. But when it's what you do all day, every day, there are times you just don't want to have anything to do with them, especially when they're acting up. At work, they act up a lot. After all, we have in our network of 110 computers and 7 servers, computers ranging in age from 5 to 8 years old. They're tired. They need repair, rebuilding, or replacement. Guess whose job that is? I don't mind the replacement part - we're due to replace 1/3 of them in the next month or so (yippee!) - but I hate the repair and rebuild part. I've been doing that for over 20 years and I'm sick of it. I used to have a high school whiz kid working for me to whom I could delegate these tasks. He graduated and went off to college at a time when we were suffering a budget crunch so his position was dropped. The repairs and rebuilds fell back on my shoulders - along with managing the network, designing and maintaining the web site, planning for technology upgrades, participating as part of the management team, designing our brochures, acting as the resident photographer for all special events, making sure our network is operating efficiently and securely, training staff and assisting patrons with whatever software application needs they have, filing for e-rate monies, getting quotes for new hardware and software, and handling the phone system and everything to do with it. Think I have enough to do? So, is it any wonder that some days I really hate computers? I think not. Despite what non-techie people think, there isn't always a cut and dried reason when a computer acts stupid. The reason for the famous BSOD (blue screen of death) can almost always be determined, but the reason the computer just randomly locks up, won't restart, dumps you out of a program, or reboots for no apparent reason is not always discernible. Logs don't always get written to, and unless I'm standing there to see the chain of events leading up to the offending incident, I can't always determine the reason behind its erratic behavior - especially when it's a random occurrence. Everyone looks to me for the answers. They love it when I say "I have no idea." I think it makes them feel less technologically challenged. I have no problem admitting when I don't know something. I have a lot of answers, but not all of them. I can usually find the answers to most problems, but not always. When I can't, well, I can't. I just don't know the answer.

Warning - this is going to get technical... geek-speak alert!

Now, given the description of my responsibilities at work, how much computing do you think I do at home? Almost none. If I want to look up a fact or something, I will hop on the internet to check it out, but in the evening after work, I don't even fire up the PC - unless work calls. I do work from home, probably more often than I'd care to, but it beats driving back into town. I can remotely manage my servers, which I do when patches need to be applied and servers restarted since I can do that after we close. Aside from that, I really don't compute at home much. I do blog in the mornings before work once a week or so, but that's about it.

At home, I have a small network. I have a desktop that my son used until he got his "college computer" which is with him at Whitworth. I have a laptop that I use. I setup a wireless network so I can sit on the sofa and work if I have to. The desktop used to be connected physically to the network via the router while my laptop could connect via the router or the wireless access point. The desktop isn't currently connected at all, so just my laptop is using our cable internet connection via the WAP.

I have been experiencing constant "outages" lately. I would connect to a server at work or at the company for whom I provide network administration services as a consultant only to lose my connectivity for several seconds and then regain it. I has been driving me crazy! I didn't know if my cable connection was spazzing out, if my router was being stupid (it's had problems in the past) or what the problem was. So, today I decided to find out, once and for all. I was connected and started losing connectivity. I had gotten into the habit of opening up a command prompt and typing in "ping -t 192.168.1.1" and letting that run while I worked. What that does is send a constant "ping" to my router. When I would experience a lag in response on the remote server or web page, I would bring up that command prompt box to see the status of my ping. Invariably, the ping would be timing out. Okay... but is the problem with the router or my WAP? The only way to test that is to disconnect from the WAP and physically connect to my router and see what happens. Unfortunately, my 25 foot long cord is at work so I am sitting on the floor of my son's newly clean room (he didn't recognize it when he came home for a visit Sunday), laptop physically connected to the router with a 6 foot cord, pinging away happily while I type this. So far, so good. I appears the problem may be my WAP after all. That's not all bad. I have been considering buying a new wireless router, which would combine the features of my router and my WAP. Now my only dilemma is what brand to buy and whether to continue using 802.11a or go with 802.11 b/g. My wireless network card will handle all three protocols so that's not an issue. I chose 802.11a to begin with because it provides faster speeds (up to 108mbps), it operates on a less frequently used frequency, meaning less interference from cordless phones, for example, and fewer people use it so it's more secure. But I have noticed that the range is a lot smaller. I can't even go out on my deck and stay connected, but I can pick up some random 802.11g network from someone in my neighborhood... so, I'm pondering 802.11b/g so I can work outside when I want to. Then again, the interference issue is a concern since I use cordless phones that operate at 2.4GHz, the frequency used by 802.11b/g. I have yet to decide what to do. Product selection is a lot greater - and cheaper - in the b/g product range, but that's not a huge factor. Reliability, speed, and security are my biggest concerns. So, I'm still pondering. In the meantime, I'm going to keep testing this direct connection to make sure it isn't my router before I run out and buy new equipment.

Geez, it's 8AM already. Time to get ready for work. I feel like I've been working already. :S

In a country where they turn back time

I am a collector of verbal images. I become weak-kneed when I hear or read a well-turned phrase that is used to describe something - without actually telling you what it's describing. The phrase is so perfect you know exactly what it's describing, though the object is never stated explicitly. One such phrase, or collection of phrases, comes from one of my all-time favorite songs The Year of the Cat by Al Stewart. Case in point:

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like
Peter Lorre contemplating a crime.

What a perfect set of phrases. The scene is set. You know exactly what he's describing, and where, you can see her in your mind's eye. Perfect! When I write poems, which I used to do prolifically but now do only on occasion, I strive to do exactly as Al Stewart has in this song. I am sometimes successful, and relish those moments of brilliance; sadly, they are few and far between. Perhaps one day I will share some of those pieces here. Despite the fact that I write less often, I still mentally collect and create these verbal images. This time of year overwhelms me as I attempt to describe the splendor of autumn as it unfolds around me.

I grew up in a place where there was no autumn. I don't ever remember leaves falling from trees, waiting to be raked and piled, those piles waiting to be jumped in by children. Is my memory faulty or does the central coast of California really not have autumn? Like everyone in the world, I had seen photos of the glorious colors of New England. I think I grew up believing that was the only place in the country where trees changed colors. I now know better. I live in a place that produces colors rivaling New England. That color change, from the first few red leaves on the maples through the falling of the last golden leaf, is a marvel to behold, and I am fortunate to live right in the midst of it. But I digress.

In a country where they turn back time - what a perfect phrase. I have always thought this line referred to daylight saving time. With that in mind, the phrase is perfect in that it could mean the US, Canada, Britain, or any of 70 countries that observe DST. As an American, I automatically assumed it meant the US, and couldn't help but appreciate how perfectly that phrase brought up an image of the US. I recently read the actual lyrics to the song and realize it says "In a country where they turned back time", which gives the line an entirely different meaning, especially when taken in the context of the subsequent lines that describe a scene reminiscent of an open market in a warm, tourist-filled tropical region. Nevertheless, I still love the line "In a country where they turn back time" as a description of the US....which brings me to the real theme of today's post. It's 6:14 AM - and it's dark outside. Just a few weeks ago, it was light out at this time. I would wake to sunlight streaming through the window. Now, the alarm goes off and I have to stare at the clock to convince myself that it really is 4:50 AM and not the middle of the night. Rather than getting out of bed to a sun rising over the horizon in the east, I usually see the moon above the horizon in the west, still an hour or so from setting. It's depressing. I find myself wanting to go back to bed after my husband leaves for work at 6 AM. When the sun is up, I am energized. I am ready to hit the driving range or gym before work; I feel like being active; going back to bed is the last thing on my mind. The month before we turn back time is one of the toughest of the year. It grows darker every morning; it gets dark earlier every night; it is obvious that winter is just a few weeks away. It's depressing. The good news is, in less than 30 days we will be turning back time, and it will be light at 5 AM - for a while. That last few weeks of early morning daylight serve to fill up the reserves, making it easier to endure the approaching ever-shortening days of winter. So here I sit, in the pre-dawn darkness at 6:22 AM, trying to convince myself to go to the gym or driving range, struggling against the wool-blanket grayness of this "gawdawful" hour, trying not to think about the warm bed calling to me from my bedroom, anxiously awaiting the start of PST at 2 AM on Halloween morning. It can't come soon enough. In a country where they turn back time....