History made Dreamed 16 days ago | Comment | 50 words
I voted for Barack Obama today.
I did not think I could help Virginia turn blue.
I hoped to, but was not sure I could.
But I did.
I don’t have the words tonight.
I am watching Barack Obama speak to the nation with tears in my eyes.
Can we, Virginia? Can we, America?
Yes, We Can.
Moving into a PC Dreamed 38 days ago | Comment | 328 words
While discussing old software with a friend who has foreseen the Retro PC Movement of 2010.
Chris : I wonder when people will start the retro OS movement.
Chris : it happened with 8-bit video games, I’m just waiting for t-shirts that say Win3.1 or the happy Mac icon
Chris : MINESWEEPER, BRAH
Chris : that will be in hot topic stores on stickers and shirts by 2010, mark my words.
I got to thinking about my solitary reason for moving from Windows 2000 Pro to XP Pro.
It was 100% shallow and totally not function related.
It was themes.
I could make my Windows install look (and function) like a Mac far easier and with less hacking than I could under Windows 2000.
That’s the only reason.
This got me thinking about how I move into a PC. In my last couple jobs I have moved the taskbar to the top of the screen. I install little apps like Multimon Taskbar (gives my second monitor a taskbar) and a little app to convert image formats in the contextual menu when the image is clicked. These little things help my work flow and aid my productivity.
For the first time, I was looking at my PC at work today… My dual monitor setup with it’s stock gray XP theme. Taskbars at the bottom. Short of a NIN wallpaper, I’ve left it untouched.
I never really moved in. Never made it mine. This was always a borrowed PC. Not something for the long haul. And now, as my 7 month reign of support ends, I see it. I never moved in. I never got comfortable enough to kick my feet off.
The most I did was install Google Chrome. (A joy to use.)
I should have known this was going to end soon. I never made it my own. Never took off my shoes and kicked the tires. Much like a college dorm, I was a nomad, just passing through.
How To Cheer Yourself Up Dreamed 39 days ago | Comment | 33 words
Open Photobooth.
Open this link
Try to copy the frown the man is making.
Take photo.
You will end up laughing at yourself.
I would post one but I have not been successful yet.
Certifications Dreamed 80 days ago | Comment | 78 words
I work in desktop support / help desk. I love helping people with technology and solving problems.
My co-worker has talked our boss’ ear off about certifications. So today I got an email from our staffing firm about a list of e-learning classes we could take.
I’ve never put much stock in certifications. I’m 100% self-taught. That being said, am I hampering myself by not being certified in this or that?
My question to the blogosphere is, is it worth it?
Ticket to Ride Dreamed 106 days ago | Comment | 311 words
Ticket to Ride is a game where you try to connect different cities using colored railroad cars. The board game, also has an online version (free trial, $18/year) or an Xbox Live Arcade version (800 points) and is addictively fun!
Annie introduced it to me not too long ago since her college roommate had the board game and since it was a game that worked on our MacBooks we started playing. A lot.
I saw there was downloadable content available for the Xbox360 so the game must be there. So immediately we bought it, went through the tutorial (5 points!) and began playing.
First, I recommend reading the rules to get the hang of it. It’s not a complex game but there are some nuances you’ll enjoy knowing. Such as the game ends when you run out of cars. You can only play a set number of train cars and the first player to use all their cars triggers the final turn.
The game is additively fun and friendly for everyone and has become a current addiction! We plowed through most of the achievements last night but still enjoy playing even on the Mac.
I love this game because it helps me wind down after a long day, or in the case of last night, 2 solid hours of undefeated Call of Duty 4 playing. The biggest added benefit of playing Ticket to Ride online is the private chat feature so we can talk to each other and yell at each other as we wreck each other’s routes.
I recommend this game highly to anyone who enjoys simple puzzle games or has small children since it’s easy to pick up and can be easily grasped after a round or two.
Annie has ordered the board game and I can’t wait to sit down with our little train tiles and claim some routes!
How to screw the customer Dreamed 116 days ago | Comment | 203 words
Monitor your phone support techs with First Call Resolution (FCR). Basically, this is the percentage of calls handled by the technician without having to assign out a ticket.
There’s a lot I can handle, especially with the remote access capabilities I can troubleshoot a lot of issues. However, anything on a telephone, server, network, and hardware issues are completely out of my control.
To maintain a “proper” FCR, tickets get created as work orders instead of problem logs. There is a big difference here. Problem logs must be completed within 3 days. Work orders must be completed in 60 days. See the different here?
When we assign tickets, the person we assign to has sixty days to complete the work detailed in the ticket.
It is a disservice to the customer. Putting the “help” desk’s priorities in direct violation with servicing and helping the customers we are supposedly here to help.
This is the first position I’ve held where my responsibility to the customer is literally put at odds with the metrics used to judge my work performance.
The FCR metric is a sham. Anything that takes away from helping the customer is screwing the customer. And last time I checked, that was not my job.
Normal Dreamed 120 days ago | Comment | 192 words
I’ve made my relationship mistakes in the past. I’ve picked some people to be with who did not respect me. I was theirs all day everyday.
Only, I did not realize it.
Now, being with Annie, I see how a healthy relationship should work. I see how love should be. If I don’t see her for a weekend she doesn’t go to pieces and guilt trip me into feeling like a war criminal. If we don’t talk for a night, or much one night. It’s sad for both of us, but it’s not apocalyptic. It happens. We move past it and talk lots the next night.
In the past I’ve dreaded how much time I have to spend with someone. With her, I want to spend all the time I can because it’s so good.
It’s so good to be with someone (for nearly a year!!!) who makes me feel so good and I don’t have to change a single iota of my personality to please.
She loves me for me.
I love her for her.
I never feel like I can tell her enough how good she makes me feel and how wonderful life has been with her.
Team Fortress 2 Dreamed 127 days ago | Comment | 371 words
Night before last, I was delighted to see my friend Scott playing TF2. I was delighted as I’d been wanting to play it but not alone.
So I logged on, messaged him and soon we were shooting and healing our way through a cap the flag battle. At one point we were both Pyros and we were toasting the opposing team to a nice crispy golden brown.
It was short-lived but extraordinarily fun. After Scott left for the night I played a couple more rounds and a wonderful thing happened.
I came across a group of guys who were playing the game… for fun. They weren’t yelling at their teammates when we messed up. They weren’t cursing and screaming that we had misstepped.
They were laughing. And joking.
It was so refreshing to find that in a random game. At one point I was playing a Heavy with another guy and we just laid waste to a room of foes. We were standing back to back and defending out checkpoint to the death. And laughing hysterically as Scouts and Pyros would run towards us over and over and we’d mow them down.
We were eventually overrun, when we ran out of ammo.
After that match, I stayed with the same group and in the next match we were getting overrun so we decided to play a bit and all be Engineers and construct a vast array of turrents, spawn points, and healers.
Up until then, I never really understood how to play as an Engineer. And I didn’t ask for fear of the commonplace mocking of anyone who doesn’t know something in a game. But these guys were chill and we were helping each other out.
So I learned how to build and upgrade my turret, and good places to build them on the map.
And yes, once I placed a turrent backwards, facing a wall. Who knew they only had a 180 degree range?
TF2 was stupidly fun and as always, improved with a proper group of gamers who were out to have a good time, win or lose. We won some. We lost some. Eventually the hose quit the game and we were all flung back out to our corners of the Xbox Live.
But it was fun while it lasted.
The real hierarchy Dreamed 151 days ago | Comment | 467 words
This morning I took a call from a City Council member. She started the call already frustrated and quick to anger. The short story was she was using another Council member’s username/password to login (why is this when she has her own account? I’ve learned to stop asking sensical questions). I explained to her I could not reset another user’s password, only her own.
She informed me she didn’t have an account. I explained she did and I could reset her password but not his password. It’s a security issue. I can’t do it. I don’t want to lose my job.
At this point. she bellows, I am a city council member and I need access to my email!
I said Ma’am, I understand that but I am unable to reset his password for you.
She gets all huffy and puffy and tells me again she is very important I mean, she’s a City Council member. I should lose my job to do what she says. Clearly.
I told her either the person’s account she was using had to call me to get his password reset or she could use her own account and it would need to be setup since she is a remote user it would take a couple days. She vowed to call back and talk to someone else.
Little does she know there are only two of us.
And we sit next to each other.
To top it all off she’s one of those angry ignorant computer users. She has no idea what she’s doing and yells at me for making her feel dumb. I guess terms like “password” and “what is your full name” are too complex for her nontechnical brain.
So everything was my fault when she couldn’t type in the password correctly and kept locking the account out. And wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to explain that the laptop stores the login but the VPN does not so when it’s telling you the password is wrong, it’s wrong!
I don’t mind talking to people who lack computer skills. Just don’t get hostile with me as I try to help you fix what you need to do your job. I couldn’t care less if you can’t access your email or network all day, or even all week. It’s a job, not a religion.
Getting angry with the person trying to assist you will never get you anywhere. I am the IT tech. I am the one who can reset the passwords. Without me, she can’t get anything done.
Like I said to my boss, I’m a contractor so I really don’t care that you’re City Council! I could be out of here in another identical job elsewhere where I don’t get yelled at by self-important idiots.
This is what people fail to realize. They need me. I don’t need them.
Boogie Bunnies Dreamed 182 days ago | Comment | 268 words
While I am not the biggest gamer you’ll meet I do love my games. I love getting lost in another world. I love playing online with friends and battling or puzzling our way through missions and quests.
I am blessed to have an amazing girlfriend who also enjoys gaming. Everything from Peggle (where she is the rock star!) to Halo (which she played extensively with her sister). We are going to conquer some Katamari Damacy and Mario Kart this weekend when she gets here for the long weekend. There’s nothing like being able to game with someone and kiss them at the same time.
She is a hardcore puzzler and over the past few nights we’ve been playing Boogie Bunnies on the Xbox Live Arcade. We’ll start a voice chat session then play an hour or two of Boogie Bunnies before bed.
It’s the perfect mix of being able to talk but not having to hold a phone to our ears. It’s better than chatting because we have better conversations and our attention is on the conversation, instead of the 3453453 things to distract us on the internet or TV.
Boogie Bunnies is fun and light so it doesn’t require a ton of attention and concentration. It’s been the perfect game to unwind to before bed and get to spend time with my lovely girl who lives in Northern VA and I’m in Richmond.
I am so happy we found something we could play and chat and enjoy to unwind with in the evenings when we miss each other the most.
Thank you Boogie Bunnies for your colorful, dancing fun!