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A Day in the life....  

Entries in technology (6)

Tuesday
Jun292010

Transitions

DateTuesday, June 29, 2010 at 5:52AM

I'm setting up a new computer in my office. My old one was running low on "Ooomph" that I needed to get things done. It could do the everyday stuff, but it was really working hard in terms of the remote work for my agency and I decided that it needed to go to a home that wouldn't ask so much of it.

I have my new system up and running, but it's going to take a few days to get all the programs installed and since the laptop I'm test driving doesn't have photo editing software on it, I can't edit any new photos. Normally, this would be a relief, but I'm kind of at a loss knowing I CAN'T photoshop anything right now!

So above is a shot I took at Blogfest last year. I love seeing everyone's shoes! I have ordered a new pair of Blogfest sandals. Last year, my new sandals didn't arrive on time. This year, I'm thinking ahead!

Speaking of Blog Fest, I can't believe this year's edition is only 2 weeks away (more or less)! I'm excited to hop back on a plane with the Baroness and see all our blisters in Virginia! And frankly, I could use a bit of a getaway...

Thanks for all your lovely comments about Buddy Boy yesterday. I cringe at the thought of him being an indoor cat. Not that I don't love him, but his sister Bad Girl is the indoor cat. And he beats the crap out of her every time he sees her. And they're on different levels... She chases and kills bugs in the yard, he chases and kills varmints in the woods. She doesn't have a chance when he decides to whip up on her. It's the least attractive aspect to his charactor. He can be a stinker. And... 2/3 of the Brute Squad thinks he's the devil. If it was just Buddy Boy and Maddie, things would work out, but throw a mild mannered cat and two hysterical Chihuahuas into the mix, and it would be total mayhem.

Time to throw some clothes on and go to work... This is tech work slam week. Yawn!

AG out!

AuthorAsthmagirl | Comment7 Comments |
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Wednesday
Mar032010

Wide Open Wednesday

DateWednesday, March 3, 2010 at 6:09AM

Top Five List - What I've learned in the last week...

1. I've spent an insane amount of money on the innards of these two girls. But they're worth it.

2. Loss of technology is the great equalizer.

3. People show their true colors when the server is down for 36 hours.

4. Passive aggressive behaviors are inappropriate in the workplace.

5. People who give the starving tech person (who can't leave for lunch) half their "sammie" are saints!

With the crisises resolved... I would now like to spend some quality time with my camera which I haven't touched for a week.

AG (who sincerely hopes that your week has been swell) out!

AuthorAsthmagirl | Comment8 Comments |
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Tuesday
Feb092010

Sound the Alarm!

DateTuesday, February 9, 2010 at 6:35AM

 

 I may have mentioned that I work in a Valley. One of the benefits of working in the valley other than the lung wrecking air quality is the gorgeous view of the mountain (see above).

But the mountain is not the only thing I see on my way to work each morning. I also see this:

I know you are asking yourself does this woman have nothing better to do what kind of contraption that might be...

This is our local lahar warning system.

[editor's note: lahar: A wet mass of volcanic fragments flowing rapidly downhill. Lahars usually contain ash, breccia, and boulders mixed with rainwater or with river or lake water displaced by the lava flow associated with the volcano.]

Mount Rainier is actually a live volcano. Not unlike her sister peak Mount St. Helens who erupted in 1980. Fortunately for us, Rainier is taking a good long nap. However, in the event she wakes up any time soon, the powers that be have installed a lahar warning system throughout the valley so that the population can attempt to make it to higher ground should she blow.

Thus ends this glimpse into the easily fascinated mind of Asthmagirl interesting local details of my world. Try to remain calm.

AG out!

PS ~ Thank you for asking, K3 is doing well although heartily tired of soft foods and frustrated by her attempts to eat anything firmer than cream of wheat. Sigh...

AuthorAsthmagirl | Comment10 Comments |
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Tuesday
Jan192010

Catching up

DateTuesday, January 19, 2010 at 5:00AM

This last week was hectic beyond "the usual"... It started out looking managable even with the vapors coming off my boss' newly stained shelf making my lungs wacky... but by Wednesday morning, things were pretty intense...

The server at work had gone down. Not the usual "crash and recover", but completely "la-la"! This of course was rather hard on staff as they aren't accustomed to prolonged downtime.

Our tech consultant came down and we ultimately determined that the server had blown a main data drive and that even though all the info had moved over to the hot swap spare, we needed to replace the failed drive and rebuild the array. Having done so, we thought everything would work normally. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

On Thursday I had two of our larger teams plus my office without connectivity... and I had to finish the video for the staff "after-holiday" party which was Friday at noon. Baffled by "some got it, some don't", it took until Friday morning to determine that one of the print servers had declared itself a "master browser" for the network and had started handing out bogus addresses to some of the workstations. Once demoted, the rest of the network came up just fine. Fortunately, I'd managed to finish the video late Thursday night and early Friday morning and have it ready for the party at noon.

The party was great and I drove home Friday night ready to enjoy a nice weekend with TOG. Playoff football and Wii bowling were on the agenda. We were both caught off guard when I became violently ill Saturday. I'll spare you the details because they're not fit for public knowledge... gah! Although the worst is over, I'm still very tired and not sure how I'm going to manage work this morning. But with K3's surgery scheduled next week, I've already used up sick leave and am now using vacation, so missing work isn't really an option.

Throughout all of this, I didn't even try to blog. But I did have a lot of time to think and ponder and I have some material in my brain finally. And... it will wait. I just wanted to document all this gunk so I could move forward.

Here's hoping you're all enjoying good health and happiness!

 

AuthorAsthmagirl | Comment8 Comments |
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Monday
Aug032009

Crabby

DateMonday, August 3, 2009 at 6:54AM

I wrestled with the remote access to our server about half the day Friday. Remote access being out means none of our Blackberries get email...

Then Saturday, we lost the firewall... Trip down to work to reboot the server and run diagnostics...

Sunday, with the firewall down for the count, one of our access points decided to take over the network and reassign IP addresses.... Our consultant did an emergency rebuild of the firewall and beat the access point into submission.

Today, with the firewall rebuilt and the access point doing push ups until it learns it's proper place in the network... The remote access is still out.

Where remote access being out means my boss has been without his blackberry all weekend.  

So I'm a little crabby and he's going to be beyond crabby...

I have the proverbial love/hate relationship with tech work....

Have a great day!

AG out!

WheeMaw update: K1 had her final ultrasound Friday. Ben in his Den is 10.3 pounds. Dr. appointment today to schedule (K1 is hoping) a c-section. Will update as news comes in...

AuthorAsthmagirl | Comment11 Comments |
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Monday
May182009

Technology

DateMonday, May 18, 2009 at 6:26AM

If your system starts running reeeaalllly slow, refuses to open programs and begins shutting itself off, you should:

a. defrag the hard drive

b. call your internet service provider and your security provider and tell them what's wrong

c. mention it every time you see the person who built it but never bring it to them for diagnosis

d. wait until it's unusable and then ask if your system builder makes house calls

In this case, a casual client (I build his system but have never maintained it) did all of the above. And no, I don't know him well enough to put him on my "house call list". I made him bring the system to me.

After 5 minutes with the computer, I can tell how infected it is. 133 Trojans, 55 hijackers, 3 security shut downs (turns the anti virus off every time you boot the computer), 18 worms and 15 trackers. It was not only embedded in the registry, but in the system restore, the windows pre fetch folder and documents and settings under the name of the owner. I put three and a half hours hours into it and I still couldn't guarantee that it was 100%. It seems the owner had thought he renewed the anti virus in February. He had not. He was also not running a firewall. I think the hard drive may be permanently damaged.

I spent part of the weekend configuring his new computer. He didn't want to invest any more money in trying to bring the old one back to reliability. While I understand his thinking, that computer could have been saved if he'd brought it to me (or any geek) 3 months ago instead of trying to blame Comcast and McAfee. He could have saved himself a lot of time and trouble.  

His new system is sweet. I hope he takes better care of it!

AG out!

AuthorAsthmagirl | Comment5 Comments |
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