Tag Archives: work

status

2008.08.03 – 12:37 pm PDT

It’s Sunday not a whole lot going on.  Pretty bored at the moment.  Gotta get to the gym by 3:30pm to get my full routine in.  I didn’t give myself enough time Friday night.  The dog likes me getting up earlier as of lately.  He gets to sun for a couple hours a day.  I’m kind of happy my VPS is back up.  I wasn’t looking forward to having to recreate everything somewhere else.

About an hour ago I upgraded my blog to WordPress 2.6, and then fumbled around a few minutes looking for where to turn on Google Gears.  I think they could have put “Turbo” somewhere a little more obvious, maybe even give it an icon to stand out.  So far I guess the wp-admin seems a little quicker.  Not sure what to really test.  Looking at the Apache logs for my website, it definitely saves on server requests/bandwidth, which while isn’t necessary at this point, is still welcome.

I’ve been back to work about 2 weeks now.  Things are ok.  I’ve made a few correctable mistakes, created lots of documentation, tried to update really old software, and started using Microsoft Outlook with Exchange *shiver*.  It’s not that bad when kept in the cage of a virtual machine container.  Oi Vey, so another issue I’ve had to deal with that I’m not to thrilled about is software licensing.  I really just don’t care for it.  It makes things more complicated in that I can’t just install and configure the software I need, to make sure we own it, get the right software media which works for the install key and then input the correct number of client access licenses or processors.  Then of course I had to find and use a 3.5″ floppy disk to install 3rd party drivers to install M$ Server 2003 R2 on a Dell 1750 from almost 5 years ago.  It’s all new hardware to me :) but still seems to have the same M$ quirks I remember from back in the day.

Another new to me thing I’ve had to deal with is Quickbooks, WTF.  File locking, multiple users, slow as molases over the network.  I’ve had to correct the same issue at least 10 times now where I go over to the machine, attempt the task again, fail, then remote to the server, run the Quickbooks server app, find the company database _again_, re-attempt the task, fail, re find the company file, re-attempt the task, possibly succeed, then maybe tell it to stop “hosting” the multi-user access to files which are stored on the remote machine.  It’s messy, and scary to think that 15 years ago it was OK for programs to act that way.  In this day of age, software should just work, and if it doesn’t it should be open enough that someone with the spare time can take a look under the hood to advance things for all to enjoy.

By px | Posted in WordPress, personal, thoughts | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

back to the work force

2008.07.19 – 8:03 pm PDT

A couple weeks ago an old boss/friend of mine from Flashcom called me up out of the blue and asked me to lunch.  Cool I thought to myself, it’s always nice to see old friends.  A few days later we had lunch and chatted about what we were up to.  I mentioned that I’ve been needing more to keep busy with at home.  That I have been trolling monster.com, thinking about trying to get a job again and I’d even failed a phone interview with Yahoo! a few weeks earlier.  It’s not like these past 7 years I haven’t wanted to work, I just haven’t felt able or had the opportunity.  Between the amount of pain I am in everyday; somewhat scared, my confidence, which has been shit along with my inability to sit upright and function with a computer for periods longer than 30 minutes.  I just feel useless, A.D.D. like and I’m not at the top of my game like I used to be.  Long story short, my friend gave me the chance to see where I am at, then a part-time job opportunity and plenty of room to grow in that job.  I couldn’t have asked for more.  :)

I started this week hoping I wouldn’t embarrass myself, or worse have some kind of melt down or failure.  I spent lots of hours “cramming” for a final as it were.  I tried to refresh myself throughout the week the best I could.  After my first day of work yesterday I was so extremely tired, even though I was there for barely 7 hours I probably didn’t rest enough on the job.  I woke up at 4:30pm today after sleeping around 16 hours.  Need to diligently take it easy not push myself too hard, and remember to lay down flat more frequently during my breaks.  Most computer work is extremely sedimentary.  Once I figure out how to do 50% or more of it walking around or laying down for cheaper than $4k, I’ll be quite pleased.

Today, I am more confident now, in that maybe I haven’t lost all my valuable skills.  I just need to continue to remember what I’ve already learned from past experiences, and then learn how to reapply what I know.  Sure it’s only day one.  It is just a big change for me.  I’ve really felt pretty worthless since I became unable to work.  The Physician’s Assistant at my appointment on Wednesday said it was great that I was trying to get back to work after so long and said it would really benefit me, as we discussed my work restrictions.  I’d say he was right on.

If only this string of positive events had happened sooner!  When will my psyche, lower back, and left shoulder get healed so that maybe then I can put this overly stressful ordeal behind me?  Only SCIF knows for now, my guess is much more time will be wasted.  For now let’s focus on the good things.  New Macbook, new job, and I’m back in California.  :)  I also don’t care as much about the issues of trying to find a roommate which would be icing on the cake at this point.

Got to goto the gym now and beat myself up more to push the envelope.  Today I really have the old man walk and I’d like to try out the spa and sauna at the gym if I can get over the ick factor.

PS: didn’t make it to the gym in-time. bah!  was going on odd days, now it’s even days I guess.  oh well, first time for everything.

PPS: Vitamin Water tastes like it sounds.

PPPS: my sense of time sucks, it’s only been 7 years.

By px | Posted in personal, workers comp | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

oooh scary monster; resume

2008.03.06 – 4:53 pm PST

I’ve been slowly updating my monster.com resume the past couple weeks. Boy has monster.com been around for a long time. It’s scary to see all the skills I used to have and utilize, and now where am I? I guess it has been several years since I last blew the dust off it, and have been able to add a few things too. Hell, I’ve even updated some of the verbiage accomplishments to be more appropriate, as my resume included names of now defunct bits of software.

I wish I had some help in getting back to work. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about it, that’s for sure.  I am just afraid, and not as confident as I’d like. I’m not sure if I can handle the responsibility of a Full time job, but I’d like to give it a try somehow. It’s not healthy sitting at home alone all day waiting for life to advance. I am supposed to be entitled to some job rehabilitation benefits, but those expired years ago, and unfortunately it has taken many of what should have been the best years of my life just to get to where I am today. Ok, well my left arm is really bugging me now and I’m feeling more depressed.

By px | Posted in private, thoughts, workers comp | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Speed Cameras Increase Freeway Accidents 31-55%

2005.08.17 – 4:06 am PDT

from techdirt.

“Illinois readers should pay special attention to an official newly-uncovered study that the UK government never wanted you to see. It shows that injury accidents increased 31 percent when speed cameras were used on freeways, and they increased 55 percent when used in freeway work zones. When the researchers who were commissioned to study the effects of cameras in construction zones came up with these results, the UK government did everything in its power to prevent the data from ever seeing the light of day. After all, they make about 700 million pounds (a billion US dollars) yearly from the machines. Illinois is about to implement its own work zone speed camera program, “to reduce accidents and save lives.” I’m sure the last thing on the mind of Illinois bureaucrats is all the $375 first offense, $1000 second offense citations it will generate.”

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