Sunday, December 16, 2007

the back 40

Just a quick post to indulge my geekiness.

Went shopping with Ben to purchase some items that I could use to reorganize my desk so I could make room for my new server. I've got most things set up--except for the new UPS, but it's going to be a lengthy process to unplug everything and plug it back in.

Just to show how srsly geeky I am, here's a list of all the electronics on/in/around my desk:
  • Two desktop systems (the new one and my Linux box)
  • Two laptops (mine and the one from work)
  • A four-system KVM switch
  • 20" flat-panel monitor
  • 500 GB external drive
  • External CD/DVD drive (for my laptop)
  • Multi-function printer/fax/copier
  • Two DSL modems
  • Two network switches (one load-balancing)
  • A four-port ethernet hub
  • A four-port USB hub
  • Boston Acoustics speaker system (one sub-woofer, two satellites)
  • Cell phone w/charger
  • iPod w/charger
  • A desk lamp
  • A lava lamp
  • A cordless phone
  • Keyboard (corded)
  • Mouse (cordless)
  • Tablet input device (corded) and pen (cordless)
  • An eight-outlet UPS
  • Two surge-protecting power strips

It is at this point I realize that it's probably a good thing I don't want to have kids, because I'm probably sterile after sitting here for an hour. Maybe after I get the UPS set up, I'll take a picture to show you.

Of course, to any thieves who have perked up at the sheer immenseness of the tech list, I'd like to point out that most of the equipment is elderly and never was top-of-the-line to begin with. It isn't worth the gasoline you'd burn driving out here to lift the stuff. Plus, it'd make me very pissed off. (I will find you.)

Saturday, December 15, 2007

war and peace, the last ten years

Srsly (which is my new catchphrase), I've not been posty for a long time. I have been busy adjusting to functioning like a normal person again--getting up in the morning, wearing shoes, leaving the house for several hours a day.... you know. Here's a week-by-week recap (in short form) of what's been upping with me.

Thanksgiving, Cedar Rapids, IA
Had Turkey Day at my brother's with his family and my folks. We've got it refined into a high art of labor distribution for cooking. My jobs are the ones that require thickening agents: pies and gravy. Made two pumpkin and two banana cream pies. They turned out pretty good, even though my youngest niece had to "help" me make them. Well, no one complained as we were snarfing them down.

Dave left on Friday to go hunting with his brother, so my folks brought me home. I plugged in my iPod and, being my father's daughter, we had plenty of oldies to sing along with.

All in all, had a very nice time.

First week of work, Rochester, MN
Started the new job on the Monday after Thanksgiving. I am now officially cubed. Actually, it's not that bad as far as cubes go, and I'm at the end, so I have a real wall on one side (and a coat rack, for some reason). I sit with a group of IT programmers. Their managers are across the hall from me, and they've been very helpful in making me feel welcome and answering my stupid questions.

The fluorescent lights in that room are quite terrible, so the programmer next to me had disabled the lights above us some time ago. I had my cube lights on, but they hurt my eyes so bad that I was actually wearing my glasses to work. So, I bought a lamp at Target and brought it in--much to the amusement of all. (Wait 'til they see the desk lamp and the fan.)

On my first day, a couple of classmates and a former teammate of mine stopped by to say hi. I also learned that two of the technical writers are guys I worked with at IBM. (And, I later found out that the office manager is married to a guy I used to work with, so it's a small world.) I got my company-issued laptop, an HP Compaq 6710b running Windows XP. I've been trying to get used to using a touchpad instead of a trackpoint. And, since I've been using Vista for the last six months, getting used to XP again.

Got my first problem report (PR) on Wednesday. Apparently, the help desk people weren't supposed to be assigning them to me yet because I'm new, but this one (and several others since) slipped through. It's been frustrating not to know what to do to help someone, but on the other hand, it really got me in the deep end of the pool with SharePoint.

I spent most of the week filling out paperwork, getting my system set up, and trying to figure out what's going on. The worst part has been the fact that there's no one to train me in--my predecessor left about a month before I got there, so I've had to figure out a lot of stuff on my own.

As a bit of perspective, I was able to print on the second day. When I started at IBM, it took three months.

Second week of work, Chicago, IL
Got up at 3:30 AM on Monday to catch the 6 AM flight to Chicago. Took my suitcase on the L (plus side, no one could sit next to me), lugged it up two flights of stairs to the street level ("L" does not stand for "elevated"), and dragged it three blocks to the Sears Tower, where SPSS headquarters is located. Fortunately, one of the managers across the hall was on the same flight, so he helped me figure out how to get in--and it wasn't easy. I think the security plan there is to just confuse the would-be bombers into giving up. It didn't seem too secure to me, but hey, we're safe if we go through the motions.

I got set up in an empty cube on the 12th floor, and my teammate (yeah, there's just the two of us so far) Lizzie came up to meet me and show me some of the applications we support. A few hours later, my boss, Rich, got in from Boston, so I got to meet him for the first time too. Both of them are very cool, smart, and fun--I like them a lot! We had a meeting most of the afternoon, and they showed me around and introduced me to some people I'll be working with. Then, we went out to eat at Boston Blackie's, and I had an awesome mushroom burger and a Guinness (it restores!).

Lizzie escorted me to Union Station to catch my train for the burbs (I think she was afraid I'd get lost, which was a real probability), where my Upgrading SharePoint class was being held. Unfortunately, the line was so long for buying tickets that I missed the train (by like a minute), so I had to wait an hour for the next one. (I guess I could have hopped the train and paid the conductor, but that was WAY too complicated for this farm girl.) It was kind of nice to just sit and do nothing after such a busy day.

It was about 10:30 PM by the time I got to the hotel--and then they turned out to not have a reservation for me. The clerk keeped looking up things in the system, until finally I just asked her to give me a room and I'd get it straightened out later. I left off several adjectives that I said in my head--many of which started with "f." ("Can you just <pause> give me a <pause> room and I can <pause> get it <pause> straightened out <pause> later?")

Spent the next three days in class. It was okay, but it could have been better--we went over a lot of "duh" stuff. The best part was meeting the other students. They were all nice, normal people, and they made me feel less insecure about SharePoint. It was kind of a we're-all-in-this-together sort of thing. One was a guy who grew up in St. Paul and is now living in Chicago. We had a fun BSing session about Minnesota over lunch one day.

On Thursday after class was over, I shared a cab to O'Hare with a guy who works at Wells Fargo in Des Moines. We had a nice chat, which made the ride seem much shorter. When we got there, I went to the self-service check-in, and as I retrieved my boarding pass from the machine, my eye caught several instances of "AM," where there should have been PMs instead. A closer examination showed that my flight had been cancelled. (There was a storm coming in, and apparently, the Rochester airport shut down.)

I whipped out my handy-dandy laptop and my oldy-goldy credit card, connected to the non-free wireless network, and booked a hotel room. I don't know anything about hotels around O'Hare, so I picked one within five miles that was under $100 a night. It wasn't in a great part of town, but it wasn't that bad either. I ordered a real Chicago deep-dish pizza delivered from Lou Malnati's Pizzeria. (I highly recommend partaking if you get the chance.)

I was just about to go to bed around 10:30 PM, when someone started pounding loudly on my door, and a woman's voice bellered, "Jack, open the door!" I froze for a moment, wondering what to do. Then, I put on my pants, while the pounding continued, and went to the door. I couldn't see much through the peep hole--I could tell there was someone there, but I couldn't see her. So, I opened the door a few inches and looked out. I'm guessing I couldn't see her because of the glare--the woman was apparently going for new heights of "bling" in her fashion statement. When she saw me, she kinda freaked out and almost went running down the hall. I said, politely, "Uh, I think you've got the wrong room." She just backpedaled away. After I closed the door and refastened the security accoutrements, it occurred to me that I may have just had a run-in with a genuine Lady of the Night. While the entire episode was rather unsettling, it did make me like less of a rube.

Got up, packed up, and went down to the lobby at 4 AM to catch the shuttle back to O'Hare. Two couples were also waiting. Turned out they were both going to Cancun. It made me feel real positive about going back to Minnesota.

The return home was rather uneventful. However, I slept like total crap the whole time I was in Chicago, so I sacked out pretty much the whole weekend.

Third week of work, Rochester, MN
At some point during this last week, I became mostly adjusted to the new job. It's easier to get up in the morning, and for the first time in I-don't-know-how-long, I actually don't dread going in to work. The days go by pretty quickly. My cube gets VERY warm in the afternoon, so there's been a few times where it's been touch and go, but then I just get up and go get coffee or something. (We get free soda and coffee, so there is never any shortage of caffeine. The soda fridge is just on the other side of my wall. The coffee is in the reception area, so that's a longer walk.)

When I get home in the evening, I'm tired, but I don't feel like my soul was sucked dry during the course of the day. And, I don't feel guilty about watching TV or reading a book. I actually enjoy my evenings instead of trying to muster up the ambition to work some more.

After several PRs--and a few of them doozies--I feel a lot more comfortable with SharePoint and my job duties. So, I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Got my Christmas present from Dave already. It's a new server! (Yeah, we have a geeky marriage.) So, I've been spending today getting it set up. I have a MSDN license, which means free software from Microsoft, so I loaded Windows Server 2003 on it and am getting it ready for installing SharePoint 2003. I decided to load SQL Server first, and I've been typing this while waiting for Service Pack 4 to download so I can burn it to CD and install it.


So, that's the short story. Hope you're all caught up now.