Endies....

In my new role, I am now in the inevitable position to deal with the Endie - or End User. The Endie can be a complex, yet very simple-minded fellow. Sometimes they lie dormant in their cubes or remote retreats, and other times they appear out of nowhere with a blank stare. I want to help all Endies - I truely do. They are helpless creatures who have been given two very difficult tasks in life. First, they are being asked to use technology. I know... I know.... Second, they are being asked to understand simple concepts - nothing too technical or challenging - but just simple concepts so they can get by.

No matter how hard I try, I feel like I need to procuce a picture book and video for the Endies. I mean, honestly, will the Earth begin to rotate the opposite direction if I were to only supply words, and not colorful screenshots? Will the deserts flood, and the rainforests dry up because of a simple change that might impact 2.5 seconds of their day? Possibly. But for the sake of the Endie, I produce. I produce procedures and colorful diagrams that a fetus could understand. Oh the poor, poor, Endie. Will their journey ever end?

Sanford and Son

A wise man once said: "That server is 10 f'n years old - replace it!!!"

I definitely understand the importance of getting long term value and use out of hardware. But, there comes a time, when the old trash needs to be replaced. I will never understand why some companies assume it's better to keep something running as long as possible, even when it hinders progress. For example: Ultra 5's - Throw them in the dumpster! Solaris 7? (and 8 for that matter) - Dumpster! DDS1's? Any drive under 20 GB - Dumpster! Anything yellow - Dumpster!

Funny thing is that I actually called a junk man and he's coming next week to haul a lot of crap away. The bad part is that this development shop (CompanyX) continues to buy used equipment. That's fine - but let's learn this equation: used should not alwasy equal OLD.

Today's nightmare? A v1280 - I love 15 minute POST/Boot times....

"Don't call it a Comeback.... I've been here for years..."

Well, it seems as though our little blog-site is a bit busy this morning. It took about 5 minutes to load this page.

So how the 'F' is everyone this fine morning? I know I'm doing well. Why? Well, It's been two months since my last post and there is much to address:

First... no more Duffco. Duffco is nothing more than a mere blip on the resume. Yes, that blip comes with some great people (I know I need to email you guys!!!) but the job and environment sucked. No more!!!

So here I am at my new place... we will call it CompanyX for now. CompanyX is an interesting place. It's a software/solutions development shop - totally different environment. The development servers are actually the important machines here - too bad they are older than dirt. Oh well - I get to replace them, and the network infrastructure, and the firewalls, and the messaging systems (open relay anyone?), and, and, and.

But this is a good thing. Why? Because management listens. What?!?!?! Yes - meaning they digest what you have to say and either agree, disagree, or don't care, but trust you to make the right decision for the good of the company.

Privatly Held... It makes a world of difference!!!! Shareholders? What shareholders? F the markets! Go make money! The mindset here is simple - make money for the business, and you get money back. What an f'n concept!

Downsides? None yet... it's a "purple" server shop. There is some learning curve there - time to dust off the old manuals. However, our products are being migrated to Intel/AMD systems - glad I kept in touch with our friends from Hillsborough, NJ!!!

Oh but what a fantastic few weeks so far... new digs, new laptop, new chair just arrived the other day. It's some combination of leather/pleather and mesh... very comfy.

So what else is going on? House projects have started up again... and this one's a doosey. When we bought the place about 3 years ago, it was a 105 year old fixer-upper. One phrase: Plaster and Lathe. Our latest project was supposed to just be drywalling the "popcorn" ceiling in the master bedroom. It has since evolved into all new drywall in the master bedroom complete with new recessed lighting, flooring, crown molding - oh yea, and lets do the same to the spare bedroom (which is the current office). F.