Tempus fugit
I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post. That coincides quite nicely with the fact that I've been so very busy, I haven't even had the opportunity to update my timesheet at work. This morning, I finally got around to it after 11 days of not filling it out. Luckily, I keep a daily diary, so going back over it brings back all the relevant billable details. Steill, 10 days without a post...
The Jewish New Year came and went without much fanfare. I enjoyed spending time with my dad in the synagogue. At 83, he still has the majority of hand/arm strength he had as a young adult. He took great pleasure in clasping my hand and squeezing the crap out of it. In truth, there is the slightest bit of (dare I say) weakness in his grip, but only relative to his overpowering strength as a younger man. I'm sure there isn't a bottle cap that's a match for his current strength.
During the past days, I delivered a pet project to my boss at work. He's been too busy to comment on it yet, but I know he's going to be impressed. This little beauty of a utility will save us between 8 and 10 manhours of effort each week. That translates into quite a big payoff over the long haul. In fact, while I was working on it, he let me know that he had submitted my name as a potential presenter at a national conference, and this week, I found out that my submission was accepted. So, in November, I will present my utility at a conference in the U.S.
My regular duties at work have been keeping me very busy as well, and so far, knock wood, I haven't had the need to make a trip back to Toronto. All that could change if the boss requires that I do a dry run of my presentation for my colleagues at work before going to the conference.
That's about it. Just working, with not much time for entertainment. I did take a couple of hours to see Under the Tuscan Sun last weekend with my wife. We really enjoyed it. When it comes out on DVD, it will definitely be added to our collection.
That's about it for now. Gotta get some sleep!
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Friday, September 19, 2003
Getting restless
It really is time to redo my blog template. I've been using the same one since I started blogging more than 18 months ago. I like simple things, and most of the nicely designed templates I've come across strike me as being "feminine" in nature. I enjoy pastels and tranquil scenes. But there just seems to be something more female-oriented in the templates I've seen. I don't know if it's because they were designed by women (and don't get me wrong - I'm not looking for a he-man testosterone-rich template either), but I guess I'll know it when I see it.
The closest I've come to a template I'd use is the one used by Lindsey. But of course, it would be in poor taste to visit the author's site and request the same template. I'll just keep my eyes open, and hope for the best.
It really is time to redo my blog template. I've been using the same one since I started blogging more than 18 months ago. I like simple things, and most of the nicely designed templates I've come across strike me as being "feminine" in nature. I enjoy pastels and tranquil scenes. But there just seems to be something more female-oriented in the templates I've seen. I don't know if it's because they were designed by women (and don't get me wrong - I'm not looking for a he-man testosterone-rich template either), but I guess I'll know it when I see it.
The closest I've come to a template I'd use is the one used by Lindsey. But of course, it would be in poor taste to visit the author's site and request the same template. I'll just keep my eyes open, and hope for the best.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
As promised...
I know you've all been holding your breath. So here it is... my son's "new" car!
He's been grinning ear to ear since picking it up. Can you blame him? The car's in pretty good shape considering its age. He didn't have to put much money into it to get it road-worthy. A quick trip to the bank, the insurance company, and the license bureau (no complications at any stop) and he's on the road.
I know you've all been holding your breath. So here it is... my son's "new" car!
He's been grinning ear to ear since picking it up. Can you blame him? The car's in pretty good shape considering its age. He didn't have to put much money into it to get it road-worthy. A quick trip to the bank, the insurance company, and the license bureau (no complications at any stop) and he's on the road.
Monday, September 15, 2003
Sunday, September 14, 2003
A week without posting is like a day without sunshine (or something like that)
Being home has added to my workload. Not only am I working harder (and longer) at my job - partly to show thanks for the boss allowing me to return home - but I'm back to my role as family computer guru. I've been helping my wife recover from an unfortunate (and unnecessary) reformatting of her hard drive after we were unable to get a new wireless network working on her PC. That is a post in itself, but suffice to say that a missing email and some poor judgement translated into a week of pure hell for her machine.
On a positive note, I guess being able to work from the comfortable environment that is my home/office is really adding to my job satisfaction. I have an ergonomic chair, lots of desk space, a refrigerator and washroom within spitting distance, and, once in a while, I take a break to play with the "puppies". With all the goings on, and with blogger comments being offline for a pretty long time, there really seemed no reason to post.
Still, that doesn't mean that life has stood still.
You remember back in July when my son got into the car accident? This week, we got our new insurance bill. It was not pretty. In fact, it jumped from about $2000 to nearly $6000. I called the agent. She was sympathetic... but couldn't really do much about the bill. The only thing, according to her, that would put us back in the good graces of the insurance company would be:
1) Our son moves out of the house (so he's no longer counted as a "licensed driver" in the household), or
2) Our son have his own car (and pay the exhorbitant insurance on his own behalf)
Today, we opted for solution #2. With a little loan from his parents, my son bought his first car today. You should have seen how excited he was (thankfully, he kept himself in check while at the car dealership). It's a used car, sold as-is, and it will need some work after the safety inspection (hopefully not a LOT of work - he is on a budget). My real pleasure was when we left the dealership. Within moments, he was on the phone with his buddies, talking glowingly about the new acquisition. And, I understand that he's taken a page from my wife (who loves to name her cars) and given his new beast a moniker: Torn Ligament.
I'll have to post a picture of my son and his new dream machine once we're allowed to drive it off the lot.
Being home has added to my workload. Not only am I working harder (and longer) at my job - partly to show thanks for the boss allowing me to return home - but I'm back to my role as family computer guru. I've been helping my wife recover from an unfortunate (and unnecessary) reformatting of her hard drive after we were unable to get a new wireless network working on her PC. That is a post in itself, but suffice to say that a missing email and some poor judgement translated into a week of pure hell for her machine.
On a positive note, I guess being able to work from the comfortable environment that is my home/office is really adding to my job satisfaction. I have an ergonomic chair, lots of desk space, a refrigerator and washroom within spitting distance, and, once in a while, I take a break to play with the "puppies". With all the goings on, and with blogger comments being offline for a pretty long time, there really seemed no reason to post.
Still, that doesn't mean that life has stood still.
You remember back in July when my son got into the car accident? This week, we got our new insurance bill. It was not pretty. In fact, it jumped from about $2000 to nearly $6000. I called the agent. She was sympathetic... but couldn't really do much about the bill. The only thing, according to her, that would put us back in the good graces of the insurance company would be:
1) Our son moves out of the house (so he's no longer counted as a "licensed driver" in the household), or
2) Our son have his own car (and pay the exhorbitant insurance on his own behalf)
Today, we opted for solution #2. With a little loan from his parents, my son bought his first car today. You should have seen how excited he was (thankfully, he kept himself in check while at the car dealership). It's a used car, sold as-is, and it will need some work after the safety inspection (hopefully not a LOT of work - he is on a budget). My real pleasure was when we left the dealership. Within moments, he was on the phone with his buddies, talking glowingly about the new acquisition. And, I understand that he's taken a page from my wife (who loves to name her cars) and given his new beast a moniker: Torn Ligament.
I'll have to post a picture of my son and his new dream machine once we're allowed to drive it off the lot.
Saturday, September 06, 2003
An interesting week
Since Labour Day, I've been a stay-at-home worker. This has had several benefits: I've driven less in the past week than a single-day one-way commute in Toronto. I've worked more regular hours (my tendency before was to go to work late, and stay late, to avoid rush-hour traffic), and my co-workers are able to reach me at 9:00AM!
I am a bit more isolated from the hussle and bustle of daily office work. If I'm not there to grab, I can't be distracted as easily from my primary tasks. And finally, I can keep the temperature in my home office as cool as I want, without pissing anyone off. I work for a small company, and the owner hands out hand-written paycheques every two weeks. I'm still not sure whether he'll be writing/mailing in advance of payday, whether I'll be getting paid later than others, or whether I'll be expected to come in every two weeks to visit the office and pick up my paycheque. That last scenario will get old very quickly. I don't want to make a 500 mile trip every two weeks to pick up a cheque and make an appearance - it wastes an entire day of work-time, and I'm not the best at extended highway driving on boring (straight/flat/featureless) stretches of road.
Strange things have been happening with the new network setup at home. Not viruses or anything... just some sort of compatibility glitch that ultimately required that I reformat my wife's hard drive. Sure, we made a backup... it's the restore that's gonna kick me in the ass. After the format and reload of original OEM software, our computer was working OK. That reinforces that there's nothing wrong with the hardware; and that our hodge-podge of software is to blame. The hardest part will be progressively restoring programs from the backup, without causing the original problem to reappear.
Since Labour Day, I've been a stay-at-home worker. This has had several benefits: I've driven less in the past week than a single-day one-way commute in Toronto. I've worked more regular hours (my tendency before was to go to work late, and stay late, to avoid rush-hour traffic), and my co-workers are able to reach me at 9:00AM!
I am a bit more isolated from the hussle and bustle of daily office work. If I'm not there to grab, I can't be distracted as easily from my primary tasks. And finally, I can keep the temperature in my home office as cool as I want, without pissing anyone off. I work for a small company, and the owner hands out hand-written paycheques every two weeks. I'm still not sure whether he'll be writing/mailing in advance of payday, whether I'll be getting paid later than others, or whether I'll be expected to come in every two weeks to visit the office and pick up my paycheque. That last scenario will get old very quickly. I don't want to make a 500 mile trip every two weeks to pick up a cheque and make an appearance - it wastes an entire day of work-time, and I'm not the best at extended highway driving on boring (straight/flat/featureless) stretches of road.
Strange things have been happening with the new network setup at home. Not viruses or anything... just some sort of compatibility glitch that ultimately required that I reformat my wife's hard drive. Sure, we made a backup... it's the restore that's gonna kick me in the ass. After the format and reload of original OEM software, our computer was working OK. That reinforces that there's nothing wrong with the hardware; and that our hodge-podge of software is to blame. The hardest part will be progressively restoring programs from the backup, without causing the original problem to reappear.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
There's no place like home
I've been back for a bit over 24 hours, and I won't be leaving again anytime soon. I've missed my family so badly, and they've missed me. Not just my wife, the kids and the dogs; but my parents and sister as well. I've visited everyone except my sister (who, ironically, is in Toronto this week) and I'm anxious to see her too.
Last week, I purchased a wireless router so that the computer on the second floor of our home could be connected to the internet without having to run cables upstairs. To make sure things would work, I tested the router by connecting it to the upstairs computer (where the cable outlet is) and creating a wireless network to my Windows Me machine downstairs. Everything worked OK. In practice, however, it is the downstairs site that now has the original cable modem, and I am trying to transmit upstairs.
Wouldn't you know it. The XP upstairs "detects" the wireless adapter in a way different than the Windows Me machine, and it's detection method is not working properly. In order to discourage signal theft and hacking, I set the wireless modem to not broadcast its' presence. Instead, the wireless PCI adapters send signals to the router. What I'm seeing on the XP is that the machine is sending signals out, but nothing is coming back. In the Windows Me configuration wizard (run from CD), I am able to customize a large number of parameters (I don't like using default values, as this is insecure). The customizations match those made on the main router. However, the XP configuration wizard is built-in to Windows. I can't force it to use the configuration utility on the CD, so I am unable to tweak the parameters to the same degree. So far, this means that the base and remote nodes are not talking to one another.
At least the wired ports in my office are working. I have tested the VPN connection, and all seems good to go. I can't wait for tomorrow morning!
I've been back for a bit over 24 hours, and I won't be leaving again anytime soon. I've missed my family so badly, and they've missed me. Not just my wife, the kids and the dogs; but my parents and sister as well. I've visited everyone except my sister (who, ironically, is in Toronto this week) and I'm anxious to see her too.
Last week, I purchased a wireless router so that the computer on the second floor of our home could be connected to the internet without having to run cables upstairs. To make sure things would work, I tested the router by connecting it to the upstairs computer (where the cable outlet is) and creating a wireless network to my Windows Me machine downstairs. Everything worked OK. In practice, however, it is the downstairs site that now has the original cable modem, and I am trying to transmit upstairs.
Wouldn't you know it. The XP upstairs "detects" the wireless adapter in a way different than the Windows Me machine, and it's detection method is not working properly. In order to discourage signal theft and hacking, I set the wireless modem to not broadcast its' presence. Instead, the wireless PCI adapters send signals to the router. What I'm seeing on the XP is that the machine is sending signals out, but nothing is coming back. In the Windows Me configuration wizard (run from CD), I am able to customize a large number of parameters (I don't like using default values, as this is insecure). The customizations match those made on the main router. However, the XP configuration wizard is built-in to Windows. I can't force it to use the configuration utility on the CD, so I am unable to tweak the parameters to the same degree. So far, this means that the base and remote nodes are not talking to one another.
At least the wired ports in my office are working. I have tested the VPN connection, and all seems good to go. I can't wait for tomorrow morning!