Work Journal For Week of May 29, 2000
Last Update: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 01:44 AM
Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun
Monday May 29, 2000
Cool, wet and windy cycling home from work. My right knee was acting up in the cold so I had to gear down substantially so my knee wouldn't hurt while peddling. I usually mash a large gear, but not today. Interesting to note that running less gear into the heavy wind did slow me down, but my trip time is the same 1 1/2 hour trip home. I think I made the time up by climbing the long hill at the end of the trip quite well.
I am baffled by the communications about the re org of the Desktop Services group at work. I am a part of this group and cannot see how they will not, or shouldn't chop the head count, but one of the top level managers in an email today, states clearly that there will be no job cuts. I think they don't have a true view of what is happening in their department. The Senior Analysts can see the need to move people around and cut some of the chaff, but management has blinders on. I think part of this comes from who they have been listening to in the Calgary office, and the fact that none of the managers are located in Calgary so they don't see what is happening day to day. Maybe the Edmonton office is OK, which is where most of the managers are located, but the Calgary office needs a major tune up. I'm doing my part by job hunting and a few others are now doing the same.
Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun
Tuesday May 30, 2000
Looks like I maybe on an upswing in my job hunting effort, as I have an interview on June 9 for a network administrator position. All the work I have put into cover letters as of late hopefully is starting to paying off. I have been putting an extra effort into my cover letters lately, to better sell my skills and show how they match up with companies requirements.
I am always amazed at how small the IT community is in Calgary. The lady who called me to setup the interview, worked for ISMBC which is owned by Telus. When I answered her question of why I want to leave Telus with " not challenging" she instantly understood, because she had been in the environment.
Made good use of the high speed duplex laser printer at work today. I printed off Linux Installation and Getting Started by Matt Welsh.
Picked up my Amazon book order from the post office today. Had to pay GST and a handling before I could get my hands on it.
Now time to fire up some good tunes on the stereo and attack this mass of reading material.
Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun
Wednesday May 31, 2000
Pt-tang clank clank clank... that's the sound of a spoke breaking and then flopping around in my back wheel as I was cycling to work this morning. Not much I could do it about it at the time other than wrap the offending spoke around another spoke and keep going. On the way home I stopped by a bike shop and picked up a new spoke. When I got home I took the tire off the rim, removed the cassette and installed the new spoke. I had to remove the rim tape to install the new spoke nipple in the rim. The rim tape was in poor shape thus not reusable, but luckily I had some hockey tape which was the right width to use as rim tape. A few minutes work with a spoke wrench and the wheel was nearly true. A little baby powder on the inner tube and in the tire to prevent the tube from chaffing and I remount the tire and I am ready for my commute tomorrow.
A bite of supper, a few chores and the evening is gone. No time for reading tonight. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.
Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun
Thursday June 1, 2000
June 1st and I wake up to frost and below freezing temperatures. Not to be set back, I don my normal morning cycling garb and head off to work. The big down hill was rather chilly due to wind chill but once I was on the flats things weren't too bad temperature wise.
The day warmed up enough to warrant grabbing one of my new lawn chairs and my Administrating GroupWise 5.5 book for some study time out on the front porch. Got the first two short chapters out of the way before having to head out to buy a birthday card for a party I am going to out at the farm this weekend.
Been trying to hit the sack earlier that usual this week in an attempt to get more sleep. This has not been successful as I have been waking in the middle of the night, then sleeping poorly till the alarm goes off. The end result is I am now even more tired, and getting fewer actual hours of sleep. I am tempted to stay up late and catch MASH.
Mmmmm.... I have been craving a Popsicle all week. Picked up a box of them while out doing my banking. The orange flavored Popsicle I am enjoying right now is sure hitting the spot.
Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun
Friday June 2, 2000
I was shown an interesting fix for Outlook 97 today. I had a user who after she installed a DB2 client update could not longer open Outlook. Another tech told me to copy outllib.dll from another PC with the same version of Outlook installed. I copied the file and over wrote the existing file, then rebooted the PC. Outlook was now functional again.
Cycling to work today was hard work. My legs just didn't want to go ( Ok, I'll be honest, the rest of me was not too interested in going to work either ). There is a short climb out of my neighbourhood before I turn south on the highway to go downhill into the river valley where the bike path follows the river. That little climb which is normally a nice little warm-up, today was painful cause my legs did not want to move. It ended up taking about the first 20 minutes of my ride before I got up to speed and my legs started to feel somewhat normal. Through out my commute I had to constantly check myself to make sure I kept my cadence up or I would slow to a crawl. The final climb up to the pedestrian under pass which leads me to the correct side of the road to get to the advertising services building was tough even in low gear.
Oh joy! Set up a computer for a user who has moved from another department. He/she has more stuff crammed under the desk than Black Beard stashed on Treasure Island. The desk is black, piles of boxes underneath the desk to dig around in the dark to locate power and network connections. Felt like a kid making a fort out of the boxes his parents stashed in the basement, only I was hunting treasure, not defending the Alamo or warding off alien invaders. Once my mission was accomplished I exited, getting caught on the corner of boxes, and having my keys stab me as I crawled feet first out of my fort. Now I remember why I want to sit at a desk, not work under it running wires, skinning knuckles, getting carpet burn and smacking my head on keyboard trays.
My next trick was supposed to be a monitor swap. Simple enough to do but the elevator is out of commission and I could, but am not about to lug 17 inch monitor up the stairs, then bring the defective monitor down the stairs. Alternatively I could toss the bad monitor over the hand railing and watch the tube blow as it hits the lobby floor. Would be great fun, but get me in major trouble.
Took a few new turns on the bike ride home. One turn took me over a rather large jump which was OK, the surprise was my backpack lifting off my shoulders, allowing my padlock and cable to swing around and nail me in the shoulder. Ouch!! The remainder of the trip was non eventful other than not having to fight a head wind for the first time this week. Good timing as my legs are trashed from cycling this week.
Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun
Saturday June 3, 2000
Off to farm country for a birthday party. Back when ever I get back.
Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun
Sunday June 4, 2000
No Post.
Copyright © 1999, 2000 John Doucette. All Rights Reserved