The Time Sink

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Ah, and it's a great day to be at work; isn't it now? </Irish Accent> And why would that be? For the same reason the rest of the week will also be a great time to be at work. It's Easter Vacation (that's Spring Break to the PC people) and Shelley is trapped at home with two household terrorists. <Aside>Did you ever notice how thoughtful the churches are? They always check in with the school districts and confirm the dates for Spring Break before scheduling Easter and the Lenten calendar.</Aside>

Regardless, Herself is dreading this entire week: the back yard has this huge hole in it, filled with rebar and rainwater (thus no gunite right away); there's a trench in front of the shed where the boy's bicyles are stored (I'm hoping to deal with that this evening); and they've already rented every Nintendo game available for their age group. We have a bet going that she'll hear "Mom, I'm bored" before 1000 today. It best not be from Daniel; she has several book reports lined up just waiting for any excuse to start on them <g>.

It was early to bed last night, so SSM ^{©Daniel K. Seto} is is full effect this morning.

...time warp? What time warp? Dave and I are just wired that way!

Yesterday I was worried about Sir Thomas, the Dragon Slayer; I believe Sunday was the first time he's missed at least a rude remark since the slaying of OIANS. I don't have my medic alarms completely deactivated yet; so when they went off, I essayed a quick dispatch to Saskatoon. It actually hadn't occurred to me that he might have hosed something, although remembering the McKenzie brothers, I guess I should start on that assumption in the future <g>. Well, as we now know, he was fine; Hydras, however, was not so fine. Ah, well; the life, or non-life of a Daynoter.

Later in the day, a quote came across my desk that seemed to fit the Daynotes gang in general and Tom's experience very, very well. I'd asked MIS a question (which they bounced on), had worked out the answer myself (from a half-remembered episode last summer with Tom and the baby dragon), and had emailed my answer to the the System Analyst for her databank. She replied with a "thanks" and this:

I stood for a minute or two to collect myself, for I was dazed with the horror of the thing. Then I began to think of Holmes's own methods and to try to practise them. . ."

This is just soooo cute! It's a PC built into a clear Plexiglas case with internal lighting supplied by something that looks like it needs a ballast. Now, I don't normally spin my wheels in hyper-critical mode; so lets just say the words "radio spectrum" and "shielding" and be done with it.

...and now one on me: I spent Tuesday at the jobsite working around my lack of an available programmer to modify the purchasing ap. NP; I'd just hack at the database with Access and Excel. What I really need is use-rate studies; and with Erik tied up on another project, that isn't going to happen RSN. Sooo... The alternative is to work from "items ordered" and interpolate the data. NP; off to the land of Ozmond where, logic does not always follow as one would think. Ah, well; as we've said before, "Just knowing it can be done is half the battle."

Life was easy after rounds one and two; I was able to pull info on IV catheters and IV start kits and even manage a graph or two. I did hit a problem when I got to the little do-hickeys we use when we want venous access on a patient but don't necessarily want to hang a line. The solution for that is the dealie called a "prn adapter." We can start the line; insert one of these plugs in the IV catheter's hub; flush it with saline; and merrily trip on down to see the MD. ("...a rat's what??", I hear?) Okay, on with the story:

I couldn't save the spreadsheet for squat. First Excel said it couldn't find the folder (what folder? it's a freakin' file. so save it already). Then it said it couldn't save the file 'cause the name was bad? WT...? The name? What's wrong with prn.xls? I already did cath.xls and startkit.xls. What's your problem?

Memories of the DOS days finally floated to the surface: prn.xls? Of course, I can't use "PRN" nada, any more than I could use "LPT1:" nada. That's a reserved system name for the default printer. Sheesh. Ashes on my head...

'Ya know, when you have three Mondays in the same week, sometimes all you can do is just hang on until the weekend.

...and I start my workday today at the California Department of Motor Vehicles (Monday #4). ...trying to unscrew a mess created by local government. All was well until the lawyer on that end lost a title and now I'm supposed to deal with it. Sheesh^3.

It sounds like Shelley is going under the knife next week (or sooner, if she can manage it). She's had some "back" pain that's been relieved with antacids and time. MD says gallbladder. ...and Shelley's about half out of her head. Not from the pain; from the "no fatty foods" edict prior to the ultrasound today. ...and she's trying to schedule the surgery before she even meets the cutter. "I'll meet him in the OR; that'll work" "We'll say 'Hi'; he'll cut the thing out; and we're off to Friday's for lunch." "What's wrong with that?" I may have to hook her up with DocJim for an explanation of medical ethics. Seriously, if there's a cancellation in the OR tomorrow and someone available with a knife, she's there. I just don't think they'll let her in.

...and in the best Daynotes tradition, I attempted another experiment with the wireless network last night and lost total connectivity on the Linux test bed. The laptop did okay though... I just have to figure what I did right on the one and what I blew up on the other. I was trying for a wireless link from the laptop running NT and ol' Tux. Wolf didn't seem to like the adapter and I definitely need to learn about WINS to make it work there. PCMCIA seemed to go okay on the Linux box. My bet is that I have an interrupt mishandled in one of the config files. Ah, well; maybe by the weekend.

Last night was way weird. Matt developed a split personality; Brian was down and apparently took a major portion of the Bay area with him when he crashed (and we thought Tom could mess things up!)(...and apologies to any who may be offended, but that's the only way that joke to him would work!) ...the boys were behaving and the computers were not. Oh, wait... That last is normal isn't it?

That's why Dave's comment today about "reading even if it seems over your head" is dead on. The more I read about a system and the deeper I can submerse myself in it, the sooner I'll understand it. Like the dependency issue last night. RPM "A" wanted a library; load said library and try RPM "A" again and all will be well. Not! It still wanted the same library. Okay, time for another approach: time to try once again to install the Manly Unix Way sans RPM. Hmmm... See? I am learning: shelve that project for the night and hit the Daynotes routine. Catharsis in more than an nutshell.

...and that catharsis is needed. Today will make the fifth Monday this week. The DMV gig went okay Thursday (that means I returned with only a handful of new paperwork to deal with); Shelley is now reading up on Do it Yourself surgery since the results from her ultrasound didn't make it to her MD (but she knows, of course); the pool guys are moving way too fast for the side jobs I need done; and I'm learning Linux by osmosis. Hmmm, that library... Perhaps it wanted the developer version? That's two approaches to try over the weekend. ...while I'm dealing with two contractors, a wife who cannot eat anything with any fat in it, a new network system on a new OS, and two kids who cannot play in their back yard for another week or two. Sheesh. I must have some Canadian blood in me somewhere...

It's a holiday for some and a work day for others. For the Christians in either group it is a day for reflection and remembering the price paid. ...a time for contemplation of not just our walk, but of the "why" of the walk.

If you want to have some fun, write an email to someone in Outlook discussing some of the Linux distros and programs. Then spell check... Granted some of it is somewhat esoteric and can be forgiven, but some of the suggestions can be hilarious.

Apologies to both of you who came by looking for something to read with your Saturday morning coffee; I was simply too tired to post last night. ...and frankly, I'm BTS as I type now (no, not Boston Transit System; I think theirs is called the MTA; at least I think I recall that from the song about 'poor old Charlie'). Oh, the point! As in: "get to". Well, I came home yesterday (after the fifth Monday in a row) to enjoy the company of my brother-in-law, also known as the contractor dude. Dave and I get together every so often to either work or swap stories over a tall one. Yesterday was a work day...

We were taking advantage of a gap in the sub-contractor dance orchestrated by the pool contractor. We wanted to dig some trenches to run new drain lines around the house and a water service line to the far side of the property. The concrete guys won't be in until Monday; so while the tile guys were tiling, we were digging and refilling and digging and digging and refilling and refilling. I don't even want to contemplate how many cubic yards of dirt we've moved in two days. ...and it continues for me on Sunday. I have to finish refilling the north side and doing my best to return things to the grade lines we started with. Kinda' one of those "do it now or do it never" deals. The contractor was nice enough to leave two of his trenches open for us (refill, refill) and I'd like to hand him back a nice package. ...refilled; refilled.