Shady computer technicians and their scumbag practices.

Here at work, we have a computer in the back room that controls the keycard system, and allows us to lock and unlock doors from our console computer, as well as has the printer hooked up to it which allows us to print our daily paper work.

Last Friday morning, about 15 minutes before I had to leave, I sent my paperwork to the printer, and got an error message saying it couldn't connect to the printer. I went into the back room, and noticed the computer was stuck on the BIOS loading screen, which told me that the system was overheating. So I reboot the system, get Windows loaded up, and shoot off my paperwork, and tell the guy relieving me about it. He contacts the tech guy who is contracted to run the system. Outside vendor, not an in-house guy.

I've met this guy. He's an older ex-military guy who likes to tell you stories about Vietnam and God and other things that have nothing to do with any questions you ask him. Total smokescreener (I'd say Bullshitter, but I am trying to keep my blog family friendly... oops! Damn it!).

Here is the story as was told to me. He came in Saturday, just after noon, armed only with a screwdriver. He opens the tower, and notices the reason for the reboot and lockup, is because the tower fan inside is CLOGGED with dust, dirt, and all things unhealthy for a tower fan. Now I don't know if you've ever tried to remove a case fan, but it's a relatively easy task that should take no more than 30-45 seconds. Apparently, he struggled with it for 30 minutes. After getting the fan off, he blew on it, and a few dustbunnies fell to their deaths to the floor.

Ok, here's where it gets really good. He tells the guys on duty that "There are NO COMPUTER STORES OPEN ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY THAT HE COULD GO TO, TO BUY A REPLACEMENT PART!" Really? There's a MicroCenter up the road 10 minutes from here, and last I checked, they were open on Saturdays and Sundays... And besides, if he was a tech worth a DAMN, he would have had a can of compressed air to clean the fan (along with a tool kit, and an anti-static bag at bare minimum when reporting to a client job), and blow out the tower, just to get things dust free. But he didn't, so he's not.

So he takes the tower Saturday, and returns it Tuesday, under shady circumstances. He brings it in a box that looks like a new computer, but he swears it's not. Only problem is, it doesn't have the 25 pin parallel port that the old printer needs to print. So he gives some flimsy excuse, that apparently the people who pay the bills believe.

So I come in Tuesday night, and hear the story. I almost pass out from the absurdity of it, and go into the back room to see what the problem is. I look in the back, and bingo, no parallel port. The old computer had a parallel port. The towers look identical, so he was able to fool everyone else. Not me. That's the advantage of being a certified IT Technician. I know what the hell I am talking about.

So I tell the guy who relieves me, who is our bosses right hand man, and he couldn't believe it. All told, the guy probably charged the building managers $500-600 for a quick 10 minute job that I would have done for $25.

Makes me really want to get a business license and go into business for myself, because I believe in being straight with a customer. Because if you screw the customer, you'll be out of business in a hearbeat. I still am shaking my head over this one...

Coming soon... Doughnut Porn!

I was tipped to this gourmetish doughnut place in Atlanta where they serve rather unique creations. So last Friday, I went and picked up a 6 pack of doughnuts, and brought them home (minus one oreo encrusted doughnut, that one didn't make the ride home).

Well, I got home, and actually took some pictures of said doughnuts, and I promise to post them once I get them off the camera...

That's all for today.

When something happens you can never expect to duplicate

Short post on this one, which I am sure is a refreshing change of pace. Have you ever had one of those moments where something happens, no matter how small and insignificant it is, that you know will never happen again, no matter how the stars align?

I had one of those yesterday morning on the way home from work. As I was driving home, it was nice enough (not too cold, not to hot, and definately not raining), for me to drive with the sunroof open. As I am cruising along, I hear the distinct sound of rock on metal, followed by said rock (read: pebble) hitting me square on the top of my head and then hitting the back window.

After a brief "ow" and putting it all together, all I could do is shake my head and say "What the hell?" I picked the rock off my back seat where it had settled once I got to school, and it was a pebble no more than 1/4 inch in any direction. No, I did not decide to keep it.

The end :)

So much for a "Normal Sleep Pattern" and grooving with a shark!

I wasn't really going to post today... I really don't have much in the way of valuable brain power right now. "Why?" you may ask... or not. Actually, I am thinking more in the "not" catagory because I don't think anyone has read this blog (through no fault of their own, I don't broadcast when I post a new blog anywhere).

Anyways, I was just reading through one of my previous posts, I think lamenting about the ending of last quarter, but feeling okay about it because I would be getting back to a "normal sleep pattern". Yeaaaaaaah... about that...

On Easter Sunday, I had to work from 8AM to 4PM, which I didn't mind, since I don't observe religious holidays, or religion for that matter, except Thanksgiving and Christmas (one of these things is not like the other :) ). I got home around 5ish, and my Mother In Law (henseforth known as MIL), her husband Dennis and my Father In Law (also henseforth known as FIL, not to be confused with PHil) were at the house wrapping up making plans for Tuesday's celebration of FIL's birthday. FIL left, and my daughter was begging for a bath (who would have throught a 3 year old would BEG for a bath?), and MIL and Dennis graciously took her back to their place so she should have a bath, and my wife and I could take a "nap". At 5:30. In the PM.

Next thing I know, it's around 9 or so, when my daughter and wife come into the room, and we have a brief family "say goodnight to your freshly clean and non sugar fueled daughter before she goes to bed" moment, and was asked if I was getting up, or staying in bed. At this time, my eye lids felt like their feet had been dipped in cement and dropped off a bridge, so I said "I'm staying in bed." My wife, in her wisdom, said "Great, that means you'll be up at 6AM", which I denied... and in fact, I was correct... I was up at 7AM Monday morning.

So I woke up, ate some cereal, checked facebook, and planted myself on the couch for a few hours of uninterrupted XBox playing. All was good that morning, the sun was shining, my daughter woke up and ate half her breakfast, and I was feeling good. Then after a while, my wife, who had been sleeping in which she deserved, woke up and got ready for her doctor's appointment. I looked at the clock and it was about 1:30 or so, and her appointment was at 2:30. So I assumed she'd be back at around 3:30, and would be able to take a couple of hours nap before my first class of the quarter. Yeaaaaaaaaah... about that.

She wasn't home at 4:15 when MIL called and I told her what was going on, and she (again, graciously) volunteered to come over and watch the kid while I took a nap, but at that point was too late, because I would have only gotten about 45 minutes of sleep, and that would do me nooooo good. She came over anyways, and my wife came home around 4:45. I decided to hit the pillows for 20 minutes just to wind down a little, and got up and went to class.

After class, I got back about 7:45 and instead of taking a nap, decided to cook dinner and make lunch for myself, and then went to work. Suprisingly, I made it through my shift pretty unscathed, left and went to my 8AM class. Once again, suprisingly was awake through the whole thing. Got home at 10:20, was up for 20 minutes, and promptly passed out at 10:45. All in all, I had been awake for 28 straight hours, and as a result, I missed the entire FIL birthday celebration, which I feel absolutely horrible about, despite everyone saying "they understood". So I think I am going to have to take him out for lunch this weekend to make up for it. So much for a "normal sleep pattern". This will be corrected immediately by human resources. !:

*----*

There is a blog I have recently discovered by doing random blog searches to find someone who blogs who is actually.... I don't know... INTERESTING. From their blog, found out about http://www.grooveshark.com/, which is pretty much an online jukebox, plays almost any song you want, on demand... pretty groovin. At work streaming "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring.. And I'd like to thank The Eagles for their live version of "Hotel California" that I was playing while typing the above part of the blog.

Stories from days gone by...

There was a time, long ago, when I was the ripe old age of 22ish, when I was doing college basketball games on the radio with this guy, we'll call Phil. (Name changed to protect his current radio gig).

This would have been back in 1997, sometime in November, when we were supposed to go do a road game some 4 and a half hours away. At the time, being a low budget junior college radio station, we were forced to do any remote broadcasts from a "cell caster", which is essentially, a cell phone that hooked up to our broadcast gear. The deal we had with the provider was we'd give them free advertising in exchange for turning on the cell service on days of games, which we had arranged well ahead of time.

Fast forward to the day of the game, when Phil, his girlfriend (though he'd deny it all the time) Phyllis (again, name changed to protect... something), and myself driving to the game, listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival and having deep discussions about fried chicken (yes, really), when we decided to stop for lunch, some 2 hours from the Bay Area. While waiting for our Denny's lunch special, we decide to check the cell caster, and make sure service was active, something that would have been prudent to do, oh, say 3 hours ago, when we were loading up the stuff. We dial the station, and get a "no service" tone.

The three of us look at each other in disbelief, either in shock at the fact the waitress actually put our orders in, despite the language barriers between us (she was hispanxican), or the fact that the douchebag at the cell shop failed to turn on service. We try again, and are met again with the taunting no service tone.

We then decide to head back, since there would be no point in trying to broadcast the game without this vital piece of equiptment. As we cross back over the Altamont Pass (580 West), we try one more time to call the station, and the call went through. Turns out that the guy turned the thing on for Local Service Only, which defeated the point of having the damn thing turned on to begin with.

Dejected, we plotted a course to the studio, however, Phil got an idea. (This is where the dramatic DUN DUN DUHHHHHHHH would play). "There is a Warrior's game on tonight, isn't there?" asked Phil, to which I said "uh huh". Then I got where he was going... were we to violate the "This game is presented by the authority of the NBA and can not be rebroadcast..." rule that is mentioned so prominently during the 1st quarter (usually)?... No... Yes... No... "Why not, no one will be listening anyways, we need the tape." he says. "Besides, I got a case of Miller Lite and we can pick up a bucket of chicken...." and that's all he had to say. Chicken and beer, all the while rebroadcasting an NBA game and passing it off as our own? Who could resist?

So we got back to his modest home (and believe me, modest is a generous statement) after picking up our essentials for the evening. Sitting in his living room, 30 minutes before game time, we hook up the equiptment, dial into the studio, and get ready to perpetuate the biggest hoax the college has ever beared witness to... if anyone had been listening to it anyway.

We told the board op that we were high above the floor, in this vacuumed sealed booth, where all the sound from the arena was magically kept out, so there was not even the slightest of game related noises coming though (and incidently, there were quite a few meows from his cat that made the tape).

Now, tip off time, and we began to pass off others work as our own, the guilt being gently washed away with Miller Lite and greasy fried chicken. Long story short (too late), by the time the game ended, we were sloppy drunk, producing bodily gasses en masse, and passing off the final score as the final from our game.

Oddly enough, when we looked at the paper the next day, the score was nowhere near the score we broadcasted, but no one thought to ask us why... However the right team did lose (us and the Warriors from the night before), and as days went by, we knew we were in the clear...

That my friends, I have been holding in for 13 years, telling only the closest of my inner circle of friends... and now you know the story of Miller Lite, Fried Chicken, and Radio Plagurism. I think the statute of limitations is well past.