Useless Conversation

[bhodi]

As someone that has spent a considerable portion of my adult life in Wyoming, I'll congratulate you on a significant accomplishment.  Most people will live their whole life without attempting anything as ambitious. I bet it was beautiful at the summit!  

It was! - Thanks. Honestly, anyone with a bit of both training and nerves can make it up without too much trouble. Having an excellent guide helped.


Damn cheddar, that sucks.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Hope that doesn't mean you're a victim, Chedder.

So, started my PMP certification course last Saturday.  Got the selftest software access information during the week.  Today is the second day of class and instructor is amazed.. AMAZED.. that I can't access my email online to set up this online training during the class.  I'm sorry, I don't leave me email in my online accounts when I access them on my home computer.  Luckily, the husband is home today and he could forward the email to me again and I can get it, but it was still a bit of a WTF.

[Ironwood]

Er....

[Selby]

I used to download my emails (have them going back to 1996 including the mailed form of LtM\SND articles) but stopped around 2003.  Ever since then it's been online via my web browser.  I've contemplated downloading them to free up some space on my provider's server, but he says he's got plenty of room and my 1GB of email isn't bothering him.  It is very handy for such things as email notices and whatnot to access anywhere any time with a 'net connection.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Well, luckily I don't use the ISP email addy for anything really, because that I really don't have access to use webmail for (never bothered to set it up).  I do use Gmail or occasionally Hotmail for most of my needs, but I really hate having a ton of messages duplicated between my Outlook and my webmail or having a ton of "unread" messages in the webmail even though I've already read and sorted them via Outlook.

I guess it's just me.

[Lantyssa]

IMAP to gmail is what I do.  Now I have it at home, work, or through the web.  And if I move something from another account to gmail, it's there for all of them.

[Yegolev]

'tis the season for layoffs!  YAY!   

[Sky]

IMAP to gmail is what I do. 

I do this for personal mail, though I do have various accounts for various reasons. I remember back in 2002 or so when our library system went from POP to IMAP, it was like the clouds breaking and angels singing. Don't know what I'd do without the ability to check my email anywhere (and I don't even have a smartphone). It's also my sticky note system now, but with attachments and links.

[Yegolev]

Today's buzz phrase:

private cloud computing ecosystem

[Cyrrex]

Today's buzz phrase:

private cloud computing ecosystem

It should be legal to punch people for coining phrases like this.  Besides, it's really more of a Habitat.

[Engels]

Yep, that'd replace 'scalable' as Most Annoying Tech Term Used by Flashy Pants Careerists in my book.

[Cyrrex]

Yep, that'd replace 'scalable' as Most Annoying Tech Term Used by Flashy Pants Careerists in my book.

I think "leverage" is a good one, too.  You can even "leverage scale" if you want to double douche it.

[Ironwood]

Today's buzz phrase:

private cloud computing ecosystem

Those four words do not make sense together.  At all.

It's a whole new paradigm.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Bad news - someone took out my mailbox this morning in the 2 hours between the husband leaving for work and my putting the dog out for the morning.

Good news - the next door neighbor owned up to it in a note the apparently slipped into the mailbox after coming home and realizing that yes, they really did hit the mailbox from the driver's side as they were leaving earlier.

[Yegolev]

Today's buzz phrase:

private cloud computing ecosystem

Those four words do not make sense together.  At all.

It's a whole new paradigm.

I had already stopped taking them seriously at "private cloud".  Possibly "cloud" means "datacenter" or "VLAN and a corner of raised-floor".

[Ingmar]

private cloud 

[Yegolev]

I think I have decided that "cloud" means "India".

[Engels]

Its just an upper management pipe dream. It promises no maintenance, permanent access, optimal security and the ability to fire that danged IT nerd that always makes us look bad at corporate meetings by asking tech-y questions no one understand.

[Nebu]

... and the ability to fire that danged IT nerd that always makes us look bad at corporate meetings by asking tech-y questions no one understand.

You're welcome!




Edit: Sorry, this picture flashed into my mind when I read that.

[NowhereMan]

Spent the bank holiday weekend visiting my godfather and got to hear some of his stories of travelling various places since he's recently put together photo albums. Some of the highlights included his first 'backpacking' tour when he was 16, spent a couple of months building a sewer pipe and roundabout somewhere and used the money to travel across North Africa. The follow up a couple of years later involved him getting arrested and kicked out of Egypt because he was hanging around in the slums (since he couldn't afford anywhere else) and deporting him to border with Yemen. This was followed by him eventually reaching Saudi Arabia, being given a 36 hour visa when he told them he was planning to leave Saudi from Jedda and then setting off overland because he couldn't afford a plane ticket. That would have delayed him more than long enough to outstay his visa had he not been stopped by some tribe and kept as the chief's guest for 5 weeks because they hadn't seen any white people for 40 years or so. He then got to Medina where he was stopped by the police and questioned about being the country for nearly two months without a visa, the local chief of police informed him he'd have to place him under arrest but since he clearly wasn't malicious it would be house arrest. He spent the next two weeks of house arrest being supervised by the chief's son and driven around Medina in a pink cadillac. Or there was the time he went to climb the Mountains of the Moon and got taken by an armed group and marched up to meet a local king who had declared independence from Idi Amin and insisted he take a message to the UN.

It's sometimes depressing to talk to someone and realise that they've done far more amazing things than you'll ever do and probably more by the time he was my age now than I'll ever manage.

[Soln]

Got my PMP back in 2003.  Rhyssa, let me know if you have any questions.  That exam sucks.

[Merusk]

Responsibility is a bitch, Nowhere. 

[Lantyssa]

Yeah.  Can we not talk about firing the IT nerd for a few days?  Thanks.

[lamaros]

The other week my housemate, who was the only one of 4 of us on the lease, decided that someone needed to move out because her sister was looking for somewhere to live... People...

Long story short I'm now going to Greece and Italy for 19 days, on a boat with the family in the islands for 5 days then Venice, Rome, Lake Como and relatives in Calabria. Next thursday.

Golly moving is annoying though.

[Ironwood]

Yeah.  Can we not talk about firing the IT nerd for a few days?  Thanks.

Nevertheless, it's something that you and I and the rest of us need to keep at the forefront of our minds.  Outsourcing and Cloud solutions are starting to get rampant in the market and just being able to know your way around a server just doesn't help anymore.  It's all about the development these days. 

Which has sucked lately for me in particular...

[Yegolev]

My plan is to enter the chin-stroking sector of IT.

[K9]

HTML5 is cool

 

[Lantyssa]

Nevertheless, it's something that you and I and the rest of us need to keep at the forefront of our minds.  Outsourcing and Cloud solutions are starting to get rampant in the market and just being able to know your way around a server just doesn't help anymore.  It's all about the development these days. 

Which has sucked lately for me in particular...

It's a bit past the forefront.

[Ard]

My plan is to enter the chin-stroking sector of IT.

I suppose that's better than the dick-stroking sector of IT that makes up like 90% of it.

Are you still working absurd hours?

[Yegolev]

Absurd?  Depends on who you ask.  Also, not if I can avoid it.  I am scheduled to be on-call for a week in the middle of December but instead I am going on a cruise.

[Soln]

you'll have your pager, right?

[Merusk]

Sorry to hear it, Lant. 

[Yegolev]

you'll have your pager, right?

[Lantyssa]

It's been an interesting week.

Returned early from medical leave yesterday.  (Side note: Abscesses are not fun.)  Get a warning from an as of today ex-coworker and learn about a slew of positions going away.  Got to spend last night in utter fear.

Get called in for termination, reduction, what-the-fuck-ever this morning.  Only I was on some weird pay thing between departments set up 15 years ago, so they tell me it's 50%, not complete.  Turns out this was an error, but the letter was already sent to HR.  That means it's probably locked in for the year.  (Fiscal year starts tomorrow.)  My immediate boss has already offered to cover the rest while he can.

So I'm fired, but not.  Not sure who my actual boss is, since it was a position for the department that no longer funds me.  Heads might roll because they failed to cut mine properly.  I'm in limbo, and still have to look for a job, but may have some time to do so.  Which is good, since I purchased a new house in April.  But that means I can't move without taking a huge loss and tax hit.

The economy sucks and, well, I have no one to really fall back on like a dual-income married couple might.  So it could be a lot worse, but it isn't really a great spot to be in.  I'm a huge mix of emotions.

[Cheddar]

It's been an interesting week.

Returned early from medical leave yesterday.  (Side note: Abscesses are not fun.)  Get a warning from an as of today ex-coworker and learn about a slew of positions going away.  Got to spend last night in utter fear.

Get called in for termination, reduction, what-the-fuck-ever this morning.  Only I was on some weird pay thing between departments set up 15 years ago, so they tell me it's 50%, not complete.  Turns out this was an error, but the letter was already sent to HR.  That means it's probably locked in for the year.  (Fiscal year starts tomorrow.)  My immediate boss has already offered to cover the rest while he can.

So I'm fired, but not.  Not sure who my actual boss is, since it was a position for the department that no longer funds me.  Heads might roll because they failed to cut mine properly.  I'm in limbo, and still have to look for a job, but may have some time to do so.  Which is good, since I purchased a new house in April.  But that means I can't move without taking a huge loss and tax hit.

The economy sucks and, well, I have no one to really fall back on like a dual-income married couple might.  So it could be a lot worse, but it isn't really a great spot to be in.  I'm a huge mix of emotions.

Holy shit.  Best wishes.