Jericho: From Phoenix Arizona all the way to Tacoma
Actually, it was beyond Tacoma, to Seatac, and that was actually my starting point, but no one has written any songs about Seatac, not that there is much there to write about, just the airport and whatever the Green River Killer left behind, but I digress.
I want to apologize for not putting up a post sooner, but I'm not gonna. I was busy and it's not like you people are paying for this stuff, huh? I mean, if you were paying, we would have gone broke a long time ago because we suck at updating. But, again, I digress.
Like I said, I've been pretty busy. I had a week long trip to Phoenix. We have an office down there now, we merged with them over the summer. I got to go down and install a new voicemail system for them. It was okay. The trip was fine and easy. The work wasn't hard and frankly the system came up with only a few minor coughs and pains - nearly painless when compared to some other systems I've worked with recently (more to come on that.)
What stunk about the whole trip is the fact that my job has become a real pain in my tush. This isn't hard work, and I actually like a good portion of the stuff I do, much to my own shock. My immediate co-workers and boss are all a bunch of control freaks. But, so am I. They're good people and being a control freak I understand them. We have a good thing going on. It's the people in the rest of the department.
My department (Telecom) is a portion of the larger department of Systems. The people at the head of the Systems department have steadily gotten more and more involved in Telecom's affairs as our devices have begun to depend more and more on the IT network. In tandem to this process, the hierarchy of Systems has become more and more filled with people who treat us like children and act as if they have not a social skill in their possession. I realize these are people who talk to their computers more than they talk to their friends, but, still ... I feel like I work with computers all day, play with them a good portion of my time off, yet I still manage to treat others like people. Why can't they?
This job started off demanding and has gotten more and more demanding as the last four years have gone by. In the last three months, those demands have nearly doubled and there doesn't look to be anything slowing these demands down for the next three or so months. I don't know how much more I can take. The only reason I haven't walked away from this job is the fact that if I go out and find another job, I will be starting all over again and I will be right back where I am now three or four years from now. I just can't do this again.
So, in essence, I'm stuck, trapped. I have no alternatives. Joy.
Luckily, we have gotten over one of the larger hurdles. After I got back from Phoenix, I got to work on the Seattle upgrade ... for the third time! I think this will illustrate just what I'm talking about. When they installed the voicemail system here in Seattle four years ago, it was instantly under ported. In other words, we simply did not have enough ports to handle all of our incoming calls. The system was slow, futzy and not satisfying. In that four years, we have asked to update the system as often as it came up. Finally, we got our approval. It turns out that Microsoft has end-of-lifed WinNT, it will die on Dec. 31st, so we had to replace it. The fact that the box is a 500 Mhz processor with 250 MB of memory, it supports half of the firm with a mission critical application, and wouldn't qualify to be used as a desk top didn't seem to bother any one - *sigh*
I went to my vendor, whom I have worked with for quite some time. We started this process in, like, May or June. We decided to order an HP server through our vendor. Telecom decided on HP because Systems uses only HP. Our vendor doesn't deal in HP, so this was a special order. We looked together online and picked out a server. We had this server originally delivered to the vendor. Systems then decided that they wanted the server before our vendor. We got the shipping changed and sent here. So, in mid-October, after all of that hassle, the server arrives. It sits next to my desk. And it sits there and sits there! A thirty thousand dollar server that Systems just HAD TO HAVE first, just sitting next to my desk. Finally, the Wednesday before the Saturday install, they come get it to get to work on it. They open the box and discover a problem.
My voicemail system has to be connected to the phone system, called a PBX and to the computer network, the LAN. To interface with the PBX, we use cards that fit into PCI slots in the server. To connect to the LAN, you need a LAN port. We need six cards for all of our ports, so we ordered a server with six slots. Almost every computer built today has a built-in 10/100 Ethernet LAN port. It's something like belly buttons, kids come with one whether they need it or not. Except this one. We managed to order THE ONLY server HP makes without a built-in LAN port. But, HP knew that we needed access to the LAN, so they shoved a LAN card (called a NIC) into one of the six slots. Now, I only have five slots and I need six. So, instead of my vendor getting this server, discovering the problem and fixing the problem WEEKS before the install, I had to delay the install just a few days in advance, after it had already been announced. Further, HP didn't want the server back. We had held it for too long. They wanted to charge us a $2k restock fee. To say the least I was furious. To add to this, the Systems person responsible for most of this tried to blame my vendor for ordering the wrong server! Oh, but he'll soon get egg on his face, too.
So, we get the Systems department to order a server, mainly the puke who wanted to blame my vendor above. I mean, they couldn't fuck it up nearly as much as I did, right? The server arrives and it, too, sits by my desk. Now, I have two servers, $60k sitting at my desk. Finally, they come to grab the new one. They do their deal on it. Meanwhile, Systems has decided that it wasn't happy with how things came out last time, so they want me to put together a task list and assign those tasks out to the people that need to do them. Fine. The list is generated, tasks are assigned and the date for install shows up - my birthday. I got to spend my whole birthday at work. Double joy.
We banged on this brand new, jet fighter of a server all day, and for the next two days for that matter. Basically, the server could not bring all six of the cards up at the same time. We tried every permutation and fix and patch we could find. Finally, we heard from the manufacturer that another vendor on the east coast was having a similar issue with an HP server. We think (think!) that the PCIx slots are not stepping down enough for the older PCI technology used on the cards. Silly us, we bought what we needed instead of what HP wanted us to use. In the end, I wasted my birthday and still didn't have a working voicemail system upgrade - back to the old Compaq box!
Systems now decides that something must be wrong with my project management skills since they didn't do half the tasks I assigned to them and the HP server sucked. So, we had a much larger design meeting ... meetings actually. My task list now looks like instructions for disarming a nuclear bomb. It's completely silly. I went to Phoenix, with the first server we bought for Seattle (our Chicago office wants the second one, we'll see). They only needed two cards down there, so the LAN card sucking up a slot didn't hurt anything.
While down there, one of the social-skill lacking big wigs in Systems asks for a teleconference. I try to arrange this with my busy schedule and all the other people's busy schedules. I warn the Systems person that the meeting will be late, then I send another note with the time I arranged. I immediately get a flame email - the email yelled at me for a whole lot of really dumb stuff, but it mostly yelled at me for not reading the last email this person sent. Funny, I didn't get any email, I'm used to this person not sending me replies to my mail. None of us are important enough, apparently. I informed this person of this fact. He included my boss in his mail, so I included him right back. My boss writes back just how sorry he is and that he will work to see that I'm not treated like this again. A few minutes later, the Systems person sends a note saying that no, the email didn't go through for some reason (Systems has been working with email recently, no shocker to me) and that he was sorry for flaming me. His bad!
However, when I returned to Seattle, this pattern continued. On the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving, I got yelled at by different people in the Systems department. One apologized, the other one has probably never apologized for any action they have taken. On Wednesday I commented to Steph that it was a good day, no one in Systems had yelled at me.
My vendor delivered one of the servers they typically sell. We installed it and other than a few minor glitches, it was up by 7 PM on Saturday. If I had not had to deal with Systems, I could have done Seattle, Phoenix and our three other offices that won't get touched until next year, before the end of November. To say that I am tired of my job and pissed at the people here is an understatement.
Anyone looking for a pissed off voicemail admin? I'm not cheap but I'm good!
As to my diet and all of that, well, I haven't given up. When I'm in install mode I rarely eat. But, if food is at hand, you take what you can when you can. While I was in Phoenix, I tried to stay good. But, room service only had one decent low-carb dish. "This is room 517, I want the steak, but hold the potato, the rice, the high carb veggies. I don't want the dinner roll, keep the noodle filled soup, and hold the little bottle of catsup and steak sauce. Yes, just the steak. Yeah, I'm the same freak that ordered this last night." The third time I ordered from room service, that would be the fourth night in the room, I just didn't eat the third night, I decided to go with double fries and a big slice of chocolate cake. Ya know, I think my order arrived faster.
From then on, I ate what I ate. Whenever the group went to lunch, there was always a sandwich. I tried, but I failed. On Sunday, after the install was done and all was well in the world, I just had to get out. I picked a direction and went walking. I passed office buildings, a hospital, more office buildings. About six blocks from the hotel I found a KFC. I grabbed a bucket and went back to my room - so much for tourism in Phoenix.
Coming back to Seattle on my carb high, I ran directly into Thanksgiving. Steph has been doing much better on this diet recently than I have. However, since I had already pooched this deal, she decided that potatoes and dressing would be served at our little private feast. That's right, four tiny spuds were mashed with butter and sour cream and stuffing made of low-carb bread completed the meal. Steph needs a text book on how to be a cheater - I thought I had taught her better.
On Saturday after Turkeygiving, I saw doughnuts. I wanted doughnuts. So, we bought and consumed most of two dozen. I'm sure I did more than she, but she did her share.
Since then, we are back on the diet. I have gone the other way - I got sick two days ago and I haven't been eating much at all. I'm pretty sure my ailment is more about stress than a stomach bug, but there it is. I'm sure after the first of the year all thoughts of cheating will be behind me - we'll see.
I want to apologize for not putting up a post sooner, but I'm not gonna. I was busy and it's not like you people are paying for this stuff, huh? I mean, if you were paying, we would have gone broke a long time ago because we suck at updating. But, again, I digress.
Like I said, I've been pretty busy. I had a week long trip to Phoenix. We have an office down there now, we merged with them over the summer. I got to go down and install a new voicemail system for them. It was okay. The trip was fine and easy. The work wasn't hard and frankly the system came up with only a few minor coughs and pains - nearly painless when compared to some other systems I've worked with recently (more to come on that.)
What stunk about the whole trip is the fact that my job has become a real pain in my tush. This isn't hard work, and I actually like a good portion of the stuff I do, much to my own shock. My immediate co-workers and boss are all a bunch of control freaks. But, so am I. They're good people and being a control freak I understand them. We have a good thing going on. It's the people in the rest of the department.
My department (Telecom) is a portion of the larger department of Systems. The people at the head of the Systems department have steadily gotten more and more involved in Telecom's affairs as our devices have begun to depend more and more on the IT network. In tandem to this process, the hierarchy of Systems has become more and more filled with people who treat us like children and act as if they have not a social skill in their possession. I realize these are people who talk to their computers more than they talk to their friends, but, still ... I feel like I work with computers all day, play with them a good portion of my time off, yet I still manage to treat others like people. Why can't they?
This job started off demanding and has gotten more and more demanding as the last four years have gone by. In the last three months, those demands have nearly doubled and there doesn't look to be anything slowing these demands down for the next three or so months. I don't know how much more I can take. The only reason I haven't walked away from this job is the fact that if I go out and find another job, I will be starting all over again and I will be right back where I am now three or four years from now. I just can't do this again.
So, in essence, I'm stuck, trapped. I have no alternatives. Joy.
Luckily, we have gotten over one of the larger hurdles. After I got back from Phoenix, I got to work on the Seattle upgrade ... for the third time! I think this will illustrate just what I'm talking about. When they installed the voicemail system here in Seattle four years ago, it was instantly under ported. In other words, we simply did not have enough ports to handle all of our incoming calls. The system was slow, futzy and not satisfying. In that four years, we have asked to update the system as often as it came up. Finally, we got our approval. It turns out that Microsoft has end-of-lifed WinNT, it will die on Dec. 31st, so we had to replace it. The fact that the box is a 500 Mhz processor with 250 MB of memory, it supports half of the firm with a mission critical application, and wouldn't qualify to be used as a desk top didn't seem to bother any one - *sigh*
I went to my vendor, whom I have worked with for quite some time. We started this process in, like, May or June. We decided to order an HP server through our vendor. Telecom decided on HP because Systems uses only HP. Our vendor doesn't deal in HP, so this was a special order. We looked together online and picked out a server. We had this server originally delivered to the vendor. Systems then decided that they wanted the server before our vendor. We got the shipping changed and sent here. So, in mid-October, after all of that hassle, the server arrives. It sits next to my desk. And it sits there and sits there! A thirty thousand dollar server that Systems just HAD TO HAVE first, just sitting next to my desk. Finally, the Wednesday before the Saturday install, they come get it to get to work on it. They open the box and discover a problem.
My voicemail system has to be connected to the phone system, called a PBX and to the computer network, the LAN. To interface with the PBX, we use cards that fit into PCI slots in the server. To connect to the LAN, you need a LAN port. We need six cards for all of our ports, so we ordered a server with six slots. Almost every computer built today has a built-in 10/100 Ethernet LAN port. It's something like belly buttons, kids come with one whether they need it or not. Except this one. We managed to order THE ONLY server HP makes without a built-in LAN port. But, HP knew that we needed access to the LAN, so they shoved a LAN card (called a NIC) into one of the six slots. Now, I only have five slots and I need six. So, instead of my vendor getting this server, discovering the problem and fixing the problem WEEKS before the install, I had to delay the install just a few days in advance, after it had already been announced. Further, HP didn't want the server back. We had held it for too long. They wanted to charge us a $2k restock fee. To say the least I was furious. To add to this, the Systems person responsible for most of this tried to blame my vendor for ordering the wrong server! Oh, but he'll soon get egg on his face, too.
So, we get the Systems department to order a server, mainly the puke who wanted to blame my vendor above. I mean, they couldn't fuck it up nearly as much as I did, right? The server arrives and it, too, sits by my desk. Now, I have two servers, $60k sitting at my desk. Finally, they come to grab the new one. They do their deal on it. Meanwhile, Systems has decided that it wasn't happy with how things came out last time, so they want me to put together a task list and assign those tasks out to the people that need to do them. Fine. The list is generated, tasks are assigned and the date for install shows up - my birthday. I got to spend my whole birthday at work. Double joy.
We banged on this brand new, jet fighter of a server all day, and for the next two days for that matter. Basically, the server could not bring all six of the cards up at the same time. We tried every permutation and fix and patch we could find. Finally, we heard from the manufacturer that another vendor on the east coast was having a similar issue with an HP server. We think (think!) that the PCIx slots are not stepping down enough for the older PCI technology used on the cards. Silly us, we bought what we needed instead of what HP wanted us to use. In the end, I wasted my birthday and still didn't have a working voicemail system upgrade - back to the old Compaq box!
Systems now decides that something must be wrong with my project management skills since they didn't do half the tasks I assigned to them and the HP server sucked. So, we had a much larger design meeting ... meetings actually. My task list now looks like instructions for disarming a nuclear bomb. It's completely silly. I went to Phoenix, with the first server we bought for Seattle (our Chicago office wants the second one, we'll see). They only needed two cards down there, so the LAN card sucking up a slot didn't hurt anything.
While down there, one of the social-skill lacking big wigs in Systems asks for a teleconference. I try to arrange this with my busy schedule and all the other people's busy schedules. I warn the Systems person that the meeting will be late, then I send another note with the time I arranged. I immediately get a flame email - the email yelled at me for a whole lot of really dumb stuff, but it mostly yelled at me for not reading the last email this person sent. Funny, I didn't get any email, I'm used to this person not sending me replies to my mail. None of us are important enough, apparently. I informed this person of this fact. He included my boss in his mail, so I included him right back. My boss writes back just how sorry he is and that he will work to see that I'm not treated like this again. A few minutes later, the Systems person sends a note saying that no, the email didn't go through for some reason (Systems has been working with email recently, no shocker to me) and that he was sorry for flaming me. His bad!
However, when I returned to Seattle, this pattern continued. On the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving, I got yelled at by different people in the Systems department. One apologized, the other one has probably never apologized for any action they have taken. On Wednesday I commented to Steph that it was a good day, no one in Systems had yelled at me.
My vendor delivered one of the servers they typically sell. We installed it and other than a few minor glitches, it was up by 7 PM on Saturday. If I had not had to deal with Systems, I could have done Seattle, Phoenix and our three other offices that won't get touched until next year, before the end of November. To say that I am tired of my job and pissed at the people here is an understatement.
Anyone looking for a pissed off voicemail admin? I'm not cheap but I'm good!
As to my diet and all of that, well, I haven't given up. When I'm in install mode I rarely eat. But, if food is at hand, you take what you can when you can. While I was in Phoenix, I tried to stay good. But, room service only had one decent low-carb dish. "This is room 517, I want the steak, but hold the potato, the rice, the high carb veggies. I don't want the dinner roll, keep the noodle filled soup, and hold the little bottle of catsup and steak sauce. Yes, just the steak. Yeah, I'm the same freak that ordered this last night." The third time I ordered from room service, that would be the fourth night in the room, I just didn't eat the third night, I decided to go with double fries and a big slice of chocolate cake. Ya know, I think my order arrived faster.
From then on, I ate what I ate. Whenever the group went to lunch, there was always a sandwich. I tried, but I failed. On Sunday, after the install was done and all was well in the world, I just had to get out. I picked a direction and went walking. I passed office buildings, a hospital, more office buildings. About six blocks from the hotel I found a KFC. I grabbed a bucket and went back to my room - so much for tourism in Phoenix.
Coming back to Seattle on my carb high, I ran directly into Thanksgiving. Steph has been doing much better on this diet recently than I have. However, since I had already pooched this deal, she decided that potatoes and dressing would be served at our little private feast. That's right, four tiny spuds were mashed with butter and sour cream and stuffing made of low-carb bread completed the meal. Steph needs a text book on how to be a cheater - I thought I had taught her better.
On Saturday after Turkeygiving, I saw doughnuts. I wanted doughnuts. So, we bought and consumed most of two dozen. I'm sure I did more than she, but she did her share.
Since then, we are back on the diet. I have gone the other way - I got sick two days ago and I haven't been eating much at all. I'm pretty sure my ailment is more about stress than a stomach bug, but there it is. I'm sure after the first of the year all thoughts of cheating will be behind me - we'll see.
posted by Jericho Brown at 12/09/2004 07:30:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home