Of skinny cats, quiet afternoons and work

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Last night Dan and I went to Aguilar to see the Holzhauers. Carl is one of Dan’s computer clients. An older gentleman who messes up his computer from time to time due to age and unsteady hands. I went along, because 90% of the time it turns into a social call as well. Carl and his wife MaryJane have sort of adopted us. When Dan hurt his back a few months ago, Carl called every morning to check on him.

So, out we went. I visited with MaryJane, and Dan fixed the computer. We sat on the couch and watched tv for a bit. Their cat, a 20 year old tabby normally ignores me or hisses at me. Well, last night she decided that I was the perfect lap to lounge on. I petted the cat, which is about 5 pounds of scrawny fur. She purred. Of course everyone else couldn’t believe that the cat was sitting on my lap. When it was time to go, she hissed. Silly cat.

Next scrawny cat… Tosoto. She decided that when we got Brandy, that she was no longer going to stay in the house. Plus there were tomcats about. She always aborts, so we’ve never fixed her. Probably should have. However,… the last few days she has decided that eating was better than starving. She too now weighs about 5-6 pounds. I had been trying not to put food outside as we have lots of feral cats and skunks in the neighborhood.  I ended up doing it anyway. sigh.

At work today, I probably goofed off more than I have in the entire month I have worked there. Partially because I’ve gotten most of the stuff caught up. Partially because we just took a break. The new woman who is taking my place is…. Umm… Not going to cut it. She may be intelligent, but has yet to show she is organized or competent in learning tasks. Most of the time when Pattie or I try to show her what to do she walks off and visits with the HR person who is her friend. Not the way to learn things. Plus, the HR person is having her learn how things are done in the Trinidad office. That would be great if they did things the same way in both offices. Oh well… It will be a right cluster of chaos after I’m gone and Pattie finds a new job. She has had enough of the assistant DA. In many ways, the proverbial is about to hit the oscillating blades.

However, we took it fairly easy most of the afternoon. No one rushed. At least not until the assistant DA called in a panic at 4:30pm. He’d forgotten to do some paperwork! Yet it was Pattie’s fault. grrrrrrr…. She got some of it done, but at 5pm, we left for the day. The rest will have to be done in the morning.

Now I’m waiting for Pauline to show up. Oh, and get my computer work done. Dan is backing up my files tonight as I am suppose to move over to a Linux operating platform. Wheeee!!

If you’re going through Hell, try to enjoy the scenery…

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Of course, as I start to write this post, Rodney Atkins “If you’re going through hell” starts to play. Rather appropriate. What a weekend. I didn’t want to say anything until it was all done. A bit superstitious I guess on my part, but… it is now over. All but one last bit. Now to explain.

Over the last month, we have been scraping by paying the bills for the company. When Carlos, our one business partner came to visit last month, we stated rather succinctly that the company was in financial straights. Not unfixable, but that it had to have something done fast. Karen and Carlos both said that things would get done. However, they had a severe case of “oh… look at the kitty” on about three other projects. RBT was not primary on their radar when it should have been. It was also expected that we drop everything we were doing in order to follow Karen and Carlos’ latest interest. Oh, and keep the RBT stuff running as well. This meant many long hours and short nights as we literally did double time to get things done for them. It was wearing both Dan and I out. At last count, there were at least 5 projects besides the wireless side of RBT being channeled through us.

Meanwhile, Dan and I have been working without pay for the life of the company. 9 months. We figured the first 4 or 5 months would be without pay. However, we did not expect this. Nor did we expect that we would be the only ones handling the day to day aspects of the business.  Doing some business projections, Dan realized that we needed a loan or a grant fast otherwise we were in trouble. We emailed everyone and asked for a meeting on Friday evening. No luck. All we got back was a terse email from Karen.

So, Dan and I talked all night. I cried. Dan was unhappy. However, as we realized that there was nothing for us to do financially at this point, we had only one option. We resigned. Dan and I are no longer part of Raton Basin Technologies. It isn’t what we wanted to do, but it was our only recourse. Both of us are have hit the limits to what we can do to creatively control our bills.

Yesterday we spent packing up and moving the business end of things over to Karen’s. Erin helped which was a godsend. There was way too much stuff that could not be moved by me or just Dan alone.  This morning we dealt with the IRS, Colorado business etc. Nothing is in my or his name now.  We will take care of the bank account and that will be the end of it.

However, that will not be the end of computer work. I have no doubts that Dan and I will be back in the computer repair business very soon.

First Flight! (or, Jr. g33k takes her first job)

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Well, sorta…

Yesterday, I got a call from a client of ours who is very sweet although not exactly tech savvy. Her computer was being flooded with pop-ups saying that her virus protection was dead. I tried to walk her through the process on the phone, but soon realized that she couldn’t cope. So, I explained what was going on to Dan. While I was talking to him and wondering how he was going to have time to go do this, I realized that the client had Vista. A platform that neither of us are very familiar with in any way. So, while he tried to get to a stopping point, I decided that I could go and do this job. All it was was a software clean up and install. So, I told the client I’d be right down. I think I actually surprised Dan. :>

So, I hopped in Little Red Truck and headed off to her shop. She has an antique mall type place. I found out that she hadn’t done any updates and that her MacAfee’s had gone dead. It took me forever to find where to uninstall programs. Not to mention I got sick and tired of Vista’s “Nanny mentality” real fast. grrr……. Cleared up the files, downloaded programs and started to run them. Couldn’t get things to do what I wanted, because Adobe 7.5 wasn’t interacting well with Vista. Had to dump that and start again. By this time, I am getting good with Vista… sigh.

While the programs were running, I went to see if Daniel’s flowers were ready. They weren’t, so I have to pick them up later this morning. Wheee… Prom! Talked to John on the phone for a minute. He was laughing about me having “fun” with Vista. I went back and did some more work. Gave her Firefox, Thunderbird, AVG and Adobe 8. I got everything working except her email. I lhad AVG running it’s stuff and by this point, Dan had shown up to see what was taking so long. rolls eyes He was teasing me of course. However, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so we left AVG doing it’s thing and went to eat dinner.

While we were eating dinner, I found out that John had called looking for me and Dan had taken the opportunity to tell John how proud he was of me. That I had gone from computer illiterate to jr. g33k with enough confidence to go out and help some one else. 🙂 I was embarrassed and happy all at the same time.

We went back this morning and between Dan and myself, we got her email up and running as well as finished all the updates, virus clean-ups etc. Wheeeee! We picked up Daniel’s flowers and dumped the deposit in the bank.

The rest of this afternoon has been spent adding Digg, Technorati and del.iciou.us accounts. Fun…… I hope. Oh, and Prom to photograph tonight.

Sunday, Busy Sunday!

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Finally, a quiet moment, a cup of tea and a few gingersnaps. It has been a long 36 hours. I no sooner got the last entry posted than Dan called from Aguilar. I had to pull on my steel toed boots, grab Erin and head to Aguilar so that we could adjust the antennas on the tower. It was real fun when we hit the tower road. The snow from the last few days had turned the local clay into a morass. We had to put Blue into 4wheel drive and nearly went through the gate sideways.

When we got there, Karen and Erin went off in the trucks with computers turned on searching for the signal from the tower.  We had to adjust the antennas and let Karen or Erin tell us what the signal strength was. Then re-adjust them. Sort of tedious for me down on the ground listening to the radio chatter and watching Dan . I was safety.  Not exactly sure what I could have done had he fallen, but… that is what my job was. Dan of course was up on the tower holding on with a safety belt and his arms while he worked with the antennas. The wind gusted at one point, and he slipped. Luckily, he grabbed the tower and held on tight enough to bruise his arms. Ouch! I was really glad when he decided that the antennas were as good as they were going to get for the moment. We will do more adjustments later in the week. For now, all we have to do is turn on the billing system on Monday and pass out fliers to various businesses. Wheeee!

We came home, cooked dinner and watched Hogsfather. It was a riot! Almost didn’t make it all the way through it though as we were so tired.

Today started out slow and built up a head of steam like a boiler on a steam train. I actually got to lay in bed for a bit this morning. I think it was nearly 10:30am before I even pulled back the covers. However, once we got up and moving, life just ran away with us. Dan had to work on the kids computers, finish getting some stuff for Morgan’s trip to D.C. and then get ready to drive her and Beth to the airport. I had laundry to do and needed to run to the store. Divot was doing multiple trips between 203 and 520. Morgan came over to 520, and we helped her get the last of her stuff done. That included editing an assignment she had to take with her for the trip. (People to People)

Erin and Big Morgan along with Logan came over and helped finish things up. Erin and Big Morgan bought Morgan a trac phone so that she’d have a way to contact us here if there was an emergency of if she just got lonely. I wrote her a note to put in her bag, and gave her my Kwan Yin to take with her. Dan gave her his big amethyst crystal- the one I gave him about a year ago. Morgan was just dancing in place with happiness and nerves. Finally, around 6pm, we headed over to 203 where we picked up Beth and said our goodbyes. While Morgan is in D.C., Beth is going to Florida to visit a friend. Dan was taking them up in LRT. Cramped ride that! Oh well. They left around 6:30pm, and I headed over to Karen’s for dinner.

Karen had invited Dan and I over for dinner, but with him off to Denver, I got to go. Not bad. She made spaghetti. We had dinner and chatted for an hour or so. Played with Brandy a bit and then headed out the door. Ran into two friends of Daniel’s who wanted Karen to train their puppies. She said she’d help, but that was it. I finally got over to 203 around 8:30pm. More laundry and then time to get ready for the morning.

Tomorrow is going to be busy. I have copies of the Micro Soft fix for Vista to print. Apparently, Vista doesn’t like some wireless connections. grrr…. Plus, I have a few bits of procedure to work out. I have to write scripts for phone work and a news release for the business. Wheeee…… Not looking forward to the scripts, but I have to have something to say when people ask me questions where I’m not sure of the answers. Plus, I have to have something for any new employee who might come along later. sigh…

Now to finish my tea and curl up with my book! I am determined to finish the Kim Harrison novel before I have to dive into the book on WWans. (wireless wide area networks)

The phones…. they won’t stop ringing…..

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You’d think I worked at a business or something! Gads! Today has been phone hell. They ring, they ring some more and sometimes there are 3 calls at once! Plus we have been having issues with Vonage and a mix up with our service. They connected the device to the wrong account numbers. What a cluster f*ck. However, I think that Dan finally got things worked out. Here’s hoping!

Stefan called and I had to put him on hold three separate times in less than 5 minutes. Wow! Poor guy, he was just trying to tell me how life was going for him and Anabell, and he could barely get a word in edgewise. I kept having to interrupt him, put him on hold and answer the other phone. Twice it was my parents who arrived in town today.

Then there were the conversations. :> Geeze! Here we are a wireless internet service provider. A WISP. Better yet, we are providing free access to Aguilar government entities. So far, two of them don’t want it! What the hell? I sort of understand the fire department. They probably have some government based contract that they can’t get out of. However, the library is not.  They’ve gotten a grant with a company that is suppose to give them WiFi. It’s been promised service, but as far as I understand it, they aren’t actually connected yet. Instead, they are costing the town money for a satellite that has been their connection for a while. I talked to the city manager, and he wasn’t sure if they were connected and didn’t understand why they didn’t want free service. Sigh….

The rest of the phone calls were about service. When would it be turned on? (it is) How long will it be free? (until the end of the week) How much? What do I need? What’s a WISP? and When are you coming to our area? (as soon as possible) Oh, and the software company called me because Dan forgot to give them his cell phone number. Wheee….

My parents arrived amidst all the phone calls. They are here for the rest of the week to work on their house. Dan was a tad crabby, so I took Mom with me to go pick up the kids. I told her all about the shopping trips. I thought she was going to laugh herself silly. Especially over the ear piercing.

Now I get to have a quiet evening. The kids are home, work is mostly done and now all I need to do is return the DVD we forgot for the last 4 days and head to Safeway for some milk. Tomorrow looks like it will be just as busy, so I think I will head to bed early again.

So much to do!

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    And so little gets done some days! The last few weeks have been busy. Every time I turn around the phone is ringing or there is stuff to do and I don’t get it all done. Or, there is a burst of energy and it is all done and I sit on my arse. I could really go for some nice consistant something! The other thing is that if I have stuff to do at the office, I’m at the house, and visa versa. Aieeee-ya!

The other thing that is going on is that we finally have the billing system up at the Budget Host hotel. Huzzah!!! Aguilar goes live with billing later today. Right now everyone has been enjoying free internet. 3 terabytes so far. I have to write some documents today so that we can give out instructions and such for people. Wheee!  off to the salt mines!

Windy yet again!

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I know it is suppose to be in like a Lion, out like a Lamb or visa versa for March, but… It was leonine weather at the start of the month and today too! In fact, the wind woke me up at around 4am.

Yesterday was a busy one. Tried to sleep in, but the phone kept ringing! Phonus Interupticus too! sigh…Oh well. 😛 Finally got up, bathed and cooked breakfast. Made cheesy scones. Yummm….

Finally got Dan moving and we headed to Aguilar town hall to finish up the wiring job there. Jimmer was in and we had some fine giggles. Got everything done except the meeting room cable and the final linkage to the T-1. Hopefully, that will be done today or tomorrow.

Dragged home late and cooked up lambchops and ratatoulli. It came out heavenly. While I cooked, Dan worked on the phone system. It is having hickups. sigh.. Even though it was late, we watched Man of the Year. Wonderful movie and it was worth staying up late to watch it. I am just glad that we have Spring Break this week and I didn’t have to get up and take the kids to school. Got to sleep in till 7am! Wheeee….

Today it is a semi-busy day at the office. Dan is working with the software vendor, Karen is repairing Pc’s and I’m answering phones and trying to gird up my courage to tackle makeing work forms. yawn…. I really don’t want to, but the alternative is going home and doing laundry. Hmm…. Maybe forms isn’t so bad….

Where did this week go?

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    I’m not sure, but it went by fast! Monday after the kids learned that they had the day off, I started getting some work done around the office. Dan, Karen and Carlos went off to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Around 5, I headed out to a set of back to back accountability meetings at the high school. Wheee….. sorta. I think I scared them with the laptop. :>

Tuesday, Carlos left for New Orleans and warmer weather. Dan and I had a client come by for some computer work who looked like Santa! Complete with belly, beard and white curls on his shoulders. Very sweet man. He left, and we started out the door when we got distracted by deer!

deer!

Earlier, they had been being stalked by the little orange tomcat that lives next door. He had been doing the “I’m a sabor tooth on my grandma’s side!”. They finally got tired of him and headbutted him off to one side. It was a riot.

Tuesday night, Dan and I went to Trinidad to do the Ostara shopping. We also got the kids some clothes as they both said that they were being squished by their undies, etc. It was a riot watching the little old ladies watch Dan and I shop for Little Morgan’s bras.

Wednesday, the Ostara Bunny came for the kids with candies. Wednesday afternoon, we went to go talk to the City about a contract for wireless connections in town. Whee… Plus, Logan got sick and his parents ended up taking him all the way to Colorado Springs to be told that he had some sort of infectin and a bottle of amoxicillan.

Thursday, we got bits and pieces done around the office. Daniel came by and worked on the yard, so it would be Oscar or Brandy proof. He fixed two gates and started on the third. Then we headed out to Gardner School for parent teacher conferences. Matt is doing alright, but not the best. He needs to apply himself to his work. Oh, and turn it in.  Morgan is doing very well, especially since she started applying herself better. She is very happy with herself and it shows in her work. Afterwards, we went to Andy’s for dinner. It was a small riot as Dan was being as big a cut-up as the kids. After we dropped the kids off, we were off to Carl Holzhauer’s to do some computer work. He is an older gentleman who has computer troubles as well as just wanting company. So, he really enjoys Dan’s company. We were out there for about 3 hours. I had a nice chat with his wife while Dan did the work. Even got invited out for dinner. :>  By the time I got home though, I had the headache from hell. I crawled into bed and slept till nearly 8am.

Today has been a series of small bursts of productivity. I was a bubble head this morning from the aftermath of the headache. We went out to Mike’s house to see if we could put a tower out there for Wireless service. We saw some good spots, but need to plot them on the maps. Then it was lunch and back to the office to work on the city proposal. Wheee…..

Tomorrow won’t be much better, as we have to go work on the NOC in Aguilar in the morning and wire Aguilar Town Hall in the afternoon.  Wheeeeeeee………… gads… When are we going to get a day off???

Playing with…

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    Couldn’t keep my mind on work today. Granted the interruptions didn’t help. Dan was flying around the office today doing all sorts of little bits and every once in a while, he needed to show me something or tell me a new bit of data. Normally, those don’t break my concentration. However, today… all it took was a breath. Finally settled down and decided to work on some filing. Yawn… boring stuff, but needed done. Well, it still needs done. At least most of it. I didn’t get to the scanning or the receipt filing. Oh well, that’s what tomorrow is for.

Meanwhile, I got a call from Damon. He needed me to come out and grab a shirt for Pauline. She had a beer keg spray all over her. She works down at Rosa’s Cantina on Main Street. So, I drove out to D&P’s, grabbed two shirts and then went to Rosa’s. Gave Pauline the shirts and sat and chatted with her for an hour or so. Then I headed back to the office with the intention of getting back to work. Silly me.

First I made some lunch. Then I called John and while I chatted with him, I actually got some of the stuff filed. Realized that I need to make new files reflecting the fact that it is now 2008, and then gave up.

Finished my lunch, and decided to work on my blog. Went for a 3 column theme and have now added a new page as well as a new header picture. Still can’t figure out a few bits, but probably need to dig into the CSS book Dan got a few weeks ago. sigh….

Granted, I aught to finish the filing as it still needs done, but…. that can wait. It also started snowing about two hours ago. I tried to call Tosoto in, but that stupid cat has an itch and so she can just stay outside with her new boyfriend. sigh… Honestly, I think she is under the house with the skunk, but… Oh well.

Tempset Fugit!

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    Must be the wind or something, because every time I think I have five minutes to sit down and write, ***POOF*** it’s gone.  We’ve been trying to gear up for the T-1 coming into Aguilar for the WISP. Lots of antennas, computer bits and the like all arriving on the doorstep.  Trying to keep up with the paperwork is a bit daunting too. I have one big pile of receipts to deal with and I keep avoiding it. (sigh)

It’s also heading into the holiday season, and I am just not with it this year. Most things I think of that people want, they need now. Not it two-three weeks. Like Little Morgan. We took her to the drs. yesterday and then to the Mall in Pueblo. She needed a couple of pairs of jeans. Now, I could have gotten them without her knowing and not given them to her until Yule, but… she needs them now! Same way with the pair of sleep pants I made Dan. I have to re-hem them, but… I didn’t see the logic in making him wait.

I have stuff for Big Morgan, Erin, Logan, Little Morgan and that is about it. Stymied on the rest of the clan.  sigh…. Guess I’ll go looking on Friday when Dan and I head to the Springs. My mom’s fabric is in and we need to pick it up.

It snowed on the peaks and it looke beautiful this morning. Smelled nice too. Living in a desert, you notice the smell of moisture so acutely. We also had deer in the yard the other morning. Dan got pictures.

Deer next door!

We have also been dealing with a skunk under the house. Dan went under to do some wiring and came up so fast you’d have thought he was shot from a cannon.  He came almost nose to nose with a big skunk. We called Animal control and checked out a trap. So far the skunk is smart enough to leave it alone. sigh..

I’ve been working on knitting too when I have a chance. One sock to go before Yule. Hope I make it. Been reading some good books too. A Lick of Frost by L. K. Hamilton, and am working on Hood by Lawless. Very good. I have two more on hold at the library and am trying to find time to read. In fact, that’s what I really want to do today instead of working. Oh well…