Sunday, January 08, 2006
Adventure 46 - January 3rd 2006
Tuesday January 3rd 2006
“Another year over a new really crappy one just begun……” Well hello and a happy new year to one and all….It’s the start of another year for me and I’ve nearly completed a year of Adventures and nearly 2 years at Don’t Be Daft International. This is a period of the year where I like so many others have that debate with ourselves as to whether it would be better to wait until we’d got our bonus, or whether we should in fact actually leave before hand…well I can tell you it’s not an easy decision to make…ha! who cares about the bonus…I’m a bored over qualified, 3rd line support technician / Systems Administrator GET ME OUT OF A HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
08:30: Up and out with a spring in my step, ok that’s a lie, even Ryan who has to go to school is quiet, tired and fed up with the prospect of going somewhere where they value him less than the smearing of dog’s mess that’s doubtless on his shoes…either that or it’s his new Lynx deodorant I can smell…still nice to see there’s more than one of us in the same boat…..
08:35: Dropped Ryan off and made my weary way to DBD….even though I had to go in on the 28th (my compulsory one day of work) it’s hard getting motivated to even drive through the gates…but I do and I even find a parking space not so far away, so my weary legs don’t have to wander too far….
08:40: As an added bonus today Nunob isn’t going to be in this week…(thank heaven for small mercies) !!!
08:45: I have the dubious honour now of checking the hiccups for completion…simply because no other bugger is going to….
09:00: An email pop’s in to my in box, it’s from Nunob….wandering what is happening to the order for the hiccup system upgrade (some £40k or so)…My reply is somewhat sarcastic, (he’ll never know), that since Cazakstano Pregnant one, has been off between Christmas and New Year, she will have placed the order today…probably about five minutes ago…
10:00: Phone call from Copper Nitrate Centre…it’s Richman, thanking me for the order …well that’s what you call service isn’t…
11:00: Suddenly remembered…I got a phone call during the Christmas break….from the NHS Quitifyouwanttowe’renotthatbothered Line…saying that they’d just received my email …email…email I’m thinking oh the email I sent them in August….It would seem that the NHS even have a waiting list for emails now too….Basically I’ve signed up to go to “Group” on Thursdays in an attempt to save my life…and give up smoking and have pots more cash to spend on….well on….S.T.U.F.F (Something To Use For Fun)….The main reason for going apart from giving up…is to get me a note to get a prescription for some Zyban…or if that doesn’t agree with me, some Patches etc…all at a cut price prescription cost…well it has to be done and if I can save some money in the mean time then great….
12:00: I mention my impending quit attempt to the newly reformed Brenty..who’ given up again…This time however he’s using patches…and he isn’t smoking !!!! Well done him…though I do have a little chuckle to myself…as every ache and pain and get up to quickly, is being blamed on the bucket loads of nicotine being pumped into his body from the aforesaid patch…He even claims to have lost 2 ½ inches from his wasteline…yeah right…it’s just moved up over the waistband of your trousers mate !!!!...Still it gives me something to laugh about (there has to be something) and him feeling “funky” (his words not mine…from an NRT patch is pure theatre in any case….He’s even stopped (for how long though) drinking Diet Pepsi…..so he’s on a real de-tox at the moment….
12:30: Lunch
13:30: Back from lunch…there’s a distinct depression in the air…no particular reason there just is….
14:30: “So have you written your latest adventure yet…” Brenty asks as he accompanies me outside to watch me smoke a lovely cigarette (cough splutter…half lung collapses)…”No I haven’t yet…It’s almost done..just gotta tie a few bits together” comes my reply…”So did you include my disciplinary ?” comes his next question….”No” again I reply…though that’s not strictly true now is it…….He was basically pulled before the beak…for a load of trumped up charges…and basically because, he’d been a bit silly…and had a right moan about Nunob to Karen Shark…one of Nunob’s closest confidents…I mean…you can slap people about only so much before they get the message…So he went through the farce of facing charges like, Dress Code violations…i.e. not wearing a tie…and performance related problems…like…”you did this…did you think you dealt with this professionally ?”…”yes I do think I dealt with it professionally”….”err…ok then…” I mean what a crock of Sh$t…any way he basically escaped with a “don’t talk out of class…if you want to have a moan about “people” moan to me or Bill or Chris (the IT Director) about them…” warning…hmmm yeah like we’re going to do that…I’m so disengaged with this place that I’ve realised there’s no point in moaning about things, nothing changes so I might as well keep my 16 years IT experience to myself….well I try…but it’s not always easy….
Any how now you all have a summary of the events....
15:30: The day is winding down now…not that it got particularly wound up anyways….
17:15: Just left…bit late today…for some reason….
Wednesday 4th January 2006
08:15: Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh%t!!!!!...just got up…Jack’s going to School, or “fall out with friends” as we now call it….Mandy’s in a panic and as she has to do her hair and then get Jack who’s still only wearing his pants, dressed and to school in about 10 minutes flat….ahh the joys of school days…
08:20: Finally Ryan and I are on our way, having waved to a semi dressed Jack, luckily leaving as late as we are means that we literally get to school for 08:25 which is his start time…I finally get to work at about 08:40..so no harm done there then….
09:00: Not much to report today, except an email from Mary Tyrant, telling us that she’s got to rotate us with the Overdone office since they’re a man down and this means that Brenty has to spend next week there and I have to spend the week after that there too….That would be ok if it wasn’t for the fact that it’ll be spent working with Sparky Satsuma, the resident Overdone 3rd line guy who’s as useful as a chocolate fireguard most of the time…Obviously he’ll be spending time in the Back of Beyond office at some point too…obvious to me and no one else that is including Mary…I’m beginning to think this is punishment for standing up for ourselves during Brenty’s disciplinary…but I can’t prove it….
10:00: Another email this time from Nunob, who’s decided that we need to review our use of NoBackup since it’s “not the company standard”…therefore he wants to get quote from Verishagged for NotachanceBackup…Now knowing that NotachanceBackup is significantly more expensive….has filled me with glee..and I respond to his email enthusiastically claiming that I’d love nothing better than to get the quotes….I’ve even instructed Richman at Copper Nitrate centre to provide a competitive quote (the main reason for this of course is that I know that they’ll check to make sure I haven’t been making it up…”. I do get the sense however that because I’m an advocate of NoBackup, that even if NotachanceBackup is twice the price they’ll still decide to implement it just to spite me…but that’s the pessimist coming out I guess.
12:30: Lunch
13:30: Backup from lunch…and I’ve discovered that the Horrorgraphics tape drive has decided to turn it’s toes up…or get a tape jammed inside it and not eject it….This means I have to drive over their and try and free it up.
14:00: Just arrived at Horrorgraphics…I’ve provided security with a sample of my DNA and had my finger prints done…
14:15: In to the ‘Computer Room’ (cupboard) and yup sure enough tape well and truly jammed in the drive…I’ll have to take it back to BackofBeyond and see if I can disassemble the drive enough to free the tape…
14:30: Back at site now…I’ve extracted the drive from it’s external caddy…but I haven’t got an allen key the right size to undo the drive case itself and there’s a large sticker saying “Calibration Void if Removed”…didn’t know you needed to calibrate stickers but there you go….A quick phone call to Copper Nitrate Centre, and they’ve agreed to come and pick up the drive that they sold us as surprisingly it’s still under warranty….luckily it’s on an advanced replace turn around so I’m fully expecting it by Monday….
15:30: My mobile is buzzing away…it’s an agent from an agency !!!...I was supposed to go for an interview for a job I’ve long since forgotten about in December last year, however they wanted me to go to Milton Keynes for the interview, even though the job was in Fleet…just up the road…mental…also our leave had been cancelled so I kind of figured that that was that…anyway a little after that the agent had rung me and said the company Eee By Gum, was still interested and would I be available in January around the 5th…well that’s like 24 hours away and I’d not had it confirmed or anything so I emailed the agent to find out…She basically tells me that they’re still interested in me for this and possible one or two other opportunities and they’ll be in touch, but they can’t do the 5th…I’m starting to get that all to familiar feeling…so breath holding wont be something I do in the short term….
Nothing else to report today…it’s all so flat and I’m struggling to get motivated…so I’m just pottering about….
Thursday 5th January 2006
Nothing at all to report….
Friday 6th January 2006
08:30: Managed to get up ok today..alarms are finally getting used to waking me up again…Even Ryan was up and well Mandy no she was still struggling, but then she still has a bit of a cough and she seems to have pulled a muscle in her chest which no amount of my rubbing can alleviate…(it’s doing wonders for me though !!)…So every time she coughs she’s basically doubling up to stop it from hurting….
10:00: Chased up my quotes for NoBackup and NotachanceBackup…from Copper Nitrate Centre…I’m advised I should see it in about 10 minutes…well we live in hope don’t we…
10:30: The quotes have just arrived and well they make interesting reading…..Like I’ve said…I was under the impression that NoBackup was significantly cheaper than the Notachance Backup standard…and how right I was…nearly £60k cheaper…the quote that’s come in for NoBackup as if we were implementing the system we’ve already got is £30k the quote for Notachance Backup is £90k…I’m gonna love imparting this information…though not until Tuesday since that is the deadline….I don’t know if I can sit on this for that long……
It’ll soon be the weekend…..with only Monday morning to look forward too…..grrrrr…
“Another year over a new really crappy one just begun……” Well hello and a happy new year to one and all….It’s the start of another year for me and I’ve nearly completed a year of Adventures and nearly 2 years at Don’t Be Daft International. This is a period of the year where I like so many others have that debate with ourselves as to whether it would be better to wait until we’d got our bonus, or whether we should in fact actually leave before hand…well I can tell you it’s not an easy decision to make…ha! who cares about the bonus…I’m a bored over qualified, 3rd line support technician / Systems Administrator GET ME OUT OF A HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
08:30: Up and out with a spring in my step, ok that’s a lie, even Ryan who has to go to school is quiet, tired and fed up with the prospect of going somewhere where they value him less than the smearing of dog’s mess that’s doubtless on his shoes…either that or it’s his new Lynx deodorant I can smell…still nice to see there’s more than one of us in the same boat…..
08:35: Dropped Ryan off and made my weary way to DBD….even though I had to go in on the 28th (my compulsory one day of work) it’s hard getting motivated to even drive through the gates…but I do and I even find a parking space not so far away, so my weary legs don’t have to wander too far….
08:40: As an added bonus today Nunob isn’t going to be in this week…(thank heaven for small mercies) !!!
08:45: I have the dubious honour now of checking the hiccups for completion…simply because no other bugger is going to….
09:00: An email pop’s in to my in box, it’s from Nunob….wandering what is happening to the order for the hiccup system upgrade (some £40k or so)…My reply is somewhat sarcastic, (he’ll never know), that since Cazakstano Pregnant one, has been off between Christmas and New Year, she will have placed the order today…probably about five minutes ago…
10:00: Phone call from Copper Nitrate Centre…it’s Richman, thanking me for the order …well that’s what you call service isn’t…
11:00: Suddenly remembered…I got a phone call during the Christmas break….from the NHS Quitifyouwanttowe’renotthatbothered Line…saying that they’d just received my email …email…email I’m thinking oh the email I sent them in August….It would seem that the NHS even have a waiting list for emails now too….Basically I’ve signed up to go to “Group” on Thursdays in an attempt to save my life…and give up smoking and have pots more cash to spend on….well on….S.T.U.F.F (Something To Use For Fun)….The main reason for going apart from giving up…is to get me a note to get a prescription for some Zyban…or if that doesn’t agree with me, some Patches etc…all at a cut price prescription cost…well it has to be done and if I can save some money in the mean time then great….
12:00: I mention my impending quit attempt to the newly reformed Brenty..who’ given up again…This time however he’s using patches…and he isn’t smoking !!!! Well done him…though I do have a little chuckle to myself…as every ache and pain and get up to quickly, is being blamed on the bucket loads of nicotine being pumped into his body from the aforesaid patch…He even claims to have lost 2 ½ inches from his wasteline…yeah right…it’s just moved up over the waistband of your trousers mate !!!!...Still it gives me something to laugh about (there has to be something) and him feeling “funky” (his words not mine…from an NRT patch is pure theatre in any case….He’s even stopped (for how long though) drinking Diet Pepsi…..so he’s on a real de-tox at the moment….
12:30: Lunch
13:30: Back from lunch…there’s a distinct depression in the air…no particular reason there just is….
14:30: “So have you written your latest adventure yet…” Brenty asks as he accompanies me outside to watch me smoke a lovely cigarette (cough splutter…half lung collapses)…”No I haven’t yet…It’s almost done..just gotta tie a few bits together” comes my reply…”So did you include my disciplinary ?” comes his next question….”No” again I reply…though that’s not strictly true now is it…….He was basically pulled before the beak…for a load of trumped up charges…and basically because, he’d been a bit silly…and had a right moan about Nunob to Karen Shark…one of Nunob’s closest confidents…I mean…you can slap people about only so much before they get the message…So he went through the farce of facing charges like, Dress Code violations…i.e. not wearing a tie…and performance related problems…like…”you did this…did you think you dealt with this professionally ?”…”yes I do think I dealt with it professionally”….”err…ok then…” I mean what a crock of Sh$t…any way he basically escaped with a “don’t talk out of class…if you want to have a moan about “people” moan to me or Bill or Chris (the IT Director) about them…” warning…hmmm yeah like we’re going to do that…I’m so disengaged with this place that I’ve realised there’s no point in moaning about things, nothing changes so I might as well keep my 16 years IT experience to myself….well I try…but it’s not always easy….
Any how now you all have a summary of the events....
15:30: The day is winding down now…not that it got particularly wound up anyways….
17:15: Just left…bit late today…for some reason….
Wednesday 4th January 2006
08:15: Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh%t!!!!!...just got up…Jack’s going to School, or “fall out with friends” as we now call it….Mandy’s in a panic and as she has to do her hair and then get Jack who’s still only wearing his pants, dressed and to school in about 10 minutes flat….ahh the joys of school days…
08:20: Finally Ryan and I are on our way, having waved to a semi dressed Jack, luckily leaving as late as we are means that we literally get to school for 08:25 which is his start time…I finally get to work at about 08:40..so no harm done there then….
09:00: Not much to report today, except an email from Mary Tyrant, telling us that she’s got to rotate us with the Overdone office since they’re a man down and this means that Brenty has to spend next week there and I have to spend the week after that there too….That would be ok if it wasn’t for the fact that it’ll be spent working with Sparky Satsuma, the resident Overdone 3rd line guy who’s as useful as a chocolate fireguard most of the time…Obviously he’ll be spending time in the Back of Beyond office at some point too…obvious to me and no one else that is including Mary…I’m beginning to think this is punishment for standing up for ourselves during Brenty’s disciplinary…but I can’t prove it….
10:00: Another email this time from Nunob, who’s decided that we need to review our use of NoBackup since it’s “not the company standard”…therefore he wants to get quote from Verishagged for NotachanceBackup…Now knowing that NotachanceBackup is significantly more expensive….has filled me with glee..and I respond to his email enthusiastically claiming that I’d love nothing better than to get the quotes….I’ve even instructed Richman at Copper Nitrate centre to provide a competitive quote (the main reason for this of course is that I know that they’ll check to make sure I haven’t been making it up…”. I do get the sense however that because I’m an advocate of NoBackup, that even if NotachanceBackup is twice the price they’ll still decide to implement it just to spite me…but that’s the pessimist coming out I guess.
12:30: Lunch
13:30: Backup from lunch…and I’ve discovered that the Horrorgraphics tape drive has decided to turn it’s toes up…or get a tape jammed inside it and not eject it….This means I have to drive over their and try and free it up.
14:00: Just arrived at Horrorgraphics…I’ve provided security with a sample of my DNA and had my finger prints done…
14:15: In to the ‘Computer Room’ (cupboard) and yup sure enough tape well and truly jammed in the drive…I’ll have to take it back to BackofBeyond and see if I can disassemble the drive enough to free the tape…
14:30: Back at site now…I’ve extracted the drive from it’s external caddy…but I haven’t got an allen key the right size to undo the drive case itself and there’s a large sticker saying “Calibration Void if Removed”…didn’t know you needed to calibrate stickers but there you go….A quick phone call to Copper Nitrate Centre, and they’ve agreed to come and pick up the drive that they sold us as surprisingly it’s still under warranty….luckily it’s on an advanced replace turn around so I’m fully expecting it by Monday….
15:30: My mobile is buzzing away…it’s an agent from an agency !!!...I was supposed to go for an interview for a job I’ve long since forgotten about in December last year, however they wanted me to go to Milton Keynes for the interview, even though the job was in Fleet…just up the road…mental…also our leave had been cancelled so I kind of figured that that was that…anyway a little after that the agent had rung me and said the company Eee By Gum, was still interested and would I be available in January around the 5th…well that’s like 24 hours away and I’d not had it confirmed or anything so I emailed the agent to find out…She basically tells me that they’re still interested in me for this and possible one or two other opportunities and they’ll be in touch, but they can’t do the 5th…I’m starting to get that all to familiar feeling…so breath holding wont be something I do in the short term….
Nothing else to report today…it’s all so flat and I’m struggling to get motivated…so I’m just pottering about….
Thursday 5th January 2006
Nothing at all to report….
Friday 6th January 2006
08:30: Managed to get up ok today..alarms are finally getting used to waking me up again…Even Ryan was up and well Mandy no she was still struggling, but then she still has a bit of a cough and she seems to have pulled a muscle in her chest which no amount of my rubbing can alleviate…(it’s doing wonders for me though !!)…So every time she coughs she’s basically doubling up to stop it from hurting….
10:00: Chased up my quotes for NoBackup and NotachanceBackup…from Copper Nitrate Centre…I’m advised I should see it in about 10 minutes…well we live in hope don’t we…
10:30: The quotes have just arrived and well they make interesting reading…..Like I’ve said…I was under the impression that NoBackup was significantly cheaper than the Notachance Backup standard…and how right I was…nearly £60k cheaper…the quote that’s come in for NoBackup as if we were implementing the system we’ve already got is £30k the quote for Notachance Backup is £90k…I’m gonna love imparting this information…though not until Tuesday since that is the deadline….I don’t know if I can sit on this for that long……
It’ll soon be the weekend…..with only Monday morning to look forward too…..grrrrr…
# posted by cre8 @ 6:16 AM 
