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Just another night of going home fun... Buth then it does lead to a four day weekend ;->

Have fun all!!!

Cellphones for coffins

Cellphones for coffins
A Belgium newspaper, Gazet van Antwerpen is reporting that the family of a recently deceased motorcyclist are suing the funeral firm they chose, after the dead mans cell phone started ringing - from inside the coffin.

The paper reports that Marc Marchal, 32, was killed when his motorbike collided with a tractor near his home town of Rochefort. Mr. Marchal was so badly injured in the accident that the undertakers advised his family that the coffin should remain closed as they said their last farewells.

The night before the funeral, the family gathered at the undertakers for a final private farewell, when they heard the sound of his cellphone ringing from within the sealed coffin. Several distressed members of the family had to leave the funeral home whilst staff rushed to remove the cell phone.

The family is now suing, claiming that the undertakers were negligent in preparing their relative for burial.

testing a post from Pocket Blog

I sitting at Philadelphia Airport hooked up through the AT&T wireless out in the terminal with a flight delay of 45 minutes.  This is the only glitch today.  The flights and the interview went very well.  John picked me up at the airport after a little cellphone tag and off to a nice Irish pub next to the tall ships in the Delaware Water gap.  Dave then arrived.  This is the owner's son and a true come up through the company guy.  Dave is my kind of employer.  He knows the jobs and every part of the work process from hands on service.  John is the "go to" guy.  He is the talent scout, sales force whip and Financial organizer. He knows what needs to be done.  They are primed and ready to take the next step and I think that I can help them do it.  Now comes the hard part.  John told me that with the short week, it will be a week from tomorrow before they contact me again, but this time they will have a better idea of what to tell me is the next step.  Sounds like 7 days until I hear the job offer in detail.  These are guys who speak there minds and don't hold back.  I look forward to getting here if they want me.  This could be a real sweet job with the company going somewhere... 

Well, Sunday has arrived.  I am ready to go.  Wife is in the shower and getting ready for her first time as an Educator for the AEFM.  We'll be leaving home in just a few minutes so that I can arrive at the airport in time for check-in and a quick browse of the magazine stands.  What am I looking for... Wired magazine, of course!  Trying to keep the mind from running to far ahead of me.  I feel like I am leaving the Matrix for the first time.  I have been accepting my place in the world for some time, but now I am breaking the mold.  There are two expressions around the office.  1. "everyone is replaceable"  This is a favorite of the owner/my boss, 2. "Richard will never leave, he is here for life".  If all goes well today , I will show them that both are not true in any way.  I also have to get pass the feeling that I am dumping on the friends that I have made at work.  This includes the Owner's son and Son-in-law.  Both have trouble doing their jobs, One is trying hard to fill the new role he is in, the other doesn't actually seem to care.  Its getting very sad.  The moral has dropped to an all time low.  It is time to get out while I can.  I can't think about the ripples that will be sent though the company as I leave.  There are so many things that I will try to teach them before I go.  So many things that no one wanted to know when I needed help doing them, so many things that cost me so many hours of my time...  O  look forward to working shorted hours.  For while I was "on the clock" about 9-10 hours a day I was working 2-4 hours each night to just keep up.  The fact that most of the other Managers and the Owner himself, never really understood how many things I do that they never had to think about.  I carry I major load in order for the office to stay up and running.  But the better do my job, the less everyone sees me as working hard.  They only see me as working when something breaks and I have to fix it.  Such is life.  But Today things are being shook up, re-sorted and organized into a future...

Back in 16 hours... with a new life?  stay tuned...

"same bat time, same bat channel"...

The stress is building, the excitement is not far behind.  This is the most major event in my life.... I could change the course of things forever.  Called and confirmed everything and they are ready and waiting for me to arrive.  Today's list of things to do: Have Saturday morning breakfast with my wife, then off to see a personal client today and got her computer up and strolling faster.  Lots of spyware onboard, but thanks to Spybot Search and Destroy, all gone now.  Next pickup a computer projector for my wife's education class tomorrow.  A quick lunch and then..   take her to her salon so a quick clean up , while I head home to do laundry...  Pick her up and make last minute runs to Bed, Bah and Beyond.. Walmart.... Kinko's... and back to the salon to teach her how to use the a projector with her laptop.  A full run through of the PowerPoint slideshow... She is now ready for tomorrow.  Back home and now I am organized enough to head for bed. 

Tomorrow is going to be more then just another day... It could be the fulcrum for the rest of my life...

See you in a little over 24 hours... happy anyway this comes out, as at least this is a move in the right direction!!!

Night all...

e-Tickets are in hand.  Lift off is Sunday at 8:40 AM.  tour the plant and then off to a local sports bar for drinks and the interview... 

okay let me get my thoughts together...  They called... we talked...  they called back...  we talked some more...  they called back.... They are flying me to NJ on Sunday for an interview!!!  I leave out of here Sunday morning and arrive around noon.  They show me the office and then drinks and more talking, then back home again.  And if all goes well, I start the move to NJ by mid December...   Holy Crap!!!

This is from Boing Boing Blog, as a Disney fan I found this interesting:

"Epcot Center had the distincition of being the first Disney park in which every single ride and pavillion was sponsored -- in the case of the World Showcase, the sponsors were the countries represented; but in the case of the Future Showcase, the sponsors were tech companies, and they built VIP lounges and conference spaces into their ride-pavillions for their bigwigs and guests. Hidden Mickeys has a ride-by-ride description of Future Showcase's VIP lounges (I found out about this through an eBay listing for a Living Seas VIP Lounge uniform jacket)

Around the right side of The Living Seas, past the Coral Reef restaurant, there is a door marked only by the United Technologies Corporation logo. Press the buzzer by the door, display your pass and you will be allowed access to the VIP lounge and the conference center beyond it. (George Bush was received in the conference center in 1990.) The conference center is on the second floor of The Living Seas and has huge windows that look into the tank. You can see these windows when you are in the attraction by looking for the restaurant windows. The second set of windows above the restaurant are those of the conference center. The conference center is currently closed but is frequently used to receive VIPs including Michael Eisner.

Link
[Boing Boing Blog]  "

I received a call, message on my cell phone, from one of the places in NJ that I sent a resume to!!! While I was in my room at work were cellphones don't work so will he, the President of the company, did leave a message and his cellphone number to call him that evening.  The trouble was that I didn't see the message until late that night and I didn't call him back over the weekend, thinking that, like most of my fellow managers and the owner, likes to be bothered by work unless it an emergency over the weekend.   Sunday night as I turned the ringer back on to my Cell, silenced while seeing "Master and Commander", He had called again!!!  My bad choice for thinking that he wouldn't want his weekend interrupted... Duh!!! So I will call him back today at lunch and see what he interested in about me!!! 

more to come...

its more of the usual with Handango.com  I have an Axim X5.  For the money the best Pocket PC device I have every touched.  Both Compact Flash and Secure Digital in one device.  I have installed the new Mobile 2003 OS and runs great.  With all the freeware out there I haven't purchased that much software for it, but there have been three Apps that I consider must haves.  Flexwallet is a must for encrypting password and IDs, and two from Omegaone.com, Battery Pack and Journal Bar.  The trouble is that the company sells via Handango.  the updates are free, which is a very nice thank you for purchasing form the author, but then the trouble starts.  Handango lets you redownload twice before you get hit with prompted for more information.  The one I am getting is the credit card used to purchase.  And here in lays the trouble.  When I get a "new" card the old one gets cut up.  Handango's emailed invoice contains no CC information, not even the last 4 digits.  So you are left trying to figure out what card you used over a year ago to purchase with.  and if you still have the number around.  I not your only course of action left is to contact their customer support... The website states 1-2 business days,  last time it was more like 1-2 weeks before I heard back.  I had located the CC# before then and got the update.  Their "help" was to send the update file, so that on the next update I had to go though the same process again.  I can not be the only customer having this trouble.  I just requested an update that I do not have a # for, lets see how long it takes this time...

trying to add RSS to the blog, lets see how it works ;->

I've been to Mount Airy...  I live in the Tampa Bay area and no one here can get it together to do this kind of stuff in our Downtown.  Clearwater where I work or the "mall" in downtown Tampa would be great for this but no!!!  Some small town in the mountains does it...  And we are not talking about an area with a lot of money, for crying out loud, there is a quarry in the middle of town that dynamites three times a day and shakes the town.

-------clip from http://boingboing.net/2003_11_01_archive.html#106862399182143608 -----

Mount Airy -- the town that provided the location and the inspiration for Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show -- is rolling out an 18-blog-wide WiFi network.

Working with Mark Spencer of 8021Link Inc., Mount Airy set up a Wi-Fi network covering 18 blocks. Several merchants already have signed as for hot spots and have added "Internet Hotspot" signs. The network augments the community's use of the web to tout business and tourism. It's web site (www.visitmayberry.com) is a treasure trove of Mayberry information. Wi-Fi was a logical next step.

"You already can see people coming downtown – not in droves but in 1s, 2s and 10s, carrying not only pocketbooks but also computers," says Bradley, who has run the Chamber since 1998. On a recent Saturday he stopped in at the Good Life Cafe. "There was a guy on one of the PCs set up in the coffee shop," he says, "and another guy was at a table with his laptop.

"This is just pretty darn cool!"

Link (via WiFi Net News)
[Boing Boing Blog]

for the fans of the original radio shows... New shows on the last three books!!!  Douglas Adams lives on!!!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/33819.html

after yesterday's mistake, can I make it through the day without a major controversy?  Maybe.  The worse that can happen is that I get called into the office for a talk.  But this is exactly what they have been avoiding for years.  Will they can me... doubtful as I am the only IT guy in the office.  And as the proof from the last couple of days shows, there are only a few people in the office that can figure out what is going wrong and and fix it.  But that aside it's "Foamy's Friday"  For those of you who don't know me.... I like food.  Foamy's (http://www.foamysbarandgrill.com) is a great burger place, and on Friday's its there special of the day, 1/2 pound burger, fries (change out for the tubular onions) and a coke for $4.50.  It has become an office tradition since around May to go there on Fridays.  So Friday is not just Hawaiian shirt day anymore.

R.

Heard from my boss this morning via email...  "so you think that I am a brickwall"...  just great!  What this this about.  Then I get IMed by my out of office programmer, :"how you doing?"  "not bad, where have you been? I sent you email and you never responded"  there should have been a loud ding and a bulb going off over my head.  the email I sent to the programmer about a change the boss wanted, and how I knew that it would be a pain to recode, and attached a comic of Dilbert talking to his boss who is turning into a brickwall as he speaks... when to the boss and not the programmer.   I must have really needed sleep...  just another fun day....

R.

Newsgator is the best.  not only does it bring me the news that I want, but the blogging feature is so easy.  I'll be trying to post at least once a day. 

Things have been crazy since getting back from vacation.  at this moment there is at least 1 terabyte of data flying around the office network onto 6 drives attached to 3 computer systems that comprise my desktop computers.  all this data must be on the drives and ready to ship by Friday 15:00.  this is all for 2 customers that are major accounts, and I am the last contact for the data before it leaves the office.  And it was made possible by a simple technology that I brought into the office.  What was tech was that?  It started with a thumb drive that could hold 3 albums in MP3...  often after getting to the office the choice of music on the drive wasn't what I needed.... so what is better... an USB/Firewire enclosure and a 300 GB drive.  Now I can carry my entire MP3 collection and all my files, so that I have nothing left behind.  The best part...  the enclosure was $30 and the drive $80.  I will never get this great a deal again. 

time to head off and read all the RSS feeds, but in reality I may just drop everything and go directly to http://www.wilwheaton.net and enjoy.  Check out the photo albums.  He may have been Wesley Crusher on TV, but he is really just another geek, like us.

l8rs...

 

off and at work by 7:30 this morning, trying desperately to cover everyone's butts.  The thoughts of moving to NJ are growing...  need to find a corner of sanity.  My song of the last month since being back from vacation is "Fountains of Wayne - Hey Julia"  great song about the pointy haired boss and getting home to the love of a good woman.  Trying to get my act together and see "Matrix: Revolutions" tonight.  Hopeful but not sure if its possible. 

T-Minus 32 Days till 97X's Next Big Thing: http://97xonline.com/ads/nbt03/bandlist.html

Almost 40 year old with the mind of a 20 year old.... I'll be the oldest guy there, but who cares if the music is good...

l8rs,

R.

well the purchase of Newsgator looks real good right now.  I'm working with he 14 day trial and finding it quite nice.  the Blogging add-in should help me get more out... and sooner. 

l8rs,  R.

does it work as professed?

 

R.