Good day.

In a meeting this morning the project manager of the project I'm working on gave out the project plan including what efforts are required each week.  Currently, I'm working on things that were to be completed last week.  She said it's kinda hard for Charles to get this done when he's getting pulled in so many directions.  So, the PM demanded that they share me better.  Alrighty.  So, today nobody has interrupted my work, even once!

I shoveled a ton of snow out of my driveway this morning.  It was eight inches deep if it was one.  A water main burst at the end of my street and melted some of the snow off of the street, but the water department had my street blocked most of the morning.  I dialed into the meetings today.  I feel lucky to have gotten my shower before they shut down the water.

The road conditions on the way to work were not so good.  I was slipping and sliding on several occasions.  Turn into the skid!  Even if you're headed for the ditch. . . it's the only way to regain control.  Since it rained before it snowed, it washed the salt off the roads, then formed a layer of ice.  Just perfect!  So, the plows are helping, but they couldn't begin to salt the roads until the rain converted to snow.  Last night was the first time I have heard thunder in a snow storm.

Piled on.

I had a good weekend.  I vegetated on my brother's couch and watched movies on Friday.  Saturday, I ate McBreaksfast, watched my brother teach a class, got registered for my next semester, saw my niece in ballet class, ate sushi, bought groceries, took a shower, talked to a friend on the phone, then I went ice skating with the niece and nephew while my brother and his wife went to see a play.  CC is 4.  We swung by the dollar store and got her some gloves, because I couldn't find hers and it was her first time going ice skating.  I knew she would be falling and getting up a lot.  It's not fun when you put your cold hands on cold ice.  I think she had fun until her feet started hurting.  We shed the skates and grabbed dinner at Fritz's, where the food comes to your table on a train. The pic in this post is of CC in a paper railroad engineer's hat.  I had to wear one, too.  :-)  Then we shopped and went to Benton's and sat in the lounge and listened to live jazz.  Pie a la mode.  I had the apple fritter, D had chocolate, CC just wanted ice cream.  CC bought a cheap pink digital camera when we were shopping.  It works, but it doesn't have a screen.  When we got home we decorated it with stick-on rhinestones.  I told her it is the most beautiful camera I have ever seen.  She's mega-cute.  She had bought a bejeweled tiara and wand.  Low grade plastic, but shiny.  She modeled those for me and I took her picture with her new camera. 

On Sunday, I went curling at one ice rink and played hockey at another.  I count that as a work-out.

Well, I've been to two meetings today, and as is usual on Mondays in my new work environment, if you don't populate your Outlook calendar, people assume you're not busy.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  They have realized I know stuff, so they're piling on.  I helped the server folks by configuring access into a customer's network environment remotely, so most of them didn't have to travel.  I configured some access-lists in a firewall instance, and now I get copied on all such requests.  Yikes.  There are some high visibility tickets coming my way, too.  These issues have short fuses.  This is going to be a short lunch break.

Escape from Lufkin, TX

I made it back safely from Houston/Lufkin, TX.  I'm pretty sure I flew right over Broken Bow Lake on the way home tonight.  My teammates stayed another night in Houston, because they had booked on American, which doesn't fly direct to Kansas City.  Since I work for a contractor, I can book on whatever airline I want.  Consequently, the round trip to Houston was $350 on Continental, instead of $200 or so on American, but I saved the difference by not staying in a hotel tonight.  <shrug>

We ate in the most decadent restaurant you could ever imagine. Fogo de Chao!  It's this amazing salad buffet, including the best cheeses, greens, and smoked seafood, but they give you a card which has a red side, which says "No, thanks." and a green side, which says "More, please!"  And these guys patrol the restaurant with big slabs or cuts of meat on big skewers or platters and carve it off onto your plate until you say stop.  If you forget to turn your card to the red side, you soon end up with a heaping pile of meat on your plate.  They bring you bottomless fried bananas, polenta, and mashed potatoes, too.  It's $50 if you just have water.  I can't imagine what the bill is like if you drink wine.  I filled up on fresh vegetables drenched with Italian dressing, filet mignon, lamb chops, leg of lamb, pork ribs, bacon wrapped chicken medallions, and some dilectible top sirloin.  I got in my 200 grams of protein today, without a doubt.  It was all terribly delicious and cooked to perfection.  Now, I will try to put that on my expense report with a straight face and crossed fingers.

More travel

I have more travel lined up for next week.  They changed the schedule around, so I have to cancel and rebook some of the travel, which is a huge hassle and expense.  It's their money.  <shrug>  If I had stayed with my same airline tickets, I would be stranded in Houston for four days over a weekend before the rest of the team caught up with me.  If I had a place to stay in Houston, I would do that.  I could check out Mission Control at NASA or something.

Meanwhile, I'm playing catch up on the documentation from the previous trips.  It's time consuming because I'm supporting a remote team of server nerds in Dallas, and I can fix half their problems, but I end up on marathon phone calls to help them troubleshoot their own stuff.  They need constant reassurance that their problems are not network related.  I did more packet debug today than I've done in the past 3 or 4 years combined, just to reassure them that A) the firewall never got the packet or B) the firewall didn't block their packet.  In all fairness, I did make a few firewall rule changes to get their stuff working.  Their requirements sheet is sorta wrong.

So, now I'm going to grab a quick workout, then I'm having dinner at Adam's.  After that, I really must finish these network maps!

Long week.

I have a lot to say, but not enough time to say it. . . so, for now, you get a hockey fight link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEltpSMTDPM&mode=related&search=

Enjoy!

Minnesota. Brr.

I got to Minneapolis on time.  I arrived at the Avis counter at 4pm, just as we had agreed. . . then I checked my voice mail.  My coworkers were stuck in Chicago.  Well, I knew I had an hour to kill, so I started looking for a restaurant.  Well, at MSP, they are all in the gate area, and you can't get in there without a ticket.  So, I asked the fellow at the information table what I should do.  He recommended taking the Hiawatha line, a shiny blue train, to the Great Mall of America.  For the price of $3.50, I did.  I crammed my carry on stuff into my checked bag, which handily converts in to a backpack. . . I love The North Face!  I arrived at the mall, then I grabbed some kind of double decker meat pizza at Villa Pizza on level three of five.  I got a voice mail indicator. . . I had missed a call while I was in the train tunnel.  It was the stranded ones.  The airline was still locating a plane to avoid canceling their flight.  I knew I had at least 90 minutes to kill.  So, I proceeded to explore the mall.  The MOA monstrosity has carnival rides, including two pretty cool roller coasters.  Encumbered by luggage and deterred by the long line, I skipped the rides.  I think you could very easily burn a thousand calories if you walked this mall and hit every level.  I hiked til my feet hurt.  I bought some bath products.  I went to Bloomingdales, then back to the train station.  Enough of that!  After you've been amazed by the size and added features, it starts to look like every other mall in the world.  Now, I'm back in the airport.  I've waited 45 minutes at the Avis counter.  I'm mooching some internet from Hertz.  I checked their flight status, and it just landed!  And they just called.  That's over 3 hours of wait.  And after all that hiking, the pizza kinda wore off.  I hope they're as hungry as I am.  I saw a Chevy's Tex Mex by the mall.  I will be suggesting it.

Meat packing plant tour - 1st leg (har!)

I have seen some nice networks in my career.  I have seen some pitiful networks.  This week, I saw a bit of both.  And the great thing about consulting is that I know the difference, and I get to really help these businesses run more reliably.  In the past two weeks I have toured every wired portion of four different meat packing facilities in the Midwest.  I know how they make pickle loaf and lil' smokies.  I saw giant pepperoni ovens and tubs full of meatballs.  I cataloged network gear in rooms with names like "Raw Receiving Office" and "South Bacon Office" and "Chorizo Packaging Area".  I smelled some familiar aromas and some strange, unknown smells.  I once worked in a Tyson Foods kill plant, so the safety protocol was familiar.  No jewelry.  Hardhats and hairnets must be worn in the production areas.  Blue frocks must be worn in areas where raw meat is processed, white frocks in cooked/ready-to-eat meat areas.  In one instance, I was given plastic booties to cover my shoes.  At first, I turned them down, but after the supply counter lady raised her eyebrows and said, "I wouldn't want to track blood into my car," I accepted.  She was right.  There were times when I had to kick meat away from where I was standing.  There were times when I stepped in blood.  None of these plants were kill plants, but I saw that they receive raw meat in giant tubs.  I was intrigued by the size and variety of mixers and grinders and stuffers and extruders and giant ovens used in these facilities.  At one point, I saw a giant tub of biscuits.  They were put onto a conveyor which supplied a machine making sausage biscuit sandwiches.  The automation is pretty phenomenal.

Another benefit of this type of consulting:  I get to see parts of the country I haven't seen before.  This trip around Nebraska and Kansas involved lots of driving.  Next week, I get to fly AND drive around Minnesota and Iowa.  In a few weeks, I get to tour some facilities in Illinois and Indiana.  I'm getting a real overview of the Midwest.