TMI….

Sometimes there are things you just shouldn’t know…. don’t want to know… wish you didn’t know. Oh well…

We are coming up on the three month anniversary of our hack attack. To date, the FBI has done diddly squat, and now I know more about George than I think I ever want to know. I knew he was a member of the 2600 guild. I knew that he had some pretty good tricks up his sleeve. I know he is the fastest network admin that I have ever seen in my life.

For example, I had him run me to the store because my pickup is acting up again. I get what I need, head back to the car and he is all kinds of antsy. I ask what is wrong and George asks if we are done. I mention that I have one more stop, but it could wait if it was necessary. George nodded and hands me his phone. Kevin had called. Our firewall at work had been breeched. So, we headed back to the office. My computer was shut down already, so I wasn’t worried about that. However, until he dealt with the hacker, I couldn’t get back online. So, I went back to the storage room and cleaned.

I came out because I could hear him talking in a loud voice into his phone. One look at his face, and I went back to my cleaning. About 40 minutes later, he came in and I asked what was wrong. Seems that whoever has been hiring hackers hired one of his fellow 2600 members. Someone he personally knows. Now, the guy didn’t realize who he was being hired to hack. So, that pissed them both off. I think they had some sort of hacker fight, because George was growling and working on his computer. Then I heard him say “Goodbye &())(*_)(^^!!!!” as he hit a series of keys. When I asked him what that was about, he said he had just gotten rid of the hacker. I didn’t get a better explanation, because the phone rang. Apparently, it was the hacker he had just disemboweled.

At that point, I waved goodnight to George and left him to his phone conversation. Pete met me for dinner and while talking about our day, I realized that Pete knows more about George than I do. Geeze!!! Pete really respects George for his ethics. Said that George could have been a lot nastier and has the capabilities to do so. Also that George use to be some sort of bad ass in the military. hmm…… Guess I aught to be good…

Meanwhile, I am bored silly with my latest class. Pete promised me a trip to the mountains if I’m good and manage to pass the class without screaming. I’m working on it.

OH!!!! Mustn’t forget the movie we watched. Demolition Man. Sylvester Stallone, Wesly Snipes… Oh my god it was a riot. Sandra Bullock singing commercial jingles……. LOLOLOLOL!!!!!

Another one bites the dust…..

I know it has been forever since I last posted. Let’s see…..

I’ve been on vacation! I took a week off and then half of another one because I got a nasty cold. Pete was very sweet and nurse maided me. :> I learned he could cook!!! He and mom vied for my appetite. She almost won with chicken and dumplings. He did win with chocolate cream pie! sigh……

I got lots of stuff done on my classes right up until I got sick. Good thing too, because I didn’t have to worry about being behind on assignments. Plus, I think Pete put in a good word for me. It helps dating a professor…..

Work….   George called the FBI. Three days later, they sent a couple of suits out to check what was going on.I had to be there because my computer was one of the “hacked” ones. It actually felt good to be able to go in and then leave when I wanted to. Not that I don’t like my job, but I really needed some time away. Back to the FBI…  Since it was business hours, the hackers did not oblige them and show up. However, George had about 300mg of logfiles for them to go through. They were so stereotypical it was funny. Dark suits, dark glasses, etc. I kept expecting to hear the theme music from the Matrix. They took lots of notes and copies of the log files. Then they left.

Of course, the hackers attacked that night. George redirected them and battened down the system. He has this little logo of a Wilson’s cricket bat that he sticks up on the dry erase board every time we giet rid of a hacker. There are now 35 on the wall. Our system has been updated at least once a week. It took me three days to get use to the new passwords. We’ve gotten into a routine too. First thing in the morning, George checks the log files and sees what has gone on in the night before I turn on my computer. Some idiot tried to install  root kit on my laptop. Silly hacker, root kits don’t work as well on Linux!  Then after the all clear, we get to work. At quiting time, George sets a bunch of alarms and then shuts 95% of the systems down. He only leaves up the essentials. That way there is less for the hackers to hit. Best of all, George is finally getting some sleep.

The only other excitement in our lives was an old girlfriend of George’s showing up. She stopped by and we visited for hours. Not that I have any proof, but…. I think George had a “really good time”. He whistled around the office for days after she left. I hope she comes back again soon.

Back to school

Good thing I like him… Pete and George were talking and the two of them ganged up on me… About college. Granted, Pete has an unfair advantage. He is a college professor. Don’t know how I missed that at first. I guess I just figured he was a high school teacher when he said he taught. Never asked where… But George did! (sigh….) Pete picked me up at work one afternoon and George started talking to him while I got ready. George found out more in 15 minutes than I had in five dates! Pete teaches political history, and governmental studies at the college. Which is why I didn’t run into him when I was taking my accounting class.

This of course lead to a conversation as to why I hadn’t gotten my degree… Now they are trying to talk me into getting a Bachelors in Business management. I’m still trying to resist.

I also learned a lot about George listening to the two of them talking. George did stuff in the military, which I suspected he was in, but never had any conformation. He and Pete were talking about the job George had last month. The one where the government was milking techs for information and not paying them. It was this whole scheme where they’d call you up, and give you a few trial jobs as part of the interview process… You’d fix the tech issues and then have an interview. Next thing you knew, after maybe 20 hours of work, you’d be waiting to get a phone call saying you had a job…. Instead, you got a call saying “no thanks!”.  George billed them for 50 hours with most of the the work done on this virus, Ghost.rat. They did the whole “yeah, get the contract signed and paide at the end of the month…” I don’t think he even got home before they called him and said “thanks, but no thanks!” Oh he was furious. Once again, there was military crap that he couldn’t talk about and that kind of thing, but oh… He was so angry. The only good part of the whole deal is that he made a patch for the virus, but didn’t give them all of the documentation. This way, they can’t do anything but let his repair work. No source code to play with or anything else. So, if Ghost.rat  eats them for lunch, they are just screwed.

The other thing going on around here is an effort by George and Kevin to revamp the business. Repairs are going down the tubes. People rather just throw things away than fix them. Expecially if the fix is going to cost almost as much as a new computer. The guys are trying to figure out how to make the business work without the repairs section bringing in as much revenue.

argh……

rePete or is that Repeat?

I haven’t posted much, because I feel like I have nothing new to say. Gads, that sounds lame, but it is true.

Viruses… I am still doing all the low level tech work because George is gone so much of the time lately. He’s up working with this company that has a defense service contract about 100 miles from us. George actually got ahead of the big boys on this monster and now he is being tapped to help kill it. Makes me really wonder what George did before he ended up here. Oh well, I’ll never know. Not unless I get George really drunk… (ha! like that will ever happen)

Frustrating part is that George can’t talk about a lot of what he is doing because it is “classified” stuff. sigh… No juicy stories… pout. I’m not sure what is irritating him more. The work, the stupidity of the people he’s working with, the hush hush games or the virus. Either way, he is antsy as all hell when he goes up and must call me 8-10 times a day while he’s gone. Mostly to let off steam. Last week he called and asked me if I had those laptop parts yet. I said “Huh?” because I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then he said, “You know, the one for the Yarr’s computer.”  The Yarr’s have a desktop pc older than dirt, which is when I figured that he wanted to come home. I replied that I had it and he had better get back quick, because they wanted it yesterday! George then said he’d be back in 2 hours. Found out later that he’d had enough bullshit, and needed a way out. Whee!!!

George left this morning in the snow, and I’m sure I’ll hear from him once or twice before the day is over. This is one job I just wish was over and the invoices paid. Over 75 hours logged and not a dime yet, because it is a sub-contract. grrrr.

Our other two techs, Dan and Kevin have only been working part time. Not enough work. The only reason that I still work full time is because George is out of the office so much that someone has to answer the phones. Hughes, our competition we love to hate has closed his shop. Still working from home, but no more storefront. They had a picture of the guy in the newspaper rewiring a phone system. Oh my! What a mess… George figures it will be about a month before they call us in to repair his “repair”.

Then there is Pete. sigh…… Ah, the way to a g33kgURL’s heart. He likes that I’m computer savvy. That I have a brain and I’m not afraid to use it. We went to the local bookstore’s chess night last week. He played. I watched. It has been way too long since I played chess. I could have sat down and played with the beginners, but it was nice to just watch. Afterwards, we went out for chinese.

Mr. Clark likes Pete too. I guess that is a bonus as my sister and brother suspect him of some dire deed. Can’t figure that one out, but neither one really likes him. Oh well. They aren’t dating him.  Maybe it was the fact that the other day I missed a family dinner because Pete and I were too busy smooching on the couch!   Oh well. Don’t care. And for the record, this blog is staying G rated. I so am not publishing my love life online.

Certifiably Geekieeeee!!!

We have been working our asses off! Hughes screwed up some major jobs and we have been rewiring things until I’m seeing wiring diagrams in my sleep. Oh, and let’s not forget the phones. They  have been ringing like crazy too. I’d thought with so many out of work, that we’d actually slow down. Nope! Weird!!!

We had to go up to our warehouse supply store that does all the right bits for the right prices. Windtronics. They are always so nice. Bottles of water, good conversation, cookies sometimes and lots of cool stuff to buy. George went in for two phone connectors. (yet another Hughes job) What he found though was this bag he could put all of his tools in for half the weight and price of other bags he’d been looking at.

George wrenched his back a week or so ago trying to lift a toolbag weighing 75 pounds on the run. (stupid man!) So, he has been trying to downsize his stuff ever since. His new Samsung NC10 came in and he has been over the moon with it. But,… back to the bag. It was adjustable, just like a camera bag. Lots of bits to change around and fiddle with. He put it up on the counter and said if he could make things fit, he’d buy it. The counter help at Windtronics just laughed and helped him out. 25 minutes later, everything except the laptop was in the bag! We were paying for the bag and the connectors when the boss came out and gave us each a tool kit with pouch about the size of a small apple and a pocket protector with Windtronics on it. I laughed so hard I could barely breathe!

They said that I was now a certified geek! LOL!!!! I proudly stuck it in my handbag with the ad flap sticking out. The tool kit is pretty cool too. Drivers, hex tools and a mini wrench. Best of all, I don’t have to share!

Happy Holly-Daze!

It’s been slow at work today. Slow enough that I took time off to pay my electric and utilities bills.  I guess everyone figured that we’d be closed by noon and so kept their computer problems to themselves for at least a day or two.

If it is anything like last year, the phone will be ringing off the wall by the 27th. All the new games, computers and such will be plugged in, instructions lost and we will get called to bale them out. Wheeeee…… Good thing I don’t go back to work until the 29th. George gets to deal with the calls.

Speaking of George,… I got him to take me shopping!!! I don’t understand why, but my truck likes him better than me lately.  So, I provided the vehicle and he provided the muscle to get us to the mall.  Oh, and I bought lunch.

We found this little Mexican family diner that is to die for. Wonderful food that you can mix and match your chile sauce to make it as hot or mild as you want. So, we ate there after we did most of the shopping.

I got everyone something. Even George’s, because he went off to look at the magazines while we were at Barnes & Noble. Ha! Everything is wrapped and delivered too.  Kevin and George will get their presents tonight. I rented Wall-E for tonight. I figured if we didn’t have a Sci-Fi series to watch with our popcorn tonight, the least we could do is watch a Sci-Fi cartoon.

Mom is having her regular deli supper stuff tonight. I think we are having hamburgers if Kevin is his usual self when it comes to providing food for the feast.  A&W if we are lucky.  George actually made chile last time.  He’s a fairly decent cook.  Me, well… I guess the best thing you could say is that Mom tried. Kelly is an excellent cook. Jim isn’t bad as long as he can add wine or brandy to it or cook it on a barbecue.  Somehow though, I missed the gene. However, I make a mean toasted cheese sandwich and don’t have to use an iron!

I got my certificate of completion for my class in the mail. Wheee…. I can now say I’ve completed an accounting course and have the right to mess up finances legally. (ahem…) George is being nice though and not changing over the accounting system until January.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll head over to Mom and Dad’s for breakfast and presents. Dinner will be around 2pm.  I’m suppose to bring the salad and bread rolls.

Guess I’d better head home and clean off the couch. Only three hours until movie night!

Sunday After Noon

Is when I finally had a chance to go check on George. After work on Friday, I made sure I turned off all the phones or set them to answering machine status. Turned off all the work computers too. I’d made the mistake of leaving the phones on Thursday, and George had been up and trying to answer them half asleep and still stooopid from the pain killers. He also fired Al on Friday. Not surprised considering the multitude of screw-ups. Kevin is working hard to fix them before George goes crazy.

I thought I was going to have to take his shoes as well as his car keys just to keep him from going out. I thought I was a bad patient! Kevin was the one who suggested the keys. He knows George better than I do. Gods is he stubborn!

I think Saturday was the worst though. George wanted a shower. Don’t blame him, because between the meds and the heat he smelled like a skunk. However, he couldn’t cope very well one handed. He actually asked me to help him shower! I must have turned 90 shades of red! No way!!! Then he said he’d put on his swim suit, and if I could just help him with his hair and back, he’d really appreciate it. Once I got done providing enough heat for an oven, I said yeah, I’d help. Providing he didn’t wear a speedo! George laughed. Said he hadn’t worn one since he was about 15 and on the school swim team. PHEW!!!

Of course, we weren’t in the bathroom five minutes before Kevin showed up. I wanted to melt through the floor. And, to make matters worse, neither of the guys could stop making silly remarks. In the end, I just gave up. Rinsed off my hands and went home to glow in the dark!

Got to George’s this afternoon. Obviously, Kevin had helped him out of the shower as he wasn’t pruning away. However, he did smell better. I brought over some sausages and we barbecued them in the back yard. George is very right handed, and this business with his shoulder is driving him nuts. I did take pity on him and brush his hair. He’d gotten one side of it, but the rest was sticking up like Alfalfa’s from the Little Rascals.

I made sure he didn’t need anything and then came home. Decided to play on my computer and watch some “girl” movie. Not sure which one, but it’s a toss-up between Truly, Madly, Deeply, Notting HIll and Gosford Park.

Poptarts, phonecalls, and emergency rooms

Where in the world did this weekend go? I swear that I’ve hit a time warp. Let’s see if I can reconstruct my week so far and see where that gate is!

Sunday- Poptarts for breakfast. Cleaned house, read my delish werewolf book, cooked dinner and read some more. I’ve fallen in love with this series by Lori Handeland. All “moon” books. Werewolves, sex, mysteries. Yumm….. Just ’cause a girl doesn’t have a sex life doesn’t mean I can’t read about it! I found it when I went to the library for the Linux books. Found two of those and a handful of these “moon” books. No, I haven’t cracked one of the Linux books. Shhhh……

Monday- Poptarts for breakfast again. Running late! Signed up two new clients, paid bills, did paperwork. Actually read some of Linux for Dummies on my lunch break. Then the phone started ringing. The network had issues. George hired this new tech, Al. (Albert) He has all these paper qualifications, but we are finding out that he can’t do diddly. Lots of talk, and no action. Unfortunately, George sent him out to troubleshoot part of the network. The more he worked, the more my phone rang. Kevin and George were working on a remote site, and couldn’t get back fast enough.

Tuesday- More phone calls. The network was totally down. George went out with Al to try and fix it. They got most of it back up because George had a backup disk and totally dumped everything Al had done. George was growling. I’d never heard George growl before! Then disaster hit. I was just about to leave for the day when Al called all frantic. George had been hurt and they were on their way to the emergency room. Wanted me to meet them there. I tore out the door and headed to the local medical hobby shop.

By the time I got there, they had George in the treatment room and Al was pasty white in the waiting room. I tried to find out how George was, and all I got was apologies from Al. He was out to lunch, so I sent him home. Finally got ahold of a nurse and asked how George was. I didn’t know if he was dead, bleeding or just had a hangnail. She lead me back to where George was sitting on a gurney. No shirt, a few scrapes and his right arm and shoulder all wrapped up with ice packs added to the mix. He looked so relieved to see me.

We talked while he waited for the doctor to come back with some pain meds. Finally got it out of George that he’d had to climb the one tower about half way up. He didn’t fall, but on his way back down, Al had put a tool box in the way. George tripped, dislocated his shoulder and got an armful of cactus. George in pain, lashed out and gave Al what for on every thing he’d done wrong. No wonder Al had been so upset. The doctor gave George lots of pain meds, muscle relaxers and sent him home with instructions not to move his arm for the next few days.

I got George home, helped him into bed and then went home.

Today- Poptarts for breakfast. George is still asleep. I’m trying to keep things quiet so that he will rest. hahahahahahaaaaa! As if! Only a few more hours and I can set the phones to the answering machine. I promised George that we’d have dinner here and watch some more Babylon 5.

Tomorrow- No Poptarts for Breakfast! I’ve determined that they are the culprit!

Wolvix on my mind…

Ok, it’s Thursday. So shoot me. I screwed up my laptop. Big time. George and Kevin told me that Linux was easier and trickier than Windows. They were right. I know that George mentioned something about the word “root”, but did I remember before it was too late? Noooooo! There I was trying to get all the  settings right and next thing I knew, Boom! No computer. Well, sorta functional, but not working right. So, I called George. He was out and I got the tech support switch over, and got to hear my own lovely voice tell me that “all our techs are busy at this time, please leave your name and number and we will get back to you as soon as possible.”

ARgh!!! I just shut down my laptop and decided to do something else. I cleaned house. Yuck! I’m not a dirty person, but I did the sort of Spring Clean type clean to get my mind off the computer. George showed up just as I finished wiping down the walls in the kitchen.

We went over to my laptop and he started looking at it. I buggered it up really well. In the end, I felt such an idiot. What I learned is that you can’t treat any version of Linux like you would a Windows machine. I deselected a few things that just totally dumped my operating platform. Damn! Lucky for me, George put my old hard drive with Windows back in my machine and got me up and running. He’s taking the other hard drive and will reformat it and reload Wolvix. Then, he and I are going to sit down and go through it program by program and get it all set up.

Of course since I started cleaning house, I had to finish. George chatted with me while I cleaned and then when I was too tired to think, he called Kevin. After they were done making jokes at my expense over the laptop, he had Kevin bring pizza over and we watched a couple episodes of Babylon 5.

Work has been easy this week. Just a few tech calls. People unplugging their Ruckus units and not being able to type in the generic password without someone holding their hand. Oh well. I guess I have a bit more sympathy for them after my screwup with my laptop.

I also helped Kelly move some stuff. She has more junk than anyone I know. I don’t have as much stuff in my whole house as she does in two rooms. OMGS! Now I’m so sore it isn’t funny. My hands feel like hamburger and we won’t even talk about my feet. I’m so glad it is a light and easy day today at work!

Hobble-de-de!

Yep, that’s me. Hobble-opicus. Or is that hobbling octo-cuss! Not matter which way I think of it, I hobble. With cane no less! My knee hurts!

Tuesday, I did order pizza via George, and had a lovely quiet evening right up until the point where I had to take a shower. I should have stayed stinky. It would have been less embarrassing. As George was cleaning up the pizza fest, I mentioned that I was going to take a shower after he left and crawl in bed. George gave me a look that I am beginning to recognize as that questioning one which means I’m about to have to fight or prove myself to him. Not a bad thing, but some days… This one was that “oh, so you think you can stand on that knee?” look.

I should have kept my mouth shut and not said anything. HA! That would have been the smart thing. Instead, I asked him what the hell that look was for. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms with a smile on his face. I should have really known I was in trouble then. So, he asked me to stand up. I did. Then he asked me to step over his foot, which he stuck out. I tried. That’s when I realized that I couldn’t do it. George caught me before I fell. I felt so stupid. I realized that what he was trying to do was show me that I couldn’t step into the bathtub safely. grrrrrr!

He sat me back on the couch and said I had two choices. First one was stay stinky. No way! It had already been two days since my last shower. Second choice, was help. Either him or one of my family. I called my sister Kelly. She came over and helped me get in and out of the shower with a little dignity. George stayed out in the living room until I was finished and in bed. I felt so stupid. He also told me to stay home again. I started to protest, and then he reminded me that the office has stairs. I gave in.

Wednesday, I relaxed and read my book. Not that I had much of a choice. Kelly told Mom and Dad that I’d hurt my knee, and they kept popping in on me. I finished Blood Noir, and started Hunter’s Moon.  yes, more werewolves and sex! George came by after work and cooked dinner. Well, I don’t know if you call making toasted cheese sandwiches cooking, but they were good. He didn’t burn them! Nor did he use an iron! sneaky Johnny Depp reference

After dinner, I walked around a bit using a cane that he brought over. He tore his own knee up hiking years ago, so understood not only the pain I had, but the frustration of not being able to move.

This morning, I crawled into the shower with the help of the cane. HA! Take that George! Then I got dressed and called Kelly to drive me to work. I knew better than trying to drive! George was peeved with me for showing up, because my knee was still wonky. However, the phones had been ringing off the wall and files were stacking up. Kevin was happy I’d come to work too. He brought me a foot stool and all the tea I could drink. Apparently, George had had him answering the phone in my absence. LOLOLOL!

I came home exhausted. Kevin will pick me up in the morning so that Kelly doesn’t have to come into town just for me. She lives out on a ranch now. I cleaned out the fridge of all the leftovers and now I’m off to bed with my book!