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.

Ummm…..

The computer ate my homework?

I lost the story in a handbag?

I was lost on a blind date?

I couldn’t come to work because I didn’t have anything to wear?

Ok, fine. I fell off the blog wagon. I’ve been working my butt off, and barely remembered to call my mom or my sister for the last month. Gahhhhh!!!

We did the worst job I have ever worked on in my life last week, and we are still trying to finish up all the bits. It wasn’t difficult in many ways. It was just horrid because of all the things that were done wrong. Things that we had to fix. And yes, it was our favorite competition. Hughes.

They did a job for a non-profit group. Six months later and lots of tears, one of their volunteers told the boss about us. George bid the job at 4 hours. It took 8. On the day after Christmas. This is just a partial list of what we found and fixed:

• used boxes with reused double sided sticky tape. It still had paint on it from another job!
• Bad wiring!!! OMG’s. You know, the jacks have a wiring guide on the side. They didn’t follow it! Crossed wires that wrapped around other wires and cut wires because they used a pocket knife instead of a punch down tool!!!
• a phone jack splitter and phone jack used to splice phone cable together!!!!
• Cat 5E jammed in a triple loop inside of a wiring box. 4 strands in one box and 2 in another. Some of the wire was so tight, that it was bent in half!
• wall plates not mounted.
• extra cable race-empty!!!!!
• boxes not wired.
• 4 wires where 1 was needed
• 1 wire where 4 were needed

Oh it was a mess. I knew things were bad when George started cussing in Russian. He was so pissed. Worse yet, Hughes charged this group over $1300! George gave them the non-profit rate and the whole repair cost them $350. Plus, it was done and tested on time. The head of the charity was so shocked that she about cried. Didn’t know what to think. He still fumes every time he drives by the place.

Mr. Clark is no longer mad at me for fixing him. He still hollers at me when I am in the shower, but he also knits my hair when we snuggle up in bed.

Oh, and it’s movie night again. George and my brother are coming over tonight.  I think we are watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls.

Winter storm watch-Akkkkk!!!

Why am I in a panic? Oh gee…. been sick, been busy at work, and No Time To Shop!!! On top of that, we have a winter storm warning and that means not fast easy trip to one of the big shopping centers. Unless I can pursuade George to drive tomorrow, I will be giving everyone IOU’s or cash in a card.

I usually don’t wait. I usually have everything bought, wrapped and under the tree by now. Not this year though. Between crazy clients, our bank loosing our statement, (don’t ask… don’t EVEN ask) and me getting sick right after finals, I’m behind.

Oh, and it is cold. Windy and Cold! My office is like an icebox. Even my little heater isn’t helping.

Kevin and George are happy though. They’ve been playing with the new antennas and hope to order more next year if they work out alright. They have one of the Ubiquity bullets set up in the windy zone out at the one ranch that blows an antenna every few months. If it lasts a month, our supplier had better be ready for a bulk order.

Meanwhile, Mr. Clark is still pissed at me. I think he had great plans for those balls… Oh well.

Heatwave!!!

It got up to 45 today. After a week of temperatures down in the teens, I thought I’d never get warm! I’ve gotten so use to dressing up in layer upon layer that I’d forgotten what it was like to move my arms freely.  George has really got to get some better heat in the office.

Kevin says I have it easy. He’s been up and down towers in this weather. George has been out wiring houses which involved working inside and out. I guess when I think about it that way, I do have it easy. All I have to do is deal with the phone, the delivery men, stupid customers and a heater that won’t take the office above 60!

can I have some cheese with this whine?

Oh well. At least my sister has finally apologized for being such a jerk at Thanksgiving. I had to take Mr. Clark into the vet for his shots and a then a bit of “elective surgery”… He wasn’t happy with me. Puked all over my bedspread. The vet wondered why I had canceled my first appointment, and after blushing 8 shades of red, I explained. My sister-mom-the ‘dates’. It took her five minutes to stop laughing.

One good thing… Today was my last final. I’m done. No more accounting. No more books! Wheeee!!! I’m so tired of numbers and ledgers that I don’t care if I pass!

One bad thing… We finished the last of the Farscape stuff. Now what am I going to watch? We’ve worked our way through Babylon 5, Firefly, Serenity, and now Farscape. Sci-Fi Channel better have something worth watching!

Mr. Clark, you have an assignment…

I am finally back online. My house took an electrical surge that knocked out my phone, tv, anything electrical and my budget. I was just glad that I hadn’t left my computer on. Otherwise, I’d owe the company a laptop too. It has taken me nearly two weeks to get everything set back where I want it and to replace the things that were just cooked.

Then there’s Mr. Clark. That cat! He and I may come to a parting of the ways if we can’t settle a few things. He loves George, but hates Kevin. Hisses and smacks at him every time he comes over.  He even peed on his back pack! I have no clue on what to do. George just laughs. Kevin growls at Mr. Clark.Mr. Clark, get a clue!

This wouldn’t be such a problem except that the guys have been coming over with Farscape DVD’s. Yes, I have a new addiction. Since we watched all of Babylon 5, we started watching Firefly. Now we are on Farscape. Not sure what we will watch next.

Meanwhile, work has been ok. Nothing new on the hacker front. I think George and Kevin finally convinced him/them to leave us alone. I’ve been doing all of my accounting homework at work since I haven’t had a computer connection at home. I may pass the class. As for all of the desktop publishing stuff…. Don’t tell George, but I think I understand it.

Saw tall, dark and handsome the other day. He was talking to my sister’s vet, so I guess I’ll phone Kely to see if she can talk to the vet. If dreamboat is single,…… hmmmm……

Must go clean up the catbox. George and Kevin are due in thirty minutes to start the next round of Farscape.

Classes and Cat spit dispensers

I really need to organize my life. I have all these things I want to write about and no time to write them.

I started taking a class in the evenings. It’s an accounting class. George and Kevin are hopeless when it comes to the books. I know a bit of Quick books, the idiot version and that is about it. However, our client base is just wide enough that we either have to hire an accountant or one of us  has to learn to do the work.

George is trying to switch the office over to use nothing but Open Source software. Great! I love my Ubuntu OS laptop. I like Firefox and Thunderbird. However, I don’t know Scribus, Gimp, or Nola Pro accounting software. Granted, I’m learning some of it. Fast! However, I don’t know enough accounting, so I’m taking this class.

I feel like the village idiot. All these 20 yr olds whipping out the homework faster than I can type Double Entry Bookkeeping. Better yet, we have a 85 yr old in the class who is there to “refresh” her skills. Awwwwghhh! If George hadn’t paid for the class with business funds, I’d have quit.

On top of that, I had a cat adopt me. I came home from work just before Halloween to find this cat on my front porch. He was very friendly, but I really didn’t want a pet. So, I shooed him off the porch. Next morning, he was sitting there as I went to work. Black except for one white patch on his chest, and beautiful orange eyes. Oh, and a purr to knock you over with.

I came home from work and he wasn’t on the porch. I figured that he had finally gone home. George came by about twenty minutes later, because we were going to watch the elections. He opened the door and the cat came in with him! I explained that it wasn’t my cat, and tried to toss him out. George just laughed at my efforts. I got the cat out and ten minutes later, Kevin came in with the cat!

When I went to toss him out that time, I got dirty looks from both of the guys. You’d think I was a serial killer. Good grief! The cat meanwhile has wound itself around my legs, purred, jumped up in my lap, etc. All the cute tricks. I like cats but… I didn’t want one yet. I tried the tack that I had no cat food or litter box. Nope, Kevin called his girlfriend and she brought over food and a spare box, complete with sand. I gave up. His name is Mr. Clark, after the spy-guy character in the Tom Clancy books.  Why? Well, he has this way of disappearing  and reappearing that boggles the mind. Oh, and he tries to protect me from dangerous things like the microwave, vacuum, loose newspapers and of all people, Kevin.

Mr. Clark has one other weird habit. When I get in the shower, he cries. Like I’m hurting myself. The whole “oh my gods, your getting ALL Wet!!!”. When I finally get out, he does his best to lick my ankles and feet dry. I told George about this and he laughed. I asked him to explain what was so funny. George said that most cats don’t understand the great big box known as the Cat Spit Dispenser and therefore fear it.

I about choked on my tea that he had just handed me. Cat Spit Dispenser! Oh Gods! It fits! It took me five minutes to stop laughing. I’ll never look at the shower in the same way again!