Digital Impulses

Busy Monday: preapring for a work laptop re-image

Work laptop re-image
After some flaky behavior by my work laptop over the weekend, I decided to scrap the current install and prepare for a re-image of the thing in the next few days. So, as soon as I got to work, I began the process of backing up my data, exporting my Outlook Data and uninstalling any apps that the IT department might frown upon.

Project POLGVB
The rest of the work went by and in the afternoon we visited our accountant for an initial meeting to discuss the particulars of a business transaction we are currently mulling over.  That was a rather illuminating experience and we discussed many important themes and pitfalls.

The rest of the evening I spent at mom's for a visit to watch TV and then I called it a night a little after 2200.

Bit of a stressful Wednesday

As if the ugly phone call and news I got from Alex at WF this morning was not enough, I have to deal with a tremendous amount of FUD and angst at my workplace, as there has been quite a shakeup in staff and there is a lot of whispering and muttering amongst my colleagues reagarding what might happen next... This sucks, I tell ya.

Rescuing the Teenager
In the middle of all of this, I get a call from the teenager to tell me that he blew out a tire on the 405 san Diego freeway in Long Beach and that he needed help paying for a replacement tire.  He was lucky that the exit he took from the freeway was one that just happened to have a Good Year tire replacement store and he was able to get the car there without having to call AAA for a tow truck.

I took off immediately to where he was and by the time I got there, the repairs were almost done.  We waited in the lobby of the store for a few minutes and then eventually we went and paid for the repairs and he was on his way to his girlfriend's house in the O.C.

FICO discussions with Bert
After rescuing my son, I came home for lunch and had an interesting conversation with Bert regarding FICO scores, credit reports, how to care and maintain them and such.  It was one of those rare instances in which a conversation with Bert did not end up on a bad note or with him dumping a bucket of cold water on whatever happy news or project I am working on, as he usually does.

Nice, quiet Sunday: Moving desks and seeing "Get Smart"

Spent a few hours today in my office in Carson, Ca moving my stuff from a cubical next to the door to a desk INSIDE AN OFFICE near the same front door to the room we occupy here on campus.

After doing that, I came home and slept for a few hours.  Later in the evening, the teenager, his girlfriend and I drove over to The Bridge Cinema Delux to see 'Get Smart' starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and Dwayne Johnson (The Rock).  The movie was funny and we had a great time.

Good day, all in all. Nice.

Expense Report Nightmare: trying to wake up

Just finished re-submitting an expense report at work for like the 3rd time for a business trip to Colorado that I returned from 44 days ago.

I wonder what stupid, niggling detail they are going to find to bounce it back to me again.  I have never seen anything as complex, unintuitive and plain more of a pain in the ass to use than this.

OMG.  Let's see if I can get past this today.  I doubt it.  *sigh*.

1st full day working from home

Decided to stay home and work from my home office today.  It worked well.  I had made tentative lunch plans with my sister but those got way laid by an 1100 phone conference that never took place with the gentleman in Dallas who got too busy.

Ah, well.  Re-schedule we shall.

I need to set up a more permanent work station area for my work laptop to increase my productivity while telecommuting.  So far, I like working from home.  We shall see how long it lasts.

Free, I am Free!, At last!

Nice!

This evening after work I stopped by my local AT&T store and picked up a wireless card for my work laptop. 

The card I decided to go with is the AT&T USBConnect 881.  The card was $174.95 (Incld. $24.95 tax) but I will get $100 back via a mail-in rebate.  Also, my company has a corporate discount program, so I will be getting a discount off of the monthly plan that offers unlimited data.

This is a BIG deal, as it allows me the COMPLETE FREEDOM to work from WHEREVER I WANT.  Having been granted the  authorization to work from home or anywhere else by my boss last week in Colorado, this was the last piece of the puzzle I needed to be completely untethered from the office.

For those who know me, this is pretty heady stuff, as I now have the ability to work from wherever I like, whenever I like.  Mom's, my office, my bedroom, a park, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble... the possibilities are endless.  The mind boggles.  Well.  My mind boggles.

Free. Damn, that's cool.

Boulder, Colorado Trip: Day 6

Tourist!

The Egg and I
So this morning we went to breakfast at a nice restaurant called "The Egg and I", which is a place that Mark discovered on a trip to Nevada and just loved the food. The food was really good and the ambiance was great also.  I had a Whole Wheat Blueberry pancake and it was just delicious.  I really enjoyed the food there.  Highly recommended.

The Continental Divide in Colorado
After breakfast, we stopped by the hotel so that Mark could pack and I could grab a jacket.  We then took for the hour long drive over to the Continental Divide.

Suffice it to say, this was truly some of the most awesome scenery I have ever seen.  There was snow everywhere you looked and trees and mountains everywhere also.  Below are some of the pictures we took:

At the 'Summit"

At the Continental Divide

I intend to place the rest of the images we too over on my Flicker account.  I will post a link to it once I have uploaded the images there.

Although it took a while to get there, it was well worth it.  I really love Colorado!

Shopping
After the trip to the Continental Divide, Mark dropped me off at the hotel and took off for Denver as his flight leaves later this evening.  I stayed in my room relaxing and packing my bags for a while before getting dressed and going out to do some last minute shopping and getting a bite to eat.

After the shopping I came back to the hotel and having sitting here relaxing and updating my blog.  I think I am going to call it a night, as I have an 0825 flight back to L.A. and that involves driving to Denver International Airport which can take almost an hour.

Good night and more from L.A once I am settled in back home.

Boulder, Colorado Trip: Day 5

Today at work here in Boulder, Colorado was pretty good.  The team that is training us was pretty busy all day, so not a lot was done in that respect.  We had a late lunch at a place called "Brothers B-B-Q", which was really excellent.

After lunch, we did a little more work and then our boss decided to cut us loose for the rest of the week, and so tomorrow we have a free day in which to do whatever we want in terms of the touristy, picture-taking thing.

Mark is taking a late flight back to L.A. tomorrow evening and I will be returning home on Saturday morning.  This has been a fun and excting week here in Colorado and I look forward to getting home and facing my new challenges and responsibilities with recharged batteries and a renewed sense of purpose.

It's going to be an interesting rest of 2008, that's for sure.  :=)

Boulder, Colorado Trip: Day 4

Hectic, draining day at work once again.  Although, it was good in a way, because before I knew it, It was 1200 and time to go to lunch.

I made significant progress in my understanding of some of the technologies we are going to be using at work and that was both gratifying and rewarding.  I am starting to feel like I can wrap my head around the concepts involved and as such, the fear factor is reduced when returning to work in Los Angeles next week.

Towards the end of the day, I got some one-on-one face time with my boss and the result of that was some very good news.  I ended the day at work on a very high note, to say the least.

After work, I crashed for a while back at the hotel before going out to dinner with Mark at the local California Pizza Kitchen. The food was great and the conversation was good too.  After dinner, I drove over to the local Barnes and Noble here in Boulder to see if I could find a book on JetSpeed, Portlets or HP OpenView and alas, I struck out.

So, back to the hotel to crash for the night.  I am dead tired, but it's a good, positive tired. 

Yay me.  :=)

Boulder, Colorado Trip: Day 3

Good, productive day at work today in Colorado.  I worked on getting together some documentation on a project I will be involved with when I return to Los Angeles next week.

After work, I hung out in my hotel room for a little while and then I went to dinner with Mark.  We had an excellent meal at a local Steakhouse called Cork and the food was delicious.

After dinner, I returned to my hotel room to work on getting some of the snow storm pictures that I took earlier this week posted to Flickr and I got an email sent out to friends and family who have been bugging me to get the pictures posted.