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Tech Stories Archives - September 2012
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1.
Atari Arcade Promo
http://atari.com/arcade Go tot he link, Play the classics they've made available.[By: Necros / 2012-09-02]
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Oh dear deity... that's gonna waste all kinds of time at work! :) -JoeLugian
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2.
Do I still exist?
Yay! I do. hi Yual! am I still known around these parts? are all my cool dudes still here? Riff, Burkiss, Grue, Chazz,Msimmons, OgdonTechGuy anyone? I can't be the only old school dude on here. this is our home, our refuge from the mean cold world. us techs unite! :-) so, how Yual doing? lets see for me, my daughter I fought and won kustody for, is now 11, 6th grade, I have a son who is 6 and in 1st grade, and a little baby daughter who is 2.5 and in no grade, but talks and is 80% poddy trained. :-) Hell yeh! Go Blindtech! :-) so, tell me about yourselves.[By: blindtech / 2012-09-03]
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Good Lord. They'll let ANYBODY in here. Nice to see you Bee Tea. -Necros
Glad to see ya back!
-beatmewithstick
Who? ;-) - Gromit
damn glad to see another old timer! -HappyCrappy
Welcome back again! -Grue
That's pure awesome! Enjoy those kids, and cherish them forever! -missourimule
No your just a figment of my imagination - ;-) -Wonko The Sane
I am actually OgdenTechGuy. I moved a thousand miles or two away so I decided to change my name on this site to one that's less geographically specific. -DukeOfURL
I've been here four years now. -Icelator
I am not putting on the seeing eye harness again! welcome back man. -wolfprince
Who left the gate open?! Kidding aside *coughcough* welcome back! -unrenowned
Heya, BT! Good to hear from you. I'm still here even though I haven't done design work for years --- I just like being around smart people with good manners. -MeanDean
Great to see you back. You were missed. -wylfwt
still alive -Harm
Welcome back, hope things are going better for you. (If I recall, you had some issues to work out.) -Captain Trips
Damn skippy you still exist... Welcome back and good to hear from ya. -srteach
welcome back -JH
Another old member here to welcome you back. -garwain
Welcome back buddy! Time flies eh? My little guy starts school this year! Hope you brought some new stories!! -frprinterwiz
Hey, BT! Good to hear from you; sounds like you're living the good life... -PTSTech
I wandered off a while ago, too. Just found my way back... -RePo
Yo dude!, welcome back. Glad to hear you are doing OK :) -Jax
Welcome back! -ecoli
Welcome back to the fold, blindtech! -Diptera
Welcome Back Blind Tech! I don't get there that much these day, I am wondering if The Coyote still throws a good story bone now and then, anyone know? -THETECHFROMHELL
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3.
Dropped the gauntlet
One of the things that $boss has been riding us about has been closing out our tickets within the 5-working-day SLA we have. It's something that's become a bone of contention between our group and networking.
Reason being, our group is the sole reason why our percentages have been as high as they are within our region. Yeah, $boss has been riding us hard about getting these tickets closed, but it's often meant less work later in the week since we tend to get most of our tickets Monday morning, thus on Friday, we could let loose a little bit, something that isn't lost on $boss, and which he doesn't particularly care that we do so long as we have the numbers to show we've done our jobs.
On the other hand, a lot of the people in Networking have tended to just sit on the tickets, sometimes for months on end, letting them pile up, all the while, cherry picking the easy ones they want to do and don't involve actually interacting with the customers. Case in point was an old ticket from more than two months ago. It was a simple installation that required a domain-level admin to do, and took all of 2-3 minutes at the most, but which just sat there in Networking's queue.
That is until today. The networking chief just arbitrarily reassigned it to us and said we needed to contact the user, not them. $boss didn't take too kindly to it, and fired off a two paragraph e-mail about how our part of the department was busy enough as it is keeping up with our own work, on top of having to make the rest of the department look good numbers-wise, that he was sick of the networking chief just arbitrarily reassigning tickets back to us without so much as lifting a finger to do any actual work on it, and if he did anything remotely resembling the stuff we did in our section (keeping track of queues, closing out tickets that were past SLA, making sure the work actually got done right the first time, etc.), then our site would probably be #1 in terms of workflow in the entire region, as opposed to just middle of the road with our section doing most of the heavy lifting.
$boss CC'd both our section, the networking section, the CIO, the regional CIO, and a few other people in the hospital for good measure before leaving for the day.[By: skippytpodar
/ 2012-09-04 ]
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Oh yes, and he reassigned the ticket right back to Networking, attaching the e-mail he had sent off as an attachment on the ticket. -skippytpodar
Two things could come from this. One: Networking get a fire lit under them to get their work done in a timely manner. Or, two: Networking retaliates as only networking can do. Depending on the politics there, I'd lay bets on Networking winning this battle.
-VoiceOfSanity
Oh believe me, if he had kept this in-house, then yeah, I'd agree, but he very deliberately included the Regional CIO in the e-mail string, and she as a take-no-s&^t attitude about this stuff. That, and she's already well aware of some of the stuff they've done in the past... -skippytpodar
Then there's the possibility there's going to be a lot of unhappy people. And not all of them are going to be in Networking. [Had a situation similar to this, and the networking folks had... ways of making life miserable for others.]
-VoiceOfSanity
Time to polish off the old resume! There could be a nuclear level fallout from this one! -unrenowned
not necessarily true vos, if you can show that the were retaliating management will probably come down harder. -McSmiley
I'll say this for $boss: That's how your drop a line, and then the mic! Hope he has a game plan... -PTSTech
If you can, give us an update either here or in the break room if someone picks up that gauntlet and uses it to administer a bitch slap. -MarloVino
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4.
Holy crap, I'm back...
And I somehow remembered my password!
I'm stuck at work, and I'm on day 6 in my new apartment with no internet. I don't think I've been disconnected this long since 1996. I'm going stir crazy to the point I'd (almost) rather be at work than at home.[By: Kensai7 / 2012-09-05]
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Best of luck man. Hope you can get your fix of internets. -MaskedMarauder
I feel your pain - moved at beginning of August and STILL don't have internet.... -Dutch
Welcome back! -Grue
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5.
Shipping FAIL
ok, I'm annoyed. I recently ordered a used copy of WarCraft 3 from Amazon, and the bugger ships it was a piece of scotch tape across the disk, which when removed destroyed the disk. The seller wants me to ship back the disk to get a refund, and to ship it back with tracking will cost more than I paid for the game! Oh well, my GF just bought a copy as well, so as long as the licence key included with my copy works, all should be good.[By: garwain / 2012-09-06]
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Send that sucker COD... -Biosynthetic
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6.
Lemme get this straight...
One of the people we normally have to deal with is a Clinical Coordinator. He's the type who thinks people should just stop what they're doing and help him right away.
Case in point... Today he called the Helldesk to say his HD was full and he couldn't log in as a result, insisting that this was a high priority. He was asked if this was in any way related to patient care, to which he said No. So the Helldesk person told him flat out that because it's not, then the ticket couldn't be put in as a high priority.
Well, our Clinical Coordinator friend didn't like that, and said whatever it took for someone to come down right away, so yes it really was a patient care issue, despite the fact he hasn't so much as seen, interacted with, or even touched a patient in 15 years by his own admission.
What did the Helldesk person do? Met him in the middle and put it in as a Medium.. :)[By: skippytpodar
/ 2012-09-06 ]
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If everyone is given high priority, then no one has high priority. -AmazingKreskin
Sounds like our ticketing system setup -DarkRookie
Your techs respect the high/medium/low priority designations? Our HD will put it in as whatever designation the customer demands... and those of us working the ticket work them based on a realistic priority based on the issue. -Aelin236
Our system is supposed to identify the priority from the job type etc. Priority is generally given by the people who deal with the calls according to location and so on. A&E gets immediate attention theatres, wards, clinics, treatment areas and then admin and others. Sometimes manglement gets involved and pushes things around. -Holdfast
Make him wrestle the other "High-Pri" users for your amusement. -Biosynthetic
So, do you ever get the other end of the spectrum? Like say, "Hi... there are like flames... coming out of the back of my computer... just thought you should know... click." -Stryker One
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7.
iPhone 5...lawyer wants now!
The attorneys where I work always want the latest smartphone...and with the iPhone 5 coming out soon they're starting to drool. Today I received an email from one who is due for an upgrade the day after the iPhone 5 comes out. He said he wanted it that day because he's going on vacation and wanted the new phone. As a corporate buyer we don't get new toys like that on the release day and we're usually 2 weeks or more after before orders are placed. I tell him "no, we don't have a date when we'll be getting the phone and we're not adding anyone to a waiting list at this time." If he wants one that bad he can just buy one. [By: Starfury / 2012-09-06]
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I have something better than an iPhone4s and it is not from Apple. -Holdfast
Me too. A Lumia 710 -DarkRookie
Getting a new smartphone (or almost any other device) the day after it's released just doesn't make business sense. It will be at least a couple weeks before all the major release-day bugs are fixed. -thx1138
"Oh yeah?!? Well, I need an iPhone _6_!" -Voz
"What the F#$%'s a Bieber?" -Ozzy -Biosynthetic
I'm still using my Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant). They've since released generation 3 of it.... -unrenowned
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8.
Interesting Thing
Came across Rechargeable Batteries on Tiger Direct. Not news worthy, except you could take the top off and recharge them via USB port.
Now that is news worthy. :)
Offsite Link:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6077057&SRCCODE=WEBGOOPA&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCV1-CjCE&gclid=COmVx6vQobICFUhN4Aod8UwAMA[By: MaskedMarauder / 2012-09-06]
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We have a bunch that we use for our wireless keyboard in the living room. There's not a whole lot else in the house that uses them anymore, apart from a couple of maglights. -AmazingKreskin
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9.
Dammit, Dammit... (nt/ot)
Just got off the phone with my dad...
My grandfather, whom I was extremely close to growing up, and still talked to every chance I got, is dying, and may not make it more than a day. Two would be almost a miracle. This is a pretty sudden turn, since recently, he was improving, becoming more lucid, more mobile, etc. Unfortunately, moving him to a hospital would almost certainly kill him according to the doctor that was summoned, so she recommended that all that anyone can realistically do is wait...
That being said, being that he's living in Poland, it's impossible for me to go, not only because a flight would take far too long, but logistically, it would be impossible for me to stay anywhere given that my mom has already been there for a week, and both my dad and aunt are going ASAP.
So all I can do is wait for the call...[By: skippytpodar
/ 2012-09-06 ]
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Our thoughts and prayers are with you. May I suggest that anyone else, no matter what $DEITY you worship, even if it's Blind_Chance, toss a few prayers into the ether. My prayers will be for strength for you, and an easy passage for your grandfather. -ralphp1024
((HUGS)) -TechieSidhe
I'm sorry to hear that, friend - our best to you & yours from here at Casa Grue. -Grue
My condolences. -Stryker One
So sorry to hear this news, my heart goes out to you. (In the past two years, Death and I have become rather well acquainted, but his visits are never really welcomed.) Would it be possible to give him a call and let him know how much you love him before he's gone? (Since you can't be there in person?) -Captain Trips
Thanks all. As for calling him, Captain, that's pretty much impossible given the time difference. By the time I found out, it was already past 10PM local time there. Even a. Call tomorrow would be I'll advised because of how horrible he's doing. Even the tiniest stress would only hasten things from what the doctor said to my dad. -skippytpodar
Blasted auto correct. But anyhow, I hope you get the gist of it. Even calling and having my grandmother pick up wouldn't be such a hot idea given that her heath hasn't been all that great for some time now. -skippytpodar
Condolences man... just went through that one myself. -Harm
Make the call at least. If you can manage it, possibly a video call. I know it's not the same as being there, but it's as close as you can get in time. You have our condolences. -McSmiley
My thoughts and prayers are with you, Skippy. I can just hope that if it has to come, that it does come gently. -Voz
What he said. -MadJack
Just got the official word from my dad. My grandpa passed away during the night there. He went gently and quickly. Thanks all for the kind words and karma. -skippytpodar
my condolences, skippy. -slowANDeasy
My condolences. I know it's too late for the call, but if you can, call your grandmother or maybe anyone else that was on their way there (your dad), to share some love and support with your grandmother. -reveriel
My condolences, Skippy. -SalParadise
I hate to be an ass, but I predict that your sister will blame you for his passing. *hug* -burrkiss
Prayers to you and yours. -ecoli
sorry man, that just sucks. -HappyCrappy
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10.
DIY Wireless
I think the saddest part of this is that it's the 9th posting of its type.
http://notalwaysright.com/wireless-clueless-hopeless-part-9/23235
[By: Stryker One
/ 2012-09-06 ]
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Sad, yes, but not surprising. I've worked in call center tech support for several years, and it's difficult to surprise me about things that happen like that. I've also served as a mod for a forum with several hundred thousand active members...the number of times I've seen multiple threads started with the same question...when a similar thread with the answer was already there, clearly titled, and near the top of the first page. *shakes head* -missourimule
wow... I think that trumps my "Granny was bit by the monitor" story. -MaskedMarauder
...aaaaaannnd we have a new winnah! The 'coffee cup holder' has met it's match! (EG) -MadJack
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11.
NT/OT - Chuck Norris Predicts the future
Chuck Norris spent Labor Day weekend as only a true patriot would: issuing apocalyptic messages about the upcoming presidential election. Link: http://now.msn.com/chuck-norris-and-wife-promise-1000-years-of-darkness-if-obama-is-reelected[By: Necros / 2012-09-10]
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the vid link in the article is dead but here is a live one that should stay up. However comments are likely to be disabled soon, there is a LOT of bigotry and anti-Norris sentiment both being posted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ud3pK5Wa90 -GargoyleTS
Methinks that Chuck has either sustained one too many blows to the skull, or takes the "Omnipotent" Chuck Norris internet meme too seriously. (You know, the Chuck Norris can divide by zero stuff.) -TechieSidhe
... and another one hops on the 'the world's gonna end' bandwagon. I would've thought that HE would've thought on this. But, who knows. The Mayans predicted the world would end in another 3 months or so anyway, and all the big money men are predicting another financial disaster of even bigger proportions than the last one if the president is re-elected (Can you hear 'em singing "Go on, take the money and run", just like they did 4 years ago?); so, why shouldn't another famous Texas conservative get in on the action? -MadJack
This blog post may be relevant to your interests... http://www.stonekettle.com/2012/09/scream-and-shout.html -virtualchoirboy
Because you know, Chuck Noris..... -virusjtg
Well, now we know what Chuck Norris would do - he'd go off the deep end! -Captain Trips
He couldn't act on TV either. -ecoli
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12.
M$ Volume Licenses
You would expect being a part of the MicroSoft Volume License users that you can safely download Microsoft software and licenses they provide and THEY WILL WORK! Moreso if you have to support users in Africa and the Americas, and you are located in the next major landmass between Redmond Washington and Antarctica. Well Micro$haft! If ain't much use if licenses you supply are INVALID for the products we are licensed for! Any wonder companies resort to using MSDN packages in production use? At least THEY WORK! Where's the bat? Ballmer is getting his own lesson with interest compounded with needless frustration.[By: Wraith556 / 2012-09-12]
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Self-LART. The install files I was told to use were not the correct set of files. Luckily I had downloaded the corrects ones just-in-case. Thanks to the Microsoft person who pointed out the error. Thanks for your patience. -Wraith556
Although, on this topic - I've just spent a couple of days downloading the various localised versions of Win7 and Office2010 for our various European offices, and have much hatred for their download site =/ -Diptera
Ballmer still needs a bat to the head for greenlighting the Metro interface. -AmazingKreskin
Need a bat for greenlighting the Metro interface on a full blown PC. Works great on my phone. -DarkRookie
Or go with Open Office - no worries about licensing. -Captain Trips
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13.
iPhone 5
With Apple releasing the iPhone 5 today, I thought these were appropriate : http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6wBhTH1_Jzw/Tlp6n1Tw-AI/AAAAAAAAAbY/0Q-8FY2Xn6o/s1600/apple+cartoon.jpg and http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/kfo/lowres/kfon198l.jpg [By: Necros / 2012-09-12]
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Don't forget this one: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple -Bynar
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14.
Much needed this week
This week was the one week I needed some good news to come my way, and today, karma delivered.
I just got an e-mail from the Service Line folks for the Tier 3 position I had applied for back in May. I was initially told in June I'd get an interview, then last month that they had told too many people by mistake that they had gotten e-mails that they had made it to the interview stage when they really hadn't, and implied I was among that group that wouldn't get an interview. Well, the e-mail I got just now was from one of the Service Line managers, asking me when I wanted to be interviewed next week.
The best part is, the gentleman specifically stated in the e-mail was for the shift I was gunning for, the swing shift. Reason I want it so bad is not only will it allow me to sleep in and generally allow me to do stuff during the morning and early afternoon without having to take time off (the shift doesn't start until 3:30PM), but any time worked past 6PM means an extra 10% pay for those hours worked. That translates to an extra 6 hours tacked on to every paycheck for me :)
Best part is, I'll be able to get a pay raise if not immediately, then within a few months of getting the job. I made up a spreadsheet a while back that after tweaking it for almost a year, gets me to within a few cents accuracy for estimating my paycheck, and I put in the amount I'll be getting if I got the job, as well as the night time pay bump, and getting the job will allow me to save a little over $1325 a month right away, then a little over $1780 monthly within a few months. I also won't need to park in our off-site parking lot, since after 3 PM, our main parking lot opens up to all employees who are working swing and night shifts, since the non-managers are locked into those shifts, and they specifically stated in the e-mail that we only switch shifts if we request it in writing and it's approved. They can't make us if we don't want to.
After a while, I'll also be able to move up to the area I want to after a year or so, once things settle down with the whole Service Line thing, and provided there's a billet there for me. So with all that being said, I'm returning all unused karma back to the general pool. Thanks all :)[By: skippytpodar
/ 2012-09-13 ]
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Good luck on the interview! -Grue
Keep the Karma for the interview. -Olorin
Best karma to ya! -ManyHats
Thanks, guys :) I'm really hopeful about this one. Just for the heck of it, I'm also gonna ask if there's the possibility of working from home most of the time, and only occasionally coming into the office, seeing as the job entails mostly working behind the scenes, and mainly doing reports and Tier 3 stuff. -skippytpodar
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15.
Wireless, Clueless & Hopeless
Typical. . .Customer refuses to be helped. . http://notalwaysright.com/wireless-clueless-hopeless-part-10/23423[By: BurlyJ / 2012-09-13]
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16.
I flipped for this one
http://notalwaysright.com/dumbed-down/23404
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I'd tell him, "We could turn the DVD drive over, but then the letters on the tower would be upside down." [By: BurlyJ / 2012-09-13]
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Don't know why, but this one gave me a sense of deja vu.
-Captain Trips
"Let's stand him on his head!"--Firesign -stiffarm
+1 @stiffarm - SYSTAT UPTIME 9:01 unhappy READ MAKNAM -SalParadise
Deja Vu, or anyone who has worked with a SFF tower. :D -MaskedMarauder
@stiffarm: "Aw, he's no fun, he fell right over!" Which pretty much describes my XP box right now... -Lusus
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17.
Ok, whos IT department is this?
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9hbgiQe2J1qctkcl.jpg
Or are you one of the ones hiding? [By: Stryker One
/ 2012-09-15 ]
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If users did this before calling us, we would definitely have less calls. I tell people that it cures 50% of windows problems. I wonder how I could actually test the figure... -Holdfast
We actually did try to measure that. We found that over the course of a month, for any ticket initially classified as workstation (included hardware and o/s issues) or application issues, a full 75% were at least 'fixed' by a reboot or power cycle. While it is a nice band-aid, though, it does nothing to address the root cause. Also, on some of these old beasts, a reboot took up to 7 minutes. -torgo
I think it was Reynholm Industries. I just don't see Roy or Moss. -MisterCommon
Could those be the 2 xowards hiding their faces behind 'off' and 'and'? -ChildofCthulhu
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18.
Interview done
Just got done with the interview a little while ago...
They did the standard performance based interview questions I've heard before, and I breezed through the questions without a problem. As it turns out, one of the guys who interviewed me was a former coworker of mine at another facility, and another was someone I helped while she was doing an inspection for Research. Small world, eh?
The third person in the interview was the guy who would be my boss if I got the job. He mentioned that there's a possibility that six months to a year down the road, whoever gets the job would have the option of working largely from home most of the time, with coming in only once or twice a week at the most. No guarantees though. He did mention that the people selected would rotate in the swing shift, where we would do Sun-Thur, another Mon-Fri, and the third Tues-Sat, and do a round robin, so that way we could have rotating days off. Still, working 1530-12mid is awesome, even if I would have to come in every day for it, since if I got the job, I'd be able to avoid traffic both ways. That, and I wouldn't have to worry about taking time off for a doctor's appointment, or anything else that would require me to do something during the day. The potential boss-man also specifically said the only way he would move whoever got the job out of the swing shift is if a person left one of the other two shifts, and a swing shift person specifically told him they wanted to move to another shift.
Plus, I can opt to do a transfer to another facility around the same time the potential for the telework stuff comes around, so I can see if I can move up closer to where my folks' house is, on the off-chance the people renting my parents' house ever decided to change their minds. Not likely in the next year or two, but you never know. Plus, the cost of living in that area is much better than where I currently am, and I know the area a lot better.[By: skippytpodar
/ 2012-09-17 ]
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Good luck -McSmiley
^Ditto -ecoli
unused keg of job karma on the way. -deedadee
Thanks all. I'm already starting to get anxious to see if I got the job or not. There is also a very good chance the potential boss-man will insist I have an office of my own separate from everyone else, which potentially means I won't have to deal with the likes of Little Miss Cleanliness and Mr. 33 Years much longer :) -skippytpodar
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19.
Needed for a Day
Some vendor sent one of our users a zip file. When I tried to unzip the file, I discovered that it was encrypted. I told the user that we need to find out how to decrypt the file. Instead of telling us how to decrypt it, the vendor unzipped it for us and sent us the files, which we put on our network drive. Why would they encrypt the file in the first place if they would also be the ones to decrypt the file? My gut feeling is that some crackhead who works for that vendor wanted to feel important for a day.[By: Park7 / 2012-09-18]
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Important (in the government sector) equals (=) impotent -beatmewithstick
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20.
Happy "Talk Like a Pirate" Day!
http://www.wikihow.com/Talk-Like-a-Pirate[By: VWFtech / 2012-09-19]
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Home page of "talk like a pirate day" http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html -ecoli
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