9 posts tagged “work”

The program for work went mostly well.  Not flawless mind you, but it gave us the information we wanted to know.  My only complaint really is that once AutoIt is in executable form (which it had to be for this purpose) it's errors are completely useless.  I really mean that, any kind of error will generate the same error window, which reports and issue in line -1.  I am guessing this is basically the wrapper noticing that the program it was intended to run has failed (hence failing before the run itself).  It makes sense, but is non-the-less aggravating.

The program was looking for shortcuts (".lnk" files) meeting a certain specification.  We sent to to around 700 or so computers in the company, and it failed on probably around 80.  Unfortunatly, I don't have the ability to find out why...

Oh well, for something developed in about 3 days, not too bad.

Work is still going well.  Definately getting progressively more busy, but thats not a bad thing.  I feel like I am not having to ask quite as many questions (though I suppose you would have to speak with the other people in my department to know if that is accurate).

I still haven't been shooting in a long time, haven't really been yo-yoing (it's tough during the winter).

I have been doing a lot of study in electrical engineering, it's difficult to grasp, but it's almost starting to make some sense.  For anyone interested, I am working through the information on this site.  Great resource, very beginner friendly.

For the forseeable future, I don't really plan on re-subscribing to WoW.  Not that I have any issue with it, I just don't have the time.

So the trazedone didn't really do much, at first that is.  First night I took it, I got a headache about an hour later.  No drowsiness at all, still wide awake.  The second night, same headache, but a highly mild sedative effect.  In this instance, I mean mild to the point that I wasn't even sure it was attributed to the meds, it could just as easily have been a sugar low.  On the third day I went to the doctor again to report that neither one was working.  He told me to stop both the trazedone and the meloxicam (which was continuing to do nothing more then give me stomach aches).  Instead he gave me Rozerum and anti-biotics, hoping that some of this was some weird sinus thing.

Rozerum isn't going to work for me though.  Rozerum requires taking on a highly regular schedule.  If you start taking it at 9 and going to bed at 10, you continue doing it on that schedule.  I can't do that when my work won't give me a static schedule.  So I haven't bothered to.  I took another chance on the trazedone, and it worked.  It has been working pretty well ever since.  I have stuck to the original dose, and just take one about an hour or so before I want to sleep.    I still get a mild headache, but then I go to sleep, and it's gone the next morning.  No other side effects so far.

So, I have been getting a bit better sleep.  Work is, well, work is ok.  Oddly, we have had an astounding amount of grumpy people coming through lately.  My brother figures its linked to now being the hottest part of the summer.  I guess people are just grumpy right now.  So we end up highly busy, but mostly with people that just want to waste our time.  Not to say they all are of course, but a good amount right now.

Other stuff:

• I'm trying to take up wiring.  I am trying to learn some of the basics, and anyone who has any really simple tutorials, please send them this way.  It would be greatly appreciated.
• Along that same vein, I am considering several electronics providers to order some starting parts from, the primary ones I am choosing between are Jameco, Digikey, and Mouser.  Any suggestions here are also appreciated.
• I am also trying to take up microprocessor programming, particularly, I plan on buying an Arduino and an AVR programmer soon.
• I have been doing some programming, but not much

I am trying to shift my work schedule, I am hoping for a 4 day week.  Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri 10-6.  This is good for a few reasons, it allows me to go in only on days that our carpool was needed anyway, and it gives me a day in between to rest up my ankles and such.  Hasn't happened yet, but the person that does scheduling says it may be possible.

So thats it I believe.  Later.

I am typing this on my computer again!  I decided to replace what I felt was the most likely candidate first, so I went out and bought a beastly 700 watt PSU.  I installed that thing (and cleaned my case while I was at it), and it powered right up.

The thing is, that is the second PSU I have had just fail for no apparent reason.  I mean, I run this thing on a UPS unit, so it isn't power surges/brownouts/blackouts.  The only thing I can figure is overheating.  If you have ever been in my room, you know this is a distinct possibility (Its like 80 degrees in here right now).  I wish I could keep it cooler, but the house's structural design seems to forbid that.  Mostly I am just hoping that no other components were damaged in the process.

Oh, and as for work....  So, I did get the full-time position (and a raise).  I also got a better opportunity to work more old PC....for a minute anyway.  The higher up I spoke of leaving is one of the primary people that does old PC work, so with him away I worked a ton of it.  It was great to say the least (not as much walking = less pain these days).  However, he came back, right into his old position.  On one hand it's good, he is very good at old PC, and it should give me a chance to learn more.  On the other hand, it knocks me back out of a bunch of old PC time slots.  Also, the company continues to place what I feel is unfair stresses upon us.  Yes I am being vague, no I won't elaborate.

No programming is getting done, but I am planning things.  The incredible lack of work is largely due to the following paragraphs.

I have been fairly sick for a bit shy of a month now.  I hardly sleep, and when I do it is in short amounts, and not good sleep.  I also haven't been drinking caffeine (largely to try and make sure that nothing keeps me from being able to sleep).  It has made for an interesting time.  I finally went to a doctor to see what is going on.  He suspects that a good majority of what is going on is a result of insomnia, and a fun little vicious cycle.  See, part of what has been keeping me from sleeping well is the pain I have been in.  Lots of it, in various places (mostly legs and back).  Unfortunately, not sleeping leads itself to pretty awful fatigue and body aches after awhile, and you can probably see where this is leading.

Anyhow, he was also wondering whether it could be linked to a thyroid problem, or perhaps sleep apnea (since it is in my family, and I am known to snore, which is a sign of it).  He also decided to perscribe 2 medications for me. 

The first is Meloxicam, which is an NSAID (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug), or for those who are not familiar, it is an anti-inflammatory drug commonly used for treatment of arthritus.  I'm not too happy about it since the only thing it has done to me after 3 or 4 days of taking it is mess up my apetite and cause stomach issues.  I figure i'll give it more time, and see where it gets me.

The other is Trazodone, which is kind of an interesting one.  You see, Trazodone was originally an anti-depression drug, but they noticed that people who take it were really tired.  So they decreased the dosage, and now also use it as a sleep aid.  In my instance it is for the sleep aid aspect (50mg dose at night).  I didn't take it at first since I read that it is quite common for your first few days to be rough, and I have work.  Then when I had an opportunity to take it, I pretty much chickened out.  It's a bad idea to read the lists of side effects for medications.  Now I can't again since I work.  I may take it in about 2 days anyway (when I work later the next day).  I'm not happy about this solution either because of it's side-effects, and the fact that many people believe it should be confined only to the anti-depressant aspects, and only used for that reason.

So, for now I get to just kinda deal with the current state of things.  Which is lots of pain, extreme tiredness pretty much 24x7, a decent amount of difficulty concentrating, and the funnest one of all, unstable mental state.  In other words, I get really mad about stupid crap that normally wouldn't bother me, and also have a really difficult time handling stress, which is why I don't feel like working with customers at work. 

Things are okay though.  I keep feeling like i'm just a good nights sleep away from feeling good, but it's a tougher situation then it seems.  People that haven't had actual insomnia probably don't get it (I didn't either, I mean, how hard can it be to sleep).  Oh, and I mean actual insomnia, not "sleeping poorly for a few days".  Actual insomnia is actually incredibly bad for you.

Anyway, we'll see how things go.  If I actually take me Trazodone, i'll probably report on how that goes. 

Well, I am getting much worse at keeping this thing active, but this time I have an excuse!  You see, my computer has actually been dead for a few weeks now.  I kinda thought I had already put that here, but I guess not.  I went to power it up one day, and it doesn't.  It is difficult at this time to know whether it is power supply or motherboard/CPU, given some of the circumstance, they are both likely candidates.  The MB, the PSU, and the CPU are all under extended warranties from the somewhat defunct CompUSA.  By somewhat I mean that there is no store for me to go sort this out at, but they didn't leave everyone hanging.  An insurance company still covers the components, and is arranging to sort this out for me.  They are going to just reimburse me the cost of the components, since they no longer make the board that I am using, and I pointed out that I have specific needs.

Anyhow, been without it for a few weeks now, and it will still be bricked for a few weeks more I suspect.

In work related news, there are changes upon us.  Two of our four full timers are gone, one of which was also a higher up.  One left to pursue other work entirely, and their last day was yesterday.  The other will still be in the company, just no longer at our location.  Out understanding is that their last day would be a week or so out, but they got a call saying that today is effectively their last day.

I applied to take up one of those full time positions, and am told I will have a good grasp of whether or not I got it by tommorow.  I am somewhat nervous about this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my ankle.  For those who are unaware, I have messed up ankles (and practically every other joint, but the ankles are key here).  I have made great strides in building up endurance to be able to work on my feet and still manage it.  However, it does mean that I can't be on my feet too much in a given day/week/period of time without running into some pretty severe problems.  My hope is that with the full time position, there will be some changes that will allow me to spend a bit more time at a desk, and I am told that may well be the case.  I am also hoping for a bit of a raise, though it hasn't been discussed.  The only real downside here is the sheer number of time that I spend away from home.  An 8 hour today for me means between 10 and 12 hours away from home in commute and waiting (since I carpool).  Unfortunately there really isn't a job market closer to where I live though, and I like my job anyway.

I am worried that two full time, well trained, good workers leaving us will mess things up for awhile, but we shall see.  On top of that, i'm not psyched to see them go, they are both awesome people.  Still, I wish them both good luck in their new jobs.

Other then that, there isn't a bunch to speak of.  Programming isn't really happening, since I am borrowing my brother's laptop and it doesn't have all my tools (not to mention, it isn't as nice to program on a smaller then full-size keyboard).  Hopefully my computer will be up within a few weeks.  Since I gotta buy new components entirely, I am looking to upgrade it, I just am not sure which route to look down.  I have historically been really fond of AMD, but I am told that Intel is just plain running circles around them right now.  Come on AMD, I defend you guys all the time, make me proud!

Also, what the heck PoE2?  Haven't heard from you in a good long time dude.  Hope all is well.  That time is closing in pretty quick these days it seems.

It's tough to figure out how I feel about work these days.  It's been rather slow for about a week now, which is pretty cool, but then it changes what I am supposed to do.  Some days i'm pretty happy to go in, some not so much.  At least I have good co-workers to talk to.

I still play WoW, but not as much lately.  I have a lvl 26 paladin and a lvl 10 hunter, and a level 6 warlock.  I want to play more, but i'm so tired lately, that it gets repetitious really fast.  Which brings me to my next point.

I am REALLY tired lately.  I think I am sleeping okay, but it doesn't seem to matter.  Unless I keep very busy, I get tired.  I'm talking haven't slept in a few days tired.  I am kinda wondering if I am sick with some sort of cough or flu or something, since I hear it is going around.

All programming is halted.  I was doing a project for someone, but I let them know I couldn't make their deadline, and asked if they wanted me to continue anyway, and they never wrote back.  Being that I have nothing that is in a hurry anymore, I am kinda taking a break.

I haven't done any work on my website in months... I am thinking about picking that up again.

OH!  One more thing.  I have a new gun on layaway.  It will be a few months before I have it, but I am excited.  I also went shooting last weekend, and did much better then the time before.  Personally I chalk it up to caffeine.  The time before I had a monster energy drink on the way into shooting, and I think it gave me jitters which threw off my aim.  This time I didn't have any caffeine the day I was going shooting, and did very well.  I can't wait to get my new rifle, it's going to be wicked.

Well, I have work tommorow, and still have work to do before I go to bed.  Later.

Those of you who know me, know that I actually have made efforts to cut down on caffeine as much as I can.  For awhile, I was doing very well.  Not so much these days.

I started drinking again when I got a job, since it involved a massive overhaul to my sleeping schedule.  Then, I started noticing that even on my new schedule, I am still rather tired.  The thing is, I know that it is partly due to the caffeine.  It doesn't matter though, because I also know that when you decide to cut off of caffeine, you get really tired for a good solid few weeks while your body gets used to not having it.  That isn't something I can afford to do.

I get the impression that caffeine is a huge problem.  Worse really then anything else.  I mean, obviously fat intake is a huge issue (pardon the pun there) in America, but look at caffeine consumption.  We even add it to candy now.  There is a lot of debate over how bad it is for you, but I don't think there is any question that it is indeed bad for you.

I know that it does all kinds of bad to me.  I can't sleep when I want to.  It makes it significantly harder to concentrate (which is not something I need).  Lastly, it gives me high acidity sometimes.

I think my best bet may well be to just bite the bullet and ween off it again.

Anyway, in other news.  Not much is going on.  Work is still fine, perhaps even better in some cases (since I am starting to get more comfortable with handling things).  Programming is slow.  I am working on some plans for a new project.  I am having a difficult time figuring out how to pursue it though.  Some of the tools I thought about using don't work real well in Windows as it turns out.  Lastly, I am still sick, but not as much so.

I've been yo-yoing more.  I still don't have any great tricks down, but I am getting better at binding, and that is important.

I'm not entirely sure what to even say at this point.  I figured I should probably do something though, since I don't get a ton of time to post here anymore it seems.

It is a bit too early to tell at this point, but I think I may be coming down with the flu for the first time in many years.  I pretty much feel like trash all around.  The flu doesn't really scare me, but it's habit of developing into bronchitis does.  I am hoping that doesn't happen.

Work is getting less good.  I'm not going to get into specifics (because most businesses don't appreciate it), but some recent developments have just made things less pleasant.  Oh well.

I haven't done a great deal of programming lately, and figure that it may suffer more if I actually do come down with the flu.

On the bright side, I just got this really wicked little leather jotter.  Perhaps I will post pictures tomorow or something.

This may indeed be the trend here for awhile.  I haven't had any real significant information to post, but to keep people in the know, here goes:

Job:

Mostly good.  To elaborate a bit, yesterday I neglected to clock in properly, got my pen stolen (or accidentally taken, i'm not sure), and had a customer insult my intelligence.  Apparently that is par for the course when working with the general public.  I'm thrilled!  All things considered though, I still like my job so far.  My co-workers are awesome, and the hours are good right now.

Programming:

Hasn't been a bunch going on.  I have been thinking of my next move on the keylog software.  I have also been working on planning for another project.  There aren't really enough details yet to talk about it.

Research:

Researching some options for my above mentioned program.  Also thinking about re-doing our network, since our current router seems to have trouble when our ISP changes our IP address.

Website:

Haven't done any significant work on it really.  I have made some folders and such for storing data for me to get to from anywhere, but I haven't done much HTML or anything.

Other projects:

I am going to go setup some network stuff for a business on Thursday.  I may also be doing the website for the same business, which would be cool provided I can pull off what they want.

Other stuff:

Some of my holiday shopping is done, some still needs to be.  I un-installed Ubuntu in favor of Fedora 8.  I am looking into replacing my cell phone sometime soon (likely January).  My phone's display is getting pretty bad, I am considering a Blackberry 8820 and data services (since I have a job now and can pay for them).  Any suggestions would be great.

Just some assorted update stuff.

Job:

Well, I have only gone 4 days (5 if you count orientation).  So far it's good.  I like all my co-workers, I have been getting lightly scheduled, which is great because I was hoping that I would have it that way to get used to the new job.  I am still trying to get used to things, but it's good so far.

Programming:

Nothing.  Really.  I want to program, and I have ideas, but it just isn't happening.  For some reason I just can't concentrate on it lately.  I am learning some new stuff though, namely Java.  My co-worker has suggested a very nice book, and I am looking into getting it.

Other junk:

There isn't really much to talk about.  I have been reading a bunch of material from work and tinkering around in Linux (Ubuntu).  Fun stuff.