Spring Brunk?

The Smith family has survived Spring Break ’06 in true Smith fashion. Jacob spent the week at his dad’s house and Andrea spent the week at her grandparent’s house. Kris and I spent the week working and were able to enjoy a quiet week. We’d come home, zone out for a few hours, and go to bed by 9 pm – it was great.

The weather has been somewhat of a disappointment. Typical of March weather in Wisconsin, we had snow last weekend. This week, we had to dig ourselves out and watch the almost 12 inches of snow melt away slowly. It was only recently that the weather has warmed up enough to melt enough away to walk around.

With Spring break over, the kids are looking forward to going back to school. Jake is looking forward to his birthday in a few weeks, Andrea is looking forward to summer, and Kris and I are looking forward to another quiet weekend without the kids.

Saturday and Sunday have been spent cleaning the house. We have swept and vacuumed and began putting our winter clothes and old clothes away to dig out spring and summer clothes. We’re also cleaning the basement and closets of junk, dirt, and grime. Maybe we will be able to do a little dusting!

Gateway Countdown to Clean Install
I am continuing to prepare for the clean install of Win2K on the Infernal Gateway. I have cleaned up the Hard drive and have cleaned out My Documents. I rounded up our entire driver CDs and am preparing to take the computer in to work. I can back up the important documents and then do a clean install of Win2K.

I recently purchased a IBM Thinkpad T20 off eBay. This machine was bought to replace the Gateway while it is being worked on. I also bought it because (1) my Toshiba isn’t up to the task of running the programs I need to run, and (2) I wanted a new laptop computer anyway. Here are the specs:

IBM Thinkpad T20 Laptop:

• Intel Pentium III 650 MHz Processor
• 128 MB of RAM (expandable to 512MB)
• 6 GB HD
• 24x CD-ROM (upgradeable to DVD-ROM, CDRW, and DVD/RW Combo Drive)
• Ultra Bay FDD
• 8MB Video (either Intel or ATI)
• Win 98 SE

I was shopping around eBay and found lots of inexpensive upgrades, spare parts, and accessories for this laptop. This makes upgrading the laptop to better specs an inexpensive option and good way to expand its capabilities.

Here are the intended specs I would like to push for on the laptop:

• Upgrade Processor to PIII 900MHz – 1GHz
• Upgrade RAM to 512 MB
• Upgrade HD to 20 GB or better
• Purchase Ultra Bay DVD-ROM
• Purchase Ultra Bay Zip250
• Purchase Docking Station
• Purchase additional Battery
• Purchase additional AC adapter/cord

I chose the IBM Thinkpad because of the ThinkPad’s reputation for being an excellent laptop, IBM’s extended support of their products, spare/replacement parts are readily available and inexpensive, and because a used laptop was more cost effective than buying a new one. I may plan to purchase another in the future, after I have completed work on the “Infernal Gateway.” Although, I may wait until we have purchased our replacement desktop before I invest more money in a new laptop.

At Work:
This week, I completed work on the new SkySat Manual. We were told that we would begin advertising our SkySat service on Google and that we should expect to be flooded with calls.

SkySat is a broadband service, which uses Satellite Download and Dialup Upload. The service is a popular alternative for people who cannot get other broadband services such as DSL or Cable. We also offer a Duplex Satellite service which offer Satellite Download and Upload, but the service is very expensive.

The new manuals offer step-by-step instructions to install and uninstall the software. Creation of these manuals required several screenshots and a good explanation. The instructions are written so that the average user (read: complete idiot) would be able to install our products and set them up with minimal effort.Previous software required quite a bit of time and would usually result in several calls for help. The new software is almost entirely automated and takes an average of 10 minutes to install. We will begin shipping the new manual and software out with each SkySat kit. Hopefully, we will be able to reduce the number of calls. Most customers like to think of themselves as computer experts. But many of their calls would imply otherwise.

Cookies for Lunch
Kris decided to make some Chocolate chip cookies using Peanut Butter/Chocolate Swirl Chips and Semi Sweet Chocolate chips. They are very good and the family has already eaten about half of them. I just hope I am able to put some aside for my lunch, this week.

Well, that’s just about it for this week. We’ve had a nice quiet week with nothing much happening. We’re looking forward to warmer weather and summer. But, let’s not rush things to quickly!

St Patrick's Day

Ye luck 'O the Irish with ye! Arrr Matey....Arrrrr Matey...........fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!

SciFi Friday
Last week, Battlestar Galactica had it's season ender and it basically pulled a "Voyager" on us by skipping ahead two years. I was thoroughly disappointed by the last two episodes in what had been a pretty good season. I knew it was too good to last. Most of the decent shows that end up on SciFi begin to suck and it was just a matter of time before this one did.

Friday is basically the only night of the week I can actually rtelax and enjoy some decent TV. Occasionally, I cat an episode of ST:TNG on TechTV, through out the week. But usually, I just go to bed with Kris at 10 - 10:30.

Tonight, SciFi premiered a treat from the UK - a revamped Dr. Who series. I must say, I am somewhat impressed with it. My dad had a love-hate relationship with the original Dr. Who, catching episodes on PBS, despite the erattic schedules. I never cared for it much because it was just too far out there for me.

I caught two episodes tonight and actually enjoyed them. I am looking forward to this show becoming a regular on SciFi. But I'm sure they'll find some way to screw it up so that sucks or put it at times when I can't watch it - figures. I enjoyed the first two seasons of Farscape, and most of the last three of StarGate. But they just got farther and farther away from the original reason for even having Stargate or, in Farscape's case, they beat the same crap intot he ground until I lost interest.

I am happy to say Star Trek Voyager is now on Winamp Video, hosted by ESS. ESS was a service hosted by a bunch of college kids. You paid $5 a month to get first dibs on several streams of various TV shows. The founders claimed they had created the site because their college cable system sucked - join the club!


Work
We have been trying to get the new homepage help system up and running. We are compiling my individual Screenshot/walkthroughs into PDFs and making them User-friendly so that we can refer users to the help files. This is done to give them an alternative to calling techsupport with some mundane thing.

We are also compiling a new software package to go with our SkySat kits. This new installation is supposed to make things easier for users. The old software could be a real monster to configure. My part of this is to create the manual for the software. This shouldn't take too long, but I'm hoping the software is done quickly so we can start shipping it out.

We should have everything set in time to begin advertising services on Google. We did a test ad and instantly generated two sales. When we open the floodgates, we may get swamped with business. Each customer is going to need software that works and a manual that clearly helps them install and set up their equipment.

What's on your Plate?
I have really been enjoying a brand of frozen Chimichanga we get locally. It's the Monterey brand Beef and Bean. Now, in Texas, finding a fried burrito is simply a matter of going to your nearby Sonic, Dairy Queen, or Town&Country. In Wisconsin, you're really limited to Taco Bell - which they are not exactly what I would consider being even remotely edible.

Kris doesn't like the smell of fried anything in the house, so coming up with a way to fry foods has been interesting. I found that coating a cake pan with Pam and then spray the chimis and cooking them for 30 minutes makes them nice and crispy. A little adjustment to the temperature and time, and you'd swear they were deep fried.

And to top them off, I have been using a squeeze bottle of Taco Bell brand Hot Taco Sauce. I have a La Victoria brand squeeze bottle from when I bought a bottle of Mild Taco Sauce. It was really good, but then the stores in the area stopped getting the Mild and I had to move down to the "wuss" flavor. It was good, but was not at all spicy - akin to pouing tomato juice on it.

Not long after, the stores began getting a Green Sauce. I tried some at a sample platter at Festival Foods, and they had the "Hot" version. I was told they would be getting them all instock soon. That didn't happen. So I picked up the Mild to give it a try - wuss sauce.

The store got the 7.5 oz glass bottle of "Hot" Red Sauce, so I picked up two to refill the squeez bottle. They were hotter, but didn't taste as well. Then, the other night, Kris recommended trying the Taco Bell brand - it was Hot and $1 each. I poured out the remaining green and red sauces, mixed them, and refilled the bottles - hmm yeah. It's not Dairy Queen or Sonic - Good, but it will do for now.

Family Hell....th......
Yeah, the family got hit by a nasty bug. It hit Jacob first. And true to form, he was sick for about two days. As usual, he insisted on drinking out of Kris's pop and got her sniffling. I don't know how Big Mouth got sick, most likely because her mouth is always open, but it hit her hard. She's been out all week long. And as usual, she's extra pissy and moany.

I know I don't cut her a lot of slack because of the way she has treatd me. But honestly, I would feel sorrier for her if it weren't for the fact that she is a whiny little bitch when she is healthy. The only difference is that now shes far more likely to turn the slightest diappointment into a full-blown cryfest.

Kris took her to the Hospital yesterday and they found she simply had the flu. All throat cultures came back negative. But as usual, Andrea uses everything as an excuse to act overly dramatic. I understand she doesn't feel good, but she uses this as an excuse to demand even more from everyone around her, while she does exactly what she usually does - sits on her fat ass in front of the TV and stuff food in her mouth constantly.

Kris hasn't been feeling too well, either, but she's managed to stay somewhat spunky. I guess she's just refusing to get sick until Andrea is well again. Tonight, after Andrea spent almost 15 minutes bellowing for her mom to come in her room to hand her a book sitting on her dresser - 6 feet away, I finally snapped. I told her I understood she felt bad, but she wasn't dying. She wasn't that sick, no matter how much she bitched and moaned.

I told her if she would actually stay in bed, bundled up instead of siting in front of the TV stuffing her fat day all week, she'd probably be well by now. But she refused to stay bundeled up, refused to stay in bed, and flat out refused to take any other sensible advice we had given her. Its her own damned fault she is still sick.

That's Just Totally F**ked...
I realized today just how irrational the two kids are. The two of them will fight tooth and nail to get something they want, regardless of whether or not they actually want it. Then once they have it and encouraged to utilize it, they will refuse with every fiber of their being. They will insist on anything, no matter how mundane, and seem to fight even harder if it directly contradicts something they had wanted earlier.

The concept of mutual compromise means nothing to either of them. They will throw everything they will throw away everything they have simply to get one stuid thing, even if what they are getting is of lesser value. In many ways, I have to agree with Kris that I admire their total devotion to getting something they want. But, the fact they insist on fighting every single battle the same, throwing all of their resources into everything, means they eventually will lose far more.

True-to-form, neither of them care they will sacrifice everything they have to get something they want on a whim. Reality is going to kick these two kids in the ass very hard. And if they survive it, I will be very surprised.

Both of them are willing to give away everything, but neither of them are willing to do what is necessary to get the job done. They want everything handed to them and expect that bullshitting and half-assing everything will get them anything in life. I know this is approaching the "wait until they are older so they can appreciate what you are trying to do" - crap. But frankly, I don't really care.

The two of them can be very easily manipulated once you learn they will give up everything or worth for some trivial crap. Knowing that, you can very easily set up scenarios in which they entrap themselves. Their insistance on always having their way, makes them entirely predictable. Still, it really pisses me off.

Spring Weather peaks its head into Wisconsin!

This month began with yet another blizzard, but Monday we got warmer weather as the snow began to melt off. The kids prepare for their week of Spring Break. Kris gets a promotion, raise, and prepares for another dinner her friendsperformance bonus. We recieved some unfortunate news about a family friend. Work has been heating up with increased repair orders. And we begin to work our way out from under the financial mess we have been in. All in all, it has been an amazing last week.

About the Weather
March is normally a month of uncertainty in Wisconsin. We come out of a harsh, dry month of snow and grime and begin to experience warmer weather. The snow will melt off and the weather will warm up. Then, we get slammed by near-blizzard storm that blankets everything with 2-3 inches of snow. It can be frustrating and confusing.


This week, we had warmer and brighter weather, which melted much of the snow away. On Tuesday, we had a small blizzard that covered everything. By Wednesday, much of the fresh snow had melted away. Thursday was soggy and warm, but still cold enough to wear a coat. Friday, we had 50-60 degree weather and we could go outside without coats. I even saw a few people in shorts and tanktops. The joggers began to come out again!

I am looking forward to the warm weather. I am sick of snow and the dry, salty grime that covers everything in the winter. Its time to see that green and lush landscape that initially drew me to Wisconsin.

Spring Broke
March 20th, Andrea and Jacob begin Spring Break. Fun! Andrea currently assumes she will be left at hoe by herself all week long - no way in hell. When Andrea stays home by herself, she eats almost constantly and does nothing but lay on the couch, watching TV, all day. Weh she's asked to do chores, she never does and usually gets yelled at. Most likely, she will be sent to her grandparent's house or somewhere.

Jacob plans to spend the week at his dad's house. We are still not sure whether or not he will be able to stay with his dad as Rick has to work. Jacob still doesn't understand that people cannot just drop everything to give him what he wants all the time. He gets very angry when his dad has to tell him no or that he cannot come get him.

Both of the kids are looking forward to getting a week off from school. There are some chores the two of them need to do, but I'm sure they won't do them. They insist on getting their time off, regardless of whether or not they have something they need to do. They are perfectly content to put off until tommorrow, the things that are due today. The saddest thing about all of it is most adults in their lives are more than happy to accomodate them.

Reality is going to severely bite those two kids on the ass. And when they find out they cannot use the "I have ADD/ADHD" or "I forgot" excuses anymore, they are going to be two miserable kids. Funtime is going to be cut short for these two. There is a huge mess in the basement the two of them have to clean up. They also have messes in their room and clothes to wash and put away. Finally, twith weather as nice as it is outside, their funtime watching TV is not going to happen. They need to get outside and walk the dogs. The Cable may be disconnected during the day to insure work has been done. And if the two of them intend to have any fun, they had damned better do their chores first.

Kris: Performance Review and Promotion
Last Friday (March 3rd), Kris was given her yearly Performance Evaultion to determine her bonus and promotional status. According to HR, Kris was due a raise and promotion to Billing Representative. During her interview, her supervisor announced that the two year requisite Kris had met to be promoted was more of a guideline that the company didn't really follow. Kris was given a raise and sent on her merry way.

Kris was a bit disappointed she wouldn't be moving up as she didn't like the way the other Representative treated the Billing Associates. She has already been doing more than her own share of the work and is trusted as one of the few employees that can and will do what is necessary to get the job done right.

Yeah. Kris and her friend, Leeane sat down to have lunch and discuss their interviews. Then one of the other Associates sat down and decided to gab about hers. Kris and Leeane already don't think too much of this person because she is a horrible employee - shes always late, she falls asleep at her desk, and is basically a fat slob. She is a horrible employee and the fact that she is able to keep her job is really a testament to how unfair life can really be. Kris really loathes this woman because she is preventing potentially good employyes from having a job (me included).

This lady sits down and immediately spills the beans on her new raise. SHe didn't give an actual dollar amount, but gave her percentage as being around 5%. Kris, being the math nerd she is, immediately figured the exact amount the lady would be making and was infuriated.

I have been trying to encourage Kris to stand up for herself in many cases - even to me, when she feels that she is being victimized or being taken advantage. This is done for three reasons - One, it bosts her self-esteem; Two, it allows her to deal with her problems; and Three, I don't have to listen to her bitch about it - while she does bitch about it, having stood up for herself, I get to hear bitching about it after she has dealt with it. And while it is still bitching, I know that it has been a good experience for her, in that she is able to remind others and herself that she doesn't deserve to be treated that way.

Yeah, it can come around and bite me on the ass. But honestly, if I'm behaving that way, Kris has every right to call me on it and rip me a new one. Its not her fault that other people are assholes. But it is her fault if she chooses to allow them to treat her that way.

Kris sent her supervisor a complaint about the incident. And it worked. Kris was given a second review and a new raise to $14/hour. She was happy that standing up for herself actually paid off, she was happy that she was given her promotion to Billing Representative. And she deserved it. Kris is a very hard worker and a dedicated employee. $14/hour seems a meager payment for the work she does there, but, sometimes, you have to take the small victories you get.

Unfortunate News
We recently reiceived news that a close family friend, "Gramma Sue" has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Sue used to babysit the kids back before I came to Wisconsin and is one of the few people the kids will actually be respectful and listen to. Its unfortunate that this has happened, but I'm sure she will stick in there. Sue is a very strong-willed person and there are few people that know her that don't have alot of srespect and admiration for her. PLease keep Sue in your prayers.

Work Heating Up
This workweek has been spoent working on three computers. I have been working on Test Bed, evaulating various AntiVirus Programs - Norton, McAfee, Panda, Avira, etc. All in all, I have tested demos of about eight different programs. I've been trying to get a picture of several of the programs our customers use. I'm still trying to find PcCillan - or whatever its called.

We have also gotten several repair jobs this month. People bring in their computers having never updated software, and in many cases, never having uninstalled unused or unneeded programs and services. People don't keep their browsers, plugins, or AntiSpyware or AntiVirus Software, which prevents any of them from protecting their computers from harm.

They also refuse to uninstall anything. I had one computer that had Turbo Tax 2000 - 2005 installed. Never once did they think to uninstall the previous versions. When they opened up the new version, they had a hard time saving or opening files. Another computer had conflicting versions of a CDRW program. The customer could not get the computer to boot properly because both programs were trying to use the same resources.

I worked on a computer that had 800+ pieces of spyware, 141 viruses, - 51 of which required reboot to remove, and which had to be reformatted to fix. We had to backup all their files and reinstall because the last Virus/Spyware could not be removed from the registry. We worked a week on that one and its due back to the customer on Monday.

Working on this stuff only serves to reinforce my desire to keep vigilant watch on Spyware and AV. I still do weekly scans from SPyware. And do a full AV scan every couple of days. Keep all your software updated, people. Its the only way to keep your machine safe.

March Already!

March is in-step to push us out of this dreadful Wisconsin winter. The month began with the tiniest bit of snow. I hope to have warm weather soon, this Wisconsin Winter-shit sucks ass.

Work and Stuff
Work at DiscoverNet has been going fairly well. I have been taking tech calls, working on the Manuals, and doing some experimentation with Test Bed - my own private Win2K machine for tinkering with various AV programs. I had originally wanted to load 98SE on it, but once I found out it had a fresh install of Win2kPro, I decided to just use that. It would give me a good idea of what I'd have to work with once I get the "Infernal Gateway" finished.

Test_Bed is currently running a highly stable Win2k Pro SP4 with AVG, Adaware, and Firefox. I had installed Norton AV on it to pick up screenshots for my tech manual. Norton is abso-damned-lutely huge. Fortunately, Win 2K's super-stability allowed is to run very smoothly. I was pleased at how easily it ran everything on only 256Megs of RAM. Norton uses alot of resources once it starts running.

I finished the rough draft of the Norton manual on Tuesday and decided to take a break form it. I managed to create a fully illustrated 48-page technical manual in less than 2 work days. Printed out a rough draft, and then converted the document over to a PDF for our new Tech Support webpage. Scott says he wants to have the new page ready to go soon, so that it might take some of the heat off the mundane support calls we get.

My main project - rewriting the Tech Support Manual, was put on hold while I took lead on three other projects. I do have a deadline of April 1st, but the manual is also waiting for additional input. The other guys were going to make suggestions for additional sections. I am also trying to recooperate from the massive surge of creation I had that basically crapped out 400 pages in less than two weeks.

On the Homefront
Home life is a diferent story. Typical of Annie and Jake, now that I'm not at home until 5, they walk all over Kris. She doesn't make them do their homework, but sure doesn't mind bitching at them about how she kept yelling at them to do it and they just ignored her. Bullshit!

Everyday, I come home to one of the kids flitting around and the other sitting in front of the TV with their homework, half-assing it while they watch generic Disney-Garbage. Neither of them have done any actual work, and Kris is sitting eight feet away playing a computer game. When I ask if either have done their homework, she just sighs and says neither of them would do anything.

Typical - Bullshit.

So, around 5:30, I get the pleasure of making them get started on homework and whatever chore their mom had asked them to do. Both immediately begin their incessant bitching about it and Kris begins the typical bitching at me and them for maing so much noise.

No Nachos!
I will occasionally buy two jars of Tostitos Nacho Cheese Dip. They usually run 2 for $5. I buy plain yellow corn chips and a small jar of nacho-sliced Jalapenos. The dip is pretty thick, so I use it sparingly to drizzle over a small bowl of chips. I then dump a few Jalapenos on it, stick it in the microwave for about 40 seconds and viola! - instant Nachos, ala any good Texas Dairy Queen.

My dad and I used to have a little bowl of nachos at Dairy Queen, every Sunday, right before we ate lunch. It was a time both of us could sit down and try to talk to each other about our week and stuff like that. He'd pick me up at the dorm after he got back from playing his Sunday Church services. We'd have a Country Basket or Burger and occasionally a trip to the store to pick up a few groceries.

Well, its safe to say Nachos are a comfort food. One that the kids openly admit they hate and any time they are offered some they not only wrinkle their noses in disgust, but go further to not only share their disgust, but insult me for eating it.

Last night, Andrea ate an entire jar of nacho cheese sauce for a snack, along with a bowl of icecream, a snack tub of Easy Mac, and 2 "rat poisons" - Graham Cracker spread with creamy peanut butter and chocolate cake frosting. She then went on to eat three slices of American cheese, four pieces of toast, three helping of Kris's Rice Casserole, and then told us she was still hungry.

Now, Monday night, she had her friend over and they basically grazed on everything we had for snacks. They even went downstairs and got into the food I put down there for reserves. Kris and I get paid at just enough of an interval that the week after, we have to watch what we spend on Groceries. So we double up on items that are on sale and store them downstairs. I put my Nacho Cheese downstairs because I was going to make a ChiliCheese Frito pie this weekend.

ANdrea went downstairs, took the cheese and she and her friend ate most of the jar. When I got home and found open, I griped at both of them. Kris had told her not to get into it, but she did it anyway. There was just enough left to fix one bowl of nachos, so I fixed some and ate them.

I told her not to open the other jar, that I had already bought her a snack to eat, which she ate in one day, roughly. Then yesterday I came home and was surprised to find the second jar was empty - again. I almost smashed it on her head. I was furious. Her mother, again, told her not to get into it, but she did it anyway. The little turd would insult me and tell me how much she hated nacho cheese and turn around and eat two jars of it just because I told her not to.

So, I decided not to buy any snacks anymore. Everytime I buy anything like that, she eats most of it in one sitting. THen when we go shopping, the little bitch gripes that we don't have any healthy snacks and that we should buy 1% milk because she's trying to watch her calories. BULLSHIT! As badly overweight as she is, I would expect her to have her first heart attack before she turns 16.

I made the two last jars I had last for about 7 bowls of nachos per jar - a decent record, I might add. I had just enough to make a jar last about a week, give or take. ANd in two days, Annie ate two jars of something she already told us she hates. I hope the little bitch has a bipass at 15. I know one thing, I sure as hell am not gonna pay for that.

The nacho is a timid creation of cheese and corn. Often topped with meat or bean, it often is accompanied by sour cream, salsa, lettuce and tomato, and guacamole. Nachos are an essential element of me keeping my sanity and not murdering my stepchildren with the splinter leg of a broken chair. Future nachos will be procured directly from Taco John's or Taco Bell and enjoyed in the presence of my step family.

Let them all rot in hell for eating my nacho cheese.... every damned one of them...