Quick Catch-up

Work has been an interesting mix of busy and boring.

I thought I was ahead of the game Thursday when I racked up four V480 servers into the cabinet I was given ahead of schedule; my plan was then to cruise through the balance of the day, taking care of any minor details that might be outstanding.

90 minutes before I was to depart to the airport to pick up cuyahogarvr and John A., I received a frantic pager message: stop everything, you've been given the wrong server cabinet.

Within 85 minutes, I managed to unrack the four servers, remove the mounting brackets, resize them for the new cabinet and re-rack the lot. Ah, what fun.

At least I still made it to the airport on time, although cuyahogarvr's plane was delayed in departing Cleveland because of leaky plumbing.

We were correspondingly late to arrive in downtown DC for our Thursday club night calling gig. On the chance my car would be delayed, kent4str had driven the minivan to work with the calling equipment so he could start without me at 7 PM sharp. I pitched in when I arrived.

Our merry band returned home around 10:30 PM and we began packing for a weekend in Rehoboth Beach. Whee!

Quick Catch-up

Work has been an interesting mix of busy and boring.

I thought I was ahead of the game Thursday when I racked up four V480 servers into the cabinet I was given ahead of schedule; my plan was then to cruise through the balance of the day, taking care of any minor details that might be outstanding.

90 minutes before I was to depart to the airport to pick up cuyahogarvr and John A., I received a frantic pager message: stop everything, you've been given the wrong server cabinet.

Within 85 minutes, I managed to unrack the four servers, remove the mounting brackets, resize them for the new cabinet and re-rack the lot. Ah, what fun.

At least I still made it to the airport on time, although cuyahogarvr's plane was delayed in departing Cleveland because of leaky plumbing.

We were correspondingly late to arrive in downtown DC for our Thursday club night calling gig. On the chance my car would be delayed, kent4str had driven the minivan to work with the calling equipment so he could start without me at 7 PM sharp. I pitched in when I arrived.

Our merry band returned home around 10:30 PM and we began packing for a weekend in Rehoboth Beach. Whee!

Calling, Ups and Downs

My calling skills have been all over the board lately.

Last Thursday, I was in very good form. Nearly everything worked well and that which failed did so in style & laughter from the floor. Timing was good, register was spot-on and I think it was a generally entertaining time.

Tuesday, not so good. At least, my first two tips felt severely off. Timing was barely adequate, originality was at a bare minimum and I felt only half present at best. Things improved after that point and my A2 tip was excellent but on the whole, it was definitely an off night in my books.

Last night, I had only a few tips because of my late arrival (kent4str called the bulk of the evening). Still, the MS and Plus tips I did call were pretty good, I think. Not in my top 5, but in my top 10.

After last night's frantic scheduling, I now understand the Dayle Hodge Scheduling Principle: never book yourself for a calling gig the night before travelling if you can avoid it. Thanks to last minute work issues, a delayed flight arriving at BWI, late night packing, a missed haircut appointment and a tonne of other items, the past 48 hours have been entirely too rushed for my tastes. Letting some other caller take last night's gig would have tremendously eased the rush. Dayle was originally booked to call per our usual schedule (and Baltimore's Tuesday club night) but he asked the club to hire another caller for the evening as he's calling in Rehoboth this weekend and would need the preparation time: that should have been my first clue.

Lesson learned.

Calling, Ups and Downs

My calling skills have been all over the board lately.

Last Thursday, I was in very good form. Nearly everything worked well and that which failed did so in style & laughter from the floor. Timing was good, register was spot-on and I think it was a generally entertaining time.

Tuesday, not so good. At least, my first two tips felt severely off. Timing was barely adequate, originality was at a bare minimum and I felt only half present at best. Things improved after that point and my A2 tip was excellent but on the whole, it was definitely an off night in my books.

Last night, I had only a few tips because of my late arrival (kent4str called the bulk of the evening). Still, the MS and Plus tips I did call were pretty good, I think. Not in my top 5, but in my top 10.

After last night's frantic scheduling, I now understand the Dayle Hodge Scheduling Principle: never book yourself for a calling gig the night before travelling if you can avoid it. Thanks to last minute work issues, a delayed flight arriving at BWI, late night packing, a missed haircut appointment and a tonne of other items, the past 48 hours have been entirely too rushed for my tastes. Letting some other caller take last night's gig would have tremendously eased the rush. Dayle was originally booked to call per our usual schedule (and Baltimore's Tuesday club night) but he asked the club to hire another caller for the evening as he's calling in Rehoboth this weekend and would need the preparation time: that should have been my first clue.

Lesson learned.

Haircut

I just had the quickest haircut of my life.

I missed my chance to get a leisurely haircut at my regular barber Wednesday afternoon. As an alternate, I decided to try a different barber much, much closer to home this morning. His shop is well hidden from the main street and I only discovered him by having some artwork framed at a shop across the street from him; I was previously delighted to know his hours are 8 AM to 7 PM too, giving me much more scheduling flexibility.

At 9:15 AM, he had no other customers so I was seated immediately. In a mere 4 minutes, he had buzzed me with a #2 setting, shaved down the back of my neck, ran a quick vacuum over my head to remove bits of hair and showed me the results. And despite the quick time, it's actually a pretty good haircut, vastly better than Paul-the-barber-who-can't-do-math that I made the mistake of using a while ago. And all for $12.

As I was getting a donut at the shop next door with my sudden burst of spare time, I figured if he could push through enough heads to fill an hour at $12 each, that's $180/hour... :-)

Haircut

I just had the quickest haircut of my life.

I missed my chance to get a leisurely haircut at my regular barber Wednesday afternoon. As an alternate, I decided to try a different barber much, much closer to home this morning. His shop is well hidden from the main street and I only discovered him by having some artwork framed at a shop across the street from him; I was previously delighted to know his hours are 8 AM to 7 PM too, giving me much more scheduling flexibility.

At 9:15 AM, he had no other customers so I was seated immediately. In a mere 4 minutes, he had buzzed me with a #2 setting, shaved down the back of my neck, ran a quick vacuum over my head to remove bits of hair and showed me the results. And despite the quick time, it's actually a pretty good haircut, vastly better than Paul-the-barber-who-can't-do-math that I made the mistake of using a while ago. And all for $12.

As I was getting a donut at the shop next door with my sudden burst of spare time, I figured if he could push through enough heads to fill an hour at $12 each, that's $180/hour... :-)

Rehoboth Beach, DE: Day 1

This morning was a frantic series of events for me: telecommuting for a couple of hours, sending much e-mail, getting my hair cut, last minute packing for our trip to Delaware, etc.. Still, we made it out the door by 10:30 AM or so.

The drive itself was uneventful and we were checked in at the Red Rose Inn by 2:30 PM. We then went for a quick walk to the beach and along a stretch of the boardwalk. Alas, just as we were passing both Ibach's Fine Candies, a point singularity formed and pulled us forcibly into the store. I had to spend $92 on chocolate before we could escape. Woe is us: Just as we were passing Cold Stone Creamery four doors down, it happened again and we were forced to purchase much ice cream.

After a little lounging at the B & B, we headed with a much larger group to the Tijuana Taxi for dinner, then over to the convention center for dancing. Ultimately, I danced only 2 A1 tips towards the end but I did get a number of audio recordings of John Marshall's C1 material for later study. I learn so much every time I chat with the man that I really should see if I can find a window of time to take him & Mary out for dinner.

Alas, cuyahogarvr has been feeling under the weather, mostly allergy-related. I hope he's feeling better after a good night's sleep.

Rehoboth Beach, DE: Day 1

This morning was a frantic series of events for me: telecommuting for a couple of hours, sending much e-mail, getting my hair cut, last minute packing for our trip to Delaware, etc.. Still, we made it out the door by 10:30 AM or so.

The drive itself was uneventful and we were checked in at the Red Rose Inn by 2:30 PM. We then went for a quick walk to the beach and along a stretch of the boardwalk. Alas, just as we were passing both Ibach's Fine Candies, a point singularity formed and pulled us forcibly into the store. I had to spend $92 on chocolate before we could escape. Woe is us: Just as we were passing Cold Stone Creamery four doors down, it happened again and we were forced to purchase much ice cream.

After a little lounging at the B & B, we headed with a much larger group to the Tijuana Taxi for dinner, then over to the convention center for dancing. Ultimately, I danced only 2 A1 tips towards the end but I did get a number of audio recordings of John Marshall's C1 material for later study. I learn so much every time I chat with the man that I really should see if I can find a window of time to take him & Mary out for dinner.

Alas, cuyahogarvr has been feeling under the weather, mostly allergy-related. I hope he's feeling better after a good night's sleep.