Three More Days To Go...

My last day at my Dear Employer is Friday. If I can survive today, tomorrow (in Reston, VA) and Friday (a half-day. What are they going to do --fire me?), all will be well.

I've been more busy in the past 48 hours at the office than I have been in weeks. While I'd like to think our apps teams are piling it on because they've realized I'm going away very, very soon, the reality is that they've only just raised their heads to realize that December 31 is only two weeks way and they're in a mad panic to meet year-end goals. Whatever.

We've replaced a lot of servers, decommissioned a bunch (one more tomorrow night), installed a few and tackled a number of real-time problem tickets. During this mess, I've also been taken out on team lunches twice and various folks and complete strangers keep dropping by my cube to say how much they'll miss me, chatting me up while I'm trying to catch up on the backlog. It sucks to be popular, but I think I'm holding up well under the load.

I start my new job on January 5, but they called in a mild panic last night asking if I could perchance skip over to the data center in Sterling, VA, to take a look at a crashed server. On the good side, I was indeed available. On the bad side, it was at the peak of rush hour with heavy rain and dropping temperatures. Yay.

I spent three hours working with an IBM/Red Hat Linux system. My current employer has a few of these but I was never allowed to touch them thanks to our stifling job restrictions. While the IBM Linux box was hardly cutting edge, it was a delightful opportunity to take apart a new machine, examine it carefully, learn its quirks & self-tests and essentially kick the tires without having to worry about setting off alarms, getting written up by auditing teams and going through disciplinary procedures.

The problem with the hardware's PCI bus isn't something I could fix without replacement parts so I left it powered off and had the California folks arrange an IBM service call. It was a long night, but the chance to play with something outside my normally constricted scope was soooo worth it.

Three More Days To Go...

My last day at my Dear Employer is Friday. If I can survive today, tomorrow (in Reston, VA) and Friday (a half-day. What are they going to do --fire me?), all will be well.

I've been more busy in the past 48 hours at the office than I have been in weeks. While I'd like to think our apps teams are piling it on because they've realized I'm going away very, very soon, the reality is that they've only just raised their heads to realize that December 31 is only two weeks way and they're in a mad panic to meet year-end goals. Whatever.

We've replaced a lot of servers, decommissioned a bunch (one more tomorrow night), installed a few and tackled a number of real-time problem tickets. During this mess, I've also been taken out on team lunches twice and various folks and complete strangers keep dropping by my cube to say how much they'll miss me, chatting me up while I'm trying to catch up on the backlog. It sucks to be popular, but I think I'm holding up well under the load.

I start my new job on January 5, but they called in a mild panic last night asking if I could perchance skip over to the data center in Sterling, VA, to take a look at a crashed server. On the good side, I was indeed available. On the bad side, it was at the peak of rush hour with heavy rain and dropping temperatures. Yay.

I spent three hours working with an IBM/Red Hat Linux system. My current employer has a few of these but I was never allowed to touch them thanks to our stifling job restrictions. While the IBM Linux box was hardly cutting edge, it was a delightful opportunity to take apart a new machine, examine it carefully, learn its quirks & self-tests and essentially kick the tires without having to worry about setting off alarms, getting written up by auditing teams and going through disciplinary procedures.

The problem with the hardware's PCI bus isn't something I could fix without replacement parts so I left it powered off and had the California folks arrange an IBM service call. It was a long night, but the chance to play with something outside my normally constricted scope was soooo worth it.

New Employer In the News

Apparently, my new employer (as of Jan 5, 2009) was recently in the news. Click for the NY Times article.

New Employer In the News

Apparently, my new employer (as of Jan 5, 2009) was recently in the news. Click for the NY Times article.

DC Diamond Circulate Hotel Stats

As of Tuesday, Dec 16, the DC Diamond Circulate convention hotel continues to fill.

If I'm counting correctly, we have 1,842 room-nights booked out of 2,290 room-nights allocated to our block. That's an occupancy rate of 80.4% which means we've reached the threshold for our contractual obligations for the meeting rooms and dance spaces. Additional reservations will help provide a cushion for that and get us more complimentary rooms we can use for the calling, sound and flooring staff.

AU = number of rooms in the block
RS = rooms reserved
RA = rooms still available

 16DEC 10:08                                                                 
 CONV/GRP RECAP   WASDT                             
 DC DIAMOND CIRCULATE *DCD  C 02APR09-17APR09                               
   THU 02APR09 AU....0 RS....0 RA....0                                
   FRI 03APR09 AU....5 RS....4 RA....1
   SAT 04APR09 AU...20 RS...17 RA....3    
   SUN 05APR09 AU...60 RS...48 RA...12                                  
   MON 06APR09 AU...80 RS...71 RA....9
   TUE 07APR09 AU..110 RS..104 RA....6 
   WED 08APR09 AU..189 RS..186 RA....3
   THU 09APR09 AU..450 RS..358 RA...92
   FRI 10APR09 AU..475 RS..370 RA..105                                     
   SAT 11APR09 AU..475 RS..364 RA..111
   SUN 12APR09 AU..350 RS..261 RA...89
   MON 13APR09 AU...50 RS...43 RA....7                                 
   TUE 14APR09 AU...16 RS...11 RA....5                                        
   WED 15APR09 AU....5 RS....3 RA....2                              
   THU 16APR09 AU....5 RS....2 RA....3

Reservations can be made by either visiting the Marriott web site with group code "DCDDCDA" or telephoning the hotel directly at 202-328-2983.

At the moment, we have 507 registrations. I'm expecting a flurry of activity before December 31 when the rates rise from $195 to $215 for dancers and $95 to $110 for non-dancers. (First-time dancer attendees will still have the AJH-subsidized $170 rate; students [21 & younger] will still have a $140 rate.)

DC Diamond Circulate Hotel Stats

As of Tuesday, Dec 16, the DC Diamond Circulate convention hotel continues to fill.

If I'm counting correctly, we have 1,842 room-nights booked out of 2,290 room-nights allocated to our block. That's an occupancy rate of 80.4% which means we've reached the threshold for our contractual obligations for the meeting rooms and dance spaces. Additional reservations will help provide a cushion for that and get us more complimentary rooms we can use for the calling, sound and flooring staff.

AU = number of rooms in the block
RS = rooms reserved
RA = rooms still available

 16DEC 10:08                                                                 
 CONV/GRP RECAP   WASDT                             
 DC DIAMOND CIRCULATE *DCD  C 02APR09-17APR09                               
   THU 02APR09 AU....0 RS....0 RA....0                                
   FRI 03APR09 AU....5 RS....4 RA....1
   SAT 04APR09 AU...20 RS...17 RA....3    
   SUN 05APR09 AU...60 RS...48 RA...12                                  
   MON 06APR09 AU...80 RS...71 RA....9
   TUE 07APR09 AU..110 RS..104 RA....6 
   WED 08APR09 AU..189 RS..186 RA....3
   THU 09APR09 AU..450 RS..358 RA...92
   FRI 10APR09 AU..475 RS..370 RA..105                                     
   SAT 11APR09 AU..475 RS..364 RA..111
   SUN 12APR09 AU..350 RS..261 RA...89
   MON 13APR09 AU...50 RS...43 RA....7                                 
   TUE 14APR09 AU...16 RS...11 RA....5                                        
   WED 15APR09 AU....5 RS....3 RA....2                              
   THU 16APR09 AU....5 RS....2 RA....3

Reservations can be made by either visiting the Marriott web site with group code "DCDDCDA" or telephoning the hotel directly at 202-328-2983.

At the moment, we have 507 registrations. I'm expecting a flurry of activity before December 31 when the rates rise from $195 to $215 for dancers and $95 to $110 for non-dancers. (First-time dancer attendees will still have the AJH-subsidized $170 rate; students [21 & younger] will still have a $140 rate.)

Misc Stuff

C2 class on Monday night was... interesting. I missed the prior Monday's review because of work commitments so I was stumbling on some calls for the first 90 minutes: it felt like everything was brand new again. Fortunately, I didn't shame my ancestors too much in the second half of the class and there was only one new call to fret over ('wheel the sea').

I've had a flurry of minor medical procedures lately. It's not that I've been sick or such, it's just that I wanted to (a) milk my current employer's health benefit for all I can in case there's issues or delay starting with the new employer's health plan, and (b) I needed to empty my medical savings account before Dec 31 or forfeit the balance. I believe I have only $20 left in my MSA which I can easily wipe out with some contact lens solution or such. [insert standardized rant about the silliness of employer-based health care here.]

At yesterday's medical, the doc suggested a pneumonia vaccine. I had no idea such things existed, and agreed to it since it costs me nothing directly. No problem at the time but my left upper arm where I received the shot hurts like hell right now. If anyone even thinks of touching my left arm, I promise I will beat them senseless with the heaviest piece of furniture I can with my right.

I didn't exactly have a relaxing night at home last night as I had to do an emergency work-related service call to Sterling, VA, but there's no rest for the wicked apparently:
- Wednesday, Dec 17: we're dancing C1 tonight
- Thursday, Dec 18: calling Mainstream/Plus for DC Lambda Squares;
- Friday, Dec 19: driving to to Columbus, OH;
- Saturday, Dec 20: co-trailer trash David's 40th birthday;
- Sunday, Dec 21: fly back to DC;
- Monday, Dec 22: skipping C2 to attend the DC Lambda Squares' Plus class graduation;
- Tuesday, Dec 23: calling for an open house with the Chesapeake Squares;
- Wednesday, Dec 24: fly to Cleveland;
- Thursday, Dec 25: family in Cleveland;
- Friday, Dec 26: family in Cleveland;
- Saturday, Dec 27: returning to DC.
- Sunday, Dec 28: collapsing from exhausion.

Misc Stuff

C2 class on Monday night was... interesting. I missed the prior Monday's review because of work commitments so I was stumbling on some calls for the first 90 minutes: it felt like everything was brand new again. Fortunately, I didn't shame my ancestors too much in the second half of the class and there was only one new call to fret over ('wheel the sea').

I've had a flurry of minor medical procedures lately. It's not that I've been sick or such, it's just that I wanted to (a) milk my current employer's health benefit for all I can in case there's issues or delay starting with the new employer's health plan, and (b) I needed to empty my medical savings account before Dec 31 or forfeit the balance. I believe I have only $20 left in my MSA which I can easily wipe out with some contact lens solution or such. [insert standardized rant about the silliness of employer-based health care here.]

At yesterday's medical, the doc suggested a pneumonia vaccine. I had no idea such things existed, and agreed to it since it costs me nothing directly. No problem at the time but my left upper arm where I received the shot hurts like hell right now. If anyone even thinks of touching my left arm, I promise I will beat them senseless with the heaviest piece of furniture I can with my right.

I didn't exactly have a relaxing night at home last night as I had to do an emergency work-related service call to Sterling, VA, but there's no rest for the wicked apparently:
- Wednesday, Dec 17: we're dancing C1 tonight
- Thursday, Dec 18: calling Mainstream/Plus for DC Lambda Squares;
- Friday, Dec 19: driving to to Columbus, OH;
- Saturday, Dec 20: co-trailer trash David's 40th birthday;
- Sunday, Dec 21: fly back to DC;
- Monday, Dec 22: skipping C2 to attend the DC Lambda Squares' Plus class graduation;
- Tuesday, Dec 23: calling for an open house with the Chesapeake Squares;
- Wednesday, Dec 24: fly to Cleveland;
- Thursday, Dec 25: family in Cleveland;
- Friday, Dec 26: family in Cleveland;
- Saturday, Dec 27: returning to DC.
- Sunday, Dec 28: collapsing from exhausion.

Sweet! Literally!

Earlier this week, colleagues brought cookies and cupcakes to my cube as a dessert after our team luncheon. They figured it was a convenient social excuse for people to buzz by my cube to say good-bye and converse briefly.

It was delicious on Monday but I had to resist the siren call of sugar on Tuesday because I was having blood drawn at a previously scheduled medical check-up and didn't want to throw off the lab results. The cupcakes mocked me relentlessly, but I resisted.

This morning, they taunted again but to their chagrin, I had no reason to resist. They were gone in seconds.

Randi, noticing that the cookies and cakes were finally gone, picked up a small tray of incredibly rich brownies while she was at lunch and left it on my desk.

My sugar crash in another hour is going to be spectacular, but it was so worth it!

Sweet! Literally!

Earlier this week, colleagues brought cookies and cupcakes to my cube as a dessert after our team luncheon. They figured it was a convenient social excuse for people to buzz by my cube to say good-bye and converse briefly.

It was delicious on Monday but I had to resist the siren call of sugar on Tuesday because I was having blood drawn at a previously scheduled medical check-up and didn't want to throw off the lab results. The cupcakes mocked me relentlessly, but I resisted.

This morning, they taunted again but to their chagrin, I had no reason to resist. They were gone in seconds.

Randi, noticing that the cookies and cakes were finally gone, picked up a small tray of incredibly rich brownies while she was at lunch and left it on my desk.

My sugar crash in another hour is going to be spectacular, but it was so worth it!