They Oughtta Fix This

Yesterday, we had several lines of heavy thunderstorms roll through the area. The sky was ominous on the way to work.

No that's not worrying at all. Why do you ask? It took, roughly 15 minutes for the first line to rumble by the office. It got dark.

This photo doesn't convey just how dark it was. The streetlights and parking lot lights were on as the first line started to come through.

One of the only detriments to this building is that drainage behind us is not very good. The overnight storms had dumped quite a bit of water, water which doesn't drain well from the area behind the building.

This is looking northwest. The ramp in the foreground goes into our back door.

We jokingly refer to this as "the lake". You can see how dark it got because you can see into the packaging company across the lake. Normally, even when they have doors open, we can't see into the warehouse.

The water extends south to the entry into the delivery area. It's important to note where the water is, in relation to the cars parked back here. Gene and Matt will park up next to the stairs because their offices are close to our rear door. I didn't get it on camera but Gene came down here and decided, because he saw Matt and I on the back steps, to drive through the edge of the water. He lifted up a nice plume. He said there was no way he was driving in the middle of the water. It was, at 8 am, too deep for his car. We were all rueing the loss of my Jeep. I'd have driven through this, really fast. That was one thing I loved to do on the Jeep; drive through water puddles. I still do, but you could go into deeper water and get higher side plumes with the Jeep.

It rained; really, really, rained; hard, pounding rain; off and on all morning. My phone camera couldn't capture the rain. It was coming down so hard, you couldn't see across the street. It was a curtain of gray. We have a skylight in the main area and it sounded like someone was on the roof tossing rocks on the skylight, it was raining so hard. We would go into the main area and check the corners of the skylight. The company who did our remodel did a good job sealing the skylight. We have no leaks.

About noon, Gene looked out his office window which overlooks the parking lot. He'd been doing a lot of reports and hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to outside. It's raining. There's water in the back. Okay. We are all, pretty much, minding our own business. We hear, "Holy shit! You guys gotta come see this!" We go to the warehouse, where Gene opens the ramp door.

The water which had been right at the foot of the ramp this morning, is a "wee bit" deeper at noon. Yes, it was still raining, although not as hard.

The water laps at the top of the bottom step of the steps up to the back door.

We stood there and the boss, in a quite bemused tone of voice said, "You know, they really oughtta fix this." Meanwhile, Tara goes into the front closet and gets the Wellies. We have three pair of boots in the office available for people to use when you find yourself in soggy surroundings. She put on the boots and decided to walk across the back lot.

She's at what is probably the deepest point. The lot slopes from both buildings to the middle, where she's standing. The water came up to within one inch of the top of the boots. Notice the cars behind her and then scroll up to the same cars this morning. We got a little bit of water.

This morning, there was still water in the back lot. It had gone down to yesterday morning's levels. By noon, it had drained away, which was good because Matt needed to load his car for a trip to service equipment tomorrow. We don't have a basement so it doesn't impact us, other than being unable to pull a car into the warehouse to load. But companies north and south of us get larger deliveries. There is no way a delivery company could come back here. Semis wouldn't be affected at the warehouse, but you have to worry, just a bit, about your car when you see all this water.

It's supposed to be dry now until next week. Yeah, they really do need to fix this.

Beverage:  Scottish Breakfast Tea

Deb

Speaking of 16

The actual date was January 10th. It was a Sunday. The night before, we'd had our office holiday party. With the move and Gene expecting his first child in December, we decided it just wasn't prudent to have a holiday party that month. Gene's daughter was born a month early but we were so busy in December, that, as we sat around the table in the restaurant, we were very, very glad we hadn't tried to shoehorn an evening meal in on a Saturday night in December.

I happened to mention I was coming up on my work anniversary and was thinking of bringing food in. It kind of went over people's heads in the noise of the restaurant so I decided to just do it, rather than solicit what they might like. I went to Panera and got a dozen bagels.

*GASP! I know what you're thinking. This is not Dunkin Donuts. I thought about it, but, in the past, when I've brought in donuts for meetings, not all of them have been eaten. I got cream cheese; regular and honey walnut. It turned out that Matt wasn't in the office at all on Monday, having had to go service a machine in the hinterlands. Mike was thrilled with bagels, "except we don't have a toaster. I always toast my bagel." Three bagels didn't get eaten on Monday. The next day, Matt was in the office and didn't have time to grab breakfast before coming in. "Deb brought bagels yesterday," Tara said. "There are still some left in the fridge." So Matt ate the last three. "Thanks Deb! You saved me!"

16 years. That's a long time.

Beverage:  Raspberry Seltzer

Deb

"It's so you, Deb."

Between the post below and today, there was a visit to the new office. The walls are up and the painting is done. We walked in and knew this was going to be a place we can work comfortably in for years.

There is a huge amount of space here. We're going to put a large conference table by the post. That couldn't be moved. We're going to get a large TV to hang on the wall. The office schedule and some of the other programs we use will be on this TV. Everyone will be able to see where people and equipment are. We joked that we'll be happily ensconced in the office come NCAA men's basketball time so we can watch the Wednesday-Friday daytime games out here. Um...right. The far wall will have our equipment lists and there is room for our fax (yes, some clients use only fax), copier and printer AND boxes of supplies for all of those machines. There will be room to move around someone who is at the copier, if you have to use the printer, a luxury we don't have now.

This is the accent wall to the left when you walk in.

Eventually, we'll stencil the company logo and name on the wall. That's a task for when it's winter and we're not pulling out hair out trying to get work done.

We have a large store room at the west end of the suite.

That's Gene checking out the small stand sink we have in the corner. The floor is sealed concrete. We did not need or want, tile in this area because, and we're so excited about this feature,

we have a drive up ramp. We'll be able to back our cars in to load and unload without having to traipse through the office or lug things up or down stairs or through 3 doors. All of our equipment and supplies will be in this room. It looks huge but we are thinking it will fill up fairly quickly, once everything gets moved in. Our equipment goes into the ground so having a sink where we can wash off pieces is wonderful. We don't need much.

Gene, Matt and Tara have windows that overlook the store room. We all got to pick our office colors. This is Gene's.

"Cucumber for the win!" he said. Once it got up on the walls, he's thinking, with the west windows, it may be too bright.

Matt went with a dark ivory.

You can see how the office looks into the storage area. Matt's office doesn't have windows or a skylight so having this window into the storage area with it's large floor to ceiling windows will provide him with some natural light.

And then there's Tara's office.

That's...blue. She originally wanted a royal blue, which would be a shade darker than this. It's the color of the Buffalo Sabers, her favorite hockey team. But, when she looked at the unpainted drywall and her paint color, she felt the royal blue would be too dark. I love this color, but not on all four walls. She hasn't seen this yet.

We have a storage room and another office which were painted in the color Matt chose; nice and neutral. We will need to hire another person next year. If they want a different color than Matt's color, we'll deal with it then.

We have a small kitchenette.

We're getting a "dorm fridge" to go in the space. We don't cook meals here beyond what we can microwave, and there will be enough room for a coffee maker for Matt and Tara. The rest of us don't drink coffee. What paper goods we use; paper plates, napkins, utensils, will fit in the cupboards.

This is Mike's office.

Once he saw this color on all the walls, he wasn't very happy with it. I don't think it's a bad color, but I think it's a bit overpowering for all four walls. However, I did point out that we're seeing the naked walls. Gene and Mike may be happy with their colors once they get stuff up on the walls, same with Tara's color.

The walls in the men's and women's bathrooms are this dark tan.

Tara and I are going to add wall paper borders and other items to give each bathroom a distinct character. The first one we will do, the women's bathroom, obviously, is going to be beach accents. The bathrooms are huge because they have to be compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. And, we found out that village code requires that bathrooms be delineated by sex if there is more than one. We have all agreed that if one bathroom is being used and the other is free, we're using it.

Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. This is looking southeast.

The hole in the south wall is for the sliding glass window. That's Hawkeye gold on the east wall. Here's a better photo of the east wall.

I love, love, love that yellow. The two side walls are an ivory. And here is the west wall.

The dark gray is perfect. Right now, the focal piece on this wall is going to be my "Fantasia" poster. I have to get an actual frame for it. I'm going to paint the frame red. I think I will also put framed items from this magical Hawkeye football season in this corner, in black and gold frames. I have some awards and a counted cross-stitch piece currently on the wall behind me, but those will go at the west end of south wall, along with some of the photos I have on the window ledge in my current office. I need to get a plant stand to put in the left corner of the window and, if they take all my bookshelves for use in our "library", then I'll get another one to house the few things I have on shelves. That would go to the east side of the sliding window.

This is the best part, however.

This is the sliding window. Under this will be an 18 inch shelf for incoming and outgoing mail. Plus, I can see if anyone comes into the office. The view when you look through here? Remember this?

Oh yeah. I can hardly wait to figure out how to stencil this on the wall.

Yes, I would agree this office is so me. It's much bigger than my current office. It's got so much more light. And the paint scheme reflects exactly who I am. We are starting our move this coming week. The door should be keyed on Monday. Hello color. Hello excitement.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Life, Version 10.8

I get teased, a lot, about my devotion to Apple products. Now, I don't own an iPhone. I have Android because that's what my company approved. I don't have an iPad. I've used my friend, Perry's, and if I won one or had someone give one to me, I'd probably use it, but it's not something I feel is vital to my existence. I'm more than connected enough.

But, after the great hard drive crash of December 2012 and the lines that were appearing in my computer screen, I realized I needed to replace my computer. At six, going on seven years of age, it was easily 150 in human years and was simply wearing out. I don't watch TV. I don't have cable. I play World of Warcraft. That's my pastime and a new computer will make the pastime more enjoyable.

When the tax refund was deposited in the bank account, I searched for the best computer deal for me. I don't need a lot of the bells and whistles found on some models. I don't do web site development. I don't compose music. I don't create graphics. I play a computer game. I write letters and I maintain this blog. So a lot of the programs and capabilities of certain computers won't even be touched by me. Why pay for them? I'd really like a CD/DvD drive so I don't have to buy an external one. iTunes does not have even a fifth of my jazz library. I want to be able to upload my music. I need to be able to upload photos from my camera. This really is what I use my computer for and anything else is superfluous to my life.

With the help of Matt, Jon and Chris, I found one. I had it delivered to the office because it required a signature and it would not sit on the front steps even if the UPS guy got a neighbor to sign for it. The UPS guy for our office has been coming here for at least 5 years. We love him to pieces. He's really good. I mentioned the computer was coming. Last Thursday, he stuck his head into my office and said, "Oh darn. No one is here. I guess I'll just have to take this home with me for safe keeping."

I practically tackled him in the hallway.

This new computer is 21 inches wide. I kind of wanted a lap top. I could load the game onto that and then take it wherever I was going. But you pay for that portability and, particularly with Apple, what I could afford was not really an upgrade to the screen size on which I play the game. That's a big consideration. So, I went with a desktop model. I also got a refurbished rather than brand new computer. I still have the same warranty since I purchased this from Apple.

It was a bit gangly getting it home.

For a minute, I didn't think it would fit in the Jeep.

Then, as I was driving the 2.5 miles home, I found myself saying, "I have my new computer here. Get out of the way." Funny how you'll tolerate some kinds of driving when it's just you and your lunch but add a thousand dollar piece of equipment and everyone's out to get you.

There was a guild event that night so I left the machine in the box in the living room. Chris had volunteered to help me get it set up and running and to teach me about some of the new things you can do with the new to me operating system (OS). This is rather important. Apple names their operating systems after cats. I had updated my OS about 4 years ago from "Leopard", which the computer had come with, to "Snow Leopard". "Mountain Lion", the newest version, was released last July. (I'm waiting for the "Domestic American Shorthair" version.) I need to learn what to do with this new OS. It's not like going from a word-based OS to the familiar icon-based OS, but the things I did, out of habit, probably won't be the same and I will have quite a few "where is..." moments. I felt setting things up was a task best left for the weekend. The box was 2 inches taller than the seat for the recliner.

My guild mates couldn't believe my restraint. "How can you not want to open it?" Chris convinced me to get going on the system migration. "The sooner you start, the sooner you can play," he said in that teasing voice when someone it holding the carrot just out of range. "Okay, fine."

Apple computers are ridiculously easy to set up. Step 1:  Open the box.

Step 2:  Prepare the space where the old computer will sit while you migrate everything to the new computer.

This was quite the job. Look at the dust. This is where the printer, that hasn't worked in 2 years, sat. It's going bye-bye when Wheaton has it's annual electronics turn in during April. I would like a new printer/scanner. I would write more letters if I could write and print them at home.

Step 3:  Move the old computer and put the new one in the old one's place.

Be sure to use the word, "Whoa" a lot during this process. At the time I was doing this, Chris had taken over my old computer and was reconfiguring my router for wireless connections.

Step 4:  Find the mouse, keyboard and power cables. Remove the cushion around the new computer and plug it into power. Remember to say, "Whoa" at least a half dozen times. Have a cat come find out what you're doing while you are under the desk trying to figure out if you really need all the power cords that are plugged into your multi-cord adapter.

Step 5: Turn the thing on and gasp at the sheer size of your screen now.

From this point, we started the data transfer process.

I remember doing that when I bought the one on the left. All my settings, folders, photos and World of Warcraft would be transferred, we hoped wirelessly, from left to right. Then, it would be a matter of sorting out what I needed and didn't need and migrating that to the new operating system.

In practice, it didn't work as seamlessly as we had hoped. I awakened on Friday to the same message that I had gone to bed with and that message was still on the screen when I got home from work on Friday. Chris determined that the computer on the left had gone to sleep during the overnight attempt to transfer data and this stopped the transfer but there isn't a way to tell me that. Thanks to my pack rat tendencies, I had another Ethernet cable and we hooked the two together. Transfer of all data took 45 minutes. Then, I could begin the weeding out of the stuff I really don't need. I've spent all weekend doing that and asking questions about where things go and how do I do what I used to do. Chris has been so patient with me.

It's been utterly amazing to work on this. The things I use most have been updated and will, eventually, become intuitive. I've learned so much in 3 days. I updated my web browser. Might as well do that. I'm taking a critical look at the things I had on the old system. For instance, I really don't use the address book or the calendar. As long as there is a calendar behind the computer, I simply need the time in the upper right corner.

For now, I'm keeping the old computer. I don't have an extended keyboard with the new one, but I really like the touch of it as compared to my old keyboard. The new machine came with a wireless mouse, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work properly in the game so we hooked up my Logitech mouse. The old Apple mice I have kicking around can go into the great bag of miscellaneous cables which will be recycled in April. I have no need of them anymore, not even as a back up.

I need to take a screenshot in the game. I found some places where I took screenshots on the old machine. You need to see what I can see now. It's a brand new game for me. I was with 2 guild members in a 5-man event last night. We ran through a building and out onto its patio. "Oh my gosh! It's snowing out here!" I had never seen the snowfall. My graphics had to be kept low so the game would run. I'm seeing distances and things I just never saw. I was happy with how the game played and looked; obviously because I am still playing it after 7 years. I just never saw some things because my computer couldn't handle it.

So, as Jon says, "Welcome to the 21st century." It's going to take me a few weeks to get back up to speed and to discover all the things I can do with this new system. You know how, sometimes, you just know you bought the right thing? This is it.

Here's to 6 more years of gaming.

Beverage:  water

Deb

This Mouse is Good

I bought my iMac back in 2007. That's a long time ago in computer years. It has served me very well. In another year or two, I am probably going to be forced to buy a new computer in order to keep up with the system requirements to play World of Warcraft. But until that happens, my computer and I are good friends.

In March or April of 2008 (I'll have to dig out the paperwork since I would have saved it.), I bought a gaming mouse. My original Apple mouse died and, because it was still under warranty, I was able to replace it free. The guy at the Apple store said, when I brought the dead mouse in, that Apple makes phenomenal products, but not gaming mice. He recommended I go to Fry's Electronics and ask one of their sales people which mouse they use. He recommended the Logitech mouse that I actually wound up getting, after looking at all of my options. It was expensive, but it was a great mouse. It was wireless, which, at the time, before I got a hub, I needed. It was rechargeable.

Lately, however, it's not been a great mouse. I know that rechargeable things don't last forever. It wasn't fully recharging or it would look fully recharged and then, when I'd go to use it, the charge would drop within the first 5 minutes, indicating that it wasn't charged at all. Then, the buttons wouldn't work and I'd find my WOW toon unable to move out of stuff that I shouldn't be standing in. I couldn't attack things or things that I'd target wouldn't stay targeted. It was getting incredibly frustrating to play. But, I can't afford a new mouse right now.

I dug out the old Apple mouse. After years of playing with a mouse designed for gaming, yeah, this isn't going to work. I started preparing myself to log on and just stay in the capital city, cleaning out the guild bank and learning to "play" the game's Auction House feature because my ability to do anything other than move via the keypad and click items was severely restricted. Enter my friends, specifically, Matt.

I was grousing to him about this stroke of bad luck. I had done a bit of research into gaming mice and was not real happy with the costs. Matt has a Mac and he asked a bunch of questions about my gaming style, what kind of mouse I used and why I was using a wireless mouse. Then he asked for my address. "What did you do?" "Nothing. I just want to send a Christmas card." And if I believe that, he has ocean-front property in Nebraska to sell me. I gave him my address and he said "Watch your door step and merry Christmas."

So, yesterday, we have a day full of rain. At times it was like god tipped over a bucket of water. Matt says the box is supposed to come. Oh...dear. I hope it comes later in the day and not earlier so it doesn't get soaked. I was delayed a bit in getting home but when I did, I found this. UPS had put my box in a nice plastic bag so it didn't get wet. I brought it inside and gave it a cat scan. 

Once I opened the box, Pilchard wasn't interested anymore. Mija was. The box is probably just a touch under cat size. I have not put it on the floor, yet to test my theory.

Here was the same mouse that I have known and loved these 4 years but WITH a cord. The dark black cord was to allow my hub to move closer to the edge of my desk so the mouse cord could reach. Oh man. No one has dusted back there in months! Setting up the new mouse required me to clean the back of the desk behind the computer. Yeah, some places I don't clean regularly.

Once that was done, I turned off the old mouse, plugged in the new mouse and, viola! It worked, first time, out of the box. I didn't need a degree in computer science to set it up.

It was great playing the game last night, moving, targeting, getting out of stuff and all those things you do when you play a computer game. I have the old mouse in its recharging cradle. Come Earth Day, I'll probably recycle it at the computer recycling place along with the very old printer I found in the basement. The Apple mouse that I have will go back in the box. It's no good for gaming but if something happened to this one, at least I could log into the computer and check email.

The kindness of my friends humbles me.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb