Monthly Archives: September 2008

Slickness is Slick

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As documented here, I activated the heretofore unnoticed Automatically discard spam comments on posts older than a month checkbox in the Akismet WordPress plugin.

A month or so in, and my spam trap went from ginormous1 to next to none. And I can much more easily find any false positives that make it into the spam trap2.

The only downside is that the Akismet Badge at the bottom doesn’t roll up the “spam trapped” numbers like it used to. It would be nice if the web mavens at Akismet would have a second number in the badge, an “auto flush” counter, for lack of a better term.

Even in the absence of that, this Akismet feature has been a win-win. Less spam that I even see, and comments are left open, so that anyone with something to say can still say it if they are so inclined.

Thanks, Akismet!

-k-

1 For a little five and dime blog like this.

2 There have been only a handful of those, in my entire history of using Akismet.

Sometimes, Things Work out Right

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tbbs-land was sans internet and land-line phones last week, starting on Wednesday, as our usually reliable Verizon FiOS service went dark. Our cellphones and Sprint Wireless Broadband card got a workout, so it wasn’t like we were totally off the grid.

Preferring to consult a proctologist named Dr. Hook than talk on the phone to Verizon Customer Service, I opened a repair request via the Verizon support website. MLB, not being averse to calling support lines, followed up with a phone call. On Thursday, someone from Verizon called, and walked me through some troubleshooting steps; take the battery out of the inside box, reset the power, and then he performed a line test. As eager as the Verizon tech was to help, the line test wasn’t successful, and he scheduled a technician for a house call last Saturday afternoon. After checking the system, he determined a cable between the house and the pedestal had been cut, replaced same, and we were back on the air.

I told him that there had been gardeners landscapers out back on Wednesday, and they could have severed the cable. I also mentioned that I’d never thought the cable had been buried deeply enough. His response was that it’s more economical for Verizon to replace cables when needed than to bury them deeper. Anyhow, we were dialing the phone, surfing the internets at FiOS speed, even though the cable is now above ground. Someone is supposed to be out here in a week or so, to commit it to another shallow grave. MLB will ride herd on them to make sure that happens.

After he left, I thought about Dominion Power, who provides our electrical service, on an all we care to pay for plan. When the power is out, Dominion is Johnny on the Spot to get us back and powered. This is because when the meter isn’t spinning, they aren’t getting any money from us. Contrast that with Verizon, with whom we have an all you can eat plan for phone and internet. When we’re off their grid, they’re still getting paid, and we have no service. The thought of that almost prompted me to call Verizon and ask for a credit for the days we had no service, but talking to Verizon billing is 10X the agony of calling support. Dr. Rusty Hook, if you will. So I let it go.

Tonight, there was a voice mail from Verizon. It said that my service had been restored, they were profoundly sorry that we’d been without service for such a long time, and that our next bill would reflect a credit for the days we were out of service. Right on! I’m sure that Verizon’s perception of how long we were out will be shorter than mine, but that’s OK. Remember Dr. Rusty Hook.

Sometimes, things just work out, and I’ll take whatever credit they provide.

-k-

Let’s Do Something, Even if It’s Wrong

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Ten minutes into the Candidates Forum on Service presidential forum now airing on MSNBC, and I’m wondering whether or not the title of this post might not be a more fitting theme.

McCain just spoke; I assume Obama is next. McCain just heralded the creation of the Department of Homeland Security as a landmark of reform of government, and bipartisan cooperation. McCain gasses on, after the break, but I doubt I’ll be able to discern much difference between the two.

Guess what? I don’t give a rip for either of these mopes. I’m not afraid; I wasn’t afraid on 9/11, and I’m not now. If a storm bears down, MLB and I will provide for ourselves as best we can, and we’ll help out our neighbors, again as best we can. I need no government to encourage me, subsidize me, or offer their dubious notion of “help”.

In other words, Leave us Alone. The vast majority of people in the United States are capable of the same thing; neighbor helping neighbor, the way it’s been forever. It can’t be mandated from above, at least not by the Washington bureaucrats. It comes from a calling outside of each of us, and yet obviously of a plane somehow different than the one we’re on. Some of us call it Christianity, some a religion that’s not Christian.

It all boils down to this; every religion has some notion of the Golden Rule. Those who are atheists have a compass that guides them to something beyond; I call that something God; they don’t. The strong truth of the Golden Rule crosses these boundaries.

And if I’m on the receiving end of help, I won’t ask about the caregiver’s religious affiliation. Nor will I preach to those whom I’m blessed to help. Obama has yet to speak; like McCain, you have no need to incent, if that’s even a word, behavior that’s beneficial to all.

Service is its own reward. To everyone, just because.

-k-

Not Even a Classroom Day….

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Will deter tbbs-land from upgrading to the latest WordPress. We now are proudly powered by WP 2.6.2 after the upgrade.

A day in class is tiring; the course material voluminous and thorough, the instructor knowledgeable and enthusiastic, the class nearly full of people from various backgrounds and interests, the eats plentiful and good.

Today covered a lot of ground; some things I was sure I knew were reinforced, and others about which I didn’t know squat hit me between the eyes. I know now, for guesswork purposes, that every VMWare product is called V<verb> or V<noun>. That’s OK; marketers need their time in the spotlight as well.

This is the first time I’ve taken a class provided by a third party supplier; the only downside to this is the total lack of vendor schwag that one usually receives at training sessions such as this. I already have an ample supply of coffee mugs and mouse pads, so I guess that’s even all right.

This is my first exposure to VMWare in any in-depth fashion; so far, so good. I’m looking forward to the balance of the week.

-k-


Class, Day 1

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My class starts tomorrow, not today. I read the confirmation e-mail multiple times, and absolutely tuned out the fact that September 9th, the first day of class, is not a Monday.

All was not in vain however; the area where the class meets has grown up a lot, especially for folks like me who don’t get out a lot. I now know where the building is, and won’t have to make multiple laps in a circle of decreasing radius to find it, like I did today.

Knowledge is Good.

-k-

One good use for my Work POS Dell Laptop

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It serves to host my U3 uninstaller, which removes that “U3 Smart” crap that aggravates the heck out of me.

And, having just picked up a 16GB thumb drive from the Office Depot at roughly half-price, I really needed the 6MB that the U3 formerly occupied.

16GB?? That you can put in your pocket. I remember running an entire automotive business office on a 5 MB hard drive in a previous job. And now, U3 uses 20% more than that. And I wanted it back, and I got it.

-k-

Coincidences

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Tomorrow would have my first day on my new job in West Virginia. Instead, I’ll be in a class for some VMware book learnin’, and absent from the office all week.

We have a group calendar on which we enter AWS days1, vacation, days off, who has the stinking on-call pager, and the like.

I dutifully made my entry for the upcoming week. It read

Ken – Herndon – Class. Please don’t loot my shabbby cubicle while I’m gone.

Just in case not everyone got the word that I’m stayin’ put. Territory, even shabby territory, must be defended.

-k-

1 AWS = Alternative Work Schedule, last refuge of slackers.

Neither Rain, nor Snow …

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Shall deter a beer run. We thought there was a break in the rain, and just returned from our 1.5 mile journey to our little convenience store, who have faithfully stocked MLB’s obscure brand of cigarettes, and our favorite Original Coors for years now.

We arrived back, dampish. The flood watches and warnings are being withdrawn as the storm churns past.

In keeping with this post’s title, we had a huge (24 inch or so) snowstorm a few years ago. After MLB and I got our cars scooped out, our streets still hadn’t been plowed. So I volunteered to walk to the store in search of some malt beverages. The walk wasn’t that bad; the store owner, surprised to see me, started the following dialog:

He: What do you need?
Me: A twelver of Coors.
He: How did you get here?
Me: I walked.
He: I’ll drive you back home.
Me: Make it a case, then.

Service and customer care like that is rare. And we’re loyal customers.

-k-