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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I managed to make it into Tampa on Sunday night, around 20:00 or so.
The cabbie ended up charging me extra for the luggage, as I suspected, and I could have dealt with that in itself.
But things really started getting interesting once I got to the airport.
I managed to get assistance, and found out that it would cost me $80 to $100 to check each individual bag over two, so I decided to carry the rest onto the plane.
When I went through security, they asked me if I could take my shoes off by myself or if I needed someone to do it for me.
Then, they had to take the laptop, because they had to run some “tesses”.
Their words, not mine.
needless to say, I was getting worried at this point.
Once I headed for the plane, the person assisting me told me that two of my bags would not fit under the seat, and that he was putting them in overhead storage, and that I should ask about them once I got to Charlotte.
OK, fair enough.
But when I got to Charlotte, and asked about my bags, there was no sign of them.
I also missed my connecting flight, and so had to wait until almost 18:00 to catch the next flight.
I’ve been trying to find them ever since.
Everyone with the airline seems to have developed a case of the stupids, so I’m calling the Greenville airport today.
I’m missing my laptop, and the suitcase that has all my non-work clothes, along with other vitally needed things, like undergarments.
I hate people.
I really really do.
Now, it looks like I’ll have to go buy new clothes for the time being, which really pisses me off.
The laptop was about to get retired, so while I’m not happy about it being missing, I can deal with it.
While I’m here I can use my aunt’s computer, and I’m sure I can get some things worked out as far as email is concerned.
The clothes, on the other hand, are a different story.
On top of all that, my favorite person in the whole wide world is extremely ill, and I can’t be there to take care of him.
But on a lighter note, the people I’m working with are very nice, and work is going well.
More on that, and everything else, later.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I’m watching a show on the Science Channel about a group of card counters from MIT.
The slant is that you’re supposed to feel sorry for the cassino owners, but I’m not buying it.
If you live by the sword, (which all cassinos do), then you’ll die by it, and just because someone or even a group of someones beats you at your game doesn’t mean you should receive any pity.
It’s all about statistics, and the cassino owners should have realized that someone would figure it out.
No reason to whine and throw a temper tantrum.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I put in my official two weeks’ notice today.
Well, actually, I met with Mr. Frodo and the HR director to see what steps were going to be taken now that we all agree that we’ve exhausted all options.
They told me to just resign.
Given that we’re dealing with some of the worst dissemblers imaginable, my guess is that there’s probably something slightly illegal about that, but at this point I don’t really care.
From where I’m sitting right now, my new job looks like the best thing since sliced cheese.
I know it will have its disadvantages just like everything else, but so far, I haven’t encountered excessive amounts of smoke headed my way, and the people I’ve dealt with have been up front and honest.
And, there won’t be any accessibility issues to worry about, which takes a huge amount of stress out of the equation.
I’m finally over the sinus infection and bronchitis I’ve had for the past three weeks, so posting should be more frequent than it has been.
I’m off tomorrow, and I have to work on Shabbat.
Fortunately, I won’t be having to do that much longer either.
Shavuot is next week, and I have to work those days as well, but this will be the last of the Hagim I’ll be obligated to work.
For the foreseeable future, as long as I give enough advance, I’ll be able to take the days I need off, and since I don’t take many days off as a rule, there shouldn’t be any problems.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

It’s a rainy, windy day here.
I’m still recovering from a major sinus infection on top of bronchitis.
It’s not even 08:30 yet, and I’m sitting back here at work, sitting at my desk.
I’m the only one back here.
Everyone else is up front.
I’m sleepy.
And I can’t believe I actually had to come in here, just to sit around.
I’ll be glad when the hampster wheel stops spinning.
We’ve exhausted all options as far as testing the software is concerned, so now we get to deal with the politics of the situation, hopefully as frankly as possible.
Division of Services for the Blind will be involved in these discussions, because they’ll most likely be helping with the expenses surrounding my switching jobs.
I’m hoping to have this taken care of within the next week.
I don’t have any time to move at the speed of government, and I don’t want to squander the opportunity this new job presents.
I hope to get back to posting regularly within this week.
God knows I have nothing else to do except hurry up and wait while I prod and push for meetings with the appropriate people here at work.
More later.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday, jury selection began in the trial of the now infamous Mary Winkler, the young minister’s wife accused of shooting her husband to death in their parsonage.
According to her lawyers, the couple were arguing over money after having gotten caught up in the Nigerian email scam, also known as the 419 Fraud.
So she killed him, but it wasn’t her fault.
It was the spammers.
Right.
Since when did stupidity become a defense, and, yes, anyone who gets “caught up” in one of these has failed to use their God-given grayware.
When did stupidity and greed become a defense?
Does that mean that I can go off, so something amazingly idiotic, then commit a crime like murder, and then use the original stupid act as my defense?
And let’s discuss the 419 Fraud in and of itself.
It’s not like this kind of thing is new.
It’s been going on since the 1920’s, but back then it was the Spanish Prisoner scam.
The Nigerians picked it up in the 70’s, and since then have turned it into a technological wonder.
But do people actually have to be instructed not to just fork over their life’s savings just because someone says they’ll give you lots of money in return?
I’ve gotten tons of emails like this, and I have yet to be tempted to just hand over my banking information.
Sure.
I’d love a ton of money.
It would make life easy for a while.
But I’m not gullible enough to think that some anonymous twit who comes begging for my information is going to give me any, and noone else should be either.
And how does murdering anyone solve the problem?
It’s not going to bring the money back, and the woman’s likely going to spend a lot of time in prison for this, away from her kids.
Oh well, I suppose if she’s convicted, she’ll have a lot of time to repent for her crime.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been playing around with the Get_custom plugin to see if I could get it to work a litle better than I did the first time I glanced at it, and I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve been able to do with it.
Now, I can add current mood, reading, and whatever else I want to to the site, just by adding a custom field.
I’m really pleased with this plugin, and I recommend it to anyone who likes to tweak.
And BTW, it looks like the syndication monster didn’t bite me after all.
The feed publisher just doesn’t publish an excerpt.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I’d like to apologize for all the posts with no info in them that got posted
yesterday.
I’m working on implementing an automation system that will post while I’m
away or unable to post, and there are some bugs still left.
Note to self: Set up a test server!
So anyway, now that we’ve reached Hol HaMo’ed Pesah, it’s back to posting
manually.

  

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I started reading the Diary of Anne Frank this morning.
It’s so sad to realize that the girl who wrote this never made it past sixteen, and died in such a horrible manner, just because she was Jewish.
Every once and a while, some phrase or other makes that especially poignant.
I’ve never read the diary in full, but plan to finish it over Shabbat.
I read somewhere that she was made an honorary citizen this week.
I imagine that rings especially hollow for her surviving relatives, because if she had been allowed to enter the United States while she was alive, she never would have died in a concentration camp.

  

Current Mood: none
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I just spent the longest time talking to my friend Gina, who I haven’t
talked to on the phone for at least a year, and that was the first time I
had talked to her in ages.
The first time I’m referring to was last year.
We got our contact information straightened out, and it turns out that I had
two very wrong email addresses for her.
I’m also trying to get back in touch with my friend Susan, who I haven’t
talked to in years.
I hope I’m successful, because I’d really like to be in touch with all my
old friends, the ones I grew up with and who have remained friends over the
years.
Tomorrow’s the last day for this week regarding work, and I’m glad for that.
I still haven’t heard about the job I’m applying for, but I’ll give that
some more time.
As far as what’s going to happen with my status at the company I’m working
for now, I have no idea.
Tomorrow is the last day of the project I’m currently working on, and when I
left work yesterday, no one had any idea what was going on.
Oh well, I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
Everyone have a good night.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I managed to sleep in majorly today, and thus I am not at work. I was
supposed to be at work at 07:00, and didn’t manage to wake up for the first,
groggy time at 06:24. Naturally, I called my ride and told him I overslept
and would be to work later. I laid back down on the bed for a second,
thinking I would wake back up in time to be to work by 09:00 and work until
18:00, but I fell asleep again and didn’t wake up until 10:45, and if I had
gotten to work at any time after 11:00, it would have counted as an absence.
Fortunately I have some paid time off, and put some of that in for today.
The occurrence still stands, (I think they keep changing the rule on that
one, because I know I’m not absent-minded enough to keep forgetting the
policy), but at least I’ll get paid. All around though this was unexpected.
I suppose that’s what happens when you can’t sleep the night before.

  

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I heard the alarm go off this morning, and had resolved to get up at about 06:00.
The next thing I knew, my phone was ringing, and it was 06:20.
My mom was on the other line from Ohio.
I got up, and managed to be ready for work on time, but I’m still tired, and I really wish I didn’t have to be here today.
The application process is going right along, but I can’t discuss it further.
I’ll be glad when today is over.
I don’t have anything that isn’t normally on the schedule to do this weekend, and I get to sleep in.

  

Current Mood: none
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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I was reading through my LJ Friends page, and came across a post by a new ex-Christian.
She says she used to work for the 700 Club’s prayer hotline, which got me thinking about all kinds of humorous things.
Like, what would happen if I called and told them that I’m blind, gay and Jewish, and I’m so ashamed of myself I want to commit suicide, and I need someone to pray for me?
And then, wait a month or two, and write a letter telling my story, and now, thanks to J, everything’s peechy.
Yeah, don’t mind me, I’m sick.

  

Current Mood: none
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This afternoon’s meeting with Phil was quite interesting.
Rumple Stiltskin came back to my desk, and told me that someone from
Division of Services for the Blind was here to see me, and that we were
going to work on the software issues.
He also told me that this was “Phase Two” of our little adventure.
Phase two?
You mean Phase One has lasted since December of 2005, and we’re just now
beginning Phase Two?
And how many phases are there going to be?
So Phil and I sit together, and I demonstrate to Phil all the issues with
the software, and he tells management and HR the same thing I’ve been
telling them all this time.
So my case has been reopened with DSB, and I’m now considered post
employment.
Nice how everyone has some nice buzzword for everything.
I’m hoping the process for this new job continues to go as smoothly as it
has.
I got in touch with my friend Damon
this afternoon, and proceeded to drill him on the kinds of questions he got
asked during his interview process.
That probably wasn’t very fair of me, considering he started working for
Freedom Scientific three or four years ago, but I was still in my neurotic
frame of mind.
Fortunately, he took it in stride, (he probably just considered me to be
just like a psycho caller, and wrote it off), and told me that they were
probably asking the questions they did to find out what cue to put me in if
I’m hired.
It’s nice to know that there are always rational people around when you need
them.
I have to be to work tomorrow at 07:30 again.
Well, at least it’s the same time all week.
It was actually suggested to me by my friend Marques at work this morning
that I look into Christianity.
I wasn’t really sure how to answer that, because I don’t want to hurt
Marques’ feelings, and I know he said that because he cares and he wants the
best for me.
I thought about telling him that he could take Jesus if he wanted to, but
that I would take God, but figured that would be mean.
At least he wasn’t pushy or anything.
It’s getting late according to my schedule, so I’m headed to bed.

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Hey all,

I’ve been browsing my LJ friends after a long while of not stopping by, and it occured to me that it might be nice if I posted every once in a while.
I’ve spent some time trying to catch up with some of the blinks I haven’t talked to in a long while, mainly looking up people who’s email address or messenger contacts I no longer have.
So far, I haven’t found any of the people I’m looking for.
I think I’m going to list a second email address on my LJ account so I can post from there as well as my normal one.
Maybe that will convince me to actually post in something slightly less than three-month intervals.
I’m in the process of interviewing for a new job with Freedom Scientific.
I’m hoping for a contract position.
That way, I can avoid the time and expense of moving.
It’ll be nice to not work for Convergys anymore.
I can’t believe how laid-back they seem to be around there, Freedom Scientific I mean, not Convergys.
I’ll try to remember to post some of the entries from Customerservant.com over here, at least the personal ones.
I’ll end for now, but I promise, posting will be more frequent.

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In attempt to make life easier for myself, I’ve copied the audio lectures I have onto my PacMate, for listening away from the computer.
(Actually, I did this Tuesday before I left work, so I’m not sure if it counts as part of today’s progress report, but anyway).
I plan to edit the files down to smaller size pieces, separating them into sections for easier consumption.
This morning, I listened to the first and second files again, and I also plan to retype the notes from those two files in a better attempt to glean what’s important from them.
Up until now, I’ve been focusing on typing the files verbatum, which has slowed me down.
I also plan to get in touch with Belinda to see about getting together this weekend to compare organization techniques, study together, ETC., since she’s been at this longer than I have.
My goal is to have all of this done by Tuesday of next week.
My files are in complete disarray right now, so among the tasks I’ve set for myself to have completed by Tuesday is imposing organization on them and their contents, which I feel will be accomplished by everything I’ve outlined above.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

When I got to work this morning, and tried to connect to the drive that holds the calls I’m translating, I couldn’t get in.
The system didn’t return any kind of “access denied” error, just a message that the drive could not be found.
I can access every other folder on that drive, (the drive I have mapped isn’t an actual drive, but a folder on a network drive), but I can’t get to the one I need.
That’s very odd, and, if this weren’t going on at work, I’d think nothing of it.
But, since this is the Cube Continuum, one always has to consider what might be lurking around the proverbial corner, (I.E., the ever-present knife).
Obviously, I’ll alert the appropriate people as soon as they get in, but this is just too odd for my liking.
I’d like to just file it in the category of colossal acts of stupidity that pass for normal around here, and award whoever managed to pull this off an Order of Moron, 1st Class, but part of me can’t help but harbor conspiratorial thoughts.
More on this as it develops.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I posted earlier in the week that I had implemented a moods feature for the site.
I now have a much easier way to handle this feature.
Earlier, I had to enter in a custom field for each post, wait for it to update, and then publish the post, which ended up creating a draft for the post that was already published.
Since I’m not a fan of unnecessary work, I felt this needed to change.
So I found a plugin that will allow me to specify current mood, music and what I’m watching on TV, if anything.
It will allow me to select from drop-down lists, at least for the mood, and hopefully won’t require any of the unnecessary work I so loath.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I’ve spent the last several hours implementing some new features for the site, namely the ability to display current mood, reading, music, location, ETC.
It’s been rather frustrating.
I’ve spent most of my time tinkering with the code that effects the display, not the code that allows for the information to be entered in.
My sleep schedule’s all screwed up, thanks to my work hours being like they are.
I’ll probably go to bed for a little while later on, but I don’t want it to be an all-day thing, because I want to be able to sleep later tonight.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I normally try to stay away from making new year’s resolutions, because I usually end up not fulfilling them.
Nonetheless, I thought this would be a good time to look back on how far Customerservant.com has come over the last year, and where I would like it to go in the coming year.

The year didn’t get off to a good start as far as the blog was concerned, due to a major upgrading disaster.
Lesson learned: never try to do major blog platform upgrades while you have the flu.
I was honored to host the New Blog Showcase for 7 May of 2006, and would like to do that again in 2007.
It gave me the opportunity to spread the word about new blogs, as well as find some new ones to add to the blogroll.
I participated in this year’s CSS Reboot in the spring, and hope to do so again in 2007, this time with a little more theme work.
As far as site statistics go, I’ve doubled my traffic from last year’s numbers, and I’m grateful for everyone who stops by.
I’ve also been able to bring in a little advertising, and I hope to fine-tune that in 2007.
I’ve also met a lot of interesting bloggers, at least as far as online is concerned.
For 2007, I’d like to look into coming up with a Customerservant.com logo as well, and I’d like to include more images within posts.
I’d also like to offer a sincere thanks to my readers.
Without you guys, I’d just be talking to myself.
Come to think of it, maybe this blog reflection stuff isn’t such a bad idea after all.
This post is part of Problogger’s latest group writing project.
He’s still taking submissions, and there are some cool prizes being offered, plus links, so consider participating.

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Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I actually get to come into work tomorrow at 07:30 instead of 06:00.
That’s so great.
I’m writing this post using Firefox, and things seem to be loading/working a whole lot faster.
We’ll see how the app handles all the windows I need to keep open throughout the day, and if it handles it all well, I just might switch.
I like being able to browse via tabs, and I’m not going to pay the $200 it will take to upgrade my Jaws license just so I can use IE7’s new tabbed browsing feature.
Now, the only thing I need to figure out is how to close a tab.
If I can do that, then I can use Firefox to read all the blogs I normally do.