What is On Jeffs' Mind

So long 2010, not going to miss you…

Not in the least.

Sorry, nothing personal to you, the year, I am just glad your run is done.

Who knows if 2011 will be any better or not, but at least it is a start and can start with some Optimism.

I have to say 2010, you were not all bad. You did bring some good things:

I got to meet my friends the Moyers this summer in Aberdeen Washington. Rick and I have been friends for a few years now, and I finally got to meet him, his wife Amy and his family on Tao tao and My summer trip. Was so great to meet, and spend time with them. Hoping to see them again, as it was a lot of fun. Great friends that I will have for the rest of my life.

Hasbro finally came out with a Twin-Pod Cloud car from the Empire Strikes Back. I had been waiting for this ship for quite some time in the modern line. Ironically enough I also got that well I was in Aberdeen Washington well visiting Rick, Amy and his family. Actually Rick had called me just as I was picking this bad boy off of the shelf. Not a big collecting piece, but one I had been anticipating for quite some time.

My Basement development was completed (with a few touch ups I need to finish). For years I had really wanted a basement where I could display my collection properly, and now I have something that I can display what I have and feel good about it. I am happy it is done, and now I am hoping I can start working on some of my hobbies again like scale model building.

Good News/Bad News – My Rear Projection TV bit the dust in 2010, probably at a time when I was really hoping it would not, but I was able to go out and get a LCD TV, so that was good, helped me enjoy HD programming more.

So I guess looking back, 2010, you were not all that bad…

But why did you let Work be such a monster?

I hated that my life was overshadowed by work. WORK SUCKS!

2010, you were very tough. To start off, I made less this year then I probably have had in at least 5 years. I worked a lot of stressful hours for free. There was zero satisfaction from work. Everything I did this year for work, I walked away with no sense of accomplishment. People seemed very upset this year, executives and management always all over people, expecting more. But they wanted it all done for free. For some stupid reason, I gave them hard hours for free, expecting some how I would be rewarded. Joke was on me, as none of that was coming. I guess some would say, be happy you have a job, I guess that is the attitude I will have to take.

2010, you taught me a valuable lesson. My time is precious, if it is not worth paying for, then it is not worth doing. I know more of these situations will come up, but for 2011, I will be diligent on taking back the hours I gave away for free. I know now, in the work world, no one is looking out for you, so I am looking out for me. I probably always knew that, but 2010 you showed me that.

2010, like I said, I had made less then I had in some time, and the first time in quite some time, not even a raise, and the realization that my pay has fallen behind. I guess that is on me a bit, in that I need to be more in control of where my career is taking me.

2010, sure you brought some good things, but you are done, time to move on, get out of hear, we don’t want you around anymore. You had your run, and I am glad it is done.

2011, I welcome you, and not quite sure what to expect yet, but going to take the lessons from 2010, and hopefully when your end comes, I feeling better about you.

Tags: 2010, 2011, Basement renovations, Rick Moyer, Twin Pod Cloud Car, work

The past week was nothing short of a nightmare in regards to work.

Earlier in the month, at work we attempted to migrate our clients Microsoft Sharepoint servers from 2003 to 2007. Our first attempt at it had to be backed out after we discovered some problems with performance and issues with adding users. The adding users was resolved quickly, but the performance problem dogged us for a week and a half. Many calls to Microsoft support, lots of logging and investigation was spent. That troubleshooting led to having to work on the 20th and 21st in attempts to solving the issues. So on the Saturday, I start work, only to find that one of the servers was not operating, after a full day of troubleshooting, it was decided that it was best to reinstall Sharepoint. Boy, was that a mistake, we installed it, but the resource that we had, got busy on other things, and we were left with an unconfigured Sharepoint. Throughout the week we worked on the performance problems, only to find in the end, that it was a netbios issue in that it resolved the SQL servers name slow. So essentially, adding the SQL servers into the local hosts file for the Sharepoint servers fixed the issue with the performance. After that we continued on with the configuration, but ran into a problem well trying to configure the SSP for the farm. Another call to Microsoft, and working late at night with a deadline date looming. After a few stressful hours, the fix was found, and involved running a command on our second Sharepoint server. A few other issues were resolved, and we were ready for our Migration.

Armed with my steps on migrating, I set out on Saturday to start the configuration. Well it could not have gone any worse. Our first attempt failed, when we could not load the front page. We decided to try again, as we felt some other config we had done earlier in the week was causing an issue. The second attempt was a failure as well. People were getting pretty worried, as these servers needed to be done by March 31′st and this would be our last attempt. Another call to Microsoft, and we worked through the night and into Sunday troubleshooting the site. Finally after hours and hours of troubleshooting, we copied over the part of the Sharepoint site that was working from a different server. That fixed the issue, and the servers were done.

The past week was probably the most stressful and most hours I had ever worked. I had worked basically double my hours for the week, and all very stressful. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I did not get a chance to eat my supper until 12:00 am each night. The only bright spot in the work week was the Star Trek comic I received from my friend Rick in the mail, it is cool, and I am looking forward to reading it. I would start work around 7:30 and would not be finishing until 12:00 am, so basically lived the job. The second weekend, I worked from around 7:00 am Saturday morning until 2:00 pm Sunday, only taking a few hours off to go setup for the toy show on Sunday.

Probably the hardest part of the weekend, was that I ended up missing a good part of the toy show. once work had finished on Sunday, I headed to the toy show, but only got to spend a few hours there. I had a table again this year, and was so looking forward to selling and talking to all the different people. Jason shared the Table with me, and covered for me. He actually did a great job selling my stuff, he sold a lot of the stuff I could never the previous few toy shows. By the time I arrived at the show, most of what I brought was sold, so that was a pleasant surprise. But it was a real disappointment to miss so much. I was there to setup and there to tear down, but missed the real heart of the show. I was happy to get there for the final few hours, talk to a few people, wander around, and man the table.

I was so tired after working straight so many hours, but I am really glad I went. My friend Dale had a great setup of all his Kubricks, it was incredible to see all the Star Wars Kubricks in one spot. Dale is the only known person in North America with a complete collection of Star Wars Kubricks, and his display was impressive. Dale also sold me a set of Boba Fett Kubricks that were on the card. They are the first set of carded Kubricks I have ever bought. It is beautiful, as there are six different variations of Boba Fett. I am really impressed, and so happy Dale sold it to me. He told me about it on Saturday well setting up, and then told me again about it. I am just so happy to buy these, they are just so awesome, and since I have been a Fett fan, really something I should have in my collection. I am going to check with my Wife to see if there is some way I can get this mounted so I can hand it on a wall. The car backs for these are cool as well, as they mimic the Vintage Star Wars Kenner figures from back when I was a kid. All I can say, are these are awesome, I am so glad I went to the show, and it helps make up for a hell of a week.

Tags: Boba Fett, Dale, Jason, Microsoft Sharepoint, Rick Moyer, Star Wars Kubricks, work

I have not really slept well for the past few days, so some of my thoughts may partly be because I have not really had a real solid sleep. Laying on the couch this morning, my mind was thinking about all the things in my life that I haven’t been able to put as much of myself into as I would like. Recently I have been focused on a Sharepoint migration at work, and it has chewed up a lot of my time on the weekends, but it really just goes deeper then one project or application. Last week, I had to take some time off to balance out my work week, since policy changes at where I work will only compensate us for 40 hours. You can work more then 40 hours, and I am sure the company would like that very much, but you will not get any additional pay, or the ability to bank the hours for use later. Even though I was off, I still felt burdened, I was thinking, what were others thinking of me for being away, well there was still so much to do, I was thinking about the long hours this weekend is bringing, and just thinking about how tired I felt.  My job weighs so heavy on my mind, and I am frustrated that it does, as it shouldn’t.

I was thinking about all the things in my life that I haven’t been able to put more into, and made me feel sad.

My Family: Last night I went over to my parents for my nephews 6th birthday, I had been working all day, and I was not able to wrap his present properly. I felt bad for that, as he deserved better then that. I knew he would just rip it off quickly, but it was something small that I wasn’t even able to do. Also my mind was not really there, as I was lost in thought about the problems of the day, and what we will be doing today. I think of all the times over the past few years, when I was not there for my family, because at times I placed work ahead of my family. It was not something that I wanted to do, but I did in the end, and I truly regret that.

My Marriage: I am not as attentive to my Wife as I should be. We seldom go out, and many times even when I am not working, I am tired or I have work weighing on my mind. There have been times over the past few years, where she has gotten the short end of the stick, as again, I have placed the wants of my job ahead of her. A few years ago, we went on a weekend trip to Banff. Shortly before we left, I was informed that I needed to execute a change. So We had to rush back early from the trip so that I could do the work. She never truly got to enjoy that weekend in the mountains as we were there, and then we were gone. This summer, her mother came to visit, which was a busy time since we also moved. They went on a few trips, but I was never able to accompany them, as I was working. The one trip I did take them on to Jasper, was a one day trip, again, in and out, no real time to check things out. I recall we did see some great things, like some awesome waterfalls and watching some people cliff diving, but all to short and brief as needed to get back.

My Friends: I have some great friends, both local and non local, but I never spend as much time as I would like with them. A few weeks ago I spent some time with my good friend Dave. I had not seen him in awhile, and I called him up as I needed some help with picking up some building supplies, and then the following day for help when my TV broke. He was there to help me out, and the time I got to spend with him I really enjoyed. My other friends as well I have not spent much time, the two Jason’s I have not seen very much of, it has been a long time since I met up with my friend Donald. My friend Jason from Calgary is always asking for people to come down and visit, and I have not done that in so long, as usually every weekend I have committed myself to some sort of work. My friend Jason who is local, as mentioned going out for something to eat, and I have missed the last few times since always seems to be something with work.

I also have a great group of friends online, and I have seen all the great fun things they have done. But over the past few years, all I really have done is stand on the sidelines and watched, never contributing anything to the endeavors that they are doing. Some of what they have done, were things I was very interested in, but due to the time I was putting into my job, I have never participated in them. I look back, and that was a wrong choice, even if I did not have a lot of time, I should have contributed, as I think it would have been very good for me. I am grateful for my friend Rick, who I email regularly, we had a great chat on Friday, and I wish we would do those more, as we talk about a lot of fun and interesting things. I also exchanged some emails earlier in the week with my friend Dan, and talked about some shared interests we have. It is just so awesome to talk with people who have the same interests as you, as it makes you appreciate it more. I need to spend more time in my online communties.

Hobbies: I have not put much into my hobbies and the things that I really have passion for. This blog is an example, as it has been sometime since I have posted. I need to do that more. I had some great ideas for it, and I have never really allowed them to take off. My Podcasts as well, I have neglected them as well mainly due to work. My main Podcast that I do with my friend Jason, Champodcast, it feels at time I am just putting the minimum into it. The website for it has not changed since we launched, the forums I should be posting more, and more time spent on promoting it. But lately I have just been maintaining instead of building. My other podcast What’s in Jeff’s Basement, I have done nothing in the past year. I promise myself that when I get my basement done, more time will go to it, and I need to keep to that promise. Jason and I are also talking about launching a site for our group of Podcast we are working on, I was thinking about it the other day, but haven’t done anything more on it, I need to get on that.

My collecting has taken a bit of a back seat over the past few months as well. I have picked up a few things, but for the most part, I have really not done much. That is not a bad thing, as that is spending money, but I should probably try and follow it more closely, as even if I am not buying anything, I am still interested in what is released. This upcoming weekend is the annual Edmonton Toy and Collectible show. I have a table again this year, and will be selling a few items. I always enjoy that, mainly for meeting up with fellow collecting friends and talking about the hobby. The scary thing, is that I am considering missing it over work, if I do that, I will regret it. The issues we are working on now seem to be pointing to the toy show weekend for that work to happen. I have to find it in myself to say no to work, and place this Toy Show ahead of what ever demands are there. I think from a general mental health stand point, if I miss this show and doing something I really enjoy, it is going to stick with me for a long time and fester.

Around the House: Last summer I moved into a house. There have been renovation that I have done, but they have taken painfully long to do. My basement is near completion, but for the amount of work, they probably should have been done much sooner. There is still other things to be done, but it seems like I am always putting them off as I am either working or tired from it. Once Spring comes, I also need to get out in the yard and make sure I manage it before it becomes to much, with that, you cannot wait to long.

From the start of this Blog to the end of it, I have found I feel much better. Just writing down some of my feelings and frustrations with where I am right now had been somewhat cathartic. I was not really intending that when I started this, but at least it has helped in that I feel in a better mood to take on what I have today, and to realize that a lot starts with me. Work seems to be the main reason for my troubles, and I have struggled with it in the past. It usually gets over me and pounds me down, probably because I let it.  I guess all one can do is the best they can, and let that speak for itself. Some of the things I worry about, are just not my responsibility. The project I am working on, if it doesn’t get completed on time, that is some one else to deal with. If I look at it simply, if it is not my responsibility, then I should not put any of my energy, effort or worry into it.  For work, things work out the way they work out, for my life, what I truly care about, that is where my attention should be.

Tags: Champodcast, Dave, Jason, Jason L, Rick Moyer, Sharepoint, Tao tao, What's in Jeffs Basement, work

I realized it has been a few weeks since I have posted anything on my site. I guess all I can say is that I have been busy, I thought it would have been with moving, but unfortunately more with work.

The plan of mine was after I was done with my oncall schedule, that I would focus on getting ready for moving. I had done a bit of that, but so far, not as much as I would have liked. Unfortunately it seems like there is a lot going on at work, which in turn I have had to spend time working after hours. It seems every summer, people like to start up projects, that push into summer. I guess that frustrates me, as staffing is already short, and to me it just seems unfair for people to start up projects which mean that people have to work extra hours through the summer months. I just look at the suit tie people who start these up, and then ask for updates, and then jet away on their holidays, leaving others to meet their time-lines. With covering for holidays of others, and this added work, it makes what is supposed to be a great season, ultimately a miserable one.

Last summer I carried some anger, from both work and outside of work, and at the end, I felt I really missed out on the season. I am worrying I might fall into that mindset again, and I really don’t want to. It will be a busy summer, and I really don’t have time to brood about things. The past few weeks at work has been challenging, and at time it has gotten the better of me, but I have to stamp that out, and focus on the next few months. Work is there between 8 and 5, but after that, I don’t feel I am obligated to it, I have informed my management that I have other priorities. I may have let things creep in this week, but going forward, life after 5 is about different things. I informed who I needed to inform, and really is up to me to follow through with what is my priority right now, which is moving, and ultimately enjoying summer for the next few months. I can change me, as what is around me, I cant really, and some of those things I cant do anything about it regardless.

Last night I met up with a friend of mine, Dale, and he had the new series of Star Wars Kubricks. I had been looking forward to the series,and they look great. Dale also gave me a good price on the chase Commander Gree Kubrick, as I have a minor focus on the character after getting the Helmet a few years ago. The series was based on Episode 3 of Star Wars. They had Anakin, Darth Sideous, Clone Trooper, Darth Vader, Tarful and General Grievous. My only real complaint is the distribution of these. I get a box of these, and have extras, but in the past, they used to have at least 2 or each figure, except for 2. Now 3 of the 6 figures you only get one, and the others you get multiples. The break down for my box was 1 Anakin, 1 Darth Sideous, 1 Tarful, 2 General Grievous, 3 Darth Vader and 4 Clones. It might be that they have Clones in the set, as the last series was similar in breakdown, with a lot of Clones. I guess for me, I only really just like one of each, and before, the way they are distributed, there was more flexibility with the set. I guess I am getting an extra Clone instead of possibly an extra Anakin, Darth Sideous or Tarful. I am hoping if future series that they go back to maybe a more traditional distribution, as other series have had troopers, but never over filled with them. But regardless, I am excited about having these, and adding them to my others.

Tags: Anakin, Commander Gree, Dale, Darth Sideous, Darth Vader, Ep3 Clone Trooper, General Grievous, Star Wars Kubricks, Tarful, work