Well Overdue Update and ramble

[crunch]

This update brought to you by rand(); and ramble();

Server Room Disaster
Our OLD server room here at work just had a new Air Conditioning unit installed, of course I didn't know when it was going in until it was done. over the last few hot days the room has been getting hot. REAL hot. so the idea of the AC was to keep the computers save and in an environment that would extend their lifetime to the expected full length.

This is where the fun starts. The AC installers did heaps of Cutting of Plasterboard in the room with out using any precautions. every surface of the room was covered in Plasterboard dust. (It MAY be Gyprok I'm not sure the difference. I should Google.. I would if I didn't have so much to write)

Now, the mortals amongst us would think "Plasterboard dust, thats like.. a white powder, its inert, Its harmless why do you care". The other people amongst us will go "Plasterboard, thats got a significant proportion of LIME in it which is going to make it quite caustic" and the answer is YES.. its Caustic. in a test we ran here in the lab we got a pH of ~11.6 on the scrapings of dust i took from the room.

The result of this is we have HIGHLY caustic dust throughout our server room, many of the servers have ingested this dust. and we have to get it cleaned out.. Urgently before it absorbs moisture and creates a highly caustic solution surfaces in the servers.

A company called Cyberclean is coming in to have a look and quote on the removals. I may even do the work myself if I think I can. Get them to decontaminate the actual room and then do the servers myself over the weekend.

Hopefully the company insurance will pay for it. Luckily this fuckup isn't my fuckup. Nor i think its safe to say is it the guys i work with.


Building of a Side fence
The fence between my house and the Neighbours house was falling down horribly. When all the creeper and other shrubs were pulled off the fence it was discovered that the only thing holding the fence up was the green matter and not the fencing materials. So over the course of a couple of weeks we ripped out the fence and replaced it with a brand new shiny wooden fence with trellis on the top. It looks nice and shiny. Dropping Chick Straw (Chick Pea leftover) on the garden bed in front of it makes the whole side of the garden look VERY smart. Chick Straw sits on top of the soil and helps keep there moisture in the soil.


Drought
Which leads into the next problem. My Garden. It's getting very dry. Which is why I put the Chick Straw down. MOST of the plants in my garden are fairly hardy individuals. My Garden has had very little water in the last 10 years, HOWEVER there are, (as there always are) a couple of plants that need water or they will die! One of the plants is next to the new front fence and the other is at the back of the house. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep them alive during the new year with the ban on watering but I should be okay. Hopefully we don't go to stage four them those plants are really screwed. Fingers crossed they can survive a few months with out water.


My Car is Sick
I walked out of the house this morning to get into the car and noticed that there were some old looking drops of oil on the garage floor underneath the front of the car.

Now, the car that was parked in the garage BEFORE I moved in was a little shit box and it leaked oil quite badly. I couldn't remember if the drops had been there or not. I rolled the car forward and checked again.

:( A VERY fresh dollop of oil was sitting in the middle of the floor! :( i think my car has blown a seal! I checked the oil levels in the car and it has heaps so its not GUSHING oil.

I got to work and checked my car park and noticed oil there as well :(

My Car is checked in for a service and repair next Thursday at the local car mechanic my family has used (and has been pleased with ) for the last 10 years. Going to be an expensive service though :( A belt change and a seal change!


Job Hunting - resume Writing
I'm job hunting again. I'm fully employed at the moment and theres no likely hood of me loosing my job, but im not happy here. The Management decisions due to the companys being merged into one and then outsourced to the parent company have resulted in the following happening:

I was passed over for promotion to for the management of the IT group in the company because the OTHER guy who is here is older, and was earning more.. so they Couldn't see how they could make me manager without giving me a pay rise. I accepted this because my Canberra manager promised me it would be short term. The guy who was made manager isn't very popular because they often have trouble making him show up. The management team here in Melbourne aren't very happy but theres nothing they can do because:

The Canberra company sold the IT department and all equipment back to the parent company, this means they have no control over the IT department anymore so even if they WANTED to change the way things worked they cant as it has to go back through to the parent company who i now work for and actually dislike quite a lot because they are arrogant and cant understand why we don't want to be part of them even though they cant provide us any services..

My Canberra manager was sacked because the board lost faith in him. This was the guy who made promises to me on how my career and salary would go in this company. With him gone so are his promises. he promised me that i would be manager in the long term. He also promised me a pay rise in the near future.

I used to have a project that was the integration project that was the project for uniting the it infrastructure of the two companys. it was working well.. Really well. then the other guy was made manager and they decided that keeping me as the Project Manager wouldn't work as you would have me calling the shots on one part of the work and him on another part. So i'm no longer project manager.

The result of this and my Canberra manager leaving is that the NEW managers in Canberra don't realize that I ever ran anything on my own that I managed ap project successfully or that most of the work that was happening was my stuff. To them im just the sysadmin who is in Melbourne.

I used to have the ability to organise purchasing of equipment. Now with the Canberra office taking over the company and us working for them, they are being a pain with the purchasing. EVERYTHING has to go through them so I no longer have any choice in what we buy.

So in the last 6 months I've , Been passed over for promotion, Been sold to a company that has shown time and time again they cant provide the services we need, I had my integration project taken away from me, Loss of Skill recognician and finally loss of the purchasing power

So add that all together and im not happy here and im going to start hunting for a new job. My resume needs to be reworked because its out of date and too long now. I need to reduce 6 pages to 2 and cut out the older jobs and put in more interesting stuff that catches peoples eyes.


Cat Hunting
I'm about -> <- close to goign up and getting a cat. Aparently theres lots of cats at the RSCA and there more at the Coldstream Anamal Shlter because all the animals form the fire regions were brought in to a safe location. I have sombody (I think) who would possibly be able to look after it whilst im away next year (if I actually sort that out) so its just a matter of deciding if I can handle the commitment.

Most people know im not very good at commitment at all. Infact im damn right shokcing at commitment.

Comments

[drwally.livejournal.com]

My folks are out in the country and their shire has a total ban on watering residential gardens - so they keep a bucket in their shower to catch the water before it gets hot then move it out of the way. After a couple showers you have a full bucket that you can use on the garden and it is pretty water-wise really. We are doing the same thing - easy when you have a combo bath-shower.

As for getting a cat well they are a damn sight more independent than a dog. When we went away we invited a friend to house-sit for us and feed the cat. She loved it because she had a housemate she despised so got to live by herself for a while. If you have local friends they can drop in every day, that works too. You can sweeten the deal with net access and so on...!

[sootysmudge.livejournal.com]

Re: cats. My darling Sooty came from the Animal Aid Trust (which is at Coldstream, just past Lilydale).I would really recommend them, but any animal welfare agency will not doubt have lots of cats/kittens this time of year.

re: going away, you have some options, put puss in a cattery (which is what l do, l won't even leave Soot home alone for a night, l can recommend Ashburton vet/cattery), or get someone to look after the cat. Personally l'd always put them in a cattery, you KNOW they are safe. This is not to say you have unreliable cat -looking-after friends, its just that asking someone to look after a cat is a big responsibility.

Re: gardens, mulch is good, but if Stage 4 restrictions come in, our gardens will just be pickled, and we'll have to
accept that. What l find really sad is the plants in gardens that l see slowly dying every day as l walk past on my way to the station, and at the moment there's no need for people to let things die, part of course from their general apatheticness.

[kaths.livejournal.com]

The last time I took my cat to a cattery, they said they'd never had such a stressed cat in all the years they've been running the place! Little did the yknow that that's pretty much how she is normally, and so she would have only been a bit worse than normal there.

So in her case, it's better to leave her here when I go away. She does get lonely, but I have three neighbours who are all trustworthy, and I set up a roster if I'm away for more than a few days. Plus she's mostly an indoors cat, so she's kept inside during that time.

[sootysmudge.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I've never asked my cattery if Soot looks stressed or not, in fact, in a sense l don't care, l know he'd by unhappy if left at home (and be getting into all sorts of mischief) and that l would just worry about him being outside, so its better for him to be in a cattery.

[kaths.livejournal.com]

Yep, depends on the individual cat I think as to the best thing to do for them.

Cats = comments

[(Anonymous)]

It helps if you can get a cat who you get along with really well. You might want to have a quick Google for the temperaments of various breeds. Also keep in mind that much of a cat's personality is formed when it's very young - so, for example, if a kitten spends the first few months of its life in a cage it's likely to be less comfortable with pats and cuddles permanently. Maybe try to get one as young as possible, so it grows up to suit your temperament.

Re: Cats = comments

[sootysmudge.livejournal.com]

yes thats true, and if you get a cat from a welfare agency, you have no idea what sort of life it had previously. I could tell from when he was a kitten that Soot was always going to be a 'skitty' frightened cat, but for me that was ok.

Re: Cats = comments

[dcrisp.livejournal.com]

Who wrote this?? :P
The last time I went cat hunting with sombody I wasnt shopping for myself. I sat down in the corner of the Kenel Cage and waited for her to make the choice. The cat that she eventually got turtned out to be the one that wandered over to me and jumped on my lap to say hello.

Hopefully I can get a cat the similar way when I eventually go cat hunting. Sit down and wait to see which cat comes over and talks to me.

I'm not sure how I will go with a cat in the first few months. Thats why I havent got one untill now. I have seen the result of a cat that was pretty much ignored and that cat is a psychopath. If it even THINKS your about to pat her she isses and tears you apart. Pretty much because her owner left her to her own devices for ages.

Re: Cats

[dzurlady.livejournal.com]

Ooh, kitten! They are fairly low maintenance, and it's fun to play with them when they are young and playful. :) The main thing is just to spend time with them, and to be consistent with the rules you want to enforce (eg no jumping on the bench).

As far as looking after my cat goes - each day he gets feed at least twice. Sometimes he'll get more if he's hungry (he's a big - not fat - cat). The effort involved in this is:
1. Finding the food that he likes. Cats are often picky, some more than others. Jules hates fish, for example.
2. Cleaning his bowl out when it's messy. Doesn't need to be done every time, but regularly.
3. Check water bowl levels.
4. Trying to persuade him to eat what he's got if he doesn't like it (generally you just show it to him and refuse to give him any more and he'll eat it eventually, although sometimes it gets too old and we throw it out). The main issue with this is that a hungry cat is a cat meowing at you and being underfoot. Eventually they give up, though. :)

When you first get a kitten, they'll need a litter tray which needs looking after (daily emptying, regular changing). You can then teach your cat to go outside, or continue with the litter tray. Also as a kitten, you'll need to spend some time playing with them (so much fun - Jules used to play fetch!). Jules loved best of all corks, pens, a 30cent ball with a bell in it, and string, so they are cheap to entertain.

It sounds like a lot of effort, but it isn't really. As long as you're home fairly regularly to spend time with your cat, I'm sure you'll be fine. Plus, they purr so nicely!

Hopefully I can get a cat the similar way when I eventually go cat hunting. Sit down and wait to see which cat comes over and talks to me.
Sounds like a good idea!

Also - post photos. People love a good kitten photo. :)

[mireille21.livejournal.com]

Regards your job, finding a new one sounds like a good idea (I know there's plenty of IT stuff going at NAB at the moment). In the meantime however, is it possible to let the new bosses owners know a bit more? Subtle conversation starters like; On project X that I was working on I really enjoyed being able to do y, so can you tell me what development areas of the business exist that I may be able to put these skills back to work rather than letting them go to waste? Sometimes managers (if they have good business sense that is) pay attention to such comments and respond. This keeps their business running at optimum level and keeps their employees engaged and loyal to the company. Of course if they don't listen, you lose nothing and they certainly can't complain when you get poached away but some highly desirable competitor.

As for cats, I was completely heartbroken when I had cause to go to the Lost Dogs Home to look for a friend's cat. he wasn't there unfortunately, but there were so many adorable and friendly kittens it was all I could do not to succumb. As for mine, I'm the one who suffers seperation anxiety. I have discovered that the Skog tend to bond with their choice of human, and it was clear from early on that this was me. Going to Europe last year was equally heart-wrenching (and even Jon had to take a day or two off work for kitten sanity) and there are days when she clearly doesn't want me to go to work. Of course, she can be equally aloof if she chooses, but then she wouldn't be a cat otherwise would she. Want someone to come cat shopping with you? :)