News Update

I obviously haven't done this in awhile. And the formatting will be off since I'm at my in-laws. But since the paperwork has been done, I can officially report on my life without jinxing it.

A week from this coming Monday (June 27th, to be precise) I will be starting my new job at AOL as a systems administrator. Bit of a commute, especially since I have to drive the whole way, but the work sounds exciting and I really like Nathaniel, my new direct boss. Plus, I'm going to be making the same salary as my previous place of employment.

So, what else has been occupying my time. Battlefield2 demo is out, and I've been spending enough time with it that my already meager Counter Strike skills have atrophied. Full game comes out next week, I believe the 22nd.

My mother-in-law has had a recurrence of her recent kidney cancer (the central reason for this week's visit) so please all keep her in your prayers. Yes, you, one of maybe three people that have ever read my blog. Captivating as it may be.

And Friday we're going to King's Dominion with the kids. Should be eventful, to say the least... LOL

That's all for now. Cheers!

The Office - Funnyfox

Last week Mozilla Europe launched some extremely funny promotional videos for Firefox and ZDNet is reporting that they're spreading across the net like wildfire.

Home/Office setup photos on BroadbandReports.com

New Gaming Rig, plus some extras...: Got my stuff posted up in the forums at BroadbandReports.com, and also have the following update:

just got the Plextor back from their repair yesterday, I'm putting the sucker in now. They gave me an older one, most likely refurbished which bites, but if it works I shan't complain.

I'm leaving the CD-ROM in though, just in case...

New Gaming Rig

OK, so here's the photo shoot for my new gaming rig, as described in the previous post below.

Here's the parts as they came in, many boxes all filled with wondrous toys.

Unboxed.

CrazyHarry in all its glory

Side view with flash; I've done some serious cable management since this pic, looks much better now.

Side view with no flash; pretty lights!!

I love the look of the Muskateer dials, such a prety glow...

File server (Scooter) has a new home in a Compaq Workstation with a Xeon733MHz processor, with Antec HDD enclosures for the dual 160GB drives in RAID1.

Makes a nice speaker stand as well. ;-)

My setup as it is now, from right to left: workstation (FozzieBear, old gaming rig), new gaming computer (CrazyHarry), and app/game server (Zoot).

Better view, you can see the old Dell on the floor, might become a Linux workstation.

THX baby! These Z-5300e speakers ROCK!!!

Video Roundup

So much fun borders on the impropriety.


Gah, broken images...

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/numanuma.html

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/idle.html

The Marathon

A woman was having a daytime affair while her husband was at work. One wet and windy day she was in bed with her boyfriend when, to her horror, she heard her husband's car pull into the driveway.

"Oh my God -- hurry! Grab your clothes," she yelled to her lover, "and jump out the window. My husband's home early!"

"I can't jump out the window!" came the strangled reply from beneath the sheets, "it's raining out there!"

"If my husband catches us in here, he'll kill us both!" she replied. "He's got a very quick temper and a very large gun; the rain is the least of your problems!"

So the boyfriend scoots out of bed, grabs his clothes and jumps out the window. As he begins running down the street in the pouring rain, he quickly discovers he has run right into the middle of the town's annual marathon, so he starts running along beside the others, about 300 of them.

Despite being naked, with his clothes tucked under his arm, he tries to blend in as best he can.

After a little while, a small group of runners, who had been studying him with some curiosity, jogged closer. "Do you always run in the nude?" one asked. "Oh yes!" he replies, gasping for air. "It feels so wonderfully free!"

Another runner moved alongside. "Do you always run carrying your clothes under your arm?" "Oh, yes" our friend answered breathlessly. "That way I can get dressed right at the end of the run and get in my car and go home!"

The third runner cast hi s eyes a little lower and queried, "Do you always wear a condom when you run?"

"Nope.......just when it's raining!"

Just been one of those months...

So I've been on my mandatory vacation for 5 weeks now. Was supposed to start a new job this past Monday, signed all the papers with the contracting agency, but then the client (Nextel) decided to cut the funding for the position, which I just found out Tuesday night. Sigh. So now back to the drawing board.

The agency is looking at some more options for me, and I can tell they're really pulling out all the stops, but I've had it already with the contracting idea. I wasn't all that thrilled with the idea to begin with, I mean the very reasons people like it are the opposite of what I'm looking for, namely stability and security. Not to mention, with the agency my benefits don't kick in for two months.

On the positive side, I did finally build my new computer. Granted, I was only able to do so because I thought I was employed again and could use those funds from my severance, and now I feel a tad guilty about it, but... it is SWEET! And it FLYS through CS:S, I mean all the extras and textures turned up I still get about 106fps.

Just as a reference, my old box, with everything down to minimum, got 57fps.

So here's what I've got now:

ANTEC P-160WF case with Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU
Athlon64 3500+ Winchester on ASUS A8V Deluxe
ZALMAN CNPS7000B-AlCu Aluminum + Copper CPU Cooler
1GB Corsair XMS PC3200
WD Raptor 74GB SATA RAID0
WD 120GB IDE
Plextor PX-716SA/SW DVD±RW (actually arrived DOA, what a pisser)
Cooler Master Musketeer Controller Panel (Silver)
Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX Speakers
Deck LED-Backlit Keyboard

Here's what I took from my old box, or already had on hand:

PNY Verto GeForce 6800GT 256MB
Logitech MX1000
Saitek ST90 Joystick
SyncMaster 710T

Since the bloody Plextor wouldn't work (won't eject) and I was too frugal to purchase a second drive for in it, I'm using an old 48x CD-ROM for now.

In keeping with my Muppet naming convention for my home network, I have christened it "CrazyHarry". You know, the bomb-throwing one. Perfect for playing on the Terrorist side in CS:S. LOL

Good News

As most of you know, I was let go from NEGT on March 4th. Though I've enjoyed the mandatory vacation, the idea of employment was starting to sound pretty good.

Well, I just tonight accepted an offer from Nextel as an IT Support Specialist III. I start April 11 at their Herndon, VA campus. Basically, a first-tier support on the application level, monitoring UNIX server apps. It will be shift work at first, the first 3-4 months earning my "stripes" so to speak. I'm a contractor initially, but if they still want me after the 3-4 months then they will hire me full-time and I move into one of several level two or three tier positions, meaning more responsibility and different areas of responsibility.

This will be a bit of a change, not only the shift work but transitioning from a jack-of-all-trades into an application specialist, but it should be fun and challenging.

Not sure what my work email will be, but as always you can reach me at my home email.

Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers!