Archives 2016

So my day at work yesterday was not enjoyable.  Although I felt slightly better later in the day it was still one big slog.  I didn’t want to talk, I just wanted to be left alone.  Instead of a normal lunch hour visit to the gym I instead spent it in parking lot in the Tacoma, napping.  I did get an appointment with our employee clinic but it was not until late in the day.

After taking my vitals I had the very unpleasant flu swab test where they stick swabs far, far up your nostrils.  I winced and tears immediately started flowing from my eyes.  I figured the test would confirm it was the flu and I now just had to wait it out.  Well when the test came back negative I was very surprised.  My symptoms all seem like classic flu symptoms so I asked the NP what else could it be.  She said likely it is still a virus, just not the flu virus.  She had no quick fix advice other than high dosing of vitamin C.  She also wrote a script for amoxicillin that she said I could take if I don’t start seeing substantial improvement by the weekend, just in case it is a bacterial issue.  I’m not the type to casually take antibiotics so it is unlikely I will crack the bottle.

Last night I again had to fight through coughing fits until I finally fell asleep for good.  Luckily the office was ok with me sleeping in a bit and coming in mid-morning.  The extra couple hours in bed felt good.  The bad news is Cindy is starting to feel not so great.  It would suck that after being in the house with my germs for almost a week, now she starts coming down with it.  I am crossing my fingers it is a false alarm.

So this illness does not appear to be following the normal slow upward curve to recovery I am accustomed to.  After feeling like I was in a coma on Saturday I had some improvement through mid-day Monday.  However since then I feel like I have slipped backwards with hacking, body aches, and lethargy that have had me laying back in bed a lot.  I just have no energy.

Last night I was still running a temperature of just under 101 and had another poor night of sleep, accented by coughing fits.  I woke up this morning not feeling significantly better but decided I would drag myself into work anyway.  I made an appointment at our employee health clinic for later in the day although I really think there is very little they can do for me at this point.  I have a feeling I just have to ride it out to it’s miserable conclusion.

Yesterday Cindy had her first session as an assistant track and field coach for one of the local middle schools.  There were a surprising number of hoops that had to be jumped through just to qualify her to take the position.  She said she had a lot of fun working with the kids.  It’s good experience for Cindy and yet another thing to add to her expanding fitness professional resume.

Although yesterday was the best day of the last three health wise it was still far from any semblance of normal.  If I did anything that included me being on my feet for more than a few minutes I felt like I needed a prolonged recovery period.  The coughing and hacking has replaced the chills and sweats as the primary symptoms on display.  My body still had pain in pretty much every area, making it uncomfortable to do much anything at all.  On the plus side I did spend most of the day awake and in the seated position.

Last night Cindy and I watched our latest Netflix rental, Selfless.  The premise of the movie was intriguing, science develops a way to shuffle minds between bodies.  Ben Kingsley plays a very thinly veiled Donald Trump in the film, they even shot scenes inside Donald’s gold plated everything Manhattan apartment.  Ben is old and rich but dying of cancer.  He gets his mind moved over to Ryan Reynolds body and the adventure begins.   The movie was much more of an action flick than I expected.  I also thought it was odd that when Ben’s mind got shoved into Ryan’s body that none of Ben’s personality, speaking patterns or mannerisms seemed to follow.  The movie was entertaining and different enough to squeak out a B+ rating in my book, despite some of it’s oddities.

So last night I was praying I would finally get that solid night of sleep I needed so desperately. Once again the sleep didn’t start until the wee hours of this morning.  Repeatedly I would be right on the edge of drifting off and a coughing fit would ensue which I tried to combat with drinks of water or additional shots of cough syrup.  This was in addition to the Nyquil night time tablets I took.  When the coughing finally subsided I did finally get a solid block of sleep until I crawled out of bed a little after 9am.

As of now I feel pretty similar to as I did yesterday.  I am still waiting for the Nyquil haze to clear.  Regardless tomorrow I plan to be back at work, I can’t take one more day of lethargy.

So there has been a lot of illness going around the office recently, the latest victim being someone in our department who went home Thursday mid-day, shortly after we had a staff meeting.  He called in sick Friday as well, sounding horrible.  I went through my day Friday feeling fine, glad that I was not yet another victim of the flu bug.

Well late Friday evening I started having these subtle pangs of un-wellness in my body.  I just didn’t feel right and I started with a small but persistent cough.  This amplified overnight where I had horrid sleep.  Aches and pains multiplied and grew as my body went through period of intense shivering cold followed by sauna like sweats.  When daylight broke I drug myself out of bed to let the chickens out of the coop although I barely had the strength to walk.  When Cindy came out and told me she would handle the rest I offered no resistance.  I stumbled back inside and collapsed into bed.

Saturday may have been one of the most miserable days of illness I can recall in quite a long time.  Every molecule in my body felt like it hurt.  Normal illness activities like watching tv, being on the computer, reading or even sitting up right all seemed insurmountably difficult and I did none of it. Instead I just laid in bed feeling nearly paralyzed as waves of cold and heat surged through my body.  I felt absolutely awful. Cindy of course wanted to do what she could to help me but I also wanted to try to avoid her catching this bug at all costs.  We tried to keep her physical contact with me at a minimum and I tried to not let my germs fly everywhere, coughing into my upper arm and washing stuff vigorously.

Even though all my body wanted to do was lay there even that became problematic.  Laying around for double digit hours causes all sorts of discomfort for somebody that normally is not great at standing still.  In addition to body pain from the flu, there was ancillary pressure point pain in my backs and legs from being in bed all day.  The few times that I did force myself to sit up and walk a few steps it felt like colossal work, that required me to lay back down immediately afterward.

I felt badly that Cindy was forced to be a participant in what had to be a pretty miserable scenario.  Any attempts she made to engage me in any conversation were met with a few grunts or groans.  Of course our plans to see Deadpool Saturday night were washed away as well.

In an attempt to again minimize her exposure to my illness Cindy slept in the guest bedroom Saturday night.  Sadie instead was my bedmate for most of the night.   I again had a bad night of sleep waking up feeling exhausted once again.  There was some small improvement in my symptoms.  I didn’t have as many chills as I did Saturday and I was able to spend a good portion of the day sitting instead of laying flat on my back.  I did some minor items around the house like some laundry but kept my activity very minimal.  I tired very quickly and still had aches and pains throughout my body. I did feel well enough to spend a good portion of the day reading my second Warcraft novel.  I ripped through a couple hundred pages at least.

Sunday evening I again had a terrible night of sleep, the main culprit now being a dry hacking cough that would not allow me 5 minutes of peace so I could drift off.  Despite taking two Nyqil gel tabs I laid in bed hacking until well after midnight.  When I did finally fall asleep it was not solid at all, it felt like I woke up literally dozens of times.  When I pulled myself out of bed this morning I was feeling tired not only from the poor sleep but also the haze that the sleep aid in Nyquil puts over you.  I had already told my boss at work to not expect me in today.  He was all for it as the last thing he wants is for more people, including himself, to go through this 72 hours of hell.

So far today I feel better than the last two days but far from any semblance of normal.  I’m still coughing, aching, and feeling pretty freaking miserable. I hope that I slowly improve throughout the day and finally get a night of true rest for the first time since last week. Illness sucks.

Although I didn’t see a second of it, I read that last night’s republican debate was akin to a tag team wrestling match except it was a handicap match, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio versus Donald Trump.  First off, is my memory that bad or does there seem to be a TON more primary debates than normal?  This had to be number 7 or 8.  Perhaps before the 2016 political circus nobody paid much attention but it still seems like the debate frequency is definitely elevated, most likely due to the ad dollars they are commanding.

So anyway Cruz and Rubio mostly ignored the other candidates and spent most of the evening tearing into Trump, something that has been largely avoided until recently because the other candidates didn’t want to have to be part of the childish name calling that Trump so quickly falls back upon when any of his statements or actions are challenged. However with the momentum Donald has built “Crubio” had no choice but to start slinging the mud by the bucket.

Anyone that knows Trump from the last 25 years realizes for the most part he is playing the role of a republican candidate, he is not a true conservative at heart (a good thing).  His history of actions and words are jam packed with ammunition that could be fired back in his face and that is exactly what happened last night.  The few clips I saw from the debate had a lot of Trump being flustered with very little to fire back with except insults and vague statements.

In a way I feel bad for Trump.  I have enjoyed his public persona on shows like The Apprentice and his regular appearances on the Stern Show.  It’s that history that makes me know that Donald is now being forced to say and do some things he really does not believe in which is unfortunate.  Of course some of the stuff he has said has been incredibly racist, divisive, and downright Hitler-esque which is disappointing.  To me, I think Trump has bitten off more than he can or even wants to chew.  I think the seasoned GOP political sharks are going to be going into a feeding frenzy on Donald’s rear end very soon.

This weekend we have some pleasant cool temps to enjoy.  I am going to be hanging out at another local track meet to further familiarize myself with the process of high speed camera timing.  Cindy and I would also like to get out to see Deadpool.  I have heard rave reviews from a number of my friends.  I just hope we can do so without a heavy dose of inconsiderate assholes. The cool temps also make me feel like I need to work on knocking out other items on my winter to do list.  In another month or so the outside temps will once again be rising to uncomfortable levels.

On my way home from work I picked up Sadie for her second extend stay in as many weeks.   Cindy really loves when Sadie is around, she plays with her more than I do.  There are some drawbacks to Sadie visits like this morning when I got an early alarm clock not via sound but by smell.  Sadie had let out a fart that at first made me question if she took a dump in the closet.  Luckily she relieved herself outside when I pulled myself out of bed after the stench bomb was released.

Yesterday I posted a picture of the shirt I was wearing. The shirt is literally somewhere around 25 years old.  I bought it at an old men’s clothing chain called Structure that did business inside the good old Berkshire Mall.  Despite it’s more than two decades of service in my closet it is still in decent shape.

Cindy is decidedly not a fan of it’s now retro style, with it’s tight plaid pattern, accent sleeve piping and 6 button neck.  I think it is still pretty cool, despite it’s age.   I was surprised just how much reaction an old shirt generates on FB.  I have a number of “vintage” items in my closet.  I will never profess to be a person that is concerned with the latest and greatest fashion trends.  If I think something looks decent there is a good chance it will remain in my closet indefinitely.

Last night I watched the mouse once again try to get access to the chicken feeders, despite them being hung 6 feet above the ground overnight.  I watched the little bastard scale the hardware cloth and then climb along one of the wood supports to the chain that is attached to the feeders.  It actually got about half way down the chain before it chickened out (pun intended) and turned around.

So I went outside and snuck up on the chicken run. I tripped the motion detector floodlight in the run just in time to catch the mouse in the middle of another chain climb attempt.  Of course as soon as the mouse saw me it scrambled down and shot back under the deck to safety.  I told Cindy that I would prefer if we totally removed the food from the run at night so there is absolutely no reason for the mouse to remain.  It’s just a matter of where we would want to keep the feeders overnight.  Both of our sheds have had rodents in them at one time or another as well.  This weekend I will do a more thorough investigation around the coop to see if I can locate the extensive tunnel system the mouse is using to get in there.

Last night I finished up restoring full surveillance to the chicken coop and run.  The camera we have installed under the raised platform was offline until I got a new cable to replace the one the mouse chewed through.  The under deck camera immediately proved useful last night where it once again caught the big field mouse trying to figure out how to get to the chicken feeders that we now started hanging high in the air each night.  I have not figured out if the mice are still getting in via a tunnel system.  There are no holes directly around the coop structure so it makes me think they have dug a much deeper, longer tunnel somewhere.  My hope is the longer we keep food out of their nocturnal reach the sooner they will decide to relocate somewhere else.

Today another chapter in the most unusual winter weather I have seen in this area will be written.  This morning it is warm and humid but a summer style storm is predicted to roll through mid-day which will bring in more typical cool winter weather for the next several days.  I hope we can get at least a few weeks of more normal winter conditions before Mother Nature once again cranks up the muggy meter for at least 6 months.

I saw that Donald won the Nevada primary easily yesterday, continuing his momentum towards winning the Republican presidential nomination which seems surreal.  Ironically, although Trump and the guy I am pulling for, Bernie Sanders, have vast differences in their political ideas and personalities they do share a common problem if either becomes the President, Congress.  The ideas and promises that both candidates are throwing out there are things that different portions of the population want to hear and presumably want implemented.  However it seems that a lot of people are forgetting that outside of a relative few circumstances, a President needs the cooperation of Congress to get anything substantial changed or done.

Since Congress is filled with a bunch of lifetime politicians that have been bought and paid for several times over by huge corporate special interest dollars, the odds of anything changing is actually quite small.  The only real path to change is an overhaul of thinking not only in the executive but also the legislative portion of the federal government.  With all of the focus on the presidential race in 2016 the public will likely rubber stamp through the majority of the sitting congress which will ultimately lead to a big pile of nothing in the end.

Campaign finance reform and an implementation of term limits for congress is the first step towards lasting, real political change actually occurring.  Big money doesn’t want that of course so it will never happen. That is the sad reality of our political system and something that is pushed into the background behind all the pomp and circumstance, just like the puppet masters want.

When I got home yesterday I had several boxes waiting for me.  Five of them contained the safety cones I bought online from Walmart for a reasonable $5.50 a pop.  I now have enough cones to handle my needs around a finish line however if an event needs cones out on the course or for other reasons they are going to need to provide them.

I also got back a replacement for the flaky automatic coop door motor.  I could tell immediately that what I was sent was not a brand new unit but as long as it works that was what mattered.  I changed and went out to the coop to immediately install the motor, having to manually open and close the coop door has been a bit of a pain.  As I sat on a bucket reinstalling the unit I had an audience of several chickens, all hoping that somehow I was going to shoot treats out the top of my head, since that is what they most associate Cindy and I with.

After mounting the motor I did a number of test opens and closes so I could adjust the tabs on the motors that control the amount of movement.  I now have the door set up so it opens a couple inches higher than it used to which is helpful since the chickens are full grown, needing as much clearance as possible.  Last night and this morning the door closed and opened on schedule.

While I was out there I wanted to get a set of pull ups in.  I have been trying to do 1RM sets of pull ups after work most weeknights.  Last week I had worked my way up to 22 reps on my normal pull up bar.  I thought I would mix it up and do my set on the 11 foot high bar last night.  Doing reps on the high bar is more difficult.  First you have to climb the 1.5″ diameter galvanized pipe up to the cross bar.  Holding onto the fatter pipe makes repping tougher as well as I can’t wrap my thumb.  The creaking and groaning I heard from the structure while I was up there did not inspire confidence either.  I only managed 15 reps before I dropped back to terra firma.

My buddy at work turned me on to a documentary series on Showtime called, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.  It is a fascinating look at the the 2016 presidential primaries as the crew from a Bloomberg TV show follow around ALL of the candidates.  You get a true behind the scenes look. It will make you like some candidates more and some of them less.  Some may also find it disturbing seeing the fickle, lemming mentality that swirls around American politics.  Each episode is only 30 minutes long so it is easily digestible.   If you have Showtime I strongly recommend you check it out.

Friday night on my way home from work I went straight to a track meet at Palmetto Ridge to get some more exposure to the track timing scene.  I got a little more hands on training as I manually entered in the results from a few field events into the meet software.   There is another meet this Saturday that I might try to visit for a little bit.  I want to try to work the camera that is used for the track events.  Although the set up for timing track events is vastly different than what I am used to with chip timing, it isn’t necessarily hard.  Once you are familiar with the hardware/software, the skill set is pretty much the same as what I have already been doing for nearly 10 years.

Saturday morning Cindy and I had our first official 5K as Green Machine Timing.  Technically the event was only renting our inflatable finish line arch but I brought most of my other stuff as well including tent, table, chairs and my race clock.  The event was also held at Palmetto Ridge High School which is only around 4 miles from our house which was very convenient. The event did not start until 8:30 so we set the alarm clock for the same time it fires off during the work week so it wasn’t nearly as painful as race mornings used to be.

We got there around 7:15, we didn’t need that much set up time since all we HAD to do was set up the arch.  I was unsure of what I would have near the finish line to tie the arch to so I brought weights consisting of two 35 pound dumbbells and two 45 pound olympic plates.  I was glad I had them since we were too far away to tie onto anything else.  After some minor adjustments we got the arch set up and anchored down within 15 minutes or so.  Ironically the colors of my arch were an exact match for the school colors which was very cool.  Some volunteers further decorated the arch with some color coordinated balloons that they hung across it.

We set up my GMT tent, table and some chairs so we had a spot to hang during the event.  Although I was not being paid to actually time the race I had configured the race on my computer as a manually timed event.  I knew participation was going to be on the small side so I thought I would try to manually time it just for fun.

When I asked the race director if they wanted to rent my race clock he declined because he didn’t want the extra expense.  He said one of the local middle schools had a race clock they were going to use and the track coach from the school was also going to do the manual timing.  Well when I saw the clock they had, which was the size of a shoe box, I told them they could just use my clock, regardless if they paid for it.  Once we had everything set up at the finish line we took a few pictures.  Despite the relative shoe string budget I used accumulating my race equipment it all looked pretty solid in real world conditions.

We had time to spare so we walked to the start line to see where it was located.  This course was unique as a large portion of it is run on the school’s cross country course, a rare opportunity for adult runners.  We returned to the start line with my stopwatch in hand for the start of the race.  Since the event was a fundraiser for the band a lot of band members were playing music, adding more uniqueness to the race.  They band performed a strong rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and the race began.

Cindy and I hustled back to the finish line and waited for the first runner to show.  The band was also at the finish line inside the football stadium, playing in the runners which I am sure was cool for them.  As runners came across Cindy helped me spot their bib numbers so I could record a finish time for them.  I had no bib number to name cross reference since I wasn’t involved in the registration so the number was all I had but at least it was something.

The race had less than 100 participants with the last finisher crossing a little short of the 60 minute mark.  In addition to the 5K they ran a couple events for kids, a 1/4 mile dash for the little kids and a 1/2 mile for the middle school aged kids.  I had my GoPro running the entire time to capture all the finishers.  Even though the event and the dollars I charged for it were small, it was cool participating in the race.  The GMT arch definitely added something significant to the race, giving runners a more professional visual as they finished.

Once the last kids event finished Cindy and I started the tear down process.  When the arch was down Cindy showed me something very aggravating.  One of the tether points on the new section of the arch was almost completely torn loose.  It was bizarre, it almost looked like the strapping the metal loop was secured by was cut.   Luckily Cindy has some pretty strong sewing skills so she should be able to fix the anchor but I was still very annoyed.  I emailed a picture of the bad tether anchor to the place I paid to refurbish the arch.  I am curious if they will offer me anything as compensation or just a shoulder shrug.

When we got home Cindy attended to the cleaning the chicken coop as I worked on ripping the finish line video and posting unconventional results that included only runner bib numbers and not names.  Mid-afternoon we decided to do a Rural King run.  I discovered that Rural King officially allows dogs in their stores, something that I should have realized previously since we have seen a couple dogs inside before.  It meant Sadie had a new adventure in front of her. Sadie was very excited walking the aisles of the store, sniffing endless objects.  After we grabbed the few items we needed we headed back home for the night. I did squeeze out a bit more productivity late in the day, heading outside around 5PM to mow the back part of the yard.  I got finished up just around the time the chickens were heading into the coop for bed.

Sunday morning we started it off with roughly a 5K around the local track.  I didn’t feel great or horrible during the run but I did enjoy when we stopped running.  The weather on Sunday was quite pleasant.  The day was a mix of some work and some relaxation which is what most Sundays should be in my book.  The front door on the house was open most of the day, allowing clean, cool air to flow through the interior.  It was a great day.

I forgot to relay an IT problem and resolution from last week which was yet another example of the simple answer being the solution to what seems like a complex problem.  I was trying to install Windows Server 2012 R2 on a new high power server.  The server has massive drive space which requires GPT partitioning instead of MBR which only supports 2TB partions.   I literally spent the better part of two days trying to make this happen.

I had never integrated a server with this much internal drive space (20TB) so I learned several things along the way.  To use GPT you have to boot in UEFI mode which again is something new to me.  Well after working through some confusion on how I was going to do this since the server had no built in dvd drive I would up using a USB dvd drive I had from home.  I was able to initiate the Windows install routine from my installation dvd but shortly into the process I would get a prompt that it needed a driver to continue.  Well my assumption was it meant it was looking for the RAID controller driver to access the massive hard drive set.  I located and downloaded the drivers to provide the install routine but it balked at them.  No matter how I tried to get into the install routine I kept getting stuck at the same point.

So I finally decided to contact Dell support after exhausting various suggestions I found online.  After explaining what I had done so far the tech really wasn’t sure why it wasn’t working.  He had me duplicate my steps while he was on the phone and verified what I did should work and not be asking for additional drivers.  He had me do some shotgun type things like reloading the bios software and even reburning the Windows installation media.  None of it worked.

So after the tech was about at the end of his rope I decided to try something.  I had a much older USB dvd reader/writer on a shelf.  I hooked it up to the server and again tried the install routine.  It worked with no errors. Evidently the driver the software was asking for was for the newer DVD drive I was using, not the RAID controller.  What doesn’t make sense is by the time it asked for the driver the server had already booted to the install DVD on the newer dvd drive.  Why it would be asking for a driver for it once the install routine already started made no sense.  Oh well, both myself and the tech were thankful that I stumbled across a resolution for the issue.  It is one of the countless examples I have had in my IT career where a long drawn out problem winds up having a really simple resolution.

So ever since moving to Florida and owning my own home I have had a relatively large tax refund each year thanks to the combination of tax breaks from ownership and my withholding a little more than I need to at my job.  I have always used it as almost a yearly savings/bonus plan to myself as the refund is normally used to fund some improvement or addition to the household.  I don’t think I have ever had a refund less than 4 digits in length.

So I got an email from my accountant yesterday with the news that I was once again going to be receiving a refund this year.  The bad news was it was tiny, roughly 350 bucks.  I did expect my refund to be smaller this year but did not expect it to be that small.  In 2015 I made a little more timing races and via my Google AdSense earnings.  The big culprit in hacking away at my refund was the fact that I cashed in the beneficiary IRA that was left to me from my mom’s estate.  Although that money was well spent, paying for the flooring upgrade we did last year, it came with a tax burden. I feel disappointed but like I said, I really shouldn’t be surprised.  It does mean that some things I was thinking about like a new 75 inch tv will have to be back burnered until the financial tides shift a little bit.

Tomorrow morning Cindy and I will be doing our first tandem work as the Green Machine Timing team.  There is a small race at the high school no more than 3 miles from our house.  It is a first year event so they didn’t want to foot the expense of chip timing the race but they did make arrangements to rent my finish line arch.

It should be a nice low stress couple hours Saturday morning.  Race equipment rental doesn’t command nearly the same dollars as full service race timing but it also carries significantly less time/responsibility investment which is fine with me.