Cool, Liberty one

Man that Phillies game was fantastic.  I actually saw it till the final out.  Cliff Lee’s performance was incredible.  Not only did he pitch fantastic, he seemed remarkably relaxed throughout the entire game.  It was like pitching in game one of the World Series was old hat to him.  As a former pitcher, I have insight on what the pressure of a situation can do to your performance.  Lee seemed totally immune to it.

Chase Utley’s home runs were masterful.  In each situation he worked the at bat until he got a sweet pitch to hit and hit it he did.  Like Lee, Utley seemed unfazed by the accomplishment, just another day at the office.   To put more of a gold star on the performance, most of the game was played in a steady misting rain in raw 50 degree temperatures.  I think the Phils made a definite statement with the win.  They are not there to F around or be the Yankees bitch.  Far too many Yankee fans thought this was going to be a cakewalk. 

So Ali is on her way to Pa for a few days.  My mom is going to drive out to our place tomorrow to hang out over the weekend.  This marks a big moment, in case you read the last line quickly and didn’t notice. Mom is going to DRIVE HERSELF to our house.  I’m not quite sure when the last time she drove that amount of distance but I would guess it’s been between two and three years.

Having mom there will save me from having to drive home to let the dogs out on Friday and Monday.  I warned mom there would be a generous amount of Phillies and Eagles watching going on which she was fine with.  I’m sure we will have a good time.  I know the dogs will be thrilled to see her walk in the door tomorrow.

I have neglected to mention that I have seen some old familiar faces since I have gone back to Planet Fitness.  One of them was BBCPG (big butt cell phone girl)  You may remember her as the pretty one with a large back end that always was talking on her cell phone.  She also would do cardio machines at ridiculously easy resistance levels so it wouldn’t interfere with her conversations.  Surprisingly, it seems like she managed to shave off a few pounds even while doing all of that jabbering, she looked good.

I also have been reintroduced to Mr McFeeley.  He was the guy that did every single exercise in an incredibly stupid manner.  Every thing he does uses next to no range of motion and is performed at a very rapid pace.  He is also the guy that was pissed off at me because I accidentally knocked his glasses off of the Reebok step during a 300 work out.  He still is as dorky as ever and still does every single exercise incorrectly.

I also saw the creepy guy that used to try to initiate conversations with Alison when she would walk Nicki around the nursing home.  The guy ALWAYS wears a plain white undershirt, I’ve never seen him in anything else.  I don’t think the elevator goes all the way to the top floor.

It’s interesting to see these gym characters again but I can’t say I have said one peep to any of them, nor do I have any plans to in the future.

Early  in my IT career I was exclusively a hardware tech.  I fixed pc’s and printers primarily.  One of our biggest accounts at that time was Meridian Bank.  Meridian had a number of offices in downtown Philly, one of which was at Liberty One, one of the the centerpiece buildings of the city.  Since Meridian was our biggest customer they generally tried to service the account with techs that were good.  Generally speaking if you were sent on Meridian calls you more or less knew your stuff. 

Driving from Reading to Philly for service calls was not fun because of the dreadful traffic you would run into.  However when I finally would make it there I always felt important as I would pull my cart of tools and equipment into the atrium.  When you are pulling a cart of computer equipment people check it out.

 My cart was always loaded down on trips to Philly.  If you were going to travel that distance you wanted to make SURE you addressed the problem either by bringing an abundance of parts and/or a piece of loaner equipment to get them back in business.   I eventually went there enough that the security guards recognized me and would wave me through without issue.

Those five or so years I spent as a hardware tech were probably the most hectic of any in my IT career.  Each day I would be thrown into another “emergency” in various places dealing with tons of different people and businesses.  My pay rate was low, my stress level was high but I enjoyed the job, a lot.  I got big sense of accomplishment each and every day as I would take care of my list of calls.   

That is the one thing that is dreadfully lacking in my current job situation, variety.  Sure I am still the go to guy and I still have many daily dilemmas to solve and conquer.  However all of these challenges occur in a very small space of the world.  I deal with the same people in the same seats day and in and day out.  It can be in a word, boring.

Don’t get me wrong, the positives of the job outweigh the negatives by far, especially in today’s rocky job market.  Still there are days when I wouldn’t mind being on the road on my way to a new place not knowing exactly what I’ll be facing when I get there.