Downtime

It’s been a pretty frenetic week around here: with the snow, board meetings, car-shopping, and new job stuff going on. I feel today I went rushing from one thing to another all the way up to 7 PM.

It was a good day at work, though. I’ve been given the nod of approval to dive in and do what I can. In other words, there isn’t really a “probationary period” per se but I’ve got my boss’s confidence now to run with things, and that’s good. My systems knowledge is going to be quite expansive from this job, that’s for sure.

And today my employer just got named the best place to work in America, too. Doesn’t surprise me.

Barbecued

I joined the family for a birthday barbecue lunch today at The Pit. Man, was it good.

Thank you, Snow Day, for making it possible.

Snowbama

Snowbama. That’s what area folks are calling yesterday’s snow-and-inauguration mashup.

I thought the inauguration was fitting, and was glad Prez O didn’t promise the moon and the stars. I was also thrilled to see that he and Michelle hopped out of their limo to walk the parade route, a la Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. One of the first signs of problems with George W. Bush’s term for me was the tank of a Cadillac he rode in during his inauguration. While admittedly Bush likely didn’t have any say about the car, something about that rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyway, time for Prez O to get to work. And what a daunting job it is.

Thirty-Nine and Holding

Travis loves his Jerry Lee Lewis, The Definitive Collection CD, to the point that its beginning to drive us all crazy. He plays it literally all day long, all the time. It’s cute and yet maddening.

This morning he’s chosen to play Jerry Lee’s Thirty-Nine And Holding on repeat. The amusing thing is that Travis has no idea of its significance this morning. Just a happy accident. Or torture, depending on your point of view.

As I post this he just switched gears to another song. That makes about 15 times in a row for “Thirty-Nine and Holding.”

(As for me, while my 30s were great, I’m fully ready for my 40s!)

Lordy, Lordy

I woke up today and my thirties were missing. If anyone has seen them, let me know! And I believe my brother Allen is in the same predicament.

A little more water under the keel, as my friend Dave said recently. I like that. Nautical and all.

What an amazing decade it’s been, though. Here’s hoping this decade is just as rich.

The Singing Sysadmin

I like to sing. I think I’m pretty good, too. Even so, I tend not to put others through my singing so I usually sing only when I’m alone.

Years ago I found that server rooms – with their noisy cooling fans – make a good venue for belting out songs. I was doing just that one day at a startup company when two of the women there totally busted me. Apparently my voice carried a bit farther than I thought!

At my new job I spend much of my time in the server rooms. These particular server rooms have sliding doors at each end of the aisle, providing even more white noise over the roar of the servers. When I’m in a good mood I can often be found working on a server while pretending I’m on stage.

Hey, the servers can’t complain.

Shatterbug

In my haste to capture shots of the kids’ running out into this morning’s snow, I inadvertently dragged our Nikon off the shelf and onto the floor. Fortunately, it wasn’t a forceful impact, but it was enough to damage the flip-up flash.

I toyed with the idea of fixing it myself, but that camera means too much to me to risk messing it up further. I’ll be shipping it to a factory-authorized repair shop soon (and will be hating every minute I’m without it). Sigh.

Two (no, five!) inches of snow

Looks like we’ve gotten two inches of snow this morning, with plenty more still falling. Beautiful and peaceful, it is.

I’ll be at home today, methinks.

[Update: 8:40 AM] The initial snow was more like three inches. And its still falling!

[Update: 2:00 PM] The official measurement at MT.Net is a total of 5 inches of snow.