XBox Live

Okay.. So I am weak.. I said that I wouldn't, but I did anyways. I renewed my subscription to Xbox Live Gold. For my birthday, My Parents, Liz’s Parents, and my sister gave me gift cards to Best Buy. So, last weekend, since we were in the area, stopped by and picked up a 13 month subscription. I need to talk to Microsoft about trying to put in a 24 key code using a game pad. Not very easy to do. That night, I teamed up with a couple of kids and played Perfect Dark Zero, capture the flag, which was fun. I managed to get a bunch of flags recovered, as long as someone would cover my back, other wise, I would die quick. It was like keeping a steak from a pack of wolves, damn hard. All I hear from my headset is.. dude! Zig-zag! Zig-zag!

Fun none the less.

HALO Wars!

Microsoft Game Studios announced Halo Wars, an all-new real-time strategy game based on the legendary Halo® universe and built exclusively for Xbox 360™ by Ensemble Studios, creators of the Age of Empires series. http://www.halowars.com/ There is no ETA on a release date, but there are several images for your desktop and a trailer to wet the appetite. I would highly recommend watching the trailer.. IT is VERY COOL! I would speculate that it will be a Command and Conquer-Like game. (Which may be interesting to play on the Xbox 360, rather than the PC.) We will have to wait and see.

Working...

Well, it is Monday back at work after being laid off…sort of… It is like being terminated and then being brought back for a 3 month contract. I am a bit resentful, bitter, angry… but, I am working through the frustrations. I understand and can rationalize that the company is sending jobs offshore and that I was simply too expensive to keep. I also really did not like the job. Correction, I did not like the company. At Cori, one person did the job of 4 people. Here at ACS, they have 4 people doing 1 person’s job. (Any guesses on who is paying for those people to be just sitting around???) Trust me, most people have meetings just to be able to fill the day.

Also, WORD spreads quick. I was over at a clients having a meeting about something Exchange related and one of the guys asked how I was. I was like okay, why??? (very curious about what he was getting at) He said that I was handing the situation very well and with dignity. I was floored. I could not believe that me being laid off made it as far as the ear of the client. I said that I was fine and that I had saw the writing on the wall, so I was prepared. He said that I should just take the rest of the day off… What are they going to do – Fire me?? I will not be doing that, but I do not plan on doing much work. (Like I did much here, I mean come on.. )

Good news is that I have had several interviews so I will not be here for much longer.. At least I hope not. It is really weird and people tend to either talk to you more or not at all. I kind of feel like I am on death-row and my number got called up.

DEAD MAN WALKING

I got my walking papers.

Well, today is the day... I knew about 4 weeks ago that there was going to be a series of layoffs. When I went to get some tea this morning, several people were asking the facilities manager for some boxes. So I knew that today's was the day. About an hour after that I was called into Linda's office. She is my manager. I logged off my system and had everything ready for my departure. She was rather upset, but I knew that it was coming and had a HIGH SUSPICION that I was on the list. I was the last person in and most likely the highest paid.

However... Get This... My position is being eliminated, all well and good... But, my actual termination is "as of December 29th". So... I still have to report for work first thing Monday Morning! I can not even be "layed off" right... :P

When talking with friends, they all feel it is really odd, especially for a person that has domain admin rights on multiple domains, including some ACS Client's domains, to be told that their job is being eliminated and then been given 90 days to find another job. All of this is very strange and a major security issue, from my point of view. Even being told that before hand that there is going to be lay offs is a breach of security. Let's just say that I was fully expecting either not able to walk into the building or not being able to log into my system. At least that would be the way I would have done it.

It is just weird.

So, I guess that I am getting paid to look for another job... This is definitely a first for me.

Happy Pirates Day

In the Spirit of being a Pirate, Here is something to get you in the mood.. A Little Pirate Music.. from the Disney Pirates Movie.

And for all those Pirates that know how to use a computer and in honor of today being International Talk Like a Pirate Day (who knew? well, besides the pirates.) we bring you the Corsair Ergonomic Keyboard for Pirates. Arrr, thar be plunderin' ta be done!



http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/19/arrrrrr-its-international-talk-like-a-pirate-day/

Top Ten Pickup lines for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day

A friend sent me these for Pirate Day!

For the Male Set -
10 . Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?
9. Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?
8. Come on up and see me urchins.
7. Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.
6. I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.
5. Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?
4. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?
3. Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.
2. Well blow me down?

And the number one pickup line for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day is …

1. Prepare to be boarded.


Top Ten Pickup Lines for the Lady Pirates
By popular demand ...

10. What are YOU doing here?
9. Is that a belayin' pin in yer britches, or are ye ... (this one is never completed)
8. Come show me how ye bury yer treasure, lad!
7. So, tell me, why do they call ye, "Cap'n Feathersword?"
6. That's quite a cutlass ye got thar, what ye need is a good scabbard!
5. Aye, I guarantee ye, I've had a twenty percent decrease in me "lice ratio!"
4. I've crushed seventeen men's skulls between me thighs!
3. C'mon, lad, shiver me timbers!
2. RAMMING SPEED!

...and the number one Female Pirate Pick-up Line:

1. You. Pants Off. Now!

Fix for MS06-049

9/12/06

I came upon this thread on Usenet about a week ago. It sounds like something we should keep an eye out for in case we suddenly start seeing corrupted files on Win2k file servers with compressed folders. So far no response from MS on the cause or a potential fix; the users who discovered the problem find that removing the fix resolves the problem but that obviously leaves the system open for exploit...

See this issue on the following Google Groups.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920958
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-049.mspx

9/19/06

It appears that there is now a fix for this.
While the KB920958 file has not yet been re-released, MS is offering a Hot Fix as detailed in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925308

The HotFix (HOT-FIX_287398_ENU_i386_zip.exe for Windows2000-KB925308-x86-ENU.EXE) appears here to have entirely resolved the file corruption issue. No test files copied into, out of, or edited in-place (in +C location) suffered any damage whatsoever. "Test files" includes files known to corrupt pre-HotFix. Recall that in all probability any files damaged pre-HotFix will remain damaged (not specifically tested here).

XBox Live Gold for the 360

I have been debating if I want to renew my Xbox Live Gold subscription. The only game that I really enjoyed playing on-line is Day of Defeat for the PC, for about a month now. Plus it has the added bonus of being FREE. However, I have been playing Perfect Dark Zero on-line, Team Death match, on and off for about a week. But, I just can not seem to get into it. Don’t get me wrong, it is a fun game and well worth the play. I just don’t feel that it is that enjoyable to play on-line. People seem to play the same desert map and use the “Charge” tatic into the others stronghold. This is not very much fun. So, for the time being… I think that I am going to let my subscription expire. This may change when I get a game that needs to be played on-line, like Halo 3…

Plus, I don’t need to spend the money. (at least not right at the moment)

Blog Change

As you may have noticed.. I have changed my scheme. I was tired of the black background. I found that it was a bit hard to read and the links were not really visable. So... I hope that you enjoy the change... change is good...

What ever happened to Customer Service?

It seems like Customer Services is a lost art that people say that they have but really don’t. Here is an example of not good customer service. I called up Dell to have my new laptop screen fixed. It has a spot (stuck pixel) on the screen and it is only a month old. So, in talking with this support guy, who is telling me about how it is industry standard that it takes between 3-5 pixels before they are going to do anything about it. Then he goes droning on about how it does not interfere with the laptop or that it is something that I should worry about. I am not worried about it, it looks bad!!! And since the laptop is only a month old, I wanted it fixed. Yeah, not going to happen. Now, here is the kicker… At the end of the conversation he asked if I had anything else that I needed help with and that he hopes that I am fully satisfied in the level of customer service provided. I am not even sure how to respond to this question… besides NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!

Since, I work in a “service” industry, information technology, I have to deal with both internal and external customers (clients). Now, my job is to solve problems with Exchange, not the email client. I have gotten into a lot of trouble in helping people with problems relating to Outlook, rather than telling the “user” that this is an Outlook problem and go and talk with the Desktop folks. I am sorry, but I don’t work that way. If a person calls, MY JOB is to solve their problem and get them back up and working. I personally don’t care if you are the Senior Vice President of XYZ Company or the company’s janitor, THEY are all my customers and I will treat them all the same way. So, I will help them to the best of my ability with their Outlook problems and solve the problem right then and there and NOT transfer the call to desktop

That is what I think of as Good Customer Service.

22nd

Something is Brewing...

...will post when I know for sure.