Month: July 2006

This is the fun work that I like to do!

My client is a reseller for a wholesaler. Currently the client has to manually update the online shopping cart to reflect the inventory available from the wholesaler. The wholesaler provides XML/CVS feeds of Stock Status, Discontinued Products, Full Products List, Images, and New Products behind a secure password protected website meaning you could log in, download the xml files, and run a process to update the database. That still requires human invention (ie. logging in). My job is to automate the entire process.

What challenges have set this one behind schedule? 1) The client had a technical issue arise on a previous project and the support of that set me back days. Ironically, the issue is probably related to the hosting provider’s ISP. 2) The wholesaler gives 404s on a couple of lists so I’m in email volleys with their support staff trying to get it resolved. Meanwhile, my client wants the work done yesterday. But this is what I do and this is what I enjoy! Of course, I’d trade it all in a heartbeat if I could get a grant to teach people how to use computers and how to program.

Reviewing yesterday’s comedy hour(s):

• Woke at 3:30am did pushups and situps. Feeling good about life!
• Worked hard on client’s needs until 6:50am when I donned blue tights and put my underwear on the outside then heard what sounded like a mouse but turned out to be a two inch long beetle (evicted!).
• 7:00am – Mother-in-law shows and I drive her to work and back making good speed and returning ahead of schedule.
• 8:20am – Tommy is at school and the car is loaded with the STAR marketing display, paperwork, and television.
• 8:30am I have purchased a new water pump for the Jeep at Autozone. Upon pulling out of the parking lot I take a small diversion into an autodealer to look at the perfect vehicle ($60k) for us and shed a small tear.
• 8:40am I am 3 minutes away from the house. Cathy calls, "they are here and I am naked!" Lucky hvac guys. In all my days of pizza deliveries and housecalls I never got the naked people.
• 7:43-45ish – I pull up to the house and see the hvac man in the yard. "Did Cathy tell you I was coming?" "No one came to the door. The dog just barked. Sounds mean."
• 9:25am – $110 later, a DIY homework assignment later, and a promise from the hvac man to return when I’ve completed my homework, the leak in the ac is discovered, and unit recharged. It cools until the evening and at 3am we are back at 25.5°C (thanks Onlineconversion.com).
• 9:35am – I’ve had breakfast and am at the high school picking up Tommy exactly when I said I would but can’t speak to the teacher because I am babbling on the phone.
• 10am – we arrive at STAR before the previous class lets out and unload marketing materials into storage room in the barn. Discuss balance due (every half an hour it seemed like I was discussing money or giving someone money) and some paperwork.
• 10:30am – a much needed break in air conditioning at Border’s to look at David Allen’s Getting Things Done
• 10:50am – I am back at STAR mouth agape as I watch Tommy confidentally riding off lead (no volunteer on the ground holding his horse!)
• 11:30am – after a couple of u-turns and a call to the wife, we are in Karns picking up a raffle prize we won.
• 11:35am – stopping for gas. A dad and his daughter walk up on this hot day carrying a gas can. As they purchase gas I ask, "ran out of gas?" They reply, "about a quart mile up the road." I offer to drive them to their car then buy all 4 of us drinks. As we leave them at their car Tommy surprises me by remarking, "it feels good to help people."
• 12:15am – after a small jaunt through BFE we are at Air Filtration (800-745-5811) buying replacement filters for the a/c. Btw, it is now in their computer that we must bring Molly whenever we pickup filters.
• 1pm – back at the house working and dealing with angry client email
• 4:50pm – Since the Jeep has a broken water pump and cannot move, and the station wagon is potentially dead; we have borrow the mother-in-law’s car (see 7am) for a couple of days. The borrowed car has a flat tire. Nail found, removed and patched.
• 5:15pm – Noah at Karate and the rest of the crew invading the local grocery. Did you know that you could get on Homeland Security’s watch list for taking pictures at the grocery? At least the way the managers watched me you would think I was at an airport taking pictures.
• 6:15pm – Pickup Noah from Karate and go to a different grocery that actually has good meat.
• 7-9pm (things run together here). While preparing dinner, Molly barfs on the carpet. We clean the carpet. After dinner I return to working but Amy decides to flood the bathroom. I know this because downstairs I can see the water pouring through the ceiling.

In the end, I worked, napped a few hours, and was at the computer by 3am for the redux.

What this doesn’t convey is that throughout the day Cathy and I communicate via SMS (text messaging) like crazed telegraphers, and I talk on the phone paying bills, negotiating, doing sales, and scheduling appointments like an auctioneer that started the bidding too low.

Update: I forgot in the evening we offline when I rebooted the router and loosened a cable. Took a bit to find that one. Thanks for the reminder wife!

No, I’m not talking trends or hipsters. I have to turn off my air conditioning unit so it can defrost before the repairman gets here at 9am. Since it was recharged 3 years ago that implies we have a _small leak but probably not worth tracking down at this point.

Today’s schedule? Make miracles before 7am. 7am drive mother-in-law to work so that we can abuse her car today. 8am (having driven across town and back in the morning rush) drive Tommy to school so that he is there by 8:30. 9am Be at house to receive hvac repairman. 9:25am break sound barrier giving check to hvac man and pickup Tommy (15 minute drive reduced to 5 minutes). 10am have Tommy in Lenior City (30-40 minute drive reduced to 20 minutes). 11:30am be in Karns to pickup raffle prize we won. Noon pickup air filters from Air Filtration near what used to be the one red light in Karns. 5:30 have Noah at karate. Between noon and 5 work 10 hours.

Global warming is not being caused by greenhouse gases. I am causing global warming by constantly bending the fabric of time!

It’s official. The Jeep has a bad water pump and no roof so it sits on the driveway and if I would fix the water pump it would only move on sunny days and can only hold 4 of our 7. And, the car is going on blocks until I can give her some TLC ($$$). What should have taken 20 minutes last night took 3 hours and we may have damaged the engine in a bad way. The money she needs makes so sense putting into her. It is time for a new car and we just don’t have the means at this time.

Anyone know some ugly junker, fairly mechanically sound, that someone is trying to give away?