Sheep Guarding Llama

Well our Internet access is back up and we are mostly back online today. Things haven’t been going smoothly. Our MS ISA Server 2000 installation puked when the new line came in and we have had to spend a lot of time dealing with that. We have upgraded to a newer 2004 installation but that isn’t really making things any easier.

Today was the second day of the Rocehster B2B Tech Expo. Min and I got to the show a little after 10:30. After yesterday’s light crowds we didn’t think that it was worth putting too much effort into getting there really early since there were only really any number of people there between 11:00 and 3:00. And even then there weren’t all that many.

The show seemed to go decently well. We got lots of compliments on our booth construction. Everyone thought that it was really cool. Dad and Aunt Sharon came by around 3:00 to help us tear down. It only took about 45 minutes to an hour to get the booth all broken down. That was a ton easier than the five hours that it took to set it up when we first got there.

After getting the booth packed up, we all ran over to Perkins and had some dinner. Min and I had passed on eating at the show so this was our first food of the day other than BK for breakfast.

We got home around 7:00. Min and Andy watched a bunch of That 70s Show but I got stuck spending the entire evening working on getting our systems back up and running after the switch over from ChoiceOne to Frontier. What an incredible pain that has been. We are really happy with Frontier, though, who really put in a serious effort to help keep us up and running as much as possible.

I was up until about 2:00 am working on our network. So I was really tired by the time that I finally got to bed. It has been an exhausting week.

Our Internet access seems to have finally gone out today. It limped through the night kind of working just a little bit now and then.

I was up bright and early this morning and was just getting out of the shower by the time that Dominica was getting home from work. Dad met us at 8:00 to head out to breakfast. We went over to the Omega Grill. Dad was going to go to the show with us today but we had to have someone at the house to deal with the DSL issues so he opted to stay here while Min and I headed out to the show.

We got our new company polos this morning. They are really nice. We are very excited to have them. We got to the show a little after 10:00 but didn’t figure that there would be very much traffic there first thing in the morning.

The show was a relative success. We got our name out there a bit and more people know who we are now. It is really hard to gauge these things to know whether or not we are being really affective or not.

After the show, we pretty much came home and crashed. We were really worn out after a long day on our feet at the show and it is going to be another long day tomorrow.

Well, our Internet access went down last night but came back up during the evening, so we have no idea what is going on with that at all. It was up and running all day today but went down again this evening. I guess they don’t want us watching the election results. I can’t figure out what they are playing at, it is pretty weird. Maybe they can’t figure out how to shut us off.

I didn’t get the job with Corning. That is very sad. I can’t believe that they waited six days before telling me that they weren’t interested in me. They didn’t have me go on to the second interview even… so who knows why they waited so long to tell me. What a pain. I have forgotten just how sucky job hunting can be.

The phone just rang for a second. Apparently the line is going up and down rapidly because I am noticing the service changing all of the time. Okay, now it is back up. Something really weird is happening, I can’t explain it. Anyway, I guess I will get to post today after all.

I hope that everyone remembered to go out and vote today. Well, I at least hope that everyone who votes the same as me got out and voted today. Min and I went and voted first thing this morning to get the day started. Then Min went to bed and dad picked me up to go to breakfast before getting set up for the show in Rochester.

We had breakfast at Jay’s with my aunt and uncle. Then we headed on over to the Riverside Convention Center to start setting up. We got there just after 10:30. It took us until about 3:00 to get the booth set-up. That is no little task. This is our first attempt at doing a show like this so we really don’t know what we are supposed to be doing very well. But the booth looks good and I think that it will turn out okay. Andy’s uncle Bill has a booth just one spot over from ours which is pretty funny.

Dad and I got some Abbott’s frozen custard on the way home. They had red raspberry on special today, that was yummy.

When Andy got home from work, he and I ran out to the voting spot and got him voting. Today is Andy’s first time voting and Min’s first time in a national election. After voting, we went over to the Omega Grill for some dinner. Then we went up to Walmart to pick up Jackie Chan’s Around the World in 80 Days. It wasn’t on sale though, so we had to pay full price for it.

By the time that we got home, our Internet access was gone again. I can’t decide whether or not they are disconnecting us on purpose or if this is an accident and this would have been the kind of service that we would have had even if we were still paying for it. Anyway, I am going to call it a night and not spend the evening sitting in front of a computer that doesn’t have Internet access. Hopefully you will all have the opportunity to read the site soon.

Boy the time has just been flying by. This is the crazy week as we try to get ready for the Rochester Tech Expo on Wednesday and Thursday at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. Dad has been working like mad trying to get the display ready. There is just a ton to do. But he thinks that the display is turning out really nice so far.

I was expecting not to have any Internet access today since ChoiceOne and WestBand decided that we would be shut off no later than Halloween but apparently we slipped through the cracks. Well, good deal I guess. I guess the best part is that not only are we still on, but we are no longer customers so they have no way to bill us for the service either. That works out sort of well. Except that the new service costs more so we are definitely not making out well in the long run. But at least we won’t be stuck using ChoiceOne anymore.

I was really hoping to hear something about the job in Corning today but no one called at all. The house has been silent all day. Not a single call about any job. Not one.

Tomorrow I will be in Rochester much of the day getting ready for the show. I am voting early in the morning and then going to breakfast with my dad, aunt and uncle. Then we are heading on over to Riverside to get the booth set up for the show. I have no idea how long that will take so I might be there all day. And, of course, our Internet access could go down in there as well. So maybe SGL won’t even be online tomorrow so it won’t matter anyway.

Frontier supposedly got our business telephone line in and running today but if they did, they didn’t contact me in anyway about it nor did I notice anyone walking around outside. So I wonder what is going on. I suppose the phone could be on and I don’t even know. I really should plug in a telephone and check to see if the line is on or not. Ok, I just plugged in a phone and called the house. It is on and working. Cool. Well, that is a very good sign. We won’t be using this new line for anything short of an emergency because it is a full commercial line and costs us money every minute that we use it, even for local calls. But it is nice to know that we have an emergency land line just in case we have to use it if the power goes out or something. It is a 243 number so we are one of the cool Geneseo townies who have one of the original numbers now. Anyway, the DSL service is scheduled to be installed on Wednesday. That is rough because we have the show that day, but it could be a lot worse, we really need that line installed. I am really impressed with all of the effort that Frontier has put in to get us hooked up. They really came through for us so far.

I am downloading the Live CD of SuSE 9.2 today. I have been anxious to see how it is going to be.

Friday I have a doctor’s appointment here in Geneseo, so I have something scheduled every single day this week. Boy do I feel busy.

Good movie releasing tomorrow! The big one is Jackie Chan’s Around the World in 80 Days! I have really been waiting for that one for a while. I will have to run out to Walmart to pick it up. Whoo-hoo. Shrek 2 is out next Tuesday. And we are just over one month away from Lord of the Rings III: Return of the King Extended Edition releasing. Once that is out, we will have to have a movie marathon in the theatre and watch the entire trilogy back to back to back. Yeah baby!

Well, I got excited prematurely. Our Internet access went down at 6:30 this evening. Now we are desperately waiting for Frontier to get us back online in 48 hours. This is going to be fun! Now the stress begins. Unfortunely, no one knows that we are stressing because the web site is gone. Anyway… I will see everyone again on the 3rd, I hope.

For the first time in almost a year, I had the chance to shut down all of the servers tonight. That is kind of an eerie feeling. If you have servers connected to the outside world around you all of the time, when they are gone you feel kind of lonely. It is weird.

Boy am I glad that we gained the extra hour last night, I really needed it. I have been falling farther and farther behind on sleep all week. Min and I did manage to make it to church this morning. That is like two whole weeks in a row! Actually I think that it has been three. Whoa. Pretty amazing.

After church we went into Perry and had lunch with dad at the Silver Lake Family Restaurant where we have lunch every Sunday. After lunch Min and I ran home to get her off to work and to get some laundry started. After she left, I went over to Wegmans to do some quick shopping – we need candy for tonight and I need to pick up a card for my grandmother’s birthday party that I am headed to shortly.

My grandma is 89 today. I went down to her place for her birthday party. I got down there around 4:00. Min had to work so she didn’t manage to go. We got dinner from KFC (I got Taco Bell since KFC doesn’t have much for me to eat.) I hung out down there until about 9:00.

[Update July 25, 2006: I didn’t know it at the time but I am now very happy that I had made it down for my grandmother’s birthday as this was to be her final birthday.]

When I got home, Andy said that Min had forgotten her lunch. So I drove up to Henrietta to bring Min’s food to her. I stayed with her for about an hour before coming back home.

I was pretty tired so I just played a game of AoE2 and called it a night.