Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Tuesday with a headache

Yesterday my subordinate was given an assignment. I explained how it was to be done. He wrote back to me and entered the realm of insubordination. If I ever spoke or wrote to my supervisor in the manner he does to me I would lose my job in a heartbeat. But since my boss loves him, he can get away with it. I brought it to the attention of HR but since she is friends with him it went no where fast. But at least I created a paper trail.

I had a quick meeting with my boss yesterday and she was beyond nasty. I cannot wait for the New York Healthy Workplace law to be signed and go into affect.

Last night in the early evening the moon was above Jupiter. What a site. But right after supper the clouds moved in and blocked everything. I didn't see the stars again until I went to the bathroom at 3AM.

Watching Key West from the webcam across the street from Sloppy Joe's makes me really want to go there. Warm weather.

I spent a half hour this morning with one of the people at a remote office explaining to her why some large files take so long to download from a server not at their faculty. She thinks that I can flip an easy switch and make things work her way. She like my boss cannot wait to put the screws to me and tries at every opportunity. Gotta love this place.

Been watching the story about J Lo and her so called wardrobe malfunction at the Oscars. I looked and like a man I looked very closely. The media is claiming that a part of her nipple was showing from the top of her low cut gown. I didn't see it. Heck you see more in the summer at the food stores. And yes some woman have tops so sheer you can make out the nipple without too much trouble. The media has nothing else to talk about.

They are even making a big deal about the cheesecake that Angelina Jolie displayed. I mean she as a fantastic looking leg but really people she is not the only one to show leg.

Anyway I have a lot to do today and time is clicking away.

'till next time.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Monday starts again

Another wonderful Monday is upon us once again. Today when I left for the office it was in the low 40's. Looking at Key West, the mid 70's. The forecast is that the early part of the week it will be cold with rain moving in. Later on we should see the 50's. Freaky how the weather is. So far the white stuff has been very little. For me what we had was way too much.

Last night the sky was crystal clear. From my porch I had a great view on Venus a crescent moon and Jupiter. I missed seeing Mercury. I still have a few days for that provided we have clear skies.

I found a one-stop employment website run by the Feds. Interesting. Looking at the statistics and projections, my industry will see a decline of about 8% within the next few years here in New York. But for places like

Florida they expect an increase of 13%. Makes me really want to push harder to get out of this area.

I busted my ass yesterday working here in the office and wouldn't you know it my boss was here. OMG. She treated my like dirt under her feet. She was very upbeat with a few others that were here, but me I was garbage to her. Not even a word of thanks for coming in and working on my day off. Here it is I come in on my day off to save the company money and she cannot even say thank you. Our previous CEO would have. Guaranteed that will not happen again. From now on I will call in contractors to do the same job.

I caught my assistant watching his cats on his laptop instead of working. He has a webcam setup in his house so he can watch the kitties. How freaky is that? Yet my boss is in love with this gold brick. One day it will bite him in the ass and I hope to see it.

Anyway I need to get to work.

'till next time.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Cold Sunday

Spent the day yesterday working solo. My assistant refuses to work after hours or on a weekend day. I have to go back in later today and finish up. But it shouldn't be too bad.

It was freezing when I left the building last night and the wind was howling. Must have been a wind chill of close to 28. Today is not much better as far as the temp is concerned. Yet when I looked at the Hogs Breath website Key West is in the mid 70's. Wish I was there.

We were going to go to Southold yesterday to the Custer Observatory. Good thing the job took longer than what was expected. We would have frozen our butts off plus th sky was not clear at all.

I downloaded the Blogger app onto my iPad. Yuk. It is beyond horrible. I am sticking with Safari for blogging.

When I finish at the office today, I am planning on sending out more resumes. I'll spend an hour or so doing that. Afterwards I have to do some cleaning around the house.

I dread tomorrow. I really am not in the mood to go back into the office where may boss is riding around on her broom. I am sure when she leaves, there will be a major party, but I doubt that day will ever come. So we have to put up with her and her nastiness.

'till next time.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Black Friday and it is not what you think

It was a Black Friday at the job. We let go three people at once. The layoffs have started and there are more down the road. Not a good sign at all.

The day was dismal so it fit right in.

My boss was is a pissy mood to m all day. She would laugh and have a good time with others but she was nasty with me all day. I think my name is somewhere on the layoff list. To bad New York has yet to enact the Healthy Workplace Law. I don't think it will.

The law in theory is to protect you from abusive and threatening treatment by your boss and company. But like most New York laws that are designed to protect workers it will be useless.

My assistant was to work with me at the office today. He agreed to be there last week but all of a sudden he crapped out. This is not the first time he has done this. He is not very reliable at all but my boss loves him and wants him to be my replacement. Nice.

It is cold today and the wind is howling. In Key West I see that it is in the high 70's at 8AM.

Blogger has a new dashboard. I hate it. I've typed today's blog and saved it a few times and each time it would not save and I had to start from scratch. Google should have left it alone.

Anyway, I need to get going.

'till next time.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Thursday

I took Thursday off from work as a mental health day. You need to do that once in a while.

The weather was in the 50's with high winds blowing in the morning then calmed down be afternoon.. So far no rain or that other stuff.

Looking at Key West from the Hog's Breath website, 79!!! Wish I was there!

So far the winter here has been very mild which in a way scares me. The oil companies have not been selling oil which means the volume is down as the sale. They will make up for it soon by jacking up the price across the board. Even the news is stating that we will see $6 a gallon for gas by summer.

The government needs to step in and put a stop to this and not give lip service. Obama is good for that. So far he wants us to expand the renewable energy program which is great but he refuse to go after big oil and they way they are ripping us off.

No it is Friday and the rain is here. At least it is better than snow.

At the job I need to work over the weekend on a major project. I told my assistant about it a week ago and he said that he will be here. Now he says that he can't...family obligations. Whenever there is work to be done at night or on the weekends, he refuses to show up and the senior management here applaud him for that. Hey, I have family obligations too and break them to get the job done. And I am his boss. So much for senior management backing me up. I really hate this place.

I started a Twitter account and I see that spam is there as well. I see that there is one poster with several names posting the same thing over and over and over. There really needs to be some control on this.

The interface for Blogger has changed and I do not like it at all. I liked the previous version. It was easier to use. This new one is horrible.

Anyway, I need to get to work.

'till next time.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Nightmare in NJ

I was watching the TV the other day and saw a story on some animal who took a car, hit a woman and ran her over. Not just once, but several times. After the woman was dead the driver drove off. I am using the term animal for what else can you call someone like that? The guy was the woman's boy friend.

The news also went into how they are going to close some Nassau County Police stations. That is a big mistake right off the bat. The problem is that the Nassau County Police is the second highest paid police departments in the country with Suffolk being the first. That is where the problem lies. It is no wonder why Mineola is considering closing police stations and laying off cops. Now I am not saying that we should pay the police next to nothing, but the salaries should be more in line with the rest of the country.

I saw that on the Duval Street Crowd cam you can see the images using an iPhone. Thank you HTML 5 and quick time! Now if the web designers can incorporate that with the other websites for Key West. So on Tuesday I setup my iPad and was able to watch some of the traffic of people and cars in front of Sloppy Joe's in Key West.

I was going over my older posts and saw so many typos...OMG. A lot is because I use an iPad without a keyboard. I have a Bluetooth keyboard as well and use it once in a while, but my hands are so large and the keys are so small...and to add insult to injury, I go so fast my fingers get tied up and trip over each other. Figure that one out.

I wanted to do some observing again last night but the clouds moved in.

We were to get some rain / snow but that has not happened so far. Keeping my finger crossed that we do not get any more snow this year.

Still looking for that magical job offer to move to the Keys...hint, hint, hint...

I figured that I am going to expand my search to the other islands in the Keys. From what I have seen so far there really is not much in the way of industry in Key West. But maybe one of the hotels or other companies might still want a high end computer tech. Not giving up yet.

Anyway it is going to be another day in this wonderful job that I have.

'till next time.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Four Day Week

Getting ready for another day in paradise. No not in Key West but my job. At least it is a four day work week. Even that is too long.

Last night was crystal clear. I went onto the porch with my binoculars and did some observing of the heavens. Saw Venus, Jupiter, M45, the great Orion Nebula, and several other stars. Nice. Later this month and going into the first weeks of March there will be a line up of planets that should be interesting.

All in a fairly straight line will be Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Jupiter. I'll need to get my scope out for Uranus and will need to work at it a bit for it might not be visible that easily. ButbI want to give it a shot.

Stopped off at MicroCenter yesterday. The line for the check out was ridiculous. So I walked out of there. Stopped off at the food store for a few things and it was a breeze shopping. Hardly anyone there. One guy was about the get blasted by me. I was getting some pot pies that were on sale and he just plowed into me, pushing me out of his way so he could get into the very same freezer. A real ignorant piece of crap. Typical for Long Island.  Yeah I really hate Long Island.

Been watching on the news. Another body was found. Only not near Gilgo Beach. Right now it is not connected to the other murders but time will tell. If it is connected... I have to wonder what kind of animal is doing this. I also wonder if they will ever catch him or her or them.

I browsed the Keys News a bit last night. Nothing interesting in applying for. But you never know. I have to make it a point to check daily on my iPad.

Anyway it is time to get ready for work. At least it is a paycheck for now. My love for the company is long gone. Hey, like I said earlier. At least it is four day work week.

'till next time.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Presidents Day 2012

Today we honor George Washington and Abe Lincoln. Years ago we honored both presidents on their own days and not on one day. With the way it is done today you can lose site of what each one stands for. Personally I think we should go back to individual holidays.

What honks me off about it, it is a good excuse for retail. Big sales are to be had instead of honoring each president respectfully. Then again each one is on a bill.

Whitney was laid to rest yesterday. The had tents over the grave site to give the family their privacy and dignity. And wouldn't you know it, the media had telephoto lens on the cameras so it was a good thing they put up tents. Now let her rest in peace.

What the gov. in NJ did was wrong in a way. He ordered he flags to half staff for Whitney. OK what about our vets that have been killed in the mid east? He never lowered the flag for them and they gave theirs lives for this country.

There was a chance to see the northern lights last night. It was reported that as far south as Nebraska you could see them. But how far south in Nebraska? East Egg and Nebraska are about 41 degrees North latitude. But at the same token the lights are usually in an oval when looking down from outer space. So even though you might see them in Nebraska there would have been no guarantee that you would see them from East Egg. Plus it was overcast last night as well.

Every morning I look at the webcam outside of Sloppy Joe's and it looks like that it rained every night in the early hours. The sidewalk is wet as well as the gutter in the road. Every morning. The I decided to look at the archive footage and my question was answered. The rain was from a hose of a worker washing down the sidewalk.

Viewing the footage it looks like that there is almost non-stop foot traffic there. Reminds me of NYC.

Saw two cruise ships in Key West from the Mallory Square cam. One was tied up and one was docking. It is impressive how they maneuver those ships without tug boats.  I bet they all have thrusters under water to help them dock.

One thing about the webcams is the images are not that great. The image is in what more of a thumbnail which is hard to see to begin with. You can right click and make it fill the screen but the resolution goes to hell real fast. Here is an idea for the webmasters page designers, make the images larger to begin with and you will not lose resolution. There is no harm in making the image say 800x600. It can help drive business there.

I'm off from work today, thankfully. But I have a lot to do around the house. So...

'till next time.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Historic Day

Today we said good bye to Whitney. A great singer and wonderful actress. A crying shame that she passed so young in life. She had ups and downs and the media feasted on the downs. Now the media is going off on her passing. Next is the gossip shows like E.T. anf TMZ, they will all have a field day dragging her through the mud. Digging up the dirt.

They should leave her alone now and let her rest.

I don't know why she died. The results have not been published yet. Was it drugs? A slip and fall in the bathroom? She had to be exhausted from the night out. Was it an illness or cardiac? Could it be from the damage using drugs cause? Or a combination of any of the above? The world has to wait to see the results. Of course that will once again fuel the media.

New York has a new Cardinal. Cardinal Dolan. He looks very outgoing. Wonder how he would be if he became Pope?

They promised us snow today, only a dusting. Nothing happened thankfully. Right now rain is forecasted for Sunday. We will need to see.

I was watching the webcam outside Sloppy Joe's for a bit this morning and again this afternoon. Looks like they were setting up some kind of street fair. I tried to find out on the net but could'nt find anything.

I upgraded our iPads and iPhones to ios5 today. The guy I work with, the rat, said that the upgrade was hard to do and if not done right would crash the device. I admit that I am not an Apple computer guy. But I found that the upgrade was pathetically easy. So far I don't see any big advantage with the exception of the iCloud. Here you can find the general area where you might have left your device provided it was connected to the net. Does not bring you to the exact spot, but within 50 feet.

What I like is the ability to remote wipe the device should you lose it or it gets stolen. Much like Blackberry with the BES.

I still would like to get a job in the Keys. Looking around it does not look too promising for Key West, but maybe elsewhere in the Keys some company needs a high end computer executive to run their computer interests.

I was doing some research in going down there. Both me and my wife do not want to fly on commercial flights. I detest the idea of being groped in public by the TSA and I do not trust those scanners that strip search you. A friend went on a commercial flight and she felt violated by the TSA. They grabbed and prodded every part of her body and even stuck their hands in her panties. If she refused they said they would strip search her and do a cavity check. I will not subject myself or my wife to that.

So we could drive all the way, or take a train to Miami and rent a car. Then it hit me, the autotrain out of Lorton, VA. It is only 6 to 7 hours away. Ride the train for 17 hours, then drive the rest of the way in our car. It would save on gas and wear and tear on the car. Something to think about.

Anyway it is late, time for bed.

'till next time

Monday, February 13, 2012

Things are going down hill fast

Things at the job are headed right for the crapper faster than you know what through a goose with no end in sight. Tension is high in the office and the claws are coming out.

They hired me an assistant and he is turning the screws on me every chance he gets. He has the upper management convinced that our server fleet is failing and that two servers actually failed. Meanwhile he has never worked in a server environment before and has no experience with them. But since he is young and right out of college he knows it all.

This punk, I have stronger language for him but this is a family show, has even put it in writing that all of the computers that I built before his arrival have failed. He cannot make such a statement without quantifying it. His remarks are slander at best but the management is listening to the punk. My lawyer said that I can sue him but since he has no assets, it would be a waste of time.

The punk even put it in writing that the CEO, the CFO and the COO all want him to report back to them on what I am doing. A rat. Now how in the world can he report back when he does not know his from a hole in the ground?

Show you how much damage the punk has done, he has the CEO convinced that out network fails all he time. The CEO made a crude remark in that regard to me at an affair we attended.

Then again the CEO did make the remark that he wants to bring in young people to replace the older people. A remark that he made to the entire company. Nice. Can we say class action?

Because of the remarks that the punk has made, the COO hired outside consultants to tear the network apart and find anything wrong with it to use against me. Mind you these consultants are out to make a sale. Of course they will find things wrong, give me a break. They just want to pad their wallets.

The punk went so far that he was telling other staff members here that the servers have failed. I had to correct him and let him know in uncertain words that he is not qualified to make any such statements. Next thing you know he cries on the lap of HR and take off the next day but before that he clears all of his things out of his work station. I mean everything even the desk drawers. When asked about it he gave a BS story.

I had a nibble the other day and went for an interview. Have to keep my fingers crossed.

We had some snow a few weeks ago. Not much, only about 2 inches. But the ground has been so warm it all melted away. Nothing stuck to the road thankfully.

Today it is bitter cold. Like in the 20's. Brrrrr. Later this week it is to go to the 50's.

I looked at the webcam at the Hogs Breath Saloon in Key West and the webpage has the temp. They were at 57 on Sunday. No idea what it is like today.

Sad thing about Whitney Houston. Beautiful looking woman, a fantastic voice and she had the look. But what a sad life laced with drugs. No reason to take drugs, not one. The results are still out as to why she died but the 'experts' are all making their remarks. I think it was from drugs either directly like an over dose, or from the damage that they caused over the years. In anycase the world has lost a wonderful voice and talent.

Now I see that Glen Campbell is sick and starting to lose it. Another shame, he had a good voice. Then he is in his 70's but still to lose one's memories. Sad.

Anyway I have to get back to it. I really hate my job.

'till next time.