Month: January 2003

… So I’m helping a client (well, actually a client of a client) set up a web site on a new server. I talked directly with the service provider so I could get the technical lowdown about what the server supports and so on. My favorite answer was when I asked him about the type of server:

Me: “So this is a Unix server, right?”
Him: “Yes sir.”
Me: “What kind, exactly? Sun, Linux, SGI?”
Him: “It’s Unix.”
Me: “I know; what operating system?”
Him: “One moment.”
(long pause while he consults with the IT gurus)
Him: “Sir, it’s a Unix system. We support all your Unix software.”

Uhh…

It would be funny if it wasn’t so painful.

This afternoon I was hacking away, furiously trying to write some code to help a client import database files into his web system. Smoke flew from the keys as I slapped out PHP– I was in a hurry because he was waiting to upload his data.

The phone rang, and it was another client who said she needed me to make some changes to the reports her web app generates. She was running financial reports, trying to plan next year’s budget, and she needed those numbers by the close of the day so she could submit the budget.

As I was talking to her, I got an e-mail from a third client who had just learned that an e-mail was going to be sent to 20,000 people this evening, inviting them to go to her web site. I needed to put some new stuff on a certain page so they could access it, and (you guessed it) it had to be done right away before 20,000 people got sent to the wrong place.

Man, I wanted to scream…

Tonight, just before dinner, Alex peeked in the oven to see what we were having. We’d been at parent-teacher conferences, which went a little long, so Laralee had commented that maybe the dinner would be burned.

Alex looked inside and yelled out, “Whoa, those potatoes are really burned all right! One of them is so burned that it changed shape and looks all yucky!”

It was a sweet potato.

I’m about to head out to play some volleyball. I haven’t played for over a year (couldn’t find a league team that needed an extra player) so I’m excited to be back in the game.

A couple friends of mine invited me along, but I’m a little hesitant because they invited me after telling me how disappointed they are in the team and how the captain is a bit strange. Whee– that’s inspirational!

Hopefully it’ll be fun nonetheless, and I’ll be able to meet up with some people who might provide me a way to get back into the scene…

Today I gave Kyra her lunch and then tickled her prior to sitting down. She reprimanded me for tickling her:

“Dad, when you do that it makes me feel playful. But I need to feel eatful.”

Now that Zack is sleeping in a real bed (albeit low to the floor) he has a tendency to wander the house late at night. Apparently he’s sleepwalking, because I’ll find him walking around downstairs– which is completely dark– looking kind of sad and lost. For whatever reason, he bypasses our room, scoots down the stairs, and wanders until I come down and get him.

Strange stuff.

Alex and Kyra officially rode their bikes on the street for the first time today! Both of them have been practicing in a grassy area in the neighborhood, and today they went out on the road and managed to get down the street (albeit with a bit of wobbling).

The neighbors were cheering– it was funny. Kyra got frustrated a little early, but Alex managed to learn how to start by himself (without anyone holding the bike) and even did a few nice smooth turns.

Now both of them want to know when we’ll go up in the mountains and ride the trails there… I told them it might take a little bit of practice first.

The article about me showed up in today’s issue of the Longmont Times-Call. It turned out really good, although I was (sadly) not the “top” story. Still, the three other companies featured in the article all had several employees, had been around for many years, and had done millions of dollars in business. The fact that I was in such company was certainly good news in itself.

Now I have to try to capitalize on the “media coverage” I’ve been getting. This marks the third time in six months that I’ve been featured in an article somewhere– first a page in the UMR alumni magazine, then a quick blurb in the Rocky Mountain News, and now an article in the local paper. I spent a little time tonight scanning each article, cleaning them up, and getting them ready to post on my (new and improved!) web site; in addition, I’ll probably convert them to PDFs and send them to a few clients just for fun.

Today’s stuff was courtesy of Stef, my friend and “PR agent”. She’s thrown my name around a few circles, and she’s (obviously) good at what she does, so I’m getting results like this. Hopefully my popularity– if you can call it that– will continue to spread and the work will start to pour in.

Alex was playing “hot and cold” today. The twist was, he was playing against himself. As he wandered around the downstairs, his chatter went something like this:

“You’re getting warmer…”
“Warmer…”
“Oh, now you’re getting colder.”
“Oops, warmer.”
“Now you’re getting really warm.”
“Hot!”
“Ow! You’re burning up!”
“I found it! Yippee!”

Today’s client moment is something you don’t hear much as a consultant. This quote is taken from an e-mail message I received:

“I have $2000 to spend before the end of March on web upgrades or additions. What should we spend it on?”

Whee!