Friday I left for Huntsville, AL for the Benton Wilcoxon Ice Complex and a hockey tournament. This was the second year I’ve gone with some guys from one of the leagues I’ve played in here in Nashville. Four games between Friday evening and Sunday morning, haning out at the hotel and havin a few beers with the guys. This year the competition was not so good but then again we did play in the novice group, more like where I was a few years ago. But none the less it was a load of fun and with a league game on Sunday evening that put me at five games in 48 hours. Thank goodness the wife doesn’t mind.
Officially, a new home
Today was the day to close on the new house. Just a few posts back I wrote about the saga of buying a new house. Well this afternoon documents were signed and the down payment was handed over and we are officially home owners again. I think Kay and I can both can say we are ready to get out of the hotel.
We will wait to move the day after tomorrow and hope for no rain. Regardless we are excited and hope the boys appreciate the new digs, not to mention the top notch houses my dad built… can’t wait to see them.
Update June 4: Well the weekend is over and the move is complete. We got everything loaded from storage and unloaded at the house on the same day, Thursday. Good thing as it rained a bit on Friday. Saturday was spent cleaning up and unpacking as well as purchasing a few appliances. Today was more unpacking and finding places for things. The dogs are enjoying the deck but we’ll need to make the fence a little bigger, but that will come with time.
No better way to cheer for free software
Just read this entry from Mark Shuttleworth of Canonical and have to say kudos too. It’s refreshing to see people of influence out there waving the flag of getting things done for the common good. Sometimes finding the positive in competition is challenging unless you’re willing to accept it, learn from it and adapt.
Change is evolving and a good thing ….
Time to get certified
As a current user of Ubuntu and a big advocate of open source software I think it’s time I put some weight behind my use of Linux and think of getting certified. Not that I don’t have enough to keep me busy but change is looming…. or something is telling me it is. I have never been good at tests as my college days can tell that story well. It wasn’t for lack of effort though, I could say it was all in my head…. but that wouldn’t make sense, cause it is you know. But anything that truly interested me back then always had my attention and the challenge was something I enjoyed, it’s no different today. Since the Linux Professional Institute will be offering certification for Ubuntu in June it seems like the right time to get moving. I’m not sure when the last time was I took a test but I’ve never done one on my own terms, I think it will be fun.
Big brother won’t do you any favors
Being in the IT industry I find it interesting sometimes when I run into my own problems. As companies get bigger knowledge gets displaced, vision is lost, effort becomes… well little to none when your on the wrong side. I know the reality of my pain is just the way things work sometimes, I just wish they wouldn’t.
Now I’ve never had a big brother but large corporations that do favors for their small time customers are few and far between. If politics, bad PR or media exposer were in play then they might care but otherwise you are only a number. My recent/current expierence with porting a wired phone number to a wireless number is a case in point. Every question answered honestly and correctly yet as it stands today I’m at 12 days and counting to get the port completed. Of course the disclaimer was it can take 3 days to 3 weeks to make it happen, I guess I should have believed them.
A comedy of events has taken place, from an assumption of the billing and termination address being the same to my remote forward holding up the transfer. In hind sight I should have started more than a week before the date I needed it move, but cell reception at the old house was questionable so I wanted to keep that exposure to a minimum. Did I mention the number was a business line… probably not. As 24 hours before D-day came and no word of the port being completed I put in a request to have the number remote forwarded to my personal cell. Remote forward is a service that allows the phone company automatically forward your number to another, but the “old” number doesn’t need to terminate anywhere. So wouldn’t you know it not 2 hours after I did that the cell carrier called and said the port could not be completed due to a pending order on the line… unbelievable.
So here I am at day 12 I’ve talked with both carriers today, listened to the song and dance, bit my toung and still waiting. So be thankful if big brother (corporate america where you will always get a different person at customer service) does you a favor and shows more than a little effort.
Update May 10: At last, at last…. the number has been ported !!!!!