Busy day, busy day....

Let's see now... Today I:

Installed Bitchassholla to manage the streaming MP3 collection at work.

Came in to work 30 minutes early.

Installed two new Cisco 3524-PWR XL switches on the 27th floor of the building for our online learning division

Lit a new single-mode fiber connection from our data center to the 27th floor for the aforementioned switches

Uploaded some MP3s to the server

Contacted the good folks over at Citi since they sent me an invitation to pick up a Diamond Preferred credit card from them. I already had a Platinum Select (as mentioned in an earlier entry, one with a $18,400 limit). Citi wanted me to apply for the Diamond as if it was a new card. I didn't think so, and after talking to the Customer Service rep they agreed to uplift me to the Diamond card. I get the lower APR (10.29% APR as opposed to the 14.29% APR I had with the Platinum), the "Citi Rewards" (1 point towards my "Reward" for every dollar I spend), the low APR transfer (0% for six months), the $0 liability on fraud, price protection program, the online fraud protection and a few other perks that my Platinum Select didn't have. The one thing that puzzles me is that the operator said they don't have the Photocard option available for this card, that I'd be "Giving it up" by changing cards... but their website says the option is available. This is odd to me because it's one of the things that made them stand out... but then I never used the Photocard system anyway, so I don't think it really matters that much. I'm knocking four points off my APR and ultimately that's what DOES matter.

I discovered that my pickup has developed an interesting new trick -- it doesn't start when you turn the ignition key, anymore. It just literally doesn't turn over. A quick bit of detective work lead me to discover that the starter relay is hosed. If I jump directly from the positive post to the positive terminal post the starter cranks and the engine starts. This is a simple problem to fix and is a relatively inexpensive part, but it is still annoying to know that I'll have to start my truck every day with a screwdriver (the screwdriver shaft is what I use to short across the posts, and the rubber handle keeps twelve volt, 800 cold-cranking-amp love from shooting up my arm) until the weekend arrives.

I dropped about $177 at Target today. I bought two DVDs (Special edition of "Suicide Kings" and a copy of "Red Heat"), a new dress belt since my old one is now too loose for me to wear (going from a 36 to a 32 waist will do that for ya), two new pairs of khaki slacks in black, another pair of chino slacks in black, two fairly nice tops that could be clubbing clothes or could be work attire (short-sleeved dress shirts, basically), two pairs of sleep ware pants, two sleep ware tops and three pairs of boxers shorts. It's weird to see that in the world of boxers I qualify as a "medium." I'm used to being a "large" at the very least. I also picked up 8 packages of foil-wrapped Star-Kist tuna, which is sort of like a MRE except it's flavored tuna only instead of a whole meal. It's absolutely 0 carbs and looks like it'd be really good to use as a sandwich fixing on some low-carb bread. Once I get a chance to try it out I will likely post about my experience to the

anthroatkins community.

I participated in stress-testing of the big-major-super-duper application that

linnaeus and many other employees have been slaving over. I was... not impressed. In fact, after going through the scripts and trying it out I feel almost dirty. I think I'll go hit the shower with a few bars of Lava soap (gotta love pumice) and see if I can't scrub the stench of Oracle off my person.

I watched our Disaster Recovery procedures get taken out for a bit of use today. At around 3:15 PM the power lines to our office suffered a failure and took out the power to our data center. the UPS covered things until the generator kicked in, and we ran off the diesel plant for about 45 minutes. Pretty much nothing was impacted in terms of our main operations, although the switch that services our phone system did take a puke and thus offline everybody's voice network. That's not entirely true, though... those of us with IP Phones didn't go offline because our network gear is on UPS, and the VoIP servers were in the data center running off the massive generator. It was pretty cool, I have to say.

I learned from

roho that Fruitful Yield is now selling Atkins-friendly bagels. They're immense, like the ones you get from Panera bread -- but they're only 1g of carbs per! That's incredible. If they taste even a quarter as good as they look I'll be buying a ton of them so that I can vary my breakfast routine even further. Right now I'm switching between the lo-carb cereal (I still prefer the Atkins Flakes with almonds) and the low-carb breakfast bars... but a bagel with some cream cheese would make a nice change of pace during the week. Yum, I'm looking forward to trying some.

Tomorrow I'll be running chores during my lunch break, namely I'll be going to the OBT post office to drop off a package for international shipping now that I'm satisfied it's been padded and packed in such a manner that it will not be smashed no matter what the postal service does to it. I'll also be dropping off something that

spoothbrush has rightfully scolded me about: the wedding RSVP. They know I'm going, I know I'm going, but it is just good manners and they need to know what I'm going to eat. Thank you for the swift kick in the ass on that matter, Lari.

So, I guess I should go hang up my new shirts and slacks, and pack away the other items that I bought today. I'm still working on writing up the detailed synopsis of my weekend, but don't worry, it will get done eventually. In the mean time rest assured that my Sunday summary covered the big things. I enjoyed myself, I spent time with my family, I got belated Christmas gifts that rocked and I took photographs. To borrow a phrase, "It was all good."

Ain't it the truth now baby

Current Mood: calm calm
Current Music: Kevin Manthei - Meats of Evil

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