#!/usr/bin/env python
def ian(): location = 'Where am I?' age = 28 occupation = 'Support Engineer' shorts = 'twitter' friends = array( [doug, 'blog'], [david,'notablog'], [dan, 'blog'], [nate, 'twitter'] ) email = 'me At ianwilson Dot org' professional = 'linkedin' pics = '23hq' tools = array( [cobbler, 'link'], [koan, 'link'], [svn, 'link'], [ltp, 'link'], [LinuxCOE, 'link'], [Backups, 'rsync'], [duplicity, 'link'], [Hosting, 'quantact'], [Linux, 'CentOS'], [Firewall, 'pfsense'] )def books():def emurse():
| My Resume | ||
|---|---|---|
| Web | DOC | |
| RTF | ODT | TXT |
 | ||
if __name__ == "__main__": ''' Previously on my blog...
Recent Articles
''' sys.exit(ian())
Labor Day Weekend
Damn. No Google Chrome for Linux.
This weekend, I traveled a little under 2000 miles, was up for almost 3 days straight, and didn’t get hardly any sleep.
Maybe I’m depressed. Who knows.
The highlight of the weekend? Listening one of my mom’s 31 year old friends tell me that she’d be all up on me if I wasn’t so in love with my girlfriend.
Even with all of that said, my weekend was still ok. A lot of family stuff going on…most of it’s ok, but, there’s some involving a little girl in Kentucky, so, it’s best not to say anything on that for now.
I don’t really know what’s wrong with me. I can’t sleep at night, but when I do sleep, I want to sleep for 12 or more hours. I’m not really hungry anymore. I’m just kinda out of it and generally a grumpy asshole to everyone.
Posted 3 days ago by Ian ·
Career questions
I’ve thought about this a few different times tonight, while I was waiting on a few things, and trying to relax.
I think I’m at a crossroads, but I’m not really sure on what’s the best way to approach this with my manager-type of folks.
I’m at a point now in my career where I’m looking for something different, mainly because of burnout. I’m not wanting to completely give up on the company that I enjoy, or the product that I love, but, the events of the past few days have really proven to me that I need a break from dealing with things for a bit. I’ve been a grumpy asshole to damn near everyone, and I really hate being that way (yes, I know that some of the readers of my blog really have a hard time believing that). Ask anyone who really knows me, and they’ll tell you that I do have a heart of gold, and I’d do damn near anything for anyone, but, I dread logging into the ticketing system now — not because I don’t want to help people, but, it’s just gotten to the point where it’s getting repetitive and there doesn’t seem to be as much of a challenge as I really liked. My boss put me on some additional software that we have, but, those bugs are few and far between (for what it does, it does well, and kudos to the team who wrote it, because it is good code), and due to the way that the company itself is set up, my interaction on these systems is extremely limited in scope.
There have been a few departures on the engineering team; one for more of a PM type of position that I might be qualified for based on some of my previous musings, and while I’d love to be a part of core engineering, I really don’t think that I my java-fu is up to speed (ok, let’s be honest, java is only a step above COBOL in my book) to be a part of that team and feel productive.
Then, there’s the question of leaving my current team. I feel like I have a great friendship, professionally, as well as personally, with my immediate co-workers. I’ll never forget the six weeks of hell at VASW when it was just Doug and I on the support team (before we hired David, and we were alternating weeks on call, and putting in a strong 10 hours a day). I have a great relationship with some of my customers as well, and I’d really miss talking with some of them. I’d also feel like I would be putting my current team back in a state where they’d be pressed to get through the workload in the 40 hours a week that we’re supposed to work. While we did hire a new guy (who was a great hire, and reminded me why we telecommute, and why the impression that we give when we’re on the phone can be more powerful than the impression that we might get when we’re in person), he’s still coming up to speed (quickly, I might add), but, I don’t really want to put them back in a hairy situation, new guy or not.
Personally, I also made a few promises to folks — as well to myself about my future. While I’m not completely sure I will ever be able to put down the keyboard, I just want to get back to where I’m happy, challenged, and not bitter and snappy to people. I don’t like making people cry. I don’t like being an ass hole, not to customers, not to co-workers, and not to my family.
So, what’s a support guy to do?
Do I stick it out?
Do I try to go to engineering?
Do I look for something else?
There’s always answer d.: None of the above.
I could go to my doctor and get a FMLA, and take disability (and if you know my history, you know that I probably more than deserve it, so please don’t write it off as being lazy) for a few months to get my head clear. Maybe in the 9 or so months I can live on Short Term Disability, get my head clear, and start learning the software again.
Comments? you know what to do…
Posted 8 days ago by Ian ·
Regression, the worst option known to man
So, I’m thinking about doing something crazy.
No…not /that/ crazy. Jeesh, what are you thinking?
I’ve recently went over to the dark side (aka, “the console”) for just about everything that I do work wise. My mail? Mutt. My IRC client? Irssi. My way of controlling many computers at once? OmniTTY
Now, I’m thinking about ripping part of my .procmailrc out and putting some perl from Mail::Audit in there, but, looking at it, I’ve come to realize that it would be quicker for me to hack at my .procmailrc and get that right than it would be for me to get my perl right. :)
Posted 8 days ago by Ian ·
The stars
I finally did something that was long overdue…after working 24 of the past 28 hours, I went, grabbed a bite to eat, and came back home. Before coming back inside, I spent about 30 minutes, looking at the stars, and just enjoying the quiet.
Posted 9 days ago by Ian ·
The exciting life
I had someone mention to me that I have a great life over the weekend.
This really got me thinking about the “great life” that I have, and maybe I push myself, way too hard — and maybe I’m a bit too much of a “snob” (as one person put it).
In the grandest scheme of things, I know that I can be a bit much. I have a high expectation of my personal and professional goals, and I expect my friends to have the same goals and views that I have in life.
Yes, I am an iced tea snob. I’m even a bit of a food snob, from time to time. But, these episodes of snobbery only really occur if I’m paying for said iced tea, or food — I’m not a snob when folks cook for me (seriously, ask about the time when Elaine cooked vegetable lasagne on one of our first dates, and it was so horrible, but because I wanted to shower her that I appreciated the time that she spent cooking it for me, I ate it anyway, and ended up with a bad case of food poisoning).
However, I’ve come to realize that there is more to a great life than a good job and a cozy apartment.
I’ve been on a non-profit kick for quite some time, and while I’m gaining ground in some areas, I really think that I am losing ground in other areas. I’m really upset about the situation with my friend, Born, and I don’t think that any amount of volunteer work can change that. I’ve been trying to fix that whole fiasco by going out more, getting out at night, walking, doing things, but, even that doesn’t really help.
So, what do I do with myself? I really have no fucking clue. Really. No clue at all. I’d start drinking more, but I’m an easy drunk to begin with, and I’d probably start doing something productive when I am drunk. I’d work out more, but my body’s still recovering from my last round of chemotherapy, and it’s a challenge to do a lot of work or doing other things.
I’ve been doing stupid things to keep myself productive — installing koha for my library (while I love library thing, I’d also like to be able to track out who I have lent what to), installing zoneminder for my computer area (mainly to watch the door, but, it also watches the thermometer), cleaned out my office (with the exception of the area near my desk), took a lot of trash outside, went through my burn pile, installed my own Elastic Cloud on some of my spare computer cycles, and to top it off for the weekend, I’m fixing my work desktop (even though “desktop” is a bit of a misnomer — I SSH to it using remote X sessions so I can grab my mail from anywhere…); even after all of that, I still feel that I’m a lazy slob who accomplishes nothing but letting people down.
Then again, maybe I’m just depressed. I’m tired of Doctors; maybe I should grab more sleep.
Posted 11 days ago by Ian ·