July 27, 2006
CLM buggery
CLM, an SCT product, is kind of a weird application for me to support. Whenever there's an issue with the application, the userbase is so narrow (two folks for the most part) and specialized that it's very awkward for me to troubleshoot. If I wish to reporduce an error or behavior, I need to be very cautious, as I am dealing with live financial data. Furthermore, the users are encouraged to enter service calls with SCT. That leads to translation issues when technical info is handed via a non-technical source. Seems to lead to more delays than the avenue is worth...
Posted by crowej at 02:04 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2006
Alas poor Communication, I knew him well.
I frequently accuse myself of being lazy. I rarely take umbrage at this, knowing it's all in good fun. Despite my more sedentary tendencies, I attempt to give it the 'ole college try whenever I geek-speak to a client. There exists certain vernacular that is associated with our crew that I do not expect the rank and file user to have in their word-a-day calendars. Whenever services are suspended, interrupted or otherwise unavailabe to the Campus at large, an email notification is usually sent out detailing what had occurred. In Travis' Blog, he has several entries that deal with jargon, frustrations with understanding and seeming unwillingness for many users to read before reacting.
This was brought to the front of my mind today when I made a routine service call...
...the user was unable to open new files created on the i drive. In the background I could hear another person prompting the user to ask "does this have anything to do with the server crashing yesterday." Honestly, this ticked me off a bit. There were two issues with this. The first is that, for a period of 30 - 45 minutes, many users were unable to access their i drive. This was discovered and fixed within that 30 - 45 minute time frame. The server did not crash (any of the dozens of servers....), web was up, printing was up, etc etc etc.....
The thing that steamed me the most was that the person in the background ostensibly has a technical background. In other words s/he should have known far better than to make such a sweeping false statement.
Today, due to the implementation of ACL's, new files were being created without the execute bit. This was discovered quickly and a remedy was ready within a short time. I don't expect very many folks to know what that means. In the spirit of good fun, i propose we send the following from now on whenever a trouble is detected:
Posted by crowej at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2006
A "BackBlog"
For faithful readers of the ole Crowe-blog you may have been wondering why the content dropped off drastically. Well, on the 23rd of December I turned 30. Not enough of an excuse for ya? Fine. On the 22nd of December I awoke to my alarm screeching whatever hideous sound it makes to rouse me. About 2.3 seconds after the alarm's crying, my own began. I had managed to throw my back in a lock-down of pain and school-girl wailing. I was out of circulation until mid-January.
I am not too big a fan of T.V. After my hiatus, I am less so. I found that my back plus meds caused me to keep odd(er) hours. I found that informercials of As-Seen-On-TV cds and an large iTunes library are a powerful combination of time wasted numbness. Though I do have the perfect playlist for 90's era butt-rock ballads. I guess every cloud does have a silver lining. Or an AquaNet one...
Posted by crowej at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2005
Insomnia for the masses
Dang....can't sleep even though it's 2:37 in the morning. I'm stinking at my regiment of computer games at the moment. My fingers are all thumbs on the guitar strings tonight...I've already hit the Devilsticks. I am in the middle of Robert Jordan's latest book. This is book eleven in a twelve book series. He produces a book about every two years...so I'm pacing myself (sorta as I'll be done before November).
So I thought I'd fire up iTunes and digitally spill the contents of my gourd. I rarely get comments posted to my blog...here's your chance. What do you folks find you really like to listen to when reflecting. I'm not talking about simply relaxing, but a self-State of the Union (but without the lies and made up words like "misunderesitmate").
I find myself picking a melancholic mix more often than not...
Looks like this may be turning into a playlist blog. So here it goes...my Reflective Playlist:
Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd The crescendo of sound and speed combine to ignite one's inner redneck. Plus, for me there's always the overtone of death or loss (given the band's plane crash).
Goodnight Elisabeth - Counting Crows I always liked the organic feel that CC offers. For those that do not know, when they make an album, they search for a perfect-for-that-album house and record all of the songs in different rooms of that house. The reverb of the guitar makes this song.
Crazy Baby - Joan Osborne This song is magnetic. The soulful way that she renders her loved one's angst down to simple acts of reflection....
A Sorta Fairytale - Tori Amos Tori goes down as one my of all-time favorite vocalists. Her voice is hauntingly beautiful. I would likely have more than a few of her songs in any period of reflection. This one would always make the list.
Palomino - Duran Duran This is damn near a capella. The instruments, while crucial to the overall song seem almost an afterthought for the first half of the song. The second half hits, and this effect flips. I always find this aurally interesting.
Bernadette - The Four Tops The coolest Motown band. Period. This song broke out of the formulaic nature of a Motown band. I like things that transcend boundaries.
Now it's time for bed...
Posted by crowej at 02:36 AM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2005
Prime Minister charged with Animal Cruelty
According to reliable sources, British Prime Minister Tony Blair 
engaged in Cruel and Unusual Behavior towards a feline. It appears that after watching several episodes of MTV's Beavis and Butthead, a favorite pastime of the boyish PM, Blair decided to go couch-fishing.
After a few fruitless hours hooking menials from the House of Commons, Blair "landed a frisky kitty" View image that put up a "right few hours of fight" before being gaffed by a Blair staffer.
While Blair himself was unreachable for comment, the Queen Mum was quoted as saying "Huh Huh, that was Cool."
Posted by crowej at 01:15 AM | Comments (1)