The return of Nigel and the scrubpod

Arrived at work this morning to find a note on my desk; apparently, during a storm last night, a building next to one of our branch offices was struck by lightning, and since then that branch had not been able to connect to the network. The network admin was off, and the field tech was distinctly un-UNIXy, so I got to pay them a visit.

The problem wasn’t difficult to fix — that location is connected to the public Internet through the local cable company, and though the modem itself was fine one of the NICs in the firewall/router was toasty — but since I didn’t have the replacement part handy upon diagnosis I had to drive back to my office to get it.

on a sunny morning. in a convertible with the top down. with a radio station playing a Cream marathon. and with just enough traffic to get me in a weave-y mood.

Sucks, doesn’t it?

So I ran back to my desk, got the part, and drove again to the branch; the fix took 10 minutes only because I had to bypass a flaky KVM.

(I should mention here that the radio station was a lucky discovery; normally, I don’t listen to commercial radio because I’d rather have my beloved iPod supplying the music. And though the iPod was not working yesterday, it apparently just needed some time off because when I picked it up this morning it was fussing about a low battery. *whew.* So the Scrubpod [yes, that's its name] was charging during my morning excursions.)

Once I got back to my desk for the day, things were kinda quiet. I did hear back about Real Nigel, though, and left a bit early to pick him up.

on a sunny-though-blazing-hot afternoon. in a convertible with the top down. with a now-charged-and-functioning iPod playing Kraftwerk “Autobahn”, followed eerily by Cream “Sunshine of Your Love” (the very song that alerted me to the marathon this morning). on the newly-reopened Forest Park Parkway. and with just enough traffic to get me in a weave-y mood.

Let me tell you, it was AWFUL. Or something. Hell, I just drove through Clayton with the top down and the volume cranked just in time to blare the opening lines of the Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK” to all the Republicans leaving work. (The iPod was on shuffle, i SWEAR. Though you should have seen some of the looks I got.)

Nigel’s service isn’t complete — there’s still some issue with a hinge on his hatch which causes the boot to shut improperly, and the part is on order and Nigel will have to go back in when it arrives — but oh, it felt good to see him again. Yeah, so the convertible was nice, but I really missed that manual transmission and the utility of the rear-view mirror.

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Fred has posted a profile on MySpace, which I am hereby publicizing.

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Yes, I am updating the iPod backup. It’s going in the background right now.

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So Fred’s getting a new computer, a Mac Mini, and I already have designs on his current laptop. bwahaha. I’m seriously considering a MacBook Pro, though the final decision on that will have to wait for Tuesday.

No, I’m not discussing details of Tuesday yet. Just know that it could be big.

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OK, that’s all for now.