Fruition

Got to work early, beat up the SNMP software until it worked, and it worked like a champ. Perfect for the day-long test I needed to run. But it was nefarious and installed itself as a pair of services, which I did not need/want, so I removed those.

Which is when the lab manager, who had gotten me the software, installed it to see what it looked like. Which I found out when I tried to run my actual test, and the software complained that it had a 1-user license, and there were two computers trying to use it. It pointed me to a web site which gave a command line which showed that the other user was the lab manager.

I emailed him that we needed a site license, then went to lunch.

Sizzler, where being an old person gets me a free soft drink with my salad bar lunch. I love their clam chowder and chicken wings.

Back to work, lab manager emails that no more licenses are needed, he isn't using the software, he was just checking (which is something I would have done too). So I showed him how the services were still running. We went to my desk, and I showed him the command line trick, which clearly showed his company ID as the other user. Back to his desk, I showed him how to stop the services, then I went back to mine and confirmed I was able to log in again. So he deleted those services from his PC.

By now it's 3, and all I need to do is wait till EOD and if my test machine hasn't crashed or started reporting strange numbers to the SNMP monitor, the last test case for the new feature passes.

Automation guy invites me to the break room to keep him company while he has lunch, which we do from time to time. We usually talk about work a little, and he often has questions about Americana and languages and things he knows I'm interested in. We decided, for example, that the reason Thai sounds prettier than Vietnamese is the Vietnamese speak too quickly. Both languages are musical, tonal tongues, but the music is lost if your pronunciation is too staccato.

While we're chatting, I get a call which is breaking up badly, btu the nice lady says my photo order is ready to pick up. I check my email and there's a confirmation from Costco that my calendars are ready (round 2, the ones with the better layout).  After work I go to Costco and pick up a box of calendars and head home. At home I discover that there are only 25 in the box, there's a box missing. I return the call from earlier, but the person on the other end says it's Aaron's art shop, which means my Boskone photos are mounted and ready to be picked up. I have some things to do online, then I head over there.

They did their usual excellent job, but they forgot to attach the hanger tabs. So I chatted with the young woman while she did that. She said she loved the photos, especially the shuttle fly-by ones.

Trader Joe's is next door, and I ended up buying dinner there. A small sourdough round, an apple, a ready-to-heat fondue and since they didn't have kirschwasser, a bottle of $10 brandy. Also gave in to my spanikopita craving, got a quart of high test egg nog, celery hearts, brie and enema edama.

Home, cut one celery bunch into edible stalks, popped the fondue in the microwave, and ate celery and onion dip while watching Shark Tank. Cut up the bread and apple, added some brandy to the fondue and ate that while watching the South Park post-election episode. The ending was a cop out.

Pans for tomorrow:
Work
lunchtime trip to Costco
Dinner with Janice at Chili's for chicken fried steak

Mid-day update

Lull in the work day, been leisurely checking low-priority bug fixes. Needle in haystack thing - I don't have a lot of the equipment needed for many of them, and even more are so old the case can't be closed without downgrading my test machine two or three versions. That makes a mess.

Lunchtime I went to Costco, the parking vultures were unusually obnoxious for no good reason. Glad I went when I did, tonight it will be suicidal. Anyhow, the photo manager was incredulous when I told her there were only 25 calendars in the box I took home, but she found the other box under a pile of other deliveries, and opened it up to count the calendars to make sure there were 25. The sheet inside the box said 50. The one inside the box at home said 25. Neither said "1 of 2" or "2 of 2". FAIL. But I got my chronologically correct works of art, and will stuff envelopes tonight after dinner.

Dinner is at Chili's with Janice, who said I must taste their chicken fried steak. How very Thanksgiving-ish. T-day lunch at a long-time QA buddy's place, or maybe his brother's place tomorrow.

Looking at the weather predictions, I'm skipping the Loi Krathong doings at the local Thai temple Sunday and instead doing an Amtrak workaround trip to Reno, which will include an overnight stop in Sacramento. The plan is to take a Capitol Corridor train from San Jose to Sacramento on Friday, play around in Old Town and stay overnight at the Vagabond, then hop on the California Zaphyr, a beautiful ride through the mountains to Reno. Silver Legacy overnight, take one of the Amtrak buses back to Sacto and then train to San Jose. The Zephyr leaves Reno at a little before 9 am when it is on time, and it's a 7-hour ride. The bus is 4 hours and leaves at 11:30 or so. Not as comfortable as the train in some ways (no snack bar) but that Zephyr gets a little ripe by the time it hits Nevada.

That's he latest. More tonight or tomorrow or both