Propellerhead Spinoff

Gosh, I just LOVE to blog. Do you know what I mean? I suppose some folks go to a psychiatrist for therapy , I just peck away at my keyboard and let the thoughts flow. I hope that whatever you do provides you with just as much theraputic release as blogging does for me. KWIM??
My day started out at 6:30 am just as it always does. I packed my bag, hopped in my Pontiac Grand Prix SE and headed off for Ashley Frustrate road. At 9 am I headed to a client site where I spent 4 hours playing around with Backupexec and Microsoft Exchange. The backups are working however BE (backupexec) is showing the backups as failed. The backup is backing up all the SHARES on the server (C,D,E drives) as well as Microsoft Exchange Information Store and mailboxes as well as the NT Server downstairs. Backupexec from Veritas provides you with a server edition of their software and then you install agents for backing up application services like Microsoft Exchange and allows you to connect to other servers and backup its resources. The only problem with BE is that if it runs into one tiny problem with the backup it shows it as failed. The only successful backup is one that has 100% success with no errors. So, there you have it, the customer would like to see their backup STATUS show as successful. I can hardly blame them for that.
I finally got Veritas Tech support online and I worked with one of their engineers back and forth via e-mail and a webex remote control session so they could see what I was looking at. I wound up having to install BE service pack 2 and one hotfix that is supposed to fix the problem. Come to find out my customer has some corrupt e-mail in some of the mailboxes that is causing BE to have a hissy fit and fail the status of the backup.
In the morning I will check the backup again and HOPEFULLY the service pack and hotfix will have worked miracles. I am not holding my breath though. We need to get into several of the mailboxes on the server and delete all the junk email that is causing problems. KWIM ?? Until that happens the backup is probably going to show failed. The good thing is that while the corrupt email is not being backed up all of their other data is being backed up without a problem. So, if there is a problem and they need something restored I feel confident that I can restore it from the backup.
I headed back to the office on Ahley Frustrate around 2:30 pm where I indulged in a LATE lunch consisting of a ham and cheese sandwich on rye bread with chips and chili con queso sauce and cranberry apple juice. Of course right when I am making my sandwich and hoping to sink my teeth into it in walks a customer that has a problem with his PC and wants to stand at the customer service area and chat about it for about 20 minutes. I am glad that something did not drag my sandwich off the counter and eat it before I could get back. LOL... I guess that means that we dont have anything crawling around in the kitchen huh??
My perspective customer has a Compaq computer that is under warranty. He bought it and it came with a trial version of Mickeysoft Office. Try it for 90 days and then register it online (pay for it). If you do not then you can not access any of the data that you just created. Neat trick huh?? Mr. customer got smart and said "to heck with that folks" not me, not gonna play that game. I will just pull this sucker out of here by the tail and continue to use Mickeysoft Works instead. Lo and behold when he ripped Office out by the roots Works went belly up. Actually Works worked just had problems with the word processor working properly. I wound up telling the customer that the hardware warranty does not cover software and that if he wanted a custom configuration with regards to OS and only the apps he wants that he would have to go buy XP , install it and then install the apps he wants with nothing else. I told him if he did that and ran into driver problems then he could bring it to me to finish it up. The computer is only 2 months old and so I would imagine that XP will find almost all of the drivers needed.
Gosh, I can not tell you how happy I was to reaquaint myself with my sandwich which was lying right where I left it. I finished off lunch, checked e-mail and then grabbed some parts that had come in for another client who has a HP 4550 color laserjet printer. It took me approximately 30 min to replace the ETB (electronic transfer belt), Image Drum (also known as toner cartridge that has a built in display drum) , Fuser Assembly, two filters and assorted paper pick up rollers. I got everything put back together in short order and went to plug in the printer. As soon as I put the power cord into the power receptacle guess what. The power receptacle for the printer pushed right back into the body of the printer. Oh well, so much for a simple maintenance kit job. LOL...
I spent the next 30 EXTRA minutes for the customer trying to make a path into the area where the power receptacle is so I could fix the problem right. I pulled about 25 screws out of this beast and I was no closer to getting inside the printer than a man on the moon would have been to getting cheese off the surface. I was able to put my finger up into an access hold at the bottom and push the power receptacle towards the back so I could plug in the power cord. I told the customer that they have two options. Pay me 85.00 per hour (hourly rate) to gut the machine and fix it right OR they could put the printer in place and just not unplug it EVER. The customer opted for the cheaper mode of handling this so they signed my invoice and off the the races I went. That is right, back to Ashley Frustrate again. I get to the office and find out that at 1 minute after 5pm everyone has left and guess what? My office key right along with my car keys were locked in the office with the alarm on. DOH....
I dialed up my friend Erica who was kind enough to drive all the way back to the office and let me in so I could end my day. Whew, thanks Erica...
The only other exciting thing that I did today was to lay in my recliner and snore until it was time to go to church for potluck dinner. Yummy yummy for the tummy!!