Friday, February 18, 2005

Saturday Ramblings

Computer woes: Well, poo! We have the new wireless equipment....still in the box. And now my computer seems to be suffering a power problem. Problem is, when I turn it on, it doesn't. I think it's a power supply problem. Dale says it could be any number of things. I say let's try a new power supply and see what happens. He says....well, it doesn't really matter. I'll just take the dang thing in and have it checked out and find out what the problem is. And if it turns out to be the power supply his standing as resident computer guru will be shaky. I had been hoping to be able to blog daily starting this weekend, but looks like that won't be happening. Actually, it could be cause I'll be on vacation (vacation - it's a good thing!) all this week. And since I don't stay up until all hours and so sleep most of the day, I should be able to blog everyday if I choose.

Voice Mail: My office has finally come into the 20th (yes, I do mean 20th) century. We now have voice mail! We've had the capability for some time, but we were told a memo would be forthcoming explaining how to set it up and so forth. Well, the memo never came. I guess someone higher up that me (and that could be almost anyone) starting asking questions. Or my old friend Hilliard found out that we have been waiting and took matters into his own hands. He's my go-to guy for anything to do with computers, telephone, and fax machine. Hilliard is an old and good friend of mine. I've known him for about 20 years. Anyway, I got a call from him Thursday when he gave me the instructions for setting up the system. I got mine set up and then typed out the instructions and gave a set to the rest of the office. So now, we all have voice mail. No more answering telephones for other people! Well, if they ask me to, of course I will. But it's no longer a necessity. No more chewing out from the captain when I don't answer the lieutenant's phone. Let me 'splain that.

The lieutenant has his phone ring set very low to start with. When I'm at the copy machine I can't hear his phone ring. I don't hear it in my office either. Unless you are in his office, you don't hear it ring. And he doesn't remember to forward his phone when he leaves, and I might not see him leave to know to listen for it. So the captain calls, it's not answered, and then he calls my extension to chew me out because I didn't answer. I quit trying to explain that I didn't hear it ring, it's not a sufficient enough excuse. I'm suppose to sit at my desk watching the phone so that when the lieutenant's phone starts ringing, I can see the light on my phone light up and answer it. Can't do anything else, just wait for that dang light to light up.

The advent of voice mail has taken care of that problem.

From the Don't You Hate It When...page: One of the sergeants came into my office yesterday. Said "I have a problem." I hate it when they start out like that. It usually means, that they have a problem you have to fix, or a problem they think you caused. In this case, a mid-level person in Tallahassee wrote an email that tried to throw me under the bus. I won't say she lied, but she was trying to cover her own posterior in any case. He read the email to me and I was able to refute it by relaying the entire conversation, not verbatim, but enough of the gist of the conversation that the bus bypassed me and swerved right back into her path. I didn't lie, prevaricate, or twist the truth. Didn't have to, I told the truth. We had the conversation she stated, but she didn't give me the dates she said she did. No dates were mentioned, in fact she said she would call back and talk to the person she needed to talk to after I relayed the information I was asked to give her. Not only did she not give me the dates she said she did, turns out she doesn't have the authority to set these dates. She can only relate a time frame to other parties who then set the dates. I hate when people can't admit that they messed up. It's so much easier to say, "Geeze Louise, I made a mistake. I'm sorry, I'll try to keep that from happening again". I have now lost all respect for this woman and I've had only two telephone conversations with her. I'm not going to lie to people I have to work with everyday (or to anyone else for that matter); I need them to know that my word is good and can be trusted.

Voice mail has also taken care of that problem.

I like Voice Mail. It's my friend!

21st Century Contract With America: Newt Gingrich is offering a new Contract With America that is worth reading. I agree with most of it. I admit that I have a problem with the religious aspect of it. I am concerned that because sections of it are God-centered (and I personally don't have a problem with that), that it will be tossed out because of it. Here is a little test to see where you stand on the gap between traditional American values and the secularism of the left. Wow! I knew I was a traditionalist, I just never thought about how much I revere traditional American values. More in a longer post.

Red, White, and Blue - Gang Colors? I missed this story when it erupted last month. Raven Furbert made a necklace of red, white, and blue beads to show her patriotism and to honor her uncle's service in Iraq. The problem? She was asked to remove them because red and blue are colors associated with gangs. This is true. But, when paired with white, you get the colors of our flag. You get the colors of the school this little girl goes to. You get the colors that her uncle is serving to protect in Iraq. Has the school changed it's school colors? Has the school removed the flag? Has the school banned the wearing of red and blue completely? Has the school gone to black and white uniforms? I understand that schools are trying to crack down on gang behavior, but you can't ban colors! And, the school district has said they have had no trouble with gang activity.

Her family has hired an attorney who has filed a Federal lawsuit against the school district. And now, this child who went through school without incident is now serving frequent in-school detention and other (unnamed) discipinary measures. And faces suspension if she continues to wear the beads.

Let's get real people. Just because someone wears red or blue doesn't mean they are flying gang colors.

No comments: