Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

2011-06-16T16:51:00.001-05:00

Shawn,

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Shawn

Shawn Fain
Owner at Small Business IT Pros
Amarillo, Texas Area

Linux Users Group

2009-08-14T07:24:00.002-05:00

I went to the local Linux Users group last night. I was glad to see that I'm about in the middle of the local linux users. I don't know as much as the hard core guys, but I'm not far behind them. You might think it weird to even care, but it's not really about competition, it's really about "am I doing okay at this"?

I've been doing linux for a while and didn't really know if I was "getting it" or not. After going to this meeting, I realize that I'm definitely getting it. If I can understand what the hard core guys are talking about, and I can carry on a conversation with them, I'm getting it okay.

For me the coolest thing about it is that a bunch of those guys like D&D (Dungeons and Dragons, YES, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS). I've been wanting to play the old paper and pencil game fo about a year now, and surprise, I can't find anyone willing to play. These guys want to play this winter, so I'm going to do that.

Overall, it was a blast and I'm glad I went.

Okay, I swear I'm going to blog

2009-08-11T21:58:00.005-05:00

I've recently been getting my act together, internally and externally. I quit smoking and then relented a little to allow myself one cigar a week. I lost 25 lbs and am still losing.

And I'm only using Linux now!

I'll blog on that one soon, seriously.

I pretty much have my computer setup the way I want it. My business is doing well, I'm making more money than I ever have and have less to spend than I ever have.

I'm reminded of a line from "Body Double"

"Have you been in anything else?"
"You mean anything GOOD?"
"Well, you're working, that's good isn't it?"

I'm going to start taking my business and my life more seriously. If I can't get out of this situation, back to the safety of a salary where they steal your taxes up front, I guess I'm going to have to make a lot MORE money to make it, and get out of debt.
We'll see...
More on Linux later.

My Own Business

2009-01-03T00:48:00.004-06:00

Man it's been a long time since I posted!

I started this to show Kathy what I was doing on business trips, but I need to keep it up. To do a really quick catch up, the main thing that has happened since I last posted, is that I've quit my job and started working on my own. Amazingly I haven't lost any income, though my company doesn't offer many benefits :-(

I'm on Kathy's Insurance, so it's not all bad. I'm working about 20 hours a week, and who couldn't love that, and making the same amount of money.

Paying my taxes this year will be a different story. I'm at the point now of looking for a nice job that has good benefits and where I can settle in and retire from. It's nice to know though, that I'm free.

I can quit and make my own living, literally at the drop of a hat. I can do it here, or in New York, or San Diego, or anywhere else. And a good living too.

Makes me feel good, in control of my own life. I once had a discussion with a black friend of mine about slavery. He had just started reading a Bible I had given him, and was asking me about slavery, how God could advocate it. There are laws in the Bible relating to slavery.

I told him that they literally sold themselves into slavery to earn money for starting life, or buying land etc, and that the laws he was referring to were written to force the "masters" to treat their "slaves" decently. I told him about bond-servants, and how many chose to stay with their masters because their masters had taken them in practically as family.

Early Christians talked about being bond-servants. Willing slaves to Christ. I told him that none of us were free anyway. That our employers told us how to cut our hair and how many piercings we can have. They order us to get up at a certain time and work all day, nearly everyday. That oh yeah, we can quit, if we want to get thrown out of our apartments or homes, and eventually run out of money to eat and live.

I told him that we were all slaves to sin, and the world, and that Christ offered us freedom from that slavery. I hope it sank in a little. I hope it helped him understand how God really is loving and it was us that decided to have slaves. And more importantly, we now decide to BE SLAVES.

I don't want to be, and knowing that I have skills that are worth a decent life for me and my family, and no one can take that away from me, and I can sell it to who I want, how I want, and do just fine, makes me feel a little freer. Thanks Jesus!

My America

2008-07-08T09:16:00.005-05:00

I just recently watched the entire HBO series "John Adams". I don't know why this should have affected me the way it has, but I feel changed. I had been taught, back when it was still taught, Early American History in public school. I had been inspired by speakers at church reminding us of our Christian heritage. And I had heard many varied facts about the the founding fathers, such as they all made their own livings. But I didn't realize what it was like for them, I guess, as people, which is always the hardest thing to do with historical figures. I realize this was a dramatization, but how could it be otherwise? To quote John Adams in his nineties (at least to quote the actor in the series)

"I consider the true history of the American Revolution to be lost...forever".

Adams had no slaves. He was a lawyer and a farmer. He worked his own farm, and when he was away for months at a time attending to the business of the new country, his wife worked the farm. With their own hands, in the muck. Adams was like me, angry and vocal. But I was so impressed by the fact that he refrained from cursing and let his "yea be yea". This didn't mean he was calm, something I could never do, and evidently neither could he. He was passionate and loud, and often wrong (like me), but he was honest (like me) and always motivated by that honesty. And he was naive (like me, thank God). I was inspired to read about the second world war mostly out of fear. Being born in the sixties, it was still fairly fresh in the collective mind, and I was afraid we'd have another holocaust, and wanted to understand how it had started, to be able to do my part in resisting it's reoccurrence. But that experience was like a visit to a mental institution, or a prison, or a slaughterhouse, or all three. It seemed to taint me and make me feel as if I needed a bath. This has inspired me in an entirely different way. I realize our founding fathers were human beings and fallible in the extreme. But they were noble men. Watching this, I was struck by the disparity between these men's character and our current crop of candidates. Imagine having to choose between two men like Jefferson and Adams. One whose love for law and justice makes him vulnerable to desiring too much power, and at the same time loathing the existence of an army in peacetime. And the other whose faith in mankind makes him loathe government itself and desire the least amount of it possible. The point being, what drove these men were values. Thought, wisdom, honor. God how we need that now. And our government has fallen so low that all the lies and charlatanry are taken for granted. I'm not a scholar of Roman History either, but I thought of the evil men that ruled it at the end, and how I wish I could have the confidence in our present rulers that we all have in our founding fathers. To me, it's embarrassing that George Bush and Bill Clinton are included in the same annals with Jefferson and Adams. These men thought long and hard about truth and how to live it and communicate it. Our present leaders seldom if ever do speak the truth and must consider the concept relative if not abhorrent. I'm inspired again to read history. This time my own. And hopefully rather than leaving me feeling dirty, as if I needed a bath, this will make me feel clean, as if I've just had one.

New House

2008-07-04T06:09:00.004-05:00

Well, we now have our own home. I say home because it does really feel like one. It's an old house just off downtown in Amarillo. It was built in 1923, is 1884 square feet and has an "unfinished" (read smells like dirt and is damp) basement. It's neat though, like a bed and breakfast and with all original hard wood floors. We've actually been here about 2 months now, but I'm just getting around to writing something about it.

The Flu

2008-01-07T20:16:00.001-06:00

I know I've posted recently about being ill. Well, this one was the worst in the last 20 years. Kathy has never seen me this sick. I had been coughing off an on for several days, and Jerry was sick the weekend before. He and Kathy and I had been trying to stay away from each other to not catch anything.

Wednesday, I was at work, my nose running all day, sneezing, coughing, but not feeling especially bad. It had been a fairly nice day, and I'd been outside in my rolled up shirt sleeves earlier, and not been a bit uncomfortable. When I left the office at 5:00 pm, I had on my suit jacket and was absolutely freezing. Shivering, feeling like I was on pluto. I jumped in the car, turned on the heater and the seat heater and sat there shivering until the car warmed up.

I knew I was sick.

I went to the grocery store and put on my big coat before I went in. I bought some soup and diet 7up and went home. I took my temperature and it was 101.8. I got in bed and covered up shivering. I went to sleep about 7:30, and other than waking up to take more ibuprofen, I slept all night.

The next morning, I woke up early, put on some jeans and a jacket, slipped on my tennis shoes and went to the urgent care center. I sat there for 2 hours waiting to get into a room. Then I waited for an hour to see someone. A P.A. came in, listened, looked and prodded, and stuck a swab up my nose. She disappeared with the swab and I sat there for another hour. Finally she came back in and said, "You're positive for the flu".

I was thinking they would give me a z-pac or some bad antibiotic, but they don't do that for the flu, and I should have known that. She said they have a true anti-viral drug, but she asked me if I'd ever had seizures. I said I had from insulin shock a couple of times years ago, but she said that was enough. She said if you'd ever had any kind of seizures, they didn't recommend it.

So I waited 4 hours to find out that I needed to take 4 ibuprofen, three times a day, and stay in bed. She told me I shouldn't go back to work for a week, because I'd likely be sick for a week. It's 5 days later and my temperature was 99.7 just a minute ago. I'm still coughing my head off.

Anyway, I went to my office to make a copy of the dr note, telling me to stay home for seven days. I told the people at the office that I had the flu, and they seemed to think I'd be back the next morning. "Dang, you're going to be gone tomorrow too!?" I'm thinking, you should feel like I do, I should come to work tomorrow and breathe all over you.

I went home and back to bed finally, after all morning in that damn office. I started taking the ibuprofen every 8 hours. I got to the point that I had coughed so much, my stomach was killing me. I lay as still as I could, because if I moved too much in my sleep, I'd feel this crap breaking up in my lungs and then I'd go into a coughing fit, which would feel like someone punching me in the stomach.

I finally started taking mucinex, just one though, not two. I hate those things because they make me feel so dopy, but I needed them. They did help. I had coughing fits about every 2 hours instead of every 30 minutes. I got more sleep. I also figured out that a heating pad felt really good under my back.

My stomach and ribs recovered some, because I kept taking the mucinex. I slept night and day, other than a few trips to the grocery store and I did get a haircut sat afternoon, when I was feeling a little better. Sat morning, I broke into a pretty serious sweat, and my temperature was like 99.1. I thought it had finally broke, but 3 days later, I still have a 99.7 temperature.

So Sunday came and I was dreading trying to go to work on Monday, because I really didn't feel any better. I woke up Monday morning, and felt like something was wrong. I didn't know if I had overdosed on all these drugs, or my brain was freaking out from the fever, or what, but I felt sick, like nauseous. I went in the bathroom and puked up about 2 cups of bile into the tub.

I must have eaten something bad, because I had all the symptoms of mild food poisoning. I had eaten basically nothing so I couldn't imagine what it might have been. I had bought some onion dip to put on some baked fish I ate. When I opened it, the seal wasn't sealed, and that worried me, but it looked all right. That's all I can imagine it might have been.

Not only was I not going to work but Kathy was asking me if I wanted to go to the hospital. I thought, if this happens again, and I throw up again, I'm going to call my Dr. For what it's worth, Kathy had been sick all weekend too, but had pulled through hers with antibiotics. They say she had an upper respiratory and wasn't positive for flu.

I went back to bed and managed to sleep for 3 hours. After taking immodium AD, sipping 7up and nibbling toast, I eventually settled my stomach. At 7:30pm on Monday, my temperature was still 99.8.

I don't think I'll be normal for a few more days. It took Jerry seven days to get back to normal. I think work will be just forcing my way through until I can come home and sleep, and probably by next weekend, I may feel normal. But if I stay home, they'll all think I'm being lazy.

Oh well, I just hope I'm done with this crap for this year.

Lunch in Lubbock

2007-12-13T13:03:00.001-06:00

Kyle and I ate lunch at Cheddars in Lubbock and they have a really nice fresh water tank.

I LOVE Ubuntu!

2007-12-05T20:12:00.000-06:00

Finally! A Linux that really works well. Its free and very well done and supported. It comes with all the apps you'll need. The wireless works, my camera connects, there is a free version of visio, office, a great graphic editor, a "iTunes" clone. And you can just pick and install anyone of a jillion apps by just selecting them and saying install. With a little tweaking you can install all the security apps just as easy.

I'm doing snort/mysql/php/base now!

Frys

2007-12-05T20:06:00.000-06:00

Every geek conference I've ever been to all I've ever heard is about Fry's the electronic store. Its a geeks heaven. Well there's one within walking distance of the hotel so I was able to go finally.

Network Services Training

2007-12-05T11:03:00.000-06:00

Here are some shots of the room we're training in. I'm having lots of spirited arguments with everyone and they all hate me pretty much equally I think. I don't care. I'm honest, I tell the truth..... but I digress. Here's the pictures:

Training

2007-12-03T09:42:00.000-06:00

Training is going good. I like the instructor, there are only three of us. We're going to setup an SBS server and put together a sales presentation on Visio, and present it Friday. No big deal on the test, should be good.

2007-12-03T06:13:00.000-06:00

This hotel has good breakfast. Real china in these modern square plates and bowls. You get the normal cereal, fruit and toast for free, or you can swipe your room card and get eggs and bacon to order. AND they have ST Arbuck's coffee for free too! This is one of the best hotel experiences I've ever had.

42" high def baby!

2007-12-02T22:23:00.000-06:00

My bad couch

2007-12-02T22:21:00.000-06:00

This room is sweet!

Better bed in Atlanta

2007-12-02T22:18:00.000-06:00

Finally! A soft bed!

Atlanta Airport

2007-12-02T22:11:00.000-06:00

On the moving walkway, you get this view of all these statues. Its all African. I wonder what that's all about...

Turmi NAL AYE bus

2007-12-02T15:47:00.001-06:00

I took the bus to the Mexican accented terminal A. Grabbed a mcdonalds nugget meal, ate in the bus and made to the gate ( not the one listed on the boards that I checked when I got off the plane, a mile and twenty minutes ago ) the flight said 4077 ( right number ) to DUBAI.

What? Not me pal. I eventually realized that the flight is one that starts here and continues on to Dubai from Atlanta.

Not too worried though, its an MD 80 and they can't make it to Dubai!

Gotta go!

No umbrellas?

2007-12-02T15:40:00.001-06:00

We landed in Houston in the rain and they just dumped us out on the
tarmac. Oh well, I've got about a mile's worth of walking to dry out.

Not getting sick this time

2007-12-02T12:27:00.001-06:00

I'm headed to Atlanta and since I had a week long respiratory
infection after New York, I bought a nice little pocket hand
sanitizer. Kathy bet me I wouldn't use it and here I am, using it.

All those little gray trays and everyone monkey fingering them...

Improper, Irrelevant, and Immaterial

2007-11-30T11:25:00.000-06:00

We setup some copiers at a small town courthouse the other day. This courtroom had the original furiture from 1909.

I kept expecting Perry Mason to walk in.

Good old dr...

2007-11-29T10:42:00.000-06:00

I got here at 10:04 am and all these people were here. It's 10:40 now and ONE person has been called since I've been here. Something tells me lunch is gonna be late today. Thank God I've got "Escape From LA" on my iPhone.

"Call me Snake"

Winterized Toonces

2007-11-23T12:08:00.001-06:00

Its snowing the day after Thanksgiving so we had to winterize Toonces in the garage

Heaven's Dessert

2007-11-23T08:35:00.000-06:00

The Cranberry Bliss Bar! I don't care how girly it sounds, give me two!

Got It!

2007-11-23T08:12:00.001-06:00

Even though it says 39.99$ the paper ad shows it for 14.99$ so that's what I'm getting it for!

And Kathy wonders if I love her! Look at this line!

Long line at Circuit City

2007-11-23T08:07:00.001-06:00

Kathy saw that circuit city had Seinfeld seasons 1 & 2 for 15$. At 8:01 Circuit City was so packed, they were letting people in a few at a time. I'm glad I bought her iPhone the other day.

Pampa

2007-11-20T13:38:00.000-06:00

We got to Pampa early and parked near a wireless access point to get some work done. There are wifi sites everywhere now and everyone just plugs them in! Thank you Linksys!

Rocking Out

2007-11-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

Jeff played Judas Priest all the way to Pampa and forced me to scream it in Charles ears all the way. It was great!

Toonce Missed Me

2007-11-15T23:17:00.000-06:00

Toonces decided to sit in my lap while I read and smoked my pipe.

Bellevue

2007-11-14T16:31:00.000-06:00

I stopped at Bellevue to get gas and this cat helped me pump it

Last morning

2007-11-14T07:04:00.000-06:00

I watched a 3 hour documentary on global warming last night. I came away convinced that we're all going to die, but that it has more to do with sunspots, under ocean sulfur dioxide, and massive methane in the arctic perma frost than it does my Honda that exhausts air cleaner than it takes in.

Actually, the sunspots could ( and nobody has any clue how to predict this ), bring on another "mini ice age" at any time. They were quick to point out that even that wouldn't stop the terrible mess we've ( those baby boomers ) have made. That kind of struck me as a good thing. Our coal fired electrical plants and the industrializing Chinese fighting to stave off a potential ice age.

Somehow, swimming in a hotel pool in Dallas in Nov sounds better than starving to death in a frozen nuclear winter. Basically, what I got out of it is that this has happened quite a bit in the past and long before Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were even a gleam in their father's eyes.

Feeling pretty good about things, I turned off the TV and slept like a baby. Maybe I should watch the history channel more often.

Now I'm in Starbucks, listening to the self-indulgent Eddie Vedder do this slow, unplugged, monotonic white rap.

The cranberry bliss bar is freakin awesome though!

My red bag and my rolling briefcase

2007-11-13T19:04:00.001-06:00

Red Lobster one more time

2007-11-13T19:02:00.001-06:00

This morning

2007-11-13T08:36:00.001-06:00

I guess the exhaustion finally kicked in and I went to sleep. I still feel like I'm dragging my mind through the mud but after 4 cups of coffee, my primary issue is the almost unbearable heat and humidity in this room.

Can't sleep or think

2007-11-13T00:38:00.001-06:00

You hear stories about cough medicine making people loopy. I took 2 Mucinex about " an hour ago...and it went straight to my head".

1. This room is nice but this bed sucks. I'm sleeping or rather lying here with various pillows under my back trying to approximate my sleep number bed. And failing.

2. That cough medicine is like low blood sugar. I lay here in pain, chasing fleeting thoughts around, and never quite catching them. For three hours. Not coughing, mind you. Or sleeping.

3. For example, I kept thinking, " Oh well, it's Saturday night (it's Monday)" I think it has something to to with those people moving that ice machine outside my door and then using it all night.

Or whatever they're doing.

For what it's worth, I layed here last night, looking at the clock, every hour, on the hour, thinking that I'd sleep good tonight because I'd be exhausted.

So much for that.

Yeah, going on trips and staying in big pretty hotels is really fun.

I got to go now, the smoker's conversation four floors beneath my window is just getting interesting, and I gotta check to see if the clock is on 1:00 yet.

Red Lobstering Out

2007-11-12T17:45:00.001-06:00

Since I found a fairly good one and Kathys not with me, I'm splurging.

Soon it will be back to the hotel for Poirot's "little grey cells". No
homework so I can just take it easy.

Not nearly as senic as NJ

2007-11-12T12:22:00.000-06:00

Dennys

2007-11-12T06:41:00.000-06:00

There's a Denny's across the parking lot and its much better than continental. I'm going to put it on my expense account too. That cold cereal crap is for the kids who get to stay free.

Some lite reading before bed

2007-11-11T20:37:00.000-06:00

Red Lobster

2007-11-11T20:27:00.000-06:00

There is a Red Lobster right across the street from the hotel. I ate
there and for once, it was pretty good.

Here's the view from my window

2007-11-11T20:23:00.000-06:00

Here's my room

2007-11-11T20:20:00.001-06:00

On the Road to Dallas

2007-11-11T18:49:00.001-06:00

I drove to Dallas today for Product Security training which starts tomorrow. Driving is more work I guess, than flying but it doesn't take any longer driving to Dallas than flying to New York and at least you're in control.

I did good, making it from my front door in Amarillo to the hotel in about 5.5 hours.

Church building is coming along!

2007-11-06T18:07:00.001-06:00

Now THIS is a Drs office.

2007-11-05T16:38:00.001-06:00

Imagine if you will, waiting to be executed. Or being indoctrinated into the military. Well that's almost as bad as an afternoon at the best endocrinologist in the Texas panhandle.

But if I want to keep taking insulin, I guess I'll sit here.

Sick

2007-11-01T16:13:00.001-05:00

I guess if it was someone on the plane or what, but I got a nasty upper respiratory something.

Everyone kids me and says I'm not really sick, but I feel like a truck hit me.

I took off one afternoon from work, then yesterday afternoon, and now all day today.

I'm in this urgent care clinic and they are really nice, and get you in quick.

Near Miss?

2007-10-27T15:05:00.001-05:00

Here's a view out the window of the plane coming from NJ. You can't really see it, but there was a an Airbus A330 that flew right under our tail. It's the little dark spot in the lower center of the picture.

Click on the picture for a really close view

Good Breakfast Crappy Morning

2007-10-27T08:37:00.000-05:00

I'm sick of the hotel breakfast, and on Saturday its even worse. The car can't pick me up for like two hours, and I'm sick of being trapped in that parking lot.

I wanted a hot breakfast and a cheap cigar. I walked for a mile in the rain to finally find a restaurant. Another mile or two and I might find a convenience store.

Going back to the hotel

2007-10-26T21:35:00.000-05:00

After being out till 2 last night and then getting up at 5:30, being in class all morning, riding into uptown Manhattan with my friend Juan, then standing in line in the freezing rain to be the second person in Manhattan to buy OS X Leopard, then navigating through the fairly seedy side of the New York public transit system, all the way back to New Jersey

I'm pretty much dead on my feet.

Port Authority Bus Station

2007-10-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

This is the only guy I felt I could trust at the Port Authority Bus Station.

The Second person to buy Leopard in Manhattan

2007-10-26T16:30:00.000-05:00

I had been watching that countdown on Apple's Website, and it was killing me. When I realized that I was going to be stuck in New Jersey Friday night, and not be able to leave until Saturday morning, I got the idea of riding into the city with Juan on his way home after the class finished.

I got there early, about 3pm and I didn't see a line. (see this article http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9805193-7.html )

I asked the guy at the door if there was a line. "Yeah....that guy". He pointed to the guy on my right in this photo, who's name is Bob. I went and stood behind him, and eventually Apple setup barriers and the line formed, all the way down to Madison Avenue.

We stood in the rain for 3 hours and when we entered (one at a time, as they made us do) the store was empty of customers. They had closed the store at 4 to "get ready" for Leopard. When we walked in and down the magic stairs, we were greeted by clapping and cheering from about 100 employees. I felt like Mick Jagger, it was weird. Since all the photos on the web seem to be of the back of everyone's head, I wanted to "prove" it was us. You see the tape in front of us...

Here are some more links to the event.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9805512-7.html

http://crunchgear.com/2007/10/26/leopard-launch-madness-apple-store-5th-ave-photo-frenzy/

Cool Architecture

2007-10-26T14:30:00.000-05:00

This is exactly where we were the night before, (you may notice the little square lights below). This building is really cool looking in the daytime.

The ultimate way to get around town

2007-10-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

Halloween's coming

2007-10-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

I don't know what this is, but I'm sure Kathy won't go see it with me.

3 lanes, 5 lanes, whatever

2007-10-26T13:30:00.000-05:00

Friday, Juan very kindly, drove me to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. Here we are, going up the west side highway. In New York they totally ignore lanes, and just drive.

Farewell Ricoh

2007-10-26T12:08:00.000-05:00

Safe back at Ramada

2007-10-26T00:24:00.000-05:00

We went to and made it back from Manhattan. Details tomorrow!

Finally, headed back to the hotel

2007-10-26T00:08:00.000-05:00

The Holland tunnel was EIGHT lanes reduced, not to the normal TWO, which is bad enough, but ONE, as you see here. The left lane was closed all the way through the tunnel, and no one really knows why. Getting on to the tunnel, it took us 30 minutes to move ONE BLOCK.

Brooklyn Bridge

2007-10-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

Here's the Brooklyn Bridge. Juan kept wanting to drive over it. He was like 10 minutes from home, and had to go two hours back to Jersey.

Big Live Crab

2007-10-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

Doug took this picture of a huge live crab in a window in China Town.

Ground Zero

2007-10-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

Still a big hole in the ground. It's hard for New Yorkers to ever forget 9/11. When we started talking about the site in class, you could see the emotion's in all the faces of the people who lived here, who were in class. They told stories of losing friends and watching it up close. Juan knew one of the elevator operators, who kept running the elevator up and down with his express key, getting people out before finally perishing when the building collapsed.

Look, Kathy, look

2007-10-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

Window shopping.

St Patrick's

2007-10-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

This is when you really need a wide angle lens and a tripod, but I did the best I could. This old gothic chuch is amazing. It reminds me Caleb Carr's books. Oh, this is Doug's Picture. :-)

Rockefeller Center

2007-10-25T21:20:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, it's not the main building, but I like THIS building better...

Dang!

2007-10-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

They got some serious Toys at this place. Your very own full size T-Rex

Jeffrey

2007-10-25T21:01:00.000-05:00

We went into Toys R Us to see the lego sculptures, and Juan swears Jeffrey was flashing him gang signs. Juan nearly had a heart attack when he first saw him.

Radio City

2007-10-25T21:00:00.000-05:00

Speaks for itself.

Ed Sullivan Theater

2007-10-25T20:50:00.000-05:00

When we were in New York in January, we were on the David Letterman show, but we never took a picture of the theater, so I wanted to get one while we were there this time.

Times Square Area

2007-10-25T20:45:00.001-05:00

We took lots of pictures at Times Square, too many to post, but this is the general idea.

The Rapper

2007-10-25T20:45:00.000-05:00

This guy was trying to show Juan all his original raps. Juan works in a studio, producing rap, in his off hours and has worked with several well known rappers. As the guy reeled them off, Juan told him who had done it. "Yo, that ain't yours.. that's JayZee's rap, etc" Eventually the guy gave up, looking for some little old lady to impress.

This is NYC

2007-10-25T20:40:00.000-05:00

This is indeed New York City, and they'd rather hit you than share the road with you.

Stopped to check the score

2007-10-25T20:35:00.000-05:00

0 to 0 in game two of the 07 World Series

One more virgin for Joe Smith, aka Abdul Muhammed

2007-10-25T20:30:00.000-05:00

This guy's Casio must have gone off and told him it was time to pray. I'm glad he could find Mecca, I'd have been pointing towards Houston. I'm sure Allah wouldn't have given him time to find some greasy alley to pray in, so he just had to do it right in the absolute middle of the sidewalk.

The Empire State

2007-10-25T20:22:00.000-05:00

Doug stopped to take this shot of the Empire State Building. So I stopped and took one too.

Here's another good shot of Times Square

2007-10-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

Doug

2007-10-25T20:04:00.000-05:00

Here's Doug. He's from Miami, and is a network guy like me. I'm glad he was there, because it gave me someone to talk computers with.

Doug's Camera

2007-10-25T20:00:00.000-05:00

For whatever reason, the mode Doug's camera was in had this delayed flash charge or whatever. You'd push the button, it would flash a little, and then 2 seconds later, flash for real. He told me about it, and to hold still for a few seconds after he pushed the button. So I did, and Juan and Tim were moving out, when it flashed.

My big dinner in NYC

2007-10-25T19:58:00.000-05:00

I stopped here to eat thinking, 1. It would be good and 2. It would be fast. 20 minutes and some nasty hamburgers later, we were on our way.

New Movies

2007-10-25T19:46:00.000-05:00

All over Manhattan, you'll see product ads. The difference is that they're six stories high.

The Garden

2007-10-25T19:45:00.000-05:00

We basically started at Madison Square Garden, having parked not far from there. I'm kind of glad we did, because that's one place we never made it to on our last trip.

We finally made it

2007-10-25T19:10:00.000-05:00

When we finally came out of the Lincoln Tunnel, we came out near Times Square. We were all tired of being in the car, so we decided to just find a parking lot near Times Square, and go eat. So that's what we did. And then we basically walked to everything in midtown that we wanted to see.

Baseball Anyone?

2007-10-25T19:05:00.000-05:00

This baseball diamond, had the city on one side, the river on the other, the highway on the other, and the tunnel entrance on the other.

Eventually, we saw the city...

2007-10-25T18:30:00.000-05:00

We eventually saw lower Manhattan, not that we'd be going there. Now at the Lincoln Tunnel, we'd be coming out on 42nd street. But even that was 1/2 a mile, and about a 1/2 an hour away...

We took a wrong turn

2007-10-25T18:21:00.000-05:00

We knew where we were going, but we second-guessed ourselves right into beautiful downtown Newark. This is the place, where, if you don't have gun when you get here, they give you one.

We missed the Holland Tunnel

2007-10-25T18:20:00.000-05:00

We meant to go to the Holland Tunnel. that's 280 from East Hanover, to the Jersey Turnpike, to the Pulaski Skyway, and then to the Holland tunnel to canal street in the city, and then China Town.

Juan thought he recognized the way he'd come the monday before, so we skipped the Jersey Turnpike, and wound up in Newark.

Here's our Brooklyn driver

2007-10-25T18:15:00.000-05:00

Here's Juan, who was gracious enough to volunteer to drive us to the city. HOW he drove us there was something else! Juan's from Brooklyn and he's a true New Yorker. They create lanes, where they don't exist, they would rather crash into someone, than give them the right of way. You yell at everyone you see, and they yell back. You have two modes. Full Throttle, and slam on the brakes. But it's fun.

No New York Today

2007-10-24T16:17:00.000-05:00

We decided not to go to the city today because its rainy.

Tim, Chad, Don, and Lee

2007-10-24T11:52:00.000-05:00

From left to right. Tim, from Houston, has been fixing copiers for years. Chad, from Pensacola FL, aced every test and knew as much as Tim, Don, in the blue shirt, was the instructor. He also teaches bagpipes to the cops in NYC. Lee is on the right, is from Philly.

The Ricoh building in fall

2007-10-23T11:03:00.000-05:00

Here's the Ricoh training building. The park area around the facility is very nice. There is a pond and the trees were all changing.

Doug isn't as stressed as he looks

2007-10-23T10:29:00.000-05:00

This is our classroom and my fellow network dude, Doug.

Exciting Morning

2007-10-23T07:13:00.000-05:00

Man this stuff is interesting!

I'm saved from long fingernails and starvation!

2007-10-22T18:35:00.000-05:00

I saw this Target when I got up and the sun was up. This is it from the door of the hotel, so it's close. Thank God!

My Hotel Room

2007-10-22T18:30:00.001-05:00

Here's a couple of shots of my hotel room. Pretty nice all things considered.

The Training Facility

2007-10-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

It's nice outside the training facility. Kind of like Medi-Park.

My Brooklyn Guide

2007-10-22T11:40:00.000-05:00

One of the guys in my class is from Brooklyn. I talked him into giving me a tour of Brooklyn. One of the other guys in the class is from Florida, and he wants to go into the city (Manhattan) and he wants to go on the Brooklyn tour too.

The guy from Brooklyn is named Juan. He's the big guy on the left. The other guy is Doug (not in the picture). Doug and I are going to split buying Juans gas and he's just going to drive us around.

By the way, there is a bus that will take you into Manhattan from right in front of the hotel, for 7$. So I should be able to go into town Friday afternoon and take some pictures.

Ricoh Training

2007-10-22T11:19:00.000-05:00

The Ricoh Training center is nice. New Jersey seems really pretty and a lot like any other suburban area. They say that everyone is moving to Pennsylvania, but it looks nice.

Breakfast

2007-10-22T06:04:00.000-05:00

Well, the toilet and shower were stopped up in my room, so I moved this morning before breakfast at 6:30 etc, so, since I had meticulously unpacked and moved in last night, you can imagine what kind of morning I had.

They don't know how to scramble eggs in New Jersey, but I didn't really expect them to. The vending machines were the only game in town last night, and they were out of diet everything, do I had hot fries, a snicker, and a 2$ water for dinner.

The rooms have microwaves and little fridges, and I saw a target across the parking lot. Hopefully tonight won't be so bad. I set every alarm I had, phone, watch and both clock radios, so I had a fun shower this morning, in and out to turn them off.

Well off to the zoo!

Arriving at Newark

2007-10-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

I waited for probably an hour at good ole' passenger pickup NUMBER TWO. The "limousine" service, was actually a gray minivan. I was looking for a black Lincoln. When I got to the hotel, the other guys said the same thing. What did you get? "Yeah the minivan, I was looking for one of those Lincoln's too"

Cool Kid

2007-10-21T18:39:00.000-05:00

This man and woman got on the flight to Newark. They must have done the priceline thing because they all had middle seats. They had a boy and girl, maybe 12 or so. The girl looked like a little Avril Lavigne, and this guy looked like a little surfer.

He wound up having the seat next to me and was so nice and polite. His dad borrowed a dollar from him, and he had his wallet ready. He asked me if I wanted his salad dressing and gave his candy bar to his sister.

This is him in the middle, though he's hard to see. His name is Zack and his sister is Alexandra.

The other guy by the window on my row was a geeky 20 something reading a gaming magazine.

So with me, it was the geek row.

Here's what it looked like when I made it to my gate

2007-10-21T18:33:00.000-05:00

As soon as I got there, they were boarding.

Shawn Michael Fain